Community engagement and participation
As part of this project, we invite members of the public to submit to our website photos and short narratives documenting encounters with urban wildlife. The form for submitting your animal encounters is located here.
Our research aims to:
Establish an urban wildlife monitoring program in Winnipeg
Establish a web-based public outreach process that engages city inhabitants in documenting animal encounters in Winnipeg.
Develop a case study series focused on urban habitat regeneration and design
Develop guidelines for species-based urban habitat prototypes,
Examine and interpret data collection methods to determine the extent to which collaborative public projects strengthen awareness and commitment to biodiversity.
Design and construct a series of Research by Design habitats as a basis for long-term field research.
We’ve lived close to St. Vital park for 8 years. This was our first and only encounter with a buck. He would not move and occasionally scratched at the ground. We took a different route.
John David, November 11, 2021
Zenon Char, November 11, 2021
They were in our front yard at 6:31am. They did not move as my headlights found them and I stopped to get the photo. I have found the deer in the neighbourhood to be less concerned with human and dog interactions in the past year.
John David, November 5, 2021
“Bird in tree was juvenile Bald Eagle, unperturbed by my close presence. ”
Anonymous, October 28, 2021
“I took these pictures of the deer right out my livingroom window! I love having them live in my neighborhood.”
Karen Burridge, October 23, 2021
“These deer showed up at about 11:00 and stayed for 2 hours. People and dogs walked by but they seemed comfortable.”
Anonymous, October 23, 2021
“On a walk in Wildwood we saw these deer up close and personal. They were not afraid at all. So nice to see.”
Karen Burridge, October 19, 2021
“On an evening walk along the river beside the Wildwood golf course. I looked up and saw these three deer watching us. They hardly moved. We watched for a minute and moved on.”
Bruce, September 13, 2021
“We saw these deer near crescent park and they made us happy.”
Meytaly, September 1, 2021
“Was visiting the new diversity gardens and saw this wild turkey cutting right across. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wild turkey in the city before. It seemed unphased by all the other people nearby… …It changed the way I thought about a park’s capacity to provide habitat. Assiniboine Park is quite large, but size aside, its constituent elements should be present in other parks in the city too, so who knows where all the other turkeys live!”
Anonymous, August 7, 2021
“These littles were seen on a walk along the river.”
Tim Stuart, July 29, 2021
“I saw a similar, maybe the same bird, that same morning in the wildwood area along the river and then saw it again in the evening while canoeing further up the river… …It made me so thankful for the area and the opportunity to see the bird.”
Ruth Krahn Friesen, July 21, 2021
“I had heard that there were foxes in Winnipeg but had never seen one. I walk the trails between the course and the river often but this was the first time I have ever seen a fox… …it is not just people, birds, and deer that inhabit the area.”
Ruth Krahn Friesen, June 29, 2021
“I saw a mom and two fawns in my back yard. We have had a few mom's with two young ones this year. Good to see they are doing well.”
Karen Burridge, June 28, 2021
“Coyote slips away from angry doe along the tree line between properties…It interested me that the mama deer would cleverly scare the coyote into changing his hunting path that afternoon. As the first photo shows, the coyote reversed direction to go back towards the aspen forest and away from the meadow. There are only a few acres —maybe 50–left of private land surrounded by new housing construction. Yet some wildlife try to persist. I love the wildlife.”
Anonymous, June 25, 2021