Cleveland downpour swamps ERs, fairgrounds, zoo
Associated Press - August 7, 2007 2:05 PM ET
Corrected Version
CLEVELAND (AP) - Cleveland's second big downpour in five days caused widespread flooding problems today.
MetroHealth Medical Center got several inches of water in its emergency room and asked ambulances to head to other hospitals. The storm knocked out electricity and some backup power at Saint Vincent Charity Hospital.
The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo closed when water flooded a parking lot, box office and some offices. No animals were affected.
In Berea southwest of Cleveland, up to eight inches of water swamped concession trailers at the Cuyahoga (keye-uh-HOH'-guh) County Fair. The fair delayed opening and postponed harness racing.
Up to five inches of rain fell in the Cleveland area this morning. On Thursday the city got more than three inches in one hour.
http://www.wdtn.com/Global/story.asp?S=6898463
Focus on island's habitats
Aug 7 2007
NUNEATON and Bedworth's mayor lent his support to a fundraiser aimed at highlighting the declining habitats on the island of Madagascar.
Councillor Bill Sheppard was among the guests at Twycross Zoo for a charity event organised by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria's Madagascar campaign.
He was joined by his wife, Jill, and the mayor of Hinckley and Bosworth, Cllr Keith Lynch, and his wife, Maureen.
The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the impoverished island of Madagascar and to highlight its declining habitats. The event raised £2,643 to help finance conservation projects there.
Suzanne Boardman, the zoo's executive director, said: "We are proud to support this campaign."
http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0125nwarksnews/tm_headline=focus-on-island-s-habitats&method=full&objectid=19582640&siteid=50003-name_page.html
Animal Rights
The question of whether chimps should have rights is one that seems to have been all over the news this year. Just this past week in an article in Newsweek, we read that two zoos are fighting for custody of two chimpanzees named Emma and Jackson:
The pair were among more than 200 animals removed from San Antonio's Primarily Primates Inc. after the facility was sued last year for misusing funds and maintaining unsanitary and dangerous conditions. Now the suit has been settled, and PPI is petitioning to reclaim some of the creatures. Emma and Jackson's new home, Oregon's Chimps, Inc., doesn't want to return them.
http://www.plentymag.com/thecurrent/2007/08/animal_rights.php
Dispute over Kenyan tour guides at the zoo seems a stretch
posted by Jeanna at 12:10 PM on August 09, 2007
Because I'm 25 and am not at all grown up yet, I still like going to the zoo. And since I work for World Vision and am obsessed with all-things Africa, I've been particularly interested in checking out the Massai Journey deal that Woodland Park Zoo launched to accompany their Africa Savannah exhibit this summer.
Except now I have a sour taste in my mouth. Apparently, there are some folks over at the University of Washington who are arguing some point about the history of zoos and "bringing in people of color as accessories to exhibits." The topic of contention is in regards to the four Kenyan men who the Woodland Park Zoo hired to lead educational classes and teach children about their culture and growing up in Africa. What better way to learn about a culture than straight from the source, right?
Wrong.
Apparently it's bad cause it's teaching children about African cultures "while they're at the zoo."
Like duh. This means we're purposefully saving lessons about African cultures to places where rare and exotic animals are kept.
I'm sorry, but this seems like a ridiculous stretch to me. It's hard for me to see any bad in this. Sometimes I feel like people are just searching for something to argue about and shout, "not politically correct!" If children are learning about other cultures around the world, I don't see any negativity in that--whether it's at school, or on the history channel or Nickelodeon, or at the Seattle Art Museum, or at the zoo.
http://seattle.metblogs.com/archives/2007/08/dispute_over_ke.phtml
Guide and zoo president defend Maasai role
By Manuel Valdes
Seattle Times staff reporter
Public debate over Woodland Park Zoo's hiring of Kenyan tour guides for one of its exhibits and educational programs continued Wednesday night in a spirited forum organized by University of Washington professors and students.
More than 75 people — many from African countries — packed a room at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center for the forum that touched on issues ranging from race relations to the history of zoos. The forum was in response to the zoo's Maasai Journey, an educational program launched to accompany its African Savannah exhibit.
This year the zoo brought in four men from the Maasai tribe, a nomadic ethnic group that lives in southern Kenya and Tanzania, to lead educational classes and talk about their culture in connection with environmental conservation.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003828258_maasai09m.html
Zoo waits to see if mother elephant will accept newborn
Deborah Tetley, CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, August 10, 2007
CALGARY -- Like anxious parents, keepers at the Calgary Zoo are pacing the elephant nursery, nervously monitoring the bond between mother Maharani and her newborn calf.
They know the mother elephant's first delivery, three years ago, ended in tragedy, and they're hoping for a much different result this time around.
The 308-pound female baby is already staggering around on all fours and appears healthy - but it's still too early to celebrate, experts say.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=a31ef222-1b50-4ced-8926-1aa001816d25&k=22997
Survivor cubs
Rare red pandas pass critical milestone at Edmonton’s Valley Zoo
Jeff Holubitsky, edmontonjournal.com
Published: Thursday, August 09
EDMONTON - Animal health technician Sandy Helliker is quick to deflect the praise she deserves for the sleepless nights she's spent on the couch to be near the Edmonton's rare red panda cubs.
"Nobody can do as good a job as mom does," she said today, as the Valley Zoo showed off the fuzzy pair, now with open eyes and a growing curiosity in the world around them. "There is always concern when there is something that small that you have to raise."
The cubs, born June 26 and growing like weeds, now weigh about five times their birth weights of about 150 grams.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=40148c56-faf4-4692-acfd-7991a0a763f6&k=87443
Researching potential donors for the zoo
Jump to Comments
Researching and analysing prospective supporters for your zoo, botanic garden, aquarium or similar is clearly important. ‘People research’ , one to one discussions with your board members, networking, etc., is the place to start. Use of the internet and published sources must follow. Some questions to ask yourself:
In general what kind of person is likely to support your project?
What is the link of that person to your organisation or cause?
How can you make a (better) link , if need be?
What is their ability to give?
What aspect of your work is likely to most appeal?
What activity would help the individual to understand more about your project, the zoo and its people and to gradually feel part of the organisation and its mission?
If an approach is ever to be made, when, what for and by whom?
http://zoofunding.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/researching-potential-donors-for-the-zoo/
Zoos need tighter regulations, monitoring
Editorial & Opinion - Friday, August 10, 2007 Updated @ 6:26:35 AM
I am writing about the brown bear that escaped from Stevensville's Zooz Nature Park Tuesday night. This incident seems to have triggered many questions regarding the regulations governing wildlife in captivity. Most people have been surprised to find out that Ontario has no rules or regulations controlling zoos and wildlife displays. In fact, Ontario currently stands out as the worst jurisdiction in Canada when it comes to ensuring the proper care of captive wildlife and community safety.
Consequently, only seven of the 60 to 100 facilities thought to exist in the province are accredited by the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=647069&catname=Editorial+%26+Opinion&classif=
L.A. Zoo welcomes Reggie the alligator
The Associated Press
Nick Ut/AP Photo
Reggie, Los Angeles' most famous reptile, enters the water at the reptile exhibit Thursday Aug. 9, 2007 at the Los Angeles Zoo. Reggie was introduced to the public Thursday after being kept in quarantine since his capture in May. Reggie had eluded officials for almost two years.
Reggie, the alligator that cruised an urban lake for nearly two years while eluding what were purported to be some of the world's best gator wranglers, was introduced to adoring fans on Thursday at his new home in the Los Angeles Zoo.
The 7 1/2-foot-long, 114-pound alligator was brought in to his own exhibit area to cheers and chants of "We want Reggie." Hundreds of people, many wearing Reggie T-shirts and alligator hats, watched as about a dozen handlers lugged the gator into the compound, his jaws wrapped up in a towel and duct tape.
He was unwrapped and,
http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/146493.html
Reggie the gator makes L.A. Zoo debut
Nearly 150 well-wishers turn out for the celebrated reptile, who made headlines by eluding capture at his Lake Machado home.
By Tiffany Hsu
August 10, 2007
Reggie the alligator -- last seen in public in May, when he was captured at a Harbor City lake -- made his debut at the Los Angeles Zoo on Thursday, with many of his fans there to cheer him on.
Nearly 150 people, many decked out in alligator hats and Reggie T-shirts, crowded around his enclosure awaiting the big event, craning for a view over a line of news cameras. Many visitors had arrived from Harbor City on buses arranged by City Councilwoman Janice Hahn.
Officials said the event was a fitting end to Reggie's saga, which began in 2005 when he was dumped by his owners into Lake Machado.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-reggie10aug10,0,6623662.story?coll=la-home-center
Zoo opens state of the art centre
Aug 10, 2007 9:33 PM
Auckland Zoo's new state of the art conservation medicine centre opened its doors to the public on Friday, the first nationally dedicated centre of its kind in the world.
But the new facility is not just a vet clinic, it is also dedicated to an emerging field of science that takes a holistic approach to health.
"Conservation medicine...it's a new science that integrates the learning that we are doing in human medicine with veterinary medicine and environmental health," says senior zoo vet Dr Richard Jakob-Hoff.
And for the first time, zoo visitors not prone to being squeamish can watch the vets at work.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/1291029
Calgary Zoo coddles new baby elephant
DAWN WALTON
August 10, 2007
Calgary -- Staff at the Calgary Zoo will be keeping an extra close eye on its elephant herd with the addition yesterday morning of a bouncing 140-kilogram baby.
The female calf and its mother, Maharani, a 17-year-old Asian elephant, are being kept in a quiet nursery stall to encourage bonding and increase the baby's chance of survival. In 2004, Maharani gave birth to the zoo's last baby elephant, but the animal died within a month, due to an infection after its mother rejected it.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070810.NATS10-3/TPStory/National
At J'lem zoo, kids ask: 'Can he eat me in one bite?'
By Benny Ziffer
Both parking lots at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo were filled, and in addition to those who came by car there were visitors who came in vans, their hoods emblazoned with slogans such as "May G-d bless you and protect you." There were also taxis from a Jerusalem cab company named "Gideon Torah Observers." Yes, a majority of visitors to the zoo at Malha belong to large ultra-Orthodox families.
"Nu, gentlemen, let's go," one bearded man urged his family, who got out of a large van blinking at the sunlight as though emerging from a mechanized Noah's Ark after the 40-day deluge. "Rivki, Rivki, c'mon Sarah'le," called the bearded one's wife. Countless baby carriages were opened and babies placed inside them, their faces protected from the sun by a cloth diaper.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/891910.html
Fancy watching a zoo monkey have surgery?
Page 1 of 2
5:00AM Friday August 10, 2007
By Angela Gregory
Veterinary nurses Mel Farrent (left) and Lauren Best check a spotted kiwi at the new centre. Photo / Greg Bowker
The curious can now go to Auckland Zoo to see operations on monkeys, hear the heartbeat of a tuatara or inspect polar bear parasites - and experience a world first.
The New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine, which opens today, will focus on how the health of animals, people and the environment are closely connected.
Prime Minister Helen Clark is to open the $4.6 million centre, which has already gained international interest.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10456855
Zoo Receives $3.456 Million
The state General Assembly has agreed to provide the North Carolina Zoo with $3,456,000 to address some of the zoo's most pressing capital needs.
This funding would pay for the construction of new plains barns and a much-needed work and storage area for the zoo's horticultural staff. The zoo had requested funding to build the plains barns in order to improve the care available to the nearly 40 antelope living on the zoo's African Plains exhibit.
This additional barn space will allow the N.C. Zoo to increase the size and the diversity of the antelope collection exhibited on the 37-acre African Plains exhibit. Zoo officials hope to see more than 100 antelope living in the exhibit once the barns are completed.
These additions will increase the educational impact the exhibit has on zoo visitors by creating more authentic-looking replicas of the antelope herds and family groups that teem across Africa's expansive grasslands and savannas.
http://www.thepilot.com/stories/20070810/news/local/20070810ZOO.html
Third boy charged over zoo attack
A third boy has been charged after dozens of animals were attacked at a zoo in Dundee.
Police have reported the 14-year-old to the Children's Panel, along with two other boys, aged 11 and 13.
Two terrapins died and a deer was slashed with a craft knife in last month's break-in at the Camperdown Wildlife Centre.
Keepers said a snowy owl and a bear were traumatised in the incident, in which 25 animals were injured.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/6939054.stm
Columbus Zoo unveils its water park plans
Thursday, August 9, 2007
KELLEY YOUMAN TRUXALL
ThisWeek Staff Writer
By Tim Norman/ThisWeek
Pieces of water slides for Zoombezi Bay sit on the ground behind Columbus Zoo and Aquarium executive director Jerry Borin as he talks to the media Aug. 6 about the water park being built on the zoo's grounds.
Come May, people probably won't recognize the old Wyandot Lake on state Route 257.
"Everything that is here is being lifted up to a higher level," said Jerry Borin, executive director of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, which is overseeing the renovation and expansion of the 23-year-old water park.
http://www.thisweeknews.com/?sec=home&story=sites/thisweeknews/080907/Hilliard/News/080907-News-398351.html&tab=tab1
New license plate to benefit Louisville Zoo
Business First of Louisville - 11:18 AM EDT
Thursday, August 9, 2007
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has released a special issue license plate that will benefit the Louisville Zoo.
The plate depicts the image of a polar bear and carries the message "Go Wild! Support our Zoo." The Louisville Zoo was designated in 1980 as the official state zoo of Kentucky.
The cost for the new plate is $44 and annual registration renewal is $31. The Louisville Zoo will receive $10 from the purchase and $10 from the renewal fee.
As a promotion to increase awareness of the new plate, the Louisville Zoo is providing 200 pre-paid plates to Sam Swope Auto Group.
Beginning Friday, Aug. 10, the first 200 people to purchase a new vehicle through any Sam Swope Auto Group dealership will be offered a zoo plate.
For more information about Kentucky's special issue license plates, visit
http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2007/08/06/daily29.html
Chinese students go behind the scenes at Chester Zoo
By Staff reporte
Chinese students Feng Rui Xi and Xu Ping meet some of the colourful characters in Chester Zoo's summer theatre show, The Family Tree.
Chester Zoo has played host to two Chinese students from the prestigious Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
Feng Rui Xi and Xu Ping spent three weeks at the zoo studying its world respected educational programmes and seeing first hand how it delivers vital conservation messages.
The two spent time shadowing the zoo's education officers and exhibition presenters, as well as learning a little more about the British way of life.
At home in China their studies have included projects on animal welfare, behaviour and habitat preservation.
http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/wirralnews/display.var.1606106.0.chinese_students_go_behind_the_scenes_at_chester_zoo.php
The Peoria Zoo's $32-million expansion project brings the safari to heartland
Thursday, August 9, 2007
by scott hilyard
of the journal star
PEORIA - Africa - excuse us - Africa! is beginning to take shape in the middle of Peoria.
"Lions will be over here. Giraffes over there. The Zambezi River Village right here," said David Bielfeldt, the vice president of the Peoria Zoological Society's board of directors. "We're really starting to get to some of the exciting stuff that the people of Peoria are going to be proud of."
http://www.pjstar.com/stories/080907/TRI_BE13M4BM.005.php
Miller Park Zoo to add animal hospital
Associated Press - August 9, 2007 6:14 AM ET
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - Construction work is expected to start next week on an animal hospital at Bloomington's Miller Park Zoo.
Zoo Superintendent John Tobias says the hospital is something the zoo has needed for several years.
Right now medical procedures are performed in the animal exhibit space or at private veterinary clinics. Tobias says the new hospital will handle most of the zoo's veterinary care, and visitors will even be able to watch some of the procedures.
http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=6907794&nav=1sW7
Work begins on animal hospital at zoo
By M.K. Guetersloh
mkguetersloh@pantagraph.com
Advertisement
BLOOMINGTON -- The coming weeks will bring more activity around the sea lion exhibit as the Miller Park Zoo prepares for a new addition. This time, the new addition is a hospital building for the animals.
Workers from Cornerstone Construction of Bloomington arrived at the site Wednesday to start marking the area. They will have to wait to dig the foundation until a utility locating service completes its work.
Cornerstone President Steve Ladage estimated it will be next week before workers can start.
Zoo Superintendent John Tobias said the hospital is something the zoo has needed for several years. The hospital is scheduled to be completed in late November.
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/08/08/news/doc46ba4ea1652ae372217922.txt
Mill Mountain Zoo's tortoise makes a 'run' for it
After a seven-hour retreat, the mountain tortoise was found near its pen.
By Pete Dybdahl
The Burmese mountain tortoise went missing before noon, then mysteriously reappeared in the evening.
And while questions swirl about what Mill Mountain Zoo's errant tortoise did during his seven hours of freedom Wednesday, it's doubtful that he did it quickly.
"We don't know what happened," Sean Greene, the zoo's director, concluded after the rare tortoise turned up shortly before 6 p.m.
Following an afternoon of searching, a zoo patron was the first to spot the reptile, about 60 feet from his pen and near the exhibit of a countryman, the zoo's Burmese python.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/127371
Zoo hopes for rhino IVF success
Posted Thu Aug 9, 2007 9:50am AEST
The Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo is hopeful the world first in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) of a rhino egg will be achieved in the next few years.
The latest attempt last month by a team of international vets, reproduction experts and zookeepers was unsuccessful.
The central western New South Wales zoo wants to preserve the genes of two infertile southern black rhinos and translate the technology to other species which are even more endangered.
A veterinarian from the zoo, Dr Tim Portas, says it is a race against time to save the northern white rhino, of which there are four left in the wild and eight in captivity.
"This is probably the only solution to saving that species in the wild, I mean the prospects for those animals are pretty grim, but if this technology can be perfected and applied then potentially embryos from those animals could be put into the more common southern white rhino, which is closely related, and produce calves which could then assist in building up the numbers of that species," he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/09/2000392.htm
Riverbanks Zoo Keeping Animals Cool in Record Heat
Grizzly bears get frozen treats
By Robert Kittle
You might think an African elephant would be right at home in 104 degree heat. But the high temperature during the hottest month in Kenya only gets into the upper 80s.
Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia works hard to make sure its elephants, and all its other animals, stay safe in record-breaking temperatures. The elephants get a cool hosing-off every afternoon, which not only cools them down because of the water but also gets them out of the sun for a little while. They also have plenty of water to drink to stay hydrated, since an elephant can drink 30 gallons in a day.
http://www.wspa.com/midatlantic/spa/news.apx.-content-articles-SPA-2007-08-08-0013.html
Students harvest zoo partnership
By Callan Date
9th August 2007 02:05:25 AM
Above: Kambrya College student Tara with Melbourne Zoo worker Richard Robertson.
A BERWICK school has struck up an ongoing partnership with Melbourne Zoo.
Kambrya College students have established a plantation of acacias to be used to help feed an array of animals including elephants, giraffes and zebras.
Melbourne Zoo horticulturists visited the school last week to show the students how to harvest the plants properly to make sure they were useable at the zoo.
http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/46767
continued...
Friday, August 10, 2007
Photo gives possible clues to polar bear's death
An amateur photograph taken 18 days before the unexpected death Wednesday of Bubba, a polar bear at the Lake Superior Zoo, seems to show one of the zoo’s polar bears chewing on a metallic object. Paul Anderson, the zoo’s interim director, said he thinks the object is part of a camera that was thrown or dropped into the exhibit. Visitors’ belongings find their way into the exhibit fairly often, he said. He also said three of the four zookeepers who have seen the picture say the bear is Bubba and not his female companion, Berlin, who is alive. [SUBMITTED BY AARON LAMPINEN]
Scout troop rallies 'round the zoo
A troop group effort gets the job done, above.
In July, the final phase of the new Crocodile Monitor Exhibit at The ZOO was completed. The new exhibit is part of Dragon World, which includes Ivan, the Komodo Dragon, and will grow to display species of lizards including Gila Monsters.
Gulf Breeze Boy Scout Josh Suelflow coordinated with Doug Kemper, Executive Director of The ZOO, Natalie Akin, The ZOO's Director of Visitor Services and Business Operations, and Terry Whitman, Director of Facilities, Operations, and Maintenance to build the exhibit for his Eagle Scout project.
The exhibit is divided into several sections for "Lars," a male, and "Hillary," a potential mate, and includes an enclosed winter viewing area. Crocodile Monitors are the longest monitors in the world and live on the island of New Guinea.
http://www.gulfbreezenews.com/news/2007/0809/Community/014.html
Good news from the Edmonton Valley Zoo
Aug, 08 2007 - 6:00 PM
EDMONTON - A pair of rare red pandas are celebrating a critical milestone ... their "30-day health check".
Zoo officials are inviting local media to come take pictures of the so-far healthy endangered babies, who have been raised by zoo staff since being born there on June 26th.
The zoo reports that "the cubs' eyes are now open, they are learning to walk and are growing rapidly".
While they are still too young to determine the gender, the zoo is still holding a contest to name the fuzzy siblings.
According to some estimates, there are fewer than 2500 red pandas currently alive in the wild. (ccg)
Send Chris an Email now
- Chris Gardner
http://www.630ched.com/news/news_local.cfm?cat=7428109912&rem=71897&red=80110923aPBIny&wids=410&gi=1&gm=news_local.cfm
700-Pound Grizzly Bear Escapes From Canada Zoo
(CBS) STEVENSVILLE, Ont. Police were searching Wednesday morning for a 700-pound grizzly bear that escaped from a local zoo not far from a Lake Erie beach popular with Buffalo-area residents.
Residents called police about midnight to report seeing the bear from the Zooz Nature Park, about five miles from the popular Crystal Beach in Ontario.
Darlene Crosby told CHCH television she let her dogs out and saw the bear when they started barking. Police asked Crosby and her husband to leave their home as a precaution.
http://cbs2.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_220131618.html
A trip to Phuket Zoo
We have of course been to the zoo before, and I have blogged it before (see Phuket Zoo), but when you have kids you need to think of something exciting to do! With previous weekends either raining or taken up with birthday parties, we promised the little 'uns that we'd go on Saturday (if it was sunny). The sun duly shone, and so we could go to see the tiger, the elephants, the crocodiles and many other great and wondrous beasts...
http://jamie-monk.blogspot.com/2007/08/trip-to-phuket-zoo.html
Fossa Pup Update
Posted at 12:46 pm August 2, 2007 by Janet Hawes
On July 17, our fossa pups were six weeks old (see Janet’s previous blog, Our First Fossas). Vet techs arrived at the nursery to administer the first vaccinations. These injections were the first in a series of four (given four weeks apart) that protect the neonate against certain infectious diseases. It was decided that we would try training the fossa cubs as animal ambassadors, something that no one has ever attempted to do before.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/fossa-pup-update/
Wet weather gives zoo birds boost
The recent weather was bad news for a lot of the country, but proved a surprising success for London Zoo.
That's because two birds living there - called tawny frogmouths - laid their first eggs for nine years.
Keepers said: We think their arrival was triggered by the heavy rains here and we've called them Thunder and Storm in tribute to the dreadful weather."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6930000/newsid_6937100/6937194.stm
The lion king is dead
Apollo the lion, suffering kidney failure at the Honolulu Zoo, is put to sleep
By Susan Essoyan
The husky roar of Apollo the lion will no longer resound in Waikiki, as the longtime "king" of the Honolulu Zoo breathed his last yesterday, suffering from kidney failure. He was 21.
Apollo, an African lion, was 6 months old when he arrived in Hawaii in April 1986 from his hometown of Quebec. He quickly became a favorite, roaring to announce his presence every morning and evening. But his health had faded recently and he was euthanized yesterday.
"He's going to really, really be missed, not just by our staff but by the people who have seen him throughout the years," said zoo Director Ken Redman. "Male lions are really beautiful animals. Apollo was one of the most beautiful. When he posed, that was just a masterpiece."
http://starbulletin.com/2007/08/08/news/story04.html
Land At National Zoo Does Not Belong To Selangor Government
SHAH ALAM, Aug 8 (Bernama) -- The Selangor government cannot gazette the land occupied by the National Zoo at Hulu Klang because it is not the owner, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo said.
However, he assured that the 10 hectare site would remain a zoo area and not developed for other purposes.
"The land was handed to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Corporation Malaysia Trustee Bhd (HSBC Trustee) in 1982, but the ownership form was not issued since full payment had yet to be made," he told reporters after chairing the weekly state executive council meeting here Wednesday.
He was reacting to a call by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid for the Selangor government to gazette the National Zoo area.
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/state_news/news.php?id=278262&cat=ct
Honolulu zoo's old lion roars no more
By Eloise Aguiar
A mighty roar was silenced yesterday at the Honolulu Zoo.
Apollo, the African lion that had thrilled children and adults alike for 20 years, was euthanized after his failing health took a turn for the worse.
Visitors will miss the lion's majestic demeanor and beauty, said zoo director Ken Redman, but the zookeeper who greeted the king of the jungle every morning may feel the greatest loss.
"When Apollo was up and posing and surveying his country like the Lion King would, that's a chicken-skin moment, and I think regular visitors will miss that," Redman said.
"But (today) is going to be really tough for the (zookeeper) because he comes in the mornings and the first thing he would do is go see Apollo and get a greeting back and forth. That's a ritual they've been through 10-11 years."
Apollo suffered from kidney failure, arthritis and extreme weakness from muscle atrophy. When his condition worsened, "it was a fairly obvious decision because he was suffering pretty badly and deteriorating beyond recovery," Redman said.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Aug/08/ln/hawaii708080394.html
Zoological Society top donor to Prop. 2
By Keith Ervin
Seattle Times staff reporter
The Woodland Park Zoological Society, the nonprofit that runs the Woodland Park Zoo and stands to gain $3.2 million a year from King County Proposition 2, is the leading donor to the levy campaign.
The Zoological Society's $113,226 cash and in-kind contributions account for more than half of the $214,520 given by all donors through last week to the Parks and Recreation Coalition's campaign for two parks levies on the Aug. 21 ballot.
The society, founded in 1965 as the fundraising arm of the Seattle-owned zoo, has operated the zoo since 2002.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003826536_zoolevies08m.html
Zoo experts visit Bacolod City
Bacolod City (8 August) -- The deputy curator of birds for the Czech Republic's famed Prague Zoo, Antonin Vaidl, and the chief veterinarian of Liberec Zoo, Dr. Helena Zimova, visited the Negros Forests and Ecological Foundation's Biodiversity Conservation Center (NFEFI) in Bacolod City, recently.
Vaidl and Zimova have been visiting conservation sites throughout the Philippines.
The visiting experts had high praise for the way the animals were kept at the NFEFI compound, especially the plentiful vegetation in the aviaries that give the animals a natural habitat. (PIA)
http://www.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=12&fi=p070808.htm&no=41
Zoo is shipping coloring books to Madagascar
BY KYLE HARPSTER
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
In about three weeks, a ship will leave New York Harbor on a 10,000-mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean and around the southern tip of Africa to the island of Madagascar.
Its cargo: about 15,000 coloring books from the Henry Doorly Zoo.
The coloring books, along with 15,000 boxes of crayons and 15,000 notebooks, are destined for elementary school children in five areas across the island. Four areas are home to some of the most endangered species of lemur in the world.
The books, which also include pages of educational activities, are intended to teach children about those animals and the value of conservation, said Dr. Ed Louis, head of the genetics department at the zoo's Center for Conservation and Research.
"We want to get the community involved to help protect these really critically endangered species," he said. "We're researchers, but we feel this is important because it will reach multiple generations."
Madagascar, which is about the size of Texas, lies about 200 miles off Africa's east coast and is home to thousands of species of plants and animals, some found nowhere else. Many are threatened or endangered because of deforestation.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1219&u_sid=10100650
Louisville Zoo grants girl's wish
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The Louisville Zoo helped the Make-A-Wish foundation fulfill the dream of 13-year-old Elaney Pickering of Eudora, Kan., whose wish was to meet Scotty, the Louisville Zoo's baby African elephant and be a zoo keeper for the day. Here, Elaney watched Scotty play with the zoo keeper's hand. (Photos by Pam Spaulding, The Courier-Journal)
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=B2&Dato=20070807&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=708070821&Ref=PH
Council delays Hogle Zoo bond vote
By Jeremiah Stettler
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/07/2007 04:57:10 PM MDT
Posted: 5:01 PM- The Salt Lake County Council won't decide for a week, and maybe two, whether Hogle Zoo can seek $65 million from taxpayers to pay for a massive makeover of its east-side park.
Council members put off the vote Tuesday, noting several legal loose ends they must reconcile before deciding to put Hogle's request on the November ballot.
But the delay also could have something to with politics, according to Councilman Joe Hatch, who said he couldn't eke out a fifth vote from Republicans to support a zoo referendum.
So Hogle Zoo must wait - maybe until the Aug. 23 deadline - to find out whether it can proceed with plans to create more expansive, lifelike exhibits for polar bears, gorillas and giraffes. The money also would pay for more parking and an animal hospital.
Director Craig Dinsmore stands behind the zoo's request as a need, not a want, saying, "in today's world, there is no place for an OK zoo."
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_6565867
Evan Almighty - Zoo Rescue
Kind of jump’n'run, pixel-art game. Yiou have to save all the animals. Right after the click.
http://haha.nu/interesting/evan-almighty-zoo-rescue/
Dated:
Leo’s debut at Bronx Zoo today
By Irfan Malik
KARACHI, Sept 24: Leo, the orphaned snow leopard cub who made headlines last month when he was flown from Pakistan to the US, will make his official debut today at New York’s Bronx Zoo, event organisers told Dawn.
First Lady of Pakistan Begum Sehba Musharraf will be the honoured guest on the occasion, according to programme details provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the administrators of the Bronx Zoo.
Leo and a female sibling that later died were rescued last year by a shepherd in Naltar Valley, Northern Areas, after their mother was reportedly killed by a landslide. In July 2005, little Leo was handed over to the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) and was subsequently hand-reared by Mr Kamaluddin of the Northern Areas Forest and Wildlife Department.
“Leo was ill, very weak and weighed only 1.5 kilograms when he was given to me on July 14 last year,” Kamaluddin, a resident of Sust in upper Hunza, said at a handing-over ceremony in Islamabad on August 8, 2006. “I looked after the cub like my child and gave him goat’s milk.”
http://www.dawn.com/2006/09/25/top10.htm
Animal rights group critical of zoo
The Hamilton Spectator
(Sep 25, 2006)
Complaints about the conditions at the Killman Zoo have been filed with the province by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).
The animal rights group said the animals are in cages the size of a single-car garage, which provides little room for exercise. The group also said the cages are littered with feces and that animals, who are social and usually live with others, are being housed alone. The WSPA did an audit in 2005 and gave the Caledonia zoo a failing grade. A recent investigation by the group has found little has changed since that audit.
The WSPA recently submitted complaints to the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Ministry of Natural Resources.
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1159135811741&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815
Man-eater caught, but dies at Mysore zoo
24 Sep 2006, 2217 hrs IST
TNN
MYSORE: Failure of Mysore zoo authorities in providing timely medical care resulted in the death of a 12-year-old tigress on Saturday night. The tigress, which was giving sleepless nights to villagers and tribals on the fringes of Nagarahole National Park, was tranquillised and brought to the Mysore Zoo in an unconscious state.
The tigress was brought to the zoo at 11.30 pm on Saturday. From there, it was shifted to Aranya Bhavan and was brought back to the zoo on Sunday morning, where it died. Sources said despite advance information about the arrival of the tiger, zoo authorities failed to arrange for medical aid.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2023255.cms
Providence zoo plans major expansion
September 19, 2006
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Roger Williams Park Zoo is launching a $35 million renovation that will expand a polar bear exhibit and create a North America trail and a children's zoo, park authorities said.
Zoo Director Jack Mulvena said the goal of the five-year project is to have a more user-friendly zoo and increase the number of visitors to one of Rhode Island's most popular attractions.
Attendance has declined to about 650,000 patrons annually since hitting a record of 770,000 visitors in 1997.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2006/09/19/providence_zoo_plans_major_expansion/
Roger Williams Park Zoo plans major renovations
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Roger Williams Park Zoo is planning a 35 million dollar upgrade and renovation. Zoo officials say the five-year project will return polar bars to a North America exhibit and create a New England trail and children's zoo.
To pay for the improvements, zoo officials plan to borrow 15 million dollars and raise at another 20 million dollars through donations. Zoo director Jack Mulvena says the improvements are necessary because the zoo is not user friendly.
Most visitors see only about 60 percent of the 100-acre facility. The Providence zoo is one of Rhode Island's top tourist destinations.
http://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5426062&nav=F2DO
Zoo prepares for Irwin memorial
Final preparations are being made for the public memorial service for the "Crocodile Hunter", Steve Irwin.
The high-profile conservationist was struck in the chest by a stingray barb while diving off the north Queensland coast earlier this month.
The ceremony on Wednesday morning will be held at the family's Australia Zoo at Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast.
Friend and event organiser John Stainton says it will be an emotional day for Irwin's widow Terri and children, Bindi and Bob.
"Terri will be strong as ever," he said.
"I'm hoping tomorrow that it's not too stressful for her because just seeing Steve on the screen and hearing the people say the things they've said they're going to affect her really badly.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1744828.htm
Enough visitors or zoo few?
Article from:
By Peter Trute
September 20, 2006 12:00am
THE battle for the hearts and wallets of animal lovers began yesterday with Sydney's new boutique zoo opening its doors for inspection.
As Sydney Wildlife World offered the media a tour of its two-level waterside CBD facility, across the Harbour Taronga Zoo was reminding NSW it still ruled the animal world.
Taronga announced the hatching of four veiled chameleons, the first time the reptiles have been bred in captivity in Australia.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20440466-5006009,00.html
Zoo Safari Challenge makes South Africa 'possible' as a top destination
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
On Tuesday, agents, wholesalers and operators alike gathered at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo to be immersed in all things South African. It was an event that allowed those in the travel industry to gather more knowledge of the area in order to be more able to tell their clients about how they can “Experience South Africa”.
The 100 travel agents, 4 South African operators and 7 wholesalers were told that a ‘surprise’ that awaited them at the zoo. As the sun was setting over Sydney Harbour, it was revealed that South African Tourism was sending everyone on a scavenger hunt, or more artfully termed, ‘Zoo Safari Challenge’ through the world-famous zoological park.
http://www.etravelblackboard.com/index.asp?id=56167&nav=83
Smithsonian National Zoo Exhibit To Open in October
Exhibit Will Feature Sloth Bears And Giant Pandas
POSTED: 2:37 pm EDT September 19, 2006
UPDATED: 4:00 pm EDT September 19, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat and Asia Trail at the Smithsonian's National Zoo opens to the public on Oct. 17, according to zoo officials.
Over the next few weeks, National Zoo staff are helping the animals adjust to their new environments.
One of the animals featured in the exhibit is Balavat, a sloth bear cub born on Jan. 9, 2006
http://www.nbc4.com/news/9886446/detail.html
Panda bites man, man bites panda back at Beijing zoo
The Associated Press
Published: September 20, 2006
BEIJING A drunken Chinese tourist bit a panda at the Beijing Zoo after the animal attacked him when he jumped into the enclosure and tried to hug it, state media said Wednesday.
Zhang Xinyan had drunk four pitchers of beer at a restaurant before "stumbling to the zoo" nearby and stopping off at the pen holding a sleeping 6-year-old male panda, Gu Gu, on Tuesday, the Beijing Morning Post said.
"He felt a sudden urge to touch the panda with his hand" and jumped over a waist-high railing down into the enclosure, the newspaper said. "When he got closer and was undiscovered, he reached out to hug it."
Startled, Gu Gu bit Zhang in the right leg, it said. Zhang, a 35-year-old migrant laborer from central Henan province, got angry and kicked the panda, who then bit his other leg. A tussle ensued, the paper said.
"I bit the fellow in the back," Zhang was quoted as saying in the newspaper. "Its skin was quite thick."
Other tourists yelled for a zookeeper, who soon got the panda under control by spraying it with water, reports said. Zhang was hospitalized.
Newspaper photographs showed Zhang lying on a hospital bed with blood-soaked bandages and several seams of stitches running down his leg.
The Beijing Youth Daily quoted Zhang, a father of two who was visiting Beijing for the first time, as saying that he had seen pandas on television and "they seemed to get along well with people."
"No one ever said they would bite people," Zhang said. "I just wanted to touch it. I was so dizzy from the beer. I don't remember much."
Ye Mingxia, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Zoo, confirmed the incident happened but would not give any details. She said Gu Gu was "healthy and uninjured."
"We're not considering punishing him now," Ye said in a telephone interview. "He's suffered quite a bit of shock."
China has more than 180 pandas living in captivity. A 2002 government census found there were just 1,596 pandas left in the wild. But state media has said a new study by Chinese and British scientists has found there might be as many as 3,000.
In 2003, a college student trying to take a photo of a panda in the Beijing Zoo jumped into the enclosure and broke his bones in the fall, the Beijing Morning Post said.
It did not say which panda it was or if it attacked the student.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/20/asia/AS_ODD_China_Man_Bites_Panda.php
Zoo in northern India sets up old age home for dying lions
The Associated Press
Published: September 20, 2006
NEW DELHI Zookeepers in north India are watching mournfully as nearly two dozen lions slowly die after a breeding program left many cats sick, a wildlife official said Wednesday.
The program, which began in the late 1980s at the Chhatbir Zoo, tried to crossbreed Asiatic and African lions. It was discontinued in 2002 after many of the nearly 80 lions bred were struck by a mysterious disease aggravated by inbreeding and a weakened gene pool, said Kuldip Kumar, Punjab state's conservator of forests and wildlife.
The Chhatbir Zoo, near the city of Chandigarh, is in Punjab state.
When the program ended, all of the male lions were given vasectomies to prevent further breeding, Kumar said.
It will take about six years for the remaining 22 lions bred through the program to die of natural causes, he said.
Zoo authorities have decided to launch a new captive breeding project using "pure Asiatic lion stock from other zoos in the country but only after the last of the earlier crop of lions have been phased out," he said.
The zoo has recently built an enclosed area for the oldest and most infirm of the lions, so they are not attacked by the more robust cats.
"At any time the zoo has around four to five lions that are too old and weak to compete with the younger more aggressive lions. This enclosure for them separates them from the younger lot," Kumar said.
The lions are fed boneless meat and kept away from the zoo's immensely popular lion safari area, which is spread over 15 hectares (37 acres), he said.
Wildlife officials had originally hoped the hybrid cats could be introduced into the wild in an effort to bolster India's endangered wild lion population.
"But we decided to stop breeding them after the lions were struck by a mysterious disease and some 30 of them died in 1999 and 2000," Kumar said.
Since Indian wildlife laws prevent killing animals, a cull of the aging cats has been ruled out. Meanwhile, zoo authorities were trying to make life a little bit more comfortable for the beasts.
Wildlife experts say rampant poaching is driving the Asiatic lion to extinction, especially in the Gir forests in western India, the last wild refuge of the big cats.
The last lion census conducted in the Gir forests in 2000 put the number of Asiatic lions at 320. However, the animals' numbers have further dwindled due to poaching, open wells that act as death traps and human encroachment on the lions' habitat.
Lions are poached for their pelts and claws, both of which command a huge price in the illegal wildlife trade.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/20/asia/AS_GEN_India_Asiatic_Lions.php
Local student helps keep zoo promise
A Gresham teen helps Oregon Zoo keep its 23-year-old promise to chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall.
By Kelly Moyer-Wade
Keri Kestermont isn’t used to being in the spotlight.
The 17-year-old Gresham girl is modest and unassuming when asked about her personal life, but when the conversation turns to her work with the Oregon Zoo, Kestermont lights up.
“I love working with the pygmy goats!” Kestermont says. “They’re so round and cute … we call them ‘beer kegs with legs’ … they’re irresistible.”
http://www.theoutlookonline.com/features/story.php?story_id=115872144669473600
Zoo in India sets up old age home for dying lions
Associated Press
Last update: September 20, 2006 – 7:42 AM
NEW DELHI — Nearly two dozen crossbred lions are slowly dying in northern India from a mysterious disease afflicting the hybrid offspring of Asiatic and African cats paired in a discontinued experimental program.
Zookeepers are mournfully watching the results of the program, which began in the late 1980s at the Chhatbir Zoo and was ended in 2002 after many of the nearly 80 crossbred lions were struck by a mysterious disease linked to inbreeding and a weakened gene pool, said Kuldip Kumar, Punjab state's conservator of forests and wildlife.
http://www.startribune.com/722/story/689140.html
Two white tigers die in Punjab zoo
Punjab, India, 12:00 AM IST
Chandigarh - A pair of white tigers died at the Chhatbir zoological park in Punjab Wednesday.
Saurabh and Diya, the only ones of this species in the zoo, 15 km from here, were both three-and-a-half-years old and their sudden death remains a mystery.
Zoo officials remained tight-lipped saying only the post-mortem report could throw light on the exact cause of death. The post-mortem was conducted by experts and veterinarians here.
http://www.indiaenews.com/india/20060921/23094.htm
Rare tigers could boost Zoo attendance
Memphis Business Journal - September 20, 2006
by Andy Ashby
Staff writer
The Memphis Zoo's new inhabitants could raise the awe factor, and attendance figures, at the 100-year-old facility.
The zoo's Cat Country exhibit will begin displaying a female white Bengal tiger cub, Orissa, and two other Bengal tiger cubs, Kumari and Naryan, on Saturday.
All three cubs are about 6 months old. Orissa is from a private breeder, while Kumari and Naryan came from the Texas Zoo in Victoria, Texas.
The Zoo had temporary exhibits of white tigers in 1988 and 2000. White tigers are Bengal tigers with white fur, blue eyes and chocolate-colored stripes.
http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2006/09/18/daily28.html?jst=b_ln_hl
Zoo kicks off campaign for 1-mill, 10-year levy
The Toledo Zoo yesterday kicked off its campaign to win voter approval of a 1-mill, 10-year levy that will appear on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.
Passage of the levy would enable the zoo to preserve and maintain its current facilities and exhibits while continuing to meet standards for animal care, officials said.
The proposed levy would take the place of a capital improvement levy that expired in December, 2005. If approved, the capital levy would raise $8.6 million a year and cost $30.62 for a $100,000 home.
The kickoff occurred in front of the zoo’s aquarium building, one of the structures slated for updates. The levy also would help fund more space for the zoo’s elephants and rhinos, as well as pay for a new Children’s Zone. It would pay for more parking, five temporary exhibits, nearly $17 million in debt relief, and $10 million for basic maintenance.
At the kickoff event, officials unveiled the artwork for the levy campaign yard sign, which features the zoo’s hippo logo. Community leaders and local officials were on hand yesterday to rally support.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060921/NEWS38/60921007/-1/NEWS
5-week-old baby gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo is named Bakari
The Associated Press
Published: September 21, 2006
CINCINNATI The first gorilla born at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden since 1998 has been named Bakari, a Swahili word meaning "promise."
"Bakari is fitting as there is great promise for the future of gorillas in both zoos and the wild," said Ron Evans, spokesman for the zoo's primate center.
The male gorilla baby was born Aug. 13. His mother is Muke, the zoo's 24-year-old western lowland gorilla, and the father is Jomo, a 15-year-old silverback on loan from the Toronto Zoo.
Cincinnati Zoo gorillas have been some of the most prolific in captivity, with 48 births and another expected soon. The Bronx Zoo in New York City has had 57 gorilla births.
About 75,000 western lowland gorillas remain in the wild, and there are about 350 in captivity in North America, the zoo said.
On the Net: Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden: http://www.cincinnatizoo.org.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/21/america/NA_GEN_US_Gorilla_Baby.php
Carp may be converted into food for zoo animals
21 September, 2006 - SILVER carp – notorious for their dangerous jumping and ecological damage to rivers and lakes in the USA – are at the centre of talks to carry out new research. In a bid to “make good food of bad fish”, Rob Hayward, fisheries researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Duane Chapman, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and a team of researchers, are looking to convert the fish into food for zoo animals.
http://www.fishfarmer-magazine.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/654/Carp_may_be_converted_into_food_for_zoo_animals.html
Zoo opening hog habitat
Nashville Business Journal - September 21, 2006
The Nashville Zoo has announced that its new red river hog habitat will open to the public on Sept. 27. The habitat will be located next to the zoo's African elephant savannah, and will feature several viewing areas.
In a news release, the zoo said red river hogs grow up to five feet in length and 250 pounds, with a red coat and contrasting black and white markings on their heads. Native to west and central sub-Saharan Africa, they have long pointed ears with tufts of hair at the tip which, according to the zoo, they sometimes shake to intimidate predators.
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2006/09/18/daily32.html
Baby Panda Thrives at Zoo Atlanta
A baby panda born at Zoo Atlanta is now two weeks old and already showing the characteristics of a giant panda. The cub is developing dark colors around its eyes, ears, shoulders and hind legs.
The bear, which is hairless, won't open its eyes until it's about 75 days old. Its gender might not be known for weeks. At 100 days, the zoo is planning to hold a naming ceremony for it the cub.
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=84998
September 22, 2006
Mill Mountain Zoo offers an adoption program
How many of you have paid a trip to the Mill Mountain Zoo and found a favorite animal?
Now, although you can't take one home, you can adopt an animal at the Mill Mountain Zoo and proudly call yourself a zoo parent.
It's a new program Mill Mountain has come up with to raise money and give the zoo a more interactive feel.
http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=5447647
9/23/06-Tyler
Free Admission To Caldwell Zoo
East Texans of all ages got to go to the zoo today for free. This weekend, your admission to the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler is not green cash, it's a yellow phone book.
This is the first year the zoo has offered free admission in order to collect and recycle used phone books. Zoo officials say they expected to collect 2,000 books today.
http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5449087&nav=1TjD
Wild night spent safely in Quebec zoo
Being a pushover for wildlife encounters, I found myself crawling into a tent and spending the night last fall with a herd of caribou -- inside the Zoo Sauvage (Wild Zoo), in Saint-Félicien in the northern part of Quebec, Canada. The zoo offers visitors overnight safaris on a regular basis.
During the day, guides took our group of six behind the scenes to areas where day visitors aren't allowed. We dropped by the animal clinic to see a lynx with an injured paw. In another part of the zoo, where most onlookers interact with playful polar bears through a heavy glass wall, we visited the bears' smelly nighttime quarters.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/24/TRGU8L98EL1.DTL
Zoo Atlanta close to determining gender of panda cub
The Associated Press - ATLANTA
The world won't have to wait much longer to find out the gender of the newest addition to Zoo Atlanta's panda family.
Zoo keepers say they should be able to have enough alone time with the cub in the next week to do a thorough examination, which will reveal the sex of the 19-day-old baby.
The mother, Lun Lun, has begun leaving her cub more frequently to eat bamboo in a room adjacent to where the baby is.
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=80798
Zoo hopes for big cat litter
DESPITE dark skies, a shower of hailstones and temperatures of a less-than-tropical 10 degrees, Melbourne Zoo yesterday observed its fourth International Tiger Day in honour of the critically endangered Sumatran tiger.
The zoo is home to two captive-bred Sumatran tigers. The male, Ramalon, was born in Sydney in 1995 and was brought to Melbourne in 1999. The female, Binjai, came to Melbourne in 2004 from Rotterdam Zoo in the Netherlands, where she was born in 2002.
They have not yet produced a litter, although the pair have mated in recent weeks. The tigers have a gestation period of 92 to 110 days, so zoo officials say it is still too early to tell if Binjai is expecting.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/zoo-hopes-for-big-cat-litter/2006/09/24/1159036415343.html
continued...
A troop group effort gets the job done, above.
In July, the final phase of the new Crocodile Monitor Exhibit at The ZOO was completed. The new exhibit is part of Dragon World, which includes Ivan, the Komodo Dragon, and will grow to display species of lizards including Gila Monsters.
Gulf Breeze Boy Scout Josh Suelflow coordinated with Doug Kemper, Executive Director of The ZOO, Natalie Akin, The ZOO's Director of Visitor Services and Business Operations, and Terry Whitman, Director of Facilities, Operations, and Maintenance to build the exhibit for his Eagle Scout project.
The exhibit is divided into several sections for "Lars," a male, and "Hillary," a potential mate, and includes an enclosed winter viewing area. Crocodile Monitors are the longest monitors in the world and live on the island of New Guinea.
http://www.gulfbreezenews.com/news/2007/0809/Community/014.html
Good news from the Edmonton Valley Zoo
Aug, 08 2007 - 6:00 PM
EDMONTON - A pair of rare red pandas are celebrating a critical milestone ... their "30-day health check".
Zoo officials are inviting local media to come take pictures of the so-far healthy endangered babies, who have been raised by zoo staff since being born there on June 26th.
The zoo reports that "the cubs' eyes are now open, they are learning to walk and are growing rapidly".
While they are still too young to determine the gender, the zoo is still holding a contest to name the fuzzy siblings.
According to some estimates, there are fewer than 2500 red pandas currently alive in the wild. (ccg)
Send Chris an Email now
- Chris Gardner
http://www.630ched.com/news/news_local.cfm?cat=7428109912&rem=71897&red=80110923aPBIny&wids=410&gi=1&gm=news_local.cfm
700-Pound Grizzly Bear Escapes From Canada Zoo
(CBS) STEVENSVILLE, Ont. Police were searching Wednesday morning for a 700-pound grizzly bear that escaped from a local zoo not far from a Lake Erie beach popular with Buffalo-area residents.
Residents called police about midnight to report seeing the bear from the Zooz Nature Park, about five miles from the popular Crystal Beach in Ontario.
Darlene Crosby told CHCH television she let her dogs out and saw the bear when they started barking. Police asked Crosby and her husband to leave their home as a precaution.
http://cbs2.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_220131618.html
A trip to Phuket Zoo
We have of course been to the zoo before, and I have blogged it before (see Phuket Zoo), but when you have kids you need to think of something exciting to do! With previous weekends either raining or taken up with birthday parties, we promised the little 'uns that we'd go on Saturday (if it was sunny). The sun duly shone, and so we could go to see the tiger, the elephants, the crocodiles and many other great and wondrous beasts...
http://jamie-monk.blogspot.com/2007/08/trip-to-phuket-zoo.html
Fossa Pup Update
Posted at 12:46 pm August 2, 2007 by Janet Hawes
On July 17, our fossa pups were six weeks old (see Janet’s previous blog, Our First Fossas). Vet techs arrived at the nursery to administer the first vaccinations. These injections were the first in a series of four (given four weeks apart) that protect the neonate against certain infectious diseases. It was decided that we would try training the fossa cubs as animal ambassadors, something that no one has ever attempted to do before.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/fossa-pup-update/
Wet weather gives zoo birds boost
The recent weather was bad news for a lot of the country, but proved a surprising success for London Zoo.
That's because two birds living there - called tawny frogmouths - laid their first eggs for nine years.
Keepers said: We think their arrival was triggered by the heavy rains here and we've called them Thunder and Storm in tribute to the dreadful weather."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6930000/newsid_6937100/6937194.stm
The lion king is dead
Apollo the lion, suffering kidney failure at the Honolulu Zoo, is put to sleep
By Susan Essoyan
The husky roar of Apollo the lion will no longer resound in Waikiki, as the longtime "king" of the Honolulu Zoo breathed his last yesterday, suffering from kidney failure. He was 21.
Apollo, an African lion, was 6 months old when he arrived in Hawaii in April 1986 from his hometown of Quebec. He quickly became a favorite, roaring to announce his presence every morning and evening. But his health had faded recently and he was euthanized yesterday.
"He's going to really, really be missed, not just by our staff but by the people who have seen him throughout the years," said zoo Director Ken Redman. "Male lions are really beautiful animals. Apollo was one of the most beautiful. When he posed, that was just a masterpiece."
http://starbulletin.com/2007/08/08/news/story04.html
Land At National Zoo Does Not Belong To Selangor Government
SHAH ALAM, Aug 8 (Bernama) -- The Selangor government cannot gazette the land occupied by the National Zoo at Hulu Klang because it is not the owner, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo said.
However, he assured that the 10 hectare site would remain a zoo area and not developed for other purposes.
"The land was handed to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Corporation Malaysia Trustee Bhd (HSBC Trustee) in 1982, but the ownership form was not issued since full payment had yet to be made," he told reporters after chairing the weekly state executive council meeting here Wednesday.
He was reacting to a call by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid for the Selangor government to gazette the National Zoo area.
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/state_news/news.php?id=278262&cat=ct
Honolulu zoo's old lion roars no more
By Eloise Aguiar
A mighty roar was silenced yesterday at the Honolulu Zoo.
Apollo, the African lion that had thrilled children and adults alike for 20 years, was euthanized after his failing health took a turn for the worse.
Visitors will miss the lion's majestic demeanor and beauty, said zoo director Ken Redman, but the zookeeper who greeted the king of the jungle every morning may feel the greatest loss.
"When Apollo was up and posing and surveying his country like the Lion King would, that's a chicken-skin moment, and I think regular visitors will miss that," Redman said.
"But (today) is going to be really tough for the (zookeeper) because he comes in the mornings and the first thing he would do is go see Apollo and get a greeting back and forth. That's a ritual they've been through 10-11 years."
Apollo suffered from kidney failure, arthritis and extreme weakness from muscle atrophy. When his condition worsened, "it was a fairly obvious decision because he was suffering pretty badly and deteriorating beyond recovery," Redman said.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Aug/08/ln/hawaii708080394.html
Zoological Society top donor to Prop. 2
By Keith Ervin
Seattle Times staff reporter
The Woodland Park Zoological Society, the nonprofit that runs the Woodland Park Zoo and stands to gain $3.2 million a year from King County Proposition 2, is the leading donor to the levy campaign.
The Zoological Society's $113,226 cash and in-kind contributions account for more than half of the $214,520 given by all donors through last week to the Parks and Recreation Coalition's campaign for two parks levies on the Aug. 21 ballot.
The society, founded in 1965 as the fundraising arm of the Seattle-owned zoo, has operated the zoo since 2002.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003826536_zoolevies08m.html
Zoo experts visit Bacolod City
Bacolod City (8 August) -- The deputy curator of birds for the Czech Republic's famed Prague Zoo, Antonin Vaidl, and the chief veterinarian of Liberec Zoo, Dr. Helena Zimova, visited the Negros Forests and Ecological Foundation's Biodiversity Conservation Center (NFEFI) in Bacolod City, recently.
Vaidl and Zimova have been visiting conservation sites throughout the Philippines.
The visiting experts had high praise for the way the animals were kept at the NFEFI compound, especially the plentiful vegetation in the aviaries that give the animals a natural habitat. (PIA)
http://www.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=12&fi=p070808.htm&no=41
Zoo is shipping coloring books to Madagascar
BY KYLE HARPSTER
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
In about three weeks, a ship will leave New York Harbor on a 10,000-mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean and around the southern tip of Africa to the island of Madagascar.
Its cargo: about 15,000 coloring books from the Henry Doorly Zoo.
The coloring books, along with 15,000 boxes of crayons and 15,000 notebooks, are destined for elementary school children in five areas across the island. Four areas are home to some of the most endangered species of lemur in the world.
The books, which also include pages of educational activities, are intended to teach children about those animals and the value of conservation, said Dr. Ed Louis, head of the genetics department at the zoo's Center for Conservation and Research.
"We want to get the community involved to help protect these really critically endangered species," he said. "We're researchers, but we feel this is important because it will reach multiple generations."
Madagascar, which is about the size of Texas, lies about 200 miles off Africa's east coast and is home to thousands of species of plants and animals, some found nowhere else. Many are threatened or endangered because of deforestation.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1219&u_sid=10100650
Louisville Zoo grants girl's wish
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The Louisville Zoo helped the Make-A-Wish foundation fulfill the dream of 13-year-old Elaney Pickering of Eudora, Kan., whose wish was to meet Scotty, the Louisville Zoo's baby African elephant and be a zoo keeper for the day. Here, Elaney watched Scotty play with the zoo keeper's hand. (Photos by Pam Spaulding, The Courier-Journal)
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=B2&Dato=20070807&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=708070821&Ref=PH
Council delays Hogle Zoo bond vote
By Jeremiah Stettler
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/07/2007 04:57:10 PM MDT
Posted: 5:01 PM- The Salt Lake County Council won't decide for a week, and maybe two, whether Hogle Zoo can seek $65 million from taxpayers to pay for a massive makeover of its east-side park.
Council members put off the vote Tuesday, noting several legal loose ends they must reconcile before deciding to put Hogle's request on the November ballot.
But the delay also could have something to with politics, according to Councilman Joe Hatch, who said he couldn't eke out a fifth vote from Republicans to support a zoo referendum.
So Hogle Zoo must wait - maybe until the Aug. 23 deadline - to find out whether it can proceed with plans to create more expansive, lifelike exhibits for polar bears, gorillas and giraffes. The money also would pay for more parking and an animal hospital.
Director Craig Dinsmore stands behind the zoo's request as a need, not a want, saying, "in today's world, there is no place for an OK zoo."
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_6565867
Evan Almighty - Zoo Rescue
Kind of jump’n'run, pixel-art game. Yiou have to save all the animals. Right after the click.
http://haha.nu/interesting/evan-almighty-zoo-rescue/
Dated:
Leo’s debut at Bronx Zoo today
By Irfan Malik
KARACHI, Sept 24: Leo, the orphaned snow leopard cub who made headlines last month when he was flown from Pakistan to the US, will make his official debut today at New York’s Bronx Zoo, event organisers told Dawn.
First Lady of Pakistan Begum Sehba Musharraf will be the honoured guest on the occasion, according to programme details provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the administrators of the Bronx Zoo.
Leo and a female sibling that later died were rescued last year by a shepherd in Naltar Valley, Northern Areas, after their mother was reportedly killed by a landslide. In July 2005, little Leo was handed over to the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) and was subsequently hand-reared by Mr Kamaluddin of the Northern Areas Forest and Wildlife Department.
“Leo was ill, very weak and weighed only 1.5 kilograms when he was given to me on July 14 last year,” Kamaluddin, a resident of Sust in upper Hunza, said at a handing-over ceremony in Islamabad on August 8, 2006. “I looked after the cub like my child and gave him goat’s milk.”
http://www.dawn.com/2006/09/25/top10.htm
Animal rights group critical of zoo
The Hamilton Spectator
(Sep 25, 2006)
Complaints about the conditions at the Killman Zoo have been filed with the province by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).
The animal rights group said the animals are in cages the size of a single-car garage, which provides little room for exercise. The group also said the cages are littered with feces and that animals, who are social and usually live with others, are being housed alone. The WSPA did an audit in 2005 and gave the Caledonia zoo a failing grade. A recent investigation by the group has found little has changed since that audit.
The WSPA recently submitted complaints to the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Ministry of Natural Resources.
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1159135811741&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815
Man-eater caught, but dies at Mysore zoo
24 Sep 2006, 2217 hrs IST
TNN
MYSORE: Failure of Mysore zoo authorities in providing timely medical care resulted in the death of a 12-year-old tigress on Saturday night. The tigress, which was giving sleepless nights to villagers and tribals on the fringes of Nagarahole National Park, was tranquillised and brought to the Mysore Zoo in an unconscious state.
The tigress was brought to the zoo at 11.30 pm on Saturday. From there, it was shifted to Aranya Bhavan and was brought back to the zoo on Sunday morning, where it died. Sources said despite advance information about the arrival of the tiger, zoo authorities failed to arrange for medical aid.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2023255.cms
Providence zoo plans major expansion
September 19, 2006
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Roger Williams Park Zoo is launching a $35 million renovation that will expand a polar bear exhibit and create a North America trail and a children's zoo, park authorities said.
Zoo Director Jack Mulvena said the goal of the five-year project is to have a more user-friendly zoo and increase the number of visitors to one of Rhode Island's most popular attractions.
Attendance has declined to about 650,000 patrons annually since hitting a record of 770,000 visitors in 1997.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2006/09/19/providence_zoo_plans_major_expansion/
Roger Williams Park Zoo plans major renovations
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Roger Williams Park Zoo is planning a 35 million dollar upgrade and renovation. Zoo officials say the five-year project will return polar bars to a North America exhibit and create a New England trail and children's zoo.
To pay for the improvements, zoo officials plan to borrow 15 million dollars and raise at another 20 million dollars through donations. Zoo director Jack Mulvena says the improvements are necessary because the zoo is not user friendly.
Most visitors see only about 60 percent of the 100-acre facility. The Providence zoo is one of Rhode Island's top tourist destinations.
http://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5426062&nav=F2DO
Zoo prepares for Irwin memorial
Final preparations are being made for the public memorial service for the "Crocodile Hunter", Steve Irwin.
The high-profile conservationist was struck in the chest by a stingray barb while diving off the north Queensland coast earlier this month.
The ceremony on Wednesday morning will be held at the family's Australia Zoo at Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast.
Friend and event organiser John Stainton says it will be an emotional day for Irwin's widow Terri and children, Bindi and Bob.
"Terri will be strong as ever," he said.
"I'm hoping tomorrow that it's not too stressful for her because just seeing Steve on the screen and hearing the people say the things they've said they're going to affect her really badly.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1744828.htm
Enough visitors or zoo few?
Article from:
By Peter Trute
September 20, 2006 12:00am
THE battle for the hearts and wallets of animal lovers began yesterday with Sydney's new boutique zoo opening its doors for inspection.
As Sydney Wildlife World offered the media a tour of its two-level waterside CBD facility, across the Harbour Taronga Zoo was reminding NSW it still ruled the animal world.
Taronga announced the hatching of four veiled chameleons, the first time the reptiles have been bred in captivity in Australia.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20440466-5006009,00.html
Zoo Safari Challenge makes South Africa 'possible' as a top destination
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
On Tuesday, agents, wholesalers and operators alike gathered at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo to be immersed in all things South African. It was an event that allowed those in the travel industry to gather more knowledge of the area in order to be more able to tell their clients about how they can “Experience South Africa”.
The 100 travel agents, 4 South African operators and 7 wholesalers were told that a ‘surprise’ that awaited them at the zoo. As the sun was setting over Sydney Harbour, it was revealed that South African Tourism was sending everyone on a scavenger hunt, or more artfully termed, ‘Zoo Safari Challenge’ through the world-famous zoological park.
http://www.etravelblackboard.com/index.asp?id=56167&nav=83
Smithsonian National Zoo Exhibit To Open in October
Exhibit Will Feature Sloth Bears And Giant Pandas
POSTED: 2:37 pm EDT September 19, 2006
UPDATED: 4:00 pm EDT September 19, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat and Asia Trail at the Smithsonian's National Zoo opens to the public on Oct. 17, according to zoo officials.
Over the next few weeks, National Zoo staff are helping the animals adjust to their new environments.
One of the animals featured in the exhibit is Balavat, a sloth bear cub born on Jan. 9, 2006
http://www.nbc4.com/news/9886446/detail.html
Panda bites man, man bites panda back at Beijing zoo
The Associated Press
Published: September 20, 2006
BEIJING A drunken Chinese tourist bit a panda at the Beijing Zoo after the animal attacked him when he jumped into the enclosure and tried to hug it, state media said Wednesday.
Zhang Xinyan had drunk four pitchers of beer at a restaurant before "stumbling to the zoo" nearby and stopping off at the pen holding a sleeping 6-year-old male panda, Gu Gu, on Tuesday, the Beijing Morning Post said.
"He felt a sudden urge to touch the panda with his hand" and jumped over a waist-high railing down into the enclosure, the newspaper said. "When he got closer and was undiscovered, he reached out to hug it."
Startled, Gu Gu bit Zhang in the right leg, it said. Zhang, a 35-year-old migrant laborer from central Henan province, got angry and kicked the panda, who then bit his other leg. A tussle ensued, the paper said.
"I bit the fellow in the back," Zhang was quoted as saying in the newspaper. "Its skin was quite thick."
Other tourists yelled for a zookeeper, who soon got the panda under control by spraying it with water, reports said. Zhang was hospitalized.
Newspaper photographs showed Zhang lying on a hospital bed with blood-soaked bandages and several seams of stitches running down his leg.
The Beijing Youth Daily quoted Zhang, a father of two who was visiting Beijing for the first time, as saying that he had seen pandas on television and "they seemed to get along well with people."
"No one ever said they would bite people," Zhang said. "I just wanted to touch it. I was so dizzy from the beer. I don't remember much."
Ye Mingxia, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Zoo, confirmed the incident happened but would not give any details. She said Gu Gu was "healthy and uninjured."
"We're not considering punishing him now," Ye said in a telephone interview. "He's suffered quite a bit of shock."
China has more than 180 pandas living in captivity. A 2002 government census found there were just 1,596 pandas left in the wild. But state media has said a new study by Chinese and British scientists has found there might be as many as 3,000.
In 2003, a college student trying to take a photo of a panda in the Beijing Zoo jumped into the enclosure and broke his bones in the fall, the Beijing Morning Post said.
It did not say which panda it was or if it attacked the student.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/20/asia/AS_ODD_China_Man_Bites_Panda.php
Zoo in northern India sets up old age home for dying lions
The Associated Press
Published: September 20, 2006
NEW DELHI Zookeepers in north India are watching mournfully as nearly two dozen lions slowly die after a breeding program left many cats sick, a wildlife official said Wednesday.
The program, which began in the late 1980s at the Chhatbir Zoo, tried to crossbreed Asiatic and African lions. It was discontinued in 2002 after many of the nearly 80 lions bred were struck by a mysterious disease aggravated by inbreeding and a weakened gene pool, said Kuldip Kumar, Punjab state's conservator of forests and wildlife.
The Chhatbir Zoo, near the city of Chandigarh, is in Punjab state.
When the program ended, all of the male lions were given vasectomies to prevent further breeding, Kumar said.
It will take about six years for the remaining 22 lions bred through the program to die of natural causes, he said.
Zoo authorities have decided to launch a new captive breeding project using "pure Asiatic lion stock from other zoos in the country but only after the last of the earlier crop of lions have been phased out," he said.
The zoo has recently built an enclosed area for the oldest and most infirm of the lions, so they are not attacked by the more robust cats.
"At any time the zoo has around four to five lions that are too old and weak to compete with the younger more aggressive lions. This enclosure for them separates them from the younger lot," Kumar said.
The lions are fed boneless meat and kept away from the zoo's immensely popular lion safari area, which is spread over 15 hectares (37 acres), he said.
Wildlife officials had originally hoped the hybrid cats could be introduced into the wild in an effort to bolster India's endangered wild lion population.
"But we decided to stop breeding them after the lions were struck by a mysterious disease and some 30 of them died in 1999 and 2000," Kumar said.
Since Indian wildlife laws prevent killing animals, a cull of the aging cats has been ruled out. Meanwhile, zoo authorities were trying to make life a little bit more comfortable for the beasts.
Wildlife experts say rampant poaching is driving the Asiatic lion to extinction, especially in the Gir forests in western India, the last wild refuge of the big cats.
The last lion census conducted in the Gir forests in 2000 put the number of Asiatic lions at 320. However, the animals' numbers have further dwindled due to poaching, open wells that act as death traps and human encroachment on the lions' habitat.
Lions are poached for their pelts and claws, both of which command a huge price in the illegal wildlife trade.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/20/asia/AS_GEN_India_Asiatic_Lions.php
Local student helps keep zoo promise
A Gresham teen helps Oregon Zoo keep its 23-year-old promise to chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall.
By Kelly Moyer-Wade
Keri Kestermont isn’t used to being in the spotlight.
The 17-year-old Gresham girl is modest and unassuming when asked about her personal life, but when the conversation turns to her work with the Oregon Zoo, Kestermont lights up.
“I love working with the pygmy goats!” Kestermont says. “They’re so round and cute … we call them ‘beer kegs with legs’ … they’re irresistible.”
http://www.theoutlookonline.com/features/story.php?story_id=115872144669473600
Zoo in India sets up old age home for dying lions
Associated Press
Last update: September 20, 2006 – 7:42 AM
NEW DELHI — Nearly two dozen crossbred lions are slowly dying in northern India from a mysterious disease afflicting the hybrid offspring of Asiatic and African cats paired in a discontinued experimental program.
Zookeepers are mournfully watching the results of the program, which began in the late 1980s at the Chhatbir Zoo and was ended in 2002 after many of the nearly 80 crossbred lions were struck by a mysterious disease linked to inbreeding and a weakened gene pool, said Kuldip Kumar, Punjab state's conservator of forests and wildlife.
http://www.startribune.com/722/story/689140.html
Two white tigers die in Punjab zoo
Punjab, India, 12:00 AM IST
Chandigarh - A pair of white tigers died at the Chhatbir zoological park in Punjab Wednesday.
Saurabh and Diya, the only ones of this species in the zoo, 15 km from here, were both three-and-a-half-years old and their sudden death remains a mystery.
Zoo officials remained tight-lipped saying only the post-mortem report could throw light on the exact cause of death. The post-mortem was conducted by experts and veterinarians here.
http://www.indiaenews.com/india/20060921/23094.htm
Rare tigers could boost Zoo attendance
Memphis Business Journal - September 20, 2006
by Andy Ashby
Staff writer
The Memphis Zoo's new inhabitants could raise the awe factor, and attendance figures, at the 100-year-old facility.
The zoo's Cat Country exhibit will begin displaying a female white Bengal tiger cub, Orissa, and two other Bengal tiger cubs, Kumari and Naryan, on Saturday.
All three cubs are about 6 months old. Orissa is from a private breeder, while Kumari and Naryan came from the Texas Zoo in Victoria, Texas.
The Zoo had temporary exhibits of white tigers in 1988 and 2000. White tigers are Bengal tigers with white fur, blue eyes and chocolate-colored stripes.
http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2006/09/18/daily28.html?jst=b_ln_hl
Zoo kicks off campaign for 1-mill, 10-year levy
The Toledo Zoo yesterday kicked off its campaign to win voter approval of a 1-mill, 10-year levy that will appear on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.
Passage of the levy would enable the zoo to preserve and maintain its current facilities and exhibits while continuing to meet standards for animal care, officials said.
The proposed levy would take the place of a capital improvement levy that expired in December, 2005. If approved, the capital levy would raise $8.6 million a year and cost $30.62 for a $100,000 home.
The kickoff occurred in front of the zoo’s aquarium building, one of the structures slated for updates. The levy also would help fund more space for the zoo’s elephants and rhinos, as well as pay for a new Children’s Zone. It would pay for more parking, five temporary exhibits, nearly $17 million in debt relief, and $10 million for basic maintenance.
At the kickoff event, officials unveiled the artwork for the levy campaign yard sign, which features the zoo’s hippo logo. Community leaders and local officials were on hand yesterday to rally support.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060921/NEWS38/60921007/-1/NEWS
5-week-old baby gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo is named Bakari
The Associated Press
Published: September 21, 2006
CINCINNATI The first gorilla born at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden since 1998 has been named Bakari, a Swahili word meaning "promise."
"Bakari is fitting as there is great promise for the future of gorillas in both zoos and the wild," said Ron Evans, spokesman for the zoo's primate center.
The male gorilla baby was born Aug. 13. His mother is Muke, the zoo's 24-year-old western lowland gorilla, and the father is Jomo, a 15-year-old silverback on loan from the Toronto Zoo.
Cincinnati Zoo gorillas have been some of the most prolific in captivity, with 48 births and another expected soon. The Bronx Zoo in New York City has had 57 gorilla births.
About 75,000 western lowland gorillas remain in the wild, and there are about 350 in captivity in North America, the zoo said.
On the Net: Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden: http://www.cincinnatizoo.org.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/21/america/NA_GEN_US_Gorilla_Baby.php
Carp may be converted into food for zoo animals
21 September, 2006 - SILVER carp – notorious for their dangerous jumping and ecological damage to rivers and lakes in the USA – are at the centre of talks to carry out new research. In a bid to “make good food of bad fish”, Rob Hayward, fisheries researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Duane Chapman, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and a team of researchers, are looking to convert the fish into food for zoo animals.
http://www.fishfarmer-magazine.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/654/Carp_may_be_converted_into_food_for_zoo_animals.html
Zoo opening hog habitat
Nashville Business Journal - September 21, 2006
The Nashville Zoo has announced that its new red river hog habitat will open to the public on Sept. 27. The habitat will be located next to the zoo's African elephant savannah, and will feature several viewing areas.
In a news release, the zoo said red river hogs grow up to five feet in length and 250 pounds, with a red coat and contrasting black and white markings on their heads. Native to west and central sub-Saharan Africa, they have long pointed ears with tufts of hair at the tip which, according to the zoo, they sometimes shake to intimidate predators.
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2006/09/18/daily32.html
Baby Panda Thrives at Zoo Atlanta
A baby panda born at Zoo Atlanta is now two weeks old and already showing the characteristics of a giant panda. The cub is developing dark colors around its eyes, ears, shoulders and hind legs.
The bear, which is hairless, won't open its eyes until it's about 75 days old. Its gender might not be known for weeks. At 100 days, the zoo is planning to hold a naming ceremony for it the cub.
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=84998
September 22, 2006
Mill Mountain Zoo offers an adoption program
How many of you have paid a trip to the Mill Mountain Zoo and found a favorite animal?
Now, although you can't take one home, you can adopt an animal at the Mill Mountain Zoo and proudly call yourself a zoo parent.
It's a new program Mill Mountain has come up with to raise money and give the zoo a more interactive feel.
http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=5447647
9/23/06-Tyler
Free Admission To Caldwell Zoo
East Texans of all ages got to go to the zoo today for free. This weekend, your admission to the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler is not green cash, it's a yellow phone book.
This is the first year the zoo has offered free admission in order to collect and recycle used phone books. Zoo officials say they expected to collect 2,000 books today.
http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5449087&nav=1TjD
Wild night spent safely in Quebec zoo
Being a pushover for wildlife encounters, I found myself crawling into a tent and spending the night last fall with a herd of caribou -- inside the Zoo Sauvage (Wild Zoo), in Saint-Félicien in the northern part of Quebec, Canada. The zoo offers visitors overnight safaris on a regular basis.
During the day, guides took our group of six behind the scenes to areas where day visitors aren't allowed. We dropped by the animal clinic to see a lynx with an injured paw. In another part of the zoo, where most onlookers interact with playful polar bears through a heavy glass wall, we visited the bears' smelly nighttime quarters.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/24/TRGU8L98EL1.DTL
Zoo Atlanta close to determining gender of panda cub
The Associated Press - ATLANTA
The world won't have to wait much longer to find out the gender of the newest addition to Zoo Atlanta's panda family.
Zoo keepers say they should be able to have enough alone time with the cub in the next week to do a thorough examination, which will reveal the sex of the 19-day-old baby.
The mother, Lun Lun, has begun leaving her cub more frequently to eat bamboo in a room adjacent to where the baby is.
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=80798
Zoo hopes for big cat litter
DESPITE dark skies, a shower of hailstones and temperatures of a less-than-tropical 10 degrees, Melbourne Zoo yesterday observed its fourth International Tiger Day in honour of the critically endangered Sumatran tiger.
The zoo is home to two captive-bred Sumatran tigers. The male, Ramalon, was born in Sydney in 1995 and was brought to Melbourne in 1999. The female, Binjai, came to Melbourne in 2004 from Rotterdam Zoo in the Netherlands, where she was born in 2002.
They have not yet produced a litter, although the pair have mated in recent weeks. The tigers have a gestation period of 92 to 110 days, so zoo officials say it is still too early to tell if Binjai is expecting.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/zoo-hopes-for-big-cat-litter/2006/09/24/1159036415343.html
continued...
Wall Street in a Free Fall. I called my son today. The one that listened to Paul Krugman. Remember him?
And I asked him how things were at the mortgage brokerage office in the face of the back news coming from Wall Street?
He said, "What bad news?" Our office is having a record month, ma. If I stay on the phone much longer with you I might lose some money. Later.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha..........................................
And...
...NO...
...he didn't vote for the Neocon government of George Walker Bush.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Cry of the Wild
Video (click here)
Last week four gorillas were slaughtered in Congo. With hunting on the rise, our most majestic animals are facing a new extinction crisis.
By Sharon Begley
Newsweek
Aug. 6, 2007 issue - On the lush plains of Congo's Virunga National Park last week, the convoy of porters rounded the final hill and trooped into camp. They gently set down the wooden frame they had carried for miles, and with it the very symbol of the African jungle: a 600-pound silverback mountain gorilla. A leader of a troop often visited by tourists, his arms and legs were lashed to the wood, his head hanging low and spots of blood speckling his fur. The barefoot porters, shirts torn and pants caked with dust from their trek, lay him beside three smaller gorillas, all females, who had also been killed, then silently formed a semicircle around the bodies. As the stench of death wafted across the camp in the waning afternoon light, a park warden stepped forward. "What man would do this?" he thundered. He answered himself: "Not even a beast would do this."
There is much geologists can lend to the circumstances of the Crandall Canyon mine to end all rhetoric.
A reference map from the L.A. Times (click here)
This is the map from the USGS (click here). The last earthquake in the region anywhere occurred over a week ago. Not until one looks to California and primarily Southern California are there current seismic activity.
The mining collapse occurred three days ago on August 6, 2007.
6 miners trapped in collapsed Utah mine; cave-in was mistaken for minor earthquake (click here)
From the Associated Press
6:28 PM PDT, August 6, 2007
HUNTINGTON, Utah -- Hundreds of rescuers broke through walls of rock today in a desperate race to reach six coal miners trapped 1,500 feet below ground by a cave-in so powerful authorities initially thought it was an earthquake.Hours after the collapse, which did not appear related to an explosion, searchers had been unable to contact the miners and could not say whether they were dead or alive. If they survived, a mine executive said, they could have enough air and water to last several days.
This mine is part of the "Manti la Sal National Forest." The mine is under lease from the Department of the Interior. The mine can be closed down and the lease revoked for the rhetorical lying of the mine operator.
The instability of coal mines are well known (click here, the animation below is at the end of this article as well). This is not an unknown science. As a rule the 'characteristics' of coal (click here)do not lend itself to stability so much as instability.
Coal basics reveals the high level of water involved in coal's geological formations (click here). Mountains leak. Water runs between the rock formations. Soil absorbs water, rock does not. Rock is slippery when wet.
Retreat mining (click here for animation) should be outlawed in the USA and this is a prime example why.
US coal mine collapse traps six (click here)
...The US Geological Survey reported a 4.0 magnitude earthquake at the moment of the mine collapse, prompting speculation that the quake had triggered the cave-in.
But the USGS National Earthquake Information Center raised the possibility that the collapse could have caused a seismic wave.
"If you have a mine collapse, there will be a seismic component," said the organisation's Harley Benz.
"We simply don't know at this point," he said, adding that it could take 48 hours to analyse the information.
At least half a dozen other mine collapses since 1995 have caused similar seismic waves.
One in south-western Wyoming had a magnitude of 5.4.
There is blame to be laid on the shoulders of the mine operator. It was the mining methods that lead to this collapse. In the Bush Years the Department of Interior literally opened lands that should never have been made available in the first place. If this is the 'type' of mining to be used on those lands there has to be reconsideration of all the leases established under this administration and assessed for geological instability as related to threat to workers. Mining methods have to be scrutinized for safety. This is known science and is just a matter of applying assessment to the leased lands and whether proposed methods will cause danger to miners.
In my opinion, the digging can go on at the Crandall Canyon Mine for the next year without finding another open mining area. I would not be surprised if the 'elevation' of the mountain over the mine is actually lower today as opposed to last week. If that is the case, the miners have probably been buried in the collapse and it isn't a matter of 'just finding them' so much as the actual ability to 'safely find them.'
This severe storm (tornado) in New York City and one occurred nearly at the same time in Chicago is NOT a single occurrence
A tornado with winds of up to 135 miles an hour took roofs off in Brooklyn.
I have repeatedly stated 'the troposphere' under this layer of carbon dioxide is 'fixed.' By 'fixed' I mean there are reoccuring patterns without change. Currently the troposphere is receiving full intensity of 'heat' because it is warmed not once by northern movement of solar radiation but twice on the southern movement. This 'repeated' traverse across the face of Earth is why the hurricane season is mostly concentrated after the first day of summer. The repeat trip south of solar radiation provides an additional warming to Earth. That is normally 'handled' by hurricanes, but, because there is so little available humidity to 'produce/manifest' as hurricanes, Earth's troposphere is finding new ways to 'enable' heat exchange.
Downpours flood northern Illinois (click here)
Waterlogged residents in northern Illinois were bracing themselves Tuesday for more rain—and checking their sump pumps—after flash floods overnight soaked basements, closed highways and forced at least 40 people to evacuate their homes in Rockford.Hardest hit by the storms were Lake and McHenry Counties and part of southeast Rockford. At the height of the storm, nearly 50,000 Commonwealth Edison customers were without power in northern Illinois.Nearly 7 inches of rain fell in Rockford, while McHenry and Lake Counties were drenched with 4 to 5 inches, according to the National Weather Service in Romeoville. More rain is in the forecast for Wednesday afternoon, said Bill Nelson, a weather service meteorologist....
Currently and repeatedly noted on this blog, the 'pattern' of heat transfer is occurring in the center of the North American continent. "The T-Zone" has been noted as per NASA. The reason these major storms are occurring at far higher latitudes is because there is humidity there.
I'll comment on the satellite images below:
The 'off shore system' in this satellite picture of the North East is the one that devastated a New York City community.
August 8, 2007
Enhanced Infrared Satellite, New England
The link at the title to this entry is the same satellite image. PLEASE, PLEASE note there is another storm over Chicago right now and it is also coming toward the eastern seaboard and New York City.
Again this pattern is fixed.
The 'one thing' the New York community had going for it, AND REALIZING the death occurred ONY in a car accident and not with people in their homes; IS THAT these buildings are solidly built of BRICK/STONE. The folks that built those beautiful buildings so long ago knew what they were doing. These SOLIDLY built buildings will protect people.
continued below:
I can't say it enough. If people are inside brick or stone building AND AWAY from glass, they will be okay.
August 8, 2007
1930 z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared GOES East satellite
I will repeat it again. When these storms are approaching, stay inside brick or stone buildings away from windows. Protect oneself from flying glass. The houses/buildings made of wood frame will not protect people. They have to have shelter within a stone structure or in the basement of a house as a last minute measure, but, the danger with basements in these storms is there are deluges of water that accompany these tornadoes and if one is in a basement that floods they could drown. These storms are completely 'atypical' of any storms civilization has experienced before. They are intense, immediate and heavily laden with water because of the availablity of humidity when they form.
Okay, the link at the title of this entry is for the GOES East satellite. This is the larger satellite picture of the severe storm that reached New York City yesterday. There is a vortex over the North Atlantic that moved the system through NY City which first visited Chicago. That is NOT the only culprit in this matter.
I have earlier last week and this mentioned the 'anti-cyclonic' (click here) vortex in the center of the North American Continent in the northern hemisphere. This movement is normally noted in the southern hemisphere.
continued discussion in satellite below.
continued...
There is a mixing of 'hot' and 'cold' causing these storms at the latitudes shared by Chicago and New York City. Do you see it?
August 8, 2007
1930z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared Satellite
Click on the title above and focus on the anti-cyclonic vortex in the center of North American. Do you see it?
The reverse vortex (anti-cyclonic flow) in the center of the USA is carrying hot air north and is meeting the cold air of the polar (Arctic Ocean vortex) vortex and producing severe storms.
The latitude (click here) of Chicago is 41 degrees, 50 minutes
The latitude of New York City is 40 degrees, 47 minutes
These two cities are very close in latitude and receive the same weather facilitated by the Polar vortex.
The latitude of Boston is slightly more north, but, still is affected by weather systems delivered to these major cities.
While Chicago and New York City are experiencing these severe storms nearly at the same time, there is a difference between those cities. Chicago is on the Great Lakes which are currently experiencing drops in their level due to evaporation. New York City and Boston have another problem in that they share the Eastern seaboard of the USA and the reality of sea level rise.
Storms accomplish several aspects of biotic live on Earth. They bring water to Earth, but, in that also comes heat exchange. These storms, severe and sudden, bring with them heat exchange carrying heat from the tropics to the cooling air of the Arctic/Polar Circle and onto stoms with large amounts of rain back to Earth. Also what is occurring is the destruction of the ice at the Polar Circle that facilitates these 'heat exchange' storms. As the rain falls what is also occurring is sea level rise.
When land is exposed to high levels of 'saturation' there also comes the dangers of 'permanent' sea level rise as the saturation of the land raises the water table. This problem will not be visited on the West Coast. Sea level rise on the West Coast of the USA will be much slower and more measurable than on the Eastern Seaboard which is exposed to more complex contributions of sea level rise. On the Eastern Seaboard, sea level rise at the latitudes of New York City and Boston involve land satuaration, rising water tables, high intentsity delugees of water and frequent repeated storms. These storms also bring erosion that may be permanent if 'met' with sea level rise which does not permit reclaimation of land.
If one will entertain one more observation. The deluges of water is very much akin to those experienced by tropical rainforests. Currently the Amazon is experiencing drought due to the very high temperatures that literally 'burn off' the humidity. The storms of the northern latitudes are very much the same type of storms the Amazon normally receives that 'feeds' the rainforest. The northern latitudes could easily 'make the most' of this reality and find effective 'water management' strategies that capture these rains for storage while also realizing the 'forested areas' of these latitudes may very well change. Deciduous trees do not do well in saturated soil, but, other varieties do. All this has to be considered if there is to be a strategy to reverse Human Induced Global Warming. Also, a more viable reality for the northern latitudes regarding it's forests is to provide drainage rather than allow the forest floor to maintain it's high saturation and 'root rot.'
There is a lot of work to do and NO TIME to waste. One reality most conservationists oppose in the face of the destruction they can cause to seaboards are sea walls. In the case of 'cities,' sea walls may very well be the answer, no different than the Netherlands, until these deadly trends are reversed.
Good luck.
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