toronto wildlife

Toronto animals keep getting trapped on rooftops

Like any large city, Toronto does not boast the most animal-friendly design, leading to many confused critters getting lost, trapped or worse, often in grave danger.

Luckily, the 6ix is home to many Good Samaritans who step in to help wildlife when and where they can, as well as dedicated organizations like the Toronto Wildlife Centre (TWC), which posted another of its many heart-warming rescues this week to alert residents to a recurring issue.

The team found itself nine storeys up, trying to wrangle a gaggle of baby geese who had gotten stuck on the roof of a condo building.

According to TWC, this mission is, unfortunately, a very common one throughout the summer, as local birds — geese and ducks in particular — are prone to nesting on rooftops and in other outdoor spaces in residential complexes, inadvertently stranding themselves and their offspring away from food and water in the process.

This season alone, the non-profit had to save more than 60 bird families comprised of nearly 500 of our winged neighbours from these perilous situations.

"The parents consider this a very safe spot to nest, and obviously they can come and go from a water source. However, they don't have the forethought for the fact that their babies take months to fly, which means they are now trapped on this roof," TWC's rescue team manager explained in the video of the latest rescue.

"These guys were at the edge so they could have fallen quite a distance, and that is obviously a very big concern."

After successfully capturing the mother and goslings, there was the issue of capturing the father, who had flown off amid the efforts. "We want to keep these families together and move them as a family group to water," the team explained.

But, their attempts to re-release mother goose to attract him back completely backfired, leading to a new strategy: holding up the chirping babies until both parents returned.

After finally getting the brood to safety, the team headed to a call to another common place for Toronto waterfowl to try and make home: a backyard swimming pool.

"We get quite a few calls every year about Mallards nesting near pools," the team says. "These are situations unfortunately that humans have made possible. We're just changing their environment so quickly that they need to adapt in some capacity."

In the two rescues depicted alone, TWC was able to save 15 little lives, noting that between April and August they respond to six or seven similar calls per day.

Lead photo by

VDV/Shutterstock


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