Zoo News Digest 12th - 20th September 2015 (ZooNews 908)
Peter Dickinson
elvinhow@gmail.com
Dear Colleagues,
My sincere
condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Ryszard Pakla of Wroclaw
Zoo and Samantha Lynda Kudeweh of Hamilton Zoo, both of whom were killed by
Tigers this past week. It is so very sad. I do hope that after a full
investigation that the details are made available so we can all learn from
these tragedies.
Many years ago we
rescued a dog. Perhaps 'rescued' is not the right word as my ex-wife removed
the animal from her owners yard where she was kept chained up and short of
food. When the owners complained my ex-wife threatened to report them to the
authorities. With love and affection our dog quickly regained her physique and
to us was a truly beautiful animal. She was great with my young children, with
my cats and with whatever animals we may have had in the house at the time. She
was however quite fearsome looking and when I took her out to exercise, people
would cross over the road rather than come close to her. As time passed by the
UK government passed the dangerous dog act and it was pointed out to us that
she was a Bandog and so of a 'mixed breed' to which the act referred. In order
to keep her we had to insure her for an exorbitant sum and keep her on a leash
and muzzled at all times when out of our house. The poor animal didn't know
what had happened. She was longer allowed to run free in the fields, to chase
balls or play with other dogs. She had never ever been a problem to anyone or
any living thing. So what is the point of this story? Well it, in part, shapes
my way of thinking about elephants. I am in favour of 'Free Contact'. Not that
I am against 'Protected Contact', that as I see it is the choice of the zoo and
of the keepers who work in those zoos. However I don't see it as right that the
AZA should force it upon their members to use 'Protected Contact' or get out. I
have heard all the arguments, I know about the sad unfortunate accidents which
have occurred (like those above), but for me, it isn't one that works. I have
not had huge elephant experience, a dozen animals in all, and all in 'Free
Contact'. Ten of those animals loved me and I loved them. Two of them hated me,
but I loved them too. I cannot see myself applying for an elephant position
today or in the future but if I did I would not consider a 'Protected Contact'
post. What makes this current situation worse in my eyes is that I have the
highest respect for the AZA as they are sticklers for what makes a good zoo.
This insistence on the use of 'Protected Contact' means that any zoo which
fails to oblige will have to go. It's lonely out there. They will have the
choice of course to join up with some other organisation, an organisation which
may have much lower standards than the AZA and a mixed up idea of the meaning
of conservation. Who would want to climb into bed with people who breed hybrid
tigers…just for a start?
If I go back even
earlier than our rescued dog to the start of my zoo profession it was at that
time when zoos were littered with ex circus employees. I learnt much from them
on how not to handle elephants. In fact this continues to influence my feelings
on circus today. Again I know there are good and bad out there. Sadly some of
the bad are still there. I could name them but I won't. I doubt there are any
within the AZA….but outside? I do hope the AZA give some re-consideration to
their edict.
Yet again Persons
unknown spent a good few hours last week trying to hack into my computer. I'm
puzzled to know why. I know that each and every week I manage to upset somebody
but I hardly think I am worth being hacked. Perhaps they were after my zoo database.
I never think too much about that but I have been offered big money for it a
few times. It would be against my principles to ever do so though. I know that
my ZooNews Digest in mail out or Facebook format reaches more people in the zoo
world than any other medium…and so it should, it has been operating longer than
all the rest.
This week I
republished "How
Much Does A ZooKeeper Earn" and posted it out on Facebook. All well
and good. There were a lot of likes, several shares and a few comments….from
ZooKeepers. They make puzzling reading. I read through the comments several
times…I then re-read the article twice. I honestly believe that people just go
ahead and comment without reading the article or perhaps never get further than
the first paragraph before writing their comment….which is their 'opinion' of
course in as much as the article or this article….or any article…is an opinion.
I find it ridiculous
that anyone should want to enter a zoo whilst armed. I suspect a disturbed mind
at work and that in itself should be reason enough to ban it. I have been shot
at a few times in my life including once in a zoo. It is not a pleasant experience.
I have also been knocked about (again in a zoo) with a submachine gun on more
than occasion. The zoo is no place for gun toting visitors. I rarely carry
links to people being shot outside zoos but I do recollect at least three in
the last ten years.
I'm not being picky
here but several times over the past month I have seen it stated by people
defending Dolphin and Orca displays that 'It is
only the display pool' and that they have more room around the back
after the shows. Really? Can anyone tell me of a facility where the holding
pens are bigger than the display pools…..and here I am not talking about sea
pens.
****
***
*
I remain committed to the work of GOOD zoos, not DYSFUNCTIONAL zoos.
*******************************************************************************
Interesting Links
Sumatran tiger kills keeper in Wroclaw zoo in Poland
A police spokesman says a tiger has fatally wounded a keeper at a zoo in Wroclaw, southwestern Poland.
Kamil Rynkiewicz said the rare Sumatran tiger attacked the man Wednesday morning, probably during routine cleaning of the animal’s run. Police were notified by an ambulance crew who were called to the site. Prosecutors are investigating the accident.
TVN24 said the man had 20 years of experience in taking care of predators at the zoo. The zoo director was to hold a news conference
Tiger kills keeper at Hamilton Zoo
The senior zookeeper
killed by a tiger at Hamilton Zoo on Sunday morning had worked there for more
than 20 years.
She was identified
by police late on Sunday as Samantha Lynda Kudeweh, 43, of Pirongia.
Her family had been
advised of her death, they said.
On her biography on
the Hamilton Zoo website, she is pictured face-to-face with a tiger separated
from the animal by a cage.
San Antonio Zoo's Tim Morrow Addresses Lucky The
Elephant Controversy
After nearly two
decades working at SeaWorld, Tim Morrow thought he was basically set for life –
planning to stay with the company until retirement.
Then he got a call
from a recruiter asking if he'd be interested in the top post at the San
Antonio Zoo. His initial reaction was to say he was all set, but then he
thought about it some more and decided to go
Wolf escapes from zoo in Bulgaria’s Blagoevgrad
A wolf has escaped
from its cage at the zoo in the Bulgarian town of Blagoevgrad, the District
Interior Ministry Directorate announced.
The animal is still
on the territory of the zoo. The area has been closed off by officers with the
police and the gendarmerie.
Authorities are now
waiting for qualifi
Here's How To Shut Down A Zoo Or Aquarium
I feel really sad
about how politicized the topic of animal care has become.
You're either in one
"camp" or the other, it seems.
Some people in the cyber universe have christened these camps as
"pro-cap" and "anti-cap", which are ridiculous titles
regardless of your opinion about the topic because they do not represent what
anyone really stands for.
Asiatic lions sent to 53 zoos in 50 years
Gir sanctuary, the
last abode of Asiatic lions, over the last 50 years of its existence, sent big
cats to 53 zoos in US, UK, Sweden, Malaysia, France, Singapore, and other
countries. Three lionesses - Heidi, Ruby and Indi - in London trace their
origin to Gir.
The Zoological
Society of London has now sought two more pairs of lions from the Gujarat
forest department. The proposal is awaiting state government's approval.
"Meanwhile, the state government has already cleared similar proposals to
send lions to Prague zoo situated in Czech Republic," said J S Prajapati,
deputy conservator of forest, Sakkarbaug Zoo in Junagad.
AP Singh, chief
conservator of forests, wildlife circle, Junagadh, said, "We also maintain
an Indian National Stud Book which contains records of all Gir lions in zoos
across the globe. We have sent 130 lions, captured from the wild in Gir, to
various zoos across the country too
Aquarium Corals of Anchorage Poison 10 1/2 Humans, Two
Dogs, and One Cat
On August 12, 2014,
a man arrived at a hospital in Anchorage, Alaska, with peculiar symptoms and an
even stranger story. He was suffering from fever, cough, nausea, pain, and a
bitter metallic taste in his mouth, but he already had an idea of who the culprit
might be, and it was a doozy: a zoanthid coral.
There are few places
that seem less likely for a zoanthid coral attack than Anchorage, Alaska. And
yet such a coral managed to poison around a dozen people and animals in their
homes and places of work in Anchorage over the last few years, according to a
report last month in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly from scientists
at Alaska's Division of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
What attacked the
people and animals was not the corals per se, but a substance called palytoxin.
This molecule binds to the sodium-potassium ATPase, a protein crucial to normal
cell functioning that uses t
Chicago Zoological Society to Honor Recipients of 2015
Conservation Leadership Awards
The Chicago
Zoological Society, which operates Brookfield Zoo, will honor three recipients
for their dedicated commitment to conservation and animal welfare at its 12th
annual Conservation Leadership Awards Dinner on Sept. 30.
This year’s award
winners are George Archibald, co-founder and senior conservationist of the
International Crane Foundation; Susan Regenstein and The Regenstein Foundation,
long-time supporters of Brookfield Zoo and the Society; and the Forest
Preserves of Cook County, a steward in the prese
Can a nonhuman ape be a film buff?
You'll never forget
some movie scenes, particularly in thrillers. The moment of terror may be
imprinted on your mind, but you’re not alone.
Our hairy cousins,
it turns out, can remember scary or dramatic moments in a film too.
Just as you might
anticipate an upcoming moment in a previously watched thriller, chimpanzees and
bonobos keep an eye on the part of the screen where something exciting will
happen, acco
How not to save the rhino
As conservation
efforts fail, scientists and economists are coming up with increasingly loony
and dangerous schemes to save the rhino
Last month it was
confirmed that the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is extinct in
Malaysia. The future looks bleak for this species. The few dozen remaining
individuals are confined to remote forests in Sumatra (Indonesia), in refuges
that are under siege on an island devastated by rampant deforestation.
Rhinos are under
threat worldwide. The estimated population of the Javan rhino (Rhinoceros
sondaicus), just 60 individuals, is even lower than that of the Sumatran rhino.
In 2011 the West African black rhino (Diceros bicornis longipes) was declared
extinct. The global population of another African sub-species, the northern
white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), now consists of four individuals,
all in zoos, none of them in breeding condition.
I find it shocking
that the collapse of rhino pop
The Last of the Sumatran Tigers
Begawan Diary
Pittsburgh zoo drops accreditation due to disagreement
over elephant handling
The Association of
Zoos & Aquariums accredits 68 other zoos with elephants in the U.S.
The Association of
Zoos & Aquariums will no longer accredit the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG
Aquarium due to a disagreement over a new association safety policy that
restricts zookeepers’ contact with elephants.
The Pittsburgh Zoo,
in a statement issued Monday, said it had a “philosophical difference of
opinion” with the AZA policy and will instead follow policies set by another
zoo accrediting organization, the Zoological Association of America, which are
more flexible.
“The Pittsburgh Zoo
believes very strongly that decisions regarding our Zoo’s animals must be made
by the professionals who are knowledgeable about the institution’s programs and
staff and specifically trained to handle our animals,” said Barbara Baker, the
Pittsburgh Zoo’s president and chief executive officer. “In the Pittsburgh
tradition, we embrace this core principle and philosophy.”
The Pittsburgh Zoo,
which has six elephants, has been an accredited AZA member for 29 years. In
November 2002, a keeper was crushed to death by an elephant during a morning
exercise walk at the zoo.
The AZA, the largest
and oldest accrediting organization for zoos and aquariums in the U.S. and
seven other countries, issued a statement saying it was “disappointed” the
Pittsburgh Zoo “decided their status quo was preferable to complying with the
Pittsburgh Zoo loses sea turtle program, playground
grant after dropping accreditation
Sea turtles and
money for a children’s playground are the first, but possibly not the only,
collateral damage caused by the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium's decision
last week to drop out of a prestigious accrediting organization in a dispute
over how its elephant herd should be handled.
Because it is no
longer an accredited Association of Zoos & Aquariums facility, the zoo in
Highland Park doesn’t qualify for participation in the Sea Turtle Second Chance
program, which aids hatchlings of endangered loggerhead, green and leatherback turtles
and has operated at the zoo since 2009.
“The requirement for
permitting our program by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is that
participating facilities be AZA accredited,” said Maylon White, director of the
North Carolina Aquariums at Roanoke Island, which holds the federal endangered
species permit. “Up until a day or two ago, Pittsburgh met those standards. Now
we’re working out the logistics to bring the turtles back here.”
The Pittsburgh Zoo
will need to reapply to the AZA to continue its participation as a non-member
in more than 100 species sustainability programs that aid threatened and
endangered species through research and breeding of shared animals. The AZA has
also pulled its $5,000 grant for a children’s “nature playground” at th
Seattle Aquarium's Otter Inhaler Helps Treat Critter
With Asthma
The Seattle Aquarium
is hoping an inhaler can help a sea otter who officials believe developed
asthma because of wildfire smoke near the city.
The 1-year-old sea
otter named Mishka developed breathing problems recently when smoke from the
Eastern Washington wildfires moved into the Puget Sound ar
A fifth of visitors get sad when they go to the zoo
One in five people
surveyed in a YouGov poll for Metroxpress said that visiting the zoo made them
more sad than happy, and a quarter answered that this was because it seemed
like the animals weren’t happy.
However, Mads
Bertelsen, a vet at Copenhagen Zoo and adjunt professor in zoology at the
University of Copenhagen, told Metroxpress he doesn’t believe this to be the
case.
“Our animals aren’t
unhappy, but if some of our visitors get that impression, there’s something we
aren’t getting across well enough,” he said.
According to
Bertelsen, a zoo animal’
Chester Zoo birds to be reintroduced to the wild
A bird species that
was extinct in Europe for more than 300 years is to receive a welcome boost,
thanks to the efforts of keepers at Chester Zoo who are releasing them back
into the wild.
Four northern bald
ibis chicks have been relocated to Jerez in southern Spain as part of an
international conservation effort to tackle the drastic decline in numbers.
The birds will be
kept in an aviary at the Spanish zoo until the end of November when they will
get the best possible start in the wild. Before that they will be introduced to
other chicks bred in other European zoos this yea
Two big cats die at S.V. Zoological Park
Two big cats, a
lioness and a white tiger, died due to health-related issues at Sri
Venkateswara Zoological Park (SVZP), here on Friday. According to zoo
officials, the 16-year-old lioness Yampa, rescued from National Circus in
Maharashtra in 2001 and later transferred to SVZP’s Animal Rescue Centre,
passed away owing to old age. “For the past few days, Yampa had been suffering
from paralysis, besides being ridden with sores and ill-health,” they added.
The three-year-old white tiger Balaram sustained an injury near its tail,
during a playful banter with other tigers. Des
Last Remaining White Rhino Sick; Zoo Officials Don’t
Know Why
Veterinarians at the
San Diego Zoo Safari Park on Thursday performed a surgical procedure on an
abscess on the right hip of an aging northern white rhinoceros in an attempt to
get to the cause of the recurring ailment.
Nola, 41, is one of
just four northern white rhinos remaining in the world. She’s been on
antibiotics since near the beginning of the month for the abscess, which animal
keepers flush daily.
According to the
zoo, the veterinarians couldn’t immediately determine the cause of Nola’s
condition, but they took tissue and blood samples for further investigation.
Results of the tests are due in a week of two.
Going deep into the
abscess also helped it drain better and relieve pressure that can cause pain,
park officials said.
“We are treating
Nola for a bacterial infection on her right hip,” said Dr. Jim Oosterhuis, a
veterinarian at the park.
“The inside of the
abscess is very hard, and we want to determine what may be causing this,”
Oosterhuis said. “At this point, we simply don’t kn
World leaders urged to join campaign to free Kaavan
An international
campaign to free an Asian elephant — chained and kept in solitary confinement
for years at Islamabad Zoo — intensified after animal rights activists
announced they would approach international leaders to intervene after the
lackadaisical response from the Pakistani government.
The CDA management –
specifically the environment wing, which oversees affairs of the zoo – has
remained indifferent to thousands of appeals lodged by animal lo
Experts dispel spider bite's connection to mental
illness
Following a shooting
at Delta State University, investigators are now checking claims that a spider
bite caused the suspected shooter to have mental health problems.
Professor Shannon
Lamb reportedly shot and killed Amy Prentiss and Dr. Ethan Schmidt before
killing himself.
Experts at the
Memphis Zoo stated they have never heard of a spider bite causing a mental
reaction.
"In my
experience, you would not have a severe mental reaction to a spider bite,"
Memphis Zoo Assistant Curator Chris Baker said. "They're physical
reactions easily treated by medical doctors."
Baker has studied
spiders for 17 years. He explained that spider bites, even from the most
venomous animals, typically only cause a physical reaction to skin
Govt mulls new model of zoo operation
The government is
likely to grant license to any organisation or agency to operate zoos if they
meet the purposes including education, research as well as study and
entertainment.
An amendment
proposal to the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (NWCA) 1973 has
included a provision that allows institutions or agencies to operate zoos if
they meet criterions set by the government and serve the purpose of education,
research, breeding, genetic resource conservation and study, among others.
The proposal which
is under discussion at the Ministry Forests and Soil Conservation and if
approved, it will open the door for private sector as well as interested
agencies to establish mini zoos across the country. Until now, there is no
specific legal and regulatory framework that talks about zoo management. The
Central Zoo in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur, operated under the National Trust for
Nature Conservation is the only zoo in the country that manages captive animals
from across the country.
Sarita Gyawali,
chief at the Central Zoo, however, said the inclusion of a
An animal conservationist came up with a brilliant way
to save these obscure, adorable mammals
A squat, hoofed
creature with the body of a pig and the elongated snout of an anteater appeared
in the photo projected on stage at the TED Fellows Retreat in
Carmel-By-The-Sea, California. Roughly half the size of a horse, it lazily
munches on a bunch of leaves just inches from a woman's face.
"This is one of
the most amazing animals on the face of the earth,” said conservationist
Patricia Medici, the woman in the photo. "This is a tapir."
The tapir, a large,
powerful relative of the horse and rhinoceros, is one of the most helpful
herbivores in the animal kingdom. As tapirs roam the forests and grasslands of
Central and South America, they deposit fruit seeds through their feces —
promoting future plant growth and shaping the region's biodiversity.
For this reason,
they're known as the "gardeners
Inside the 'Zoo from Hell':
A schoolboy kicks a
frightened monkey's tiny metal cage as a crocodile languishes in a concrete
pool of its own urine, fed on dead dogs
A schoolboy laughs
as he kicks out at a frightened monkey peering out from behind a wire cage,
sending the animal screeching backwards in terror.
The boy moved from
cage to cage, his friends giggling and taking photos on mobile phones, as he
lashes out at other animals before a younger boy joined in to more laughter.
This is the
distressing daily routine at what one wildlife expert called ‘the Zoo From
Hell’, Borneo's Yuk Chin Mini Zoo - a shabby maze of metal cages where tortured
animals are rarely fed.
It is here where a
crocodile, living in a pond in its own urine, is occasionally tossed dead dogs
and cats to eat.
Sabah WIldlife freezes applications for mini zoos
following ‘zoo from hell’ expose
Sabah Wildlife
Department today froze all applications to operate new mini zoos in the state,
and launched a statewide operation against badly run zoos.
Its director William
Baya said a directive had been issued to all wildlife officers that no new
licences for mini zoos be issued.
“We also want to
ensure that the existing licence holders will keep their zoos clean and well
kept,” he said, in the wake of their recent rescue operation at the Yuk Chin
Mini Zoo in Tawau.
Baya said the mini
zoo was set up by the Yuk Chin Primary School over 20 years ago with the
intention of educating its pupils o
Mauling, escapes and abuse: 6 small zoos, 80 sick or
dead animals
The owner of the
Reston Zoo in Northern Virginia has extolled the staff’s love of animals, but
an employee drowned an injured wallaby in a plastic bucket, and a frostbitten
spider monkey went so long without treatment that it had to be euthanized.
The Natural Bridge
Zoo in western Virginia is billed as a sanctuary, but on recent visits, federal
inspectors found more than 40 animals in need of veterinary care and questioned
staff about a video that shows employees jabbing a monkey with sticks.
The Tri-State
Zoological Park in Western Maryland advertises itself as a great stop for kids,
but an inspector reported that some children had reached through a cage to pet
tigers while a guide stood nearby.
Those are among a
host of problems identified at six small zoos in Maryland and Virginia that
are popular destinat
Are American eels endangered? Should we care?
The American eel may
be ugly, but if it disappears, the impacts on the ecosystem will be even
uglier.
Anguilla rostrata is
a catadromous fish, meaning that it migrates from freshwater to spawn in
saltwater. The eels travel 1,600 miles from the Sargasso Sea to freshwater
rivers and streams, and then back to the sea.
Unless, of course,
they are intercepted by fishermen who sell them to Asian food markets, which
pay top dollar for young "glass eels" that the
What Does the Giraffe Say? Scientists Find the Answer
COWS MOO, LIONS
roar, and pigs oink. But for many years it’s been assumed that, except for the
occasional snort, giraffes spent most of their lives in a tight-lipped silence.
New research from a group studying animal sounds at the University of Vienna suggests
giraffes might not be so quiet after all: They spend their evenings humming.
For decades
zookeepers reported occasional snorts as the only sounds their charges made.
The conventional explanation was that the long necks of giraffes caused their
taciturn nature. Giraffes do have a larynx (voice box), but perhaps they
couldn’t produce sufficient airflow through their 13-foot long (4 meter)
trachea to vibrate their vocal folds and make noises.
The researchers
suspected the reason no one heard giraffe communication was because the sound
frequency was too low for humans to hear. Elephants and other large animals use
an ultra-low frequency “rumble” for long-distance communication; why not
giraffes?
So they recorded
giraffes at three zo
Houston Zoo forced to remove 'no guns' sign by city
At the behest of the
City of Houston which was prompted by a prominent Texas gun rights group, the
Houston Zoo has been forced to remove all "no guns" signage from its
premises.
Attorney Edwin
Walker with Texas Law Shield, a legal services firm for gun owners, sent a
demand letter to the Houston Zoo and its corporate entity and the city's parks
and recreation department on Sept. 3 asking that they take down all 30.06 (guns
prohibited) signs at the zoo.
A 30.06 sign can be
used by a business owner to prohibit a CHL holder from bringing a firearm into
business. The signs refer to Texas Penal Code 30.06 which forbids CHL holders
from bringing firearms into locales with 30.06 signs in plain sight at the entrance
or a
PSA: I Worked While I Was Pregnant and This Is What
Happened
Something happened
that I need to warn all you lady zookeepers about, especially those of you who
want kids.
It took me a while
to realize the extent to which this occurred, and even longer to put
two-and-two together. But my daughter was irrevocably altered largely due to
the fact that I worked through the vast majority of my pregnancy.
I'm sorry it's taken
me so long to post this, because I feel it's critical that every female who
incubates their own children know just what they're doing when they continue to
work at a zoo or aquarium while pregnant.
But the delay had a lot to do with the Infant Red Zone (or herein
referred to has IRZ). You know what I'm
talking about. It's that period of time
when your baby explodes into your life and is all like, "HELLO, I'D LIKE
TO PLAY
Cheetah, tiger embryos cloned from frozen skin cells
Argentinean
scientists have successfully produced embryos of endangered species such as
Asiatic cheetah, tiger and Bengal cat using frozen skin cells, in order to
preserve the planet's biodiversity.
"We are working
on non-native species as a first step. Our main objective is to avoid the
extinction of indigenous species, such as the jaguar," said Daniel
Salamone, associate professor of agronomy at the University of Buenos Aires
(UBA).
"The Buenos
Aires zoo has a genetic ..
Blackpool Zoo Owner For Sale In Arle Clearout
The owner of
Blackpool Zoo is being put up for sale as one of London's biggest pre-crisis
investment firms embarks on a multibillion pound clearout of its investments.
Sky News has learnt
that Parques Reunidos, a Spanish-based leisure parks operator, is to be the
subject of an auction this autumn engineered by Arle Capital Partners.
Arle, which was born
from the remnants of Candover, once one of the UK's pre-eminent private equity
groups, has hired bankers at Morgan Stanley to work on the sale.
Information about
Parque Reunidos will be circulated to prospective bidders imminently, a source
said.
In addition to
Blackpool Zoo, the company owns Bournemouth Aquarium and the Aquarium of the
Lakes in Cumbria.
Its earnings are
largely derived from visitor attractions in Spain, although it also has a
significant presence in the US, France, Italy and Argentina.
Media reports in
February sugges
Selling SeaWorld Orlando Would Be Stupid
It's not just
Blackfish-fed activists calling on SeaWorld Entertainment (NYSE:SEAS) to free
the whales from its clutches. Citi analyst Jason Bazinet is suggesting -- in a
note to clients -- that the theme-park operator should sell its most visited
park.
SeaWorld Orlando has
been a laggard in the otherwise booming tourist hotbed of Central Florida.
Disney's (NYSE:DIS) industry-leading theme parks are growing modestly. Rival
Universal is growing quickly. SeaWorld is struggling. Attendance at competing
parks in Orlando has risen between 4% and 76% over the past five years,
according to industry tracker Themed Entertainment Association. SeaWorld
Orlando's turnstile clicks in that time have dipped from 5.8 million in 2009 to
4.683 million, off by 19% in that time.
It's going the wrong
way, so Bazinet's modest proposal involves SeaWorld selling off the park. It
owns the park's land -- unlike its original park's leased site in San Diego --
and that could net SeaWorld $500 million in after-tax value. Given the surge in
popularity at Universal and Disney's expansion efforts that will play out in
the coming years, it's easy to see how a juicy chunk of land right off I-4
between Disney and Universal could be tempting for developers if the buyers
didn't want to stay in the theme-park
Baby Gorilla Died In Zoo, And Her Mother Just Can't
Let Go
It is a heartrending
scene.
Dian, a western
lowland female gorilla at the Frankfurt Zoo in Germany, is devotedly carrying
her newly born twin babies around in her enclosure.
However, one of the
infants is dead.
Dian gave birth on
September 15 without any complications. But immediately thereafter, one of the
newborns began to rapidly decline — and by the morning of September 17, the
infant had died, accor
David M. Rubenstein Pledges $4.5 Million to Fund
National Zoo Panda Program Through 2020
The namesake of the
National Zoo's giant panda habitat has pledged a second $4.5 million gift to
the panda program, zoo officials announced Thursday.
The donation from
David M. Rubenstein will fund the program through the end of 2020.
The news comes less
than a month after twin panda cubs were born to the zoo's female giant panda,
Mei Xiang. The smaller of the two cubs died four days after birth, but the
surviving cub is healthy and growing quickly.
Zoo vets said
earlier this week that the newborn now weighs close to two pounds. He has also
been spotted
Really Big Grand Rapids Rodent May Be First Of Its
Kind To Get Chemo
This may be the
first time a Capybara will be treated with chemotherapy.
The large rodent
named Jersey, who resembles a dramatically over-sized guinea pig, lives at the
John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids.
BluePearl Veterinary
Partners oncologist Dr. Christine Swanson says Jersey, who is 11 years old and
weighs about 100 pounds, recently had a cancerous tumor removed from her leg.
Swanson said
chemotherapy beads will be implanted next.
“Chemotherapy is a
pretty scary word if you’re used to it on the human side, but in veterinary
medicine it’s more about quality of life,” she told WWJ Newsradio 950’s Beth
Fisher.
“Particularly for
Jersey here…these are going to be very slowly released.”
Swanson said this
type of chemo is usually used for horses, but has been used to treat cats and
dogs over the last five years. She the treatment probably won’t bother Jersey
too much.
“We don’t expect her
to have any side effects from
5 things we need to stop telling ourselves about zoos
We hear a lot of
things to justify keeping animals in captivity. But are these justifications
based on fact, or are they simply what zoos would have us believe? Here's 5
things we hear about zoos, and why we should think twice about them.
Vingroup begins animal conservation programme on Phu
Quoc; safari next
VietNamNet Bridge –
Property giant Vingroup announced plans to establish an animal conservation
programme on Phu Quoc Island this month and start an animal safari two months
later.
The group said
Vinpearl Safari would help carry out research, educational activities and
fundraising for wildlife conservation, enhance public awareness and develop
nature tourism in Viet Nam.
The programme has
started with research and conservation of some rare animal species and their
natural habitats.
Next up is a safari
park in Bai Dai (Long Beach) in Phu Quoc that will have a zoo and night safari
with nine theme areas based on different regions in the world.
In phase 1, it plans
to develop two theme parks -- African and Indian -- on an area of 180ha. Work
is expected to begin in December.
It will involve
2,000 animals belonging to 130 species besides 400 plant species.
Le Khac Quyet, the
director of the programme, said it would be of international standard and a
precursor to many animal research and conservation efforts in Viet Nam.
Young elephant dies of herpes at Chester Zoo as virus
claims its third victim in two years
A two-year old Asian
elephant has died of herpes at Chester Zoo just days after falling ill.
Bala Hi Way, who was
born at the zoo in January 2013, was taken sick over the weekend and died last
night despite 'the very best efforts of all teams involved in her care',
zookeepers said.
The exact cause of
death will be determined by a post-mortem examination, but the zoo revealed the
female calf had tested positive for elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus
(EEHV).
Thailand's 'superstar' hippo turns 49
Dusit Zoo will throw
a birthday party for its most famous resident, Mae Mali the hippopotamus, who
turns 49 this month.
Zoo spokeswoman
Paowanna Wongmaneewan said Friday that the facility expects about 1,000-plus
well-wishers to show up on Saturday and Sunday to sing Happy Birthday to the
hefty herbivore.
Her exact birthday
was not recorded by the zoo, so it calculated that sometime in September would
be a good time to celebrate her birth date.
''Mae Mali is the
oldest creature at the zoo. Obviously, she's a superstar to the kids,'' she
said.
Dusit Zoo received
the river horse from Tilburg Zoo in the Netherlands in 1967 when she was only a
year old. Since then the hippo has sired 14 calves, one of them which died youn
Taiwan, China to exchange sika deers for giant pandas
A Taiwanese zoo said Sunday it has reached an
agreement with a zoo in China to exchange a pair of Taiwan's Formosan sika deer
for two Chinese pandas.
The Shoushan Zoo in
Kaohsiung will give two of its endemic sika deers to the Chengdu Zoo in China's
Sichuan Province, said Chuang Hsuan-chih, director of the Shoushan Zoo.
In return, the
Chinese zoo will gift two of its pandas to the Shoushan Zoo, Chuang said.
The exchange is
expected to enrich the diversity of species at the Shoushan Zoo, which has been
seeking to do so but has been limited by its funding and space.
The zoo, which
attracts ar
Govt to revive ‘wildlife gifting’
The government is
doing its homework to revive the tradition of ‘gifting’ its wildlife to foreign
countries as a way of improving diplomatic ties and help in wildlife
conservation in the long run.
The amendment bill
on National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (NWCA) 1973 that is put for
discussion by the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) has
included a provision that would allow countries to receive wild animals from
Nepal if the agreement benefits the conservation and management of wildlife in
the country.
“If any country
forwards its request for a wildlife from Nepal and abides by the set
guidelines, and the donor country considers the request appropriate from the
conservation and management perspective, then the state could make the wildlife
available as per the request,” the clause 15( E) of the amended bill mentions.
A practice of
‘gifting’ wildlife including endangered rhinoceros was already in place during
the royal regime and was stopped after Nepal became a federal democratic
republic in 2007. The then King Mahendra
Trust for Nature Conservation, now renamed as National Trust for Nature
Conservation, patronised by monarchs had been involved in gifting rhi
National Zoological Park staff injured
A staff of National
Zoological Park (Delhi Zoo) here was injured while trying to separate two
elephants who clashed this morning.
The staff member
Kulin Boro, care taker of elephants' in the zoo was looking after the three
elephants who were allowed morning stroll as per schedule. When the two
elephants started a fight while playing he tried to separate them.
"While doing so
he fell down and received light injuries on his arms and knee. He was rushed to
RML hospital where he was treated for his wounds and later discharged,"
said zoo official RA Khan.
"It is wrong to
say that he was attacked by elephants because in that case he wo
Want to Census a Jungle? Sequence DNA From
Blood-Sucking Leeches
When Thomas Gilbert
found the Annamite striped rabbit, he wasn’t traipsing through the jungles of
Vietnam where the exceedingly rare creature lives. He wasn’t inspecting a trap,
or peering through binoculars. He wasn’t even flicking through photographs captured
by a camera-trap. He was, instead, looking at the rabbit’s DNA.
Which he had pulled
out of a leech.
There are some 700
species of leech and many of them suck the blood of mammals. In doing so, they
achieve with ease what scientists find difficult: They sneak through thick,
tropical rainforest and collect DNA samples from rare and elusive species. By
collecting these mini-vampires in turn, and sequencing the DNA in their bodies,
scientists can get a cheap and surprisingly comprehensive snapshot of a
jungle’s fauna.
The idea behind this
unorthodox census technique started with Mads Bertelsen, a vet from Copenhagen
Zoo. Bertelsen was doing fieldwork in Malaysia when he saw a leech fastened to
the side of a ta
First European jackal discovered in Denmark
DNA samples of an
animal that was struck and killed by a vehicle in Jutland earlier this summer
have confirmed that the jackal has now also arrived in Denmark.
The European jackal
a carnivore that is just a bit smaller than a golden retriever. It is normally
found in the Balkans and southern Europe but has also been registered in
Austria and Germany.
When tests confirmed
that the animal struck by a vehicle was a jackal, it marked the first recorded
appearance of the species in Denmark.
According to
geneticist Liselotte Wesley Andersen, who examined the jackal, it was a male
with no testicles which could mean that it was held in captivity.
Retirement won't keep zoo director away
Now that he is
retiring as the director of the North Carolina Zoo, David Jones is looking
forward to spending more time tending his 2 acres of yard, leading some trips
to Africa, doing a little public speaking and maybe even writing a book.
“I think what I’ll
miss most is the sheer variety of tasks and dealing with so many things at any
time,” said Jones, 71. He was director for more than two decades. “As zoo
director, nothing was the same from one hour to the next.”
But Jones has no
plans to leave zoo life completely behind. He will help the new director,
Patricia Simmons, through the end of October and will continue to serve with
the N.C. Zoo Society, helping with a large capital campaign.
During Jones’
tenure, the zoo’s landholdings have increased from about 1,400 to 2,200 acres,
making it the largest zoo in the world in terms of land area. The number of
visitors per year has grown steadily to 750,000, and the zoo has gained
international reco
MOBILE RECORD KEEPING
Celebrating a Year of Excellence Beyond Compliance®
James F. Gesualdi, P.C., Islip, Long Island, New
York, whose practice is concentrated on animal welfare and wildlife
conservation, will be celebrating a year since the release of his book, Excellence Beyond Compliance: Enhancing
Animal Welfare Through the Constructive Use of the Animal Welfare Act, Maurice
Bassett (2014). (Named Finalist for the
2014 National Indie Excellence® Book Awards in the category of
Animals/Pets.) Gesualdi’s book, released September 30, 2014,
challenges everyone to work together towards excellence in animal welfare by
asking one simple question,
What can we do TODAY to improve the well-being of animals?
Gesualdi has been busy this past year sharing the
Excellence Beyond Compliance® approach via presentations, programs/webinars,
radio/interviews, articles and updates. Excellence
Beyond Compliance® is proud to be a Collaborating Partner of the San Diego Zoo
Global Academy where Gesualdi writes a
monthly e-Newsletter column, “Getting Better All the Time” (on continuous
improvement in animal welfare), available at http://sdzglobalacademy.org/newsletter.html. For
more information on Gesualdi and his book go to http://excellencebeyondcompliance.com/.
10 things you might not know about zoos
1. Dr. Seuss' 1950
book "If I Ran the Zoo" featured such animals as "a Nerkle, a
Nerd and a Seersucker, too!" This is the likely origin of the slang term
"nerd."
The Case for Zoos: They Just Might Save the Endangered
Pygmy Hippo
Most people have
never heard of the pygmy hippo, much less seen one. Until 1844, even scientists
did not recognize the existence of this species—a miniaturized, snubbier-nosed
(and considerably cuter) 400-pound version of the 3,300-pound common hippo. But
pygmy hippos are rapidly disappearing from their West African habitat—and the
culprits are entirely familiar.
“Large areas of the
original forest habitat, especially in Côte d’Ivoire, have been destroyed or
degraded by commercial plantations
All eyes turn to Africa thanks, in part, to 15 little skeletons deep in a cave. Welcome, Homo naledi. But there is more to say about Africa’s prehistory and about the state of wildlife in Africa today. September’s stories at www.zooplantman.com (NEWS/Botanical News) will bring you up to speed on Africa and more:
· Why don’t all African savanna animal species eat grass? There’s plenty of it. Researchers have found that over time most groups have tried to eat grass. The experiment wasn’t always successful. Some species even went extinct.
· After decades of watching Asian forests disappear to the palm oil industry, palm oil plantations have come (back) to Africa. Wildlife – especially primates – again pays the price
· Elsewhere in Africa logging has grown at unprecedented rates: in Ghana the rate of deforestation is six times the maximum sustainable rate. More than half of all understory birds have vanished.
· If a parasitic plant’s seed germinates when suitable hosts aren’t around it will die. So how have these freeloaders managed to avoid that fatal mistake?
· As if bees don’t have enough problems, in Europe an introduced Asian hornet kills them. One scientist believes that the solution lies with North American carnivorous pitcher plants (Sarracenia). It’s eat AND be eaten!
Too often zoos or aquariums planning major indoor exhibit buildings create architecture not planned with the plantings in mind. What is more avoidable than a rain forest exhibit with supplemental lighting? Better, greener exhibits can be designed with the help of Daylighting Modeling, allowing designers to predict light levels throughout the building for every month of the year. I will be presenting this design tool during the 35th annual Association of Zoological Horticulture conference next month in San Francisco. Join me. http://www.azh.org/2015-AZH-Conference
Please share these stories with associates, staff, docents and – most importantly – visitors!
Follow on Twitter, Facebook Or visit www.plantworldnews.com – new stories every day as well as hundreds of stories from the past few years.
Use the Search feature to find the stories you need. Elephants and seed dispersal? Bees and native plants? African ecosystems? Just ask.
Rob
Many Animals Can Become Mentally Ill
We think of
psychological disorders like anxiety and depression as uniquely human problems,
but many other species could be suffering from them too
25 Things You Might Not Know About Rhinos
The word rhinoceros
is a combination of two Greek words – rhino (nose) and ceros (horn).
There are five
living species of rhinoceros – white, black, greater one-horned, Javan and
Sumatran. In addition, a number of other animals have rhinoceros as part of
their names, including the rhinoceros auklet, rhinoceros beetle, rhinoceros
chameleon, rhinoceros cockroach, rhinoceros fish, rhinoceros hornbill,
rhinoceros iguana, rhinoceros rat snake, rhino shrimp, and rhinoceros viper.
All of them have horn-like appendages on their noses.
Crowdsourcing could cut conservation costs for boring,
uncharismatic, or ugly species.
On a tiny island
north of Papua New Guinea lives a snail that dons an electric-green shell with
a yellow stripe. In the 1930s, the world decided these shells would make some
swell jewelry, so the people of Manus Island started collecting the gastropods
to meet international demand. By the ’60s and ’70s, the shells had become so in
vogue that they were sold in units of 500.
An Inconvenient Truth: Why Activists So Irrationally
Defend Pseudoscience
Mark Simmons is,
without a doubt, the most experienced trainer featured in the film “Blackfish.”
His 10 years at
SeaWorld was the longest consecutive career with the SeaWorld orcas out of any
of the former employees featured and his career with marine mammals has lasted
nearly 30 years.
He was the only
trainer who had any hands-on experience with the film’s orca of choice,
Tilikum. He was the only person interviewed who made the journey with Tilikum
from Sealand in Canada to SeaWorld Orlando. At the end of his SeaWorld career,
he left to start his own consulting agency, the work of which involves
improving the lives of cetaceans in zoological facilities across the world.
EU Zoos Directive -
Good Practices Document
The greatest efforts
for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity need to focus on
measures in the wild.
This is the primary
focus of EU level action through the Birds and Habitats Directives, the EU
Biodiversity strategy, the Regulation on Invasive Alien Species and EC wildlife
trade regulations implementing CITES, all of which contribute to achieving objectives
of the Convention on Biological Diversity & other international agreements.
*****
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Zoo Conferences, Meetings, Courses and Symposia
If you have anything to add then please email me at elvinhow@gmail.com
I will include it when I get a minute. You know it makes sense.
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Zoo Jobs
Vacancies in Zoos and Aquariums and Wildlife/Conservation facilities around the World
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