Why did the duckling cross the busy Langley highway? Because more than a dozen Good Samaritans wanted to help it escape almost certain death.

The duckling’s rescue operation began around 1:45 p.m. when a mother duck and 13 of her offspring tried to cross eight lanes of busy traffic at Highway 10 and 200th Street, just south of Willowbrook Shopping Centre, according to Nicole den Haan.

“There was tons of traffic so we slammed on our brakes and jumped out, and kind of herded them across the street,” said den Haan, who was first on the scene.

Eventually, more than a dozen drivers and a few employees from a nearby Cactus Club Cafe — sporting brooms for herding — joined in to save them.

One unlucky duck, however, went rogue.

“We scooped the other 12 over the sidewalk and they ran into the bushes, but this one little one — he couldn’t get up and over and he kept darting back and forth into traffic,” den Haan said.

As the makeshift rescue team tried to wrangle the little one, it fell into a storm drain.

But in feats of great strength and acrobatics, a man lifted the storm drain cover and another man allowed the team to lower him into the drain by his ankles.

They then lured the duckling with bread and scooped it up with Tupperware.

The whole operation was over in about 15 minutes, after which the little duckling was reunited with its family.

Den Haan said that while some drivers used hand gestures to show their disapproval as they drove by, many rolled down their windows to shout “Save the ducks!” After some high-fives and words of celebration, the duck rescuers went their separate ways.

“It was really sweet,” den Haan said.

– For more from the Vancouver Province, click HERE