Lease on TransCanada land for the new facility
A rehabilitation centre for injured wildlife that started in people's backyards 30 years ago is raising funds to build a $2.5-million facility.
And its first major sponsor is TransCanada Corp., the Calgary-based energy giant at the centre of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to carry crude oil from Alberta to Texas refineries.
Manitoba's Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre's fundraising for a wildlife hospital and education centre was recently kicked off by a pledge of $500,000 from TransCanada. The wildlife rehab, which operates out of Île des Chênes, south of Winnipeg off Highway 59, has also secured a charitable lease on TransCanada land for the new facility.
"TransCanada has been a sponsor of ours for the past 20 years, including sponsoring our education program" that shows rehabilitated wildlife in public schools, said Dan Diawol, rehab centre director.
"They're just a very good sponsor and we're very grateful for their help."
The pledge makes up most of the $700,000 raised so far.
In another era, TransCanada might be seen as the good guys, transporting oil and natural gas to run our vehicles and heat our homes in frigid January temperatures. But with controversy surrounding the Keystone XL pipeline, and TransCanada also wanting to build a 4,600-kilometre pipeline from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries in Eastern Canada, the energy giant can use all the positive publicity it can get.