The ZooKeepers Life
Peter Dickinson
elvinhow@gmail.com
Dear Colleague,
I am just about to head off on vacation for a few days and have not started to pack yet so I will save the comments for this issue. Enjoy....there is a lot of interesting reading.
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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.
I remain committed to the work of GOOD zoos,
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Sea Shepherd eco group drops anchor in UAE
Sea Shepherd, a
self-described “international direct-action ocean conservation organisation”
has dropped anchor in the UAE waters with a view to spreading its 40-decade
legacy of protecting marine life around the world, said officials on Monday.
With the Gulf waters
under pressure from regional development and overfishing, the new chapter says
it will focus on environmental awareness, fund-raising and marine conservation.
Known globally for
engaging Japanese whaling ships on the high seas to stop the illegal slaughter
of endangered whales, dolphins and sharks, Sea Shepherd said its new UAE
chapter received approval to register in the UAE in September.
Paul Watson,
Canadian fou
3 Seconds Can Make
You Accept Failure
I don’t have any
kids. I would like them though because I think it’s great to see such little
creatures growing up and to be part of their adventures. Raising kids is hard
and I have to give a lot of credit to my mom because if I look at myself…. Wow
I wasn’t an easy one. My mom did a great job to “fix” me, my brothers and
sister. I look at it and it seems like my mom had a very strong ingredient
raising us. I still don’t know what it is but we have a thing in common and
that is that we don’t get mad or frustrated quickly. We are willing to try more
often and become more successful afterwards. We stay motivated to try a failure
again and we see the best in every scenario. I still don’t understand how my
mom did that. Although I find my mom the strongest woman in the world what
makes me understand the underlying idea more and more. You get shaped by the
experiences you get over time. This obviously with positive or negative
thinking. I mean I consider my family quite the optimists. We try and many times
we come out with success instead of going the other way of being a pessimist
when we have more failure then success. Could this be because we accept our
failures more and believe in reaching the goals?
I started
There Are Far Too
Many Elephants In Southern Africa
Don’t get me wrong.
I love elephants. Next, to the black rhino, they are my favourite animal but,
as they say in the classics: “Enough is enough”.
The elephant is one
of the most important animals in Africa at this time because the species has
focussed world attention on Africa.
The continent’s
whole wildlife future rests on:
(1) What we are
going to do with our (own) elephants; or
(2). What the rest
of the world is going to allow us to do with our (own) elephants; or
(3) how far we are
going to allow the rest of the world to push us around – with regards to how
they believe we should manage our (own) elephants. And the truth of the matter
is that it seems neither they nor our own authorities, have any idea just what our
management options are.
There is truly
nothing mysterious about wildlife management; or about elephant management. The
concept is actually very simple.
Pre-inquest review
to be held into death of zookeeper Rosa King killed by tiger at Hamerton Zoo
A pre-inquest review
is set to take place tomorrow (November 23) into the death of zookeeper Rosa
King, who was killed by a tiger in a “freak accident” at a Cambridgeshire zoo.
Rosa was fatally
injured by the Malayan male tiger after it entered an enclosure she was in at
Hamerton Park Zoo near Huntingdon.
The tiger,
eight-year-old Cicip, can still be seen at the zoo after Rosa's parents backed
a public call for him to not be put down following the tragedy in May this
year.
New greyhound rules
in NSW after dogs raced against cheetahs in Shanghai
New South Wales
authorities will introduce new rules to stop greyhounds being shipped to cruel
and degrading conditions, after a large-scale export racket sent 70 animals to
a Shanghai zoo known for racing dogs against cheetahs.
The new rules seek
to place a greater onus on racing greyhound owners to prevent their animals
being sent to places with shocking animal welfare records.
But critics have
already dubbed it a “Band-Aid” solution that will mean little unless the
federal government toughens its stance on greyhound exports.
Earlier this month,
two family members – Mark and Stephen Farrugia – were fined for exporting 70
dogs to the Shanghai Wild Animal Park and another 96 dogs to the Macau
Canidrome racetrack. A third family member, Donna Farrugia, was found guilty of
knowingly aiding and abetting the exports, and suspended for a year and a half.
The Farrugias had
bought the dogs from greyhound racetracks across the state, often when they
were no longer wanted by their owners.
We don’t need to
save endangered species. Extinction is part of evolution.
Near midnight,
during an expedition to southwestern Ecuador in December 2013, I spotted a
small green frog asleep on a leaf, near a stream by the side of the road. It
was Atelopus balios , the Rio Pescado stubfoot toad. Although a lone male had
been spotted in 2011, no populations had been found since 1995, and it was
thought to be extinct. But here it was, raised from the dead like Lazarus. My
colleagues and I found several more that night, males and females, and shipped
them to an amphibian ark in Quito, where they are now breeding safely in
captivity. But they will go extinct one day, and the world will be none the
poorer for it. Eventually, they will be replaced by a dozen or a hundred new
species that evolve later.
Mass extinctions
periodically wipe out up to 95 percent of all species in one fell swoop; these
come every 50 million to 100 million years, and scientists agree that we are
now in the middle of the sixth such extinction, this one caused primarily by
humans and our effects on animal habitats. It is an “immense and hidden”
tragedy t
-----------------------------
www.zoolex.org in November 2017
~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~
Hello ZooLex Friend,
We have worked for your enjoyment!
~°v°~
NEW EXHIBIT PRESENTATION
Ocelot Temple at Zoo d'Asson is themed around the Maya culture and
designed to allow breeding of the species. Fishing behaviour is induced
by dead trout that are fed in a pool once a week.
We would like to thank Luc Lorca from Zoo d'Asson for preparing this
presentation.
~°v°~
SPANISH TRANSLATION
Thanks to Eduardo Díaz García we are able to offer the Spanish
translation of the previously published presentation of "Leopard
Heights" at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Great Britain:
~°v°~
BIRD COLLISION MONITORING
In our June newsletter we presented resources for the prevention of bird
collisions on glass. This time we are presenting methods for monitoring
bird collisions. The better the monitoring, the better the choice for
investing in methods for preventing bird collisions. The study was done
in Berlin and is in German. It can be downloaded for 2 Euro from
Schüling Buchkurier:
A short article in English is here http://www.zoolex.org/research.html
under the reference
STEIOF K., ALTERNKAMP R., BAGANZ K. (2017): Surveys of bird collisions
on glass at zoo exhibits in Berlin. 16 pages article in German:
Vogelschlag an Glasflächen von Tiergehegen. Tiergarten 4/2017: 36–51.
Schüling Buchkurier. Münster.
~°v°~
AMENDMENT
There was a mistake in the citing of a study in our October newsletter.
The correct citing is
FINLAY T., JAMES R.L., MAPLE T.L. (1988) People's perceptions of
animals: The influence of zoo environment. Environment and Behavior,
vol. 20, no. 4. Sage Publications. Newbury Park, California.
~°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
~°v°~
Zoo tigress suffers
snake bite, critical
Nine-year-old Jaai,
one of the two tiger cubs that was rescued from a belligerent mob 9 years ago
from Mendki in Bramhapuri forest division in Chandrapur, is battling for life
after a snake bite at the Maharajbagh Zoo.
"Though the
movement of Jaai appears to be normal, blood report shows renal failure. Her
both kidneys have failed," said zoo officer in-charge Dr SS Bawaskar.
According to
sources, on November 5, Jaai was seen by visitors playing with a snake in her
cage. The snake must be non-venomous otherwise some unfortunate would have
happen.
The zoo, which is
surrounded by agriculture land and a nullah, is vulnerable to presence of
snakes. On Monday, a Russel's Viper was s
Uruguay Reopens Zoo
After Almost Two Years of Construction
Among the 500
species, some of the most prized inhabitants are its hippopotami, coati, yacare
caiman and big cats, which are a priority
Durazno, Uruguay
reopens the doors to its zoo this week after a year and a half of renovations,
the city’s mayor, Carmelo Vidalin said.
Over the last year,
the former Washington Rodriguez Piquinela Zoo has been transformed into an
animal reserve, home to approximately 500 specimens and 250 species of animals,
birds, and reptiles.
Among the zoo's
prized inhabitants are its hippopotami, coati, and yacare caiman, however, the
conservation considers its big cats' high priority. The reserve houses lions,
tigers, pumas, and jaguars, all of which are considered endangered in Uruguay.
The Tiger Subspecies
Revised, 2017
There are certain
animal species where – for reasons related to the charisma of the animal
concerned, and the distinct nature of its various populations – we tend to
learn about the various subspecies. Giraffes are one good example. Another is
the Tiger Panthera tigris.
Most people
interested in animals know that tigers vary enough across their extensive
(historical) range that the naming of several different forms is warranted.
There’s the ‘typical’ tiger of India (the Bengal tiger P. t. tigris), the
comparatively gigantic Siberian or Amur tiger in far north-eastern Asia (P. t.
altaica), the west Asian Caspian tiger (P. t. virgata), a Chinese form with
distinctive stripes (P. t. amoyensis), some poorly known forms from mainland
south-east Asia (P. t. corbetti and P. t. jacksoni), and the island-dwellers of
south-east Asia (P. t. sondaica of Java, P. t. balica of Bali and P. t.
sumatrae of Sumatra). Several of these forms were unable to avoid the
persecution and destruction wrought upon them by our own species...
PHOTO: 'Huge, but
well-behaved' elephants safe after tractor-trailer fire at GA-TN line
Well, this is an
interesting site for a Monday morning commute - three African elephants on the
side of the road.
The incident
happened on I-24 East in Dade County, GA, just near the Georgia-Tennessee line,
around 2 a.m. on Monday.
Firefighters posted
at the tractor was on fire, but the trailer was not, and the elephants, who
were called "huge, but well behaved," by the fire department's chief,
were safely removed.
"The owners got
the elephants safely out of the trailer and gave them some hay to munch on
while firefighters put the fire out," the post says.
Once the owner made
some calls, the elephants were placed on another tractor and headed to
Sarasota, FL.
Meanwhile, first
responder Tracy Beavers snapped a photo while she and her unit were responding
to the tractor-trailer fire. By the time she responded, the scene was calm a
Why are the
elephants leaving Twycross Zoo and where are they going?
The decision to move
the entire herd of Twycross' elephants more than 130 miles away "was not
taken lightly" say zoo bosses.
Four female Asian
elephants will be leaving the East Midlands site early next year for their new
home at Blackpool Zoo where they will be able to breed.
Twycross’ current
enclosure, Elephant Creek, does not have the resources to house a male bull
elephant.
“The decision to
move our elephants was not taken lightly," said Dr Sharon Redrobe, CEO of
Twycross Zoo.
"We carefully
assessed all viable options for our herd, but as Blackpool can now boast one of
the best elephant facilities in the UK, this was the best option and it’s the
right thing to do for the long-term survival of not only this herd, but Asian
elephants as a species.
"We will of
course be sad to see our girls go and our staff will be monitoring their
progress as they settle in.
"As they go we
will be making changes at the zoo - we look forward to the new developments to
be announced soon.”
The voice missing
from the elephant trophy debate? Africans.
The answers for
conserving the Earth’s wild creatures seem easy from the office chairs of the
affluent west. Ban trophy hunting! Hunt down the poachers! More tourism!
But the social media
campaigns and President Trump’s flip-flopping on Twitter over the past few days
on U.S. elephant trophy imports from Zimbabwe and Zambia highlight the
deficiencies of this model of decision-making. We need a lot less shouting and
lot more listening — and to different voices.
How can we help
secure a future for wildlife? We know what the animal lovers and celebrities
will say. We know what the hunting organizations will say. We’ve heard these
voices before, loud and clear, with the same simple answers. But what might the
people and government of Zimbabwe say (if they could look aw
Smoky mouse breeding
boosted by food and flowers as scientists work to save mammal
For centuries,
aspiring lovers have used flowers and exotic delicacies to woo their partners,
and it seems the animal kingdom is no different.
Scientists have
bolstered the numbers of one of the nation's most critically endangered
species, the smoky mouse, by decking out the breeding enclosures of six adult
mice with flowers and food.
The old-fashioned
dating techniques have seen six new litters of baby mice welcomed at
Australia's only smoky mouse captive breeding facility — spearheaded by the New
South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH).
Breeding specialist
Daniel Gowland said researchers played Cupid by creating the perfect breeding
environment for the cute critters.
"Food is a
stimulus for us all, it's one of the first little integrations we do … and it's
one of the main things we had to work on," he said.
Zoo, university dig
into prairie dog mystery
Connecticut’s
Beardsley Zoo and the Biology Department at Fairfield University are teaming up
to solve an underground mystery.
Staff from the two
organizations are using ground penetrating radar to map the maze of burrows
that’s home to the zoo’s two black-tailed prairie dog colonies. According to a
news release from the zoo, the experiment grew out of an encounter between
Ashley Byun, Fairfield University’s associate professor of biology and Brian
Jones, state archaeologist.
Ground penetrating
radar mapping equipment was brought to the zoo by Jones.
Rope lines and
colored flags identified a path for the radar equipment to follow,
corresponding to carefu
Leadership Change at
Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Smithsonian’s
National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute Director Dennis Kelly plans to
retire after a temporary appointment as the interim president of Smithsonian
Enterprises. Effective Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, Steven Monfort will become acting
director of the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
Kelly has served as
the director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo since February 2010. As
director, he has led the operations of the public Zoo, created a visionary plan
for the Zoo’s future, and has ensured that the important work of the
conservation scientists continues to have a global impact.
Kelly earned a
bachelor’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a master’s
degree in business administration from Harvard University. After serving in the
military, Kelly held positions with Procter & Gamble and Touche Ross &
Co. From 1982 to 1999, he served in various positions at The Coca-Cola Co. in
Atlanta. In 1999, Kelly joined Green Mountain Energy Co. and before coming to
the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Kelly was
President of Zoo Atlanta for six years. Kelly recently completed a term as
Chair of the Board of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the most
prestigious zoological accrediting body in the world.
Monfort has been at
the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute since 1986.
He is currently the John and Adrienne Mars Director, Smithsonian Conservation
Biology Institute and deputy director of Smithsonian's National Zoo.
Monfort served for
20 years as a research veterinarian, and he founded and co-led the Zoo’s
Endocrine Research Laboratory. He launched the Smithsonian-Mason School of
Conservation and played a key role in a number of significant conservation
initiatives, including the Sahara Conservation Fund, Conservation Centers for
Species Survival, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, and the
Global Tiger Initiative. He has been instrumental in reintroducing
scimitar-horned oryx, which were extinct in the wild, to their ancestral
Sahelian habitats in Chad—one of
Biology's Beloved
Amphibian--the Axolotl--Is Racing Toward Extinction
When biologist Luis
Zambrano began his career in the late 1990s, he pictured himself working miles
from civilization, maybe discovering new species in some hidden corner of
Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Instead, in 2003, he found himself counting
amphibians in the polluted, murky canals of Mexico City’s Xochimilco district.
The job had its advantages: he was working minutes from his home and studying
the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), a national icon in Mexico and arguably the
world’s most recognizable salamander. But in that first year, Zambrano couldn’t
wait for it to be over.
“Let me tell you, I
hated the project at the beginning,” he says. For one thing, “I couldn’t catch
anything”.
Over time, however,
he did catch some axolotls. What he found surprised him—and changed the course
of his career. In 1998, the first robust study to count axolotls estimated that
t
Zoo chief’s sexual
harassment allegation draws pros and cons over sanction
A zoo director who
allegedly sexually harassed a female worker received a pay cut, Yonhap News
Agency reported Monday.
Lee Ki-sub, the
director of the Seoul Grand Park, allegedly told the victim to sleep at his
residence last December, when the workers at the zoo had to work overtime at
night due to the outbreak of Avian Influenza. Doubts over his inappropriate
remarks and physical contact in the past have also been raised.
Lee only admitted to
parts of the allege
The Return of the
Crested Ibis
I went to see Kin at
the Sado Japanese Crested Ibis Preservation Center in the spring of 2003 only
to find the last crested ibis in Japan blind and weak, huddled in a large cage
about 2.5 meters square.
I learned of Kin’s
death on October 10 of that same year from the TV news. She had apparently
flung herself against aluminum siding at a height of about 1 meter and died
from hitting her head. Perhaps she had hoped to make her weakened body fly once
again in the great skies. She was 36 years old, well over 100 by human count.
Kin’s death reminded
me of another. The place was the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio; the date, September 1,
1914. Martha—the last remaining passenger pigeon, named for the wife of George
Washington, the first US president—fell from her perch in the zoo and died.
Prior to this,
passenger pigeons numbered more than 3 billion and darkened the skies over the
eastern part of the United States when they migrated. But they were decimated
for their meat and their habitat destroyed as American pioneers cut down
forests and cleared land. By 1901, wild passenger pigeons had disappeared.
Fortunately, Kin was
not the last crested ibis, and her death did not mean the extinction of the
species. The same species of crested
Can Freeing Captive
Bears in Armenia End the Attitudes That Imprisoned Them?
A young family of
three enjoys a delightful meal on an uncommonly warm fall day in one of
Armenia’s many outdoor restaurants. A doting father leans playfully across the
table to poke a fork at his cherub-like son. The child’s mother looks on
lovingly. It’s a scene that would be the stuff of tourist brochures—were it not
for its disturbing backdrop.
Visible from the
family’s table is a wild brown bear, hovering despondently in the backdrop,
pacing the length of its rusty cage to and fro, just meters from the happy
family on the other side of the river.
Wildlife park
worker, 37, is left with deadly illness after she was bitten by insect in
Indonesian jungle while on a mission to save tigers
An animal
conservation worker has been left with a deadly illness after she was bitten by
an insect while trekking in the jungle to save the tiger.
Zoo owner Rebecca
Willers, 37, has been diagnosed with a rare and incurable condition that she
says leaves her body feeling 'like it is turning into stone'.
Known as Diffuse
Systemic Sclerosis, the disease makes her body think its immune system is under
attack and hardens her skin and connective tissues.
Ms Willers, who runs
Shepreth Wildlife Park in Cambridgeshire, does not know how long she has left
to live but doctors have told her one in ten people with the condition die
within five years.
Since her diagnosis
in September, she has cancelled her pension and is arranging to put he
What grosses out a
chimpanzee?
Chimpanzees do some
pretty disgusting things.
In their natural
habitats, chimpanzees are known to pick up seeds from feces and re-ingest them.
In captivity, some practice coprophagy: the deliberate ingestion of feces.
These behaviors usually involve their own fecal matter, or that of their
closest family members. If presented with feces and other bodily fluids from
others, however, that's an entirely different story.
In 2015, researchers
from Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute went to the Primate Center
at the 'Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville' (CIRMF) in
Gabon to test whether chimpanzees are grossed out by some of the same things as
humans, particularly those that are sources of infectious disease.
Avoiding biological
contaminants is a well-known manifestation of the adaptive system of disgust.
In theory, animals evolved with this system to protect themselves from
pathogens and parasites, which are often associated with media or substrates
that invoke our sense
Chimps found to use
arm and mouth expressions to convey distance
A small team of
researchers working at the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University has
found evidence that chimps are able to use gestures to convey distance to a
person. In their paper published in the journal Biology Letters, the group
describes experiments they carried out with chimps in a confined location, what
they found and what their findings might mean for the development of symbolic
communication in primates.
When people want to
express distance to someone else they simply tell them using words or in some
cases, use their hands to point. The ability to understand distance and convey
it to another individual requires some degree of intelligence, which is why the
research team in Japan wondered if chimps might the same abilities and if they
did, how was it conveyed.
To find out, the
team ran a series of experiments with eight chimps living at the institute.
Each was allowed entry to a closed pen that was separated into two sections by
bars preventing the chimps from coming into contact with the researchers. In
the pen on the other side of the bars were two tables—one close to the bars,
the other farther away. Each experiment consisted of a researcher coming into
the table side of the pen and setting a piece of banana on one of two tables
within sight of the chimp. The researcher would then leave the pen. Soon
thereafter, another researcher would enter the room and begin interacting with
the chimp, in effect, asking if they wanted the piece of banana. Regardless of
how they c
Fate of lynx shot
dead in Wales raises questions over 'hobby zoos'
When the Mee family
bought Dartmoor Zoological Park in October 2006, it was in a state of complete
dilapidation. The initial attraction had been the 12-bedroom, 18th-century
house on the edge of the Dartmoor national park in Devon, with the attached zoo
a “massive encumbrance” that was putting off buyers.
After some research
the former science journalist Benjamin Mee decided the site could not only be a
new home for his family, but also a new career. He concluded that if he “not
only employed people who knew what they were doing, but also took their advice”,
then he could reverse the fortunes of the 30-acre wildlife park, with its 200
exotic animals.
“It needed hundreds
of thousand of pounds spending on it to get it up to licensing standard again,”
said Mee. “So it was a huge gamble. But we just thought, if we don’t do it [the
zoo] will definitely close … and it would just be wrong for those animals to be
destroyed.” In 2011, Mee’s account of his family’s decision to buy, renovate
and reopen the zoo was turned into the film We Bought a Zoo, starring Matt
Damon.
A CHANGE AT THE TOP!
The Zoological
Society of East Anglia is delighted to report the appointment of Professor
David Field as Chief Executive Designate. Professor Field will take over from
the founding Chief Executive Martin Goymour in the spring of 2018. The two will
work together to achieve a smooth transition in the management of this
prominent local charity and wildlife resource.
Martin Goymour
comments: “As you may imagine this will be a momentous change for us both, but
necessary to ensure that ZSEA and its parks have every opportunity to progress,
evolve and grow. We are extremely proud
of the contributions and achievements made to wildlife conser
The Big Game killing
field: Sickening bloodlust of trophy hunters who kill endangered animals for
sport exposed
A trophy hunter
poses with pride beside the young elephant he has just killed. Philip Glass
shows no remorse and even boasts: “God says we have dominion over the animals .
That means we can do what we choose with them.”
He is so convinced
of his divine right to shoot big game, he also agreed to be filmed hunting a
lion and hippo in South Africa for shocking new film Trophy.
The documentary ’s
grim footage comes after Donald Trump sparked fury by lifting Barack Obama ’s
ban on hunters importing elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia to the US.
The Mirror today
exposes the sick reality of trophy hunting in South Africa and the firms
offering package holiday-style hunts. And we rev
A tranquiliser
shortage is holding back rescue and rehabilitation of rhinos in India
“Watching a rhino
get tranquilised is indeed an experience to cherish. It is hard to imagine that
such a powerful animal can become so vulnerable too,” said Dharanidhar Boro, an
officer on special duty at Manas National park, who has been working with greater
one-horned rhinos in India’s Assam state since 1987.
He describes the
frenzy as more than 30 trained elephants circle a grazing rhino to try and
contain it and an official with a dart gun, riding atop one of the pachyderms,
shoots a drug-laden syringe at the rhino’s rump or neck.
It takes eight to 10
minutes after the needle pierces the rhino’s thick skin for the animal to go
completely under; it takes off
Even more good news
for a Friday: first captive-reared vultures released
Yesterday was a
momentous day in Nepal. Five captive-reared vultures were released back into
the wild as part of the Saving Asian Vulture Programme (SAVE). This is an important milestone in the
programme established to try to reverse the catastrophic decline in
white-rumped vultures, and two other species of Gyps vulture (long-billed and
slender-billed) all Critically Endangered as a result of the use of a
non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug called diclofenac. This drug was, until
recently, a very widespread treatment for sick cows. Meat of a dead, recently
‘diclofenac-dosed’ cow, is lethal to vultures and, being sacred, cows are not
eaten but taken to carcass dumps and left for scavengers. Thus, one toxic cow
can kill an awful lot of vultures.
Pigs to debut at new
zoo in the Muslim-majority north
ndia’s lone Muslim
majority state of Jammu and Kashmir has decided to showcase pigs at its
upcoming zoo – a move that is bound to spark a fresh controversy. Pigs are
deemed as unclean animals in Islam and hosting them in a zoo will have
political consequences.
The state government
has decided to dedicate a special area for pigs at the Jambu Zoo, also known as
the Shivalik Biological Park in the Jammu region, on the national highway that
connects it to the summer capital of Srinagar in the Kashmir Valley.
Fact Check: was it
right to kill Lilith the escaped lynx?
An escaped lynx was
recently destroyed by experts working on behalf of Ceredigion County Council in
Wales after attempts to recapture it failed. Some people have responded
angrily, arguing that officials should have tranquilised the animal rather than
killing it. The council claimed it had done all it could and was left with no
other option. So was there a way Lilith the lynx could have been saved?
Zoo animals all
receive a danger category for their potential to cause serious harm. Animals
such as tigers, lions, elephants, and lynx are classed as Category 1, the most
dangerous animals, due to their natural behaviour and predatory way of life.
Animals which may cause slight harm or injury are classified as Category 2, and
those which are no threat to the public get classed as Category 3.
Within the UK, zoos
are licenced by local authorities, who conduct inspections on a regular basis
to ensure the health and safety of the animals, staff and the public that visit
them. Safety from the animal enclosure side of things is always viewed to reduce
the likelihood of the public getting in, and the animals getting out.
But zoos are home to
some incredibly smart animals which are able to notice small gaps in the gates
and doorways or when electric fencing ma
Zookeepers chase,
beat kids with sticks at Hyderabad zoo on Children’s Day
Young boys can be
seen fleeing from the khaki-clad men charging at them with sticks, some even
fallen to the ground, as a crowd of many students look on from beyond a
barricade. The fear is writ large on the faces of the boys’ as they try to
escape.
The images were
taken by Suresh Kumar, a photojournalist from Sakshi at Hyderabad’s Nehru
Zoological Park (NZP) on Children’s Day.
The pictures have
triggered outrage on social media, with one user even tagging the city police
so that they can take action.
Study gives genetic
clues to the extinction of the passenger pigeon
Martha, the last of
her kind, resides in a glass case at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of
Natural History, perched on a thin branch. She’s a passenger pigeon, Ectopistes
migratorius, and in the final years of her life, before her death in 1914 at
the Cincinnati Zoo, she achieved fame as the last survivor of a species once so
populous that its flocks could darken the noonday sky.
Martha is small and
gray, with flecks of blue and green iridescence on the back of her neck. She is
looking sharply to the right, as if looking over her shoulder — as if a bit
wary.
“Some people find
her a little plain-looking,” said Helen James, the Curator of Birds, who can
put her hands
Elephant Keeper
Diaries
Today was the day
that the first crate arrived to begin the introductions with the elephants –
Minbu (the dominant female known as a matriarch), Tara, Noorjahan and Esha (our
three year old calf, born here at Twycross Zoo by Noorjahan). All of the keepers
who work with our girls daily were present and emotions were high with
excitement to begin the next steps of our elephants’ move.
Once all of our
morning jobs were completed – which included cleaning and the daily animal
checks – our girls were given their breakfast and sent off into the grass
paddock which was set up with some exciting enrichment to keep them
entertained. The safest thing for them was to keep them busy and away from the
noises and vibrations of the vehicles delivering the crate.
Creating
Serendipitous Experiences That Have An Impact: A Conversation with Sue Chin,
Vice President of Planning and Design and Chief Architect at the Wildlife
Conservation Society
Unlike most other
institutions who hire design firms, the four zoos and one aquarium under the
Wildlife Conservation Society have their own design department responsible for
all their exhibits and graphics. The Exhibition and Graphic Arts Department
(EGAD), particularly at the Bronx Zoo, has designed many ground-breaking
immersive habitats recreating the natural environment of its animals. No other
institution has won the Exhibit Award from the Association of Zoos and
Aquariums as many times as the Bronx Zoo. Currently EGAD is headed by Sue Chin,
one of the most well respected zoo designers in history. Along with John Gwynne
and Lee Ehmke (her partner for nearly two decades), she and the EGAD team have
been responsible for many of the incredible exhibits at the Bronx Zoo. This is
her story.
The Ark in Lincoln
Park: A Conversation with Mark Rosenthal
One of the oldest zoos in the nation, the
Lincoln Park Zoo has been a leader in the zoo field for over a century. No one
knows this better than Mark Rosenthal, retired Curator of Mammals from the zoo.
He has an intimate knowledge of its history few have both from personal
experience and documenting the stories of others. Rosenthal authored The Ark in
the Park, a book on the history of the zoo, and since retirement has run the
Zoo and Aquarium Video Archives, which contain hours upon hours of video
interviews with retired zoo professionals. Here is his story.
Cumbria zoo scandal:
Govt minister Michael Gove to study case of animal deaths
County MP set for
top-level talks as report compiled into tragedy at family attraction
SCANDALOUS failings
at a Cumbrian zoo - which saw hundreds of animals die of starvation and neglect
- are to form the basis of a government report aimed at preventing such a
tragedy from ever happening again in the UK.
The Zoos Expert
Committee is in the process of considering the circumstances surrounding the
deaths of 500 animals at South Lakes Safari Zoo, near Dalton, over the course
of just four years.
The committee, which
provides advice to the government, has been tasked with identifying lessons
that can be learnt from the case so that changes to the way zoos are licensed
in the future can be implemented nationally.
Barrow and Furness
MP John Woodcock, who has campaigned for changes to the laws which govern how
animals are kept in zoos, is set to meet environment secretary, Michael Gove,
to discuss the issue once the report is complete.
Mr Woodcock has
called for anyone who applies for a zoo licence to first pass a fit and proper
persons test in a bid to ensure the highest standards of safety for animals,
staff and the public.
He said: "Since
the awful events at South Lakes Safari Zoo, I have been campaigning to reform
the current zoo licensing system which has clearly been shown to be not fit for
purpose.
"We need a fit
and proper persons test so that those involved in running a failed zoo can be
barred from obtaining a new licence and a more professional regulatory system
that mirrors the high standards seen in other areas where health and welfare are
at risk.
"It is a huge
boost to the campaign that the govern
Explainer: mass
coral spawning, a wonder of the natural world
During the late
spring, corals on the Great Barrier Reef release little balls that float to the
ocean surface in a slow motion upside-down snowstorm.
These beautiful
events are studied avidly by scientists: the tiny bundles will become young
corals, and unlocking their secrets is vital to the continuing life of our
coral reefs.
Will SeaWorld ever
be allowed to return trainers to the water?
On February 24th,
2010 SeaWorld Orlando Trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by the largest Killer
Whale to ever be in captivity at any park in the world, Tilikum. The world
changed that day in many ways, from the way many saw SeaWorld, to the way
SeaWorld operated, to even what the whales were called. Perhaps one of the biggest changes came from
the removal of a staple of the park, and the very shows that they performed.
That day would be the last that any SeaWorld trainer would be in the water with
an Orca during a show, and the water contact between trainers and the whales
would be minimal. It was a decision that would change the fabric of the
company, and would tear apart the image of bonding nature and humans that
SeaWorld worked almost 50 years to create and perfect. Seven years later, there
are no trainers and Orcas in the water at Shamu Stadium, and the way that
people and the whales interact has changed forever. Is there any hope of ever
going back, even one little baby step? What would have to change so that
trainers and Orcas could once again show that connection that we are one world,
one ocean?
Primatologist Jane
Goodall: ‘Tarzan married the wrong Jane’
Growing up in
Britain during the second world war, Jane Goodall was often told her dreams
were just that – fantasy, unrealistic, unachievable: “I had read Tarzan and
fallen in love, although he married the wrong Jane, the wretched man,” she
jokes. “I wanted to live with wild animals and write books about them. But
people would say: ‘How can you do that? Africa is far away, we don’t know much
about it. You don’t have any money in your family. You’re just a girl.’”
Now, at 83, the
celebrated British primatologist tours the world, never stopping anywhere for
more than a few weeks at a time, giving sold-out lectures on what she has
learned over five decades of chimp study in Tanzania.
Angelina Jolie,
Colin Firth and Judd Apatow are vocal fans. Michael Jackson, she says, wrote
Heal the World about her. Goodall just wants to get on with the job of better
protecting our planet from the effects of climate change, but now her schedule
has been interrupted once again by National Geographic’s Jane, a film about her
life (of which there are now more than 40). She sounds mildly annoyed when she
tells me that she recently had to pause her activism to travel to the Hollywood
premiere of the documentary,
Experts call for
urgent action to protect Myanmar bears
Bears are being
hunted with impunity for their gall bladder and bile in eastern Shan State,
where the rule of law remains weak, conservationists said, calling for
immediate protection of the species.
WWF Myanmar said
Malay bears and Himalayan bears are being caught in forests and kept in small
cages on livestock farms where their bile is harvested for traditional
medicine.
“Bears are being
kept inside small cages and their bile is harvested every day by piercing
through their rib cages,” said U Tin Htun Aung, program officer at the
Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA).
“They are forced to
produce bile for many years. If the bear is killed, bile can only be extracted
once so people resort to this cruel method to harvest bile for years,” he
added.
The Sun bear, which
can be found in Myanmar, requires full protection by law. The Himalayan bear,
the other type of bear in the country, is included on the list of protected
species, according to BANCA.
As Himalayan bears
are rather large with big gall bladders, they are more targeted, the
organisations added.
Conservationists
lamented that although these bears ar
New program releases
endangered whooping cranes into wild
A group of 12
juvenile whooping cranes were released into the Louisiana Department of
Wildlife and Fisheries’ Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday as part of an
ongoing effort to protect the species from extinction.
The juvenile cranes
join 49 other whooping cranes that are a part of an experimental population
being monitored by LDWF.
Supported by donors
like Chevron, LDWF and Audubon Nature Institute have been longtime leaders in
whooping crane conservation and recently expanded their partnership with the
goal of developing a self-sustaining population of whooping cranes in Louisiana.
Of the 12 cranes,
seven were reared at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland, two were
raised at Calgary Zoo in Canada and three were hatched from eggs collected from
the wild in Wisconsin and reared at the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival
Center in New Orleans. All 12 cranes were brought to the Species Survival
Center where they formed a “cohort,” the scientific term
ZOO ANIMAL LITTLE
MAMA, WORLD'S OLDEST KNOWN CHIMPANZEE, DIES AT 79 YEARS OLD
Little Mama, the
oldest known chimpanzee on record, died on Tuesday in her late 70s, according
to The Palm Beach Post.
Born before the end
of World War II, Little Mama lived into her 70s until Tuesday, when she died in
the company of eight other chimpanzees and employees at the Lion Country Safari
park in Loxahatchee, Florida. Although not yet confirmed, the cause of death is
suspected to be kidney failure. According to the Post, a necroscopy will be
carried out.
As South Florida's
Sun Sentinel reports, chimpanzees in captivity typically live to between 50 and
60, and their counterparts in the wi
Court allows appeal
of order to edit Vancouver Aquarium documentary
Filmmaker was to
remove some footage in piece that looks at treatment of dolphins and beluga
whales.
The B.C. Court of
Appeal has ruled in favour of a filmmaker whose documentary criticized the
Vancouver Aquarium’s practice of keeping beluga whales and dolphins in
captivity.
It says a lower
court judge erred in ordering the filmmaker to remove 15 segments of his
documentary that the aquarium said could cause the facility irreparable harm.
Conservation by
killing? Documentary asks if commerce can save threatened species
Could a hunter’s bullet be a tool in helping
save Africa’s endangered species from extinction? The question is one of the
many complex ethical dilemmas raised by “Trophy”, a documentary that examines
whether commerce can help wildlife conservation.
The film, directed
by Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau, assesses some of the ways that
threatened species are used for commercial gain, from elephants being auctioned
to hunters as prey, to rhinos being farmed for their horns.
While Schwarz and
Clusiau began the project with the intention of shaming the hunting industry,
they soon found that situation was more complex and nuanced than they had
imagined.
“In Africa, for
example, their relationship to animals is very different from our relationship
to animals in the sense that,
From cooking pot to
conservation, a turtle’s tale
A royal turtle once
rescued from villagers who wanted to eat it was one of two handed over to a
conservation centre yesterday.
The turtles had been
raised by former Koh Kong provincial Fisheries Administration’s official Nay
Ol, 60, for 17 years.
Tears welled up in
his eyes when he spoke about his turtles during the inauguration of the Koh
Kong Reptile Conservation Centre in Mondol Seima district.
One turtle weighed
more than 30 kilos and was more than 50 years old. It was rescued in 2000 from
villagers who were about to kill and cook it.
Mr Ol said his wife
could not be there because she would cry if she saw the turtles being given
away.
He joined the turtle
conservation project in 2000 and went that year to Sre Ambel to educate people
about royal turtles.
The Pittsburgh Zoo
should want to be in the best league
Sean Hamill’s
excellent article “Pittsburgh Zoo Was Kicked Out of Important Conservation
Programs When It Left National Association” (Nov. 12) merits clarification.
Most important, Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium did not leave the Association
of Zoos and Aquariums due to “a dispute over how it cares for elephants” or
“philosophical issues.” It left, plain and simple, because the zoo’s executive
leadership did not want to meet AZA’s improved and stringent standards for
maximizing occupational safety of elephant care professionals — standards
designed by their colleagues and which our 62 elephant-holding members are
meeting today.
This is a deadly
serious issue. Zoo leadership also knew, in leaving AZA, that the zoo’s
participation in member programs, like Species Survival Plans, would be
restricted. And participation will likely get more restrictive in the months
and years to come, as our members continue reviewing SSPs and raising standards
for animal care.
The Pittsburgh zoo
is world class
So it doesn’t matter
if a single self-important organization criticizes us
I was greatly amused
by the comments from Association of Zoos and Aquariums executive director
Daniel M. Ashe, who has never visited the Pittsburgh Zoo (“The Pittsburgh Zoo
Should Want to Be in the Best League,” Nov. 16 letters). Sadly, Mr. Ashe has
been misled and wrote his letter in an attempt to protect AZA’s brand and
self-proclaimed position as a zoo organization.
The Pittsburgh Zoo
has always upheld the highest standards of animal care and welfare. We are now
certified by the oldest national animal welfare organization in the country,
American Humane, passing a rigorous third-party, independent audit. We have not
only increased our expertise and standards in our animal care, but also have
the Gold Stamp of the American Humane Conservation program’s Humane Certified
seal to prove it.
Our zoo is
accredited by the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks & Aquariums Association
and the Zoological Association
'Hobby zoos' face
calls for crackdown after second lynx dies at animal park home of Lillith
A Welsh zoo is
facing calls to close after it emerged a second lynx was accidentally strangled
in “a terrible handling error” days
before Lillith the lynx was shot and killed following her escape from the same
attraction.
Borth Wild Animal
Kingdom near Aberyswyth was branded a “hobby zoo” after news of the death of
the second lynx emerged, throwing a spotlight on fears that at some UK animal
attractions well-meaning but underqualified owners are failing to look after
creatures properly.
Launching a petition
for Borth to close in the light of the two deaths, the Lynx UK Trust, a
conservation group working to reintroduce the lynx to Britain, accused the
zoo’s management of having “little to no understanding of wild animal behaviour
or welfare needs”.
Dr Paul O'Donoghue,
Chief scientific adviser to the trust, added: “What if it had been Borth's
crocodile that esca
EXPOSED! Blood Rhino
Blacklist
On Saturday 28
October 2017, I exposed the ‘blood rhino blacklist’ syndicate, live on air, on
the award winning Radio New Zealand show with Kim Hill. Listen to the 30 minute
interview here.
I am staking my life
on this shocking expose you are about to read. I can only take it so far. It is
now up to global citizens, environmental organisations, press and politicians
worldwide to ensure that justice is done. Because if we fail, the rhinos of
South Africa will tumble into extinction, and rapists and murderers will be set
free.
I am the guardian of
the ‘blood rhino blacklist’. I have already exposed two magistrates and two
defense attorneys involved in the case of Zululand’s accused rhino poaching
kingpin, Dumisani Gwala. But this is just one thread in a systematic web of
corruption.
First-ever animal
rights lawsuit filed on behalf of zoo elephants
Pachyderms are
people, too.
That’s the argument
being made by the Nonhuman Rights Project, which filed the first-ever animal
rights lawsuit this week on behalf of captive elephants in Connecticut —
claiming they are legal “persons” who deserve to be in sanctuaries, not zoos.
The nonprofit
organization believes that because the creatures are autonomous beings, who
live “emotionally, socially, and cognitively complex lives,” they have a
fundamental right to be set free from the Commerford Zoo in Goshen.
Lawyers for the
group are specifically requesting that their “elephant clients” — Beulah, Karen
and Minnie — be released and sent the Performing Animal Welfare Society’s ARK
2000 natural habitat sanctuary in California, “where their right to bodily
liberty will be respected.”
They announced the
filing on Monday in a press release, saying they were seeking a common law writ
of habeas corpus in Connecticut Superior Court.
“This is not an
animal welfare case,” explained attorney Steven M. Wise, president and founder
of the NhRP.
Tenerife marine park
loses court battle over orca welfare
Tenerife’s Loro
Parque has lost a defamation battle against an animal rights charity over
treatment of orcas at the marine park.
A Spanish court has
thrown out a defamation lawsuit bought against PETA – People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals – in which Loro Parque sought €100,000 in damages.
The case was brought
after PETA published photographs in 2015 showing the killer whales covered with
scars and wounds, which it said had come from the animals being kept in too
close proximity to each other.
Other images showed
severe dental trauma, which PETA says captive orcas typically develop from
gnawing on tank gates and walls. Another (above) showed an orca with a
collapsed dorsal fin, which PETA says is the result of having inadequate space
to swim and dive.
Dismissing the case,
the judge ruled that PETA’s views, which are based on expert analysis and
research, were protected under Spanish laws on freedom of expression. The judg
Unloved vultures
fight for their survival in Pakistan
Once a common sight
in the skies, today the white-backed vulture is facing extinction – its
population devastated by the use of industrial drugs to breed the cattle whose
carcasses they traditionally feed on.
Bird numbers have
plummeted by more than 99 per cent since the 1990s, according to the local
branch of the World Wildlife Fund [WWF], which is desperately attempting to
ensure the species does not die out.
“Once vultures were
found in a very good number in Pakistan,” explains Warda Javed, coordinator for
the WWF backed Vulture Restoration Project. But due to several threats –
principally the use of the anti-inflammatory drug Diclofenac, which causes
kidney failure the birds are dying out.
Royal turtles
released into wild
More than 20
critically endangered turtles were released into the wild yesterday after
spending the last eight years in a conservation centre.
Som Sitha, the
Wildlife Conservation Society’s technical advisor of theo Koh Kong Conservation
Project, said the adult turtles were ready to return to their natural habitat
in the Sre Ambel river system.
Each of the reptiles
was equipped with a GPS device prior to the release.
“Each turtle is
about eight-years-old and weighs over ten kilograms,” Mr Sitha said. “There are
13 females and 12 males, because we want these to breed in the wild.”
The royal turtle, or
southern river terrapin, has been Cambodia’s national reptile since 2005. It is
on the Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature.
The Sre Ambel River
system o
Worst-case scenario:
There could be only 30 wild Sumatran rhinos left
As we sit
cross-legged at a restaurant in Java over plates of local delicacies — cow
brains, avocado juice and dried fish you eat whole — Haerudin R. Sadjudin tells
me a little about his life. Lanky, weathered, with a welcoming demeanor and an
open smile, Haerudin, 62, started studying rhinos — both Indonesian species,
the Sumatran and the Javan — in 1975. I tell him he’s been doing this job
longer than I’ve been alive.
Haerudin, program
manager at local rhino NGO YABI, has had the pleasure of seeing Javan rhinos
(Rhinoceros sondaicus) 31 times in the wild. He’s been attacked by them three
times, including once when he had to abandon his canoe and cling to a tree. But
this isn’t what really takes my breath away. He’s actually seen Sumatran rhinos
(Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in the wild — but only once in his 40-plus years of
studying the animal.
This highlights just
how endangered the Sumatran rhino has long been. Already by the 1970s they were
virtually impossible to encounter. And today they are so rare, so nearly lost,
as to be almost mythical: they’ve become like the Tasmanian tiger in the 1920s
or Stellar’s sea cow in the 1760s.
The world knows
exactly how many Javan rhino
Illegally Conceived
Genetically Defective Liger Turns 7
A lion-tiger hybrid
born on a tourist farm in 2010 in circumstances that breached Taiwan’s Wildlife
Conservation Law turned 7 years old last month.
The animal’s low-key
birthday was reported in various local media outlets today, after the story was
originally posted on Facebook by National Pingtung University of Science and
technology’s (NPUST) Center for Wildlife Conservation and Management October
23.
Ah Biao, as he is
nicknamed, was born in 2010 at the tourism-oriented World Snake King
Educational Farm in Tainan in 2010 after the managers cross-bred a male African
lion with a female Bengal tiger. The result of the experiment produced three
offspring which the breeders touted as the first Ligers produced in Taiwan.
One of the cubs died
at birth, and another survived just one week. The surviving sibling, Ah Biao,
was confiscated by the Council of Agriculture as his birth had contravened
Taiwan’s Wildlife Conservation Law.
Ah Biao suffered
from congenital defects, including a malformed tail, hip problems, spinal
curvature, and an immobile left-rear leg. Ah Biao was taken to NPUST’s Center
for Wildlife Conservation and Management, where he resides to this day.
Weighing just 680 grams when he arrived, today he weighs 165 kilograms and has
a body-length of 170 centimeters.
STURGEON: UNLIKELY
GEOPOLITICAL SUBJECTS
Sturgeon are more
critically endangered than any other species. A number of factors contribute
cumulatively to sturgeon’s endangered status: namely, overfishing, habitat
destruction, and river fragmentation. But what makes the endangered status of
sturgeon even more precarious is the world’s voracious appetite for their
‘black pearls’: caviar.
In the closing
ceremony of ISS8, it was said that sturgeon are “living encyclopaedias” due to
their long lifespans, and the fact that their bodies – much like the rings of
the tree – tell stories of climatic disturbances and environmental change.
These can be dated to past events, such as periods of nuclear testing.
Birth control at
zoos is all about strategy
Animals take birth
control too.
At the Dallas Zoo,
zookeepers have to get creative with the birth control they give to their
animals.
Chimps, who are
similar to humans biologically, take birth control just like women, but the
keepers have to sneak it into their food, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Some chimps take the pill in their juice, while others eat it in their oatmeal.
Birth control at
zoos is an important matter of keeping breeding in line with space and health
concerns, while also balancing the natural social order of the animals and
accounting for animals that just don't want to take their meds.
Beijing zoo under
fire after tigers suspected to have been fed street dogs
A Beijing wildlife
park on Monday denied feeding its tigers street dogs, saying the park had in
fact merely put several dogs and wolves into a cage together.
A post which claimed
Beijing's Badaling Wildlife Park fed its tigers and wolves street dogs has been
circulating online over recent days. Some netizens have also posted pictures
showing the park put dogs and wolves together, calling for intervention from
the relevant government department.
A manager at the
park told the Beijing-based newspaper The Mirror that several months ago, they
did indeed put several dogs and wolves in a cage together, but that they never
harmed each other.
The manager denied
feeding tigers street dogs and said that all meat the tigers eat is purchased
through legal channels and passes through quarantine inspectio
Twenty dolphins
saved in Solomon Islands
Police and fisheries
officials in Solomon Islands are urging the public to restrain from the illegal
activity of trapping dolphins for export.
Earlier this month
20 dolphins were rescued and released from captivity in Rapata Village in
Kolombangara Island.
US to allow imports
of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe, Zambia
US authorities will
remove restrictions on importing African elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and
Zambia.
That means Americans
will soon be able to hunt the endangered big game, an activity that garnered
worldwide attention when a Minnesota dentist took Cecil, perhaps the world's
most famous lion, near a wildlife park in Zimbabwe.
A US Fish and
Wildlife Service spokesman said the move will allow the two African countries
to include US sport hunting as part of their management plans for the elephants
and allow them to put "much-needed revenue back into conservation."
Lions next in line
of fire as US rolls back curbs on African hunting trophies
Hunting interests
have scored a major victory with the Trump administration’s decision to allow
Americans to bring home body parts of elephants shot for sport in Africa.
Another totemic species now looks set to follow suit – lions.
As the US Fish and
Wildlife Service (FWS) was announcing it was lifting a ban on the import of
elephant “trophies” from Zimbabwe and Zambia, it also quietly published new
guidelines that showed lions shot in the two African countries will also be
eligible to adorn American homes.
What if Cecil the
lion died as part of a successful conservation business?
Think of Cecil the
lion’s death in 2015. Were you horrified? Why? For many, the outrage over
Walter Palmer’s decision to hunt the lion and then pose with his dead ‘trophy’
simply stemmed from the idea that this majestic creature had been needlessly
killed when it may be soon facing extinction. But what if Palmer’s actions were
actually part of an incredibly successful conservation business that in fact
helped to stop the extinction of animals, and bought an economy to a struggling
region? That’s the question new documentary Trophy aims to pose. Originally
planned as an expose on the hunting community and those that save for years to
fly to Africa and shoot an animal, it quickly became apparent to directors
Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwarz that it was actually a more complicated and
morally grey ideology. As Schwarz says, no one wants to hear about money and
wildlife together, but as they began researching for the documentary, one ideal
kept popping up: ‘If it pays it stays’. This ideology places a value on an
animal; it says some animals are worth more alive than dead, and for that
reason it is economically smarter to breed p
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I am just about to head off on vacation for a few days and have not started to pack yet so I will save the comments for this issue. Enjoy....there is a lot of interesting reading.
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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.
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Sea Shepherd eco group drops anchor in UAE
Sea Shepherd, a
self-described “international direct-action ocean conservation organisation”
has dropped anchor in the UAE waters with a view to spreading its 40-decade
legacy of protecting marine life around the world, said officials on Monday.
With the Gulf waters
under pressure from regional development and overfishing, the new chapter says
it will focus on environmental awareness, fund-raising and marine conservation.
Known globally for
engaging Japanese whaling ships on the high seas to stop the illegal slaughter
of endangered whales, dolphins and sharks, Sea Shepherd said its new UAE
chapter received approval to register in the UAE in September.
Paul Watson,
Canadian fou
3 Seconds Can Make
You Accept Failure
I don’t have any
kids. I would like them though because I think it’s great to see such little
creatures growing up and to be part of their adventures. Raising kids is hard
and I have to give a lot of credit to my mom because if I look at myself…. Wow
I wasn’t an easy one. My mom did a great job to “fix” me, my brothers and
sister. I look at it and it seems like my mom had a very strong ingredient
raising us. I still don’t know what it is but we have a thing in common and
that is that we don’t get mad or frustrated quickly. We are willing to try more
often and become more successful afterwards. We stay motivated to try a failure
again and we see the best in every scenario. I still don’t understand how my
mom did that. Although I find my mom the strongest woman in the world what
makes me understand the underlying idea more and more. You get shaped by the
experiences you get over time. This obviously with positive or negative
thinking. I mean I consider my family quite the optimists. We try and many times
we come out with success instead of going the other way of being a pessimist
when we have more failure then success. Could this be because we accept our
failures more and believe in reaching the goals?
I started
There Are Far Too
Many Elephants In Southern Africa
Don’t get me wrong.
I love elephants. Next, to the black rhino, they are my favourite animal but,
as they say in the classics: “Enough is enough”.
The elephant is one
of the most important animals in Africa at this time because the species has
focussed world attention on Africa.
The continent’s
whole wildlife future rests on:
(1) What we are
going to do with our (own) elephants; or
(2). What the rest
of the world is going to allow us to do with our (own) elephants; or
(3) how far we are
going to allow the rest of the world to push us around – with regards to how
they believe we should manage our (own) elephants. And the truth of the matter
is that it seems neither they nor our own authorities, have any idea just what our
management options are.
There is truly
nothing mysterious about wildlife management; or about elephant management. The
concept is actually very simple.
Pre-inquest review
to be held into death of zookeeper Rosa King killed by tiger at Hamerton Zoo
A pre-inquest review
is set to take place tomorrow (November 23) into the death of zookeeper Rosa
King, who was killed by a tiger in a “freak accident” at a Cambridgeshire zoo.
Rosa was fatally
injured by the Malayan male tiger after it entered an enclosure she was in at
Hamerton Park Zoo near Huntingdon.
The tiger,
eight-year-old Cicip, can still be seen at the zoo after Rosa's parents backed
a public call for him to not be put down following the tragedy in May this
year.
New greyhound rules
in NSW after dogs raced against cheetahs in Shanghai
New South Wales
authorities will introduce new rules to stop greyhounds being shipped to cruel
and degrading conditions, after a large-scale export racket sent 70 animals to
a Shanghai zoo known for racing dogs against cheetahs.
The new rules seek
to place a greater onus on racing greyhound owners to prevent their animals
being sent to places with shocking animal welfare records.
But critics have
already dubbed it a “Band-Aid” solution that will mean little unless the
federal government toughens its stance on greyhound exports.
Earlier this month,
two family members – Mark and Stephen Farrugia – were fined for exporting 70
dogs to the Shanghai Wild Animal Park and another 96 dogs to the Macau
Canidrome racetrack. A third family member, Donna Farrugia, was found guilty of
knowingly aiding and abetting the exports, and suspended for a year and a half.
The Farrugias had
bought the dogs from greyhound racetracks across the state, often when they
were no longer wanted by their owners.
We don’t need to
save endangered species. Extinction is part of evolution.
Near midnight,
during an expedition to southwestern Ecuador in December 2013, I spotted a
small green frog asleep on a leaf, near a stream by the side of the road. It
was Atelopus balios , the Rio Pescado stubfoot toad. Although a lone male had
been spotted in 2011, no populations had been found since 1995, and it was
thought to be extinct. But here it was, raised from the dead like Lazarus. My
colleagues and I found several more that night, males and females, and shipped
them to an amphibian ark in Quito, where they are now breeding safely in
captivity. But they will go extinct one day, and the world will be none the
poorer for it. Eventually, they will be replaced by a dozen or a hundred new
species that evolve later.
Mass extinctions
periodically wipe out up to 95 percent of all species in one fell swoop; these
come every 50 million to 100 million years, and scientists agree that we are
now in the middle of the sixth such extinction, this one caused primarily by
humans and our effects on animal habitats. It is an “immense and hidden”
tragedy t
-----------------------------
www.zoolex.org in November 2017
~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~
Hello ZooLex Friend,
We have worked for your enjoyment!
~°v°~
NEW EXHIBIT PRESENTATION
Ocelot Temple at Zoo d'Asson is themed around the Maya culture and
designed to allow breeding of the species. Fishing behaviour is induced
by dead trout that are fed in a pool once a week.
We would like to thank Luc Lorca from Zoo d'Asson for preparing this
presentation.
~°v°~
SPANISH TRANSLATION
Thanks to Eduardo Díaz García we are able to offer the Spanish
translation of the previously published presentation of "Leopard
Heights" at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Great Britain:
~°v°~
BIRD COLLISION MONITORING
In our June newsletter we presented resources for the prevention of bird
collisions on glass. This time we are presenting methods for monitoring
bird collisions. The better the monitoring, the better the choice for
investing in methods for preventing bird collisions. The study was done
in Berlin and is in German. It can be downloaded for 2 Euro from
Schüling Buchkurier:
A short article in English is here http://www.zoolex.org/research.html
under the reference
STEIOF K., ALTERNKAMP R., BAGANZ K. (2017): Surveys of bird collisions
on glass at zoo exhibits in Berlin. 16 pages article in German:
Vogelschlag an Glasflächen von Tiergehegen. Tiergarten 4/2017: 36–51.
Schüling Buchkurier. Münster.
~°v°~
AMENDMENT
There was a mistake in the citing of a study in our October newsletter.
The correct citing is
FINLAY T., JAMES R.L., MAPLE T.L. (1988) People's perceptions of
animals: The influence of zoo environment. Environment and Behavior,
vol. 20, no. 4. Sage Publications. Newbury Park, California.
~°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
~°v°~
Zoo tigress suffers
snake bite, critical
Nine-year-old Jaai,
one of the two tiger cubs that was rescued from a belligerent mob 9 years ago
from Mendki in Bramhapuri forest division in Chandrapur, is battling for life
after a snake bite at the Maharajbagh Zoo.
"Though the
movement of Jaai appears to be normal, blood report shows renal failure. Her
both kidneys have failed," said zoo officer in-charge Dr SS Bawaskar.
According to
sources, on November 5, Jaai was seen by visitors playing with a snake in her
cage. The snake must be non-venomous otherwise some unfortunate would have
happen.
The zoo, which is
surrounded by agriculture land and a nullah, is vulnerable to presence of
snakes. On Monday, a Russel's Viper was s
Uruguay Reopens Zoo
After Almost Two Years of Construction
Among the 500
species, some of the most prized inhabitants are its hippopotami, coati, yacare
caiman and big cats, which are a priority
Durazno, Uruguay
reopens the doors to its zoo this week after a year and a half of renovations,
the city’s mayor, Carmelo Vidalin said.
Over the last year,
the former Washington Rodriguez Piquinela Zoo has been transformed into an
animal reserve, home to approximately 500 specimens and 250 species of animals,
birds, and reptiles.
Among the zoo's
prized inhabitants are its hippopotami, coati, and yacare caiman, however, the
conservation considers its big cats' high priority. The reserve houses lions,
tigers, pumas, and jaguars, all of which are considered endangered in Uruguay.
The Tiger Subspecies
Revised, 2017
There are certain
animal species where – for reasons related to the charisma of the animal
concerned, and the distinct nature of its various populations – we tend to
learn about the various subspecies. Giraffes are one good example. Another is
the Tiger Panthera tigris.
Most people
interested in animals know that tigers vary enough across their extensive
(historical) range that the naming of several different forms is warranted.
There’s the ‘typical’ tiger of India (the Bengal tiger P. t. tigris), the
comparatively gigantic Siberian or Amur tiger in far north-eastern Asia (P. t.
altaica), the west Asian Caspian tiger (P. t. virgata), a Chinese form with
distinctive stripes (P. t. amoyensis), some poorly known forms from mainland
south-east Asia (P. t. corbetti and P. t. jacksoni), and the island-dwellers of
south-east Asia (P. t. sondaica of Java, P. t. balica of Bali and P. t.
sumatrae of Sumatra). Several of these forms were unable to avoid the
persecution and destruction wrought upon them by our own species...
PHOTO: 'Huge, but
well-behaved' elephants safe after tractor-trailer fire at GA-TN line
Well, this is an
interesting site for a Monday morning commute - three African elephants on the
side of the road.
The incident
happened on I-24 East in Dade County, GA, just near the Georgia-Tennessee line,
around 2 a.m. on Monday.
Firefighters posted
at the tractor was on fire, but the trailer was not, and the elephants, who
were called "huge, but well behaved," by the fire department's chief,
were safely removed.
"The owners got
the elephants safely out of the trailer and gave them some hay to munch on
while firefighters put the fire out," the post says.
Once the owner made
some calls, the elephants were placed on another tractor and headed to
Sarasota, FL.
Meanwhile, first
responder Tracy Beavers snapped a photo while she and her unit were responding
to the tractor-trailer fire. By the time she responded, the scene was calm a
Why are the
elephants leaving Twycross Zoo and where are they going?
The decision to move
the entire herd of Twycross' elephants more than 130 miles away "was not
taken lightly" say zoo bosses.
Four female Asian
elephants will be leaving the East Midlands site early next year for their new
home at Blackpool Zoo where they will be able to breed.
Twycross’ current
enclosure, Elephant Creek, does not have the resources to house a male bull
elephant.
“The decision to
move our elephants was not taken lightly," said Dr Sharon Redrobe, CEO of
Twycross Zoo.
"We carefully
assessed all viable options for our herd, but as Blackpool can now boast one of
the best elephant facilities in the UK, this was the best option and it’s the
right thing to do for the long-term survival of not only this herd, but Asian
elephants as a species.
"We will of
course be sad to see our girls go and our staff will be monitoring their
progress as they settle in.
"As they go we
will be making changes at the zoo - we look forward to the new developments to
be announced soon.”
The voice missing
from the elephant trophy debate? Africans.
The answers for
conserving the Earth’s wild creatures seem easy from the office chairs of the
affluent west. Ban trophy hunting! Hunt down the poachers! More tourism!
But the social media
campaigns and President Trump’s flip-flopping on Twitter over the past few days
on U.S. elephant trophy imports from Zimbabwe and Zambia highlight the
deficiencies of this model of decision-making. We need a lot less shouting and
lot more listening — and to different voices.
How can we help
secure a future for wildlife? We know what the animal lovers and celebrities
will say. We know what the hunting organizations will say. We’ve heard these
voices before, loud and clear, with the same simple answers. But what might the
people and government of Zimbabwe say (if they could look aw
Smoky mouse breeding
boosted by food and flowers as scientists work to save mammal
For centuries,
aspiring lovers have used flowers and exotic delicacies to woo their partners,
and it seems the animal kingdom is no different.
Scientists have
bolstered the numbers of one of the nation's most critically endangered
species, the smoky mouse, by decking out the breeding enclosures of six adult
mice with flowers and food.
The old-fashioned
dating techniques have seen six new litters of baby mice welcomed at
Australia's only smoky mouse captive breeding facility — spearheaded by the New
South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH).
Breeding specialist
Daniel Gowland said researchers played Cupid by creating the perfect breeding
environment for the cute critters.
"Food is a
stimulus for us all, it's one of the first little integrations we do … and it's
one of the main things we had to work on," he said.
Zoo, university dig
into prairie dog mystery
Connecticut’s
Beardsley Zoo and the Biology Department at Fairfield University are teaming up
to solve an underground mystery.
Staff from the two
organizations are using ground penetrating radar to map the maze of burrows
that’s home to the zoo’s two black-tailed prairie dog colonies. According to a
news release from the zoo, the experiment grew out of an encounter between
Ashley Byun, Fairfield University’s associate professor of biology and Brian
Jones, state archaeologist.
Ground penetrating
radar mapping equipment was brought to the zoo by Jones.
Rope lines and
colored flags identified a path for the radar equipment to follow,
corresponding to carefu
Leadership Change at
Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Smithsonian’s
National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute Director Dennis Kelly plans to
retire after a temporary appointment as the interim president of Smithsonian
Enterprises. Effective Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, Steven Monfort will become acting
director of the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
Kelly has served as
the director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo since February 2010. As
director, he has led the operations of the public Zoo, created a visionary plan
for the Zoo’s future, and has ensured that the important work of the
conservation scientists continues to have a global impact.
Kelly earned a
bachelor’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a master’s
degree in business administration from Harvard University. After serving in the
military, Kelly held positions with Procter & Gamble and Touche Ross &
Co. From 1982 to 1999, he served in various positions at The Coca-Cola Co. in
Atlanta. In 1999, Kelly joined Green Mountain Energy Co. and before coming to
the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Kelly was
President of Zoo Atlanta for six years. Kelly recently completed a term as
Chair of the Board of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the most
prestigious zoological accrediting body in the world.
Monfort has been at
the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute since 1986.
He is currently the John and Adrienne Mars Director, Smithsonian Conservation
Biology Institute and deputy director of Smithsonian's National Zoo.
Monfort served for
20 years as a research veterinarian, and he founded and co-led the Zoo’s
Endocrine Research Laboratory. He launched the Smithsonian-Mason School of
Conservation and played a key role in a number of significant conservation
initiatives, including the Sahara Conservation Fund, Conservation Centers for
Species Survival, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, and the
Global Tiger Initiative. He has been instrumental in reintroducing
scimitar-horned oryx, which were extinct in the wild, to their ancestral
Sahelian habitats in Chad—one of
Biology's Beloved
Amphibian--the Axolotl--Is Racing Toward Extinction
When biologist Luis
Zambrano began his career in the late 1990s, he pictured himself working miles
from civilization, maybe discovering new species in some hidden corner of
Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Instead, in 2003, he found himself counting
amphibians in the polluted, murky canals of Mexico City’s Xochimilco district.
The job had its advantages: he was working minutes from his home and studying
the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), a national icon in Mexico and arguably the
world’s most recognizable salamander. But in that first year, Zambrano couldn’t
wait for it to be over.
“Let me tell you, I
hated the project at the beginning,” he says. For one thing, “I couldn’t catch
anything”.
Over time, however,
he did catch some axolotls. What he found surprised him—and changed the course
of his career. In 1998, the first robust study to count axolotls estimated that
t
Zoo chief’s sexual
harassment allegation draws pros and cons over sanction
A zoo director who
allegedly sexually harassed a female worker received a pay cut, Yonhap News
Agency reported Monday.
Lee Ki-sub, the
director of the Seoul Grand Park, allegedly told the victim to sleep at his
residence last December, when the workers at the zoo had to work overtime at
night due to the outbreak of Avian Influenza. Doubts over his inappropriate
remarks and physical contact in the past have also been raised.
Lee only admitted to
parts of the allege
The Return of the
Crested Ibis
I went to see Kin at
the Sado Japanese Crested Ibis Preservation Center in the spring of 2003 only
to find the last crested ibis in Japan blind and weak, huddled in a large cage
about 2.5 meters square.
I learned of Kin’s
death on October 10 of that same year from the TV news. She had apparently
flung herself against aluminum siding at a height of about 1 meter and died
from hitting her head. Perhaps she had hoped to make her weakened body fly once
again in the great skies. She was 36 years old, well over 100 by human count.
Kin’s death reminded
me of another. The place was the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio; the date, September 1,
1914. Martha—the last remaining passenger pigeon, named for the wife of George
Washington, the first US president—fell from her perch in the zoo and died.
Prior to this,
passenger pigeons numbered more than 3 billion and darkened the skies over the
eastern part of the United States when they migrated. But they were decimated
for their meat and their habitat destroyed as American pioneers cut down
forests and cleared land. By 1901, wild passenger pigeons had disappeared.
Fortunately, Kin was
not the last crested ibis, and her death did not mean the extinction of the
species. The same species of crested
Can Freeing Captive
Bears in Armenia End the Attitudes That Imprisoned Them?
A young family of
three enjoys a delightful meal on an uncommonly warm fall day in one of
Armenia’s many outdoor restaurants. A doting father leans playfully across the
table to poke a fork at his cherub-like son. The child’s mother looks on
lovingly. It’s a scene that would be the stuff of tourist brochures—were it not
for its disturbing backdrop.
Visible from the
family’s table is a wild brown bear, hovering despondently in the backdrop,
pacing the length of its rusty cage to and fro, just meters from the happy
family on the other side of the river.
Wildlife park
worker, 37, is left with deadly illness after she was bitten by insect in
Indonesian jungle while on a mission to save tigers
An animal
conservation worker has been left with a deadly illness after she was bitten by
an insect while trekking in the jungle to save the tiger.
Zoo owner Rebecca
Willers, 37, has been diagnosed with a rare and incurable condition that she
says leaves her body feeling 'like it is turning into stone'.
Known as Diffuse
Systemic Sclerosis, the disease makes her body think its immune system is under
attack and hardens her skin and connective tissues.
Ms Willers, who runs
Shepreth Wildlife Park in Cambridgeshire, does not know how long she has left
to live but doctors have told her one in ten people with the condition die
within five years.
Since her diagnosis
in September, she has cancelled her pension and is arranging to put he
What grosses out a
chimpanzee?
Chimpanzees do some
pretty disgusting things.
In their natural
habitats, chimpanzees are known to pick up seeds from feces and re-ingest them.
In captivity, some practice coprophagy: the deliberate ingestion of feces.
These behaviors usually involve their own fecal matter, or that of their
closest family members. If presented with feces and other bodily fluids from
others, however, that's an entirely different story.
In 2015, researchers
from Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute went to the Primate Center
at the 'Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville' (CIRMF) in
Gabon to test whether chimpanzees are grossed out by some of the same things as
humans, particularly those that are sources of infectious disease.
Avoiding biological
contaminants is a well-known manifestation of the adaptive system of disgust.
In theory, animals evolved with this system to protect themselves from
pathogens and parasites, which are often associated with media or substrates
that invoke our sense
Chimps found to use
arm and mouth expressions to convey distance
A small team of
researchers working at the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University has
found evidence that chimps are able to use gestures to convey distance to a
person. In their paper published in the journal Biology Letters, the group
describes experiments they carried out with chimps in a confined location, what
they found and what their findings might mean for the development of symbolic
communication in primates.
When people want to
express distance to someone else they simply tell them using words or in some
cases, use their hands to point. The ability to understand distance and convey
it to another individual requires some degree of intelligence, which is why the
research team in Japan wondered if chimps might the same abilities and if they
did, how was it conveyed.
To find out, the
team ran a series of experiments with eight chimps living at the institute.
Each was allowed entry to a closed pen that was separated into two sections by
bars preventing the chimps from coming into contact with the researchers. In
the pen on the other side of the bars were two tables—one close to the bars,
the other farther away. Each experiment consisted of a researcher coming into
the table side of the pen and setting a piece of banana on one of two tables
within sight of the chimp. The researcher would then leave the pen. Soon
thereafter, another researcher would enter the room and begin interacting with
the chimp, in effect, asking if they wanted the piece of banana. Regardless of
how they c
Fate of lynx shot
dead in Wales raises questions over 'hobby zoos'
When the Mee family
bought Dartmoor Zoological Park in October 2006, it was in a state of complete
dilapidation. The initial attraction had been the 12-bedroom, 18th-century
house on the edge of the Dartmoor national park in Devon, with the attached zoo
a “massive encumbrance” that was putting off buyers.
After some research
the former science journalist Benjamin Mee decided the site could not only be a
new home for his family, but also a new career. He concluded that if he “not
only employed people who knew what they were doing, but also took their advice”,
then he could reverse the fortunes of the 30-acre wildlife park, with its 200
exotic animals.
“It needed hundreds
of thousand of pounds spending on it to get it up to licensing standard again,”
said Mee. “So it was a huge gamble. But we just thought, if we don’t do it [the
zoo] will definitely close … and it would just be wrong for those animals to be
destroyed.” In 2011, Mee’s account of his family’s decision to buy, renovate
and reopen the zoo was turned into the film We Bought a Zoo, starring Matt
Damon.
A CHANGE AT THE TOP!
The Zoological
Society of East Anglia is delighted to report the appointment of Professor
David Field as Chief Executive Designate. Professor Field will take over from
the founding Chief Executive Martin Goymour in the spring of 2018. The two will
work together to achieve a smooth transition in the management of this
prominent local charity and wildlife resource.
Martin Goymour
comments: “As you may imagine this will be a momentous change for us both, but
necessary to ensure that ZSEA and its parks have every opportunity to progress,
evolve and grow. We are extremely proud
of the contributions and achievements made to wildlife conser
The Big Game killing
field: Sickening bloodlust of trophy hunters who kill endangered animals for
sport exposed
A trophy hunter
poses with pride beside the young elephant he has just killed. Philip Glass
shows no remorse and even boasts: “God says we have dominion over the animals .
That means we can do what we choose with them.”
He is so convinced
of his divine right to shoot big game, he also agreed to be filmed hunting a
lion and hippo in South Africa for shocking new film Trophy.
The documentary ’s
grim footage comes after Donald Trump sparked fury by lifting Barack Obama ’s
ban on hunters importing elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia to the US.
The Mirror today
exposes the sick reality of trophy hunting in South Africa and the firms
offering package holiday-style hunts. And we rev
A tranquiliser
shortage is holding back rescue and rehabilitation of rhinos in India
“Watching a rhino
get tranquilised is indeed an experience to cherish. It is hard to imagine that
such a powerful animal can become so vulnerable too,” said Dharanidhar Boro, an
officer on special duty at Manas National park, who has been working with greater
one-horned rhinos in India’s Assam state since 1987.
He describes the
frenzy as more than 30 trained elephants circle a grazing rhino to try and
contain it and an official with a dart gun, riding atop one of the pachyderms,
shoots a drug-laden syringe at the rhino’s rump or neck.
It takes eight to 10
minutes after the needle pierces the rhino’s thick skin for the animal to go
completely under; it takes off
Even more good news
for a Friday: first captive-reared vultures released
Yesterday was a
momentous day in Nepal. Five captive-reared vultures were released back into
the wild as part of the Saving Asian Vulture Programme (SAVE). This is an important milestone in the
programme established to try to reverse the catastrophic decline in
white-rumped vultures, and two other species of Gyps vulture (long-billed and
slender-billed) all Critically Endangered as a result of the use of a
non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug called diclofenac. This drug was, until
recently, a very widespread treatment for sick cows. Meat of a dead, recently
‘diclofenac-dosed’ cow, is lethal to vultures and, being sacred, cows are not
eaten but taken to carcass dumps and left for scavengers. Thus, one toxic cow
can kill an awful lot of vultures.
Pigs to debut at new
zoo in the Muslim-majority north
ndia’s lone Muslim
majority state of Jammu and Kashmir has decided to showcase pigs at its
upcoming zoo – a move that is bound to spark a fresh controversy. Pigs are
deemed as unclean animals in Islam and hosting them in a zoo will have
political consequences.
The state government
has decided to dedicate a special area for pigs at the Jambu Zoo, also known as
the Shivalik Biological Park in the Jammu region, on the national highway that
connects it to the summer capital of Srinagar in the Kashmir Valley.
Fact Check: was it
right to kill Lilith the escaped lynx?
An escaped lynx was
recently destroyed by experts working on behalf of Ceredigion County Council in
Wales after attempts to recapture it failed. Some people have responded
angrily, arguing that officials should have tranquilised the animal rather than
killing it. The council claimed it had done all it could and was left with no
other option. So was there a way Lilith the lynx could have been saved?
Zoo animals all
receive a danger category for their potential to cause serious harm. Animals
such as tigers, lions, elephants, and lynx are classed as Category 1, the most
dangerous animals, due to their natural behaviour and predatory way of life.
Animals which may cause slight harm or injury are classified as Category 2, and
those which are no threat to the public get classed as Category 3.
Within the UK, zoos
are licenced by local authorities, who conduct inspections on a regular basis
to ensure the health and safety of the animals, staff and the public that visit
them. Safety from the animal enclosure side of things is always viewed to reduce
the likelihood of the public getting in, and the animals getting out.
But zoos are home to
some incredibly smart animals which are able to notice small gaps in the gates
and doorways or when electric fencing ma
Zookeepers chase,
beat kids with sticks at Hyderabad zoo on Children’s Day
Young boys can be
seen fleeing from the khaki-clad men charging at them with sticks, some even
fallen to the ground, as a crowd of many students look on from beyond a
barricade. The fear is writ large on the faces of the boys’ as they try to
escape.
The images were
taken by Suresh Kumar, a photojournalist from Sakshi at Hyderabad’s Nehru
Zoological Park (NZP) on Children’s Day.
The pictures have
triggered outrage on social media, with one user even tagging the city police
so that they can take action.
Study gives genetic
clues to the extinction of the passenger pigeon
Martha, the last of
her kind, resides in a glass case at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of
Natural History, perched on a thin branch. She’s a passenger pigeon, Ectopistes
migratorius, and in the final years of her life, before her death in 1914 at
the Cincinnati Zoo, she achieved fame as the last survivor of a species once so
populous that its flocks could darken the noonday sky.
Martha is small and
gray, with flecks of blue and green iridescence on the back of her neck. She is
looking sharply to the right, as if looking over her shoulder — as if a bit
wary.
“Some people find
her a little plain-looking,” said Helen James, the Curator of Birds, who can
put her hands
Elephant Keeper
Diaries
Today was the day
that the first crate arrived to begin the introductions with the elephants –
Minbu (the dominant female known as a matriarch), Tara, Noorjahan and Esha (our
three year old calf, born here at Twycross Zoo by Noorjahan). All of the keepers
who work with our girls daily were present and emotions were high with
excitement to begin the next steps of our elephants’ move.
Once all of our
morning jobs were completed – which included cleaning and the daily animal
checks – our girls were given their breakfast and sent off into the grass
paddock which was set up with some exciting enrichment to keep them
entertained. The safest thing for them was to keep them busy and away from the
noises and vibrations of the vehicles delivering the crate.
Creating
Serendipitous Experiences That Have An Impact: A Conversation with Sue Chin,
Vice President of Planning and Design and Chief Architect at the Wildlife
Conservation Society
Unlike most other
institutions who hire design firms, the four zoos and one aquarium under the
Wildlife Conservation Society have their own design department responsible for
all their exhibits and graphics. The Exhibition and Graphic Arts Department
(EGAD), particularly at the Bronx Zoo, has designed many ground-breaking
immersive habitats recreating the natural environment of its animals. No other
institution has won the Exhibit Award from the Association of Zoos and
Aquariums as many times as the Bronx Zoo. Currently EGAD is headed by Sue Chin,
one of the most well respected zoo designers in history. Along with John Gwynne
and Lee Ehmke (her partner for nearly two decades), she and the EGAD team have
been responsible for many of the incredible exhibits at the Bronx Zoo. This is
her story.
The Ark in Lincoln
Park: A Conversation with Mark Rosenthal
One of the oldest zoos in the nation, the
Lincoln Park Zoo has been a leader in the zoo field for over a century. No one
knows this better than Mark Rosenthal, retired Curator of Mammals from the zoo.
He has an intimate knowledge of its history few have both from personal
experience and documenting the stories of others. Rosenthal authored The Ark in
the Park, a book on the history of the zoo, and since retirement has run the
Zoo and Aquarium Video Archives, which contain hours upon hours of video
interviews with retired zoo professionals. Here is his story.
Cumbria zoo scandal:
Govt minister Michael Gove to study case of animal deaths
County MP set for
top-level talks as report compiled into tragedy at family attraction
SCANDALOUS failings
at a Cumbrian zoo - which saw hundreds of animals die of starvation and neglect
- are to form the basis of a government report aimed at preventing such a
tragedy from ever happening again in the UK.
The Zoos Expert
Committee is in the process of considering the circumstances surrounding the
deaths of 500 animals at South Lakes Safari Zoo, near Dalton, over the course
of just four years.
The committee, which
provides advice to the government, has been tasked with identifying lessons
that can be learnt from the case so that changes to the way zoos are licensed
in the future can be implemented nationally.
Barrow and Furness
MP John Woodcock, who has campaigned for changes to the laws which govern how
animals are kept in zoos, is set to meet environment secretary, Michael Gove,
to discuss the issue once the report is complete.
Mr Woodcock has
called for anyone who applies for a zoo licence to first pass a fit and proper
persons test in a bid to ensure the highest standards of safety for animals,
staff and the public.
He said: "Since
the awful events at South Lakes Safari Zoo, I have been campaigning to reform
the current zoo licensing system which has clearly been shown to be not fit for
purpose.
"We need a fit
and proper persons test so that those involved in running a failed zoo can be
barred from obtaining a new licence and a more professional regulatory system
that mirrors the high standards seen in other areas where health and welfare are
at risk.
"It is a huge
boost to the campaign that the govern
Explainer: mass
coral spawning, a wonder of the natural world
During the late
spring, corals on the Great Barrier Reef release little balls that float to the
ocean surface in a slow motion upside-down snowstorm.
These beautiful
events are studied avidly by scientists: the tiny bundles will become young
corals, and unlocking their secrets is vital to the continuing life of our
coral reefs.
Will SeaWorld ever
be allowed to return trainers to the water?
On February 24th,
2010 SeaWorld Orlando Trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by the largest Killer
Whale to ever be in captivity at any park in the world, Tilikum. The world
changed that day in many ways, from the way many saw SeaWorld, to the way
SeaWorld operated, to even what the whales were called. Perhaps one of the biggest changes came from
the removal of a staple of the park, and the very shows that they performed.
That day would be the last that any SeaWorld trainer would be in the water with
an Orca during a show, and the water contact between trainers and the whales
would be minimal. It was a decision that would change the fabric of the
company, and would tear apart the image of bonding nature and humans that
SeaWorld worked almost 50 years to create and perfect. Seven years later, there
are no trainers and Orcas in the water at Shamu Stadium, and the way that
people and the whales interact has changed forever. Is there any hope of ever
going back, even one little baby step? What would have to change so that
trainers and Orcas could once again show that connection that we are one world,
one ocean?
Primatologist Jane
Goodall: ‘Tarzan married the wrong Jane’
Growing up in
Britain during the second world war, Jane Goodall was often told her dreams
were just that – fantasy, unrealistic, unachievable: “I had read Tarzan and
fallen in love, although he married the wrong Jane, the wretched man,” she
jokes. “I wanted to live with wild animals and write books about them. But
people would say: ‘How can you do that? Africa is far away, we don’t know much
about it. You don’t have any money in your family. You’re just a girl.’”
Now, at 83, the
celebrated British primatologist tours the world, never stopping anywhere for
more than a few weeks at a time, giving sold-out lectures on what she has
learned over five decades of chimp study in Tanzania.
Angelina Jolie,
Colin Firth and Judd Apatow are vocal fans. Michael Jackson, she says, wrote
Heal the World about her. Goodall just wants to get on with the job of better
protecting our planet from the effects of climate change, but now her schedule
has been interrupted once again by National Geographic’s Jane, a film about her
life (of which there are now more than 40). She sounds mildly annoyed when she
tells me that she recently had to pause her activism to travel to the Hollywood
premiere of the documentary,
Experts call for
urgent action to protect Myanmar bears
Bears are being
hunted with impunity for their gall bladder and bile in eastern Shan State,
where the rule of law remains weak, conservationists said, calling for
immediate protection of the species.
WWF Myanmar said
Malay bears and Himalayan bears are being caught in forests and kept in small
cages on livestock farms where their bile is harvested for traditional
medicine.
“Bears are being
kept inside small cages and their bile is harvested every day by piercing
through their rib cages,” said U Tin Htun Aung, program officer at the
Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA).
“They are forced to
produce bile for many years. If the bear is killed, bile can only be extracted
once so people resort to this cruel method to harvest bile for years,” he
added.
The Sun bear, which
can be found in Myanmar, requires full protection by law. The Himalayan bear,
the other type of bear in the country, is included on the list of protected
species, according to BANCA.
As Himalayan bears
are rather large with big gall bladders, they are more targeted, the
organisations added.
Conservationists
lamented that although these bears ar
New program releases
endangered whooping cranes into wild
A group of 12
juvenile whooping cranes were released into the Louisiana Department of
Wildlife and Fisheries’ Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday as part of an
ongoing effort to protect the species from extinction.
The juvenile cranes
join 49 other whooping cranes that are a part of an experimental population
being monitored by LDWF.
Supported by donors
like Chevron, LDWF and Audubon Nature Institute have been longtime leaders in
whooping crane conservation and recently expanded their partnership with the
goal of developing a self-sustaining population of whooping cranes in Louisiana.
Of the 12 cranes,
seven were reared at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland, two were
raised at Calgary Zoo in Canada and three were hatched from eggs collected from
the wild in Wisconsin and reared at the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival
Center in New Orleans. All 12 cranes were brought to the Species Survival
Center where they formed a “cohort,” the scientific term
ZOO ANIMAL LITTLE
MAMA, WORLD'S OLDEST KNOWN CHIMPANZEE, DIES AT 79 YEARS OLD
Little Mama, the
oldest known chimpanzee on record, died on Tuesday in her late 70s, according
to The Palm Beach Post.
Born before the end
of World War II, Little Mama lived into her 70s until Tuesday, when she died in
the company of eight other chimpanzees and employees at the Lion Country Safari
park in Loxahatchee, Florida. Although not yet confirmed, the cause of death is
suspected to be kidney failure. According to the Post, a necroscopy will be
carried out.
As South Florida's
Sun Sentinel reports, chimpanzees in captivity typically live to between 50 and
60, and their counterparts in the wi
Court allows appeal
of order to edit Vancouver Aquarium documentary
Filmmaker was to
remove some footage in piece that looks at treatment of dolphins and beluga
whales.
The B.C. Court of
Appeal has ruled in favour of a filmmaker whose documentary criticized the
Vancouver Aquarium’s practice of keeping beluga whales and dolphins in
captivity.
It says a lower
court judge erred in ordering the filmmaker to remove 15 segments of his
documentary that the aquarium said could cause the facility irreparable harm.
Conservation by
killing? Documentary asks if commerce can save threatened species
Could a hunter’s bullet be a tool in helping
save Africa’s endangered species from extinction? The question is one of the
many complex ethical dilemmas raised by “Trophy”, a documentary that examines
whether commerce can help wildlife conservation.
The film, directed
by Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau, assesses some of the ways that
threatened species are used for commercial gain, from elephants being auctioned
to hunters as prey, to rhinos being farmed for their horns.
While Schwarz and
Clusiau began the project with the intention of shaming the hunting industry,
they soon found that situation was more complex and nuanced than they had
imagined.
“In Africa, for
example, their relationship to animals is very different from our relationship
to animals in the sense that,
From cooking pot to
conservation, a turtle’s tale
A royal turtle once
rescued from villagers who wanted to eat it was one of two handed over to a
conservation centre yesterday.
The turtles had been
raised by former Koh Kong provincial Fisheries Administration’s official Nay
Ol, 60, for 17 years.
Tears welled up in
his eyes when he spoke about his turtles during the inauguration of the Koh
Kong Reptile Conservation Centre in Mondol Seima district.
One turtle weighed
more than 30 kilos and was more than 50 years old. It was rescued in 2000 from
villagers who were about to kill and cook it.
Mr Ol said his wife
could not be there because she would cry if she saw the turtles being given
away.
He joined the turtle
conservation project in 2000 and went that year to Sre Ambel to educate people
about royal turtles.
The Pittsburgh Zoo
should want to be in the best league
Sean Hamill’s
excellent article “Pittsburgh Zoo Was Kicked Out of Important Conservation
Programs When It Left National Association” (Nov. 12) merits clarification.
Most important, Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium did not leave the Association
of Zoos and Aquariums due to “a dispute over how it cares for elephants” or
“philosophical issues.” It left, plain and simple, because the zoo’s executive
leadership did not want to meet AZA’s improved and stringent standards for
maximizing occupational safety of elephant care professionals — standards
designed by their colleagues and which our 62 elephant-holding members are
meeting today.
This is a deadly
serious issue. Zoo leadership also knew, in leaving AZA, that the zoo’s
participation in member programs, like Species Survival Plans, would be
restricted. And participation will likely get more restrictive in the months
and years to come, as our members continue reviewing SSPs and raising standards
for animal care.
The Pittsburgh zoo
is world class
So it doesn’t matter
if a single self-important organization criticizes us
I was greatly amused
by the comments from Association of Zoos and Aquariums executive director
Daniel M. Ashe, who has never visited the Pittsburgh Zoo (“The Pittsburgh Zoo
Should Want to Be in the Best League,” Nov. 16 letters). Sadly, Mr. Ashe has
been misled and wrote his letter in an attempt to protect AZA’s brand and
self-proclaimed position as a zoo organization.
The Pittsburgh Zoo
has always upheld the highest standards of animal care and welfare. We are now
certified by the oldest national animal welfare organization in the country,
American Humane, passing a rigorous third-party, independent audit. We have not
only increased our expertise and standards in our animal care, but also have
the Gold Stamp of the American Humane Conservation program’s Humane Certified
seal to prove it.
Our zoo is
accredited by the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks & Aquariums Association
and the Zoological Association
'Hobby zoos' face
calls for crackdown after second lynx dies at animal park home of Lillith
A Welsh zoo is
facing calls to close after it emerged a second lynx was accidentally strangled
in “a terrible handling error” days
before Lillith the lynx was shot and killed following her escape from the same
attraction.
Borth Wild Animal
Kingdom near Aberyswyth was branded a “hobby zoo” after news of the death of
the second lynx emerged, throwing a spotlight on fears that at some UK animal
attractions well-meaning but underqualified owners are failing to look after
creatures properly.
Launching a petition
for Borth to close in the light of the two deaths, the Lynx UK Trust, a
conservation group working to reintroduce the lynx to Britain, accused the
zoo’s management of having “little to no understanding of wild animal behaviour
or welfare needs”.
Dr Paul O'Donoghue,
Chief scientific adviser to the trust, added: “What if it had been Borth's
crocodile that esca
EXPOSED! Blood Rhino
Blacklist
On Saturday 28
October 2017, I exposed the ‘blood rhino blacklist’ syndicate, live on air, on
the award winning Radio New Zealand show with Kim Hill. Listen to the 30 minute
interview here.
I am staking my life
on this shocking expose you are about to read. I can only take it so far. It is
now up to global citizens, environmental organisations, press and politicians
worldwide to ensure that justice is done. Because if we fail, the rhinos of
South Africa will tumble into extinction, and rapists and murderers will be set
free.
I am the guardian of
the ‘blood rhino blacklist’. I have already exposed two magistrates and two
defense attorneys involved in the case of Zululand’s accused rhino poaching
kingpin, Dumisani Gwala. But this is just one thread in a systematic web of
corruption.
First-ever animal
rights lawsuit filed on behalf of zoo elephants
Pachyderms are
people, too.
That’s the argument
being made by the Nonhuman Rights Project, which filed the first-ever animal
rights lawsuit this week on behalf of captive elephants in Connecticut —
claiming they are legal “persons” who deserve to be in sanctuaries, not zoos.
The nonprofit
organization believes that because the creatures are autonomous beings, who
live “emotionally, socially, and cognitively complex lives,” they have a
fundamental right to be set free from the Commerford Zoo in Goshen.
Lawyers for the
group are specifically requesting that their “elephant clients” — Beulah, Karen
and Minnie — be released and sent the Performing Animal Welfare Society’s ARK
2000 natural habitat sanctuary in California, “where their right to bodily
liberty will be respected.”
They announced the
filing on Monday in a press release, saying they were seeking a common law writ
of habeas corpus in Connecticut Superior Court.
“This is not an
animal welfare case,” explained attorney Steven M. Wise, president and founder
of the NhRP.
Tenerife marine park
loses court battle over orca welfare
Tenerife’s Loro
Parque has lost a defamation battle against an animal rights charity over
treatment of orcas at the marine park.
A Spanish court has
thrown out a defamation lawsuit bought against PETA – People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals – in which Loro Parque sought €100,000 in damages.
The case was brought
after PETA published photographs in 2015 showing the killer whales covered with
scars and wounds, which it said had come from the animals being kept in too
close proximity to each other.
Other images showed
severe dental trauma, which PETA says captive orcas typically develop from
gnawing on tank gates and walls. Another (above) showed an orca with a
collapsed dorsal fin, which PETA says is the result of having inadequate space
to swim and dive.
Dismissing the case,
the judge ruled that PETA’s views, which are based on expert analysis and
research, were protected under Spanish laws on freedom of expression. The judg
Unloved vultures
fight for their survival in Pakistan
Once a common sight
in the skies, today the white-backed vulture is facing extinction – its
population devastated by the use of industrial drugs to breed the cattle whose
carcasses they traditionally feed on.
Bird numbers have
plummeted by more than 99 per cent since the 1990s, according to the local
branch of the World Wildlife Fund [WWF], which is desperately attempting to
ensure the species does not die out.
“Once vultures were
found in a very good number in Pakistan,” explains Warda Javed, coordinator for
the WWF backed Vulture Restoration Project. But due to several threats –
principally the use of the anti-inflammatory drug Diclofenac, which causes
kidney failure the birds are dying out.
Royal turtles
released into wild
More than 20
critically endangered turtles were released into the wild yesterday after
spending the last eight years in a conservation centre.
Som Sitha, the
Wildlife Conservation Society’s technical advisor of theo Koh Kong Conservation
Project, said the adult turtles were ready to return to their natural habitat
in the Sre Ambel river system.
Each of the reptiles
was equipped with a GPS device prior to the release.
“Each turtle is
about eight-years-old and weighs over ten kilograms,” Mr Sitha said. “There are
13 females and 12 males, because we want these to breed in the wild.”
The royal turtle, or
southern river terrapin, has been Cambodia’s national reptile since 2005. It is
on the Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature.
The Sre Ambel River
system o
Worst-case scenario:
There could be only 30 wild Sumatran rhinos left
As we sit
cross-legged at a restaurant in Java over plates of local delicacies — cow
brains, avocado juice and dried fish you eat whole — Haerudin R. Sadjudin tells
me a little about his life. Lanky, weathered, with a welcoming demeanor and an
open smile, Haerudin, 62, started studying rhinos — both Indonesian species,
the Sumatran and the Javan — in 1975. I tell him he’s been doing this job
longer than I’ve been alive.
Haerudin, program
manager at local rhino NGO YABI, has had the pleasure of seeing Javan rhinos
(Rhinoceros sondaicus) 31 times in the wild. He’s been attacked by them three
times, including once when he had to abandon his canoe and cling to a tree. But
this isn’t what really takes my breath away. He’s actually seen Sumatran rhinos
(Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in the wild — but only once in his 40-plus years of
studying the animal.
This highlights just
how endangered the Sumatran rhino has long been. Already by the 1970s they were
virtually impossible to encounter. And today they are so rare, so nearly lost,
as to be almost mythical: they’ve become like the Tasmanian tiger in the 1920s
or Stellar’s sea cow in the 1760s.
The world knows
exactly how many Javan rhino
Illegally Conceived
Genetically Defective Liger Turns 7
A lion-tiger hybrid
born on a tourist farm in 2010 in circumstances that breached Taiwan’s Wildlife
Conservation Law turned 7 years old last month.
The animal’s low-key
birthday was reported in various local media outlets today, after the story was
originally posted on Facebook by National Pingtung University of Science and
technology’s (NPUST) Center for Wildlife Conservation and Management October
23.
Ah Biao, as he is
nicknamed, was born in 2010 at the tourism-oriented World Snake King
Educational Farm in Tainan in 2010 after the managers cross-bred a male African
lion with a female Bengal tiger. The result of the experiment produced three
offspring which the breeders touted as the first Ligers produced in Taiwan.
One of the cubs died
at birth, and another survived just one week. The surviving sibling, Ah Biao,
was confiscated by the Council of Agriculture as his birth had contravened
Taiwan’s Wildlife Conservation Law.
Ah Biao suffered
from congenital defects, including a malformed tail, hip problems, spinal
curvature, and an immobile left-rear leg. Ah Biao was taken to NPUST’s Center
for Wildlife Conservation and Management, where he resides to this day.
Weighing just 680 grams when he arrived, today he weighs 165 kilograms and has
a body-length of 170 centimeters.
STURGEON: UNLIKELY
GEOPOLITICAL SUBJECTS
Sturgeon are more
critically endangered than any other species. A number of factors contribute
cumulatively to sturgeon’s endangered status: namely, overfishing, habitat
destruction, and river fragmentation. But what makes the endangered status of
sturgeon even more precarious is the world’s voracious appetite for their
‘black pearls’: caviar.
In the closing
ceremony of ISS8, it was said that sturgeon are “living encyclopaedias” due to
their long lifespans, and the fact that their bodies – much like the rings of
the tree – tell stories of climatic disturbances and environmental change.
These can be dated to past events, such as periods of nuclear testing.
Birth control at
zoos is all about strategy
Animals take birth
control too.
At the Dallas Zoo,
zookeepers have to get creative with the birth control they give to their
animals.
Chimps, who are
similar to humans biologically, take birth control just like women, but the
keepers have to sneak it into their food, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Some chimps take the pill in their juice, while others eat it in their oatmeal.
Birth control at
zoos is an important matter of keeping breeding in line with space and health
concerns, while also balancing the natural social order of the animals and
accounting for animals that just don't want to take their meds.
Beijing zoo under
fire after tigers suspected to have been fed street dogs
A Beijing wildlife
park on Monday denied feeding its tigers street dogs, saying the park had in
fact merely put several dogs and wolves into a cage together.
A post which claimed
Beijing's Badaling Wildlife Park fed its tigers and wolves street dogs has been
circulating online over recent days. Some netizens have also posted pictures
showing the park put dogs and wolves together, calling for intervention from
the relevant government department.
A manager at the
park told the Beijing-based newspaper The Mirror that several months ago, they
did indeed put several dogs and wolves in a cage together, but that they never
harmed each other.
The manager denied
feeding tigers street dogs and said that all meat the tigers eat is purchased
through legal channels and passes through quarantine inspectio
Twenty dolphins
saved in Solomon Islands
Police and fisheries
officials in Solomon Islands are urging the public to restrain from the illegal
activity of trapping dolphins for export.
Earlier this month
20 dolphins were rescued and released from captivity in Rapata Village in
Kolombangara Island.
US to allow imports
of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe, Zambia
US authorities will
remove restrictions on importing African elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and
Zambia.
That means Americans
will soon be able to hunt the endangered big game, an activity that garnered
worldwide attention when a Minnesota dentist took Cecil, perhaps the world's
most famous lion, near a wildlife park in Zimbabwe.
A US Fish and
Wildlife Service spokesman said the move will allow the two African countries
to include US sport hunting as part of their management plans for the elephants
and allow them to put "much-needed revenue back into conservation."
Lions next in line
of fire as US rolls back curbs on African hunting trophies
Hunting interests
have scored a major victory with the Trump administration’s decision to allow
Americans to bring home body parts of elephants shot for sport in Africa.
Another totemic species now looks set to follow suit – lions.
As the US Fish and
Wildlife Service (FWS) was announcing it was lifting a ban on the import of
elephant “trophies” from Zimbabwe and Zambia, it also quietly published new
guidelines that showed lions shot in the two African countries will also be
eligible to adorn American homes.
What if Cecil the
lion died as part of a successful conservation business?
Think of Cecil the
lion’s death in 2015. Were you horrified? Why? For many, the outrage over
Walter Palmer’s decision to hunt the lion and then pose with his dead ‘trophy’
simply stemmed from the idea that this majestic creature had been needlessly
killed when it may be soon facing extinction. But what if Palmer’s actions were
actually part of an incredibly successful conservation business that in fact
helped to stop the extinction of animals, and bought an economy to a struggling
region? That’s the question new documentary Trophy aims to pose. Originally
planned as an expose on the hunting community and those that save for years to
fly to Africa and shoot an animal, it quickly became apparent to directors
Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwarz that it was actually a more complicated and
morally grey ideology. As Schwarz says, no one wants to hear about money and
wildlife together, but as they began researching for the documentary, one ideal
kept popping up: ‘If it pays it stays’. This ideology places a value on an
animal; it says some animals are worth more alive than dead, and for that
reason it is economically smarter to breed p
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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
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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