East Coast Meerkat Society

ECMS
WebStore!

Click here to visit our store,
meerkat items not available elsewhere.
Just in -- Magnetic car sign

Ungulungo Group Sunning, The Meerkat Magic Conservation Project, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

Updated 7/18/2008

The
Meerkat
WebStore

Fun stuff.
Clic k here.

»» See videos of the ABC and CBS shows on meerkats (described below) ... click here for the ABC
   Nightline show, click here to view the CBS Late Late Show on YouTube, click here for the follow-up piece
on ABC News. You'll get to see star vignettes by two of our most distinguished ECMS Board of Directors
   members, Mary Xanthos and Jess Macintyre.
»» Meerkats on the CBS Late Late Show sort of happened on June 11. The Late Late Show's host
Craig Ferguson had scheduled an interview with Stockard Channing, the new narrator for Meerkat Manor
Season 4. A number of ECMS West Coast members showed up, of course with Jess Macintyre.
Stockard mentioned she had never seen a meerkat, and that started it. Waving their meerkat fans
(click here to see a fan), the audience became the attraction, clearly meerkat experts. Ferguson
   seemed delighted, and the rest of the evening was devoted to talk about meerkats. We're told CBS does
not make Late Late Show segments available via the Internet -- if anyone discovers this program on
YouTube or anywhere else, please let us know and we'll send a head-up email to all.
»» ABC Nightline TV aired a lovely story on meerkats and why people love them on June 9 -- included a
visit with ECMS cofounder veterinarian Mary Xanthos in New York City; visited Rafikki, Kendi, and Pam
at the Fellow Earthlings meerkat sanctuary in California; a gathering of ECMS members in Los Angeles;
and the Meerkat Manor series producer. To vew the Nightline segment click here.
»» Meerkat Manor Season 4 is under way on Animal Planet TV, first episode aired Friday, June 6.
»» The full-length Movie "Meerkat Manor the Story Begins" aired on Animal Planet Sunday June 5, 2008.

»» LA Zoo: A number of our West Coast members have expressed concern about Chico, now the lone
    meerkat at the Los Angeles Zoo, and have contacted the zoo to ask that something be done. The
    zoo is listening, and we are working with the zoo to solve this problem. ECMS Board member Jess
Macintyre (west_coast_meerkat ) is heading the LA Zoo effort. Contact Jess to help.
»» ECMS is growing up. We are now incorporated as a nonproft, and working to obtain 501(c)(3)
    tax-exempt nonprofit status. This involves setting up officers and a board. We'll report status here.

Above, the new Staten Island Zoo meerkat enclosure.

Click here for larger versions of above, several are videos.
Click here for videos of the Three Amigos digging.
Click here for videos of Sebastian standing guard.

Want more about meerkats?

Click here for current news stories about meerkats.
Click here for new photos, videos about meerkats.

History of East Coast Meerkat Society Meetups
Click here

Have you read the
Flower Memorial Book
"Remembering When"?
Created by
ECMS member
Valerie Martinelli.
So beautiful! See here

_____________

Useful meerkat info:

Welcome to the
East Coast Meerkat
Society burrow,
uh, web site.

We are an informal
group who share a
passionate interest
in meerkats.

We work together
to turn our passion
into projects to better
the lives of meerkats
in our zoos and those
who research
meerkats in the
Kalahari desert.

Our group was started
in December 2006.

The first project we took on was to raise the funds to rebuild the meerkat enclosure at the Staten Island Zoo, NY, one of the smallest and oldest zoos in the country, a beautiful jewel of a place, with their meerkats in an enclosure that was far from ideal.

We completed the fund-
raising in six months.
The new construction is nearing completion, and the beautiful new enclosure will be dedicated on
Sat., Sep. 29. 2007.

The calendar and
suncatchers at right
are being sold to raise
funds for such projects,
photos and design
contributed by our
members.

Let us know if you
have an idea for a
worthwhile meerkat project.

Why the name "East Coast Meerkat Society"?

We first met Dec. 2, 2006, at the National Zoo in Washington DC, on the
U.S. East Coast. We thought about a name,
and decided that everyone is on the east coast of something.

All are welcome to join,
no fees, no dues, just
a love for meerkats.

To become a member,
email us at friend@meerkatsrule.org

_____________

The map below shows the locations of visitors who
have come to this site
since Novenber 2007.

_____________

This website is created using free, open-source applications.

»» One of the three beautiful meerkats at the
Staten Island Zoo passed away during the
  night of Feb. 9, 2008. It was Sebastian.
His kidneys failed. Pethealer Mary, Daryle,
David, and others visited the zoo and report
  that Rupert and Jellybean are doing OK,
though at first appeared a bit lost. Sebastian
   usually stood guard at the top of an anthill,
    watching over both animals and humans.
   Take comfort that we gave Sebastian a
   comfortable life for his last six months. He
   was so happy in his new home.

»» Beautiful! At left, a YouTube video created
  by Meerkatgirl123 to mourn the passing
  of Sebastian. Click here to watch it.

»» The Kalahari Meerkat Project, the Cambridge University research group that studies the Meerkat
  Manor families we follow on TV and have come to love, has created a new "friends" web site rich
in merkat resources to help support the researchers. Don't miss www.kalahari-meerkats.com.

»» In the U.S., the Meerkat Manor TV covered Flower's passing on Sep. 28, 2007. The next day,
     East Coast Meerkat Society members joined in a simultaneous "Meerkat Meet-Up" at zoos
  around the country to honor the memory of Flower and to join in dedicating the new meerkat
  enclosure at the Staten Island Zoo to Flower.

»» Our Meerkat Makeover fundraising campaign in partnership with the Staten Island Zoo
  to build a new enclosure for their "Three Amigos" has been completed. We reached the
fundraising goal set by the zoo, the renovation has been finished, and the new meerkat habitat
was opened on Saturday, Sep. 29, 2007, with a ceremony dedicating the enclosure to Flower.

»» To appreciate meerkats, one needs to understand the Kalahari Desert where they live. We
know of no better way than to spend time at Evi's pangolin.li web site with her beautiful
words and photographs, her personal account of the Cambridge University meerkat research
project and her time there. (Evi also is webmaster for the www.kalahari-meerkats.com site.)

»» Zoogoer, print publication of FONZ, friends of the U.S. National Zoo, Washington DC, had
a magnificent article, photos on meerkats in the Jan-Feb 2007 issue. The article is on the
FONZ web site, read it here. FONZ kindly donated a dozen autographed copies of the magazine
for our auction to benefit our Staten Island Zoo meerkat makeover project.

»» Where we meet. East Coast Meerkat Society (ECMS) people hang out at two online forums.
Our home burrow is Meerkat Forum at mastermeerkat.forumcircle.com. For general discussions
of Meerkat Manor, there is community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/cfrm/f/2921965038 where a
more general audience follow and discuss the Meerkat Manor series.

How can this site be useful to you? When you come across interesting meerkat stuff,
let us know, we will post a link to it. Email friend@meerkatsrule.org.

Flower's Memorial Book -- "Remembering When"
East Coast Meerkat Society member Valerie Martinelli has created this magnificent,
inspiring, moving book, 35 pages of photographs

, writings, drawings by adults and
children (we call them pups), all expressions
of each person's love for Flower. The book
was created using online publishing company
Picaboo. Open and view the entire book
online without charge. Click here.

Remembering When may be purchased
directly from us in two sizes, as a large
bound hardcover book, or in a smaller
softcover version. Picaboo kindly is giving us
a 35 percent discount on the limited-run book,
which we are passing on to you in honor of
Flower.

This book has been created by Valerie Martinelli as an expression of all our special
feelings for Flower, and we are charging only our cost.

Price: 11x8.5-inch bound hardcover book $39.00 plus $8.99 shipping, total $47.99.
8x6-inch softcover version $16.15 plus $7.99 shipping, total $24.14.
Order through our WebStore shopping cart -- click here.

Meerkat Stained Glass Magnificent stained glass works created
by East Coast Meerkat Society member, Ohio artist Herbee O'Connell.

This is an extraordinary work, 34 pieces of stained glass, handmade, created to honor Flower.
Availability is still being organized.
If you have asked to be on our wait list, we will contact you by email.

The "Flower" Memorial
We have found a way to make a larger version of this piece, it will be available here soon.
A work of love, a memorial to the meerkat named Flower, matriarch of the Whiskers family. In meerkat terms she was the dominant female of the Whiskers mob. Flower died several months ago, bitten by a snake. Her passing was a terrible shock, for so many loved her so much.

Flower was the heroine of the Meerkat Manor television series that introduced many of us to meerkats. It was watching her live, forage, love, play, bear young, fight to defend her territory, her work in leading her family, maintaining the tight family discipline needed to survive in the harsh Kalahari Desert, Africa, that taught us to care so strongly for these little creatures.

We have been asked how to find the signature and date inscribed in each suncatcher.
Hold piece at angle to light to view, see left.

Meerkat
Suncatchers

Stained glass figures
6.5 to 7 inches tall,
individually signed and
dated by the artist.

Made by hand. Each
is different in terms
of shading and depth
of glass coloration.

Price $30.
Order from our
shopping cart --
click here.

2008-2009 Meerkat Desk
Calendar "Flower - Her Story"
We are created this calendar as a joyful
celebration of Flower's life. We have tried
to tell Flower's story, how she was noticed
by the researchers, how she grew up, how
she succeesed so well in creating her Whiskers family, how she inspired the Meerkat
Manor television series, her children and how she cared for them, her loves, her many
trials and challenges, how she died, and how she inspired us to band together to work
to improve the living conditions of meerkats in captivity. See sample pages at right.
In stock. Price $14.00 -- click here.

2007 Meerkat Desk Calendar
Last year's calendar. Twelve charming
color photographs of meerkats plus cover
photo in a quality, glossy desk calendar.
Photos taken at the Fellow Earthlings
Sanctuary in California, zoos in Fort Worth,
Houston, Washington DC, Germany, and
South Africa. Still a few available. Price $14.00 -- click here.

See our webstore. Free stuff, silly stuff, beautiful meerkat stuff. Click here.
If you are uncomfortable ordering over the Internet, please email or phone us at the numbers
below. We will take your order by telephone or letter, and you can mail us a check.
Contact us for international shipping rates.

If you have an interest in meerkats, join us. No dues. All are welcome,

no matter your age, or what coast or country your burrow is located in.
To join or ask questions, email or phone us.

East Coast Meerkat Society
21500 Tamarack Ridge Square, Sterling, Virginia 20164 USA
Tel.: 703-433-2081 Email: friend@meerkatsrule.org Skype: genegaines

East Coast Meerkat Society is an informal group sharing a passionate interest in meerkats.
We raise funds to better the lives of meerkats and the researchers who study them.
© Copyright 2008 East Coast Meerkat Society Email Webmaster

____________________________________

Use this box to search the web or just this site: Below:
- Staten Island Zoo meerkat naming contest.
- S.I. Zoo construction photos.
- Our "Flower - Her Story" calendar
____________________________________

Staten Island Zoo meerkat naming contest
Our contest to pick names for the three meerkats
at the Staten Island Zoo was done through voting
on our East Coast Meerkat Lovers Unite! forum
on the Discovery Channel's web site.

Names were proposed by our members, winnowed
down, sent to the meerkat keepers at the Staten
Island Zoo who selected the names they thought
best fit the animals, then our members voted
to select the final three. Winning names:
Jellybean, Sebastian, Rupert.
____________________________________

Staten Island Zoo construction
Photos below were taken during construction
of the Staten Island Zoo meerkat enclosure,
courtesy Bob Kurtz, Staten Island Zoo Acting Curator.

____________________________________

2008-2009 Desk Calendar "Flower - Her Story"
The little meerkat Flower was so important to us.
We have tried to tell her story in our desk calendar.
Two sample pages from the calendar are below.

News.. we sold out our 2008 Flower calendars,
so are reprinting in a 2008-2009 version. Same
beautiful, rare photos of Flower, meerkats and
researchers at the Kalahari Research Project,
and the Staten Island Zoo meerkats, but the
calendar pages now cover the 12 months July
2008 through June 2009. Click here to see.