You won't believe what happened in the city
Morning from Swan Valley — here's what matters in the northwest.
A lot of the news from down south in Winnipeg can feel a world away sometimes, but this one caught my eye. The Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, after almost two decades of helping over 2,000 animals a year, is closing its doors. Think about that for a second. Two thousand animals a year, needing help, getting it from this one place. Now they're not. That's a lot of injured owls and orphaned fawns suddenly without a lifeline.
### Why This Hits Home
It’s easy to think of wildlife centres as a "city" thing, but up here in Swan River, we live with wildlife every single day. We're surrounded by Duck Mountain Provincial Park and the forest industry means we're constantly interacting with the natural world. Every spring, you see fawns by the roadside, or a hawk that's flown into a power line. We don't have a big centre like that nearby, so when something happens, folks often rely on their own grit and common sense, or sometimes a long drive to Winnipeg.
* This closure means an even bigger gap for injured animals across the province. * It puts more pressure on local trappers or conservation officers who might already be stretched thin. * It’s a reminder that resources, especially for things like wildlife, are always finite.
For the folks who live out past Minitonas or up towards Bowsman, if you find an injured animal, that drive to Winnipeg was already a haul. Now, even that option is gone for many. It makes you think about what self-sufficiency really means when it comes to caring for the land and its creatures. We've always had to look after our own out here, and this just reinforces that fact.
Beth Makarchuk, MiTL Sports Desk, Swan River.
You can hear more on this and other stories when Keith and the crew kick off the morning over at mornings.live.