“What is Richard Branson up to next?” is a question I occasionally find myself wondering. Apart from being a successful businessman and tremendous philanthropist, he’s also proven to have quite the wild side. He circumnaviated the globe in a hot-air balloon for crying out loud, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Get a load of what’s next.
Branson is on a mission to import 30 endangered Madagascar ring-tailed and red ruffed lemurs to live freely on his private island in the British Virgin Islands and breed while avoiding deforestation. The cute critters that have been flagged and placed on the Red List of Threatened Species, will being taken from zoos in Sweden, South Africa and Canada and relocated to his wildlife refuge on Moskito Island.
“We’ve been helping to try and preserve lemurs, and sadly in Madagascar because of the government being overthrown the space for lemurs is getting less and less,” the billionaire told BBC News. “Here on Moskito Island we’ve got a beautiful rainforest — we brought in experts from South Africa, and they say it would be an absolutely perfect place where lemurs can be protected and breed.”
Read more about this story here and why some experts think it’s not such a good idea.
Photo by DavidDennisPhotos via Flickr.