WILDNorth sees influx of unusual animals post-rain

WILDNorth Animal Rescue is caring for an unusual influx of Franklin gull chicks that were washed out of their nests in the June rainfall.

A local animal rescue is dealing with a unique problem after June’s record rainfall: Franklin’s gull chicks.

The 15 baby birds were washed out of their nests during heavy rain and are now in the care of WILDNorth.

Executive director Dale Gienow says the birds are rarely seen in the city, but do frequent shallow surrounding lakes.

“We do deal with instances where birds come out of the nest or are displaced from the nesting sites, but the torrential rains we’ve had in recent weeks has posed a big problem for some of these guys, gulls in particular nesting on the ground,” he told CTV News Edmonton.

“The water level literally rose up, swapping out of the island and displacing dozens of these beautiful little birds, and they ended up all over the road.”

Taking care of the chicks presents new challenges for the team.

“Gulls have unique dietary needs, much different than common songbirds that we’re normally dealing with that have come from the nest,” Gienow said.

“They need a lot of protein. Gulls in the wild are eating a lot of small fish and insects and things like that, so we’ve really reached out to our volunteer base and residents to see if they can help us out in that regard.”

He added that rain displaces many animals, but fewer are found and rescued because people are more likely to stay inside.

Anyone living by a storm pond can keep a close eye out and call WILDNorth for animals in need of rescue now that the rain has settled down.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Kerry McAthey