LAUNCH OF LIFELINE APPEAL

The event took place at The Rainforest Cafe, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, and included a screening of our LiFeline video. The project will set up a research base in Belize and conduct both research and recovery programmes for small cats. Among those who came to learn about our work and give their support were the Deputy High Commissioner for Belize Mr Alexis Rosado, representatives from The Conservation Foundation, Fauna and Flora International, CITES, and Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks.

Princess Michael gave a delightful speech in support of RTEC and our achievements over the years, and about her visit to Belize's independence celebrations in 1981.

H.R.H. Princess Michael of Kent attends the launch of LiFeline.	H.R.H. Princess Michael and Belizean Deputy High Commissioner Mr. Alexis Rosado.

We would also like to thank The Rainforest Cafe for donating the use of their premises; and our newly-appointed PR officer, Sarah Corbey, for her hard work in making the afternoon such a success. Most of all, thanks to Dr Paddy Coker of Dryas Associates for presenting the opening donation of £30,000 and getting our appeal off to a flying start.

Rescue of Mexican Margays
Three young margays, two males and a female, have recently arrived at RTEC from Yucatan, Mexico. They had been captured from the wild as kittens and kept as pets, before their owners tired of them and dumped them at the local zoo. RTEC found them there last year, living in substandard conditions, and started negotiations to bring them to our centre in the UK.
We are very grateful to the Mexican authorities for permitting the export of CITES A species - which is rarely done - and the cats are doubtless even more grateful, since the zoo was slipping into bankruptcy and conditions would only have got worse. A big thank you to British Airways, too, who flew the cats free of charge for us. RTEC's directors flew out to Mexico to bring the margays back, and the cats have now settled in happily to their new home. The female was found to have a broken leg which was undiagnosed in Mexico, but it has healed well. All three margays remain the property of the Mexican government and have been sent to RTEC to take part in the European Endangered Species Breeding Programme (EEP) which we co-ordinate. We are building up a good working relationship with the Mexican authorities that should help future plans for cat conservation.

To find out more, and how you can help, check our LiFeline pages.