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For information on meerkats and where they live, click on:
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Vickie
Patman has
created beautiful
meerkat
jewelry pieces.
Vickie works in sterling silver and gold, see examples below. We can put you in touch with Vickie.
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The East Coast Meerkat
Society is an informal
group who share a
passionate interest in
meerkats.
We work together to turn our passion into projects to better the lives
of meerkats
in our zoos and those who research meerkats in the Kalahari desert.
Our group was started
in December 2006.
The
first project we took on was to raise the funds to rebuild the meerkat
enclosure at the Staten Island Zoo, NY, one of the smallest and oldest
zoos in the country, a beautiful jewel of a place, with their meerkats
in an enclosure that was far from ideal.
We completed the fund-
raising in six months, and
the beautiful
new Staten Island Zoo meerkat enclosure was dedicated Sat., Sep. 29. 2007, see photos in right column.
Why the name "East Coast Meerkat Society"?
We first met Dec. 2, 2006, at the National Zoo in
Washington DC, on the
U.S. East Coast.
We thought about a
name,
and decided that everyone is on the east coast
of something.
All are welcome to join,
no fees, no dues, just
a love for meerkats.
To become a member,
email us at
friend@meerkatsrule.org
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The map below shows the locations of visitors who
have come to this site
since November 2008.
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This website is created using
free, open-source applications.
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If you wish to be on the ECMS
email list, fill out the information below.
We
will not give your name or email address to others.
»
Master
Meerkat has set up a chat room for the East
Coast
Meerkat Society where you
can keep up with people and meerkats, add
your thoughts, comments, click
here to go there.
» Staten Island Zoo.
The original
"Three Amigos" that we came to love have lived out their
lives and passed away. So our Three Amigos -- Jellybean,
Sebastian, and Rupert -- are gone
but the sight of these three so
excited exploring their new enclosure, playing for the first time
in
sand, digging, burrowing, and totally enjoying their new enclosure will
live on with many of us.
The Staten Island
Zoo received eight new 2-year-old meerkats. They're
beautifiul!
» Meerkat Manor
Season 4 finished long ago. Animal
Planet declared they were taking a
hiatus before
beginning to film Season
5,
but their wait "for a few months" has stretched into several
years. We know there were contract disputes and internal fights
over ownership and distribution control. Such a shame,
as Meerkat Manor was far and away Animal Planet's
most popular and successful television series, and we cannot
believe they
would not keep it going. We'll see.
»
See videos of
the ABC and CBS shows on meerkats (described below). Click here for the
ABC Nightline
show, click here to view the CBS Late
Late Show on YouTube, click
here for the
follow-up piece on ABC News.
You'll get to see star vignettes
by two of our most distinguished
ECMS Board of
Directors members, Mary Xanthos and Jess Macintyre.
»
Meerkats on the
CBS Late Late Show sort of happened on June 11,
2008.
The Late Late Show's host Craig
Ferguson had scheduled an
interview with Stockard Channing, the new narrator for Meerkat
Manor Season 4. A number
of ECMS West Coast members showed up, of course with
Jess Macintyre. Stockard mentioned she had never seen a
meerkat. That started
things.. Waving their meerkat
fans (click here to see a fan),
the studio audience
became the
attraction, clearly meerkat experts.
Ferguson seemed delighted, and the rest of the
evening was
devoted to talk about meerkats.
»
ABC
Nightline TV
aired a lovely story on meerkats and why people love them
on June 9, 2008,
including visitd with
ECMS cofounder
veterinarian Mary Xanthos in New York City; a visit
with
Rafikki, Kendi,
and Pam at the
Fellow Earthlings meerkat sanctuary
in California; a gathering of
ECMS members
in Los Angeles; and the Meerkat Manor TV series producer.
To view the Nightline
segment click
here.
» Beautiful!
A YouTube video created
by Meerkatgirl123 to mourn
the passing
of Sebastian. Click here to watch it.
University research
group
that studies the
meerkat families
we follow on TV and have
come to love, has a "friends" web site rich
in meerkat
resources to help support the
researchers,
see www.kalahari-meerkats.com.
»
In
the
U.S., Meerkat
Manor TV covered
Flower's passing on
Sep. 28, 2007. The next
day, East Coast Meerkat Society
members
joined in a simultaneous "Meerkat Meet-Up" at
zoos around the
country to honor the memory
of Flower and dedicate the new meerkat
enclosure at the Staten
Island Zoo to Flower.
»
Our
Meerkat Makeover fundraising campaign in partnership with the Staten
Island Zoo to build
a new enclosure for their "Three Amigos" has been completed.
We
reached the fundraising goal
set by the zoo, the
renovation has been finished, and the new meerkat
habitat was opened on
Saturday, Sep. 29, 2007, with
a ceremony dedicating
the enclosure to Flower.
» To
appreciate meerkats, one needs to understand the Kalahari
Desert where they live. We know
of no better way
than to spend
time at Evi's pangolin.li
web
site with her beautiful words
and
photographs, her personal
account of the
Cambridge University meerkat research project and
her
time there.
(Evi also is webmaster for the www.kalahari-meerkats.com
site.)
» Zoogoer, print
publication of FONZ,
friends of the U.S.
National Zoo, Washington DC, had a
magnificent
article,
photos on meerkats in the Jan-Feb 2007 issue. The article
is on
the FONZ
web site, read it here.
FONZ kindly donated a dozen autographed copies of the
magazine for our
auction to benefit
our Staten Island Zoo meerkat makeover project.
» Where we meet.
East Coast Meerkat Society (ECMS) people hang out at
two
online forums.
Our home burrow is
Meerkat Forum at meerkatcrew.meerkatsrule.org.
For general discussions of
Meerkat Manor, there
is community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/cfrm/f/2921965038
where a more
general
audience follow and discuss the Meerkat Manor series.
How
can
this site be useful to
you? When
you come across interesting meerkat stuff,
let us know, we will post a
link to it. Email friend@meerkatsrule.org.
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Flower's
Memorial Book
-- "Remembering When"
East Coast Meerkat Society
member Valerie Martinelli has created this magnificent,
inspiring, moving book, 35
pages of photographs, writings, drawings by adults
and
children (we call em pups),
all expressions of
each person's love for Flower.
The book was
created using online publishing company
Picaboo. To
open
and view the entire
book online without charge, click
here.
The Remembering
When book may be
purchased in two sizes, as a large 11x8.5-
inch bound hardcover book, and in a smaller
8x6-inch softcover version. We no longer
stock these books, email us and we will
send you instructions on how to order from
Picaboo and receive a 30 percent discount.
Meerkat
Stained Glass
Magnificent
stained glass works created
by East Coast
Meerkat Society member, Ohio
artist Herbee O'Connell.
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The
"Flower" Memorial
A
work of love, a memorial to the meerkat named Flower, matriarch
of the Whiskers family. In meerkat terms she was
the
dominant female of the Whiskers mob. Flower died after
being bitten by a snake. Her passing was a terrible shock, for
so many
loved her so much.
Flower was the heroine of the Meerkat Manor television series that
introduced many of us to meerkats. It was watching
her
live, forage, love, play, bear young, fight to defend her
territory, her work in leading her family, maintaining the tight family
discipline needed to survive in the harsh Kalahari Desert,
Africa,
that taught us to care so strongly for these little creatures.
An extraordinary work, 34 stained
glass pieces, handmade, numbered and signed, created
to honor Flower. |
Meerkat
Suncatchers
Stained
glass figures
6.5 in. tall, individually
signed and dated by
the artist.
Made by hand. Each
is different in shading
and glass coloration.
Price $30.
Contact us for order
information. |
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The people who volunteered their
time on an uncompensated basis to operate the web
store to raise funds for our projects have had to
suspend our store
for a while. We still
have some stock of African
jewelry, meerkat plush figures, etc.,
and if you want to
purchase anything, please contact us at the
phone number or
email address below.Jan 8, 2010.
If you have
an interest in meerkats, join us. No dues.
All are
welcome,
no matter
your age, or what coast or country your burrow is
located in.
To join or
ask questions, email
or phone us.
East Coast
Meerkat Society
Ocala, Florida and Sterling, Virginia
Tel.:
352-553-4247 Email: friend@meerkatsrule.org
East
Coast Meerkat Society is an
informal group sharing a passionate interest in meerkats.
We
raise funds to better the lives of meerkats and the
researchers who study them.
©
Copyright 2010 East Coast Meerkat Society Email Webmaster
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Above, the
new Staten Island Zoo meerkat enclosure.
Click
here for
larger versions of above, several are
videos.
Click
here
for videos of the Three Amigos digging.
Click
here for
videos of Sebastian standing guard.
Want more about
meerkats?
Click
here
for current news stories about meerkats.
Click
here
for new photos, videos about meerkats.
History of East
Coast Meerkat Society Meetups
Click
here
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PLEASE READ THIS
IF YOU CARE ABOUT MEERKATS
OR ANY ANIMAL IN ZOOS.
The East Coast Meerkat Society exists to help meerkats and the zoos that care for them.
In our heartfelt desire to better the lives of these endearing
creatures, we understand it can be tempting to want to
criticize
or pressure zoos in hopes of generating action. We have found
this to be counterproductive.
Our
policy is to work behind the scenes, quietly,
in partnership with zoos, in order to achieve the best
possible outcome
for their animals.
Public rebukes of zoos and the
individuals who
work there are a sure way to shut down the helpful dialog that we
have found is the only way to get meaningful changes instituted that
help the animals. We prefer to work cooperatively with zoos as allies, rather than adversaries.
Striving
to support zoos and their people in working towards a common purpose of
bettering the lives of captive meerkats is the "modus operandi" of the
ECMS.
If
you wish to let us know about a problem with a zoo, or a way in which
we may be able to help meerkats in a particular zoo, please let us know
though a private e-mail or phone call. This will best enable us to
begin quiet work to positively engage the zoo and effect the
desired changes.
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Use this box to search the web
or just this site:
Staten
Island Zoo meerkat
naming
contest
Our
contest to pick names for the three meerkats
at the Staten Island Zoo was done through voting
on our East Coast Meerkat Lovers Unite! forum
on the Discovery Channel's
web site.
Names were proposed by our
members, winnowed
down, sent to the meerkat
keepers at the Staten
Island Zoo who selected the names they thought
best fit the animals,
then our members voted
to select the final three.
Winning names:
Jellybean, Sebastian, Rupert.
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Staten
Island Zoo construction
Photos below were taken during
construction
of the Staten Island Zoo meerkat enclosure,
courtesy Bob Kurtz, Staten Island Zoo Curator.
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2008-2009 Desk Calendar "Flower - Her Story"
The little meerkat Flower was so
important to us
that we created a 2008 desk calendar, with a color
photo for each month, to tell the story of Flower --
Queen of the Kalahari Desert.
We sold out
our 2008 Flower calendars,
produced
a
2008-2009 version, sold that out also.
Click here to see. the
2008-2009 calendar pages,
beautiful,
rare
photos of Flower, meerkats and
researchers at the Kalahari Research Project,
and the Staten Island Zoo meerkats .
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