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FOR ENVIRONMENT EDITOR IOWA FIRE DEPARTMENTS ASKED TO HELP GREAT APES DES MOINES, IOWA, May 21, 2004 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- The call is out to Iowa's 860 fire departments: the great apes need your help. Actually it's old fire hoses they need. The discarded hoses will be used as vines, swings and hammocks for the future residents of the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary, a world-class great ape research center under construction in Des Moines. "Old fire hoses are perfect because of their durability to withstand the strength of a great ape - and it helps the environment by recycling," says Andy Antilla, a senior animal caretaker for the orangutan project at IPLS. "The Des Moines Fire Department has already donated some hoses, but we need more." Antilla says IPLS can only accept fire hoses that are rubber-lined with a cotton jacket and at least 10 feet long. Iowa fire departments interested in donating their old hoses to the great apes should contact: Andy Antilla at (515) 243-3580 during business hours. Located in southeast Des Moines on 200 acres of lowlands, river forest and lakes, Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary will be among the largest great ape facilities in North America and one of the first worldwide to include all four types of great ape: bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. Phase-one construction of the project began in mid-2003. The arrival of orangutans is anticipated this summer with bonobos - once called pygmy chimpanzees - expected to arrive later in the year. Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary is dedicated to providing sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, studying the intelligence of great apes, advancing conservation of great apes and providing unique educational experiences about great apes. To learn more about Iowa
Primate Learning Sanctuary, go to www.IowaGreatApes.org.
CONTACT: Al Setka, Director of Communications, Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary asetka@yahoo.com |
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