Happy New Year!
February 2018
Wishing you good health and happiness From everyone at
Pets in the workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Severn rec progress. . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Moose are king . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Community Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Two-hundred years after vanishing By Ellen Cohen Two-hundred years ago we paid a steep price for over-hunting and habitat loss. Trumpeter swans - the statuesque snow white bird with a 5’ wing span, standing 5-6’ tall, sporting a coal black beak and legs – disappeared. A few decades ago, because of the Wye Marsh Nature Centre restoration program carried out by staff and hundreds of volunteers, Trumpeter swans came back. Local swan-watchers estimate 200-225 Trumpeter swans are spending the winter at Washago Centennial Park, one-fifth of the province’s population of 1,000. The Washago Centennial Park dock is THE place in our area to view Trumpeter swans. It’s even more popular since CTV Barrie ran a story about a swan that was badly injured after hitting a hydro line. It suffered bad burns and a large gash. About 20 local residents tried to rescue it but the swan avoided capture, went back to the water and, as of the weekend of January 20th, appears to be healing well. “Things don’t always turn out so well,” said Susan Best, a local resident and volunteer. “There are so many perils for our Trumpeters.” For the past 8 years, Susan spends time at the dock in the Washago Park most days during the winter. She coordinates sightings
Local residents estimate 200-225 swans are spending the winter at Washago Centennial Park, feeding on the abundance of food from the floor of this shallow and open part of Lake Couchiching. for the area, watches for injured swans, and volunteers with licensed employees of the Canadian Wildlife Services to do tagging and banding. Susan reminds us: “It’s important to remember it’s only because of the hard work of so many people we now have an opportunity to save them from extinction ever again. Let’s be careful and let’s respect their space.” Please – don’t feed the swans. Trumpeter swans don’t need our help finding food. They live here, in open water, because food is abundant. If lakes or rivers freeze over, they will leave and find open water and another food source. Susan points out, “Even if people feed them whole, clean feed corn (untreated), it would take truckloads of it to satisfy the appetite of so many swans. The best thing
is to not feed them at all. Swans are very adaptable.” She adds, “Food is often thrown onto the ice. Although it may seem like a kind thing to do, the food is then sitting on/in the ice mixed with feces. Eating this contaminated food causes the swans countless cases of illness.” Lead is another peril. A very tiny amount of ingested lead is always fatal. Think about tossing out any lead fishing tackle, be careful with fish hooks, line and nets, and clean up your own shoreline to make sure it is lead-free. NOTE: Staff from Canadian Wildlife Services and local volunteers will occasionally feed swans clean, whole feed corn to encourage swans to move close to shore for banding and tagging. Continued on page 5
Paul Cleary B.B.A.
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