Lemurs Facing Extinction in Madagascar

Lee Spangler with Lemur Friend in Madagascar

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has just announced that 90 of 101 species of lemur are now on their Red List of Threatened Species, with 20 percent classed as Critically Endangered. This means the vast majority of lemurs are in danger of complete extinction in the wild. Found only in Madagascar, lemurs are threatened by the loss of their habitat created by illegal logging. To find out what you can do to help lemurs, please go here.

Lemur in Madagascar (Photo by Lee Spangler)

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Happy Birthday, Rachel Carson!

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders

and realities of the universe about us,

the less taste we shall have for destruction."

 ~Rachel Carson, conservationist and author of Silent Spring~

May 27, 1907-April 14, 1964

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Box Turtle Rescue: Partnering with other conservationists ~ Earthshine Mountain Lodge, Lake Toxaway, NC, USA

Photos copyright by and courtesy of

Earthshine Mountain Lodge

Conservation is such an important issue, we partner with other conservation organizations and movements whenever possible. The other day, we received this heartwarming letter from Steve O'Neil:

I am a naturalist and wildlife rehabilatator at a small environmental education facility called Earthshine Mountain Lodge in western North Carolina. I am working to educate our guests on the plight our planet's wildlife is facing due to human encroachment into their habitats as well as habitat destruction and fragmentation locally and worldwide. Last year I started an Eastern Box Turtle rescue and rehabilitation program for turtles injured on roads and those that have lost their habitats due to over development. We currently have two large outdoor habitats with 4 non-releasable turtles and one waiting to be released. We are also participating in a statewide project called the Box Turtle Connection that is trying to learn why the box turtle is declining in numbers throughout the state.

For this project we are censusing and marking all the wild turtles we find and tracking 4 wild turtles using micro-radio transmitters. Guests at the lodge learn about turtles through special programs and guided turtle tracking hikes and through the website linked below. We fund most of our project on donations and therefore we are on a tight budget when it comes to purchasing equipment and educational aids, so if you are interested you may "adopt" a turtle to help support the program.

Below is a link to the Earthshine Nature website that covers our nature and box turtle projects:
http://www.geocities.com/thesolorover/earthshinenaturepages

The main Earthshine site can be found here:
http://www.earthshinemtnlodge.com/

Thank you,
Steve O'Neil
Naturalist/Environmental Educator/Wildlife Warrior
Earthshine Mountain Lodge
Lake Toxaway, NC
www.earthshinemtnlodge.com
(828) 606-8939

-----------------------------

The Tapir Preservation Fund realized we could help out by donating certain plastic turtles to their gift shop that fit better with their programs than with ours. We also broke one of our cardinal business rules and gave out a couple of contacts. Sure, we need to make some money for the tapirs, but conservation efforts such as Steve's are extremely important to all of us and to our planet. We believe in working together to preserve nature in its entirety for everyone. Please check out the links above. Have you ever thought of vacationing in a gorgeous setting in green North Carolina? Think about it! Or make a donation.

All the best,

Sheryl

Tapir Mola Art of Panama designs now on CafePress!

Dear Tapir Fans and Friends,

We've just opened our first CafePress tapir store with the beautiful tapir mola design from Panama that you see here. We've put the design on 64 different products, including many styles and sizes of t-shirts, caps, mugs, stickers, coasters, pillows, underwear, note cards, greeting cards, a calendar and more. This is just a beginning! It's one more way you can help save tapirs and their rainforest and Andean habitats and have loads of fun shopping at the same time!