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Saving the tigers, one can at a time
Girl, 7, collects empties

Lora Grindlay
The Province

September 8, 2005

A Port Moody girl wants your empty cans and bottles to help fund a campaign to save the endangered South China tiger.

Seven-year-old Melissa Schwanebeck is running her second bottle drive for the Vancouver-based Tiger Foundation this weekend.

Last spring, she raised $1,200 for the non-profit conservation group by knocking on doors for eight hours and collecting 8,000 cans and bottles. Recycling company Encorp Pacific also donated $400 to her cause.

"People are killing them and wrecking their homes," said the Grade 2 student at Hope Lutheran School in Port Coquitlam.

"I think they are beautiful animals. I love them because they are soft."

Her mom, Kristie Schwanebeck, said her daughter's devotion to tigers began last year when she saw a commercial for the World Wildlife Federation about the world's diminishing tiger population.

"If you donated $50, you got a stuffed tiger," said Schwanebeck.

"Her understanding of that was if we sent them money they would send us a tiger -- a real tiger. She was fully prepared to own a tiger as a pet."

Melissa became instantly determined to help save tigers and, with her mom, devised the fundraising plan.

Her mom wasn't surprised that she adopted the South China tigers, of which there are fewer than 20 remaining in the wild.

"She's always been an animal child," said Schwanebeck. "Her heart is for animals -- it always has been."

Melissa has already collected $250 worth of empties. She delivered flyers last weekend at her townhouse complex promoting this weekend's drive.

The Tiger Foundation is at www.tigers.ca. If you would like to pitch in your empties, call Schwanebeck at 604-657-2610.

lgrindlay@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2005