Baby goose saved after falling in sewer while crossing Toronto street

It's every parent's worst nightmare: Losing their baby down the sewer.

Fortunately, Canadians aren't the types to stand idly by when such a thing happens to their fellow citizens, even when those citizens are large, ornery birds.

Two Canada geese were crossing Yonge Street just south of St. Clair on Wednesday morning with six adorable little goslings in tow, when the unthinkable happened. Unbeknownst to the adult geese, one of their babies had fallen straight through a hole in the sewer grate.

"Oh! One went down the hole!" shouted a bystander in video footage from the scene. "Oh my god," said another.

A baby goose fell into the sewer while crossing the road in #Toronto - 📹 Mohammed Shoblaq pic.twitter.com/nlu13Jhh6i

— blogTO (@blogTO) May 1, 2019

Upon seeing the video, which was sent in by a reader named Mohammed Shoblaq via email on Wednesday morning, Dani Stover called the City of Toronto to ensure that someone had reported the incident.

Nobody had. Unable to help, the city put her through to the Toronto Wildlife Centre (TWC).

Despite being the busiest wildlife centre in all of Canada, the veterinary hospital and rehabilitation facility for sick, injured and orphaned wild animals sprung into action immediately, dispatching a team to a business seen in the background of Shoblaq's video.

Someone was able to go down into the sewer, according to a TWC representative, where the faint sound of peeping could be heard.

The goose was rescued, bathed and placed into a warm incubator at the centre, where it is now safe and sound with another little bird who went through something similar.

@TWC_Wildlife then sent out a team, and they got the little guy out and he had a bath, and is with another rescued duckling in a nice, warm incubator.

— Dani Stover (@danigray) May 1, 2019

Some on Twitter were joking that the baby animal would grow up to become a teenage mutant ninja goose before it was saved, but the overwhelming sentiment was one of worry for the creature.

"Please send a qualified professional to recover the baby goose!" tweeted one person to Toronto Mayor John Tory. "Even if it didn't survive the fall, we will applaud you for trying to help!"

"This tweet needs a follow up asap! Is the baby okay?" wrote someone else.

Thanks to the hard work and compassion of everyone involved, the baby is not only okay but in the best hands possible at TWC.

by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO