NEWS phote Terry Palers

Fistoric ship sails away

THE USS Missouri, billed in 1944 as the ‘“‘world’s greatest warship,’ left, Vancouver's harbor on Friday
morning watched by several interested spectators on Ambleside beach. The 887-foot warship is best known
as the vessel on which the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed on Sept. 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay.

COLONY TRANSPLANTED TO INTERIOR

Marmot

wants

NV animals to stay

NORTH VAN’S marmot
man wants the wildlife peo-
ple currently moving a col-
ony of yellow-bellied mar-
mots from a shopping centre
site near the Seymour River

to a wilderness area in
Boston. Bar to leave some
behind.

: By MICHAEL BECK
News Reporter

Don Fleming has been feeding
the animals and watching the col-
ony thrive for the past eight years.
He spotted his first marmot while
out for a walk with a friend and
her daughter. Ever since he has
been feeding them daily with let-
tuce, grasses and clover by the
garbage bagful.

He would like to see some of
them transplanted to the Twin
Bridge area along the Seymour
River in the Seymour Demonstra-
tion Forest.

_Fleming says he met
Wildlife Rescue Association staff
‘in early January to show them
where the marmot dens were
located to help with the move.
*‘Now I wish I hadn’t,’’ he said.

The North Vancouver yellow-
bellied marmots are unique
because they are not indigenous to
the coast. Their coastal counter-
parts are grey-colored cousins call-
ed Hoary marmots, more com-
monly known as Whistlers. —

’ COLONY ESTABLISHED

Wildlife officials believe the
local yellow-bellied colony was
established eight years ago when its
founders were unwittingly moved
“to the present location in a truck.
. Said Fleming: ‘‘The Twin Bridge

area is an excellent habitat for
*. them. They’ve been doing well
;: here for eight years and they’re not
“"- foreign to the territory any more.”

But Wildlife Rescue Association
animal care supervisor Quille Far-
>. nham said relocating them near
. their original den site is not fea-
sible.

with

NEWS photo Neil Lucente

WILDLIFE RESCUE Association workers continue their bid to trap 2
colony of yellow-bellied marmots forced to make way for bulldozers at
the end of the month. This little critter will join its friends at a new home

in Boston Bar,

Said Farnham: ‘‘We have to
work with Fish and Wildlife as
well. We can’t just put them where
we want. The other problem is that

they'll just try to get back to their’

original site if we were to put them
somewhere near to it.””

Ministry of Environment and
‘Parks wildlife technician Mark
Pimlott maintains it is biologically
prudent to move the marmots to
their natural habitat, citing the
ability to survive without human
support and the potential for the
animals upsetting established
specie patterns as issues which
have to be considered.

“The general policy in any
wildlife management matter is to
be very cautious about the in-
troduction of’an alien or exotic
species in a new area. There are
many stories of exotic species
becoming pests,’’ Pimlott said.

animals have a better chance of
survival in the hotter, more arid
climate around Boston Bar. ‘‘I
think they (the North Vancouver
marmots) would probably die off
naturally if they were left to fend
for themselves without human in-
tervention with food,’’ ke said.

MARMOTS TRANSFERRED

The trapped marmots are being
transferred to UBC where staff
have set up a holding area com-
plete with tunnels to acclimatize
the animals before they move on to
Boston Bar.

So far 15 marmets have been
trapped, with six more to go.
Wildlife rescue workers are appeal-
ing to the public to stay away from
the area. Two of the traps used to
catch the animals have been stolen
since the trapping process began
several weeks ago.

3 Sundas. Mirch 20, Fok

Nerth Share News

DOCTORS REJECT PLAN

A MIDWIFERY pilot project for nurses at Lions Gate
Hospital has been vetoed by the hospital doctors and ad-

ministrators.

The project, proposed by the
Ministry of Health, would have
allowed nurses with midwifery
training to deliver babies in the
hospital for a 3%-year experimen-
tal period. It would not involve
home births. Due to the hospital's
rejection of the plan, the ministry
will no longer be pursuing the pro-
ject.

General practitioners at 1LGH
rejected the project, saying they
feared it would interfere with their
interns obstetrics training and bite
into “the nicest part of GPs' prac-
tices."*

“Same physicians, and I can’t
fault them, said they have chosen
to devote themselves to obstetrics
practice, and they are reluctant to
take part in something that will
erode their practice,’ said Dr.
Doug McTaggart, chairman of a
newly formed pari-natal care
committee.

“For many of us, obstetrics is
the nicest part of our practice. We
develop special bonds with the pa-
tients and a fot of us are saying we
don't want to give up obstetrics
care to someone who won't be
around later ina child’s life.”

Midwife birthing procedures
have gained popularity in recent
years because they tend to allow
the births to proceed naturally.

McTaggart said doctors also ad-
dressed the intern program and the
amount of work the midwife pro-
ject would entail for the doctors
responsible for supervision and
project analysis before they re-
jected the proposal.

“The apprehension was that by
getting involved in the midwife
program, we would be diluting the
intern program,” said McTaggart.
“Those are babies that would not
be delivered by the interns.”’

McTaggart said theoretically
midwives could supervise the in-
terns in deliveries as the doctors do
now, but he said he doubted that
during a pilot project a midwife
would ‘‘stand away from the table
in the very thing she has been dy-
ing to do.”’

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Ron Sears, vice-president of
medicine at LGH, said ad-
ministrators opposed the project
because of upcoming renovations
in the obstetrics unit.

“We are going to be living in
chaos for the next year,’’ said
Sears. ‘It would be more practical
after the renovations."”

Ministry of Health spokesman
Paul Hermuses, said the ministry
approached LGH for the pilot
after hearing ‘‘persuasive argu-
ments’’ from a midwifery
task force, because the hospital had
expressed interest in such a pro-
gram in the past.

But the hospital’s reaction has
put the project back on the shelf,
he said, adding it has not been
abandoned altogether, although
no other hospitals will be asked to
take part.

“LGH could conceivably come
back once they get over their in-
ternal obstacles,’’ he said.

Sears said administrators were
also concerned about the costs in-
volved in the program. ‘‘The fig-
ure we saw appeared to be inade-
quate, so if we got involved, (the
excess) would have come out of
our global funding."

However, Sears added he was
“frankly not sure myself’' what
the costs would be.

Stan Howard, a representative
of the Midwifery Taskforce, said
he is dismayed by the delays
LGH's rejection have caused the
project, but said he isn't surprised.
“EGH is known to be a conser-
vative hospital,’ he said,adding he
wants the project to take place ina
cooperative environment,

“I’m reaily interested in getting
this off the ground, but if it
doesn’t have the medical support
{at LGH), it doesn’t belong
there.”

Howard said he is optimistic
another hospital will come forward
and request the project.

Sunday and Monday, periods
of rain. Tuesday, cloudy with
Showers. Highs near 9°C.

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