Have you found an injured or orphaned wild animal in need of help?
phone: (403) 932-5632

or
e-mail: cei@nucleus.com

Who Protects Wildlife?

Everyone thinks that some agency, probably a government funded one,  protects and cares for wild animals in distress. This is not the case at all!  Although in Canada and in the U.S. wildlife is legally protected by Federal and Provincial (or State) agencies, no government agency is responsible for the rescue, treatment and release of injured or orphaned wildlife. Protection varies from protection under fur-bearer regulations ( which means the animal is protected as a potential source of income for trappers), protection under hunting/fishing regulations (the animal is protected as a potential source of income or recreation for guides,sportsmen/women, hunters), or protected  as an endangered species ( where protection for the species and its habitat should be stringent, but quite often isn't*).  The government agencies are in the business of managing wildlife, with particular emphasis on wildlife which can bring in an income ( from hunting or fishing licenses, for example). Government agencies are not in the business of rescuing or caring for wildlife in distress. 

In the U.S. , which has an Act protecting Endangered species, this Act will protect both the endangered species and its habitat.  Canada’s Endangered Species protection Act is called the Species At Risk Act, or SARA for short. SARA was proclaimed in 2002.  Under SARA species are protected to varying degrees by the Federal government (migratory species and species occurring on Federal lands). Under SARA, the possibility exists that Species at Risk occurring within provincial jurisdiction  could be protected under the federal legislation, but only if the provincial governments have agreed that they will work with the federal government of protect a specific species under SARA legislation..

Government protection, federal or provincial, of wildlife does not cover the rescue, care, and release of injured and orphaned wildlife. No federal or provincial money is directed towards wildlife rehabilitation in Canada.    Government does issue permits  to wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facilities in Canada and the wildlife received at wildlife rehabilitation facilities for treatment remains the “property’ of the provincial government.

In Alberta there is an umbrella organization which is the voice of Alberta Wildlife rehabilitation. This organization is called  the Alberta Wildlife Rehabilitators Association, AWRA. If you are interested, and would like to belong to the organization, check out their website.  

The Need for Rehabilitation

Opinion poll after opinion poll has shown that between 81% -90% of the Canadian public cares about wilderness and wildlife.  This is supported by the increase in facilities offering wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. In general, wildlife rescue facilities are not a part of the Humane Society network ( the humane society and the S.P.C.A. are largely responsible for the care of injured, abandoned, or mistreated domestic animals... and that is a huge responsibility).  The need for Wildlife rehabilitation is growing as people come to value wildlife more, encounter it more, and, as result of ever growing habitat changes, find more wild animals in distress and want to help them. 

 

The CEI is over one hour from a city, deep in the country, so anyone finding an animal really has to go out of their way to get the animal to us, or to the veterinarians which work with us. Even so, we still get a lot of injured and orphaned wildlife brought in to us.

SHORT HISTORIES AND PICTURES OF SOME OF THE RESCUED ANIMALS WHO HAVE BEEN BROUGHT IN TO THE CEI. 

All the pictures that you will see on the page are of injured or orphaned wildlife that has been rescued and treated at this facility... or, in the case of the swift foxes, bred at this facility.  The CEI does not exhibit, sell, or trade the animals which it houses and makes no money from them. This makes public participation, through fundraising, financial contribution, or volunteering, of vital importance to the success of our wildlife rescue program.

Jemima and Juneau - came to the CEI in May, 1999.  Their mother had been killed on the highway, near the town of EDSON. 8 to 10 days after they had been orphaned they were collected by the Fish & Wildlife branch and sent down to us.   they are determined never to go hungry again!  We have enclosed a large   2 and 1/2 acre natural area full of trees for them to live in over the next 18 months, and built a 10 ft diameter circular  straw-bale construction igloo- like house for them to hibernate in. This enclosure, and the "igloo" has proven to be a great success.  Jemima and Juneau went to bed on December 16th, 1999, and got up on March 21st 20000.  We hope that we will be able to successfully reintroduce them into their natural wild habitat, as we did with their predecessor, Paddington (see below). We will post more pictures of them as they grow, and information on their release.

Juneau and jemima were our 1999 orphans, since their successful rehabilitation release, we have received, raised and released a number of orphaned bears for more information check the Bearupdate page  of this website.

I know they are sometimes very smelly, but skunks are an extremely useful, unique, and even amusing species. We do get a lot of skunks in for rehabilitation and release.  They are omnivores and quite self sufficient little individuals and our survival successes for rehabilitated skunks is very high

Skunks, like otter, marten, mink, weasel, wolverine, fisher and badger are members of the Mustelia or Mustelid family. As a whole the species which fall within the group, are bold, fascinating, amusing, and little understood by mankind.  Because Mustelids are naturally courageous, when you receive them as orphans they are easy going and fairly unafraid.  This makes it much easier to work with them than it is with many more naturally timid species.

Most mustelid species are fairly uncommon in heavily populated areas, so they do not come in to the CEI in large numbers.  Ideally, with orphaned wildlife, one really wants to have more than one orphan of the same species so that the orphans recognize themselves for what they are, moose, or coyotes, or raccoons..and don’t grow up thinking that they belong to another species because they have never encountered their own! But sometimes raising a single orphan is unavoidable

OTTERS   The CEI has taken in, raised and released many otters.This is a story of three of them:

These otters came to us at less than 48 hours old. The mother had given birth to them under someone's house and the householder didn't want the otter family there, so he moved them.  Baby otters are very helpless, their eyes don't open until they are almost a month old. So with a homeless, helpless family, exposed at the water's edge, the parents had no alternative other than desert the cubs. The orphans were brought to us. Like bears, otters stay with their parents for eighteen months, but in that time they have to learn swim and to hunt live fish.  Our otters, the ones in the picture, stayed with us for 18 months. With the complete run of the CEI's 160 acres of woodland, prairie, and sloughs, they soon learned to hunt fish, ducks, and frogs in the sloughs and hunt mice and pocket-gophers on the prairie. They met other predators, like coyotes, and after 18 months were ready for release. Again the British Columbia Fish & Wildlife Branch helped us out with permits and the release site selected for them was the same as for Paddington. We released them successfully in September, when the salmon were running.  Luckily for us a retired American Marine Colonel, Colonel Dan Smith, arranged for their release and flew them down to the west coast, then into the release site using a Twin Otter airplane!  THANK YOU COL. DAN SMITH!

BEAVER: This is the story of the first baby beaver to come to the CEI. He came as result of a policy in the City of Calgary to eradicate beavers living within the city along the banks of the Bow River. His parent's lodge was destroyed, and he was made homeless at a few weeks old and weighing less than a pound. Some kind people found him and took him to the 11Ave.S.E. emergency animal clinic, and from them he came to us.  He was so small and made the most pathetic little noises, like a human baby, everyone's heart went out to him.  I had to telephone a lady in Illinois, who had had a lot of success in raising baby beavers, to get the recipe for his formula.  Part of this recipe included pureed willow and we broke about 4 food processors trying to puree willow!  Finally we were given a commercial food processor, the kind used in a Bar,  that didn't break down and pureed willow branches perfectly. 

But you can see why we have a very long wish list...we never know what animal is going to arrive on the doorstep and what it is going to require to survive.  Beavers, like otters and bears, also stay with their parents for eighteen months, and this being our first baby beaver, we didn't have an overwintering place built for him.

However, he took matters into his own hands (or teeth), started logging, and constructed a beaver lodge inside the Main building at the CEI. As a result, we spent that winter working around a great pile of willow and poplar with straw and mud filling in any gaps between the logs. Our cat, Zeus, was particularly put out about this!   The following year the beaver went to live on the CEI sloughs, and then, as is natural for beavers, he moved away to find himself a wife.  Since then, we have had many baby beavers and have built a special pond for them to overwinter in.

Badgers Page

THANK YOU TO THE FOUNDATIONS WHICH HAVE HELPED US!