What is Salmon Arm’s animal?
Kieran Anamchara wondered about that recently, after driving past Revelstoke and noticing it has a grizzly bear as its official animal.
He and his mom Shannon also noticed that Chase has two – a bighorn sheep and a salmon – and wondered why that is.
Kieran decided to write a letter to “Mr. Harrison,” Salmon Arm’s mayor and a former principal of Bastion Elementary, where Shannon works as a teacher, and ask him about an animal for Salmon Arm.
After a little help with the envelope, the letter, with its bright illustrations, was on its way.
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It ended up as part of the correspondence at council’s Feb. 25 meeting. Mayor Harrison remarked on it.
“This young person… asks if there’s an animal that represents Salmon Arm,” he said. “No one knows if we do have one. This is something to think about, whether we do or not, or whether we would like to have one in the future.”
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Interviewed later, Kieran, who’s seven, says he’s had lots of ideas about which animal should represent the city. His mom suggested eagle, but they decided no as it’s the official bird of the United States.
He thought of osprey and then salmon. He says he likes salmon as a choice because First Nations used a lot of salmon, plus the name Salmon Arm has the word ‘salmon’ in it.
“I think salmon is the best one. I wasn’t going to choose a bison because bisons live in Manitoba.”
Kieran’s mom points out that bison are his favourite animal. Kieran adds that he has several favourite animals.
“Sometimes I choose dogs, sometimes I choose bison, sometimes ducks, sometimes colobus monkeys, sometimes bush babies.”
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As for Salmon Arm’s animal, Kieran says he’s open to hearing more ideas. And he’s hoping to hear back from Mr. Harrison.
On a broader scale, the Province of British Columbia boasts nine official symbols, including an animal, a bird and a fish. The nine symbols include: the provincial flag, the coat of arms, Pacific dogwood, jade, the Stellar’s jay, western red cedar, the spirit bear, the official tartan and, the most recent addition, Pacific salmon.
@SalmonArm
marthawickett@saobserver.net
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