EAST PROVIDENCE — Out for a dog walk on what was a brisk, sunny Saturday morning, May 1, in Rumford, Mary and Bob Lyons came upon a mother duck seemingly in distress as she hovered over a sewer drainage grate on Greenwood Avenue.

As they approached the heavy, checkerboard like grate, Mrs. Lyons saw why the mother duck was so upset: about a dozen of her ducklings had fallen through and were calling out for help.

Well, it arrived in the form of firefighters from the East Providence Fire Department Station 3 just down the road at the intersection of Greenwood and North Broadway as well as East Providence Police Animal Control Officer Evan Barlow.

After removing the grate and rescuing the ducklings, mother and offspring were safely escorted to the comforting, mossy nearby outlet of the Ten-Mile River close to the Agawam Hunt Club where they hurriedly and excitingly returned to life as usual.