The hatching season is starting and the Icelandic Institute of Natural History kindly asks people to leave chicks that have fallen from their nests alone.
According to the Institute, it is tempting to try to “save” a chick when you see it all alone in your back yard, but by picking it up and giving it to a nearby vet or a local zoo, you are actually decreasing its chance of surviving.
Many people come to Reykjavík Zoo and Family Park with chicks that have either fallen from nests or are found alone. “The chicks should be left alone so they can find their mummy again. By picking them up and moving them, you are decreasing the chances of the chick to find its mum,” Tómas Óskar Gudjónsson, chairman of the Reykjavík Zoo and Family Park told Fréttabladid.
The Reykjavík Zoo and Family Park does of course welcome motherless chicks. A group of ducklings were found the other day on the side of a road and their mum had been run over by car. They are now swimming happily around in the Family Park’s pond. But the general rule is to leave lonesome chicks alone so their mummy can find them again.
