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TAPIR TALK Digest 30 June 2000 - Vol. 4, No. 30
The Tapir Preservation Fund
The Tapir Gallery: http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/
Tapir Talk Archives and Info: http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/tt.htm
E-mail: tapir@tapirback.com
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Contents of this issue
1. New member intro: David Powers
2. Thanks from Sharon Matola
3. Spectacled bears held hostage
4. Tapir and other video footage requested by RAN
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From: "David Powers" <DAVID@powers19.fsnet.co.uk>
To: <tapir@tapirback.com>
Subject: Tapir Talk
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 19:57:25 -0700
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600
Dear Sheryl Todd,
I'm a keeper at Cotswold Wildlife Park, England, and work with Tapirs.
I'm very interested in learning more about these wonderful and interesting animals and would like to join your Tapir Talk e-group. Would you kindly subscribe me to your group.
Thank you,
Dave Powers
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Through Club Tapir, the Tapir Preservation Fund was able to send Sharon Matola some money to help fight the dam proposed for the Upper Macal River Basin. She writes:
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From: "The Belize Zoo" <belizezoo@btl.net>
To: "Tapir" <tapir@tapirback.com>
I appreciate the support you are giving my work and the struggles in this great newsletter. I hope - maybe through tapir talk - you can let people know that I used the funds to overfly NRDC over the dam area and Raspaculo and subsequently, they took this on as a major campaign. And I am more than grateful for that. More later,
Sharon
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And my thanks to all who contributed to Club Tapir so we could do this. You can read the latest on the project on this page:
http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/bairds/chalillo/default.htm
The link at the top of that page takes you to the NRDC letter campaign to fight the dam.
Club Tapir: http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/club.htm
Sheryl
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We rarely post non-tapir topics, but Armando Castellanos sent this about spectacled bears he has rehabilitated. I thought that many on the list interested in tapirs and Andean wildlife would want to know. Armando has worked with mountain tapirs in Ecuador as well, and I know some of you are aware of his work.
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X-Originating-IP: [207.234.184.109]
From: "Armando Castellanos" <zoobreviven@hotmail.com>
Subject: Fwd: Hostage Bears at the Edge of the Forest---Osos Cautivos A la Orilla del Bosque!!!
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 07:54:44 PDT
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Jonathan Owen, WSPA London, 44-171-793-0540
Susan Sherwin, WSPA USA, 508-879-8350 ext. 21
Cubs Held Hostage At Forest_s Edge
Quito, Ecuador-- Two young bears are being held hostage in the forests of
Ecuador by the most unlikely captorsŠthe national Ministry of
Environment.
Just 24 hours before the bears were to make their virgin run through the
wilds of the Alto Choco cloud forest, former Executive Director Danilo
Silva revoked the release agreement and handed down an order to essentially slam
the cage doors shut againŠmaybe forever.
Silva, who had been at odds with conservationists on numerous occasions,
threw down this eleventh hour stay order based on an alleged need to
conduct further DNA testing, identical to that already completed by the release
team led by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).
This turn of events is endangering the rehabilitation process of "Martin"
and "Jugueton", whose liberation had already been delayed for several
months, waiting for the results of blood and genetic tests to comply with
Ministry requirements. According to Silva, further testing would not allow
the bears to be released for a year, if at all. With the unique life
expectancy and sexual maturity of the rare spectacled bear in mind,
conservationists are greatly concerned.
Conservationists estimate that only a handful of spectacled bears remain in
the wild in Ecuador today. Hunting, habitat loss and fragmenting of
populations through increased development spell dire consequences for these
species.
Professor Manuel Ruiz-Garcia, Ph.D., Coordinator of the Genetics Unit at
the Javeriana University in Colombia, who conducted the first round of genetics
tests on the bears implores the Ministry to reconsider.
"Urgent measures are needed, like more (bear) liberations, to maximize the
effective numbers of this species in the wild. Šthis gives evidence
theŠinferior comparative size ¡in effective numbers- of this species",
said Garcia.
WSPA_s bear specialist Philip Wilson in London explains "From now on, every
single bear released into those forests will be worth its weight in gold.
In addition to the conservation value of each animal, we are greatly
concerned about the cruelty in keeping these bears unnecessarily caged for
up to a year, a factor which could greatly jeopardize their chances for
survival when they finally are released. We have already exhausted all
possible blood tests for diseases, taken every precaution to prepare the
bears for release. We have to strike while the iron is hot and that time
is now."
As WSPA and other conservation groups continue their pleas, and the bears
wait at the forest_s edge for their fate to be handed down, protestors have
gathered outside the Ministry with banners, "Free The Bears".
Please write, E-mail or Fax Minister of Environment Rodolfo Rendon urging
him to allow "Martin" and "Jugueton" go free. The following is a suggested
sample message for Minister Rendon:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Rodolfo Rendon-Minister
Ministry of Environment of Ecuador
E-mail: rrendon@ambiente.gov.ec
Fax: 593-2-500041
Dear Mr. Rendon:
I understand that the World Society for the Protection of Animals -WSPA- is
conducting a project of rehabilitation and release of at least eight of the
extremely endangered spectacled bears in Ecuador.
This is crucial for the faith of this species in your country, but a
former member of your ministry, endangering the health and wellbeing of the
remaining specimens, has suspended all further releasing plans.
I also understand WSPA has complied with every aspect of the previously
agreed rehab. & liberation protocol.
Therefore, I respectfully urge you to reconsider this decision, and to
allow "Martin" and "Jugueton" walk free in the rain forests of Ecuador, once
again.
Mr. Minister, the international environmental community will thank you.
Sincerely,
XXXX - Country
For more info, please contact your nearest WSPA office:
Costa Rica-GH Huertas/JC Murillo ¡ wspacr@sol.racsa.co.cr
Colombia-LC Sarmiento ¡ wspacol@impsat.net.co
London-J Owen/V Watkins ¡ wspa@wspa.org.uk
Boston- S Sherwin/L Salter ¡ wspa@wspausa.com
Gerardo Huertas-M.Sc.
Regional Director WSPA
Latin America & The Caribbean
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From: "roshini mohan" <ran_roshini@hotmail.com>
To: tapir@tapirback.com
Subject: Request for video footage
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 13:51:03 PDT
Dear Sir/Madam
The Rainforest Action Network (RAN)in San Francisco. The RAN is a non-profit
organization working to protect the rainforests and the rights of the
indigenous people who live there.
We are in the process of making an educational video for children. We are in
need of video/cutaway footage in BETA SP of the following.
* POISON ARROW FROGS
* tapirs
* rainforests and other rainforest animals
* Spider monkeys & Tamarins
* buring oil pipelines, particularly in rainforests
* indigenous children playing in the forests and protest of indigenous people against logging for the video.
* Black panther
*Tiger
* Protest by indigenous people against logging
* Forest elephant
* Lemur
* Duiker
* Native American ceremonies
This video is not for commercial purposes.
We would like to know if you have such footage and if you do, the procedure
to obtain the footage, the costs and any other relevant details.
If you do not have it, would you be able to suggest some organizations which
might possess it? I would truly appreciate it if you could send me this
information as soon as possible.
Thanking you
Yours sincerely
Roshini Mohan
Roshini Mohan
Intern, Education Outreach department
Rainforest Action Network
221 Pine Street, Suite 500
San Francisco,CA 94104
Phone No. 415-398-4404
Fax No. 415-398-2732
URL: http://www.ran.org
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