The people running the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary west of Cochrane are putting the word out to anyone who supports what they do to go online to vote for them in a contest they need to win.
Operations manager Alyx Harris is excited about the prospect of winning a specially modified Land Rover Defender and a chunk of cash to help them defend and care for their wolfdogs.
The sanctuary has been selected as a finalist in the “Animal, Wildlife & Marine Welfare” category for the 2024 Defender Service Awards, sponsored by Land Rover.
“We could win a customized Land Rover Defender 130 as well as a prize of $25,000. This contest is for people throughout North America and we have been selected as one of those lucky finalists, which is pretty exciting,” Harris said.
The Land Rover website shows there are five other finalists, all facilities in the U.S. It describes the contest as being open to “Community pounds and shelters, wildlife rescue, marine conservation. A Defender 130 outfitted with accessories and an interior protection pack will be awarded to an organization that protects and cares for those without a voice.”
“So now what's left to do is for all of our wonderful followers and supporters to vote for us daily so that we can get enough votes to actually win this grand prize,” Harris said.
Supporters can vote at: https://www.landrover.ca/.../def.../vote/animal-welfare.html
Harris said the timing of the financial part of the contest is as important as the vehicle.
“We're actually in the process of raising $400,000 because we have rescued a whole whack of new wolfdogs,” she said.
They need to build enclosures for all the new animals. Harris said they also need those funds to be able to continue to rescue wolfdogs.
“That's what we're here to do. And we're really grateful to get to do the work we do.”
She said they were pleasantly surprised to hear they had made the short list, especially considering they weren’t aware of the contest.
“It was Jaguar Land Rover in Royal Oak. They were the ones that reached out to us and told us about this contest. We had not known about it prior to that, and so they actually let us know about it and they came out and made a promotional video,” she said.
“It was all because they reached out to us and let us know all about it. So without them, yeah, we wouldn't have known."