March Break 2008

All Kids Visit for FREE over the March Break...

It is time to give back a little to our supportive visitors so? just like it says above ALL KIDS ARE FREE over the break from March 8th until the 16th. We will be open from 12 noon till 5 pm each day and there will be 'Meet the Creature' sessions at 1pm and 3 pm. With a bit of luck and a little help from mother nature, our bear Kootenay will wake up over the break (he has in past years) and we will get to see him reunite with his best friend, our cougar Kokanee.

All children must be accompanied by a paying adult and this offer does not apply to organized groups.

Creature Feature - Fisher

"They are killing our cats"
"These vicious animals should be shot on sight"

Sadly, these are words we hear all too often about the fisher. Not too many years ago you may have heard the same things about the wolf. The vilification of individual species of wildlife has been going on for as long as so-called civilized society has existed. It usually occurs when there is little known about an animal and when that animal happens to be a predator.

This fisher is a member of the weasel family and is definitely a predator. It ranges in adult size from 2.3-8.6kg (5-19lbs), and being sexually dimorphic, the males are much larger than the females. While they are proficient hunters, they also eat a range of vegetation, eggs, insects, seeds and nuts. Unlike it's name suggests, the fisher is not a fishing animal like it's cousins the otter and mink. This nomadic and opportunistic animal spends most of it's time in the forest and that is where it can find it's favorite prey; hare, birds, squirrels, rabbits, mice, voles and porcupines.

Fishers live alone except during breeding season (when males will service several females within their range) and when females are rearing their young. They breed in early spring and have delayed implantation, where the egg floats in the uterus, only to implant itself for development the following winter when conditions are right for pregnancy. Usually three young are born in the spring, in a hollow tree den and remain with their mother until they are 3-4 months old.

The fisher has been living in the forests of Canada for longer than most people think but did experience a population decline as a result of over-trapping for fur. You may not have heard of a fisher fur coat but you probably have heard of an American sable fur coat, they are one in the same. With the decline in the popularity of fisher fur, came the resulting rebound of the fisher population. When a species of animal seems to all of a sudden appear on the scene, people get concerned. It is a good thing the fisher did make a comeback when it did, because the population of porcupine in some areas of the province was growing out of control, devastating the forests. Most predators will not regularly dine on the porcupine, that is with the exception of the fisher. They are incredibly well adapted for killing the prickly rodent. The fisher has swiveling back ankle joints (much like a squirrel), semi-retractable claws, strong jaws and lightning fast reflexes. Those physical attributes coupled with their intelligence and tree-climbing ability allows the fisher to chase a porcupine up a tree, pass it, turn around and climb down the tree face-first to attack the porcupine's unprotected face. They also have the speed and agility to attack a porcupine on the ground, darting in and out, biting the face and eventually disorienting the porcupine enough to flip it over to get to it's delicate underside.

So what about eating cats? let's put it this way... imagine you have not had a meal in 2 days...would you spend all day wondering around the forest looking for the odd seed and running around trying to catch a grouse?...or... would you go through the nearest drive through and fill your belly fast?

Domestic animals and/or pets provide many wild predators with a meal alternative that is easy to catch (cats will often walk up to and greet a would be predator) and high in nutrition (our domestic animals are well fed). The fisher is an efficient predator and will kill and eat whatever it can overpower, with the expense of as little energy as possible. So in short... cats, small dogs, rabbits, chickens, etc should not be accessible to wild animals and if they are, they will eventually be discovered and nabbed by either a fisher, great-horned owl, hawk, coyote, fox, otter or other hungry wild animal. It is our responsibility to protect the animals in our care, not a starving wild animals responsibility to avoid eating them for survival.

Here at the centre we have cared for several fishers and have found them to be intelligent, energetic, strong, agile and beautiful creatures. Currently we have a fisher that is not yet on display. His name is Mike Fisher (those of you who are hockey fans will appreciate his name) and he was found as an orphan in the Ottawa area when he was very young. He was taken to a wildlife rehabilitation centre for future release but despite their best efforts they were unable to keep Mike wild enough for release. It is our hope to raise enough funds to build an exhibit for Mike to make him more comfortable in captivity and to help us in our effort to dispel myths about this amazing animal for our many park visitors. If you think you can help us to better accommodate Mike please contact us at the centre. We would like to extend a special thank you to Vern and Lucille Fawcett for sponsoring the care of Mike for the year after reading about him in our last newsletter.

A Need for Laws

People are always complaining about a need for stronger animal protection legislation, so it unusual that the title of this article is not about strengthening laws but in fact about creating laws. It is shocking but true that our province does not have ANY laws with regard to the keeping of exotic animals by ANYONE. In Ontario it is perfectly legal, according to our province, for any person, even you, to have a jaguar, tiger, elephant, cobra, whale, etc. Most provinces in Canada have provincial laws that don't allow private persons to keep large or potentially dangerous animals. Some places even stipulate how exotic animals are to be housed and cared for? ..but not Ontario. This giant gap in legislation has left it up to individual municipalities to create exotic animal by-laws. Also shocking, many municipalities in Ontario don't know it is up to them to create and implement an exotic animal ownership by-law. When our centre first moved to Gravenhurst we called the by-law department to find out if any laws had been created and were alarmed to hear there were none and more alarmed that the town didn't even know it was a municipal responsibility.

As a result of this messy lack of laws there are a huge number of back yard exotic animal collectors in our province. Unfortunately, most private people, even those with good intentions, are not equipped to properly house and care for exotic animals. We know this first hand because we get called when cruelty charges are being laid for the mistreatment of animals like wallabies, tigers, lions, etc. It is often our job to assist the OSPCA in the capture and temporary housing of the victims. We have assisted in the seizure of literally hundreds of poorly housed and cared for creatures. Some have been permanently damaged and some have been beyond saving, resulting in their euthanasia. We also get called when a dangerous animal escapes. This happened just two weeks ago in our area when a full grown black jaguar escaped a local back yard zoo, was found killing a dog and was shot.

We spend a great deal of time urging municipalities to enact by-laws, but more ideally, this problem requires a blanket provincial law. There are many special interest organizations like ourselves, the OSPCA, etc. pushing provincial government to act and it is now more important than ever for the public to join us in the push. We encourage you to get involved for the sake of all of the creatures that are currently crammed into small spaces and are being fed the wrong food and for the people who live in and around unsafely housed animals.

Please write to the premier:

Premier Dalton McGinty
Main Legislative Building,
Queens Park, Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A1

Or your own elected member of parliament and urge them to move forward with laws that protect captive exotic animals and regulate businesses and individuals who keep exotic animals.

Other News At the Centre

Our centre was involved in another wild animal seizure last fall (we mentioned it our last newsletter). We assisted the Ministry of Natural Resources in removing 8 creatures that were illegally kept by an individual without a provincial license. Permanent credible homes were found for all eight creatures and they are all now happy, healthy and well cared for.

We have had quite a few animals sponsored this winter so a very big Thank you goes out to

• Deane Cameron-for once again committing funds to his favorite girl, Clover the groundhog

• Vern and Lucille Fawcett-for sponsoring a newcomer here at the centre, Mike the fisher

• Keith and Marion Hope-for sponsoring Renard our young red fox

• Cedar Grove Lodge for sponsoring our feline duo, Rufus the bobcat and Yeti the lynx

• Matt and Melanie Wolgemuth for sponsoring our little senior citizen kestrel named Punk

• Emily Black and her mom Margaret for continuing to sponsor handfuls of reptiles and amphibians (your sponsored creature list would take up the rest of our news section)

• Vacation Time Realty for sponsoring our handsome toad Viber

• Indio Arney-for sponsoring Sam our 10 year old snapping turtle

• Clayton, Rory and Oscar Wise-for sponsoring Fergus the HUGE bullfrog

• Daniel, Kate and Mark Higgs-for sponsoring Hoppy the hoppy greenfrog

• Heather Carscadden-for sponsoring Lily the stinkpot or musk turtle

• High Park Centennial Montessori School-for sponsoring Copper the very colourful fox snake

• Joel, Neil and Samantha Korcsmaros and Paul and Fiona de Biasi-for adopting slim Skim the milk snake

Last summer our centre director Jody Gienow and a few of our resident animals got together with the Canadian Wildlife Federation and a team of film makers and started work on the new 'Hinterland Who's Who Tube' series. It will be aired on the web, on t.v. and used in schools. The first one, all about Pollinators, has been completed and will be seen very soon at www.hww.ca.