Canon Awards Environmental Grant

Media Release
6 December 2007

Canon Awards Environmental Grant To Benefit Native Wildlife

Canon New Zealand is giving native wildlife a helping hand by awarding its annual Environmental Grant to the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine (NZCCM).

NZCCM will receive $15,000 worth of specialised Canon equipment to enable it to further its work in wildlife health, research, diagnostic work and education.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to have been awarded this grant. It’s a real affirmation of the world-class work the centre is achieving, and a tribute to the whole NZCCM team,” said NZCCM manager, Craig Pritchard.

“Canon’s equipment will contribute significantly to the success of our work. We’re rapt to be aligned with a well respected and sustainably-minded company like Canon.”

NZCCM, operating within Auckland Zoo, is the world’s first national centre for conservation medicine – a 21st century approach to wildlife health that focuses on the connections between human health, animals and the environment.

As well as serving the Zoo’s animals, NZCCM focuses on wildlife health, research and diagnostic work, and plays a key role in biosecurity and native species conservation. The Centre also offers zoo-goers a whole new experience as they can watch staff at work in the laboratory, treatment room and operating theatre from the large public viewing gallery.

The equipment selected by NZCCM includes: a XHA1 3CCD 20x20 Professional High Definition Video Camera which will be used for many situations, including non-invasive monitoring of animals in low-light environments, such as kiwi monitoring; an EOS 40D Digital SLR camera for fieldwork research assignments – like the current gannet colony research being conducted at Muriwai and a multi-media data projector for offsite presentations. In addition, a G9 compact digital camera will provide the team with an all-purpose camera, and is one that can also be linked with the centre’s microscope to photograph the likes of histology and cytology slides.

“Our vets really do need quality photographic equipment to obtain the level of detail required for diagnosis and research. This is particularly important when dealing with animals like our tiny native Archey’s frog (just 37mm long), and attempting to photograph such things as blisters and injured eyes. Such quality images are invaluable, and we can then share them, and our findings, online with other international amphibian experts. So this grant, in the form of technology equipment, is a perfect fit,” says Craig Pritchard.

NZCCM was chosen from close to 60 other submissions put forward by people or organisations carrying out conservation work.

Craig Manson, managing director, Canon New Zealand said NZCCM is a worthy recipient whose ongoing work will make a substantial contribution to wildlife conservation in New Zealand and around the globe.

“We know that when it comes to environmental work resources can often be stretched. Canon recognises the importance of having quality equipment to record, document and process studies and research, and this is where we hope the Canon Environmental Grant will help.”

In the spirit of kyosei – Canon’s corporate philosophy and a Japanese term that means living and working together for the common good - Canon stresses environmental protection both in its daily operations and through support activities.

Globally, Canon has set itself the ambitious target of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2010 based on 2000 levels. Canon New Zealand has also recently been awarded the ISO 14001 (highest certification) for environmental management for all its branches.

“NZCCM will be pleased to know that not only will they have the latest equipment to help them operate more effectively, but that the equipment – like all Canon products – have been designed with the environment in mind,” said Craig Manson.

Submissions for Canon New Zealand’s Environmental Grant 2008 will open on the international World Environment Day next June.

Ends.

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