Carrie Symonds hired by Aspinall Foundation

Dassie rat said:
I agree, OC. Unfortunately, various conservation organisations seem to be stuck in the 1960s and seem to think that most people are only interested in popular cuddly and charismatic animals. This is despite the fact that many animal programmes and books for children include lesser-known species. There is also a thing called the 'internet', where people can find out about unusual species. For example, there are many species of lemurs, not just the ring-tailed lemur.
Click to expand...

Totally agree.

But part of this is probably down to Damian's focus and choice to go with that emphasis and court that kind of audience.

He needs to step up and begin punching above his weight in terms of the way he chooses to portray the work of the Aspinall foundation in the media IMO.
 
I agree. Unfortunately, WWF and various other conservation organisations keep publicising relatively few species of animals, which are generally large ABC species. Sometimes, it seems that there is practically no interest in the majority of endangered animal species, especially invertebrates.
 
It should be mentioned @Onychorhynchus coronatus that Port Lympne are going to phase out the greater bamboo lemurs (they only have two females left, mother and daughter)...I haven’t heard any specific news on their progress with that in-situ project in recent years, only that they are doing various things in Madagascar to do with conservation of areas, not strictly a species in particular.
So whilst the Aspinall Foundation SHOULD be doing more with more threatened species like Prolemur, it’s also not hard to see why he chooses for the more flashy large carnivores that the general public all recognise.
 
Last edited:
ShonenJake13 said:
It should be mentioned @Onychorhynchus coronatus that Port Lympne are going to phase out the greater bamboo lemurs (they only have two females left, mother and daughter)...I haven’t heard any specific news on their progress with that in-situ project in recent years, only that they are doing various things in Madagascar to do with conservation of areas, not strictly a species in particular.
So whilst the Aspinall Foundation SHOULD be doing more with more threatened species like Prolemur, it’s also not hard to see why he chooses for the more flashy large carnivores that the general public all recognise.
Click to expand...

Well that is a great shame IMO but I know the greater bamboo lemur ex-situ programe in general is being discontinued in favour of greater emphasis on the in-situ conservation of the species.

I do hope that the in-situ efforts of the Aspinall foundation continue of both species and ecosystem conservation in the protected areas of Madagascar and presumably this would make for a good topic to discuss and share with the public and a much better one than cheetah.

I think that the whole flashy carnivore thing recently embarked on by Damian strikes me as much ado about nothing but no doubt it is popular with the readership of the Daily Mail.
 
cliffxdavis said:
Interesting Article, photo of Damian kissing a cheetah on the face, with Carrie alongside him, with another Cheetah a few feet behind. You really can not begin this "Rewilding Process" too soon it would seem.

Also are they going to be released into the "Wild" or into a much bigger enclosure?
Click to expand...

One of my many problems with it! If you're going to be releasing animals in the wild, you don't spend the first year of their lives cuddling them and treating them like domestic dogs!

Fully wild, supposedly.

As @Kifaru Bwana mentioned, programs based in Africa, using african cats who are either wild caught/rehabbed or cubs raised specifically to be released, have had a lot of success. There is absolutely no need to fly a couple of domestic-bred animals to africa to release them. The money spent on it could be used for so much more by the organizations in southern africa. But that wouldn't get nearly as much media attention, would it?
 
TinoPup said:
One of my many problems with it! If you're going to be releasing animals in the wild, you don't spend the first year of their lives cuddling them and treating them like domestic dogs!

Fully wild, supposedly.

As @Kifaru Bwana mentioned, programs based in Africa, using african cats who are either wild caught/rehabbed or cubs raised specifically to be released, have had a lot of success. There is absolutely no need to fly a couple of domestic-bred animals to africa to release them. The money spent on it could be used for so much more by the organizations in southern africa. But that wouldn't get nearly as much media attention, would it?
Click to expand...

Good point @TinoPup !

I would also argue that the money could have reached efforts in Madagascar too.
 
TinoPup said:
One of my many problems with it! If you're going to be releasing animals in the wild, you don't spend the first year of their lives cuddling them and treating them like domestic dogs!

Fully wild, supposedly.

As @Kifaru Bwana mentioned, programs based in Africa, using african cats who are either wild caught/rehabbed or cubs raised specifically to be released, have had a lot of success. There is absolutely no need to fly a couple of domestic-bred animals to africa to release them. The money spent on it could be used for so much more by the organizations in southern africa. But that wouldn't get nearly as much media attention, would it?
Click to expand...
There is a lot of experience now in Africa with wild-wild and captive-born to wild releases of predator species, cheetah and wild dog. There is even an authoritative compendium work on the market specifically detailing carnivore reintroduction. Must look up its title.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
There is a lot of experience now in Africa with wild-wild and captive-born to wild releases of predator species, cheetah and wild dog. There is even an authoritative compendium work on the market specifically detailing carnivore reintroduction. Must look up its title.
Click to expand...

Are you thinking of Reintroduction of Top-Order Predators? Put out by ZSL, I think it was, around a decade ago.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top