Preserve Post - Fall 2014

Quarterly Publication of the Yukon Wildlife Preserve Operating Society
Volume 9, Issue 2
Fall 2014
In this Issue...
2 Wow, What a
Summer!
3 Babies
4 Definitely a Fox
5 Outfoxed!
Canadians in Nature
6 A New Home
Back to the Wild
7 Project Quail
Fall
Edition
8 The Back Page

fom the Executive Director...
Wow, What a Summer!
I am consistently amazed and exhilarated to witness
and experience all that goes on at the Wildlife
Preserve. The level of passion that literally exudes from
the pores of each and everyone associated with the
Preserve is palpable. Once on-site you can literally feel
it in the air!
If anything was required to verify this passion, our
“Definitely a Fox” campaign blew all of us out of
the water! What an invigorating experience. The
community support for our initiative to raise funds
to build a new red fox exhibit was nothing less than
stellar. With the help of consistent media attention
(thank you media!), participation in our annual Run
Wild event eclipsed last years’ with a 667% increase in
participation. We didn’t see that coming!
And it gets better, despite our less than friendly
summer weather, July turned out to be our busiest
month “ever”, with August coming in a close second.
Our Nature Camps were at 100% capacity and our
spring school programming was so successful that
the Department of Education is supporting us in
introducing a new winter school programme.
To all of our well-wishers, supporters and volunteers,
all of us directly involved with the Preserve would like
to stand up and thank you for your ongoing, and at
times amazing, support you provide “your” world-class
Wildlife Preserve. It is truly appreciated!
Above: Lindsay adds in the $2,500 raised at the Run Wild
event.
Be it the comments our valued visitors leave on Trip
Advisor, the feedback we receive from Facebook, the
smiles and enthusiasm we witness daily from our
International Interns, staff & management team, or
the eagerness of our Board and working committee
members – it really is a very unique and extraordinary
place to be associated with.
Best regards,
Cover Photos: Bottom: He’s definitely a fox! Middle: The development
of the Red Fox trom his arrival in Spring, 2014. Top:
Views of fall at the Preserve.
2
Volume 9, Issue 2

Wildlife Update...
A lot of babies
If you visited the Yukon Wildlife
Preserve this summer you probably
noticed a lot of babies! We had
a bumper year, but it wasn’t by
accident.
Veterinarian and Curator Dr.
Maria Hallock ensures we have
healthy populations. That means
she needs to create a good diversity
of genetics, gender and age. There’s
also outside demands to consider.
For example, our Lynx are bred
regularly because our wild-born
male has valuable genetics.
Dr. Hallock will work
with the Canada Lynx
Coordinator for the Species
Survival Plan to place three
of this year’s four Lynx
kittens.
So what’s next? For next
spring, Dr. Hallock says we
can expect to see babies
from Mule Deer, Woodland
Caribou, Bison, Thinhorn
Sheep and
perhaps Lynx
and Elk.
Of course she
can’t make any
guarantees
because these
are animals with
minds and bodies
of their own!
Fall 2014
Clockwise from top left: Babies of 2014: Mule Deer, Lynx,
Bison, Mountain Goat, Thinhorn Sheep and Muskox
3

Definitely a Fox
We can’t stop saying thank-you! We
were blown away by the support we
received during the “Definitely A
Fox” campaign. This month-long
fundraising campagin came to a
successful conclusion on August
31 st , 2014 with more than $11,000
raised in cash and more than
$8,000 in in-kind donations.
Just in case you missed it, this
all started with a little puppy
found south of Whitehorse by
the Shopland family. Although
we weren’t sure at first, it turned
out it was definitely a red fox. The
story made international news in
Spring 2014. Preserve staff raised
the fox and started looking for a
permanent home among our fellow
CAZA institutions.
Foxes are highly adaptable and
hand-raising meant it would not be
releasable back to the wild. The best
option was to keep it, but the only
way was if we could raise enough
money to build a permanent home.
We saw an incredible outpouring
of support. Our annual Run Wild
fun run and fundraising saw more
than 120 partipants out to support
the fox!
Donations just kept coming in.
“It was bonkers.” Says Lindsay
Caskenette, Manager of Visitor
Services, “So amazing and
heartwarming to see how the
community rallied around the fox.
We couldn’t be happier.”
Thank you,
With your generous
donations this Yukon fox
definitely has a home right
here in the Yukon!
Our many thanks to:
Willow Printers
Cathway Water Resources
Olsen Construction
Aasman
Laura Williamson
Uli Nowlan
Megan Haddock
Ingrid Fawcus 4
Doris Hansen
Sylvia Blumenschein
Hallock Family
Constance Hurtig
David Parfitt
Doug Bryant
Laura Carlson
Ruth Gotthardt
Dave Mossop
Steven Smyth and Family
Arctic Range Adventures Ltd.
Renate and Shakir Alwarid
Fatima Thackoorie
Carrie Lynn Griffith
Jinath Hyder
Shannon Jacobs
Sarah Macklon
Meghan Larivee
Tempest Emery
Amanda Cann
Steve Parker
Sara Shwadchuck
Jill Romagnoli
Peggy Dorosz
Kari Latka
Kim Thompson
Greg Meredith
Lori Zazulak
Nadyne Thibault
Carmen Smith
Jill KF
Jessica Woodhouse
Elaine Flook
Missy Follwell
And to the many anonymous
donations, to the names
we've undoubtedly missed, to
the media and many people
who helped share this story,
to the YWP staff donating
their time to build a new
home, and to all those who
Ran Wild on Aug. 19th!
Volume 9, Issue 2

Outfoxed!
Education and Programming...
Foxes are nearly everywhere -
literally and figuratively. They
are found across North America,
Europe, northern Africa, the
Middle East, Russia, Asia and most
recently Australia.
Foxes are featured in literature as
far back as Aesop’s Fables (more
than 2,000 years ago) that tell of
the fox’s adaptability. Even the
word “shenanigan” may come
from an Irish phrase meaning “I
play the fox”. In film we see foxes
in Disney’s 1981 “The Fox and
the Hound” that touches on the
troubled relationahips between
humans and foxes.
They are both revered and despised
for their cunning and adaptability.
It’s no accident they are one of the
more common wildlife species
encountered in Whitehorse. Cities
bring danger from traffic, other
animals and people, but great
benefits like an abundance of small
rodents like mice and voles.
Their close proximity, attractive
look and inquisitive behaviour
make them tempting to feed and
take on as wild pets. Unfortunatley
these relationships often end in
conflict. Foxes learn quickly and
quickly become a “nuisance”.
We all lose in human-wildlife
conflicts. A fox may lose it’s home
or in the worst case, it’s life. We
lose a beautiful animal, the rodent
control services it provides, and the
chance to enjoy the full potential of
our wilderness city.
Oh, and then there’s Ylvis’s song
“What does the fox say?” If you
haven’t heard, find out here: http://
goo.gl/9w6QU4
Further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Foxes_in_popular_culture
http://animaldiversity.ummz.
umich.edu/accounts/Vulpes_
vulpes/
Canadians in Nature
The 2012 Canadian’s in Nature
survey was released this past
spring.
Yukoners connection with nature
stands out in the report. For 84% of
Yukoners, access to nature played
a part in our decisions on where
to live - that’s more than any other
province or territory (the Canadian
average was 50%). Yukoners (along
with NWT and Nunavut) also
reported that we’re feeling the
effects of loss of ecosystem services
(the benefits our environment
provides when it’s working well).
Human-wildlife conflict also
stood out, with 36% of Yukoners
reporting a conflict (above the
22% national average). While we
can boast about our connection to
nature, we have room to grow when
it comes to living with wildlife!
To read the full report, go to: www.
biodivcanada.ca/
Fall 2014
5

Getting the job done...
A New Home
Construction is underway on a new fox home, thanks
to the incredible fundraising of the Definitely a Fox
campaign. The new space is located across the road
from the Arctic Foxes for easy comparison.
Posts are being put into place before the ground
freezes. It’s challenging terrain to work in, but it makes
for a very intersting space for the Red Fox. Braces will
go in to keep the posts straight and a 10’ high chainlink
fence will follow.
Back to the Wild
International Intern
Blandine
Dupont released
this rehabilitated
American Kestrel
in September, 2014.
The kestrel had
recovered from a
broken leg. Blandine
will soon
return to France
after 4 months here.
Thank-you for your
dedication and hard
work Blandine!
6
Volume 9, Issue 2

Project Quail
This summer, the Preserve
received $5,000 in funding
from the Small Change
Fund for Project Quail.
The Preserve has raised
quail for food for several
years now. But, as the
rehabilitation centre
continues to grow, finding
sustainable sources of food
for our carnivores has become
increasingly challenging. “With
the older equipment we saw
only about 20% fertile eggs,”
explains Veterinarian and
curater Dr. Maria Hallock. “It
was complicated and created a
lot of clutter.” The old machines
tended to create significant
Fall and Winter Staff
Logan Sands
Hayley Wood
Misha Donohoe
Maureen Peterson
Fall 2014
amount of dust due to the use
of sawdust. “We were spending
a lot of time cleaning up.”
Dr. Hallock knew it wasn’t
as effective as it needed to be
and was neither efficient, nor
environmentally responsible
due to the significant amount
of waste. The $5,000 grant
allowed her to invest in new
equipment for raising quail.
The new system includes a
combination of technology
that is compact, easy to clean
and will create considerable
less waste. It included breeding
pens, an incubator, a hatcher
and a brooder/grow pen.
Left: Breeding Pen
Above: Incubator
Alina Dragomir
Garry Njootli
Kaitlyn Dorosz
Yukon
Wildlife
Preserve
Full-time Staff
Greg Meredith, Executive Director
Randy Hallock, Operations Director
Dr. Maria Hallock, Curator
Jake Paleczny, Director of Programming
& Education
Lindsay Caskenette, Manager of Visitor
Services
Daniel Jolkowski, Animal Care & Operations
Assistant
Justine Benjamin, Animal Care & Operations
Assistant
Board of Directors
Jim Boyde, President
W.J. (Bill) Klassen, Vice-President
Dave Mossop, Past President
Nona Ilieva, Treasurer
Laura Carlson, Chair of Education Committee
and Fund-Raising Committee
Alexandra de Jong Westman, Chair of
Animal Care Committee
Michael Kokiw, Director at Large
Ranj Pillai, Director at Large
Sharon A. Katz, Director at Large
Allan Koprowsky, Non-voting Member -
Environment Yukon
Darrell March, Non-voting Member -
Environment Yukon
Blake Rogers, Non-voting Member
7

Above: The Community Development Fund enabled barrier free landscaping upgrades around the learning centre this summer.
Who
am I?
When to Visit
Fall Hours (to October 6 th )
10:30am to 6:00pm: Closed Wednesdays
Guided Bus Tours at 12pm, 2pm & 4pm
Winter Hours
10:30am to 4:00pm: Friday to Sunday
Guided Bus Tours at 12pm & 2pm
Extra hours over Christmas!
Call 456-7300 to reserve a seat in advance.
Credits
Writing: Jake Paleczny, Greg Meredith.
Photos and illustrations: Jake Paleczny, Daniel Jolkowski, Justine
Benjamin, Lindsay Caskenette, Uli Nowlan, GOF Breeding
Technology Equipment and the Yukon Wildlife Preserve.
8
Walk, bring your bike or cross country ski anytime
while open!
Curious about the latest news? Visit facebook.
com/yukonwildlife or call 456-7300.
Printed on 100% Recycled Paper
Volume 9, Issue 2