Burleydam Women's Institute

A talk by Tulis Matson

In June, before the meeting, our speaker asked if there were any sensitive souls among Burleydam W I members who might feel that they were getting more than they bargained for at a W I meeting!

Tullis Matson from a nearby farming family came to tell members his life story and
about his life’s work. Born on the family farm and being severely dyslectic, which must have been difficult at that time, Tullis left school at 16 to come home to work on the farm. There were always horses at home, both for working and pleasure and Tullis loved horses – at one time he was a jockey. In the farming world, at that time the idea of collecting semen from bulls was becoming more common and Tullis thought it should be possible to transfer the skill to the equine world. Consequently, he went to New Zealand where this was being pioneered and learnt what they could teach him about Artificial Insemination.

This is the capturing of the semen from the male of a species, freezing it, storing it, then introducing it to the female of the species. And so ‘Stallion A I’ was born. This was an extremely successful and innovative business which took in Rare Breed such as the Suffolk Punch and other working horses, who were no longer required. Tullis, with his enquiring mind, did not stop there. He was concerned that many wild animal species were becoming decimated due to conditions such as deforestation, poaching and habitat loss.

Through his connection with Chester Zoo, he took tissue samples containing their DNA from dying, and even dead animals. This to shoot tranquilizing darts prompted him to go to South Africa to collect tissue and semen from wild African elephants. This they did by shooting a tranquillizing dart from a helicopter, to put the elephant down for a short time in order to collect samples. He also taught the people on the ground his techniques so that a biobank can be set up and we can therefore ‘Postpone Extinction’.

This is a very brief resume of all the much interesting information that Tullis told members. This is similar work with declining species which David Attenborough is doing with his commentaries, Tullis is carrying out in a practical way.

There were several visitors at the meeting who had come to hear what Tullis had to say. Karen gave a very sincere thanks to Tullis, who is keen to spread the word about POSTPONING EXTINCTION.

The competition for a horse picture was won by Margaret and Chris. In the business at the July meeting only 6 members were doing the guided tour of Nantwich, several were going to the Red Cow to follow. Some members were going to Nantwich players on June 30 th to see ‘And then there were none’.

It was decide not to take part in the Malbank group bowls afternoon, members
preferring a more structured tournament.

The next meeting is a guided tour of Nantwich. New members and visitors always welcome.