Edmonton wildlife shelter seeing rise in number of injured birds of prey
WildNorth animal shelter experiencing busiest year since opening in 1989.
Edmonton's WildNorth animal shelter is experiencing its busiest year since opening in 1989.
Four years ago, the wildlife rehabilitation centre had helped 1,500 animals. This year, it's bursting at the seams.
"By the end of this season we expect to have admitted more than 3,500 wildlife patients," executive director Dale Gienow told CBC Edmonton's Radio Active.
About 70 per cent of the animals are birds.
Lately the shelter is seeing an influx of migratory birds on their way south for the winter.
Over the past two weeks, WildNorth has admitted 15 snowy owls, some of which are experiencing the urban environment for the first time, Gienow says.
"These juveniles, they have some difficulties," he says. "Sometimes they're migrating south and they're often weakened because they're not very good hunters.
"They're encountering some things that would be non-typical to where they're from."
The owls receive extensive care from the shelter. Staff work around the clock to treat the animals, and — for the winter birds — keep them at an optimal temperature.
Recently, the centre released a tundra swan, discovered injured near Edson, back into the wild. Tundra swans spend summers in the Arctic, before migrating to the Canadian/U.S. border and beyond.
The centre is also receiving more calls. By 2019, WildNorth had received 8,500 calls over its 30 years of operation.
Last year alone, it received 13,000.
With more people spending time outdoors because of COVID-19, the interaction between wildlife and humans has increased, Gienow says.
"Some 95 per cent of the creatures that are admitted to our wildlife hospital come into us to cause some sort of interaction with people."
The more common injuries are from traffic scrapes or from coming into contact with cats or dogs, he says.
Depending on the extent of the injury, an animal can spend anywhere from a few days at the shelter to staying the winter.
But wintering the animals puts a financial pressure on the centre.
WildNorth is the only full-scope rehabilitation centre north of Red Deer.
"All the creatures in the northern part of the province that are injured or orphaned make their way to us," Gienow said. "We are a registered charity that survives on donations, both public and private, and we count on people to find these animals directly."
The centre has had to suspend many of its in-person events and get creative with virtual fundraising.
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