Ahuntsic: a daycare center struggling with wild turkeys
Wild turkeys are not afraid to approach the windows of the daycare.
Intimidation, spreading of wolf urine, sound or light device, the CPE Domaine Saint-Sulpice no longer knows where to turn when faced with the five wild turkeys that invite themselves, every day, into the lives of 78 children of the establishment.
For the past two years, in addition to intimidating the little ones, the animals have left behind excrement that has made the daycare yard completely unusable. The director of the CPE, Nancy Morin, says she knocked on all the doors to ask for help, but nothing worked.
“We are facing an impasse. Whether at the level of the Ministry of Wildlife, the borough, the City of Montreal, there is no one really who takes care of that. Everyone tells us that it is not their responsibility, ”laments Ms. Morin.
“They are not afraid of humans. We can be next to them, touch them and they do not move, ”says Nancy Morin.
A councilor from the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville promised to “look into” the situation and help the CPE financially, according to Ms. Morin, but nothing was done.
The City does not intervene for free wild animals, because they are often just passing through.
Salima B., communications officer for the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville
The City seems aware of the problem and offers advice to neighborhood residents for, she says, a “harmonious coexistence with the wild turkey”.
Yet the Conservation and Development Act highlighting wildlifewould allow the daycare center to shoot them, these intruders. “But it's against our pedagogy,” says Ms. Morin. The most feasible option would be to move the wild turkeys, but that requires a permit which costs $400.
“I applied for a permit,” says Nancy Morin. The problem is that I have no idea when it will be delivered to me. The delays are long.”
In addition to the cost of the permit, the management of the CPE will have to hire a company to move these animals, which could lead to an additional expense of $2,000.
Saved by the storm
The storm that is currently hitting Montreal could have greatly helped the establishment. Nancy Morin says she didn't see the turkeys today after cleaning the CPE yard just before the snow fell.
If they could disappear as if by magic, it would be the best Christmas present for children.
Nancy Morin, director of CPE Domaine Saint-Sulpice
But the owner of the CPE thinks that they will come back since they have been prowling in the neighborhood for more than two years.
Ms. Morin calculates that this whole story could cost her from 3000 to 4000 $.< /p>
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