if you are looking for books for yourself or as gifts.
Mystery as white rhinos drop dead at Dubbo zoo
AN investigation has been called into the sudden deaths of four white rhinos, including a mother and her calf, at Dubbo's Taronga Western Plain Zoo.
Staff at the zoo in central NSW are shocked and puzzled as to what caused the deaths.
Intombi and her daughter Amira, as well as two other rhinos, Izizi and Aluka, began showing signs of neurological abnormalities a couple of weeks ago.
The first animal died shortly afterwards and the fourth died at the weekend, a zoo spokeswoman said.
The animals' deaths have been a blow to staff, General Manager Matt Fuller said.
"The rhino keepers and veterinary staff know and care for every individual in the herd, so this has been a huge shock. We're all very sad and supporting each other through this difficult time," he said.
"Our focus is on continuing this investigation to pinpoint the cause."
Vets are consulting rhinoceros specialists in Africa and North America, as well as virologists and other experts.
"So far the investigation has ruled out exposure to toxins, bacterial infection, snake venom and
http://www.news.com.au/national/dubbo-zoo-mourns-loss-of-four-white-rhinos/story-e6frfkwi-1226306101785
We Bought a Zoo: why displaying animals can be a grizzly business
We Bought a Zoo may show an idyllic picture of zoo life, but is it really acceptable to incarcerate animals for our pleasure?
You could hardly wish for a more heartwarming film than We Bought a Zoo. Nice people do nice things, prevail over their difficulties and are rewarded with well-deserved success and emotional salvation. This, apparently, is what happens to zookeepers. But what about their charges?
The furred, feathered and scaly denizens of the film's Rosemoor Wildlife Park are incredibly well cared for. They even get Scarlett Johansson to look after them. Yet, in the real world, the fate of zoo animals is still a cause for disquiet.
We were reminded of that last year when dozens of lions, tigers, bears, monkeys and leopards had to be shot by police after the owner of an Ohio zoo deliberately released them. Following this incident, American animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals demanded (unsuccessfully) that We Bought a Zoo should carry a warning about the responsibilities of zookeepers.
Abuses of captive animals continue to be reported. A study of British zoos found that the space provided for the average mammal was less than a hundredth of what its home range would have been in the wild. There's an underlying question that even the rose-coloured lens through which we're asked to view Rosemoor cannot entirely avoid. Is it really OK to incarcerate animals just so people can gawp at them?
In a world where there's so much else to worry about, this may seem a piffling concern. Once, however, people were kept in zoos, and nobody fussed about that. In Paris in 1877, "ethnological spectacles" featuring Nubian and Inuit exhibits attracted more than a million paying customers. Naked "natives" were still being displayed in cages alongside exotic animals into the 20th century.
This practice fell out of favour because races once considered inferior came to be accorded the same rights as other humans. Today, the bedding down of Darwinism has similarly eroded the hitherto sacrosanct barrier between humans and other species. Hence, the treatment meted out to animals now attracts rigorous scrutiny.
In 1939, to get a shot they wanted, the makers of Jesse James – featuring Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda – blindfolded a horse and pushed it off a cliff. It broke its back and had to be destroyed. Today, activists are demanding not only that no animal is harmed in the making of a movie but that all live animal appearances should be replaced by CGI.
Even in Asia, where animal rights have not traditionally been high on the agenda, most people now believe that those who cause animal suffering should be punished by law. Some, particularly the young, refuse to eat meat. Quite a few find wearing fur unacceptable. A minority even oppose experiments intended to save human lives. Not just welfare, but dignity has become an issue. Many circuses have been purged of animals, but zoos somehow remain relatively unchallenged.
This may be partly because they have vigorous backers. Keeping animals in captivity enables us to study them more effectively, say zoologists. Intriguingly, anthropologists eager to avoid the costs of fieldwork were keen supporters of human zoos, while conservationists today want to keep groups of threatened species for reintroduction programmes.
Anyway, such considerations have little bearing on enterprises like the one featured in We Bought a Zoo. Rosemoor is a for-profit leisure business. No scientific work seems to be carried out there. Seven of the 47 species kept are said to be endangered, which means 40 aren't. It's when the office runs out of tickets that success is declared.
It's often argued that such zoos don't just entertain, they also educate. Yet Rosemoor offers little in the way of biological exposition. What it educates its customers to believe, if anything, is that their fellow creatures exist for their diversion. Just as the male gaze is deemed to objectify women, animals become "passive raw material for the active gaze of the human".
In We Bought a Zoo, the inmates' function is entirely instrumental. Their task is to enable Matt Damon's Benjamin and his children to resolve their personal problems. They achieve this by providing the family with a project. It could have been anything.
Just occasionally, some awkwardness is hinted at. When he arrives, new to the game, Ben speaks of "cages". He's quickly slapped down by his staff: they must be called "enclosures". When a grizzly escapes, he's awestruck to see it enjoy freedom. All he can do in response, however, is to increase the size of its enclosure. The animals get talked to nicely, but their opinion is never asked.
If you had to be locked up for the amusement of another species, you couldn't find nicer jailers than Matt and
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2012/mar/19/we-bought-a-zoo-animals?newsfeed=true
Gorilla loose at zoo; contained within facility
A gorilla got loose at the Buffalo Zoo late this morning, but zoo officials working with the police managed to contain it inside the facility, authorities said.
Zoo officials, working with police, managed to tranquilize the animal, initial reports from the scene indicated.
One of the zookeepers, though, was bitten on the hand and leg, according to reports from zoo patrons who were whisked to safety after the gorilla got loose.
"It's my understanding that the gorilla has been contained in some kind of lounge area," Buffalo city and police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge said shortly before noon.
Buffalo police responded to the scene, and the police SWAT Team also was called to the zoo, as part of normal procedure when an animal gets loose.
Zoo patrons praised facility workers for doing everything they could to keep people safe when the gorilla got loose.
Brian Knoll, 33, of Kenmore, was with his 2-year-old son Elliott in the zoo's barn area, petting farm animals at roughly 10:45 a.m., when the commotion started.
"We were petting the horses and cows, and all of a sudden, we could see panic ensuing and people running from my left to my right, away from the Gorilla House," Knoll said.
The zookeeper in the barn area encouraged the Knolls and others to go into that building barn while she closed the door.
Knoll later overheard, from zoo employees talking on a facility radio, that a male gorilla had gotten out of its pen, into a kitchen/prep area, but not out of the Gorilla House. Public-safety officials later emphasized that the animal never got out of the house and that the public never was at risk.
"There was a keeper there who was afraid for her life," Knoll said. "She was hiding in a corner with a female gorilla and a baby."
Zoo officials, working with the police, managed to tranquilize the gorilla, apparently with a dart, but that didn't ensure that everyone was safe.
Those same officials were concerned, according to Knoll, that once the gorilla was tranquilized, it might go after the zookeeper in that area, because the tranquilizer doesn't take effect immediately.
That's apparently what happened, leading to the female zookeeper being bitten.
Asked how scared he was for himself and his young son, Knoll mentioned the frightening sight of people seemingly running for their lives, when the news first broke.
"You kind of run through every animal in the zoo, and you wonder what might pop out, like a lion," he said.
Then he laughed and mentioned the other extreme: "Or a peacock."
Zoo officials declined comment
http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/north-buffalo-hertel/article770671.ece
Al Ain Wildlife Park's white tigers
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/al-ain-wildlife-parks-white-tigers
Lion king who talks to animals
Tao was kept in a tiny cage and starved for the first nine months of his life.
As a result, he has a hunched back, a limp leg and permanent shackle marks where his legs were bound.
The two-year-old lion would probably have been put down if it were not for the Dr Doolittle of Ras Al Khaimah.
Tao is now "the friendliest lion" at Ras Al Khaimah Wildlife Park, said Jasim Ali Salim, an Emirati trader who began collecting unwanted wild animals from local families 15 years ago.
"He was extremely wild and ferocious when we first got him, you can see even his hair growth is irregular. But by God's grace in one month he was tamed," he said. "People have laughed at me when I told them that I can communicate with animals. But I understand the body language of lions and the roars and groans they make and, accordingly, I act."
Mr Salim's two-acre plot in Awafi is home to more 20 different species, including an Arabian wolf, lions, leopards, hyenas, baboons, snakes, a Nile crocodile and an assortment of wild cats from Asian, African and Arabian origins.
"People keep these animals as a sign of pride or to show off," he said. "They do not realise that when they grow they become more ferocious and dangerous.
"Zoos and reserves also refuse these animals because most of them do not have proper documents but I will accept any neglected wild animal and I refuse to trade in them." Mr Salim is not a vet and has never studied animal handling.
"This ability has come to me because of my love of wild creatures," he said.
This love is evident in the amount he invests in his menagerie - Dh300,000 a year is spent on the animals' food, while a further Dh20,000 a month goes to their upkeep and care.
Mr Salim, 40, a father of four, set up the wildlife park in 2010.
"The RAK government has been very supportive of us and granted us all the licences and necessary permits to set up the zoo," he said.
"The animals are handled by staff that I have hired and are checked regularly by contracted veterinarians."
The zoo has been a big hit with local residents. Ali Abdullah, a teacher in North Thait, brings his pupils to the park.
"Before, I had to take my children to Sharjah and Dubai to see wild animals and learn about them," he said. "Since the launch of the zoo two years ago more than 25,000 people have visited and it has become one of our regular tourist attractions."
Wildlife expert Dr Reza Ali Khan also applauded Mr Salim's efforts.
"This is a wonderful thing that he is doing and if proper care is being provided for these animals I welcome that," he said.
Dr Khan said the trend of keeping wild animals as pets had died down since the 1980s but has picked up again in recent years. "We have seen several cases come up in the past few years where people have kept these wild cats in their homes as pets and this is extremely dangerous."
Mr Salim also has strong words for those who bring wild animals into the UAE. "People who trade in these animals are the ones who should be stopped," he said. "It is completely illegal."
He has been in contact with many local and international animal welfare societies who are able to help him to reintegrate some of the animals back into the wild.
"Some of them cannot be tamed and can survive back in the wild - like the black panther or the wild
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/lion-king-who-talks-to-animals
Phuket baby elephant probe hinges on DNA maternity tests
Officers who led the raids on three elephant camps in Phuket late last month are back on the island to continue their investigation into whether all the elephants at all three camps were legally obtained.
The investigation focuses on three camps: the ATV @ Hill Adventure Tour camp on the road to the Big Buddha image in Chalong; the Elephant Camp at the Laguna complex in Cherng Talay; and the PhuThai Souvenir Market in Chalong.
“I have visited the three elephant camps again to follow up on our investigation,” Col Watcharin Phusin, the superintendent of the regional Natural Resources and Environment Crime Suppression Division, told the Phuket Gazette today.
“We are now waiting for the results of DNA tests, which were actually supposed to be available about the end of February,” he said.
The DNA tests are expected to prove conclusively whether or not the baby elephants are the offspring of a female elephant seized at the Pang Chang Sai Yok Elephant Park in Kanchanaburi province in January.
That adult female was discovered to have been illegally obtained and has since been seized by National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) officers and transferred to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center (TECC), a state-run enterprise in Lampang, Col Watcharin explained.
“The baby elephants seized have been sent to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang. Their mother was seized because the identification document for her that the camp owner of the Sai Yok Elephant Park presented to us didn’t match,” Col Watcharin said.
“Now we are waiting for the DNA test results. After we
http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2012/article12615.html
Lie of the tiger – ‘wild’ animal shot by Putin was actually from a zoo
A TIGER can’t change its stripes – which is leading Russians to wonder if Vladimir Putin needs to change his story about which one he shot.
In one of the macho photo moments the Russian leader often indulges in, he was shown on an expedition with preservationists in the Far East in 2008 tracking wild Amur tigers.
According to video footage, Mr Putin shot one of the rare beasts with a tranquilliser gun so Russian scientists could put a GPS collar on it.
Mr Putin’s website later showed photos of what it claimed to be the same tiger, back in the wild.
But environmentalist Dmitry Molodtsov, who runs a website about the big cats, has come to the conclusion that the tiger shot by Putin isn’t the same one shown later in his video – and that the animal tranquillised by the Russian leader wasn’t a wild specimen at all but a comparatively docile animal from a zoo.
Mr Molodtsov insisted the tigress Mr Putin shot had been taken from a zoo and had never lived in the wild. He said photographs of a tiger named Serga at a zoo in the in the eastern city of Khabarovsk made him “99 per cent certain it was the tiger pictured with Putin”.
He said Serga was then taken on the long drive back to the Khabarovsk zoo. In the days that followed, the rare tiger died, unable to recover from the three tranquillisers used by scientists during the PR stunt.
Mr Molodtsov said he felt obligated to publish his investigation. “I thought this to be my civil duty to report this,” he said. “I want to live in a country where a politician will know that he can improve his declining ratings only with real deeds.”
Vladimir Krever, from the Russian branch of the World Wildlife Fund, agreed. “What I have seen online are two different animals,” he said.
But Natalya Remennikova, project co-ordinator at the government-funded Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution in Moscow, which is in charge of the Amur tiger preservation programme, said Mr Molodtsov’s claim was untrue.
“Somebody made it up or they thought they saw something suspicious,” she said, adding that the report could be aimed to smear Mr Putin, the current prime minister and president-elect.
The Russian leader is known for his stage-managed media appearances in an array of manly pursuits – stroking a polar bear, riding a horse bare-chested and hanging out with leather-clad bikers.
The images have endeared him to many Russians but provoked scorn among
http://www.scotsman.com/news/international/lie-of-the-tiger-wild-animal-shot-by-putin-was-actually-from-a-zoo-1-2178589
Preserving Endangered Gametes
http://the-scientist.com/2012/03/01/preserving-endangered-gametes/
Berlin zoo braces for flood of Knut mourners
The Berlin zoo is bracing for a flood of guests Sunday and Monday to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of their polar bear star Knut.
The bear died on March 19, 2011 from brain damage. He was only four.
Knut captured the world’s attention after his mother rejected him and he was raised by zookeeper Thomas Dörflein, who died in 2008.
Pictures of the cub being bottle fed went around the world.
Fans already came out en masse last December at what would have been Knut’s fifth birthday. They visited his cage and put flowers in front of it.
“There will surely be a big rush of fans from all over the world,” said Thomas Ziolko, chairman of the Friends of Tierpark Berlin and Zoo Berlin. Ziolko expects the biggest crowds to come on Sunday.
Germans were so taken by Knut and his story that groups like “Knutitis” a fan forum, were formed. Forum administrator Conny Krautwurst said the group’s “mourning will take place in a private sphere.”
These Knut fans say they loved the bear, but they were mostly ridiculed by the public. Krautwurst defended her group, saying “We are not hysterical Knutianer,’” referring to a term meaning Knut followers.
Still, some writings from fans show a deep devotion. One fan, who gave her name as Birgit, wrote, “When I think of the 19th, I get a stomach ache. Last year everything was okay with the world.”
Since the bear died there have been numerous discussions of what the zoo, politicians, and activists did right or wrong concerning the polar bear. Critics said the zoo used the bear for marketing purposes when it should have directed attention
http://www.thelocal.de/society/20120318-41401.html
Capacity crowd hears more about care and feeding plans for National Elephant Center in Fellsmere
Providing protected contact to the elephants and cultivating partnerships within the local community — such as using vendors to provide food for the animals — were among the highlights of a presentation Tuesday on the National Elephant Center in Fellsmere.
The talk drew a capacity crowd at Capt. Hiram's for the March Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Chief Operating Officer Jeff Boling and Executive Director John Lehnhardt gave a shared presentation on the facility under development in Fellsmere near the Brevard County line that included the center's approach to elephant care and management. They stressed that the focus will be on "protected contact," and "positive reinforcement."
Lehnhardt vowed to use as many local vendors as possible. He said the center would need large amounts of hay that could be purchased from local farmers in addition to the elephant grass that would be grown on the site.
Boling said the center will potentially house between 290 and 300 elephants from about 70 Association of Zoos and Aquarium (AZA) members, with a goal of helping those members provide better care for their elephants. The center will be funded by AZA members, and Lehnhardt estimates an annual operating budget of about $500,000, with typical annual feeding and care costs of $25,000 per elephant.
The center will offer both short- and long-term care. For example, Boling said a zoo wants to construct a new exhibit to improve the well-being of their elephants. The center could house those elephants during that construction period. The center also could provide long-term, and even permanent housing, for juvenile male elephants, as the social structure of elephants allows multiple females but only one dominant male in a family group.
Boling said every elephant at the center will receive protected contact.
"Protected contact means there is always going to be a barrier between us and the elephant," Boling said. "We accomplish this through positive reinforcement training."
Boiling used a series of illustrations to show how an elephant would submit to having blood drawn from behind its ears by approaching a "target," device, a long stick with a rubber bulb on the end, and willingly working its ear into a gap in the enclosure. While one handler accomplishes the procedure another handler offers treats to the elephant. "I call this pay for pain," Boling said.
Maggie Duffell of Wells Fargo Bank asked Lehnhardt about the use of bull hooks, or "guide" devices. He said some situations might require the tool, but they would be very rare and limited to medical emergencies
"In our day-to-day operation we won't be using the bull hook because we'll be using the target, and positive reinforcement to work with the animals," Lehnhardt said. "In an emergency situation where you might have to share your space with the elephants, you need to have something that will help control that elephant and keep you safe."
Boling said he expected groundbreaking at the 223-acre site to occur in the next few weeks, with the first phase of construction to be completed in seven to eight months, and the first elephants to arrive by late 2012 or early 2013.
Chamber President and CEO Beth Mitchell said the enthusiastic response at the meeting was a positive show of support from the area business community.
"This is something new for our area and we always hope for
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/mar/13/capacity-crowd-hears-more-about-care-and-feeding/
animal cruelty? mosul zoo’s neglected beasts and their devoted keeper
The animals are neglected, the place reeks and neighbours want the second oldest zoo in Iraq closed down. But the zookeeper insists on his dedication to his bestial charges; he has even founded an animal welfare society.
One can barely see down the road which leads to the second oldest zoo in Iraq. It’s lined with dozens, perhaps hundreds, of motorcycles all waiting outside of repair shops along the road. The door to the zoo is dirty and smeared with oil but a large sign on it, decorated with cartoons of animals, enthusiastically proclaims: “Welcome to Ninawa Zoo!”
Any enthusiasm is soon dispersed though. Ninawa’s zoo is located in an old, derelict stone building. Inside the place looks like a cave – rusting metal cages are spread throughout and a horrible smell indicates a lack of maintenance or care. The sorry conditions the animals are in only adds to the unpleasantness of the place.
This place is the only zoo in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, capital of the province of Ninawa and home to around two million people. Entrance costs IQD500 (around USREPLACE.40) but despite the cheap price of entry, locals prefer not to bring their children here to see the animals. Some of them avoid even coming near the building; they believe it’s a health hazard that could cause disease.
The first animal one sees upon entering the zoo is Salem, a monkey. Salem moves very slowly and one gets the feeling he’s sick, just from his progress across the cage. Look at his food dish, filled with sheep offal, and this seems even more likely.
As you move further into the zoo, surrounded by dirty, sick animals and rotten food, you start to wish you could turn off at least two or three of your five senses. Questions come into your mind: What kind of life can exist here? Who comes here?
Still, Dirgham Sharif al-Hamid al-Quraishi says he is proud to be the owner of this manky zoo. “I travelled all over the Iraq to bring animals to this zoo that people would like to see,” says the man, whose father also had animal husbandry as a profession. “And I also imported animals from outside Iraq.”
I ask about Salem the monkey and how he came to Iraq and
http://www.niqash.org/articles/?id=3010
Marineland in for another $1.7M of upgrades
A little more than a year after the Georgia Aquarium bought Marineland , there have been investments in infrastructure, new partnerships and expanded programs, and more changes and improvements are expected for 2012.
The new owner of the attraction south of St. Augustine, now known as Marineland Dolphin Adventure, spent $1.7 million in 2011 on improvements and upgrades that included resurfacing and updating the water circulation in the dolphin habitats.
In 2012, there are plans to invest another $1.7 million to complete
http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/print-edition/2012/03/16/marineland-in-for-another-17m-of.html
Conserving South Asia’s Threatened Vultures
http://www.sospecies.org/sos_projects/birds/vultures_india/
ESCONDIDO: Zoo scientists launch "tadpole mega-unit" to breed endangered frogs
Just in time for frog breeding season, scientists with the San Diego Zoo have launched what they call a "tadpole mega-unit" ---- a clean, green nursery for endangered frog eggs.
Located in the zoo's Institute for Conservation Research near Escondido, the complex of superfiltered tanks houses newly hatched eggs from mountain yellow-legged frogs, a species near the brink of extinction in Southern California.
The large, long-lived frogs were once common throughout high-elevation streams in Southern California but had nearly vanished by the turn of the century.
In 2002, the species was listed as federally endangered, and in 2006, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey rescued about 80 tadpoles from a dry creek bed in the San Jacinto Mountains.
They raised them at the zoo's research facility, and in 2010, scientists reintroduced the first batch of tadpoles to a stream at the James Reserve near Idyllwild.
Since then, the scientists have continuously refined the way they tend, breed and release the animals.
The "mega-unit" is the latest step in that effort. On Friday, researchers showed the 200-gallon, bathtub-size tanks of constantly circulating water. A series of physical, biological and ultraviolet filters purify the water, creating a healthier environment for the frogs while reducing the need for daily water changes.
In some of the tanks, fishnets cradled gelatinous casings full of tiny, greenish-black eggs that had hatched just days before.
In separate tanks around the room, mating pairs clung together in amplexus, "the love hug of frogs," senior research coordinator Jeff Lemm said.
"The next couple of days should be Egg Central," he said.
The process of frog reintroduction and captive breeding has been one of improvisation, with researchers frequently revising their techniques, often using common gear in unconventional ways.
After poor fertility limited the number of eggs produced the first year, researchers tried forcing the frogs into hibernation by putting them in tubs of mud placed in beverage coolers chilled to 40 degrees. That allowed them to jump-start reproduction, and produce enough tadpoles to begin reintroducing them.
The facility houses 17 adult female frogs, each of which can produce about 200 eggs, research technician Frank Santana said.
Last year they released 300 tadpoles, and have tracked some of them in the stream and its pools. This year, he said, they hope to at least double that number, and reintroduce 600 to 1,000 tadpoles.
Tadpoles released in the stream travel widely and camouflage themselves in its debris, making it hard to track the survivors. Although scientists have seen them regularly in a pool, Santana said, they don't know how many eluded predators.
Scientists marked the tadpoles with tiny fluorescent dots to track them, Santana said.
But this year they'll go a step further and photograph every single tadpole they release, documenting their skin patterns for future identification, he said.
Even the "mega-tadpole unit" itself is a marriage of scientific expertise and old-fashioned handiwork.
A medical equipment company estimated that it could construct the
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/escondido-zoo-scientists-launch-tadpole-mega-unit-to-breed-endangered/article_07d6b07a-e7d5-5cd6-9d81-2ff3e6814549.html
Social Lessons from Vampire Bats
Vampire bats are accurately named, as they come out at night and drink the blood of sleeping animals. Nevertheless, they are somewhat charming, once you get to know them. In fact, the common vampire bat is one of the few animals known to share food; the others include wild dogs, hyenas, and chimpanzees (Wilkinson, 1990).
Food sharing is a rare behavior because it would, in most cases, decrease an animal’s evolutionary fitness. Fitness describes an individual’s genetic contribution to future generations, and so it is entirely dependent on an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce. Taking care of offspring increases the parents’ fitness, but sharing food with neighbors would be more likely to reduce it. Such detrimental behavior simply would not be preserved through natural selection. But as with most things in nature, there are exceptions to the rule.
Vampire bats are one exception; sharing meals directly supports their survival and fitness. On any given night, when vampire bats go out to feed, 7-30% of them don’t manage to eat. If a bat fails to feed for two nights in a row, it will die (Wilkinson, 1990). If a bat misses a second meal, however, a neighboring bat will regurgitate its own meal for it, keeping the hungry bat alive. The sharing bat is more vulnerable to hunger now, but it is less vulnerable than the receiving bat. And, should the first bat miss a second meal, it can
http://musingsonnature.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/social-lessons-from-vampire-bats/
AN ENDANGERED ISLAND BIRD ON THE BRINK
I've been having tropical thoughts again. It is something I do- flashbacks brought on by a rose-tinted sunset, by a certain houseplant scent, by some seemingly insignificant detail that transports me back to a separate lifetime. It was a long time ago now, the better part of twenty years, and yet it doesn't seem that way. My father warned me that memory was like that. He would speak of exploring the Panama jungle seventy years hence and say it all seemed like yesterday.
My tropics were those of the Pacific and its remotely seductive islands that drove even Darwin to distraction. The natives often described their home islands as paradise and, indeed, there were large elements of those landscapes that were difficult to distinguish from anything other than that hackneyed word. My wife, son and I still talk of personal flashbacks in a kind of private family speak that we agree we largely can't share with others. They could never really understand.
The specific instance of my latest digression began when I realized during an extended conversation that I was thirsty. My thoughts drifted from that present thirst to real thirst- the kind that sets in when even thick jungle shade does nothing to alleviate the saturating humidity of a tradewindless tropical afternoon. A day in the field there always involved carrying at least a half gallon of water and even then, when field time ran to 14 hours, supplimentation of milk from machete-sliced coconuts was a staple. Indeed, to this day I have not shed the machete from my backpack. One never
http://birdconservationresearch.blogspot.com/2012/01/endangered-island-bird-on-brink.html
Chester Zoo unveils £30m Islands development
CHESTER Zoo has released images of its £30m Islands development – a conservation expedition bringing the islands of the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Bali, Sumatra, Sumba and Sulawesi to the heart of Cheshire.
The development will showcase the zoo’s conservation fieldwork and bring together a range of animals including Anoa, Babirusa, Bali Starling, Cassowary, Indonesian Rhinoceros Hornbill, Indonesian Wrinkled Hornbill, Lorikeet, Sumatran Orangutan, Saltwater Sulawesi Macaque, Sumatran Tiger and the Visayan Warty Pig.
Dr Mark Pilgrim, director general of Chester Zoo, said: “Our wildlife expedition will be based on real life, real people and real stories and will be unlike anything seen in a UK zoo.
“These images show, for the first time, a flavour of what can be expected from our new development. Islands will not just showcase the areas that the zoo works but will be a platform for some of the most endangered animals on the planet.”
Visitors will travel through the islands by boat or on foot and will navigate mangroves, swamps, bamboo and tropical forests.
Some of the animals are already in the zoo but new species will include the Saltwater Crocodile and Banteng, a beautiful wild and endangered cattle species.
Islands will also include a major new Indonesian tropical house which will be the largest indoor zoo exhibit in the UK and home to orangutans.
Work is expected to start in autumn this year with opening planned for Easter 2015. A
http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/chester-news/local-chester-news/2012/03/15/chester-zoo-unveils-30m-islands-development-59067-30548181/
Anti-Aquarium Proponents Shun Open Dialogue
In a move that comes as no real surprise, the deeply entrenched anti-aquarium folks at Forthefishes.org have called on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to retract an invitation to MASNA board member and aquarium trade spokesperson, Ret Talbot, to speak at an upcoming meeting at the Maui NOAA Whale Sanctuary. For the Fishes claims that the “immediate” request to withdraw the invitation comes as many Hawaii residents, county councils, and even the Maui mayor find the aquarium trade to be “offensive”. Ret is scheduled to be talking to attendees of the event about the aquarium trade in Fiji, which For the Fishes condems for its collecting of corals and live rock. The press release from For the Fishes goes on to indirectly liken the aquarium trade to the intensely brutal dolphin and whale slaughter when they asked if NOAA would also invite fishermen from those industries as well.
The most disheartening thing about this broadcast email from For the Fishes is that it demonstrates the organizations persistent stance: they want to close all dialogue regarding the aquarium trade. They don’t care about sustainability; they don’t care about scientifically backed data; they don’t care about anything other than shutting down a trade that has far less impact than other ocean-based industries (commercial fishing and tourism). The small orginization ignores all logic and
http://blog.aquanerd.com/2012/03/anti-aquarium-proponents-shun-open-dialogue.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=anti-aquarium-proponents-shun-open-dialogue
Judge rules on animal lover Vera Spear's bequest
HER dying wish was to help a Hampshire haven for sick and injured owls.
Bird-loving Vera Spear was so passionate about the work of New Forest Owl Sanctuary and other animal charities she left them her life savings of £260,000 – minus a small sum for her parrot.
But just days after the 84-year-old pensioner died in her Fareham nursing home in 2007 the Ringwood-based sanctuary closed amid allegations of cruelty.
Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC then decided to settle in court who now deserved the £65,000 slice originally destined for Mrs Spear’s
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/9598034.Owls_to_get_pensioner_s___65_000_legacy/
Anna Ryder Richardson and Colin MacDougall accused of health and safety breaches
Presenter and wildlife park owner Anna Ryder Richardson is being prosecuted over alleged health and safety breaches after a tree fell on a boy.
The three-year-old and his mother, from Llanelli, were injured on a family day out at Manor House Wildlife Park at St Florence, near Tenby, in August 2010.
Park owners Anna Ryder Richardson and husband Colin MacDougall face two charges each following the incident.
A hearing was held at Haverfordwest Magistrates' Court on Monday.
The case was adjourned until 26 April.
The three-year-old, Gruff Davies-Hughes, sustained serious head injuries and spent time in the high dependency unit at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff.
His PE teacher mother, Emma Davies-Hughes, was also injured.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-17442425
Merlin dives in to acquire Siam Ocean World rights
Merlin Entertainments Group has taken over the management of Siam Ocean World, the biggest aquarium in Southeast Asia, after acquiring Living and Leisure Australia Group, the aquarium's owner.
Merlin is the world's second-largest family attraction operator and operates Madame Tussauds wax museums across the world including in Bangkok. It recently acquired Living and Leisure's 10 attractions in Asia-Pacific including Siam Ocean World.
Located at Siam Paragon, Ocean World has 10,000 square metres of space and hundreds of different marine species on display in a 5-million-litre aquarium.
"This not only underlines Merlin's position as the world's premier aquarium operator with its Sea Life brand but also complements the company's other fast-growing business in the city _ the iconic Madame Tussauds Bangkok wax attraction at Siam Centre," the company said in a statement.
Merlin is looking to make a significant investment to improve the aquarium and the local team, along with Merlin's global marine experts, will be working on these plans in coming months.
Linking the two attractions offers a number of management and commercial benefits. It also provides a platform for Merlin to develop joint marketing activities.
The first is the launch of a joint ticket package for Madame Tussauds
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/285595/merlin-dives-in-to-acquire-siam-ocean-world-rights
Breeding Cycles of Penguins in the Western Antarctic Peninsula Affected By Global Warming, For Better or Worse
Higher global temperatures from climate change, despite their appeal to the human population, have chilling affects for some penguin species that breed in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. While gentoos are able to adapt to the region’s rapidly warming climate, adélie and chinstrap penguin populations are dwindling, according to research published in Polar Biology, Ecology, and Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS).
Using a combination of traditional ecological fieldwork and state-of-the-art satellite imagery to track colonies of the three species in Antarctica, researchers confirmed what scientists already knew about many creatures in more temperate climates: Rising temperatures may affect animals’ breeding patterns and population. Resident gentoo penguins, they found, are able to account for temperature change faster than migratory breeding penguins in the Western Abtarctic Peninsula.
“We don’t think that a gain in the gentoo population is necessarily a loss for the adélie and chinstrap, but in previously-dominated adélie and chinstrap islands, the gentoo
http://magblog.audubon.org/breeding-cycles-penguins-western-antarctic-peninsula-affected-global-warming-better-or-worse
Understanding Sloth Bears — An Interview With Dr. K. Yoganand
I conducted intensive field research on sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) between 1996 and 2000 in Panna National Park (Madhya Pradesh), a partly degraded, dry deciduous forest habitat in Madhya Pradesh, central India. I captured and fitted radio-collars on several sloth bears and followed them to observe their behaviour and learn more about their secretive lives, such as, when did they sleep, what did they eat, how far did they move in a night, where did they give birth, where did they get all the food they needed, what did they do when they met a tiger, what circumstances prompted them to attack humans…
I also assessed the quality of the forest from a sloth bear’s point of view – how much area of the forest was covered by woodland, grassland and other types of habitats; how many different kinds of trees and shrubs were there that produced fruits eaten by sloth bears; how many fruits were produced by a single tree in a year; how many ant nests could be found in a hectare of forest, etc. I put all this information together to form a picture of a typical day in the life of the sloth bears of Panna.
Dry deciduous forests probably hold a major proportion (about 50%) of the sloth bear population in India. Unfortunately, degradation of habitat by humans has been severe in this forest type. For informed conservation planning and management of this habitat and the sloth bears that inhabit it, it was essential to have baseline information on their behaviour and ecology. Further, we felt that conducting a study in a human impacted area would help in objectively assessing how various human-induced impacts affect bear behaviour. From 2002 to 2008 I also periodically conducted additional field research in other sites, including a preliminary assessment of the distribution and status of the sloth bear acro
http://www.conservationindia.org/articles/understanding-sloth-bears-an-interview-with-dr-k-yoganand
March 2012 | Vol. XXVII | No. 3 | Date of Publication 22 March 2012
CONTENTS
Feature articles
Climate Change as new challenge for conservation of Crocodiles
-- Lala A. K. Singh, Pp. 1-3
Note on Environment Enrichment for Better Thermoregulation by Crocodiles in Captivity
-- Lala A. K. Singh, P. 3
2nd IUCN SSC Chairs' Meeting, 23-27 February 2012, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Report
-- B.A. Daniel and Sanjay Molur, Pp. 4-6
Meeting of the IUCN SSC Invertebrate Conservation Sub-Committee ICSC, Abu Dhabi
-- B.A. Daniel, Pp. 7-9
National Workshop for Zoo Educators on Conservation Education 27 February-1 March 2012, Van Vihar National Park/Zoo, Bhopal
-- R. Marimuthu, Pp. 10-11
Amphibian Awareness Programme
-- Gayathri Selvaraj and Mittal Gala, Pp. 12-13
Indian Zoo Educators leaping for Amphibian Conservation at Bhopal Workshop
-- R. Marimuthu, P. 14
Leap Day programme conducted with kindergartens of HLC (Headstart Learning Centre) International School, Chennai
-- Mittal Gala, P. 15
Measurable impacts of HECx education programmes in HEC areas of Kanchanapuri, Thailand
-- B.A. Daniel, Pp. 16-18
SPECIES FUTURES: What zoos and other organisations are doing for climate change with the CBSG / WAZA Climate Change Task Force
Pp. 19-20
Technical articles
Nocturnal Terrestrial Mammals of Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary, Bangladesh
-- Mohammed Mostafa Feeroz, Md. Kamrul Hasan and M. Ibrahim Khalilullah, Pp. 21-24
Incidence of Helminthic Infection in captive Carnivores of Sidhharth Municipal Zoo, Aurangabad, Maharashtra
-- S.S. Ghoke, B.S. Naikwade, K.S. Thorat, N.K. Jogdand and P.S. Kalaskar, Pp. 25-26
Announcement
UFAW Animal Welfare Conference, P. 24
Tails to Trails: a Reptile and Amphibian workshops from 4th to 9th June 2012, P. 26
Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, P. 27
TRAFFIC helps to claw back illegal parrot trade in India, P. 28
International Aquarium Congress 9-14 September 2012, Cape Town, Back Cover, Pp. 26-28
http://www.zoosprint.org/
New Turtle Shelter at Conservation Centre in Sattahip
A new turtle shelter was constructed on Monday at the soon to open Turtle Conservation Centre in Sattahip. Navy officers took time out to help with the construction of the 4 million baht center, which will open
http://www.pattayapeople.com/default.asp?Folder=16&IdArticle=30287
Cheetah takes a stroll in Al Ain neighbourhood
A young cheetah, who escaped from a private captivity, was captured in a neighbourhood of Al Ain on Wednesday and taken to Al Ain Wildlife Park (Zoo) and Resort.
According to residents of Al Yahar South, a small township about 31km west of Al Ain city centre, the cheetah was spotted roaming in the neighbourhood on Wednesday.
The zoo officials, police officers and residents started a hunt for the big cat.
“The cheetah was found in the compound of an Emirati family. They called the police, and soon a strong police rescue team surrounded the house.
“They were later joined by Al Ain Zoo experts. The animal was finally captured,” Noor Mohammed, a local resident told Khaleej Times.
He said that the news of cheetah’s presence triggered panic among the residents forcing them to remain indoors. He added that many shops and restaurants in the area also remained closed.
A spokesperson from Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort told Khaleej Times that the residents of the house where the cheetah was hiding, called the police for help. “Police team was already there when our experts, including vets arrived there and successfully captured the young cheetah that was tired and exhausted. We rushed the animal to the resort clinic for observation and treatment. The cheetah is recovering and will remain in the zoo and will be looked-after,” the official asking for anonymity said.
Another resident, Omar Hassan, said the news of the cheetah a first broke out through the exchange of Blackberry messages. He also said the young animal was also sighted roaming around different villa compounds in the area, spreading fear among the residents.
“I received a message on my Blackberry at around 5:20pm yesterday (Wednesday) saying a young cheetah has escaped from a private captivity in the area. It also read: ‘Please be cautious, keep your house compounds protected and do not let your children go out because a cheetah is on the street in the area,” he explained.
Hassan added that after the spread of the message, Al Ain Police came in action informing the residents about the presence of the big cat and advising them
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle11.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2012/March/theuae_March683.xml§ion=theuae
Capacity crowd hears more about care and feeding plans for National Elephant Center in Fellsmere
Providing protected contact to the elephants and cultivating partnerships within the local community — such as using vendors to provide food for the animals — were among the highlights of a presentation Tuesday on the National Elephant Center in Fellsmere.
The talk drew a capacity crowd at Capt. Hiram's for the March Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Chief Operating Officer Jeff Boling and Executive Director John Lehnhardt gave a shared presentation on the facility under development in Fellsmere near the Brevard County line that included the center's approach to elephant care and management. They stressed that the focus will be on "protected contact," and "positive reinforcement."
Lehnhardt vowed to use as many local vendors as possible. He said the center would need large amounts of hay that could be purchased from local farmers in addition to the elephant grass that would be grown on the site.
Boling said the center will potentially house between 290 and 300 elephants from about 70 Association of Zoos and Aquarium (AZA) members, with a goal of helping those members provide better care for their elephants. The center will be funded by AZA members, and Lehnhardt estimates an annual operating budget of about $500,000, with typical annual feeding and care costs of $25,000 per elephant.
The center will offer both short- and long-term care. For example, Boling said a zoo wants to construct a new exhibit to improve the well-being of their elephants. The center could house those elephants during that construction period. The center also could provide long-term, and even permanent housing, for juvenile male elephants, as the social structure of elephants allows multiple females but only one dominant male in a family group.
Boling said every elephant at the center will receive protected contact.
"Protected contact means there is always going to be a barrier between us and the elephant," Boling said. "We accomplish this through positive reinforcement training."
Boiling used a series of illustrations to show how an elephant would submit to having blood drawn from behind its ears by approaching a "target," device, a long stick with a rubber bulb on the end, and willingly working its ear into a gap in the enclosure. While one handler accomplishes the procedure another handler offers treats to the elephant. "I call this pay for pain," Boling said.
Maggie Duffell of Wells Fargo Bank asked Lehnhardt about the use of bull hooks, or "guide" devices. He said some situations might require the tool, but they would be very rare and limited to medical emergencies
"In our day-to-day operation we won't be using the bull hook because we'll be using the target, and positive reinforcement to work with the animals," Lehnhardt said. "In an emergency situation where you might have to share your space with the elephants, you need to have something that will help control that elephant and keep you safe."
Boling said he expected groundbreaking at the 223-acre site to occur in the next few weeks, with the first phase of construction to be completed in seven to eight months, and the first elephants to arrive by late 2012 or early 2013.
Chamber President and CEO Beth Mitchell said the enthusiastic response at the meeting was a positive show of support from the area business community.
"This is something new for our area and we always hope for
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/mar/13/capacity-crowd-hears-more-about-care-and-feeding/
Shark baby boom at Dubai's Atlantis
Number of sharks tipped to boom by year end as hot weather makes for perfect mating seasonDubai: Atlantis, The Palm is preparing for a baby boom of a fishy kind — sharks and rays. "It is that time of the year. As temperatures rise, we anticipate new baby sharks and rays to be born by end of the year from heavy mating in the lagoons. "Although it is difficult to predict the number, but up to ten new baby sharks and rays can be expected to be born by end of the year," said Nicholas Derbyshire, Manager, Animal Acquisitions, Atlantis. He said aggressive mating behaviour by a breed of giant guitar sharks, zebra sharks, whitetip sharks, grey reef sharks and gorgeous black marble rays have left the females tired and pregnant! "What is more interesting is that once the animals deliver, they are ready to start mating and breeding all over again!" he
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/shark-baby-boom-at-dubai-s-atlantis-1.994882
Spy Eggs Help Get to the Bottom of Penguin Trash-Talking
If you think penguins are cute, huggable things, you have not met a little blue penguin (yes, that’s actually the name of the species). Adorably named but fiercely territorial, male little blue penguins will get into bill-slashing, flipper-whacking fights. One-eyed penguins are not uncommon.After winning a fight, the penguins flap their flippers around and engage in loud braying (listen here). After seeing (and hearing) this behavior, researchers wondered: Are the winners just really happy to have both eyes, or are they sending signals of their toughness to “social eavesdroppers” in the penguin colony?To test their hypothesis, the researchers got clever, temporarily swapping a fake, pulse-measuring egg into the nest of an eavesdropping penguin. As the penguin sat incubating on the fake egg, the scientists replayed the sounds of a fight followed by the approaching calls of the winner or loser. The heart rate of male penguins jumped when they heard a winner, but not a loser, approaching. The males were also less likely to call in response to an approaching winner. By advertising their victories, winners may be keeping competition at bay.So male penguins brag to pump up their
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2012/03/15/spy-eggs-help-get-to-the-bottom-of-penguin-trash-talking/
Monkey business seen behind chimp gift to Safari
The Safari Park administration has recently accepted ‘donation’ of a pair of chimpanzees without seeking information about the conservation status of the species and looking into the donor’s credentials, Dawn has learnt.
The park administration failed to give a satisfactory reply when they were asked about the global sensitivities attached to the trade of chimpanzees while the administrator of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), under whom the Safari Park and Karachi zoo are run, responded by saying he might return the animals to the individual.
A pair of common chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, was reportedly ‘donated’ to the Safari Park by a businessman a few days ago. Both species of chimpanzee, the common chimpanzee and the bonobo, are listed as endangered in the IUCN Red List. They are also listed in Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Permits for animal import were earlier issued by the National Council for Conservation of Wildlife (NCCW), abolished under the 18th amendment. The NCCW staff is now part of the forestry wing.
Speaking to Dawn, Umeed Khalid, a conservator of wildlife, forestry wing under the ministry of disaster management, said: “No licence has been issued for the import of chimpanzees in the past 10 years. The species is critically endangered and falls under the Appendix 1 list of CITES, which means trade in these species is prohibited except in cases when the purpose is pure scientific research and education.”
Import permits for such species, he said, could only be issued to government-run facilities for wild animals and that, too, required an export permit from the country from where the animals were being imported and an import permit from the country which would receive them.
“The permission is only for state-run zoos and not for private farms,” he said.
When his attention was drawn to the recently ‘donated’ chimps to the Safari Park, he said that only the Sindh government’s wildlife department was authorised to take up such issues after the adoption of the 18th amendment by the National Assembly.
Upon contact, Salman Shamsi, director of the Safari Park, said: “I am not aware of the details of the donated chimps. You’d better seek details from the KMC administrator.”
KMC administrator Mohammad Hussain Syed said the relevant executive district officer had told him that a businessman was interested in donating animals, and he personally did not know the donor.
“I was told that his name was Mumtaz. He came over one day and left the animals in the park. Maybe he was afraid of being questioned about the animals and preferred to leave without giving any details about himself.
“There are people in the city who keep animals in their homes and at times donate them if they run out of space to keep them,” he said, adding that the park would get more ‘donations’ that would be of peacocks and ostriches.
When Mr Syed was told about the chimps’ conservation status and that the local species of peacocks were protected under the Sindh wildlife rules, he said he was not aware of it and would take care of the regulations in future.
“The peacocks I am talking about are not of the local species, but those being raised in captivity. Anyway, the department will be more careful next time, and maybe we’ll return these chimps to the donor,” he said.
Currently, the Karachi and Lahore zoos are among the only state-run facilities where these species are kept in the country; the Karachi zoo has a pair and the Lahore zoo has three females. Reportedly, two private farms, one in Karachi and the other near Thatta, also keep the animal species.
A pair of chimpanzees, being kept privately, had earlier escaped their cage in the PECHS and troubled residents. The male was shot dead while the female was captured and taken to the Karachi zoo, where she has found another mate.
Replying to Dawn’s queries, Saeed Baloch, heading the Sindh wildlife department, said his department had nothing to do with the import of chimpanzees and he would comment on it once he investigated the case of the chimps’ donation.
“The Safari Park is a government-run facility, so I assume they had made some inquiries before accepting the
http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/16/monkey-business-seen-behind-chimp-gift-to-safari.html
Tensions rise as Longleat meets future
Viscount Weymouth and the new chief executive officer of Longleat told a feisty public meeting that they needed to stop access to the famous estate because they feared poachers could target the rhinoceros in the safari park.
That was among a long list of reasons given to ban dog walkers, joggers, cyclists and ramblers from around 1,000 acres – ten per cent – of the Wiltshire estate, which also included the threat of armed robbery, lead and metal thieves, dog attacks on children and 4x4s churning up the lawn. Ceawlin Thynn, the son of Lord Bath who holds the hereditary Viscount Weymouth title, supported the chief executive officer of Longleat, David Bradley, in giving a presentation to around 220 people in Warminster on Tuesday night.
They outlined their plans to invest millions in Longleat, and said they needed to control access to the area around the house, attractions and safari park to satisfy insurers and protect visitors. Mr Bradley admitted Longleat had been ‘tired’ when the Viscount took over and appointed him to run the West’s most popular tourist attraction, and said they had spent more money in the 18 months since than was spent in the previous 30 years. He outlined new attractions opening this year, including an African village, and said most of the new animal areas were near the house and away from the 45-year-old Safari Park.
The banning of ramblers, dog walkers and cyclists from the area around the house had sparked outrage among local residents, who packed the Civic Centre to voice their displeasure. Viscount Weymouth apologised to anyone upset at being escorted out of the area, but Mr Bradley said his priority was the
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Tensions-rise-Longleat-meets-future/story-15521301-detail/story.html
Minnesota Zoo is no place for a dolphinI venture that most Minnesotans who have watched the documentary "The Cove" would be strongly opposed to seeing the state sink $7 million in public funds to repair and upgrade the Minnesota Zoo's dolphin exhibit.
The award-winning film shines light on the brutal international dolphin trade -- fueled, in part, by the zoo and aquarium industry.
Since its opening, the Minnesota Zoo has been plagued with a series of premature deaths of its captive dolphins. Last month's death of Taijah, a baby Atlantic bottlenose dolphin on exhibit at the zoo, was a case in point.
The final report on Taijah from the pathologist said: "The cause of death is uncertain. It may be speculated that the animal lost significant amounts of blood from the gastric ulcer. The cause of the ulceration was not apparent."
We must consider that captivity itself was the cause of the dolphin's death. Most captive dolphins are confined in minuscule tanks containing chemically treated artificial seawater.
Dolphins in a tank are severely restricted in using their highly developed sonar,
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/144042446.html
Cocodrile Shown to Pope Arrives to Cuban Zoo (sack the proof reader)
The Cuban crocodile shown to Pope Benedict XVI in a recent public hearing in the Vatican will be taken on Friday to Cuba''s National Zoo, officials of the institution announced.
The 40 cm long specimen, belonging to the species "crocodylus rhombifer" is arriving to the island three days before the Pope´s visit to Cuba from March 26 to 28, Cubadebate website reports.
The reptile was symbolically donated to Benedict XVI in January, on behalf of 1, 200 animals that hosts the Rome's Bio Park zoo, which celebrates
http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&idioma=2&id=490636&Itemid=1
Bob Barker funds $880,000 elephant flight to CA Three elephants will travel from the Toronto Zoo to a sanctuary in California aboard a private plane thanks to longtime animal activist Bob Barker.
Three elephants will travel from the Toronto Zoo to a sanctuary in California aboard a private plane thanks to longtime animal activist Bob Barker.
The 88-year-old TV icon offered to fund the $880,000 flight after learning that one of the elephants wasn't well enough to withstand the long trip by truck, Barker spokesman Henri Bollinger said Friday.
He said the Toronto Zoo agreed to move Thika, Iringa and Toka to the Performing Animals Welfare Society elephant sanctuary in San Andreas, Calif., in the Sierra foothills southeast of Sacramento, but that one of the animals suffers from "a serious foot problem."
Barker said the elephants "have suffered so much for so long and now they have an opportunity to live the rest of their lives at what has been described as `elephant paradise.' To think that one of them might not survive the trip
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2017822942_apusbobbarkerelephants.html
Sciquarium construction taking shape at Natural Science CenterIt’s been under construction for months, but the Sciquarium is now starting to take shape at the Greensboro Natural Science Center.
The grand opening of the $10 million interactive aquarium is still a year away. The building is expected to be completed in about six months, but director Glenn Dobrogoz said it will take another six months before it’s ready to be opened to the public.
In the video above, get an update on the progress.
The 22,000 square-foot addition is the
http://myfox8.com/2012/03/23/sciquarium-construction-taking-shape-at-natural-science-center/
Ex-PETA VP: Omnivores are Like Racists or Something
You might remember that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (the ones they don’t kill, anyway) recently sued Sea World, claiming that the park’s famous performing whales were actually slaves. The Daily Show’s Wyatt Cenac made fun of PETA at the time for suggesting that animals were the moral equals of humans forced to toil against their will. However ridiculous the view that giving people greater moral standing than “sea kittens” is a sin akin to racism might be, it’s a key philosophical underpinning of the animal rights movement.
In fact, there’s even a term for it: “speciesism.”
Bruce Friedrich, a former PETA Vice President who now holds a senior position with Farm Sanctuary, promoted a film examining this so-called “speciesism” at the Huffington Post this week. He’s not an outlier in his view among animal rights activists: PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk has claimed “a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy,” and the head of the Humane Society of the United States (which gives just one percent of its budget to local pet shelters) told an animal rights philosopher that he became vegan after he realized he was being a “speciesist.”
In the real world, the view that “speciesism” is some equivalent to racism or sexism is recognized as bunk. One biologist notes that it is impossible not to put humans before at least some animals:
The vegan militia have forgotten that to get their cruelty free vegetables, the land has already been cleared, all competing species have been killed or driven out, those that remain are poisoned (even by organic farmers – they just use “certified organic” methods of pest control or even other animals like ladybugs). We put humans first every time we clear a field, dig a foundation, fence and spray our crops, and burn diesel
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/2012/03/ex-peta-vp-omnivores-are-like-racists-or-something/
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