2:20pm Saturday 21st June 2008
Staff at Blackpool Zoo are supporting endangered orangutans by collecting their used postage stamps and encouraging visitors to do the same.
The initiative has been organized by The Orangutan Foundation who are asking people to send in their used postage stamps to help raise funds for endangered orangutans.
Jude Rothwell, Communications Manager at Blackpool Zoo, said: "We started the initiative with staff at the zoo and had a great response, so we thought it would be a good idea to get our visitors involved.
"It's such a simple way to help these wonderful animals.
"All our visitors need to do is cut out their postage stamps, leaving approximately 1cm of paper around the stamp, and put them in the collection box at the zoo's reception and we'll send them off to The Orangutan Foundation."
ICG, the zoo's PR agency, is also helping to support this initiative.
"As the zoo's PR agency we were keen to get involved in this project.
"We receive quite a lot of mail in our office so we thought it would be a great opportunity to support such a worthy cause," said Denise Dawson , ICG's Managing Director.
The Orangutan Foundation UK is part of the Orangutan Foundation International (OFI), which is recognized as the world's leading expert on orangutans.
Orangutans are in grave danger of extinction because their rainforest habitat is vanishing at an unprecedented rate.
The foundation actively conserves the orangutan and its habitat while supporting long-term research on the ecology of orangutans and other fauna and flora within their rainforest habitat.
To get involved in this project visit The Orangutan Foundation at www.orangutan.org.uk - stamps collected should be sent to Orangutan Foundation Stamps, PO Box 6198, Leighton Buzzard, Beds, LU7 9XT.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.blackpoolcitizen.co.uk/trade_directory/