Testimonials
Testimonial 1
INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR GIBBON STUDIES
A nonprofit center for the study, preservation and propagation of highly endangered species
May 15, 1998
To Whom It May Concern,
I have known Francine Neago, Ph.D., for over 20 years. I met her while she was conducting her sign language study in Los Angeles with the orangutan “Bulan”. During my involvement with her project, Dr. Neago proved to be an excellent communicator who worked well with her staff. She is a generous, hospitable person, with an immense body of knowledge concerning conservation and the orangutan, enabling her to be considered a leading authority on the orangutan. Dr. Neago is highly motivated and has spent many years of her life living in South East Asia. She speaks Indonesian fluently and has become very comfortable living in this environment. Dr. Neago is a determined individual who has dedicated her life to the study of the orangutan.
I can recommend Dr. Neago without reservation as an individual qualified to direct and coordinate the design of the Endangered Animal Rehabilitation project.
Sincerely,
Alan Mootnick
Facility Director
Alan Richard Mootnick, Facility Director
P.O. Box 800249, Santa Clarita, CA 91380.
Tel: (805) 296-2737. Fax: (805) 296-1237
Member of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association
Research. Conservation. Education.
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Testimonial 2
NEUROLOGY DEPARTMENT, ULM UNIVERSITY
April 7, 1998
To Whom it May Concern,
I have known Mrs. Francine Neago for many years and followed her career as a researcher since I first met her at the International Congress on Primatology at Cambridge/UK in which she participated (the papers were published by Academic Press, London & NY 1978). She also served as a guest professor and gave us lectures at Ulm University ( in our General Studies Program) on the learning of language by young apes. She is an internationally acknowledged researcher in this field, and her highly motivated work on conservation for the great apes is widely recognized. She is a good organizer with a pioneering mind who is able to bring projects to a good end even under difficult conditions in developing countries. I feel that she is especially well suited to direct important projects for endangered wild life, for further studies of Orang Utan language, to direct a school of ethology and to organize tourism in connection with these activities in Brunei.
Sincerely,
Hans H. Kornhuber, Dr. med. Dr. h.c.
Professor em. of Neurology
Ulm University
89075 Ulm.
Steinhövelstr. 9
Tel. 0731-502-7971
Fax 0731-502-7979
RKU. Oberer Eselsberg 45
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Testimonial 3
ORANG UTAN CONSERVATION PROJECT, SABAH, MALAYSIA
To Whom it May Concern,
I am a French wildlife veterinarian. I have personally been involved in ape conservation for years in Africa: Rehabilitation and reintroduction of chimpanzees in the Congo and have studied wild gorillas and chimpanzees in Gabon. On behald of Hutan: a french NGO devoted to wildlife preservation, I am currently undertaking a long term conservation project of wild OrangUtans living in the Kinabatangan wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah.
During this time, I have met Dr. Francine Neago at various occasions when we have discussed extensively the center to be developped in Brunei. Such a scientic programme is of primary importance for wildlife and forest conservation, scientific research and would lead to a rapid growth of tourism activities.
There is a very urgent need to protect the last remnants of wild Orang utans living in Borneo. It is estimated that the population was reduced by 50 per cent in the last 15 years. Now the species is highly endangered. So far, Bruneiforests do not harbor any wild populations of this ape. A feasability study in your Country could tell us whether introduction of Orang utans is suitable to your natural resources. A well managed introduction project of seized or extirpated Orang Utans from other parts of Boeneo during the land process clearing could be of significance for the future conservation of the species.
An other component of the center’s project is the sign language studies. These studies are currently carried out only on Gorillas and Chimpanzees in the USA. To date, Francine Neago is
the only scientist to have done these on the Orang Utan and the results she got were very encouraging.
A new scientific study program, involving the language research with the three different species of Apes, would give us a better knowledge of these species that are our closest relatives. Such a program will, without doubt, raise a world-wide interest among the scientific community.
Last, but not least, the presence of the behavioral school, the rehabilitation center (islands of different sizes harboring Asian animals), the butterfly farm, enhaced by the wonders of the Brunei natural resourses (sea, beaches, jungle) could become one of the most attractive special tourism in Asia. In my opinion, tourism activities should not be associated to the last stages of Orang Utan rehabilitation, where the animals are released to the forest. I would be delighted to advise this part of the project, since I have experience with reintroduction into the wild of chimpanzees in the Congo, of Arabian oryx, ostriches and hubara bustards in Saudi Arabia.
Sincerely,
Marc Ancreneez, DMV
Orang Utan Conservation Project
PO Box 3109
Sandakan 90734
Sabah, Malaysia
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Testimonial 4
NEUROPSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE, UCLA
April 11, 1998
To: Brunei Government Ministers
Re: Francine Neago
This letter will confirm that I have know Francine Neago for over ten years and that Ms. Neago is unusually competent in the areas of nonhuman primate conservation, rehabilitation, behavioral studies, and project administration. She has my full support for your forthcoming project dealing with endangered animal rehabilitiation.
If I can be of any more assistance, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Michael T. McGuire, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry,
Director-Nonhuman Primate Laboratory
Faculty-Brain Research Institute,
Neuropsychiatric Institute-UCLA,
760 Westwood Plaza,
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Office phone (UCLA): 310-206-3420. Office FAX (UCLA): 310-825-0705.
E-Mail (UCLA): MTM@NPIH.MEDSCH.UCLA.EDU
Home phone (Los Angeles): 818-344-4803. Home fax (Los Angeles): 818-344-4820.
Home phone (Cottonwood): 530-347-1106. Fax (Cottonwood): 530-347-1125.
E-Mail (Cottonwood): cwmtm@aol.com