BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

The red fox lay in the snow behind its enclosure, its fur shining in the morning sunlight as it emitted a repeated, plaintive wail echoing in the forest behind the Ecomuseum.

"Aw, she thinks I'm going to feed her," explained Victoria deMartigny, who handles marketing and special projects for the wildlife park as she gave an impromptu tour.

The red fox and 89 other species that live inside the Ecomuseum or the enclosures in its surrounding woods are seeing less visitors than they should these days, and that is because the wildlife park is running low on volunteers.

"It's always been a struggle," deMartigny, who started off as a volunteer for the organization about a year ago, said. However, due to increasing publicity, the park is getting more and more requests for guided tours by different schools and organizations, having to turn down many.

"It breaks my heart," deMartigny said.

Volunteers who wish to join the park's tour guides have to follow a 10-week course to learn about the different species of animals that live there, but as of now there are not even enough of them to take a course, deMartigny explained.

"You'd be surprised to find how well you can manage school and volunteering," said David Rodrigue, 36, executive director, as a message to any youths who may be thinking about joining the team but are hesitant to make the jump. Starting off as a volunteer around 14 years ago himself, Rodrigue always managed to find time for it among his other priorities

Besides acting as tour guides, volunteers may have other opportunities. Animal lovers should take note that approaching the park's scaly, furry and feathery friends is an option, as people who feed the animals or clean their habitats are needed.

One volunteer could be seen dropping food to a hungry group of crows cawing in excitement behind their fences last Thursday morning.

Unlike traditional zoos, none of the beasts are taken in from the wild, instead coming from rehabilitation centres throughout the province.

(column break) Volunteers needed

Currently, the Ecomuseum has 12 francophone volunteers and 18 anglophone ones. "We need at least three times that amount," deMartigny said.

Pierre Delisle, 60, now retired, has been a volunteer guide for the last four years. He said the personal satisfaction he derives from teaching children about the importance of the environment is all he needs to devote his time.

However, Ecomuseum staff is working on stronger volunteer recognition programs. One such example is giving volunteers free memberships to the park, and extending that courtesy to their families once they log 70 volunteer hours.

A Statistics Canada survey of volunteers and donors in the country in 2004 found the province of Quebec had the lowest volunteer rate among all provinces at 34 per cent.

"Maybe in the francophone community, families are closer together," hypothesized Paul Bissonette, director at Volunteer West Island, which matches other organizations that need volunteers with potential recruits. "And for the anglophones, community is more important," he added.

"It's more difficult for people to volunteer their time than it was a few years ago," Bissonette added, and this is due to many reasons. People work more than a single job, or tend to travel and volunteer abroad rather than at home, he said.

One other trend he has noticed is that potential volunteers want to know exactly what is expected of them in terms of time and work commitment. "People like to know what you specifically want them to do," he said.

For more information, visit www.ecomuseum.ca.