Wild animals
ANIMAL CONTROL
stray cats
DON’T FEED THE WILD ANIMALS
Wild animals feed themselves, since our various bodies of water provide the conditions needed for their survival. The different nutrients they find in nature are high in protein, vitamins and mineral salts, ensuring them a constant and balanced supply.
Why not feed the wild ANIMALS?
It is important to mention that visitors must never, at any time, feed the wild ducks. When we feed them, we reduce their ability to find food and lead them to depend on humans, thereby compromising their survival instinct when dealing with predators.
Furthermore, feeding wild ducks can make them sick, increase the number of offspring they produce, disrupt the species’ natural balance, or attract rodents to the edge of the pond.
When all is said and done, the best thing we can do to preserve the health of these ducks is to let nature do its job. This way, the fauna remains wild and draws its food and shelter from nature.
Consequences of overfeeding
Many of you are still feeding the ducks and geese at Charbonneau Park! But since they have become increasingly numerous on the park’s shoreline, we have had to resort to Harris’s Hawk to chase them away and reduce their numbers. In fact, their concentration threatens the sanitation of the Park’s sports facilities.
Geese are migratory birds. Let them rest and leave again without feeding them, so as not to disrupt their natural balance.
A tip for residents of riverfront properties
Add shrubs and trees along the shoreline to make it less appealing to geese that tend to favour open areas with short grass.
In addition to being unsuited to their dietary needs and giving rise to nutritional deficiencies, overfeeding can alter their migratory behaviour and result in the degradation of their habitat due to trampling, grazing and an overabundance of droppings. If you like watching birds and wild animals, you would do better to provide them, through a choice of interesting plants, with natural food and shelter (viburnums, shadbushes, trees, etc.), which they can use themselves.
Did you know?
The duck pond located in Charbonneau Park near the Town Hall is not actually intended for that purpose. It is actually a stormwater retention pond designed to limit the amount of water entering the Town's water system. In this way, it prevents too much rainwater from flowing too quickly into the river, which can cause rapid pollution, and at the same time, it provides hydraulic management to avoid backups or storm flooding.
This pond requires an annual maintenance consisting of a complete cleaning of the membrane constituting the bottom of the pond which is done in spring by a specialized company. Thereafter, the maintenance of the small dam is done by the public works team. When these steps are completed, the dam is closed and at that time, the pond begins to fill naturally during rainfall. It fills up naturally according to the wishes of Mother Nature.
In order to make the usefulness to the pleasant, during the summer, the pond constitutes a favourable place for the bathing of the wild ducks of the area.