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hilarious >From: janet paterson <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: NEWS: NYTimes: Adopt a Sheep, for Friend or Dinner Companion >Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 12:02:48 -0500 > >November 18, 2000 > >ANVERSA DEGLI ABRUZZI JOURNAL > >Adopt a Sheep, for Friend or Dinner Companion > >By ALESSANDRA STANLEY > >NVERSA DEGLI ABRUZZI, Italy — In a new twist on long-distance adoptions, >sheep lovers can now select their pick of the flock over the Internet. A >$154 contract entitles adoptive "parents" to a year's supply of their >chosen one's merino wool and fresh cheese, as well as a photograph and >adoption papers. > >The less sentimental can also choose to receive their adopted pet in the >form of lamb chops. > >The sheep adoption program was created by a farmers' cooperative in a >medieval village in Abruzzo, a mountainous region in central Italy that has >become one of the more depopulated parts of the country as traditional >sheep farming dwindles and young people move to the cities. > >"People have tended sheep in this area for the last 2,000 years, and we >want it to continue for another 2,000," said Manuela Cozzi, who with her >husband's family runs an organic sheep cooperative and an "agritourism" inn >in Anversa degli Abruzzi. "Sheep around here are in danger of becoming an >endangered species, and we hope this initiative will help prevent that." > >The cooperative farm Mrs. Cozzi runs with her husband has 1,300 sheep. The >local sheep farmers' association has 40,000. In all, Abruzzo has 350,000 >sheep; at its height, before World War I, the region boasted more than 3 >million. > >Mrs. Cozzi, who sells her organic, hand-made, smoked ricotta and wool socks >by fax and over the Internet, said she sent her raw wool to her hometown, >near Florence, to be spun or worked by local artisans because that cottage >industry has all but died out in her area of Abruzzo. > >Her flock is tended by three shepherds from Macedonia, immigrants whom she >credits with saving the farm since Italians are no longer willing to do the >work. Her sheep feast on juniper and wild fennel, mint and oregano across >vast, brambled pastures in the foothills of Mount Cocullo, part of Abruzzo >National Park. > >"We feel a little isolated out here, which is why we wanted to use adoption >to bring clients closer," she explained. She said she encouraged new >"parents" to visit their sheep and stay at her inn to learn how to make >fresh ricotta by hand. > >Since she started the adoption campaign last month, Mrs. Cozzi said, more >than 100 applications have been received, ranging from a Muslim butcher to >a college student. > >Daniele Romano, 25, a civil engineering student in Bologna who adopted two >sheep and named one Franca after his mother and the other Deborah after his >sister, said: "I am an environmentalist, and adopting a sheep seemed as >good an idea as any. I tried to convinced my friends that they should do >the same, but there were more who laughed than who adopted." > >Italy's minister of agriculture, Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, adopted a ewe he >named Medina. His action, however, drew complaints from an Italian >children's rights organization, Friends of Children, which protested that >long-distance adoption should be reserved for needy humans. He pledged to >look into such programs for children. > >Local residents, as well as environmental groups, argue that the >depopulation of mountainous regions in Italy and across Europe is a human >problem. Villages like Anversa degli Abruzzi, where the population of 290 >is about a 10th of what it was 50 years ago, are essentially old-age >communities. In Castrovalla, a medieval hamlet of Anversa degli Abruzzi >perched high on San Nicola mountain, one child was born in January. It was >the first birth in the hamlet in 26 years; the parents had recently moved >home from Rome. > >The United Nations has declared 2002 the Year of Mountains, and there is a >growing movement in Europe to try to preserve mountain communities. >"Agricultural activity protects and stabilizes the environment, and it is >what gives diversity, character and culture to these parts of Europe," said >Frank Gaskell, president of Euro-Montana, a Brussels-based international >association. "In a global age when people are bombarded with >homogenization, the last reservoir for genuine products and European >culture is the mountain communities." > >Mrs. Cozzi's farm produces fragrant cheeses, using their sheep's >non-pasteurized milk. The adoption contract includes 11 pounds of sharp >pecorino cheese, 6.5 of ricotta and a choice of raw wool or knitted hiking >socks. Organic fertilizer made of sheep manure is also part of the adoption >package. So are sausages, sheep's brains and legs of lamb. Seventy-five >percent of the flock is destined for a tidy white slaughterhouse behind the >main barn. Mrs. Cozzi is not squeamish about killing off her woolly >charges. > >"I would never eat meat from a butcher, but I am not a vegetarian," she >explained. "I eat meat, but only if it is from one of ours." > >New sheep owners find this harder to accept. > >"I know that in Abruzzo, lamb is a traditional dish," said Luigi Marangoni, >53, a Milan-based ceramics executive, who traveled to Anversa delgi Abruzzi >and adopted a baby sheep of his own. "But I first saw my little lamb >prancing in the green hills, and now I cannot think of him in another, >perhaps tastier, state." > >Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company >http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/18/technology/18ITAL.html > >janet paterson, an akinetic rigid subtype parkie >53 now /44 dx cd / 43 onset cd /41 dx pd / 37 onset pd >TEL: 613 256 8340 URL: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ >EMAIL: [log in to unmask] SMAIL: POBox 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. 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