The Battlefords Wildlife Federation says it is excited about a new program it is establishing.
BWF members are going to be raising and releasing pheasants into the wild with the help of 10 schools.
The program will begin with 360 pheasant eggs. The participating schools will be incubating the eggs.
Connaught, St. Mary, McKitrick, Bready, Holy Family, St. Vital, Battleford Central, Lawrence and Heritage Christian Schools plus École Père Mèrcure have all taken delivery of incubators and the eggs will be coming to the BWF May 6 and going into the schools May 7.
Once the eggs are hatched, BWF will take them to a local farmer who will brood them until they are adults.
In September, when the students are back in school, BWF will be inviting all the students who participated in the incubation to come out to release the adult pheasants into the wild. BWF hopes to have Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management officers there to talk to the kids about programs and what they can do to help animals and the environment.
“This is our first year to try this and we are very happy with the support we have had from sponsors and the public,” says Cheryl Irvine of the BWF.
Next year they hope to do work with even more chicks and eggs.
“This is going to be an ongoing program to re-establish the pheasants in and around the Battlefords,” said Irvine.
