If you have any feedback on how we can make our new website better please do contact us and we would like to hear from you.
 
Hi-
Just read your amazing article about Ricky Johnson and the link provided (www.abaconature.com ) says the website is under construction. Wondering if you have an email address or other info so that i could contact him regarding a possible birding adventure when we are in Abaco.
Thanks, Bari B.

Writer Jo Matyas responds:

Thanks for your kind feedback on the Abaco article in Ark & Tent.
I know that Ricky’s website is still under construction – he is expecting to have it up and running any day now.
In the meantime, here is his contact information:

Ricky Johnson
Abaco’s Nature Adventure
natureguide007@yahoo.com
tel: 242-366-4427
cell: 242-559-9433

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Dear ARK & TENT,
 
Thank you again for the great article on Patty Wagstaff.  I have read of her many accolades in the flying world, but not of her conservation efforts in Africa.
 
I, too, am appalled by the avarice and cruelty that leads to large animal mutilations.  I’ve watched documentaries on both elephant and gorilla poaching (sharks, too).  These are such beautiful creatures.  There is so much we have to learn from them.
 
I think the last line of the article sums it up, “…I took care of your animals – our animals.”
 
Keep shedding light on these crimes and on the heroic efforts of those who set out to set things right.
 
Cheers,
 
William P.

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Kelly Terry, Public Relations Manager for SeaWorld, responds to statements about the practice of capturing dolphins in Taiji, Japan, and their subsequent use in theme parks:

SeaWorld is opposed to the drive fisheries in Japan and does not support, fund or acquire dolphins from the drive fisheries. U.S. law also prohibits animals from those hunts from entering the United States.

SeaWorld is a member of the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums (AMMPA). We strictly prohibit any zoological park and aquarium from joining the organization if the facility acquires animals from the drive fisheries. Current Alliance members, including SeaWorld, do not have animals from the fisheries.  The Alliance, along with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), another organization in which SeaWorld is a leading member, are campaigning to end to this practice. For example, the Alliance, with the voice of 51 member marine-life parks, aquariums and zoological parks, has urged U.S. government agencies to proactively work with the government of Japan to end the drive fisheries. Also, a Web site, sponsored by AZA (SeaWorld is a member), provides the opportunity to sign a petition pushing for the end of the drive fisheries -- http://actfordolphins.org/help.html.

SeaWorld has also not collected any animals from the wild in nearly 25 years. We have one of the finest marine mammal breeding programs in the world. The vast majority of animals in our zoological population, including 83 percent of our dolphins, were born in our park. The presence of SeaWorld does not and has never had a bearing on the existence of the Japanese cetacean shore hunt that began in Taiji more than 335 years ago.
 
 
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