The Atlantic Wildlife Institute is developing a regional wildlife emergency response network and part of our work is the creation of learning resources. We have identified two major knowledge areas to be addressed: the identification of local wildlife, and how how to deal with these animals when they are in distress. People often don’t know what to do when they see what appears to be an orphaned or possibly injured animal. In many cases, the animal should be left alone, as the mother has probably left it alone intentionally.
Today, we tested out some learning programs, as we had visits from veterinary technician students as well as a Grade 7 class. Generally speaking, the average person’s ability to identify local species of wildlife is not very good. As a society, we are out of touch with our habitat, and we don’t understand the roles that wildlife have in our environment, which we share with them. For instance, killing off certain predators creates other problems down the food chain or increases disease in other populations, which may be transferred to humans. Identification of wildlife and then understanding their role in nature are the first two steps.
The Grade 7 students had a tour of our facilities, including our 102 foot long aviary flight cage, followed by some fun activities. The students ran a 50 metre course and were classified as predator or prey, based on their times. The prey set off on an obstacle course and were chased by the predators – all good exercise. We also set up some artificial treees and the students had to build an eagle’s nest, by playing the role of builder or gatherer. This activity was thoroughly enjoyed.
At the end of the afternoon I think that most of our visitors had some understanding of the complexity of nature and that simple solutions are not enough. It’s a start …
Photo: Grade 7 students from Marshview Middle School building their own eagle nests, while Bob the goose supervises. Bob has been at AWI for 3 years, and refuses to migrate with other geese.
Here are some more wildlife photos.
[NB: I’ve posted this twice as my WP installation seems to have eaten the last post.]
