Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
July 4, 2009

Made In Morocco: The MACC 09 Convention Campaign. Published on July 03, 2009. by Media Relations
The Moroccan American Community Center unveils the 2009 Convention Campaign . The Made in Morocco campaign will embodies the MACC 2009 forum’s objectives to showcase Morocco to American corporations and the community at large in the United States.

"The Made in Morocco theme will be the conduit during the convention for Moroccan Trade, Tourism, Real-estate, Off-shoring, Education, Research and Culture". Said Driss R. Temsamani, Founder of the Moroccan American Community Center.

For more information visit the Convention site at www.macc-convention.com
Moroccan American Community Center
Driss R. Temsamani
info@moroccancommunitycenter.net
Tel: (888) 666-1279
http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=6997&catid=121

Moroccan Americans Bring Morocco To US Investors.
Over 1,000 community members representing 32 states across the USA will participate in this unprecedented 2-days event in addition to 15 dignitaries, industry and community leaders. The Moroccan American Community Center announced that it will hold it’s Annual Convention in Orlando Florida on October 24 th to 25 th, 2009.

Over 1000 community members representing 32 states across the USA will participate in this unprecedented 2-days event in addition to 15 dignitaries, industry and community leaders. The MACC 09 Convention will showcase 20 Exhibits on trade, real-estate, investments, banking and tourism. The event will also host for the first time in the USA, the Sahara Day, a cultural showcase about the Moroccan Sahara, it’s people, music and tradition.

As part of the 2 days program, the Moroccan Consulate in New York will establish it’s mobile office in the MACC Convention to provide Moroccans residing in the USA a full range of administrative services. The convention will also host on the evening of the 24 th, the Bladi Award ceremony to recognize active Moroccan community members in the fields of Academics, Research, Business, Arts and Social Work.

For more information visit the MACC 09 Convention page at www.macc-convention.com
http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=6519&catid=856
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Morocco puts $9.4mln to provide vacation camps.
Rabat

The Moroccan government has earmarked 75.8 million dirhams (about 9.4 million dollars) to fund the 2009 Vacation for All programme, which provides vacations for children who can't afford it. Minister of Youth and Sports, Nawal El Moutawakil, who officially launched in Meknes (center) the "Holidays For All 2009" operation, said the sum will be allocated to the construction, enlargement, development and equipment of the vacation camps, underlining that her department endeavors to integrate the quality approach in the management of these facilities.

She said some 1,250 children from child protection centers will take part in the operation, which also aims to promote the participation of children from rural areas and those with special needs. She said vacation camp centers, in mountainous and coastal regions, increased to 43 in 2009, up from 37 in 2008. El Moutawakil said a total of 20,000 children will benefit from the national vacation camps programme in 2009, against 3,000 in 2008. Some 1,120 children of Moroccan expatriates are also expected to benefit from the program.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/morocco_puts_9.4mln/view
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First deaf e-learning website launched in Morocco.
Rabat

The first e-learning website in Morocco, Nassrtv.org, devoted to the deaf was launched on Monday."Nassrtv.org", available in French, English and in the Moroccan sign language, aims to meet the needs of the deaf and offer them large access to information and education. It provides the deaf with the latest national and international news, in addition to news on culture, environment and history.

The website, launched in Rabat, at the initiative of international NGO SIFE (students in free enterprise), is a platform for information exchange.

Speaking at the website launching ceremony, Minister of Social development, Family and Solidarity, Nouzha Skalli underscored the care given by King Mohammed VI to people with disabilities, and recalled Morocco’s ratification of the International Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities.

Skalli, who underpinned the actions undertaken by her department to promote the rights and social integration of persons with disabilities, urged the civil society to work in this direction on the basis of an approach involving all players in the field of promoting the deaf living conditions.

This initiative was launched in partnership with the International Institute for Higher Education in Morocco (IIHEM) and the Nasser association, created in 1990 to promote social conditions and organize solidarity actions benefiting the deaf community in Morocco.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/first_deaf_e-learnin/view
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Morocco seeks energy autonomy
By Siham Ali  2009-07-03

The Moroccan ministry of energy wants to increase energy consumption efficiency in the country. Several measures are being implemented. The Moroccan government wants to reduce its reliance on energy from other countries. After the launch of a strategy dedicated to the sector in 2008, followed by the first energy board meetings last March, an energy efficiency agreement was signed on June 23rd, binding the public and private sectors to better energy consumption. This undertaking is part of the process of realising the need to face constraints and meet challenges where energy autonomy is concerned, said Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi.

According to official figures from the ministry of energy, mining, water and environment, the country imports around 97% of its energy needs, representing a bill of 70 billion dirhams every year.

The agreement includes a series of moves to be implemented on a daily basis in professional circles, leading to more rational energy consumption for lighting, heating, and air conditioning. Specific action will be taken to raise awareness among economic operators, most notably with the production of practical guides on energy efficiency and the organisation of seminars on the topic of energy control.

"The agreement is an undertaking to guarantee the country's energy security," explained Energy Minister Amina Benkhadra. "The partnership between the public and private sectors is needed to hold in check the country's energy dependency. The subsidising of oil products, which increased from 3.4 billion dirhams in 2003 to 23 billion dirhams in 2008 is a heavy burden on the State budget, and makes a considerable dent in the wealth we are creating as a nation." The president of the energy federation, Moulay Abdellah Alaoui, agrees. The energy bill is placing a huge burden on Morocco's financial and economic balance, he added.

The government wants to mobilise the private sector to rationalise consumption and increase the national product, said economist Mohamed Jebbouri. "So first of all we need to develop energy in all its forms, particularly nuclear, because rationalising consumption on its own cannot bring the results we want," he noted.

Benkhadra said the government is committed to implementing the recommendations from the energy board, namely the diversification of sources of energy in Morocco, the mobilisation of the country's renewable resources, stepping up the search for hydrocarbon deposits, guaranteeing the security of supplies, etc.

The private sector has committed itself to the energy strategy. Morocco's professional banking group has agreed to finance the construction of new electricity generating stations.

According to the ministry of energy, 3.5 million low-energy light bulbs had been distributed by the end of May 2009 out of a planned 22.7 million units. Additionally, 1,068 mega watt emergency power stations are undergoing final approval testing before coming into service by the end of December 2009 and a GMT+1 time zone has been introduced to reduce energy consumption, among other measures taken since 2008.

A public awareness campaign was launched on June 23rd to improve the use of energy and encourage the public to consume it more wisely. It is aimed at the general public, economic operators, and administrative bodies. The message is also being sent out in schools to make children aware of the importance of energy conservation.
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Marrakech elects its first female mayor.
By Agence France Presse (AFP) Wednesday, June 24, 2009

MARRAKECH: A 33-year-old lawyer on Monday became the first woman to be elected mayor of Marrakech, one of Morocco's biggest cities and a key tourist destination. Fatima Zahra Mansouri outpolled veteran outgoing mayor Omar Jazouli by 54 votes to 35 in Monday's municipal council vote, only the second time a woman has taken a mayoral position in the North African kingdom.

"I am honored to lead Marrakech city hall," Mansouri said. "I hope to be able to measure up to this new challenge." "Her election reflects the image of a modern Morocco," said the secretary general of her Party for Authenticity and Modernity (PAM), Sheikh Mohammad Biyadillah. Mansouri studied law in France, and is a daughter of a former assistant to the local authority chief in Marrakech, which has a population of more than one million.

PAM was the biggest winner in June 12 municipal elections, taking 21 percent of the vote, edging out the Istiqlal party of Prime Minister Abbas al-Fassi. The polls were a first electoral test for the PAM, a coalition of five small parties formed in 2008 by former interior minister Fouad Ali El Himma, a friend of King Mohammad VI. - AF
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=103383
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AFD lends Morocco €155 mln.
Rabat

Morocco and the French Development Agency (AFD) signed on Monday three loan agreements worth 155 million euros (1.7 billion dirhams) to fund the educational system reform, the rural roads program and the infrastructure works of the Rabat-salé tramway project. Signed by Finance Minister, Salaheddine Mezouar, AFD Director in Rabat, François Lagier, and France's Ambassador to Morocco, Jean-François Thibault, the first agreement allocates 50 millions euros to carry out the 2009-2010 emergency program for education and step up the quality and capacities of the Moroccan educational system.

Under the second agreement, inked by Transport Minister, Karim Ghellab, and Lagier, 60 million euros will be alloted to partially finance the second national rural roads program (PNRR2) which seeks to achieve 15,500 km of rural roads by 2012.

The third agreement signed by Director General of the Bouregreg valley's development agency, Lamghari Essakl, and Lagier, earmarks 45 million euros for the partial funding of the Rabat-salé tramway's infrastructures.

The project is part of the implementation of the sustainable and integrated program destined for public tansportation in the two cities. Thibault underlined the importance of projects that will benefit of the loans, stressing that education represents a "major challenge" for Morocco's development. During the event, Essakl presented the Rabat-salé tramway project, noting that the 20 km-network, forecast for 2010, includes 2 lines and 32 stations.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box4/afd_lends_morocco_1/view
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Morocco to generalise pollution control to big cities by 2012, official.
Rabat

The pollution control operations will be generalized in Morocco's major cities by 2012, State Secretary in charge of Water revealed on Wednesday. Speaking at the House of Representatives' question time, Abdelkebir Zahoud said 19 air quality monitoring stations were set up, part of the "Qualit'Air" program, in Rabat, Salé, Casablanca, Mohammadia, El Jadida, Safi, Agadir, Fez, Kénitra and Marrakech. He recalled the establishment of a national network for air quality monitoring that will provide accurate and updated data.

The government is devicing an action plan to draw a cartography of air pollutant emissions in some areas, he said, adding that the use of the low sulphur diesel (50 ppm) had a positive impact on the cities’ air quality. Reffering to measures taken to mitigate drought, Zahoud said numerous dams will be built during the 2009-2012 period to absorb rainfall, alleviate drought and combat desertification.

Morocco has 128 large dams with an estimated storage capacity of 17 billion m3 that helped irrigating 1.5 million hectares, he said. Drinking water supply has reached 92% in rural areas, he recalled.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/economy/morocco_to_generalis/view
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Over 11 million quintals of soft wheat reaped up to June.
Settat

A total of 11.5 million quintals of soft wheat were harvested up to late June at national level, the agriculture minister announced. Aziz Akhannouch told the press during a tour of the central region of Chaouia-Ourdigha this harvest is expected to reach 27 million quintals by mid-October. According to the agriculture ministry, Morocco banks on a record harvest of 102 million quintals this year, with soft wheat constituting about half of this volume (45 million quintals).

The government has recently announced that it had imposed 135% tariffs for soft wheat imports during the second half of the year, instead of 50% in the first half. This measure is meant to shield local farmers from foreign competition, according to the Moroccan authorities, which said the tariffs will be lowered to 50% as of January 2010.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/economy/over_11_million_quin/view
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The Last Jews of Essaouira.
By BRETT KLINE  ESSAOUIRA, Jun 25, 2009

Josef Sebag says he has a fine life in his native Essaouira, though he has no friends here. This retail-artisan heaven for tourists on Morocco's southern Atlantic coast is a town unique in the Arab world for its history of Jewish-Muslim relations. He is often in his casbah antiques and book store, just off the large main square and next to the hippest night spot in town. Sebag does not hang out in the rooftop Taros Café, but does spend a good amount of time in London, Paris and New York. Something about living in Western cultural capitals suits him. He has friends there.

Visitors come to see him, from France, Canada and Israel, but most tourists are not insiders in Essaouira, known as "Souira" to the locals. The Moroccan Arabs call him "el yahoudi" (the Jew) but Sebag says it is never meant nastily. He is as Moroccan and Souiri as they are, and they know it. His family has been in Morocco since fleeing the Spanish Inquisition.

His store is a must for British, Australian, American and French tourists, as well as for surfers from all over and for increasing numbers of Israelis, especially the ones born in Morocco who don't come as part of organized tour groups.

Most Moroccan and foreign Arabs do not come to his store, though it has nothing to do with Sebag's being a Jew. An exception is certain Arab authors who leave their poetry and prose with him, a sign of respect, as they know he carries few Arabic-language books.

"I know everyone born and raised here but have few friends," he begins in French. "What can we talk about - art, literature? No, we can't. The local people are more concerned about making money in their stores and restaurants than reading. Some do very well here in Souira, but many have never been out of Morocco."

Sebag is one of some 4,000 Jews still living in Morocco, mostly in Casablanca, but that is another story. He and his ailing mother are two of perhaps four - or seven or eight, depending on whom you ask - Jewish Essaouira natives left from a community that has lived here since 1760.

ESSAOUIRA USED to be an example of a small Arab town in which Muslims and Jews lived side by side in both rich and poor districts, working together but socially segregated - and in peace. It was unique because there were almost as many Jews as there were Muslims, so the term "minority" did not really apply, as it did in every other town and city in Morocco and everywhere in the Arab world.

Aside from ownership of the land in and around the town, which always remained in the hands of the caids and makhsen - local landed gentry and royal family clans - most urban-style import-export business was dominated by Jewish families.

The one exception was all artisan work connected to wood, directly linked to the vast forests around the town. But as an example, from the very beginning of royal trading in the 18th century, the Corcos family dominated the import of tea leaves from Britain, which originated from its Far East colonies, and was thus responsible for making tea the traditional morning beverage in Morocco.

Essaouira's last Jews began to leave following the Six Day War. Many of the working-class families left the mellah, the Jewish district in Arab cities, for Israel. The casbah's well-off business leaders headed mostly to France and Canada. But thousands of Jews remain here, buried in two cemeteries on the edge of town, including Rabbi Haim Pinto, whose tomb thousands of Jews from abroad visit every September in a hiloula, a pilgrimage.

Today, real estate and tourism are booming in Essaouira, but the boom has little to do with the Jewish world, other than a few very active key players. The same is true for the music festivals, including the Gnawa Festival in June that draws up to 400,000 mostly Western visitors.

"There are leading Moroccan Arab families here making a lot of money with French firms in construction and tourism-linked activities in general, and that is grand for them and for the town," Sebag says, "but let's say that aside from the music festivals, culture is limited. Jews here were always a bridge between small-town Muslim society and the Western world. There were very few tourists here. Now the opposite is true. The Jews are gone, but Souira is a tourist center."

The walled city is home to hundreds of boutiques, some of which are attached to small workshops, often with two stories of apartments above. Restaurants and cafés are everywhere. Visitors check out the ramparts, the port and historical sites, walking for kilometers along the beaches in the wind that blows 20 hours a day. They drive to the surrounding villages, or surf, also a big attraction here.

When people are anywhere inside the walls, the impulse to buy and buy again in the casbah and medina is overwhelming. Visitors walk up and down the car-free streets and allies, purchasing fantastically colored rugs and scarves. They buy blue Gnawa cotton robes and head pieces, more clothing, bed linen in gorgeous muted colors, paintings, silver jewelry, leather footwear, metal lamps and objects and intricate wooden boxes and ornate tables.

Essaouira was known as Mogador until the end of French colonial rule in the early 1960s. Portuguese occupiers built the wall and ramparts, known as Castello Real, in 1505 before Mogador was much of a town, but the inhabitants of the Arab Chiadma region to the north and the Berber Haha to the south gave them no peace, and by 1512 the Portuguese were pulling out and sacking much of the region.

Mogador, cité sous les alizées or "Mogador, a town in the wind" was written by Hamza Ben Driss Ottmani, a French grande-école graduate and public-sector research director in Rabat born of a well-known family in Essaouira. Ottmani offers accounts of all the local villages, written in 1516 by celebrated traveler and author known as Leon the African. Born El Hassan Ben Muhammad el-Ouazzan el-Gharnati in Grenada, Spain in 1483, he moved with his family to Fez in Morocco when Grenada was taken by the Catholic kings in 1492. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245921733610&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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Among Morocco’s sights, signs of a tolerant past
CASABLANCA

At first, the conversation I heard between the Moroccan rug dealer and the American tourist sounded typical.“Where are you from?” asked the salesman in Meknes. “New York,” said the woman. “But your accent doesn’t sound American,” the salesman said, challenging her. “Where are you really from? I think you are our neighbor.”

Before she could answer “Tel Aviv,” he began singing a lilting Israeli folksong: “Hinei ma tov u’manayim, shevat ahim gam yahad.” The translation: “How good it is when brothers dwell together in harmony.”

It is the only Arab nation that has a Jewish museum in operation — in a quiet Casablanca suburb called Oasis, no less. “We don’t know anti-Semitism,” the museum’s flamboyant director, Simon Levy, insisted. “We have our religion, and we do have a new problem of Islamism; it is true that some Islamists don’t want Jews.”
But, he said, “We consider this museum is open to all persons to fight this ignorance of Judaism.”
Sitting beside a hand-carved wooden bima salvaged from a 19th-century Moroccan synagogue, Levy spoke with pride about a people who “lived in every city and every village and every tribe for 2,000 years. In time of the Romans, there were Jews here, too. Before Islam, we were there.”…..

More on this link:
http://www.moroccoboard.com/news/34-news-release/556-among-moroccos-sights-signs-of-a-tolerant-past
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Digging into archaeology in Morocco.
By Safae Aghoutane

Archaeology is a science that studies the material remains of past civilizations. It seeks to explain the human phenomenon, its complexity and diversity. In recent years this discipline starts to enjoy a heady boom in Morocco as the budget allocated to it is constantly rising.

Archaeological research in Morocco is very diverse. It covers prehistory, antiquity, and Islamic periods. For decencies, the country, located in the north-western tip of Africa, a stone's throw from Europe, and a cradle of ancient civilisations, has yielded startling discoveries unveiling the lifestyle and history of our ancestors. Hassan Limane, professor and researcher at the National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage (INSAP) said three major discoveries were made in 2009 alone.

In Tafoughalt, eastern Morocco, archaeologists dug out jewelleries dating back to 80,000 B.C. They were made of small snails and seemingly used as beads for necklaces. A second unearthing concerns the oldest manufactured ceramic containers in Morocco, dating back to nine thousand years B.C, while the last undertaking is the discovery and restoration of a hydrotherapic establishment in Aghmat, near Marrakech, by a Moroccan-American team.

The latter was led by Moroccan professor, Abdellah Filli and U.S. archaeologist Ronald Messier, a prominent researcher who conducted before archaeological projects in Morocco. “We know that these discoveries were always made in Europe, finally, the new findings come from Africa, which will change a little bit the chronology of history and a number of preconceived ideas that have been conveyed so far,” Limane said.

Despite this archaeological potential, Morocco only counts three museums, in Rabat, Tetuan and Larache that preserve archaeological finds. “This is inadequate for a country like Morocco with all this rich heritage,” Limane said, adding: “a huge project, called the National Museum, will see the light of day in four years.”

Recourse to international cooperation…extensive
Established in 1985, the INSAP is a teaching, training and research institution that functions under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. It has currently over 25 partnership agreements with international institutions from the USA, Spain, Germany, England, Belgium, Italy, Poland, France, and with the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO).

“The international cooperation is very crucial at several levels," Limane says. "It enables us to exchange ideas, share our teaching methods and systems, and disseminate our discoveries.”

Besides the virtue of providing international experience and know-how, partnership can also prove instrumental as a source of funds. “Partnerships are also useful in funding, as cooperation programs are co-financed by the INSAP and another foreign party,” he went on.

Cooperation, which offers students the opportunity to benefit from training abroad, also contributes to the bringing-in of the know-how especially in the new technology applied in the field of archaeology. “We know that foreign institutions are more advanced than us in this area,” Limane admits.

Archaeological sites: a need for protection
From Roman ruins and Mauretania Tingitana remnants up to Byzantine Green and old dynasties’ buildings and relics Morocco counts a total of 26 archaeological sites dating back to the prehistoric, ancient or Islamic periods.

The roman village of Volubilis, the most renowned of all, was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage in 1997. It is situated near the central city of Meknes, at the foot of the Atlas mountains, and features the best-preserved ruins in the North African country. It summarizes much of Morocco’s history since the Mauretanien era until the Middle Period.

“This site is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a large Roman colonial town on the fringes of the Empire,” according to the UNESCO.

However, and according to observers and specialists in heritage in Morocco, historical monuments are not developed and lack protection. “Archaeological sites are only afforded legislative protection. Some are well- protected, others are not!” Limane regrets.

“Recently, the North African country has launched several awareness-raising campaigns aiming at safeguarding and protecting the heritage. We hope these campaigns will continue for a little while longer and contribute a little bit to the protection of these sites,” he added.

“The Ministry of Culture cannot do the job alone. Local and regional authorities also should contribute to the protection of heritage.”

An Archaeologist Career!?
Most people choose to study archaeology out of excitement about the past. Ihssan, Mehdi, and Badr, are students who have just passed the 2008-2009 high school exams. They all decided to pursue their careers as archaeologist.

“I have a passion for history and science, so what can be better than studying archaeology?” Ihssan, 17, says with a broad smile. “It has always been my dream!”.

Mehdi, 18, says that he “opted for archaeology to know and understand, through studying, the remains that were left to us, the societies that came before us and which, in one way or another, determined what we are today.”

Badr, 17, is confident that studying archaeology will enable him not only to learn about past societies, like the ancient Egyptians or the Romans, “but also discover the techniques that are used to find out about them. I can’t wait to carry out excavations and find animal bones, human skulls…” he says enthusiastically.

Archaeological researches continue on different sites across the North African country to confirm the acquired results and reveal other secrets of history, with the aim of better understanding the nature of relationships between the ancient populations of the region.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box5/digging_into_archaeo/view
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Return of the royal Barbary lion.
Matt Walker Editor, Earth News
A possible Barbary lion once living in Leipzig Zoo.
A royal stud book could help return the majestic Barbary lion to the wild.

Conservationists have created a stud book detailing every descendant of a group of lions once owned by the Sultan of Morocco. These blue-blooded royal lions, all captive, are suspected to be the last Barbary lions in existence. The stud book will help establish a breeding programme, and could also settle a controversy over whether the Barbary lion was a unique subspecies.

The Barbary lion is one of the most enigmatic of all large predators, both due to its impressive appearance and uncertainty over its fate. Once numerous across north Africa, the Barbary lion was the most physically distinctive type of lion, including those living elsewhere in Africa and Asia.

It had an extensive mane, and differences in the shape of its head included a more pointed crown and narrow muzzle. People at the time also talked of it being larger, with different coloured eyes to other lions, though it is unclear whether either difference was real.

"Historical records suggest that certain behaviours in Barbary lions were also distinctive, for example, they tended to live in pairs or small family groups rather than the prides familiar in Africa," says Simon Black, of the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK.

The last firm record of a Barbary lion is an animal shot in Morocco in 1927, though there is circumstantial evidence that Barbary lions may have survived in the wild in the Atlas Mountains till 1942. However, even by 1899, the lions were becoming rare in the wild, with those seen most often belonging to the Sultan of Morocco. In 1912, these lions were moved from an original captive location near the Atlas Mountains to a lion garden at the Royal Palace in Rabat.

When the last Sultan was forced to abdicate in 1953, the lions were moved to two zoos, but on his return in 1955, 17 were returned to the Palace. In 1973, their descendants were moved to Rabat zoo at Temara. Later, further examinations suggested that these zoo lions shared the characteristics of Barbary lions. "There is strong circumstantial evidence, therefore, that the animals at Rabat zoo were a relic from the original Barbary lions collected from the wild," says Black.

However, the possibility that some Barbary lions survive, and they may be the last remnants of a lost subspecies of lion, has become an extremely marketable concept. "It is not uncommon for zoos to advertise [that they possess a Barbary lion] when there is little or no evidence to back up the fact," Black says. Worse, those lions that are true descendants of the original Moroccan royal lions are in danger of dying out.

Breeding exchanges
To prevent this, Black and colleagues Nobuyuki Yamaguchi, Adrian Harland and Jim Groombridge have created a Barbary lion stud book, that identifies the surviving individuals, their locations, their interrelatedness and their line of descent from the original captive Moroccan population as far back as records are known. The researchers based the stud book on a review of the handwritten zoo records in Rabat kept from 1969 to 1998, plus a detailed review of breeding records across zoos worldwide kept from 1974 onwards.

Alongside details of the stud book, published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research, Black's team also calls for a managed and co-ordinated breeding approach to optimise the overall captive population of Moroccan royal Lions. "Now that we have this information, zoos can come together and plan breeding exchanges to avoid inbreeding, ensure genetic diversity is maintained and with it animal health and population viability," says Black.

"In this way, if the opportunity exists to re-establish the population in the future, it is not lost by the lions dying out in captivity now," he says. "Several zoos are still keen to continue breeding the animals. They deserve the constructive support of the scientific community." Also that will allow time to perform genetic tests on the lions and "buy time" for scientists to further examine evidence to support whether or not these animals are true representatives of the now extinct subspecies, he says. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8109000/8109945.stm
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