Saving Rudolph: Youth Care About Caribou

Monday, December 03, 2012

Media Release - December 3, 2012

WINNIPEG - This time of year, images of reindeer are present everywhere. In the wild, reindeer, or caribou as they are called in Canada, are being pushed out of their habitat.

High school students from across Manitoba spoke out about protecting caribou this past week at an environmental youth conference at the University of Winnipeg. Participants at the conference learned tools for making their voices heard, and used those tools to develop an action plan for saving the caribou. Caribou in Manitoba are threatened by industrial development, logging and mining.

"Caribou are a symbol of Canada—they are on our currency,” said Marina Herscovitch, a grade 12 student at Glenlawn Collegiate. "It is important to maintain a proper environment and habitat for caribou because after all, they were here before us, and I would like for my children and grandchildren to see them exist after us."

Caribou habitat has declined by 30 per cent across Canada in the past 20 years. Students are demanding that governments live up to their promises to protect the endangered animals' homes.

Greenspace is an annual conference organized by the Manitoba Environmental Youth Network for youth between 14 and 18 years old. The students' ideas are being published as a guest blog post on the Wilderness Committee website. Eighty students from 10 schools across Manitoba participated.

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Contact:

Jonathan Ventura, Coordinator, Manitoba Youth Environmental Network

(204) 890-1242

Eric Reder, Manitoba Campaign Director, Wilderness Committee

(204) 997-8584

Student blog post can be read at: wildernesscommittee.org/manitoba

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