Snowmobile season picking up steam

The Guardian

By David Archibald

The past few weeks of snowfall have sent P.E.I snowmobilers into top gear with excellent trail conditions and low prices at dealerships.

The popular Confederation Trail routes have been groomed by the P.E.I. Snowmobile Association (PEISA) and traverse much of the Island from Tignish to Elmira.

While December’s mild weather resulted in a slower start to the season than normal, PEISA president Dale Hickox said the response to this year’s first snowfall has been outstanding.

“I don’t think that I’ve ever seen as much enthusiasm as this year,” said Hickox. “A lot of people are really gung-ho.”

The strong Canadian dollar may also have played a part in this year’s snowmobile rush, contributing to lower prices on sleds at dealerships.

“The prices right now, for what you’re getting, are the lowest they’ve been in years,” said Gary Dunning, owner of Toy Master Motorsports in Winsloe and Red Rock Polaris in North River.

“There are some deals on for new stuff that I’ve never seen before.”

With so much enthusiasm bound to attract new riders, Hickox stressed the importance of being comfortable with the sled before going out on the trail for the first time.

“We give this same advice to all of our members - drive safe and sled sober,” said Hickox.

Permits are required to ride on the trails and can be purchased at all Access PEI sites, Dennis Motors, Reddin Power Sports, Red Rock Polaris and Toy Master Motor Sports.

Regular permits are $225 while vintage permits (sleds made in 1994 and earlier) are $50. Vintage permits are only available at Access PEI sites. The money from the permits goes towards grooming the trails, which PEISA leases from the provincial government.

Year of the Cat brings about nationwide cat campaign

The Guardian

By David Archibald

This is the Year of the Cat, according to the Vietnamese calender, and a network of Canadian cat welfare advocates are honouring the year with a nationwide awareness campaign.

Care for Cats is a collaborative effort to bring the major problems facing cats to the attention of the public.

Started by a Hamilton, Ont. feline practitioner, Elizabeth O’Brien, the initiative seeks to deliver its message through events and theme months.

Veterinarian Anne Marie Carey, from the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown, works with spay and neuter programs across Prince Edward Island to combat cat overpopulation and has been providing O’Brien with information from her research.

She said that while the work she has done has greatly improved cat welfare on the Island, the best way to attack the issue is by raising awareness.

“There is one the thing that fixes cat overpopulation problems and that’s public education,” said Carey. “That’s something we haven’t targeted as much in the past.”

On top of three nationwide theme months in May, September and December, Carey is currently working on plans to host her own public education events at the AVC.

For now, she continues to work with Island groups like the non-profit volunteer organization Cat Action Team, to improve the methods of feral cat reduction.

“There’s a lot of arguments about what the best solutions really are,” said Carey. “I still stand by the trap, neuter and return method (TNR) where the cats are humanely trapped, neutered and then returned to where they were found.

“While it takes a lot of resources and is very labour intensive, it’s certainly a lot better from a public perspective and from a welfare perspective than things like trap and kill programs. I don’t like those.”

In the past, the Cat Action Team has coordinated the campaigns to neuter the stray cats by collecting them, bringing them to clinics like the AVC and returning them after a day of recovery.

Now the AVC is getting more involved with co-ordinating and educating the volunteers.

Meghan Solc, a third year vet student, has been hired as the TNR coordinator for the AVC and is becoming more involved in the organizing and collecting of the cats and following up on the cats after they have been returned.

“She’s actually contacting people who own the barns or look after the colonies the cats came from to see if there’s been any issues with them post-operatively,” said Casey.

“We’ve had very few problems. Part of it I’m sure is attributed to the amount of monitoring that we do and the way that we do our procedures.”

Wildlife official identifies mystery bird

The Guardian

By David Archibald

The small sea birds blown ashore on northern P.E.I. coastlines in wild wind storms just before Christmas have been identified.

Fish and wildlife section manager Gerald MacDougall says the birds as dovekies. They are black and white, smaller than crows, and resembled small penguins with wings.

MacDougall, who used to collect and release the birds when he was a conservation officer, said the recent storms have brought about the largest influx in numbers of dovekies to P.E.I. he seen in his time with fish and wildlife.

Unable to take off from land and only feeding on marine food, the dovekies need to be collected and released at sea in order to survive.

“People say they can’t fly. Well you just can’t throw them up in the air and have them fly away, but they can fly,” said MacDougall. “It’s just a matter of picking them up and getting them back to the water as soon as possible.”

A number of dovekies were seen around Lakeside beach area and easterly towards Campbell’s Cove where more were located. Decreasing levels of ice on the shore could also be contributing to the increasing occurrence of grounded dovekies.

“Normally with the ice conditions they would be a lot farther out at sea. But with no ice there, they’re closer to land,” said MacDougall. “The lack of ice there to push them out farther could be why we’re getting more of them this year.”

In areas of heavy fog, the dovekie can also get disoriented and land unintentionally on land.