Zoo News Digest 31st July 2017 (ZooNews 965)
Peter Dickinson
elvinhow@gmail.com
Dear Colleague,
There was a number of things I was going to write about but all have been washed from my mind by the announcement that Stan Kroenke is going to start screening a hunting/bloodsports channel on UK TV. This is sick, truly depraved. My problem is that I know people will watch it. There is a huge unwashed out there who don't give a shit about the creatures with which we share our planet. We have a long way to go before we can truly call ourselves civilised.
Dear Colleague,
There was a number of things I was going to write about but all have been washed from my mind by the announcement that Stan Kroenke is going to start screening a hunting/bloodsports channel on UK TV. This is sick, truly depraved. My problem is that I know people will watch it. There is a huge unwashed out there who don't give a shit about the creatures with which we share our planet. We have a long way to go before we can truly call ourselves civilised.
There was a number of things I was going to write about but all have been washed from my mind by the announcement that Stan Kroenke is going to start screening a hunting/bloodsports channel on UK TV. This is sick, truly depraved. My problem is that I know people will watch it. There is a huge unwashed out there who don't give a shit about the creatures with which we share our planet. We have a long way to go before we can truly call ourselves civilised.
Did You Know?
ZooNews Digest has over 61,000 Followers on Facebook and has a weekly reach often exceeding over 350,000 people? That ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 823 Zoos in 154+ 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 61,000 Followers on Facebook and has a weekly reach often exceeding over 350,000 people? That ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 823 Zoos in 154+ 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.
Civets under threat
from exotic coffee
COFFEE keeps the
world awake.
With an estimated
2.25 billion cups drank each day, coffee has grown from a bitter African berry
to perhaps being the global beverage, in an industry worth over US$100 billion.
After oil, coffee is the most sought-after commodity in the world!
Demand for coffee is
growing worldwide, and with it come ever stranger and more specific methods of
growing, gathering, cultivating and consuming it. Perhaps no method is stranger
– or more notorious – than the technique that defines the world's most expensive
cup of coffee – that gathered from the dung of civets.
This is a trend that
worries Meg Evans – a PhD student from Kalamazoo, Michigan, who has called
Borneo home for nearly five years. Her research field looks at carnivorous
mammals – a group of animals of which Borneo has a unique range and diversity,
from sun bears to civets – and their responses to landscape fragmentation.
For her PhD
research, Meg uses data gathered from the medical records of civets, to assess
how changes in habitat affect the lifestyle and health of these creatures.
These findings can be extrapolated to give t
Arsenal owner Stan
Kroenke launches 'sickening' bloodsports channel in the UK that shows lion and
elephant hunts
Arsenal’s majority
shareholder, Stan Kroenke, has come under fire for launching a new bloodsports
television channel that was unveiled in the United Kingdom over the weekend
that will show regular hunting programmes that includes killing elephants,
lions and other vulnerable African species.
The American
billionaire, who owns 67% of the Premier League club’s shares, oversaw the
launch of My Outdoor TV [MOTV], which was revealed in the UK at the Game Fair
in Hertfordshire and described by those wh
If you want to give
a turtle an erection, use a vibrator
So, let’s say you
need to give a turtle an erection. There’s a quick and easy way to do it, a new
study has found. It’s a seven-inch, variable-speed silver bullet vibrator. Yes,
that kind of vibrator.
Turtle sexing is key
for research purposes, and also for conservationists who are trying to pair
mates. The easiest way to do that is to summon forth an erection, according to
findings published in the journal Acta Herpetologica.
R.I.P. Ebenezer, the
nation's oldest captive anteater
The oldest anteater
in U.S. captivity was humanely euthanized at the Phoenix Zoo after his long,
sociable, prolific life, officials said.
The zoo said
28-year-old Ebenezer was euthanized July 12 after his health declined recently.
The zoo's carnivore
manager Angela Comedy said Ebenezer moved to the zoo from San Antonio when he
was just a little over a year old. He lived there the rest of his life. During
his long stay, he was well-loved and cared for by multiple keepers.
"He was like a
gentle soul, which everybody loved ... every keeper that worked with him, he
was one of their favorite animals at the zoo," Comedy said.
Ebenezer was highly
social and loved to approach people and sniff their hands.
"He was super
curious," Comedy said. "His whole loving personality and
characteristics just made him so special. And the way that he really inte
Illegal Wildlife
Trade (IWT) Challenge Fund
Endangered Tigers
Face New Enemy – Wire Snares
Illegal wire snare traps are creating a
survival crisis for tigers and other wildlife across Asia. Today, on Global
Tiger Day, the conservation groups TRAFFIC and WWF are urging the governments
of tiger range countries to crack down on the practice.
Over 30,000 snares
were confiscated in Cambodia last year alone, and WWF says it is likely that
many more remain undiscovered.
“It’s impossible to
know how many snares are being set up every day, and threatening wildlife in
these critical habitats,” said Rohit Singh, wildlife law enforcement expert at
WWF. “Hundreds of thousands of deadly snares are removed by rangers from Asia’s
protected areas annually, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
An estimated 3,900
tigers now survive in the wild. This recent revision from the 2010 estimate of
3,200 has come primarily from new surveys in India, Russia, Nepal, Bangladesh
and Bhutan, according to WWF.
The number is higher
due to new areas being included in the national surveys, improved survey
techniques as well as growth in the population from conservation efforts.
This day was
designat
A day in the life of
ZSL’s training and behaviour expert
What do you do when
an iguana needs daily physiotherapy? You call in the animal training and
behaviour officer, that’s what.
So, when Susan, our
rhinoceros iguana, hurt her toe, it was Jim Mackie who helped zookeepers train
her to enter a special box where, with her foot emerging through the mesh, she
could easily receive physio.
It’s precisely this
– improving animals’ wellbeing – that is at the heart of Jim’s remarkable job:
"At ZSL we use the most forward-thinking methods of looking after our
animals," he says.
"For example,
in the past an animal that needed relocating might have needed to be caught in
a net. Now, we work with and train these animals so that they will voluntarily
move into a crate to be moved to a new enclosure – accomplishing the same thing
with the animal calm, comfortable and in control."
ZSL is at the
forefront of zoos in terms of this kind of animal husbandry and veterinary
training: "We use it for everything – health checks, physical exercise,
play…" says Jim. "It’s based on an animal doing something
voluntarily, rather than us needing to handle them."
What’s more, he
adds, virtually any animal can benefit from training: "The science behind
training a monkey and a fish is exactly the same," he says.
"Behavioural science is a natural law that applies to all animals, from
the largest elephant to the tiniest frog."
So how does it work?
Simply put, animal training tends to involve a stimulus, a behaviour and a
consequence: "We’ll provide a stimulus, such as a signal from keepers, and
a consequence – the promise of something the animal likes, such as foo
China banned the
sale of tiger bones so traders are importing South African lion parts instead
The ban on tiger
trading in China is causing importers to use South African lion parts to make
traditional tiger-based medicines, according to a report by the Environment
Investigation Agency (EIA).
Traders are
replacing tiger parts with lion parts to sidestep Chinese laws regarding the
sale and purchase of products containing tiger bones. A joint study from
conservation groups, Traffic and Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, notes
that the sale of lion skeletons in South Africa had jumped from 50 skeletons in
2008 to 800 in 2015.
In China and parts
of South East Asia, tiger bones are regarded to have powerful medicinal
qualities.
Photo Evidence,
Zoos, and YOU
You guys, I just
realized something.
I know that I have
never really been firmly in the "All Zoos Are Good Zoos" camp, and I
have also never been in the anti-zoo camp, either. But generally speaking, I am
pro-zoo/aquarium, provided the animals' well-being is truly the first priority,
and not just a talking point we throw out to our guests.
I also like to think
that I am a critical thinker in most scenarios, except at most mealtimes. Like, some people lose their inhibitions
after a certain amount of alcohol is consumed, but pretty much the sight of mac
and cheese renders me completely unable to process any further external
stimuli.
But I digress. In many instances, I try to take what I read
with a grain of salt, even if I am of the same opinion as the author. I am definitely not perfect at this, but I
actively try. I also feel like I am a
pretty introspective person, come hell or high water. I could do a 593-part blog series on my
character flaws and still have content to write.
So imagine my terror
and surprise when I read the most recent "Check Out These Photos Of Sad
Animals In Zoos" articles, thinking I would see the same-old images, and
feel the same-old "yeah but..." feelings. Except, this time, I had a totally differen
Trump Administration
Advances Plan to Open Up Marine Sanctuaries to Oil Drilling
With the stroke a
pen, President Trump recently implemented Executive Order 13795, directing
Department of Commerce Wilbur Ross to re-evaluate the protective status of
marine sanctuaries created under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. The Order also halts the establishment of new
sanctuaries, directs Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to
reconsider ‘unnecessary regulatory burdens’ from offshore drilling, and
reverses the Obama Administration’s ban on drilling in the Arctic.
The protective
status of eleven national marine sanctuaries and monuments, 425 million acres
roughly 20% of the area of the lower 48 states, is at risk.
What could this mean
for California, which hasn’t faced a significant threat of new drilling off its
coastline since the 1980s? Of the eleven
National Marine Sanctuaries and Marine National Monuments under review pursuant
to EO 13795 for the
How a colony of
wallabies made an island off Dublin their home
MANY NEW SPECIES of
animals have been introduced to Ireland over the centuries.
After finding our
mild climate fairly agreeable, they’ve settled in nicely.
Species common today
were new at one stage – these range from rabbits, who came to our shores with
the Normans in the 12th century, to the more modern and invasive introduction
of grey squirrels in 1911.
One more recent,
exotic, and elusive addition is thriving – the red-necked wallaby.
The Enemy Within:
The Agenda to Destroy Zoos
Can you imagine
President Donald Trump hiring Hillary Clinton to head up the Department of
Justice? Can you imagine the Pentagon
posting all their top secret weapons plans on Instagram? Can you imagine the Catholic Church merging
with Planned Parenthood and the Pope taking over the CEO position at the local
abortion clinic? These scenarios sound insane, right? Yet it’s happening right
here and right now in the animal world.
When SeaWorld’s new
CEO, Joel Manby took over he immediately announced that their star attraction,
the killer whale, would no longer be bred at their facilities ending their
captive breeding program. SeaWorld is
slowly becoming nothing more than an amusement park with big fish. Without the beloved Orca, SeaWorld is
nothing.
Then, we witnessed
the destruction of the 146-year-old Ringling Bros Circus which closed earlier
this year. After a twenty-year battle
against the animal rights movement, Ringling won an important victory when it
sued the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) under the Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and won. In the aftermath of the court settlement,
Ringling Circus still closed when city afte
The UAE’s
conservation efforts are gold
Many animal lovers
and conservationists continue to insist that animals solely belong in the wild.
What they often fail to take into account, however, is the fact that the
boundaries of their natural habitats are shrinking by the day and that animals
are increasingly coming under threat by poaching, global warming and conflict.
This explains why
the Dubai Safari Park, which recently imported older elephants and other
animals, will play a critical role in the conservation of endangered species,
while allowing residents to enhance their knowledge of the animal world.
As Timothy Husband,
the park’s technical director, recently told The National, the desert elephants
brought in from Namibia will not be used for rides, but to enhance breeding and
care facilities. The animals will either be sent over to other zoos or will be
part of an international breeding programme. “Some of them are critically
endangered and we breed up the numbers to either send over to other zoos to
help with new genetics or they go to a release programme,” he said. To the
satisfaction of many, it will also serve as a
How One Marine
Biologist Is Working To Save The Giant Clam
About 10 years ago,
Mei Lin Neo, 31, was tasked with reproducing an offspring of giant clams. What
was originally supposed to be just another science experiment where she would
take the larvae of the offspring to examine for a few weeks has now defined Neo’s
life-long purpose to save the giant clam as a marine biologist. “I faced
multiple failures in trying to rear the giant clams to age, but I couldn’t give
up. During my work, these microscopic larvae did not give up – they showed me
what it meant to fight for their survival and want to be alive,” said Neo.
Today, Neo is the
world’s leading scientist, as measured by publications in the field, on the
giant clam. “When I finally succeeded, I felt immensely gratified to ‘give new
life’ to these miniature giant clams. This became a constant reminder for me as
to why I go to work daily, knowing that I can help make a difference and
develop solutions to help save a species,” said Neo. At the time, Neo was just
starting to discover that giant clams were on track to extinctio
A Defiant Couple Is
Caging Big Cats in the Portland Suburbs. Should Anybody Stop Them?
What is Cheryl Jones
hiding?
Two months ago,
Jones and her partner, Steve Higgs, moved much of their family business to an
old horse farm outside Hillsboro. Parts of the 80-acre property can be seen
just south of Highway 26, but most of the land is tucked behind the tree line.
"No
Trespassing" signs line the half-mile gravel driveway. A metal security
gate flanked by two stone lions blocks visitors from the farmhouse where Jones
and Higgs have set up shop.
Jones and Higgs run
one of Oregon's odder nonprofits: A Walk on the Wild Side, a charity whose
purpose, according to tax forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service, is
"educational." Its mission: to house exotic animals and transport
them in a fifth-wheeler up and down the West Coast to county fairs and birthday
parties. Higgs manages the business of the nonprofit. Jones is the self-taught
animal handler.
Since their move to
Hillsboro in May, Jones and Higgs have stirred up the largely rural
neighborhood. A Walk on the Wild Side's new home sits among properties that are
typically more than 80 acres in size, and are home to blueberry fields and
horse stables. But it's also less than a four-minute drive to a McDonald's and
a Subway
Animals Always: Is
There Enough Room in the Ark?
I guess in the case
of many species — those that are extinct in the wild or those that are found in
tiny numbers — zoos are pretty much their last hope. The problem, though, is
the numbers part.
If you start with a
small number of animals in any given species, the odds of them dying off
completely are high. Makes sense, right?
If you start with a
large number of animals, the odds are much better.
So, here’s the
problem.
Our Zoo has a lot of
different species, but in many very important cases, we don’t have as many
animals as we need to feel sure that we’ll have that species at our Zoo 15 or
20 or 50 years from now. That’s bad.
What can we do about
it?
Well, the first
thing is that we could cooperate with other zoos. We keep a few animals of a
certain species, others keep a few, and when you add it all up, there’s enough
to ensure that we’ll have them in zoos for the long-term future. And that’s
exactly what we do.
Many species found
in zoos here in the United States and also in zoos around the world are in what
we call Species Survival Plans (or SSPs). For an SSP, we basically run a giant
computerized dating service designed to encourage genetic diversity, keep inbreeding
to a minimum and keep the number of animals to the maximum for a very, very
long time.
Byculla Zoo ups
entry fee by 900%
Starting Tuesday,
visiting Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo, also known as Byculla Zoo, is
going to burn holes in your pocket. After the Humboldt penguins were thrown
open for public viewing in March, zoo authorities had been considering a hike
in entry fees.
The authorities have
now upped the fees by 900 per cent. From the previous R5 per individual, one
would now have to shell out Rs 50. However, a family of four – two adults and
two children – will have to pay only Rs 100.
The proposal for the
fee hike had been pending for over two decades and was pushed forward by the
administration to curtail the crowd that was coming in, sources said. "We
see at least 10,000 visitors during the weekend," an official said.
According to the
authorities, the money collected will be spent on maintenance of the zoo and
not for filling the coffers of the civic body.
Dreamworld's big
cats help raise $3 million for conservation efforts
It’s a rare zoo-goer
who doesn’t spare a thought for the wild relatives of the animals on display.
For every elephant,
rhino or panda getting regular care and food inside the zoo, there’s many more
in the wild at risk of poaching, habitat destruction, or pollution.
That’s particularly
the case for tigers – whose numbers have plummeted from 100,000 to just over
3,000 over the past 100 years.
But Tiger Island in
Dreamworld is fighting back, using its own eleven tigers as ambassadors to
raise money for their struggling cousins.
Dreamworld Wildlife
Foundation Director Al Mucci today announced the theme park has raised $3
million for wildlife conservation initiatives, as the Gold Coast park
celebrates Global Tiger Day.
Part of the money
was raised from Dreamworld’s tiger experiences – such as tiger photo
opportunities, private walks and feeds – as well as from other fundraising
initiatives.
“Since we started
the foundation in 2012, the Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation has raised more than
$3 million, which is incredible,” Mr Mucci said.
“This money is used
to provide support to wildlife conservation initiatives, particularly relating
to the ecology and threatened and endangered species on a global scale.”
More than $2 million
of the money raised has gone dire
-----------------------------
www.zoolex.org in July 2017
~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~
Hello ZooLex Friend,
We have worked for your enjoyment!
~°v°~
NEW EXHIBIT PRESENTATION
The Minnesota Trail is an exhibition of Minnesota wildlife and habitats
that was built in 1978 and renovated in 2006/2007. A range of native
species can be seen in naturalistic environments in a ‘North Woods’
setting. We are pleased to present the Minnesota Trail Wolves:
~°v°~
RESEARCH IN THE ZOO
The tasks of a good zoo are education, conservation, recreation,
research and sustainability. Many publications are available to learn
how to tackle these tasks, except for research.
The book 'Professor in the Zoo' fills this gap. It focusses on science
as a driving force for zoo development. Terry Maple gives an overview of
the history of science in US zoos, the role that scientists can play in
a zoo and the contributions of science to the advancements in animal
welfare and species conservation. Written in the style of an
autobiography, Maple shows how important networking and endurance are
for improving zoos.
MAPLE, Terry L. (2016): Professor in the Zoo. Designing the Future for
Wildlife in Human Care. Red Leaf Press. Tequesta, Florida.
Here are some useful open access resources on scientific research with
relevance for zoos: PLOS ONE (http://journals.plos.org), EAZA's Journal
of Zoo and Aquarium Research (http://jzar.org), Conservation Evidence
(www.conservationevidence.com) and a new blog "Zoo Science for Keepers
and Aquarists" (www.zoosci.com).
~°v°~
We keep working on ZooLex ...
The ZooLex Zoo Design Organization is a non-profit organization
registered in Austria (ZVR-Zahl 933849053). ZooLex runs a professional
zoo design website and distributes this newsletter. More information and
contact: http://www.zoolex.org/about.html
A change in your
diet could save animals from extinction
Transforming large
swaths of the tropics into farmland could render almost one-third of wildlife
there extinct, new research suggests.
From the Amazon rain
forests to the Zambezi floodplains, intensive monoculture farming could have a
severe adverse impact on wildlife around the world.
Wildlife would
disappear most dramatically in the remaining forests and grasslands of Latin
America and Sub-Saharan Africa. The greatest species loss would occur in the
Peruvian Amazon basin where as many as 317 species could vanish as a result of
agricultural development.
As a doctoral
researcher at Humboldt University Berlin, I studied human food consumption,
land use and how they affect wildlife. Our research was published July 17 in
Nature Ecology and Evolution.
While human
population has doubled since 1970, the number of birds, mammals, reptiles and
amphibians have dropped by more than half. At its root, this widespread
environmental destruction is a result of our growth as a species and increasing
food consumption to sustain ourselves.
Although climate
change casts a shadow over future conservation efforts, farming is the No. 1
threat to wildlife. We have already altered some 75 per cent of the ice-free
land on this planet. If we continue along our current course, we will need to
double our crop productionto feed a growin
The IUCN Red List: A
Barometer of Life
BJP Leader Seeks
Probe Into Purchase Of Penguins For Mumbai Zoo
BJP MLA Ashish
Shelar has sought a Special Investigation Team probe into the purchase of eight
penguins by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the city-based
Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, popularly known as the Byculla Zoo.Mr Shelar,
the Mumbai chief of the BJP, also wants the revamp of the zoo to be made part
of the probe by the Special Investigation Team.He made this demand during a
debate in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly yesterday.Mr Shelar sought to
know if the Penguins brought from abroad were bacteria infected.He also alleged
that while preparing the master plan for revamp of Byculla zoo, the project
manager was appointed without calling for bids.The Byculla zoo redevelopment
plan was first envisaged in 2005. The master plan was prepared in 2009 which
was rejected by the heritage conservation committee (of the BMC).Despite this,
the same firm was awarded the contract for preparing the plan again, the MLA
claimed.He alleged that the firm which was awarded the contract had used bogus
mails, forged
Breeding in
captivity or celibacy?
With tiger numbers plummeting across the globe
and only 3,900 of them left in the wild of which 2,226 are in India, shrinking
habitat and increasing threats from poaching and different sources are forcing
them to be rescued and live a caged life of celibacy.
Even as countries
celebrate World Tiger Day on Saturday, TOI looks into plethora of issues
whether celibacy affects tigers' health, are there any psychological issues, do
wildcats face any other problems and is captive breeding necessary.
The issue has hogged
limelight after 8-year-old tigress Lee has been sent to mate with a same age
male named Sahebrao at Gorewada Rescue Centre on breeding loan. Both the tigers
were rescued from the wild separately and are celibates.
Due to many reasons,
mating in zoos among wild animals is not actively encouraged
Behind the Scenes:
Skinning Condors in the Name of Science
The majestically
macabre California condor is the largest bird in North America, Mother Nature’s
critically endangered cleanup crew, and a miracle conservation success story.
After making a comeback with captive breeding, things are looking up for the condor—but
not the birds that recently arrived at the Smithsonian Institution’s National
Bird Collection laboratories. These condors were dead, and many of them had
been for quite awhile.
During the
Pleistocene Era, 2 million to 11,000 years ago, robust populations of condors
soared high over the continent like grim reapers, scavenging the carcasses of
giant prehistoric mammals. But once giant sloths, stag-moose and mastodons
became extinct and human developments grew across North America, the California
condor population took a nosedive.
By 1982, their
numbers had dwindled to just 23 surviving condors. With extinction eminent, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) launched the California Condor Recovery
Program to capture the remaining birds in the wild and restore the population
through captive breeding. After just five years, enough birds had hatched in
captivity that they could be released to the wild. About 500 descendents of the
original 23 condors thrive today
The Busy Life of Bob
the Flamingo
When veterinarian
Odette Doest arrived at her local radio station on the Caribbean island of
Curaçao for an interview about wildlife conservation, her companion, Bob,
startled the staff. Doest told them she’d be bringing a flamingo, but they’d
assumed she meant the plastic variety.
The unlikely duo met
in October, after Bob (whom Doest named spontaneously when
the radio host asked his name) crashed
into a hotel window and collapsed near the pool. Doest,
an exotic-pet veterinarian who
rehabilitates wildlife on the side, learned of the accident via Facebook and
rushed over. She quickly realized Bob couldn’t be released, because of his
unnatural affinity for human company. So Bob became part of Doest’s rescue
flock, which includes macaws, boobies, and a caracara. The birds live on her
yard and porch-turned-aviary, next door to her office.
When wildlife
photographer Jasper Doest visited his cousin Odette, he was so enchanted by
Bob’s charisma that he began documenting the flamingo’s busy life. Doest brings
Bob to schools and media outlets to educate locals about his wild kin. The
island is home to around 250 of the elegant waders, but most of the country’s
almost 160,000 inhabitants aren’t familiar with the birds or the threats they
face, such as resort development encroaching on feeding and nesting habitat or
injury from loose dogs. “I’m often surpri
Trump's budget cuts
whooping crane project
The Whooping Crane
project at Patuxent is shutting down, a victim of the Trump Administration's
proposed budget.
"Some of you
may have already heard the news but for those of you that haven't, the Whooping
Crane captive breeding program at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
will be shutting down," the program's Facebook page reports. "We feel
for our friends and colleagues who work there, many of whom have been there a
dozen years or more. We are proud of everything they've accomplished or helped
to accomplish and are incredibly grateful for their tireless efforts to help
save and protect Whooping Cranes over the years!"
According to the
page, the program is one being cut by the proposed 2018 budget, the reason
being "propagation for release does not fit easily in our current research
mission, and USGS will focus limited resources on filling gaps of information
for species at risk that are not well studied."
The program has been
working for years to coax the species back from the brink of extinction.
Although other programs will continue, the closure still will have an impact on
the species, the page predicts.
"We have been
reassured that the LA reintroduction is still a priority for the International
Whooping Crane Recovery Team and it's definitely still a priority for LDWF.
However, whooping cranes are sensitive to disturbance and change so there will
certainly be a decrease in the captive production of eggs and chicks for the
next few years as the PWRC birds are transferred to new facilities,"
according to the page. "W
Wolf in Czech zoo
wounds small girl approaching enclosure
A wolf wounded a
three-year-old girl approaching its enclosure in the Olomouc zoo earlier this
month, snatching at her through the railing and biting her in the knee, the
zoo's spokeswoman Karla Breckova has told CTK, adding that the accident was not
the zoo's fault.
The police are
checking the circumstances of the accident and looking for eyewitnesses.
The wolf bit the
girl on Sunday, July 16. Rescuers intervened, treated the girl on the spot and
transferred her to hospital.
The regional rescue
service's spokesman, Zdenek Hosak, said the wolf put its head through the
electric railing and caused an open wound to the girl.
Breckova said the
visitors with the girl breached the safety distance set for people to approach
dangerous animals' enclosures, in spite of warni
George Rabb,
influential former Brookfield Zoo director, dies at 87
Despite running
Brookfield Zoo, one of the Chicago area’s top tourist attractions, for decades
and even living in a house on zoo grounds, George Rabb was probably better
known in the international zoo and conservation communities than he was
locally.
“He was a quiet,
shy, unassuming guy, and I’ve never in my life seen anybody more respected
completely than him,” said Joe Mendelson, director of research at Zoo Atlanta
and a longtime friend and colleague of Rabb’s. “He was absolutely central to
the modernization of zoos from animal menageries to conservation and research
centers.”’
Rabb died Thursday
at 87 after a brief illness, the zoo said in a statement Thursday night. His
legacy, marked throughout his career by bringing scientific methods into his
chosen workplace, touches nearly all aspects of modern animal conservation,
friends and colleagues said.
Rabb had heart
surgery in early July and struggled to recover, Brooke Hecht, president of the
Center for Humans and Nature, a C
Man is trampled to
death as he tries to take a selfie with a rescued ELEPHANT
A man has been
trampled to death in India after breaking into a safari park so he could take a
selfie with a rescued elephant.
The 27-year-old
victim, named as Abhilash, had entered an enclosure at the Bannerghatta
Biological Park in Bangalore to take a photograph.
But the sales
representative was crushed to death after being attacked by a bull elephant
named Sunder.
The animal had
previously hit the headlines after being rescued from his cruel former keepers
following a c
Indonesian villagers
fell forest in orangutan sanctuary
Nearly a fifth of
the forest in an orangutan sanctuary on the Indonesian part of Borneo has been
taken over by people, a conservation group says, threatening efforts to
rehabilitate the critically endangered great apes for release into the wild.
People thought to
have migrated from other parts of Indonesia have occupied part of the
sanctuary, cut down trees and planted crops including palm oil, Borneo
Orangutan Survival Foundation spokesman Nico Hermanu said Thursday.
The human activities
are near a “forest school'' where more than 20 orangutans live
semi-independently and learn how to find food, build nests and other skills
they need for survival -- a crucial part of their rehabilitation from trauma
often inflicted by people, who take babies for pets or kill t
Modern Manners: Zoos
and aquarium etiquette — Should ethics be a factor in your trip?
This week’s column
has to do with a popular summer activity for people of all ages — going to the
zoo or an aquarium.
There is a long
history of displaying animals for the viewing pleasure of humans. According to
a timeline on CBC Radio Canada (cbc.ca/doczone/features/history-of-zoos), the
earliest known zoo dates back to 3500 BC in Hierakonpolis, Egypt, once a large
urban center. In 1000 BC, Chinese Emperor Wen Wang founded the Garden of
Intelligence, which covered 1,500 acres with animals housed in metal cages in a
park setting, and has a name which alludes to the educational potential of
establishments like these.
Jump to 1752, and
the oldest zoo still in existence, the Tiergarten Schonbrunn, was opened in
Vienna, Austria. In 1814, the first North American zoo called Down’s Zoological
Gardens was opened in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1853, the first public aquarium
was opened in the London Zoo. The first zoo that opened in the United States
was the Philadelphia Zoo, which opened in 1890 after being delayed 15 years due
to the Civil War.
In 1924, the
Association of Zoos and Aquariums was founded and establishment must pass their
inspection for accreditation. Since then, many zoos have opened, some with an
emphasis on a more safari type experience where you can see animals roam in
open spaces similar to their natural habitats.
In recent years,
zoos and aquariums have been scrutiniz
Soon, gates on
border to allow Indian elephants to visit Bangladesh and return
Illegal migrants
from Bangladesh entering India is a contentious issue between both neighbours.
While New Delhi contends large-scale influx from across the border, Dhaka has
denied these migrants are their citizens.
There was no such
difference though when officials of both nations agreed on Thursday to
construct gates along the border to allow ‘free and safe passage’ for wild
elephants.
Setting up of the
gates was one of the 18 points of action agreed between both countries at the
2nd Indo-Bangladesh dialogue on trans-boundary conservation of elephants held
at Shillong.
“Trans-border
migration of animals is a natural process. But due to erection of border
fences, there have been occasions when elephants have broken barriers to
continue on their route. The gates will allow them safe pa
Guest Speaker:
Jenifer Zeligs – What is the “Fear Factor?”
One of the most
common difficulties that any of us face in life is overcoming fear. In animal
training there are many situations that potentially involve this hurdle:
medical procedures, transport and new environments, to name a few. Increasingly
in both human and animal learning environments, the profound advantages of
careful systematic desensitization is used to reduce fears and expand comfort.
Systematic desensitization involves breaking a stimulus (procedure or
situation) into small component elements and exposing the animal in lesser
approximations before progressing to the end product. In order to use this technique properly, one
must be able to judge “what is the fear factor?”
In the beginning
periods of exposure to something new, there is a delicate stage where an animal
can become increasingly afraid (sensitized) instead of desensitized. What ends up happening is primarily based on
what psychologists call the initial stimulus strength.
Stimulus strength is
another way to describe the potential value of a stimulus to a given animal, or
in scientific terms, its “salience.”
When this value is highly significant and aversive it often causes
sensitization. Therefore trainers need a keen sense of what types of properties
might increase the aversive stimulus strength (and as a result, the fear an
animal feels).
There are many
factors that can typically suggest an increase in fear. For example, something that is very loud or
that emits intens
CNN Hero Siew Te Wong
Rebuttal: Thinking
Critically About Anti-zoo Images
Recently, you may
have seen that sources like the Washington Post, The Guardian, and IFLScience
published stories about a book released by a Canadian photographer who traveled
across Europe photographing animals in zoological facilities. Now, I won’t speak
out against said book as I have not read it and, therefore, it would be
improper of me to do so.
However, I will
speak about some of the images found in the aforementioned articles. More
importantly, I’m going to ask you to think critically about them and this
situation. So take a moment to click on the links above and glance over the
some of the images we’ll discuss.
Okay, ready? Good.
If the articles and
interviews promoting the book are any indication, the photographer has
published a biased, one-sided view of the life of animals in human care. At
first glance, most of the photos seem haunting, telling of a captive animal’s
endlessly depressed state, complete and total lack of stimulation, or
inadequate living environment.
Judging from
comments via social media, some members of the public were, in fact, disturbed
by the images. But, I am here to remind you that while the saying goes, “A
picture is worth a thousand words”, what is not pictured is worth at least
twice as much.
I’ll start by
reminding you that the images captured and featured in these articles only
display a fraction of that animal’s day.
According to the
ever-reliable internet, a standard DSL camera can take a picture in roughly
1/8000th of a second. That means that each image captured and featured portrays
exactly 0.000125% OF A SECOND of that animal’s day. And being that there are
over 86,000 seconds in a day, each photo portrays a negligible percentage of
not only that animal’s day, but also an infinitely tiny, microscopically
minuscule fraction of the animal’s lifetime.
I could keep going
with all of the mathematics, I suppose, but instead of boring you, I’ll
encourage you to ask yourself: What happened during the rest of the day?
Is the reason the
jaguar is right in fr
Memphis Zoo
livestreaming births of rarest snake in North America
Memphis Zoo is
showcasing a continuous live feed of the births of its rare Louisiana pine
snakes, which will hatch intermittently over the next two weeks.
The eggs were laid
in May by five females, and have a 60-day incubation period on average. The 28
eggs are housed in tubs filled with vermiculite, a heat-treated mica mineral,
which is commonly used in gardening.
“Incubators” are
kept at approximately 82 degrees with 70-80 percent humidity to ensure the eggs
stay hydrated.
“Hatching in snakes
is a protracted event,” said Dr. Steve Reichling, Central Zone curator at the
Memphis Zoo. “First they slit the leathery eggshell with a sharp tooth that
grows on the tip of their snout. Then, they rest for up to a day while they
absorb any remaining yolk into their body. Their egg tooth falls off, before
finally slipping out of the egg.”
Known for its large
eggs and small clutch sizes of three to five, the Louisiana pine snake is a
species of nonvenomous constrictors.
It is the rarest
snake in North America, and fewer than 250 specimens have been found in the
wild. The species once existed in nine parishes in Louisiana and 14 counties in
Texas.
However, as a result
of habitat loss, they currently exist in only a few Louisiana parishes and have
been eliminated from Texas entirely.
“We are thrilled to
welcome these rare snakes here at the Memphis Zoo,” said Matt Thompson,
director of Animal Programs at Memphis Zoo. “Consideri
Darwin Initiative:
applying for main project funding
Civets under threat
from exotic coffee
COFFEE keeps the
world awake.
With an estimated
2.25 billion cups drank each day, coffee has grown from a bitter African berry
to perhaps being the global beverage, in an industry worth over US$100 billion.
After oil, coffee is the most sought-after commodity in the world!
Demand for coffee is
growing worldwide, and with it come ever stranger and more specific methods of
growing, gathering, cultivating and consuming it. Perhaps no method is stranger
– or more notorious – than the technique that defines the world's most expensive
cup of coffee – that gathered from the dung of civets.
This is a trend that
worries Meg Evans – a PhD student from Kalamazoo, Michigan, who has called
Borneo home for nearly five years. Her research field looks at carnivorous
mammals – a group of animals of which Borneo has a unique range and diversity,
from sun bears to civets – and their responses to landscape fragmentation.
For her PhD
research, Meg uses data gathered from the medical records of civets, to assess
how changes in habitat affect the lifestyle and health of these creatures.
These findings can be extrapolated to give t
Arsenal owner Stan
Kroenke launches 'sickening' bloodsports channel in the UK that shows lion and
elephant hunts
Arsenal’s majority
shareholder, Stan Kroenke, has come under fire for launching a new bloodsports
television channel that was unveiled in the United Kingdom over the weekend
that will show regular hunting programmes that includes killing elephants,
lions and other vulnerable African species.
The American
billionaire, who owns 67% of the Premier League club’s shares, oversaw the
launch of My Outdoor TV [MOTV], which was revealed in the UK at the Game Fair
in Hertfordshire and described by those wh
If you want to give
a turtle an erection, use a vibrator
So, let’s say you
need to give a turtle an erection. There’s a quick and easy way to do it, a new
study has found. It’s a seven-inch, variable-speed silver bullet vibrator. Yes,
that kind of vibrator.
Turtle sexing is key
for research purposes, and also for conservationists who are trying to pair
mates. The easiest way to do that is to summon forth an erection, according to
findings published in the journal Acta Herpetologica.
R.I.P. Ebenezer, the nation's oldest captive anteater
The oldest anteater
in U.S. captivity was humanely euthanized at the Phoenix Zoo after his long,
sociable, prolific life, officials said.
The zoo said
28-year-old Ebenezer was euthanized July 12 after his health declined recently.
The zoo's carnivore
manager Angela Comedy said Ebenezer moved to the zoo from San Antonio when he
was just a little over a year old. He lived there the rest of his life. During
his long stay, he was well-loved and cared for by multiple keepers.
"He was like a
gentle soul, which everybody loved ... every keeper that worked with him, he
was one of their favorite animals at the zoo," Comedy said.
Ebenezer was highly
social and loved to approach people and sniff their hands.
"He was super
curious," Comedy said. "His whole loving personality and
characteristics just made him so special. And the way that he really inte
Illegal Wildlife
Trade (IWT) Challenge Fund
Endangered Tigers
Face New Enemy – Wire Snares
Illegal wire snare traps are creating a
survival crisis for tigers and other wildlife across Asia. Today, on Global
Tiger Day, the conservation groups TRAFFIC and WWF are urging the governments
of tiger range countries to crack down on the practice.
Over 30,000 snares
were confiscated in Cambodia last year alone, and WWF says it is likely that
many more remain undiscovered.
“It’s impossible to
know how many snares are being set up every day, and threatening wildlife in
these critical habitats,” said Rohit Singh, wildlife law enforcement expert at
WWF. “Hundreds of thousands of deadly snares are removed by rangers from Asia’s
protected areas annually, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
An estimated 3,900
tigers now survive in the wild. This recent revision from the 2010 estimate of
3,200 has come primarily from new surveys in India, Russia, Nepal, Bangladesh
and Bhutan, according to WWF.
The number is higher
due to new areas being included in the national surveys, improved survey
techniques as well as growth in the population from conservation efforts.
This day was
designat
A day in the life of
ZSL’s training and behaviour expert
What do you do when
an iguana needs daily physiotherapy? You call in the animal training and
behaviour officer, that’s what.
So, when Susan, our
rhinoceros iguana, hurt her toe, it was Jim Mackie who helped zookeepers train
her to enter a special box where, with her foot emerging through the mesh, she
could easily receive physio.
It’s precisely this
– improving animals’ wellbeing – that is at the heart of Jim’s remarkable job:
"At ZSL we use the most forward-thinking methods of looking after our
animals," he says.
"For example,
in the past an animal that needed relocating might have needed to be caught in
a net. Now, we work with and train these animals so that they will voluntarily
move into a crate to be moved to a new enclosure – accomplishing the same thing
with the animal calm, comfortable and in control."
ZSL is at the
forefront of zoos in terms of this kind of animal husbandry and veterinary
training: "We use it for everything – health checks, physical exercise,
play…" says Jim. "It’s based on an animal doing something
voluntarily, rather than us needing to handle them."
What’s more, he
adds, virtually any animal can benefit from training: "The science behind
training a monkey and a fish is exactly the same," he says.
"Behavioural science is a natural law that applies to all animals, from
the largest elephant to the tiniest frog."
So how does it work?
Simply put, animal training tends to involve a stimulus, a behaviour and a
consequence: "We’ll provide a stimulus, such as a signal from keepers, and
a consequence – the promise of something the animal likes, such as foo
China banned the
sale of tiger bones so traders are importing South African lion parts instead
The ban on tiger
trading in China is causing importers to use South African lion parts to make
traditional tiger-based medicines, according to a report by the Environment
Investigation Agency (EIA).
Traders are
replacing tiger parts with lion parts to sidestep Chinese laws regarding the
sale and purchase of products containing tiger bones. A joint study from
conservation groups, Traffic and Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, notes
that the sale of lion skeletons in South Africa had jumped from 50 skeletons in
2008 to 800 in 2015.
In China and parts
of South East Asia, tiger bones are regarded to have powerful medicinal
qualities.
Photo Evidence,
Zoos, and YOU
You guys, I just
realized something.
I know that I have
never really been firmly in the "All Zoos Are Good Zoos" camp, and I
have also never been in the anti-zoo camp, either. But generally speaking, I am
pro-zoo/aquarium, provided the animals' well-being is truly the first priority,
and not just a talking point we throw out to our guests.
I also like to think
that I am a critical thinker in most scenarios, except at most mealtimes. Like, some people lose their inhibitions
after a certain amount of alcohol is consumed, but pretty much the sight of mac
and cheese renders me completely unable to process any further external
stimuli.
But I digress. In many instances, I try to take what I read
with a grain of salt, even if I am of the same opinion as the author. I am definitely not perfect at this, but I
actively try. I also feel like I am a
pretty introspective person, come hell or high water. I could do a 593-part blog series on my
character flaws and still have content to write.
So imagine my terror
and surprise when I read the most recent "Check Out These Photos Of Sad
Animals In Zoos" articles, thinking I would see the same-old images, and
feel the same-old "yeah but..." feelings. Except, this time, I had a totally differen
Trump Administration
Advances Plan to Open Up Marine Sanctuaries to Oil Drilling
With the stroke a
pen, President Trump recently implemented Executive Order 13795, directing
Department of Commerce Wilbur Ross to re-evaluate the protective status of
marine sanctuaries created under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. The Order also halts the establishment of new
sanctuaries, directs Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to
reconsider ‘unnecessary regulatory burdens’ from offshore drilling, and
reverses the Obama Administration’s ban on drilling in the Arctic.
The protective
status of eleven national marine sanctuaries and monuments, 425 million acres
roughly 20% of the area of the lower 48 states, is at risk.
What could this mean
for California, which hasn’t faced a significant threat of new drilling off its
coastline since the 1980s? Of the eleven
National Marine Sanctuaries and Marine National Monuments under review pursuant
to EO 13795 for the
How a colony of
wallabies made an island off Dublin their home
MANY NEW SPECIES of
animals have been introduced to Ireland over the centuries.
After finding our
mild climate fairly agreeable, they’ve settled in nicely.
Species common today
were new at one stage – these range from rabbits, who came to our shores with
the Normans in the 12th century, to the more modern and invasive introduction
of grey squirrels in 1911.
One more recent,
exotic, and elusive addition is thriving – the red-necked wallaby.
The Enemy Within:
The Agenda to Destroy Zoos
Can you imagine
President Donald Trump hiring Hillary Clinton to head up the Department of
Justice? Can you imagine the Pentagon
posting all their top secret weapons plans on Instagram? Can you imagine the Catholic Church merging
with Planned Parenthood and the Pope taking over the CEO position at the local
abortion clinic? These scenarios sound insane, right? Yet it’s happening right
here and right now in the animal world.
When SeaWorld’s new
CEO, Joel Manby took over he immediately announced that their star attraction,
the killer whale, would no longer be bred at their facilities ending their
captive breeding program. SeaWorld is
slowly becoming nothing more than an amusement park with big fish. Without the beloved Orca, SeaWorld is
nothing.
Then, we witnessed
the destruction of the 146-year-old Ringling Bros Circus which closed earlier
this year. After a twenty-year battle
against the animal rights movement, Ringling won an important victory when it
sued the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) under the Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and won. In the aftermath of the court settlement,
Ringling Circus still closed when city afte
The UAE’s
conservation efforts are gold
Many animal lovers
and conservationists continue to insist that animals solely belong in the wild.
What they often fail to take into account, however, is the fact that the
boundaries of their natural habitats are shrinking by the day and that animals
are increasingly coming under threat by poaching, global warming and conflict.
This explains why
the Dubai Safari Park, which recently imported older elephants and other
animals, will play a critical role in the conservation of endangered species,
while allowing residents to enhance their knowledge of the animal world.
As Timothy Husband,
the park’s technical director, recently told The National, the desert elephants
brought in from Namibia will not be used for rides, but to enhance breeding and
care facilities. The animals will either be sent over to other zoos or will be
part of an international breeding programme. “Some of them are critically
endangered and we breed up the numbers to either send over to other zoos to
help with new genetics or they go to a release programme,” he said. To the
satisfaction of many, it will also serve as a
How One Marine
Biologist Is Working To Save The Giant Clam
About 10 years ago,
Mei Lin Neo, 31, was tasked with reproducing an offspring of giant clams. What
was originally supposed to be just another science experiment where she would
take the larvae of the offspring to examine for a few weeks has now defined Neo’s
life-long purpose to save the giant clam as a marine biologist. “I faced
multiple failures in trying to rear the giant clams to age, but I couldn’t give
up. During my work, these microscopic larvae did not give up – they showed me
what it meant to fight for their survival and want to be alive,” said Neo.
Today, Neo is the
world’s leading scientist, as measured by publications in the field, on the
giant clam. “When I finally succeeded, I felt immensely gratified to ‘give new
life’ to these miniature giant clams. This became a constant reminder for me as
to why I go to work daily, knowing that I can help make a difference and
develop solutions to help save a species,” said Neo. At the time, Neo was just
starting to discover that giant clams were on track to extinctio
A Defiant Couple Is
Caging Big Cats in the Portland Suburbs. Should Anybody Stop Them?
What is Cheryl Jones
hiding?
Two months ago,
Jones and her partner, Steve Higgs, moved much of their family business to an
old horse farm outside Hillsboro. Parts of the 80-acre property can be seen
just south of Highway 26, but most of the land is tucked behind the tree line.
"No
Trespassing" signs line the half-mile gravel driveway. A metal security
gate flanked by two stone lions blocks visitors from the farmhouse where Jones
and Higgs have set up shop.
Jones and Higgs run
one of Oregon's odder nonprofits: A Walk on the Wild Side, a charity whose
purpose, according to tax forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service, is
"educational." Its mission: to house exotic animals and transport
them in a fifth-wheeler up and down the West Coast to county fairs and birthday
parties. Higgs manages the business of the nonprofit. Jones is the self-taught
animal handler.
Since their move to
Hillsboro in May, Jones and Higgs have stirred up the largely rural
neighborhood. A Walk on the Wild Side's new home sits among properties that are
typically more than 80 acres in size, and are home to blueberry fields and
horse stables. But it's also less than a four-minute drive to a McDonald's and
a Subway
Animals Always: Is
There Enough Room in the Ark?
I guess in the case
of many species — those that are extinct in the wild or those that are found in
tiny numbers — zoos are pretty much their last hope. The problem, though, is
the numbers part.
If you start with a
small number of animals in any given species, the odds of them dying off
completely are high. Makes sense, right?
If you start with a
large number of animals, the odds are much better.
So, here’s the
problem.
Our Zoo has a lot of
different species, but in many very important cases, we don’t have as many
animals as we need to feel sure that we’ll have that species at our Zoo 15 or
20 or 50 years from now. That’s bad.
What can we do about
it?
Well, the first
thing is that we could cooperate with other zoos. We keep a few animals of a
certain species, others keep a few, and when you add it all up, there’s enough
to ensure that we’ll have them in zoos for the long-term future. And that’s
exactly what we do.
Many species found
in zoos here in the United States and also in zoos around the world are in what
we call Species Survival Plans (or SSPs). For an SSP, we basically run a giant
computerized dating service designed to encourage genetic diversity, keep inbreeding
to a minimum and keep the number of animals to the maximum for a very, very
long time.
Byculla Zoo ups
entry fee by 900%
Starting Tuesday,
visiting Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo, also known as Byculla Zoo, is
going to burn holes in your pocket. After the Humboldt penguins were thrown
open for public viewing in March, zoo authorities had been considering a hike
in entry fees.
The authorities have
now upped the fees by 900 per cent. From the previous R5 per individual, one
would now have to shell out Rs 50. However, a family of four – two adults and
two children – will have to pay only Rs 100.
The proposal for the
fee hike had been pending for over two decades and was pushed forward by the
administration to curtail the crowd that was coming in, sources said. "We
see at least 10,000 visitors during the weekend," an official said.
According to the
authorities, the money collected will be spent on maintenance of the zoo and
not for filling the coffers of the civic body.
Dreamworld's big
cats help raise $3 million for conservation efforts
It’s a rare zoo-goer
who doesn’t spare a thought for the wild relatives of the animals on display.
For every elephant,
rhino or panda getting regular care and food inside the zoo, there’s many more
in the wild at risk of poaching, habitat destruction, or pollution.
That’s particularly
the case for tigers – whose numbers have plummeted from 100,000 to just over
3,000 over the past 100 years.
But Tiger Island in
Dreamworld is fighting back, using its own eleven tigers as ambassadors to
raise money for their struggling cousins.
Dreamworld Wildlife
Foundation Director Al Mucci today announced the theme park has raised $3
million for wildlife conservation initiatives, as the Gold Coast park
celebrates Global Tiger Day.
Part of the money
was raised from Dreamworld’s tiger experiences – such as tiger photo
opportunities, private walks and feeds – as well as from other fundraising
initiatives.
“Since we started
the foundation in 2012, the Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation has raised more than
$3 million, which is incredible,” Mr Mucci said.
“This money is used
to provide support to wildlife conservation initiatives, particularly relating
to the ecology and threatened and endangered species on a global scale.”
More than $2 million
of the money raised has gone dire
-----------------------------
www.zoolex.org in July 2017
~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~
Hello ZooLex Friend,
We have worked for your enjoyment!
~°v°~
NEW EXHIBIT PRESENTATION
The Minnesota Trail is an exhibition of Minnesota wildlife and habitats
that was built in 1978 and renovated in 2006/2007. A range of native
species can be seen in naturalistic environments in a ‘North Woods’
setting. We are pleased to present the Minnesota Trail Wolves:
~°v°~
RESEARCH IN THE ZOO
The tasks of a good zoo are education, conservation, recreation,
research and sustainability. Many publications are available to learn
how to tackle these tasks, except for research.
The book 'Professor in the Zoo' fills this gap. It focusses on science
as a driving force for zoo development. Terry Maple gives an overview of
the history of science in US zoos, the role that scientists can play in
a zoo and the contributions of science to the advancements in animal
welfare and species conservation. Written in the style of an
autobiography, Maple shows how important networking and endurance are
for improving zoos.
MAPLE, Terry L. (2016): Professor in the Zoo. Designing the Future for
Wildlife in Human Care. Red Leaf Press. Tequesta, Florida.
Here are some useful open access resources on scientific research with
relevance for zoos: PLOS ONE (http://journals.plos.org), EAZA's Journal
of Zoo and Aquarium Research (http://jzar.org), Conservation Evidence
(www.conservationevidence.com) and a new blog "Zoo Science for Keepers
and Aquarists" (www.zoosci.com).
~°v°~
We keep working on ZooLex ...
The ZooLex Zoo Design Organization is a non-profit organization
registered in Austria (ZVR-Zahl 933849053). ZooLex runs a professional
zoo design website and distributes this newsletter. More information and
contact: http://www.zoolex.org/about.html
A change in your
diet could save animals from extinction
Transforming large
swaths of the tropics into farmland could render almost one-third of wildlife
there extinct, new research suggests.
From the Amazon rain
forests to the Zambezi floodplains, intensive monoculture farming could have a
severe adverse impact on wildlife around the world.
Wildlife would
disappear most dramatically in the remaining forests and grasslands of Latin
America and Sub-Saharan Africa. The greatest species loss would occur in the
Peruvian Amazon basin where as many as 317 species could vanish as a result of
agricultural development.
As a doctoral
researcher at Humboldt University Berlin, I studied human food consumption,
land use and how they affect wildlife. Our research was published July 17 in
Nature Ecology and Evolution.
While human
population has doubled since 1970, the number of birds, mammals, reptiles and
amphibians have dropped by more than half. At its root, this widespread
environmental destruction is a result of our growth as a species and increasing
food consumption to sustain ourselves.
Although climate
change casts a shadow over future conservation efforts, farming is the No. 1
threat to wildlife. We have already altered some 75 per cent of the ice-free
land on this planet. If we continue along our current course, we will need to
double our crop productionto feed a growin
The IUCN Red List: A
Barometer of Life
BJP Leader Seeks
Probe Into Purchase Of Penguins For Mumbai Zoo
BJP MLA Ashish
Shelar has sought a Special Investigation Team probe into the purchase of eight
penguins by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the city-based
Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, popularly known as the Byculla Zoo.Mr Shelar,
the Mumbai chief of the BJP, also wants the revamp of the zoo to be made part
of the probe by the Special Investigation Team.He made this demand during a
debate in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly yesterday.Mr Shelar sought to
know if the Penguins brought from abroad were bacteria infected.He also alleged
that while preparing the master plan for revamp of Byculla zoo, the project
manager was appointed without calling for bids.The Byculla zoo redevelopment
plan was first envisaged in 2005. The master plan was prepared in 2009 which
was rejected by the heritage conservation committee (of the BMC).Despite this,
the same firm was awarded the contract for preparing the plan again, the MLA
claimed.He alleged that the firm which was awarded the contract had used bogus
mails, forged
Breeding in
captivity or celibacy?
With tiger numbers plummeting across the globe
and only 3,900 of them left in the wild of which 2,226 are in India, shrinking
habitat and increasing threats from poaching and different sources are forcing
them to be rescued and live a caged life of celibacy.
Even as countries
celebrate World Tiger Day on Saturday, TOI looks into plethora of issues
whether celibacy affects tigers' health, are there any psychological issues, do
wildcats face any other problems and is captive breeding necessary.
The issue has hogged
limelight after 8-year-old tigress Lee has been sent to mate with a same age
male named Sahebrao at Gorewada Rescue Centre on breeding loan. Both the tigers
were rescued from the wild separately and are celibates.
Due to many reasons,
mating in zoos among wild animals is not actively encouraged
Behind the Scenes:
Skinning Condors in the Name of Science
The majestically
macabre California condor is the largest bird in North America, Mother Nature’s
critically endangered cleanup crew, and a miracle conservation success story.
After making a comeback with captive breeding, things are looking up for the condor—but
not the birds that recently arrived at the Smithsonian Institution’s National
Bird Collection laboratories. These condors were dead, and many of them had
been for quite awhile.
During the
Pleistocene Era, 2 million to 11,000 years ago, robust populations of condors
soared high over the continent like grim reapers, scavenging the carcasses of
giant prehistoric mammals. But once giant sloths, stag-moose and mastodons
became extinct and human developments grew across North America, the California
condor population took a nosedive.
By 1982, their
numbers had dwindled to just 23 surviving condors. With extinction eminent, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) launched the California Condor Recovery
Program to capture the remaining birds in the wild and restore the population
through captive breeding. After just five years, enough birds had hatched in
captivity that they could be released to the wild. About 500 descendents of the
original 23 condors thrive today
The Busy Life of Bob
the Flamingo
When veterinarian
Odette Doest arrived at her local radio station on the Caribbean island of
Curaçao for an interview about wildlife conservation, her companion, Bob,
startled the staff. Doest told them she’d be bringing a flamingo, but they’d
assumed she meant the plastic variety.
The unlikely duo met
in October, after Bob (whom Doest named spontaneously when
the radio host asked his name) crashed into a hotel window and collapsed near the pool. Doest,
an exotic-pet veterinarian who rehabilitates wildlife on the side, learned of the accident via Facebook and rushed over. She quickly realized Bob couldn’t be released, because of his unnatural affinity for human company. So Bob became part of Doest’s rescue flock, which includes macaws, boobies, and a caracara. The birds live on her yard and porch-turned-aviary, next door to her office.
the radio host asked his name) crashed into a hotel window and collapsed near the pool. Doest,
an exotic-pet veterinarian who rehabilitates wildlife on the side, learned of the accident via Facebook and rushed over. She quickly realized Bob couldn’t be released, because of his unnatural affinity for human company. So Bob became part of Doest’s rescue flock, which includes macaws, boobies, and a caracara. The birds live on her yard and porch-turned-aviary, next door to her office.
When wildlife
photographer Jasper Doest visited his cousin Odette, he was so enchanted by
Bob’s charisma that he began documenting the flamingo’s busy life. Doest brings
Bob to schools and media outlets to educate locals about his wild kin. The
island is home to around 250 of the elegant waders, but most of the country’s
almost 160,000 inhabitants aren’t familiar with the birds or the threats they
face, such as resort development encroaching on feeding and nesting habitat or
injury from loose dogs. “I’m often surpri
Trump's budget cuts
whooping crane project
The Whooping Crane
project at Patuxent is shutting down, a victim of the Trump Administration's
proposed budget.
"Some of you
may have already heard the news but for those of you that haven't, the Whooping
Crane captive breeding program at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
will be shutting down," the program's Facebook page reports. "We feel
for our friends and colleagues who work there, many of whom have been there a
dozen years or more. We are proud of everything they've accomplished or helped
to accomplish and are incredibly grateful for their tireless efforts to help
save and protect Whooping Cranes over the years!"
According to the
page, the program is one being cut by the proposed 2018 budget, the reason
being "propagation for release does not fit easily in our current research
mission, and USGS will focus limited resources on filling gaps of information
for species at risk that are not well studied."
The program has been
working for years to coax the species back from the brink of extinction.
Although other programs will continue, the closure still will have an impact on
the species, the page predicts.
"We have been
reassured that the LA reintroduction is still a priority for the International
Whooping Crane Recovery Team and it's definitely still a priority for LDWF.
However, whooping cranes are sensitive to disturbance and change so there will
certainly be a decrease in the captive production of eggs and chicks for the
next few years as the PWRC birds are transferred to new facilities,"
according to the page. "W
Wolf in Czech zoo
wounds small girl approaching enclosure
A wolf wounded a
three-year-old girl approaching its enclosure in the Olomouc zoo earlier this
month, snatching at her through the railing and biting her in the knee, the
zoo's spokeswoman Karla Breckova has told CTK, adding that the accident was not
the zoo's fault.
The police are
checking the circumstances of the accident and looking for eyewitnesses.
The wolf bit the
girl on Sunday, July 16. Rescuers intervened, treated the girl on the spot and
transferred her to hospital.
The regional rescue
service's spokesman, Zdenek Hosak, said the wolf put its head through the
electric railing and caused an open wound to the girl.
Breckova said the
visitors with the girl breached the safety distance set for people to approach
dangerous animals' enclosures, in spite of warni
George Rabb,
influential former Brookfield Zoo director, dies at 87
Despite running
Brookfield Zoo, one of the Chicago area’s top tourist attractions, for decades
and even living in a house on zoo grounds, George Rabb was probably better
known in the international zoo and conservation communities than he was
locally.
“He was a quiet,
shy, unassuming guy, and I’ve never in my life seen anybody more respected
completely than him,” said Joe Mendelson, director of research at Zoo Atlanta
and a longtime friend and colleague of Rabb’s. “He was absolutely central to
the modernization of zoos from animal menageries to conservation and research
centers.”’
Rabb died Thursday
at 87 after a brief illness, the zoo said in a statement Thursday night. His
legacy, marked throughout his career by bringing scientific methods into his
chosen workplace, touches nearly all aspects of modern animal conservation,
friends and colleagues said.
Rabb had heart
surgery in early July and struggled to recover, Brooke Hecht, president of the
Center for Humans and Nature, a C
Man is trampled to
death as he tries to take a selfie with a rescued ELEPHANT
A man has been
trampled to death in India after breaking into a safari park so he could take a
selfie with a rescued elephant.
The 27-year-old
victim, named as Abhilash, had entered an enclosure at the Bannerghatta
Biological Park in Bangalore to take a photograph.
But the sales
representative was crushed to death after being attacked by a bull elephant
named Sunder.
The animal had
previously hit the headlines after being rescued from his cruel former keepers
following a c
Indonesian villagers
fell forest in orangutan sanctuary
Nearly a fifth of
the forest in an orangutan sanctuary on the Indonesian part of Borneo has been
taken over by people, a conservation group says, threatening efforts to
rehabilitate the critically endangered great apes for release into the wild.
People thought to
have migrated from other parts of Indonesia have occupied part of the
sanctuary, cut down trees and planted crops including palm oil, Borneo
Orangutan Survival Foundation spokesman Nico Hermanu said Thursday.
The human activities
are near a “forest school'' where more than 20 orangutans live
semi-independently and learn how to find food, build nests and other skills
they need for survival -- a crucial part of their rehabilitation from trauma
often inflicted by people, who take babies for pets or kill t
Modern Manners: Zoos
and aquarium etiquette — Should ethics be a factor in your trip?
This week’s column
has to do with a popular summer activity for people of all ages — going to the
zoo or an aquarium.
There is a long
history of displaying animals for the viewing pleasure of humans. According to
a timeline on CBC Radio Canada (cbc.ca/doczone/features/history-of-zoos), the
earliest known zoo dates back to 3500 BC in Hierakonpolis, Egypt, once a large
urban center. In 1000 BC, Chinese Emperor Wen Wang founded the Garden of
Intelligence, which covered 1,500 acres with animals housed in metal cages in a
park setting, and has a name which alludes to the educational potential of
establishments like these.
Jump to 1752, and
the oldest zoo still in existence, the Tiergarten Schonbrunn, was opened in
Vienna, Austria. In 1814, the first North American zoo called Down’s Zoological
Gardens was opened in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1853, the first public aquarium
was opened in the London Zoo. The first zoo that opened in the United States
was the Philadelphia Zoo, which opened in 1890 after being delayed 15 years due
to the Civil War.
In 1924, the
Association of Zoos and Aquariums was founded and establishment must pass their
inspection for accreditation. Since then, many zoos have opened, some with an
emphasis on a more safari type experience where you can see animals roam in
open spaces similar to their natural habitats.
In recent years,
zoos and aquariums have been scrutiniz
Soon, gates on
border to allow Indian elephants to visit Bangladesh and return
Illegal migrants
from Bangladesh entering India is a contentious issue between both neighbours.
While New Delhi contends large-scale influx from across the border, Dhaka has
denied these migrants are their citizens.
There was no such
difference though when officials of both nations agreed on Thursday to
construct gates along the border to allow ‘free and safe passage’ for wild
elephants.
Setting up of the
gates was one of the 18 points of action agreed between both countries at the
2nd Indo-Bangladesh dialogue on trans-boundary conservation of elephants held
at Shillong.
“Trans-border
migration of animals is a natural process. But due to erection of border
fences, there have been occasions when elephants have broken barriers to
continue on their route. The gates will allow them safe pa
Guest Speaker:
Jenifer Zeligs – What is the “Fear Factor?”
One of the most
common difficulties that any of us face in life is overcoming fear. In animal
training there are many situations that potentially involve this hurdle:
medical procedures, transport and new environments, to name a few. Increasingly
in both human and animal learning environments, the profound advantages of
careful systematic desensitization is used to reduce fears and expand comfort.
Systematic desensitization involves breaking a stimulus (procedure or
situation) into small component elements and exposing the animal in lesser
approximations before progressing to the end product. In order to use this technique properly, one
must be able to judge “what is the fear factor?”
In the beginning
periods of exposure to something new, there is a delicate stage where an animal
can become increasingly afraid (sensitized) instead of desensitized. What ends up happening is primarily based on
what psychologists call the initial stimulus strength.
Stimulus strength is
another way to describe the potential value of a stimulus to a given animal, or
in scientific terms, its “salience.”
When this value is highly significant and aversive it often causes
sensitization. Therefore trainers need a keen sense of what types of properties
might increase the aversive stimulus strength (and as a result, the fear an
animal feels).
There are many
factors that can typically suggest an increase in fear. For example, something that is very loud or
that emits intens
CNN Hero Siew Te Wong
Rebuttal: Thinking
Critically About Anti-zoo Images
Recently, you may
have seen that sources like the Washington Post, The Guardian, and IFLScience
published stories about a book released by a Canadian photographer who traveled
across Europe photographing animals in zoological facilities. Now, I won’t speak
out against said book as I have not read it and, therefore, it would be
improper of me to do so.
However, I will
speak about some of the images found in the aforementioned articles. More
importantly, I’m going to ask you to think critically about them and this
situation. So take a moment to click on the links above and glance over the
some of the images we’ll discuss.
Okay, ready? Good.
If the articles and
interviews promoting the book are any indication, the photographer has
published a biased, one-sided view of the life of animals in human care. At
first glance, most of the photos seem haunting, telling of a captive animal’s
endlessly depressed state, complete and total lack of stimulation, or
inadequate living environment.
Judging from
comments via social media, some members of the public were, in fact, disturbed
by the images. But, I am here to remind you that while the saying goes, “A
picture is worth a thousand words”, what is not pictured is worth at least
twice as much.
I’ll start by
reminding you that the images captured and featured in these articles only
display a fraction of that animal’s day.
According to the
ever-reliable internet, a standard DSL camera can take a picture in roughly
1/8000th of a second. That means that each image captured and featured portrays
exactly 0.000125% OF A SECOND of that animal’s day. And being that there are
over 86,000 seconds in a day, each photo portrays a negligible percentage of
not only that animal’s day, but also an infinitely tiny, microscopically
minuscule fraction of the animal’s lifetime.
I could keep going
with all of the mathematics, I suppose, but instead of boring you, I’ll
encourage you to ask yourself: What happened during the rest of the day?
Is the reason the
jaguar is right in fr
Memphis Zoo
livestreaming births of rarest snake in North America
Memphis Zoo is
showcasing a continuous live feed of the births of its rare Louisiana pine
snakes, which will hatch intermittently over the next two weeks.
The eggs were laid
in May by five females, and have a 60-day incubation period on average. The 28
eggs are housed in tubs filled with vermiculite, a heat-treated mica mineral,
which is commonly used in gardening.
“Incubators” are
kept at approximately 82 degrees with 70-80 percent humidity to ensure the eggs
stay hydrated.
“Hatching in snakes
is a protracted event,” said Dr. Steve Reichling, Central Zone curator at the
Memphis Zoo. “First they slit the leathery eggshell with a sharp tooth that
grows on the tip of their snout. Then, they rest for up to a day while they
absorb any remaining yolk into their body. Their egg tooth falls off, before
finally slipping out of the egg.”
Known for its large
eggs and small clutch sizes of three to five, the Louisiana pine snake is a
species of nonvenomous constrictors.
It is the rarest
snake in North America, and fewer than 250 specimens have been found in the
wild. The species once existed in nine parishes in Louisiana and 14 counties in
Texas.
However, as a result
of habitat loss, they currently exist in only a few Louisiana parishes and have
been eliminated from Texas entirely.
“We are thrilled to
welcome these rare snakes here at the Memphis Zoo,” said Matt Thompson,
director of Animal Programs at Memphis Zoo. “Consideri
Darwin Initiative:
applying for main project funding
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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        |
