Dozens of ducks were rescued Tuesday after an oil spill in Toronto’s Mimico Creek.
The oil is believed to have come from a truck that crashed at Highway 401 and Highway 427 on Monday night. The oil eventually leaked into the west-end creek and covered the ducks.
“They’re literally soaked in oil,” Toronto Wildlife Centre spokesperson Julia Pietrus told The Canadian Press.
The wildlife charity has since set up a makeshift triage unit to save the ducks. Pietrus said two bathing stations have been set up to clean the birds unable to fly due to the oil.
“We’re doing a flash bathing to get them stable to get the worst of the oil off,” she said. “Over the next few days, we’re going to be bathing a lot of ducks.”
Pietrus added the rescued ducks will be administered activated charcoal through a tube into their stomachs as a precautionary measure.
“The reason we do that is if they’ve been preening the oil before we caught them, the oil can cause really serious digestive issues. So we give them to charcoal to stop that process.”
The ducks will also be given medical-grade sugar to help keep their blood-sugar levels up as the bathing process can be stressful for the birds.
Approximately 50 birds were rescued, Wildlife Centre representatives told CTV News.
Meanwhile, city officials have installed a boom to contain the spill in a section of the creek. A group of a dozen wildlife workers, mostly volunteers, are also tracking the eight-kilometre stretch of Mimico Creek to search for more oiled birds.
Also on Tuesday morning, fire crews were called to an area approximately 25 kilometres away when another spill was reported.
The spill occurred on Broadview Avenue, between Jack Layton Way and Gerrard Street, Toronto police said in a message on Twitter.
Police said they believe the oil came from a nearby collision. At the time of the spill's discovery, motorists were advised to avoid the area, but Toronto police later said that the spill had been cleaned up.
With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Toronto's John Musselman
