The heat dome in June didn’t just affect humans. The Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society (MARS) in Merville is taking care of a whopping 16 eagles right now. Eleven of them are babies that jumped out of their nests during the heat dome.
It’s the most eagles MARS has ever had at one time.
Kiersten Shyian, the assistant manager of wildlife rehabilitation at MARS, told CBC that many of the eaglets were brought to the centre after folks found them on the ground. They were skinny and dehydrated after leaving their nests too early.
But all these eagles were a bit of a problem for MARS. Baby eagles can eat almost a kilogram of fish per day.
And with 16 eagles, that’s a lot of fish.
So MARS put out a call for help on social media. They asked people to donate fish to help feed the hungry birds.
Within days, locals had brought in trout and salmon to keep the babies fed and healthy.
“It’s been incredible,” Shyian said.
MARS will eventually release the babies back into the wild. When they’re strong enough, of course. And in the meantime, the older birds at the centre are teaching the babies how to be eagles.
Shyian looks forward to when the little ones can go back out into nature.
“You never really get tired of seeing a bird that you’ve helped to return to the wild.”
