Bilberry Creek Ravine

Last year, beginning in mid-fall until the onset of winter when municipal work was being done in the ravine, working on the demolition of the existing bridges and the building of replacements, we spent a lot, if not most of our time for many months avoiding our part of the Bilberry Creek Ravine, and going instead across des Epinettes, local main street, to the other part of the ravine. 

We found it a good enough replacement, and had few complaints about it, just considering ourselves fortunate that we had an alternate destination for our daily walks in the woods. In the late fall we had been informed by some people we came across walking through the area that someone had dumped goldfish into the stream at that point where the creek spills out. We looked for their presence, but never did succeed in seeing any.       

And last week we found out why. Another person whom we’ve seen walking his two rescue dogs in the ravine the past few years and with whom we’ve become quite friendly told us that he has the goldfish. He rescued, over a period of several months, no fewer than 80 fish from the stream. There were a few, he said, he had been unable to net, and he thought they’d die over-winter. Their sizes ranged from four inches to twenty inches; some of them were quite large. He didn’t think they’d find enough to eat, let alone be able to withstand the cold. The creek, after all, is quite shallow and without adequate depth to protect them they’d be exposed and simply freeze to death.

 

            Evidently he keeps tropical fish. And he has quite a bit of equipment, including a 100-gallon tank, and smaller tanks as well, all of which because of their size and their weight water-filled, he keeps in his basement. He was able to find ‘homes’ for about 20 of the fish. Some people decided to take up his offer and adopt them. The others, about 60, he has, though he would like to farm them out somewhere. 

He thought that in all likelihood someone with a garden pond full of fish just wanted to rid themselves of the fish and dumped them in the stream. While the weather was good they managed to survive, and to grow. He ‘rescued’ them because his wife loves animals – they have three rescue cats, as well as their two dogs, and he works from home so he’s able to tend to their needs constantly.