Each year around the end of June, Gampo Abbey invites members of the wider sangha to support it in continuing a traditional Buddhist practice of freeing animals assigned to death.  The 16^th Karmapa was particularly renowned for releasing captive birds.

June 30^{th, 2006} was the end of the lobster season in this part of Nova Scotia. Gampo Abbey sangha released, in a special ceremony, a local Pleasant Bay lobsterman's last catch of the season into the water’s of the Gulf of St Lawrence.  Monastics and members of the lay community participated in the event.