Prince Charles Returns Tarsier Gift

According to the 4 July 1997 issue of the Hong Kong Standard, Britain's Prince Charles received a pair of endangered tarsiers from Philippine first lady Mrs. Amelita Ramos in a ceremony at the presidential palace in Manila. Prince Charles was visiting the Philippines in the company of Hong Kong's last governor, Chris Patten.

Tarsiers are tiny nocturnal primates with huge eyes. They leap around the trees at night catching insects. Prince Charles did not take the tarsiers home. Instead he turned them over to local group, the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, run by Jesus Alvarez, a former Philippine wildlife official, for care. According to the Standard:

Prince Charles, flanked by President Fidel Ramos and his wife, received the two tarsiers from a covered basket and briefly held one of them in the palm of his hand before returning the animal to its caretaker. The ceremony at the Malacanang Palace was intended to show Prince Charles's continuing concern for wildlife conservation as well as the planned signing of an order by Mr. Ramos, declaring the Philippine tarsier a protected species.

Unfortunately tarsiers, which are popular pets on the Philippine island of Bohol, seldom survive or breed in captivity, and IPPL hopes the prince's tarsiers will soon be released to the wild.