By Times Chronicle Staff
Aiming to raise awareness of the upcoming United Nations World Biodiversity Summit, or NatureCOP15 to be held in Montreal in the second week of December, Nature Canada’s NatureBus Tour rolled into the Osoyoos Desert Centre on Tuesday.
The NatureBus was collecting letters and signatures calling on politicians to take decisive action to protect biodiversity in Canada.
The importance of protecting biodiversity was highlighted with the release of one of the most comprehensive surveys yet of wild species in Canada which indicates more than 5,000 wild species are at some risk of extinction in Canada.
The “Wild Species 2020: The General Status of Species in Canada” report, released Tuesday, found that one in five wild species in the country is in danger of disappearing.
The at-risk wildlife includes 24 mammal species, 43 fish species, nine amphibian species, 17 reptile species, 50 bird species, 230 lichen species, 25 species of dragonflies and damselflies, 195 beetle species, 15 bee species and 188 butterfly and moth species.
Endangered species in the Okanagan were highlighted by Lauren Meads from the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of BC who brought a special guest to the NatureBus event at the Osoyoos Desert Centre. Pluto, the Burrowing Owl, travels around the region helping to educate the public about its endangered existence.
Burrowing Owls are only found now in an area between Kamloops and Merritt as well as the Okanagan River valley between Osoyoos and Okanagan Falls. The owl is currently “Red Listed” under BC’s conservation status meaning it is endangered.
