Upclose with the Philippine tarsiers

Pizarras said that keeping the tarsier as a pet shortened its lifespan drastically. He said visitors to some places in Bohol who had the chance to hold and pet the tarsier and be photographed with them probably thought they were the same animals others before them have seen.

In fact, Pizarras said, handlers of those "show" tarsiers had to replace their animals so often because the frequent encounters with humans greatly stressed the primates, leading to their deaths.

The tarsiers also have suicidal tendencies when they are locked up in cages or compressed places, I was told. They bang their head into their cages until they die or they refuse to eat the food given by their owners.

SAVING THE TARSIERS

The decreasing number of tarsiers in the Philippines is very alarming. With less than 1,000 tarsiers scattered around the country, the animal, listed as endangered by the World Wildlife Foundation, may soon be extinct. The tarsiers are becoming fewer but only a few seems to care.

In the early 60's, Pizzaras said one can see tarsiers everywhere, even on streets and highways. Pizarras, who was then a teenager, could not stop his neighbors from trapping the tarsiers. It wasn't even against the law. But when people came to the little store he ran in front of his house, he tried to bluff them by concocting wildlife protection laws before they existed.

Finally, in 1996, inspired by the hardwork and perseverance of Pizarras, a group of prominent Bohol residents joined together to help save the animal that made their island distinctive. With the support of the national government, they established the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, the protector of Bohol's living jewels - the tarsiers.

The foundation opened its office in Bohol´s capital of Tagbilaran in September 1997 and hired Pizarras as a field officer. The group has since established a research center and a protected breeding area in the jungles of Corella, not far from Pizarras´ house. In the past few years, due in part to the foundation's work, the tarsier has found its way into the Philippines´ national consciousness. On the same year, President Fidel V. Ramos declared the tarsier as a protected species. But while the tarsiers have found a safe home inside the sanctuary, they might soon lose the man who has been taking care of them for years due to financial woes. According to Pizarras, he might soon be forced to abandon

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