Commonwealth colleagues collaborate to end polio

pictured: PDG Merewyn Wright with her Polio Moose at the 2025 RI Convention in Calgary.

A shared love of national animal ambassadors – and a shared commitment to ending polio – sparked a unique international collaboration between Rotary clubs in Canada and Australia.

WORDS: Anne Matthews. D9560 PASSPORT ROTARY CLUB, QLD.

In 2023, Sandra Fenton from the Rotary Club of St Albert, Canada, purchased a Polio Koala from D9560 Passport Rotary Club. Sandra wasn’t able to buy one at the Melbourne Convention as the koalas had sold out, so the club’s project manager posted one to her.

The koala sparked an idea – what about a Polio Moose for the 2025 RI Convention in Calgary, Canada? Sandra reached out to the Passport Club to see how her club might obtain a RI licence to become a supplier of these mighty moose – one of Canada’s most iconic animals, representing strength, resilience and the wild beauty of the Canadian wilderness.

The passport club’s project manager put Sandra in touch with Chris Cardenas at RI Licensing and the Rotary Club of St Albert successfully obtained a 4B licence to officially sell its Polio Moose, wearing the approved End Polio Now t-shirt. The passport club also sent Sandra a Polio Lion to add to her Polio Koala, and the menagerie of animals were used in the advertising promotion for the convention. They were also prominently displayed at the Polio Moose booth.

The Rotary Club of St Albert kindly gifted a Polio Moose to the passport club to thank them for their guidance and help. District Governor Greg Marlow collected the moose on the club’s behalf, while District RI Promotion Convention Chair PDG Merewyn Wright was on standby in case Greg didn’t get an opportunity to visit the booth.

The Polio Moose was very popular at the convention, with 100 sold pre-convention and 628 sold at the convention. Post-convention, the Rotary Club of St Albert received a number of enquiries about selling them by the case to a few clubs.

Meanwhile, the passport club’s gifted Polio Moose has already undertaken a big adventure in Australia. As Greg lives in outback Tennant Creek, NT, and the club’s project manager lives on Bribie Island on Queensland’s Coral Sea, the migrating moose travelled more than 2,500km to reach its new home.

This collaboration between the two clubs is just a small example of the power of Rotary. It demonstrates the strength of combined effort, working together to achieve more than individuals working alone. Effective collaboration is crucial for long-term achievements and is the cornerstone of Rotary’s ability to achieve so much across the globe.

With World Polio Day on 24 October, it is more important than ever that we work together to continue the fight to End Polio Now.

The disease is now only endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan with, at date of writing, 23 cases recorded this year. However, with the current global instability, particularly between Russia and Ukraine and in Gaza, vaccinations are a low priority.

Thankfully, in August 2024, Israel agreed to a series of humanitarian pauses in Gaza to allow for the vaccination of children against polio. These pauses came into effect following an announcement by the United Nations that a 10-month-old baby had been partially paralysed after contracting Gaza’s first case of polio in 25 years.

We can only hope for more humanitarian pauses between warring parties. If koalas, lions and moose can work together for peace, friendship and humanity, then surely humans can do the same.