How to help Canada geese get goslings to ground safely in the city

Animal rescues are fielding calls about goslings that hatched in places a little too high up to get down from. CTV News Edmonton's Matt Woodman reports.

Goslings are beginning to hatch all over Edmonton.

Many of them will have no problems following mother goose out of the nest – but for those that do, WildNorth animal rescue is standing by.

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“This is an interesting time of the year for us,” said WildNorth executive director Dale Gienow. “We get many calls a day to help young goslings or baby geese off of rooftops.”

Gienow said geese pick high places, like rooftops, because they’re safely away from people.

Parents normally nest on single-storey buildings, where babies can fall down and follow mom relatively easily. However, anything higher can cause problems when it’s time for mom to lead her goslings to water.

“Sometimes those buildings are far too high for the babies to jump down from, or there’s little ledges sometimes that prohibit them from getting down,” he said.

“Mom will fly down, she’ll call them, and call them and call them and call them. And if they can’t make it down, eventually she will abandon the attempts,” Gienow added.

“Things like crows and magpies and ravens will sometimes get them on rooftops, or they simply perish because they don’t have any food or water.”

On Friday, WildNorth rescued a poorly situated nestful from a south Edmonton building’s rooftop patio. First, he netted mom. Then, all seven goslings were scooped up.

One gosling in need of some help was taken to WildNorth for rehabilitation. The other six were released with mom nearby.

Luckily for the one little one, geese aren’t picky parents.

“They readily accept babies from other parents,” Gienow said. “If this one does pull through … we’ll tuck it in at our next rescue and let more parents adopt them.”

Most geese and goslings can be left alone and will safely move from their nest to nearby water within a few days of hatching. Goslings trapped on rooftops or courtyards can be reported to the WildNorth hotline at 780-914-4118.

With about 50 calls coming in a day since the first goslings started to hatch a few days ago, Gienow expects the next few weeks to be busy.

“We might be doing four or five, six rescues a day, just with this scenario,” he added. “And soon following is duckling season, and that’s completely another story, but keeps us just as busy.”

More information on what to do if you’re worried about wildlife, visit the WildNorth website.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Matt Woodman