Join the Olympic Party, Vancouver 2010 –
Animal Style with Deborah Wolfe

We all know a cheetah is faster than a man running, but is a cheetah faster than a gold medal speed skater? Find out how humans rank against animals in sport.  Deborah shares the results of the Camp Good Dog Dog-Olympics so far with guest camper dogs competing in several events including hockey!   A big thank you to the working dogs of the Olympics as Deborah explains how avalanche, airport and police dogs are selected, trained, and assigned to the Games.

56 dogs are keeping the Games going and horses too with the RCMP.  The British and Russian press has been blasting Vancouver and the Olympics with criticism which is interesting given that they are next to host and given that Britain has no medals and Russia has lost face winning fewer medals than they’d hoped and losing to the Canadians (yay) in men’s hockey last night.  Men’s hockey seems to trump all in both Russia and Canada even though it is Canadian women that bring home hockey medals most ( and hopefully will again tonight).  In fact 13.5 of the 16 Canadian medals  won so far were by Women; this is partly because in Canada laws, rules and norms dictate that men and women get equal access and equal funding for sport (almost) and that puts our women at an advantage over the rest of the world’s women who take a backseat to their brothers.  Perhaps some countries will notice this and support their women more in future. 

Perhaps women’s ski jumping will get their turn!   Politics and Olympics to overlap and this time Nature is getting heard too.  ‘You say protest, I say party!’ shouts one group of Olympic loving Canadians.  Deborah gets to the core of the protests and explains the facts behind the legitimate concerns for antipoverty initiatives, and on the animal side - for bears and salmon.  In fact, for the first time ever in Olympic history, First Nations are official hosts here in Vancouver-Whistler, B.C. for these 2010 Canadian Olympic Winter Games and this is giving them a platform to reach international ears with their message of no more trophy bear hunting, and no more salmon farms.  Find out why it matters so much and how these creative people are getting their message on camera.   If you can come to the Games, it is well worth it and very family friendly; the Police are doing a terrific job and they are everywhere  you go smiling.  Free live music, performers of all sorts from jugglers to dancers throughout the downtown, Yaletown and at every suburb venue all connected by skytrain plus free admission to big deal places like the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Olympic pavilions makes this a giant street party. 

Big Screens show star moments, gold medal finishes and get crowds fired up as they dance and sing with the many different Canadian bands.  For those listeners here right now in Vancouver, please take the time to get away from the Games and get out in Nature.  Deborah describes a few quick easy side trips you can take to see eagles, bears, artists blowing glass & making beads, get spa treatments at a natural hot spring with more eagles to view en route, check out the sea wall downtown on foot or by rental bike or  ride the skytrain just for the view of it all over town.  And if you’d like to do something good for wildlife and still have a terrific fishing day, check out sturgeon fishing on the Fraser River, out of Mission, B.C. (45 min east of Vancouver) and you can get your own ‘big fish photo’ with a prehistoric fish that is the biggest on earth.

Transcript will be available shortly.