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- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: [UK] Cleese donates film profits to save lemurs
- Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980208121033.22971e68@dowco.com>
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- >From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, February 8th, 1998
-
- Cleese donates film profits to save lemurs
- By Andrew Morgan
-
- JOHN Cleese, the comedian, has donated the proceeds from the London
- premiere of his latest film, Fierce Creatures, to save a group of rare
- lemurs from extinction.
-
- Five captive-bred black and white ruffed lemurs have just been released in
- Madagascar's Betampona Reserve in an effort to augment the native
- population, and the former Monty Python member, a long-time lemur fan, will
- travel to the island to witness the results and record his visit for the BBC.
-
- Initially, the ú55,000 raised from Cleese's film went to London, Marwell
- and Jersey zoos, but all three gave their share to the experiment, which is
- being managed by the Madagascar Fauna Group. Jersey Zoo, of which Cleese is
- a life trustee, donated a further ú20,000. The lemurs (Varecia variegata
- variegata) were bred at Duke University's Primate Centre in
- Durham, North Carolina, where they developed "free-ranging" skills in a
- 17-acre natural-habitat enclosure, known as the "boot camp".
-
- There, they moved between trees, learning to recognise predators and locate
- food. All five were then flown to Madagascar for their release into the
- wild. Betampona is a vital remnant of Madagascar's critically threatened
- eastern lowland forest, and 70 per cent of it is suitable for the lemurs.
-
- Lemur meat has been prized, and the reserve's few remaining ruffed lemurs
- would eventually have died out because of their isolation. The five animals
- released were some of the 250 black and white ruffed lemurs held in zoos
- around the world (including eight at Jersey), which are managed genetically
- as if they were a single population.
-
- The influx of the five animals will increase the genetic diversity of the
- Betampona population. The release is seen as a blueprint for saving other
- highly endangered primates. After their arrival, the lemurs were weaned off
- their captive diet of monkey chow and cultivated foods and switched to a
- wild diet of forest delicacies.
-
- Following their release, they have now made it to the forest canopy and are
- soaking up the sunshine, chewing on fruit and enjoying their freedom.
- Reports even suggest one of the females is already consorting with a wild
- male.
-
- Lee Durrell, the widow of Gerald Durrell and Jersey zoo's honorary
- director, says: "Nobody has ever reintroduced lemurs into the wild in a
- properly managed way. "It's important for the future of lemur conservation
- to know whether or not it's possible. But early signs are very encouraging."
-
- ⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998.
-
- Date: Sun, 8 Feb 1998 15:40:59 -0500
- From: molgoveggie@juno.com (Molly G Hamilton)
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: Ringling Bros.
- Message-ID: <19980208.154157.3246.5.molgoveggie@juno.com>
-
- Please Urge the USDA to suspend Rinling Brothers Exhibitor license
- immediately pending a thorough investigation into Kenny's death and the
- veterinary treatmetn he recieved.
-
- Write to:
- Ron DeHaven D.V.M.
- Deputy Administrator
- Animal Care
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Unit 97 4700 River Rd.
- Riverdale, MD 20737
-
- email: ace@aphis.usda.gov
- Fax: 301-734-4328
- Phone: 301-734-4980
-
- _____________________________________________________________________
- You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
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-
- Date: Sun, 08 Feb 1998 13:27:53
- From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: [CA] Apathy proving fatal to cats
- Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980208132753.10a7221e@dowco.com>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- >From The Burnaby Now - Sunday, February 8th, 1998
-
- Apathy proving fatal to cats
-
- Burnaby SPCA at a loss to explain why the number of abandoned cats keeps
- escalating.
-
- By Scott Neilson
- Burnaby Now Reporter
-
- It starts with the injection of barbituates into the stonach area and moves
-