Mountain View Wildlife Conservation Centre

News Highlights

October 22, 2009

Dear Gala friends and supporters:

What a great Gala we had last Friday evening! Thanks to everyone who made it happen!

Kirk Morrison won the 12-Day Safari in Kenya. - Kirk, we are all green with envy!

A full-house of over 300 friends and supporters of the Mountain View Conservation Centre Society were in attendance at the Langley Coast Hotel & Cascades Casino, tasting delicious foods from around the world, looking at the displays about our conservation programs, listening and watching African music and dance, all of this contributing to a really enjoyable evening.

We hit all our targets to make the evening a success, and to help us with seed-funding for our new visitor centre, our first MultiMedia Theatre legacy chairs were auctioned off, one of them to our dear friends Bob & Sheila Puls, who will now forever be remembered for their good works with the Langley Naturalists. Also, after many requests, we have extended the Gala Special, a combined donation package of an animal adoption and a tour of the Conservatory.

Applications & information about this offer will be made available here soon.

They would make great Christmas presents for your family and friends.

Once again, thank you everyone for attending and for all your support.

See you next year!

Yours truly,
Gord Blankstein,
President and Ceo

Gala Organising Committee:
Malcolm Weatherston Tel:604-728-2080
Tara Sadler,
Celia Durst,
Lynn Raffen.

September 19, 2009

New printable species information sheets available.

It has taken a while but we have finally been able to update our website with new printable species data sheets (pdf's). Many new species now are complete, and new photos and updated information is available for some of our other species.

September 16, 2009

Dr. Greg Rasmussen Presents A Lecture On The Painted Dog Conservation Project In Zimbabwe.

Mountain View is proud to have provided support to the Painted Dog Conservation project in Zimbabwe for the past four years. We have raised well over $10,000.00 for this amazing community-based conservation project. Painted Dogs are among Africa's most endangered species. It is estimated that only 3,000 remain. The Painted Dog population in Zimbabwe is one of the last strongholds of the species and this project is committed to their conservation.

We are please to announce that the director of the PDC, Dr. Greg Rasmussen will be visiting us and providing an in depth update on the conservation efforts going on at the project. He will be presenting a lecture on Wednesday, Spetember 23rd at Mountain View in the visitor center in front of the Painted Dog enclosure. Admission to this event is $10.00. Please come out and join us.

You can click here to download a "pdf" flyer on the event.

To learn more about Greg's project please click here.

July 10, 2009

"Save the Lemurs" event a huge success!

We would like to thank everyone who attended our "Save the Lemurs" event on July 9, 2009. The event was an immense success and we raised over $4500 for lemur conservation in Madagascar. For full details you can click here to read the complete article online.

June 20, 2009

Mountain View Program Updates

The Langley Scouting Group's Cubs and Beavers recently raised $600 for Lemur Conservation, plus our Head Keepers have posted updates on their recent activities.

CLICK HERE FOR the latest stories.

May 20, 2009

Bountiful Births

It has already been a busy Spring this year. Nothing brings us more satisfaction than a new birth and the knowledge that our goals are being achieved. For more details you can click on the "Births" link above, or you can help us by clicking here to adopt an animal.

April 23, 2009

Mountain View's Oregon Spotted Frog Recovery Program is featured in the April edition of CAZA's (the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums) Newsletter. To read the full article, click here.

October 2, 2008

Mountain View Conservation Society Receives Honors

At the Annual CAZA (Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums) in Granby Quebec on October 2, 2008, we received 2 prestigious awards.

The first was the Conservation Award which recognized our exceptional work with the Northern Spotted Owl.

The second, was Caza’s Outstanding Achievement award for our on-going work with the Oregon Spotted Frog.

CLICK HERE FOR the latest stories

Mountain View Gift Shop has unique Snare Art

Wire snares used in illegal poaching, are one of the major threats facing African Hunting Dogs. The Anti-Poaching team of the Painted Dog Project in Zimbabwe, collects the snares and gives them to nearby Iganyana Arts Centre. There, local skilled artisans fashion them into remarkable works of art. Mountain View is proud to offer these pieces for sale to the public. A portion of all proceeds goes back to Zimbabwe to help raise awareness as well as funds, to further support anti-poaching efforts.

To see Snare Art click on the "Shop" tab above.

SEARCHING for a unique gift for SOMEONE special?

Whatever the event, birthday or graduation, our animals are hoping you’ll include them. We make it easy to "adopt" an endangered species.

CLICK HERE to link to our adoption page

Vancouver Island Marmot
Marmota vancouverensis

WILD STATUS
Endangered

WILD POPULATION
2007 - 90 in the wild and about 180 in captive breeding

DISTRIBUTION
Vancouver Island British Columbia in the northern part of the island on Mt. Washington; also a few small colonies in the southern area.

SIZE
Females: 3.5kg to 6 kg
Males 4 kg to 7 kg

HABITAT
Avalanche bowls, meadows at higher elevations. They like to burrow around rocks and fallen trees.

REPRODUCTION
Typical litter is 3-4 pups but can be as few as 1 and as large as 7 pups.

DIET
Lupines, grasses, shrubs, flowering plants.

INTERESTING TIDBITS

The pups stay with the family group until they are 2 years old
Most social of the marmot family
One of the few mammals that truly hibernate from mid fall to early spring
Since 2003 the Marmot Recovery Team has successfully rebuilt the population from less than 30 to over 90 in the wild and the work continues to bring back these mammals.
Their greatest predator is the bald headed eagle and other raptors on Vancouver Island
Strip logging exposes their habitat and makes them easy prey so the release teams are very careful to release the animals into habitat that will be safe for them.

HABITAT RANGE

ANIMAL FACT SHEET
To download this page and also get a full page photo of the Vancouver Island Marmot click here for a PDF.

Copyright © 2007 Mountain View Conservation and Breeding Society - All rights reserved - All Trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © All photos, graphics and images on this site remain the copyright of Mountain View Conservation, TKOFOTO, HourieImages and Tom Newman unless otherwise noted, and should not be downloaded without prior permission.