Ryan Harding, a grade two student at Bay d’Espoir Academy, is proving to his classmates, teachers and to the residents of the Coast of Bays, that you’re never too young to help protect Canadian wildlife.
Ryan is concerned about the welfare of the polar bears in Hudson Bay (near Manitoba) and is participating in an exciting project to help them.
Due in large part to global warming, the majestic polar bear is facing trouble today as shrinking sea ice on Hudson Bay threatens the ability of its resident polar bears to produce new cubs.
In addition, the melting of the Arctic sea ice and water pollution is having a negative impact on the health of the bears and the earlier break up of sea ice also means that bears are traveling further in search for food and are having more encounters with humans.
The animals are in serious trouble and they need help and that’s why seven-year-old Ryan Harding from St. Alban’s decided to join Earth Rangers, Bring Back the Wild campaign to help protect the animals that he loves.
Bring Back the Wild is the Earth Rangers’ national program that educates children and their families about the importance of biodiversity, and raises funds to support the acquisition and restoration of endangered habitats across the country.
Earth Rangers accomplishes this mission through collaborations with leading conservation groups like the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), Wildlife Conservation Society, and other groups.
Ryan learned about the Earth Rangers from watching the YTV channel on TV. He wanted to take part in raising funds to help with this project so he signed up to be an earth ranger.
Ryan’s mom helped him create a donation sheet to take pledges; they held a bake sale and sold tickets on a Valentine’s cake. In six days, Ryan had raised $326 and has now met his goal of raising $500.00.
The donation will be used to help purchase satellite collars to place on polar bears to track them and learn more about their offshore movements and effects of sea ice habitat loss and helps scientist learn more about the polar bear’s diet, how loss of sea is affecting the bear’s ability to find enough food to stay healthy and learn more about it’s productive rates.
I am very happy to be a part of protecting the polar bear,” stated Ryan. “I love all animals.”
