A duck and a young moose stranded in winter ice were rescued this week by emergency workers in New Hampshire, authorities said on Thursday.

 

Residents of Rollinsford, New Hampshire, spotted the male mallard duck trapped in the ice of a river and contacted the fire department on Wednesday, said firefighter Jesse Berube, who rescued the duck.

 

"Someone was calling in distress about it," he said. "We've got to do what we can."

 

Berube wore a suit designed for ice rescues and crawled onto the frozen surface of the Salmon Falls River to reach the bird stuck about 60 feet from shore in ice about two inches thick, he said.

 

When he broke through the ice, Berube said the duck sank into the water, weighed down by ice frozen to its wing. He said he could see the bird struggling under the surface and he broke through another section of ice to pull it out.

 

The duck was treated by a veterinarian and taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center in Maine, Berube said.

 

On Tuesday, police in Washington, New Hampshire, responded to a report of a moose trapped on the ice of Butterfield Pond in Pillsbury State Park.

 

The young moose had been stranded about 70 yards from shore for more than 24 hours and appeared to be exhausted from struggling to stay standing, police said in a statement.

 

Rescue workers, including wildlife conservation officers and firefighters, placed a sling around the moose and used an attached rope to slide it to shore. Once it reached solid ground, the moose was able to stand on its own and was herded into the woods, they said.

 

(Reporting by Daniel Lovering, editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Daniel Trotta)

 

Copyright 2012  Reuters US Online Report Domestic News