Zoos

Niabi Zoo Welcomes Early New Year's Surprise (Video)

This past Sunday the Niabi Zoo in the Quad Cities area, welcomed a new baby giraffe calf. The baby was expected later in the week and staff were surprised to meet the new baby boy when they went in for a routine check on the mother Mimi. After the baby has matured, he will most likely move to another AZA insitution as part of the interzoo breeding program.

http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2009/12/-niabi-welcomes-100pound-bouncing-baby-giraffe.html

City Could End Its Operation Of Zoo, Convention Center, Animal Shelters

By Dennis Romero

Mon., Dec. 28 2009 @ 4:26PM

In its quest to stand up to a looming, $400 million budget deficit, the city will have to look seriously at the possibility of giving up its operation of the Zoo, the Convention Center and its animal shelters.

The Los Angeles Daily News on Monday reports that giving up day-to-day control of the institutions has to be on the table if the city is going to take a serious jab at the deficit. "We have to look at what the core mission of the city is," City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana told the paper. "Is it a Zoo? Is it a Convention Center? Those are questions the City Council will have to answer."

Santana says public-private partnerships could help take the costly operations off the city's hands. For example, he said, the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association could easily take over the Zoo, L.A. Inc., the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, could manage the Convention Center, and the ASPCA could run the shelters.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/city-news/city-cuts-zoo-convention-cente/

Polar Bear Days Back at Cleveland Metropark Zoo Starting in the New Year

Submitted by Leader Staff on December 28, 2009 - 9:40am.

Use January's cold to warm your pockets with savings during Polar Bear Days at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Whenever the high temperature for the day is 32 degrees or below, it will be declared a Polar Bear Day at the Zoo. That means Zoo visitors receive half-price admission on that day. Kids under 2 and Zoo members are always free. To confirm a Polar Bear Day at the Zoo, visit the Zoo's home page or call (216) 661-6500 . We'll also be announcing Polar Bear Days on the Zoo's Facebook page and Twitter.

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/12397

Zoo celebrates 110 years

Posted by: Ric Brewer, Communications

Break out the cake--today is our 110th birthday!

On December 28, 1899, the Seattle City Council officially signed the paperwork purchasing the 141 acres that would become Woodland Park Zoo and surrounding parkland. Once owned by real estate tycoon Guy Phinney, the land and its collection of animals had become a burden for his widow after Phinney died in 1893, so it was sold to the growing city for $100,000 to be developed into a park.

The purchase was controversial as many believed the land, located 5 miles north of downtown Seattle, was so far out into the countryside that no one would visit it! But generations of families have proven that wrong as what became Woodland Park Zoo is now a fixture in the lives of more than one million visitors each year. Over the course of the last century plus, the zoo has changed from an attraction that merely showcased animals for enjoyment into an educational institution that is devoted to wildlife and habitat conservation here in the Northwest and around the world.

http://woodlandparkzblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/zoo-celebrates-110-years.html

Rare Rhinos Relocated In Effort To Keep Species Alive

by Nick Wadhams

December 29, 2009

This month, conservationists in the Czech Republic and Kenya launched an audacious bid to save one of the world's rarest animals: the northern white rhinoceros. Four of the last eight known northern whites in the world, two male and two female, were packed into wooden crates and sent from a Czech zoo to Kenya, where scientists hope they will get down to the business of breeding.

They do love a lot of fuss and attention, like horses really. Rhinos respond well to love and being scratched, so the whole name of the game is to make them as chilled out as possible.

- Berry White, a British rhino handler

The rhinos arrived at Nairobi's main airport at 3:30 a.m. on Dec. 19. Hamish Currie prowled the tarmac directing trucks, tractors and a giant crane as the animals came off the 747.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121980888

The Monkey thought he was sharing. No one was ready to catch the orange as he did from the attendant.

Last Updated: December 29. 2009 6:27PM

Zoo works to bring lions closer to visitors

Jennifer Chambers / The Detroit News

Royal Oak -- Plans to change the lions' habitat at the Detroit Zoo will not only bring visitors closer to the big cats but the big cats much closer to visitors.

Plans calls for filling in a dry moat barrier that gives visitors an unobstructed view of the animals and replacing it with a glass wall, which will nearly double the space for the lions and afford visitors a closer look, zoo spokeswoman Patricia Mills Janeway said.

"Warming rocks near the glass will provide the lions with a toasty perch from which to view visitors. Trees, plantings and rocks in the visitor area will mirror those in the lions' habitat, making the experience seem that much more immersive," Janeway said.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091229/METRO/912290403/Zoo-works-to-bring-lions-closer-to-visitors

When Will That Cub Debut?

Posted at 9:58 am December 29, 2009 by Suzanne Hall

Many of you have been asking about, and discussing, the public debut of Yun Zi. Yes, it is beyond the time that Bai Yun’s other cubs have been available for public viewing, and some of you are wondering why our little boy is not outside yet. Many have asked where he will be on exhibit. I know there is a lot of interest in seeing this cub, and I hope this update will answer your questions.

Until recently, Yun Zi has been a bit behind his siblings with respect to spending time out of the den. As I mentioned in my last post (Yun Zi Takes on the World?), Zhen Zhen was following her mother out on exhibit before Christmastime. We don’t know why Zi has been slower: because he’s a boy? Because his body size is so large compared to some sibs, making it a little tougher for him to move his mass around? Personality? This is where that individual variation I mentioned before has come into play.

http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/blog/2009/12/29/when-will-that-cub-debut/

Somali Wild Ass Enrichment

Posted at 3:43 pm December 29, 2009 by Lance Miller

It has been a wonderful seven months since my first blog post about studying the Somali wild ass (see Wild Horses!) at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park. Since then I have collected behavioral and hormone data to help answer some of my original questions. These included figuring out how Somali wild asses spend their time and determining factors that cause certain animals to spend time with some animals but not others. What we have learned is that the Somali wild ass is an amazing social animal. They have associations within the herd that remain consistent, and those associations are reflected in their behavior. Since the last post we have had two newborn Somalis. Play behavior appears to be important in the development of this species, which might serve many functions

http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/blog/2009/12/29/somali-wild-ass-enrichment/

Budget zoo

…The city is now halfway through the fiscal year, and in six months it will have another budget to adopt. Before City Hall closed for the holiday break, interim City Manager Kevin O’Rourke said in an interview that the city before that budget is adopted must poll or survey residents or in some other way determine what their priorities are. For example, he said, if the city had limited resources (it does) and owned a zoo (it does not), and if residents said the zoo was not a priority, it would be reasonable to reduce spending at the zoo. It sounded a lot like priority-based budgeting and a little like another discarded program, City Auditor Mike Taylor’s citizen survey, in which Taylor polled residents in 2007 to take, for the first time in Stockton, a statistically significant measure of their perception of the city and its government (That people overwhelmingly disapproved of both was one reason a planned survey the following year was cancelled)….

http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/stockton-city-hall-blog/

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

FREE day at Hogle Zoo, Wed. 12/30

Need something to do while kids are home during Winter break?

Remember, admission to Hogle Zoo is free on Wednesday, Dec. 30 as part of the zoo's wintertime "Wild Wednesdays" promotion.

This is a HOT deal, given the fact that regular admission is $9 for adults, $7 for seniors and $7 for children ages 3 to 12. (Children under the age of 3 are free.) Other free days this winter include: Jan. 27 and Feb. 24

Remember to stop and say 'hi' to the zoo's newest member, Zuri the baby elephant.

http://www.utahshoppingsecrets.com/2009/12/free-day-at-hogle-zoo-wed-1230.html

Center for Behavioral Neuroscience at GSU partners with Zoo Atlanta

December 29, 1:35 PMAtlanta Science ExaminerKristina Bjoran

Georgia State University’s Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) recently partnered with Zoo Atlanta to go forth with cognitive research, especially with the zoo’s great apes. The partnership has already proved to be a symbiotic relationship; not only has the CBN gained valuable research, but the Center also assisted in the birth of the giant panda cub, Mei Lan.

Though the beginnings of this collaboration were as early as late 2003, the Center has worked with the zoo to develop the Orangutan Learning Tree, which officially opened in April 2007. Other projects include gorilla cognition and tool-use and the Zoo Atlanta’s giant panda breeding program.

http://www.examiner.com/x-27647-Atlanta-Science-Examiner~y2009m12d29-Center-for-Behavioral-Neuroscience-at-GSU-partners-with-Zoo-Atlanta

Oregon Zoo cheetah likely died of cancer, liver disease

By The Oregonian

December 29, 2009, 1:23PM

A necropsy on a two-year-old cheetah that died Sunday at the Oregon Zoo showed that the animal had an enlarged pancreas and liver problems, zoo officials said today.

Scooter died late Sunday afternoon after he became ill around Christmas day, said zoo veterinarian, Lisa Harrenstien.

"It appeared his abdomen hurt and he didn't want to move much," Harrenstien said. "During the exam, we became suspicious of pancreatic disease and had planned exploratory surgery if the extensive fluid therapy we prescribed wasn't successful."

Necropsy results revealed an enlarged, abnormal pancreas, which may indicate pancreatic cancer, and the animal's liver was also abnormal, suggesting, Harrenstien said, veno-occlusive disease, a common ailment in cheetahs but very uncommon in other species.

"We're still in shock," said Chris Pfefferkorn, Oregon Zoo general curator. "Both Scooter and his brother, Suseli, have been popular with visitors since the opening of our new Predators of the Serengeti exhibit in September."

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/12/cheetah_at_oregon_zoo_dies_sud.html

Panda gets last checkup before public debut

By Jeanette Steele, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 1:10 p.m.

SAN DIEGO — Panda cub Yun Zi is a bit of a brawler.

But his San Diego Zoo veterinarian and keepers are taking a boys-will-be-boys attitude about it, perhaps because Tuesday was the last weekly exam the 4-month-old cub will get before his public debut in January.

Zoo officials expect him to follow his mother, Bai Yun, into the public section of the panda enclosure at Balboa Park early next month.

During the Tuesday morning session, Yun Zi yipped, clawed and even tried to chew his handlers as they wrestled to measure him. He was a furry force of nature, but that pleased people in the examination room.

The cub is getting stronger, said senior veterinarian Beth Bicknese.

“He’s less squishy and has more muscle definition,” she said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/29/panda-yun-zi-gets-last-checkup-before-public-debut/

What is wrong with this picture? ? ? ? Not a darn thing, except creative funding.

It is a 'bus wrap' to advertise the zoo. Cool stuff.

Creative Ad: Copenhagen Zoo (click here)

How much would it suck if someone was afraid of snakes and had to take this bus? Copenhagen-based ad agency Bates Y&R created this hyper-realistic version of "Snakes on a Bus." A huge constrictor snake is seen crushing the metal frame of a bus, giving the illusion that all of its passengers are in grave danger. Props to Bates Y&R for great execution, and perfect use of the surrounding environment!

It is time to move Lieberman out of Homeland Security. He hasn't done anything constructive yet.

Lieberman has been Chair of Homeland Security in the Senate for far too long. He needs to be replaced. He uses the committees he sits on for political purposes and no other reason. The policies that have been in place for the USA were under his leadership and they don't work.

And maybe Janet Napolitano should have been standing at the gate in Amsterdam, you think? The policies of Homeland Security that are BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO WORK, are what was in place. Gee, maybe we all should have seen through the Bush/Cheney Faux Homeland Security the day DUCT TAPE became a priority.

If pilots need to be notified across the entire North American continent to secure their cockpits and planes than maybe the Homeland Security initiative needs to be rethought completely.

...Quite right. For one thing, Lieberman (click here), as chairman for the last two years, barely used his committee to actually explore domestic security policy. For another, it's not as if Lieberman has such a unique expertise that Americans would be at risk if, say, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) chaired the same committee. Or Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) or Thomas Carper (D-Del.) or Mark Pryor (D-Ark.)

It's one of those rare arguments from Lieberman that combines arrogance, incompetence, and demagoguery, all at the same time. A rare feat, indeed....

Demint from South Carolina needs to be impeached and brought before the Ethics Committee. It is time to deal with political 'operatives' that see their power as toys for political volleys rather than the protection of the public.

Sen. Demint Voices Concern Over TSA (click here)

Demint Blocked Senate Vote On President's Nominee To Head Agency

Sean Muserallo, WYFF News 4 Digital Reporter

POSTED: 6:47 am EST December 30, 2009
UPDATED: 11:22 am EST December 30, 2009

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- In the wake of the bombing attempt on a U.S. airline, critics are pointing to problems at the Transportation Security Administration.The TSA remains without a leader and some people are blaming South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim Demint. They accuse of him of blocking the nomination of the man the president wants in charge.
Demint objected to a senate vote on the nominee to head the TSA, he said, because he wants to know where he stands on unions....

Unions? I would think unions would be a REQUIREMENT in any government funded agency. It is SOP for government agencies in many instances to have unions to protect their employees because of the 'cold' nature of the administration of any government agency. The government is an entity that is completely removed from human capacity and is a DISTANT manager to operations of its systems.

The more distant a manager is from actual 'work place dynamics' the more arbitrary and inefficent a work place becomes and fails in its purpose. By placing unions within the government structure as a private operation that supports the employees, it 'gives voice' to those employees that facilitates better operation and the 'human dynamic' that is needed for SUCCESSFUL purpose of any government agency.

So, Demint is completely wrong to even question that. He is wrong both in theory and practice. A unionized worker is an empowered worker and feels safe to file greivances about their work place. Union workers, believe it or not, like to contribute to their work environment to be sure they are delivering the best service for the 'excellant' pay they earn. They value their jobs, the quality of life it brings to their families and they want their employers happy with the product to be sure it is highly esteemed in the market place, even if it is service related. If the product isn't worth the pay, it won't last for long.

In the case of Airport Security, the workers should be proud to deliver high quality service to their employers as the people they are securing, on any given day, in any given airport, could be their family members.

Unionized workers within government structures should be mandated as 'experience' enhances the ability to secure airlines. Seniority should count and there should be chances for advancement.

Demint is an obstructist. It is the priority of the RNC. He needs to be seen as a 'threat' to our national security along with anyone else 'playing games' with lives, including Lieberman and Senate Ethics Committee needs to act.
continued...

"Handling" the Talbian isn't about winning them over. Karzai is dead "W"rong and has adapted to losing under Bush/Cheney.

This is building #1 at Khobar Towers. Then there is Beirut. There have been attacks on soft targets as well all the time in Saudi Arab and throughout the Middle East including 'so called secured residential areas,' but, the Saudis have 'mastered' the threat and over came it.

Those are all MODELS for the Taliban. With the latest loss of CIA it is safe to say the Taliban's intelligence network is extensive ENOUGH. The point is the Taliban, even in a small number of militants compared to the populous numbers are going to cause issues and there are nations that have gone through this before that conquered the problem to save the sovereignty of their country.

Saudi Arabia DID NOT need an invading army to conquer their enemies either. Appeasing Karzai is "W"rong, Winning over the Taliban is never going to work and if it were possible it would have occurred under Bush/Cheney Regime when Afghanistan was abandoned to allow eight years of corruption and infiltration.

A sovereign nation does not surrender, 'It digs in.' Ask Pakistan.

...Though the CIA station is based at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, (click title to entry - thank you) the bulk of its workforce is scattered among secret bases and military outposts dotting the country. Most CIA personnel in Afghanistan are involved in support functions such as providing security or managing computer systems, rather than in gathering and analyzing intelligence.

But some of the work civilians perform, particularly that involving law enforcement and intelligence gathering, is considered as dangerous as military duty. Three civilian Drug Enforcement Administration agents were killed in a helicopter crash in October in western Afghanistan. They were accompanying troops on a counternarcotics mission.

Khowst province has been a prime target of militants operating in eastern Afghanistan and just across the border in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

The Chapman base is part of NATO's Regional Command East, which is supervised by the U.S. military. It also houses Western civilians working on reconstruction projects.

The main U.S. base in the province, known as Camp Salerno, has been the target of numerous attacks. Bombers have blown themselves up just outside its gates while trying to penetrate the fortified installation. Afghan civilians usually bear the brunt of such attacks...


RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 14, 2003

Shock And Fear In Riyadh (click here)

Residents Pick Up The Pieces After Saudi Bombings

By Bootie Cosgrove-Mather
Teenagers walked around picking thru sharp pieces of metal which once were parts of a car. Toys, computers, mattresses and kitchen appliances were everywhere in haphazard piles of cinder-block debris.

“They say we support terrorism," a Saudi civil defense official told me today standing in the rubble of the al-Hamra residential compound. “We are victims like everyone else.”

Spending a couple of hours walking through the area, which was one of three neighborhoods attacked by terrorists Monday night, you could see what he meant. As police and rescue personnel sifted through personal belongings and ordinary household items, residents of the area stood around and talked to their neighbors or tried to find a child’s favorite stuffed animal, a family photo album or personal papers....

If journalists are seeking their living by accompanying soldiers, they are going to die. Does that have to be said? You know, there are veterans in the business that have lived through nightmares and have gone into places I shutter to think about. One of those is Nic Robertson and the list goes on, they know what they are doing. There should be a network of 'intelligence' among journalists to facilitate a knowledge base. Pay the 'senior' journalists in the business to mentor the journalists seeking to achieve a goal no one else can. There is a 'right way' and a 'wrong way.'

A road side bomb is hard to predict and the loss of these people is a sincere tragedy, but, there are members of the journalist community that defy odds against any 'rational' reason to be alive. I mean, Nic Robertson, has been under cars when rockets were being launched in Israel and on and on and purposely have gone into neighborhoods where missiles were expected to land. Boggles the mind. The military can probably learn a few things from him.

Routine mission turns deadly for Canadians in Afghanistan (click here)

First Canadian journalist killed in Afghanistan remembered as 'tenacious, brilliant'

Published On Thu Dec 31 2009

...Calgary-based reporter Michelle Lang, 34, was accompanying the soldiers on a routine afternoon patrol near Kandahar's District 2 and was in the back of an armoured vehicle when it hit the improvised explosive device, setting off a huge blast. Lang had been in the country just 19 days, on assignment for Canwest news service.

"Yesterday, Canada lost five citizens," Brig.-Gen. Daniel Ménard, commander of coalition forces in Kandahar, said early Thursday. He said the attack came during a community patrol meant to gather information on the pattern of life and to maintain security in the area...

The bottom line in any terrorist/extremist/militant region of the world is that the more control the government/military obtains; the more resistance that can be expected and the more LIKELY there will be such attacks.

The mission is probably working in Afghanistan. The militants can only have control of the general populous by instilling fear to their prowess to kill. While the CIA agents are valuable beyond any ability to measure in 'worth' their mission to bring about change in Afghanistan is probably working all to well, otherwise, there would be no incentive to carry out such an attack.

Sympathy for the loss to family and friends of these very brave people and make no mistake it took a great deal of bravery to 'sign on' for such a mission. Those 'left behind' should realize the intregal part these people were playing in achieving success to even be perceived as such a threat. That is little consolation for their loss, but, does validate their dedication and purpose.

The truth is a weapon as well. In Al Jazeera:

...The Afghan defence ministry denied that the bomber was an Afghan army officer.

The suicide bomber reportedly evaded security at the base and detonated an explosive belt in a room used as a fitness centre on Wednesday.

A former senior CIA officer who was stationed at the base said a combination of agency officers and contractors operated out of the remote outpost with the military and other agencies.

Initial reports suggested the men killed had been soldiers.

'Reconstruction staff' (click here)

"There has been a great deal of confusion when the reports emerged yesterday," Hashem Ahelbarra, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from the Afghan capital, Kabul, said.

"Then he came back to us in half an hour and said there had been a great deal of confusion and actually 'no, these are not US soldiers but civilians'. They are members of the PRT, which is the provincial reconstruction team."

The PRT was established in Afghanistan in 2002 by the US to assist in reconstruction efforts at district and provincial levels.

US media reports said the Americans killed were employed by the CIA....

I admire Prime Minister Putin, but, is this a political dialogue or real peace negotiations?

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets with workers at a car plant in Vladivostok. His comments about Russia's need for new offensive weapons systems to create a balance of forces with the U.S. come amid talks on a new U.S.-Russian nuclear arms treaty. (Alexei Nikolsky / Pool Photo / December 29, 2009)

Russia won a major concession from the USA in that President Obama saw the error in escalating the circumstances between Russia and Europe by placing a missile shield site at a border of that country. Russia was correct to demand that initiative from the USA.

But, it is unrealistic to expect the USA to hand over technology for the sake of negotiations to go any further. A treaty between the two countries would prohibit any building of such a facility and to that end it would permit escalation of aggression against the USA and Europe should such a stupid volley occur with subsequent USA administrations. Rightfully so.

President Putin is being careful, but, there are extenuating circumstances with nuclear proliferation that also brings China into the picture. China is escalating the 'incidence' of nuclear technology, hence, the potential to nuclear weapons system.

Only recently China stated it would assist Belize with a nuclear facility and now it is the UAE. This is not a good thing.

While Prime Minister Putin has no control over China, they are staunch allies as the USA does not have that relationship. I would hope when Russia and the USA engage in Non-Proliferation it would be to end this hideous 'allowance' of illegal countries 'potential' to nuclear arms that would include all the 'legal nations.'

There are also a few other issues, Iran and the fact Russia successfully helped them with their reactor after the stupidity of the USA in misleading them. We are now faced with a growing destabilizing movement there and it is completely imprudent to continue to allow Iran their enrichment facilities.

And there is the issue of new Russia allowances of a third term for the former President. Right now he is looking more like President Obama in a re-election bid than the President himself.

A car factory, Vladimir?

Upset about the Chevy Volt.

Too bad.

Jeeze. The UAE has more damn sunlight than any other country on Earth.

NO!