Emporia’s lemurs might one day see an extensive home renovation if one organization meets its fundraising goals.
The Emporia Noon Rotary Club will be hosts for an upcoming event, called LemurFest, to raise money for the renovation of the lemur exhibit at the David Traylor Zoo. The club has set a goal of raising $25,000 over the next five years to help pay for the renovations.
LemurFest will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19 and will include live music, a dinner catered by Coach’s and cash bars offering beer and wine. This will be the first of what the Rotary Club hopes will become an annual event.
Tickets for LemurFest are $50 and are available at the Emporia Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, 719 Commercial St. and the David Traylor Zoo, 75 Sodens Road.
“All of this is to help raise money for a new lemur exhibit,” said Rotarian Larie Schoap. “Nothing like this has ever been done, so it’ll be a really nice evening at the zoo.”
The zoo’s current lemur facility was built in 1990 with money from the Rotary Club, the Trusler Foundation and the Emporia Friends of the Zoo. The zoo has three types of lemurs — red-collared brown, black-and-white ruffed and ring-tailed, all of which are endangered species. The zoo is participating in a species survival program to help preserve the animals, all of which come from Madagascar.
The lemurs are a popular feature of the zoo, and one reason for an updated facility will be to allow the lemurs to be displayed year-round. As it is, the lemurs are not on display when the temperature falls below 60 degrees.
“The lemurs are one of the zoo’s biggest attractions,” Schoap said. “Yet so often you go to the zoo and they’re not outside because of the weather. Because so many people love to see the lemurs, this is a great way to be able to see them year round.”
In addition to allowing for the year-round presentation of the lemurs, a new home will give the zoo the chance to breed and raise young lemurs according to the species survival plan.
Music for LemurFest will be provided by Kristy Korsak and Melinda Flohr, who will bring some of her high school orchestra students to play. Docents will be present with various animals, and there will be an exhibit specifically for the lemurs.
“This is completely new, nothing like this has been done yet,” Schoap said of the event. “It’s really going to be a classy, nice event.”
For more information, call Larie Schoap at 340-9830.
dally_up (anonymous) says...
Sounds like it will be a blast. I only wish the money raised could go to more than just the lemur monkeys. While we only get to see the lemurs part of the year there are many animals (birds, turtles, and snakes) I saw while taking my children to the open house at the zoo that never get put out on display. I only assume this is because of a lack of cages to put them in. But, I do feel this is a step in the right direction and I urge all to attend and show our community support. It's good to see the zoo finally starting to get some of the direction back that was lost when Mr. Trebilcock resigned.
August 30, 2009 at 2:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )