Cory’s Wildlife Sanctuary; Conservation & Research Center
A project proposal by Corinne Waheed
January 2016
The Project: Cory’s Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) will offer a solution to the lack of conservation efforts for mammals made in and around Montreal. There are currently no wildlife rehabilitation centers for orphaned or injured mammals in Quebec. The project involves a large vacant lot to be enclosed by a tall fence and protected to ensure continued natural biodiversity. The park will include a free ranging wildlife sanctuary for recuperating or maturing wildlife species as well as large enclosures for selected endangered exotic wildlife species for breeding programs. There will be three important facilities attached to the sanctuary; a small wildlife health clinic capable of receiving injured or orphaned mammals around the clock and help treat, and care for them; the McGill Mammal Research Center, where biologists will conduct research and analyses on wildlife behavior, genetics and survival/health in captivity and post release; and finally the welcome center to greet visitors and sell tickets/ souvenirs, next to where Sunny’s Café, a lunch and coffee diner, and the Rainbow Show Room, a presentation room for educational and recreational purposes, will be located.
The Plan: After conducting the careful examination of several aspects of various prospect location using GIS, the location selected was 1515 route Hardwood in Vaudreuil-Dorion. If accepted this sanctuary can be known as Harwood Mammal Sanctuary (HMS).
The Breeding Center: In order to specialize on certain species, the breeding program will focus its efforts on only a few selected species which meet various criteria: they will be captive bread species obtained from similar breeding programs in zoos, currently endangered with declining populations in the wild, and capable of thriving in even the coldest Canadian winters provided the proper construction of habitats, adequate diet and health care. For example, the first species to be bread could be a couple of red pandas, then perhaps snow leopards, and if all goes well and funding allows it, the popular giant pandas, on loan from China. Canadian species could include polar bears and arctic foxes, for example.
These animals are not only to be mascots for conservation and major tourist attractions near the island of Montreal, but also subjects of research on behaviors, mental and physical health, and improving conditions for breeding endangered wildlife in captivity. Selected, mature individuals with good genes are to be released in their native lands when the time is right. They will continue to be protected and evaluated every step of the way. Breeders and zoologists will become familiarized with each species and therefore very informative in group presentations at each habitat. Friendly, well trained animals may even be available for private portraits with visitors upon donations to the sanctuary’s research.
The Research Facility: The McGill Research facility will be primarily run by professors and graduates in wildlife biology at McGill University. The main focus of the research center is to evaluate the conditions in which animals are kept in order to maximize their enrichment benefits and study the genetic composition of offspring to determine if they can be stronger and smarter than their parents, to be become more adapted for survival in the wild if selected to be released. Besides conducting important research on the animals present in the wildlife breeding program, such as behavior observations, mental well-being, laboratory analyses (blood, stool, urine), and both nutritional and environmental requirements, they will be designing a new method of wildlife tagging for the purpose of tracking animals post releases/ reintroductions. Through the breeding center they will analyze reproductive success and growth rates of offspring.
Animals will be tagged with brightly colored ear tags to allow easy recognition, and to show hunters and poachers that they are protected. A special task force will be in charge of designing and testing a new sub-dermal GPS microchip to track the movement of released or reintroduced mammals to replace large bulky radio telemetry collars which could have detrimental consequences on their survivorship in the wild. This microchip can be implanted using a wide needled syringe, and can be detected either with a manual scanning device or using solar charged micro batteries and a GPS signal accurate within 15 meters.
The Wildlife Health Clinic: This small clinic will have an examination room, a surgery room, and a few different sized enclosures to temporarily hold mammals during treatments are required cage rest. It will employ animal health technicians, veterinarian medicine students, an on-call veterinarian and offer volunteer positions for students exploring the field of wildlife health. Once animals have either recuperated or matured, they will be released first in the enclosed wildlife sanctuary to be evaluated of their survival skills prior to release. In case of emergencies, or if animals require surgical procedures or to be humanely let go if impossible to save, a veterinarian will be available as needed.
Animal health technicians will be the first responders when injured or orphaned animals are found or retrieved on the road, around homes or in the forest. All staff and volunteer members are to be vaccinated against rabies and extremely cautious when handling wildlife. Strict protocol and rules will be implemented and followed to ensure security and safety at all times. An intensive training process will precede any potential wildlife handling to ensure that all employees are comfortable and capable to work with wildlife. Volunteers will help the team by cleaning enclosures and cages, preparing food and medication, as well as setting up the supplies for treatments and procedures.
The Sanctuary Café: Sunny’s Café will not only be a meeting spot for visitors and students alike, where they can enjoy healthy lunches like soups, salads, sandwiches and more with coffee, tea, juice, or smoothies for an affordable price, but also in the presence of some remarkable exotic wildlife species. The walls of the café will double up as glass enclosures for animal companions native from around the world but bred in captivity for domestication. The café’s mascot, named Sunny, is a sun conure, or sun parakeet originally from South America, that is very social and intelligent. She loves to dance to music and to be admired by visitors. Her neighbor will be an Australian rainbow lorikeet, also commonly kept in captivity as another very colorful and remarkable pet bird. The other wall of the café will house reptiles; a leopard carpet python snake native to South Africa and a Caribbean rainbow gecko lizard.
There will be one restaurant manager as well as nutrition student interns and volunteers working in Sunny’s Café which will open before the sanctuary each day. All staff and volunteers will receive discounts on meals and drinks. The animal health technicians and wildlife technicians will help take care of feeding the pets and cleaning their enclosures when needed. There will also be many books and magazines available to anyone wishing to read more on birds and reptiles around the world, as well as the evolutionary history of these animals.
See my Wildlife Rehabilitation page for details on my Critter Care Wildlife Society Internship!
