7-year-old Ont. girl named semi-finalist in international wildlife competition

A girl from Guelph could soon hold a highly coveted title. CTV’s Karis Mapp explains what she’s doing at an international competition.

A young girl from Guelph is proving that cultivating a love for nature at an early age can really pay off.

Seven-year-old Elizabeth Klee has been named as a semi-finalist in the Jr. Ranger Competition, an international effort to find kids between four-years-old and 12-years-old who love the outdoors.

“She loves nature, she loves animals, we were outside a lot,” Elizabeth’s mother, Larissa Klee, said. “We do get to travel and when we do, we tend to focus on wildlife and wild spaces.

The competition is hosted by Colossal Fundraising and started with more than 76,000 applicants from North America. Elizabeth is one of only 144 contestants left.

“I didn’t expect that she’d [do so well], especially once I found out how many kids were involved,” Larissa admitted.

“Then, with the momentum we’ve gotten with friends and family support, seeing her get this far has been really motivating.”

The winner will get $20,000 and a three-day trip with wildlife expert Jeff Corwin. They will also be featured in Ranger Rick Magazine and be given the title “Jr. Ranger.”

“I want to go on the three-day adventure to help the animals,” Elizabeth told CTV News.

Elizabeth said her favourite part of the experience so far has been getting to try various activities.

“They task them to do these little challenges, like build a fort, or go on a nature walk, ‘And go find this,’” explained Larissa.

While Elizabeth has been learning about the world around her, her mother said her daughter is also becoming more comfortable in her own skin.

“Sometimes she struggles with some confidence issues at school and in other things,” Larissa said. “When she’s outside and doing those kinds of things that she loves, she’s just a whole different kid. She’s her happiest and most confident.”

It’s a level of confidence that Larissa said she never expected, because Elizabeth was born 11-weeks premature with health complications.

“It’s amazing to see this tiny little baby becoming so much more confident and she’s done a lot of impressive physical things on our travels,” said Larissa. Some of those things include hiking mountains in Montenegro and the Acatenango volcano in Guatemala.

If Elizabeth wins the cash prize, Larissa said most of it would be donated to the foundations that helped their family.

“Ronald McDonald House was really good to us and McMaster Children’s Hospital … We’d also like to donate to World Wildlife Fund Canada as well,” said Larissa.

Voting for the semi-final round ends Thursday evening. Votes can be case once every 24 hours.

If Elizabeth is successful, she will move onto the final round along with 11 other children.

Regardless of the outcome, Elizabeth said this journey has influenced her decision of wanting to be a zookeeper when she grows up.