FKN Newz

2003 Nature Documentary featuring a rich variety of animals in the Peruvian, Colombian and Brazilian Amazon regions. Produced by Jesse Waugh and featuring Dr. Luis Campos Baca, former Congressman under the presidency of Japanese Alberto Fujimori, NANAY highlights the Allpahuayo-Mishana Nature Reserve outside Iquitos, Peru. Jesse Waugh follows trackers as they seek out poachers on the reserve. Also featured is Gudrun Sperrer of Pilpinuwasi wild animal farm, as well as Pekka Soini - an important naturalist who chose to avoid notoriety. Following are excerpts from a Memoriam for Pekka Soini written by Russell A. Mittermeier, President of Conservation International: "PEKKA SOINI: 1941--2004 I first met Pekka Soini in 1972 on my first visit to Iquitos, Peru. He was working as a travel agent at the time, but was already an expert on the fauna of Peruvian Amazonia. Being both avid herpetologists, we hit it off immediately and began a friendship that lasted more than three decades. Although we came from very different backgrounds, we shared many things, not the least of which was the fact that both of us had been inspired to go to the tropical rain forest by reading Tarzan books when we were children, Pekka in his native Finland and me in New York. Pekka was one of the best field biologists I have ever known, a real leader and pioneer who would have been far better known had he chosen to participate in more international meetings. His range of knowledge and the number of species on which he carried out some of the first-ever field studies was truly astounding."