Ice rescue of a different kind : Shelburne Free Press : https://shelburnefreepress.ca

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Ice rescue of a different kind

A day of birding recently ended up in a day of frustration and a trip to Toronto Wildlife Center to hopefully save a life.

So many people would say “it's just a goose, who cares”. But the fact is, it is a living breathing thing. It feels pain, gets scared, and is helpless to help itself in a lot of cases. This goose (pictured here) being one of them.

My friend Ann was up from Toronto and we headed out to see what we could find. Not a lot going on. We headed to Orillia to meet yet another friend, Bob. Saw some gulls and ducks. But really not a lot of action. One thing you just never know if you will see anything or not. But the company was great and beautiful scenery as always touched our cameras.

However near our days end. We took another gander to the lake front. A surprise was awaiting us there. Two days ago it was open water. Now only a couple little openings greeted us. Bob walked over to the edge. Ann and I heard something we didn't like. Bob turned around and looked at us.

“You're not going to like this” he said. And we didn't. A young Canada goose was stuck with a huge ball of ice around its leg. It was injured as well. We couldn't see to what extent at the time but knew it needed help.

A few years ago we lost our Midland OSPCA for wildlife. And the answer we got from OSPCA was they don't do wildlife calls. Heard it before. We have a few wildlife rehabs around our area. But the trouble is that all of them are not licensed to look after birds. It seems to be a specialty. As we watched her on the ice not far from the shore, we knew we had to try helping it ourselves. We couldn't leave her out there. She was giving in and losing the battle.

Ann volunteers at TWC in Toronto and had a net in her trunk and other emergency items needed. We set to getting a plan into action. We had only but one chance to get her. We could not go on the ice as it was not safe. Our safety is always first priority. Luck was with us. Bob got her first try with the net. Pulled her in and we got her to the truck. That's when we saw the horrible injury to her leg. Huge fracture totally open. Wrapped her in a blanket and tried to warm her up. I put my body around her until they got the box ready for her. She was calm and hungry. But this huge ice chunk on her leg would be an issue for sure. And that fracture looked very nasty. Contacted TWC and got instructions. And off we went. She was pretty calm the whole trip.

Our luck did not hold however. When they examined her, the leg was too badly damaged. Nothing could be done. The only good thing that came out of this however. Was that it didn't suffer anymore. It was giving in to the cold and pain. And it must have been very hard for it. It didn't have a lot of fight left in it when we got it. But I know wildlife rehabilitators can do a lot to save an animal or bird if gotten in time. This one wasn't. Her leg was horrible. The pain must have been horrific for it. Knowing that bird did not suffer anymore was a good feeling. Losing a life not so much. But we do what we can. Our wildlife rehabilitators are needed more and we are losing them because of lack of funding. It is very very sad. If you need to find a wildlife rehabber. Go to:

Provincial List of Authorized Wildlife Rehabilitators in Ontario

Remember that your first priority though is your own safety. It is best you talk to wildlife rehabbers first for instructions and proceed only if it is okay. This time of year is a tough one for wildlife. Deep snow. Ice forms, trouble getting food. Often it's a tough one for sure.

By Jennifer Howard

Post date: 2014-01-08 17:45:39
Post date GMT: 2014-01-08 22:45:39
Post modified date: 2014-01-15 10:58:29
Post modified date GMT: 2014-01-15 15:58:29