Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society  

As the population of the Comox Valley and Northern Vancouver Island grows, and with new transportation routes opening up the wilderness of the island, more and more visitors are venturing into the remote areas. This increases their impact on the wildlife. Our mandate is to lessen this impact. Over the last 4 years we have been concentrating on the problems involved with the logistics of this increased caseload. With corporate support from several environmentally friendly organizations we have invested over $53,000.00 in public education, vehicle acquisition and facility upgrading and building. We now have over 1200 square feet of cage area in addition to 30 to 40 portable cages. We feel this is adequate to support case loads in excess of 500 per year that is becoming the norm.

We are now turning our attention to the other part of our mandate that is to educate the public on wildlife issues. At the present time we are putting on presentations to local schools, youth groups other concerned people in the Comox Valley and Campbell River area. Historically this represents 50% to 65% of the our cases load. The other 35% plus comes from the more remote area of Vancouver Island. It is these remote areas we would like to take our education program to. Educating the public in on what to do when they come across injured wildlife. Help them determine if assistance is needed or if this is a natural occurrence. Make our presentation available to the more remote schools and local groups.

The MERU consists of a 23’ trailer that can be towed by our Jeep Cherokee (donated by BC Hydro in 1998) to provide storage and sleeping accommodations for the personnel involved, a 12’X12’ canopy and a display board for our public education display. This display can be accompanied by a live bird demonstration. This display and demonstration (dubbed "The Road Show") can be performed at the end of the week in the schools followed by a Saturday performance in the community to reach the maximum amount of people.

During the busy time of year for us, May to August when the schools are closed the trailer will be parked at our facility in Merville and used to house internship student that come on a six week rotation to gain valuable hands on experience dealing with wildlife. The trailer will also be made available to scientific or research group that needs a mobile base of operation. It can become a coordination center for dealing with wildlife emergencies including oil spills and earth quakes.

This multi purpose unit proudly and prominently displays the logos of all the corporate sponsors as well as our logo and contact information. It greatly enhances our ability to fulfill our mandate to help wildlife and educate the public.