UK COMPUTER CONTAINING VALUABLE RESEARCH INFORMATION STOLEN FROM STUDENT ROOM AT CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY CEN News : City Edition : Years of research work to save wildlife stolenYears of research work to save wildlife stolen

YEARS of research data to help save rare animals from extinction have been stolen from a Phd student, just weeks before he was due to hand it in.


Gutted: Dave's Phd work was stolen Dave Augeri, 43, has dedicated years of his life to studying the endangered Malaysian Sun Bears and tigers in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.

His study, due to be submitted in two week's time, had cost around £150,000 to fund and showed how deforestation was threatening these species.

The American's laptop was stolen when a thief forced open the window of his Darwin College-owned ground-floor room, on Barton Road, Cambridge while he had popped out for an hour.

Back-up copies stored on external hard drives were also taken. Dave said: "It is eight years' worth of research, but my entire career has gone into this.

"They can keep the computer, I just want them to return my hard drive.

"This is a tragedy, not for me personally, but because of the work that I've been doing. This was going towards rainforest conservation.

"On the personal side, I feel awful. I have been working 20-hour days for the last couple of months and I had the end in sight. I have only been back in Cambridge for a week-and-a-half. It is like a nightmare."

Dave had printed out the first few chapters but more than 50 per cent of his work was lost, and he is now trying to complete it from memory.

Dave, who spent two-and-a-half years in Borneo and Sumatra, said: "I was tracking bears and using remote cameras and genetic sampling from their faeces and hair. I used this information and modelling to test where they go in the landscape and how they select different habitats.

"Human disturbance, particularly logging, has a great impact."

Malaysian Sun Bears are one of the most endangered species in the world and are the only tropical bear species, he said. The work had been funded by the National Geographic Society and other wildlife organisations.

The laptop, a Dell Inspiron 600m, was taken at around 6pm on Sunday. Police are keen to speak to a man seen in the area at the time. He is white, around 6ft, and lean with ginger hair, pushing a bike and carrying a rucksack.

Anyone with information should call Pc Kerel Suckling on 08454 564564 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111