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| Thursday, January 9, 2014
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Page 3: Derelict ‘eyesore’ demolished Aldergrove’s Winning Style
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Rare tiger dies Aldergrove Star
The oldest tiger at the Greater Vancouver Zoo in Aldergrove had to be euthanized on New Year’s Eve. A written statement issued by the zoo said Sweetie, the Siberian tiger, had to be put down on Tuesday “as a result of continued concern regarding her loss of appetite, respiratory distress and being lethargic.” Sweetie had been in poor health for the last month and a half, the zoo said. “We have tried medication and stimulating her appetite, but her condition continued to decline,” the statement said. A release issued by the zoo on Thursday evening said that a necropsy indicated the cat had a large hernia on her diaphragm, believed to have been present since birth. According to the zoo’s veterinarian Dr. Bruce Burton, “A hiatal hernia was almost certainly present since birth and thus was congenital rather than traumatic in origin. She did extremely well to live one year, let alone 18, considering the size of the hernia. It was likely not something we could have repaired surgically and since she was not eating, we felt it was in her best interest — the kindest thing to do — for her to be humanely euthanized. It is unlikely she was in any real discomfort at all.”
‘Sweetie’ the Siberian tiger was born at the Greater Vancouver Zoo 18 years ago. The 18-year-old Sweetie was born at the Greater Vancouver Zoo. “Sweetie was a very special part of our zoo family and will be dearly missed by all … rest in peace.” The statement added the median life expectancy of female Siberian tigers is 14 years in captivity. In the wild there are estimated to be as few as 400 to 500 Siberian tigers living primarily in eastern Russia, although some exist in China and North Korea. Tigers are listed as a “vulnerable” species by the the International Union of Conservation of Nature Red List.
Cities aim to dig out medical marijuana ‘home growers’ By JEFF NAGEL Aldergrove Star
HARRY HUNT PHOTO
Aldergrove’s Valerie Mensah-Wilson shows some of the style and agility that contributed to her team’s victory over the visiting Langley squad in U-17 girls soccer, Sunday, Jan. 5 at Aldergrove Athletic Park.
Some B.C. cities are vowing to do what they can to uproot licensed medical marijuana grow operations in homes that will become illegal this spring as federally approved large-scale commercial growers take over. As of April 1, an estimated 11,500 B.C. medical marijuana grow operations that have been run by or on behalf of federally licensed users are supposed to shut down voluntarily but civic leaders say Health Canada is doing almost nothing to force them to comply. “It’s an absolute gong show,” Abbotsford Mayor Bruce Banman said. “They’re keeping cities completely in the dark as to what they plan to do to fix this mess.” Abbotsford, Port Coquitlam, Surrey and
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some other cities that have identified some medical marijuana grows – through safety inspections or police raids that were called off when they turned out to be licensed – plan to take steps to ensure they shut down. Banman said Abbotsford is aware of approximately 100 currently legal grows and Abbotsford Police will likely follow up with them in the spring, but added there are at least 700 more at unknown locations that Health Canada won’t disclose. Surrey has for years used fire safety inspection teams to root out illegal pot grow ops, usually targeted based on excessive power consumption or neighbourhood complaints. Deputy fire chief Dan Barnscher said Surrey’s teams have uncovered nearly 300
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