Dear Friends,

I am happy to be sending you our first Progress Report for 'Global Team Aids Australian Rainforest Species' this year. On behalf of the whole team, thank you for donating to our project and I promise that from here on out, it will be nothing, but progress, progress and more progress.

I will have another 'big' progress report to send you next month friends, but for now, I wanted to share with you some of the highlights of our work to date. From February 28 to March 5, there was a big meeting in Virginia Beach that focused on bird and ratite conservation. It was the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' (AZA) 2010 Mid-Year Conference and I got to spend a couple of days with American as well as U.K. International Cassowary Recovery Team (ICRT) members. At this meeting, we discussed the behavioral studies that are about to begin on the cassowary (AKA 'Gardener of the Rainforest') in a captive setting and about launching these studies on the cassowary and other rare and endangered species in Australia in the wild. This coming April, team members from the Smithsonian National Zoo and Park, San Diego Zoo, Blank Park Zoo and the Chicago Zoological Society will be traveling to Australia to attend the 3rd International Cassowary Recovery Team meeting being hosted by the Australian Rainforest Foundation. The goal of this meeting is to enact some of the team's goals from last year and discuss moving forward on the endangered species studies, rainforest conservation, launching the internship and working with the IT Specialists and Animal Behavior Researchers on collecting, recording and analyzing all this important data.

By collecting and analyzing vital data and performing studies in one of the most bio-diverse habitats on earth, our goal is to be able to create models that will not only help save this rainforest, and the species that inhabit it, but also help others working in areas around the world on their work as well. Science really knows no boundaries and this projects goal of combining conservation with technology and Animal Behavior Researchers with IT Specialists

is moving us in the right direction. Next month, I will have a lot to report on and l will also include a field report from a team member in Devon, England. I will also get a field report out to everyone soon from the Australian operations as well.

Thank you again everyone for your care and generosity. Any questions? We would love to hear from you!! One of the exciting things about these project updates will be to introduce you, the donor, to the project beneficiaries--the people, the species, the habitat--you are directly helping. We want to make you feel like you are right smack in the middle of things because quite frankly, your money is.

Best Regards,
Paul Medici

Pictures:

• cassowary in the wild (JPG)
• Future study site (JPG)