GRAVENHURST - A Gravenhurst resident is trying to rescue a pair of Chinese swan geese from a chilly fate.
Myrna Hamilton is appealing for help to save the domestic waterfowl from perishing this winter once the lake they have been spotted on freezes.
“I’m afraid they’re going to die,” she said.
At first, said Hamilton, she wasn’t sure what type of waterfowl they were.
She contacted Bob Bowles, an avid naturalist who volunteers his time to share his knowledge of the natural world.
Bowles said two species of domestic geese have been bred from the wild Swan Goose in Mongolia. They are recognizable by the knobs on their bills.
He said the Chinese geese have been imported into North America for breeding as domestic geese and are too heavy to fly for any distance.
The pair were first spotted in Gravenhurst this summer and continue to hang around the area, Hamilton said.
She has enlisted support from Janice Enright at A Wing and A Prayer bird sanctuary who hopes to help find the pair the shelter of a new home.
Enright believes the geese were raised by someone and have either escaped or been released into the wild.
“They are purchased to decorate people’s ponds and lakes,” said Enright. “They raise them, look after them, and then dump them.”
She said ideally, capture and relocation should wait until freeze-up.
“The stress factor is so great on the water,” Enright said. “I’ve heard of waterfowl stressed to the point of having a heart attack and drowning.”
Anyone wishing to help out is asked to contact Hamilton at 705-687-2342.