Feel closer to wildlife: Meet the Arctic foxes at the West Island Ecomuseum
Donations to CBC Montreal's Sing-In help Ecomuseum's educational programs
If you're looking for somewhere to take the kids over the holiday break, the Ecomuseum in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue has a litter of Arctic fox cubs in its winter habitat.
No, you can't pet the foxes. But you can watch them chow down on food boxes you've helped prepare.
It's part of the educational activities for young students offered by the Ecomuseum, which is funded in part by West Island Community Shares, an umbrella organization of charities and non-profits.
Visitors to the Ecomuseum can help fill wooden food boxes with tasty treats for the foxes such as pellets and insects, as well as with pine cones, twigs and other materials.
Watch the foxes in their feeding frenzy below.
Since these are wild animals, the Ecomuseum wants to recreate their natural habitat as much as possible. The food boxes are meant to have diverse contents and make it a bit of a challenge for the foxes to get their grub.
"It's important to have a lot of mental stimulation for the animals that are here," said Elizabeth Landry, a zoologist at the Ecomuseum.
School groups and scouts come for visits, which can include an overnight stay to help give the animals their breakfast.
Landry says it's good to have different people prepare the boxes to ensure they mix things up for the animals.
"We end up giving them material that is interesting for the animals and we just let them go to town with it," she said.
She says it's always fun to see what kind of reaction the kids have to the feeding frenzy.
"They're seeing the foxes play fight trying to get that box open. So you're seeing the wheels turn in the animal's mind," she said.
"If we can sneak in a couple bits of information while (the students) are entertained. That's when they're going to be absorbing it."
The exercise also encourages Montrealers to feel closer to the wildlife around the city.
"The more we care for animals, the more we are attached to them, the more we are going to want to change our behaviour in order to help the animals who are remaining in the wild," she said.
Around 35,000 kids from the Montreal area visit each year. The funding from WICS helps make those trips, and the Ecomuseum's visits to local schools, happen.
This year, WICS donated $12,000 to the Ecomuseum.
"It's very heartwarming," Landry said of the funding. "It's so important to know that we have the support of our community"
Over the next few weeks CBC Montreal is holding several events, including its annual Sing-In, to raise money for West Island Community Shares. The goal for this year is $1.3 million. Find out more here.
With files from Matt D'Amours