Newsletter Archive

Volume 4 Winter 2003

You wouldn't be wrong if that call of the wild you hear at the Wilderness Outpost at Bedwell River next season is particularly poignant. If all goes according to plan, those calls will come from one of many raptors staged there in Transition Flight Pens built by the resorts for OWL - the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society, headquartered in Delta, British Columbia.

OWL is an internationally known society for birds of prey (raptors), a non-profit charitable organization and education facility with a mandate to provide care and rehabilitation to injured and orphaned wildlife, with priority given to protected species.

Growing in direct proportion to the negative impact urban encroachment has on endangered raptors is the importance of OWL's Return To The Wild program.

Prior to entering into this landmark joint-venture with Clayoquot Wilderness Resorts & Spa, OWL had no resources to build or operate much needed flight pens in wilderness areas where specific species should be returned after rehabilitation. Prior to return, rehab raptors must spend at least two supervised weeks in flight pens, being acclimatized to the sights and the sounds of their new surroundings. On-site cameras and other monitoring equipment will keep OWL staff in Delta apprised of raptor progress, and in touch with resort staff at all times.

Already, one such raptor, a female bald eagle, long-recovered from a lung infection, was released into the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere, from our Quait Bay property. That release took place late September, 2003, the very day that inspired GM John Caton and resorts' owner, the Genovese Family Trust, to support OWL Executive Director, Bev Day, through this very important environmental initiative.