Jessica Kerr / Delta Optimist, March 25, 2015
The hundreds of snakes rescued from Boundary Bay earlier this month were returned home over the weekend.
On
Sunday afternoon, the more than 500 garter snakes were moved from their
temporary home at the Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C. in Burnaby
back to their hibernaculum on the dike.
The
snakes were unearthed earlier this month as construction crews from
SNC-Lavalin were slated to begin repair work on a section of the dike. A
group of Beach Grove Elementary School students helped alert the crew
to the presence of the snakes by posting signs around the area where the
work was taking place.
The
Corporation of Delta's environmental consultant then assessed the
situation and a rescue plan was put into place. The plan included
removing the snakes and moving them to Wildlife Rescue. The operation
took three days and in the end more than 500 snakes had been rescued.
Each
snake was examined and placed in a large plastic container with a thick
layer of damp wood shavings and a dish of distilled water where they
could continue hibernating.
The
snakes are still in a state of hibernation and were returned to the
dike on Sunday to allow then to emerge in a familiar location, mate and
disperse as usual.
The
snakes were tagged prior to their release so that a team of biologists
can follow their progress over the next few days and throughout the rest
of the year.
"This
operation has been a tremendous joint effort and we are pleased that
over 95 per cent of the snakes have survived the ordeal and will be
returned safely to their home," said Gordon White, acting executive
director of Wildlife Rescue. "We applaud Delta and SNC-Lavalin for
having a rescue plan in place before they started the work. Human
activity can impact wildlife in so many ways but by being proactive,
they minimized the disruption caused and ensured that the vast majority
of snakes were unharmed."
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