City residents can scuttle their spare submarines today as part of a semi-annual large item drop-off event.
St. Albert public works crews expect to collect up to 20 tonnes of junk today at the public works yard at 7 Chevigny Street as part of the twice-annual large item drop-off event.
The event is a way for residents to get rid of items that are too big to fit in their curbside bins and don’t qualify for reuse or recycling, said city solid-waste programs co-ordinator Christian Benson.
That typically means sofas, mattresses and appliances, but in one case meant a giant submarine costume a parent had built for his kid, he continued.
“I don’t know how the kid fit in this thing, but it took up the entire box of (the parent’s) truck.”
You’ll need at least two waste tags per item (available from Servus Credit Union Place or Fountain Park Pool for $2.25 each), and you won’t be able to buy them on-site. Crews will not accept construction, commercial, or medical waste, and will also reject anything with Freon in it (i.e. refrigerators).
There are plenty of private junk-moving companies in the city if you need help moving an object to the event, Benson said. His department plans to propose a city-run large item retrieval service for next year’s budget.
Crews will have about eight 40-foot bins on site each with a 2.5 tonne capacity. They’ll also close up shop at 2 p.m. sharp, so come early.
The event runs from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. this July 25. If you miss it, the next drop-off event is Sept. 26.
An Edmonton region wildlife expert has some advice for people who find coyote pups in their backyard: leave them alone.
Kelly Hopchin, 19, reached out on the Community of St. Albert Facebook page Thursday for advice on what to do with a coyote pup she had found in her backyard.
Hopchin, whose home backs onto Giroux Road, said she spotted the pup at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday while getting ready for work. She had also seen what looked like the coyote’s mother looking for the pup on Giroux.
“I was concerned because the coyote was clearly too young to live on its own, and it was terrified.”
Worried that the coyote would simply run into another yard or get hurt if she left the gate open, she put the pup in a portable kennel and turned to her mother and Facebook for advice.
Several Facebookers correctly advised her to put the pup back where she found it.
Coyote pups will often become separated from their parents at this time of year as they roam about and explore, said Dennis Prodan of Alberta Fish and Wildlife.
“The absolute best chance for this thing is for her to put it back where she found it,” Prodan said, when told of this case.
Sheltering a coyote pup can expose a person to bites, fleas, and angry coyote parents, he said. If a pup is orphaned, neither Fish and Wildlife nor wildlife rehabilitation centres are equipped to care for it.
“If we have orphan ones, the policy is to put them down.”
Working with a neighbour, Hopchin released the pup from the kennel within sight of the mother.
“Of course, the baby ran the opposite way when the mom looked away.”
When last seen, the pup had run into another yard through a large hole in a fence, Hopchin said.
“We all have our fingers crossed that they'll be reunited.”
Infant wildlife questions should go to Fish and Wildlife at 780-427-3574 or the Wildlife Rehabilitation Society of Edmonton at 780-914-4118.
It wasn’t a record locally, but last June was the hottest June in recorded history, reports one of the world’s top climate agencies.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its global temperature and precipitation map for June this week. The NOAA is one of several agencies that tracks global temperature trends.
The group reports that last June was about 0.88 C warmer than the 20th century average of 15.5 C globally, making it the hottest June ever in the 136-year period in which we have records.
June wraps up the end of what was the warmest 12-month period in recorded history, the NOAA reports (July 2014 to June 2015), beating out the previous record set by June 2014 to May 2015. The 10 warmest 12-month periods on record have all happened in the last 10 years.
Environment Canada meteorologist Dan Kulak said the average temperature in June for Edmonton was 17.6 C – about 2 C above normal and close to what we typically get in July. The hottest June on record for Edmonton was 1961 at 18.7 C.
July, so far, has averaged 20.2 C, Kulak says – about 2.5 C above normal.
It’s important to look at this as not just one hot month but the latest in a series of hot spells over the last 40 years that reflect the influence of climate change, said Debra Davidson, one of the authors of the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.
“We’ve seen a continuous rise in global average temperatures over that period of time which is remarkably consistent,” she said.
“That suggests we will continue to break (temperature) records for years to come.”
The NOAA report can be found at www.ncdc.noaa.gov.
