Amazing! How lucky are we???

St Pauls Community Sports Academy

Newfoundland Circus
St Pauls

BS2 9NH

Cabot Primary School

Halston Drive

St Pauls

BS2 9JE

Dear Cabot Primary School

Members of our sports club have brought an important issue to our attention that needs to be shared. Several rodent biologists, that use our facilities, have spotted a rare species of shrew within your school playground. The number of sightings of this species has now gone up to six in the past three weeks so they have asked us to share this information with you.

The type of Shrew that has been spotted was thought to have gone extinct in 1917 so has not been seen for 94 years. Originally from China and known as the Amyu Sin Shrew it was brought over on ships by Chinese traders to the port of Bristol. The animal was incredibly valuable due to the high gold content found in its fur. Each hair is supposed to comprise of 96% gold making even a single hair valuable. However the demand for the animal’s fur meant they were driven to extinction across the world by people’s desire for the gold.

Obviously this sighting is of huge importance and the experts have given us this advice to pass on to you and your children.

• If you see the animal do not approach it as it is incredibly shy and if it disappears we may never see it again.
• As shy creatures they do not like loud noise so if seen please be quiet nearby and likewise if you are looking for it then silence is essential
• These shrew shed their hair regularly and if anyone finds a hair it is theirs to keep but please could you pass the news on to us so we can record the information. We can be contacted by our email address below

rodentbiology@bristoluni.ac.uk

I hope this information can be useful to you at your school. Lastly I would like to say that as your neighbours we work very closely to your grounds and have always been very impressed with the behaviour of your children around the school. Your staff and the children should be very proud of what they are achieving together and I’m sure you will all be very sensible in looking for or sighting this rare, exciting species.

Thank you for your time.

Mr A. Lyer – Sports Academy Manager