Gerry Elsdon, better known as the TV personality
Gerry Rantseli, was our speaker last week and told the club a bit more about
herself and her work as secretary-general of the SA Red Cross Society. She also pledged the society’s help with first aid at the coming Family Health Day
project.
She made up for being late for the meeting (she got stuck in the
traffic) by staying after the meeting to discuss logistics with Steve, Amina
and Michelle Thulkanam, who has now committed to membership of the club.
Speaking
of the health days, about a dozen club members have given their names to Steve
du Plessis for the duty roster. That’s good going, but more people need to sign
up, as there must be at least three to four Rotarian on duty every day from 9
am to 4 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday 9-11 May. The two addresses are
both in Soweto: 3141 Letaba Str. in Jabavu, and 735 Modebane Str in
Meadowlands. Both are in a safe and pleasant environment, according to Steve,
so please do put your hand up for either a morning or afternoon shift on any of
the three days. Contact Steve on 0828934211, or steve@ats-pty.ltd.com to volunteer.
Mini Mohale wrote thanking the club for sponsoring her
studies at the HTA School for Culinary Arts last year. The funds were raised at
Alex Gano’s Thanksgiving Dinner in 2011, which she attended. Mini did well in
her studies, averaging about 70%.
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This Week
Gill Nomis and Elaine Reeve from the Johannesburg Zoo will talk to us about the Hornbill & Wattled Crane Projects that Don Lindsay was keen on us supporting.
The Wattle Crane Recovery Programme
The Wattled Crane is one of five Critically Endangered birds in South Africa and is the most threatened crane species on the African continent. The Wattled Crane Recovery Programme (WCRP) aims to prevent the local extinction of the Wattled Crane in South Africa by breeding Wattled Cranes in captivity and releasing their offspring into existing wild flocks.
The WCRP rescues Wattled Crane eggs that would normally be abandoned in the wild and the resultant chicks are either incorporated into an existing ex situ breeding flock or released back into the wild flock. Wild Wattled Cranes occasionally lay two eggs but will only raise one chick, abandoning the second egg once the first egg has hatched. Natal Wildlife grants an annual permit for the collection of Wattled Crane second eggs as this has no detrimental effect on the wild population. The eggs are harvested by experienced fieldworkers and the resultant chicks costume-reared to prevent human imprinting. Offspring of the ex situ breeding flock will be used to supplement the in situ population.
In order for captive-reared Wattled Cranes to survive in the wild, they must be reared in such a way that they develop sufficient survival skills, such as appropriate feeding behavioural and predator aversion tactics. For the past thirty-three years, conservationists in North America have been successful in recovering endangered crane populations through the release of human-reared cranes into existing wild crane populations by utilising a technique called 'costume-rearing' or 'puppet-rearing'. During the rearing process, human caretakers dress in crane costumes and mimic the behaviours of adult cranes in an effort to teach young cranes survival skills. Feasibility trials were conducted to assess the potential for utilising this technique to increase South Africa's Wattled Crane population, during which a total of thirteen Wattled Crane chicks were reared by humans wearing crane costumes and utilising a crane puppet. The initial trials were successful and once the costume-reared chicks reached fledging age, they were released into existing wild flocks and were successfully integrated into the wild population.
In order for captive-reared Wattled Cranes to survive in the wild, they must be reared in such a way that they develop sufficient survival skills, such as appropriate feeding behavioural and predator aversion tactics. For the past thirty-three years, conservationists in North America have been successful in recovering endangered crane populations through the release of human-reared cranes into existing wild crane populations by utilising a technique called 'costume-rearing' or 'puppet-rearing'. During the rearing process, human caretakers dress in crane costumes and mimic the behaviours of adult cranes in an effort to teach young cranes survival skills. Feasibility trials were conducted to assess the potential for utilising this technique to increase South Africa's Wattled Crane population, during which a total of thirteen Wattled Crane chicks were reared by humans wearing crane costumes and utilising a crane puppet. The initial trials were successful and once the costume-reared chicks reached fledging age, they were released into existing wild flocks and were successfully integrated into the wild population.
Mabula Ground Hornbill Project
At present Southern Ground Hornbills are considered 'vulnerable' but their numbers are still declining.
A detailed analysis of data collected by the Project, show Southern Ground Hornbills in South Africa to be 'Endangered' and probably critically Endangered' under IUCN Criteria.
There are probably only 1500 birds in South Africa, half of which are in the protected areas of the Kruger National Park. Groups consist of 29 birds, of which there is only 1 breeding female. From which an average of only 1 chick is raised to adulthood every 9 years.
A detailed analysis of data collected by the Project, show Southern Ground Hornbills in South Africa to be 'Endangered' and probably critically Endangered' under IUCN Criteria.
There are probably only 1500 birds in South Africa, half of which are in the protected areas of the Kruger National Park. Groups consist of 29 birds, of which there is only 1 breeding female. From which an average of only 1 chick is raised to adulthood every 9 years.
Over the past 50 years Ground Hornbills have lost over 70% of their natural habitat :
The Mabula Ground Hornbill Research and Conservation Project are addressing these issues by harvesting and hand-rearing of second hatched chicks which die of starvation in the nests, re-introduction and augmentation of non-viable groups in the wild.
The Johannesburg Zoo also assists the project by providing free veterinary car to Ground Hornbills and we have recently taken over hand raising chicks from second egg collections. http://www.mabulagroundhornbillconservationproject.org.za/
This is an amazing story!
Manny Pacquiao packs a punch
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Manny Pacquio makes the This Close gesture. Pacquiao is a brilliant boxer, a Philippine congressman, and the president of his Rotary club.
Manny Pacquiao grew up poor on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. How poor? He slept in a cardboard box. He begged for pesos. His friends still talk about the day he brought a stray dog home to his family’s shack. The boy cried when the dog wound up in a stewpot.
Young Pacquiao got into fights but not into crime; unlike many fighters, he was never a thug. Sometimes he hid in churches and prayed for guidance. “I wanted a mission in life. A calling,” he says.
Today Pacquiao (PACK-ee-ow) is one of the richest, most popular athletes on earth. According to the 2012 Forbes list of the world’s highest-paid athletes, Pacquiao earned US$62 million in 12 months – second to fellow boxer Floyd Mayweather, ahead of Tiger Woods and LeBron James.
Nobody else in boxing history has matched his versatility. With a record 10 world titles in eight weight classes, Pacquiao has won championship belts in divisions from flyweight (108-112 pounds) up to super welterweight (147-154). His rise began in 1995, when the scrawny kid turned pro at age 16. “I was just a little guy,” he recalls. The young Pacquiao stood at 4’11” and weighed 98 pounds. The story goes that he was so far under the weight limit that he put steel ball bearings in the pockets of his trunks at the weigh-in. Of course, he won.
Since then, his 60 fights have made “Pac-Man” more than a hero to his fellow Filipinos. More like a superhero. His superhuman training routine might melt a weaker man. After a 10-mile mountain run, all of it uphill, he spars 30 to 40 rounds, his punches whistling through the air. Then he hammers the heavy and speed bags for 10 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of skipping rope, 1,000 sit-ups, and his personal abs builder: letting a friend whap his stomach with a bamboo stick. Then he sits down to one of six daily meals – chicken, rice, beans, eggs, and a protein smoothie – before a couple of hours of full-court basketball.
“A man on a mission? That’s him all over,” says Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s grizzled trainer. “He’s got killer instinct, but there’s something else going on with Pacquiao – something like a higher purpose.”
Two years ago, in a title bout at Cowboys Stadium, the 5’7” champ rained 474 punches on challenger Antonio Margarito. He broke Margarito’s right orbital bone. “Finish him off!” Roach yelled from Pacquiao’s corner.
Instead, the champ backed up. “Boxing isn’t killing,” he said. “I beat him up enough.” Margarito lived to fight another day.
Pacquiao has leveraged his fame into political punch, running for a seat in the Philippine House of Representatives. He lost the first election, a setback that led to three years of grassroots prep for the next. The second time around, his opponent had no shot against a national icon whose face was already on a Philippine postage stamp. Pacquiao won by a landslide and took office in June 2010. As a junior legislator, he was expected to spend his time shaking hands and waving to crowds, leaving the grind of day-to-day politics to his elders. “Except he didn’t do that,” Roach says. “He started acting like a real congressman.”
The rookie lawmaker secured $4.5 million to build a hospital in his native Sarangani Province. He backed a bill to fight human trafficking. And in 2011, Congressman Pacquiao went to Washington, D.C., to urge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a former Golden Gloves boxer, and Reid’s colleagues to pass a trade bill that could create thousands of jobs for Philippine garment workers.
“My people do not want handouts. They want jobs,” Pacquiao tells me, “and it’s my job to help them.” He speaks with a steady intensity that leaves no doubt that he means what he says. As those around him attest, the fighting congressman takes his second career as seriously as his first.
“I told him to wait. ‘Boxing first,’ I said, ‘then politics,’” recalls Chavit Singson, governor of Ilocos Sur Province, who serves as one of Pacquiao’s advisers. “But Manny, he follows his heart.” Singson, a colorful politico whose Manila mansion is guarded by a tiger, was amazed to see his friend hand money to needy citizens. “Cash right out of his pocket.” Pacquiao bought one stranded constituent a car. Another time he fought homelessness as directly as possible: He bought a homeless man a house. “He is the people’s hero,” Singson says.
In Washington, Pacquiao met a 6-foot-1 hero of his own: “President Obama, he’s tall,” he marveled after they discussed the trade bill, their shared love of NBA basketball, and the champ’s upcoming bouts. Obama closed their summit by handing over shopping bags full of presidential-seal M&Ms for Pacquiao’s four children and a presidential-seal wristwatch that now adorns the congressman’s office in Manila.
At 34, Pacquiao is nearing the end of his boxing prime. Many fans have dreamed of the day he (finally!) squares off against unbeaten Mayweather, his longtime rival for the unofficial title of World’s Best Boxer. Mayweather, a cocky American who likes to show off his fleet of luxury cars and diamond-studded platinum iPod, has spent five years thrashing lesser contenders, ducking his Manny-fist destiny. Their showdown promises to be the most important fight in decades, the richest in history, a bout that might reverse the sport’s long slide into second-tier status. “It would be a great fight,” Pacquiao says. “Maybe the greatest.”
Meanwhile he continues to train, zipping around his homeland in a bulletproof Escalade, and still finds time to lead the Rotary Club of Manila 101. “After winning my first few world titles, I was asked to speak there,” he says. “I guess you could say I liked being a Rotary guest so much, I decided to join. The club appeals to my core beliefs in service to others. It nurtures my soul.” He has boosted its efforts to improve and even save lives. “We’re supplying much-needed medicine, food, and clothes to those who need help,” he said in the wake of a recent typhoon.
Bob Arum, the legendary promoter of fights including the epic Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier “Thrilla in Manila” in 1975, sees Pacquiao as more than a moneymaker. Comparing his top client to Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, Arum says, “We’re seeing an early stage of a world leader’s life. Manny is going to be president of the Philippines.”
Yet he entered 2013 at a career crossroads. Back in June, Pacquiao lost a controversial judges’ decision to Timothy Bradley, though most experts thought Pac-Man had won. His career record still stood at 54-4-2. Then, in December, he fought Juan Manuel Márquez at the MGM Grand arena. Pacquiao was leading on the judges’ cards when Márquez stunned the boxing world, knocking him out with a sixth-round haymaker. As the fighting congressman lay flat on the canvas, a Mayweather showdown looked distant. There were whispers that Pacquiao had lost his edge.
He swore it wasn’t true. He’d come back stronger than ever, he said.
And his political plans?
“My mind is on my next fight,” he tells me, ducking the question like an expert politician.
“What about after that? Do you want to be your country’s president?”
He smiles. It is the one smile I get out of Mr. Sincerity, a crinkle of the lip that says me to know, you to find out. He’s too smart to announce any career plans before this year plays out – and too young to run for president until 2022. Still, that smile suggests that we’ll be hearing from Congressman Pacquiao even if he never knocks out Floyd “Money” Mayweather.
“Boxing is my passion,” he says, “but public service is my calling.”
