A wildlife rehabilitation shelter credited with many bear rescues in northern B.C. is running out of time to fundraise for a much needed new truck.
Angelika Langen with Northern Lights Wildlife Society says their old truck has more than 450,000 kilometers on it and has been breaking down on them during rescues.
“We had a couple of times last year when we were doing rescues and we got stranded on the highway, and nobody wanted to tow us because we had two bears in the car,” says Langen.
With just two more days to go in their online crowd-funding campaign, they are still $5,000 short.
They hope to raise $40,000, enough money to shop around for a used truck that could work in challenging terrain and haul large animals.
Langen says they use their truck for transportation, rescue and release of bears, deer, moose, birds and other animals that need help, as well as food pick-up and hauling shelter building materials.
“It can make a huge difference because we have been shutting down our long-distance rescues, which make up about two-thirds of our bear rescues,” says Langen. “So it is a huge number of bears that we would not be able to reach, and all those bears would be shot if there is no place for them to go.”
WATCH: An organization that rehabilitates wild animals in northern B.C. needs a new truck for their work. Jordan Armstrong talks to society founder Angelika Langen.
Last year, Langen and her team, based out of Smithers, had to rescue six black bear cubs and three grizzly bears all the way in the Kootenays.
“That’s a 1,500-kilometer drive for us, one way, to pick them up, bring them back here and then return them the following year, so there is a lot of kilometers that go into it and we can’t do that unless we have a reliable vehicle.”
She says the busiest time for bear cub rescues for them is September to November, so there is urgency to get the new vehicle before then.
“We need to find something that we can drive. Hopefully, we can do it in a vehicle that can last for many years to come.”
Originally, the fundraising campaign started off on Indiegogo, but because of high service fees, the shelter has now moved its crowd-funding campaign here.
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