Inside the Burnaby offices of the Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C. there are several plastic blue tubs that are brimming with life. Slithering, hissing life.
More than 400 snakes were delivered to the association this week after their hibernation den was disturbed by construction along the Boundary Bay Dyke in Delta.
“You hear this low level hiss when you open a bucket,” association spokeswoman Yolanda Brooks said of the snakes. “I tried to record the sound with my iPhone but it just sounds like a lot of static.”
The snakes were not unexpected guests.
The Corporation of Delta, which hired a construction firm to replace large sections of rock to reinforce the dike near Beach Grove, received a tip from residents that there was a hibernaculum (a big ball of hibernating snakes) burrowing under rocks.
“We had our environmental consultant look at the area and establish a capture plan,” said Steven Lan, Delta’s director of engineering.
“Biologists with the contractor (SNC Lavalin) did the capture and relocation work. This was all done to ensure we are protecting the environment and maintaining the habitat. It’s a really good outcome.”
About 12 snakes were brought in on Wednesday before the motherlode of serpents — hundreds to a bucket — arrived Thursday.
“The office administrators were a little creeped out but our rehabilitators were cool with it,” Brooks said. “Some try to escape when you open up the tubs. I used a pencil to handle the first one that escaped but I got over it.”
Of the 167 different species of animals that the Wildlife Rescue Association cared for in 2014, only two were reptiles. There are three different kinds of snakes — common garter, Northwestern garter and western terrestrial garter — now mingling in the sawdust-lined plastic bins.
During the fall and winter months, it’s common for different species of snakes to brumate — or hibernate — together. They cluster in empty burrows or holes under rocks.
As it turns out, few animals are easier to care for than hibernating snakes.
“We don’t have to feed them ... they just need to be kept cool and they should be happy in the tubs,” Brooks said.
The Wildlife Rescue Association is used to caring for high-maintenance critters, like gulls covered in oil, bats stuck to glue traps or the 22 baby birds, Northern Flickers, that were dropped off two years ago.
“They were still nestlings, so we had to feed them every 15 minutes. We had several staff members, each with pagers, look after them around the clock,” said Brooks. “Our volunteers also helped — we have 200 volunteers.”
The snakes will slither in the tubs for a few more weeks until the weather outside warms to at least 14 C, Brooks said, then they’ll be released back into their home habitat around Boundary Bay.
So fret not, South Delta, your snakes will be coming home.
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