Zoo News Digest 26th - 30th September 2014 (ZooNews 901)
Dear Colleagues,
I know I have said
it before but it really saddens me how much ignorance there is out there in the
zoo world. I would have thought with the advent of social media that the
situation would become better, but it doesn't….it becomes worse. Some of the
comments I read on Facebook make me cringe. The commentators haven't got a clue
and probably never did. One can't help wondering about the management of the
collections in which they work. I pride myself at being able to brush the
smokescreens aside and see the truth. I can forgive a little wrong because none
of us (and especially me) is perfect. But some of the facts and information
given out, and repeated is a tissue of lies….and a very thin tissue at that.
The good zoos need to stop hiding under their buckets and come out and say
something. If we don't expose the lies for what they are the good zoos will continue to be tarred by the same brush.
The press doesn't help, reporters today never seem to be able to research as to whether a fact is actually a fact.
Although I have been based in Dubai these past three years I prefer to maintain a UK address for my surface mail. This has changed yet again. It is now:
Peter Dickinson, c/o 2 Highgate, Dolwen, Abergele, Conwy, North Wales,
United Kingdom, LL22 8NP.
Bear in mind it is NOT where I live. You can send books for review, cheques etc to that address. I will get them eventually....although it may take months. If you prefer to send by courier to Dubai then please email me and I will send details. My contact phone number in Dubai remains the same:
00971 (0)50 4787 122
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Now, men in khaki to check PDA at zoo
At a time when
Ludhiana zoo and Tiger Safari are grasping for funds and don't have proper
infrastructure to ensure safety of visitors, the zoo authorities are thinking
of brining in police to keep a check on couples who indulge in public display
of affection (PDA).
Ludhiana zoo has
sent an application to Lodhuwal police station demanding cops to check PDA at
zoo.
Sukhpal Singh,
in-charge, Ludhiana zoo, said, "The zoo is a centre of attraction for
children and families. On weekends and during festivals, visitors come with
their families. Moreover, schoolchildren come here. Couples found in
inappropriate positions make it embarrassing for others and even affect the
number of visitors as well."
"So we wrote an
application to Lodhuwal police station with a request to appoint cops or
constable in Ludhiana zoo, on Thursday. Though our staff in civil dress keep
patrolling zoo area, it does not make much of a difference. We are sure that
the presence of men in khaki will certainly make the difference," added
Sukhpal Singh.
Another staff member
of Ludhiana zoo said, "Often students in school uniforms come in the
morning and stay till their school timings are over here
Wild encounters: Zoo workers in India constantly
exposed to injury or even death in their line of duty
The death of a
20-year-old man in Delhi Zoo on Tuesday after being mauled by a white tiger has
turned the spotlight on the training and preparedness of zoo staff across the
country in dealing with emergency situations.
While zoo officials
insist they scrupulously follow the guidelines set by the Central Zoo Authority
and that their staffs are always on alert, wildlife experts say there is a
major difference in attitude towards zoo keeping in the West and in India.
“It is a very
passionate profession in the West not because of money but because of the love
for animals,” says Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder of Wildlife SOS and member,
Central Zoo Authority (CZA).
Trisha, Lavanya, Amyra lash out at Delhi zoo officials
The Delhi Zoo
officials' decision to put down the white tiger, named Vijay, which killed a
teenager few days ago, has not gone down well with animal rights activisits and
few celebrities. Several actors and actresses have expressed their concern over
the issue and urged people to sign a petition to stop this move by the zoo
officials.
Speaking about the
issue, Trisha Krishnan, who is a vocal supporter of animal rights, urged the
President to intervene and save the tiger's life, saying, "Pranab
Mukherjee: Please do not allow the sacrifice of the tiger of New Delhi Zoo
(sic)." On a similar note, A
Is that the one which misbehaved, they ask; from her
enclosure Rani wonders the same
Rani had nowhere to
go. She was in her own home, but visitors outside were unruly and ill-behaved.
She got as far away from the noise as she could and began pacing in one corner.
But there was no escaping the nosy visitors. They catcalled and whistled and
refused to let her rest. A stone was hurled her way by a particularly stubborn
man, desperate to get her attention. She let out a warning, but it only got
worse.
At 1.30 on a warm
September afternoon, Rani decided that she would ignore the rowdies and went to
her pool. She submerged herself and turned away from her tormentors. She sat
still in the water even as a pebble fell next to her, splashing water on her. Her
face was inscrutable. Perhaps, she was contemplating on the irony of it all. It
was she who was trapped and they who were free. It was she who was wild and
they who were supposed to be intelligent. She was the white tiger, they were
the humans.
The noise from the
other side of the fence was a usual occurrence. But last Tuesday, Rani had
heard strange sounds. Sitting in her smaller enclosure away from the people,
she had heard the thud — like that of a man falling over the wall onto their
side. It had been 7-year-old Vijay’s turn to be in the larger enclosure that
day. She had heard him pad up to the man, curious. For ten minutes, he had been
amiable, even thought of leaving the man, Maqsood, alone. After all, his keeper
Shyam Lal was calling out to him. But then someone threw a stone and Rani heard
the rattle as it hit the cemented wall of the moat. She heard a muffled shout
as Vijay pounced and it wa
The Middle Flipper Is (Part 11)......
...the pickiest sea
lion in all the land.
I can hear all of
you collectively "awwwwing" at your computer or phone screen. Why? Because Patty had an adorable face. You know what else she had? Here's a little list:
* Charisma
* Smarts
* A lovely singing
voice
* A beautiful blond
coat
* Sass. Lots and lots of sass.
Patty was a 32 year
old California sea lion who was rescued as a pup, like so many others*. Perhaps because she received excellent,
doting care when she was such a young gal, she did precisely what she wanted,
when she wanted. She underwent a
mastectomy for breast cancer when she was 30, pulled through like a champion,
and went on to tell Planet Earth that she ruled. Despite being mostly blind at her ancient age
(30 years old for a California sea lion is the equivalent to a 90 year old
human), her eyes were always bright and ready.
She vocalized a lot in short, staccato-like pulses that resembled normal
sea lion sounds but were orated with confidence. There was no, "BARK BARK
BARK". There was, "Bark. Bark bark barkbark? Bark....bark! Bark bark bark bark?" Or, "Bark." Simple, elegant, definitive. God I wish I knew what she wanted to tell us.
I met Patty in
2013. She was one of the first sea lions
I ever got to know well, which surprised some of the veteran trainers at
Guidelines for aquariums in India to preserve
endangered marine species
Aiming to rein in
unregulated aquariums across India, some of which are showcasing rare and
endangered marine species, the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) is soon coming out
with a policy for managing such aquariums across India.
According to
official of CZA, which the nodal authority under the Union Ministry of
Environment and Forests (MoEF) to regulate and monitor zoos, there are over a
dozen of government and private aquariums across the country and th
Young alala part of effort to bring Hawaii’s birds
back from brink
An hour before the
sun rises each day, the very raucous and loud calls of nine rare alala, or
Hawaiian crows, can be heard by the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center staff.
Inside their large open-air aviary, these juveniles seemed to engage in a vocal
sparring of sorts in a manner that’s reminiscent of monkeys for research
associate Amy Kuhar.
“There’s a big sound
missing from the forest,” she said of the alala, which were once widespread on
Hawaii Island and now survive only in captivity at this Volcano center and the
Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda.
On a sunny Tuesday
morning, Kuhar enters their stress-free environment to deliver enrichment,
which this time is food and habitat items wrapped in ginger leaves. Perched on
various branches, the young birds make their musical vocalizations while
curiously watching their silent visitor’s every move as she throws and hides
the packets. When she leaves, some of the birds begin to explore and manipulate
the packets to get the reward hidden inside.
Such enrichment,
Kuhar said, encourages these intelligent birds’ natural inquisitiveness, keeps
them active, and provides opportunities to engage in species-appropriate
behavior. Besides being stimulating, enrichment can help develop the stamina
and adaptability for survival by giving them a taste, literally, of the forests
where they might live someday soon.
These nine birds,
born this last breeding season, helped the alala population soar to 114 — a
significant increase for a species that numbered as few as 20 birds in 1994.
Alala are extinct in the wild, and the last were recorded in 2002 in the
forest, where they were threatened by habitat destruction, introduced predators
and avian disease.
Alala are a main
focus of San Diego Zoo Global’s Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program,
which operates the two propagation facilities with the goal of preventing
extinction and promoting
Gaza lions en route to Jordan via Israel after zoo
damaged in war
A trio of scrawny
lions was brought into Israel from Gaza on Tuesday en route to a better life at
a wildlife sanctuary in Jordan after their zoo was damaged in the recent
Israel-Hamas war.
The three, a pair of
males and a pregnant female, were sedated at Al-Bisan zoo in Beit Lahiya before
the big cats were placed in metal cages and loaded onto a truck that
transferred them through the Erez border crossing into Israel.
Amir Khalil of the
Four Paws International welfare group said the zoo's animals were in urgent
need of care after the 50-day war. He said the zoo was badly damaged and more
than 80 animals died as a result of the fighting.
Al-Bisan is one of
five makeshift zoos in Gaza that have spotty animal welfare records.
Most of the zoo
animals in Gaza have been hauled into the isolated territory through smuggling
tunnels linking the territory to Egypt. In one famous scene captured on film,
Gazans used a crane to lift a camel over the border fence by one of its legs as
the animal writhed in agony.
Israel and Egypt
have imposed a blockade on G
Zoo under investigation for up-close animal experience
A zoo is under
investigation for charging visitors to pat their rare white lion cubs after a
7News investigation raised concerns.
Tasmania's ZOODOO
Wildlife Park near Hobart is one of dozens around the country that offer
up-close encounters with exotic animals to the dismay of welfare groups.
Endangered Taipei frogs bred in captivity
Taiwan’s most
endangered indigenous frog species has been bred successfully by Taipei Zoo
Conservation and Research Center, with the offspring ready for return to the
wild.
Center CEO Chang
Ming-hsiung said surveys since 2000 show the Taipei grass frog, Rana
taipehensis, only survives in four of its original 14 habitats, and with
sharply reduced numbers in the remaining areas.
“Habitat loss and
pesticides are to blame,” Chang said, adding that the frogs can now only be
seen in Sanchih and Shihmen districts of New Taipei City, and Longtan and
Yangmei townships of Taoyuan County.
New Taipei City
Government and Taipei Zoo initiated a conservation program for the frogs last
year in Sanchih and Shihmen, with habitat restoration a major focus.
In Sanchih, the
major problem was water lilies, which although beautiful, crowded out other
species and eliminated the biodiversity on which the frogs depended. Volunteers
joined zoo staff in the onerous task of uprooting the plants. The situation was
different in Shihmen, with farmers encouraged to switch to organic farming to
create a pesticide-free environment.
Zoo staff also put
in countless hours of lab work to create a breeding program. “We gathered data
on such factors as temperature, shade and food requirements
'Tiger enclosure meets norms'
A week after a
20-year-old youth was mauled to death by a white tiger in Delhi zoo, a probe
committee set up by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has submitted its report in
the matter.
CZA member
secretary, B S Bonal, on Monday evening confirmed that the two-member committee
has submitted its report stating that the enclosure of the white tiger, Vijay,
is in conformity with CZA guidelines.
The committee,
comprising S C Sharma, founder member secretary, CZA and Himanshu Malhotra, a
documentary filmmaker and member of National Zoological Park's advisory board,
had been looking at various aspects of the zoo. Sources said the committee has
recommended an overhaul in ed
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Peter Dickinson
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2 Highgate
Dolwen
Abergele
Conwy
North Wales
LL22 8NP
Dolwen
Abergele
Conwy
North Wales
LL22 8NP
United Kingdom
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