Toronto Zoo Awarded $100,000 Grant
From Shell FuellingChange ™ Program
Friday, December 13, 2013, Toronto, ON - Today, Shell will award $1 million to Canadian environmental projects, which include the Toronto Zoo's Polar Bear Conservation Initiatives, chosen by its customers. Through the Shell FuellingChangeT Program customers are invited to make any purchases at Shell service stations, collect Shell purchase receipts with voting codes, and vote for their favourite environmental projects on FuellingChange.com. To date, over 13 million votes have been cast by customers!
"The great thing about FuellingChange is that it empowers environmental and not-for-profit organizations' efforts in realizing environmental initiatives, reach out to Canadians and get them involved in building a sustainable future," said Shell Canada's president and country chair, Lorraine Mitchelmore. "FuellingChange is part of the process of being proactive and discovering what environmental projects our customers care about."
Environmental projects pre-selected to participate in the FuellingChange program are eligible to receive funding at three different grant levels: $25,000, $50,000 and $100,000. In addition, those organizations not successful in the voting process receive $10,000 for their project. A total of 31 projects will receive funding, totaling $1 million. After 6 months of dedication in reaching out to Canadians, votes are in and the Toronto Zoo has been chosen to receive a grant of $100,000 from Shell.
"We would like to thank our many visitors, members, staff and volunteers who voted for the Toronto Zoo's 'Bear Necessities: Ice Food Cubs' project in this latest round of Shell Fuelling Change." commented John Tracogna, CEO of the Toronto Zoo. "The Toronto Zoo also appreciates Shell for providing this opportunity to raise money for Polar bear conservation."
The Toronto Zoo's conservation, education and research activities with polar bears will increase the population of this nationally threatened species as well as inspire people to live in ways that promote the well- being of the natural world. Conservation will focus on captive breeding and rearing of orphans.
Research will be conducted in the areas of Reproduction and Nutrition. The purpose of the Nutrition Study is to feed a special diet to two male polar bears, one at the Toronto Zoo and one in Cochrane, and to monitor their development and health. The Study is designed to support biological modeling with polar bears in order to guide decisions on how to provide nutritional support to polar bears in the wild. Reproductive research will focus on information gained from reproduction of our resident polar bears and any subsequent pregnancies and births. The research will be shared with Zoo counterparts. Education activities will highlight actions that can be undertaken by individuals to mitigate climate change and enhance conservation.
For more information on the Shell FuellingChangeT Program, visit fuellingchange.com and for the Toronto Zoo torontozoo.com.
Contact: Cynthia Shipley, Manager, PR and Events (416) 392-5938 or cshipley@torontozoo.ca.
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Toronto Zoo is accredited by CAZA (Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums). Look for this logo whenever you visit a Canadian zoo as your assurance that you are supporting a facility dedicated to providing excellent care for animals, a great experience for you, and a better future for all living things. For more information, visit www.caza. |
