SHEBA® Arrives in Canada, Bringing More Hope to Coral Reefs

Today, premium cat food brand SHEBA® has announced its SHEBA® BISTRO products are now widely available across Canada, offering cat owners purposefully crafted wet cat food to entice their cat's unique tastes and discerning palates. Alongside the on-shelf arrival, the SHEBA® brand is continuing to build momentum on Sheba Hope Grows™, the world's largest coral reef restoration programme.  

To mark its inaugural year in Canada, the SHEBA® brand has created an immersive multisensory experience called The Sheba Hope Grows™ Experience, located in Toronto. The exhibit is designed to let guests dive into the ocean with an underwater simulation of HOPE, the first reef restoration project within the Sheba Hope Grows™ campaign.  Guests will be immersed in the sights and sounds of healthy coral reefs and learn about how the SHEBA® brand is taking action to restore coral reefs.

The exhibit, located at 28 Bathurst Street in Toronto, will be open from June 3rd to June 24th (including World Ocean Week) between the hours of 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Entry is free to the public.

The SHEBA® brand believes HOPE is sparked by sustained action. That's why, as part of the launch, the SHEBA® brand has partnered with The Maldives Coral Institute, a science-led body that aims to help coral reefs to survive and adapt to the changing climate. The Maldives is an ecologically important coral reef ecoregion with some areas and populations of climate resilient corals, representing a key site for coral restoration. As part of this partnership, the SHEBA® brand is funding the launch of a community-led reef restoration project, bringing the Hope Grows campaign to one of the most vibrant places on earth - The Maldives. More details of the programme will be unveiled in the coming months.

"By taking action to restore coral reefs today, we are protecting our oceans for generations to come," said Daniel Calderoni, general manager, of Mars Pet Nutrition Canada. "We want to have a positive impact on future ocean health and therefore are focused on restoring the most biodiverse and critically endangered marine ecosystems because we know that more coral today, means more fish tomorrow."

In the two years since launch, HOPE Reef, our flagship coral reef restoration site in Indonesia, has inspired a ripple effect around the world, sparking a global movement to preserve and restore the beauty in our oceans. The reef – which can be seen from Google Earth – is built to visibly spell out the word 'H-O-P-E' from the seabed and in two short years has increased coral cover from 2% to 70% and has increased fish populations by 260%. The SHEBA® brand's work on reef restoration uses innovative 'reef star' technology to support the growth of new coral fragments. To date, 900,000 coral fragments have been planted using 60,000 Reef Stars. The recovered reefs now have an abundance of fish and biomass. Other species in the coral reef food web have also returned including sharks and turtles.

Today, Hope Grows has expanded to more than 30 restoration sites in 10 countries, across five continents, including the iconic Great Barrier Reef, the Coral Triangle (Indonesia) the Maldives, Mexico and Kenya. More than 500 people are involved in the restoration of these coral reef sites.

For additional information and SHEBA® BISTRO, please visit here.

For additional information on the Sheba Hope Grows™ programme, visit here.