Submitted by Will Arscott 

 

 

The meeting was held in the Main Dining Room at the Saskatoon Club. Our MC for the meeting was Gary Rusu.  President Wendy Cooper acted as greeter. We had seventeen members present plus Graham on zoom. We were a smaller but enthusiastic group. Wayne Palmer was cashier. Mark Gryba handled technology.

 

The meeting began with members singing ‘O’ Canada. The blessing was asked by Al Morton.  He reminded us that compassion is not just a feeling towards others but a call to action to help others.  

  

 

Our only guest was guest speaker Jeff Mitchell who was introduced later in the program.

 

 

No Report

 

 

Donna Gauthier announced that grocery cards are now available. So far only the cards from Sobeys’s/Safeway/Fresh Express have arrived. They are available in denominations of $50 and $100. Several hundred dollars’ worth were spoken for at the meeting. We have been approved for Co-op cards and they may be available at our next meeting.

 

Jim Weber is travelling this September and as a result had three of his Husky Season tickets to raffle off. The money raised would be a donation to the ‘Education Brings Hope’ project in Puerto Vallarta. This would also provide the purchaser with a tax receipt.  In the end ticket the tickets were purchased by Mark Gryba, Jack Brodsky and Gary Rusu.   Hope you all enjoy the game.

 

 

Many of the usual suspects generously contributed:

 

 

 

 

Jeff was introduced by Jim Weber. Jim began by describing a recent visit his family made to the zoo and how impressed he was by the facility. Jeff is the Saskatoon Zoological Society Zoo Manager. He grew up in a small city outside of Chicago and moved to Saskatoon to take up his job at the zoo. Jeff studied animal biology and business at several American universities. He has now been in Saskatoon for three and a half years and plans to stay. He had offers to come to Saskatoon or to a zoo in New Zealand.  He chose Saskatoon because he felt comfortable in a city of our size, and he thought the zoo here had huge potential for growth. He lives near Broadway and enjoys living a Saskatoon lifestyle.

 

Jeff began with a short history of the forestry farm. It began in 1914 and provided some 147 million trees to create shelter in the prairie region. Eventually that role was no longer required and in 1966 the farm was purchased by the city. The Forestry Park residence is a National Historic Monument. In 1971 the animal park was approved and has been a growing part of the operation ever since.

 

Jeff has provided us with a copy of his presentation which is to be posted to our club website so I will not make any attempt to provide his full presentation here. Some highlights of Jeff’s time at the zoo include:

At one time the Zoo had a mandate towards native species but that is being expanded. New to the zoo family are animals such as Snow leopards which enjoy even our coldest weather and ring-tail lemurs from Madagascar.  Just recently two orphaned bobcats were taken in named Sherlock and Watson. The bobcats are sponsored by Saskatoon Bobcat.

 

The zoo also receives injured or sometimes confiscated exotic animals. This is how two pronghorns were acquired at the age of one day after their mother was killed by a car. The zoo is also holding Zebras that have been confiscated pending a court proceeding.

 

The next big project is a new bear habitat at a cost of about $2,000,000. The city is paying half with the remainder coming from a very large private donation. The habitat must conform to the standards set by the zoo associations and will require a large space.

 

Jeff answered several questions. His slides should be up on our website shortly. The Saskatoon Zoological Society has a gala dinner as their major fundraiser. This event usually takes place on the second Friday of June.

 

Gary thanked out speaker and the usual donation will be made on his behalf to the Bethany Homes.

 

Adjournment - Next meeting is September 11 and President Wendy Cooper will present on the new Rotary Year.