NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 23 number 2 - Winter 2003

By Mary Kate Keith, Friends of the Library

Red wolves, Pallas' cats, and gorillas highlighted discussions at the Friends of the Library's annual Fall Luncheon on November 1, 2002. Michael Stoskopf, professor of aquatics, wildlife, and zoological medicine and of molecular and environmental toxicology, educated the audience about the dangers these animals face and the efforts being made by researchers at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine to save them. While all three species have faced extinction, the amazing work of NC State faculty and students has given new hope to saving them. Red wolves are being successfully reintroduced to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge located near Manteo, North Carolina. Pallas' cats, native to Mongolia and dying from disease, have produced disease-free kittens at the College of Veterinary Medicine. Gorillas are being studied ever more closely to determine how best to protect them in areas subject to human warfare and poaching.

Regarding Pallas' cats, NC State vets have successfully raised the cats' offspring by taking newborn kittens from the birth mothers and having domestic, disease-free house cats nurse them as surrogate mothers. This experiment has produced disease-free Pallas' cats, an astonishing success.

In the case of gorillas, Stoskopf vividly described the difficult and sometime dangerous work of NC State graduate students and faculty who work to save the few remaining gorillas in Africa. Stoskopf's talk provided an exciting and informative look at work being done in North Carolina that has far-reaching effects for animal conservation around the globe.

Susan Nutter presented the fourteenth annual NCSU Libraries Faculty award to George L. Hodge, associate professor of textiles and apparel, technology and management at the College of Textiles. Hodge has worked closely with librarians at the Burlington Textiles Library to teach information literacy to students taking his courses.