Note: I am in the process of coding this page for the web. Where you see
numbers in parentheses, these are footnotes; please look a little further down the page for the
explanation. The project in Ecuador is in in progress and ongoing. Budget is not included here (yet).
=============
Ruben Nunez:
fieldwork
education
law enforcement
saving a species from extinction
Sponsored by
Tapir Preservation Fund, PO Box 1432, Palisade, Colorado 81526 USA
phone: (970) 464-0321
fax: (970) 464-0377
tapir@tapirback.com
Sheryl Todd, President
Wildlife Preservation Trust International, 520 Locust St, Suite 704
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102
USA
phone: (215) 731-9770
fax: (215) 731-9766
wpti@aol.com
Dr. Mary Pearl, Executive Director
*****
CONTENTS
Request
Mission
History
Project
Education
Fieldwork and Telemetry
Nunez's Commitment
Needs assessment
Objectives
Description
Education
Fieldwork and Telemetry
Evaluation Methods
Organizational information
Budgets
Basic Education
Enhanced Education
Fieldwork
Total
To Contribute
Inquiries
Footnotes
*****
REQUEST
The Tapir Preservation Fund and Wildlife Preservation Trust
International request funding to help preserve the Andean mountain
tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) in Ecuador's protected areas.
The most generous estimate is that there are 2500 mountain tapirs left
in the world; the most conservative, 1000. Roughly half of these are in
Ecuador, where they are hunted even in protected national parks. The
mountain tapir could be extinct within a decade.
MISSION
Our mission is to preserve the existing population of the mountain
tapir, and its habitat in Ecuador's protected areas, through fieldwork,
radio telemetry, education, and law enforcement.
Keeping the tapir alive is important to
-- Ecology. Science is just beginning to discover the tapir's
importance to the Andean ecosystem: the tapir disperses the seeds, and
thus helps ensure the survival, of perhaps 33% of the total varieties of
Andean flowering plants, which in turn protect the fragile Andean soil
(1). And it even appears that some Andean tree seeds germinate better
after passing through the tapir's intestinal tract. (2) The mountain
tapir thus is an "obligate symbiont," a keystone, of the Andean
ecosystem.
-- Science. The tapir has remained unchanged for 20 million years. Its
genetics, geographic distribution, and cultural significance to
indigenous peoples are a rich field for investigation. The mountain
tapir (the only species of tapir that lives in chilly cloud forests
rather than rainforests) merits particular attention for its unusual
adaptations to its climate.
The dodo and the passenger pigeon are examples of what happens when we
fail to pay attention until too late. We cannot allow the mountain
tapir to join them. Even if it were not a keystone species for the
Andean ecosystem, this living fossil is fascinating, genetically unique,
and irreplaceable.
HISTORY: PROJECT
In April 1996, wildlife ecologist Craig Downer, in response to illegal
poaching of tapirs in Ecuador and the destruction of their habitat,
joined with conservation educator Ruben Nunez. Together they
radio-collar mountain tapirs, and teach the Ecuadorean population why
this tapir must be saved. In the short time since their efforts began,
their results have been remarkable.
Craig Downer is the first person ever to have radio-collared mountain
tapirs, and has been called a "pioneer" (3) for his work. He has
written for BBC Wildlife, Oryx, and Nature Conservancy Magazine, and
authored the mountain tapir section of the IUCN's book, Tapirs: Status
Survey and Conservation Action Plan. (4) He is currently responding to
a request from the Ecuadorean government for further conservation work.
Ruben Nunez, native Ecuadorean, will receive his Master's degree in
Agronomy from the Agricultural Technical Department of Ambato
University, Ecuador. He has accompanied Downer on many expeditions to
radio-collar the mountain tapir, has led four expeditions himself, and
has brought conservation education to approximately 10,000 Ecuadoreans
so far.
Nunez's expeditions consist of Nunez and several assistants, as well as
Downer whenever possible. The expedition enters the Andes to study the
terrain; record evidence of habitat destruction; capture and
radio-collar mountain tapirs; and track them via radio telemetry.
Downer's and Nunez's previous expeditions have added to the scanty
information available about mountain tapirs' requirements for survival.
Nunez also speaks to an average of 2000 people a month, teaching why it
is a long-term ecological disaster to hunt the tapir and clear-cut its
habitat. As an agronomist, he is an expert on developing viable
income-producing alternatives to the poaching that threatens tapirs'
existence. His audiences range from high school students, to teachers,
to campesinos and villagers, to the police. He has received support at
all levels from the villagers themselves to the Catholic Church.
Nunez directs several "Mountain Tapir Clubs," groups of Ecuadoreans whom
he trains as educators. They are concentrating on local education until
they are funded to travel into remote mountain villages; there they will deliver
conservation information to the inhabitants who hunt the tapirs.
Nunez tracks and observes the shy, rare mountain tapir, then brings his
observations back to the cities and villages. Speaking to youths,
police, villagers, and poachers themselves, Nunez and the Mountain Tapir
Clubs educate the people of Ecuador -- the people who hunt tapirs, the
people who can save them.
HISTORY: EDUCATION
In only a few months, Ruben Nunez's educational efforts in high schools,
towns, and cities of Ecuador have:
-- won the support of the Catholic Church, which uses its "power of
convocation" to gather its members for seminars led by Nunez and the
clergy. These seminars, predictably, are very well attended.
-- caused the police in Riobamba to ask for educational and even legal
materials so that they can better enforce the law against poachers and
clear-cutters in national parks.
-- started a fashion trend. Student-designed t-shirts emblazoned "Yo
Protego al Tapir Andino" ("I protect the mountain tapir") now appear
under school uniforms at Immaculata High School in Ambato.
-- helped Ecuadorean women take the first steps toward self-reliance.
Nunez has joined with Peace Corps volunteer Felicia Wilhelmy and the
women of CAMFA (Alternative Center for Women and the Family), a Banos,
Ecuador, resource center for women and children. Nunez gives
conservation talks and educational material to the women and children of
CAMFA. The women then create embroideries, paintings, and sculptures of
tapirs. Wilhelmy sells this artwork to the Tapir Preservation Fund and
passes the payment back to the women.
The best measures of a plan are its results. Nunez's educational efforts
in May of 1997 alone include these successes:
-- 250 members of the police department in Riobamba, to whom Nunez
lectured, said they were unaware of Ecuador's endangered species law
about tapirs. The police requested copies from him, and concluded their
discussion by telling Nunez they would begin jailing poachers.
Law enforcement in Riobamba would address a large part of the poaching
problem, because Riobamba is a trade center for tapir parts and meat.
Not only are tapir feet and snouts sold in the area as traditional
remedies, the Riobamba wealthy hire poachers to kill tapirs for feast
days. (5) Furthermore, trophy hunters from outside Ecuador come to
Riobamba, among other places, to hire guides to lead them to tapirs.
Because poachers and illegal guides make a great deal of profit in
Riobamba, they are vulnerable to law enforcement there.
-- A filmmaker for PBS is drawing up a budget and plan for producing
educational films about tapirs in both Spanish (to be used in Ecuador)
and English.
-- Consistently high attendance at Nunez's talks means that in the month
of May alone he spoke with, at a conservative estimate, 2450 people,
including the entire village of Runtun. (Runtun, in fact, is where
Nunez is working with the Ecuadorean government to create a protected
area at the entrance to Sangay National Park; thus his educational trips
to Runtun are of prime importance in the conservation effort.)
-- INEFAN (Instituto Ecuadoreano Forestal y de Areas Naturales, the
national parks and wildlife department of Ecuador) has invited Nunez to
be its representative at the Third International Amazon Conference.
-- Two National Ecuadorean television stations have shown a video
provided by Nunez about tapirs.
-- FM Radio Bano now broadcasts twelve conservation messages from Nunez
per day.
-- The "Yo Protego" Club at Immaculata high school (one of five Mountain
Tapir Clubs in Ecuadorean high schools) is an organization of which the
students and even the administration appear to be extremely proud.
During the Immaculata open house in May, students posed for photographs
in their school uniforms and "I Protect the Mountain Tapir" t-shirts.
They then posed with school officials as well, and the officials smiled
into Nunez's camera, surrounded by tapir t-shirts.
-- The first shipment of CAMFA art to the Tapir Preservation Fund sold
out immediately, and the TPF has just received the second shipment. The
partnership of CAMFA, the Tapir Preservation Fund, the Peace Corps, and
Nunez benefits all involved: the CAMFA women are becoming self-reliant,
the Tapir Preservation Fund receives donations, and the conservation
message about tapirs is spread.
HISTORY: FIELDWORK AND TELEMETRY
Telemetry location is conducted with readings from radio-collars. These
radio-collars are attached to tapirs after the tapirs are captured and
examined. When the tapirs are released, the radio-collars broadcast
signals continually, and these signals can be monitored on tracking
equipment. Radio telemetry thus provides precise information about the
tapirs' location, migrations, home ranges, and favored sites for
shelter, sleeping, eating, and congregation.
Craig Downer's work has provided much of what is currently known to
science about this rare, shy species In his previous studies in Sangay,
Downer has employed biological sampling, radio telemetry, fecal
analysis, vegetative transects, fecal germination experiments, and
analyses of tapirs' ranges and diets.
On each tandem expedition, Nunez and Downer together have ascertained
where Andean tapirs are most populous, where the terrain will facilitate
monitoring (areas such as mountain peaks, ridges, rivers, and tapir
trails), and where capture will not harm the animals (areas free from
waterfalls, cliffs, and river rapids).
Nunez has been trained by Downer in all aspects of tracking, capturing,
and collaring mountain tapirs. Nunez is also expert in monitoring the
telemetric receivers, and interpreting and recording their signals. He
has stored and maintained the four radio-collars from previous
expeditions, so he is provided with equipment that has proven its worth.
The information gained with radio telemetry could be crucial to the
survival of the mountain tapir for three reasons:
1. Nobody knows where the range of the lowland tapir (Tapirus
terrestris) begins and that of the mountain tapir ends - or whether they
intersect. As different species of tapirs are pursued by hunting and
deforestation into new areas, they could interbreed, annihilating the
separate species. Nunez's records could provide information about
territory and breeding habits that could save the mountain tapir as a
species.
2. The mineral licks and gathering sites of mountain tapirs are
obviously where poaching efforts will be concentrated, so patrolling
efforts should be concentrated there too.
3. Information about tapir movements and habitat will give Nunez
information about the greatest dangers to their survival, and so help
him concentrate educational efforts where they will do the most good.
HISTORY: NUNEZ'S COMMITMENT
Ruben Nunez has demonstrated his involvement with this project through
impressive commitments of money, time, and political and publicity
expertise:
1. He has financed four radio-collaring expeditions himself, at an
average cost of $730 per expedition; because his pay for this work is
$160 per month, each expedition has cost him several months' salary.
2. With scientific and academic expertise gained during his advanced
studies in Agronomy (Master's degree program, Agricultural Technical
Department of Ambato University), he has been developing and publicizing
ways for Ecuador to reforest denuded areas, and for the Ecuadorean
population to maintain its standard of living without resorting to
methods that destroy the tapir and its habitat.
Nunez teaches about the dangers of single-crop farming, and urges
Ecuadoreans to broaden their economic base with non-destructive
activities that are currently in demand: beekeeping; making of soaps and
shampoos; cultivation of orchids, garlic, and bluegreen algae; and
providing guided tours and horses for tourists.
3. He is working with INEFAN (the national parks and wildlife
department of Ecuador), the Pastaza Foundation, the Banos 2000
Foundation, and other organizations to create a protected zone in Runtun
at the entrance to Sangay Park.
4. He has become President of the largest housing barrio in Banos. He
got the barrio renamed to "Ecology," and is working for the reclamation
of a trash dump in the center of Banos. Before work began on this area,
the dump was the vector for a number of communicable diseases; now it is
slated for development into a children's shelter, a pharmacy, and a
library.
5. He brings the eight Mountain Tapir Clubs on visits to Sangay
National Park and other nearby areas.
6. He has been an ecology instructor at a vocational camp for tour
guides of the state of Tungurahua.
7. And because he is a native Ecuadorean, Nunez is intimately aware of
the publicity and news media possibilities in Ecuador. Therefore, since
February 1997, he has gained local and national exposure for his
conservation work in the following ways:
-- persuaded two national-level television stations to broadcast part
of a video about mountain tapirs.
-- paid for air time on six radio stations. Currently, FM Radio Bano
transmits a dozen messages daily about the mountain tapir and caring for
the environment. This campaign can be continued for only one more month
unless more funds are forthcoming.
-- persuaded two daily regional newspapers and two local magazines to
publish four articles about environmental work (plus another article
slated for publication soon).
-- contacted two companies (Guitig, Coca-Cola) for sponsorship of his
efforts; this project is ongoing.
-- commissioned tapir-themed handcrafts from native Amazonian artisans
and artwork from a well-known Ecuadorean painter. When these handcrafts
and artwork become available, Nunez will use them to influence public
opinion, and perhaps raise funds, in ways to be determined.
Finally, Nunez's commitment is perhaps best expressed in his own words
from a letter he sent to Sheryl Todd of the Tapir Preservation Fund. In
an accounting to Ms. Todd of time spent on educational and scientific
activities, Nunez writes:
" ... my work does not have a normal schedule; I rise very early in the
morning in order to travel to another province, [and] I often walk alone
on long roads without light into the late hours of the night."
NEEDS ASSESSMENT
One thousand to 2,500 mountain tapirs remain in the wild. They exist in
approximately 16 scattered (and thus genetically vulnerable) pockets.
(6) Without conservation efforts, mountain tapirs' chances for survival
look grim.
Under present laws, zoos cannot be the answer to mountain tapir
preservation. Import and export legislation prevents mountain tapirs
being removed from their native country. Furthermore, it is difficult
to keep these animals alive in captivity; most have died on importation,
and even transporting survivors between zoos for breeding can be fatal.
Due to the rarity and fragility of the mountain tapir, the surest
methods of preserving this species are conserving its habitat and
halting illegal poaching. These methods rely on education, law
enforcement, and fieldwork that includes radio telemetry.
Habitat conservation is desperately needed in the Andes. Even in
protected national parks, cattle owners burn and clear-cut mountain
slopes to allow their herds to graze. Cutting and grazing exposes
topsoil, leading to droughts, to rock slides that choke rivers, and to
floods that bury towns. However, these short- and long-term disasters
do not concern the cattle owners, who, understandably, want the money
their cattle bring. Law enforcement can stop this practice in Ecuador,
as it has already stopped it on the western slopes of Honduras's Agalta
National Park. (7) Then education can beget conservation: alternative
sources of income and more careful management of hoof stock can be
taught so that tapir habitats, and thus the Andean ecosystem, are
preserved.
This habitat conservation has another important benefit: it will benefit
many other endangered species that are currently the foci of
preservation efforts worldwide. These species include the spectacled
bear (Tremarctos ornatus), the pudu (Pudu mephistopheles), the torrent
duck (Merganetta armata), the red brocket deer (Mazama rufina), a rare
endemic subspecies of guinea-pig (Cavia apertea patzelti), and the
Andean condor (Vultur gryphus).
Fieldwork that includes radio telemetry is crucial to making chronically
understaffed conservation efforts do the most good: it points out which
habitat to protect. If collared mountain tapirs can be tracked by radio
signals, then their habitat preferences can be noted, and their
gathering places moved highest on the list of areas to patrol.
Halting poaching is vital to keeping the mountain tapir alive. Again,
law enforcement, education, and radio telemetry play a part.
Law enforcement reduces the supply of tapir meat; oddly, health
education could reduce demand. Tapir snouts and feet are prized as
medicine; Ecuadoreans with heart problems or epilepsy pay poachers high
prices for these remedies. Information about treatments for these and
other illnesses can offer medical alternatives.
Ecology education, of course, is another way to inform Ecuadoreans about
the keystone position the tapir plays in the Andes. And because the
Riobamba police were surprised to hear about Ecuador's endangered
species laws, it is clear that education about the law, especially for
the people who uphold it, is another part of Nunez's task.
And finally, locating and tracking the tapirs -- a task made much
easier by radio telemetry -- is important to knowing where to patrol
for poachers. Radio telemetry also helps determine where poaching takes
place.
OBJECTIVES
Ruben Nunez and Craig Downer have five goals:
1. Radio-collar at least four mountain tapirs in Sangay National Park.
Nunez has stored and maintained the four radio-collars from previous
expeditions, and Downer will investigate getting more radio-collars as
funds become available. Radio telemetry sets the stage to provide new
scientific data about tapirs' movements and behavior, but, more
immediately, provides very practical data about which areas of Sangay to
patrol and where poaching does take place.
2. Make tapirs a beloved animal for children. Youths can put
considerable pressure on their elders' buying and hunting habits.
3. Make tapirs worthy of protection in adults' eyes. Adults, after
all, are the ones who poach. And they can stop poaching, if they can be
convinced that by killing the tapir they are killing one of the animals
that keeps their forests alive. Already at least one Colombian poacher
has been stopped this way: in 1996, Dr. Jaime Cavelier and his assistant
Diego Lizcano, of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia,
educated the poacher's entire village about the plight of the tapir, and
the poacher bowed to social pressure to stop hunting tapirs.
4. Enforce laws against killing endangered animals and leveling
protected forests. This step depends on public opinion. Currently,
tapirs and other rare species are killed, and wide areas of forests are
burned and clear-cut, even within the national parks of Ecuador. Public
outcry can convince the Ecuadorean government to allot more money to
understaffed park patrols for protected areas. Public outcry can also
strengthen or shame police into prosecuting offenders.
5. And, lastly, eliminate poaching and clear-cutting. This step
depends on public opinion and law enforcement. As long as it's
profitable, poachers and clear-cutters will keep working. Determined
police work can deter these activities, but long-term changes can be
made only by "weaning" poachers and consumers off their demand for tapir
snouts and meat, and by teaching poachers and consumers alike to be
concerned about habitat preservation. When the demand falls, so that
poachers risk heavy punishment for uncertain reward, they will find
other work; when clear-cutters face scorn and jail rather than
indifference, tapir habitats will be better preserved.
DESCRIPTION: EDUCATION
The educational methods that Nunez and his trainees employ have already
begun to succeed in the areas they have been able to reach; only funding
is lacking to spread these methods to the rest of Ecuador and to
reinforce the effective work already completed.
1. Young adults can be interested in tapirs if tapirs are presented as
a cause, an emblem of "insider" knowledge about a problem, the nucleus
of a club, or an opportunity to show off artistic skills. It worked in
Ambato: there, the Immaculata High School students formed a club,
designed their own "Yo Protego al Tapir Andino" t-shirts, and now wear
them even under their school uniforms.
2. "Yo Protego" club membership could be increased with presentations at
various schools, and a contest for the best "Yo Protego" shirt in each
city.
3. Younger children could be hooked on tapirs by a method that has
worked in Belize: Sharon Matola, director of the Belize Zoo, wrote and
distributed two children's books about wildlife. They are now in
virtually every library in Belize. One book, The Further Adventures of
Hoodwink the Owl, was instrumental in raising public outcry that got
laws passed in Belize to protect the endangered hawksbill sea turtle.
The other, Hoodwink the Owl, is produced as a play several times a year
in Belizean elementary schools. The popularity of both books is still
growing.
A method similar to Matola's could be used in Ecuador. A writer and
illustrator have been found to create the Ecuadorean books, and the
director of the Tapir Preservation Fund has established a relationship
with a source for toy plush tapirs (this source even offers custom
designs), which could be sold alongside the books and would increase the
books' appeal even further.
4. Adults can be brought to understand why a living tapir is better than
a dead tapir if they see every dead tapir as a blow against their own
long-term economic well-being. Social pressure, even from younger
family members, can influence adults away from hunting tapirs or buying
their meat. Education about alternatives to the practices that ruin the
tapirs' habitat is a long-term change that must begin now.
5. Nunez's lectures and the assemblies called by the Catholic Church
have begun to be successful in changing adults' behavior. Posters, color
brochures, and educational films are very popular, and funds are needed
to produce more.
6. Elimination of poaching can be accomplished in two steps: the
immediate and the longer-term. The longer-term solution is social
pressure: it can eventually wean campesinos from poaching. But the
immediate solution is law enforcement. If the police are convinced that
tapirs are worth saving, they will prosecute poachers.
The Riobamba police have already told Nunez that they will begin jailing
poachers, and have requested posters and educational films from him. He
is, as yet, unable to fund the posters and films. However, both a
filmmaker and a poster supplier have indicated interest.
7. The filmmaker is Rodrick Bradley, creator of PBS Smithsonian World's
"Web of Life" (1989), "Tales of the Human Dawn" (1990), and the upcoming
"Biography of Mark Twain." He is now planning two educational films on
tapirs: one in Spanish to be used in Ecuador, and one in English for the
United States. (As he said in one planning session, "Documentaries
saved the pandas, they can save the tapirs.")
8. And the poster suppliers, Dr. Jaime Cavelier and his assistant, Diego
Lizcano, of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia, have
offered Nunez a limited number of color posters and brochures in Spanish
for the cost of postage.
DESCRIPTION: FIELDWORK AND TELEMETRY
Fieldwork and radio telemetry have been proven useful by many of
Downer's previous expeditions. Downer has reported on the results, both
alone and with Ruben Nunez, in several publications. (8) Moreover,
Downer has been approached by the Ecuadorean government and EMAAP-Quito
(the water company of Quito) to begin radio telemetry of tapirs for a
similar conservation effort in Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve. Nunez
has worked with Downer to capture, collar, and track mountain tapirs,
and is now leading expeditions himself to continue this work.
Capturing tapirs requires training and assistance. Each expedition takes
from one to two weeks to complete. Andean tapirs weigh up to 350
pounds, and have canine teeth that are several inches long. These
tapirs are so agile that they can survive in the mountains and river
rapids of the Andes, so fast that they can outrun the pumas that prey on
them, and so strong that when a tapir is caught with a rope it is
capable of dragging several adult humans behind it. When the tapir is
caught it must be either tranquillized or physically restrained so that
the radio-collar can be fastened on. Nunez employs eight assistants with
tracking dogs as part of his expeditions.
As of the writing of this proposal, Ecuador's rainy season has been
preventing the capture of tapirs. However, Nunez has been training his
assistants and their dogs on these expeditions, as he was trained by
Downer, so that when the dry season comes, the group will work together
efficiently.
EVALUATION METHODS
The success of these educational and fieldwork efforts can be measured
in various ways:
Lecture attendance: the Tapir Preservation Fund is providing forms to
keep track of attendance, audience requests, and influential community
members at each lecture. Other forms will be used in follow-up visits
to track reductions in poaching and clear-cutting in each area, and
changes in level of community concern about ecology. Nunez thus can
quantify cause and effect more quickly than with the system of
painstakingly handwritten notes he currently must use for lack of
funding.
Patrols to reduce poaching: independent observers (possibly members of
Mountain Tapir Clubs) can verify the number of tapir parts available for
purchase. By itself, a reduction in the number of tapir parts might
simply mean that tapirs are harder to find; but coupled with Nunez's and
Downer's monitoring of tapir populations, the body count would be
meaningful. For instance, a decline in body count plus a steady state
or increase in tapir population would show the patrols were working.
Law enforcement: reports from police on poacher arrests, including the
identities of repeat offenders, can be verified by independent
observers.
Distribution of educational materials: Nunez's audiences frequently
request further lectures from him or from Craig Downer. They also
request posters, brochures, and films. The Tapir Preservation Fund is
providing forms on which these requests and their fulfillment can be
tracked.
ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION
Wildlife Preservation Trust International is funding Ruben Nunez's
efforts from May to September of 1997. WPTI then will collaborate with
the Tapir Preservation Fund to ensure continuity in Nunez's project. The
Tapir Preservation Fund will regularly evaluate and fund Ruben Nunez's
efforts. Evaluation will be based on Nunez's and Downer's monthly
reports, and the reports of independent observers and the Ecuadorean
police.
Wildlife Preservation Trust International, a nonprofit conservation
organization, works to save endangered species from extinction through
creative, hands-on projects in collaboration with local scientists and
educators around the world.
The Tapir Preservation Fund is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the
preservation of all species of tapirs and their vanishing habitats.
Money raised by the Tapir Preservation Fund is sent to individuals,
institutions, and organizations working directly with tapir conservation
in the wild and in zoos.
INQUIRIES TO:
Ruben Nunez
Roca Fuerte
806 Juan Leon Mera
Barrio Ecologico 5 de Junio
Banos, Tungurahua, Ecuador
phone (593) 3 827 272
(593) 3 740 581
Vicente Alvarez
Director: INEFAN Chimborazo, and Sangay National Park
INEFAN (Instituto Ecuadoreano Forestal y de Areas Naturales)
Oficinas del MAG
Circunvalacion
Riobamba, Chimborazo, Ecuador
phone (593) 3 963 779
Rodrigo Aguilar
Director: INEFAN Tungurahua,
and Conservation Fauna y Vida Silvestre Ecuador
INEFAN (Instituto Ecuadoreano Forestal y de Areas Naturales)
Eloy Alfaro y Amazonas
(Edificio MAG)
8 Piso
Quito, Ecuador
Dr. Mary Pearl, Executive Director
Wildlife Preservation Trust International
1520 Locust Street, Suite 704
Philadelphia PA 19102 USA
phone (215) 731-9770
fax (215) 731-9766
e-mail wpti@aol.com
Sheryl Todd, President
Tapir Preservation Fund
PO Box 1432
Palisade, Colorado 81526 USA
phone (970) 464 0321
fax (970) 464 0377
e-mail tapir@tapirback.com
*****
FOOTNOTES
1 Craig Downer, personal interview, 9 August 1997.
2 Craig Downer, "The mountain tapir, endangered 'flagship' species of
the high Andes," Oryx 30.1 (1996): 49.
3 Alejandro Grajal, "Behind the Scenes," Wildlife Conservation
July/August 1995: 2.
4 IUCN, Tapirs: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan (Gland,
Switzerland: IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, upcoming
1997).
5 Craig Downer, personal interview, 9 August 1997.
6 Craig Downer, "The mountain tapir, endangered 'flagship' species of
the high Andes," Oryx 30.1 (1996): 46.
7 Kevin M. Flesher, "The Implications of Forest Fragmentation and
Reserve Design for Tapir (Tapirus bairdii) Persistence in Northeastern
Honduras: Re-Thinking the Conservation Strategy," (manuscript, 1996) 4.
8 See, for example, Downer, Craig C. "Status and Action Plan for the
Mountain Tapir (Tapirus pinchaque)." Tapirs: Status Survey and
Conservation Action Plan. Ed. D.M. Brooks, R.E. Bodmer, S.M. Matola.
Gland, Switzerland: IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group. In press. Also:
Downer, Craig C. "Report: Mountain Tapir (Tapirus pinchaque)." Tapir
Conservation, The Newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group 6
(Feb 1996).