Photographers fundraising for wildlife rehab facility

CALGARY -

They've turned photographing wildlife into full-time jobs since 2012. The twist is that Keltie and Stan Masters share the profits with the subjects of those photos.

"For us we believe if we take a picture that we should donate a portion of that money that we're profiting from back to these organizations," he said. "It should benefit both of us."

The couple have supported various charities and rehab facilities over the years and now are raising money for the Medicine River Wildlife Centre southwest of Red Deer.

The photographers have a business called Back to Nature Apparel. They transfer their wildlife photos onto various kinds of fabric that's made into bags or clothing.

"We have beanies, like the hats for everything from youth to adults," said Keltie. "We do face masks, we have leggings and we have capris, we do kimono robes and our cushion covers, handbag so we're kind of growing a little bit more and more every day."

The couple are donating 10 percent of sales from November 6 to 15 for its pre-Christmas fundraiser and hope to raise $5,000 for the rehab centre.

"They need all the help they can get," said Keltie. "People don't realize that this is not funded by the government and so every little bit helps and we thought, wow we want to be part of that difference."

130 SPECIES

Carol Kelly is the executive director of Medicine River and has run the facility for 37 years. She says this summer staff took in 2,000 patients that represented 130 different species.

"And that could range anything from eggs, the parents have been killed, the nest is left and the eggs are there," said Kelly. "We've hatched (everything from) eggs and baby moose to injured hawks."

Kelly says the annual operating budget is just shy of a half million dollars and she relies on public donations rather than corporate or government grants and is happy to see initiatives like the Master's fundraising drive.

"Oh it's huge," said Kelly. "I mean when you think (that) our budget is $450,000 a year you know $5,000 is a nice chunk."

Stan said he loves wildlife and can't do enough to help.

"Our population of wildlife is declining" he said. "So the more we can help out and get animals back in like fostering deer or moose and getting them back into wildlife is very important."

Learn more about the fundraiser here.