The Bird Centre's
primary mandate is to provide care to wild birds in distress.
The Bird Centre's secondary mandate
is to provide the public with the most appropriate advice, information
and mitigative measures in order to prevent the conditions
necessitating wild birds being admitted to the Centre in distress in
the first place.
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The Wild Bird Care Centre has had a
very public 20 year commitment in providing a wide range of
information, educational literature, and preventative approaches
that best serve the human community as well as the wildlife
community.
The Centre admits only wild birds
however the Bird Centre also acts as a general wildlife resource in
referring numerous wild mammal emergency calls to other appropriate
agencies (Ministry of Natural Resources, By-law authorities, Police,
Ottawa Humane Society, Wildlife Centre etc)
Human activities and human-related
structures have always had a major impact on wild birds.
Increased human population through recent expansion and property
development in the region has created further serious invasion,
loss, and forced relocation of habitat for wildlife.
The Centre admitted 3,500 injured,
sick or orphaned wild birds for treatment in 2001. While
caring for these 3,500 bird patients, a full time responsibility in
itself, the Centre also received and responded to over 20,000
telephone calls from the public dealing with wildlife problems and
wildlife emergencies-in-progress. The Bird Centre's extensive
on-going efforts to provide alternate solutions in resolving
wildlife issues have been key factors in preventing the numbers of
bird admissions from escalating completely out of control over the
years.
WHAT ARE SOME KEY ISSUES AND HOW DO
WE HELP MITIGATE THE EFFECTS ON WILD BIRDS?
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Emergency Calls |
The
Centre has 2 emergency phone lines. In order to identify
whether or not human intervention is indeed warranted, all
calls to the Centre are responded to in person during hours of
operation. Problems are assessed and dealt with, as the
emergencies are in progress. The result is an immediate
and affective response. |
|
Screening of Calls to prevent the creation of 'orphan'
birds |
All
callers/potential rescuers are questioned intensively to
prevent orphans from being created by unnecessary human
intervention (baby birds out of nests, replacing or
substituting damaged nests, ground-nesting birds) |
|
Wildlife Conflict Solutions |
We
provide immediate information in wildlife conflict situations
eg. wildlife caught in chimneys/fireplaces, vent problems,
pigeons on balconies, roaming cats, substitute food for birds
caught in climate disasters, bird behaviour and numberous
other specialized situations. |
|
Information on Bird Illnesses and Diseases |
We
respond to callers and media needing information on bird
illnesses and diseases. This includes: human/wildlife
issues such as West Nile virus, Salmonella, Botulism, how to
identify a 'sick' bird, safe handling of dead or sick birds,
advising of risks to humans, pets and other wildlife,
sanitizing infected feeder areas, reporting of special
incident cases, transferring of suspiciouls cases for lab
necropsies, etc.
|
|
Partnership with Health Departments - Municipal, Provincial,
Federal |
We
work closely with all health agencies, including individual
veterinarians and doctors, to mitigate risks to the public
through interaction / exposure to wild birds. This
includes: incident reporting, identifying symptoms,
researching treatments in birds and humans, establishing how
to differentiate the unknown symptoms of one illness from
another as in West Nile virus, providing bird statistics from
the Centre's very detailed databank (20,000 admissions over
the past 5 years), contact with other expert information
sources such as The Atlanta Center for Disease Control,
imparting preventive information responsibly to the public
through the media, mitigating public alarm over-reaction, etc. |
|
Human Cruelty, Negligence, and Abuse Issuses |
This
includes illegal poisoning, maiming, torturing and mutilating,
stoning, shooting, trapping, intentional vehicle impacts, nest
destructions, throwing nestlings from balconies and other
horrible treatments of wildlife. Mitigation involves
many approaches: contact with appropriate legal authorities to
press charges, providing incident reports, holding birds (dead
or alive) for evidence, contacting media to alert public where
necessary. |
|
Wildlife Home Proofing |
Most
bird injuries occur in or around homes in the region.
Through our website, the media, newsletters, literature at the
Centre and personal calls to the Centre, the public is advised
of preventative solutions to reduce potential injuries and
unnecessary rescues to all manner of wildlife. A few
examples are: tree cutting, hedge trimming, window impacts,
wildlife proofing of homes, chimneys caps, storage areas and
garages, wildlife proofing garbage etc. |
|
Environmental Mitigation |
The
public is advised on a host of issues that affect wildlife
(mammals as well as birds). Examples include: cosmetic
pesticide use, alternatives to using lead pellets in guns and
lead weights in fishing tackle, removal of broken fishing
line/kite lines, proper disposal of plastics and other debris
that can entangle wildlife, use of car 'whistles' to prevent
road impacts, the effects of illegal poisoning in the food
chain (peregrines, cats, dogs, other wildlife, children),
proper bird house construction, feeder care, unwanted pigeon
roosting, health care issues re: pigeons and balcony
clean-ups, etc. |
|
Legal Liability Issues |
This
includes: illegally trapping, keeping or raising of wildlife,
human cruelty, out-of-season hunting, discharging firearms
within city limits, illegal and hazardous use of poisons,
reporting of incidents to Ministry of Natural Resources for
further investigations and legal actions, legal
responsibilities of the Bird Centre to the public in and
around the Bird Centre etc. |
|
Encroachment Issues Involving Area Development,
Expansion and Recreation |
Issues include incidents that conflict significantly with
wildlife habitat such as bulldozing of embankments containing
nest sites along water routes (kingfishers, loon), excavating
of sites containing know cliff-dwelling group nest sites (bank
and cliff swallows), removal of large tree stands (herons),
destruction of wetlands habitat (red-winged blackbirds),
public celebrations in areas affecting ground nesters
(killdeer), home and building repairs that involve trapping of
nestlings and parent birds inside the building with no escape
route, incident reports, etc. It should also be noted
that in most of these incidents, human encroachment takes
place without consultation with the Ministry of Natural
Resources or other proper authorities. |
|
Mitigating Safe Rescue Techniques |
In
order to avoid human physical injury, potential rescuers must
be advised in detail of the safest and least stressful method
of rescuing particular birds. These include Great Blue
Herons, all Hawks and Owls, Loons, Cormorants, Canada Geese,
Gulls and any other birds that pose an element of personal
physical risk to the rescuer. This also includes rescuer
safety tips concerning water rescues and handling sick birds. |
|
Mitigation Involving Significant Danger or Health Risks to the
Public |
Many
rescue situations occur that involve tremendous hazard to the
public. Since there are no 'back-up' agencies to assist
in wild bird rescues, the Bird Centre must respond to
'extreme' rescue situations. Examples include: ducklings
on the outer unsafe top ledge of a 12 storey apartment,
ducklings hatched out on tops of apartment buildings,
dangerous lake or river ice conditions, very unsafe storm
sewer rescues, sever weather conditions (freezing rain),
seniors in frail health or disabled, children unaware of any
hazards, removal of pigeons and other birds intentionlly
trapped in roofs and attics, etc. |
|
Diplomatic Situations |
Particular diplomacy must be exercised in some cases to
prevent embarrassing incidents and repercussions on a larger
scale. Examples: gaining official entry to an Embassy to
rescue a falcon after RCMP and the Ottawa Humane Society were
turned away, contacting officals of Hydro One for equipment
assistance in rescues from high voltage wires, following the
numerous political 'channels' in special transferf of special
birds outside the country, etc. |
|
Corporate Mitigations |
The
Centre is consulted frequently for mitigation advice and/or
assistance by business and corporate agencies throughout the
region. This generally involves researching the problem,
going to the site to observe or interview, mitigating
public/media overreaction, documentation, reporting back to
various officials, media interviews etc. Examples of a
few of the many past issues are:
Nortel: problems with
bird impacts into glass-covered walkway, deformed geese in
their ponds, cleanup of ponds, prevention of geese injuries
during bird-trapping and bird banding by Canadian Wildlife
Services)
City of Gatineau:
irresponsible screening under bridge resulting in death by
starvation of 50 baby birds, vehicle impacts of adult birds
frantic to access their trapped nestlings, neighbourhood
outrage at the carnage, contacting officials, removing
screening
City of Vanier:
addressing Council and francophone community re: backyard bird
feeding issues concerning a senior anglophone lady, bringing
in an interpreter, at-length discussion of issues with
Conservation Officer, ongoing visits to the senior's home,
reporting back to Council, later involved in legal issues re:
harassment etc
City of Nepean: removal
of pigeons over Councilor's offices, meetings with council
member re: pigeons roosting in Bells Corners, research,
documentation
City of Ottawa: advice
to councilor re: preventing window impacts along a
glass-covered walkway at City Hall, advice and home visits to
senior involved in neighbour conflict concerning bird feeding
practice, several follow-ups with councilor and senior etc. |
|
Schools & Families |
Schools and families frequently request our positive
intervention with children or teens actively engaged in
intentional physical abuse, injury or death to wild birds -
especially on school grounds. This has involved going to
the schools, speaking to the individual(s) or the entire
school and/or having the youth(s) work at the Centre for a
specified period of time. Schools and families have been
extremely grateful for our input. The individuals
directly involved have learned to appreciate their role as
caretaker, not abuse, of helpless creatures, be it wildlife or
human. |
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Internet / Email Service |
The
Centre's website and email information service continues to be
heavily used by local, national, and international individuals
and agencies seeking rehabilitation information. We
strive to provide information, advice and links that are
relevant in our own community and globally.
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|
On-site Guided Tours / Off-site Presentations |
It is
important that the public appreciate the consequences of human
impact on wildlife. While the rehab aspect of our work
is an important focus of tours and presentations, even more
important is that the public be educated in ways that they can
avoid conflicts with wildlife, thus eliminating the need for
human/wildlife conflict services and rehabilitation, in the
first place |
|
Grace & Gordon Casselman Resource Room |
This
is a multi-media display room opened in 2001, at the Centre.
It features a wide array of displays, videos, and extensive
library, preventative information materials and flyers and is
specifically a means for passive public education. It is
open to the public during Open House Days as well as daily
visiting hours - noon to 3:00 pm |
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