BC Wildlife Park nets $50,000 donation to help with hoofstock

Photo: Brendan Kergin

FILE PHOTO: Bighorn sheep using their bighorns.

Quarantine issues aren't unique to Kamloops' human residents.

The BC Wildlife Park has been collecting donations for a hoofstock quarantine, a need identified at the end of 2019. While 2020 started off strong, the COVID-19 pandemic altered some of the park's priorities.

However, a quarantine pen is back in play, thanks to a $50,000 donation.

"Recently, we received some absolutely incredible news! We are so honoured and excited to have been selected by the Weston Family Foundation for a $50,000 donation through their director initiated grants," the parks writes on its Facebook page.

The donation means the park can not only start building the pen again, but they can finish it.

The pen will be used to quarantine hoofstock, large animals that require room. The park has 14 species of hoofstock at the park, with 40 different animals. They range from big animals, like bison and elk, to smaller things like goats (mountain and...farm).

"This infrastructure is needed for many reasons, including the ability to allow the BC Wildlife Park and the Fawcett Family Wildlife Health Centre to be ready for any incoming large hoofstock and allow our animal care team to isolate individual large animals for health reasons," states the park.

Other funds at the beginning of the year helped them start the project, including $15,000 from the Shuswap Community Foundation, and $1,500 from the BC Interior Community Foundation.