Zoo News Digest 17th March 2017 (ZooNews 949)
Peter Dickinson
elvinhow@gmail.com
Dear Colleague,
Yesterday I read an
article about Ratel (Honey Badgers). I think perhaps it was that which conjured
up a memory dream last night. This was when Myself and my Killer Whale Trainer
girlfriend first visited Howletts. It wasn't an official zoo then but a private
collection and not open to the public. Port Lympne was not even thought of. We
visited the Tigers and the Gorillas….and yes the Ratel which were housed in a
Squash Court. How things have changed. No Killer Whales in the UK for a long
time now (and rightly so). And my girlfriend….I think of her often. Yes...things have changed.
I am told repeatedly
that there are some really stupid comments being made on Facebook. I agree. At
the same time there are some real gems of sensible ones. I hope that readers
will learn something from both.
I have never banned
or removed anybody for a comment made on the Facebook Group but that is not to
say I wouldn't. I would remove anything that was way out of the interest sphere
or was overly abusive. To me it is all about education. There are and always
will be opposing point of views. In the same way that I post pro and anti-zoo
articles I do so to be aware of what the Animal Rights Anarchists are up to and
let others know. I want to know what they are saying and what they are up
to….and I think you should to. On occasion I have been asked to remove a link
or not post a link and even offered money to do so. It doesn't work. I cannot
be corrupted. My interests are diverse and reading the various links expands my
knowledge. I am more generalist than specialist with Zoo Biology being my main
interest and it is this which leads to the choice of diverse links. I look for
humour too because life can be just too serious.
Dear Colleague,
Yesterday I read an
article about Ratel (Honey Badgers). I think perhaps it was that which conjured
up a memory dream last night. This was when Myself and my Killer Whale Trainer
girlfriend first visited Howletts. It wasn't an official zoo then but a private
collection and not open to the public. Port Lympne was not even thought of. We
visited the Tigers and the Gorillas….and yes the Ratel which were housed in a
Squash Court. How things have changed. No Killer Whales in the UK for a long
time now (and rightly so). And my girlfriend….I think of her often. Yes...things have changed.
I am told repeatedly
that there are some really stupid comments being made on Facebook. I agree. At
the same time there are some real gems of sensible ones. I hope that readers
will learn something from both.
I have never banned
or removed anybody for a comment made on the Facebook Group but that is not to
say I wouldn't. I would remove anything that was way out of the interest sphere
or was overly abusive. To me it is all about education. There are and always
will be opposing point of views. In the same way that I post pro and anti-zoo
articles I do so to be aware of what the Animal Rights Anarchists are up to and
let others know. I want to know what they are saying and what they are up
to….and I think you should to. On occasion I have been asked to remove a link
or not post a link and even offered money to do so. It doesn't work. I cannot
be corrupted. My interests are diverse and reading the various links expands my
knowledge. I am more generalist than specialist with Zoo Biology being my main
interest and it is this which leads to the choice of diverse links. I look for
humour too because life can be just too serious.
Did You Know?
ZooNews Digest has over 53,000 'Like's' on Facebook and has a weekly reach often exceeding over 350,000 people? That ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 800 Zoos in 153+ countries? That the subscriber list for the mail out reads like a 'Zoos Who's Who?'
If you are a subscriber to the email version then you probably knew this already. You would also know that ZooNews Digest pre-dates any of the others. It was there before FaceBook. It was there shortly after the internet became popular and was a 'Blog' before the word had been invented. ZooNews Digest reaches zoo people.
Did You Know?
ZooNews Digest has over 53,000 'Like's' on Facebook and has a weekly reach often exceeding over 350,000 people? That ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 800 Zoos in 153+ countries? That the subscriber list for the mail out reads like a 'Zoos Who's Who?'
If you are a subscriber to the email version then you probably knew this already. You would also know that ZooNews Digest pre-dates any of the others. It was there before FaceBook. It was there shortly after the internet became popular and was a 'Blog' before the word had been invented. ZooNews Digest reaches zoo people.
******************************************************
Twycross
Transformed: the Making of a Modern Zoo
Twycross Zoo already
enjoys a worldwide reputation for its specialist care of primates. Now, the
registered charity has unveiled the blueprints of an ambitious 20-year Master
Plan. This will transform the attraction in rural Leicestershire into one of the
most impressive in the UK.
The £55 million
capital investment programme aims to turn Twycross Zoo into a landmark tourist
venue providing an immersive, entertaining and engaging visitor experience as
well as consolidating its status as an internationally respected hub of animal
conservation, research and education.
The Secret Life Of
The Zoo Keeper
Asian elephants are
under threat. It is likely that there will be more people attending your
nearest Premier League football match this weekend than there are Asian
elephants left in the wild. Less than 40,000 of the species remain. They are
threatened by habitat loss, poaching, disease and direct conflict with humans.
Experts from Chester Zoo are working in India to protect the species from
human-wildlife conflict, while closer to home they are part of a breeding
programme focused on sustaining the population in Europe.
As viewers of
Channel 4’s The Secret Life of the Zoo TV series will know, Chester’s elephant
herd are a close knit family. Scientific research has shown that social bonds
between individual elephants has a big influence on cohesion in the whole group
and consequently the health and wellbeing of the herd.
As elephant
assistant team manager at C
Careless caretakers:
over dozen animals, birds died in 2016 at Islamabad zoo
Over dozens of
animals and birds worth millions of rupees have died in capital’s oldest
MarghazarZoo in last one year due to the negligence of the Metropolitan
Corporation Islamabad (MCI).
Well-placed sources
in the MCI revealed that the dead bodies, skins, skulls, bones and other
precious parts of some animals and birds were allegedly sold out in the black
market in the cover of their burial, Pakistan Today has learnt.
A zebra, hog deer,
ostrich male, zebra foal, ostrich female, wolf, lion cub male, lion cub female,
flamingo male, crane male, two common peafowl male, ring-necked pheasant
female, and demoiselle crane have died in 2016. However, two Nilgai’s have died
so far in 2017.
“We had many deer at
the zoo and in green belt near Faisal Mosque numbering around 42, if someone
paid 85-95 thousand rupees then the authority allowed him to take a pair of
uncommon deer for any purpose t
Panic after two
leopards escape Himachal zoo
Two leopards escaped
the Gopalpur Zoo, about 20 km from here on Tuesday night, triggering panic
among residents in the area.
The administration
had sounded an alert in surrounding areas and parents have been asked not to
sent their children alone to school. A control room had been set up at
Gopalpur, officials said. The leo
‘Give the management
of Karachi zoo to experts’
Increasing concerns over the rights of captive
animals have led to major changes at zoos around the world in the last few
decades. While this process of transformation is continuing with more
scientific data emerging on the complexity of animal life and the negative
effects of captivity, there exists a strong opinion against the very concept of
zoos.
This debate on
whether to have or not to have a zoo is very much relevant to Pakistan, a
country where animal abuse is rampant, laws on captive animals hardly exist,
and living conditions in facilities like the Karachi Zoological Garden are
extremely deplorable, to say the least.
Faiza Ilyas recently
discussed this subject with Rab Nawaz, senior director programmes at the World
Wi
Pictures Show the
Strange Lives of Captive Polar Bears
During a
particularly brutal Chicago winter in 2014, photographer Sheng Wen Lo remembers
reading that it was too cold for polar bears housed in the city’s Lincoln Park
Zoo to go outside. It sounded like the lead-up to a bad joke, but it was true.
Captive polar bears aren’t as tough as wild ones. Their skin is thinner and
they can’t withstand extreme cold.
The news was
particularly striking to Lo. For three years, he has been photographing captive
polar bears in 25 zoos and other enclosures in Europe and China. The series,
called White Bear, exposes the welfare of animals within artificial habitats by
observing their behavior.
It’s tempting to
look at Lo’s images as a pointed argument against keeping polar bears in zoos.
And in many ways, polar bears are unique: They’re charismatic zoo animals
well-known to tourists, they represent a unique and remote ecosystem, and they
are highly sensitive to environmental change. Yet Lo intends the series—and the
bears—to provoke larger questions about which animals are suited for captivity,
and which might not be.
Lo approaches animal
captivity the same way he approaches computer science, in which he has a
master’s degree. Before even taking the first picture, Lo consulted a
veterinarian about how to read the actions of polar bears (i.e. is pacing
always a sign of distress?) Then, while developing the series, he invited
zoology experts to view th
Flamingo kicked to
death in Czech zoo by three children after they stoned it
A trio of schoolboys
aged between five and eight-years-old reportedly kicked a flamingo to death
after pelting it with stones at a zoo in the Czech Republic.
The youngsters
reportedly climbed over the fence of the Jihlava Zoo before launching their
attack on the flock of American flamingos.
“First, they pelted
them with stones," zoologist Jan Vašák told the Prague Morning news site,
adding that one of them started to kick one of the birds.
Zoo death statistics
can be misleading - we care deeply for all of our animals
There is absolutely
no room in this world for zoos with substandard practices and poor
consideration for animal wellness. Poorly managed zoos do not contribute to the
genuine conservation effort and tarnish the reputation of all zoos. Nobody
criticises or condemns them more strongly than those of us who are part of the
zoo community.
Tiger cub used as
photo prop attacks and injures kindergartener in East Java zoo
A tiger cub used as
a photo prop at Jatim Park zoo in the city of Batu, East Java attacked a
4-year-old kindergartener just before a photo session, severely injuring her.
The incident
reportedly occurred on Tuesday afternoon. The victim, identified by her
initials TAP, was on a school field trip at the popular East Java zoo when the
6-month-old tiger cub attacked her.
“At the time the
area was crowded. There were many screaming kids around. The tiger cub got
startled and suddenly lunged at the victim, hugging her. During that hug, the
tiger cub also clawed at the kid,” an unnamed witness told Tribun on Tuesday
evening.
TAP was taken to a
nearby hospital for treatment. Reports say that she suffered a deep wound on
her chest, as well as injuries on her neck and back. The hospital’s staff said
TAP received surgery yesterday.
The zoo management
confirmed that the attack on TAP happened but have put it down as an accident.
According to them, a zoo staff member brought the cub out of its enclosure to a
public area for a photo session with visitors. Just like the witness testimony
above, they believe that the cub was startled by the presence of noisy children
before it attacked TAP.
The zoo pledged to
cover all of TAP’s medical costs.
The Batu City Police
said they are conducting an investigation into the incident.
Predatory animals
being used as photo props are
Russian zoo sues
advertising firm for 'traumatising' rented raccoon in erotic photo shoot
A Moscow zoo is
suing an advertising firm that used one of its animals in an erotic photo
shoot.
Tomas the racoon was
left “traumatised” and came back with an unhealthy attraction to women’s
breasts after the shoot with Moscow studio Art-Msk last year, his owners have
said.
Animals Aren’t Toys,
a privately run “contact zoo” that allows visitors to handle its animals, is
now suing the company not only for Tomas’ ordeal, but damage to the reputation
of an entire species.
Bear shot dead at
German zoo after escaping from cage
A bear that broke
out of its cage at a zoo in northern Germany was shot dead by a zookeeper while
visitors were evacuated, police have said.
After the bear
escaped through a hole in its cage, the staff at the zoo in Osnabrueck took
visitors into the monkey house to shelter, German media reported.
The zookeeper shot
the bear dead before the police arrived at the scene, the head of the zoo
Andrea
100-hectare Safari
to open by 4th quarter
THE long wait is
over. Cebuano pawnshop tycoon Michel Lhuillier on Thursday announced he is set
to open the 100-hectare safari in Carmen in the last quarter of this year.
Lhuillier disclosed the safari’s opening schedule to correct reports
circulating online that it is due to open this summer. “I never said (we will
open by) April. I’d like to correct that. We are aiming to open by October or
November this year. Please be patient, as we are doing our best to make this
attraction the best,” he said. Lhuillier, who holds several other businesses in
Cebu, said the safari is one of his biggest investments. It will feature
entertainment, animal interactions, shows, eight adventure rides, and an
accommodation facility, among others. “I tell you this will be a different
world. You will really be entertained,” he said. Seventy percent of the animals
will arrive in Cebu this month; these were bought by Lhuillier from Texas,
(south of) France, and Dubai. The safari will also house 60 species of birds
and feature the family’s collection of orchids and other flower varieties. “You
will get to interact with the animals. We will have shows where you can feed
them,” said Lhuillier, adding that they hired
Cebu’s own safari to
open before the year ends
A FEW more months of
waiting and Cebuano pawnshop tycoon Michel J. Lhuillier will be opening the
country’s biggest zoo in the upland area of
Carmen town, 41.7
kilometers north of Cebu City.
With everyone’s
excitement building up as photos of the 100-hectare development of the
Lhuillier have been posted on social media sites, Michel asked everyone to be
patient and wait for October or November this year for the opening of Cebu’s
own safari.
“I’m hoping to open
by October or November. Let’s be patient. I will do my best to make it the best
in the world. You no longer have to travel around the world or go to Safari
because I’m bringing the world here,” said Michel.
172,200 people to
make way for pandas
SOUTHWEST China’s
Sichuan Province, home to most of China’s giant pandas, is planning to relocate
172,200 people to build a panda national park, the provincial forestry
department said yesterday.
The
27,134-square-kilometer park that covers parts of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi
provinces, was approved by central government this year.
The area in Sichuan
will cover around 20,000 square kilometers, 74 percent of the park. Seven
cities and prefectures, and 19 counties are involved.
About 32,300 workers
and retired people in more than 1,900 mines and forests in the area would be
affec
Elephant kills
trainer with trunk at Wakayama zoo
An elephant whacked
a trainer with its trunk and killed him at a Japanese zoo on Sunday, police
said.
Wichai Madee from
Thailand was washing an 3.5-ton Indian elephant with a colleague at Adventure
World in the western prefecture of Wakayama when the giant animal swung its
trunk and hit him.
“The animal might
have somehow become angry. It swung its trunk and the trunk hit the person who
was working in front of the elephant,” a police spokesman told AFP.
“The person
apparently was pushed hard and hit either the cage or the ground and hit his
head.”
Other zoo staff
called the police saying “an employee was attacked by an elephant”, according
to private broadcaster TBS.
The 37-year-old
trainer was taken to hospital but later
Over 100 animals die
in Dublin Zoo in two years (including some critically endangered ones)
MORE THAN 100
animals died at Dublin Zoo during a two-year period between 2014 and 2016, it
has been revealed.
The dead animals
include a significant number of critically endangered species that are extinct
or nearly extinct in the wild.
Among the 109
animals to die at the Zoo during the 24-month period were a southern white
rhinoceros, two Rothschild giraffes, three grey wolves, and a red panda.
The 68 that died in
2015 included seven that were temporarily on loan from other zoos.
Details of the
animal deaths at one of the State’s most popular visitor attractions are
contained in inventory records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
Documents submitted
by Dublin Zoo to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) as part of its
licence application show
Zoo deaths: 'In the
wild, gorillas don't eat their own vomit and pull out their hair in
frustration'
ZOOS BEGAN AS
menageries where the rich could see the living exotic “spoils” of wars in
foreign lands. Now they’re simply animal prisons.
The justification
many zoos give for their existence in the 21st century is that they protect
animals and conserve endangered species.
But the recent
reports that more than 100 animals have died at Dublin Zoo in a two-year period
should serve as an urgent wake-up call and prompt us to re-evaluate the role
these institutions play in today’s society.
Among the 109
animals to die at the zoo during the 24-month period were three scimitar-horned
oryxes, three Humboldt penguins, a pair of red-tipped mangabeys, two
Rothschild’s giraffes, two wild African hunting dogs, an African spurred
tortoise, a southern white rhinoceros, and a red panda, all of whom were
How do animals
perceive their world in zoos and aquariums?
Time and Memory
Processing in Animals
According to critics
of marine parks, zoos and aquariums, captive animals (particularly dolphins,
whales, elephants and primates) are utterly miserable creatures. The primary
misery described by activists is that the animals are acutely self-aware, they miss
the wild and their families, hate performing, feel like they are enslaved by
humans, and hate being in cages and pools. They dream of freedom.
The various anti-zoo/aquarium groups make
statements such as:
On captivity “…It is
animal slavery…” 1
On animals
performing: “…As you work, you are watched by hundreds of spectators. You are
provided food as a reward for positive behavior, but if you behave against the
guards’ wishes, you could possibly suffer the consequences of missing a meal.
Your survival depends on care given by your prison guards. You don’t speak the
same language as these guards, so you can’t tell them you don’t belong there…”
2
On living in an
aquarium “…In nature, dolphins swim vast distances every day with their
extended families, exploring new places and seeking out adventures and
pursuits…” 3
Dolphins, whales,
elephants and great apes in particular are targeted by critics and activists as
being uniquely special in the animal world. Projects on intelligence,
self-awareness and emotions in these animals receive extensive popular press
and has led to the public opinion that they are unusually smart. So smart that
they shouldn’t be kept in zoos and aquariums.
It is true that
dolphins, killer
Zoo boss speaks out
to allay fears over escaped wolves in Dalton
THE new boss of the
South Lakes Safari Zoo has moved to reassure residents of Dalton amid rumours
two wolves have escaped from the attraction.
Karen Brewer, chief
executive of the newly formed Cumbria zoo management company said there was no
truth on the rumours which are being heavily circulated on social media.
Mrs Brewer said:
"I was at t
Armed officers in
Dalton 'for incident' - not escaped animals
Police in Dalton
have responded to rumours on social media that armed officers were called out
to deal with two escaped wolves.
Barrow Police say no
animals have escaped from South Lakes Safari Zoo, instead telling a local
newspaper they'd responded to a call reporting a sighting of someone with a
gun.
After several hours
of searching
Twycross Zoo CEO
reflects on 'a difficult few weeks' for zoos
It has been a
difficult few weeks for anyone who works in zoos as they have made headlines in
the UK and Europe and not for the right reasons.
Questions are
inevitably being asked about whether there is still a need to keep animals in
captivity for the public's entertainment.
Capital zoo seeks to
raise awareness and role of sea lions
Prior to welcoming back the sea lions at the
private zoo in Abu Dhabi, Emirates Park Zoo and Resort is inviting guests to
the property for an educational presentation about sea mammals starting March,
Emirates Park Zoo announced Saturday.
The presentation
aims to inform audiences for a better understanding on the ecology of sea
lions, and the role humans play in conserving the species whose existence has
recently come under threat.
The audience will
learn all about sea lions, its method of adaptation
Belgian zoo shortens
rhinos' horns after French killing
A Belgian zoo said
Saturday it will shorten its rhinos' horns as an anti-poaching measure
following the grisly killing of a white rhino in France this week.
A four-year-old
southern white male was shot three times in the head at a French zoo in Thoiry
outside Paris on Monday and had its horns cut off probably "with a
chainsaw" police said.
The perpetrators,
who have still not been found, stole only the main horn, which is estimated to
be worth 30,000-40,000 euros ($32,000-$42,690).
The Pairi Daiza zoo,
about 60 kilometres (40 miles) southwest of Brussels, has three adult rhinos
and a baby white rhino born in March 2016 as part of its 5,000-animal complex.
Director Eric Domb
wrote on the zoo's Facebook page that the French killing had prompted him to
ask "our veterinarian to proceed on a temporary basis and as an additional
measure to security procedures already in place at Pairi Daiza" to shorten
their rhinos' horns.
"This heinous
act is the first in Europe but it is part of a long line of rhino horn thefts
from many European museums," Domb wrote.
With this measure,
he said, he also wanted to not only protect the zoo's animals but its security
personnel as well.
In the Thoiry
incident, intruders forced the main gate of the
Animal deaths may be
linked to transportation
Two wild dolphins
between the ages of four and five were captured at Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture
in Japan and imported to Korea on Feb. 9. But within five days at the
Jangsaengpo Special Whale Culture Zone at Jaengsaengpo, Ulsan, one dolphin
died. An autopsy revealed the cause of death was an accumulation of blood
outside the lungs. Specialists hypothesized the dolphin suffered from an
external impact resulting in chest trauma.
On Feb. 3, a Mt.
Baekdu area Siberian tiger named Geumgangi collapsed and died at the Baekdu
Mountain Range National Arboretum at Bonghwa, North Gyeongsang, nine days after
being relocated from the O-World Zoo at Daejeon to Bonghwa County, North
Gyeongsang. Vets confirmed the tiger died from poor blood flow to the liver
resulting from severe fluid loss. The average lifespan of a captive tiger is 20
years, while wild dolphins generally live for 25 years. Considering this, why
would an otherwise healthy wild dolphin and Siberian tiger suddenly expire?
The vibration
isolating truck used for transporting the tiger traveled 60 to 80 kilometers
(37 miles to 50 miles) per hour, and the trip lasted five hours. The dolphin
was transported by boat and truck for 32 hours. The Nam D
The tortoise who
saved his species
Of all the giant tortoises on these islands,
where the theory of evolution was born, only a few have received names that
stuck.
There was Popeye,
adopted by sailors at an Ecuadorean naval base. There was Lonesome George, last
of his line, who spent years shunning the females with whom he shared a pen.
And there is Diego,
an ancient male who is quite the opposite of George.
Diego has fathered
hundreds of progeny — 350 by conservative counts, some 800 by more imaginative
estimates. Whatever the figure, it is welcome news for his species, Chelonoidis
hoodensis, which was stumbling toward the brink of extinction in the 1970s. Barely
more than a dozen of his kin were left then, most of them female.
Then came Diego,
returned to the Galápagos in 1977 from the San Diego Zoo.
“He’ll keep
reproducing until death,” said Freddy Villalva, who watches over Diego and many
of his descendants at a breeding center at this research facility, situated on
a rocky volcanic shoreline. The tortoises typically live more than 100 years.
The tales of Diego
and George demonstrate just how much the Galápagos, a province of Ecuador, have
served as the world’s laboratory of evolution. So often here, the fate of an
entire species, evolved over millions of years, can hinge on whether just one or
two individual animals survive from one day to the next.
Diego, and his
offspring, are part of one of the most high-profile efforts to keep Galápagos
tortoise populations thriving. The tortoise, estimated to be perhaps a century
old, is one of the main drivers of a remarkabl
Twycross Zoo
elephant departure; 14 questions answered
Bosses at Twycross
Zoo have responded to questions posed by visitors over the departure of the
attraction's Asian elephant herd.
Announced at the
beginning of this month , the decision shocked fans of the all-female herd.
A further statement
by the zoo said: "Thank you for your feedback regarding our decision to
find a new home for our all-female herd of Asian elephants.
"Please be
assured that this decision was only taken after a comprehensive assessment of
the issue over a lengthy period of time.
"We will be sad
to see the elephants leave, but we believe that what we are planning is in the
best interests of the elephants and ultimately that must guide our
decision-making.
"Below we have
provided further information
Zoos are prisons for
animals – no one needs to see a depressed penguin in the flesh
That a zoo in
Cumbria is having its licence revoked as a result of nearly 500 animals dying
there over a two-year period comes as no shock – but it still slightly
surprises me that anybody thinks that we should have zoos at all. The animals
always look miserable in captivity. If you don’t believe me, visit a farm park.
It’s as likely as not that you will see a goat, pleading with its eyes to be
euthanised, while a sign on the enclosure says: “Gerry the goat is quite the
character – he often plays a game in which he looks like he has been crying for
many, many hours!”
A lot of zoos play
the conservation angle, which is a rationale that has been reverse engineered.
That’s not really why zoos exist. Zoos exist so that we can wander round with
our children and say: “No, don’t bang the glass, Timothy, he’s getting agitated,”
before going home to post on Facebook about the educational day that we have
had.
The argument that
zoos have educational merit might have once seemed convincing, but there is
less reason to see animals in captivity than ever before. David Attenborough’s
Planet Earth shows you all the animals you could ask for in their natural
habitat, with added drama and narrative arcs. We are surely only a few series
away from filming inside the animals, with Attenborough using his dulcet tones
to give the origin stor
Terrified families
are forced to hide in the toilets after a CHEETAH escapes its enclosure and
prowls a Kent wildlife park
Families hid in
toilets yesterday after a cheetah escaped from its enclosure at a British zoo
and prowled the park for nearly half an hour.
Visitors to Port
Lympne wildlife park in Kent were told to head for safety after the big cat was
separated from its mother and managed to break free.
Children were
ushered indoors while keepers coaxed the animal back into its cage with extra
food. They have since increased the strength of its fence.
The World Wildlife
Fund, Trophy Hunters and Donald Trump Jr.
The World Wildlife
Fund (WWF) presents itself as the savior of animals. At the same time, though
infinitely more quietly, it actually thinks hunting them is vital for
conservation. In its fight against “poaching,” WWF funds park guards who beat
and sometimes kill people, including innocent victims. How can it reconcile
these aspects of its work?
A recent brawl
between its South African office and one of its trustees, Peter Flack,
illuminates the close link between conservation and big game hunting. This may
shock those who support the organization through its “adoption” program for
elephants, lions, and so on, fundraising aimed at those who believe in animal
rights.[1] It’s very hard to believe these WWF don
What Does The Zoo
Mean To You?
‘Well-run zoos are
an aid to animals and are not detrimental to their well-being’, ‘indeed, in
many cases, zoos will turn out to be the last refuge of numerous species in a
human-being-infested world’. For many, Gerald Durrell’s (1976) pioneering
vision of zoos as a ‘stationary ark’ remains the most persuasive for the
continuation of zoos. Who can really argue with the primary purpose of
protecting critically endangered species, captive breeding programmes to
increase declining populations, and the reintroduction of once captive animals
to natural habitats. Few, however, appear to put this vision into practice.
With each news
report, it becomes abundantly clear that however ‘well-run’ a zoo may appear to
the public, the ‘well-being’ of the captive animals has become a secondary
consideration for some. Within these institutions of nature, zoo animals have
become lively commodities, a colle
Zoo-keeper facing
police charges after deaths of almost 500 animals
A ZOO-keeper who
left Australia after his animal park in Queensland was raided by authorities
has lost his zoo licence in England and could face charges, after nearly 500 of
his animals died in four years.
David Gill, 55, was
this week refused a new council licence to run his safari park at Cumbria, in
northern England, after a report found exotic animals had been eaten alive,
electrocuted, frozen and starved to death.
Mr Gill retreated to
the Cumbria zoo, which he has owned since 1994, after leaving Queensland in
2004 when his private zoo, the Mareeba Wild Animal Park, was raided by the
Natural Resources Department and the police.
It later emerged
that 300 of the animals from the Mareeba park, inland from Cairns, had been
sold off to a hunting safari company in the Northern Territory – a fact that
only came to light after a pig-hunter accidentally shot and killed a pygmy
hippopotamus.
Poached: why
international conservation efforts are failing to protect wildlife
Photographer and
wildlife guide Paul Goldstein condemns inadequate international efforts to
protect tigers, rhinos and other wildlife, and calls for tougher measures
Last week it was
International Wildlife Day. Few people would have noticed. Even if the press
had tried to paint this self-appointed occasion with a thinly optimistic brush,
they would have failed. These recent weeks have been dreadful for wildlife,
much of it close to home.
Just outside Paris a
white rhino was butchered for its horn from a zoo’s enclosure. There was a
shocking disclosure from another zoo, in Cumbria this time, about the death of
a priceless Sumatran tiger cub, one of many fatalities there, via an insidious combination
of neglect and hypothermia. In Kenya, one of only 30 massive tusker elephants,
Satao ll, was killed by a poacher’s arrow. Every one of these harrowing exam
Precious wildlife
heritage in Tehran
Koushki and Delbar
considered are as the only two Asiatic Cheetahs in captivity all around the
world. After facility outfit, Kushki had been transferred from Touran National
Park, Semnan Province, and Delbar from Miandasht Wildlife Refuge, North
Khorasan Province, to Asiatic Cheetah Research and Husbandry Headquarter in
late 2014.
Asiatic Cheetah
Research and Husbandry Headquarter (ACRHH) is located in Pardisan Park, Tehran
Province, and it is the utmost importance site for proper cheetah management
and health care. Having too many consults leads to electing Pardisan Park over
other options such as Kavir National Park, Khojir National Park or even other
existing sites. The basic facility design of this site includes 6 separated
spaces for maintenance of these two cheetahs and also any other Asiatic
Cheetahs that perhaps lost the chance of living in its natural habitat. Threats
such as habitat destruction considered as the main problem in which natural
habitat is rendered unable to su
Thoughts for
Behaviour: Training a Group for Individual Reach, How?
Over the years in my
career I had the privilege to learn many new ways of training. My killer whale
path took me to different views while going back to pinnipeds gave me
completely new thoughts about training those animals. I also learned working
animals in groups what is not new the marine mammal world. Sea lions have been
trained for stations so we can manage them in a group scenario a lot easier
when we are only with 1 trainer present and so are dolphins.
When I worked In
Ouwehands Zoo the Netherlands we had a system where we could separate 8
individuals with just 2 trainers. We would give a signal what made 5 females go
to one exhibit sitting on their station, the big male would sit on stage and 2
older females would go outside to wait for us. The only thing we had to do is
close gates and reinforce the animals. This was done very quickly what helped
us in the
Some good
news.....Now lets have all of the others stop exploiting Orangutans as photo
props.
Hurrah!!! Photo Prop
with Orangutan in Kandi Zoo Finally Ended (March 13, 2017)
With prior intensive
communication with the Scorpion Wildlife Trade Monitoring Group, the management
of Kandi Zoo in West Sumatra has finally decided to cease photo prop with
orangutan in the zoo. The zoo management confirmed to Scorpion on Monday (13 March
2017) that decision of ending the photo prop was made by the zoo management.
South West charities
launch global zoo science project
Two local zoological
organisations have joined forces with one of the most prestigious names in
academia to work on a huge conservation project evaluating the scientific
evidence for zoo animal management.
The Whitley Wildlife
Conservation Trust - the charity that runs Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts in
Torquay and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall – worked with Dartmoor Zoological Park and
the Conservation Evidence project at the University of Cambridge.
Evidence-based
practice has become a hot topic in many fields, as practitioners see the
benefits of basing their decisions on good strong science. This new work
represents a global first for zoo husbandry practices. Conservation Evidence
has already compiled evidence for many aspects of conservation work, including
birds, bats and amphibians and habitats such as forests (www.conservationevidence.com ).
It’s hoped that extending the remit to captive animal management will benefit
everyone from fieldworkers studying and conserving animals in the wild to
keepers, vets and researchers working in zoos, aquariums and captive breeding
centres.
Much of the early
work of analysing scientific papers relating to the first zoo subject - primate
feeding in captivity - has been completed by Coral Jonas. Coral studied for a
Masters degree in Zoo Conservation Biology at the University of Plymouth in conjunction
with the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, and now works as Education
Manager at Dartmoor Zoo.
Dr Andrew Bowkett,
Field Conservation & Research Programmes Manager at the WWCT, supervised
Coral’s Masters project and has a long-standing interest in evidence-based
conservation. The work has been co-authored with Rebecca Smith, a Senior
Research Associate in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge,
who manages Conservation Evidence.
Andrew: “The aim is
to help anyone who has to make decisions about how best to manage wild animals
in zoological collections for the purposes of conservation. Zoo keepers make
dozens of husbandry interventions every day whenever they decide to change any
aspect of their animals’ care. Zoos and aquariums have a long tradition of
record keeping and information sharing. However, many pra
The contribution of
zoos and aquaria to Aichi Biodiversity Target 12: A case study of Canadian zoos
The purpose of Aichi
Biodiversity Target 12 is to prevent extinction of known threaten species, and
improve the decline of the world’s most imperiled species. Governments and NGOs
around the world are actively working toward this goal. This article examines
the role of zoos and aquaria in the conservation of species at risk through an
in-depth examination of four accredited Canadian zoos and aquaria. Through site
visits, interviews with staff, and research into the programs at each
institution, this paper demonstrates that captive breeding, reintroductions,
and headstarting projects are each a large component of conservation efforts.
Interviews with zoo staff reveal strong consensus that zoo offer two critical
components for species at risk conservation: space and expertise. Overall, this
article calls for greater attention to the types of conservation actives
occurring and the ways in which zoos are working together to protect and
recover global biodiversity.
Rhino horns worth
$5m seized in Thailand off flight from Ethiopia
Twenty-one rhino
horns worth an estimated $5m have been seized in Thailand after being found in
luggage sent from Ethiopia in the biggest such haul in years.
The seizure comes
days after 300kg of elephant ivory was also impounded in the country.
Thailand is seen as
a transit point for the illegal trafficking of wildlife.
Several species of
rhino are at critical risk of extinction, conservationists say.
The horns arrived at
Bangkok's international airport where two Thai women who had travelled from
Vietnam and Cambodia came to collect them.
Wolf cubs arrive in
Devon from Sweden as part of rewilding plan
Six wolf cubs have
arrived in East Devon from Sweden, heralding the beginning of a campaign and
research project that could eventually lead to the species being reintroduced
to the wild in the UK. The pack is settling into its new surroundings at
Wildwood Escot in Ottery St Mary and is currently in quarantine.
The Wildwood Trust
said the arrival of the wolves has been highly anticipated by visitors and
marks a significant moment for the Trust in its newly acquired Devon location.
The Trust is working to protect and conserve Britain's most endangered wildlife
and reintroduce animals to where they once lived. If wolves are reintroduced to
the wild in the UK, it is likely to be in Northern Scotland and it may not
happen for several years.
For many centuries,
the European grey wolf has been a much maligned animal, persecuted due to fear,
hate and misunderstanding. It is thought that
Beloved circus
elephant Jumbo dies at San Diego Zoo
Jumbo the beloved
African elephant who toured New Zealand with the travelling circus has died at
San Diego Zoo.
Former keeper and
retired owner of the Whirling Bros circus Tony Ratcliffe said he received a
call this morning from the zoo to tell him the news.
"They contacted
me this morning and told me she passed away in the early hours of the
morning," he said.
It's not yet clear
why Jumbo, also known as Mila, died, and there will be an autopsy.
"It was quite a
shock to me because last I heard they had had a big veterinary inspection . . .
Jumbo had passed with flying colours."
Jumbo is the same
elephant that killed a vet at Franklin Zoo in Tuakau in 2012.
Dr Helen Schofield
died in April 2012 w
Royal elephant at
Swedish zoo has deadly herpes virus
A Swedish elephant
calf with a royal background has been struck down by herpes and is in critical
condition.
Namsai, a
three-year-old Asian elephant calf at the Kolmården zoo in central Sweden has
contracted the EEHV elephant herpes virus and is seriously ill, the park
announced on Tuesday.
"There is no
cure for EEHV, however treatment can suppress an outbreak and the elephant can
survive if the disease is caught early and treatment begins quickly. Among the
elephants that have been treated a few have survived," the park said on its
website.
Most elephants carry
the herpes virus latently in their body without it breaking out.
Namsai's mother,
Bua, came to Kolmår
Decoding an
Elephant’s History to Save Its Future
With a FONZ
Conservation Grant, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology
Institute scientists are able to understand the family trees of elephants at
zoos around the country, as well as answer questions about animal health.
Sometimes the best
way to manage an animal’s health in the present is to look into the past. With
the help of a FONZ Conservation Grant — funded by the Round Up for Conservation
Program — that’s what Natalia Prado and her team of Smithsonian scientists are
planning to do with Asian and African elephants at zoos across the country,
including those at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
The family history
of every animal is unique and leads to its distinct genomic makeup. With the
funds from the FONZ Conservation Grant, Prado and her team will work to
generate the genomic tools needed to decode elephants’ genetic histories across
the United States, to address fundamental questions about individual and
population health. With the information they receive, the team will develop the
tools necessary to learn about each elephant’s family tree. This information
could lead to a better understanding of numerous conditions that elephants
exhibit in human care, including infertility, foot and joint problems, and
susceptibility to diseases such as elephant endothelial herpes virus (EEHV) and
tuberculosis.
Over the next year,
the scientists will map the entire g
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Twycross
Transformed: the Making of a Modern Zoo
Twycross Zoo already
enjoys a worldwide reputation for its specialist care of primates. Now, the
registered charity has unveiled the blueprints of an ambitious 20-year Master
Plan. This will transform the attraction in rural Leicestershire into one of the
most impressive in the UK.
The £55 million
capital investment programme aims to turn Twycross Zoo into a landmark tourist
venue providing an immersive, entertaining and engaging visitor experience as
well as consolidating its status as an internationally respected hub of animal
conservation, research and education.
The Secret Life Of
The Zoo Keeper
Asian elephants are
under threat. It is likely that there will be more people attending your
nearest Premier League football match this weekend than there are Asian
elephants left in the wild. Less than 40,000 of the species remain. They are
threatened by habitat loss, poaching, disease and direct conflict with humans.
Experts from Chester Zoo are working in India to protect the species from
human-wildlife conflict, while closer to home they are part of a breeding
programme focused on sustaining the population in Europe.
As viewers of
Channel 4’s The Secret Life of the Zoo TV series will know, Chester’s elephant
herd are a close knit family. Scientific research has shown that social bonds
between individual elephants has a big influence on cohesion in the whole group
and consequently the health and wellbeing of the herd.
As elephant
assistant team manager at C
Careless caretakers:
over dozen animals, birds died in 2016 at Islamabad zoo
Over dozens of
animals and birds worth millions of rupees have died in capital’s oldest
MarghazarZoo in last one year due to the negligence of the Metropolitan
Corporation Islamabad (MCI).
Well-placed sources
in the MCI revealed that the dead bodies, skins, skulls, bones and other
precious parts of some animals and birds were allegedly sold out in the black
market in the cover of their burial, Pakistan Today has learnt.
A zebra, hog deer,
ostrich male, zebra foal, ostrich female, wolf, lion cub male, lion cub female,
flamingo male, crane male, two common peafowl male, ring-necked pheasant
female, and demoiselle crane have died in 2016. However, two Nilgai’s have died
so far in 2017.
“We had many deer at
the zoo and in green belt near Faisal Mosque numbering around 42, if someone
paid 85-95 thousand rupees then the authority allowed him to take a pair of
uncommon deer for any purpose t
Panic after two
leopards escape Himachal zoo
Two leopards escaped
the Gopalpur Zoo, about 20 km from here on Tuesday night, triggering panic
among residents in the area.
The administration
had sounded an alert in surrounding areas and parents have been asked not to
sent their children alone to school. A control room had been set up at
Gopalpur, officials said. The leo
‘Give the management
of Karachi zoo to experts’
Increasing concerns over the rights of captive
animals have led to major changes at zoos around the world in the last few
decades. While this process of transformation is continuing with more
scientific data emerging on the complexity of animal life and the negative
effects of captivity, there exists a strong opinion against the very concept of
zoos.
This debate on
whether to have or not to have a zoo is very much relevant to Pakistan, a
country where animal abuse is rampant, laws on captive animals hardly exist,
and living conditions in facilities like the Karachi Zoological Garden are
extremely deplorable, to say the least.
Faiza Ilyas recently
discussed this subject with Rab Nawaz, senior director programmes at the World
Wi
Pictures Show the
Strange Lives of Captive Polar Bears
During a
particularly brutal Chicago winter in 2014, photographer Sheng Wen Lo remembers
reading that it was too cold for polar bears housed in the city’s Lincoln Park
Zoo to go outside. It sounded like the lead-up to a bad joke, but it was true.
Captive polar bears aren’t as tough as wild ones. Their skin is thinner and
they can’t withstand extreme cold.
The news was
particularly striking to Lo. For three years, he has been photographing captive
polar bears in 25 zoos and other enclosures in Europe and China. The series,
called White Bear, exposes the welfare of animals within artificial habitats by
observing their behavior.
It’s tempting to
look at Lo’s images as a pointed argument against keeping polar bears in zoos.
And in many ways, polar bears are unique: They’re charismatic zoo animals
well-known to tourists, they represent a unique and remote ecosystem, and they
are highly sensitive to environmental change. Yet Lo intends the series—and the
bears—to provoke larger questions about which animals are suited for captivity,
and which might not be.
Lo approaches animal
captivity the same way he approaches computer science, in which he has a
master’s degree. Before even taking the first picture, Lo consulted a
veterinarian about how to read the actions of polar bears (i.e. is pacing
always a sign of distress?) Then, while developing the series, he invited
zoology experts to view th
Flamingo kicked to
death in Czech zoo by three children after they stoned it
A trio of schoolboys
aged between five and eight-years-old reportedly kicked a flamingo to death
after pelting it with stones at a zoo in the Czech Republic.
The youngsters
reportedly climbed over the fence of the Jihlava Zoo before launching their
attack on the flock of American flamingos.
“First, they pelted
them with stones," zoologist Jan Vašák told the Prague Morning news site,
adding that one of them started to kick one of the birds.
Zoo death statistics
can be misleading - we care deeply for all of our animals
There is absolutely
no room in this world for zoos with substandard practices and poor
consideration for animal wellness. Poorly managed zoos do not contribute to the
genuine conservation effort and tarnish the reputation of all zoos. Nobody
criticises or condemns them more strongly than those of us who are part of the
zoo community.
Tiger cub used as
photo prop attacks and injures kindergartener in East Java zoo
A tiger cub used as
a photo prop at Jatim Park zoo in the city of Batu, East Java attacked a
4-year-old kindergartener just before a photo session, severely injuring her.
The incident
reportedly occurred on Tuesday afternoon. The victim, identified by her
initials TAP, was on a school field trip at the popular East Java zoo when the
6-month-old tiger cub attacked her.
“At the time the
area was crowded. There were many screaming kids around. The tiger cub got
startled and suddenly lunged at the victim, hugging her. During that hug, the
tiger cub also clawed at the kid,” an unnamed witness told Tribun on Tuesday
evening.
TAP was taken to a
nearby hospital for treatment. Reports say that she suffered a deep wound on
her chest, as well as injuries on her neck and back. The hospital’s staff said
TAP received surgery yesterday.
The zoo management
confirmed that the attack on TAP happened but have put it down as an accident.
According to them, a zoo staff member brought the cub out of its enclosure to a
public area for a photo session with visitors. Just like the witness testimony
above, they believe that the cub was startled by the presence of noisy children
before it attacked TAP.
The zoo pledged to
cover all of TAP’s medical costs.
The Batu City Police
said they are conducting an investigation into the incident.
Predatory animals
being used as photo props are
Russian zoo sues
advertising firm for 'traumatising' rented raccoon in erotic photo shoot
A Moscow zoo is
suing an advertising firm that used one of its animals in an erotic photo
shoot.
Tomas the racoon was
left “traumatised” and came back with an unhealthy attraction to women’s
breasts after the shoot with Moscow studio Art-Msk last year, his owners have
said.
Animals Aren’t Toys,
a privately run “contact zoo” that allows visitors to handle its animals, is
now suing the company not only for Tomas’ ordeal, but damage to the reputation
of an entire species.
Bear shot dead at
German zoo after escaping from cage
A bear that broke
out of its cage at a zoo in northern Germany was shot dead by a zookeeper while
visitors were evacuated, police have said.
After the bear
escaped through a hole in its cage, the staff at the zoo in Osnabrueck took
visitors into the monkey house to shelter, German media reported.
The zookeeper shot
the bear dead before the police arrived at the scene, the head of the zoo
Andrea
100-hectare Safari
to open by 4th quarter
THE long wait is
over. Cebuano pawnshop tycoon Michel Lhuillier on Thursday announced he is set
to open the 100-hectare safari in Carmen in the last quarter of this year.
Lhuillier disclosed the safari’s opening schedule to correct reports
circulating online that it is due to open this summer. “I never said (we will
open by) April. I’d like to correct that. We are aiming to open by October or
November this year. Please be patient, as we are doing our best to make this
attraction the best,” he said. Lhuillier, who holds several other businesses in
Cebu, said the safari is one of his biggest investments. It will feature
entertainment, animal interactions, shows, eight adventure rides, and an
accommodation facility, among others. “I tell you this will be a different
world. You will really be entertained,” he said. Seventy percent of the animals
will arrive in Cebu this month; these were bought by Lhuillier from Texas,
(south of) France, and Dubai. The safari will also house 60 species of birds
and feature the family’s collection of orchids and other flower varieties. “You
will get to interact with the animals. We will have shows where you can feed
them,” said Lhuillier, adding that they hired
Cebu’s own safari to
open before the year ends
A FEW more months of
waiting and Cebuano pawnshop tycoon Michel J. Lhuillier will be opening the
country’s biggest zoo in the upland area of
Carmen town, 41.7
kilometers north of Cebu City.
With everyone’s
excitement building up as photos of the 100-hectare development of the
Lhuillier have been posted on social media sites, Michel asked everyone to be
patient and wait for October or November this year for the opening of Cebu’s
own safari.
“I’m hoping to open
by October or November. Let’s be patient. I will do my best to make it the best
in the world. You no longer have to travel around the world or go to Safari
because I’m bringing the world here,” said Michel.
172,200 people to
make way for pandas
SOUTHWEST China’s
Sichuan Province, home to most of China’s giant pandas, is planning to relocate
172,200 people to build a panda national park, the provincial forestry
department said yesterday.
The
27,134-square-kilometer park that covers parts of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi
provinces, was approved by central government this year.
The area in Sichuan
will cover around 20,000 square kilometers, 74 percent of the park. Seven
cities and prefectures, and 19 counties are involved.
About 32,300 workers
and retired people in more than 1,900 mines and forests in the area would be
affec
Elephant kills
trainer with trunk at Wakayama zoo
An elephant whacked
a trainer with its trunk and killed him at a Japanese zoo on Sunday, police
said.
Wichai Madee from
Thailand was washing an 3.5-ton Indian elephant with a colleague at Adventure
World in the western prefecture of Wakayama when the giant animal swung its
trunk and hit him.
“The animal might
have somehow become angry. It swung its trunk and the trunk hit the person who
was working in front of the elephant,” a police spokesman told AFP.
“The person
apparently was pushed hard and hit either the cage or the ground and hit his
head.”
Other zoo staff
called the police saying “an employee was attacked by an elephant”, according
to private broadcaster TBS.
The 37-year-old
trainer was taken to hospital but later
Over 100 animals die
in Dublin Zoo in two years (including some critically endangered ones)
MORE THAN 100
animals died at Dublin Zoo during a two-year period between 2014 and 2016, it
has been revealed.
The dead animals
include a significant number of critically endangered species that are extinct
or nearly extinct in the wild.
Among the 109
animals to die at the Zoo during the 24-month period were a southern white
rhinoceros, two Rothschild giraffes, three grey wolves, and a red panda.
The 68 that died in
2015 included seven that were temporarily on loan from other zoos.
Details of the
animal deaths at one of the State’s most popular visitor attractions are
contained in inventory records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
Documents submitted
by Dublin Zoo to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) as part of its
licence application show
Zoo deaths: 'In the
wild, gorillas don't eat their own vomit and pull out their hair in
frustration'
ZOOS BEGAN AS
menageries where the rich could see the living exotic “spoils” of wars in
foreign lands. Now they’re simply animal prisons.
The justification
many zoos give for their existence in the 21st century is that they protect
animals and conserve endangered species.
But the recent
reports that more than 100 animals have died at Dublin Zoo in a two-year period
should serve as an urgent wake-up call and prompt us to re-evaluate the role
these institutions play in today’s society.
Among the 109
animals to die at the zoo during the 24-month period were three scimitar-horned
oryxes, three Humboldt penguins, a pair of red-tipped mangabeys, two
Rothschild’s giraffes, two wild African hunting dogs, an African spurred
tortoise, a southern white rhinoceros, and a red panda, all of whom were
How do animals
perceive their world in zoos and aquariums?
Time and Memory
Processing in Animals
According to critics
of marine parks, zoos and aquariums, captive animals (particularly dolphins,
whales, elephants and primates) are utterly miserable creatures. The primary
misery described by activists is that the animals are acutely self-aware, they miss
the wild and their families, hate performing, feel like they are enslaved by
humans, and hate being in cages and pools. They dream of freedom.
The various anti-zoo/aquarium groups make
statements such as:
On captivity “…It is
animal slavery…” 1
On animals
performing: “…As you work, you are watched by hundreds of spectators. You are
provided food as a reward for positive behavior, but if you behave against the
guards’ wishes, you could possibly suffer the consequences of missing a meal.
Your survival depends on care given by your prison guards. You don’t speak the
same language as these guards, so you can’t tell them you don’t belong there…”
2
On living in an
aquarium “…In nature, dolphins swim vast distances every day with their
extended families, exploring new places and seeking out adventures and
pursuits…” 3
Dolphins, whales,
elephants and great apes in particular are targeted by critics and activists as
being uniquely special in the animal world. Projects on intelligence,
self-awareness and emotions in these animals receive extensive popular press
and has led to the public opinion that they are unusually smart. So smart that
they shouldn’t be kept in zoos and aquariums.
It is true that
dolphins, killer
Zoo boss speaks out
to allay fears over escaped wolves in Dalton
THE new boss of the
South Lakes Safari Zoo has moved to reassure residents of Dalton amid rumours
two wolves have escaped from the attraction.
Karen Brewer, chief
executive of the newly formed Cumbria zoo management company said there was no
truth on the rumours which are being heavily circulated on social media.
Mrs Brewer said:
"I was at t
Armed officers in
Dalton 'for incident' - not escaped animals
Police in Dalton
have responded to rumours on social media that armed officers were called out
to deal with two escaped wolves.
Barrow Police say no
animals have escaped from South Lakes Safari Zoo, instead telling a local
newspaper they'd responded to a call reporting a sighting of someone with a
gun.
After several hours
of searching
Twycross Zoo CEO
reflects on 'a difficult few weeks' for zoos
It has been a
difficult few weeks for anyone who works in zoos as they have made headlines in
the UK and Europe and not for the right reasons.
Questions are
inevitably being asked about whether there is still a need to keep animals in
captivity for the public's entertainment.
Capital zoo seeks to
raise awareness and role of sea lions
Prior to welcoming back the sea lions at the
private zoo in Abu Dhabi, Emirates Park Zoo and Resort is inviting guests to
the property for an educational presentation about sea mammals starting March,
Emirates Park Zoo announced Saturday.
The presentation
aims to inform audiences for a better understanding on the ecology of sea
lions, and the role humans play in conserving the species whose existence has
recently come under threat.
The audience will
learn all about sea lions, its method of adaptation
Belgian zoo shortens
rhinos' horns after French killing
A Belgian zoo said
Saturday it will shorten its rhinos' horns as an anti-poaching measure
following the grisly killing of a white rhino in France this week.
A four-year-old
southern white male was shot three times in the head at a French zoo in Thoiry
outside Paris on Monday and had its horns cut off probably "with a
chainsaw" police said.
The perpetrators,
who have still not been found, stole only the main horn, which is estimated to
be worth 30,000-40,000 euros ($32,000-$42,690).
The Pairi Daiza zoo,
about 60 kilometres (40 miles) southwest of Brussels, has three adult rhinos
and a baby white rhino born in March 2016 as part of its 5,000-animal complex.
Director Eric Domb
wrote on the zoo's Facebook page that the French killing had prompted him to
ask "our veterinarian to proceed on a temporary basis and as an additional
measure to security procedures already in place at Pairi Daiza" to shorten
their rhinos' horns.
"This heinous
act is the first in Europe but it is part of a long line of rhino horn thefts
from many European museums," Domb wrote.
With this measure,
he said, he also wanted to not only protect the zoo's animals but its security
personnel as well.
In the Thoiry
incident, intruders forced the main gate of the
Animal deaths may be
linked to transportation
Two wild dolphins
between the ages of four and five were captured at Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture
in Japan and imported to Korea on Feb. 9. But within five days at the
Jangsaengpo Special Whale Culture Zone at Jaengsaengpo, Ulsan, one dolphin
died. An autopsy revealed the cause of death was an accumulation of blood
outside the lungs. Specialists hypothesized the dolphin suffered from an
external impact resulting in chest trauma.
On Feb. 3, a Mt.
Baekdu area Siberian tiger named Geumgangi collapsed and died at the Baekdu
Mountain Range National Arboretum at Bonghwa, North Gyeongsang, nine days after
being relocated from the O-World Zoo at Daejeon to Bonghwa County, North
Gyeongsang. Vets confirmed the tiger died from poor blood flow to the liver
resulting from severe fluid loss. The average lifespan of a captive tiger is 20
years, while wild dolphins generally live for 25 years. Considering this, why
would an otherwise healthy wild dolphin and Siberian tiger suddenly expire?
The vibration
isolating truck used for transporting the tiger traveled 60 to 80 kilometers
(37 miles to 50 miles) per hour, and the trip lasted five hours. The dolphin
was transported by boat and truck for 32 hours. The Nam D
The tortoise who
saved his species
Of all the giant tortoises on these islands,
where the theory of evolution was born, only a few have received names that
stuck.
There was Popeye,
adopted by sailors at an Ecuadorean naval base. There was Lonesome George, last
of his line, who spent years shunning the females with whom he shared a pen.
And there is Diego,
an ancient male who is quite the opposite of George.
Diego has fathered
hundreds of progeny — 350 by conservative counts, some 800 by more imaginative
estimates. Whatever the figure, it is welcome news for his species, Chelonoidis
hoodensis, which was stumbling toward the brink of extinction in the 1970s. Barely
more than a dozen of his kin were left then, most of them female.
Then came Diego,
returned to the Galápagos in 1977 from the San Diego Zoo.
“He’ll keep
reproducing until death,” said Freddy Villalva, who watches over Diego and many
of his descendants at a breeding center at this research facility, situated on
a rocky volcanic shoreline. The tortoises typically live more than 100 years.
The tales of Diego
and George demonstrate just how much the Galápagos, a province of Ecuador, have
served as the world’s laboratory of evolution. So often here, the fate of an
entire species, evolved over millions of years, can hinge on whether just one or
two individual animals survive from one day to the next.
Diego, and his
offspring, are part of one of the most high-profile efforts to keep Galápagos
tortoise populations thriving. The tortoise, estimated to be perhaps a century
old, is one of the main drivers of a remarkabl
Twycross Zoo
elephant departure; 14 questions answered
Bosses at Twycross
Zoo have responded to questions posed by visitors over the departure of the
attraction's Asian elephant herd.
Announced at the
beginning of this month , the decision shocked fans of the all-female herd.
A further statement
by the zoo said: "Thank you for your feedback regarding our decision to
find a new home for our all-female herd of Asian elephants.
"Please be
assured that this decision was only taken after a comprehensive assessment of
the issue over a lengthy period of time.
"We will be sad
to see the elephants leave, but we believe that what we are planning is in the
best interests of the elephants and ultimately that must guide our
decision-making.
"Below we have
provided further information
Zoos are prisons for
animals – no one needs to see a depressed penguin in the flesh
That a zoo in
Cumbria is having its licence revoked as a result of nearly 500 animals dying
there over a two-year period comes as no shock – but it still slightly
surprises me that anybody thinks that we should have zoos at all. The animals
always look miserable in captivity. If you don’t believe me, visit a farm park.
It’s as likely as not that you will see a goat, pleading with its eyes to be
euthanised, while a sign on the enclosure says: “Gerry the goat is quite the
character – he often plays a game in which he looks like he has been crying for
many, many hours!”
A lot of zoos play
the conservation angle, which is a rationale that has been reverse engineered.
That’s not really why zoos exist. Zoos exist so that we can wander round with
our children and say: “No, don’t bang the glass, Timothy, he’s getting agitated,”
before going home to post on Facebook about the educational day that we have
had.
The argument that
zoos have educational merit might have once seemed convincing, but there is
less reason to see animals in captivity than ever before. David Attenborough’s
Planet Earth shows you all the animals you could ask for in their natural
habitat, with added drama and narrative arcs. We are surely only a few series
away from filming inside the animals, with Attenborough using his dulcet tones
to give the origin stor
Terrified families
are forced to hide in the toilets after a CHEETAH escapes its enclosure and
prowls a Kent wildlife park
Families hid in
toilets yesterday after a cheetah escaped from its enclosure at a British zoo
and prowled the park for nearly half an hour.
Visitors to Port
Lympne wildlife park in Kent were told to head for safety after the big cat was
separated from its mother and managed to break free.
Children were
ushered indoors while keepers coaxed the animal back into its cage with extra
food. They have since increased the strength of its fence.
The World Wildlife
Fund, Trophy Hunters and Donald Trump Jr.
The World Wildlife
Fund (WWF) presents itself as the savior of animals. At the same time, though
infinitely more quietly, it actually thinks hunting them is vital for
conservation. In its fight against “poaching,” WWF funds park guards who beat
and sometimes kill people, including innocent victims. How can it reconcile
these aspects of its work?
A recent brawl
between its South African office and one of its trustees, Peter Flack,
illuminates the close link between conservation and big game hunting. This may
shock those who support the organization through its “adoption” program for
elephants, lions, and so on, fundraising aimed at those who believe in animal
rights.[1] It’s very hard to believe these WWF don
What Does The Zoo
Mean To You?
‘Well-run zoos are
an aid to animals and are not detrimental to their well-being’, ‘indeed, in
many cases, zoos will turn out to be the last refuge of numerous species in a
human-being-infested world’. For many, Gerald Durrell’s (1976) pioneering
vision of zoos as a ‘stationary ark’ remains the most persuasive for the
continuation of zoos. Who can really argue with the primary purpose of
protecting critically endangered species, captive breeding programmes to
increase declining populations, and the reintroduction of once captive animals
to natural habitats. Few, however, appear to put this vision into practice.
With each news
report, it becomes abundantly clear that however ‘well-run’ a zoo may appear to
the public, the ‘well-being’ of the captive animals has become a secondary
consideration for some. Within these institutions of nature, zoo animals have
become lively commodities, a colle
Zoo-keeper facing
police charges after deaths of almost 500 animals
A ZOO-keeper who
left Australia after his animal park in Queensland was raided by authorities
has lost his zoo licence in England and could face charges, after nearly 500 of
his animals died in four years.
David Gill, 55, was
this week refused a new council licence to run his safari park at Cumbria, in
northern England, after a report found exotic animals had been eaten alive,
electrocuted, frozen and starved to death.
Mr Gill retreated to
the Cumbria zoo, which he has owned since 1994, after leaving Queensland in
2004 when his private zoo, the Mareeba Wild Animal Park, was raided by the
Natural Resources Department and the police.
It later emerged
that 300 of the animals from the Mareeba park, inland from Cairns, had been
sold off to a hunting safari company in the Northern Territory – a fact that
only came to light after a pig-hunter accidentally shot and killed a pygmy
hippopotamus.
Poached: why
international conservation efforts are failing to protect wildlife
Photographer and
wildlife guide Paul Goldstein condemns inadequate international efforts to
protect tigers, rhinos and other wildlife, and calls for tougher measures
Last week it was
International Wildlife Day. Few people would have noticed. Even if the press
had tried to paint this self-appointed occasion with a thinly optimistic brush,
they would have failed. These recent weeks have been dreadful for wildlife,
much of it close to home.
Just outside Paris a
white rhino was butchered for its horn from a zoo’s enclosure. There was a
shocking disclosure from another zoo, in Cumbria this time, about the death of
a priceless Sumatran tiger cub, one of many fatalities there, via an insidious combination
of neglect and hypothermia. In Kenya, one of only 30 massive tusker elephants,
Satao ll, was killed by a poacher’s arrow. Every one of these harrowing exam
Precious wildlife
heritage in Tehran
Koushki and Delbar
considered are as the only two Asiatic Cheetahs in captivity all around the
world. After facility outfit, Kushki had been transferred from Touran National
Park, Semnan Province, and Delbar from Miandasht Wildlife Refuge, North
Khorasan Province, to Asiatic Cheetah Research and Husbandry Headquarter in
late 2014.
Asiatic Cheetah
Research and Husbandry Headquarter (ACRHH) is located in Pardisan Park, Tehran
Province, and it is the utmost importance site for proper cheetah management
and health care. Having too many consults leads to electing Pardisan Park over
other options such as Kavir National Park, Khojir National Park or even other
existing sites. The basic facility design of this site includes 6 separated
spaces for maintenance of these two cheetahs and also any other Asiatic
Cheetahs that perhaps lost the chance of living in its natural habitat. Threats
such as habitat destruction considered as the main problem in which natural
habitat is rendered unable to su
Thoughts for
Behaviour: Training a Group for Individual Reach, How?
Over the years in my
career I had the privilege to learn many new ways of training. My killer whale
path took me to different views while going back to pinnipeds gave me
completely new thoughts about training those animals. I also learned working
animals in groups what is not new the marine mammal world. Sea lions have been
trained for stations so we can manage them in a group scenario a lot easier
when we are only with 1 trainer present and so are dolphins.
When I worked In
Ouwehands Zoo the Netherlands we had a system where we could separate 8
individuals with just 2 trainers. We would give a signal what made 5 females go
to one exhibit sitting on their station, the big male would sit on stage and 2
older females would go outside to wait for us. The only thing we had to do is
close gates and reinforce the animals. This was done very quickly what helped
us in the
Some good
news.....Now lets have all of the others stop exploiting Orangutans as photo
props.
Hurrah!!! Photo Prop
with Orangutan in Kandi Zoo Finally Ended (March 13, 2017)
With prior intensive
communication with the Scorpion Wildlife Trade Monitoring Group, the management
of Kandi Zoo in West Sumatra has finally decided to cease photo prop with
orangutan in the zoo. The zoo management confirmed to Scorpion on Monday (13 March
2017) that decision of ending the photo prop was made by the zoo management.
South West charities
launch global zoo science project
Two local zoological
organisations have joined forces with one of the most prestigious names in
academia to work on a huge conservation project evaluating the scientific
evidence for zoo animal management.
The Whitley Wildlife
Conservation Trust - the charity that runs Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts in
Torquay and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall – worked with Dartmoor Zoological Park and
the Conservation Evidence project at the University of Cambridge.
Evidence-based
practice has become a hot topic in many fields, as practitioners see the
benefits of basing their decisions on good strong science. This new work
represents a global first for zoo husbandry practices. Conservation Evidence
has already compiled evidence for many aspects of conservation work, including
birds, bats and amphibians and habitats such as forests (www.conservationevidence.com ).
It’s hoped that extending the remit to captive animal management will benefit
everyone from fieldworkers studying and conserving animals in the wild to
keepers, vets and researchers working in zoos, aquariums and captive breeding
centres.
Much of the early
work of analysing scientific papers relating to the first zoo subject - primate
feeding in captivity - has been completed by Coral Jonas. Coral studied for a
Masters degree in Zoo Conservation Biology at the University of Plymouth in conjunction
with the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, and now works as Education
Manager at Dartmoor Zoo.
Dr Andrew Bowkett,
Field Conservation & Research Programmes Manager at the WWCT, supervised
Coral’s Masters project and has a long-standing interest in evidence-based
conservation. The work has been co-authored with Rebecca Smith, a Senior
Research Associate in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge,
who manages Conservation Evidence.
Andrew: “The aim is
to help anyone who has to make decisions about how best to manage wild animals
in zoological collections for the purposes of conservation. Zoo keepers make
dozens of husbandry interventions every day whenever they decide to change any
aspect of their animals’ care. Zoos and aquariums have a long tradition of
record keeping and information sharing. However, many pra
The contribution of
zoos and aquaria to Aichi Biodiversity Target 12: A case study of Canadian zoos
The purpose of Aichi
Biodiversity Target 12 is to prevent extinction of known threaten species, and
improve the decline of the world’s most imperiled species. Governments and NGOs
around the world are actively working toward this goal. This article examines
the role of zoos and aquaria in the conservation of species at risk through an
in-depth examination of four accredited Canadian zoos and aquaria. Through site
visits, interviews with staff, and research into the programs at each
institution, this paper demonstrates that captive breeding, reintroductions,
and headstarting projects are each a large component of conservation efforts.
Interviews with zoo staff reveal strong consensus that zoo offer two critical
components for species at risk conservation: space and expertise. Overall, this
article calls for greater attention to the types of conservation actives
occurring and the ways in which zoos are working together to protect and
recover global biodiversity.
Rhino horns worth
$5m seized in Thailand off flight from Ethiopia
Twenty-one rhino
horns worth an estimated $5m have been seized in Thailand after being found in
luggage sent from Ethiopia in the biggest such haul in years.
The seizure comes
days after 300kg of elephant ivory was also impounded in the country.
Thailand is seen as
a transit point for the illegal trafficking of wildlife.
Several species of
rhino are at critical risk of extinction, conservationists say.
The horns arrived at
Bangkok's international airport where two Thai women who had travelled from
Vietnam and Cambodia came to collect them.
Wolf cubs arrive in
Devon from Sweden as part of rewilding plan
Six wolf cubs have
arrived in East Devon from Sweden, heralding the beginning of a campaign and
research project that could eventually lead to the species being reintroduced
to the wild in the UK. The pack is settling into its new surroundings at
Wildwood Escot in Ottery St Mary and is currently in quarantine.
The Wildwood Trust
said the arrival of the wolves has been highly anticipated by visitors and
marks a significant moment for the Trust in its newly acquired Devon location.
The Trust is working to protect and conserve Britain's most endangered wildlife
and reintroduce animals to where they once lived. If wolves are reintroduced to
the wild in the UK, it is likely to be in Northern Scotland and it may not
happen for several years.
For many centuries,
the European grey wolf has been a much maligned animal, persecuted due to fear,
hate and misunderstanding. It is thought that
Beloved circus
elephant Jumbo dies at San Diego Zoo
Jumbo the beloved
African elephant who toured New Zealand with the travelling circus has died at
San Diego Zoo.
Former keeper and
retired owner of the Whirling Bros circus Tony Ratcliffe said he received a
call this morning from the zoo to tell him the news.
"They contacted
me this morning and told me she passed away in the early hours of the
morning," he said.
It's not yet clear
why Jumbo, also known as Mila, died, and there will be an autopsy.
"It was quite a
shock to me because last I heard they had had a big veterinary inspection . . .
Jumbo had passed with flying colours."
Jumbo is the same
elephant that killed a vet at Franklin Zoo in Tuakau in 2012.
Dr Helen Schofield
died in April 2012 w
Royal elephant at
Swedish zoo has deadly herpes virus
A Swedish elephant
calf with a royal background has been struck down by herpes and is in critical
condition.
Namsai, a
three-year-old Asian elephant calf at the Kolmården zoo in central Sweden has
contracted the EEHV elephant herpes virus and is seriously ill, the park
announced on Tuesday.
"There is no
cure for EEHV, however treatment can suppress an outbreak and the elephant can
survive if the disease is caught early and treatment begins quickly. Among the
elephants that have been treated a few have survived," the park said on its
website.
Most elephants carry
the herpes virus latently in their body without it breaking out.
Namsai's mother,
Bua, came to Kolmår
Decoding an
Elephant’s History to Save Its Future
With a FONZ
Conservation Grant, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology
Institute scientists are able to understand the family trees of elephants at
zoos around the country, as well as answer questions about animal health.
Sometimes the best
way to manage an animal’s health in the present is to look into the past. With
the help of a FONZ Conservation Grant — funded by the Round Up for Conservation
Program — that’s what Natalia Prado and her team of Smithsonian scientists are
planning to do with Asian and African elephants at zoos across the country,
including those at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
The family history
of every animal is unique and leads to its distinct genomic makeup. With the
funds from the FONZ Conservation Grant, Prado and her team will work to
generate the genomic tools needed to decode elephants’ genetic histories across
the United States, to address fundamental questions about individual and
population health. With the information they receive, the team will develop the
tools necessary to learn about each elephant’s family tree. This information
could lead to a better understanding of numerous conditions that elephants
exhibit in human care, including infertility, foot and joint problems, and
susceptibility to diseases such as elephant endothelial herpes virus (EEHV) and
tuberculosis.
Over the next year,
the scientists will map the entire g
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New Meetings and Conferences updated Here
New Meetings and Conferences updated Here
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.
Recent Zoo Vacancies
Vacancies in Zoos and Aquariums and Wildlife/Conservation facilities around the World
*****
About me
After more than 49 years working in private, commercial and National zoos in the capacity of keeper, head keeper and curator Peter Dickinson started to travel. He sold house and all his possessions and hit the road. He has traveled extensively in Turkey, Southern India and much of South East Asia before settling in Thailand. In his travels he has visited well over 200 zoos and many more before 'hitting the road' and writes about these in his blog http://zoonewsdigest.blogspot.com/
or on Hubpages http://hubpages.com/profile/Peter+Dickinson
Peter earns his living as an independent international zoo consultant, critic and writer. Currently working as Curator of Penguins in Ski Dubai. United Arab Emirates. He describes himself as an itinerant zoo keeper, one time zoo inspector, a dreamer, a traveler, an introvert, a people watcher, a lover, a thinker, a cosmopolitan, a writer, a hedonist, an explorer, a pantheist, a gastronome, sometime fool, a good friend to some and a pain in the butt to others.
"These are the best days of my life"
Peter Dickinson
Independent International Zoo Consultant        |
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