A mother Canada goose is recovering from serious burns after cigarette butts started a fire in her nest.
Wildlife specialist Tim White tells the Sandusky Register he and his daughter saw the fire smoldering Sunday outside his office building in Sandusky.
The two ran and grabbed water buckets and extinguished the fire, but the goose was severely burned while trying to protect her eggs.
The bird was taken to a specialist Wednesday, and is recovering at a rehabilitation center in Castalia, about 43 miles southeast of Toledo.
'It was a small blaze, but she was sitting right in it,' White told The Dodo. 'She took the brunt of it. She was sitting on the eggs just trying to protect them.'
Back to the Wild manager Heather Yount told Grind TV: 'We believe she was trying to put out the fire herself on her feathers.'
Experts at the center initially said the goose may never fly again. However, a closer examination revealed no lasting damage to the follicles of her flying feathers, according to a Facebook post from Back to the Wild animal rehab center.
While her eggs are now unlikely to hatch, staff members there are incubating them just in case.
The center also has a clutch of orphaned Canada goose eggs which it may try to coax the goose into mothering when she's recovered.
'Geese are great moms and will often adopt babies that are not theirs, so if she accepts her own offspring back, we may also add in the orphans so they can grow up in the wild with a wild Canada goose. Growing up wild is the best thing for them,' said Yount.
Police are searching for suspects who left the cigarettes. Canada geese are protected under federal law.
'When they set the nest on fire they also set the mulch on fire and that could have easily spread to the building so it could have not only killed the goose but it could have also harmed people in the building,' Yount said.
Wildlife specialist Tim White tells the Sandusky Register he and his daughter saw the fire smoldering Sunday outside his office building in Sandusky.
The two ran and grabbed water buckets and extinguished the fire, but the goose was severely burned while trying to protect her eggs.
The bird was taken to a specialist Wednesday, and is recovering at a rehabilitation center in Castalia, about 43 miles southeast of Toledo.
'It was a small blaze, but she was sitting right in it,' White told The Dodo. 'She took the brunt of it. She was sitting on the eggs just trying to protect them.'
Back to the Wild manager Heather Yount told Grind TV: 'We believe she was trying to put out the fire herself on her feathers.'
Experts at the center initially said the goose may never fly again. However, a closer examination revealed no lasting damage to the follicles of her flying feathers, according to a Facebook post from Back to the Wild animal rehab center.
While her eggs are now unlikely to hatch, staff members there are incubating them just in case.
The center also has a clutch of orphaned Canada goose eggs which it may try to coax the goose into mothering when she's recovered.
'Geese are great moms and will often adopt babies that are not theirs, so if she accepts her own offspring back, we may also add in the orphans so they can grow up in the wild with a wild Canada goose. Growing up wild is the best thing for them,' said Yount.
Police are searching for suspects who left the cigarettes. Canada geese are protected under federal law.
'When they set the nest on fire they also set the mulch on fire and that could have easily spread to the building so it could have not only killed the goose but it could have also harmed people in the building,' Yount said.
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Source : DailyMail , 13ABC , Back to the Wild
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