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
Ottawa public school board, 3 Toronto-area school boards launch lawsuit against social media giants
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and three school boards in the Toronto-area have launched legal action against social media giants, accusing them of "disrupting students' fundamental right to education."
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Statistics Canada reports real GDP up 0.6% in January as Quebec strikes end
Statistics Canada says real gross domestic product grew 0.6 per cent in January, helped by the end of public sector strikes in Quebec in November and December.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 mm among weather alerts in effect for 7 provinces
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 millimetres, air quality advisories and other alerts have been issued for seven Canadian provinces, according to the latest forecasts.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
Ukrainian child asylum seekers in St. John’s get class of their own
Roughly 50 children will gathered in a St. John’s classroom for the first time on Saturday for unique lessons on Ukrainian language, culture and history.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.