December 26, 2005.
Memorial on the beach of Phuket, Thialand.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Morning Papers - continued ...
Sydney Morning Herald
Father stunned to find ring after long search
By Andrew Clark
December 27, 2005
Lost to the tsunami ... Christian Nott and Moi Vogel at their wedding. They died while on an extended honeymoon in Thailand.
A BEREAVED Sydney businessman's search for his late son's wedding ring has ended successfully, almost a year after tragedy struck his family in the Asian tsunami.
Richard Nott, a company director from Pymble, has found the sapphire-encrusted ring worn by his son Christian, 34, who was killed alongside his pregnant wife Moi Vogel, 32, while on an extended honeymoon in Thailand.
A bag of possessions containing the ring, which was sent to Sydney on Christmas Eve by Thai authorities, also included a damaged mobile phone which Mr Nott hopes will provide clues to the pair's final movements.
"It's got a damaged chip," said Mr Nott. "But I'm trying to see if we can get any photos from it."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/father-stunned-to-find-ring/2005/12/26/1135445527344.html
A white-knuckle ride - and that's just the start
Riders of the storm … competitors and spectators churn up the harbour at the start of the Sydney to Hobart.
December 27, 2005
THE two super-maxi yachts charged through Sydney Heads about to make their turn south to Hobart and from the air the sea around them looked like a horizontal Blue Poles.
Hundreds of small craft boisterously rushed to farewell the Sydney to Hobart fleet yesterday, turning the water outside the harbour entrance into a potentially lethal maelstrom.
Some small craft were swamped and foolhardy kayakers tipped into the Tasman Sea as launches, yachts, ferries and tinnies churned the water into two-metre waves coming from all directions.
"One day, somebody's going to get hurt bad," said a skipper returning to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. "They ought to extend the exclusion zone right out the Heads to off Bondi."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/sydneytohobart/a-whiteknuckle-ride/2005/12/26/1135445529134.html
Sydney-Hobart Race Blog
http://blogs.smh.com.au/sydneytohobart/
Four killed as fierce winds topple passenger train
By Miwa Suzuki in Tokyo
December 27, 2005
Battling the elements … rescuers work to rescue passengers trapped on board the derailed express train in northern Japan.
Photo: AP
RESCUERS yesterday pulled the body of a fourth passenger from the twisted and snow-blown wreckage of a train that crashed in northern Japan after derailing during a blizzard.
Five of the train's six carriages left the tracks in strong winds in Yamagata prefecture late on Sunday. Three carriages toppled over and the front car slammed into a rail-side shack, local police said.
Rescuers crawling through wrecked carriages during a severe snowstorm had found the bodies of three passengers by early yesterday. About 33 other passengers were injured in the accident.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/four-killed-as-fierce-winds-topple-passenger-train/2005/12/26/1135445527356.html
Dozens treated after St Petersburg gas release
December 27, 2005 - 12:52AM
More than 70 people were sickened by an unidentified gas released in a store in Russia's second-largest city on Monday.
Boxes with wires and timers attached to containers possibly holding gas were found in other outlets of the chain, officials said.
A spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry, Viktor Beltsov, said 78 people sought medical care and 66 of them were hospitalised. None of them was assessed as being in life-threatening condition, he said.
He said all those sickened had been at one branch of the Maksidom home-goods chain.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/dozens-treated-after-st-petersburg-gas-release/2005/12/27/1135445533642.html
RAAF told me: cover up assault of girls
By Cynthia Banham Defence Reporter
December 26, 2005
Page 1 of 2
AN RAAF employee of 20 years whose children were sexually assaulted by a senior officer was forced to resign after defence bosses allowed the attacker continued access to the base where she worked.
The woman's daughters, aged 8 and 12, were assaulted by former wing commander Terry Morgan in June. When the woman tendered her resignation a month later, her commanding officer asked her to remove the reason from her letter, and to "let it go".
"You don't want this to follow you around," the woman says she was told.
Morgan, a pilot and former family friend, was convicted in September of four counts of indecent acts on a child under 16, and possession of child pornography. He resigned from the RAAF that month, taking with him the full "entitlements that were legally owing to him", the Department of Defence said. He continued to enjoy access to the base during the months before his trial, while on bail.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/12/25/1135445486554.html?from=top5
Family pleads with fugitive to give up
By Jordan Baker
December 26, 2005
FOR the family of Malcolm John Naden, this was Christmas: one cousin dead, another missing, and a third on the run from the homicide squad.
Distraught relatives of Naden, the bush fugitive who prompted a huge manhunt at Western Plains Zoo on Friday, are pleading with him to hand himself in, saying it was time to "sort this mess out".
Naden, an unemployed shearer and former skinner and boner at Dubbo abattoir, has been wanted since August, when the strangled body of Kristy Scholes, the wife of one of his cousins, was found in his bedroom.
He is also linked to the disappearance of another cousin, Lateesha Nolan.
The 31-year-old has been spotted working for cash in mines near Walgett, selling opals noodled from a dump and living in Western Plains Zoo. Each time, he has managed to elude police.
Janette Lancaster, his aunt, has sent a message to Naden over the internet in the hope someone will pass it on.
"Pop [their grandfather, who has had a heart attack] is very ill and he needs to know how you are and hear your side of the story in regards to Kristy," it said.
"Pop won't get better until he knows what's going on and nan is frantic with worry and the stress of all this is making her sick as well.
"Your mother is worried and needs to talk to you and all the family wants you to hand yourself in to the police and sort this mess out."
Ms Nolan's father, Mick Peet, told the Herald: "I plead for him to come forward. I really want to find out where my daughter's body is. I still think I am in a nightmare. I am very upset for [Lateesha's children]. It is their first Christmas without their mum."
Naden is a skilled bushman who can survive off the land. Relatives say he is proficient in martial arts. Police believe he has also been stealing food and staying with contacts.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/family-pleads-with-fugitive-to-give-up/2005/12/25/1135445486563.html
Drug firms dragging their feet over vaccine
By John Solomon in Washington
December 27, 2005
IN AN unusually candid admission, the US chief of AIDS research, Edmund Tramont, says he believes drug companies do not have an incentive to create a vaccine for HIV and are likely to wait to profit from it after the US government develops one.
That means Washington has had to spend more time focusing on the processes drug companies ordinarily follow in developing new medicines and bringing them to market, he said.
"We had to spend some time and energy paying attention to those aspects of development because the private side isn't picking it up," Dr Tramont testified in a deposition in a recent employment lawsuit.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/drug-firms-dragging-their-feet-over-vaccine/2005/12/26/1135445527368.html
Shared secrets expose teens to risk of sexual predators
By Guy Kovner in Santa Rosa, California
December 24, 2005
MILLIONS of American teenagers are engaging in risky behaviour on the internet, posting personal information and talking about sex with strangers, according to a survey released by the Polly Klaas Foundation in California.
"This is a wake-up call for parents," said Glena Records, the foundation's director of communication and education. She warned "safety lectures are not going to work in the current internet age".
Teens and tech-savvy predators knew more than many parents about cyberspace, both as a global communications medium and as a dark place for criminals to mask their identity and intent, Ms Records said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/shared-secrets-expose-teens-to-sexual-predators/2005/12/23/1135032186808.html
After the riots: city's map of racism
By Tony Stephens and AAP
December 26, 2005
Page 1 of 2
RESIDENTS of Mosman and Woollahra have joined those in the Sutherland Shire as among the Sydney people least tolerant of cultural diversity and multicultural values, a map of the city's racial attitudes reveals.
Two weeks after the Cronulla race riots, tens of thousands of people returned to Sydney's beaches for Christmas Day, while church leaders called on Australians to be tolerant and to take responsibility for the violence in the beach suburbs.
Now researchers have produced a map - based on a survey of 1800 Sydney residents - that they hope can be used in programs to counter racism.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/12/25/1135445486548.html?from=top5
The Miami Herald
Galápagos Islands face a complex stream of threats
Economic, political and environmental pressures are squeezing Ecuador's ecologically fragile Galápagos Islands.
BY STEVEN DUDLEY
sdudley@MiamiHerald.com
PUERTO AYORA, Ecuador - The town of Puerto Ayora might be the cleanest in Latin America. It recycles everything from lubricants to batteries. The number of cars allowed is limited. Birds dive into the bay to catch the bountiful fish. And sea lions sun themselves all around.
But Puerto Ayora has a problem: It's in Ecuador's Galápagos Islands, which have an ecosystem as fragile as the wings of a butterfly.
With its burgeoning population, an endless stream of tourists, an insatiable and powerful fishing industry and a corrupt and unstable national government, the islands -- as Charles Darwin knew them when he visited in the 19th century and developed his famed origin of species theory -- may be headed for extinction.
''If the situation remains the same, it will be catastrophic for the Galápagos,'' said Xavier Bustamante, the head of the Natura Foundation, an Ecuadorean non-governmental organization that monitors the country's protected lands.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487489.htm
Padilla case weaves web of risks for government
The terrorism case of Jose Padilla, dubbed the 'dirty bomber' after his arrest in 2002, poses a complex legal challenge for the Justice Department.
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
When federal prosecutors lost a major terrorism trial against a Tampa scholar this month, the shocking verdict raised doubts about a terrorist case in Miami against Jose Padilla.
Now, further complicating the criminal case is the possible U.S. Supreme Court review of Padilla's detention as an ''enemy combatant.''
Padilla, arrested in Chicago in 2002 amid accusations that he had planned to detonate a radioactive ''dirty bomb'' on American soil, has been in military custody.
But after declaring Padilla an enemy combatant, the Bush administration switched its position last month and tossed the former Broward County resident into the criminal justice system.
The U.S.-born Padilla, who traveled from Broward to the Middle East allegedly for al Qaeda training, was added to a federal indictment that claims he and others conspired to ''murder, kidnap and maim persons'' in an Islamic holy war overseas.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487487.htm
HANDING OUT HOPE
VOLUNTEERS HELP LIFT SPIRITS AND SERVE HOLIDAY MEALS AT CAMILLUS HOUSE
BY MATTHEW I. PINZUR
mpinzur@MiamiHerald.com
Every volunteer uses different words to explain why they came to a homeless shelter Christmas morning, but they all really have the same answer:
This is how we want to be as Christmas turns into New Year's, how we summon hope that we will do more in 2006 to rebuild the broken parts of the world.
This is how we see the best parts of ourselves.
''The greatest aspirations are born on Christmas,'' said Brother Majella Marchand, a director at Camillus House, which planned to serve more than 500 meals Sunday.
The downtown shelter normally has 15 to 20 volunteers helping serve daily meals, a mixture of religious organizations, student groups and petty criminals working off community-service sentences.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487386.htm
The Oppenheimer Report
THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT
2005: U.S. slipped as China rose in Latin America
Andres Oppenheimer
aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com
When historians in the future look back at the year 2005, they will describe it as the year in which the United States lost much of its once almighty influence in Latin America, and former outsiders -- such as China -- began to play a modest but rapidly growing role in hemispheric affairs.
Some researchers are likely to say the loss of U.S. clout in the region was due to the the rise of hostile regional subpowers such as oil-rich Venezuela, which won growing influence thanks to a combination of checkbook diplomacy and populist demagoguery.
Others will say it was a self-inflicted retrenchment, because the United States lost interest in a region stuck with 19th century anti-free-market ideologies at a time when China, India and the former Eastern Europe were embracing capitalism -- and U.S. corporations -- with near religious zeal.
Whichever the case, the fact is that Latin America's economy grew by a reasonably healthy 4.3 percent in 2005, but below the 5.7 percent combined average growth of all developing countries, and even more significantly behind China's 9 percent growth, or India's 7 percent growth, according to United Nations figures.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13482142.htm
Latin & Caribbean Briefs
GUATEMALA
FIVE CHILDREN DIE FROM FIREWORKS
GUATEMALA CITY - Five children died Christmas morning in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Guatemala City when a blaze started by fireworks swept through their house, a fire official said.
The mother had left the five in their beds to go look for her other children when a traditional holiday firecracker called a silbador was shot into the small wooden house and started the fire, said fire department spokesman Mynor Cholotio.
The children's ages were 2, 3, 6, 10 and 13.
MEXICO
VOLCANIC ERUPTION ON CHRISTMAS DAY
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano staged a spectacular pre-dawn explosion Sunday, sending a column of ash two miles into the air and spewing red-hot lava.
There were no reports of ash raining down or any other threat to nearby communities, Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Center reported.
The explosion was the latest in a series of moderate eruptions from the 17,886-foot volcano located 40 miles southeast of the Mexican capital.
GUYANA
STATE AID TO FARMERS SUFFERING AFTER FLOOD
GEORGETOWN -- Guyanese farmers will receive $2 million in government aid after torrential rains killed 30 people and destroyed rice crops across the nation, the president said.
Parts of Guyana were flooded when five feet of rain fell between Dec. 26, 2004 and mid-January.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487498.htm
MIAMI BEACH
Cubans walking on causeway detained
By CARLI TEPROFF
cteproff@MiamiHerald.com
Fourteen Cuban migrants, who apparently landed undetected Christmas morning on Miami Beach, were rounded up after being found walking along Julia Tuttle Causeway, police said.
Few details were available Sunday about the group, spotted at about 9 a.m. on the causeway near the Alton Road exits, according to U.S. Border Patrol and the Miami Beach police.
It was unclear whether the group was smuggled and dropped off or whether they arrived on their own boat. The group was taken to the Krome detention center in West Miami-Dade for processing.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487393.htm
Lives are in limbo at FEMA camp
Life in a camper has been a blessing for some left homeless by Hurricane Wilma, but a tough transition for others.
BY NATALIE P. McNEAL
nmcneal@MiamiHerald.com
Delphine Green, her five children and her disabled stepfather live in two government-issued trailers in Oakland Park.
After losing their Dania Beach apartment to Hurricane Wilma, then spending five weeks in three Red Cross shelters, the family was looking forward to being back in a place of their own.
But living in the county's Easterlin Park in a camper among wildlife and nature trails isn't exactly what they had in mind.
''A raccoon attacked my car the other day,'' Green said. ``I'm not used to living like this.''
The evacuees in the Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers all live in the same type of RVs, but their adjustment to life after Hurricane Wilma is as varied as the parks they are scattered in.
For some of the evacuees, living in the ''FEMA villages'' is a welcome relief -- a godsend even -- from the anxiety of their waterlogged, uninhabitable homes. For others, particularly those living in trailers far from their homes, it's been a tough transition.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13486999.htm
Hanukkah songs on Web
The Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University is making available over the Internet a collection of songs to celebrate the Festival of Lights.
BY LONA O'CONNOR
Palm Beach Post
Just in time for Hanukkah, the Judaica Sound Archives is launching the Children's Music Project, a collection of songs to celebrate the Festival of Lights.
The project, sponsored by the Florida Atlantic University libraries, includes familiar tunes such as The Dreidel Song and Once There Was a Time.
Hanukkah, which began at sunset Sunday night, celebrates the rededication of the holy temple in Jerusalem, which the Jews won back from the Greeks in 165 B.C. After fighting the Greeks for three years, the Jews entered their damaged and looted temple.
They wanted to celebrate by lighting the menorah, but could find only a little oil. Miraculously, the oil kept the menorah lit for eight nights.
The Hanukkah songs are available on the Internet.
The site also includes songs for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Passover and other holy days.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487002.htm
Fear destroys what bin Laden could not
ROBERT STEINBACK
rsteinback@MiamiHerald.com
One wonders if Osama bin Laden didn't win after all. He ruined the America that existed on 9/11. But he had help.
If, back in 2001, anyone had told me that four years after bin Laden's attack our president would admit that he broke U.S. law against domestic spying and ignored the Constitution -- and then expect the American people to congratulate him for it -- I would have presumed the girders of our very Republic had crumbled.
Had anyone said our president would invade a country and kill 30,000 of its people claiming a threat that never, in fact, existed, then admit he would have invaded even if he had known there was no threat -- and expect America to be pleased by this -- I would have thought our nation's sensibilities and honor had been eviscerated.
If I had been informed that our nation's leaders would embrace torture as a legitimate tool of warfare, hold prisoners for years without charges and operate secret prisons overseas -- and call such procedures necessary for the nation's security -- I would have laughed at the folly of protecting human rights by destroying them.
If someone had predicted the president's staff would out a CIA agent as revenge against a critic, defy a law against domestic propaganda by bankrolling supposedly independent journalists and commentators, and ridicule a 37-year Marie Corps veteran for questioning U.S. military policy -- and that the populace would be more interested in whether Angelina is about to make Brad a daddy -- I would have called the prediction an absurd fantasy.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487511.htm
Hurricane windfall -- follow the money
OUR OPINION: STATE'S EXTRA REVENUE SHOULD BENEFIT POLICYHOLDERS
Here's the latest kick in the shins to the state's beleaguered windstorm-insurance policyholders: a suggestion that they should be overlooked when it comes to distributing the sales-tax windfall that followed this year's storms. This is an insult to Florida homeowners who are bracing themselves for the next steep increase in rates.
Usually, Gov. Jeb Bush is keen to ensure that Florida's residents are treated fairly by the state. It's hard to see why he opposes the use of the extra revenue generated by hurricane reconstruction to support policyholders who rely on the state-created insurer of last resort.
New revenue growth
Perhaps it would help to follow the money. The trail begins with Florida policyholders paying a premium to Citizens Property Insurance. Keep that in mind, because without this premium the pot of gold that the state is holding wouldn't exist. After a hurricane, the policyholder files a claim with Citizens, the state's second-largest windstorm-insurance company, to cover storm damage. The claim is paid, using the accumulated premiums of all policyholders. The homeowner then spends $20,000 for a new roof.
The state comes into the picture by getting its cut in the form of a sales tax when roofing materials, replacement furniture, etc., is purchased. Multiply this by hundreds of thousands of claims and associated economic activity, and suddenly the state is projecting an estimated $3.2 billion in new revenue growth -- i.e., an increase over previous predictions of revenue growth. This creates a big surplus in the state treasury. That's good for Florida, but it's not the end of the story.
Citizens remains woefully undercapitalized, despite years of back-to-back, double-digit rate increases. This year, it assessed all homeowners, including those covered by other companies, 6.8 percent of their premiums to cover a loss of more than $500 million from the four hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004. Next year, a second, larger assessment is expected to cover the cost of the 2005 storms.
Plenty of cash
So here's the question: Wouldn't it make sense to use the revenue surplus that was generated originally by policyholders to balance the state insurance company's books? Gov. Bush says he doesn't want to bail out the insurance company, but that overlooks the policyholder whose premium payments generate the funding that keeps the insurance system in operation.
The state has plenty of cash to make up the difference, even without the extra revenue. It should use these funds to help policyholders who cannot go without hurricane-insurance protection and are already strapped to meet current premiums. Otherwise, the state is left holding the pot of gold, and policyholders are left holding the bag.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13487503.htm
Body found in Atlantic may be missing Chalk's crash victim
BY CHARLES RABIN
crabin@herald.com
Two Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue divers who were out sailfishing this morning found a body in the Atlantic Ocean about three miles east of Key Biscayne, and authorities are trying to determine if it's the lone unrecovered body from the crash of Chalk's Ocean Airways flight 101.
The seaplane, carrying 18 passengers and two crew members, crashed Monday in the shallow waters near the Government Cut jetty on Miami Beach.
Witnesses and video images showed the right wing and engine on fire as it fell into the water ahead of the fuselage. The flight had just taken off from Watson Island and was heading to Bimini in the Bahamas.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13475419.htm
A holiday tragedy for two neighbors
OUR OPINION: CHALK'S FLIGHT 101 CRASH TOOK A DEADLY, PERSONAL TOLL
The tragedy of the Chalk's Ocean Airways plane crash into Government Cut that took 20 lives on Monday is horribly sad. It takes on more poignancy because it happened so close to holidays that draw family and friends together. The deaths cast a deep pall for all who knew those who perished. No words of condolence are adequate to say to mourners beyond these: We're sorry for your loss.
Recorder no help
National Transportation and Safety Board investigators have a tough job to manage, one made even more difficult because the Grumman G-73T Mallard wasn't equipped with a data box and its recovered voice recorder appears to have malfunctioned. It will take months to determine the cause of the crash
Many worry that the crash could trigger the demise of Chalk's, a beloved Miami institution. The airline has flown from here to Bimini and Nassau for more than 75 years. Generations of Bahamians have ferried between the U.S. mainland and the islands on the amphibian crafts as easily as if taking a city bus.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13472200.htm
Presidential hopefuls have drug ties, sources in Haiti, U.S. claim
Some candidates for president of Haiti have ties to drug traffickers, according to Haitian and U.S. officials.
By JOE MOZINGO
jmozingo@MiamiHerald.com
PORT-AU-PRINCE - At least three candidates in Haiti's upcoming elections have links to a cocaine-trafficking industry that wants to ensure the next government is weak and corruptible, a half-dozen Haitian and U.S. officials say.
Two of Haiti's best-financed presidential candidates -- Guy Philippe and Dany Toussaint -- have long been linked to cocaine trafficking by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13472170.htm
Mariah Carey ties Elvis on singles chart
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Mariah Carey's "Don't Forget About Us" rose to the top of Billboard's Hot 100 chart, putting her in a tie with Elvis Presley for second place among artists with the most No. 1 singles in the rock era.
Carey and Presley have 17 No. 1 hits, second only to the Beatles, who had 20. (Some music sources report Presley had 18 No. 1 hits by counting the double-sided single "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog" as two hits instead of one.)
"Don't Forget About Us" was Carey's second No. 1 song this year, following her ballad "We Belong Together." Both tunes are from her Grammy-nominated album, "The Emancipation of Mimi."
It has taken Carey just over 15 years to accumulate the 17 hit singles. Her first was "Vision of Love" in 1990.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13476809.htm
State of emergency declared after attack
LIMA - (AP) -- Peru's president declared a state of emergency in six jungle provinces and promised to stamp out the nation's remaining Shining Path guerrillas after suspected rebels killed eight police officers in an ambush.
Under Peruvian law, a state of emergency suspends civil rights, such as the right to assembly, and gives police and the military sweeping powers to enter homes and conduct searches.
President Alejandro Toledo decreed a two-month state of emergency in six coca-producing provinces in the central jungle and said his Cabinet had also approved the creation of an emergency commission to bring urgently needed social development to the area.
''This supreme decree will allow the armed forces and the police to jointly enter and take action in this zone for 60 days,'' Toledo said in an address aired on state-run television.
The goal, he said, was to provide ``a greater state presence, within the law, respecting human rights.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13472196.htm
Fox hires lobbyist for U.S.
The Texan who advised President Vicente Fox's election campaign will now try to sweeten U.S. views on immigration.
BY SAM ENRIQUEZ
Los Angeles Times Service
MEXICO CITY -- President Vicente Fox has rehired the Texas public relations man and GOP political consultant who quietly helped engineer his election victory in 2000. This time, Fox wants Rob Allyn & Co. to put the brakes on growing anti-immigration, anti-Mexican sentiment in the United States.
Last week, the U.S. House approved a bill to add 700 miles of border fencing and make illegal immigration a felony. Fox denounced the measure as shameful. His foreign minister called it stupid and underhanded.
''The contributions of Mexicans in the United States, who are making their best effort, generating lots of wealth, are not known,'' said Rodrigo Iván Cortés Jiménez, an elected deputy in Mexico's lower house and a member of its commission on foreign affairs.
The immigration bill, expected to reach the Senate in February, has no provision for allowing temporary Mexican workers -- a further slap, in Fox's view. He and President Bush agree on the need for a ''guest worker'' program.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13472193.htm
New Zealand Herald
Tsunami couple remembered
27.12.05
By Simon O'Rourke
"Andrew and Belinda went home earlier than we thought they would."
The married couple who lost their lives in the Boxing Day tsunami were remembered with love at a ceremony beside a magnolia tree in a Huntly garden yesterday.
About 20 friends and family gathered to re-tell favourite stories, in a relaxed memorial which had a deeply spiritual theme - the pair were committed Christians and family and friends believe they are now with the God they loved so much.
"Quite early in the piece we accepted they were in it," elder brother Jeremy Welch told the gathering at his semi-rural home overlooking Lake Hakanoa.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10361591
Chants and incense for remembrance
27.12.05
By Catherine Masters
KHAO LAK - The smell of incense and the peaceful sounds of chanting drift in the still air at the devastated Sofitel Magic Lagoon and Spa resort on the beachfront at Khao Lak in southern Thailand.
Nine orange-robed Buddhist monks sit cross-legged in a row holding a long piece of white string stretched out in front of them.
The string is like a pathway, helping the offerings placed in front of the monks - toothpaste, toothbrush, hairbrush, practical things - to travel to the spirits of the tsunami victims.
Among the mostly Thai congregation at this intimate memorial service of about 30 people sit two Australians.
The mother and sister of Kim Walsh, 39, who died in room number 3122 on the ground floor, clasp their hands in prayer with the others.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=0006F7FE-D671-13AF-BF2983027AF1010F
NZ Government to continue tsunami assistance
26.12.05 4.00pm
New Zealand will continue assisting Asian nations recovering from the Boxing Day tsunami for as long as needed, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said today.
"There is much more to do, and many of those affected by the tsunami have lost everything and are not yet back on their feet," he said.
"New Zealand is committed to continuing our role in the recovery for as long as it takes, and delivering our assistance in a meaningful and accountable way."
New Zealanders here and across Asia will today remember the tsunami which killed 216,000 people and displaced 1.7 million in 12 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.
"Our thoughts go out to the families of those who died or were injured by last year's tsunami, and also to the areas which are still rebuilding," Mr Peters said in a statement.
New Zealand gave its biggest aid contribution of $68 million in the aftermath of the December 26 disaster.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=00048DB3-4AE8-13AF-AD2283027AF1FE9F
Quiet tsunami prayers mark Christmas in Thailand
26.12.05 1.00pm
By Darren Schuettler
KHAO LAK, Thailand - Simple Buddhist ceremonies marked Christmas Day in Thailand's tsunami zone as relatives of victims remembered their loved ones on the eve of the Indian Ocean disaster's first anniversary.
"I will have to die before I can forget," said 80-year-old Thai Sorjia Aiawsakul, who lost her son, daughter-in-law and niece in the December 26 tragedy, which killed an estimated 231,000 people in Asia and Africa.
Thailand's official death toll stands at 5,395.
"He was the son I liked most. Even though a year has passed I think about him each day. I still cry every day," she said as saffron-robed monks intoned Buddhist chants at Wat Ban Muang on Khao Lak, the coastline where most of Thailand's victims died.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=0000F6CE-25A8-13AF-A32783027AF10017
Tourists sacrifice holidays to help with cleanup
26.12.05 1.00pm
By Marcus Brogden
KOH PHI PHI, Thailand - New Zealander John William Farrington Morgan is just one of the many tourists who have sacrificed part of their holiday to help clean up the Thai divers' paradise Koh Phi Phi.
Volunteers are rebuilding and repairing the island where more than 1000 people died after the tsunami roared in on Boxing Day 2004, when holiday revellers were sleeping off Christmas hangovers.
With its sheer limestone cliffs, jagged waterfronts and tucked-away beaches in stunning lagoons, the island has long been a haven for backpackers and divers.
The local economy of Koh Phi Phi, which gained fame when it was featured in the Leonardo Di Caprio movie The Beach, was devastated.
One year on, only about 60 per cent of its buildings remain. All around, tourists, many with backs burned from the searing sun, are carting rocks, levelling ground and helping to restore the one-time tourist paradise to its pre-tsunami glory.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=00091C3D-1EC8-13AF-89A583027AF10017
How the beach has lost its aura of innocence
27.12.05
By Kathy Marks
SYDNEY - The golden sweep of sand at Bondi was carpeted with people enjoying a traditional Christmas at the beach.
There were backpackers, families, surfers, sunbathers - and police patrolling in cars and on foot.
The crowd can get a bit high-spirited at Bondi at Christmas, which is why an alcohol ban was introduced last year. But police were not stationed at Sydney's most iconic beach in case the revelry got out of hand. They were there, supposedly, to step in if rival ethnic gangs decided to rampage.
Almost overnight, Sydney has changed. Australia's most beautiful, laid-back city is effectively under martial law. Emergency legislation has given police draconian new powers to "lock down" entire neighbourhoods, stop and search, and confiscate cars and mobile phones.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361560
Death sentences against nurses lifted
27.12.05
By Jerome Taylor
LONDON - Bulgaria yesterday welcomed the decision by Libya's Supreme Court to scrap death sentences against five Bulgarian nurses and order a retrial of the cases, which have harmed Tripoli's efforts to build ties with the West.
The nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death by firing squad in May 2004 after a court found them guilty of knowingly injecting 426 children with HIV.
The accused have maintained their innocence, saying they were tortured and forced to confess.
Bulgaria, the European Union and the United States have consistently urged their release, accusing Libya of making up the charges to avoid domestic criticism of the HIV scandal.
Libya's Supreme Court suggested it believed the accused had been tortured in custody and ordered the retrial after Libya and Bulgaria agreed on an aid package for the victims.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361561
Deadbeat dads could be tagged
27.12.05
LONDON - Tougher penalties against absent fathers who refuse to make child maintenance payments will be included in a shake-up of Britain's Child Support Agency next month.
New sanctions being considered by ministers include imposing curfews backed by electronic tagging to restrict the movements of fathers. Ministers will also order much greater use of existing but little-used powers such as confiscating driving licences.
Government figures show that only nine absent parents have been banned from driving and only 27 sent to jail since these penalties for non-payment were introduced in 2001.
Tagging is seen as a more realistic option than prison, since parents could remain in work and keep up their maintenance payments.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361565
German efficiency wins once again
27.12.05
By Karin Strohecker
BERLIN - With a confident smile on his face and a spring in his step, German rail chief Hartmut Mehdorn walks through the buzzing Berlin building site where Europe's largest railway station is going up.
After more than 10 years of work, the round-the-clock project is on budget and on time to open at the end of May, two weeks before the start of the soccer World Cup that will bring more than a million extra visitors to Germany.
"The light at the end of the tunnel is definitely getting brighter," said the chief executive of rail operator Deutsche Bahn. "A load will drop off our minds when that station is finally finished."
Loved by some, loathed by others, the former Lehrter Bahnhof station is nearing the end of its estimated 700 million ($1.19 billion) transformation from a World War II ruin to one of Europe's key rail hubs.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361568
Vietnamese boat person sets sail for home
27.12.05
By Rachel Pannett
Mitchell Pham describes himself as the "black sheep" of his family. His mother, father, sister and brother are all engineers.
It is a tongue-in-cheek reference, however, as there is no way his parents would frown on his career path. Nevertheless, Pham, who launched software firm Augen as a fresh-faced graduate from Auckland University with four mates in 1993, stands out.
He is a risk-taker, an entrepreneur, with a knack for new ideas and the courage to follow through. It is a courage Pham, 34, exhibited at 12 when his parents put him in a boat then launched it into the South China Sea with 67 other Vietnamese refugees.
As supporters of the South Vietnamese Government during the Vietnam War, Pham's parents were outcasts under the post-war communist rule from the North.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10361569
Busman's holiday for bank workers
27.12.05
By Adam Bennett
The Bank of New Zealand sent many of its staff on holiday not just with best wishes for the festive period, but with a request they drum up business for the bank among family and friends.
In an email to team leaders, BNZ marketing and business development general manager Shona Bishop said: "It is important that we keep up and maintain our sales and service focus right through the holiday season to ensure a successful 2006 for the bank.
"It does not matter where you are over the holiday period ... at work or on the beach ... there will be numerous opportunities to provide financial solutions to family and friends by referring them to Bank of New Zealand."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10361571
Mexico's snowy 'smoking mountain' spits ash, rocks
26.12.05 1.00pm
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's giant Popocatepetl volcano threw up an ash column almost 2 miles high and spat glowing rocks down its snow-clad slopes today, but nearby towns were not affected, officials said.
Popocatepetl, whose name means "smoking mountain" in the Nahuatl Indian language spoken by the Aztecs, spewed out the huge plume of ash and rocks in a three-minute exhalation.
"The recent activity is within the expected scenarios and there is no evidence of a major risk in the following days," said the disaster prevention center Conapred.
"No reports of ash fall have been received."
Sunday's activity was the latest in a recent series of disturbances which started December 1, when the 5,452 metre volcano showered ash on the nearby town of Amecameca.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=68&objectid=10361537
Men catching up to women in life expectancy
26.12.05
As the first of the 75 million baby boomers touch 60 in January, there's good news for the men: They are catching up to women in life expectancy.
A new Longevity Index by Credit Suisse First Boston shows that while women still live four years longer on average, men are gaining twice as fast in the age race.
Medical experts say women are working harder, smoking more and undergoing more stress, which leads to the No 1 killer - heart disease.
"We are getting equality in ways we may not want," said Dr Sharon Brangman, a board member of the American Geriatrics Society.
The Longevity Index is designed to help insurance companies and pension funds hedge their risk as both men and women live longer - and cost more - in pension payments and lifetime annuity payments.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10361452
Eating seafood twice weekly will make you healthy and wise
24.12.05
NEW YORK - Eating seafood twice a week is good for you, Americans have been told.
New US guidelines recommend that people, especially children and pregnant and nursing women, eat seafood that often.
The guidelines summarise scientific findings presented at a conference in Washington reiterating that seafood helps people to live longer and healthier, cutting the risk for heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, stroke, diabetes and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
The conference was sponsored by the Governments of the US, Norway, Canada and Iceland, aided by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids, iodine, iron and choline, present in fish such as wild and farmed salmon, shrimp and catfish, are important in brain development and may lessen the effects of dyslexia, autism, hyperactivity and attention-deficit disorder, researchers have found, and some studies have linked those nutrients with increased intelligence in infants and children.
William E.M. Lands, a retired professor of biochemistry at the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois says, "not eating seafood is more harmful than eating it".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10361324
Scientists vote Darwinian evolution as year's breakthrough
23.12.05 1.00pm
By Steve Connor
American scientists have thumbed their noses at new-age creationists who peddle the idea of intelligent design by voting Darwinian evolution as breakthrough of the year.
The editors of the journal Science said that several studies published in 2005 have shown beyond any doubt how evolution underpins all aspects of modern biology.
This year has seen many advances in several areas of research that uncover the intricacies that drive the evolution of all organism, from viruses to primates, the journal says.
"Painstaking field observations shed new light on how populations diverge to form new species - the mystery of mysteries that baffled Darwin himself," write the editors of Science.
"Ironically, also this year some segments of American society fought to dilute the teaching of even the basic facts of evolution," they say.
"With all this in mind, Science has decided to put Darwin in the spotlight by saluting several dramatic discoveries each of which reveals the laws of evolution in action," they add.
In 2005, scientists decoded the genome of the chimpanzee to confirm that the chimp is our closest living relative, descended from a common ancestor.
Other researchers sequenced the genome of the 1918 flu virus retrieved from the frozen corpse of an Alaskan woman who died in the pandemic.
A second team of scientists used the sequence to rebuild the virus in the laboratory in order to analyse why it was so deadly.
They also found that it had evolved directly from a bird flu virus.
"Understanding the evolution of last century's deadly bird flu may help us to predict and cope with the current bird flu threat," say the Science editors.
Other studies have shown how small changes or mutations in the DNA of a species can result in dramatic evolutionary transformations, such as the creation of two species from one.
"Researchers found that a single genetic change can be all it takes to turn one species into many, as in the case of the Alaskan stickleback fish that lost its armour and evolved from an ocean-loving species to a variety of landlocked lake dwellers," they say.
David Kingsley, professor of developmental biology at Stanford University in California, said that the stickleback research in 15 different species of fish showed for the first time that a single genetic mutation was responsible for evolutionary changes.
People who believe in intelligent design argue that such major changes cannot come about through Darwinian evolution but this is obviously false, said Professor Kingsley.
"Sticklebacks with major changes in skeletal armour and fin structures are thriving in natural environments. And the major differences between forms can now be traced to particular genes," he said.
Further research into the behaviour and genetics of crickets and caterpillars found that small behavioural changes, such as what to eat or when to mate, may be all that is needed to turn a single inter-breeding population of animals into two or more distinct species.
Darwin discovered how evolution can take place through natural selection and his central problem was trying to understand the process of speciation - the creation of species.
"Today evolution is the foundation of all biology, so basic and all-pervasive that scientists sometimes take its importance for granted," says Science.
- INDEPENDENT
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10361302
continued …
Father stunned to find ring after long search
By Andrew Clark
December 27, 2005
Lost to the tsunami ... Christian Nott and Moi Vogel at their wedding. They died while on an extended honeymoon in Thailand.
A BEREAVED Sydney businessman's search for his late son's wedding ring has ended successfully, almost a year after tragedy struck his family in the Asian tsunami.
Richard Nott, a company director from Pymble, has found the sapphire-encrusted ring worn by his son Christian, 34, who was killed alongside his pregnant wife Moi Vogel, 32, while on an extended honeymoon in Thailand.
A bag of possessions containing the ring, which was sent to Sydney on Christmas Eve by Thai authorities, also included a damaged mobile phone which Mr Nott hopes will provide clues to the pair's final movements.
"It's got a damaged chip," said Mr Nott. "But I'm trying to see if we can get any photos from it."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/father-stunned-to-find-ring/2005/12/26/1135445527344.html
A white-knuckle ride - and that's just the start
Riders of the storm … competitors and spectators churn up the harbour at the start of the Sydney to Hobart.
December 27, 2005
THE two super-maxi yachts charged through Sydney Heads about to make their turn south to Hobart and from the air the sea around them looked like a horizontal Blue Poles.
Hundreds of small craft boisterously rushed to farewell the Sydney to Hobart fleet yesterday, turning the water outside the harbour entrance into a potentially lethal maelstrom.
Some small craft were swamped and foolhardy kayakers tipped into the Tasman Sea as launches, yachts, ferries and tinnies churned the water into two-metre waves coming from all directions.
"One day, somebody's going to get hurt bad," said a skipper returning to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. "They ought to extend the exclusion zone right out the Heads to off Bondi."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/sydneytohobart/a-whiteknuckle-ride/2005/12/26/1135445529134.html
Sydney-Hobart Race Blog
http://blogs.smh.com.au/sydneytohobart/
Four killed as fierce winds topple passenger train
By Miwa Suzuki in Tokyo
December 27, 2005
Battling the elements … rescuers work to rescue passengers trapped on board the derailed express train in northern Japan.
Photo: AP
RESCUERS yesterday pulled the body of a fourth passenger from the twisted and snow-blown wreckage of a train that crashed in northern Japan after derailing during a blizzard.
Five of the train's six carriages left the tracks in strong winds in Yamagata prefecture late on Sunday. Three carriages toppled over and the front car slammed into a rail-side shack, local police said.
Rescuers crawling through wrecked carriages during a severe snowstorm had found the bodies of three passengers by early yesterday. About 33 other passengers were injured in the accident.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/four-killed-as-fierce-winds-topple-passenger-train/2005/12/26/1135445527356.html
Dozens treated after St Petersburg gas release
December 27, 2005 - 12:52AM
More than 70 people were sickened by an unidentified gas released in a store in Russia's second-largest city on Monday.
Boxes with wires and timers attached to containers possibly holding gas were found in other outlets of the chain, officials said.
A spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry, Viktor Beltsov, said 78 people sought medical care and 66 of them were hospitalised. None of them was assessed as being in life-threatening condition, he said.
He said all those sickened had been at one branch of the Maksidom home-goods chain.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/dozens-treated-after-st-petersburg-gas-release/2005/12/27/1135445533642.html
RAAF told me: cover up assault of girls
By Cynthia Banham Defence Reporter
December 26, 2005
Page 1 of 2
AN RAAF employee of 20 years whose children were sexually assaulted by a senior officer was forced to resign after defence bosses allowed the attacker continued access to the base where she worked.
The woman's daughters, aged 8 and 12, were assaulted by former wing commander Terry Morgan in June. When the woman tendered her resignation a month later, her commanding officer asked her to remove the reason from her letter, and to "let it go".
"You don't want this to follow you around," the woman says she was told.
Morgan, a pilot and former family friend, was convicted in September of four counts of indecent acts on a child under 16, and possession of child pornography. He resigned from the RAAF that month, taking with him the full "entitlements that were legally owing to him", the Department of Defence said. He continued to enjoy access to the base during the months before his trial, while on bail.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/12/25/1135445486554.html?from=top5
Family pleads with fugitive to give up
By Jordan Baker
December 26, 2005
FOR the family of Malcolm John Naden, this was Christmas: one cousin dead, another missing, and a third on the run from the homicide squad.
Distraught relatives of Naden, the bush fugitive who prompted a huge manhunt at Western Plains Zoo on Friday, are pleading with him to hand himself in, saying it was time to "sort this mess out".
Naden, an unemployed shearer and former skinner and boner at Dubbo abattoir, has been wanted since August, when the strangled body of Kristy Scholes, the wife of one of his cousins, was found in his bedroom.
He is also linked to the disappearance of another cousin, Lateesha Nolan.
The 31-year-old has been spotted working for cash in mines near Walgett, selling opals noodled from a dump and living in Western Plains Zoo. Each time, he has managed to elude police.
Janette Lancaster, his aunt, has sent a message to Naden over the internet in the hope someone will pass it on.
"Pop [their grandfather, who has had a heart attack] is very ill and he needs to know how you are and hear your side of the story in regards to Kristy," it said.
"Pop won't get better until he knows what's going on and nan is frantic with worry and the stress of all this is making her sick as well.
"Your mother is worried and needs to talk to you and all the family wants you to hand yourself in to the police and sort this mess out."
Ms Nolan's father, Mick Peet, told the Herald: "I plead for him to come forward. I really want to find out where my daughter's body is. I still think I am in a nightmare. I am very upset for [Lateesha's children]. It is their first Christmas without their mum."
Naden is a skilled bushman who can survive off the land. Relatives say he is proficient in martial arts. Police believe he has also been stealing food and staying with contacts.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/family-pleads-with-fugitive-to-give-up/2005/12/25/1135445486563.html
Drug firms dragging their feet over vaccine
By John Solomon in Washington
December 27, 2005
IN AN unusually candid admission, the US chief of AIDS research, Edmund Tramont, says he believes drug companies do not have an incentive to create a vaccine for HIV and are likely to wait to profit from it after the US government develops one.
That means Washington has had to spend more time focusing on the processes drug companies ordinarily follow in developing new medicines and bringing them to market, he said.
"We had to spend some time and energy paying attention to those aspects of development because the private side isn't picking it up," Dr Tramont testified in a deposition in a recent employment lawsuit.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/drug-firms-dragging-their-feet-over-vaccine/2005/12/26/1135445527368.html
Shared secrets expose teens to risk of sexual predators
By Guy Kovner in Santa Rosa, California
December 24, 2005
MILLIONS of American teenagers are engaging in risky behaviour on the internet, posting personal information and talking about sex with strangers, according to a survey released by the Polly Klaas Foundation in California.
"This is a wake-up call for parents," said Glena Records, the foundation's director of communication and education. She warned "safety lectures are not going to work in the current internet age".
Teens and tech-savvy predators knew more than many parents about cyberspace, both as a global communications medium and as a dark place for criminals to mask their identity and intent, Ms Records said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/shared-secrets-expose-teens-to-sexual-predators/2005/12/23/1135032186808.html
After the riots: city's map of racism
By Tony Stephens and AAP
December 26, 2005
Page 1 of 2
RESIDENTS of Mosman and Woollahra have joined those in the Sutherland Shire as among the Sydney people least tolerant of cultural diversity and multicultural values, a map of the city's racial attitudes reveals.
Two weeks after the Cronulla race riots, tens of thousands of people returned to Sydney's beaches for Christmas Day, while church leaders called on Australians to be tolerant and to take responsibility for the violence in the beach suburbs.
Now researchers have produced a map - based on a survey of 1800 Sydney residents - that they hope can be used in programs to counter racism.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/12/25/1135445486548.html?from=top5
The Miami Herald
Galápagos Islands face a complex stream of threats
Economic, political and environmental pressures are squeezing Ecuador's ecologically fragile Galápagos Islands.
BY STEVEN DUDLEY
sdudley@MiamiHerald.com
PUERTO AYORA, Ecuador - The town of Puerto Ayora might be the cleanest in Latin America. It recycles everything from lubricants to batteries. The number of cars allowed is limited. Birds dive into the bay to catch the bountiful fish. And sea lions sun themselves all around.
But Puerto Ayora has a problem: It's in Ecuador's Galápagos Islands, which have an ecosystem as fragile as the wings of a butterfly.
With its burgeoning population, an endless stream of tourists, an insatiable and powerful fishing industry and a corrupt and unstable national government, the islands -- as Charles Darwin knew them when he visited in the 19th century and developed his famed origin of species theory -- may be headed for extinction.
''If the situation remains the same, it will be catastrophic for the Galápagos,'' said Xavier Bustamante, the head of the Natura Foundation, an Ecuadorean non-governmental organization that monitors the country's protected lands.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487489.htm
Padilla case weaves web of risks for government
The terrorism case of Jose Padilla, dubbed the 'dirty bomber' after his arrest in 2002, poses a complex legal challenge for the Justice Department.
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
When federal prosecutors lost a major terrorism trial against a Tampa scholar this month, the shocking verdict raised doubts about a terrorist case in Miami against Jose Padilla.
Now, further complicating the criminal case is the possible U.S. Supreme Court review of Padilla's detention as an ''enemy combatant.''
Padilla, arrested in Chicago in 2002 amid accusations that he had planned to detonate a radioactive ''dirty bomb'' on American soil, has been in military custody.
But after declaring Padilla an enemy combatant, the Bush administration switched its position last month and tossed the former Broward County resident into the criminal justice system.
The U.S.-born Padilla, who traveled from Broward to the Middle East allegedly for al Qaeda training, was added to a federal indictment that claims he and others conspired to ''murder, kidnap and maim persons'' in an Islamic holy war overseas.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487487.htm
HANDING OUT HOPE
VOLUNTEERS HELP LIFT SPIRITS AND SERVE HOLIDAY MEALS AT CAMILLUS HOUSE
BY MATTHEW I. PINZUR
mpinzur@MiamiHerald.com
Every volunteer uses different words to explain why they came to a homeless shelter Christmas morning, but they all really have the same answer:
This is how we want to be as Christmas turns into New Year's, how we summon hope that we will do more in 2006 to rebuild the broken parts of the world.
This is how we see the best parts of ourselves.
''The greatest aspirations are born on Christmas,'' said Brother Majella Marchand, a director at Camillus House, which planned to serve more than 500 meals Sunday.
The downtown shelter normally has 15 to 20 volunteers helping serve daily meals, a mixture of religious organizations, student groups and petty criminals working off community-service sentences.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487386.htm
The Oppenheimer Report
THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT
2005: U.S. slipped as China rose in Latin America
Andres Oppenheimer
aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com
When historians in the future look back at the year 2005, they will describe it as the year in which the United States lost much of its once almighty influence in Latin America, and former outsiders -- such as China -- began to play a modest but rapidly growing role in hemispheric affairs.
Some researchers are likely to say the loss of U.S. clout in the region was due to the the rise of hostile regional subpowers such as oil-rich Venezuela, which won growing influence thanks to a combination of checkbook diplomacy and populist demagoguery.
Others will say it was a self-inflicted retrenchment, because the United States lost interest in a region stuck with 19th century anti-free-market ideologies at a time when China, India and the former Eastern Europe were embracing capitalism -- and U.S. corporations -- with near religious zeal.
Whichever the case, the fact is that Latin America's economy grew by a reasonably healthy 4.3 percent in 2005, but below the 5.7 percent combined average growth of all developing countries, and even more significantly behind China's 9 percent growth, or India's 7 percent growth, according to United Nations figures.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13482142.htm
Latin & Caribbean Briefs
GUATEMALA
FIVE CHILDREN DIE FROM FIREWORKS
GUATEMALA CITY - Five children died Christmas morning in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Guatemala City when a blaze started by fireworks swept through their house, a fire official said.
The mother had left the five in their beds to go look for her other children when a traditional holiday firecracker called a silbador was shot into the small wooden house and started the fire, said fire department spokesman Mynor Cholotio.
The children's ages were 2, 3, 6, 10 and 13.
MEXICO
VOLCANIC ERUPTION ON CHRISTMAS DAY
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano staged a spectacular pre-dawn explosion Sunday, sending a column of ash two miles into the air and spewing red-hot lava.
There were no reports of ash raining down or any other threat to nearby communities, Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Center reported.
The explosion was the latest in a series of moderate eruptions from the 17,886-foot volcano located 40 miles southeast of the Mexican capital.
GUYANA
STATE AID TO FARMERS SUFFERING AFTER FLOOD
GEORGETOWN -- Guyanese farmers will receive $2 million in government aid after torrential rains killed 30 people and destroyed rice crops across the nation, the president said.
Parts of Guyana were flooded when five feet of rain fell between Dec. 26, 2004 and mid-January.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487498.htm
MIAMI BEACH
Cubans walking on causeway detained
By CARLI TEPROFF
cteproff@MiamiHerald.com
Fourteen Cuban migrants, who apparently landed undetected Christmas morning on Miami Beach, were rounded up after being found walking along Julia Tuttle Causeway, police said.
Few details were available Sunday about the group, spotted at about 9 a.m. on the causeway near the Alton Road exits, according to U.S. Border Patrol and the Miami Beach police.
It was unclear whether the group was smuggled and dropped off or whether they arrived on their own boat. The group was taken to the Krome detention center in West Miami-Dade for processing.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487393.htm
Lives are in limbo at FEMA camp
Life in a camper has been a blessing for some left homeless by Hurricane Wilma, but a tough transition for others.
BY NATALIE P. McNEAL
nmcneal@MiamiHerald.com
Delphine Green, her five children and her disabled stepfather live in two government-issued trailers in Oakland Park.
After losing their Dania Beach apartment to Hurricane Wilma, then spending five weeks in three Red Cross shelters, the family was looking forward to being back in a place of their own.
But living in the county's Easterlin Park in a camper among wildlife and nature trails isn't exactly what they had in mind.
''A raccoon attacked my car the other day,'' Green said. ``I'm not used to living like this.''
The evacuees in the Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers all live in the same type of RVs, but their adjustment to life after Hurricane Wilma is as varied as the parks they are scattered in.
For some of the evacuees, living in the ''FEMA villages'' is a welcome relief -- a godsend even -- from the anxiety of their waterlogged, uninhabitable homes. For others, particularly those living in trailers far from their homes, it's been a tough transition.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13486999.htm
Hanukkah songs on Web
The Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University is making available over the Internet a collection of songs to celebrate the Festival of Lights.
BY LONA O'CONNOR
Palm Beach Post
Just in time for Hanukkah, the Judaica Sound Archives is launching the Children's Music Project, a collection of songs to celebrate the Festival of Lights.
The project, sponsored by the Florida Atlantic University libraries, includes familiar tunes such as The Dreidel Song and Once There Was a Time.
Hanukkah, which began at sunset Sunday night, celebrates the rededication of the holy temple in Jerusalem, which the Jews won back from the Greeks in 165 B.C. After fighting the Greeks for three years, the Jews entered their damaged and looted temple.
They wanted to celebrate by lighting the menorah, but could find only a little oil. Miraculously, the oil kept the menorah lit for eight nights.
The Hanukkah songs are available on the Internet.
The site also includes songs for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Passover and other holy days.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487002.htm
Fear destroys what bin Laden could not
ROBERT STEINBACK
rsteinback@MiamiHerald.com
One wonders if Osama bin Laden didn't win after all. He ruined the America that existed on 9/11. But he had help.
If, back in 2001, anyone had told me that four years after bin Laden's attack our president would admit that he broke U.S. law against domestic spying and ignored the Constitution -- and then expect the American people to congratulate him for it -- I would have presumed the girders of our very Republic had crumbled.
Had anyone said our president would invade a country and kill 30,000 of its people claiming a threat that never, in fact, existed, then admit he would have invaded even if he had known there was no threat -- and expect America to be pleased by this -- I would have thought our nation's sensibilities and honor had been eviscerated.
If I had been informed that our nation's leaders would embrace torture as a legitimate tool of warfare, hold prisoners for years without charges and operate secret prisons overseas -- and call such procedures necessary for the nation's security -- I would have laughed at the folly of protecting human rights by destroying them.
If someone had predicted the president's staff would out a CIA agent as revenge against a critic, defy a law against domestic propaganda by bankrolling supposedly independent journalists and commentators, and ridicule a 37-year Marie Corps veteran for questioning U.S. military policy -- and that the populace would be more interested in whether Angelina is about to make Brad a daddy -- I would have called the prediction an absurd fantasy.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13487511.htm
Hurricane windfall -- follow the money
OUR OPINION: STATE'S EXTRA REVENUE SHOULD BENEFIT POLICYHOLDERS
Here's the latest kick in the shins to the state's beleaguered windstorm-insurance policyholders: a suggestion that they should be overlooked when it comes to distributing the sales-tax windfall that followed this year's storms. This is an insult to Florida homeowners who are bracing themselves for the next steep increase in rates.
Usually, Gov. Jeb Bush is keen to ensure that Florida's residents are treated fairly by the state. It's hard to see why he opposes the use of the extra revenue generated by hurricane reconstruction to support policyholders who rely on the state-created insurer of last resort.
New revenue growth
Perhaps it would help to follow the money. The trail begins with Florida policyholders paying a premium to Citizens Property Insurance. Keep that in mind, because without this premium the pot of gold that the state is holding wouldn't exist. After a hurricane, the policyholder files a claim with Citizens, the state's second-largest windstorm-insurance company, to cover storm damage. The claim is paid, using the accumulated premiums of all policyholders. The homeowner then spends $20,000 for a new roof.
The state comes into the picture by getting its cut in the form of a sales tax when roofing materials, replacement furniture, etc., is purchased. Multiply this by hundreds of thousands of claims and associated economic activity, and suddenly the state is projecting an estimated $3.2 billion in new revenue growth -- i.e., an increase over previous predictions of revenue growth. This creates a big surplus in the state treasury. That's good for Florida, but it's not the end of the story.
Citizens remains woefully undercapitalized, despite years of back-to-back, double-digit rate increases. This year, it assessed all homeowners, including those covered by other companies, 6.8 percent of their premiums to cover a loss of more than $500 million from the four hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004. Next year, a second, larger assessment is expected to cover the cost of the 2005 storms.
Plenty of cash
So here's the question: Wouldn't it make sense to use the revenue surplus that was generated originally by policyholders to balance the state insurance company's books? Gov. Bush says he doesn't want to bail out the insurance company, but that overlooks the policyholder whose premium payments generate the funding that keeps the insurance system in operation.
The state has plenty of cash to make up the difference, even without the extra revenue. It should use these funds to help policyholders who cannot go without hurricane-insurance protection and are already strapped to meet current premiums. Otherwise, the state is left holding the pot of gold, and policyholders are left holding the bag.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13487503.htm
Body found in Atlantic may be missing Chalk's crash victim
BY CHARLES RABIN
crabin@herald.com
Two Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue divers who were out sailfishing this morning found a body in the Atlantic Ocean about three miles east of Key Biscayne, and authorities are trying to determine if it's the lone unrecovered body from the crash of Chalk's Ocean Airways flight 101.
The seaplane, carrying 18 passengers and two crew members, crashed Monday in the shallow waters near the Government Cut jetty on Miami Beach.
Witnesses and video images showed the right wing and engine on fire as it fell into the water ahead of the fuselage. The flight had just taken off from Watson Island and was heading to Bimini in the Bahamas.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13475419.htm
A holiday tragedy for two neighbors
OUR OPINION: CHALK'S FLIGHT 101 CRASH TOOK A DEADLY, PERSONAL TOLL
The tragedy of the Chalk's Ocean Airways plane crash into Government Cut that took 20 lives on Monday is horribly sad. It takes on more poignancy because it happened so close to holidays that draw family and friends together. The deaths cast a deep pall for all who knew those who perished. No words of condolence are adequate to say to mourners beyond these: We're sorry for your loss.
Recorder no help
National Transportation and Safety Board investigators have a tough job to manage, one made even more difficult because the Grumman G-73T Mallard wasn't equipped with a data box and its recovered voice recorder appears to have malfunctioned. It will take months to determine the cause of the crash
Many worry that the crash could trigger the demise of Chalk's, a beloved Miami institution. The airline has flown from here to Bimini and Nassau for more than 75 years. Generations of Bahamians have ferried between the U.S. mainland and the islands on the amphibian crafts as easily as if taking a city bus.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13472200.htm
Presidential hopefuls have drug ties, sources in Haiti, U.S. claim
Some candidates for president of Haiti have ties to drug traffickers, according to Haitian and U.S. officials.
By JOE MOZINGO
jmozingo@MiamiHerald.com
PORT-AU-PRINCE - At least three candidates in Haiti's upcoming elections have links to a cocaine-trafficking industry that wants to ensure the next government is weak and corruptible, a half-dozen Haitian and U.S. officials say.
Two of Haiti's best-financed presidential candidates -- Guy Philippe and Dany Toussaint -- have long been linked to cocaine trafficking by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13472170.htm
Mariah Carey ties Elvis on singles chart
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Mariah Carey's "Don't Forget About Us" rose to the top of Billboard's Hot 100 chart, putting her in a tie with Elvis Presley for second place among artists with the most No. 1 singles in the rock era.
Carey and Presley have 17 No. 1 hits, second only to the Beatles, who had 20. (Some music sources report Presley had 18 No. 1 hits by counting the double-sided single "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog" as two hits instead of one.)
"Don't Forget About Us" was Carey's second No. 1 song this year, following her ballad "We Belong Together." Both tunes are from her Grammy-nominated album, "The Emancipation of Mimi."
It has taken Carey just over 15 years to accumulate the 17 hit singles. Her first was "Vision of Love" in 1990.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13476809.htm
State of emergency declared after attack
LIMA - (AP) -- Peru's president declared a state of emergency in six jungle provinces and promised to stamp out the nation's remaining Shining Path guerrillas after suspected rebels killed eight police officers in an ambush.
Under Peruvian law, a state of emergency suspends civil rights, such as the right to assembly, and gives police and the military sweeping powers to enter homes and conduct searches.
President Alejandro Toledo decreed a two-month state of emergency in six coca-producing provinces in the central jungle and said his Cabinet had also approved the creation of an emergency commission to bring urgently needed social development to the area.
''This supreme decree will allow the armed forces and the police to jointly enter and take action in this zone for 60 days,'' Toledo said in an address aired on state-run television.
The goal, he said, was to provide ``a greater state presence, within the law, respecting human rights.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13472196.htm
Fox hires lobbyist for U.S.
The Texan who advised President Vicente Fox's election campaign will now try to sweeten U.S. views on immigration.
BY SAM ENRIQUEZ
Los Angeles Times Service
MEXICO CITY -- President Vicente Fox has rehired the Texas public relations man and GOP political consultant who quietly helped engineer his election victory in 2000. This time, Fox wants Rob Allyn & Co. to put the brakes on growing anti-immigration, anti-Mexican sentiment in the United States.
Last week, the U.S. House approved a bill to add 700 miles of border fencing and make illegal immigration a felony. Fox denounced the measure as shameful. His foreign minister called it stupid and underhanded.
''The contributions of Mexicans in the United States, who are making their best effort, generating lots of wealth, are not known,'' said Rodrigo Iván Cortés Jiménez, an elected deputy in Mexico's lower house and a member of its commission on foreign affairs.
The immigration bill, expected to reach the Senate in February, has no provision for allowing temporary Mexican workers -- a further slap, in Fox's view. He and President Bush agree on the need for a ''guest worker'' program.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13472193.htm
New Zealand Herald
Tsunami couple remembered
27.12.05
By Simon O'Rourke
"Andrew and Belinda went home earlier than we thought they would."
The married couple who lost their lives in the Boxing Day tsunami were remembered with love at a ceremony beside a magnolia tree in a Huntly garden yesterday.
About 20 friends and family gathered to re-tell favourite stories, in a relaxed memorial which had a deeply spiritual theme - the pair were committed Christians and family and friends believe they are now with the God they loved so much.
"Quite early in the piece we accepted they were in it," elder brother Jeremy Welch told the gathering at his semi-rural home overlooking Lake Hakanoa.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10361591
Chants and incense for remembrance
27.12.05
By Catherine Masters
KHAO LAK - The smell of incense and the peaceful sounds of chanting drift in the still air at the devastated Sofitel Magic Lagoon and Spa resort on the beachfront at Khao Lak in southern Thailand.
Nine orange-robed Buddhist monks sit cross-legged in a row holding a long piece of white string stretched out in front of them.
The string is like a pathway, helping the offerings placed in front of the monks - toothpaste, toothbrush, hairbrush, practical things - to travel to the spirits of the tsunami victims.
Among the mostly Thai congregation at this intimate memorial service of about 30 people sit two Australians.
The mother and sister of Kim Walsh, 39, who died in room number 3122 on the ground floor, clasp their hands in prayer with the others.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=0006F7FE-D671-13AF-BF2983027AF1010F
NZ Government to continue tsunami assistance
26.12.05 4.00pm
New Zealand will continue assisting Asian nations recovering from the Boxing Day tsunami for as long as needed, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said today.
"There is much more to do, and many of those affected by the tsunami have lost everything and are not yet back on their feet," he said.
"New Zealand is committed to continuing our role in the recovery for as long as it takes, and delivering our assistance in a meaningful and accountable way."
New Zealanders here and across Asia will today remember the tsunami which killed 216,000 people and displaced 1.7 million in 12 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.
"Our thoughts go out to the families of those who died or were injured by last year's tsunami, and also to the areas which are still rebuilding," Mr Peters said in a statement.
New Zealand gave its biggest aid contribution of $68 million in the aftermath of the December 26 disaster.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=00048DB3-4AE8-13AF-AD2283027AF1FE9F
Quiet tsunami prayers mark Christmas in Thailand
26.12.05 1.00pm
By Darren Schuettler
KHAO LAK, Thailand - Simple Buddhist ceremonies marked Christmas Day in Thailand's tsunami zone as relatives of victims remembered their loved ones on the eve of the Indian Ocean disaster's first anniversary.
"I will have to die before I can forget," said 80-year-old Thai Sorjia Aiawsakul, who lost her son, daughter-in-law and niece in the December 26 tragedy, which killed an estimated 231,000 people in Asia and Africa.
Thailand's official death toll stands at 5,395.
"He was the son I liked most. Even though a year has passed I think about him each day. I still cry every day," she said as saffron-robed monks intoned Buddhist chants at Wat Ban Muang on Khao Lak, the coastline where most of Thailand's victims died.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=0000F6CE-25A8-13AF-A32783027AF10017
Tourists sacrifice holidays to help with cleanup
26.12.05 1.00pm
By Marcus Brogden
KOH PHI PHI, Thailand - New Zealander John William Farrington Morgan is just one of the many tourists who have sacrificed part of their holiday to help clean up the Thai divers' paradise Koh Phi Phi.
Volunteers are rebuilding and repairing the island where more than 1000 people died after the tsunami roared in on Boxing Day 2004, when holiday revellers were sleeping off Christmas hangovers.
With its sheer limestone cliffs, jagged waterfronts and tucked-away beaches in stunning lagoons, the island has long been a haven for backpackers and divers.
The local economy of Koh Phi Phi, which gained fame when it was featured in the Leonardo Di Caprio movie The Beach, was devastated.
One year on, only about 60 per cent of its buildings remain. All around, tourists, many with backs burned from the searing sun, are carting rocks, levelling ground and helping to restore the one-time tourist paradise to its pre-tsunami glory.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=00091C3D-1EC8-13AF-89A583027AF10017
How the beach has lost its aura of innocence
27.12.05
By Kathy Marks
SYDNEY - The golden sweep of sand at Bondi was carpeted with people enjoying a traditional Christmas at the beach.
There were backpackers, families, surfers, sunbathers - and police patrolling in cars and on foot.
The crowd can get a bit high-spirited at Bondi at Christmas, which is why an alcohol ban was introduced last year. But police were not stationed at Sydney's most iconic beach in case the revelry got out of hand. They were there, supposedly, to step in if rival ethnic gangs decided to rampage.
Almost overnight, Sydney has changed. Australia's most beautiful, laid-back city is effectively under martial law. Emergency legislation has given police draconian new powers to "lock down" entire neighbourhoods, stop and search, and confiscate cars and mobile phones.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361560
Death sentences against nurses lifted
27.12.05
By Jerome Taylor
LONDON - Bulgaria yesterday welcomed the decision by Libya's Supreme Court to scrap death sentences against five Bulgarian nurses and order a retrial of the cases, which have harmed Tripoli's efforts to build ties with the West.
The nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death by firing squad in May 2004 after a court found them guilty of knowingly injecting 426 children with HIV.
The accused have maintained their innocence, saying they were tortured and forced to confess.
Bulgaria, the European Union and the United States have consistently urged their release, accusing Libya of making up the charges to avoid domestic criticism of the HIV scandal.
Libya's Supreme Court suggested it believed the accused had been tortured in custody and ordered the retrial after Libya and Bulgaria agreed on an aid package for the victims.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361561
Deadbeat dads could be tagged
27.12.05
LONDON - Tougher penalties against absent fathers who refuse to make child maintenance payments will be included in a shake-up of Britain's Child Support Agency next month.
New sanctions being considered by ministers include imposing curfews backed by electronic tagging to restrict the movements of fathers. Ministers will also order much greater use of existing but little-used powers such as confiscating driving licences.
Government figures show that only nine absent parents have been banned from driving and only 27 sent to jail since these penalties for non-payment were introduced in 2001.
Tagging is seen as a more realistic option than prison, since parents could remain in work and keep up their maintenance payments.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361565
German efficiency wins once again
27.12.05
By Karin Strohecker
BERLIN - With a confident smile on his face and a spring in his step, German rail chief Hartmut Mehdorn walks through the buzzing Berlin building site where Europe's largest railway station is going up.
After more than 10 years of work, the round-the-clock project is on budget and on time to open at the end of May, two weeks before the start of the soccer World Cup that will bring more than a million extra visitors to Germany.
"The light at the end of the tunnel is definitely getting brighter," said the chief executive of rail operator Deutsche Bahn. "A load will drop off our minds when that station is finally finished."
Loved by some, loathed by others, the former Lehrter Bahnhof station is nearing the end of its estimated 700 million ($1.19 billion) transformation from a World War II ruin to one of Europe's key rail hubs.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361568
Vietnamese boat person sets sail for home
27.12.05
By Rachel Pannett
Mitchell Pham describes himself as the "black sheep" of his family. His mother, father, sister and brother are all engineers.
It is a tongue-in-cheek reference, however, as there is no way his parents would frown on his career path. Nevertheless, Pham, who launched software firm Augen as a fresh-faced graduate from Auckland University with four mates in 1993, stands out.
He is a risk-taker, an entrepreneur, with a knack for new ideas and the courage to follow through. It is a courage Pham, 34, exhibited at 12 when his parents put him in a boat then launched it into the South China Sea with 67 other Vietnamese refugees.
As supporters of the South Vietnamese Government during the Vietnam War, Pham's parents were outcasts under the post-war communist rule from the North.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10361569
Busman's holiday for bank workers
27.12.05
By Adam Bennett
The Bank of New Zealand sent many of its staff on holiday not just with best wishes for the festive period, but with a request they drum up business for the bank among family and friends.
In an email to team leaders, BNZ marketing and business development general manager Shona Bishop said: "It is important that we keep up and maintain our sales and service focus right through the holiday season to ensure a successful 2006 for the bank.
"It does not matter where you are over the holiday period ... at work or on the beach ... there will be numerous opportunities to provide financial solutions to family and friends by referring them to Bank of New Zealand."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10361571
Mexico's snowy 'smoking mountain' spits ash, rocks
26.12.05 1.00pm
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's giant Popocatepetl volcano threw up an ash column almost 2 miles high and spat glowing rocks down its snow-clad slopes today, but nearby towns were not affected, officials said.
Popocatepetl, whose name means "smoking mountain" in the Nahuatl Indian language spoken by the Aztecs, spewed out the huge plume of ash and rocks in a three-minute exhalation.
"The recent activity is within the expected scenarios and there is no evidence of a major risk in the following days," said the disaster prevention center Conapred.
"No reports of ash fall have been received."
Sunday's activity was the latest in a recent series of disturbances which started December 1, when the 5,452 metre volcano showered ash on the nearby town of Amecameca.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=68&objectid=10361537
Men catching up to women in life expectancy
26.12.05
As the first of the 75 million baby boomers touch 60 in January, there's good news for the men: They are catching up to women in life expectancy.
A new Longevity Index by Credit Suisse First Boston shows that while women still live four years longer on average, men are gaining twice as fast in the age race.
Medical experts say women are working harder, smoking more and undergoing more stress, which leads to the No 1 killer - heart disease.
"We are getting equality in ways we may not want," said Dr Sharon Brangman, a board member of the American Geriatrics Society.
The Longevity Index is designed to help insurance companies and pension funds hedge their risk as both men and women live longer - and cost more - in pension payments and lifetime annuity payments.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10361452
Eating seafood twice weekly will make you healthy and wise
24.12.05
NEW YORK - Eating seafood twice a week is good for you, Americans have been told.
New US guidelines recommend that people, especially children and pregnant and nursing women, eat seafood that often.
The guidelines summarise scientific findings presented at a conference in Washington reiterating that seafood helps people to live longer and healthier, cutting the risk for heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, stroke, diabetes and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
The conference was sponsored by the Governments of the US, Norway, Canada and Iceland, aided by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids, iodine, iron and choline, present in fish such as wild and farmed salmon, shrimp and catfish, are important in brain development and may lessen the effects of dyslexia, autism, hyperactivity and attention-deficit disorder, researchers have found, and some studies have linked those nutrients with increased intelligence in infants and children.
William E.M. Lands, a retired professor of biochemistry at the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois says, "not eating seafood is more harmful than eating it".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10361324
Scientists vote Darwinian evolution as year's breakthrough
23.12.05 1.00pm
By Steve Connor
American scientists have thumbed their noses at new-age creationists who peddle the idea of intelligent design by voting Darwinian evolution as breakthrough of the year.
The editors of the journal Science said that several studies published in 2005 have shown beyond any doubt how evolution underpins all aspects of modern biology.
This year has seen many advances in several areas of research that uncover the intricacies that drive the evolution of all organism, from viruses to primates, the journal says.
"Painstaking field observations shed new light on how populations diverge to form new species - the mystery of mysteries that baffled Darwin himself," write the editors of Science.
"Ironically, also this year some segments of American society fought to dilute the teaching of even the basic facts of evolution," they say.
"With all this in mind, Science has decided to put Darwin in the spotlight by saluting several dramatic discoveries each of which reveals the laws of evolution in action," they add.
In 2005, scientists decoded the genome of the chimpanzee to confirm that the chimp is our closest living relative, descended from a common ancestor.
Other researchers sequenced the genome of the 1918 flu virus retrieved from the frozen corpse of an Alaskan woman who died in the pandemic.
A second team of scientists used the sequence to rebuild the virus in the laboratory in order to analyse why it was so deadly.
They also found that it had evolved directly from a bird flu virus.
"Understanding the evolution of last century's deadly bird flu may help us to predict and cope with the current bird flu threat," say the Science editors.
Other studies have shown how small changes or mutations in the DNA of a species can result in dramatic evolutionary transformations, such as the creation of two species from one.
"Researchers found that a single genetic change can be all it takes to turn one species into many, as in the case of the Alaskan stickleback fish that lost its armour and evolved from an ocean-loving species to a variety of landlocked lake dwellers," they say.
David Kingsley, professor of developmental biology at Stanford University in California, said that the stickleback research in 15 different species of fish showed for the first time that a single genetic mutation was responsible for evolutionary changes.
People who believe in intelligent design argue that such major changes cannot come about through Darwinian evolution but this is obviously false, said Professor Kingsley.
"Sticklebacks with major changes in skeletal armour and fin structures are thriving in natural environments. And the major differences between forms can now be traced to particular genes," he said.
Further research into the behaviour and genetics of crickets and caterpillars found that small behavioural changes, such as what to eat or when to mate, may be all that is needed to turn a single inter-breeding population of animals into two or more distinct species.
Darwin discovered how evolution can take place through natural selection and his central problem was trying to understand the process of speciation - the creation of species.
"Today evolution is the foundation of all biology, so basic and all-pervasive that scientists sometimes take its importance for granted," says Science.
- INDEPENDENT
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10361302
continued …
Search for Toga the penguin carries on, takes a dark turn (Click On)
December 22, 2005.
This is "Oscar" and "Kyalo."
They are the parents of "Toga" the missing 3 month old British Penguin.
Morning Papers - concluding
Zoos
With a new found enthusiasm for Zoos not all reporting is good news, but, much of it is. Taking the good with the bad provides a unexpected social depth we never gave Zoos before. It's good for us to have multi-focus of our world. Let's first look at a 'tour' of one of the Classic Zoos of the World.
What's GNU at the San Diego Zoo?
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/
Spot Sydney's new twins
Photos: Taronga Zoo's new snow leopard cubs came out today.
Photo: Peter Rae
More Galleries
http://www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2005/12/20/1135032006600.html
ZOO BEGS FOR RETURN OF ILL TOGA
By Geoffrey Lakeman
THE hunt for stolen baby penguin Toga became even more desperate last night as an expert warned he could die within hours.
The Isle of Wight zoo from where Toga was snatched last Saturday has been inundated with global messages of support.
A New York church congregation in Brooklyn is even praying for the missing three-month-old jackass chick - so called as he brays like a donkey - to be returned safely to pining parents Kyala and Oscar.
Other good wishes have flooded in from as far a field as Canada and Russia - and British kids have pledged their pocket money to a reward fund now standing at £4,500.
But grateful Derek Curtis, owner of Amazon World Zoo Park in Newchurch, now fears that the aid could be useless.
He said: "Toga will only feed from his mum and could be at death's door.
"I plead with whoever has him to return him today to give us a chance of saving a very sick bird. It simply cannot survive."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16511439&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=zoo-begs-for-return-of-ill-toga--name_page.html
Keepers fear penguin was snatched as gift
By DAVID STRINGER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LONDON -- A baby penguin believed to have been snatched from a British zoo as a quirky holiday gift is unlikely to survive until Christmas Day, his keeper warned Tuesday.
Toga, a 3-month-old jackass penguin, was stolen Saturday from Amazon World on the Isle of Wight in southern England.
Zoo manager Kath Bright said the bird, who was taken from a compound where he lived with his parents and four other penguins, probably would die of malnutrition if not urgently returned.
"Toga is very, very vulnerable. The penguin is still being fed by his parents and we don't believe it could survive more than five days," she told The Associated Press.
"The bird has already been missing for around three days and is likely to be severely dehydrated. If he isn't returned before Thursday, he is likely to become so ill that even intensive care treatment won't save him."
The brown-and-white penguin will bite if frightened and refuses to be fed by human hand, Bright said. Toga is too young to have yet had a gender confirmed but traditionally is referred to as a male, she added.
There was no sign of forced entry to the pen, but a thief would have been able to climb into the compound and carry Toga away, Bright said.
"We can't understand what may have been going through the thief's head, but we are worried someone decided a penguin would make the perfect Christmas gift," she added. "There has been a lot of attention because of the film 'March of the Penguins.' Perhaps someone saw the film and thought their wife or girlfriend would be thrilled to have one as a present."
The French movie was a box-office hit and has been credited with drawing tourists to penguin-spotting sites across the world.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Britain_Penguin_Stolen.html
In Britain, a Missing Baby Penguin Prompts a National Soap Opera
By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, December 23, 2005; Page A14
LONDON, Dec. 22 -- Police ran down leads and the Royal Navy was on alert Thursday in the search for Toga, an 18-inch-tall baby penguin stolen from an Isle of Wight zoo Saturday night, creating a national soap opera rivaling Elton John's same-sex wedding for media coverage.
"We're all a bit ragged here, to say the least," said Kath Bright, manager of Amazon World Zoo Park, which has received nearly $13,000 in donations -- including $600 from the United States -- to offer as a reward for the safe return of the 9-pound South African jackass penguin.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122201004.html
Reward for Toga the penguin hits £25,000
By David Rose
THE reward for the return of Toga, the missing baby penguin, reached £25,000 yesterday, amid fears that he may have been stolen to order on behalf of a private bird collector.
No trace of the three-month-old bird, said to be worth about £1,000, has been found since he went missing more than a week ago from the Amazon World zoo on the Isle of Wight.
Kath Bright, the zoo’s manager, pleaded for Toga’s return yesterday, adding that he could now be in the hands of an unscrupulous collector. What started as a £1,000 reward offered by the zoo has now multiplied. The total includes a £5,000 contribution from Terence “Geezer” Butler, the bass player from Black Sabbath, and a £10,000 anonymous pledge.
Ms Bright said: “If Toga was stolen to order by a professional then of course there is a chance we will never hear anything of him again. It is a fact that rare and exotic animals are stolen to order, so why not Toga? Having said that, the reward money is so much now it might just change things and encourage someone to come forward.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1959163,00.html
Hopes fading fast for baby penguin stolen from zoo
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 23/12/2005)
Your view: penguin panic
The faint hopes of finding alive a baby penguin stolen from a zoo enclosure were all but gone last night.
Missing: Toga the penguin
It would be "a miracle" if three-month-old Toga, a black-foot penguin taken last Saturday from Amazon World on the Isle of Wight, were still alive, according to zoo owner Derek Curtis.
"I am very pessimistic," he said. "I think we have lost it. It has been too long. Toga needs his parents to feed him.
"It is getting on for a week now and, though I'd love to believe he was still alive, I don't see how he can be."
As interest in Toga's fate continued to grow, a man called a GMTV phone-in show to say he had dumped the bird in a bag in Portsmouth Dockyard on Tuesday.
"I spoke to him later on a mobile and he sounded genuine," said Mr Curtis. "He said he worked at the docks and dumped it on the side of the dock. But the phone went dead and we have not managed to reach him again."
There were two other sightings of the foot-tall penguin in the dockyard but searches yesterday failed to find him. A reward of £1,000 originally put up by Mr Curtis grew to more than £11,000 yesterday with donations being pledged from around the world.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/23/npeng23.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/12/23/ixnewstop.html
Biologist says prairie dogs at zoo may not be dead
Slideshow: Prairie dogs at Va. Zoo
06:13 PM EST on Friday, December 23, 2005
New information from a prairie dog expert leaves a ray of hope that some of the Virginia Zoo’s prairie dogs may have survived a tunnel collapse in their habitat.
The zoo says excessive rains over the past several weeks caused some of the tunnels to cave in. Because they’ve seen no activity from the animals, they presume that all the animals died.
Zookeepers are digging holes looking for the animals or their bodies. But one expert tells 13News it’s possible some of the prairie dogs survived.
Dr. John Hoogland, a prairie dog expert from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, believes it may be premature to say all the animals have died. Hoogland says zookeepers should wait the animals out instead of digging up the exhibit to look for their remains, and says the prairie dogs may be in a state of semi-hibernation.
"You might as well just wait and give them the chance naturally than either A - you might damage them during the digging process or B - if you dig down and find them you ruined everything above ground, and I'm not sure how you get the soil back there so they can resume normal activity," said Hoogland.
Zoo officials doubt the animals are alive, but say if they find them, they'll put them in a safe place while they replace the soil in the exhibit with a mixture that's stronger and more likely to withstand a collapse.
http://www.wvec.com/news/local/stories/wvec_top_122305_prairie_dogs.826908c.html
Zoo staff finds five prairie dogs alive
NORFOLK, Va. Workers at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk have found five prairie dogs safe, sound and asleep in their tunnels today.
They begun to dig through the remains of the zoo's prairie dog exhibit yesterday after zoo officials say a tunnel system collapsed earlier this week. Officials had presumed that up to 10 prairie dogs living in the exhibit had died.
Officials said heavy rains this fall weakened the tunnel system built by the animals themselves. There had been NO sign of the animals for weeks, leading the staff to presume the animals were dead.
But an expert had told zoo director Lewis Greene that the animals were just in a state of near-hibernation until the spring.
Workers have excavated about a quarter of the six-foot deep exhibit. Officials do NOT know exactly how many remain underground, but expect to find more of the animals alive.
http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=4285623&nav=23ii
Zoo's prairie dogs die in tunnel collapse
Norfolk, Va. December 25, 2005 12:01:13 AM IST
A tunnel collapse at a popular exhibit at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk has apparently wiped out all of the zoo's prairie dogs.
Zoo officials told The Virginia Pilot newspaper that is it presumed all of the prairie dogs at the zoo died when recent heavy rains weakened the tunnel system dug by the burrowing rodents.
As many as 10 animals were killed.
The prairie dog exhibit, which cost $344,000 to develop, had been open about 15 months. It was designed to be interactive and featured plastic bubbles that zoo patrons could crawl into to get closer to the animals.
Officials said they plan to replace the soil in the exhibit and introduce additional animals by next summer, the Pilot reported.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=201368&cat=World
Detroit Zoo's elephants enjoy their peaceful retirement in California
SAN ANDREAS, Calif. -- Wanda trundled down the hill from the elephant barn to meet her elephant friend, Annie. Then she drank from a pond. Then she wandered all by herself down a path to lie in the grass and snooze.
The humans, when they came back from a walk, could not see her.
"Where's Wanda? Where's Wanda?" Pat Derby called. People searched and searched.
Then a ranch hand shouted, "She's over there," and he pointed to the tall grass. And there was Wanda, dozing in the sun.
Every once in a while, it is possible for the elephants at ARK 2000 sanctuary to behave as they do in the wild, making decisions on their own, wandering here or there, touching trunks with other elephants, trumpeting a call, swimming in the rain.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051225/FEATURES07/512250304/1032/FEATURES
Third Giraffe Born At Cleveland Zoo Since August
POSTED: 8:20 pm EST December 24, 2005
CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is celebrating the birth of its third Masai giraffe calf since August.
Jhasmin was born Dec. 7 to 23-year-old Nova, a female giraffe caught in the wild to help the nation's captive giraffes avoid inbreeding.
Jhasmin's half-sister, Shirley, was born Oct. 26, and her half-brother, Mac, was born Aug. 11.
The father of all three calves, Walker, is 18 feet tall.
The Cleveland zoo has five female and two male giraffes, giving it one of the largest Masai herds in the country.
http://www.newsnet5.com/family/5643955/detail.html
Bronx Zoo's Rapunzel dies
Rapunzel, the Bronx zoo's rare rhino and a favorite among zoo workers and visitors, has died, officials said yesterday.
The 1,200-pound Sumatran or hairy rhino, who was rescued from a vanishing Sumatran rainforest and brought here 15 years ago, is a member of one of the planet's most endangered species. Only three others are left in U.S. zoos and about 300 are believed to be in scattered herds in Southeast Asia.
Zoo officials said Rapunzel, in her mid-30s, had difficulty moving and had labored breathing earlier this week. As her condition and discomfort worsened, they decided it was time that she be "humanely euthanized."
"She was clearly a favorite of our keepers, and I think of our visitors," said the zoo's curator of mammals.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/377447p-320652c.html
Govt calls on zoos to save rare wildcat
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Environment Ministry is looking for zoos that can help in a project to breed Tsushima-yamaneko, a wildcat indigenous to Tsushima island in Nagasaki Prefecture.
The government has designated the cats an endangered species.
Fukuoka Municipal Zoo, which introduced an artificial reproduction program in 2000 to breed the wildcats, was unable to house all of the animals that resulted.
There are believed to be between 80 and 110 Tsushima-yamaneko living wild on the island.
Twenty-eight cats were born during the course of the Fukuoka zoo's artificial reproduction program, though 11 of them died. Some of the cats were transferred to a protection center on the island, and 14 of them were kept at the zoo. However, the zoo has reached the limit of its housing capacity.
The ministry has asked zoos across the country to cooperate in the protection of the species in the hope of increasing the number of captive wildcats to 100 before releasing them into the wild. The ministry has asked participating zoos to keep the wildcats away from people, so they do not become tame.
Seal's return cancels fireworks
CHIBA--The return of a spotted seal to Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture, has led to the cancellation of a fireworks party. The wild seal was identified Friday as "Kamo-chan," a seal that had become popular locally after appearances earlier in the year.
The 1.4-meter-long seal was spotted by a Kamogawa Sea World employee at about 6:30 a.m. It is the seal's third visit to the beach, and Kamo-chan is believed to have swum to the city from northern seas.
An aquarium spokesman said it was academically valuable to find that a wild seal had returned to the same area twice.
A beach fireworks party had been scheduled for Saturday, but the organizer has decided to cancel the event so as not to scare Kamo-chan away. Fifty sets of fireworks were to have been launched from a ship anchored off the beach.
(Dec. 25, 2005)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/culture/20051225TDY03005.htm
Gorilla Study Disproves Menopause Theory
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A study of gorillas at 17 North American zoos, led by researchers at Chicago's Brookfield Zoo, is the first to document gorilla menopause.
The average age of the postmenopausal gorillas was 44. In American women, meno-pause hits around age 51. Many biologists believe menopause evolved because it gave human grandmothers more time to help care for their grandchildren. The new findings argue against the so-called "grandmother hypothesis" because female gorillas in the wild migrate away from their family groups and don't hang around to care for the grandkids.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/women/la-sci-briefs24.6dec24,1,1570744.story?coll=la-health-womens&ctrack=1&cset=true
E. coli outbreaks linked to petting zoos in North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona
By MMWR
Dec 23, 2005, 10:29
Outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 associated with petting zoos -North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona, 2004 and 2005
December 23, 2005
During 2004--2005, three outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections occurred among agricultural fair, festival, and petting zoo visitors in North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona. One hundred eight cases, including 15 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome* (HUS), were reported in the North Carolina outbreak; 63 cases, including seven HUS cases, were reported in the Florida outbreak; and two cases were reported in Arizona. No fatalities occurred. Illnesses primarily affected children who visited petting zoos at these events. This report summarizes findings from these outbreak investigations, which indicated the need for adequate control measures to reduce zoonotic transmission of E. coli O157:H7.
http://www.foodconsumer.org/777/8/E_coli_outbreaks_linked_to_petting_zoos_in_North_Carolina_Florida_and_Arizona.shtml
Animals poisoned to death in zoo
Search for More News
Mysore, Dec 23: Cases of mysterious deaths of three elephants, a white tigress and a lion tailed macaqe in the Mysore zoo have been cracked with the arrest of four zoo employees, a top police official said.
The animals were allegedly poisoned to death by feeding them zinc phosphate, only to settle scores with zoo director Manoj Kumar and his predecessor Kumara Pushkar, who had ordered a crackdown on certain irregularities, Mysore police commissioner Praveen Sood told reporters here.
Police are on the look out for three others, including a former zoo employee, he said, adding that the "sordid" crime was perpetrated out of "unbridled greed and heinous pursuit".
The culprits were suspected to have colluded with some contractors in supply of substandard food articles before Pushkar took over as the zoo chief, police said.
A narco-analysis test performed on one of the culprits led to the detection of poisoning of the animals a year ago. The case was investigated by the Mysore police and the state Corps of Detectives. (Agencies)
http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7B5B08E5F7-DE32-41F5-8E88-F5F3DAA6E349%7D&CATEGORYNAME=National
Manhunt in the zoo
By Andrew Carswell
December 24, 2005
DESPITE fears a suspected murderer is hiding within the grounds, Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, NSW will reopen to the public today.
A large-scale search was conducted in the zoo yesterday in a bid to find Malcolm Naden, 31, a key suspect in the murder of 24-year-old Kristy Scholes.
There was no sign of the experienced bushman, who police believe has been living in the park for several months.
He has been spotted by zoo security on several occasions - the last time on Thursday morning.
The world-famous zoo was closed yesterday for the search and although the fugitive was not found, police said he remained in the surrounding area.
Inspector Greg Spinks told The Daily Telegraph yesterday that there was no fear for public safety.
"After a long discussion with zoo staff, we decided there was no concern whatsoever for public safety and the park was handed back to staff for them to open tomorrow," he said.
Earlier in the day, a police spokesman said: "There's been a sighting and we have reason to suspect he may be hiding out in the zoo.
"We believe he may have been sourcing food from the park and may have been living there for several months."
Mother-of-two Kristy Scholes was found strangled in a Dubbo home on June 23. Naden is the prime suspect.
Police, who issued a warrant for his arrest in August, also want to question Naden in relation to the disappearance of mother-of-four Lateesha Nolan, who was last seen in Dubbo on January 4.
The three were part of an extended family living in West Dubbo.
Offering information in August in a bid to catch the suspected murderer, police alleged Naden had left his young nephew and niece locked inside a home for up to eight hours after strangling their mother.
Confused, four-year-old Elizabeth Scholes then cut through a flyscreen to escape her grandparent's Dubbo home, leaving three-year-old brother John inside while their mother lay dead in a separate room.
Relatives found Elizabeth wandering in the front yard on June 22 and called police, but it was not until the following day that Ms Scholes' body was located inside a locked bedroom, where Naden had also been living.
A spokeswoman for the Taronga and Western Plains Zoos said yesterday all visitors had been evacuated, including an unknown number of people who had been staying at an on-site lodge.
"The zoo was closed at 8am [Friday]," the spokeswoman said.
A handful of staff remained on site yesterday to look after the animals.
Hundreds of tourists were turned away from the park yesterday, including several who had driven for several hours to spend the day at the park.
One woman said she was bitterly disappointed, having driven her daughter to the park from Sydney.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17652625-421,00.html
Zoo staff's family gets assistance
PATNA: The district administration on Friday gave financial assistance to the family of Munarik Yadav, a daily wage earner, who fell prey to the fury of a rhino at the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park on Thursday.
Yadav (35) had entered the enclosure of the rhino on Thursday to clean it when the beast gave him a chase and gored him to death.Zoo director Rakesh Kumar said that the commissioner had assured to rehabilitate Yadav's family members.
"His wife will be employed in the zoo on daily wage basis," he said. The zoo authorities will approach the special committee of the chief secretary, which handles such mishaps, for further assistance to the family, he added.
Responding to a query on safety aspects, the zoo director said that only trained personnel are allowed to venture near the animals.
"The animals enter their cages only at night. As such, it's not possible to wait till then to clean their enclosures.
However, now we are taking precautions and nobody is being allowed to enter the enclosures until the animals get inside their cages," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1344608.cms
Rhino gores zoo staff to death
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PATNA: A daily wage earner at the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park was gored to death by a rhinoceros on Thursday afternoon.
The deceased, Munarik Yadav, had entered the enclosure of the rhinoceros to clean it when he was attacked.
Yadav's colleagues said he used to clean the enclosure every day but was reluctant to do so on Thursday.
A fellow worker said, "Yadav had sensed that the animal was agitated and that's why he did not want to take any chance. But the zoo authorities forced him to enter the enclosure and clean it."
A zoo official said that Yadav had allegedly entered the enclosure along with two other labourers. "When the rhino attacked, the other two managed to flee, but Yadav fell prey to its fury," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1343143,curpg-1.cms
Zoo search fails to find murder suspect
A massive police search has failed to locate a suspected murderer believed to be hiding in Dubbo's Western Plains Zoo.
The world-famous zoo was closed to the public on Friday as police searched for Malcolm Naden following reported sightings of the fugitive.
Naden, 31, is wanted over the death of 24-year-old mother of two Kristy Scholes and the disappearance of his cousin, Lateesha Nolan.
The three were part of an extended family living in West Dubbo.
"There's been a number of alleged sightings by zoo security and staff members here," Orana Local Area Command crime manager Detective Inspector Michael Willing told Channel Ten.
"We felt it was necessary to take the action that we did."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Cops-search-Dubbo-zoo-for-murder-suspect/2005/12/23/1135032169250.html
Winter weather heats up activity for some zoo critters
By AMY MCRARY, amymcrary@comcast.net
December 23, 2005
When winter weather arrive, the Knoxville Zoo temporarily cuts its prices. Admission to the zoo is half-price now through Feb. 28.
While some zoo animals like warmer weather and are off exhibit during winter, other species like cooler weather.
Advertisement
Animals including red pandas, tigers, river otters and black bears are often more active in colder weather than they are in East Tennessee's summer heat. The zoo checks the thermometer and plans accordingly day to day when letting animals outside. Otters, red panda s and bears typically are on exhibit daily. Tigers, snow leopards and lions are outside unless the temperature drops below 20 degrees.
Chimpanzees, rhinos and some zoo birds are indoors if the temperature falls below 40 degrees. Elephants, zebras and giraffes stay inside if it's colder than 45 degrees. Gorillas don't go out if the temperature is below 50.
As a rule, visitors should check the forecast and decide if they want to see the animals for half the regular admission.
Through December, half-price is $6.50 for adults, $4.50 for children ages 3-12 and senior citizens age 62 and older. Zoo admission goes up $2 starting Jan. 1, so January and February half-price admission will $7.50 for adults and $5.50 for children and senior citizens.
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/fun_stuff/article/0,1406,KNS_342_4332975,00.html
Vets at local zoos often turn to hospitals for medical help
Fu Yingqing and Cai Wenjun
2005-12-22 Beijing Time
IF a pet dog becomes sick, his owner can simply take him to the vet. But what do the city's two zoos do when wild animals are injured or ill?
That is a dilemma for zoo keepers that there are no medical facilities in Shanghai specializing in wild animals, and most vets never learn to treat anything other than cats, dogs and cattle.
When a leopard cub from the Shanghai Wild Animal Park developed kidney problems earlier week, animal keepers had to turn to a local children's hospital for help.
Local medical experts said veterinarians are similar to general physicians, who have basic knowledge of most diseases. But they often don't know how to deal with more complicated syndromes.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2005/12/22/230165/Vets_at_local_zoos_often_turn_to_hospitals_for_medical_help.htm
Tigers killed zoo man - source
20/12/2005 22:10 - (SA)
Debbie Sauer , Die Volksblad
Bloemfontein - Indications are that the man who was found dead in the tiger enclosure at Bloemfontein zoo was killed by the animals.
His naked body was spotted by a visitor to the zoo at about 11:00 on Sunday.
According to a reliable source, the man had died after being bitten in the neck.
He is said to have been between 30 and 35 years old.
Police believe the man was a robber.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1853774,00.html
Zoo officials arrested for killing bear
Aizawl: Mizoram police has arrested two state zoo officials on charges of killing a young Himalayan black bear here.
Sairang police today said zoo-keeper PC Lalrothanga, the main accused, confessed that he had killed a one-and-half-year old bear.
In his confession, Lalrothanga said he tested some old sedatives on the bear to see whether those were still effective.
He had acquired the sedatives when it was bought in mass quantity to drug the animals during the shifting of the zoo premises from inside the state capital to its outskirts.
When the keeper saw that the drug was still effective, he killed the bear by hitting it on the head with a stone.
Regarding the bear's missing gall bladder, police officials said it was given to the foxes with the rest of the other internal organs.
Arrested along with Lalrothanga was a muster-roll keeper Lalthanthuama, who helped him in the crime.
The one-and-a-half year old black bear was reported missing on December 15 by the keeper and its carcass was found the next day.
The bear had apparently been killed on the night of December 14.
Meanwhile, Association for Environmental Preservation (ASEP), the apex environment body in the state, has strongly condemned the killing of a bear inside the state zoo premises and demanded appropriate punishment for the accused.
http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=71187
Young company for old leopard
Thiruvananthapuram December 20, 2005 5:38:16 AM IST
A 15-year-old lonely leopard in the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo will have three younger companions from the Mysore Zoo, when they reach here today.
The three leopards aged four and five will be brought to the zoo as part of exchange programme between the zoos, sources said.
In exchange, three hog deers, one male and two female, were being given to Mysore. The leopards would be released into the open enclosure on December 21.
The 15-year-old leopard was brought from Kasargode in 1992, they said.
Most of the animals are now in naturally landscaped open enclosures with rich vegetation and lots of open space following Parliamentary sub-committee report.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=196117&cat=India
Independence company gets zoo contract
Larrison Construction Co. of Independence has been awarded the contract to build a promenade at the Kansas City Zoo and to transform the Red Barn domestic animal area.
Those improvements are to be completed in the spring. The company will also transform the original 1909 zoo building into a modern tropical habitat and exhibition space. That is to be completed by spring 2007.
The contract awarded by the Kansas City’s Capital Improvements Management Office totals nearly $3.6 million. The projects are part of the first phase of improvements authorized by voters, who approved a $30 million bond issue for the zoo.
The promenade will offer visitors a shortcut to the Africa section. The Red Barn will be reconfigured as a Discovery Barn, with interactive attractions and animal exhibits.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13401540.htm
Futruistic Cosmic Coaster Thrill Ride Opens At Oregon Zoo
Portland, Oregon - Oregon Zoo visitors will be transported to another planet on the zoo's newest thrill ride, Cosmic Coaster. The futuristic feature, which is produced by SimEx-Iwerks, runs throughout December during ZooLights hours 5 p.m. to closing.
http://www.medfordnews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=322970&cp=10997
State approves $4M for Detroit Zoo funding; seen as step toward privatization
By Sherri Begin
Dec. 14, 2005 3:00 PM
The state approved $4 million in operational funding for the Detroit Zoological Institute late Tuesday as part of its 2006 capital outlay budget approval process.
The funding is an important step toward ironing out a privatization agreement with the city of Detroit over the transfer of the zoo’s operation and employees.
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=7535\
LA Zoo Elephants Need Three Times More Space – Report
USA: December 15, 2005
LOS ANGELES - The three elephants at Los Angeles Zoo - Gita, Ruby and Billy - need three times more space than their current quarters but it comes with a price tag of $50 million, according to a report on the future of pachyderms at the zoo.
The independent report was commissioned by Los Angeles' new mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, after years of debate about the keeping of elephants in captivity at the city-owned zoo.
Some US zoos have closed their elephant exhibits in the past few years in the light of concern over odd behavior and arthritis among the animals, who have strong social instincts and roam some 20 miles (32 km) a day in the wild.
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/34047/story.htm
Isha Koppikar campaigns for Peta
(Wednesday, Dec 14, 2005 - 06:00 am)
Televisionpoint.com Team
Actor Isha Koppikar, clad in a leather cat suit, proclaims, 'Cats are too cool to be in zoos' in Peta's latest advertisement to raise awareness about the cruelty of zoos.
Koppikar teamed up with ace photographer Atul Kasbekar in the stunning advertisement, which comes in the wake of a landmark Bombay high court order demanding improvement in the Mumbai zoo.
Peta filed a case last October against the Mumbai zoo for failing to provide even basic care to its animals. As a result, the Bombay high court ordered several improvements at the zoo, like visitors now can no longer bring food and plastic inside the zoo premises.
In this context, Koppikar said that wild animals belong in the jungle where they can live their life freely. She said they are not meant to be kept in cages where they are jeered at and teased. She also asked to switch on the wildlife channel for a glimpse of the free wildlife.
http://www.televisionpoint.com/news/newsfullstory.php?id=1134521177
U.S. zoos prepare for avian flu
New guidelines focus on biocontainment, recommend vaccination in case of disease threat
By Graciela Flores
The organization representing U.S. zoos and aquariums recently released a set of guidelines for monitoring and preventing avian influenza within their walls. As part of the measure, American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) officials suggest isolating and decontaminating areas if they become affected by the flu, and eventually closing certain facilities.
"Even if we never see avian influenza in this country, this is a good thing to be doing," Donald Janssen, associate director of veterinary services at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, who helped draft the recommendations, told The Scientist. "But in all likelihood, in some form or another, we will see the high pathogen strain of avian influenza H5N1."
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20051214/01
It's official: Naples Zoo transaction complete
By LAURA LAYDEN, Daily News staff
December 19, 2005
It's a done deal.
The nonprofit Trust for Public Land has completed its purchase of 166.5 acres of prime property in Naples.
The purchase caps off a nearly two-year effort to save the zoo and preserve surrounding land.
Collier County purchased 130 acres of the land from the trust, including roughly 40 acres under the zoo. About 80 acres will remain in a natural state and could become part of a central park.
In separate transactions today, the trust sold 7 acres to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, giving its nature center access off Goodlette-Frank Road, and nearly 30 acres to Luxury Homes of Naples for the development of a residential community.
The four transactions were finalized this afternoon.
http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/article/0,2071,NPDN_14940_4327060,00.html
Zoo primate supervisor wants to separate gorilla facts from movie myths
By MELISSA BIRKS Associated Press
December 19, 2005
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Thousands of moviegoers will see the newest version of "King Kong," which opened recently. Debbie Wiese will not be among them. She won't rent the original either.
Once, she watched "Mighty Joe Young," a 1998 gorilla-terrorizes-humans flick. The audience shushed her. She says it was only once, but you wonder when you hear her describe the experience.
"I was saying, 'They don't do that! That's not how they behave! Oh, come on! Give me a break!'"
She looks at her feet and shakes her head.
"I just probably got a little loud."
Wiese, primate supervisor for the Rio Grande Zoo, readily admits she's biased. A lion movie, sure. Chimpanzees terrorizing a city? Absolutely, she says, stressing that it's her personal opinion. They're far more aggressive than their relatives.
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/36563.html
Dallas Zoo director stepping down
04:17 PM CST on Monday, December 19, 2005
By DAVID FLICK / The Dallas Morning News
Rich Buickerood said Monday that he was stepping down after 14 years as director of the Dallas Zoo, an institution buoyed by increasing attendance in recent years but dogged by chronic financial problems.
Mr. Buickerood, a self-described “eternal optimist,” chose to emphasize the positive signs, pointing to a flurry of new exhibits that had opened in the past year and noting that Dallas City Council was discussing a zoo bond proposal that could total $1 billion.
“I looked at the horizon and everything was on the uptick, so I just decided now was a good time to leave,” he said.
Paul Dyer, director of the city Park and Recreation Department, will lead a committee composed of members of the park board and the Dallas Zoological Society that will in conducting a nationwide search for Mr. Buickerood’s successor. The park board administers the zoo on behalf of the city, and the society acts as its primary fund-raising arm.
Mr. Buickerood will continue his present duties until a new director is named, a process Mr. Dyer said could take months.
Mr. Dyer said the search committee was interested in a director who would be able to work with both city officials and private donors — and said fundraising ability would count as an important qualification.
Mr. Buickerood, 63, took over the zoo job in 1991. His appointment initially stirred some misgivings among zoo supporters who felt he had too little experience running zoos. Instead, Mr. Buickerood spent his career in the military, achieving the rank of colonel in the U.S. Air Force.
But he presided over an era in which attendance at the Oak Cliff institution jumped from mid-1990s levels, and he oversaw significant improvements in the often-aging infrastructure.
The zoo received unwanted international attention in March, 2004, when Jabari, a 13-year-old western lowland gorilla, escaped his enclosure and injured three zoo visitors before being killed by police.
The more vexing problem was chronic underfunding of the city–owned institution, which has endured years of unfavorable comparison with the larger and glitzier Fort Worth Zoo. A plan for countywide funding of the Dallas Zoo collapsed earlier this year, when county commissioners balked at the cost of taking it over.
Michael Meadows, president and CEO of the Dallas Zoological Society, said few private donors or public officials blamed Mr. Buickerood for the financial problems.
“It’s just unfortunately an era when everybody wants new tax dollars and the public doesn’t want to pay more taxes,” he said.
Mr. Meadows credited Mr. Buickerood with keeping harmony between the zoo’s public and private benefactors.
“When he took over the job, the relationship with the zoological society and the parks department and the city council was not too good. Rich did a good job of repairing that relationship,” he said.
Mr. Buickerood said he would continue to work for the park department until June, even if a successor was found before that time.
He declined to characterize his departure as a retirement.
“I don’t like that word,” he said. “I’ll continue to live in town, and look for work.”
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/122005dnmetdallaszoo.25e5721f.html
Zoos told they are not fit for elephants
By Andrew Darby
December 24, 2005
FINAL approval for the controversial importation of eight Asian elephants to the Melbourne and Sydney zoos is being withheld in a wrangle over the animals' new living conditions.
The zoos claimed victory in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal last month against welfare groups that opposed the importation from Thailand.
But despite the building of costly new enclosures, the tribunal is yet to be satisfied that its demands for improvements in the elephants' living conditions have been met.
It called for changes at both zoos, including better sleeping arrangements and softer flooring to prevent skin and foot diseases that animals can contract on hard surfaces in zoos.
The tribunal also cast doubt on a plan to walk elephant cows along public paths at Sydney's Taronga Zoo to socialise with a lone bull after it is separated from them on reaching maturity.
The eight elephants, aged from five to 13, are still being held in pre-export quarantine in Thailand a year after the zoos hoped to fly them to the Cocos Islands to spend another three months in isolation before they can come to mainland Australia.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/zoos-told-they-are-not-fit-for-elephants/2005/12/22/1135032136028.html
Zoo breaks ground on upgrades
The Kansas City Zoo broke ground Wednesday on $3.6 million worth of improvements, financed by a $30 million bond package voters approved in April 2004 for work slated for completion by 2011.
The projects started Wednesday were a 28-foot-wide promenade with gateways to exhibits and locator graphics to help orient zoo patrons, and construction on the zoo's Red Barn will change it from a domesticated animal exhibit to a Discovery Barn with interactive areas and new animal exhibits for children, the city said in a written release. The projects are scheduled for completion in the summer.
Design work is being completed on the third project in the first phase of upgrades at the zoo. Plans call for changing the tropics building to a tropical habitat and interior exhibit space. The tropics building was built in 1909 and is one of the oldest building on the zoo's grounds. The project is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2007.
Kansas City's Capital Improvements Management Office is managing the projects.
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2005/12/19/daily28.html?jst=b_ln_hl
Tigers Kill Suspect at South African Zoo
12.21.2005, 01:19 PM
A suspected mugger being chased by security guards met a grisly end after he fled into a zoo and climbed into the tiger enclosure.
His mauled body was discovered Sunday by a visitor to the zoo in this central Southern African city, prompting initial confusion as to how the man ended up in the enclosure.
Police said Wednesday the man and an accomplice had robbed a couple at knifepoint early Sunday. Security guards gave chase and one of the suspects jumped over the perimeter fence. He then apparently ran to the tiger's den in the middle of the zoo.
"What exactly happened we don't know and we won't ever know because the only person who could tell us is dead," police spokeswoman Else Gerber said.
She said there was an empty can of beer near the corpse and that the autopsy would reveal whether the man was intoxicated at the time.
Zoo officials have said the Bengal tigers will not be destroyed because they were blameless. The tigers had been fed on Saturday and so did not eat the man because they were not hungry, according to media reports.
http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2005/12/21/ap2408028.html
A Visit To The Sanyo Zoo
Yesterday, there were no subways and the guy giving me rides took off for Boston, so I decided to go to the zoo. The Sanyo zoo.
You see, most Sanyo phones for Sprint have cute animal mascots called "buddies" that cavort unpredictably on your display while your phone is idle. They dance, work out, blow out birthday candles, swim the backstroke, or play peek-a-boo from the phone's corners. They're totally pointless, really cute, and very Asian in their pointless cuteness. I went down to my local Sprint store, and with the manager's help captured five buddies in the wild: a slightly creepy mouse, a very hung-over dog, an absolutely awesome karate-chopping elephant wearing a white robe, a boxing kangaroo and a fuzzy polar bear.
My friends at Sprint told me nobody has gone out shooting Sanyo mascots before, so these are rare and valuable images. I only wish I could post video to Gearlog. You have to see the elephant chop the pumpkin in half ...
See the Sanyo 7500's karate-chopping elephant.
The Sanyo VM4500 features a very sad puppy.
The Sanyo 9000 uses a little too much processing power on Stuart Little.
The boxing kangaroo on the Sanyo 8300 will knock you out!
Is the Sanyo 8200's polar bear related to those adorable CGI Coca-Cola bears? Check him out!
Happy holidays!
http://gearlog.com/blogs/gearlog/archive/2005/12/23/3660.aspx
continued …
With a new found enthusiasm for Zoos not all reporting is good news, but, much of it is. Taking the good with the bad provides a unexpected social depth we never gave Zoos before. It's good for us to have multi-focus of our world. Let's first look at a 'tour' of one of the Classic Zoos of the World.
What's GNU at the San Diego Zoo?
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/
Spot Sydney's new twins
Photos: Taronga Zoo's new snow leopard cubs came out today.
Photo: Peter Rae
More Galleries
http://www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2005/12/20/1135032006600.html
ZOO BEGS FOR RETURN OF ILL TOGA
By Geoffrey Lakeman
THE hunt for stolen baby penguin Toga became even more desperate last night as an expert warned he could die within hours.
The Isle of Wight zoo from where Toga was snatched last Saturday has been inundated with global messages of support.
A New York church congregation in Brooklyn is even praying for the missing three-month-old jackass chick - so called as he brays like a donkey - to be returned safely to pining parents Kyala and Oscar.
Other good wishes have flooded in from as far a field as Canada and Russia - and British kids have pledged their pocket money to a reward fund now standing at £4,500.
But grateful Derek Curtis, owner of Amazon World Zoo Park in Newchurch, now fears that the aid could be useless.
He said: "Toga will only feed from his mum and could be at death's door.
"I plead with whoever has him to return him today to give us a chance of saving a very sick bird. It simply cannot survive."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16511439&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=zoo-begs-for-return-of-ill-toga--name_page.html
Keepers fear penguin was snatched as gift
By DAVID STRINGER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LONDON -- A baby penguin believed to have been snatched from a British zoo as a quirky holiday gift is unlikely to survive until Christmas Day, his keeper warned Tuesday.
Toga, a 3-month-old jackass penguin, was stolen Saturday from Amazon World on the Isle of Wight in southern England.
Zoo manager Kath Bright said the bird, who was taken from a compound where he lived with his parents and four other penguins, probably would die of malnutrition if not urgently returned.
"Toga is very, very vulnerable. The penguin is still being fed by his parents and we don't believe it could survive more than five days," she told The Associated Press.
"The bird has already been missing for around three days and is likely to be severely dehydrated. If he isn't returned before Thursday, he is likely to become so ill that even intensive care treatment won't save him."
The brown-and-white penguin will bite if frightened and refuses to be fed by human hand, Bright said. Toga is too young to have yet had a gender confirmed but traditionally is referred to as a male, she added.
There was no sign of forced entry to the pen, but a thief would have been able to climb into the compound and carry Toga away, Bright said.
"We can't understand what may have been going through the thief's head, but we are worried someone decided a penguin would make the perfect Christmas gift," she added. "There has been a lot of attention because of the film 'March of the Penguins.' Perhaps someone saw the film and thought their wife or girlfriend would be thrilled to have one as a present."
The French movie was a box-office hit and has been credited with drawing tourists to penguin-spotting sites across the world.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Britain_Penguin_Stolen.html
In Britain, a Missing Baby Penguin Prompts a National Soap Opera
By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, December 23, 2005; Page A14
LONDON, Dec. 22 -- Police ran down leads and the Royal Navy was on alert Thursday in the search for Toga, an 18-inch-tall baby penguin stolen from an Isle of Wight zoo Saturday night, creating a national soap opera rivaling Elton John's same-sex wedding for media coverage.
"We're all a bit ragged here, to say the least," said Kath Bright, manager of Amazon World Zoo Park, which has received nearly $13,000 in donations -- including $600 from the United States -- to offer as a reward for the safe return of the 9-pound South African jackass penguin.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122201004.html
Reward for Toga the penguin hits £25,000
By David Rose
THE reward for the return of Toga, the missing baby penguin, reached £25,000 yesterday, amid fears that he may have been stolen to order on behalf of a private bird collector.
No trace of the three-month-old bird, said to be worth about £1,000, has been found since he went missing more than a week ago from the Amazon World zoo on the Isle of Wight.
Kath Bright, the zoo’s manager, pleaded for Toga’s return yesterday, adding that he could now be in the hands of an unscrupulous collector. What started as a £1,000 reward offered by the zoo has now multiplied. The total includes a £5,000 contribution from Terence “Geezer” Butler, the bass player from Black Sabbath, and a £10,000 anonymous pledge.
Ms Bright said: “If Toga was stolen to order by a professional then of course there is a chance we will never hear anything of him again. It is a fact that rare and exotic animals are stolen to order, so why not Toga? Having said that, the reward money is so much now it might just change things and encourage someone to come forward.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1959163,00.html
Hopes fading fast for baby penguin stolen from zoo
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 23/12/2005)
Your view: penguin panic
The faint hopes of finding alive a baby penguin stolen from a zoo enclosure were all but gone last night.
Missing: Toga the penguin
It would be "a miracle" if three-month-old Toga, a black-foot penguin taken last Saturday from Amazon World on the Isle of Wight, were still alive, according to zoo owner Derek Curtis.
"I am very pessimistic," he said. "I think we have lost it. It has been too long. Toga needs his parents to feed him.
"It is getting on for a week now and, though I'd love to believe he was still alive, I don't see how he can be."
As interest in Toga's fate continued to grow, a man called a GMTV phone-in show to say he had dumped the bird in a bag in Portsmouth Dockyard on Tuesday.
"I spoke to him later on a mobile and he sounded genuine," said Mr Curtis. "He said he worked at the docks and dumped it on the side of the dock. But the phone went dead and we have not managed to reach him again."
There were two other sightings of the foot-tall penguin in the dockyard but searches yesterday failed to find him. A reward of £1,000 originally put up by Mr Curtis grew to more than £11,000 yesterday with donations being pledged from around the world.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/23/npeng23.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/12/23/ixnewstop.html
Biologist says prairie dogs at zoo may not be dead
Slideshow: Prairie dogs at Va. Zoo
06:13 PM EST on Friday, December 23, 2005
New information from a prairie dog expert leaves a ray of hope that some of the Virginia Zoo’s prairie dogs may have survived a tunnel collapse in their habitat.
The zoo says excessive rains over the past several weeks caused some of the tunnels to cave in. Because they’ve seen no activity from the animals, they presume that all the animals died.
Zookeepers are digging holes looking for the animals or their bodies. But one expert tells 13News it’s possible some of the prairie dogs survived.
Dr. John Hoogland, a prairie dog expert from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, believes it may be premature to say all the animals have died. Hoogland says zookeepers should wait the animals out instead of digging up the exhibit to look for their remains, and says the prairie dogs may be in a state of semi-hibernation.
"You might as well just wait and give them the chance naturally than either A - you might damage them during the digging process or B - if you dig down and find them you ruined everything above ground, and I'm not sure how you get the soil back there so they can resume normal activity," said Hoogland.
Zoo officials doubt the animals are alive, but say if they find them, they'll put them in a safe place while they replace the soil in the exhibit with a mixture that's stronger and more likely to withstand a collapse.
http://www.wvec.com/news/local/stories/wvec_top_122305_prairie_dogs.826908c.html
Zoo staff finds five prairie dogs alive
NORFOLK, Va. Workers at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk have found five prairie dogs safe, sound and asleep in their tunnels today.
They begun to dig through the remains of the zoo's prairie dog exhibit yesterday after zoo officials say a tunnel system collapsed earlier this week. Officials had presumed that up to 10 prairie dogs living in the exhibit had died.
Officials said heavy rains this fall weakened the tunnel system built by the animals themselves. There had been NO sign of the animals for weeks, leading the staff to presume the animals were dead.
But an expert had told zoo director Lewis Greene that the animals were just in a state of near-hibernation until the spring.
Workers have excavated about a quarter of the six-foot deep exhibit. Officials do NOT know exactly how many remain underground, but expect to find more of the animals alive.
http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=4285623&nav=23ii
Zoo's prairie dogs die in tunnel collapse
Norfolk, Va. December 25, 2005 12:01:13 AM IST
A tunnel collapse at a popular exhibit at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk has apparently wiped out all of the zoo's prairie dogs.
Zoo officials told The Virginia Pilot newspaper that is it presumed all of the prairie dogs at the zoo died when recent heavy rains weakened the tunnel system dug by the burrowing rodents.
As many as 10 animals were killed.
The prairie dog exhibit, which cost $344,000 to develop, had been open about 15 months. It was designed to be interactive and featured plastic bubbles that zoo patrons could crawl into to get closer to the animals.
Officials said they plan to replace the soil in the exhibit and introduce additional animals by next summer, the Pilot reported.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=201368&cat=World
Detroit Zoo's elephants enjoy their peaceful retirement in California
SAN ANDREAS, Calif. -- Wanda trundled down the hill from the elephant barn to meet her elephant friend, Annie. Then she drank from a pond. Then she wandered all by herself down a path to lie in the grass and snooze.
The humans, when they came back from a walk, could not see her.
"Where's Wanda? Where's Wanda?" Pat Derby called. People searched and searched.
Then a ranch hand shouted, "She's over there," and he pointed to the tall grass. And there was Wanda, dozing in the sun.
Every once in a while, it is possible for the elephants at ARK 2000 sanctuary to behave as they do in the wild, making decisions on their own, wandering here or there, touching trunks with other elephants, trumpeting a call, swimming in the rain.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051225/FEATURES07/512250304/1032/FEATURES
Third Giraffe Born At Cleveland Zoo Since August
POSTED: 8:20 pm EST December 24, 2005
CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is celebrating the birth of its third Masai giraffe calf since August.
Jhasmin was born Dec. 7 to 23-year-old Nova, a female giraffe caught in the wild to help the nation's captive giraffes avoid inbreeding.
Jhasmin's half-sister, Shirley, was born Oct. 26, and her half-brother, Mac, was born Aug. 11.
The father of all three calves, Walker, is 18 feet tall.
The Cleveland zoo has five female and two male giraffes, giving it one of the largest Masai herds in the country.
http://www.newsnet5.com/family/5643955/detail.html
Bronx Zoo's Rapunzel dies
Rapunzel, the Bronx zoo's rare rhino and a favorite among zoo workers and visitors, has died, officials said yesterday.
The 1,200-pound Sumatran or hairy rhino, who was rescued from a vanishing Sumatran rainforest and brought here 15 years ago, is a member of one of the planet's most endangered species. Only three others are left in U.S. zoos and about 300 are believed to be in scattered herds in Southeast Asia.
Zoo officials said Rapunzel, in her mid-30s, had difficulty moving and had labored breathing earlier this week. As her condition and discomfort worsened, they decided it was time that she be "humanely euthanized."
"She was clearly a favorite of our keepers, and I think of our visitors," said the zoo's curator of mammals.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/377447p-320652c.html
Govt calls on zoos to save rare wildcat
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Environment Ministry is looking for zoos that can help in a project to breed Tsushima-yamaneko, a wildcat indigenous to Tsushima island in Nagasaki Prefecture.
The government has designated the cats an endangered species.
Fukuoka Municipal Zoo, which introduced an artificial reproduction program in 2000 to breed the wildcats, was unable to house all of the animals that resulted.
There are believed to be between 80 and 110 Tsushima-yamaneko living wild on the island.
Twenty-eight cats were born during the course of the Fukuoka zoo's artificial reproduction program, though 11 of them died. Some of the cats were transferred to a protection center on the island, and 14 of them were kept at the zoo. However, the zoo has reached the limit of its housing capacity.
The ministry has asked zoos across the country to cooperate in the protection of the species in the hope of increasing the number of captive wildcats to 100 before releasing them into the wild. The ministry has asked participating zoos to keep the wildcats away from people, so they do not become tame.
Seal's return cancels fireworks
CHIBA--The return of a spotted seal to Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture, has led to the cancellation of a fireworks party. The wild seal was identified Friday as "Kamo-chan," a seal that had become popular locally after appearances earlier in the year.
The 1.4-meter-long seal was spotted by a Kamogawa Sea World employee at about 6:30 a.m. It is the seal's third visit to the beach, and Kamo-chan is believed to have swum to the city from northern seas.
An aquarium spokesman said it was academically valuable to find that a wild seal had returned to the same area twice.
A beach fireworks party had been scheduled for Saturday, but the organizer has decided to cancel the event so as not to scare Kamo-chan away. Fifty sets of fireworks were to have been launched from a ship anchored off the beach.
(Dec. 25, 2005)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/culture/20051225TDY03005.htm
Gorilla Study Disproves Menopause Theory
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A study of gorillas at 17 North American zoos, led by researchers at Chicago's Brookfield Zoo, is the first to document gorilla menopause.
The average age of the postmenopausal gorillas was 44. In American women, meno-pause hits around age 51. Many biologists believe menopause evolved because it gave human grandmothers more time to help care for their grandchildren. The new findings argue against the so-called "grandmother hypothesis" because female gorillas in the wild migrate away from their family groups and don't hang around to care for the grandkids.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/women/la-sci-briefs24.6dec24,1,1570744.story?coll=la-health-womens&ctrack=1&cset=true
E. coli outbreaks linked to petting zoos in North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona
By MMWR
Dec 23, 2005, 10:29
Outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 associated with petting zoos -North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona, 2004 and 2005
December 23, 2005
During 2004--2005, three outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections occurred among agricultural fair, festival, and petting zoo visitors in North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona. One hundred eight cases, including 15 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome* (HUS), were reported in the North Carolina outbreak; 63 cases, including seven HUS cases, were reported in the Florida outbreak; and two cases were reported in Arizona. No fatalities occurred. Illnesses primarily affected children who visited petting zoos at these events. This report summarizes findings from these outbreak investigations, which indicated the need for adequate control measures to reduce zoonotic transmission of E. coli O157:H7.
http://www.foodconsumer.org/777/8/E_coli_outbreaks_linked_to_petting_zoos_in_North_Carolina_Florida_and_Arizona.shtml
Animals poisoned to death in zoo
Search for More News
Mysore, Dec 23: Cases of mysterious deaths of three elephants, a white tigress and a lion tailed macaqe in the Mysore zoo have been cracked with the arrest of four zoo employees, a top police official said.
The animals were allegedly poisoned to death by feeding them zinc phosphate, only to settle scores with zoo director Manoj Kumar and his predecessor Kumara Pushkar, who had ordered a crackdown on certain irregularities, Mysore police commissioner Praveen Sood told reporters here.
Police are on the look out for three others, including a former zoo employee, he said, adding that the "sordid" crime was perpetrated out of "unbridled greed and heinous pursuit".
The culprits were suspected to have colluded with some contractors in supply of substandard food articles before Pushkar took over as the zoo chief, police said.
A narco-analysis test performed on one of the culprits led to the detection of poisoning of the animals a year ago. The case was investigated by the Mysore police and the state Corps of Detectives. (Agencies)
http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7B5B08E5F7-DE32-41F5-8E88-F5F3DAA6E349%7D&CATEGORYNAME=National
Manhunt in the zoo
By Andrew Carswell
December 24, 2005
DESPITE fears a suspected murderer is hiding within the grounds, Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, NSW will reopen to the public today.
A large-scale search was conducted in the zoo yesterday in a bid to find Malcolm Naden, 31, a key suspect in the murder of 24-year-old Kristy Scholes.
There was no sign of the experienced bushman, who police believe has been living in the park for several months.
He has been spotted by zoo security on several occasions - the last time on Thursday morning.
The world-famous zoo was closed yesterday for the search and although the fugitive was not found, police said he remained in the surrounding area.
Inspector Greg Spinks told The Daily Telegraph yesterday that there was no fear for public safety.
"After a long discussion with zoo staff, we decided there was no concern whatsoever for public safety and the park was handed back to staff for them to open tomorrow," he said.
Earlier in the day, a police spokesman said: "There's been a sighting and we have reason to suspect he may be hiding out in the zoo.
"We believe he may have been sourcing food from the park and may have been living there for several months."
Mother-of-two Kristy Scholes was found strangled in a Dubbo home on June 23. Naden is the prime suspect.
Police, who issued a warrant for his arrest in August, also want to question Naden in relation to the disappearance of mother-of-four Lateesha Nolan, who was last seen in Dubbo on January 4.
The three were part of an extended family living in West Dubbo.
Offering information in August in a bid to catch the suspected murderer, police alleged Naden had left his young nephew and niece locked inside a home for up to eight hours after strangling their mother.
Confused, four-year-old Elizabeth Scholes then cut through a flyscreen to escape her grandparent's Dubbo home, leaving three-year-old brother John inside while their mother lay dead in a separate room.
Relatives found Elizabeth wandering in the front yard on June 22 and called police, but it was not until the following day that Ms Scholes' body was located inside a locked bedroom, where Naden had also been living.
A spokeswoman for the Taronga and Western Plains Zoos said yesterday all visitors had been evacuated, including an unknown number of people who had been staying at an on-site lodge.
"The zoo was closed at 8am [Friday]," the spokeswoman said.
A handful of staff remained on site yesterday to look after the animals.
Hundreds of tourists were turned away from the park yesterday, including several who had driven for several hours to spend the day at the park.
One woman said she was bitterly disappointed, having driven her daughter to the park from Sydney.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17652625-421,00.html
Zoo staff's family gets assistance
PATNA: The district administration on Friday gave financial assistance to the family of Munarik Yadav, a daily wage earner, who fell prey to the fury of a rhino at the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park on Thursday.
Yadav (35) had entered the enclosure of the rhino on Thursday to clean it when the beast gave him a chase and gored him to death.Zoo director Rakesh Kumar said that the commissioner had assured to rehabilitate Yadav's family members.
"His wife will be employed in the zoo on daily wage basis," he said. The zoo authorities will approach the special committee of the chief secretary, which handles such mishaps, for further assistance to the family, he added.
Responding to a query on safety aspects, the zoo director said that only trained personnel are allowed to venture near the animals.
"The animals enter their cages only at night. As such, it's not possible to wait till then to clean their enclosures.
However, now we are taking precautions and nobody is being allowed to enter the enclosures until the animals get inside their cages," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1344608.cms
Rhino gores zoo staff to death
SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
PATNA: A daily wage earner at the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park was gored to death by a rhinoceros on Thursday afternoon.
The deceased, Munarik Yadav, had entered the enclosure of the rhinoceros to clean it when he was attacked.
Yadav's colleagues said he used to clean the enclosure every day but was reluctant to do so on Thursday.
A fellow worker said, "Yadav had sensed that the animal was agitated and that's why he did not want to take any chance. But the zoo authorities forced him to enter the enclosure and clean it."
A zoo official said that Yadav had allegedly entered the enclosure along with two other labourers. "When the rhino attacked, the other two managed to flee, but Yadav fell prey to its fury," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1343143,curpg-1.cms
Zoo search fails to find murder suspect
A massive police search has failed to locate a suspected murderer believed to be hiding in Dubbo's Western Plains Zoo.
The world-famous zoo was closed to the public on Friday as police searched for Malcolm Naden following reported sightings of the fugitive.
Naden, 31, is wanted over the death of 24-year-old mother of two Kristy Scholes and the disappearance of his cousin, Lateesha Nolan.
The three were part of an extended family living in West Dubbo.
"There's been a number of alleged sightings by zoo security and staff members here," Orana Local Area Command crime manager Detective Inspector Michael Willing told Channel Ten.
"We felt it was necessary to take the action that we did."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Cops-search-Dubbo-zoo-for-murder-suspect/2005/12/23/1135032169250.html
Winter weather heats up activity for some zoo critters
By AMY MCRARY, amymcrary@comcast.net
December 23, 2005
When winter weather arrive, the Knoxville Zoo temporarily cuts its prices. Admission to the zoo is half-price now through Feb. 28.
While some zoo animals like warmer weather and are off exhibit during winter, other species like cooler weather.
Advertisement
Animals including red pandas, tigers, river otters and black bears are often more active in colder weather than they are in East Tennessee's summer heat. The zoo checks the thermometer and plans accordingly day to day when letting animals outside. Otters, red panda s and bears typically are on exhibit daily. Tigers, snow leopards and lions are outside unless the temperature drops below 20 degrees.
Chimpanzees, rhinos and some zoo birds are indoors if the temperature falls below 40 degrees. Elephants, zebras and giraffes stay inside if it's colder than 45 degrees. Gorillas don't go out if the temperature is below 50.
As a rule, visitors should check the forecast and decide if they want to see the animals for half the regular admission.
Through December, half-price is $6.50 for adults, $4.50 for children ages 3-12 and senior citizens age 62 and older. Zoo admission goes up $2 starting Jan. 1, so January and February half-price admission will $7.50 for adults and $5.50 for children and senior citizens.
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/fun_stuff/article/0,1406,KNS_342_4332975,00.html
Vets at local zoos often turn to hospitals for medical help
Fu Yingqing and Cai Wenjun
2005-12-22 Beijing Time
IF a pet dog becomes sick, his owner can simply take him to the vet. But what do the city's two zoos do when wild animals are injured or ill?
That is a dilemma for zoo keepers that there are no medical facilities in Shanghai specializing in wild animals, and most vets never learn to treat anything other than cats, dogs and cattle.
When a leopard cub from the Shanghai Wild Animal Park developed kidney problems earlier week, animal keepers had to turn to a local children's hospital for help.
Local medical experts said veterinarians are similar to general physicians, who have basic knowledge of most diseases. But they often don't know how to deal with more complicated syndromes.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2005/12/22/230165/Vets_at_local_zoos_often_turn_to_hospitals_for_medical_help.htm
Tigers killed zoo man - source
20/12/2005 22:10 - (SA)
Debbie Sauer , Die Volksblad
Bloemfontein - Indications are that the man who was found dead in the tiger enclosure at Bloemfontein zoo was killed by the animals.
His naked body was spotted by a visitor to the zoo at about 11:00 on Sunday.
According to a reliable source, the man had died after being bitten in the neck.
He is said to have been between 30 and 35 years old.
Police believe the man was a robber.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1853774,00.html
Zoo officials arrested for killing bear
Aizawl: Mizoram police has arrested two state zoo officials on charges of killing a young Himalayan black bear here.
Sairang police today said zoo-keeper PC Lalrothanga, the main accused, confessed that he had killed a one-and-half-year old bear.
In his confession, Lalrothanga said he tested some old sedatives on the bear to see whether those were still effective.
He had acquired the sedatives when it was bought in mass quantity to drug the animals during the shifting of the zoo premises from inside the state capital to its outskirts.
When the keeper saw that the drug was still effective, he killed the bear by hitting it on the head with a stone.
Regarding the bear's missing gall bladder, police officials said it was given to the foxes with the rest of the other internal organs.
Arrested along with Lalrothanga was a muster-roll keeper Lalthanthuama, who helped him in the crime.
The one-and-a-half year old black bear was reported missing on December 15 by the keeper and its carcass was found the next day.
The bear had apparently been killed on the night of December 14.
Meanwhile, Association for Environmental Preservation (ASEP), the apex environment body in the state, has strongly condemned the killing of a bear inside the state zoo premises and demanded appropriate punishment for the accused.
http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=71187
Young company for old leopard
Thiruvananthapuram December 20, 2005 5:38:16 AM IST
A 15-year-old lonely leopard in the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo will have three younger companions from the Mysore Zoo, when they reach here today.
The three leopards aged four and five will be brought to the zoo as part of exchange programme between the zoos, sources said.
In exchange, three hog deers, one male and two female, were being given to Mysore. The leopards would be released into the open enclosure on December 21.
The 15-year-old leopard was brought from Kasargode in 1992, they said.
Most of the animals are now in naturally landscaped open enclosures with rich vegetation and lots of open space following Parliamentary sub-committee report.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=196117&cat=India
Independence company gets zoo contract
Larrison Construction Co. of Independence has been awarded the contract to build a promenade at the Kansas City Zoo and to transform the Red Barn domestic animal area.
Those improvements are to be completed in the spring. The company will also transform the original 1909 zoo building into a modern tropical habitat and exhibition space. That is to be completed by spring 2007.
The contract awarded by the Kansas City’s Capital Improvements Management Office totals nearly $3.6 million. The projects are part of the first phase of improvements authorized by voters, who approved a $30 million bond issue for the zoo.
The promenade will offer visitors a shortcut to the Africa section. The Red Barn will be reconfigured as a Discovery Barn, with interactive attractions and animal exhibits.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13401540.htm
Futruistic Cosmic Coaster Thrill Ride Opens At Oregon Zoo
Portland, Oregon - Oregon Zoo visitors will be transported to another planet on the zoo's newest thrill ride, Cosmic Coaster. The futuristic feature, which is produced by SimEx-Iwerks, runs throughout December during ZooLights hours 5 p.m. to closing.
http://www.medfordnews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=322970&cp=10997
State approves $4M for Detroit Zoo funding; seen as step toward privatization
By Sherri Begin
Dec. 14, 2005 3:00 PM
The state approved $4 million in operational funding for the Detroit Zoological Institute late Tuesday as part of its 2006 capital outlay budget approval process.
The funding is an important step toward ironing out a privatization agreement with the city of Detroit over the transfer of the zoo’s operation and employees.
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=7535\
LA Zoo Elephants Need Three Times More Space – Report
USA: December 15, 2005
LOS ANGELES - The three elephants at Los Angeles Zoo - Gita, Ruby and Billy - need three times more space than their current quarters but it comes with a price tag of $50 million, according to a report on the future of pachyderms at the zoo.
The independent report was commissioned by Los Angeles' new mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, after years of debate about the keeping of elephants in captivity at the city-owned zoo.
Some US zoos have closed their elephant exhibits in the past few years in the light of concern over odd behavior and arthritis among the animals, who have strong social instincts and roam some 20 miles (32 km) a day in the wild.
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/34047/story.htm
Isha Koppikar campaigns for Peta
(Wednesday, Dec 14, 2005 - 06:00 am)
Televisionpoint.com Team
Actor Isha Koppikar, clad in a leather cat suit, proclaims, 'Cats are too cool to be in zoos' in Peta's latest advertisement to raise awareness about the cruelty of zoos.
Koppikar teamed up with ace photographer Atul Kasbekar in the stunning advertisement, which comes in the wake of a landmark Bombay high court order demanding improvement in the Mumbai zoo.
Peta filed a case last October against the Mumbai zoo for failing to provide even basic care to its animals. As a result, the Bombay high court ordered several improvements at the zoo, like visitors now can no longer bring food and plastic inside the zoo premises.
In this context, Koppikar said that wild animals belong in the jungle where they can live their life freely. She said they are not meant to be kept in cages where they are jeered at and teased. She also asked to switch on the wildlife channel for a glimpse of the free wildlife.
http://www.televisionpoint.com/news/newsfullstory.php?id=1134521177
U.S. zoos prepare for avian flu
New guidelines focus on biocontainment, recommend vaccination in case of disease threat
By Graciela Flores
The organization representing U.S. zoos and aquariums recently released a set of guidelines for monitoring and preventing avian influenza within their walls. As part of the measure, American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) officials suggest isolating and decontaminating areas if they become affected by the flu, and eventually closing certain facilities.
"Even if we never see avian influenza in this country, this is a good thing to be doing," Donald Janssen, associate director of veterinary services at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, who helped draft the recommendations, told The Scientist. "But in all likelihood, in some form or another, we will see the high pathogen strain of avian influenza H5N1."
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20051214/01
It's official: Naples Zoo transaction complete
By LAURA LAYDEN, Daily News staff
December 19, 2005
It's a done deal.
The nonprofit Trust for Public Land has completed its purchase of 166.5 acres of prime property in Naples.
The purchase caps off a nearly two-year effort to save the zoo and preserve surrounding land.
Collier County purchased 130 acres of the land from the trust, including roughly 40 acres under the zoo. About 80 acres will remain in a natural state and could become part of a central park.
In separate transactions today, the trust sold 7 acres to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, giving its nature center access off Goodlette-Frank Road, and nearly 30 acres to Luxury Homes of Naples for the development of a residential community.
The four transactions were finalized this afternoon.
http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/article/0,2071,NPDN_14940_4327060,00.html
Zoo primate supervisor wants to separate gorilla facts from movie myths
By MELISSA BIRKS Associated Press
December 19, 2005
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Thousands of moviegoers will see the newest version of "King Kong," which opened recently. Debbie Wiese will not be among them. She won't rent the original either.
Once, she watched "Mighty Joe Young," a 1998 gorilla-terrorizes-humans flick. The audience shushed her. She says it was only once, but you wonder when you hear her describe the experience.
"I was saying, 'They don't do that! That's not how they behave! Oh, come on! Give me a break!'"
She looks at her feet and shakes her head.
"I just probably got a little loud."
Wiese, primate supervisor for the Rio Grande Zoo, readily admits she's biased. A lion movie, sure. Chimpanzees terrorizing a city? Absolutely, she says, stressing that it's her personal opinion. They're far more aggressive than their relatives.
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/36563.html
Dallas Zoo director stepping down
04:17 PM CST on Monday, December 19, 2005
By DAVID FLICK / The Dallas Morning News
Rich Buickerood said Monday that he was stepping down after 14 years as director of the Dallas Zoo, an institution buoyed by increasing attendance in recent years but dogged by chronic financial problems.
Mr. Buickerood, a self-described “eternal optimist,” chose to emphasize the positive signs, pointing to a flurry of new exhibits that had opened in the past year and noting that Dallas City Council was discussing a zoo bond proposal that could total $1 billion.
“I looked at the horizon and everything was on the uptick, so I just decided now was a good time to leave,” he said.
Paul Dyer, director of the city Park and Recreation Department, will lead a committee composed of members of the park board and the Dallas Zoological Society that will in conducting a nationwide search for Mr. Buickerood’s successor. The park board administers the zoo on behalf of the city, and the society acts as its primary fund-raising arm.
Mr. Buickerood will continue his present duties until a new director is named, a process Mr. Dyer said could take months.
Mr. Dyer said the search committee was interested in a director who would be able to work with both city officials and private donors — and said fundraising ability would count as an important qualification.
Mr. Buickerood, 63, took over the zoo job in 1991. His appointment initially stirred some misgivings among zoo supporters who felt he had too little experience running zoos. Instead, Mr. Buickerood spent his career in the military, achieving the rank of colonel in the U.S. Air Force.
But he presided over an era in which attendance at the Oak Cliff institution jumped from mid-1990s levels, and he oversaw significant improvements in the often-aging infrastructure.
The zoo received unwanted international attention in March, 2004, when Jabari, a 13-year-old western lowland gorilla, escaped his enclosure and injured three zoo visitors before being killed by police.
The more vexing problem was chronic underfunding of the city–owned institution, which has endured years of unfavorable comparison with the larger and glitzier Fort Worth Zoo. A plan for countywide funding of the Dallas Zoo collapsed earlier this year, when county commissioners balked at the cost of taking it over.
Michael Meadows, president and CEO of the Dallas Zoological Society, said few private donors or public officials blamed Mr. Buickerood for the financial problems.
“It’s just unfortunately an era when everybody wants new tax dollars and the public doesn’t want to pay more taxes,” he said.
Mr. Meadows credited Mr. Buickerood with keeping harmony between the zoo’s public and private benefactors.
“When he took over the job, the relationship with the zoological society and the parks department and the city council was not too good. Rich did a good job of repairing that relationship,” he said.
Mr. Buickerood said he would continue to work for the park department until June, even if a successor was found before that time.
He declined to characterize his departure as a retirement.
“I don’t like that word,” he said. “I’ll continue to live in town, and look for work.”
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/122005dnmetdallaszoo.25e5721f.html
Zoos told they are not fit for elephants
By Andrew Darby
December 24, 2005
FINAL approval for the controversial importation of eight Asian elephants to the Melbourne and Sydney zoos is being withheld in a wrangle over the animals' new living conditions.
The zoos claimed victory in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal last month against welfare groups that opposed the importation from Thailand.
But despite the building of costly new enclosures, the tribunal is yet to be satisfied that its demands for improvements in the elephants' living conditions have been met.
It called for changes at both zoos, including better sleeping arrangements and softer flooring to prevent skin and foot diseases that animals can contract on hard surfaces in zoos.
The tribunal also cast doubt on a plan to walk elephant cows along public paths at Sydney's Taronga Zoo to socialise with a lone bull after it is separated from them on reaching maturity.
The eight elephants, aged from five to 13, are still being held in pre-export quarantine in Thailand a year after the zoos hoped to fly them to the Cocos Islands to spend another three months in isolation before they can come to mainland Australia.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/zoos-told-they-are-not-fit-for-elephants/2005/12/22/1135032136028.html
Zoo breaks ground on upgrades
The Kansas City Zoo broke ground Wednesday on $3.6 million worth of improvements, financed by a $30 million bond package voters approved in April 2004 for work slated for completion by 2011.
The projects started Wednesday were a 28-foot-wide promenade with gateways to exhibits and locator graphics to help orient zoo patrons, and construction on the zoo's Red Barn will change it from a domesticated animal exhibit to a Discovery Barn with interactive areas and new animal exhibits for children, the city said in a written release. The projects are scheduled for completion in the summer.
Design work is being completed on the third project in the first phase of upgrades at the zoo. Plans call for changing the tropics building to a tropical habitat and interior exhibit space. The tropics building was built in 1909 and is one of the oldest building on the zoo's grounds. The project is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2007.
Kansas City's Capital Improvements Management Office is managing the projects.
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2005/12/19/daily28.html?jst=b_ln_hl
Tigers Kill Suspect at South African Zoo
12.21.2005, 01:19 PM
A suspected mugger being chased by security guards met a grisly end after he fled into a zoo and climbed into the tiger enclosure.
His mauled body was discovered Sunday by a visitor to the zoo in this central Southern African city, prompting initial confusion as to how the man ended up in the enclosure.
Police said Wednesday the man and an accomplice had robbed a couple at knifepoint early Sunday. Security guards gave chase and one of the suspects jumped over the perimeter fence. He then apparently ran to the tiger's den in the middle of the zoo.
"What exactly happened we don't know and we won't ever know because the only person who could tell us is dead," police spokeswoman Else Gerber said.
She said there was an empty can of beer near the corpse and that the autopsy would reveal whether the man was intoxicated at the time.
Zoo officials have said the Bengal tigers will not be destroyed because they were blameless. The tigers had been fed on Saturday and so did not eat the man because they were not hungry, according to media reports.
http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2005/12/21/ap2408028.html
A Visit To The Sanyo Zoo
Yesterday, there were no subways and the guy giving me rides took off for Boston, so I decided to go to the zoo. The Sanyo zoo.
You see, most Sanyo phones for Sprint have cute animal mascots called "buddies" that cavort unpredictably on your display while your phone is idle. They dance, work out, blow out birthday candles, swim the backstroke, or play peek-a-boo from the phone's corners. They're totally pointless, really cute, and very Asian in their pointless cuteness. I went down to my local Sprint store, and with the manager's help captured five buddies in the wild: a slightly creepy mouse, a very hung-over dog, an absolutely awesome karate-chopping elephant wearing a white robe, a boxing kangaroo and a fuzzy polar bear.
My friends at Sprint told me nobody has gone out shooting Sanyo mascots before, so these are rare and valuable images. I only wish I could post video to Gearlog. You have to see the elephant chop the pumpkin in half ...
See the Sanyo 7500's karate-chopping elephant.
The Sanyo VM4500 features a very sad puppy.
The Sanyo 9000 uses a little too much processing power on Stuart Little.
The boxing kangaroo on the Sanyo 8300 will knock you out!
Is the Sanyo 8200's polar bear related to those adorable CGI Coca-Cola bears? Check him out!
Happy holidays!
http://gearlog.com/blogs/gearlog/archive/2005/12/23/3660.aspx
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