Government Not Planning To Ban Zoos

Government Not Planning To Ban Zoos

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8692813@N06/3844578446/

The minister for charities, Angela Smith has called for a national debate on zoo closure and stated that zoos are "relics of the Victorian era" and that it was "inappropriate to keep wild animals in captivity in this way". She believes that zoos are cruel, outdated and ought to be banned. This is rich coming from a woman who actually refused to attend a meeting recently because it was held within London zoo. As a CAPS member one wonders just when it was that she actually visited a zoo. She is yet another one of these people who is branding all zoos as one and the same. There are good zoos and bad zoos in the same way as there are good hotels and bad hotels, or meat pies or apples. You simply cannot judge all based on the actions or qualities of a few.

I have visited a lot of zoos and would be the first to admit there are zoos that I would like to see closed tomorrow. None of these are in the UK however. In my years in zoos I have seen those in Britain improve and go from strength to strength till today we have some of the finest, watched over by the best legislation and animals cared for by experienced and dedicated caring staff.

I don't judge my zoos by big flashy and commercial because often all they are concerned about is profit. Zoos in Britain are amongst the best in the world.

Happily the present government has stated that Angela Smiths views are personal and that the subject is outside of her remit. There are no plans to discuss zoo closures. Angela Smith needs to take off her CAPS blinkers and work as a zoo volunteer for six months or so. She should see the work of zoos from the inside, experience the caring and she will actually come to realise that zoos, in Britain at least, are Not cruel.

Association of Professional Wildlife Educators (APWE)

Association of Professional Wildlife Educators (APWE)

For those who work with animals, and teach the world about them.

Purpose


The Association of Professional Wildlife Educators (APWE) was founded to foster communication, professionalism, and cooperation among those individuals who work with captive wildlife in educational programs through training, public display, research, husbandry, conservation, and peer education. APWE is committed to ensuring the proper and humane handling and care for captive wildlife, and to promote the most effective and responsible safety standards for both the public, and the captive wildlife participants.

APWE provides professional wildlife educators the opportunity to network, exchange, and disseminate information regarding new skills, current knowledge, research and other information pertinent to the field of professional wildlife education presentation, to advance the field of wildlife education as well as the management and care of captive wildlife. If you are currently a wildlife education professional we invite you to join the APWE list serve. This list serve is a private, unlisted, moderated forum for the safe and professional exchange of information.

APWE is dedicated to engaging professional members to act as responsible ambassadors for the professional community. Members are to practice the highest safety standards and aspire to educational excellence. Become a Member

For Membership Details and more please click HERE

Polar Bears in Dubai!!

Polar Bears in Dubai!!

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrcleanoh/4318502735/

There are those who would argue that having Polar Bears on display in Dubai would be educational and draw attention to global warming. Then others would say it is just the money talking. I can already imagine the protests that this suggestion is going to generate. - Peter

Read:

'Ice Dubai' to offer ski mountain and winter wildlife park

Following feedback from holidaymakers who felt Dubai was a little too sand, sea and shopping focused, the Emirate has revealed its latest super cool plans.


Building on the success of Ski Dubai (pictured), Ice Dubai will feature the world’s largest ice hotel, a manmade snow-capped mountain and a winter park full of Antarctic animals. The attraction is set for a grand opening in the Spring of 2012.

Visitors to Ice Dubai will be able to shed their flip flops and board shorts, don a winter coat and snow boots and head to the Dubai Winter Park thanks to revolutionary climate-control technology.

Among the attractions planned will be ice skating and ice hockey, skiing on the world’s largest man-made mountain and husky dog sledding.

The adjacent wildlife sanctuary will be home to animals usually associated with the freezing poles including penguins and polar bears.

A spokesman for the Emirate said it was developing the latest in cooling technology to make sure Ice Dubai is kept at the optimum temperature of around zero degrees celcius.

She said the new world would be located just outside the city among the sand dunes that surround it.

Source

Register Now for the EAZA Conservation Forum 2010

Register Now for the EAZA Conservation Forum 2010

EAZA Conservation Forum 2010

“Working for Biodiversity”

Murten, Switzerland – June 29th to July 3rd

EAZA, the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, will hold its flagship event for the International Year of Biodiversity in Switzerland at the end of June. The EAZA Conservation Forum 2010 will be hosted by the Papiliorama Foundation and will take place in the medieval town of Murten, about twenty minutes from Bern.

Key themes for the Conservation Forum will include:

· The extinction crisis in Southeast Asia – keynote from Simon Stuart, IUCN-SSC

· European endangered species – keynote from Eladio Fernandez Galiano, Council of Europe

· The threat to all species of apes – keynote from Thomas Breuer, WCS Congo

For more information on how to register, or for information about submitting a presentation proposal, please visit the EAZA website: http://www.eaza.net/activities/Pages/Conservation2010.aspx

If Tiger Farms Were To Close

If Tiger Farms Were To Close

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcsaxon/2197154253/

There are around 6000 Tigers held in captivity in China today. It is estimated that around 5000 of these are held in what are termed ‘Tiger Farms’. This number may well be an underestimate.


These Chinese Tigers are often referred to as ‘rare’ Siberian or Amur Tigers by the press. In essence this is true because the Siberian Tiger Panthera tigris altaica is rare, rare in the wild. There may only be as few as 30 wild animals remaining in China. The other Chinese Tiger sub-species is the South China Tiger Panthera tigris amoyensis which may already be extinct outside of zoos.

The Tiger Farm Tigers are not rare because they are no longer of the Siberian or South Chinese sub-species. They are generic Tigers. Hybrids. Generic Tigers are animals which have been cross bred across sub-species and where sub-species have been bred brother to sister, mother to son over generations. Such animals are virtually useless from the point of view of conservation. Once a Tiger has been hybridised then it and all its progeny, forever will be hybrids.


ISIS (International Species Information System) has three studbooks for the Amur Tiger. One for the species, one for the group and one for hybrids. Whereas these list a total of some 500 animals worldwide, not a single specimen is listed for China. Note though that 500 is really a drop in the ocean because this is only a listing of the responsible holders who actively participate in official breeding management programmes. Any zoo which holds Siberian/Amur tigers and claims to be involved in conservation and is not ISIS listed is not telling the truth.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service sensibly stated:

“Generic or crossed tigers cannot be used for enhancement of propagation of the species, however they can be used in a manner that should enhance survival of the species in the wild. Examples include exhibition in a manner designed to educate the public about the ecological role and conservation needs of the species and satisfaction of demand for tigers so that wild specimens or captive purebred subspecies are not used.”



The only problem with this approach is that the holders of these generic tigers continue to breed them. There is a real and genuine need for more spaces in captivity to hold known specimens of the various sub-species. Perhaps not breeding animals, but there just in case they are needed. A‘not keeping all your eggs in one basket’ approach. Taking up the room in captivity with generic tigers is harming the chances of managed populations of Tigers surviving.

Furthermore the IUCN Guidelines for Re-introductions states:

“It is desirable that source animals come from wild populations. If there is a choice of wild populations to supply founder stock for translocation, the source population should ideally be closely related genetically to the original native stock and show similar ecological characteristics (morphology, physiology, behaviour, habitat preference) to the original sub-population.”

And

“If captive or artificially propagated stock is to be used, it must be from a population which has been soundly managed both demographically and genetically, according to the principles of contemporary conservation biology.”

And furthermore

The World Zoo Conservation Strategy says:


“Demographic stability is needed to ensure that an adequate number of animals of breeding age are available to reproduce at the rates needed to increase or maintain the population at its desired size. Healthy populations are needed to ensure that animals are capable of breeding when needed. Genetic diversity is required for populations to remain healthy and adapt to changing environments (i.e. experience natural selection). Ex situ breeding programmes need to preserve this diversity, otherwise the long-term fitness of these populations will be compromised.”

To which they add

“A primary goal of cooperative ex situ breeding programmes for threatened and endangered species is to support in situ conservation. This may be through rescue of species imminently threatened with extinction in the wild, through research, education, or promotion efforts that support in situ populations, or simply as genetic and demographic reservoirs serving as backups for endangered wild populations.”

This would clearly not be the case with any of the Chinese Tiger Farm animals.

It also applies to White Tigers, which are also very common in Chinese Zoos and often promoted as something different and special. White Tigers only exist in captivity because of continual deliberate and harmful inbreeding. Today there is probably not a single captive White Tiger anywhere in the world that could be considered as genetically important. Undeniably beautiful the breeding has resulted in numerous genetic defects which are not immediately obvious. Evidence enough though to stop breeding and maintenance for purely commercial gain.

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kh-67/3135499538/

Generic Tigers are a major problem wherever they are located be it the US, Australasia, Europe or China. Generic Tigers are unregulated. Breeding and disposal are at the whim of the holder. In some locations a reporting structure may be present and in others not. This leaves the Tigers open to abuse. No-one knows how many are born, how many died. No-one knows either what happened to the bodies after death. It is barely a hop and skip to disappearing into the black market of illegal animal products.


If the Tiger Farms of China were told to cease operation there would be a major problem. There is no question about releasing them into the wild. The population in the wild is already in trouble. Adding more tigers to it would only increase the problems for the Tigers that are already there.

So where could these 5 or 6 thousand tigers go? A small number, perhaps a hundred or so which could be shown to be pure and with a proven lineage may perhaps be taken into the official breeding programme, but the rest?

It is unlikely that a few thousand newspaper readers are going to dip their hands in their pockets to rescue 6,000 tigers as was done recently for a dozen Lions from Romania. Although most people are wholly against Tiger farming, and rightfully so, there would be a huge howl of protest at the suggestion that these Tigers should be euthanized.

The idea that all breeding should cease in the Tiger Farms and that the animals should live out their natural lives sounds reasonable but just who is going to foot the bill? Even if each one were to live just ten years it is a long time to maintain something which is to all intents and purposes, useless. Maintaining five thousand is just not a serious option. So what happens next?

First published on Newsvine

Asiatic Cheetah Research in Iran

Asiatic Cheetah Research in Iran

Research into the number of wild Asiatic Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus venaticus in Iran has begun and it is believed that some fairly conclusive results will be available in three months time. Present estimates as to the existing population range between 70 and 100.


There are plans to set up camera traps in some areas and to complement the research by fitting radio collars to selected animals of over 30 kg in weight.


Source: http://www.chn.ir/news/?section=1&id=32219

What is the truth about Johor Zoo?

What is the truth about Johor Zoo?

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnsn78/874045293/

AsiaOne News reports today, 1st April, that the Al-Jazeera expose on Johor Zoo was incorrect. If you missed the Al-Jazeera report and video please watch it HERE.

Meanwwhile AsiaOne says :

Al-Jazeera report on Johor Zoo 'untrue'

"The Johor Zoo management has dismissed as untrue a report by the Al-Jazeera English cable news channel that its animals were up for sale.

Johor Zoo manager Zakaria Rosli said there was no truth in the report which had also been posted on the YouTube, titled "Wildlife for sale at Malaysia zoos" recently.

The zoo is the only one in Malaysia run under the administration of the state government.

An Al-Jazeera journalist and a cameraman were said to have entered the zoo on March 13.

They made their way to the exotic animals private exhibition centre within the zoo compound through its back door.

The centre's worker Mohd Yusof Salee said the journalist made her way into the exhibition centre about 10am.

"We were closed on that day, but she claimed that they were heading for Kuala Lumpur and did not want to miss the chance to see the animals.

"So, we allowed them in after paying the RM1 entry fee."

Yusof said as the only person at the centre who could speak English was a Bangladeshi worker, Abdul Rahim Abdul Matin, who is in charge of pony rides.

The reporter and cameraman was referred to Rahim.

"The journalist repeatedly asked whether she could buy a few of the 10 protected species in the enclosures, but was told that she could not as this was against the law. She was told that the animals were not for sale."

"Rahim, however, did tell her that if he was not wrong, RM300 was the estimated sum required to obtain a permit to keep a monkey as a pet.

"He was not referring to the wild cat and white gibbon in our enclosures as shown in the Al-Jazeera's footage."

"That part where Rahim said RM300 was the estimated cost for the permit, however, was not shown in the footage."

"The footage was edited in such a manner that it did not show and tell the correct story," said Yusof when met at the zoo.

Zakaria, meanwhile, said the private centre was leased out to a private exhibitor since 2006.

"He (the exhibitor) is in charge of the snakes. At the back of the centre, there are about 10 protected species like the civet, birds, slow morris, gibbons, squirrels and monkeys.

"The animals in his closures belong to the Johor Zoo.

"They are housed in the cages and the exhibitor has been using them with the permission of the zoo management for educational exhibitions in schools."

Also shown in the Al-Jazeera footage was a privately-run zoo in Saleng, Kulai.

According to the report, the Malaysian Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) had, on numerous occasions, raided the zoo and seized several protected species kept without permits.

The department's enforcement director Saharudin Anan said the proprietor's house was raided following the report and several protected animals were seized.

Saharudin said there were 10 wildlife-related charges pending against the man."