Fw: KEI THE WOLF: Campaign Update/Action Message

March 19, 2006

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greg leisure greg_leis

greg leisure

For those who want to read the New Address/Update first, please scroll down.

Topic:

Kei is a 13 year old female North American Eastern Timber Wolf who has lived virtually her entire life on a 7 x 4 meter concrete slab in almost total isolation from others of her species at the Okinawa City Kodomo no Kuni Zoo in Okinawa, Japan. There, she is routinely barked and howled at and spends most of her time pacing in the hot sub-tropical climate of Okinawa.

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THREE easy and quick STEPS Of Action YOU Can Take:

1. April 4 is Kei`s birthday. She will be turning 14 years old. Please send a card to Kei to show the zoo that the world is watching them and still caring about her. It usually takes about 7 days for an international letter to arrive to Okinawa, so there is still more than enough time. If cards are a little late, that is ok as well.

Address the envelope as:

Yoshinobu Higa, Executive Administrator, or

Genwa Higa, Zoo Director,

Okinawa Kodomo no Kuni

Address: 5-7-1 Goya Okinawa-shi

Okinawa City, Okinawa Pref.,

Japan

info

Be sure that the card is clearly addressed to Kei inside the envelope. It is best to not put Kei`s name on the outside of the envelope for they may be tempted to lay it in a pile set aside specifically for her incoming mail. Addressing it to either of the two men above will insure that time is spent routing it to them and them opening it. You may want to include action #2 below in with the card. However, two letters coming in the mail is better than one.

2. Send an e-mail or a letter to the zoo (at address above) requesting Kei be released to a sanctuary or that her enclosure be improved. Things you should mention for improving her enclosure are:

1. Provide wood-chips.

2. Take down the plexi-glass panels that surround her bars that prevent a fresh breeze from blowing through her enclosure.

3. Groom her.

4. Make sure she is de-ticked and provided with tick powder to repell ticks and fleas.

5. Leash her and walk her outside her enclosure prior to the park opening and after the park closes each day to provide exercise for her and mental stimulation.

3. Spread Kei`s campaign to your network of friends and family and ask them to also join her campaign by sending a letter or e-mail on her behalf. Also, help get Kei`s plight out to others by adding a link to her homepage at www.keithewolf.com on your homepage. Be sure to also check out the chatter on her at the Care2connect site set up for her at: http://www.care2.com/c2cKei which acts as her forum site.

Remember, when it comes to e-mailing the zoo or sending a letter from time to time, it is not necessary to wait for an Action Message/Campaign Update. It is great if from time to time you can take the innitiative and send out something to the zoo on your own.

Address and Update; IMPORTANT Point Below:

Hi Everyone, and welcome all new supporters.

I just visited the zoo 4 days ago and there really is not anything new to report on Kei. She was sleeping while we were there. We took one photo of her which we will get out to the groups. In addition, I do have two QuickTime clips of her that run about 2 minutes. They were taken toward the end of last year and really show her in her ragged condition. They are a little disturbing to look at. Please go to her site www.keithewolf.com in about a week from now to view them. A new clip that is up now of her was posted last month and shows her splashing around in her new wading pool.

The zoo is really in a construction mode. A new bear enclosure is under construction and that one, too, is still too small. Actually, I am dumbfounded that they are building an enclosure for the bear because they had told us that after this bear dies (and she is old) that they would not obtain another one. The construction of this bear enclosure is a bad sign that bears will continue to be obtained for displaying even after the bear they have now passes away.

Another multi-million dollar building to sell entry tickets/visitor center/ veterinarian building is under construction. The ammenities toward making the visiting experience a pleasant one for visitors are being focused on before animal enclosures in general (except for the bear enclosure mentioned above).

IMPORTANT

The zoo here is moving ahead with its plans of obtaining elephants for future breeding. Two baby elephants from India, now living in a forest camp in West Bengal (alerted to us by a reporter in Calcutta) with their family herds, have been identified as destined for Okinawa. We are still in a good position to stop that. The elephants cannot be shipped until an enclosure is constructed for them and that has not happened yet. Even zoo staff, when questioned about obtaining elephants seem not too confident whether or not it will happen. It will depend on if their accomidations are approved (most probably by JAZA). I also think that approving elephants for this zoo will be harder to do if there are enough voices speaking up against it.

PLEASE, speak up and express your disapproval and opposition to this zoo`s plan to get elephants. Explain to those concerned that this zoo does not have the adequate space to provide for such large animals and that the way in which they care for the animals they presently have is proof that their concept of animal care is lacking in professionalism, compassion, and expertise. Remember, keep all correspondence polite. Send a brief e-mail and/or letter, Fax or call to:

Shri M.L. Tripathi / Ambassador of Indian Embassy in Tokyo

2-2-11 Kudan-minami, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0074

TEL : 03-3262-2391 , FAX : 03-3234-4866

indembjp

And, be sure to let the Okinawa Zoo know your opposition to it. Write them at:

Yoshinobu Higa, Executive Administrator, or

Genwa Higa, Zoo Director,

Okinawa Kodomo no Kuni

Address: 5-7-1 Goya Okinawa-shi

Okinawa City, Okinawa Pref.,

Japan

info

Ok, that is it for now. We do have a good chance to affect this. I know the actions seem like a lot to do, and I know many of you cannot do all of them, but if you could choose a few to do, then that would be very helpful. I am not sending Action Alerts out every week now so I hope that many of you will be pro-active and take the innitiative to send a few letters out a week or month to help keep pressure on the zoo.

Thank you and keep up the good fight.

Greg

Okinawa, Japan

The Campaign to Bring Kei Home

www.keithewolf.com

Relentless Pressure, Relenlessly Applied