The Cochrane Ecological Institute (CEI) is gearing up to celebrate 50 years of helping wildlife in the new year.
“I keep thinking things should slow down and they don’t,” said Clio Smeeton, president of the non-profit wildlife conservation, rescue, rehab and research institution.
“We got our first licence to rescue, treat and release all species of indigenous injured and orphaned wildlife in 1967 … we were the very first non-government organization licensed to do this work.”
Miles and Beryl Smeeton, Clio’s parents, founded the institute in the ‘70s. According to the institute’s website, the Smeeton’s were internationally known as “sailors, mountaineers and explorers.”
Since then, the institute has become known for saving moose calves – Gillies, the now two-year-old moose and Ferdinand, the calf rescued only a couple of weeks old earlier this summer – while also rescuing a wide variety of wildlife in the hopes of rehabilitating and reintroducing the animals back to the wild.
A unique feature of the organization is it has world’s only captive breeding colony for swift fox – the purpose of which is to reintroduce the animals to the wild. The institute also played a major role in the trumpeter swan and wood bison reintroduction programs.
“My father, Miles, wrote a book about the start-up of our organization called Moose Magic which kids in the local schools used to read … he wrote another one too, about the swift foxes called Completely Foxed. It’s all old Cochrane history now,” Clio explained.
In addition to rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife, the institute also acts as wildlife education ambassadors, welcoming volunteers, offering guided research projects for Ph.D. students, and offering presentations and field trips for students.
With a busy 2016, the institute is gearing up for an even busier 2017.
After the “sold out success” inaugural Wildlife, Wilderness and Human Interaction Symposium in 2016, staff are preparing for the second annual symposium in March with the 2017 theme, Finding Common Ground.
“Our annual series of symposiums are not intended to be fundraisers for the charity – instead they are break-even events, designed to inform as well as entertain the general public,” organizers explained.
The institute is taking on another major venture to celebrate 50 years – the Conserve and Learn project. The project will include rescuing injured wild birds and providing experiential curricula-based educational programs for schools in the Cochrane and Calgary area.
Organizer explained they are going to build an aviary specifically designed for cedar and bohemian waxwings, and publish an educational handbook about the waxwings. Cost estimate for the aviary is $6,000 with and $2,500 for the cost of research, photography, recordings, writing printing and publishing. The project will kick off in 2017.
“We appreciate everyone’s help,” Smeeton said.
The registered charity accepts donations year round.
The CEI is located approximately 30 minutes northwest of Cochrane, along Township Road 280. For more information, go to ceinst.org.
