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Year of the Caribou and You

Hi I’m Bou, a woodland caribou from the BC Boreal. I moved to Ottawa, Canada’s capital, in July to work with the CPAWS team for a year to save my family and friends (more details). While Ottawa is my new physical home, this blog will be my virtual one. A big thanks to the other woodland caribou from across Canada for starting this blog. I will endeavour to carry on the blog in a proud ungulate fashion. 

I get asked a lot “What can you do in one year?” At first, it seemed daunting. I mean, how can I, an out-of-town woodland caribou help change decades old practices and beliefs in just 300 and some odd days?

But then I thought about my move to Ottawa. At the time, it seemed like such a hard decision to make. I was born and raised in BC’s Boreal. I had food, family, friends and no worries about money. Moving to Ottawa, living with another species, would be a big change with unknown consequences. Mou, my Cow, and I talked about it a lot. We knew we had to do something. Our family, friends – heck our entire species is at risk. We couldn’t just sit around, do nothing, and expect others to do it all. We decided I had to go to Ottawa.

Once the decision was made, I got down to business. I organized, packed, and was on the road in less than a week. As I made my way across this awesome country, I felt totally energized and upon entering Medicine Hat, it struck me “Hey, even though I really miss Mou, this was a lot easier than I thought it would be”.

I realized at that moment that the hardest part of making a change for me is in my head - to make the decision and commitment to do it. Once that’s done, the actions just seem to follow naturally and I get in the flow. So, whether it’s 100,000 individuals signing a petition to save Canada’s boreal forests or a single politician signing a law to protect woodland caribou, it all starts with their decision and commitment to do it.

What can I, an out-of-town woodland caribou do in one year? I can decide and commit to work with CPAWS to save my family and friends – DONE. Now let the flow of actions and changes begin :)

I would love to hear how others ignite change and what you will make your year about.

-Bou
a woodland caribou living in Ottawa