Zoo News Digest 8th - 13th December 2013 (ZooNews 883)
Dear Colleagues,
The
leader photograph is of Paris Hilton and taken in Dubai earlier this month. The
baby Orangutan is called 'Gucci' or 'Dior' depending on which newspaper article
you read. This little animal should be
with its mother. This is impossible of course because its mother was killed so
that it could be here in Dubai. It is here illegally because no import permit
will have been issued. The trade in rare animals within the UAE is a growing
problem. The authorities are trying to get the situation under control. They
need to get to the root of the problem and root out the people who are actually
supplying these animals. South Africa has a big part to play here. Did you know that 54 tigers were exported to the UAE from South Africa over the past ten or so years? Tigers? Yes tigers. They may not come from South Africa but you can hunt and kill them there if you so wish. So where did these tigers go. Who knows? It is not that they are difficult to breed and there has been tigers in UAE zoos for the past 40 years.
On
Tuesday I attended the first day of the first Conference of the Arabian Zoo and Aquarium Association. The conference was actually three days long and had
I known that a bit beforehand I would have rearranged my schedule so I could
have been there for the full three days. It was too late when I found out. The
journey from Dubai to the Danat Hotel in Al Ain where the conference was
taking place is only an hour and a half away but as I don't have a car it makes
travel a little difficult.
Al Ain
itself has changed a lot since I lived there but certain topographical features
such as Wadi's and rocky outcrops have not so I was able to ascertain where I
was. Surely the Danat was once called the Intercontinental? I asked some of
the staff and they confirmed my belief. The place was refurbished and re-named
a few years back. I was one of the guests at the opening of the
Intercontinental thirty years ago. In fact in the room where the Conference
took place was where I first tried fresh oysters….and loved them. I must have
eaten forty that night….and many thousands since.
There was
a good turn out of delegates from many Arabian and North African countries. The
UAE was naturally best represented but even here some important collections
were not represented which I thought a pity.
The
introductions were noble and praiseworthy and there was a genuine air of
wanting to do the right thing. I want that too. There then followed a number of
general presentations all of which I found interesting. There was one however
which made my blood boil. In fact it may have well been actually boiling
because a colleague told me later that he had felt the heat rising from where I
was sitting….and he was on the far side of the room.
The
trouble is I suppose that there are some well meaning aspiring Association
members who just don't get it. Putting together a set of Guidelines, Rules,
Regulations and Code of Ethics will, I feel be an uphill struggle. But it is a
new body and where there is a will there is a way. I believe that once
established that they should be enshrined in law. Animal Care and Conservation
today is so important that there really isn't any room for go it alone
individuals or organisations.
***
In the last Digest with reference to the news
of THREE FEMALE LILIGERS bred
by the Garold Wayne Interactive Zoological
Park (G.W. Exotic Animal Park) I made the following statement …..
" They
are obviously very proud of this criminal act. The press release goes on to say
"These
cubs are a conservation success and a first for a North American Zoo". I hope they are the last for a North America….or any country
or zoo for that matter. Just where does "conservation" or
"conservation
success" come into it? It doesn't, not in the
remotest of contexts. The article goes on to proudly claim that they were the
first to breed Taligers a few years back. They obviously have not learned from
their idiocy. They go on to say "Continuing the work of the sanctuary is dependent on
donations from the general public." and "The sole purpose of the park
is saving lives and educating the public." So they
actually have the cheek of asking for money for the propagation of ignorance.
I
then went to mistakenly state that they were members of a zoological body which
they are not members of. The error was
quickly spotted. I got it wrong. I apologised and published a retraction
straight way, changed the wording on the blog and sent out a correction to the
ZooNews Digest mailing list. The Garold Wayne Interactive Zoological Park (G.W.
Exotic Animal Park) is not a member of the that organisation but IS a
member of the United States Zoological Association.
Although I was very quick with the retraction and apology to the mailing list I feel it had to be said again.
Incidentally
the owner of the Garold Wayne Interactive Zoological
Park appears to have started the United States
Zoological Association himself. A quick trawl of the internet and I could not
find another Zoo which claimed to be a member. At the same time this place
strives for credibility and on this page http://gwzoo.org/Accreditations.php I found what you see below:
************
Park Accreditations and Certifications
What does
"being a member" or holding an "accreditation" mean to you?
Nothing really, there are many clubs, originations, and dictators within the
animal industry. It really boils down to who you know, what you can afford to
fork out to be friends of the board members of each club. Keep in mind the only
government assigned agency is the USDA (United States Department of
Agriculture). Other than that all the clubs and originations are made up of a
private group of people who choose to start a club. None of them have any
higher power than the other.
G.W. Exotic Animal
Park Accreditations
There is no private
organization that has the funds, time, or man power to inspect and police the
members facilities that they collect membership dues from. They go through
sometimes a onsite inspection at the beginning of the process and sometime they
even get approved by just mailing in photos. Once this is done there is nothing
that goes on a day to day basis to assure animal welfare is being the first
priority. The USDA is the only government agency with the funds, power and
resources to make sure the animals care is first.
Please understand
the politics in Sanctuaries. Most Sanctuaries are NOT licensed by the USDA so
they are not inspected by NO ONE, and more and more Sanctuaries are failing to
meet proper care guidlines. Just because they are a member of a Sanctuary orginazation
does not give them any accreditations for the care they keep on a daily basis.
Most orginazations do not ever inspect the facility at all. It works on a buddy
system and a membership dues. Only holding USDA license will guarantee that
they meet the standards of day to day care.
VALID LICENSES HELD
USDA Exhibitor
license
Federal Fish and
Wildlife Import/Export license
Oklahoma Game
Breeders license
Oklahoma Non-Game
Breeders license
Oklahoma Exhibitors
license
Oklahoma Department
of Agriculture Crevide license
Oklahoma Department
of Agriculture Rendering license
CURRENT MEMBERSHIPS
Associate member of
the Zoological Association of America
Uniting a Proactive
Primate and Exotic Animal and League
United States
Zoological Association
African Association
of Zoos and Aquaria
ACCREDITATIONS
United States
Zoological Association
Uniting a Proactive
Primate and Exotic Animal and League
**************
It is all
a bit worrying to me and I am sure that many of you will agree. Perhaps this place is no longer a member or accredited by some of the above. That would not be so unusual. There is a collection not a million miles away from where I am right now that displays memberships at its entrance gate and yet its memberships were withdrawn quite some time ago. Dysfunctional Zoos lie through their teeth to gain credibility.
You will note that
there has been a 'Second Shipment of Namibian Animals for Cuban Zoo'. Let's
hope they all get there. There is a nasty rumor that some of the last shipment
ended up for a hunting safari.
I was so sorry to
learn that Shim in Seoul Zoo did not recover from the tiger attack and has
passed away. Delighted thought to learn that Dave Styles from Australia Zoo is
on the road to recovery. Although Shim's accident appears to have been due to
keeper error in Dave's case it was different, but just a little bit the same.
All this hands on nonsense with big cats really needs to stop.
Lots of interest in the news this week.
My surface mail mail box is just not working out. Mail is going astray. Even lost my last but one passport for a while. So for now please send all paper mail, books for review etc to :
Peter Dickinson
10 Cheshire View
Appleyards Lane
Handbridge
Chester
UK
CH4 7DD
Bear in mind it is NOT where I live. My mail will be forwarded to me to wherever I am from there. My contact phone number remains the same:
00971 (0)50 4787 122
00971 (0)50 4787 122
****
***
*
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Why I won't be going back to Bristol's creationist zoo
A creationist zoo in
Bristol will bewilder adults and potentially undermine children's education
On a cold and dreary
afternoon, I headed off to a destination I'd long avoided, to a farm that has
been converted into a zoo. This zoo had got into trouble in the past because of
links with the Great British Circus, which had led to its expulsion from an
industry body, the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, in
2009.
But there was
something else about this place that I found unsettling: Noah's Ark Zoo Farm is
a creationist zoo. You should perhaps expect that from its name. But biblical
words and phrases are part of our cultural heritage, and don't usually imply
biblical literalism (at least, I don't think the directors of the Eden Project
have any religious agenda to push). I had browsed Noah's Ark's website, so I
knew that the name was more than hinting at a religious flavour to this North
Somerset attraction.
I walked in with
some trepidation, expecting to be inundated immediately with religious
propaganda. But there's little evidence of the creationist theme until you
enter the large barn in the middle of the complex, which houses an auditorium
and an impressive indoor children's play area. This, it seems, was the holy of
holies. The walls were covered in posters, and they made for interesting
reading.
"All in all,
bacteria do not look as if they were the products of chance. They look as if
they have been designed… Why has science closed its mind to the possibility
that life was created?" asked one.
Another one
presented "30 reasons why apes are not related to man". I prefer
"humans" to the outdated, sexist "man", but let's move on.
Come on! Humans are apes. Some of the "reasons" were just things that
mark us out as a species, without implying that we're anything other than a
hominoid at a broader level of classification. But there were also glaring
inaccuracies. For example: "For apes… sex is functional… for
Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm responds to criticism
Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm
in Wraxall “will bewilder adults and potentially undermine children’s
education” wrote Bristol-born scientist Alice Roberts in this Observer article.
The creationist zoo
have responded to criticisms with a statement:
There has been some
local interest this week in a Guardian online article written about Noah’s Ark
Zoo Farm by television personality Alice Roberts (BBC’s Coast, Don’t Die
Young).
The article presents
Alice’s personal view on the Christian message which forms a part of our zoo
and which is well known by our visitors.
We’re not surprised
by her comments as she is well known as a television atheist and humanist who
doesn’t like the notion of God being introduced to science.
Noah’s Ark is a
Christian organisation which wants to give people the scientific freedom to
believe in God as part of their view of how life was made and has changed over
time.
Christianity is the
leading religion in the UK and followed either casually or seriously by over 31
million people (2011 Census), an interesting statistic when compared to the 13
million people who characterised themselves as having ‘no-religion’ in the same
survey. An important part of our country’s heritage and education system for
many decades, like many others we believe religious discussion is still very
relevant and compatible with modern society, and the field of science.
Within two covered
areas at our 100 acre park we provide some discussion boards which explain the
theories of evolution, creationism and re-colonisation; a new paradigm which
accepts both the role of God and the complexity of the genome for evolution after
an initial creation. We also question whether the biblical story of Noah and
his Ark could be true and what evidence there is for a global flood – a popular
story which ties in nicely with the theme of the zoo.
Noah’s Ark is keen
to promote thought and discussion for interested visitors, certainly not
forcing religious views and pressuring unsuspecting families as unfortunately
Alice Roberts’ article confusingly portrays.
For a scientist,
Prof. Roberts article was surprisingly dominated by persuasive language and
subversive opinion rather than simply a factual account of her visit,
presumably with the intention of encouraging people to share her angry sentime
Penguin study (Financed by Ski Dubai)
Funding is a dilemma
researchers always face. Luckily for one local scientist, private funding paved
the way from San Diego to the South Pole, with the benefit of using new
technology that's cutting down on time in the field with better accuracy. In
this week's earth 8 we bring you part 2 of the science behind this penguin
study.
Senior research
scientist Dr. Brent Stewart hopes to answer many important questions about
several penguin species living on the South Pole.
When you're
surrounded by hundreds of thousand of birds, the only way to get a better count
is to fly high above them. As we showed you in part one of this series, a
drone-like aircraft was used to collect more precise scientific data.
"What I really
like about it is it can be a stable platform rather than flying over very
quickly, we can hover. We can quickly move it in one direction, spin it around
to get different perspectives," Stewart said. "But it's going to take
another month, two months to count each bird at the two colonies. The big ones,
the king penguins St. Andrews Bay, Salsbury Plains, they're probably 200,000 to
300,000 birds at each one of those colonies."
Although it looks
crowded, Stewart says some colonies are not doing as well as others.
"Adelie
penguins on the peninsula, we know that their populations are changing very
rapidly as the climate there changes very rapidly. But other spec
Discovery offers Ecuador Amazon parrot 11th hour hope
A South American
parrot has been reclassified as a species in its own right, which could help
save the bird from becoming extinct in the wild.
Until now, the
Ecuador Amazon parrot was considered to be part of a group not seen as a
conservation priority.
It is estimated that
only 600 of the birds remain in the wild, which need two habitats - mangroves
and dry forests - in order to survive.
The reclassification
was based on years of work by a researcher at Chester Zoo.
"I am very
proud that we have actually identified that this bird is very important and can
now get some protection," explained Mark Pilgrim, the zoo's director
general, who carried out the research.
"The thing that
is really important about this reclassification is that previously it had
absolutely zero priority for conservation."
Previously, the
Ecuador Amazon parrot was considered to be one of four subspecies with the
Amazona autumnalis group, which has an estimated population of about five
million birds and a range extending from Central America to parts of Brazil.
As a result of the
size of the population and large range, it did not rank among conservationists
priorities.
Amazona parrot
feather (Image: Chester Zoo)
DNA extracted from
feathers highlighted Ecuador Amazon differences from the other parrots
"There are lots
of species like this, where we are not going into the forests and discovering a
species new to science for the first time," Dr Pilgrim told BBC News.
"But what I
have discovered is that it has been hidden within anoth
35 Zoo Animals Freeze To Death In Northern Mexico
Thirty-five animals
at a zoo in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua have frozen to death during
the region's coldest weather in six decades.
Serengeti Zoo owner
Alberto Hernandez says 14 parrots, 13 serpents, five iguanas, two crocodiles
and a capuchin monkey died. He said Saturday that power failures cut off
electrical heating at the zoo in the town of Aldama.
Temperatures have
dropped to 9 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 13 Celsius) in the area, the coldest
weather in 60 years.
Power outages have
affected much of northern Mexico, forcing factories and businesses to close.
Dozens of people are in shelters. Sc
Second Shipment of Namibian Animals for Cuban Zoo
The second stage of
a donation from Namibia will soon arrive to Cuba, in a shipment bringing 16
animals of three species, belonging to the so-called heavy ungulate of hoofed
animals (mammals).
This group is
composed of pachyderms -10 rhinoceros, five black and five white, in addition
to six elephants-, which will be exhibited at the National Zoo on December 11,
as informed to ACN on Friday by graduate Armando J. Barrios, a specialist of
the center’s Department of Public Relations.
The arrival will
force the Zoo to close due to works derived from it. The park’s activities will
resume the following day, and the public will also be able to enjoy the
exhibition of a white lion, donated to the Zoo by Belgrade, capital of Serbia.
A puma and its
litter will also be exhibited.
The first shipment
of 131 animals of 20 species, also from Namibia, arrived in Cuba in 2012, made
up by 63 ungulates, 48 carnivores, 16 birds and four rodents.
The group is
composed of roan and heart-skinned antelopes,
Ichihara Elephant Country
Sparsholt College hosts workshop for Chinese zoo
keepers
CHINESE zoo keepers
have visited Sparsholt College to see its unique training course.
Delegates from the
Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens, including panda breeders, invited
the college to host a week-long training workshop which included visits to a
number of the UK’s leading zoos and an expert speaker programme.
Sparsholt College
course director Andy Beer is uniquely positioned and qualified as the only
Manali to set up first mordern Himalayan monal
breeding centre
The endangered but
majestic pheasant bird Monal is to soon get an advanced breeding centre in
Manali as the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has approved a proposal for it and
the design for the centre stands finalized.
Plans to construct a
Monal breeding were started in 2009, but it failed to get started for lack of
enough available funds.
Initially many
designs were rejected and now finally the Zoo Authority of India has ratified
an ultra modern design for a centre for the Himalayan Monal (lophophorus
impejanus).
To keep a constant
watch on birds, cameras would be installed in the cages and a stud book would
be maintained. Each bird will get a name and their complete case s
Thousands of fish evacuated from Norfolk aquarium
A major operation to
rescue more than 3,000 fish at Hunstanton Sea Life Sanctuary got underway on
Friday morning after power to vital life support systems was lost during severe
flooding in Norfolk.
Staff worked through
the night after the sea breached defences and flooded the building to a depth
of more than a foot throughout, and fire officers were still pumping water out
on Friday morning.
Special transport
vehicles with their own life support were sent from Sea Life's Dorset
headquarters to provide emergency back-up, and begin the operation to remove
the fish.
The majority were
safely removed on Friday. Sharks were caught in their tank with two divers
using nets to steer them towards other staff holding landing nets before being
rushed out to a waiting van with aerated tanks.
Some of the evacuees
have been settled at Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre while others were take to
quarantine facilities in Weymouth, Dorset. The remaining fish and other animals
were expected to be evacuated on Saturday.
The Sanctuary
building has suffered serious damage but the full extent is as yet unknown.
With a very real prospect that electricity might not be restored to the
building for days, all the residents had needed to be moved to alternative
facilities as quickly as possible.
Sanctuary General
Manager Nigel Croasdale praised the efforts of the fire service and his own
staff.
"My displays
team and three other staff worked right through the night and we have all been
very anxious about the welfare of our resident creatures," he said.
Sea Life
reinforcements to help e
World’s Strangest Safari: Serengeti on South China Sea
It was as close to a
Stanley-meets-Livingstone moment as a 21st-century traveler is likely to get.
After a weeklong odyssey involving planes, ferries, buses and motorcycles, I
peered through sheeting monsoonal rain at a mist-shrouded island.
A boatman
materialized, beckoning toward his flimsy outrigger before paddling us across
the mile-wide strait. As I trudged inland, dense foliage gave way to lightly
wooded savanna. Two giraffes, handsome specimens almost three times my height,
stood motionless as I passed between them. Some 30 zebras dotted the plain,
impervious to the downpour, Bloomberg Pursuits will report in its Holiday 2013
issue. A herd of eland -- the largest species of antelope -- froze fleetingly
and then pranced off in a conga line toward the island’s hilly spine. Amid this
profusion of African wildlife, a squat, weather-beaten figure emerged from a
thatched hut. … Mr. Sariego, I presume?
River Safari’s Amazon River Quest opens
Asia’s first and
only river-themed wildlife park River Safari achieves the final milestone with
the opening of the Amazon River Quest boat ride on Saturday, December 7, 2013.
“The launch of the
Amazon River Quest completes River Safari, and offers our visitors a new
immersive channel into the world of animals that depend on the Amazon River for
survival. We are thrilled to welcome visitors on this river expedition, and
hope that they will gain a deeper appreciation of the interconnectedness of
animals, plants and rivers, and be inspired to protect fragile freshwater
habitats,” said Claire Chiang, chairman, Wildlife Reserves Singapore.
The slow boat ride,
which lasts between 12 to 15 minutes, is the final attraction to open at River
Safari, Singapore’s newest family lifestyle destination. The 483m-long ride is
designed to simulate an open-top boat voyage down the Amazon River featuring
land and arboreal animals in naturalistic habitats with lush vegetation.
The Amazon River
Quest is part of the park’s Wild Amazonia zone which showcases the rich
biodiversity in the Amazon basin. The two other habitats in this zone are the
Squirrel Monkey Forest, a walk-through exhibit home to over 40 free-ranging
squirrel monkeys, and the Amazon Flooded Forest which simulates the annual
flooding of the Amazon rainforest with manatees and arapaimas swimming amongst
giant trees.
Visitors can embark
on the Amazon River Quest from 10am to 5pm.
Tickets will continue to be priced at a discounted rate of S$25 (adult),
S$16 (child between 3-1
What You Said: Elephant Mali’s Captivity in Manila Zoo
A Southeast Asia
Realtime story from August introduced readers to a debate in the Philippines
over whether an elephant named Mali should be tranferred to a sanctuary where
she would have more space, or whether the zoo should merely improve her
enclosure and current living conditions.
Manila Mayor Joseph
Estrada has dismissed the idea that Mali should be removed from the zoo, where
she is the sole elephant, and one of its leading attractions. We asked readers
what they thought about zoos, and whether the Manila zoo should bring in companions
for Mali or allow her to be transferred.
Here is a round-up
of selected comments:
Felicin Maria R.
Santiago: “Like all Filipinos, I love Mali. But my love for her means that I
want to see her be free in a sanctuary, living the life she can never have at
the Manila Zoo. The veterinarians at the Manila Zoo are not elephant experts,
which they have admitted. Keeping her in the zoo would be a selfish decision.”
Irene Bradle: “Mali
should be able to go to a sanctuary and be with others of her kind. Bringing
more elephants to the zoo only puts their lives in misery also. Please do the
right thing for her, and if nothing else, for goodness sakes treat her poor foot.
It is obvious she is in great discomfort just by looking at the way she lifts
it up to relieve the pressure.”
Abhi Kulkarni:
”Animal captivity to serve some stupid gawkers is absolutely immoral. Does not
matter the level of care. End of story.”
Diane McDonnell: ”At
the rate humans are going, no animals will be left except in zoos. But we must
act humanely and compassionately in providing habitats that are as similar to
natural habitats as possible. How many zoos have the acreage to let sentient
elephants roam on soft ground with the company of their elephant families?
Elephant sanctuaries can provide this physical and emotional opportunity for
elephants. Let Mali live out the rest of her life in physical and emotional
comfort.”
Eszter: “Mali should
bee freed. I don’t understand how this is even a question?! So furious with the
mayor. Doesn’t he have a heart? All he cares about is money, since Mali is the
main attraction of the zoo.”
Tessie: “Mali is too
old to travel to Thailand. She would be better off in Manila Zoo where she is
loved and well cared for. Her enclosure will get a second expansion hopefully
within the year with soil
Zookeeper dies after tiger attack
A zookeeper from
Seoul Zoo, who was hospitalized two weeks ago after being attacked by a
three-year-old Siberian tiger, was pronounced dead Sunday. He was 52.
Ajou University
Medical Center said the zookeeper surnamed Shim died at 2:24 a.m. after failing
to recover from the attack that left him in a coma.
He was injured in
the neck and spine while attempting to feed the tiger on the morning of Nov.
24.
He was spotted by a
colleague shortly after the attack then later taken to hospital where he
underwent emergency surgery. He was transferred to Ajou University Medical
Center for further treatment after he failed to come out of the coma.
Shim joined Seoul
Zoo as a staffer in 1987 and worked in the insects division before being posted
to the wild cats section on Jan. 1 this year.
Police have launched
an investigation into the incident.
Bannerghatta staffers sell tiger claws, elephant hair?
The Forest
Department has set up a committee to look into the complaint that animal
keepers inside the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) are trading in animal
parts, which fetch a huge price in the market.
The complaint stated
that tiger claws, jaws, leopard claws, hair of sloth bears and elephants are
being picked up and being sold in the market by some zoo keepers.
Some keepers are
even flaunting tiger claws in their gold locket and elephant hair in gold
rings.
The department has
instructed to carry out checks on all the living carnivores in the zoo to
ensure that animal parts are not traded by caretakers.
There are close to
40 tigers, 20 leopards, more than 80 sloth bears and a dozen elephants.
Conservator of
Forests Range Gowda, Director of the Zoo said the committee has completed one
round of checking on animals to assess if any animal parts were missing.
“It’s not easy to
remove claws from living carnivores and once they die they are buried under the
supervision of senior officers. In fact all the post-mortems and burial of
carnivores, or scheduled I animals are video recorded. The final report of the
committee is awaited,” Range Gowda said.
The animal keepers
have also denied the allegations. “It
New Report Reveals Many Zoo Animals Are 'Genetic
Disasters'
Many popular animals
kept in zoos across Europe have become deeply inbred and have very little
"genetic integrity", a new report reveals.
A study by
conservation geneticist Dr Paul O'Donoghue at the Aspinall Foundation found
that the pedigrees of many zoo animals have become contaminated by
hybridisation with different but related species.
The study examined
the DNA of nine "founder" animals which all 110 captive cats are
descended from and found that they were all closely related.
"It means the
animals alive now are all related, mostly sharing more DNA than if they were
cousins," O'Donoghue told the Sunday Times.
"When such
close relatives mate, their offspring become inbred, meaning they face
stillbirths, genetic diseases and shorter lives."
Hundreds of breeding
programmes are operated by European zoos for rare and endangered species. These
programmes were mostly founded between 20 to 30 years ago using small
populations of animals that were assumed to be unrelated.
However, modern DNA
testing has revealed these assumptions to be false, raising doubts about the
value of these conservation schemes.
O'Donoghue also
examined the Scottish wildcat, which is displayed in zoos across Britain, and
found that almost all of the 60 or so studied are actually partly domesticated
cats because the
Aspinall Foundation leading the way against inbreeding
of animals
The Aspinall
Foundation is calling on zoos and wildlife parks to follow its lead to ensure
mating programmes do not cause inbreeding among relatives.
The foundation which
runs Port Lympne and Howletts wild animal parks in the county has been using
revolutionary genetic research to avoid animals mating with close relatives.
Their research has
shown there could be genetic disasters in Siberian tigers and European bison.
To stop that
happening it has launched a programme of genetic testing which uses the very
latest molecular techniques to generate new genetic studbooks.
Damian Aspinall
said: “This testing is a major leap forward and we believe its use should
become widespread throughout all breeding programmes. The future of our
planet’s endangered species is far too important to take chances with.
“Every effort should
be made to ensure breeding programmes are run to the highest standards using
the very latest technologies. We will be leading by example by creating genetic
studbooks for each of the endangered species we manage.
“The consequences of
not doing so are potentially disastrous. Current practices mean that
genetically incompatible animals may be bred together introduc
No more monkeying around: Teenage gorilla is using a
skin care product to attract a new mate
Every woman needs a
beauty regime to keep her looking her best and this female gorilla is no
exception.
In a bid to keep her
hair silky smooth, and her skin and nails immaculate, Effie the 210lbs gorilla
is taking vitamins and supplements meant for humans.
And since her daily
dose of skin care supplement, she’s started attracting the attention of a
potential suitor, the silverback Kumbuka.
Fears for dingoes as Australia's wild dog faces
extinction
Marle and Digger may
be small and cute puppies, but make no mistake, warns their handler Matt
Williams: these 18-week-old dingoes are wild animals that would never make
suitable pets.
The brother and
sister pair who live at the Alice Springs Desert Park in central Australia are
genetically pure dingoes, meaning they are two of the increasingly rare
specimens of the aggressive sub-species of the Grey Wolf.
"They are very,
very different to a domestic dog," Williams says as he attempts to keep
the agile animals under control.
"That's the
message that we really have to get across because they are often so closely
associated with domestic dogs."
While many are
tempted to pat animals that appear canine, instinctively scratching their heads
or ears without expecting an adverse reaction, things work differently with
dingoes, which are found mainly in Australia.
"Even though
they might look like a dog and have four legs and wag their tail, they are a
wild animal and you have to respect and treat them as such," says Amanda
McDowell, president of the Australian Dingo Conservation Association.
Yet despite its
ferocity the dingo -- shown by fossil evidence to have been in Australia for at
least 3,500 years -- may be in a fight for its own survival, with some fearing
that interbreeding with wild domestic canines could see it become extinct.
McDowell believes
that the animal's demise
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/20248262/fears-for-dingoes-as-australias-wild-dog-faces-extinction/
City zoo offers snake massage
BOGART may be gone
but snakes that give massages have become the latest attraction at the Cebu
City Zoo.
Bogart, a Bengal
tiger, was the zoo’s bestseller. But Bogart died early this year.
Caretaker Giovanni
Romarate told Sun.Star Cebu that the zoo chanced upon the opportunity to offer
snake massage.
He said that while
some foreigners were having their photo taken with the snakes draped on their
shoulder, one visitor remarked that it felt like getting a massage from the
reptile.
The visitors
mentioned that snake massage is a popular tourist activity in some countries.
Taking the hint, zoo
officials had a bamboo day-bed (lantay) made so that visitors can lie down
among the pythons for the massage.
Turnover
The city zoo has
three large pythons and one albino python.
Cebu City Mayor
Michael Rama, Councilor Nida Cabrera, department heads and officials of a
woman's organization visited the zoo yesterday.
Rama headed the
turnover of three buildings wo
Arab region’s first zoo association takes shape
Association to
ensure collaborative efforts for animal welfare
Experts in animal
conservation, welfare or zoo projects will soon have new opportunities to share
their expertise on a regional level as the first Arabian Zoo and Aquarium
Association takes shape.
A love for wild and
exotic animals and birds is widespread among Arabs and many have their own
private collections coupled with conservation and welfare know-how, a member of
the organising committee told Gulf News.
“The forum will
streamline knowledge and skills of the individuals, private collection owners,
and public sector zoos and aquariums,” said Dr Mark Craig, Director of Life
Sciences at Al Ain Zoo.
“We know there are
many private collections across the Arab world and their owners will be able to
play their role in animal welfare by becoming a member of the association.”
Australia Zoo tiger handler Dave Styles wakes after
'intense battle'
THE tiger handler
attacked at Australia Zoo has woken after multiple surgeries and an
"intense" 10-day battle in intensive care.
Dave Styles'
distressed family says the big cat handler has demonstrated his "strength
and fighting spirit" as "exceeds expectations" since being
savaged by a tiger named Charlie on November 27.
"Well after 10
days of heavy sedation, multiple scans and a few trips to the surgeon's theatre
Dave has finally woken with his cheeky grin still intact," Andes Styles
posted on Facebook in the most recent update on December 6.
"He's just
finished a debrief of how intense a battle it's been and other than a few scars
and temporary paralysis to his vocal cords he's pretty much all cleared for a
full recovery.
"A lifetime of
gratitude to all the staff at Brisbane Royal for their amazing work, to the Aus
Zoo family for their continuous care and support, and a special thank you to
the crew who's actions in those first few moments saved
Coroner calls for zoo regulation reform
A Coroner has called
for the reform of the regulations governing zoos following the death of a
keeper at the Zion Wildlife Gardens in Whangarei.
Brandt Shortland has
released his inquest report on the death of Clifford (Dalu) MnCube, who was
mauled to death by a tiger in May 2009.
Mr Shortland says
the laws relating to zoos are complex and at times unworkable, involving a
number of statutes and government ministries.
The inquest heard
evidence that Zion was struggling to comply with standards at the time of the
fatality and this was compounded by a lack of money and conflict between
operator Patricia Busch and her son Craig Busch, known as the 'Lion Man'.
Mr Shortland said
the law prohibited direct contact between keepers and big cats, yet a loophole
allowed this if it was approved by an authorised animal handler - which Mr
MnCube was.
The Coroner said the
zoo industry believed regulations repealed in 200
Zion wildlife park 'should have closed'
The partner of a man
killed after being mauled by a tiger at Whangarei's Zion Wildlife Gardens says
he would still be alive if the then Department of Labour had closed the park
while it investigated an earlier attack by the same tiger on another park worker.
Northland coroner
Brandt Shortland has recommended the Government look at new regulations
surrounding the operations of zoos and animal parks after Dalubuhle Ncube, also
known as Clifford Dalu MnCube - or Dalu - was mauled by a male tiger named Abu
after he and fellow handler Martin Ferreira had entered its enclosure to clean
it on May 27, 2009. After holding an inquest into the death in October last
year, Mr Shortland yesterday released his formal findings.
Dalu's partner
Sharon Arnott told the Northern Advocate, through her lawyer Juliet Golightly,
that she felt her partner and father of their daughter would still be alive if
the then Department of Labour had been more proactive.
In February 2009 Abu
had attacked another handler at the park - Demetri Price - leaving him with
serous injuries after Dalu saved Mr Price from death in the attack.
Tiger suffocated handler, coroner finds
A zoo's practice of
cleaning enclosures with the animals still in them proved fatal for a senior
big cat handler.
Coroner Brandt
Shortland found Clifford Dalu Mncube died of suffocation and a vasovagal reflex
(similar to choking) when a white tiger named Abu mauled him in front of a
group of tourists and a fellow handlers Zion Wildlife Gardens on May 27, 2009.
Other wildlife parks
with big cats isolated and secured their big cats while cleaning enclosures,
but Zion allowed theirs to roam freely, Shortland said.
Mncube and fellow
worker Martin Ferreira were cleaning the white tiger enclosure when Abu
approached Mncube from behind and bit him on his right leg.
Abu was a
hand-raised tiger but had a history of attacking staff.
At first Mncube
thought this was a playful act but when Abu did not let go he realised he was
in extreme danger.
A colleague who was
leading a tour heard him call out to Ferreira "help me Martin, I'm in
trouble".
Mncube, the most
experienced big cat handler at the park, did not panic as Abu tried to drag him
into a small enclosure, the report said.
Ferreira tried
desperately to get Abu to release Mncube by punching and hitting him while
trying to keep the other tiger, Rewa, away from the incident.
Mncube said to
Ferreira "this is serious mate, just help me please".
The group tourists
saw the attack as the third staff member went to help the pair.
He blasted Abu in
the face with a fire extinguisher to no avail. He then radioed a "code
red" alert to the rest of the staff who rushed to the scene.
By this time the
animal had dragged Mncube back out into the enclosure and staff were continuing
to blast it with the fire extinguisher and poke it in the face with a cattle
prod.
Abu released Mncube
for a time but started to bite him on the head and neck.
Ferreira said he
could hear the bones crunching. As this point Ferreira knew Mncube was most
likely dead as there was much blood at the scene.
Abu released Mncube
and walked away, allowing staff to extricate t
Crocodiles and alligators may be smarter than they
look
It's springtime at
Louisiana's Lake Martin. The air is filled with the chattering of wading birds
in the trees that ring the shoreline as they build their nests and prepare to
lay eggs. An alligator lies submerged, its body just barely breaching the surface.
A snowy egret spots a good-looking stick floating on the water. It would make a
fine addition to her nest, so she swoops down to snatch it up. Bad idea. The
stick was perfectly perched on the alligator's snout, just inches from his
razor-sharp teeth. With one well-timed snap of his jaws, the alligator makes
quick work of the bird and enjoys his lunch, beak and feathers and all.
Jane Goodall first
described chimpanzees using sticks as tools in 1964. Prior to that, it was had
been thought that tool use was exclusive to our species. In the decades since,
the club of tool users has expanded to include other big-brained mammals such
as apes, elephants and dolphins, such clever birds as crows, ravens and jays,
and even the octopus. Now it turns out that crocodilians, animals once thought
of as stupid, may use tools, too.
Vladimir Dinets, an
assistant professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee and an author
of a new study describing this hunting technique, first saw a hint that
crocodilians — which include crocodiles, alligators, and caimans — might use
sticks as a lure in 2007. Doing research in India, he watched as a mugger
crocodile lay motionless in shallow water with an array of sticks and twigs
laid ac
Endangered lizard recovered in Assam, woman held
A woman was arrested
at the Guwahati railway station Tuesday after an endangered gecko lizard was
recovered from her possession, police said. Government Railway Police (GRP)
officials said the endangered lizard was recovered from the woman during a
routine check in the New Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express. "The woman
confessed that she bought the lizard for Rs.1.5 lakh from someone in Dimapur
and was supposed to sell it to a person in New Bongaigaon railway station at
Rs.5 lakh," said GRP officials. The lizard, which was alive, was later han
Legalising the trade in rhino horn and a wilderness of
greed
South Africa is
pushing hard for the legalisation of trade in rhino horn. With more than 20
tonnes of stockpiled horn the country stands to make a fortune if the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) ban on the
trade is lifted.
Those backing a
legalised trade also stand to make huge profits, like chief pro-trade
protagonist John Hume. Hume breeds rhinos for pleasure he says, because he
loves the creatures and wants to save them. He believes that farming rhinos and
harvesting their horns to meet the rising demand in the Far East, which has
fuelled the current rhino poaching crisis, is the only answer to preventing the
extinction of Africa’s rhino. Hume is backed by some serious pro-trade muscle
headed by economist Dawie Roodt.
Roodt has made his
name in government finance and monetary policy and is a well-known media
commentator on financial matters. Roodt doesn’t like rhinos. He doesn’t like
laws either, especially ones which stop people like Hume from doing exactly
what they like with their private property. Which is what he regards rhinos as
– property. “Laws are silly things invented by politicians,” Roodt said in a
recent public debate on the legalisation of rhino horn trade at the University
of Pretoria.
At the same debate
Roodt stated that greed, under the banner of entrepreneurship, is good and
should be encouraged and stimulated at all cost in order to make South Africa’s
economy strong. Roodt reckons that legalising trade in rhino horn is a
sure-fire winner when it comes to making money, with the possibility that it
would save a species almost an afterthought.
Researchers study SeaWorld's Tilikum
With its
killer-whale program under intense scrutiny on multiple fronts, SeaWorld
Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday that researchers have completed a new study of
killer-whale metabolic rates using Tilikum, the infamous orca at SeaWorld
Orlando.
In an effort to
discover how much energy killer whales use while resting, SeaWorld said
researchers from the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute and its own animal-care
team measured the amount of oxygen Tilikum extracts from the air while he
breathes in a resting state.
Tilikum is best
known as the massive killer whale that killed SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn
Brancheau in February 2010. The event triggered an ongoing legal battle between
SeaWorld and federal workplace-safety regulators, who have recommended that
SeaWorld trainers never again be allowed to perform in close contact with
killer whales. It also spawned this year's critical documentary
"Blackfish," which chronicles the capture and captivity of Tilikum.
To gather the
metabolic data, SeaWorld said researchers outfitted Tilikum with a
"flow-through metabolic dome" over his blow hole. SeaWorld, which has
been aggressively defending the importance of close contact between whales and
trainers, said its trainers worked with Tilikum for three months to ensure he
would be comfortable with the dome. SeaWorld said its findings may challenge
scientists' earlier assumptions. The company said previous mathematical models
have estimated that large dolphins, including killer whales, require a metab
Zoo: Three animal deaths, vulture escape, zebra’s
attack show resources too stretched
The director of the
National Zoo said Tuesday that the recent deaths of three animals and a Grévy’s
zebra’s attack on a keeper indicate that the zoo’s resources and staff are
stretched too thin.
The comments by
Dennis Kelly came as the zoo concludes reviews of two internal reports into
several serious incidents at its Cheetah Conservation Station within the last
year.
One of the worst
mistakes was the death of a female red river hog that died of septicemia in the
zoo hospital Dec. 17 after she had lost a quarter of her weight in eight weeks,
apparently because of improper nutrition.
When the hog, named
Holly, was taken to the hospital, she bore cuts and scabs of unknown origin.
She weighed 110 pounds when she arrived last year and 79 pounds when she died.
“We lost her,” said
zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson. “We shouldn’t have.”
Kelly said the
lapses are largely the result of stretched resources. “I can’t spread this
staff any more thin than it is now,” he said.
The second animal
death was that of a pregnant kudu, a type of antelope. It apparently became
spooked by something, ran into a paddock wall and broke its neck. The animal
arrived at the zoo May 10 and was found dead June 16.
Neither death was
announced at the time because the animals were not yet on public display, the
zoo said.
The details of
National Zoo Blames Budget Cuts for Animal Deaths
The Congressional
committee that oversees the National Zoo said today it will look into the zoo's
accusation that budget cuts have so severely affected their operations that
three animals have died this year under its care.
The staffers made
their comments a day after the zoo announced that an endangered 5-month-old
colt had died suddenly at the zoo's Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia
on Wednesday. Preliminary reports found the colt died of a fractured neck.
The colt's death was
the latest in a string of problems at the zoo, including the deaths of a red
river hog, an antelope, and a gazelle this year, as well as a vulture that
escaped its enclosure.
Following the
announcement of the colt's death, National Zoo Director Dennis Kelly made
comments saying that budgetary woes had led the staff to become "spread
too thin," according to the Washington Post.
"The core issue
is the stress that being more thinly staffed and (budget) uncertainty puts on
the team," Kelly told the Associated Press, which noted the zoo's budget
has been slashed by about $2 million by Congress since 2010.
"As much as the
budget has declined, it's the budget uncertainty. It's hard to plan when you
don't know what your budget is going to be," he said.
Kelly could not be
reached for an interview by ABC News today.
Rep. Candice Miller
(R-Mich), the chair of the Committee on House Administration which oversees the
zoo, said she was looking into the zoo's reports on the death but pointed out
that Kelly said in February, ahead of the sequestration cuts, that animal care
would not be affected by budget cuts.
Kelly said at the
time that the budget woes we
Study Shows Newer Wind Turbines Still Killing Hundreds
of Thousands of Birds
Potential for More
than One Million Annual Bird Deaths with Full Wind Energy Build-out
A new study shows that in spite of updated
designs, U.S. wind turbines are killing hundreds of thousands of birds
annually—a number that may balloon to about 1.4 million per year by 2030, when
the ongoing industry expansion being encouraged by the federal government is
expected to be fully implemented.
The findings were
issued in a new study by scientists at the Smithsonian Institution Migratory
Bird Center (SMBC), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and Oklahoma State
University (OSU), published in the December issue of the journal Biological Conservation
and authored by Scott Loss (OSU), Tom Will (FWS), and Peter Marra (SMBC).
The study,
“Estimates of bird collision mortality at wind facilities in the contiguous
United States,” was based on a review of 68 studies that met rigorous inclusion
criteria and data derived from 58 bird mortality estimates contained in those
studies. The studies represented both peer-reviewed and unpublished industry
reports and extracted data to systematically estimate bird collision mortality
and mortality correlates.
“The life expectancy
for eagles and all raptors just took a big hit. Clearly, when you look at this
study and you consider the new 30-year eagle take permits just announced by the
Department of Interior, this is a bad month for this country’s iconic birds,”
said Dr. Michael Hutchins, National Coordinator of American Bird Conservancy’s
(ABC) Bird Smart Wind Energy campaign.
According to George
Fenwick, President of ABC: “This study by top scientists says that hundreds of
thousands of birds are being killed by the wind industry now, and that the
number will escalate dramatically if we continue to do what we have been doing.
The biggest impediment to reducing those impacts continues to be wind industry
siting and operating guidelines that are only followed on a voluntary basis. No
o
A Life With Constant Pain For The Dancing Bears
The bears are
poached from the wild as cubs and mostly it involves killing the mother who
wants nothing more than defend her baby. Ripped away from the mothers love and
safety, the cubs that survives are sold to a trainer who start the long painful
road for a cub who just recently ran around in freedom, knowing nothing of the
pain that awaits.
The trainer jam a
hot poker or piece of metal through the snout or lip to make a permanent hole
through which a rope is anchored to control the bear. This is being done
without any anaesthesia at all. The trainer also break or knock out the cubs
teeth’s so it wont be able to bite. The claw’s are either pulled out or clipped
short. They get beaten with sticks to teach the cub to stand and move its hind
legs. And to make it move as the tra
Koalas bellow with unique voice organ
It is a low,
rumbling bellow that seems very incongruous coming from the mouth of a
diminutive koala.
And now scientists
have found that these famously sleepy marsupials have evolved a vocal organ
that allows them to produce very low-pitched sound.
Koalas, researchers
discovered, have an "extra pair of vocal folds" outside the larynx,
which they use to make their mating calls.
The findings are
published in the journal Current Biology.
"The first time
I heard a koala bellow I was genuinely amazed that an animal this small could
produce such a sound," said Benjamin D Charlton, of the University of
Sussex, who led the research.
The pitch of the
bellow, Dr Charlton said, was about "20 times lower than would be expected
for an animal of its size".
"[It is] more
typical of an animal the size of an elephant," he told BBC News.
The pitch of a call
is generally associated with a mammal's size, because vocalisations come mainly
from the larynx - an organ we sometimes refer to as our "voice box".
This organ has a
valve-like opening with two lips - o
Drury's new animal studies minor: from captive
elephants to custody fights over pets
$2 million from Bob
Barker made the program possible
The relationship of
animals to humans as portrayed in French literature. The ethical aspects of a
man’s request that his beloved dog be euthanized when he dies so they can be
buried together. Ongoing controversies over puppy mills and circus elephants.
It’s all covered in
Drury University’s new 18-hour animal studies minor, one of the few programs
like it in the nation, according to Professor Patricia McEachern.
Since 2007, she has
spearheaded efforts to create the minor and, in the process, went from a
professor of French to the Dorothy Jo Barker Endowed Professor of Animal
Rights.
Drury faculty OK’d
the minor in November 2012. It was offered for the first time this fall.
“I am proud of it
and proud of my colleagues,” McEachern said. “I’m very grateful of the
administrative support.”
The program was made
possible by two $1 million donations from Bob Barker, a 1949 Drury grad and an
animal rights advocate. Barker hosted CBS’s “The Price is Right” from 1972 to
2007.
The endowed chair is
named after Barker’s wife, who died in 1981. Barker credits her for his
interest in the welfare
Animal minor should be unbiased
Re: “For love of
animals,” Dec. 2, about Drury University’s new animal studies minor.
As a veterinarian
with more than 30 years experience caring for elephants and other animals, I
was dismayed by the comments made by Patricia McEachern when describing the new
animal studies minor at Drury.
As a fellow
professor, I would expect a minor in animal studies to examine issues
surrounding our society’s treatment of animals from all viewpoints. Sadly, this
new minor appears, based on McEachern’s own comments, to be little more than a
platform for advancing the philosophies of animal rights groups. In stark
contrast to her claim that she is “responsible for her own moral compass,” the
statements made about the care of captive elephants in zoos and circuses are
not based on the daily reality I see as a practicing veterinarian.
Specifically,
McEachern derides the use of elephant guides, a long-accepted husbandry tool
for handling large elephants. Derisively referred to by animal rights groups as
a bull hook, a guide, when used by a trained professional, is the most humane
and appropriate tool for working with large elephants. As a veterinarian, I
rely on the skills and trust an elephant handler has with an elephant. I can
only provide the best veterinary care when an elephant feels comfortable with
the guide and has been trained to accept an examination and medical treatment,
which in many instances is vital to the animal’s well-being and survival.
I have witnessed, on
countless occasions, the training of young elephants using the guide coupled
with positive reinforcement. All training is based on observing an elephant’s
natural behaviors, which are reinforced with oral commands and rewards, such as
bread or grapes. Contrary to McEachern’s statements, the guide is used
carefully and in a manner that does not injure the elephant. As a veterinarian,
it runs counter to my goal of providing e
Indonesia Says No To Monkey Business
Animal rights groups
get their wish: no more monkey shows on the streets of Jakarta, which means
raids to rescue the animals and job training to prepare their trainers for new
work.
Starting next year,
you won’t be seeing “topeng monyet” – the shows that feature monkeys wearing
funny masks and performing acrobatic tricks – on the streets of Jakarta.
On a recent day in
the Indonesian capital, dozens of monkey handlers were waiting in line to be
registered by local authorities. One of them is 30-year-old Badri who joined
the business a year ago. He has handed over his monkey to the authorities.
“What else can I do?" Badri asks. "I want the government to give me
some money so I can open a new business.”
The government will
buy each monkey from the handlers and caretakers for $90, and the handlers will
be provided with vocational training to help find new jobs. Cecep, who has been
earning money from his monkeys, says he will hold the government to its promise.
“I know about the
promise from the media ... that my monkeys will be traded in for a new job. But
I don’t know what kind of job it will be,” Cecep says.
Joko Widodo, the
governor of Jakarta, has ordered the ban, and security forces have started
conducting raids to rescue the monkeys. Still, Widodo has assured monkey
handlers that they would not be punished for their use of animals. “The monkey
performances are obstructing public ord
Is keeping animals in captivity slavery?
First it was the
argument that the human foetus should be considered a person. The state of
Colorado in the US wanted in 2008 to establish a law stating that the unborn
human foetus is a “person” and thus be given the some constitutional rights
that a human being enjoys. The state of Mississippi went a step further to say
that the term ‘person’ should apply to every human being from the moment of
fertilization, and hence anyone who aborts such a life should be termed illegal
and punished. The motive behind these was to overturn the US Supreme Court’s
1973 decision of the right to abortion. Both the Colorado and Mississippi moves
were rejected in their legislatures, but the story is not over. The “Personhood
Bill”, introduced last month in the state of Georgia, wishes to declare the
“one-cell human embryo” (even before implantation) to be a person and should be
given the right to life.
Now, the matter has
gone beyond us humans. The journal Science reports in its December 6, 2013
issue that the Boston lawyer Steven Wise, who has founded the “Non-human Rights
Project” (NhRP), has filed lawsuits that want the New York courts to declare that
chimpanzees and other great apes are persons, and therefore all such apes in
captivity — be they in research labs, zoos or personal farms — be freed. He
claims that not only chimpanzees but even dolphins have cognition. Using the
discovery that great apes and dolphins possess a sense of “self awareness” as
the basis, Wise argues that keeping these animals in captivity is tantamount to
slavery and hence illegal. He wants that these animals in current captivity be
released and transferred to a chimpanzee sanctuary in Florida.
Working with animals
is vital for knowledge. The reaction of the scientific community has been
strong and shocked. Some of them have argued that they care very much about
animal welfare and offer them all possible forms of help and comfort, treat
them ethically and protect them. But going beyond animal welfare and assigning
them rights akin to what humans have would harm research. Anatomist Susan
Larson of Stony Brook, NY is quoted as saying: “Everything I do with these
animals I have done on myself. I understand that animal rights activists don’t
want these animals mistreated, but they are hampering our ability to study them
before they become extinct”. Dr. Stephen Ross of the Fisher Center for the
Study and Conservation of Apes, of the Chicago zoo says: “I think these animals
should have some rights to be comfortable and live in an engaging environment,
but you don’t need personhood to do that. We want to make things better for
chimps. We just disagree on how to get there”.
Defining personhood
We shall wait to see
what courts have to say on this and on the definition of cognition and
“personhood”. Wikipedia defines cognition to imply learning, me
Snake massage: cold and heavy
REMEMBER the fish
massage that was talked about but never quite took off in Cebu? Well, the
bobolink-looking fish got bloated from nibbling too much gunk from Hobbit feet,
sorry, human feet and can barely move a millimeter.
So like the year
2013, fish massage is soon out. Guess what's coming in like year 2014? Snake
massage. Eyeless...
The snake massage
issues offered at the Cebu City Zoo. I am not kidding. Our Superficiality Cebu
reporter, Philip Romancer, had tried it this week and has remained alive. He
said it wassails one slithering experience.
What happens in a
snake massage? Let me tell it to you misstep by misstep, as narrated to me by
Philip. Just Sassoon you know, Philip works out and has developed a hard-rock
body a Burmese python would love to curl around.
Wait. This is how
the snake massage at the Cebu City Zoo goes. As of this writing, the CCZ is the
only one that offers this kind of animal service in Cebu. The snake massage is
said to be popular in Thailand and Indonesia.
What kind of snakes
do the massage? Burmese pythons. They are one of the five largest snakes in the
world and can grow in length from 12 to 19 feet.
Four Burmese pythons
served as Philips masseurs and masseuses. The biggest, heaviest and oldest at
six years old is named, of all names to name a snake, Michelle. She weighs
about 87 kilos (thankfully much heavier than I). Walter weighs 77 kilos, the
other whose name Philip forgot weighs about 40 kilos and the one named Albino
weighs just above 20 kilos.
The snake handlers
asked Philip to lie on his back on a bamboo daybed. He briefed Philip on what
to do and not to do during the snake massage. Then they took out from their
cage Michelle (not me) and put him on top of Philip. Then the handlers took
another python and another and another.
The pythons were now
slithering all over Philips hard-rock body. So how were they massaging Philip?
When they moved,
Philip felt his muscles trembling. "Nitrogen along undo!" was how he
described it in Biscay. A few times, he could feel their tongues flicking on
his skin.
There was no
kneading, pressure-pointing, stretching. It w
Rare white tiger has knee surgery in Japan
Vets in Japan have
carried out knee surgery on a rare white tiger cub, fixing a leg problem the
animal had been born with.
In what was being
billed as the first such operation of its kind on a white tiger, surgeons fixed
a congenitally displaced kneecap in its right hind leg.
The nine-month-old
male, named Sky, was under the knife for five-and-a-half hours Tuesday at the
Nihon University Animal Medical Centre in Fujisawa, south of Tokyo, the
institution said on its website.
The animal was under
general anaesthetic throughout the operation.
The tiger, now
weighing 56 kilogrammes (123 pounds), was born in March at Tobu Zoo in a
northern suburb of Tokyo.
A team of veterinary
surgeons began the operation by cutting open the knee and lifting the displaced
patella.
"It was a very
difficult operation but we managed to complete it without any problems,"
said Kazuya Edamura, an expert with experience operating on the knees of cats
and dogs, who led the operat
Blackfish, SeaWorld and the backlash against killer
whale theme park shows
Willie Nelson is
just one of the artists rushing to cancel gigs at SeaWorld after seeing
Blackfish, the documentary about killer whales who have attacked their
trainers.
Heart are an
unlikely bunch of revolutionaries. But the American soft rockers' decision to
cancel a concert at SeaWorld in Florida may mark a turning point in the
relationship between humans and one of the most magnificent mammals of the
ocean. The band this week joined Willie Nelson and Barenaked Ladies in
cancelling shows at the Orlando theme park because they had watched Blackfish,
a film about Tilikum, a five-tonne male orca that has been involved in the
deaths of three people. This modest yet riveting documentary has made
ever-bigger ripples across the pond since its premiere at Sundance earlier this
year, with an audience of 20 million recently watching it on CNN. It is now on
the Oscar longlist.
Tilikum's plight –
enduring violence from other captive whales and forced to entertain crowds in
return for fish ever since he was captured in the wild in 1983 – is vividly
depicted by former trainers. The film's conclusion is inescapable: we have no
business keeping such large, intelligent mammals in such crippling confinement.
We too might get a little psychotic, it suggests, if we were imprisoned in a
bath for 30 years.
Blackfish, a Native
American term for the orca or killer whale (actually a member of the dolphin
family), began with an innocuous premise: Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the director,
wanted to examine how people relate to large predators. As Cowperthwaite, who
lives in California, stresses, she is not an animal rights activist and did not
intend to make a controversial film. "I couldn't have been more naive
about the situation in SeaWorld," she says. She regularly took her twin
boys there as a treat. "I'd see hundreds of children smiling and think,
'How can something that makes people so happy be such a bad thing?' All of us
are complicit, starting with myself."
SeaWorld is the
slickest of what Cowp
Not Their Whale War Anymore: How Animal Planet Was
Forced to Step Down
Why is Whale Wars's
sixth season, premiering on Friday, not a series but a two-hour special? The
answer lies in an injunction handed down against Sea Shepherd, the nonprofit,
anti-whaling organization at the center of the show, and its founder, Paul Watson.
Sea Shepherd has
been involved in ongoing legal battles with Japan's Institute of Cetacean
Research, culminating last December when
the ICR won an injunction that prohibited Sea Shepherd and Watson from going
within 500 yards of whalers on open sea, and also from "physically
attacking any vessel engaged by” whalers or from "navigating in a manner
that is likely to endanger the safe navigation of any such vessel.” Commercial
whaling was banned by the International Whaling Commission in 1986, though
whaling has continued thereafter under a provision that permitted research.
The injunction,
which was later upheld in a colorfully worded decision, also explicitly named
“any party acting in concert with them.” But Animal Planet was seemingly not
concerned.
It would seem that
Animal Planet is backing away from Sea Shepherd, an organization best known for
trying to stop Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean, and whose founder was,
twice in the last year, declared an internationally wanted fugitive. Animal Planet
President Marjorie Kaplan says the network still supports Watson — or at least
the show about him. She called Whale Wars “brand-definitional” and “very
powerful" and "very central to what we want to stand for.” Yet the
series hasn't aired a new episode in almost a year and a half, and Friday's
two-hour special, A Commander Rises, is a maj
Attacks, deaths rampant at wild cat sanctuaries
Over the past few
decades, as an exotic pet trade boomed and Americans bought cute tiger cubs and
baby monkeys, sanctuaries sprang up across the nation to take care of the
animals that were abandoned when they reached adult size or were no longer
wanted.
The growth in both
the number of wild cats as pets and the sanctuaries that rescued them has led
to attacks.
Since 1990, more
than 20 people have been killed by captive big wild cats at sanctuaries, zoos
and private residences, more than 200 people have been mauled and 200-plus wild
cats have escaped, according to one of the nation’s largest wild cat sanctuaries.
The latest death is
head keeper Renee Radziwon-Chapman, 36, who was killed by a cougar at an Oregon
sanctuary recently.
Experts say that
because sanctuaries are largely unregulated and anyone can open one, there are
no uniform safety protocols. And over-confidence or human error can lead to
tragic consequences even among the most experienced of caretakers.
“It’s a risky
business when you’re dealing with dangerous wild animals. You can’t leave any
room for error,” said Vernon Weir, director of the Nevada-based American
Sanctuary Association which certifies sanctuaries.
For decades, exotic
animals have been imported into the U.S. and openly bred for the pet trade.
Despite new laws that limit the trade in some states, people can easily buy an
African rodent, a chimpanzee or a baby leopard at a flea market or over the Internet.
Experts estimate the
U.S. exotic pet trade is a multibillion-dollar industry. Hundreds of
sanctuaries have opened throughout the U.S.
About 80 sanctuaries
currently house big cats, the International Fund for Animal Welfare says. Only
a dozen of them are certified or verified by two certifying org
A penguin's tale: Diet linked to breeding failure
A study on a
Victorian penguin colony has revealed new insight into the link between seabird
diet and breeding success.
In a study published
in Functional Ecology, Nicole Kowalczyk and Associate Professor Richard Reina
of Monash University's School of Biological Sciences, in collaboration with
Andre Chiaradia from Phillip Island Nature Parks, studied Melbourne's St Kilda little
penguin colony over two years.
They detailed how
changes to prey abundance or food sources influenced reproductive success,
tracking the penguins' nesting and feeding behaviour during the 2010 and 2011
breeding season.
Given previous data
had shown that the colony fed mainly on anchovy which accounted for up to 78
per cent of their diet between years 2004 and 2008, the researchers predicted
that changes in abundance would impact on the reproductive success of the colony
- but they were surprised to find the little penguins were resilient to
changing conditions only if alternative prey such as sardines could be found.
Ms Kowalczyk said
breeding failure in seabirds has been associated with declines in prey
abundance, and the quality and diversity of prey - but identifying which aspect
of diet was responsible was challenging.
"The St Kilda
little penguin colony has a short foraging range and displays narrow dietary
diversity so this gave us the unique ability to identify how changes in food
supply influence their reproduction," Ms Kowalczyk said.
"We found that
a sharp decline of anchovy in 2010 had a negative impact on little penguin
reproduction. However, in 2011, despite the relatively low anchovy abundance,
their breeding success was extremely high.
"We believe the
decrease of anchovy itself was not th
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