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Kelowna Capital News It’s taken a year of searching to find a suitable piece of property, but establishment of an Okanagan Wildlife Recovery Centre is a step closer to reality. With an agreement reached between land owner Willie Rometsch and the Canadian EarthCare Society, executive director Charlie Hodge says he is realizing a dream. Last night, the society announced a 30-year lease agreement for a portion of the property on Highway 33 east of Kelowna where the Eight Mile Ranch is located. Hodge says in the new year the society will embark on a fund-raising drive with a goal of bringing in $2 million in the next three years. That money will be required to construct the clinic needed to treat injured birds and wildlife, and to create the necessary fenced areas on the 8.5- to 11-hectare portion of the 80-ha property. Response to the idea of a wildlife refuge last year was enthusiastic, and there’s now a core of knowledgeable volunteers ready to lend their expertise to the project, says Hodge. While Kim Stinson’s Eight Mile Ranch runs trail rides, a campground, special events, sleigh rides and keeps horses on the property, the refuge would be on a lower plateau, away from that activity. That location will allow for a veterinary clinic or recovery hospital to be built so that animals can be healed and released. It will have to have a large outside area for recovering animals, an area that people will never see except perhaps on film, notes Hodge. The danger of wildlife imprinting on humans during recovery is an important consideration because the aim will be to release all wildlife as soon as possible. In some instances, animals will be missing a wing or a paw so they’ll not be able to survive in the wild. In that case, Hodge says the centre will act as a hub for gathering information about where different animals can be sent. Although he hastens to say it will never be a petting zoo, he says in the long-term it might be possible that some animals which can’t be returned to the wild might be kept on-site in a natural setting. In that case, viewing by the public might be possible with binoculars or visual aids, he says. Already the society has $1,000 earmarked for the new centre, including its first bequest from Elsie Bracken, who died last spring and left a sum for the project. “That was an inspiration,” said Hodge. In the past year he says he’s been up and down repeatedly as potential properties came to his attention, then this opportunity cropped up to rule them out. Hodge would like to see the project open in July. He envisions animals finding their way to the centre via veterinarians, the SPCA, the public and wildlife and outdoor workers such as conservation officers. Initially the focus will be on helping songbirds and small wildlife. There is a raptor facility in the Osoyoos area. That’s all part of phase one of the centre, with a phase two which involves the educational component. The public area would be separate from the hospital and be an area where the public can learn about Okanagan wildlife, habitat and ecosystems in general with interactive displays and computer programs. Trained volunteers will help people learn about the animals while ensuring they don’t trespass into sensitive areas or interact with wildlife. Right now, there’s no wildlife rehabilitation facility in the Okanagan except the raptor facility in Osoyoos. jsteeves@kelownacapnews.com --30-- |
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Wildlife refuge site in the
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