Each year firefighters in Campbell River, B.C., smash hundreds of pumpkins, all for a good cause. CBC's Maryse Zeidler was at the event, which has become a tradition for the community.

During her swims, Hardacker regularly encounters seals, herons, kingfishers and occasionally otters and sea lions. She remembers her first ocean swim, when she noticed a seal following her halfway to the reef.

“I thought, I have two choices — I can either be afraid and somehow get back to shore, but the seal is between me and the shore, or I can accept the fact that you know what? Seals swim out here and so do I,” she laughed. “And I picked the second option.”

Once freed, the buck quickly regained its footing and ran off into the surrounding area without any apparent injuries.

“We’re an agricultural community, so we are trained for animal rescue as well as people,” said Jacob Lamb, who led the rescue for Metchosin Fire.

Over 14 days, our team pedalled more than 1,000 kilometres from Port Alice to Greater Victoria. Together, we raised more than $700,000 for childhood cancer research and support programs.

There may have been no elephants, but there was jumbo-sized fun – and one very unusual-looking creature turning heads at the Luxton Fall Fair.

“There’s so much to see and do on site, so be prepared for lots of fun,” said organizers, but they did note that while it is a family friendly event, it can be a little scary for very young children after dark, and they recommend bringing them early, before the sun sets.

Hanke said the population explosion in B.C. originated from an intentional release of 12 lizards in 1970 after a roadside zoo, Rudy's Pet Park, in Central Saanich closed following the death of its owner. Southern Vancouver Island's cooler winters mixed with its hot, dry summers make these lizards from Italy feel at home.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/71400691

An ocean-dwelling, hairy-legged, red eyed, parasitic sea spider sounds like the kind of monster that might pay you a visit during the throes of a very bad dream.

But these creepy-sounding creatures inhabit planet earth — in fact, researchers recently discovered two new species of them in southern B.C.'s Salish Sea.

So much more than a one-day culinary event, Harvest Table — A Taste of Vancouver Island was designed to create opportunities to strengthen relationships across agriculture, culinary, tourism, education, community and Vancouver Island’s wider food system. The inaugural celebration beginning at 11 a.m. at the farm at 5250 Miller Rd., will bring the Island food community together through local food and beverages, farm experiences, children’s activities and a Community Harvest meal which will also put a spotlight on the next generation of culinary talent.

The motion directs staff to prepare a zoning bylaw amendment that would remove data centres as a permitted use. That would mean a developer wanting to establish a data centre would first have to apply for a zoning amendment, triggering a public hearing.

On paper, 1,200 kilometres on a bicycle sounds pretty daunting.

The western bluebird was declared locally extinct in the 1990s, after the established Garry oak trees they depended on for nesting cavities and mid-storey purchase were cleared to make way for livestock pastures.

Salmon are beginning to stage in estuaries across Vancouver Island, but people who monitor the region's rivers say their chances of successfully spawning vary depending on where and when they begin their journey upstream.

“Uncle Tom’s bees lived in what we called a dustbin — a galvanized metal garbage can that had somehow escaped being melted down to help make Spitfires fighter aeroplanes during the war,” said Janette. “By the time I knew it, the dustbin was mostly rust, and the holes provided the bees with plenty of entrances and exits. In winter, Uncle Tom would pile hay on top for insulation and cover it with an old, equally leaky galvanized wheelbarrow to keep off the worst of the weather. It certainly wasn’t modern beekeeping, but the bees seemed quite content, and I was fascinated.”

They're horned. They're hairy. And they're Langford's newest tool for mitigating wildfires.

The federal ban was in response to a devastating pest — the golden nematode, a microscopic invertebrate roundworm.

And the government didn’t just close the lid on potatoes. It also prohibited the growth of nightshades — which include tomatoes and eggplants — in Central Saanich.

Right before jumping in, I thought "this is going to be the worst day of my life,"

Considered one of the 10 most unwanted species in the world, the European Green Crab is said to have the ability to alter B.C. shoreline ecosystems and negatively impact economically and culturally important species and habitats.

Their primary service is to receive samples from aquatic habitats that are being monitored, and to identify and count the critters such as worms, clams, insects or other species.

Today's bracket features Vancouver Island. The eight contenders stretch from as far north as the world’s largest burl in Port McNeill and as far south as the Mile Zero display at the end of the Trans-Canada Highway go up against each other in the first round.

Southern resident orcas are one of the most critically endangered marine mammals in Canada, according to the federal government's Species at Risk Act, and the Centre for Whale Research says there are about 74 left in British Columbia’s waters — as well as a new calf not included in their numbers. Their main food source is the declining chinook salmon, primarily located in the Salish Sea, one of the busiest shipping corridors in North America.

B.C.'s main energy provider says it has chosen Vancouver Island to house the province's first battery energy storage project, which will allow energy to be saved up and used during peak times.

The project will be located at the Vancouver Island Terminal Substation near Duncan, according to B.C. Hydro.

The utility says it will launch the procurement process for the project by the end of July, with expectations that it will be in service by 2030.