Clio Smeeton

President of CEI

Clio has worked with animals and conservation issues since 1962. She worked in Africa, B.C. and Alberta, where she was Curator of the Children’s Zoo, at Calgary Zoo. In 1967, with her parents, Miles and Beryl Smeeton, she established the Wildlife Reserve of Western Canada (later the Cochrane Wildlife Reserve and now the Cochrane Ecological Institute, CEI) and established a branch of the Institute in British Columbia. In Alberta, her work focuses on breeding endangered species for reintroduction and in B.C., on the rehabilitation and release of orphaned wildlife, environmental research and education.

The CEI has been involved with the protection and reintroduction of North American bison and trumpeter swans (in partnership with the Canadian Wildlife Service), founding the first captive-breeding colony of swift fox intended solely for reintroduction (1972), initiating the Canadian swift fox reintroduction programme (1978 – 1997) and the first swift fox reintroduction in the USA (1998-2002). The CEI has also founded an international Cetacean survey WhaleForce (est. 1986 –ongoing). Upon request, the CEI has provided captive management evaluations (eg. 2002, S.S. Waters, An Evaluation of Five Zoos in Indonesia, WSPA, 2001, C. Smeeton, Husbandry Notebook, 2nd Edition North American river otter, AZA small carnivore TAG).

The Institute provides Field Station research facilities to undergraduate, graduate and post graduate students. In addition to AWRA, the CEI is a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN, Reintroduction Specialist Group, the IUCN Behavioral Action Group, the Organization of Biological Field Stations, the Canadian National Swift Fox Recovery team, the USA Swift Fox Conservation Team, and Grasstemper -  a Russian-based international organization devoted to the preservation, conservation and research on the world’s temperate grasslands.

All of this wouldn't be possible without Clio!