The Medicine River Wildlife Centre has released the second book in their educational children’s series.

Written by Erin Young and illustrated by Gabe Wong, Tangled in Trash follows the first book in the series, Otis’s Story.

Tangled in Trash is the story of a loon that becomes entangled in hastily discarded garbage.

Narrated by Otis the Owl, he watches the loon’s journey as it is saved from the wrongly discarded fishing line and goes through the Medicine River’s hospital.

Carol Kelly, executive director of the Medicine River Wildlife Centre, explains that in this book Otis tells of how loose trash on the ground such as fishing line and garbage can affect the lives of animals.

“The first was telling the tale of how Otis was found on the ground and taken to the wildlife centre,” said Kelly. “At the end there’s information about how if you find an owl on the ground what you can do to save its life so it was very educational.”

Kelly believes that the importance of teaching children about the environment and helping animals can’t be stressed enough.

“The book is there to raise awareness in children and hopefully inspire children,” said Kelly. “Teaching kids and inspiring them to take an action shows them that they have the power to make changes in the world around them and that has always been one of our goals.

“Kids can’t look at an issue like global warming and fix it, but by teaching them something simple like not littering and picking up garbage gives them an action they can take to their own backyard.”

Kelly explained Nova Chemicals sponsored this book, with all proceeds going towards the Medicine River Wildlife Centre’s preserving and purchasing of land around the centre in which hundreds of animals make their home.

Kelly explains that her daughter and author of the first two books, Young has been with the wildlife centre for 30 years and when the opportunity came to write the books, Young was a perfect fit.

“Education is her thing,” said Kelly. “Educating and talking to children is her calling in life and we’ve gotten such rave reviews from teachers who have shown the book to their classes.”

The book is currently available for sale online at www.medicineriverwildlifecentre.ca, by calling the centre at 403-728-3467 or at Chapters in Red Deer.

The Medicine River Wildlife Centre also invites those interested to connect with them to follow the stories of their rescued animals on facebook by typing in their name or by following them on Twitter @MedicineRiverW.

jswan@reddeerexpress.com