An injured osprey is getting a second chance at life due to the actions of one OPP officer, and the team at the Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre.
“They had got a call that it was on the ground and people had been watching it for two days,” says Sandy Pines Director Susan Meech.
“The mother was in a nest above that area and she was feeding some baby birds in the nest.”
OPP Cst. Martyn Curran brought the bird to the centre on Tuesday, where the team has been working diligently to nurse it back to health.
“It’s got a slim chance of making it, but we’re gonna give it a chance,” Meech says. “We’re gonna give it a try.”
That effort speaks to the passion of the team that Meech has assembled.
“I think everybody here just cares about animals and wants to help in any way they can,” says Sandy Pines employee Caleigh Beckett.
Beckett has had a passion for helping animals for as long as she can remember.
“Since I was a little kid pretty much, I knew I wanted to work with animals,” she says. “And when I started university, I was really interested in the wildlife aspect of things and kind of giving back to the communities.”
While they can’t be certain, the Sandy Pines team suspects the bird was pushed out by it’s family.
“Survival of the fittest, I’m afraid,” Meech says. “But it’s not nice to see.”
Within a week the team says they should have a better idea of whether or not the osprey will survive, but Beckett says – if it does – it would be some time before it could be returned to the wild.
“If we were to re-release him, we would release him in the area where his parents and family are,” Beckett continues. “In the hopes that mom might come and tend to him still.”
For this group of dedicated animal lovers, it would be a reunion worth celebrating.