There's a low hissing sound in the halls of the Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C. The Burnaby-based rehabilitation centre has been flooded with hundreds of snakes from Delta.
"It's kind of a low-level hiss because they are writhing," said association spokesperson Yolanda Brooks. "We've never had anything like this at all. We get the odd two or three snakes a year. This is a completely different incident."
Brooks said about 12 snakes were brought in yesterday, but when she came to work this morning, there were hundreds. There are now an estimated 350 snakes in the association's care, with more coming in.
"I'm snake-wrangling. Some of them keep trying to get out of the bucket, so I have to put them back in," Brooks said.
Brooks said the snakes are from a worksite in Delta, where crews are upgrading a dike.
Brooks said they are three species of garter snakes, which tend to overwinter in large groups.
"Obviously, they just disturbed the snakes from the hibernation," she said.
Brooks said the association will keep the snakes in an outdoor enclosure until April, and then government biologists will release them back where they were found. The snakes are in plastic bins filled with sawdust, with 20 snakes to a bin.
The Wildlife Rescue Association helps more than 4,000 injured or orphaned animals every year and runs a rehabilitation centre close to Burnaby Lake. The association is hoping the public will donate money to buy more plastic tubs if need be.
For more information on the association, go to wildliferescue.ca.
