Zoo News Digest 28th March 2019 (ZooNews 1013)
elvinhow@gmail.com
Dear Colleague,
I really wonder about Kerala: Safari park planned to rehabilitate stray tigers It's a nice idea but surely it is not the answer? It is a very temporary reprieve. There are just too many tigers in a small area of forest. There will be a continual force out of the old, sick and injured to the perimeter where they will become a problem.
The recent elephant losses are a tragedy. I do hope we come up with a cure in the near future.
The recent elephant losses are a tragedy. I do hope we come up with a cure in the near future.
"good zoos will not gain the credibility of their critics until they condemn the bad zoos wherever they are." Peter Dickinson
Lots of interest follows.
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Did You Know?
ZooNews Digest has over 109,000+ Followers on Facebook( and over 109,000 likes) and has a weekly reach often exceeding over 350,000 people? That ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 900 Zoos in 155+ countries? That the subscriber list for the mail out reads like a 'Zoos Who's Who?'
If you are a subscriber to the email version then you probably knew this already. You would also know that ZooNews Digest pre-dates any of the others. It was there before FaceBook. It was there shortly after the internet became popular and was a 'Blog' before the word had been invented. ZooNews Digest reaches zoo people.
I remain committed to the work of GOOD zoos,
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Did You Know?
ZooNews Digest has over 109,000+ Followers on Facebook( and over 109,000 likes) and has a weekly reach often exceeding over 350,000 people? That ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 900 Zoos in 155+ countries? That the subscriber list for the mail out reads like a 'Zoos Who's Who?'
If you are a subscriber to the email version then you probably knew this already. You would also know that ZooNews Digest pre-dates any of the others. It was there before FaceBook. It was there shortly after the internet became popular and was a 'Blog' before the word had been invented. ZooNews Digest reaches zoo people.
I remain committed to the work of GOOD zoos,
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*****
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Top Brazilian award for Qatar's Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation
The Brazilian government,
through its embassy in Doha, has awarded the Order of Rio Branco to Al Wabra
Wildlife Preservation on Sunday for helping preserve, breed, and save the
Brazilian ‘little blue macaw’ from extinction.
The species, also known as
the Spix’s macaw, was popularised by animated film ‘Rio’ in 2011 and has been
considered officially extinct in the wild since 2000.
But today, about 130 of these
birds are being taken care of in private institutions in Qatar, Germany and
Brasil where they have been able to breed and multiply in safety.
“We are very proud and
honoured to say that this is the very first time that the Brazilian government
bestowed such award to a Qatari institution. We have already awarded some
Qatari citizens but not a Qatari organisation,” said Brazilian ambassador
Roberto Abdalla who handed over the award to Sheikh Hamad bin Saoud al-Thani,
who owns Al Wabra.
A Contract Dispute at the Zoo Turns into a Night at
the Opera
Dane County, Wisconsin, is
moving forward to replace the Henry Vilas Zoological Society (HVZS), its
fundraising and grounds operating partner for the last 103 years, having
decided to part ways during a long antagonistic negotiating process. Still,
some remain skeptical about whether or not the nonprofit divorce is the right
move.
The shift has been said to
have been sparked by a review of the zoo itself, which is run by the county, by
the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Though the review did raise
concerns about future accreditation, HVZS’s zoological vice chair Amy Supple
said “the AZA has never mentioned an issue with the nonprofit’s grounds
operation or fundraising.”
Animal emotions film raises awareness of Zoo welfare
issues
An animal welfare charity has
released a film about animal emotions, that delivers simple messaging about
good animal welfare and what wild animals held in captivity need to be happy
and healthy.
UK-based zoo animal welfare
charity Wild Welfare, has released Imagine If, an animated film that discusses
animal emotions and asks viewers to imagine if they were a zoo animal, what
they might feel.
Very conservative estimates
indicate the number of animals held in zoos worldwide exceeds 2.5 million1.
Wild Welfare believes that every zoo’s responsibility is to ensure their
animals live lives worth living and has produced the short film to raise
awareness of some of the current welfare issues facing zoo animals globally.
Jane Goodall sees 'change for the good' as zoos
improve conditions for animals
Renowned nature
conservationist Jane Goodall, during her visit to the Phoenix Zoo Tuesday, said
she has seen a lot of change in zoos throughout the years and has hope for the
future of such facilities.
"In my 85 years, I have
seen change for the good," Goodall said.
Goodall, founder of the Jane
Goodall Institute and a United Nations Messenger of Peace, thanked audience
members, who were Arizona Center for Nature Conservation trustees and select
guests, for their collaboration in making a difference for animals and visitors
of the zoo.
Lying, sitting or standing: Resting postures
determined by animals' size
Why do we never see cows
lying on their sides in fields? In ruminants such as cows, sheep, antelopes,
deer and giraffes, the bits of food in the stomach that need to be chewed again
are sorted using gravity. In order for the process to work smoothly at all times,
the stomach has to stay in the same position relative to gravity whether the
animal is standing or lying down. That's the reason why cows always lie on
their chests and almost never on their sides. It was therefore assumed that
animals that digest food in a different way would be more likely to lie on
their sides. To investigate the connection between digestive systems and
resting postures in more detail, researchers from the University of Zurich
observed 250 mammals in zoos in more than 30,000 rest phases.
~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~
Hello ZooLex Friend,
We have worked for your enjoyment!
~°v°~
NEW EXHIBIT PRESENTATION
Gorilla Rainforest at Dublin Zoo is home to a breeding group of Western
lowland gorillas and a male group of red-capped mangabeys. About 200
plant species in their outdoor exhibit provide forage, cover, outlook,
enrichment, shade, shelter, screening, colour, structure and an
impression of a natural habitat.
http://www.zoolex.org/gallery/
~°v°~
SPANISH TRANSLATION
Thanks to Eduardo Díaz García we are able to offer the Spanish
translation of the previously published presentation of "European Otter"
at Animal Park Goldau in Switzerland.
https://www.zoolex.org/gallery
~°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: https://www.zoolex.org/page/ab
'Destructive’ vultures invade central Pa. once again -
this time at Hershey’s ZooAmerica
“Historically, the black
vultures were limited to the southeast part of the country,” said Matt Rice,
staff wildlife biologist with the USDA Pennsylvania Wildlife Services program.
“Over the past few decades - really more specifically in central Pennsylvania
over the past five years - we’ve seen a large increase in numbers, and with
that, the number of calls we get in terms of damage and conflicts.”
While previous calls to
Rice’s office have been everything from individual homeowners or restaurants to
boroughs and townships, this year they received a call from ZooAmerica.
Thus far at ZooAmerica, the
conflict comes from the vultures competing with the zoo animals for the food
left for them by zoo staff. Representatives for ZooAmerica were
Joe Exotic's jury shown his online death threats
The jury Tuesday in a
murder-for-hire trial saw more than a dozen videos and Facebook posts of Joe
Exotic threatening to kill his chief critic, Florida animal sanctuary operator
Carole Baskin.
Baskin told jurors she took
the "onslaught" of threats seriously, keeping a gun beside her bed at
night and getting a concealed carry permit to take it with her to work.
"I felt like my life was
in danger," she said. "I believe that he blames me for everything
that's gone wrong in his life."
Saving the ‘Asian Unicorns’: How do you protect what
you can’t see?
There’s a mysterious creature
lurking in the misty mountains of Southeast Asia. It has the body of a large
deer, the horns of an antelope and the ability to turn invisible.
Okay, the animal known as the
saola (pronounced SOW-la) can’t really turn invisible, but sometimes it feels
that way to people trying to protect saolas. Scientists didn’t even know saolas
existed until 1992, even though the animals are quite big and can weigh up to
200 pounds!
“It may be the largest animal
in the world that’s never been seen in the wild by a biologist,” said Bill
Robichaud, a scientist who works to save animals from extinction with an
organization known as Global Wildlife Conservation, or GWC for short.
‘ABANDONED’: Zoo in Spain slammed as bears and tiger
left in ‘sad state’ after it suddenly closed
TWO bears, a tiger, four
baboons, fallow deer and some other animals have been ‘abandoned in a sad
state’ in the south of Spain after a zoo suddenly closed its doors to the
public more than two months ago.
The animal charity Proyecto
Gran Simio (Great Ape Project) has now denounced the zoo to Seprona, the animal
welfare branch of the Guardia Civil, for the ‘chaotic situation’ after the
municipal authorities closed the Navarro Zoo in Ayamonte (Huelva).
The charity claims that there
are still animals at the zoo that are being kept in bad conditions and without
the authorities knowing what they should do with them.
https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2019/03/27/abandoned-zoo-in-spain-slammed-as-bears-and-tiger-left-in-sad-state-after-it-suddenly-closed/#.XJt5C5gzY2w
Citizen moves court against Lahore Zoo for not
acquiring new elephant
The Lahore High Court on
Tuesday heard a petition against the Lahore Zoo for not keeping an elephant for
last two years, ARY News reported.
According to details, a
citizen named Mohammad Fawad Mughal filed a petition in the Lahore High Court,
in which he maintained that the lone female elephant of the zoo, Suzi, had died
two years ago.
The petitioner held the view
that the Lahore zoo was frequented by people from far-flung areas, who came
here to marvel at the rare animals.
Joe Exotic played along with set-up attempt, attorney
says
Cat breeder Joe Exotic
already had been planning to leave behind the zoo he founded when new owner
Jeff Lowe and a "hapless crony"of Lowe tried to set him up, his
attorney told jurors Monday.
"He had had it, he was
ready to go and he started unloading his inventory," assistant federal
public defender Bill Earley said in an opening statement at the former
gubernatorial candidate's murder-for-hire trial.
He had even "cozied
up" to his longtime nemesis, PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, as part of his extra strategy from the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal
Park, the attorney said.
The Benefits of Zoos and Aquariums
For today’s post, I have
decided to tackle the benefits of zoos and aquariums. I was prompted to write
this article when I saw The Rocks recent Instagram post of him posing with a
sea lion. The comment section of this post was upsetting, to say the least,
there were a few supportive voices saying it was a nice picture, but the
loudest voices on the post were saying things like “OMG stop supporting
captivity…. you have the influence to help them not encourage people to see
them as strictly entertainment” and “Unfortunate that you choose to support
captivity”. In today’s media, there are many loud voices calling for the
shutdown of animal care facilities across the world, especially with social
media platforms featuring contextless, education-less, anti-zoo content. I’m by
no means saying that there is nothing wrong with zoo’s and aquariums, there are
pros and cons to everything and since the cons seem to be widely understood and
perpetuated, (whether they are true or false) in this article ill simply be
going over the benefits of zoos and aquariums. Let’s start off by debunking
some myths and misconceptions surrounding zoos and aquariums.
Without intervention, Iran will effectively make
environmentalism a crime
Dr. Ladan Boroumand is the
founder and research director of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation for Human
Rights in Iran and the Omid Memorial Human Rights Library, and a Reagan-Fascell
Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy. Irwin Cotler is an
international human rights lawyer, former minister of justice and
attorney-general of Canada, and longtime parliamentarian who currently chairs
the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
A court in Tehran will soon
decide whether trying to protect the environment is a capital offence in Iran.
Eight members of Iran’s most
prominent environmental organization, the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation
(PWHF), are being tried for simply conducting surveys of the endangered Asiatic
cheetah. Four face the death penalty, including a British-Iranian-American
citizen, while the rest face more than a decade in prison.
And it’s a trial that
symbolizes a broader assault on environmentalism in Iran.
Financial planning required to keep elephants in zoos
in the United Kingdom in accordance with the Secretary of State's Standards of
Modern Zoo Practice for the next 30 years
In June 2017, the Secretary
of State's Standards of Modern Zoo Practice (SSSMZP) were updated with an
appendix relating specifically to elephants (Appendix 8.8: Elephants). This
update was published to bring elephant management standards in line with
recognized advancing best practice. All zoos in the UK holding elephants are
inspected against the new appendix, in accordance with the Zoo Licensing Act
1981, by dedicated Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra)‐appointed inspectors. Achieving the standards set out within the new
appendix will require financial investment and careful planning from all the
zoos holding elephants within the UK. At the time of writing, the annual cost
of keeping a breeding group of elephants at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, UK, was
calculated from data collected over the last 10 years and the financial
investment required to achieve SSSMZP compliance was estimated. The commercial
benefit that elephants bring to ZSL Whipsnade Zoo was also quantified using
feedback from visitor surveys. The cost of keeping a breeding herd of elephants
at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo was estimated at £593 021–£641 863 per year, excluding
indirect staffing costs, ground rent and contributions made by the Zoological
Society of London (ZSL) to field‐conservation projects. Costs for achieving
SSSMZP compliance will be considerably greater with substantial capital
investment required. The commercial benefit was found to be extensive; with
predicted significant increased visitor dwell time and secondary spend in the
presence of elephants. Using ZSL Whipsnade Zoo as an example, this paper aims
to consider holistically the financial costs when planning and implementing an
optimum, welfare‐centred, sustainable future for elephants in zoos.
San Diego and giant pandas: A match made more than 30
years ago
San Diego's love for giant
pandas has been a 30-year commitment.
Since 1987, when the zoo
hosted two pandas (Basi and Yuan Yuan) for 200 days, San Diego has been
enthralled with the giant black-and-white bears.
What would eventually follow
would be a 12-year partnership with China's Wolong Panda Preserve to support
research and conservation of the animal — and a local appetite as big as a
panda's to see the animal up close.
Chester Zoo's baby elephant now showing symptoms of
killer disease
Chester Zoo ’s two-year-old
Asian elephant calf Indali Hi Way is now showing symptoms of a killer disease
but continuing to respond well to treatment.
The result came up in one of
three weekly blood tests meaning Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV)
was detected at the earliest possible moment.
Specialists remain hopeful
Indali, described as ‘a little fighter’, will pull through.
Koalas should be given endangered listing, environment
groups say
Koala populations on the
Australian east coast have diminished to the extent the species should now be
considered “endangered”, environment groups have said, amid concern that
existing protection measures have failed to halt the creeping loss of critical
habitat.
In south-east Queensland,
once a stronghold for koala populations, habitat continues to be bulldozed
through ineffective offset strategies, loopholes in development restrictions
and poor planning for population growth, the groups said.
The Cat Who Single Handedly Rendered a Species Extinct
When humans and all they
bring move into a new area of the planet, it’s hard to know what the impact
will be on the local habitats. Even when we’re trying not to, human habitation
can have a major impact on the land around them, influencing the local flora
and fauna in unexpected ways. One excellent example of this phenomenon is that
of the extinction of the Lyall’s wren.
According to New Zealand
Birds Online, the entire species was both discovered and made extinct by a cat
belonging to a lighthouse keeper.
FACT CHECKING NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC’S STATEMENTS ON
CAPTIVE KILLER WHALES
With animals being well
respected on this earth that we share with them, many people don’t give enough
credit to places that dedicate their lives for these guys. SeaWorld has long
been a victim of animal activists painting them as a bad picture for holding
killer whales’ captive. National Geographic, a popular tv show that educates
the public on animals, now is targeting SeaWorld’s treatment of orcas. It
published an article called, “Why orcas don’t do well in captivity.” This kind
of motive of theirs is nothing new, as the education tv show has connections
with PETA, whose long-desired goals are to eliminate animals under human care.
In this article though we will be fact-checking some of the information given
in National Geographic’s article written about orcas under the theme park’s
caring hands.
Giza Zoo: Zizi, the white rhino, dies at 54 years of
age
25 March 2019: Giza
Zoological Garden announced Sunday a white rhinoceros died at 54 years of age
at Giza Zoo after it surpassed the usual life span of white rhinos, according
to a statement published on the garden’s Facebook page.
Zizi, the rhino, arrived at
Giza Zoo on October 22, 1983. White rhinos usually live to about 35 - 50 years
of age.
The statement said that vets
and workers at the zoo exerted all efforts and prepared food that fits its old
age but could not save its life. Zizi was announced dead on Wednesday, March
20, 2019.
Joe Exotic’s Trial Begins
Joseph Allen
Maldonado-Passage, also known as "Joe Exotic," ran for governor as a
Libertarian in 2018, but he is perhaps better known for operating a private
petting zoo in Wynnewood, Oklahoma. This week he is on trial in Oklahoma City
federal court for allegedly hiring two people to murder wildlife sanctuary
owner Carole Baskin.
Baskin runs Big Cat Rescue in
Florida, and she has been a vocal critic of Joe Exotic, who kept 1,400 animals,
including over 150 tigers, on a sixteen acre property.
“A significant part of our
mission has been to stop the mistreatment and exploitation of big cats at
roadside zoos particularly those who rip tiger cubs from their mothers at birth
to charge the public to pet and take photos with them,” Baskin said. “Maldonado
ran, in my view, on
Mātauranga Māori and Western science: two worlds meet
to save the one we have
In episode two of the Good
Ancestors podcast, John Daniell and Noelle McCarthy look at the role of
mātauranga Māori in conservation in New Zealand, and as an education tool at
Auckland Zoo.
The interconnectedness of
everything is an essential concept in the Māori understanding of the world.
Mātauranga Māori – the knowledge, and understanding of everything in our world
– starts with Papatuanuku, the earth mother, and Ranginui, the sky father and
that everything is related to them. We
are their uri, their children
Kerala: Safari park planned to rehabilitate stray
tigers
Faced with the challenge of
human-tiger conflicts, the Forest Department is contemplating a proposal to
start a safari park to rehabilitate the captured animals. Human-tiger conflicts are mostly
reported from the fringes of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, which is home to
about 75 tigers. Close to other national wildlife sanctuaries like
Nagarhole, Bandipur and Mudumalai, the
Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary has the second largest tiger population in South
India after Karnataka’s Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
This year alone, two tigers
were captured from human habitations in Wayanad. While a 10-year-old female cat
was caught from Noolpuzha mid-January, a 13-year-old male, that severely
injured a forest watcher, was captured from Pulpally.
Amy reports from Laos
Free the Bears was founded by
Mary Hutton in 1995 to protect and preserve bears across Asia from the illegal
wildlife trade. For decades poachers have killed or captured bears from the
wild via hunting or snare traps to then sell the bears locally or smuggle them
further abroad. In the 24 years since it was first established, Free the Bears
has rescued hundreds of bears from poachers, exotic pet owners, or from people
planning to use bear parts or the bear’s bile in traditional medicine. Over 220
of these bears (both Sun bears and Moon bears) are now cared for in sanctuaries
established by Free the Bears in Cambodia, Vietnam, and where I am, in Laos.
A Shaping Plan; How To Build A Proper Plan
Training animals requires a
lot of communication from both sides. We are not able to talk with our animals
but we can build a language that will connect the animal and the trainer. Clear
communication is important, to start, we need the animal to understand what a
bridge means and have them see us as a positive. It may sound funny, but how
are you able to train an animal that runs away from you?
With a bridge stimulus such
as a whistle, clicker, another vocal sound or even a hand signal (Watch the
presentation about A Deaf Killer Whale HERE) you can tell the animal that it
did a good job and reached the criteria you have asked for. To be able to know
what we ask for, we need to set a criteria to the behaviour. How do you know
what the criteria is?
China reports H7N9 bird flu outbreak in Liaoning
province
China reported an outbreak of
a highly pathogenic strain of H7N9 bird flu at a zoo in northeastern Liaoning
province, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said.
The virus, first detected in
a flock of peacocks, infected and killed nine birds in the zoo in Jinzhou city,
accordi
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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
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About me
After more than 50 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 storyteller, 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"
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 50 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 storyteller, 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"
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