PAW PRINTS
The voice of Fellow Earthlings' Wildlife Center
Summer 2014
“Summertime and the livin' is easy....”
DuBose Heyward
We raise a glass of lemonade to our beloved “mob members” and hope you are enjoying summer as much as we are. In Africa, meerkats are called “Sun Angels” and summer is truly their favorite time of the year. We, humans, also enjoy summer for its lovely warm weather, balmy breezes, velvety nights, and a significantly reduced electric bill because we don’t have to power the meerkats’ heat lamps and heat pads in the summer.
For many years we have lived life at a rather dizzying pace because of our marvelous partnership with Animal Planet’s wildly popular series called MEERKAT MANOR. Our director, Pam Bennett-Wallberg, was kept busy flying to New York frequently to be a guest on various television shows and to talk about meerkats and the award-winning series. We, at the sanctuary, were equally busy hosting “on location” television programs such as The Today Show, Good Morning America, 20/20, Nightline, and Dateline. The sanctuary and our work were also featured in The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The New York Times, T.V. Guide, USA Today, and The Los Angeles Times to name but a few. During that whirlwind period we were officially “put on the map” and we were booking visits 2 years in advance for people all over the world.
Many of you experienced those fun-filled, frantic years with us. Life here was a happy blur and frequently you, very patiently, waited for a long time to visit but, even though the wait was tedious, you never stinted on your annual support to the meerkats by adopting, re-adopting, making donations, buying merchandise, and providing items on our WISH LIST. We send you heart-felt thanks!
We will always treasure the joy and exhilaration of those exciting years. Additionally, now, we are enjoying a simpler, quieter time. The slower hum of life is sweet -- come enjoy it with us. We’d love to pour you a glass of lemonade!
WHAT'S UP?
- Thanks to a few of our exceptionally generous donors, we were able to buy a large trailer to facilitate with any possible emergency or evacuation. The last time we had a massive wildfire that damaged our fences, bridges, and greenhouse, we were able to safely evacuate all of the animals. However, some of our supplies had to be left behind because of a lack of space. Now, that we have the trailer, we can get everything out easily, quickly, and safely. We are enormously grateful. Although we have previously thanked our “trailer angels”, we just wanted to re-iterate our appreciation.
Pam Bennett-Wallberg does a practice evacuation drill with the new trailer.
Photo credit: Ron Martin
The trailer outfitted with various crates, emergency food, and documents.
Photo credit: Ron Martin
-
During the colder months, the meerkats will visit with our guests for a short time and then leave to warm themselves under the heat lamps which are some distance from the visiting area. To solve this situation, our Operations Manager, Ron Martin, built a warming station next to the visiting area. Now, the meerkats are able to keep themselves cozy and warm , but they are still “up close and personal” for our guests.
The new warming station.
Photo credit: Ron Martin
- Fellow Earthlings’ Wildlife Center is featured in the comprehensive guidebook titled FUN AND EDUCATIONAL PLACES TO GO WITH KIDS AND ADULTS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA by Susan Peterson. The book is sold at Barnes and Noble, Auto Club, Costco, etc. The book has been a bestseller for many years with updates made annually.
- AmazonSmile is a simple, automatic way to support Fellow Earthlings Wildlife Center every time you shop at AmazonSmile, at NO COST to you. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases. On your next visit to http://www.AmazonSmile.com simply type in FELLOW EARTHLINGS WILDLIFE CENTER as your chosen charity BEFORE you start shopping. Although Amazon and AmazonSmile are the same company, only AMAZONSMILE makes a donation to Fellow Earthlings Wildlife Center. The meerkats thank you!
- As always, life “behind the scenes” at the sanctuary is busy with projects, repairs, maintenance and, most importantly, the joyous job of caring for the meerkats. Big thanks go to Operations Manager, Ron Martin, and our stellar volunteers: Lin, Riaan, Rose, Tim, and Michael. Take a well-deserved bow!
WHO'S WHO?
In our 25 year history, it has been our pleasure and privilege to care for many meerkats at the sanctuary. In previous years, it was always rather easy for us to tell our meerkats apart. However, three brothers (Lozi, Kulu, and Kavango) who are the newest members of our mob are very hard to tell apart. But, after careful and lengthy observation, we are now able to distinguish them by their physical appearance and by their very different personalities:
LOZI
The “paint brush” hairs on the tip of Lozi’s tail are blunt because he is the most “responsible” brother and does most of the guard duty. As he stands on a rock, his tail hairs are slightly abraded – the mark of a truly dedicated mob member. Additionally, Lozi’s ears protrude slightly from his adorable face. That, coupled with the black, pirate-like mask which surrounds his eyes, makes him look a bit like Captain Jack Sparrow. We must remember to buy Lozi a small gold earring to complete the look.
Lozi is calm and clever. Too clever. He should have been a cast member in the movie SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION because he was forever getting out of the shift enclosure that we use to contain the meerkats while we work in the enclosures. Although the shift enclosure is inside the regular enclosure and there was no danger of him escaping, it was still annoying and dangerous for him to be underfoot while we were cleaning the enclosure or getting our guests seated. Our operations manager, Ron Martin, repeatedly “fixed” the various escape routes, but Lozi always found another exit point. Lozi is very calculating – very!. Each time Ron blocked the escape route, Lozi would sit in his blue chair and intently watch the work being done. Then, Lozi picked a time when we were not watching and, “presto”, he was out of the shift enclosure and looking up at us rather smugly. It took many attempts and many months, but Ron has now succeeded in keeping Lozi contained. Now, finally, Ron is the one looking rather smug.
Lozi
Photo credit: Don Gardner
KULU
The pointy “paint brush” hairs on the tip of Kulu’s tail are very long because he almost never volunteers for guard duty. His philosophy: Why bother with doing a chore when someone else will do it for you. He’s relaxed, easy going, and LAZY. He’s very fond of tummy rubs and he will often “faint” rather theatrically in front of our guests so they will tickle his belly. When Kulu’s brothers emulate this behavior in hope of getting a tummy rub of their own, Kulu simply sits down on them HARD and, thus, precludes a tummy tickle for them. That, of course, always provokes a rather noisy squabble.
Kulu is also fond of chewing on (and ruining) the tips of shoelaces. (For all you trivia lovers, the word for the tip of a shoelace is AGLET. And, Kulu is a master at destroying them.) He’s also fond of sorting through camera bags and then trying to dart down a burrow with the ill gained loot.
Kulu
Photo credit: Don Gardner
KAVANGO
Kavango is just a wee bit smaller than his brothers, but the most apparent difference is his personality. Kavango is a “Drama King.” He over-reacts to everything. If a worm that he has consumed is just a little less than perfectly fresh, he makes a spectacle of himself by swinging his head wildly from side to side, retching repeatedly, and then flinging the half chewed worm and a copious amounts of saliva in a large arc. Then, for a long 30 seconds, Kavango stares malevolently at the person who served him the worm which he perceived was “past the expiration date.”
He is equally dramatic when it comes to any perceived threat. He is truly the “Chicken Little” of the meerkat world and he proclaims with repetitive, loud barks that the “sky is falling” dozens of times per day.
- Bark, Bark – the sky is falling because a leaf hit my shoulder.
- Bark, Bark – the sky is falling because a dragonfly buzzed my head.
- Bark, Bark – the sky is falling because the wind ruffled my fur. And, so it goes . . .
Kavango
Photo credit: David Delgado
ENRICHMENT
Enrichment. That’s just fancy “zoo lingo” for FUN. Life in captivity can be dreary because there’s nothing to do. There’s no need for an animal to provide its food or shelter. Medical care is provided and there are no predators lurking around. Dull, dull, dull.
Animal care providers know that boredom can cause many negative behaviors in captive animals: Stereotypical pacing, over-grooming to the point of injury, lack of grooming, aggression, lethargy, and a host of other physical and mental disorders.
The staff at most public zoos feel that enrichment programs for captive animals should only use items that appear “natural.” For instance, the staff might use an ostrich egg to hide treats in rather than an orange, plastic ball, etc. Fellow Earthlings Wildlife Center is a private facility that is only open, by appointment, to our adoptive parents. That gives us greater flexibility than a public zoo because we can explain to our guests why we use “unnatural” objects in our enrichment program. Additionally, we explain to our guests that captivity is not natural so why shouldn’t we use “unnatural” items that give our animals pleasure and purpose.Here is a list of some enrichment items that have proved to be wildly popular with our meerkats: Mealworm dispenser, gourds drilled with holes and filled with worms, plastic balls filled with treats, animal scents (from a sporting goods store) applied to rocks and logs in the enclosures, mirrors (supervised use only), snake skin sheds, ostrich feathers, hamster exercise balls with air holes enlarged and filled with crickets, pine cones, live insects sprinkled into enclosures, egg cartons filled with treats and taped closed, paper bags, PVC pipes, card board boxes, tissue boxes, sea shells, CD player that plays various animal sounds, and cat toys. The photos below show some of the toys our meerkats enjoy most.
Photo credit: Ida Miller
Photo credit: Don Gardner
Photo credit: Don Gardner
Photo credit: Don Gardner
IN LOVING MEMORY
We, at the sanctuary, had the great opportunity of meeting Barbara Crommelin many years ago. We admired her crisp humor, delightful forthrightness, generosity of spirit ,and her fierce and loving devotion to her family.
Several years ago Barbara made her dream of visiting Africa come true. She and her daughter, LeeAnn Holmes, accompanied our director, Pam Bennett-Wallberg, on a thrilling journey to see the BIG FIVE and, most importantly, Barbara’s favorite animals – meerkats!
What a glorious and gutsy woman she was. We were honored to know her. We miss her.
Barbara’s daughter, Lee Ann, called us after Barbara’s death. She said, “My mother donated to many charities but your sanctuary was her favorite. We have asked the guests at my mother’s service to make donations to the meerkats in lieu of flowers or other gifts.”
We thank the Crommelin family for being such special people!
Barbara Crommelin and her beloved meerkats.
Photo credit: Dantes Liebenberg
Dancing with meerkats.
Photo credit: Dantes Liebenberg
AFRICAN TOUR – SEPTEMBER 2013
Once again, from September 27 – November 1, 2013, Dantes Liebenberg, the owner of Kalahari Tours and Travel in South Africa and Pam Bennett-Wallberg, the director of Fellow Earthlings’ Wildlife Center, guided 11 delightful clients on a MEERKAT TOUR throughout South Africa.
Pam “hand-picked” these charming people on the basis of common interests, compatibility, and easy-going personalities. This “hand-picked” method of gathering clients has proven so effective that each of the tours has been hugely successful and life-long friendships have been forged. Happily, many of the clients have booked return journeys to Africa with Pam and Dantes.
Many thanks go to Pam Lamb, Tracy Vasques, Joy Robbe, Jan Shewmon, Alex Benn, Gingy and Bud Ferguson, Amanda Ferguson, Karen Brown, and Jamie Sue and Joanne West for being true travelers – not tourists. The journey with you was fun, unexpected, authentic, exciting, and lively. Thanks for the treasured memories.
If you are interested in learning more about our African Tours please visit our website.
Photo credit: Robbe Shewmon
Photo credit: Robbe Shewmon
Photo credit: Robbe Shewmon
Photo credit: Robbe Shewmon
Photo credit: Robbe Shewmon
Photo credit: Robbe Shewmon
Photo credit: Robbe Shewmon
Photo credit: Robbe Shewmon
AFRICAN TOUR – MAY 2014
On the May 2014 tour Dantes and Pam were pleased to welcome back three clients who have traveled extensively with them before. The May tour explored new regions of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Congratulations go to Elisabeth Spiro, and Rosemary and Don Gardner for being such stellar travelers in all ways. They packed LIGHT, they were always on time, they turned small negatives into big positives, and they didn’t insist on bringing a warthog home – not for too long, anyway. We laughed a lot. Thanks for the joy.
Rosemary Gardner, Elisabeth Spiro, Pam Bennett-Wallberg and Don Gardner.
The Hoba Meteorite is the largest in the world. Namibia.
Photo credit: Dantes Liebenberg
Photo credit: Don Gardner
Photo credit: Don Gardner
Photo credit: Don Gardner
Photo credit: Don Gardner
Photo credit: Elisabeth Spiro
Photo credit: Elisabeth Spiro
Photo credit: Elisabeth Spiro
Photo credit: Elisabeth Spiro
Photo credit: Elisabeth Spiro
Photo credit: Elisabeth Spiro
AFRICAN PROJECTS
Three times a year, since 1993, our director, Pam Bennett-Wallberg, has done various, solo research projects in Africa that have financially benefited the meerkats at Fellow Earthling’s Wildlife Center. Her 2014 African projects focused on gorilla, chimpanzee, rhino, and giraffe in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.
Pam Bennett-Wallberg – Nairobi, Kenya.
Pam Bennett-Wallberg at Murchison Falls on the Nile – Uganda.
Pam Bennett-Wallberg, once again, crosses the equator.
Mountain Gorilla - Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda.
Photo credit: Pam Bennett-Wallberg
Respectfully submitted by Riaan Nel – Volunteer Communications Coordinator
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
St. Augustine