Adopt a river otter this holiday season!

By Valerie Hould-Marchand, Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup Champion and Olympic medallist in synchronized swimming.
This is a great time of year, for all the pa ra pa pam pam reasons of course, but mostly because everybody is in the mood for giving. I used to love showering my loved ones with gifts, the coolest gadgets for the techies, or the latest trend wear for the fashionistas, but more often than not, whatever I purchased eventually ended up in a landfill somewhere. I now realize there are much better ways to spend my money! By spending consciously, I understand that my consumer power can help my fellow man as well as our planet.

Valerie, with her river otter adoption kit.

What if you could give a gift that helps protect life on earth? One of my favourite ways to “pay it forward” during the holidays is WWF’s symbolic wildlife adoptions. The river otter made its debut this year, a species at risk due to ongoing habitat loss as well as increasing levels of pollution.
The Playful Swimmer
Some of my first memories are associated with water and expressing myself to music while swimming. I simply loved to experiment with all the different ways I could move through water, and it wasn’t too long before I realized that I wanted to spend most of my days in and around water.
I vividly remember the first time I saw otters, I wish I could tell you it was in nature somewhere, but I wasn’t so lucky, it was at the Aquarium du Québec in Québec city. I was mesmerized by the way they played with each other and moved with such ease in the water- something I very much envied as a tiny Synchronized Swimmer.

I now have a smoochable smaller version of the river otter at home. And thanks to WWF, I know that my symbolic adoption will help protect the river otter and its habitat. Truly, I would love nothing more than getting a few swimming tips from frolicking healthy otters while swimming in one of our country’s rivers and lakes.
OK so I am partial to the river otter, but many other species at risk need your help. They make fabulous gifts for kids and the animal lovers in your life. So this holiday season, choose a meaningful gift to give to your loved ones, and help in making a real difference for our natural world.