City unleashes online survey on exotic pets
Holy Cross Secondary School student Jessica Nilsen said she had studied Anne Frank in school and had always been moved by her story.
On Thursday, Nilsen ascended the narrow, rickety stairs leading to the annex that hid Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam. Nilsen read passages from the original Anne Frank diary.
“I had chills running through my body as I walked through there. I had read about it in school, but to actually be in the building and be in the room where she wrote her diary and lived in for two years is really incredible,” Nilsen said.
Nilsen joined about 50 of her peers from Holy Cross and St. Peter Catholic high schools in the visit to Anne Frank House, which, as one the biggest tourist draws in Amsterdam, attracts more than 4,000 visitors each day and 1.4 million visitors a year.
It was Day 2 of a nearly 10-day educational trip beginning in Netherlands and moving on to Belgium and then France, where these Peterborough students will join more than 25,000 Canadians commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
“It is really shocking to be at the place where this thing happened, to know that there was a girl my age living there in such terror every day and she couldn’t leave the attic of this place. She had to be quiet all the time. I don’t know if I could ever do that,” said Audrey Blastorah, a Grade 11 St. Peter student.
Schoolmate Katy Windsor echoed those sentiments.
“It is amazing to see how strong her family was and how strong she was to do that for two years. It really did touch me personally. I don’t know if I’d be able to do that, ever,” she said. “It makes you reflect. I have a really good life. I shouldn’t take anything for granted. Things can be taken away from you very easily.”
Earlier in the day, students toured the Dutch Resistance Museum, which highlighted the difficult choices facing every day Dutch people living through five years of German occupation in the Second World War – adjust, collaborate or resist.
Fortunately, many did resist. The museum underscores the many ways in which the people of Amsterdam helped their Jewish neighbours, forged documents, operated illegal newspapers and undermined the Nazi war machine.
“It was definitely illuminating how many people were affected by this war and just how young those people were,” St. Peter Grade 12 student Scott LeMoire said. “It goes to show that hate and intolerance are two of the biggest plagues in this world.”
It’s only Day 2 of this trip, and already it appears students are taking away lessons they will remember for a lifetime.
“We all need to be aware about how much we really have because we really take for granted what we have, like our freedom,” said Grade 11 Holy Cross student Zechariah Dunn. “Especially with being accepting of other people, we have to make sure we’re not discriminative or else things like this can happen.”
Stay tuned. The students have more lessons ahead as they dive deep into the history of the First and Second World Wars. Up next, we’re onto the sights of Ypres, Belgium – where the poppies blow.
NOTE: Follow the trip on Twitter @legalgeagle.
The city wants to know what you think about keeping pets such as snakes and lizards in Peterborough.
On Thursday, the city posted an online survey on its website to gauge opinion from the public.
The survey takes about three minutes to fill out online and it asks which animals – if any – should be banned.
It’s all part of a forthcoming update of the city’s animal bylaw.
Last year, the city began to review its rules about pets. The most talkedabout issue was a move to ban any new backyard chicken coops, which ended up being put on hold.
Instead the city posted a survey to its website to ask what people thought of urban hens. City staff is expected to review the bylaw and present it to councillors soon.
Now the city is asking what you think of snakes, lizards and scorpions so staff can decide how to deal with these animals in the bylaw.
The current bylaw has a list of restricted animals that can be kept as pets only with a permit.
Tarantulas and scorpions, descented skunks and domestic ferrets are on the list of restricted animals. So are all pythons and boas.
Snakes that reach an adult length of more than three metres are also restricted; same for lizards that are longer than two metres, snout to tail, when fully grown.
That doesn’t mean you cannot have these animals as pets: you can, as long as you have a permit (which costs $20, and must be renewed annually).
There’s a limit: you can only have three animals from any restricted species, even with a permit.
The deadline to fill in the survey is April 28 at 4:30 p.m. Paper copies of the survey are available online.
The survey can be found on the homepage of the city’s website at www.peterborough.ca.
People who’d like to send in additional comments can email them to bylaw@peterborough.ca.