Don’t be mad but I bought you a grizzly bear

Press Release

Toronto, ON (December 4, 2025) – Holiday shopping can be overwhelming, especially when trying to find the perfect gift. The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is offering a meaningful alternative: the gift of nature. Returning for its 30th year, NCC’s symbolic adoptions program allows people to symbolically adopt Canada’s wildlife or treasured natural landscapes.

Funds raised through the green gifts program support NCC’s efforts to conserve forests, wetlands, Canada’s native Prairie grasslands and shorelines, which are home to many species at risk.

Green gifts are ideal for nature lovers and outdoor enthusiasts but they are also perfect for those on your list who live far away, seem to have everything or are difficult to shop for. This is an opportunity to give a gift that’s unique, memorable and impactful.

Since the program began, more than $3 million have been raised to help conserve Canadian nature through projects that provide us with clean air, improve water quality, store carbon, and reduce the impacts of heavy rain, flooding and drought. These projects also protect healthy habitats for species at risk that depend on these places for survival.

People can choose from 13 different animals to symbolically adopt, such as narwhal, plains bison and western bluebird along with long-time favourites the monarch butterfly, swift fox, wolf, snowy owl, Canada lynx, river otter, Atlantic puffin, Blanding’s turtle, grizzly bear and polar bear. They can also support the conservation of landscapes in eight different parts of Canada: Great Lakes, Boreal Forest, East Coast, Gaspé Peninsula and Appalachian Mountains, Canadian Rockies, Prairies and Parklands, and BC Interior and West Coast.

For over 60 years, NCC has safeguarded critical habitats for plants and animals, as well as 20 million hectares of natural landscapes across Canada.

More information about the green gifts program can be found at giving.natureconservancy.ca.

Quote

“By symbolically adopting a species or habitat, people can protect wildlife and resilient ecosystems. Contributions go toward conserving and caring for critical landscapes, so people and nature can thrive. It is a great opportunity to support conservation close to home. We encourage people to join NCC’s efforts to conserve an additional one million hectares of nature by 2030.” – Andrew Holland, national media relations director, NCC

Facts

• Canada has 880 species that are in different at-risk categories, as designated by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. These categories include threatened, special concern, endangered, extinct and extirpated (which means no longer in Canada but occurs elsewhere).

• There is a great need to permanently conserve land. Canada has lost more than 80 per cent of its original native Prairie grasslands, 70 per cent of its Prairie wetlands, 80 per cent of its Carolinian forest and over 80 per cent of its wetlands in and around urban areas.

• Paperless gift options include a digital full-colour certificate, a digital landscape or species booklet, and an informational video. Charitable tax receipts are issued for all Symbolic Adoption program purchases.

About

Since 1962, the Nature Conservancy of Canada has brought people together to protect the lands and waters that sustain us all. As an environmental charity working hand in hand with communities, Indigenous Nations, governments and businesses, we deliver nature-based solutions at a scale no one else can. Our conservation work safeguards clean air and water, stores carbon and reduces the risks of floods and wildfires — protecting our health, strengthening local economies and building more resilient communities. Together, we unlock nature’s power, so life can thrive. Learn more at natureconservancy.ca.

Media contact

Andrew Holland
National Media Relations Director
Nature Conservancy of Canada
andrew.holland@natureconservancy.ca
C: 506-260-0469

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