This begs believe!! BBC News - Richard Branson's lemur plan raises alarm More stupid 'zoo bashing' from a so called 'sanctuary'. Horrific? I am sure that the zoos that have provided this captive bred animals are delighted to be referred to in this manner. It clearly also shows that Sir Richard's advisors have little regard for the opinions of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC). --
I am surprised that the Zoos involved are prepared to offer surplus animals into a situation which could be regarded as ecologically highly contentious, when they know the intention is for them to be released into the wild in a non-native situation.
Oh God, this is on the Craig Busch end of the scale of how NOT to do conservation: Bringing a radical species from halfway across the globe to an ecosystem that hasn't had the thousands of years to adapt to their presence, simply because they would 'look nice' in there? Someone stop this madman before lemurs become the cane toads/rabbits/mink/etc of the Caribbean.
Yes my thought too. I wonder if any of the zoos supplying them belong to EAZA? Although I haven't been to Monkeyland in South Africa (a review here) one has to wonder what the government over there is doing allowing none indigenous mixed primates groups unrestricted free access to African forest. Seems really odd although the ethos of the place seems to be (among other things) to re-home former pet monkeys and dissuade the keeping of primate as pets which in it's self is a positive thing. But as for their boost: "Monkeyland is the worlds first free roaming multi-specie primate sanctuary" well I think most zoo professionals and ecologists would actually all know why that's the case and why it may not be such a good idea. Does South Africa actually have any zoo regulations? I note that Johannesburg Zoo is a member of WAZA. As the BBC report said the issue has raised some interesting comment on the local news network HERE. However, only a couple of the comments seem to really understand the possible ecological issues involved. --
Anyway, sounds like he has done the research and this is actually not that bad an idea. Having said that the only way we are really going to preserve the biodiversity of Earth is if we had another totally free of wildlife Earth available without humans breeding like locusts on it. The only reason the island's available is it's already been wrecked. I'd agree with the plan now, but it's sad it's come to that.
Since WCS did a similar introduction of ring tailed lemurs on St. Catherine's Island (off the coast of Georgia, USA) some years ago I do not see reason for the knee-jerk alarm. There is a responsible and successful precedent by a leading environmental organization. Of course, WCS was interested in studying lemur behavior not creating an "ark", but introduction of free ranging alien animals is what it is...isn't it? Some info: http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/archive/Fall2005/jsavage4/Savage_Jennifer_A_200505_MS.pdf That WCS did it 36 years ago doesn't make Branson's plan a good one, but then again it is not on the surface necessarily a bad one.
Still not convinced, he claims to have had some people do an in depth study, but what does he really know about these kinds of things? There could be species of plant on the island that could be harmful to the lemurs, or even some kind of bacteria/virus etc they have never encountered and that they have no immunity to. There are so many ecological factors that appear to not have been considered. Also like someone has already said, surely this goes against IUCN and perhaps even CITES? Wondering what zoos he is planning to get them from :\
No different to taking them to a zoo in another country. We just received two troops of ring tails from hong kong and they seem to be doing fine. Richard Branson doesn't need to know. That's what his billions are for. Paying other people to find out and know these things fog him. He is a very intelligent businessman and I doubt he would enter in to anything without serious thought and investigation.
Terrible idea for reasons already highlighted by other. This has ecological disaster written all over it. Sadly the gecko expert is right and contrary to the claim in the article quoted in post#6 I see nothing "inaccurate" in his claim (ok, not all lemurs are omnivorous but one of the species Branson want to introduce is: ring-tailed lemur). Several islands in the Caribbean (even tiny ones) have endemic Sphaerodactylus geckos. New species of Sphaerodactylus are discovered with some regularity. Even in places that already had been checked earlier by scientists because they are easily overlooked. The ruffed lemurs could potentially cause trouble to endemic plants. I also think the fact that he plans on starting with ring-tailed lemurs and red ruffed lemurs probably reveals something about the real background for this idea. The ring-tailed lemur is one of the very few lemurs that isn't seriously threatened. Sure it is on the IUCN red list like the first article says but that list includes ALL mammals. They forget to mention that it only is rated as Near Threatened (the second lowest threat category possible and not part of the category group classified as threatened: vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered). The red ruffed lemur is seriously threatened but already has a very large zoo populations with a reasonable level of breeding. If he actually had chosen a lemur species that was threatened and didn't already have big and successful ex-situ populations I could believe this was a genuine (but still bad) attempt of saving species. With the two species that were chosen I suspect it is just his attempt of trying to recreate his version of paradise on his island. I wouldn't be surprised if a few big colorful parrots are added next. I could be wrong about this but I fear I am not. Based on article quoted in post#6 Branson already introduced giant tortoises. In any case the island is too small to support a long term self-sustaining population of any medium or large lemur species (inbreeding). And much of the small island is covered in low arid scrub vegetation that is unsuitable for most lemur species. About this going against IUCN and CITES like someone suggested: This clearly is against IUCN recommendations but IUCN is basically an organization for judging threatened status of species. They have no legal authority anywhere. As long as the lemurs he gets are from captive breeding (not wild caught) CITES rules are irrelevant. If Branson want to do this the only people that truly have the power to stop it are local authorities based on the laws of the country. The Virgin Islands are a British overseas territory but I have no idea about their legal status. Just British legislations or combined with own local laws? If Branson instead sticks to what he has done so far I applaud it. Get the word about threatened lemurs out to the general public but don't introduce them to Necker Island. It is also telling that Branson mentions that Russell Mittermeier spoke highly about him getting the word out about threatened lemurs but doesn't say anything about Mittermeier supporting the Necker Island introduction plan.
All the ring tailed lemurs that are on the island are safe after the fire. Branson's lemurs escape fire (From Swindon Advertiser)
@condor, I partially agree with your assessment on the gecko population on MOSQUITO island and the potentially detrimental impact the lemur introduction might have on them. Speciation and discovery of further speciation is happening as we speak in the Caribbean and potentially the geckos from Mosquito might be a different conservation unit than on any of the other Virgin Islands. You do mistake NECKER for Mosquito though and the introduction of giant tortoises has been only on Necker, I believe. A conservation benefit of Necker is that a portion of the Virgin Islands rock iguanas are now fully protected and visitor interpretation / awareness is going on. What the heck the rationale for giant tortoises have to do on a Caribbean islands is beyond me though to. However, R.B. does not strike me as a man with nay brain and really will have brought in good quality expertise to assess Mosquito for introducability for lemurs. If he really has followed through on the reptilian surveys and determining by herps specialists how unique the habitat for geckos is on Mosquito I do not know. Rest assured, that indeed according to IUCN criteria a few no goers have been scaled ...
One was potentially to come from a sanctuary in northern Arizona not too far from the Nevada/Arizona border. She isn't a surplus animal, but rather was separated from her troop at a wildlife park in Arizona when she and another female began to gang up on the males. The wildlife park was worried the males would be harmed so she was sent to the sanctuary. Unfortunately, she's the only lemur there and should be with others. I was told "someone" (I didn't know who it was at the time) was interested in taking her because he wanted to start a self-sustainable colony for Lemurs. That was almost 3 years ago, though, and she is still at the sanctuary.
Monkeyland say that they are a "free-roaming, multi-species primate sanctuary" Do they really have no barrier system for the more dangerous primates such as the gibbons?
There are lemurs on both Necker and Moskito. I've seen articles from between 60 and 80+ animals. There are seven species total, including Ring-tailed, Red Ruffed, Black and White Ruffed, Red-collared, Red-fronted, White-fronted, and Mongoose Lemurs. They are all contained separately in huge netted enclosures to prevent hybridisation, not free-ranging over the islands.
