Gosling-napper tackles Migratory Bird Act – Winnipeg Free Press

What happened to the chicks shocked a group of Winnipeggers.

Last week, workers at a shoe store and a Liquor Mart on Regent Avenue were shocked to see two chicks plucked from the sidewalk, bagged, and loaded into a car. While the mother goose sat on the nest watching the two eggs warm, the driver drove off.

“I saw it happen and I yelled at the woman,” Nicole Greening said.

“He had a bag and I was like, 'What are you doing?' I shouted. Then another woman came and took each of the chicks and threw them into a bag as she left.

“Other people shouted (at the woman with the bag) that what she was doing was illegal. He said that he was taking them from the parking lot to the forest, to nature. I said, 'They won't survive,' but he left.”

A picture of the car of the black-eyed naper was taken.

Greening said the gander flew back to the nest a short time later, and then the two geese started hooting and looking around.

“The two were trying to find out where their children were,” he said.

“They only hatched that morning. We were all almost in tears. I've never yelled at anyone like that in my life, but this time I did.

“These were not orphaned animals.”

Zoe Nakata, executive director of the Wildlife Haven Recovery Center, said people should leave the geese and their chicks alone.

“Our message is that parent geese are excellent caretakers,” Nakata said.

“They are experts. If anyone suspects a gazelle is in danger, it is very important to contact the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.”

Nakata said the fish need their parents for the first few weeks of their lives to feed them and prepare them to live on their own. Without proper nutrition, their wings and feathers can be adversely affected.

According to him, geese build their nests in different places, so what seems dangerous to us is good for them.

“Geese are very adaptable,” he said. “We've seen them nest in strange places, but they're good parents.”

As for the woman who took the chicks, she could face heavy penalties.

Samantha Bayard, a spokeswoman for Environment and Climate Change Canada, said the office had opened a file on the incident, which may have come under the 1994 Federal Convention on Migratory Birds.

A conviction for a first-time offender carries a penalty of up to six months in prison, plus a minimum fine of $5,000 and a fine of up to $300,000.

Bayard said the law is “designed to protect and conserve migratory bird populations as well as individual migratory birds and their nests.”

“(The Act) and its regulations regulate potentially harmful human activities that may affect them. As this is an active file, Environment and Climate Change Canada has no further information to offer at this time.

Manitoba Conservation said it is investigating the matter.

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Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is one of the most versatile reporters at the Winnipeg Free Press. Whether it covers city hall, the courts, or general reporting, you can count on Rollason to not only answer the 5 Ws—who, what, when, where, and why—but to do so in an engaging and accessible way for readers. .

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