Hunt On For Oily Ducks In Mississauga
Posted October 29, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Toronto Wildlife Centre is planning a duck hunt, but it’s not like it sounds.
It’s also not business as usual at a Mississauga lake, were passersby are usually dissuaded from feeding the ducks. Now, they’re being encouraged to do anything possible to coax the ducks towards the shore, as the TWC attempts to round up more than 20 mallards they believe could be suffering following an oil spill.
“We can see a little bit of oil on them, it’s not like your classic oil you imagine in the movies where it’s black and dripping because this is a vegetable oil type oil,” said the TWC’s Nathalie Karvonen while treating some of the ducks already taken in.
The birds were reported to the Wildlife Centre by residents living near Lake Wabukayne, which is in the area of Erin Mills Parkway and Britannia Road. They said the animals appeared to be constantly wet and unable to stop grooming themselves.
“I’ve seen a couple of ducks over-cleaning themselves,” said area resident Damian Suri. “Like they felt the aftershock … it’s kind of horrible.”
It turns out the lake was contaminated by large amounts of vegetable oil. An environmental cleanup crew was hired by the city and most of the oil has since been vacuumed out of the water. Some barriers were also set up in front of all of the storm drains to catch any contaminate that may flow into the lake until the source of the problem can be identified.
An investigation is also underway to find out if someone has been illegally dumping the product there.
In the meantime the Toronto Wildlife Centre continues to try to round up the 20 ducks that still need to be captured and cleaned, which is easier said than done.
Related story:
Contamination Threatens Ducks In Mississauga Lake
