Contribution Helps Tapirs in Belize

Belize Zoo ~ June 1, 2010

Sharon Matola with baby Baird's tapir

Today we are excited to be sending a donation of $500.00 from David F. to The Belize Zoo. When Sharon learned about the donation, she sent us this photo of herself with one of the zoo's most recent residents, an adorable baby Baird's tapir. The zoo accepts only orphaned or damaged animals, and although this tapir has lost his biological mother, he now has a loving home as an ambassador for wildlife in the Belize Zoo. He may just become the hero of a children's story in the coming months. It would not be the first time Sharon has featured tapirs and the other wild animals of Belize in stories that have made a huge and continuing impact on the way Belizeans and visitors to Belize understand and appreciate the ecology of this small, Central American country.

David's donation will help Sharon pay for a recent project - the completion of a film about the important role that tapirs and other animals of the forests play, standing and healthy, in decreasing the negative impacts of climate change.

Thank you, David. Thank you, Sharon. We are happy to forward 100% of David's donation to help make this happen.

Donations for the important work of the Belize Zoo can be made through the Tapir Preservation Fund or through the Belize's Zoo's web site.

Please e-mail your photos and text if you would like to see them on this blog.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.
Join WORLD TAPIR DAY on Facebook.

Tapirs at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Thailand

These three photos have just arrived from Valeri Volodin of Russia. If you think you're looking at real tapirs in the top photo, you may be surprised. These tapirs are sculptures! Aren't they delightful? Click on the photo to get a closer view! The pictures were taken by Valeri at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo, about 60 miles south of Bangkok.

The photos above and below are of real tapirs at Khao Kheow. Valeri says, "It was very hot, so the tapir was not very active. By the way, they have a baby tapir there, but I didn't see him."

Valeri submitted the name for our popular stuffed tapir, Yanisa. Yanisa the Stuffed Tapir was named after Valeri's daughter, who is half Russian and half Thai. The name means "Wisdom" in the Thai language. Some of us believe that tapirs are the wisest of all animals, so the name is perfect!

Tapir t-shirts, just your size

Tapir-lovers come in all sizes, and so do our t-shirts! We special-ordered this 4x "Living in Harmony on Planet Earth" soft and cuddly t-shirt showing all four species of tapir for someone who had requested it. That's Barbara, by the way, showing of the shirt in our storefront. As you can tell, we love being surrounded by animals! Back to the t-shirt: don't hesitate to ask! If we can get it for you, we will! We stock tapir t-shirts from kids' sizes to adult, and we'll special order for you if we need to!

Tapirs in the snow at Dudley Zoo, UK

These four photos of lowland tapirs in the snow (January 4, 2009) were sent to me by tapir keeper Laura Robbins of Dudley Zoo, West Midlands, UK. She said the two younger tapirs shown here didn't mind the snow at all and seemed curious about it, although the older female preferred to stay indoors. I guess she didn't enjoy the cold! The tapirs' names are Meena and Izzy.

When I looked up Dudley Zoo online, I found that it is located in a picturesque 11th Century Norman castle.

There's a lot going on at the zoo in terms of education and conservation. The zoo staff also took part in a somewhat startling fundraiser this year - the keepers came to work wearing just about what the animals wear. That is . . . well, maybe you should check out this BBC video story on the event! It's done all in fun, so put on a smile and tune in! A tapir is featured as well as the keepers!

Tapirs are make an appearance on Dudley Zoo's "News" page, along with other nice animals and even some humans.

Thanks for these wonderful photos, Laura. I'll be seeing you on Facebook! (This should link to a charming picture of Laura with one of her tapirs, although you may have to join Facebook to see it, I'm not sure.)

One more thing - these pictures of tapirs in the snow can also be seen in our Picasa Web album. Have fun!

~ Sheryl

If you're thinking of giving a gift, here's a thought (be sure and see the tapir photo, too!)

YOUR SHARE MAKES A DIFFERENCE

Hi all,

I received e-mail from Wolfgang, who directed me to his blog. The thoughts are definitely worth passing along. He has also posted a wonderful photo of a very relaxed Baird's tapir in the wild at Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica. I'm sure you'll want to follow the link!

http://www.yoursharemakesadifference.com/greentips/ysmad_php_xmas_gifts.html

It's valid any time, not just for Christmas. And the rest of the blog has interesting ideas for these times when global conservation is so important!

Thanks!

Sheryl

Tapir Web cam . . . you have to see this!

Check it out. Sarah Tegan posted on the Tapirs Google Group earlier today. I don't know how to bookmark it, but I've got it minimized on my desktop :)

Hello,

I'm not sure if you've seen this tapir webcam, at Noah's Ark Farm zoo in Bristol. Most entertaining!

http://stream11.finetra.co.uk/noahsark

Sarah-Tegan. xx

A photo of April the Tapir in the mud

Tapir photo Copyright 2008 Douglas W. Reynolds, Jr.

This photo of April the tapir at the Belize Zoo was sent to us by Douglas Reynolds to share with tapir fans and help raise awareness about tapirs. You can see more tapir photos on The Tapir Gallery web site and learn about their endangered status and what can be done. Thanks for visiting! Remember, all tapirs are endangered! You've got some nice footprints, there, April! This photo was taken January 8, 2008.

Tapirs and Florida's vanishing wildlife

What's the connection between tapirs and Florida's vanishing wildlife? Check out this page on the "Endangered Wildlife" web site, then venture further into the site. It's nicely designed and has good info for all of us!

Tapir Mola Art from Panama on T-Shirts and Gifts

Check out the beautiful tapir mola design in our new CafePress store! Your purchase helps save endangered species and their rainforest and Andean habitats. If tapirs are to be saved, people have to recognize them and care about their future. Help shed some light! Wear your tapir shirt and hat with pride! Send postcards and gifts that depict tapirs. Tell your friends what they're about. Let no one have to ask that sad and outdated question: "What is a tapir?" Does anyone ask, "What is a horse?" "What's a rhinoceros?" Let's have fun, flaunt some style, and promote these four endangered species! HELP SAVE THE TAPIRS! YEAH!

NOTE: I had to take down the design you see here because the photo resolution wasn't high enough. After much experimenting, I used the "twin" to this mola. It is slightly different from the one above, but more similar than different. These two mola designs are exceptional. I no longer have the one above, as it was sold on eBay. The molas are like twins and came stitched together. You'll see minor differences. Every mola is individual, which is part of their endless fascination for the many people who love them.

It's World Tapir Day!

This is Bintang, one of the Malayan tapirs born at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle during the time Heidi Frohring was their keeper and best friend. Heidi sent me this photo in December 2000. You can just see Heidi behind the tapir and its wreath made of foliage. She found many creative ways to use plants and other tapir food to keep the animals interested and occupied. Over the years she sent wonderful photos, creative pictures with heart. Someone else must have taken this photo, since Heidi is in it. (If you took the photo, please let me know and I'll give photo credit.) It embodies the same spirit as many of Heidi's own photos. The tapirs become real to us through their expressive faces and gestures, or the photos captured them in lighting or a moment that is memorable and touches something within us. We relate and we care.

SEND YOUR WORLD TAPIR DAY PHOTOS AND WE WILL POST THEM!

Personally, I'm celebrating World Tapir Day not so differently from other days. Making blog posts, working on the web site, sending animal toys and gifts to people who order them online, e-mailing others involved in the tapir world. Also typically, I'm wearing a tapir t-shirt and (since this is the Pacific Northwest, after all) wearing a tapir sweatshirt over that. Next week I'll be visiting Seattle to celebrate my birthday and to meet Wilson Novarino, a tapir conservationist, researcher, and educator from Sumatra, Indonesia. The Tapir Preservation Fund has helped in a small way to support his work since we met online nearly a decade ago. I'm certainly looking forward to meeting in person, and of course, to renew acquaintances with the wonderful staff and the tapirs at Woodland Park Zoo. I have a few friends in that city as well. It will be fun. I'll be sure, as always, to wear tapirs and take my camera!

Whatever you are doing today, the FIRST ANNUAL WORLD TAPIR DAY, please think of these animals and look forward to a world in which more people will know of them through your efforts and to care about their conservation. Wear a shirt from the Tapir Gift Shop or CafePress (search for the word "tapir"). Or make your own wearable tapir art. Talk to people when your shirt becomes a conversation piece! I recently bought myself a mouse pad of the mountain tapir on the tapir items page, and immediately Lee asked to have it, as he has also fallen under the spell of the tapir. Anthony Long, who came up with the original idea for World Tapir Day, has provided tapir items you can buy in his World Tapir Day Store on CafePress. Proceeds from your purchase will go to tapir conservation projects, and this year's funded project will be April and the other Baird's tapirs at the Belize Zoo. During the summer months, tourism slows down and it's always a struggle to get enough money to feed the animals. If we all pitch in, we can help ease the burden this year. Sharon (the zoo's founder and director) is an amazing person who has done so much to create a climate of conservation awareness in Belize and an awareness among locals and tourists of Belize's wild animals. She's created many conservation models in Belize that really work and have been an inspiration to others in the field. Let's help her feed the tapirs this year!

Fortunately these days when you google tapirs, you come up with a lot of material. Try it, it's fun! Meanwhile, here are just a few links relevant to this post:

The Official World Tapir Day Website
Anthony's Tapir Blog
April's recent birthday party
Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle

Announcing World Tapir Day: 27 April 2008!

What an exciting event! The tapirs are finally getting a holiday of their own! Anthony Long of Australia has been working night and day to put together the first World Tapir Day. This is truly an event whose time has come! It arrives with a new and beautifully-designed web site, some must-have tapir t-shirts, and a conservation initiative to donate funds raised from the sale of merchandise to the Belize Zoo for Sharon Matola's ongoing and ground-breaking conservation work. Please read more about why she can always use funding on the World Tapir Day Web site.

LINKS:

World Tapir Day Official Web Site

Anthony's Excellent Tapir Blog

World Tapir Day discussion and announcement on Google Group: TAPIRS

World Tapir Day Merchandise on CafePress

Belize: Sharon Matola's attempt to stop the dam and save the scarlet macaw and Baird's tapir

This book (The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird) is bound to be an incredibly interesting and thought-provoking read. I'm going to buy my copy from Amazon.com today. Sharon's comment to me was: "I hope it leads into a major discussion in many circles about the need to work to preserve what is left."

In small part, The Tapir Preservation Fund helped Sharon in this struggle through your donations to Club Tapir. We did what we could. I wish we could have done more. It was a long and arduous struggle for her, often dangerous and lonely. She is a fighter, and only someone of her calibre could have continued the fray. In the end, sadly, they built the dam.

I'm looking forward to reading the book. When it first came out a few weeks ago I tried to find it at Barnes and Noble, but could only remember the title of the review, not the book. The New York Times Book Review by Elizabeth Royte was powerful. The name? "Of Crime and the River." That tells you something. Discover magazine has just posted an excerpt from the book online. It talks about Sharon, who is as colorful as the macaw. I've met Sharon several times and worked with her when she was Chair of the IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group and I was her Deputy Chair. It was a memorable time, a privilege. Anyone who knows Sharon knows that she is a tremendous advocate of tapirs and knows how much she has done for their conservation in Belize. This is, of course, how I learned about the dam and the situation. Saving the tapirs in that area was important, but even more critical was the fact that the Macal River (named for the macaw) provide the only known breeding grounds for a subspecies of scarlet macaw, Ara macao cyanoptera, estimated in 1999 to number less than 200 in Belize. We saw the area on a trip to Belize a couple of years ago, and I can only say it's a terrible shame that the dam was finally built. I'll post some photos of the area when I can, or try to get some.

Historical info and a few letters on The Tapir Gallery web site

MORE REVIEWS AND COMMENTARY

Another and much longer excerpt of the book appears online on the New York Times site under "First Chapters," and here is an article online about Belize by the book's author, Bruce Barcott.

Extinction: This review (Our Broken Home) by Barcott is also well worth reading.

Here's another commentary on the book, including some interesting facts.

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

May 30, 2008: Having now finished the book (I'm posting this on May 30, 2008, but I finished it a few weeks ago, I can say it was an amazingly good read - one that you don't want to end. It reads like a good novel. I learned more about Sharon, more about her fight against the dam and the reasons it became such a struggle. Really, it is worth hearing the story. Among other things, I learned much I didn't know about macaws and their habitat. I can't think of more enticing words at the moment, but the details of the book were fascinating. There is yet another review of this book, published today. It's worth reading the review, but also the first comment following the review. It seems Belize has begun to move on with a new level of governmental integrity. While the message may be, "Don't judge the new Belize by the old cover," it is still a valid and valuable book. It's a story that should be told for any number of reasons. I am sure that it often takes the light of awareness and people brave enough to speak out to create positive changes. The macaws may never come back, and it's a sad chapter, but harpy eagles once again soar over the Mayan ruins and the jungles of Belize, and this is thanks to the woman who will not give up.

Nico van Strien (1946-2008)

Photo copyright Nico van Strien

Today the world received the news that a much-loved and respected conservationist had passed away this morning. He was also one of the most knowledgeable humans regarding the Malayan, Malay, or Asian tapir. Patricia Medici wrote to the Tapir Specialist Group:

Dear TSG Members,

It is with great sadness that I forward the note below from Mrs. Tineke van Strien, Nico van Strien's wife. Nico passed away this morning in his home in the Netherlands.

Nico spent most of his life fighting for the conservation of Asian rhinos in Southeast Asia. Besides that, he was a huge supporter of Malayan tapir conservation and a key member of the Tapir Specialist Group in the region.

Nico will be greatly missed.

Pati

In her e-mail, Tineke van Strien-Reijgersberg wrote that Nicolaas Jan van Strien was born 1 April 1946 in Etterbeek, Belgium, and died 7 February 2008 in Doorn, The Netherlands. She said, "Nico peacefully passed away at home after his struggle against an aggressive cancer. . . . We are very sad that he is no longer with us, but we will cherish the many good memories of him as a loving, caring and inspiring person."

In my work with the Tapir Specialist Group, I had several occasions to contact Nico, to ask advice as well as to ask him if he would author a chapter in a book (available only in German) entitled Die Tapire, and published by Filander Verlag with myself and Dr. Udo Ganslosser as editors. The chapter appears as "Der Schabrackentapir" by "Erik Meijaard (Nico's long-time working partner) und Nico van Strien." I hope someday to be able to offer the book and this valuable chapter in English.

Although I never met him in person, I felt from our first contact that here was a person who not only the animals, but also the conservationists, could rely on. He was responsive amidst his many activities, reliable, knowledgeable, and a pleasure to work with. I always felt that when Nico was involved, a situation was in the best hands possible, whether the circumstances were in the field or on paper. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to cross paths with him. His name and the energy behind it will always feel vital to me.

I found the photo at the top of this page online and borrowed it from the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN). You can read more about Nico's work with rhinos on this page, or simply search the web. It's not hard to find him.