Neepawa names new emus

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Published on Thursday, December 17, 2015

Photo by Kira Paterson. The emus arrived at the Bird Sanctuary in mid-November.

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The new emus at the Neepawa Bird Sanctuary have been officially named “Jake” and “Jill”. The Leisure Services Department for the Town of Neepawa and Jake Birch, the founder of the bird sanctuary, wanted to include the community in deciding the names for the two birds.

Ballots were created and the community was encouraged to nominate one female name and one male name. In total, they received 163 nominations for the male name and 155 nominations for the female names. 

The winning female name “Jill”, was nominated by Ambre Wahoski. For her participation, the Grade four student from Hazel M. Kellington Elementary School was presented with a $25 gift card, which was donated by Dairy Queen.

The winning male name was “Jake” and was brought forward by Erica Ramiro, a Grade three student at HMK. She was presented with a $25 gift card, donated by The Town of Neepawa, for her participation. 

New emus were generously donated by Darian and Tani Major to help fill the void left after Chopper the emu, a long time resident of the sanctuary and popular attraction, passed away in the fall.