Research project looking at how wildlife interacts with waste at Assiniboine Park Zoo
A new research project is examining how urban wildlife interacts with the waste bins at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.
Lynnae Martin, a University of Manitoba master’s student, is leading the initiative, which is being funded and supported by the Assiniboine Park Conservancy.
Martin has set up her experiment to see which urban wildlife is coming to the zoo’s garbage and recycling bins to eat the garbage during the day and night.
Stephen Petersen, the conservancy’s director of conservation and research, said they are trying to understand their impact on the wildlife at the zoo and park.
“We notice that trash gets spread around, but we don’t think it’s visitors,” he said in an interview with CTV Morning Live on Tuesday.
“We wanted to understand why it’s happening.”
Petersen said Martin’s research will look at which animals are visiting the bins, with the ultimate goal of making sure the wildlife can’t access this food source.
He added that some of the wildlife at the zoo includes squirrels and crows during the day and raccoons at night.
“So there’s daytime and nighttime users of that good source,” Petersen said.
He said the issue with the wildlife eating this garbage is it is not a good food source for the animals.
“They risk being entangled in packaging and wrappers,” Petersen explained.
Other risks are that supplemental food resources can lead to higher populations than a habitat can support and that animals that learn to associate humans with food can become aggressive.
“We do get instances where, especially squirrels, get a little bit aggressive,” Petersen said.
“So they associate people with food and so they can be pretty bold. If you’re not expecting a ground squirrel to come up into your kid’s tram or stroller, it can be quite traumatic for people.”
Some ways visitors can help with this issue are reducing the amount of food waste they leave at the zoo, and reducing the amount of strong-smelling foods they throw away.
- With files from CTV’s Ainsley McPhail.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'