Where to get help for baby ducks and geese

Wildlife Rehabilitation

Baby ducks and geese should receive care from a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Wildlife rehabilitators are trained to provide care for wild animals. They are licensed to do so by provincial and/or federal governments.

Baby ducks and geese need a specialized diet, species-specific housing, and medical treatment that you cannot provide at home. They also have to be raised with other baby ducks and geese to learn the social behaviours they need to survive in the wild.  Wild ducks and geese are federally protected and a permit is required to keep them in care. Please contact a wildlife rehabilitator right away for help with the duckling or gosling you have found.

Help for baby ducks and geese within the GTA

If you have found a duckling or gosling within the GTA (including Toronto, York Region, Durham Region, and Halton Region), please fill out our online Request Assistance Form to leave us a message. Our hours are 9am-6pm, seven days a week (yes, even on holidays!). Our Hotline staff will call you back as soon as possible.

If the baby you have found is not a duck or goose, please go back to our species selection page. 

Help for baby ducks and geese outside of the GTA

There might be another wildlife rehabilitator closer to you who can help. Please see the OMNRF list of authorized wildlife rehabilitators and/or the map on our website for more information. If you cannot find a closer rehabilitator, please fill out our online Request Assistance Form and our Hotline staff will do our best to get back to you.

If you cannot reach a wildlife rehabilitator right away

Keep trying. Wildlife rehabilitators are very busy, especially during the spring and summer. If you get an answering machine, leave a message and make it easy for them to reach you. Call around to others in the area. Be willing to arrange transportation for the animal once a rehabilitator is found. Remember that there is no government funding for wildlife rehabilitation in Ontario, and all rehabilitators are funded entirely by private donations.

You cannot keep the gosling or duckling or care for it yourself – it needs specialized care that you don’t have the means to provide. Keep it in a cardboard box in a dark, quiet, place. Make sure it has a heat source, like a hot water bottle.  Further temporary care instructions can be found here.