The CEI is a family founded, charitable, not -for -profit organization devoted to breeding endangered species for reintroduction, wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, and release, educating the public, monitoring habitat and species, and developing non intrusive wildlife survey methods. The CEI was founded (1971) by Miles and Beryl Smeeton and is now run by their daughter, Clio Smeeton. Miles and Beryl Smeeton were internationally known sailors, mountaineers, and explorers.
Miles Smeeton wrote
ten books: Once is Enough, Because the Horn is There, The Sea
was Our Village, The Misty Islands, Sunrise to Windward, A Taste
of the Hills, A Change of Jungles, Moose Magic, Completely Foxed,
and Alligator Tales. Beryl Smeeton wrote two books: The Stars
my Blanket and Winter Shoes in Springtime. Miles Clark wrote the
Smeeton's autobiography, High Endeavours.The Smeetons initiated the swift fox reintroduction program in Canada in 1972, six years before the species was declared extirpated in Canada. All animals held at the CEI are destined for reintroduction. They are not maintained for public exhibit, trade, or sale. Over the 26 years of its existence the CEI has also been an integral part of the Canadian Wildlife Service's Trumpeter swan (Cygnus bucinnator) and wood bison (B.b.athabascae) reintroduction programs, as well as playing a key role in the Canadian swift fox reintroduction program. The CEI is unique in that it holds the world's longest established (1972), largest (20 pairs), and only captive breeding colony of swift fox. These animals are bred solely for reintroduction as part of the CEI's ecosystem restoration program. Internationally, as species and habitat vanish, the concept of ecosystem restoration through the reintroduction of indigenous flora and fauna, is gaining greater and greater prominence. The preservation of habitat without those species, which made that habitat a viable whole, is a sterile exercise.
The CEI also serves as a referee for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
