Zoo News Digest 30th - 31st August 2010 (Zoo News 685)
http://zoonewsdigest.blogspot.com/
Monitor and enforce welfare standards for 3,500 captive elephants. Better service
conditions of mahouts
Establish state-of-art lifetime care centres
On with links:
Stately moment for elephants
Far from the circus arenas, the giant grey beasts have finally found their place in India’s wildlife heritage.
Mindful that elephants have symbolised India to worlds beyond its borders for centuries, though they have also been mercilessly poached for their priceless tusks, the Centre is all set to declare the pachyderm a “national heritage animal” hoping that the tag would help in conserving the animal in a big way.
Besides, the government will create a national elephant conservation authority, severely restrict developmental activities close to at least critical elephant corridors and may phase out captive elephants from temples in a graded manner.
“We will soon declare elephant as a national heritage animal as they have been part of our heritage since ages. We need to give the same degree of importance to elephant as is given to tiger to protect the big animal,” Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said after receiving the report of an experts panel on elephant conservation.
According to the report, there are about 25,000 elephants in the country, including 3,500 in captivity in zoos and temples, particularly in southern and north-eastern states. Wild elephants are seen in 88 corridors.
Dealing with temple elephants, the government found, that
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/92851/elephants-declared-national-heritage-animal.html
White tiger cub turns black in Chennai Zoo
One of the three 'white' tigers born in Vandalur zoo in June seems to have changed its colours — most of its body and legs are now black.
***
***
Dear Colleagues,
The story of the dark tiger cub in Chennai Zoo is interesting. Okay, it is a 'White' cub but the big plus here is that the mother was allowed to rear the cubs herself. It is of course yet another mutation of an already inbred strain. We already have the 'Snow' and 'Marmalade' Tigers. I hope now that someone will not sieze on this cub to produce yet more 'Black' Tigers.
Remaining on the subject of coloured cats, I note that Tbilisi zoo are pairing up their White Lions. It is news to me that the White Lion is in the Red Book. I always thoiught this was reserved for rare endangered species which white lions clearly are not. The following story deals with the white lion 'in the wild'. It makes an interesting read.
Then we return to Giza Zoo where the story of the overpopulation of lions is resurrected. Once again they are going on about using Human birth control pills. Why? The use of contraception in lions is well used. It is not a problem and to the best of my knowledge the administration of pills designed for humans would be very much a hit and miss affair if it worked at all. Why don't they take the advice of a zoo vet?
The elephant report.
Dr Mahesh Rangarajan, Mr Ajay Desai, Dr R Sukumar, Dr PS Easa, Mr Vivek Menon,
Dr S Vincent, Ms Suparna Ganguly, Dr BK Talukdar, Mr Brijendra Singh, Dr Divya Mudappa, Dr Sushant Chowdhary, Mr AN Prasad........
Sorry but I have not managed to find a link to this report online (lots of newspaper reports though) but if you locate a copy go to page 13 and look for number 6 on the diagram you will see what the report says about elephants in zoos.
MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE ELEPHANT TASK FORCE
The story of the dark tiger cub in Chennai Zoo is interesting. Okay, it is a 'White' cub but the big plus here is that the mother was allowed to rear the cubs herself. It is of course yet another mutation of an already inbred strain. We already have the 'Snow' and 'Marmalade' Tigers. I hope now that someone will not sieze on this cub to produce yet more 'Black' Tigers.
Remaining on the subject of coloured cats, I note that Tbilisi zoo are pairing up their White Lions. It is news to me that the White Lion is in the Red Book. I always thoiught this was reserved for rare endangered species which white lions clearly are not. The following story deals with the white lion 'in the wild'. It makes an interesting read.
Then we return to Giza Zoo where the story of the overpopulation of lions is resurrected. Once again they are going on about using Human birth control pills. Why? The use of contraception in lions is well used. It is not a problem and to the best of my knowledge the administration of pills designed for humans would be very much a hit and miss affair if it worked at all. Why don't they take the advice of a zoo vet?
The elephant report.
Securing the Future for Elephants in India
The Report of the Elephant Task Force
Ministry of Environment and Forests
August 31, 2010
Dr S Vincent, Ms Suparna Ganguly, Dr BK Talukdar, Mr Brijendra Singh, Dr Divya Mudappa, Dr Sushant Chowdhary, Mr AN Prasad........
Sorry but I have not managed to find a link to this report online (lots of newspaper reports though) but if you locate a copy go to page 13 and look for number 6 on the diagram you will see what the report says about elephants in zoos.
MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE ELEPHANT TASK FORCE
BE HUMANE TO CAPTIVE ELEPHANTS
Phase out elephants in commercial captivityMonitor and enforce welfare standards for 3,500 captive elephants. Better service
conditions of mahouts
Establish state-of-art lifetime care centres
It all makes perfect sense to me
Looking for a job?
See new vacancies posted in recent days. Take a look at:
Looking for a job?
See new vacancies posted in recent days. Take a look at:
Got one to advertise? email me
This blog has readers from 144 countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote D’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Eire, England, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lapland, Lao, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Montenegro, Montserrat, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uruguay, US Virgin Islands, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Wales, Zambia.
The ZooNews Digest continues to be read more often by more staff in more zoos than any other publication.
Please consider advertising on this blog as I need the money but understand.... I am of stubborn principle and will not advertise products or services that I disagree with no matter how much you pay me.
Please feel free to use the comment section at the end of this Zoo News Digest.
Is your meeting/conference/symposium listed here?http://zoosymposia.blogspot.com/
If not why not? ZooNews Digest is read by more zoo people than any other similar publication. I will advertise up till the event.
Please visit the Zoo Professionals Book Store for more if you are looking for books for yourself or as gifts.
****************************************************************************
On with links:
Stately moment for elephants
Far from the circus arenas, the giant grey beasts have finally found their place in India’s wildlife heritage.
Mindful that elephants have symbolised India to worlds beyond its borders for centuries, though they have also been mercilessly poached for their priceless tusks, the Centre is all set to declare the pachyderm a “national heritage animal” hoping that the tag would help in conserving the animal in a big way.
Besides, the government will create a national elephant conservation authority, severely restrict developmental activities close to at least critical elephant corridors and may phase out captive elephants from temples in a graded manner.
“We will soon declare elephant as a national heritage animal as they have been part of our heritage since ages. We need to give the same degree of importance to elephant as is given to tiger to protect the big animal,” Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said after receiving the report of an experts panel on elephant conservation.
According to the report, there are about 25,000 elephants in the country, including 3,500 in captivity in zoos and temples, particularly in southern and north-eastern states. Wild elephants are seen in 88 corridors.
Dealing with temple elephants, the government found, that
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/92851/elephants-declared-national-heritage-animal.html
White tiger cub turns black in Chennai Zoo
One of the three 'white' tigers born in Vandalur zoo in June seems to have changed its colours — most of its body and legs are now black.
The black cub, along with its completely white siblings, was on display for the public to see for the first time at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur on Sunday, and drew hordes of excited visitors.
A black tiger is something of a rarity and zoo officials are quite excited by the development. "The colouring might be due to genetic reasons. A black cub is exactly the same as a regular tiger in all aspects, except for its skin colour," said zoo director KSSVP Reddy, who is also chief conservator of forests.
Reddy ruled out the possibility of inbreeding as the reason for the unusual colouring. "Inbreeding occurs only over generations. The mother, white tigress Anu, has only given birth twice," he said.
Zoo biologists said the large presence of the pigment melanin in the cub was probably the reason for 80% of its skin being black. The skin colour of tigers is determined by the presence of black and yellow pigments. In most tigers, the colour yellow dominates over black to give them their characteristic colouring.
"In this cub, the reverse has happened — black is the dominant colour," said senior zoo biologist Dr Manimozhi. "We are monitoring the cub. The skin colour that he grows into when he reaches adulthood will be the permanent one," he said. It is the dominance of yellow pigment that enables tigers to survive in the wild for long, he added. "In fact, this is the reason why most white tigers are found only in zoos and not in the wild," Manimozhi said.
The birth of the three cubs on June 6 has taken the tiger population in th
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/White-tiger-cub-turns-black-in-Chennai-Zoo/articleshow/6458955.cms
WATCH THIS VIDEO
Elephants Never Forget
http://elephantsneverforget.ca/production.html
Szeged Zoo opens display of Carpathian Basin fauna
The Szeged Zoo in southern Hungary opened on Saturday a new section to present the fauna of the Carpathian Basin, the zoo's director said.
The special displays for gray wolves, golden jackals and otters have been built using European Union funding received in a joint bid with the zoo of Romania's Timisoara, said Robert Veprik. The new section in the Szeged zoo has been built at a total cost of 27 million forints (95,000 euros), he added.
Szeged Mayor Laszlo Botka said that developments of nearly one billion forints have been carried out in the local zoo over the past few years, as a result of which
http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_archive/single_page/article/11/szeged_zoo_o/?cHash=4635ea4c29
Zoos crucial to animal welfare
It's a shame to see that the main point of the critically acclaimed film 'The Cove' was missed by the person who wrote 'I will never visit a zoo again' (Letters, August 28).
This film is exceptional, but it is mostly about the trapping and slaughter of dolphins by the Japanese.
For many years, the Japanese government has been at loggerheads with other states over the rape and pillage of the sea.
The Japanese consider it their right to hunt some of the most vulnerable creatures of the deep, and argue that it is part of their "culture".
Many zoos around the world have provided breeding programmes for endangered animals whose entire populations, because of human brutality and our thirst to destroy natural habitats, have almost been wiped out.
Most zoos have done all they can to recreate the natural habitat of the animals they have.
The health of animals, both physical and mental, is of paramount importance.
There are also zoos and animal sanctuaries around the world that save many animals from inhumane owners.
Some of the chimpanzees at the Auckland Zoo in New Zealand are retired circus chimps that have become so domesticated that they
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/zoos-crucial-to-animal-welfare-2316847.html
MSU vets set out to help save hellbenders
Focus is on right plan for successful preservation of salamanders' sperm
Dalen Agnew's job wasn't freezing the salamander sperm.
It was evaluating the sperm after it had been thawed, making sure the heads are still attached to the tails, that the tails haven't coiled or kinked, that the DNA is still intact.
Agnew, a reproductive pathologist at Michigan State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, is part of a team of scientists working to save the hellbender salamander, perhaps the largest amphibian in North America.
For reasons that aren't entirely clear, hellbenders have stopped breeding in many of their traditional watersheds. The scientists now believe sperm cryopreservation could be the creatures' last, best shot at survival.
"This whole family of salamanders only contains three species," said Dale McGinnity, curator of ectotherms at the Nashville Zoo and one of the project's leaders. "If you lose one of them, you're losing a lot of evolutionary
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20100830/NEWS06/8300319/MSU-vets-set-out-to-help-save-hellbenders
Zoo in financial trouble
Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown is asking for an emergency funding to fill a $200,000 budget shortfall or the zoo would be forced to close by the end of the year.
Montgomery County officials received a letter from the zoo’s Executive Director Bill Konstant Friday requesting an "emergency grant." He attributed the zoo’s "acute financial situation" to cutbacks in state funding, private cont
http://timesherald.com/articles/2010/08/31/news/doc4c7d3adb3fa0a066920772.txt
Van vihar authorised to breed endangered Bengal tigers
Van Vihar National Park will now breed the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger following Central Zoo Authority's (CZA) nod to it, a top official said. "Our zoo has been authorised for conservation breeding of Royal Bengal Tigers in the country," Van Vihar Director J S Chauhan told PTI today. "We have kick started the process of Royal Bengal Tiger Breeding in the zoo," Van Vihar Assistant Director A K Khare said. A feline had been moved next to the enclosure of a tiger a couple of days back, he said adding that they were having three big cats of fertility age. He said two tigers - one from Kanha and another Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve had been brought to the zoo, adding that one feline that was rescued from the wild of Raisen some years ago was also brought here. Khare said all the three big cats, including one feline, were between the age group five to seven
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/van-vihar-authorised-to-breed-endangered-bengal-tigers/276619.html
Surabaya Zoo Receives Financial Aid
The Surabaya city government will provide financial aid to the Surabaya Zoo, which had lately been neglected due to a management conflict. “We want to save the animals,” said Surabaya Mayor, Bambang Dwi Hartono, yesterday.
According to Bambang, the death of at least six animals was not caused by a disease. These animals died because their cages were dirty and had been neglected for many years. “The financial aid is a short-term effort. What
http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2010/08/31/brk,20100831-275288,uk.html
Tbilisi Zoo hopes for rare white lions’ posterity
The white rare lioness Kleopatra by name, which is in Tbilisi zoo, will soon have pair.
The lion included in the Red Book will be called Anthony. At present the lion's transportation from South Africa is being solved, the Zoo
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/foreign/1743499.html
The cat's whiskers: Wild about white lions and charmed by cheeky cheetahs at South Africa's feline-friendly conservation reserve
Mother Nature has made some gorgeous animals, hasn't she? Massive elephants and titchy shrews, fragile butterflies and big black-and-white whales, cute red pandas and awesome eagles.
But surely the most beautiful creatures on Earth were crashed out a few hundred feet from our safari vehicle, with not a care in the world and wondering what all the fuss was about. Panthera leo, the African lion, is one spectacular animal anyway, but imagine him with white fur and pale blue-green eyes highlighted in black, as if someone had taken a giant eyeliner to them and to his nose and mouth, too
And we'd found two of them, both young males, handsome faces framed with great manes of white fluff, stretched out companionably under the sun.
These white lions live at Sanbona, three hours' drive from Cape Town. The privately owned, 130,000-acre wildlife reserve, one of South Africa's largest, is at the centre of an extraordinary conservation project which, for once, shows a positive outcome to mankind's interference with the natural world, and not just for these lions.
...........Then, in 1975, the tale of three new white lion cubs was told in Chris McBride's book. The white lions Of Timbavati, and the public were mesmerised. With the best intentions, this time the cubs were removed from the wild to ensure their survival. Now their bloodline can be traced through zoos and wildlife parks all over the world.
Sadly, white lions also ended up in circuses and breeding farms, where animals are raised for 'canned hunting'. My heart sinks to hear that these establishments still exist.
There is a real possibility that no white lions will be born in Timbavati again. That's down to genetics. 'White lions are not a sub-species, nor are they albino,' explained Paul. 'They are normal lions - they're just white.'
They are not inferior to normal tawny lions, and, surprisingly, there's no evidence to suggest they are less effective hunters because of their more visible colour. The unusual colouring comes from a mutant colour-inhibitor gene, and to make a white cub, both mum and dad, white or tawny, must carry it in their DNA.
Two gene-carrying tawny lions could theoretically produce a white cub, but the chances are higher if both animals are white, hence many zoos' captive breeding programmes. At least these ensure white lions never die out.
But, due to extensive hunting in the past, the number of wild male lions carrying the gene has been at best drastically reduced, at worst wiped out altogether. Who knows if there's an evolutionary reason nature created a white lion, but for Sanbona, here was an opportunity to undo another ecologically bad thing man has done.
In 2003, two white lions, magnificent Jabulani, who had been hand-reared, probably to be shot by a trophy-hunter, and Queen, who had spent her life turning out litters of white cubs at a breeding farm, became the linchpins of Sanbona's White Lion Project.
Jabulani and Queen have produced eight offspring in three litters, all kept from human contact. Sadly, one cub died and a male who had picked............
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1307465/South-Africa-safari-Wild-white-lions-sensational-Sanbona.html
Prague Zoo confirms position as leading breeder of Komodo dragons in captivity
In the wild there are reportedly only around 5,000 Komodo dragons left, found in eastern Indonesia. But Prague Zoo has enjoyed continued success in breeding the endangered lizard in captivity. Over the last few days, the zoo saw the successful hatching of 20 new specimens, the offspring of a female known as Aranka. What’s more, viewers were able to watch the entire hatching process online. Radio Prague’s Jan Velinger spoke to the zoo’s spokeswoman Jana Ptaèinská-Jirátová, who told me more about the successful
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/131249
Last chance to save the Northern White Rhino from Jiøí Bálek on Vimeo.
Baby rhino will be one for record book
The mother-to-be, who has gained 60 pounds since June, opens her massive mouth and begs for a snack
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden keepers oblige with apple-oat biscuits, and the 4,120-pound Indian rhinoceros named Nikki happily chomps away during her monthly ultrasound procedure.
"I can see the placenta," says zoo scientist Monica Stoops, holding a probe to the rhino's underbelly while watching grainy black-and-white images on a monitor. "And I see lots of dark fluid, which is what's surrounding the baby. And I see parts of the baby.
"Everything looks great."
Nikki, 432 days into a 480-day gestation, is poised to make history in October by giving birth to the world's first Indian rhino calf conceived by artificial insemination; it will also be the first such rhino produced with frozen-thawed sperm.
For Stoops, 38, whose research made the pregnancy possible, the birth will be the culmination of eight years of work as reproductive physiologist at the zoo's Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife, or CREW.
She's confident that the disappointment she felt in January 2008 won't
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100830/NEWS01/8290373/Baby-will-be-a-record
Cairo zoo puts lions on human birth control pill (Video)
Vets at Cairo's Giza Zoo are experimenting with birth control on their rapidly expanding population of lions.
They are taking the unusual step of giving the big cats human birth control pills after a population explosion that means there are now 53 lions at the zoo.
It is a controversial move in a zoo which has already been criticised by animal rights activists.
Jon Leyne reports from Cairo.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11099756
Dartmoor zoo's battle for survival
It's four years since Benjamin Mee bought Dartmoor zoo. But while Hollywood is turning his story into a film, his little zoo is struggling against extinction – just like the endangered species he cares for
In 2006, while writing a book on humour in animals, I unexpectedly found myself becoming a zoo director. We were looking for a large house for my mother to live in with some of her children and grandchildren, and the details for Dartmoor zoo came up. We laughed, then we visited, and then realised that if we didn't buy it, most of its gorgeous animals would be destroyed. Six months later, I had a brand new line of excuses for submitting my copy late: "I'm afraid a wolf escaped and it took most of the day to get it back, and now I'm a bit tied up with the council . . ."
I figured running a zoo would be harder than I thought. And I was right. Big bills (not just the ones belonging to our two macaw parrots) are a fact of zoo life. When one of our visitors thought it a good idea to throw a lifebelt into the tiger moat, naturally the cats bit it, and one broke a tooth. The cost: £4,200 – that's two thirds of a month's mortgage payment, or three keepers' wages, slightly less than our monthly electricity bill, or slightly more than our insurance premium.
With all this money flowing out, I had to travel to France last week to sell the home in which my children grew up – complicated, inevitably, by some arcane French probate laws relating to the death of my wife Katherine in 2007. In two months' time I may
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/31/dartmoor-zoo-endangered-species-animals
Elephant enthusiasts need to keep their feet on the ground
Do flying elephants seem far-fetched? Well, they have already taken wing, figuratively at least.
The Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort recently announced plans to import elephants as part of its exhibit. While the Al Ain animal park is widely recognised for the care and habitat of its creatures, Dubai Zoo has made the headlines because of animal right activists protesting against conditions there.
There is another concern for pachyderms, and that is how they get here. Wildlife experts have weighed in from far and wide on what is the most humane mode of travel.
@body arnhem:I have a slightly different view. The problem is in the preconceptions, I say. We think of elephants as wild beasts, when in fact they are undergoing an evolutionary transformation. It is an idea that my father taught me – and he should know.
He grew up in Kerala where elephants roamed the rubber plantations that his family owned. Each had a name, a personality and a particular job. Kallan, my father’s favourite, was a bull elephant of superhuman strength who rolled cut timber up steep hills. Kavi, his mate, was the gentle matriarch of the herd and played an important role in the local Hindu temple’s annual procession. She was used to children and crowds.
Their daughter, the high-strung Bindu, was energetic and great at ferrying workmen through the rubber plantations but she preferred to operate alone – no temple processions or gawking crowds for her.
My father loved them all. Humans and elephants, he says, have a primordial connection that goes back to prehistoric time. More importantly, this connection is on the cusp of changing dramatically.
“What we are seeing is a species becoming domesticated,” my father often says. “This is a historic moment in the evolution of a species. Elephants are at the point where Arabian horses were a few millennia ago – moving from the wild towards domesticity.”
I would have dismissed my father’s ideas as a flight of fantasy were it not for a recent book, The Zoo Story by Thomas French, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. French portrays elephants as intelligent, intuitive and cognisant of their environment. Most
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100831/OPINION/708309925/1080/NATIONAL
Hong Kongers campaign against eating shark's fin
When Steven Leung and Sylvia Cheung celebrated their nuptials in this southern Chinese financial center recently, they lavished their guests with one sumptuous dish after another — bird nest soup, lobster, abalone.
One traditional dish, however, was missing from the 13-course Cantonese banquet. The newlyweds chose not to serve shark fin soup.
"I saw the cruelty in shark slaughtering in online videos. The way the fish is dumped back into the water — it is just inhumane," Leung said, referring to the practice of hacking off the fins of sharks, then setting them free.
The Hong Kong couple are part of a growing grass-roots movement in this global hub of shark fin consumption that aims to remove the staple of gourmet Chinese cuisine from restaurant menus.
"Shark fin is not a necessity at banquets, as long as guests are well-treated and there is good food," said Cheung. "We have great substitutes for the soup that are equally as prestigious and exquisite."
For centuries, shark fin, usually served as soup, has been a coveted delicacy in Chinese cooking, extolled for its supposed ability to boost sexual potency, enhance skin quality, increase one's energy (or "qi"), prevent heart diseases and lower cholesterol.
To prepare for soup, dried fin first is soaked in water overnight, then boiled for several hours to soften the cartilage and remove impurities. It then is cooked in a rich chicken broth with salted ham, mushrooms, dried scallops and abalone. Shark fin itself is tasteless, but has a slippery and glutinous texture.
It is an especially cherished menu item in wealthy Hong Kong, a pricey status symbol for its materialistic and status-conscious people. Depending on
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100818/ap_on_re_as/as_fea_food_shedding_shark_fin
How Peru's 'Andean rodeo' is helping save the vicuna
The Chaccu - dubbed the Andean rodeo - is a tradition from Peru's pre-Hispanic past that survives to this day.
But it is not just folkloric - the annual herding and shearing of vicunas plays a key role in helping to conserve Peru's most symbolic animal.
Just a few decades ago, the vicuna was hunted close to extinction on the high Andean plains where it roamed: for sport, for meat but mostly for its hide and its extremely soft and fine wool, said to be the best in the world.
In 1974 when it was put on the endangered species list the population was around 6,000; the latest estimate from 2008 put the population at close to 220,000.
A 1979 agreement between Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile and Bolivia prohibited hunting and promoted the sustainable shearing of the animal's wool by communities in the high Andes.
The idea is that the communities protect the vicunas and, in return, benefit from shearing and selling their wool, which currently sells for around $300 per kg (a drop from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11069726
A black tiger is something of a rarity and zoo officials are quite excited by the development. "The colouring might be due to genetic reasons. A black cub is exactly the same as a regular tiger in all aspects, except for its skin colour," said zoo director KSSVP Reddy, who is also chief conservator of forests.
Reddy ruled out the possibility of inbreeding as the reason for the unusual colouring. "Inbreeding occurs only over generations. The mother, white tigress Anu, has only given birth twice," he said.
Zoo biologists said the large presence of the pigment melanin in the cub was probably the reason for 80% of its skin being black. The skin colour of tigers is determined by the presence of black and yellow pigments. In most tigers, the colour yellow dominates over black to give them their characteristic colouring.
"In this cub, the reverse has happened — black is the dominant colour," said senior zoo biologist Dr Manimozhi. "We are monitoring the cub. The skin colour that he grows into when he reaches adulthood will be the permanent one," he said. It is the dominance of yellow pigment that enables tigers to survive in the wild for long, he added. "In fact, this is the reason why most white tigers are found only in zoos and not in the wild," Manimozhi said.
The birth of the three cubs on June 6 has taken the tiger population in th
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/White-tiger-cub-turns-black-in-Chennai-Zoo/articleshow/6458955.cms
WATCH THIS VIDEO
Elephants Never Forget
http://elephantsneverforget.ca/production.html
Szeged Zoo opens display of Carpathian Basin fauna
The Szeged Zoo in southern Hungary opened on Saturday a new section to present the fauna of the Carpathian Basin, the zoo's director said.
The special displays for gray wolves, golden jackals and otters have been built using European Union funding received in a joint bid with the zoo of Romania's Timisoara, said Robert Veprik. The new section in the Szeged zoo has been built at a total cost of 27 million forints (95,000 euros), he added.
Szeged Mayor Laszlo Botka said that developments of nearly one billion forints have been carried out in the local zoo over the past few years, as a result of which
http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_archive/single_page/article/11/szeged_zoo_o/?cHash=4635ea4c29
Zoos crucial to animal welfare
It's a shame to see that the main point of the critically acclaimed film 'The Cove' was missed by the person who wrote 'I will never visit a zoo again' (Letters, August 28).
This film is exceptional, but it is mostly about the trapping and slaughter of dolphins by the Japanese.
For many years, the Japanese government has been at loggerheads with other states over the rape and pillage of the sea.
The Japanese consider it their right to hunt some of the most vulnerable creatures of the deep, and argue that it is part of their "culture".
Many zoos around the world have provided breeding programmes for endangered animals whose entire populations, because of human brutality and our thirst to destroy natural habitats, have almost been wiped out.
Most zoos have done all they can to recreate the natural habitat of the animals they have.
The health of animals, both physical and mental, is of paramount importance.
There are also zoos and animal sanctuaries around the world that save many animals from inhumane owners.
Some of the chimpanzees at the Auckland Zoo in New Zealand are retired circus chimps that have become so domesticated that they
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/zoos-crucial-to-animal-welfare-2316847.html
MSU vets set out to help save hellbenders
Focus is on right plan for successful preservation of salamanders' sperm
Dalen Agnew's job wasn't freezing the salamander sperm.
It was evaluating the sperm after it had been thawed, making sure the heads are still attached to the tails, that the tails haven't coiled or kinked, that the DNA is still intact.
Agnew, a reproductive pathologist at Michigan State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, is part of a team of scientists working to save the hellbender salamander, perhaps the largest amphibian in North America.
For reasons that aren't entirely clear, hellbenders have stopped breeding in many of their traditional watersheds. The scientists now believe sperm cryopreservation could be the creatures' last, best shot at survival.
"This whole family of salamanders only contains three species," said Dale McGinnity, curator of ectotherms at the Nashville Zoo and one of the project's leaders. "If you lose one of them, you're losing a lot of evolutionary
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20100830/NEWS06/8300319/MSU-vets-set-out-to-help-save-hellbenders
Zoo in financial trouble
Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown is asking for an emergency funding to fill a $200,000 budget shortfall or the zoo would be forced to close by the end of the year.
Montgomery County officials received a letter from the zoo’s Executive Director Bill Konstant Friday requesting an "emergency grant." He attributed the zoo’s "acute financial situation" to cutbacks in state funding, private cont
http://timesherald.com/articles/2010/08/31/news/doc4c7d3adb3fa0a066920772.txt
Van vihar authorised to breed endangered Bengal tigers
Van Vihar National Park will now breed the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger following Central Zoo Authority's (CZA) nod to it, a top official said. "Our zoo has been authorised for conservation breeding of Royal Bengal Tigers in the country," Van Vihar Director J S Chauhan told PTI today. "We have kick started the process of Royal Bengal Tiger Breeding in the zoo," Van Vihar Assistant Director A K Khare said. A feline had been moved next to the enclosure of a tiger a couple of days back, he said adding that they were having three big cats of fertility age. He said two tigers - one from Kanha and another Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve had been brought to the zoo, adding that one feline that was rescued from the wild of Raisen some years ago was also brought here. Khare said all the three big cats, including one feline, were between the age group five to seven
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/van-vihar-authorised-to-breed-endangered-bengal-tigers/276619.html
Surabaya Zoo Receives Financial Aid
The Surabaya city government will provide financial aid to the Surabaya Zoo, which had lately been neglected due to a management conflict. “We want to save the animals,” said Surabaya Mayor, Bambang Dwi Hartono, yesterday.
According to Bambang, the death of at least six animals was not caused by a disease. These animals died because their cages were dirty and had been neglected for many years. “The financial aid is a short-term effort. What
http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2010/08/31/brk,20100831-275288,uk.html
Tbilisi Zoo hopes for rare white lions’ posterity
The white rare lioness Kleopatra by name, which is in Tbilisi zoo, will soon have pair.
The lion included in the Red Book will be called Anthony. At present the lion's transportation from South Africa is being solved, the Zoo
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/foreign/1743499.html
The cat's whiskers: Wild about white lions and charmed by cheeky cheetahs at South Africa's feline-friendly conservation reserve
Mother Nature has made some gorgeous animals, hasn't she? Massive elephants and titchy shrews, fragile butterflies and big black-and-white whales, cute red pandas and awesome eagles.
But surely the most beautiful creatures on Earth were crashed out a few hundred feet from our safari vehicle, with not a care in the world and wondering what all the fuss was about. Panthera leo, the African lion, is one spectacular animal anyway, but imagine him with white fur and pale blue-green eyes highlighted in black, as if someone had taken a giant eyeliner to them and to his nose and mouth, too
And we'd found two of them, both young males, handsome faces framed with great manes of white fluff, stretched out companionably under the sun.
These white lions live at Sanbona, three hours' drive from Cape Town. The privately owned, 130,000-acre wildlife reserve, one of South Africa's largest, is at the centre of an extraordinary conservation project which, for once, shows a positive outcome to mankind's interference with the natural world, and not just for these lions.
...........Then, in 1975, the tale of three new white lion cubs was told in Chris McBride's book. The white lions Of Timbavati, and the public were mesmerised. With the best intentions, this time the cubs were removed from the wild to ensure their survival. Now their bloodline can be traced through zoos and wildlife parks all over the world.
Sadly, white lions also ended up in circuses and breeding farms, where animals are raised for 'canned hunting'. My heart sinks to hear that these establishments still exist.
There is a real possibility that no white lions will be born in Timbavati again. That's down to genetics. 'White lions are not a sub-species, nor are they albino,' explained Paul. 'They are normal lions - they're just white.'
They are not inferior to normal tawny lions, and, surprisingly, there's no evidence to suggest they are less effective hunters because of their more visible colour. The unusual colouring comes from a mutant colour-inhibitor gene, and to make a white cub, both mum and dad, white or tawny, must carry it in their DNA.
Two gene-carrying tawny lions could theoretically produce a white cub, but the chances are higher if both animals are white, hence many zoos' captive breeding programmes. At least these ensure white lions never die out.
But, due to extensive hunting in the past, the number of wild male lions carrying the gene has been at best drastically reduced, at worst wiped out altogether. Who knows if there's an evolutionary reason nature created a white lion, but for Sanbona, here was an opportunity to undo another ecologically bad thing man has done.
In 2003, two white lions, magnificent Jabulani, who had been hand-reared, probably to be shot by a trophy-hunter, and Queen, who had spent her life turning out litters of white cubs at a breeding farm, became the linchpins of Sanbona's White Lion Project.
Jabulani and Queen have produced eight offspring in three litters, all kept from human contact. Sadly, one cub died and a male who had picked............
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1307465/South-Africa-safari-Wild-white-lions-sensational-Sanbona.html
Prague Zoo confirms position as leading breeder of Komodo dragons in captivity
In the wild there are reportedly only around 5,000 Komodo dragons left, found in eastern Indonesia. But Prague Zoo has enjoyed continued success in breeding the endangered lizard in captivity. Over the last few days, the zoo saw the successful hatching of 20 new specimens, the offspring of a female known as Aranka. What’s more, viewers were able to watch the entire hatching process online. Radio Prague’s Jan Velinger spoke to the zoo’s spokeswoman Jana Ptaèinská-Jirátová, who told me more about the successful
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/131249
Last chance to save the Northern White Rhino from Jiøí Bálek on Vimeo.
Baby rhino will be one for record book
The mother-to-be, who has gained 60 pounds since June, opens her massive mouth and begs for a snack
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden keepers oblige with apple-oat biscuits, and the 4,120-pound Indian rhinoceros named Nikki happily chomps away during her monthly ultrasound procedure.
"I can see the placenta," says zoo scientist Monica Stoops, holding a probe to the rhino's underbelly while watching grainy black-and-white images on a monitor. "And I see lots of dark fluid, which is what's surrounding the baby. And I see parts of the baby.
"Everything looks great."
Nikki, 432 days into a 480-day gestation, is poised to make history in October by giving birth to the world's first Indian rhino calf conceived by artificial insemination; it will also be the first such rhino produced with frozen-thawed sperm.
For Stoops, 38, whose research made the pregnancy possible, the birth will be the culmination of eight years of work as reproductive physiologist at the zoo's Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife, or CREW.
She's confident that the disappointment she felt in January 2008 won't
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100830/NEWS01/8290373/Baby-will-be-a-record
Cairo zoo puts lions on human birth control pill (Video)
Vets at Cairo's Giza Zoo are experimenting with birth control on their rapidly expanding population of lions.
They are taking the unusual step of giving the big cats human birth control pills after a population explosion that means there are now 53 lions at the zoo.
It is a controversial move in a zoo which has already been criticised by animal rights activists.
Jon Leyne reports from Cairo.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11099756
Dartmoor zoo's battle for survival
It's four years since Benjamin Mee bought Dartmoor zoo. But while Hollywood is turning his story into a film, his little zoo is struggling against extinction – just like the endangered species he cares for
In 2006, while writing a book on humour in animals, I unexpectedly found myself becoming a zoo director. We were looking for a large house for my mother to live in with some of her children and grandchildren, and the details for Dartmoor zoo came up. We laughed, then we visited, and then realised that if we didn't buy it, most of its gorgeous animals would be destroyed. Six months later, I had a brand new line of excuses for submitting my copy late: "I'm afraid a wolf escaped and it took most of the day to get it back, and now I'm a bit tied up with the council . . ."
I figured running a zoo would be harder than I thought. And I was right. Big bills (not just the ones belonging to our two macaw parrots) are a fact of zoo life. When one of our visitors thought it a good idea to throw a lifebelt into the tiger moat, naturally the cats bit it, and one broke a tooth. The cost: £4,200 – that's two thirds of a month's mortgage payment, or three keepers' wages, slightly less than our monthly electricity bill, or slightly more than our insurance premium.
With all this money flowing out, I had to travel to France last week to sell the home in which my children grew up – complicated, inevitably, by some arcane French probate laws relating to the death of my wife Katherine in 2007. In two months' time I may
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/31/dartmoor-zoo-endangered-species-animals
Elephant enthusiasts need to keep their feet on the ground
Do flying elephants seem far-fetched? Well, they have already taken wing, figuratively at least.
The Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort recently announced plans to import elephants as part of its exhibit. While the Al Ain animal park is widely recognised for the care and habitat of its creatures, Dubai Zoo has made the headlines because of animal right activists protesting against conditions there.
There is another concern for pachyderms, and that is how they get here. Wildlife experts have weighed in from far and wide on what is the most humane mode of travel.
@body arnhem:I have a slightly different view. The problem is in the preconceptions, I say. We think of elephants as wild beasts, when in fact they are undergoing an evolutionary transformation. It is an idea that my father taught me – and he should know.
He grew up in Kerala where elephants roamed the rubber plantations that his family owned. Each had a name, a personality and a particular job. Kallan, my father’s favourite, was a bull elephant of superhuman strength who rolled cut timber up steep hills. Kavi, his mate, was the gentle matriarch of the herd and played an important role in the local Hindu temple’s annual procession. She was used to children and crowds.
Their daughter, the high-strung Bindu, was energetic and great at ferrying workmen through the rubber plantations but she preferred to operate alone – no temple processions or gawking crowds for her.
My father loved them all. Humans and elephants, he says, have a primordial connection that goes back to prehistoric time. More importantly, this connection is on the cusp of changing dramatically.
“What we are seeing is a species becoming domesticated,” my father often says. “This is a historic moment in the evolution of a species. Elephants are at the point where Arabian horses were a few millennia ago – moving from the wild towards domesticity.”
I would have dismissed my father’s ideas as a flight of fantasy were it not for a recent book, The Zoo Story by Thomas French, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. French portrays elephants as intelligent, intuitive and cognisant of their environment. Most
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100831/OPINION/708309925/1080/NATIONAL
Hong Kongers campaign against eating shark's fin
When Steven Leung and Sylvia Cheung celebrated their nuptials in this southern Chinese financial center recently, they lavished their guests with one sumptuous dish after another — bird nest soup, lobster, abalone.
One traditional dish, however, was missing from the 13-course Cantonese banquet. The newlyweds chose not to serve shark fin soup.
"I saw the cruelty in shark slaughtering in online videos. The way the fish is dumped back into the water — it is just inhumane," Leung said, referring to the practice of hacking off the fins of sharks, then setting them free.
The Hong Kong couple are part of a growing grass-roots movement in this global hub of shark fin consumption that aims to remove the staple of gourmet Chinese cuisine from restaurant menus.
"Shark fin is not a necessity at banquets, as long as guests are well-treated and there is good food," said Cheung. "We have great substitutes for the soup that are equally as prestigious and exquisite."
For centuries, shark fin, usually served as soup, has been a coveted delicacy in Chinese cooking, extolled for its supposed ability to boost sexual potency, enhance skin quality, increase one's energy (or "qi"), prevent heart diseases and lower cholesterol.
To prepare for soup, dried fin first is soaked in water overnight, then boiled for several hours to soften the cartilage and remove impurities. It then is cooked in a rich chicken broth with salted ham, mushrooms, dried scallops and abalone. Shark fin itself is tasteless, but has a slippery and glutinous texture.
It is an especially cherished menu item in wealthy Hong Kong, a pricey status symbol for its materialistic and status-conscious people. Depending on
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100818/ap_on_re_as/as_fea_food_shedding_shark_fin
How Peru's 'Andean rodeo' is helping save the vicuna
The Chaccu - dubbed the Andean rodeo - is a tradition from Peru's pre-Hispanic past that survives to this day.
But it is not just folkloric - the annual herding and shearing of vicunas plays a key role in helping to conserve Peru's most symbolic animal.
Just a few decades ago, the vicuna was hunted close to extinction on the high Andean plains where it roamed: for sport, for meat but mostly for its hide and its extremely soft and fine wool, said to be the best in the world.
In 1974 when it was put on the endangered species list the population was around 6,000; the latest estimate from 2008 put the population at close to 220,000.
A 1979 agreement between Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile and Bolivia prohibited hunting and promoted the sustainable shearing of the animal's wool by communities in the high Andes.
The idea is that the communities protect the vicunas and, in return, benefit from shearing and selling their wool, which currently sells for around $300 per kg (a drop from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11069726
Wild Mammals in Captivity: Principles and Techniques for Zoo Management
Second Edition
To order please click
***
To order or see more please click
***
Blog Posts:
Look to the right within the blog and see and click on blog postings. Some of these have not been mailed out by email. Most will have been posted on the Facebook Page however.
*******************************************************************************
Instructors: Cynthia Bennett, Gail Laule, Elizabeth Arbaugh, Mary Wulff
The Center for Zoo Animal Welfare is offering a workshop for animal care staff hosted by the Detroit Zoo. This unique four-day workshop is designed for animal care staff, supervisors, curators, and veterinarians working with all species of animals in zoos. The Workshop will present topics and exercises aimed at improving the welfare of captive animals by better understanding their perspectives and experiences. Participants will attempt to see the zoo through animal’s eyes, hear the world through their ears, smell the world though their noses, experience their world as they experience it.
The workshop will present topics relating to improving the welfare of captive animals, including understanding our limitations when we view the world through the lens of human perspective, identification of and problem-solving animal welfare issues through environmental modification and enrichment, positive reinforcement training techniques, and best husbandry practices. Workshop format includes lecture, discussion, small group projects, demonstrations, and multiple hands-on opportunities with animal environments at the Detroit Zoo.
For information contact:
Elizabeth Arbaugh, Animal Welfare Manager
Detroit Zoological Society
Tel: 248-398-0903 x3643 E-mail: Elizabeth@dzs.org
*******************************************************************************
*******************************************************************************
Animal Keepers' Forum
*******************************************************************************
Nick Marx Video Presentation and Discussion at G2 Gallery
Wildlife Alliance invites you to a presentation and discussion with
Wildlife Rescue Director, Nick Marx
September 28, 2010
7:00-9:00pm
G2 Gallery
1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291-3742
Enjoy a stimulating presentation on the illegal wildlife trade,
animal rescue and rehabilitation, and the impact of
Wildlife Alliance’s work in Southeast Asia.
Learn more? Please click
HERE
*******************************************************************************
*******************************************************************************
Shape—Brasil II Conferência Brasileira de Enriquecimento Ambiental
A II Conferência Brasileira de Enriquecimento Ambiental será de 22 a 24 de outubro de 2010 no Anfiteatro “Altino Antunes” da faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia da Universidade de São Paulo.
Contaremos com a participação de três palestrantes internacionais (veja programação) desta vez com tradução simultânea.
A nossa outra novidade será o envio de resumos para apresentação oral e pôster.
Também teremos nosso Concurso de fotos: “Enriquecendo a imagem II”.
Faça já a sua inscrição. As vagas são limitadas.
Voltar à página inicial
*******************************************************************************
Now accepting papers
Please write to: Orga-Team ZooKunft, Office@zookunft.info
By 15 October 2010.
*******************************************************************************
*******************************************************************************
Following positive feedback and high demand for places, Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks are pleased to announce their fourth student course on Environmental Enrichment to be run by Mark Kingston Jones and Chris Hales, in collaboration with keepers from both institutions. The course is specifically designed for college and university students (past and present) who do not currently work within a zoo setting, but are looking to do so as a career. Over the 3.5 days students will gain a background in animal welfare and enrichment, dealing with welfare needs of different species, as well as providing practical skills in designing, building and testing enrichment within the settings of both Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks, in Kent. Our aim is to provide valuable experience and an overview of additional useful skills to your CV as a would-be keeper. Please note you must be 18 or over to attend this course. Places are limited so please register early to avoid disappointment.
**************************************************************************
*******************************************************************************
*******************************************************************************
Look to the right within the blog and see and click on blog postings. Some of these have not been mailed out by email. Most will have been posted on the Facebook Page however.
*******************************************************************************
Seeing the Zoo the Way Animals Do:
A workshop for animal care staff on improving animal welfare
Presented by the Center for Zoo Animal Welfare
Detroit Zoological Society
October 18-21, 2010
Instructors: Cynthia Bennett, Gail Laule, Elizabeth Arbaugh, Mary Wulff
The Center for Zoo Animal Welfare is offering a workshop for animal care staff hosted by the Detroit Zoo. This unique four-day workshop is designed for animal care staff, supervisors, curators, and veterinarians working with all species of animals in zoos. The Workshop will present topics and exercises aimed at improving the welfare of captive animals by better understanding their perspectives and experiences. Participants will attempt to see the zoo through animal’s eyes, hear the world through their ears, smell the world though their noses, experience their world as they experience it.
The workshop will present topics relating to improving the welfare of captive animals, including understanding our limitations when we view the world through the lens of human perspective, identification of and problem-solving animal welfare issues through environmental modification and enrichment, positive reinforcement training techniques, and best husbandry practices. Workshop format includes lecture, discussion, small group projects, demonstrations, and multiple hands-on opportunities with animal environments at the Detroit Zoo.
For information contact:
Elizabeth Arbaugh, Animal Welfare Manager
Detroit Zoological Society
Tel: 248-398-0903 x3643 E-mail: Elizabeth@dzs.org
*******************************************************************************
TRAINING AND ENRICHMENT WORKSHOP FOR ZOO ANIMALS
Presented by: and Shape of Enrichment
Hosted by: Oakland California.
Dates: December 6-10, 2010
Instructors: Gail Laule, Margaret Whittaker, and Val Hare
Active Environments and Shape of Enrichment are proud to present the fourth Training and Enrichment Workshop for Zoo Animals hosted once again by the Oakland Zoo, Oakland California. This unique five-day workshop is designed for keepers, managers, supervisors, curators, and veterinarians working with all species of animals held in zoos. The Workshop will present an array of topics relating to the behavioral management approach to caring for captive animals, with focus on environmental enrichment, positive reinforcement training techniques, and the problem-solving process. Workshop format includes lecture, discussion, small group projects, demonstrations, and multiple hands-on training and enrichment opportunities with Oakland Zoo’s diverse collection. Skills taught are directly related to enhancing staff’s ability to manage captive animal behavior, improve animal welfare, and enhance the overall care and management of captive animals. The Workshop format is designed to maximize the value for each participant and as much as possible to address specific situations, needs, problems, and objectives. Be prepared to interact, share, and participate to make the experience as useful and relevant to you as possible.
The registration fee is $800 and includes the following:
• 6 nights stay in the Courtyard Marriott Hotel, Oakland Airport (double occupancy) **
• All workshop materials
• All breakfasts, lunches and snacks during the workshop
• Icebreaker, dinner, and closing banquet (3 dinners)
• Transportation to and from workshop and airport
• Commemorative Workshop t-shirt
** single occupancy fee: $1,175
Local fee (minus hotel): $475
For more information contact: Active Environments, Inc.
Tel: 805-737-3700
E-mail: Gail Laule moonshadowe@earthlink.net
Oakland Zoo
E-mail: Margaret Rousser: margaret@oaklandzoo.org
See Shape of Enrichment Website: http://www.enrichment.org/
*******************************************************************************
Animal Keepers' Forum
September 2010 Table of Contents
Scoops and Scuttlebutt
New Orleans AAZK Chapter Helps Underwrite AKF Production
From the Executive Director
From the President
Call for Papers for Climate Change Dedicated Issue
Coming Events
AAZK Announces New Members
Check Out AAZK on Facebook
2010 AAZK Award Recipients
2010 AKF Award Recipients
Training Tales (Top 10 Summer Survival Training Tips)
Feeding the Spoonbills: From Nightmare to Dream
Letters to the Editor
Enrichment Options (Prototype Superworm Dispenser)
AAZK Grant Report: (AZA Class Review: Advanced Avian Program Management)
Conservation Station: (Creating and Maintaining Partnerships for Conservation)
First Annual San Diego AAZK Chapter Photo Contest
People Skills for Animal People: (Conflict Resolution...Consider This)
Creative Thinking Keeps Flamingos Breeding
Conservation/Legislative Update
Visit the website to learn more. Click HERE
*******************************************************************************
Nick Marx Video Presentation and Discussion at G2 Gallery
Wildlife Alliance invites you to a presentation and discussion with
Wildlife Rescue Director, Nick Marx
September 28, 2010
7:00-9:00pm
G2 Gallery
1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291-3742
Enjoy a stimulating presentation on the illegal wildlife trade,
animal rescue and rehabilitation, and the impact of
Wildlife Alliance’s work in Southeast Asia.
Learn more? Please click
HERE
*******************************************************************************
Frameworks for Evaluation
VSG Summer School
Techniquest, Cardiff
16 and 17 September
Join us at Techniquest, Cardiff Bay for our annual Summer School. This will be the usual fantastic opportunity to network with colleagues, hear the latest news from key thinkers in the field whilst also developing your skills through workshops and seminars.
This year we’re examining Frameworks for Evaluation. Perhaps you regularly use a framework and want to share your experiences or widen the frameworks you use? Perhaps you’re uncertain as to what a framework is? Or perhaps you think that frameworks are academic tools and want to hear about their practical use in the field. Join us for an interesting and challenging programme of talks, workshops and hands-on sessions to answer these questions and more and to explore the role of frameworks when conducting visitor studies.
Sessions include frameworks for public engagement, well-being, and Generic Learning Outcomes with contributions from Bernadette Lynch (keynote address), National Museum Wales, Heritage Lottery Fund and UCL amongst many others.
VSG Members: £75 per day or £130 for both days
VSG Members’ Concession: £55 per day or £90 for both days
Non-members: £85 per day or £150 for both days
Non-members’ Concession: £65 per day or £110 for both days
Bookings are now being taken for this even.
Visit here for more information including online bookings http://www.visitors.org.uk/node/383
For more information please contact Helen Featherstone at helen@visitors.org.uk
This year we’re examining Frameworks for Evaluation. Perhaps you regularly use a framework and want to share your experiences or widen the frameworks you use? Perhaps you’re uncertain as to what a framework is? Or perhaps you think that frameworks are academic tools and want to hear about their practical use in the field. Join us for an interesting and challenging programme of talks, workshops and hands-on sessions to answer these questions and more and to explore the role of frameworks when conducting visitor studies.
Sessions include frameworks for public engagement, well-being, and Generic Learning Outcomes with contributions from Bernadette Lynch (keynote address), National Museum Wales, Heritage Lottery Fund and UCL amongst many others.
VSG Members: £75 per day or £130 for both days
VSG Members’ Concession: £55 per day or £90 for both days
Non-members: £85 per day or £150 for both days
Non-members’ Concession: £65 per day or £110 for both days
Bookings are now being taken for this even.
Visit here for more information including online bookings http://www.visitors.org.uk/node/383
For more information please contact Helen Featherstone at helen@visitors.org.uk
A II Conferência Brasileira de Enriquecimento Ambiental será de 22 a 24 de outubro de 2010 no Anfiteatro “Altino Antunes” da faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia da Universidade de São Paulo.
Contaremos com a participação de três palestrantes internacionais (veja programação) desta vez com tradução simultânea.
A nossa outra novidade será o envio de resumos para apresentação oral e pôster.
Também teremos nosso Concurso de fotos: “Enriquecendo a imagem II”.
Faça já a sua inscrição. As vagas são limitadas.
Voltar à página inicial
*******************************************************************************
2011 ZooKunft
26 February 2011
Kronberg, Opel Zoo
On the theme of
Animal Presentation
Now accepting papers
Please write to: Orga-Team ZooKunft, Office@zookunft.info
By 15 October 2010.
2010 Annual Conference in San Diego, California
September 18–22
The highlight of the year for AZH members is Annual Conference. This year's event will be hosted by San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park, September 18–22, 2010.
Learn More By Visiting
*******************************************************************************
The fourth Student Environmental Enrichment Course (SEEC):
September 20th - 23rd
Following positive feedback and high demand for places, Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks are pleased to announce their fourth student course on Environmental Enrichment to be run by Mark Kingston Jones and Chris Hales, in collaboration with keepers from both institutions. The course is specifically designed for college and university students (past and present) who do not currently work within a zoo setting, but are looking to do so as a career. Over the 3.5 days students will gain a background in animal welfare and enrichment, dealing with welfare needs of different species, as well as providing practical skills in designing, building and testing enrichment within the settings of both Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks, in Kent. Our aim is to provide valuable experience and an overview of additional useful skills to your CV as a would-be keeper. Please note you must be 18 or over to attend this course. Places are limited so please register early to avoid disappointment.
To Learn More Please Click
**************************************************************************
Nominations are now open for the 2012 Indianapolis Prize
*******************************************************************************
Private Zoo For Sale
please see link for details
*******************************************************************************
Are You Going To Participate This Year?
I do hope so
Please highlight the plight of the vulture
Every Zoo should play their part
Every zoo which keeps vultures MUST do so
Learn more by clicking
*******************************************************************************
Zoo Conferences, Meetings, Courses and Symposia
click HERE
*******************************************************************************
ZOO BIOLOGY
The Zoo Biology Group is concerned with all disciplines involved in the running of a Zoological Garden. Captive breeding, husbandry,cage design and construction, diets, enrichment, man management,record keeping, etc etc
**********************************************
Join Zoo News Digest Facebook Page
updated daily
*******************************************************************************
For Zoo Jobs and Related Vacancies please visit: http://zoowork.blogspot.com/
************************************************************************
ZooNews Digest is an independent publication, not allied or attached to any zoological collection. Many thanks.
Kind Regards,
Wishing you a wonderful week,
Peter Dickinson
HubPages: http://u.nu/2kx
Facebook: http://moourl.com/h3eru
Twitter: http://twitter.com/PeterZoo
UK: ++ 44 (0)7551 037 585
Thailand: ++ 66 (0)861 382 450
Skype: peter.dickinson48
Mailing address:
Suite 201,
Gateway House,
78 Northgate Street,
Chester,
CH1 2HR
United Kingdom
"These are the best days of my life"
Please Donate to Zoo News Digest in order to keep it going
No comments:
Post a Comment