Every year, when storms have dumped their worst, Tiffany Yang goes hunting for snow.
鈥淚 start piling and packing snow and stealing my neighbours snow off their drive ways,鈥� she wrote The Tri-City News.
For this Coquitlam snow sculptor, all the pilfered white stuff goes into forming an icy endangered animal picked from a list that grows every year.
鈥淢y neighbours would drop by to ask what I will be making this year鈥� she wrote. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always a secret until they come by again to see the big reveal!鈥�
This year, Yang sculpted a Siberian albino tiger and named her Chuffy, 鈥渁s tigers can only chuff while cats purr.鈥� With only 3,890 tigers left in the wild, these animals are within the ranks of the top 10 most endangered animals in the world.
The process is both painstaking and labour intensive, says Yang.
鈥淓very time I learn something new about animals, I would note it down,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淭he dark stripes are painted on by hand from mud, no paint.鈥�
When neighbourhood kids drop by to help or people pull over to take pictures Yang shares everything she鈥檚 learned about the animal.
鈥淭he magic of spreading awareness happens just like that. I love it,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淎s a bonus, people also have something 鈥榗ool鈥� to talk about instead of complaining about the snow!鈥�
Chuffy lasted a week before melting into a lump of ice.
