GREAT GORILLA RUN - Sponsors wanted

Jess "Darth Tigger" Bennett is taking part in the London Great Gorilla Run on 24th September 2006 dressed up in a big Gorilla suit! She's looking for sponsors, I'm about to contribute myself, and I hope some of you will be able to do likewise. Let's see if we can rush her up towards her target of £400.00. Hopefully we can blow the top off it like the Blue Peter Totalizer always did!

On 24th September this year I will be taking part in The Great Gorilla Run. Yes, I will be heading to London to run 7km dressed as a gorilla. If anyone would like to join me on the day, either to run as well or to stand and cheer me on, that would be fantastic. It would be even more fantastic if you could also sponsor me.

I should be getting my gorilla suit in a week or two, at which point I will of course be posting photos. I even plan to do some of my training wearing the suit, which may well come as a shock to the gym where I work. I'll keep everyone updated as to how it's going!

I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures Jess! Very best of luck from Another Chance To See.

Jess also links to page at LeonardoDicaprio.org which has a video of Douglas Adams talking about the Mountain Gorillas and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. There is also a video from Dr Richard Dawkins. I hadn't seen these before, so thanks to Jess for uncovering them for us!

MOUNTAIN GORILLAS - Rare Photos of Dian Fossey Orphan Gorillas Discovered

A press release has news of the discovery of rare photographs of Coco and Pucker, two of Dian Fossey's orphan gorillas, in captivity at Cologne zoo in Germany. The photos can be viewed here at The Legacy Of Dian Fossey.

Made famous when they appeared with the celebrated "Gorillas in the Mist" author and primatologist on the cover of National Geographic magazine in January, 1970, the young gorillas were rescued and nursed back to health by Dr. Fossey. Coco and Pucker had been captured in Rwanda by poachers who slaughtered ten adult gorillas in order to snatch the two babies to fill an order for the Cologne Zoo.

KAKAPO PARROTS - Bird flu strategy for natives still up in the air

New Zealand's STUFF reports that officials are still working with the New Zealand Department of Conservation to decide which native birds should be vaccinated if there happens to be an outbreak of bird flu on the islands.

"Vaccination may be used in certain species or situations as a short-term measure when there is a significant and immediate threat," said biosecurity official Ron Thornton.

"Emergency vaccination may be used in New Zealand to avoid local spread, or to protect socially or culturally valuable collections or in threatened indigenous birds".
[...]
Because flightless birds such as ostriches and emus have shown susceptibility overseas to bird flu strains, kiwi are likely to be front-runners for vaccination, as are the highly inbred black robin and kakapo species.

CHINA - China plan to protect environment

The BBC has news of China's new, five year environmental protection plan in which they intend to spend 1.4 trillion yuan ($175bn) to improve air and water quality, and reduce pollution.

China has some of the world's most polluted cities and waterways.

Beijing has often overlooked protecting the environment in the rush to develop its economy - but now it is paying the price, a BBC correspondent says.

A chemical spill in a river near the city of Harbin last year drew international attention, as water supplies to almost four million people had to be suspended for nearly a week.

ENDANGERED SPECIES - World 'needs new wildlife body'

The BBC News site has a report from Richard Black, Environment correspondent entitled World 'needs new wildlife body'.

The world needs a new global organisation dedicated to stemming the loss of plant and animal species.

That is the argument put forward by a group of eminent academics in this week's edition of the journal Nature.

They call for the establishment of an Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity (IPB) to parallel the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Full story at BBC News site.

MADAGASCAR - Excess Baggage, BBC Radio 4

The July 15th episode of BBC Radio 4's always interesting Excess Baggage travel show (presented by Sandi Toksvig) was about Travelling for Voluntary Work in Madagascar. The full show is available as streaming audio from the Excess Baggage site, along with a huge library of past shows.

Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, just over 580 thousand square kilometres (approximately 227 thousand square miles). It lies in the Indian Ocean, just east of Africa and is a living laboratory of evolution. Isolated from the rest of the world for over 60 million years, about 75% of its animals live nowhere else on the planet, including the endangered Angonoka tortoise and the rare aye-aye.

Sandi Toksvig is joined by novelist and Guardian travel writer Nick Maes who has just returned from the island and Richard Nimmo who runs a marine conservation and research organisation.

Here's a couple of previous posts, with links to other Last Chance To See related episodes of Excess Baggage...
Tour Guides (with Mark Carwardine)
Branding and Tourism

AMAZON RAINFOREST - A BBC Diary

BBC science correspondent David Shukman is investigating climate change and logging in the Amazon Rainforest and recording his progress in a series of written and video reports - Diary: The Amazon rainforest

Few places present as many challenges to travellers as the Amazon.

Follow my progress as I investigate how climate change and logging are affecting a region that has more than half the planet's remaining rainforests.