La source: Wikipédia
Il s'avère que Richard Branson a une nouvelle idée; pour sauver le lémur catta (Lémur catta) par les importer dans son île vierge britannique privée. Comme le souligne l'article, Branson a dépensé des millions de livres et des années d'efforts pour transformer l'île en “l'île la plus écologique du monde”. Mais il semble que M. Branson ait décidé de renoncer à la science de la conservation et de la réécrire d'une manière plus conviviale pour les relations publiques.. En viennent les lémuriens malgré les mises en garde de sa propre évaluation écologique car il veut “…pour créer un deuxième habitat insulaire et les conditions sur Moskito sont parfaites.” Peut-être que Branson a un dictionnaire du monde bizarro où la définition du mot parfait est “quelque chose de complètement différent de l'original”.
OK, bien sûr, au début, l'idée sonne comme une bonne idée – les lémuriens sont en danger, pourquoi ne pas essayer de leur offrir un second refuge sauvage? Bien, Le Dr James Lazell de l'Agence de conservation a eu 31 ans d'expérience dans les îles Vierges et a souligné que “Les lémuriens sont agiles, agile, agressif, animaux omnivores qui pourraient avoir un effet néfaste sur ces écologies insulaires simples. Ils mangent absolument de tout - des lézards, fruit, racines, insectes, des oiseaux’ des œufs.” Oh mais ne t'inquiète pas, rien de mal ne peut arriver lorsque vous introduisez des primates sur une île (Les primates introduits dévastent Florida Key). Branson sait que les lémuriens ne feront que “prends l'étrange gecko” (comme le rare gecko nain endémique Sphaerodactylus parthenopion), sans oublier qu'ils ne se propageront probablement pas à d'autres îles car ils “déteste la natation” (lémur catta nageant).
Alors pourquoi alors le ring-tailed? Pas parce que c'est le plus menacé (il est beaucoup d'autres plus de lémuriens menacés), mais parce que c'est le plus emblématique. C'est ce qui me fait vraiment monter le mur à propos de cette idée ridicule. Non seulement il introduit naïvement une espèce potentiellement envahissante dans un habitat insulaire sensible – mais parce qu'il répand un faux message de conservation. Comme un enfant lent, Branson s'est précipité vers le ring-tailed pour le sauver tout en manquant complètement l'idée derrière la conservation. Le ring-tailed est une espèce phare, celui qui attire l'attention sur la dévastation qui se produit à Madagascar. Un animal câlin mignon pour représenter les habitats incroyablement uniques et diversifiés de son pays d'origine. Mais pas si Richard Branson a quelque chose à dire à ce sujet. Pourquoi se donner la peine de protéger Madagascar lorsque vous pouvez vous lancer et créer une nouvelle maison pour un primate que tout le monde aime? Ouf, crise évitée. Richard tripote pendant que Madagascar brûle.
Je soupçonne que ce zoo insulaire bizarre se fait simplement passer pour de la conservation et que la véritable incitation derrière cela est commerciale. Au cours des prochaines années, il y aura une poignée de “luxe, maisons neutres en carbone construites sur l'île”. Un programme assez brillant pour inciter à l'achat de maisons qui coûteront sans aucun doute des dizaines de millions de dollars chacune – et vous pouvez faire semblant de vous sentir bien de protéger le monde pendant que vous le faites. Après tout, les îles Vierges manquent de faune charismatique; la nature fait un travail terrible en créant un pays des merveilles milliardaires. Ce qui vient à côté de l'île?
Peut-être… juste peut-être… Branson a le Dr. Moreau emménage en premier.
I have heard similar ideas uttered as potentially good conservation efforts by professional primatologists, in full seriousness. Do you think there is a (negative) correlation between understanding of the environment and the charisma of one’s study organisms?
Not at all. There are lots of fantastic scientists who work on very charismatic species. The only downside is you get people who know nothing about them messing things up (like butterflies!). I think Branson is misguided here – he is going against the scientific advice in this particular instance. It just rings more of media stunt than honest conservation effort (they are even neutering all of the lemurs!)
Personally I don’t see the point of conserving a species if the native habitat is gone. If we can’t restore the habitat in the first place then why screw up another habitat just to protect the first species? Thats what zoos are for…
Sérieusement? How is there any conservation value if they will all be neutered? Sounds like he just wants his own private lemur island. And I thought John Varty was ridiculous for trying to establish a bengal tiger population in South Africa. At least that plan is just likely to fail and be a waste of money rather than possibly introduce a species that would cause drastic ecological problems… Sigh
You’re dealing with someone who operates inside a powerful reality-distortion field. This is a man who consumed vast amounts of energy and resources to carve a mansion into an island ecosystem, which he flies his private jet to visit, all while calling it “ecologically friendly.” Clairement, science and logic do not apply to Sir Richard.
It’s not so much the idea that is bad, but the how of it (but no one seems definitely sure of what his actual plans are, and in truth, they probably morph on a daily basis at this “pre-rendezvous” point). I think his initial idea was that he was going to release 3 species of lemurs: ringtails (which are tough, and generally hardy, and will eat pretty much anything, they don’t get sick as easily as other species); red-ruffed lemurs (finicky, and have done so-so in captivity, and in some places they have actually died prematurely; and sifakas (which are extremely hard to manage in captivity, they are fragile and die easily in captivity — sifakas are definitely a terrible idea). His idea was just to release them on the islands and let them have free reign of the islands. That’s all well and good for them (or not, depending), but what about the endemic biota? There are several species of endangered lizards and geckos on the island, and the ringtails will eat those up, for sure. True, lots of people have lemurs as pets (now that’s a really terrible idea, for many reasons), and in some ways this is no different than that.
But we are talking about letting a whole bunch of these “pets” run free all over one or two islands. True, lemurs cannot swim (the photos of a ringtail swimming show him right next to land) so they won’t be going over to other islands; that’s almost certainly not an issue. But Branson has a responsibility to take extremely good care of these animals, especially if they are left to run free all over the island (which everyone who knows these animals thinks is a very bad plan.) They need to have a crew of vets on site 24/7 to monitor the animals and make sure they are well cared for, not sick, getting enough to eat, etc. Maybe even have a research team of people who are working on PhDs in primatology to follow the groups of lemurs and report on them. If poorly executed, Branson’s plan could doom many of the lemurs to deaths that could have been prevented. There is no data to show whether or not there are new pathogens that they will be exposed to that will be harmful for them — or the possibiity they may bring other pathogens into the islands. If Branson is dead-set on the plan, the best way would be to build large enclosures for the animals, and provide adequate (and costly vet care), and make all the colony or colonies are well-monitored.
Every single person I’ve spoken to (in a well-connected network of lemur specialists & conservationists) has said, in effect, “why on earth doesn’t he use his billions to help out poor old Madagascar so that the lemurs can stay there?” That’s a very good question. Perhaps he should do some of both — provide for some lemurs on this island AND help the reserves in Madagascar where the lemurs are under fire. There are lots of ways he could do this, and Madagascar definitely needs the help.
I hadn’t heard that they are neutering the lemurs in question … that doesn’t make any sense to me, as it seems part of the point of this would be to have a breeding, sustainable colony. De l'autre côté, maybe he only wants to neuter the first batch, and so how “the experiment” works out with hardier adults (no infants.)
Dear Moth,
Could you disagree with someone and not call him an idiot? No doubt Richard has his commercial reasons for being philantrophical but you really dont need to drag yourself into the mud for doubting his sincerity? Why dont you save the lemurs instead? And then not choose to spend your pocket money for global advertising in a hypocritical way?
Thank you for reading this since your time is so precious.
Harry.
Bien sûr, I can respectfully disagree with you. You might be correct, I could be wrong in doubting his sincerity. And if anything that makes him less of an idiot for knowing how to spin the PR on his island zoo of neutered lemurs. But if he is sincere, I suggest that he sticks to the industry he better understands.
And that would be commercial space travel from a poor county in New Mexico.