Pluto the lemur

While the wildlife team on Necker were doing their daily rounds checking on the animals, they came across a baby lemur, who had sadly been abandoned and had been blinded with an infection. He’s now on antibiotics, so we are hoping his vision will return and we couldn’t be more delighted to bring him into the family.

Virgin

We’ve named him Pluto, and he is making great progress already. Our wonderful wildlife team and all of us on Necker will share responsibility for looking after him and I’ll be sure to share updates. I’m pleased to say he loves beards too! We first introduced lemurs to Necker Island due to their diminishing numbers and habitat in their native Madagascar. Experts believed Necker would have the perfect environment for them to breed, and the program has been very successful, with species ranging from ringtails to mongoose lemurs, red-collared browns to panda lemurs, all thriving.

Virgin

Strangely enough, this isn’t the first blind animal we have looked after on Necker. For many years a blind flamingo named Lucky thrived here in the BVI, alongside so many other incredible and varied species.

Virgin

We recently wrote a book that tells the story of Necker’s wildlife, and explains why it’s so important to speak up for animals, as they cannot speak for themselves. Natural Necker is full of fact files, species stories, conservation chapters, sustainability segments, wonderful illustrations, and words from our team on the island.

It’s also wonderful for children, and I love reading it to my grandchildren as they get more and more curious about the natural world around them. Speaking of, I recently got the chance to go exploring with them, canoeing down a very overgrown river. We were flat on our backs going through fallen trees, spotting fish in the river and birds in the trees, and enjoying the unique feeling of being on an adventure together.

It reminded me of my favourite book as a kid - Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. Having been on so many adventures with my kids, it’s delightful to start exploring with my grandkids too.