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ZOO VET'S FAMILY SLATED TO LEAVE CAMEROON SATURDAY
BY: Rod HackneyFeb. 29, 2008
ASHEBORO—The family and friends of North Carolina Zoo Chief Veterinarian Dr. Mike Loomis caught in the civil unrest in Cameroon this week were reported to be safe in the capital city of Yaounde on Friday and are expected to fly out of the West African nation tomorrow.
Loomis has been in Cameroon since January 7 to continue work on an elephant conservation project he has directed for more than a decade. During the trip, the zoo vet opted to take a couple weeks of vacation and was joined by his wife, Glenda, his brother and sister-in-law, Stephen and Jeanne Loomis of Connecticut, his sister and brother-in-law, Jim and Karin Davies of California, and a third couple, Jack and Janet Sauer, also of Connecticut.
The group was staying in the coastal resort town of Kribi when riots and looting broke out in several of Cameroon's largest cities this week. Loomis has remained in contact via cell and satellite phone with Mark MacAllister of the N.C. Zoological Society, the zoo's non-profit support organization, throughout his trip. MacAllister posts regular field reports from Loomis on the elephant project for the Zoo Society’s educational Web site “Field Trip Earth” (www.fieldtripearth.org).
MacAllister said he spoke with Loomis early Friday morning and the group had made the 150-mile journey northeast from Kribi to Yaounde without incident Thursday night. They had another 150-mile journey west on Friday to reach Douala, the country’s largest city and home to its largest airport. Loomis reported that the civil unrest had quieted and only a few burned-out vehicles remained in Yaounda as evidence, MacAllister said.
Four members of Loomis' group had originally been slated to fly out on Wednesday, while his wife and two others had always been scheduled on Saturday. But the zoo veterinarian will be remaining in Cameroon, MacAllister said. Loomis reported he had been unable to get a ticket for the flight with the rest of the group and had decided to return to his elephant field work until his regularly scheduled departure March 16.
The 58-year-old zoo vet has devoted more than a decade to the Cameroon elephant conservation project, which partners the N.C. Zoo and Zoo Society with the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Cameroon Ministry of Environment and Forests. The project utilizes satellite tracking collars installed on elephants to identify the migration routes of herds in several areas of the country. The effort has been credited with drastically reducing the number of elephants and humans killed due to conflicts with farmers and villagers in the migration routes.
The zoo is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr., Secretary; Michael F. Easley, Governor.