PEI

Ducklings take a summer swim in Cornwall pool

Summer staff in the town of Cornwall, P.E.I. found an adorable surprise on Monday when they saw a mother duck and her ducklings swimming in their community pool. Greg Lucas, the town’s supervisor of programs and services, was training the summer pool and camp staff when he saw the ducks.

'They didn’t pay membership but they were in there early'

The ducklings swimming in the pool with their mother. (Town of Cornwall/Facebook)

Summer staff in Cornwall, P.E.I., found an adorable surprise on Monday when they saw a mother duck and her ducklings swimming in their community pool.

"The younger staff got quite a kick out of it and the after-school camp kids got a big kick out of it," said Greg Lucas, the town's supervisor of programs and services. 

"It was quite cute."

Lucas was training the summer pool and camp staff when he saw and recorded a video of the ducks. This is the first time he's seen ducks swimming in the pool in the four years he's been at his job.

Out of the pool

Lucas said a maintenance team had to take the ducks out of the pool.

"They gently cornered them into one of the corners of the pool, scooped them out with the pool net," he said.

They placed the ducks in a cooler filled with some water and let them free in a field. 

The Cornwall pool is not yet open for the public.

"They didn't pay membership but they were in there early," said Lucas.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, some germs found in bird droppings can infect humans, so it is important to make sure birds to do not get into swimming pools.

Because many species of ducks and geese eat grass, the CDC website says that some ways to prevent these birds from entering pools is to limit the grassy area around a pool or put up barriers between lawns and pools.

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With files from Angela Walker