Saturday, October 20, 2007
Morning Papers - continued...
Michael Moore Today
"I strongly support universal, single-payer, government- provided or government-funded health care."
-- Al Gore
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Al Gore for President 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITnMmDWmt2w&mode=related&search=
Michael Moore Wants Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore For President
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr_lWtVVRTo&NR=1
October 18th, 2007 12:21 pm
Gore lauds Chicago; his fans push for '08 run
Gore: City sets standard for U.S.
By Kristen Kridel / Chicago Tribune
Less than a week after winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his crusade against global warming, former Vice President Al Gore lauded Chicago Wednesday as a leader in the fight for the environment.
Chicago earned the role by promoting environmentally friendly programs such as Smart Bulb, the Chicago Climate Exchange and rooftop gardens, Gore told the Economic Club of Chicago.
"The rest of our country looks to Chicago," he told about 2,000 people gathered at the Hyatt Regency Chicago hotel. "If you start banging the drums, the rest of the country and world will respond."
Still riding on the steam of the award, Gore said that the current climate crisis is the most dangerous the planet has ever faced.
"We can't keep thinking of the atmosphere as an open sewer," he said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10435
Michael Moore on healthcare for immigrants
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH6OyfXdFJ8&mode=related&search=
Health care is a right
http://current.com/items/84987281_health_care_is_a_right
Draft Gore - The Conscience of the Democratic Party
http://www.draftgore.com/
October 15th, 2007 4:23 pm
Iraq War Veteran Returns Medals In Protest
By Leslie Carto / FOX 4 News
A veteran of the Iraq war is returning his medals and calling the war an illegal invasion.
Specialist Mike Sanger returned his medals to Kansas Congressman Dennis Moore's office. He said he did it because Moore supported the war, but doesn't support his needs as a veteran.
Sanger served in Iraq for a year as an Army military police officer. He now believes the war is illegal and said countless Iraqis are dying for several corporations to make money.
Among his medals, Sanger returned the National Defense medal, the War on Terror medal and a combat medal. Moore was not in his office. An aide listened as Sanger read the names of the soldiers from Kansas who died in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10411
Ohio guardsman recruits brother, earns $2K
Staff report
Posted : Sunday Oct 14, 2007 9:31:34 EDT
The Ohio National Guard reached its 1,500th recruit under the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program when Spc. Ian Spence enlisted his brother, Alex, and pocketed $2,000.
It was Spence’s fourth referral under the GRAP, according to an Army press release.
Ohio National Guard soldiers across the state have earned more than $3 million since the program’s inception almost two years ago, recruiting from among friends, relatives, classmates and co-workers, the release stated.
The program allows traditional Guard soldiers to volunteer to become recruiting assistants, or RAs, by taking a brief online training course.
There are about 5,500 RAs in Ohio and each recruit who ships and graduates from basic training earns the RA $2,000.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/10/army_ohiorecruits_071014w/
October 15th, 2007 5:04 pm
Two journalists killed in Iraq in 24 hours
BAGHDAD (AFP) — A freelance journalist was shot dead near Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk on Monday, less than 24 hours after a reporter for the Washington Post was killed in Baghdad, a media watchdog said.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders named the freelance journalist as 32-year-old Dhi Abdul-Razak al-Dibo and said he was killed in an ambush by unidentified gunmen near the oil city, 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad. His two bodyguards were injured in the attack.
The Washington Post wrote on its website that reporter Salih Saif Aldin, 32, who had been reporting on clashes between militiamen and insurgents in Baghdad's Sadiyah community, was fatally shot on Sunday.
The Post said he was the first reporter for the newspaper to be killed during the Iraq war.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10412
October 15th, 2007 8:24 pm
President Bush visits Memphis for fundraiser
WMC-TV
President Bush visited Memphis Monday to attend a private fundraiser for Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander.
Alexander, an outspoken Republican critic of Bush's war strategy, has stood with him in rejecting Democratic legislation that would mandate troop withdrawals.
Bush arrived aboard Air Force One at Memphis International Airport shortly after 3:00 p.m. Monday.
After exiting Air Force One, Bush took a moment to share a photo opportunity with White Station High School senior Chi Zhang. Zhang, a recipient of the President's Volunteer Service Award, is a volunteer with Hands-On Memphis and founded the Multi-Cultural Learning Program, a youth organization promoting academic and cultural excellence and community service.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10416
October 15th, 2007 6:56 pm
A month after killings Iraq insists Blackwater quit
By Sabah Jerges / AFP
BAGHDAD - Iraq insisted on Monday that US private security firm Blackwater and "other companies who commit crimes" leave Iraq after its guards opened fire in Baghdad a month ago killing up to 17 civilians.
"From the beginning, the government wanted to replace this company after the incident," Sami al-Askari, adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, told AFP.
US State Department officials in Iraq, who employ Blackwater as their guards, had however asked that an investigation be held into the September 16 incident before any decision was taken, he added.
"Now after the investigations are almost completed, at least by the Iraqi side, and it has been proved definitely that the shooting of civilians was unjustifiable and brutal, the Iraqi position has become firmer," Askari said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10414
Monday, October 15th, 2007
THE REAL RUDY: RADIOS
Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films is calling for an investigation of the Giuliani administration's failure to provide New York City firefighters with radios that could have saved lives on 9/11. BNF's latest short video documentary, THE REAL RUDY: RADIOS, features parents of firefighters who died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 explaining that the radios that firefighters carried into the World Trade Center were obsolete and incapable of receiving police broadcasts. As a consequence, firefighters in the North Tower never received an alert from an NYPD helicopter that the building was in danger of collapse, and remained in place while police officers evacuated. The building's collapse killed 121 firefighters. The Giuliani administration, these families assert, had seven years to replace these antiquated radios and failed to do so.
See the video here: http://therealrudy.org/blog/15917-the-real-rudy-radios
THE REAL RUDY: RADIOS is being released alongside a petition requesting that New York City Councilman Eric Gioia initiate a public investigation to answer these questions:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=929
THIS MUST BE INVESTIGATED
http://therealrudy.org/radios
Abizaid: ‘We’ve Treated The Arab World As A Collection Of Big Gas Stations’
During a round table discussion on “the Fight for Oil, Water and a Healthy Planet” at Stanford University on Saturday, Gen. John Abizaid (Ret.), the former CENTCOM Commander, said that “of course” the Iraq war is “about oil“:
“Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” Abizaid said of the Iraq campaign early on in the talk.
“We’ve treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations,” the retired general said. “Our message to them is: Guys, keep your pumps open, prices low, be nice to the Israelis and you can do whatever you want out back. Osama and 9/11 is the distilled essence that represents everything going on out back.”
Abizaid has previously argued that the U.S. would need “to keep a long-term military presence in Iraq” in order to protect “the free flow of goods and resources” such as oil, but his Stanford comments go much further in pinning oil as a prime motivator for the war.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/15/abizaid-middle-east-gas-station/
October 15th, 2007 6:04 pm
Clinton on Iran: All options must remain on table
By Steve Holland / Reuters
WASHINGTON - Democrat Hillary Clinton, under fire from rivals for a muscular attitude toward Iran, said on Monday "all options must remain on the table" if Tehran does not comply with nuclear nonproliferation requirements.
In an article for Foreign Affairs magazine, the Democratic presidential candidate said the United States should be prepared to offer incentives if Tehran ends its nuclear weapons ambitions, renounces sponsorship of terrorism, supports Middle East peace and plays a constructive role in stabilizing Iraq.
Oil-rich Iran denies trying to develop a nuclear weapon, saying its atomic program is for peaceful energy purposes. But the United States and its European allies believe Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants a nuclear bomb.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10413
Bush talks of threats, concerns and U.S. judges
March 14, 2002 Posted: 3:14 AM EST (0814 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Wednesday he is "deeply concerned" about Iraq, not that concerned about Osama bin Laden and plans to keep all options on the table -- including nuclear weapons -- to protect the United States from any attacks.
During his first formal news conference of the year, Bush said he is committed to modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal while reducing the number of nuclear warheads.
But he said the key word of the U.S. nuclear policy is deterrence.
"We've got all our options on the table because we want to make it very clear to nations that you will not threaten the United States or use weapons of mass destruction against us or our allies or friends," said Bush.
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/03/13/Bush.news.conference/index.html
October 17th, 2007 1:13 pm
Bush's approval at new low in Reuters: 24 percent
By Mark Silva / Chicago Tribune
President Bush's approval rating has reached a new low in the newest Reuters/Zogby Poll -- with just 24 percent of those surveyed approving of Bush's job performance. That is down from 29 percent last month.
It is lower than the latest register of Bush's approval rating in the Gallup Poll -- 32 percent in Gallup's newest October survey.
The newest gauge arrives as President Bush prepares for a press conference in the West Wing this morning -- at 10:40 am EDT -- and as the president prepares to fend off an override of his veto of an expansion of children's health care on Capitol Hilll tomorrow.
Public approval for the job that Congress is performing -- 11 percent in the new survey -- matches the all-time low that Reuters found last month.
"Deepening unhappiness with President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress soured the mood of Americans and sent Bush's approval rating to another record low this month,'' Reuters reports today.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10428
October 16th, 2007 3:22 pm
9/11 Rescue Worker and Oklahoma Community Leaders Rally at State Capitol to Save SCHIP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
What: Protest of President Bush’s Veto on SCHIP
Where: Oklahoma State Capitol, South Plaza Steps
When: Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 12 Noon
Oklahomans Urge Veto Override by Congress
Reggie Cervantes, Oklahoma Chapter President of APUHC (American Patients for Universal Health Care), is leading a protest at the South Plaza of the Oklahoma Capitol on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 12 noon. The rally will call upon members of Congress to override President Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
Cervantes, a 9/11 volunteer rescue worker, is featured in the Michael Moore movie about American health care, SiCKO. As a resident of Oklahoma City, Cervantes is concerned about the 148,000 Oklahoma children who do not have health care coverage. She needs medical care for her two children, ages 8 and 10, and herself for PTSD and other ailments she developed after working at the World Trade Center.
"We want to send a message to the White House that Oklahomans love their children and want them to have access to health care through SCHIP. We are urging Oklahoma Representatives Fallin, Cole, Sullivan and Lucas to stand up and override President Bush’s veto," added Cervantes.
Oklahoma Congressman Dan Boren (D), who voted against the bill, announced that he had changed his mind and would vote to override the Bush veto.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10418
October 17th, 2007 3:32 pm
Bush: Threat of World War III if Iran goes nuclear
By Matt Spetalnick / Reuters
WASHINGTON, Oct 17 - U.S. President George W. Bush warned on Wednesday a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to World War III as he tried to shore up international opposition to Tehran amid Russian skepticism over its nuclear ambitions.
Bush was speaking a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has resisted Western pressure to toughen his stance over Iran's nuclear program, made clear on a visit to Tehran that Russia would not accept any military action against Iran.
At a White House news conference, Bush expressed hope Putin would brief him on his talks in Tehran and said he would ask him to clarify recent remarks on Iran's nuclear activities.
Putin said last week that Russia, which is building Iran's first atomic power plant, would "proceed from the position" that Tehran had no plans to develop nuclear weapons but he shared international concerns that its nuclear programs "should be as transparent as possible."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10430
Mom Marches With Dead Son's Photo So You Can See Her Pain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q02vXH61JW0&eurl=http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Presidential candidate defends U.S. Constitution
Exclusive: Senator Chris Dodd Will Put A Hold On Telecom Immunity Bill
By Greg Sargent - October 18, 2007, 1:55PM
Senator Chris Dodd plans to put a hold on the Senate FISA renewal bill because it reportedly grants retroactive immunity to telephone companies for any role they played in the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program, Election Central has learned.
Dodd will send a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this afternoon informing him of his decision. Dodd also plans to put up a page today at his campaign Web site where opponents of the immunity provision can register their opposition.
“Later today Senator Dodd will be sending a letter to Majority Leader Reid informing him that he plans to put a ‘hold’ on a bill that would provide for retroactive amnesty for telecom giants that were complicit in the Bush Administration’s assault on the United States Constitution," Dodd spokesman Hari Sevugan told Election Central. "Senator Dodd said that he would do what he could do to stop this bill, and with this announcement he has again shown that he delivers results.”
http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/10/exclusive_senator_chris_dodd_will_put_a_hold_on_telecom_immunity_bill.php
The Military Commissions Act. Warrantless wiretapping. Shredding of Habeas Corpus. Torture. Extraordinary Rendition. Secret Prisons.
No more.
I have decided to place a "hold" on the latest FISA bill that would have included amnesty for telecommunications companies that enabled the President's assault on the Constitution by illegally providing personal information on their customers without judicial authorization.
I said that I would do everything I could to stop this bill from passing, and I have.
http://action.chrisdodd.com/signUp.jsp?key=1570
October 18th, 2007 1:27 pm
House fails to reverse child health veto
By Kevin Freking / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - House Democrats failed Thursday to override President Bush's veto of their pre-election year effort to expand a popular government health insurance program to cover 10 million children.
The bill had bipartisan support but the 273-156 roll call was 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority supporters needed to enact the bill into law despite Bush's objections. The bill had passed the Senate with a bigger than two-thirds majority.
The State Children's Health Insurance Program now subsidizes health care insurance coverage for about 6 million children at a cost of about $5 billion a year. The vetoed bill would have added 4 million more children, most of them from low-income families, to the program at an added cost of $7 billion annually.
To pay for the increase, the bill would have raised the federal tax on cigarettes from 39 cents to $1.00 a pack.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10437
October 17th, 2007 7:16 pm
Advocates protest veto of children's health program
Tulsa World
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Community leaders on Wednesday praised U.S. Rep. Dan Boren while scolding Oklahoma's four other congressional members who are supporting President Bush's veto of legislation to expand a popular health program for children.
Amid reports that the U.S. House is expected to sustain Bush's veto on Thursday, the speakers urged Oklahomans to make last-minute calls to Republican Reps. Mary Fallin, Frank Lucas, Tom Cole and John Sullivan.
Boren, a Democrat, has said he had a change of heart and will vote to override the veto and support a plan to extend coverage to another 4 million children through the State Children's Health Insurance Plan.
Tulsan Hugh Robert applauded the Oklahoma Legislature for its passage of the All Kids Act, which extends health coverage to children in a family of four earning about $60,000. However, those earning income in that range would be required to pay part of the premiums themselves.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10432
October 17th, 2007 5:50 pm
After Comments, U.S. Terror Chief Resigns
By Justin Rood / ABC News
Three days after Americans saw the Bush administration's counterterrorism chief say the Iraq war has likely not made the United States safer from terrorism, the official announced his resignation, citing health reasons.
In an e-mail sent to his staff Wednesday afternoon, Adm. Scott Redd, head of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), said he was stepping down to "take care of some long-delayed surgery that I can no longer neglect."
The center serves as an all-source intelligence operation, synthesizing information from the CIA, the Pentagon, the FBI and elsewhere and analyzing the threat of terrorism to the United States.
A spokesman said that Redd, 63, needed to have both of his knees replaced, which would require a long period of rehabilitation during which he could not work.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10431
October 17th, 2007 9:32 pm
Wallet Forgotten, Romney Borrows Cash
DEWITT, Iowa (AP) - Campaign aide, can you spare a five?
Republican Mitt Romney, the wealthiest presidential candidate with assets of between $190 million and $250 million, had to borrow cash from an aide Wednesday to pay for beverages at the Crossroads Coffee.
Romney ordered a vanilla steamer and offered to buy a cup for his host, DeWitt Mayor Don Thiltgen.
The former Massachusetts governor borrowed $5 from an aide, explaining that he didn't have his wallet.
"I only got three (dollars) in my pocket," he told the mayor.
Thiltgen declined the drink, saying he couldn't accept a gift valued at more than $2.99 - a steamer goes for $3.
Later, Romney visited Necker's jewelers, where he asked the owner about a brown obelisk-shaped fountain. They told him it was a wishing well, prompting someone in the crowd to hand him a penny.
"What do we wish for? I just hope I carry Clinton," Romney said, referring to the county he was in.
He then tossed the penny into the fountain.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10434
October 17th, 2007 9:13 pm
McConnell knew of e-mails about boy
TV interview included denial
By James R. Carroll / The Courier-Journal
WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell knew last week -- at a time when he was denying it -- that his staff had sent e-mails encouraging reporters to look into the background of a 12-year-old boy used by Democrats to support expansion of a health-care program.
In an interview Friday with WHAS-TV reporter Mark Hebert, the Kentucky Republican said his staff had not been involved in trying to push reporters to look into the financial situation of the boy's family.
But McConnell's communications director, Don Stewart, said in an interview Monday with The Courier-Journal that he had told McConnell about the Oct. 8 e-mails sometime around Thursday, the day before the interview with Hebert.
Stewart also said, however, that he had told the senator he had sent follow-up e-mails within a matter of hours warning reporters off of the story because "the family is legit."
McConnell declined to comment on the matter last night.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10433
Pelosi condemns Democrat for revealing spine, emotion
October 20th, 2007 4:01 am
Pelosi Rebukes Stark for Iraq Comments
By Erica Werner / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rebuked a fellow San Francisco Bay-area liberal Friday for what she said were "inappropriate" comments about Iraq during a congressional debate.
During a debate on children's health care Thursday, Rep. Pete Stark accused Republicans of sending troops to Iraq to "get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."
Condemnations rolled in from Republican politicians, right-leaning bloggers had a field day, and a White House spokesman declined to "dignify those remarks" with a response.
Pelosi issued a statement Friday evening rapping Stark, who is in his 18th term representing the liberal East Bay. He's California's longest-serving House members.
"While members of Congress are passionate about their views, what Congressman Stark said during the debate was inappropriate and distracted from the seriousness of the subject at hand—providing health care for America's children," Pelosi said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10449
Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) Outrageous Remarks on House Floor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsGaNR9dVPM&eurl=http://devel.michaelmoore.com/
Rep. Pete Stark comes out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgTOzjT3pk0&mode=related&search=
The 'Thank Pete Stark Challenge'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM8R6QofNhA&mode=related&search=
continued...
"I strongly support universal, single-payer, government- provided or government-funded health care."
-- Al Gore
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Al Gore for President 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITnMmDWmt2w&mode=related&search=
Michael Moore Wants Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore For President
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr_lWtVVRTo&NR=1
October 18th, 2007 12:21 pm
Gore lauds Chicago; his fans push for '08 run
Gore: City sets standard for U.S.
By Kristen Kridel / Chicago Tribune
Less than a week after winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his crusade against global warming, former Vice President Al Gore lauded Chicago Wednesday as a leader in the fight for the environment.
Chicago earned the role by promoting environmentally friendly programs such as Smart Bulb, the Chicago Climate Exchange and rooftop gardens, Gore told the Economic Club of Chicago.
"The rest of our country looks to Chicago," he told about 2,000 people gathered at the Hyatt Regency Chicago hotel. "If you start banging the drums, the rest of the country and world will respond."
Still riding on the steam of the award, Gore said that the current climate crisis is the most dangerous the planet has ever faced.
"We can't keep thinking of the atmosphere as an open sewer," he said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10435
Michael Moore on healthcare for immigrants
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH6OyfXdFJ8&mode=related&search=
Health care is a right
http://current.com/items/84987281_health_care_is_a_right
Draft Gore - The Conscience of the Democratic Party
http://www.draftgore.com/
October 15th, 2007 4:23 pm
Iraq War Veteran Returns Medals In Protest
By Leslie Carto / FOX 4 News
A veteran of the Iraq war is returning his medals and calling the war an illegal invasion.
Specialist Mike Sanger returned his medals to Kansas Congressman Dennis Moore's office. He said he did it because Moore supported the war, but doesn't support his needs as a veteran.
Sanger served in Iraq for a year as an Army military police officer. He now believes the war is illegal and said countless Iraqis are dying for several corporations to make money.
Among his medals, Sanger returned the National Defense medal, the War on Terror medal and a combat medal. Moore was not in his office. An aide listened as Sanger read the names of the soldiers from Kansas who died in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10411
Ohio guardsman recruits brother, earns $2K
Staff report
Posted : Sunday Oct 14, 2007 9:31:34 EDT
The Ohio National Guard reached its 1,500th recruit under the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program when Spc. Ian Spence enlisted his brother, Alex, and pocketed $2,000.
It was Spence’s fourth referral under the GRAP, according to an Army press release.
Ohio National Guard soldiers across the state have earned more than $3 million since the program’s inception almost two years ago, recruiting from among friends, relatives, classmates and co-workers, the release stated.
The program allows traditional Guard soldiers to volunteer to become recruiting assistants, or RAs, by taking a brief online training course.
There are about 5,500 RAs in Ohio and each recruit who ships and graduates from basic training earns the RA $2,000.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/10/army_ohiorecruits_071014w/
October 15th, 2007 5:04 pm
Two journalists killed in Iraq in 24 hours
BAGHDAD (AFP) — A freelance journalist was shot dead near Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk on Monday, less than 24 hours after a reporter for the Washington Post was killed in Baghdad, a media watchdog said.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders named the freelance journalist as 32-year-old Dhi Abdul-Razak al-Dibo and said he was killed in an ambush by unidentified gunmen near the oil city, 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad. His two bodyguards were injured in the attack.
The Washington Post wrote on its website that reporter Salih Saif Aldin, 32, who had been reporting on clashes between militiamen and insurgents in Baghdad's Sadiyah community, was fatally shot on Sunday.
The Post said he was the first reporter for the newspaper to be killed during the Iraq war.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10412
October 15th, 2007 8:24 pm
President Bush visits Memphis for fundraiser
WMC-TV
President Bush visited Memphis Monday to attend a private fundraiser for Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander.
Alexander, an outspoken Republican critic of Bush's war strategy, has stood with him in rejecting Democratic legislation that would mandate troop withdrawals.
Bush arrived aboard Air Force One at Memphis International Airport shortly after 3:00 p.m. Monday.
After exiting Air Force One, Bush took a moment to share a photo opportunity with White Station High School senior Chi Zhang. Zhang, a recipient of the President's Volunteer Service Award, is a volunteer with Hands-On Memphis and founded the Multi-Cultural Learning Program, a youth organization promoting academic and cultural excellence and community service.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10416
October 15th, 2007 6:56 pm
A month after killings Iraq insists Blackwater quit
By Sabah Jerges / AFP
BAGHDAD - Iraq insisted on Monday that US private security firm Blackwater and "other companies who commit crimes" leave Iraq after its guards opened fire in Baghdad a month ago killing up to 17 civilians.
"From the beginning, the government wanted to replace this company after the incident," Sami al-Askari, adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, told AFP.
US State Department officials in Iraq, who employ Blackwater as their guards, had however asked that an investigation be held into the September 16 incident before any decision was taken, he added.
"Now after the investigations are almost completed, at least by the Iraqi side, and it has been proved definitely that the shooting of civilians was unjustifiable and brutal, the Iraqi position has become firmer," Askari said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10414
Monday, October 15th, 2007
THE REAL RUDY: RADIOS
Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films is calling for an investigation of the Giuliani administration's failure to provide New York City firefighters with radios that could have saved lives on 9/11. BNF's latest short video documentary, THE REAL RUDY: RADIOS, features parents of firefighters who died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 explaining that the radios that firefighters carried into the World Trade Center were obsolete and incapable of receiving police broadcasts. As a consequence, firefighters in the North Tower never received an alert from an NYPD helicopter that the building was in danger of collapse, and remained in place while police officers evacuated. The building's collapse killed 121 firefighters. The Giuliani administration, these families assert, had seven years to replace these antiquated radios and failed to do so.
See the video here: http://therealrudy.org/blog/15917-the-real-rudy-radios
THE REAL RUDY: RADIOS is being released alongside a petition requesting that New York City Councilman Eric Gioia initiate a public investigation to answer these questions:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=929
THIS MUST BE INVESTIGATED
http://therealrudy.org/radios
Abizaid: ‘We’ve Treated The Arab World As A Collection Of Big Gas Stations’
During a round table discussion on “the Fight for Oil, Water and a Healthy Planet” at Stanford University on Saturday, Gen. John Abizaid (Ret.), the former CENTCOM Commander, said that “of course” the Iraq war is “about oil“:
“Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” Abizaid said of the Iraq campaign early on in the talk.
“We’ve treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations,” the retired general said. “Our message to them is: Guys, keep your pumps open, prices low, be nice to the Israelis and you can do whatever you want out back. Osama and 9/11 is the distilled essence that represents everything going on out back.”
Abizaid has previously argued that the U.S. would need “to keep a long-term military presence in Iraq” in order to protect “the free flow of goods and resources” such as oil, but his Stanford comments go much further in pinning oil as a prime motivator for the war.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/15/abizaid-middle-east-gas-station/
October 15th, 2007 6:04 pm
Clinton on Iran: All options must remain on table
By Steve Holland / Reuters
WASHINGTON - Democrat Hillary Clinton, under fire from rivals for a muscular attitude toward Iran, said on Monday "all options must remain on the table" if Tehran does not comply with nuclear nonproliferation requirements.
In an article for Foreign Affairs magazine, the Democratic presidential candidate said the United States should be prepared to offer incentives if Tehran ends its nuclear weapons ambitions, renounces sponsorship of terrorism, supports Middle East peace and plays a constructive role in stabilizing Iraq.
Oil-rich Iran denies trying to develop a nuclear weapon, saying its atomic program is for peaceful energy purposes. But the United States and its European allies believe Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants a nuclear bomb.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10413
Bush talks of threats, concerns and U.S. judges
March 14, 2002 Posted: 3:14 AM EST (0814 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Wednesday he is "deeply concerned" about Iraq, not that concerned about Osama bin Laden and plans to keep all options on the table -- including nuclear weapons -- to protect the United States from any attacks.
During his first formal news conference of the year, Bush said he is committed to modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal while reducing the number of nuclear warheads.
But he said the key word of the U.S. nuclear policy is deterrence.
"We've got all our options on the table because we want to make it very clear to nations that you will not threaten the United States or use weapons of mass destruction against us or our allies or friends," said Bush.
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/03/13/Bush.news.conference/index.html
October 17th, 2007 1:13 pm
Bush's approval at new low in Reuters: 24 percent
By Mark Silva / Chicago Tribune
President Bush's approval rating has reached a new low in the newest Reuters/Zogby Poll -- with just 24 percent of those surveyed approving of Bush's job performance. That is down from 29 percent last month.
It is lower than the latest register of Bush's approval rating in the Gallup Poll -- 32 percent in Gallup's newest October survey.
The newest gauge arrives as President Bush prepares for a press conference in the West Wing this morning -- at 10:40 am EDT -- and as the president prepares to fend off an override of his veto of an expansion of children's health care on Capitol Hilll tomorrow.
Public approval for the job that Congress is performing -- 11 percent in the new survey -- matches the all-time low that Reuters found last month.
"Deepening unhappiness with President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress soured the mood of Americans and sent Bush's approval rating to another record low this month,'' Reuters reports today.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10428
October 16th, 2007 3:22 pm
9/11 Rescue Worker and Oklahoma Community Leaders Rally at State Capitol to Save SCHIP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
What: Protest of President Bush’s Veto on SCHIP
Where: Oklahoma State Capitol, South Plaza Steps
When: Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 12 Noon
Oklahomans Urge Veto Override by Congress
Reggie Cervantes, Oklahoma Chapter President of APUHC (American Patients for Universal Health Care), is leading a protest at the South Plaza of the Oklahoma Capitol on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 12 noon. The rally will call upon members of Congress to override President Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
Cervantes, a 9/11 volunteer rescue worker, is featured in the Michael Moore movie about American health care, SiCKO. As a resident of Oklahoma City, Cervantes is concerned about the 148,000 Oklahoma children who do not have health care coverage. She needs medical care for her two children, ages 8 and 10, and herself for PTSD and other ailments she developed after working at the World Trade Center.
"We want to send a message to the White House that Oklahomans love their children and want them to have access to health care through SCHIP. We are urging Oklahoma Representatives Fallin, Cole, Sullivan and Lucas to stand up and override President Bush’s veto," added Cervantes.
Oklahoma Congressman Dan Boren (D), who voted against the bill, announced that he had changed his mind and would vote to override the Bush veto.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10418
October 17th, 2007 3:32 pm
Bush: Threat of World War III if Iran goes nuclear
By Matt Spetalnick / Reuters
WASHINGTON, Oct 17 - U.S. President George W. Bush warned on Wednesday a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to World War III as he tried to shore up international opposition to Tehran amid Russian skepticism over its nuclear ambitions.
Bush was speaking a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has resisted Western pressure to toughen his stance over Iran's nuclear program, made clear on a visit to Tehran that Russia would not accept any military action against Iran.
At a White House news conference, Bush expressed hope Putin would brief him on his talks in Tehran and said he would ask him to clarify recent remarks on Iran's nuclear activities.
Putin said last week that Russia, which is building Iran's first atomic power plant, would "proceed from the position" that Tehran had no plans to develop nuclear weapons but he shared international concerns that its nuclear programs "should be as transparent as possible."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10430
Mom Marches With Dead Son's Photo So You Can See Her Pain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q02vXH61JW0&eurl=http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Presidential candidate defends U.S. Constitution
Exclusive: Senator Chris Dodd Will Put A Hold On Telecom Immunity Bill
By Greg Sargent - October 18, 2007, 1:55PM
Senator Chris Dodd plans to put a hold on the Senate FISA renewal bill because it reportedly grants retroactive immunity to telephone companies for any role they played in the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program, Election Central has learned.
Dodd will send a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this afternoon informing him of his decision. Dodd also plans to put up a page today at his campaign Web site where opponents of the immunity provision can register their opposition.
“Later today Senator Dodd will be sending a letter to Majority Leader Reid informing him that he plans to put a ‘hold’ on a bill that would provide for retroactive amnesty for telecom giants that were complicit in the Bush Administration’s assault on the United States Constitution," Dodd spokesman Hari Sevugan told Election Central. "Senator Dodd said that he would do what he could do to stop this bill, and with this announcement he has again shown that he delivers results.”
http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/10/exclusive_senator_chris_dodd_will_put_a_hold_on_telecom_immunity_bill.php
The Military Commissions Act. Warrantless wiretapping. Shredding of Habeas Corpus. Torture. Extraordinary Rendition. Secret Prisons.
No more.
I have decided to place a "hold" on the latest FISA bill that would have included amnesty for telecommunications companies that enabled the President's assault on the Constitution by illegally providing personal information on their customers without judicial authorization.
I said that I would do everything I could to stop this bill from passing, and I have.
http://action.chrisdodd.com/signUp.jsp?key=1570
October 18th, 2007 1:27 pm
House fails to reverse child health veto
By Kevin Freking / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - House Democrats failed Thursday to override President Bush's veto of their pre-election year effort to expand a popular government health insurance program to cover 10 million children.
The bill had bipartisan support but the 273-156 roll call was 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority supporters needed to enact the bill into law despite Bush's objections. The bill had passed the Senate with a bigger than two-thirds majority.
The State Children's Health Insurance Program now subsidizes health care insurance coverage for about 6 million children at a cost of about $5 billion a year. The vetoed bill would have added 4 million more children, most of them from low-income families, to the program at an added cost of $7 billion annually.
To pay for the increase, the bill would have raised the federal tax on cigarettes from 39 cents to $1.00 a pack.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10437
October 17th, 2007 7:16 pm
Advocates protest veto of children's health program
Tulsa World
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Community leaders on Wednesday praised U.S. Rep. Dan Boren while scolding Oklahoma's four other congressional members who are supporting President Bush's veto of legislation to expand a popular health program for children.
Amid reports that the U.S. House is expected to sustain Bush's veto on Thursday, the speakers urged Oklahomans to make last-minute calls to Republican Reps. Mary Fallin, Frank Lucas, Tom Cole and John Sullivan.
Boren, a Democrat, has said he had a change of heart and will vote to override the veto and support a plan to extend coverage to another 4 million children through the State Children's Health Insurance Plan.
Tulsan Hugh Robert applauded the Oklahoma Legislature for its passage of the All Kids Act, which extends health coverage to children in a family of four earning about $60,000. However, those earning income in that range would be required to pay part of the premiums themselves.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10432
October 17th, 2007 5:50 pm
After Comments, U.S. Terror Chief Resigns
By Justin Rood / ABC News
Three days after Americans saw the Bush administration's counterterrorism chief say the Iraq war has likely not made the United States safer from terrorism, the official announced his resignation, citing health reasons.
In an e-mail sent to his staff Wednesday afternoon, Adm. Scott Redd, head of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), said he was stepping down to "take care of some long-delayed surgery that I can no longer neglect."
The center serves as an all-source intelligence operation, synthesizing information from the CIA, the Pentagon, the FBI and elsewhere and analyzing the threat of terrorism to the United States.
A spokesman said that Redd, 63, needed to have both of his knees replaced, which would require a long period of rehabilitation during which he could not work.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10431
October 17th, 2007 9:32 pm
Wallet Forgotten, Romney Borrows Cash
DEWITT, Iowa (AP) - Campaign aide, can you spare a five?
Republican Mitt Romney, the wealthiest presidential candidate with assets of between $190 million and $250 million, had to borrow cash from an aide Wednesday to pay for beverages at the Crossroads Coffee.
Romney ordered a vanilla steamer and offered to buy a cup for his host, DeWitt Mayor Don Thiltgen.
The former Massachusetts governor borrowed $5 from an aide, explaining that he didn't have his wallet.
"I only got three (dollars) in my pocket," he told the mayor.
Thiltgen declined the drink, saying he couldn't accept a gift valued at more than $2.99 - a steamer goes for $3.
Later, Romney visited Necker's jewelers, where he asked the owner about a brown obelisk-shaped fountain. They told him it was a wishing well, prompting someone in the crowd to hand him a penny.
"What do we wish for? I just hope I carry Clinton," Romney said, referring to the county he was in.
He then tossed the penny into the fountain.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10434
October 17th, 2007 9:13 pm
McConnell knew of e-mails about boy
TV interview included denial
By James R. Carroll / The Courier-Journal
WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell knew last week -- at a time when he was denying it -- that his staff had sent e-mails encouraging reporters to look into the background of a 12-year-old boy used by Democrats to support expansion of a health-care program.
In an interview Friday with WHAS-TV reporter Mark Hebert, the Kentucky Republican said his staff had not been involved in trying to push reporters to look into the financial situation of the boy's family.
But McConnell's communications director, Don Stewart, said in an interview Monday with The Courier-Journal that he had told McConnell about the Oct. 8 e-mails sometime around Thursday, the day before the interview with Hebert.
Stewart also said, however, that he had told the senator he had sent follow-up e-mails within a matter of hours warning reporters off of the story because "the family is legit."
McConnell declined to comment on the matter last night.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10433
Pelosi condemns Democrat for revealing spine, emotion
October 20th, 2007 4:01 am
Pelosi Rebukes Stark for Iraq Comments
By Erica Werner / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rebuked a fellow San Francisco Bay-area liberal Friday for what she said were "inappropriate" comments about Iraq during a congressional debate.
During a debate on children's health care Thursday, Rep. Pete Stark accused Republicans of sending troops to Iraq to "get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."
Condemnations rolled in from Republican politicians, right-leaning bloggers had a field day, and a White House spokesman declined to "dignify those remarks" with a response.
Pelosi issued a statement Friday evening rapping Stark, who is in his 18th term representing the liberal East Bay. He's California's longest-serving House members.
"While members of Congress are passionate about their views, what Congressman Stark said during the debate was inappropriate and distracted from the seriousness of the subject at hand—providing health care for America's children," Pelosi said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10449
Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) Outrageous Remarks on House Floor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsGaNR9dVPM&eurl=http://devel.michaelmoore.com/
Rep. Pete Stark comes out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgTOzjT3pk0&mode=related&search=
The 'Thank Pete Stark Challenge'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM8R6QofNhA&mode=related&search=
continued...
Jane Goodall visits Sedgwick County Zoo
Dr. Jane Goodall talks with area school kids at the Sedgwick County Zoo on Friday. Goodall lead a parade through the zoo and gave a speech to the kids.
BY BECCY TANNER
The Wichita Eagle
Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle
Dr. Jane Goodall talks with area school kids at the Sedgwick County Zoo on Friday. Goodall lead a parade through the zoo and gave a speech to the kids.
Sharing her insight
William Brown sported a black spider ring and passionately carried a "Spiders Rule" poster board. He hoped Jane Goodall would notice.
William, 7, was one of nearly 500 students from Wichita-area schools at the Sedgwick County Zoo on Friday morning.
Together, the students generated a gentle roar as they watched, crowded and hoped the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees would pass close.
Goodall came within feet of William....
The Wichita Eagle
Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle
Dr. Jane Goodall talks with area school kids at the Sedgwick County Zoo on Friday. Goodall lead a parade through the zoo and gave a speech to the kids.
Sharing her insight
William Brown sported a black spider ring and passionately carried a "Spiders Rule" poster board. He hoped Jane Goodall would notice.
William, 7, was one of nearly 500 students from Wichita-area schools at the Sedgwick County Zoo on Friday morning.
Together, the students generated a gentle roar as they watched, crowded and hoped the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees would pass close.
Goodall came within feet of William....
Morning Papers - continued...
Zoos
Babies Found to be Resistant to Behavior Manipulation.....
Wilmington, DE-A recently concluded 10-year, seven million dollar study of the effectiveness of common methods of influencing behavior on infants has found that children under a year of age are suprisingly resistant.
"We looked at everything," Drexel University and lead researcher Clement Scott explained. "Reverse psychology, peer pressure, modeling, positive variable ratio reinforcement, even verbal abuse and threats of physical harm. And across the board they weren't effected. These findings may finally explain why so few babies join cults or health clubs."
http://knudsensnews.blogspot.com/2007/10/babies-found-to-be-resistant-to.html
FS: Mean Green Zoos $1.50 per polyp *PICS*
Can frag however many you want, have about 100 on this rock..
$1.50 per polyp. If you take more than 20 polyps I will sell them for only $1 each.
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=53606
Facility for African elephants under way in Somerset County
Saturday, October 20, 2007
By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
FAIRHOPE, Pa. -- Ground was broken yesterday and construction will begin Tuesday on a 10,000-square-foot building that will house three African elephants that are moving in the spring to the International Conservation Center from the Philadelphia Zoo.
The 724-acre center in Somerset County is being developed, built and operated by the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.
The first building, which can house four elephants, will be the cornerstone of "elephant breeding and other conservation management programs," said Dr. Barbara Baker, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Zoo.
Future construction plans include a one-acre indoor facility that will house up to 20 elephants and a large indoor arena for exercise in winter months. The property, operated for many years as a hunting ranch, has many wooded acres as well as 20 paddocks ranging in size from five to 20 acres. The entire property is surrounded by a 10-foot-high electric fence.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07293/827037-338.stm
For artist, studying was for the birds
Best of Show winner says he never got lesson with brush, had much to learn about animals
By Paul Huggins
phuggins@decaturdaily.com · 340-2395
When Danny O'Driscoll says studying is for the birds, he means it — literally.
The winner of the Tuck Stone Best of Show Award for the Southern Wildlife Festival claims he's never had an art lesson in his life.
"It's just God-given talent," O'Driscoll said, standing in front of his acrylic painting of two yellowhammers and a pink camellia, the state bird and flower, respectively.
His booth is filled with dozens of works for which his livelihood depends, but two charcoal drawings he drew as an 8-year-old seemed to give him the most pride Friday night.
The cardinal and hummingbird were hardly the equal of his current works but they reveal the rare ability he had as a child.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/071020/bird.shtml
For some suburbs, it's a zoo out there
The call of the wild is too close to home for some; others enjoy the wild kingdom in their back yards.
By Jim Adams, Star Tribune
Last update: October 18, 2007 – 8:04 PM
Source: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
For more information, contact the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management at icwdm.org
Turkeys and deer and bear. Even coyotes howling in the night.
A trip up north to the Boundary Waters?
No, just sights and sounds in many Twin Cities suburbs, where increasing numbers of wild animals are moving into green spaces, delighting some but becoming public safety hazards for others.
"Deer, geese, coyotes, fox and turkeys have adapted and take advantage of food provided by people" and their gardens, said Bryan Lueth, urban wildlife manager for the Department of Natural Resources. "I just got a call today from a guy walking his dog in Roseville who saw a coyote and wondered if he had something to fear."
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1494281.html
Piglets star at tiger zoo
Last Modified: 19 Oct 2007
Source: ITN
A quintet of piglets are stealing the limelight at a tiger zoo in Thailand.
Zoo keepers at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Bangkok have given the pigs centre stage to celebrate the Chinese year of the Pig.
The piglets are starring in a show which starts with five-month old Tong running into the auditorium to release a sign with his snout that reads 'Welcome to Sriracha Tiger Zoo'.
Fellow performers Bang, Bon, Lei and Ley are then taken through their paces by trainer Surat Tiplaksaa.
First up, they twirl around on pedestals - sometimes falling off, to the delight of the crowd. Next, the hoops are lit and Bang leaps (some would say lumbers) through the burning rings.
But his motivation extends beyond merely wowing the crowd, he gets rewarded with a biscuit when he completes the task.
And in five months of pig shows at the zoo, not a loin of pork has been charred.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/piglets+star+at+tiger+zoo/937482
Pittsburgh Zoo Breaks Gound For New Elephant Sanctuary In Somerset
POSTED: 12:34 pm EDT October 19, 2007
UPDATED: 1:03 pm EDT October 19, 2007
FAIRHOPE, Pa. -- Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium officials broke ground on Friday on construction of a new 10,000 square-foot building at the International Conservation Center in Somerset County.
The building is the first of several that will be the cornerstone of elephant breeding and other conservation management programs. The first building will provide housing for at least four elephants and will be ready in time for the arrival of the Philadelphia Zoo's three elephants: Petal, 51; Kallie, 24; and Bette, 24, in the spring.
"We are thrilled to take this first step in the development of our Conservation Center," said Dr. Barbara Baker, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/14378072/detail.html
Great Zoo launch, community party today
The Journal Gazette
Kid-friendly events today in Fort Wayne include:
*The Great Zoo Halloween begins Friday at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, 3411 Sherman Blvd. From 6 to 8:30 p.m. weeknights and 5 to 8:30 p.m. on weekends, zoo paths will be lined with hundreds of decorated pumpkins.
Features include moved and TV characters in pumpkin displays. Admission is $6 for children and $4 for adults. Ends Oct. 31.
*On Friday, Keystone Schools is hosting a Community Fall Festival from 3 to 10:30 p.m. at the main campus, 1800 Laverne Ave.
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071019/LOCAL/71019008/1002/LOCAL
Pittsburgh Zoo Breaks Gound For New Elephant Sanctuary In Somerset
2007-10-19 - Fairhope, United States
Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium officials broke ground on Friday on construction of a new 10,000 square-foot building at the International Conservation Center in Somerset County. The building is the first of several that will be the cornerstone of elephant breeding and other conservation management programs. The first building will provide housing for at least four elephants and will be ready in time for the arrival of the Philadelphia Zoos three elephants: Petal, 51; Kallie, 24; and Bette, 24, ...
http://www.elephant-news.com/index.php?id=2862
Our Lion Girls’ New Home!
Posted at 10:52 am October 19, 2007 by Marcia Redding
Last week, Abena and Bakari, the young females from Lion Camp at the Wild Animal Park, made the trip to their new home at the John Ball Zoo in Michigan (see Marcia’s previous blog, Bon Voyage, Lion Girls). They loaded beautifully and calmly into their crates; all our patient training really paid off. In fact, after being moved by truck to the trailer that would transport them all the way to Michigan, they were calm enough to have some lunch. Forty pounds (18 kilograms) of their carnivore diet accompanied them, some frozen - plenty to give them time to transition onto a new diet if necessary. The journey, which took several days, was uneventful and the girls arrived safely and in good spirits.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/our-lion-girls-new-home/
UC Riverside entices students with cockroach petting zoo
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 10/19/2007 04:45:23 PM PDT
RIVERSIDE, Calif.—Thinking about the University of California, Riverside for college? Then come pet our cockroaches!
That's the message UC Riverside is using to attract students and parents to an upcoming recruitment fair that will feature a cockroach petting zoo. The zoo will include several species of roach, including ones that emit a foul, ammonia-like scent and the famous, palm-sized Madagascar hissing cockroach.
Also in plentiful supply: rubber gloves for the squeamish.
The Nov. 3 event targets local high school students interested in careers as science teachers or engineers, said Steve Gomez, co-director of The Copernicus Project, one of two campus programs sponsoring the event.
It's the second time that UC Riverside, which has a well-respected entomology department, has used the cockroach zoo to entice potential recruits.
"Everybody gets grossed out at first," Gomez said. "But then they find out what uses they have in agriculture, like pest elimination."
Gomez said he held the giant Madagascar hissing roach in May and it nearly covered his palm. The bugs seem to enjoy being held, he said.
"I'm not a big cockroach fan," he said. "I held it for about five seconds and I gladly gave it back."
————
On the Net:
University of Riverside, California: http://www.ucr.edu/
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_7227834?nclick_check=1
Frightfully Fun Festivities for All at Brookfield Zoo’s Boo! at the Zoo
Brookfield, IL—From crazy costumes and trick-or-treating
to haunted hayrides and pumpkin carving demonstrations, Brookfield Zoo’s annual Boo! at the Zoo festival is the perfect way to celebrate Halloween, and the Chicago Zoological Society is inviting everyone to attend! The not-so-scary event will be
held on Saturdays and Sundays, October 20-21 and 27-28, beginning at 11:00 a.m. each day.
There’s no safer or more exciting way for families to enjoy Halloween, and guests can look forward to one of Chicagoland’s largest costume parades, an impressive costume showcase, Zoo Chats and much more!
http://www.oakparkjournal.com/2007/2007-B00-at-the-zoo-0ct.html
Oregon Zoo hosts howling good time
Friday, October 19, 2007
PORTLAND - Families can trick-or-treat and learn more about wildlife during "Howloween" at the Oregon Zoo. Howloween, presented by Sterling Savings Bank, is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 27 and 28, at the zoo. Howloween is free with general zoo admission. In keeping with the zoo's mission, this event is educational as well as fun. An intriguing scavenger hunt directs trick-or-treaters to easily accessible activity stations throughout the zoo in order to collect candy or prizes. The activities are themed to dispel myths about animals, such as "blind as a bat." "Kids of all ages can hunt for candy and prizes while in the company of some of the world's most exciting and exotic animals," said Tony Vecchio, zoo director. "When children and adults visit the zoo, we hope they make a connection with the animals that promotes caring about their future."
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/argus/index.ssf?/base/news/1192821719272140.xml&coll=6
Collier could pay off zoo
By Laura Layden (Contact)oo loan six years early
Friday, October 19, 2007
The loan that saved the Naples Zoo may be paid off six years early.
Last month, Collier County government made another payment of $1,565,000, reducing the loan amount to $23,335,000.
“We will be very close to paying it off in ‘09,” said Mike Smykowski, the county’s budget director.
The money for the recent payment came from the state’s Florida Forever program. The county received $9,898,650 from the program in June.
The remainder of the state money will go toward creating a 79-acre park next to the zoo.
“I think it will take all of it,” said Amanda Townsend, operations analyst with Collier’s Parks and Recreation Department, of the project.
About two years ago, Collier County borrowed $35.9 million to purchase the land under and around the landmark zoo to keep it out of the hands of developers.
http://www.bonitanews.com/news/2007/oct/19/collier_county_close_paying_naples_zoo_loan/
Zoo officials break ground for elephant habitat
By Allison M. Heinrichs
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Ceremoniously sinking golden shovels Friday into the rain-soaked dirt of Somerset County, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia zoo officials cemented what they hope will be a happy retirement for the country's oldest female African elephant.
Petal, 53, is scheduled to come to Western Pennsylvania from the Philadelphia Zoo next spring along with the zoo's other African elephants -- Bette, 23 and Kallie, 24.
The three will be the first elephants to occupy a $1.5 million, 10,000-square-foot elephant barn being built at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium's International Conservation Center.
"I got all mushy on the way out here because this is truly an historical moment," said Barbara Baker, president of Pittsburgh Zoo, as she rode on a hay tractor to the site of the elephant barn on the 724-acre conservation center in Fairhope, a small township about two hours east of Pittsburgh.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_533676.html
Dakota Zoo Expansion
Oct 19 2007 10:53PM
KXMBTV Bismarck
Tigers, spider monkeys, and wallabies...what do they have in common? These animals will be featured in new million-dollar exhibits at the Dakota Zoo in Bismarck next summer.
A new Siberian Tiger and Snow Leopard exhibit is under construction right now.
Zoo Assistant Director Rod Fried says this million dollar project will have features similar to the Brown Bear exhibit but it will be bigger...
http://www.kxmb.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=172936
Stingray Bay returns to Phoenix Zoo
Kelly Wilson, Tribune
It has been years since “Jaws” put fear into our hearts, but sharks are still just as popular as ever.
In an annual event, the Discovery Channel dedicated a week to them in early August. And the Phoenix Zoo has added sharks to Stingray Bay, an interactive exhibit with a 12,000-gallon “touch tank,” which returns to the zoo today.
The exhibit will feature seven white-spotted sharks and four nurse sharks, along with seven southern stingrays and 33 cow-nose stingrays.
Stingray Bay exhibit supervisor Erin Mayall says the zoo wanted to bring something new to the exhibit this year and thought sharks would be a good fit.
“It’s visually more exciting,” she says. “People love sharks. … We wanted to give (guests) a little bit more information about some of the different species that are out there in our oceans and what we could do to protect them.”
So what’s the difference between the two sharks?
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/99999
Collier could pay off zoo loan six years early
By Laura Layden
Friday, October 19, 2007
The loan that saved the Naples Zoo may be paid off six years early.
Last month, Collier County government made another payment of $1,565,000, reducing the loan amount to $23,335,000.
“We will be very close to paying it off in ‘09,” said Mike Smykowski, the county’s budget director.
The money for the recent payment came from the state’s Florida Forever program. The county received $9,898,650 from the program in June.
The remainder of the state money will go toward creating a 79-acre park next to the zoo.
“I think it will take all of it,” said Amanda Townsend, operations analyst with Collier’s Parks and Recreation Department, of the project.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/oct/19/collier_county_close_paying_naples_zoo_loan/?breaking_news
Temara the Perth Zoo orang-utan now free to hang out
October 20, 2007 06:00pm
SHE didn't sleep a wink on the first night.
A year ago, Perth-born Temara became the first zoo-bred Sumatran orang-utan to be released back into the wild.
Along with others who have also been returned to the forest, she is part of a last-ditch attempt to save the critically endangered Sumatran orang-utan, of which there are only 7000 left in the wild.
Indonesia's rainforests are being razed at an alarming rate and experts fear the red-haired ape and its habitat could be gone in 20 years.
It's been a year since Temara, who was born and raised at Perth Zoo, was transported to a release station near Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park _ a 144,000ha rainforest on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22620453-948,00.html
TRIBUTES TO WORLD ZOO LEGEND AS MOLLY DIES
BY GEMMA PEPLOW
10:30 - 20 October 2007
Molly Badham, the inspired animal lover who co-founded Twycross Zoo and turned it into one of Britain's best-loved attractions, has died.
Tributes to Miss Badham, 93, credited her with doing as much for tourism in Leicestershire as the legendary Thomas Cook.
But it was not tourism which was her driving passion - it was animals, and in particular primates.
Together with business partner and long-time friend Nathalie Evans, they eventually turned their love of exotic animals into the largest collection of primates in the world.
It is now also known as the World Primate Centre in recognition of its collection of monkeys and apes.
A spokesman for the zoo said: "Miss Molly Badham was loved by both the animals and staff of the zoo, and its many visitors. She will be very much missed.
"Her legacy is long-lasting and profound and we all send our deepest sympathies to her long-time friend and partner Nathalie Evans."
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=132384&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232710&home=yes&more_nodeId1=132393&contentPK=18728260
Crumbling exhibit cramps style of zoo’s three sea lions
Animals confined to indoor facility as experts ready report on repair needs
By Stephen T. Watson - News Staff Reporter
Updated: 10/20/07 10:27 AM
Pieces of concrete are falling off part of the Buffalo Zoo’s two-year-old Sea Lion Cove exhibit, and zoo officials have brought in a group of experts to find out what’s wrong.
The problem began just two months after the $5 million exhibit opened in August 2005, said Donna M. Fernandes, zoo president.
Repairs have not solved the problem, which, as yet, does not pose a threat to the zoo’s three sea lions, Fernandes said Friday.
“I think everybody’s trying to get to the root of the problem,” Fernandes said, describing the matter as an aesthetic issue.
Two independent experts and representatives from two Sea Lion Cove contractors examined the exhibit Thursday and Friday, and were expected to issue their findings soon.
Work on permanent repairs might not begin until the spring, Fernandes said. For now, the sea lions are confined to the indoor section of the exhibit.
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/188367.html
Zoo babies: From famous to forgotten
by Lisa Wathne
One of the zoo world's grandes dames, the Alaska Zoo's 27-year-old African elephant, Maggie, is being sent to a sanctuary in California to live out her days in peace. I could not be happier: Female elephants are highly social animals, but Maggie has been living alone since 1997, when her companion elephant Annabelle died.
News of Maggie's upcoming release got me thinking: I wonder how Knut is doing?
If you're saying, "Knut who?" you're not alone. Only recently, Knut-a polar bear cub born at the Berlin Zoo-appeared on more cover pages than Britney and Paris combined. He captured the hearts of people worldwide, but what have you heard about "the people's polar bear" lately?
This is the zoo industry's dirty secret. Zoos breed animals because babies bring in big bucks. But as the animals get bigger, crowds grow smaller. Visitors lose interest and move on, while Knut and other animals born in zoos languish behind bars-warehoused, sold or bartered like damaged goods.
http://newsblaze.com/story/20071012063807anim.nb/newsblaze/ENVIRONM/Environment.html
At Zoo, vine-cutting for new dinosaur exhibit
by Staten Island Advance
Friday October 12, 2007, 4:46 PM
Advance photo/Jan Somma-HammelYoungsters check out the Dinosaur Encounter Exhibit at the Staten Island Zoo in West Brighton.
They're big. They've got lots of teeth.
And fortunately for field-tripping second and third graders from PS 26 in Travis, they're made of silicone.
The students were the first to visit the new Dinosaur Encounter Exhibit, which was unveiled at the Staten Island Zoo today.
Some 140 million years after the last gasp of the dinosaurs and 14 years after the Zoo first showcased the creatures in the (rubber) flesh, the new exhibit brings about a dozen of the life-sized "terrible lizards" to Staten Island. That's not including a nestful of hatchlings, squinting from cracked egg shells as though blinded by the first light of the late Cretaceous era.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2007/10/at_zoo_vinecutting_for_dinosau.html
Preventing Extinction: The Miracle of the Frozen Zoo
By Alisa Opar, Plenty Magazine.
Posted October 13, 2007.
With the California Condor already saved, genetic samples from endangered species at the Frozen Zoo will prevent extinctions all over the planet.
On a sunny spring afternoon, the San Diego Zoo is teeming with shorts-clad tourists of all ages. While most visitors gravitate toward the pandas, giraffes, and gorillas, one little boy seems particularly taken with the Javan bantengs, a species of endangered Southeast Asian wild cattle that can grow to be seven feet long and weigh nearly a ton. Asked which one is his favorite, the child sizes up each of the animals before settling on a male with a dark blue-black coat grazing closest to him. It happens to be the spitting image of another banteng that died in 1980, and the resemblance is more than superficial: The four-year-old animal at the zoo is its clone.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/64927/
John Ball Zoo hires Full Time Veterinarian
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-38/1192257400271070.xml&coll=6
Storyland/Playland, zoo board merger off
By Marc Benjamin / The Fresno Bee
10/13/07 00:00:00
– All Job Categories – Accounting Admin & Clerical Automotive1 Banking1 Biotech1 Broadcast - Journalism1 Business Development Construction Consultant Customer Service Design Distribution - Shipping Education Engineering Entry Level Executive Facilities Finance General Business General Labor Government Health Care Hotel - Hospitality Human Resources Information Technology Insurance Inventory Legal Legal Admin Management Manufacturing Marketing Nurse Other Pharmaceutical Professional Services Purchasing - Procurement QA - Quality Control Research Restaurant - Food Service Retail - Grocery Sales Science Skilled Labor - Trades Strategy - Planning Supply Chain Telecommunications Training Transportation Warehouse
A plan to merge oversight of Rotary Storyland & Playland and Fresno Chaffee Zoo into one agency has been discarded.
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/163491.html
Menus differ widely for different animals at the zoo
Published 10/12/2007
When most people hear the word diet, they think of exercising and limiting food intake in hopes of losing weight.¬ When a zoo keeper hears the word diet, they think of something entirely different.¬ They think of the food that is prepared and given to an animal every day.
http://www.gctelegram.com/News/141287
Who's a silly monkey for missing Zoo vote?
BRIAN FERGUSON CITY COUNCIL REPORTER ( bferguson@edinburghnews.com)
EDINBURGH Zoo's multi-million-pound redevelopment plans may have been scuppered by a councillor's holiday, it emerged today.
City planning leader Jim Lowrie has admitted he would have backed proposals by the visitor attraction to sell off land at its Corstorphine site to help fund its long-awaited overhaul.
But he was in Majorca when the full planning committee met to discuss the city's local plan, which included earmarking greenbelt land to the west of the zoo for 100 new homes.
In his absence, the committee voted by seven to six to reject the move, throwing the zoo's £72 million masterplan into chaos.
The decision flew in the face of recommendations from city planning officials and has been attacked as a "kick in the guts" for the attraction.
Had the Lib Dem planning leader been in attendance, the plans would have been passed.
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=1638912007
Strike threat to creature comfort
Some animals at Bristol Zoo Gardens have been affected by the postal strike throughout Britain.
A spokesman said creatures in the Reptile House formerly received a weekly parcel of 3,000 live crickets for their dinner.
"But last week they went without their valuable delivery and may go without again next week if the Royal Mail strike continues," he said.
"Our chameleons and lizards love to eat live crickets, so we order thousands."
He added: "Despite going without their favourite food, the animals have not been going hungry. Instead of crickets, the reptiles and amphibians have been fed fruit flies.
"Staff at the reptile house have also been breeding their own crickets to feed the animals as well as making emergency arrangements for other suppliers to courier over live crickets."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/7042916.stm
Crowds flock to Baghdad zoo for Eid
Oct 13, 2007
BAGHDAD (AFP) — War-weary Baghdadis determined to forget daily violence and economic hardships on the Eid al-Fitr holiday flocked Saturday for a day of picnicking and recreation at the zoo, despite its dearth of animals.
With entrance free for Eid, long queues formed outside Al-Zawraa zoo in central Baghdad for much of the day as people waited to pass through gates strictly secured by police in a road patrolled by US and Iraqi troops.
Inside the sprawling park, a sea of relaxed-looking Iraqis strolled between the animal compound and the funfair, winding along pathways that skirted open fields, bold water fountains and flower gardens.
Children, some holding balloons, others toting toy guns, were dressed in spanking new clothes bought for Eid, while teenagers in pressed shirts and neat trousers milled about in groups outside the Al-Baghdadi Restaurant and Casino, a few noisily beating drums and tambourines as others danced and clapped.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hQmTjlLcYUS8PMN8qWi4ebiL-qbw
Local animals not in the zoo
By Fazal Sher
ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has so far failed to increase the number of local animals in the Marghzar Zoo.
The zoo was built in 1978 over 25 acres of land at the base of the Margallah Hills National Park. At an early stage, some indigenous and exotic species were housed in the zoo and it was decided that it would be upgraded on modern lines with the passage of time. The zoo has not been yet upgraded as was planned, a senior CDA official told Daily Times.
He said the zoo currently housed 320 animals of 69 species like a leopard, ducks, grey wolf, rhesus monkey, spider monkey, elephant, chinkara, grey goral, black buck, blue bill, yak, ostrich, barking dear, urial, hog dear, mouflon sheep, spotted dear, red fox, jackal, Indian blue peafoul, civet, steppe eagle and owl.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C10%5C14%5Cstory_14-10-2007_pg7_29
Kids Zoo gives children a place to play in Bonita
Business is aimed at giving kids place to run, jump, play and pretend
By Andrea Stetson
special to news-press.com
Originally posted on October 14, 2007
Climb like a monkey, slide like a seal, bounce like a kangaroo — that’s what children are doing in the new Kids Zoo.
It’s Bonita Springs’ first indoor play area for children and it’s already hopping with popularity just a few weeks after opening.
Kids Zoo is aimed at giving children a place to run, jump, play and pretend, while giving parents time to relax, socialize and see that their children are in a safe, fun environment.
There are padded areas to climb, tunnels, slides, a bounce house, a rock climbing wall, ball pit and maze. There’s also a musical room with instruments to play and places to sing. There’s a dress-up area, and large toys to play with. For the tiniest customers there is a separate baby and toddler area. And it’s all inside the cool air conditioning.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071014/LIFESTYLES/71013030/1013
Council to consider ban on smoking at zoo
By Staff Reports
PUBLISHED: October 14, 2007
The Sioux Falls City Council will be asked to vote on a resolution that would ban smoking at the Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum, according to the meeting agenda.
If approved, smoking would be banned in all public areas at the zoo, according to a draft of the resolution.
The council meeting is set for 7 p.m. Monday at Carnegie Town Hall, 235 W. 10th St.
It is open to the public.
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071014/NEWS/710140333/1001
Baby Bonobo Rebounds (Video)
POSTED: 5:01 pm PDT October 9, 2007
UPDATED: 5:34 pm PDT October 9, 2007
SAN DIEGO -- Things are looking up for a baby bonobo recently born at the San Diego Zoo.
Mali was in critical condition her first few weeks of life, according to zookeepers. They said she still has some medical problems but is growing stronger. In fact, caregivers at the zoo have even started introducing her to fellow bonobos.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/14305323/detail.html
Como Zoo celebrates National Wolf Awareness week (Video)
They're made out to be big and bad in fairy tales, but this week, wildlife activists are ready to dispel some of the most common myths about wolves.
This week marks "National Wolf Awareness week" and Como Zoo in St. Paul is getting in on the mission with activities to celebrate the wolf and its comeback here in Minnesota.
Amber Adam is a Wolf Education Specialist at Como Zoo and she joined us on 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Sunday morning to talk about "National Wolf Awareness week".
Press play to see the interview.
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S225537.shtml?cat=118
Children's Zoo Construction on Schedule
Oct 14, 2007 04:36 PM EDT
(Fort Wayne- WANE) The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo closed its doors for the season today, and construction on a new African exhibit is right on schedule.
If you made a trip to the zoo this summer, you saw a lot of construction.
Work on a new exhibit began earlier this year. It will bring a slice of Africa to Indiana, and is halfway complete.
http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=7211695&nav=0RYb
Zona Zoo trip to L.A. canceled
By: Michael Schwartz
Zona Zoo canceled its $75 road trip for the Arizona football team's game against then No. 10 USC this weekend, in part because of issues with the bus company slated to provide transportation to Southern California.
The company, which Zona Zoo director David Roost declined to identify, did not provide Zona Zoo its tax identification information, which was necessary to complete the transaction, despite repeated requests for it. Zona Zoo does not plan to work with the company in the future.
Zona Zoo had a backup plan, but that bus company's $10,000 cost for a 90-student trip did not make sense to Roost. The trip was called off Wednesday, and students were offered full refunds.
http://media.wildcat.arizona.edu/media/storage/paper997/news/2007/10/15/Sports/Zona-Zoo.Trip.To.L.a.Canceled-3032333.shtml
Zoo's Herbie the tortoise weighs almost 500 pounds
Tucson, Arizona Published: 10.15.2007
These land giants are hard to miss at the Reid Park Zoo. Competing with the Galapagos tortoise for the title of the world's largest tortoise, male Aldabra tortoises can weigh as much as 550 pounds.
The Reid Park Zoo has three Aldabra tortoises: a 486-pound male named Herbie, and two females: Dulce, who weighs 142 pounds, and Georgie, who weighs 174 pounds.
Aldabra tortoises are found on the Aldabra Atoll — an island located off the east side of Africa, north of Madagascar.
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/205961
Great Plains Zoo Could Become Smoke Free
The Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum is working to become completely smoke free. Non-smoking proposals will be reviewed and voted on by the Sioux Falls City Council Monday evening.
The Great Plains Zoo is a popular place to go for fun and family entertainment, but city leaders believe cigarette smoke is getting in the way.
That's why they're working to improve the zoo by passing a smoking ban for the facility.
"To try to make it healthier and an enjoyable environment for not only the visitors that come to the zoo, but also the employees," Don Kearney, Director of Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation, said.
Zoo workers say the smoke in the air can be dangerous for the animals. That's another reason why they're hoping the ban will get approved.
http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6371.cfm?Id=0,61998
Panda cub returns home to China from US zoo
2007-10-15
FOUR-YEAR-OLD American-born panda Mei Sheng is expected to return to his hometown in southwest China's Sichuan Province at the end of this month.
Mei Sheng, which means born in America or beautiful life, was born in 2003 at the San Diego Zoo in Southern California to parents Bai Yun and Gao Gao.
The couple was lent to the zoo by China Conservation Wildlife Association under a giant panda conservation and research program, said a spokesman for the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, based in Wolong, Sichuan Province.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200710/20071015/article_334469.htm
Here's your chance to name a panda cub
October 15 2007 at 02:57AM
Vienna - Will it be "Beautiful Music", "Bamboo Boy" or rather "Lucky Dragon"?
Vienna's Schoenbrunn Zoo has launched an Internet vote to name the panda cub born to pandas Yang Yang and Long Hui in late August.
As the latest addition to Vienna's zoo is technically a Chinese citizen - its parents are in Austria on loan from China for another six years -its name is to be Chinese as well.
China's authorities offered a shortlist of four names for the first panda cub in Europe to be born without the aid of artificial insemination, the zoo said on its website.
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=29&art_id=nw20071014202255526C699813&set_id=1
Zoo shuts for season; Halloween bash next
By Abby Slutsky
The Journal Gazette
It’s been a good year for the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo.
The Sky Safari opened in June and has given 65,000 rides, construction has been progressing on the new African Journey, a baby giraffe was born in August and about 465,000 people have visited the zoo since it opened for the season in April, said Jim McGowin, the zoo’s operations supervisor.
McGowin said he expects the zoo to have had 500,000 visitors by the end of the coming Halloween celebration.
The Laub family, from Spencerville, had planned to visit the zoo this summer but “just never made it” until Sunday, Cathy Laub said.
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/LOCAL/710150306/-1/LOCAL07
A dream come true for Taylor Radtke
By Amy Mack Daily Herald Staff
Contact writer
Taylor at Sea World
Donning her special khaki "official" zookeeper outfit, Taylor Radtke made a beeline Sunday for the San Diego Zoo.
Worries of brain tumors and a dreaded visit to yet another doctor could keep. After all, she had monkeys and other furry friends to see.
"It was out of this world," Taylor's mom, Laurie, said after a full day at the San Diego Zoo, part of Taylor's special wish granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
"Oh, my goodness, it was a fun day."
The best part? "The monkeys," Taylor said softly, in between bites of mashed potatoes, part of her first-ever room service meal.
Why are monkeys the best part? "I don't know," she giggled.
Second best part? The polar bears. Why? She giggled another "I don't know."
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=57494&src=4
Zoo trying to protect amphibians from fungi
Curators to address worldwide losses
By JENNI LAIDMAN
BLADE SCIENCE WRITER
The Toledo Zoo may soon help save salamanders falling prey to the same worldwide fungal infection killing frogs.
R. Andrew Odum, Toledo Zoo herpetology curator, says the zoo will expand its efforts toward amphibian rescue in an attempt to address the threatened worldwide disappearance of frogs and salamanders when it completes construction of four biosecure amphibian enclosures in the zoo's museum building in the spring.
"The more we know, the more dismal some of the information is," Mr. Odum said.
"We're seeing that salamanders are now being impacted to some degree.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/NEWS38/710150348/-1/NEWS
Nigeria: Kano Zoo - Garden Or Jungle?
14 October 2007
Posted to the web 15 October 2007
Yushau Adamu Ibrahim, Kano
Kaduna
It was Alhaji Audu Bako, former military governor of Kano State, who established the Kano Zoological Garden as part of his efforts to modernise the ancient city. During the commissioning of the zoo in 1972, Bako said, "At this time, both my friends and detractors have questioned my wisdom of having such a garden in Kano. But my main objectives in establishing such a recreational facility is to bring to our people different specimens of wildlife with particular emphasis on animals which are not now available in this country, but which have been exterminated by hunters as from 99 AD. In this year 1972, we are trying to regenerate these animals that have long lost for our present and future generations."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200710151018.html
Zoo is the fair with flair
Forget Frieze, a frenzied bazaar for the art world's elite - Zoo is the place to find innovative, and affordable, art.
Much has been said over the past week - and was said this time last year - about the success of the Frieze Art Fair which, a mere four years since its audacious launch by Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp, has become a fixture on the international art calendar to rival the Venice Biennale, Basel and Miami fairs. And it seems likely to have raked in more than last year's takings once again.
But who actually runs their lives by the "international art calendar"? I have never understood how Frieze can be enjoyed by anyone outside the teeny, rarefied world of jet-setting, art collecting squillionaires , their adoring dealers and gallerists, neurotic star artists and the handful of critics, commentators and celebrities who are permitted to join in. Frieze and its ilk purport to be celebratory, art-for-all bazaars where the interested woman-or-man-on-the-street can experience the buzz that crackles through the upper echelons of the art world, but it always feels to me that the art world is simply putting up with the hoi polloi in order to reassure themselves they are dealing in proper culture and nothing so vulgar as mere profit and loss.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/2007/10/zoo_is_the_fair_with_flair.html
Mill Mountain Zoo director steps down
Stephanie Klein-Davis The Roanoke Times
Mill Mountain Zoo Executive Director Sean Greene
Mill Mountain Zoo Executive Director Sean Greene announced this morning that he is leaving the zoo in November to take a job in Dallas.
Greene, who has managed the zoo for 20 months, led the renovation of the zoo and an accreditation process that resulted in the zoo's September accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The zoo's general curator, David Orndorff, will serve as interim director while the board of directors works on finding a permanent replacement for Greene.
Greene is heading to Texas to work as director of community relations for the Dallas Zoological Society. Before coming to Roanoke, Greene worked for 10 years at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas.
More information about Greene's departure may be provided at a 2 p.m. press conference at the Mill Mountain Zoo today.
- Lindsey Nair
http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/135915
Louisville Zoo's three hand-raised baby siamangs make public debut
Siamang Zoli explores a tree in his new exhibit as he clings to Louisville Zoo keeper Tracy Parke.
2007-10-15 19:17:49 -
Louisville Zoo's three baby siamangs (all age 1 and under)Zain, Zoli and Sungaiwere greeted with snapping cameras and smiling faces as they made their public debut Oct. 11 in the Islands outdoor exhibit.
This is definitely a special day,- said Jane Anne Franklin, Louisville Zoo Animal Training Supervisor. 'This is a big step for these three youngsters. We are expanding their environment four fold.-
http://www.pr-inside.com/louisville-zoo-s-three-hand-raised-baby-r247472.htm
continued...
Babies Found to be Resistant to Behavior Manipulation.....
Wilmington, DE-A recently concluded 10-year, seven million dollar study of the effectiveness of common methods of influencing behavior on infants has found that children under a year of age are suprisingly resistant.
"We looked at everything," Drexel University and lead researcher Clement Scott explained. "Reverse psychology, peer pressure, modeling, positive variable ratio reinforcement, even verbal abuse and threats of physical harm. And across the board they weren't effected. These findings may finally explain why so few babies join cults or health clubs."
http://knudsensnews.blogspot.com/2007/10/babies-found-to-be-resistant-to.html
FS: Mean Green Zoos $1.50 per polyp *PICS*
Can frag however many you want, have about 100 on this rock..
$1.50 per polyp. If you take more than 20 polyps I will sell them for only $1 each.
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=53606
Facility for African elephants under way in Somerset County
Saturday, October 20, 2007
By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
FAIRHOPE, Pa. -- Ground was broken yesterday and construction will begin Tuesday on a 10,000-square-foot building that will house three African elephants that are moving in the spring to the International Conservation Center from the Philadelphia Zoo.
The 724-acre center in Somerset County is being developed, built and operated by the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.
The first building, which can house four elephants, will be the cornerstone of "elephant breeding and other conservation management programs," said Dr. Barbara Baker, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Zoo.
Future construction plans include a one-acre indoor facility that will house up to 20 elephants and a large indoor arena for exercise in winter months. The property, operated for many years as a hunting ranch, has many wooded acres as well as 20 paddocks ranging in size from five to 20 acres. The entire property is surrounded by a 10-foot-high electric fence.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07293/827037-338.stm
For artist, studying was for the birds
Best of Show winner says he never got lesson with brush, had much to learn about animals
By Paul Huggins
phuggins@decaturdaily.com · 340-2395
When Danny O'Driscoll says studying is for the birds, he means it — literally.
The winner of the Tuck Stone Best of Show Award for the Southern Wildlife Festival claims he's never had an art lesson in his life.
"It's just God-given talent," O'Driscoll said, standing in front of his acrylic painting of two yellowhammers and a pink camellia, the state bird and flower, respectively.
His booth is filled with dozens of works for which his livelihood depends, but two charcoal drawings he drew as an 8-year-old seemed to give him the most pride Friday night.
The cardinal and hummingbird were hardly the equal of his current works but they reveal the rare ability he had as a child.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/071020/bird.shtml
For some suburbs, it's a zoo out there
The call of the wild is too close to home for some; others enjoy the wild kingdom in their back yards.
By Jim Adams, Star Tribune
Last update: October 18, 2007 – 8:04 PM
Source: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
For more information, contact the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management at icwdm.org
Turkeys and deer and bear. Even coyotes howling in the night.
A trip up north to the Boundary Waters?
No, just sights and sounds in many Twin Cities suburbs, where increasing numbers of wild animals are moving into green spaces, delighting some but becoming public safety hazards for others.
"Deer, geese, coyotes, fox and turkeys have adapted and take advantage of food provided by people" and their gardens, said Bryan Lueth, urban wildlife manager for the Department of Natural Resources. "I just got a call today from a guy walking his dog in Roseville who saw a coyote and wondered if he had something to fear."
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1494281.html
Piglets star at tiger zoo
Last Modified: 19 Oct 2007
Source: ITN
A quintet of piglets are stealing the limelight at a tiger zoo in Thailand.
Zoo keepers at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Bangkok have given the pigs centre stage to celebrate the Chinese year of the Pig.
The piglets are starring in a show which starts with five-month old Tong running into the auditorium to release a sign with his snout that reads 'Welcome to Sriracha Tiger Zoo'.
Fellow performers Bang, Bon, Lei and Ley are then taken through their paces by trainer Surat Tiplaksaa.
First up, they twirl around on pedestals - sometimes falling off, to the delight of the crowd. Next, the hoops are lit and Bang leaps (some would say lumbers) through the burning rings.
But his motivation extends beyond merely wowing the crowd, he gets rewarded with a biscuit when he completes the task.
And in five months of pig shows at the zoo, not a loin of pork has been charred.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/piglets+star+at+tiger+zoo/937482
Pittsburgh Zoo Breaks Gound For New Elephant Sanctuary In Somerset
POSTED: 12:34 pm EDT October 19, 2007
UPDATED: 1:03 pm EDT October 19, 2007
FAIRHOPE, Pa. -- Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium officials broke ground on Friday on construction of a new 10,000 square-foot building at the International Conservation Center in Somerset County.
The building is the first of several that will be the cornerstone of elephant breeding and other conservation management programs. The first building will provide housing for at least four elephants and will be ready in time for the arrival of the Philadelphia Zoo's three elephants: Petal, 51; Kallie, 24; and Bette, 24, in the spring.
"We are thrilled to take this first step in the development of our Conservation Center," said Dr. Barbara Baker, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/14378072/detail.html
Great Zoo launch, community party today
The Journal Gazette
Kid-friendly events today in Fort Wayne include:
*The Great Zoo Halloween begins Friday at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, 3411 Sherman Blvd. From 6 to 8:30 p.m. weeknights and 5 to 8:30 p.m. on weekends, zoo paths will be lined with hundreds of decorated pumpkins.
Features include moved and TV characters in pumpkin displays. Admission is $6 for children and $4 for adults. Ends Oct. 31.
*On Friday, Keystone Schools is hosting a Community Fall Festival from 3 to 10:30 p.m. at the main campus, 1800 Laverne Ave.
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071019/LOCAL/71019008/1002/LOCAL
Pittsburgh Zoo Breaks Gound For New Elephant Sanctuary In Somerset
2007-10-19 - Fairhope, United States
Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium officials broke ground on Friday on construction of a new 10,000 square-foot building at the International Conservation Center in Somerset County. The building is the first of several that will be the cornerstone of elephant breeding and other conservation management programs. The first building will provide housing for at least four elephants and will be ready in time for the arrival of the Philadelphia Zoos three elephants: Petal, 51; Kallie, 24; and Bette, 24, ...
http://www.elephant-news.com/index.php?id=2862
Our Lion Girls’ New Home!
Posted at 10:52 am October 19, 2007 by Marcia Redding
Last week, Abena and Bakari, the young females from Lion Camp at the Wild Animal Park, made the trip to their new home at the John Ball Zoo in Michigan (see Marcia’s previous blog, Bon Voyage, Lion Girls). They loaded beautifully and calmly into their crates; all our patient training really paid off. In fact, after being moved by truck to the trailer that would transport them all the way to Michigan, they were calm enough to have some lunch. Forty pounds (18 kilograms) of their carnivore diet accompanied them, some frozen - plenty to give them time to transition onto a new diet if necessary. The journey, which took several days, was uneventful and the girls arrived safely and in good spirits.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/our-lion-girls-new-home/
UC Riverside entices students with cockroach petting zoo
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 10/19/2007 04:45:23 PM PDT
RIVERSIDE, Calif.—Thinking about the University of California, Riverside for college? Then come pet our cockroaches!
That's the message UC Riverside is using to attract students and parents to an upcoming recruitment fair that will feature a cockroach petting zoo. The zoo will include several species of roach, including ones that emit a foul, ammonia-like scent and the famous, palm-sized Madagascar hissing cockroach.
Also in plentiful supply: rubber gloves for the squeamish.
The Nov. 3 event targets local high school students interested in careers as science teachers or engineers, said Steve Gomez, co-director of The Copernicus Project, one of two campus programs sponsoring the event.
It's the second time that UC Riverside, which has a well-respected entomology department, has used the cockroach zoo to entice potential recruits.
"Everybody gets grossed out at first," Gomez said. "But then they find out what uses they have in agriculture, like pest elimination."
Gomez said he held the giant Madagascar hissing roach in May and it nearly covered his palm. The bugs seem to enjoy being held, he said.
"I'm not a big cockroach fan," he said. "I held it for about five seconds and I gladly gave it back."
————
On the Net:
University of Riverside, California: http://www.ucr.edu/
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_7227834?nclick_check=1
Frightfully Fun Festivities for All at Brookfield Zoo’s Boo! at the Zoo
Brookfield, IL—From crazy costumes and trick-or-treating
to haunted hayrides and pumpkin carving demonstrations, Brookfield Zoo’s annual Boo! at the Zoo festival is the perfect way to celebrate Halloween, and the Chicago Zoological Society is inviting everyone to attend! The not-so-scary event will be
held on Saturdays and Sundays, October 20-21 and 27-28, beginning at 11:00 a.m. each day.
There’s no safer or more exciting way for families to enjoy Halloween, and guests can look forward to one of Chicagoland’s largest costume parades, an impressive costume showcase, Zoo Chats and much more!
http://www.oakparkjournal.com/2007/2007-B00-at-the-zoo-0ct.html
Oregon Zoo hosts howling good time
Friday, October 19, 2007
PORTLAND - Families can trick-or-treat and learn more about wildlife during "Howloween" at the Oregon Zoo. Howloween, presented by Sterling Savings Bank, is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 27 and 28, at the zoo. Howloween is free with general zoo admission. In keeping with the zoo's mission, this event is educational as well as fun. An intriguing scavenger hunt directs trick-or-treaters to easily accessible activity stations throughout the zoo in order to collect candy or prizes. The activities are themed to dispel myths about animals, such as "blind as a bat." "Kids of all ages can hunt for candy and prizes while in the company of some of the world's most exciting and exotic animals," said Tony Vecchio, zoo director. "When children and adults visit the zoo, we hope they make a connection with the animals that promotes caring about their future."
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/argus/index.ssf?/base/news/1192821719272140.xml&coll=6
Collier could pay off zoo
By Laura Layden (Contact)oo loan six years early
Friday, October 19, 2007
The loan that saved the Naples Zoo may be paid off six years early.
Last month, Collier County government made another payment of $1,565,000, reducing the loan amount to $23,335,000.
“We will be very close to paying it off in ‘09,” said Mike Smykowski, the county’s budget director.
The money for the recent payment came from the state’s Florida Forever program. The county received $9,898,650 from the program in June.
The remainder of the state money will go toward creating a 79-acre park next to the zoo.
“I think it will take all of it,” said Amanda Townsend, operations analyst with Collier’s Parks and Recreation Department, of the project.
About two years ago, Collier County borrowed $35.9 million to purchase the land under and around the landmark zoo to keep it out of the hands of developers.
http://www.bonitanews.com/news/2007/oct/19/collier_county_close_paying_naples_zoo_loan/
Zoo officials break ground for elephant habitat
By Allison M. Heinrichs
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Ceremoniously sinking golden shovels Friday into the rain-soaked dirt of Somerset County, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia zoo officials cemented what they hope will be a happy retirement for the country's oldest female African elephant.
Petal, 53, is scheduled to come to Western Pennsylvania from the Philadelphia Zoo next spring along with the zoo's other African elephants -- Bette, 23 and Kallie, 24.
The three will be the first elephants to occupy a $1.5 million, 10,000-square-foot elephant barn being built at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium's International Conservation Center.
"I got all mushy on the way out here because this is truly an historical moment," said Barbara Baker, president of Pittsburgh Zoo, as she rode on a hay tractor to the site of the elephant barn on the 724-acre conservation center in Fairhope, a small township about two hours east of Pittsburgh.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_533676.html
Dakota Zoo Expansion
Oct 19 2007 10:53PM
KXMBTV Bismarck
Tigers, spider monkeys, and wallabies...what do they have in common? These animals will be featured in new million-dollar exhibits at the Dakota Zoo in Bismarck next summer.
A new Siberian Tiger and Snow Leopard exhibit is under construction right now.
Zoo Assistant Director Rod Fried says this million dollar project will have features similar to the Brown Bear exhibit but it will be bigger...
http://www.kxmb.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=172936
Stingray Bay returns to Phoenix Zoo
Kelly Wilson, Tribune
It has been years since “Jaws” put fear into our hearts, but sharks are still just as popular as ever.
In an annual event, the Discovery Channel dedicated a week to them in early August. And the Phoenix Zoo has added sharks to Stingray Bay, an interactive exhibit with a 12,000-gallon “touch tank,” which returns to the zoo today.
The exhibit will feature seven white-spotted sharks and four nurse sharks, along with seven southern stingrays and 33 cow-nose stingrays.
Stingray Bay exhibit supervisor Erin Mayall says the zoo wanted to bring something new to the exhibit this year and thought sharks would be a good fit.
“It’s visually more exciting,” she says. “People love sharks. … We wanted to give (guests) a little bit more information about some of the different species that are out there in our oceans and what we could do to protect them.”
So what’s the difference between the two sharks?
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/99999
Collier could pay off zoo loan six years early
By Laura Layden
Friday, October 19, 2007
The loan that saved the Naples Zoo may be paid off six years early.
Last month, Collier County government made another payment of $1,565,000, reducing the loan amount to $23,335,000.
“We will be very close to paying it off in ‘09,” said Mike Smykowski, the county’s budget director.
The money for the recent payment came from the state’s Florida Forever program. The county received $9,898,650 from the program in June.
The remainder of the state money will go toward creating a 79-acre park next to the zoo.
“I think it will take all of it,” said Amanda Townsend, operations analyst with Collier’s Parks and Recreation Department, of the project.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/oct/19/collier_county_close_paying_naples_zoo_loan/?breaking_news
Temara the Perth Zoo orang-utan now free to hang out
October 20, 2007 06:00pm
SHE didn't sleep a wink on the first night.
A year ago, Perth-born Temara became the first zoo-bred Sumatran orang-utan to be released back into the wild.
Along with others who have also been returned to the forest, she is part of a last-ditch attempt to save the critically endangered Sumatran orang-utan, of which there are only 7000 left in the wild.
Indonesia's rainforests are being razed at an alarming rate and experts fear the red-haired ape and its habitat could be gone in 20 years.
It's been a year since Temara, who was born and raised at Perth Zoo, was transported to a release station near Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park _ a 144,000ha rainforest on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22620453-948,00.html
TRIBUTES TO WORLD ZOO LEGEND AS MOLLY DIES
BY GEMMA PEPLOW
10:30 - 20 October 2007
Molly Badham, the inspired animal lover who co-founded Twycross Zoo and turned it into one of Britain's best-loved attractions, has died.
Tributes to Miss Badham, 93, credited her with doing as much for tourism in Leicestershire as the legendary Thomas Cook.
But it was not tourism which was her driving passion - it was animals, and in particular primates.
Together with business partner and long-time friend Nathalie Evans, they eventually turned their love of exotic animals into the largest collection of primates in the world.
It is now also known as the World Primate Centre in recognition of its collection of monkeys and apes.
A spokesman for the zoo said: "Miss Molly Badham was loved by both the animals and staff of the zoo, and its many visitors. She will be very much missed.
"Her legacy is long-lasting and profound and we all send our deepest sympathies to her long-time friend and partner Nathalie Evans."
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=132384&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232710&home=yes&more_nodeId1=132393&contentPK=18728260
Crumbling exhibit cramps style of zoo’s three sea lions
Animals confined to indoor facility as experts ready report on repair needs
By Stephen T. Watson - News Staff Reporter
Updated: 10/20/07 10:27 AM
Pieces of concrete are falling off part of the Buffalo Zoo’s two-year-old Sea Lion Cove exhibit, and zoo officials have brought in a group of experts to find out what’s wrong.
The problem began just two months after the $5 million exhibit opened in August 2005, said Donna M. Fernandes, zoo president.
Repairs have not solved the problem, which, as yet, does not pose a threat to the zoo’s three sea lions, Fernandes said Friday.
“I think everybody’s trying to get to the root of the problem,” Fernandes said, describing the matter as an aesthetic issue.
Two independent experts and representatives from two Sea Lion Cove contractors examined the exhibit Thursday and Friday, and were expected to issue their findings soon.
Work on permanent repairs might not begin until the spring, Fernandes said. For now, the sea lions are confined to the indoor section of the exhibit.
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/188367.html
Zoo babies: From famous to forgotten
by Lisa Wathne
One of the zoo world's grandes dames, the Alaska Zoo's 27-year-old African elephant, Maggie, is being sent to a sanctuary in California to live out her days in peace. I could not be happier: Female elephants are highly social animals, but Maggie has been living alone since 1997, when her companion elephant Annabelle died.
News of Maggie's upcoming release got me thinking: I wonder how Knut is doing?
If you're saying, "Knut who?" you're not alone. Only recently, Knut-a polar bear cub born at the Berlin Zoo-appeared on more cover pages than Britney and Paris combined. He captured the hearts of people worldwide, but what have you heard about "the people's polar bear" lately?
This is the zoo industry's dirty secret. Zoos breed animals because babies bring in big bucks. But as the animals get bigger, crowds grow smaller. Visitors lose interest and move on, while Knut and other animals born in zoos languish behind bars-warehoused, sold or bartered like damaged goods.
http://newsblaze.com/story/20071012063807anim.nb/newsblaze/ENVIRONM/Environment.html
At Zoo, vine-cutting for new dinosaur exhibit
by Staten Island Advance
Friday October 12, 2007, 4:46 PM
Advance photo/Jan Somma-HammelYoungsters check out the Dinosaur Encounter Exhibit at the Staten Island Zoo in West Brighton.
They're big. They've got lots of teeth.
And fortunately for field-tripping second and third graders from PS 26 in Travis, they're made of silicone.
The students were the first to visit the new Dinosaur Encounter Exhibit, which was unveiled at the Staten Island Zoo today.
Some 140 million years after the last gasp of the dinosaurs and 14 years after the Zoo first showcased the creatures in the (rubber) flesh, the new exhibit brings about a dozen of the life-sized "terrible lizards" to Staten Island. That's not including a nestful of hatchlings, squinting from cracked egg shells as though blinded by the first light of the late Cretaceous era.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2007/10/at_zoo_vinecutting_for_dinosau.html
Preventing Extinction: The Miracle of the Frozen Zoo
By Alisa Opar, Plenty Magazine.
Posted October 13, 2007.
With the California Condor already saved, genetic samples from endangered species at the Frozen Zoo will prevent extinctions all over the planet.
On a sunny spring afternoon, the San Diego Zoo is teeming with shorts-clad tourists of all ages. While most visitors gravitate toward the pandas, giraffes, and gorillas, one little boy seems particularly taken with the Javan bantengs, a species of endangered Southeast Asian wild cattle that can grow to be seven feet long and weigh nearly a ton. Asked which one is his favorite, the child sizes up each of the animals before settling on a male with a dark blue-black coat grazing closest to him. It happens to be the spitting image of another banteng that died in 1980, and the resemblance is more than superficial: The four-year-old animal at the zoo is its clone.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/64927/
John Ball Zoo hires Full Time Veterinarian
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-38/1192257400271070.xml&coll=6
Storyland/Playland, zoo board merger off
By Marc Benjamin / The Fresno Bee
10/13/07 00:00:00
– All Job Categories – Accounting Admin & Clerical Automotive1 Banking1 Biotech1 Broadcast - Journalism1 Business Development Construction Consultant Customer Service Design Distribution - Shipping Education Engineering Entry Level Executive Facilities Finance General Business General Labor Government Health Care Hotel - Hospitality Human Resources Information Technology Insurance Inventory Legal Legal Admin Management Manufacturing Marketing Nurse Other Pharmaceutical Professional Services Purchasing - Procurement QA - Quality Control Research Restaurant - Food Service Retail - Grocery Sales Science Skilled Labor - Trades Strategy - Planning Supply Chain Telecommunications Training Transportation Warehouse
A plan to merge oversight of Rotary Storyland & Playland and Fresno Chaffee Zoo into one agency has been discarded.
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/163491.html
Menus differ widely for different animals at the zoo
Published 10/12/2007
When most people hear the word diet, they think of exercising and limiting food intake in hopes of losing weight.¬ When a zoo keeper hears the word diet, they think of something entirely different.¬ They think of the food that is prepared and given to an animal every day.
http://www.gctelegram.com/News/141287
Who's a silly monkey for missing Zoo vote?
BRIAN FERGUSON CITY COUNCIL REPORTER ( bferguson@edinburghnews.com)
EDINBURGH Zoo's multi-million-pound redevelopment plans may have been scuppered by a councillor's holiday, it emerged today.
City planning leader Jim Lowrie has admitted he would have backed proposals by the visitor attraction to sell off land at its Corstorphine site to help fund its long-awaited overhaul.
But he was in Majorca when the full planning committee met to discuss the city's local plan, which included earmarking greenbelt land to the west of the zoo for 100 new homes.
In his absence, the committee voted by seven to six to reject the move, throwing the zoo's £72 million masterplan into chaos.
The decision flew in the face of recommendations from city planning officials and has been attacked as a "kick in the guts" for the attraction.
Had the Lib Dem planning leader been in attendance, the plans would have been passed.
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=1638912007
Strike threat to creature comfort
Some animals at Bristol Zoo Gardens have been affected by the postal strike throughout Britain.
A spokesman said creatures in the Reptile House formerly received a weekly parcel of 3,000 live crickets for their dinner.
"But last week they went without their valuable delivery and may go without again next week if the Royal Mail strike continues," he said.
"Our chameleons and lizards love to eat live crickets, so we order thousands."
He added: "Despite going without their favourite food, the animals have not been going hungry. Instead of crickets, the reptiles and amphibians have been fed fruit flies.
"Staff at the reptile house have also been breeding their own crickets to feed the animals as well as making emergency arrangements for other suppliers to courier over live crickets."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/7042916.stm
Crowds flock to Baghdad zoo for Eid
Oct 13, 2007
BAGHDAD (AFP) — War-weary Baghdadis determined to forget daily violence and economic hardships on the Eid al-Fitr holiday flocked Saturday for a day of picnicking and recreation at the zoo, despite its dearth of animals.
With entrance free for Eid, long queues formed outside Al-Zawraa zoo in central Baghdad for much of the day as people waited to pass through gates strictly secured by police in a road patrolled by US and Iraqi troops.
Inside the sprawling park, a sea of relaxed-looking Iraqis strolled between the animal compound and the funfair, winding along pathways that skirted open fields, bold water fountains and flower gardens.
Children, some holding balloons, others toting toy guns, were dressed in spanking new clothes bought for Eid, while teenagers in pressed shirts and neat trousers milled about in groups outside the Al-Baghdadi Restaurant and Casino, a few noisily beating drums and tambourines as others danced and clapped.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hQmTjlLcYUS8PMN8qWi4ebiL-qbw
Local animals not in the zoo
By Fazal Sher
ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has so far failed to increase the number of local animals in the Marghzar Zoo.
The zoo was built in 1978 over 25 acres of land at the base of the Margallah Hills National Park. At an early stage, some indigenous and exotic species were housed in the zoo and it was decided that it would be upgraded on modern lines with the passage of time. The zoo has not been yet upgraded as was planned, a senior CDA official told Daily Times.
He said the zoo currently housed 320 animals of 69 species like a leopard, ducks, grey wolf, rhesus monkey, spider monkey, elephant, chinkara, grey goral, black buck, blue bill, yak, ostrich, barking dear, urial, hog dear, mouflon sheep, spotted dear, red fox, jackal, Indian blue peafoul, civet, steppe eagle and owl.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C10%5C14%5Cstory_14-10-2007_pg7_29
Kids Zoo gives children a place to play in Bonita
Business is aimed at giving kids place to run, jump, play and pretend
By Andrea Stetson
special to news-press.com
Originally posted on October 14, 2007
Climb like a monkey, slide like a seal, bounce like a kangaroo — that’s what children are doing in the new Kids Zoo.
It’s Bonita Springs’ first indoor play area for children and it’s already hopping with popularity just a few weeks after opening.
Kids Zoo is aimed at giving children a place to run, jump, play and pretend, while giving parents time to relax, socialize and see that their children are in a safe, fun environment.
There are padded areas to climb, tunnels, slides, a bounce house, a rock climbing wall, ball pit and maze. There’s also a musical room with instruments to play and places to sing. There’s a dress-up area, and large toys to play with. For the tiniest customers there is a separate baby and toddler area. And it’s all inside the cool air conditioning.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071014/LIFESTYLES/71013030/1013
Council to consider ban on smoking at zoo
By Staff Reports
PUBLISHED: October 14, 2007
The Sioux Falls City Council will be asked to vote on a resolution that would ban smoking at the Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum, according to the meeting agenda.
If approved, smoking would be banned in all public areas at the zoo, according to a draft of the resolution.
The council meeting is set for 7 p.m. Monday at Carnegie Town Hall, 235 W. 10th St.
It is open to the public.
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071014/NEWS/710140333/1001
Baby Bonobo Rebounds (Video)
POSTED: 5:01 pm PDT October 9, 2007
UPDATED: 5:34 pm PDT October 9, 2007
SAN DIEGO -- Things are looking up for a baby bonobo recently born at the San Diego Zoo.
Mali was in critical condition her first few weeks of life, according to zookeepers. They said she still has some medical problems but is growing stronger. In fact, caregivers at the zoo have even started introducing her to fellow bonobos.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/14305323/detail.html
Como Zoo celebrates National Wolf Awareness week (Video)
They're made out to be big and bad in fairy tales, but this week, wildlife activists are ready to dispel some of the most common myths about wolves.
This week marks "National Wolf Awareness week" and Como Zoo in St. Paul is getting in on the mission with activities to celebrate the wolf and its comeback here in Minnesota.
Amber Adam is a Wolf Education Specialist at Como Zoo and she joined us on 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Sunday morning to talk about "National Wolf Awareness week".
Press play to see the interview.
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S225537.shtml?cat=118
Children's Zoo Construction on Schedule
Oct 14, 2007 04:36 PM EDT
(Fort Wayne- WANE) The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo closed its doors for the season today, and construction on a new African exhibit is right on schedule.
If you made a trip to the zoo this summer, you saw a lot of construction.
Work on a new exhibit began earlier this year. It will bring a slice of Africa to Indiana, and is halfway complete.
http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=7211695&nav=0RYb
Zona Zoo trip to L.A. canceled
By: Michael Schwartz
Zona Zoo canceled its $75 road trip for the Arizona football team's game against then No. 10 USC this weekend, in part because of issues with the bus company slated to provide transportation to Southern California.
The company, which Zona Zoo director David Roost declined to identify, did not provide Zona Zoo its tax identification information, which was necessary to complete the transaction, despite repeated requests for it. Zona Zoo does not plan to work with the company in the future.
Zona Zoo had a backup plan, but that bus company's $10,000 cost for a 90-student trip did not make sense to Roost. The trip was called off Wednesday, and students were offered full refunds.
http://media.wildcat.arizona.edu/media/storage/paper997/news/2007/10/15/Sports/Zona-Zoo.Trip.To.L.a.Canceled-3032333.shtml
Zoo's Herbie the tortoise weighs almost 500 pounds
Tucson, Arizona Published: 10.15.2007
These land giants are hard to miss at the Reid Park Zoo. Competing with the Galapagos tortoise for the title of the world's largest tortoise, male Aldabra tortoises can weigh as much as 550 pounds.
The Reid Park Zoo has three Aldabra tortoises: a 486-pound male named Herbie, and two females: Dulce, who weighs 142 pounds, and Georgie, who weighs 174 pounds.
Aldabra tortoises are found on the Aldabra Atoll — an island located off the east side of Africa, north of Madagascar.
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/205961
Great Plains Zoo Could Become Smoke Free
The Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum is working to become completely smoke free. Non-smoking proposals will be reviewed and voted on by the Sioux Falls City Council Monday evening.
The Great Plains Zoo is a popular place to go for fun and family entertainment, but city leaders believe cigarette smoke is getting in the way.
That's why they're working to improve the zoo by passing a smoking ban for the facility.
"To try to make it healthier and an enjoyable environment for not only the visitors that come to the zoo, but also the employees," Don Kearney, Director of Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation, said.
Zoo workers say the smoke in the air can be dangerous for the animals. That's another reason why they're hoping the ban will get approved.
http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6371.cfm?Id=0,61998
Panda cub returns home to China from US zoo
2007-10-15
FOUR-YEAR-OLD American-born panda Mei Sheng is expected to return to his hometown in southwest China's Sichuan Province at the end of this month.
Mei Sheng, which means born in America or beautiful life, was born in 2003 at the San Diego Zoo in Southern California to parents Bai Yun and Gao Gao.
The couple was lent to the zoo by China Conservation Wildlife Association under a giant panda conservation and research program, said a spokesman for the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, based in Wolong, Sichuan Province.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200710/20071015/article_334469.htm
Here's your chance to name a panda cub
October 15 2007 at 02:57AM
Vienna - Will it be "Beautiful Music", "Bamboo Boy" or rather "Lucky Dragon"?
Vienna's Schoenbrunn Zoo has launched an Internet vote to name the panda cub born to pandas Yang Yang and Long Hui in late August.
As the latest addition to Vienna's zoo is technically a Chinese citizen - its parents are in Austria on loan from China for another six years -its name is to be Chinese as well.
China's authorities offered a shortlist of four names for the first panda cub in Europe to be born without the aid of artificial insemination, the zoo said on its website.
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=29&art_id=nw20071014202255526C699813&set_id=1
Zoo shuts for season; Halloween bash next
By Abby Slutsky
The Journal Gazette
It’s been a good year for the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo.
The Sky Safari opened in June and has given 65,000 rides, construction has been progressing on the new African Journey, a baby giraffe was born in August and about 465,000 people have visited the zoo since it opened for the season in April, said Jim McGowin, the zoo’s operations supervisor.
McGowin said he expects the zoo to have had 500,000 visitors by the end of the coming Halloween celebration.
The Laub family, from Spencerville, had planned to visit the zoo this summer but “just never made it” until Sunday, Cathy Laub said.
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/LOCAL/710150306/-1/LOCAL07
A dream come true for Taylor Radtke
By Amy Mack Daily Herald Staff
Contact writer
Taylor at Sea World
Donning her special khaki "official" zookeeper outfit, Taylor Radtke made a beeline Sunday for the San Diego Zoo.
Worries of brain tumors and a dreaded visit to yet another doctor could keep. After all, she had monkeys and other furry friends to see.
"It was out of this world," Taylor's mom, Laurie, said after a full day at the San Diego Zoo, part of Taylor's special wish granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
"Oh, my goodness, it was a fun day."
The best part? "The monkeys," Taylor said softly, in between bites of mashed potatoes, part of her first-ever room service meal.
Why are monkeys the best part? "I don't know," she giggled.
Second best part? The polar bears. Why? She giggled another "I don't know."
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=57494&src=4
Zoo trying to protect amphibians from fungi
Curators to address worldwide losses
By JENNI LAIDMAN
BLADE SCIENCE WRITER
The Toledo Zoo may soon help save salamanders falling prey to the same worldwide fungal infection killing frogs.
R. Andrew Odum, Toledo Zoo herpetology curator, says the zoo will expand its efforts toward amphibian rescue in an attempt to address the threatened worldwide disappearance of frogs and salamanders when it completes construction of four biosecure amphibian enclosures in the zoo's museum building in the spring.
"The more we know, the more dismal some of the information is," Mr. Odum said.
"We're seeing that salamanders are now being impacted to some degree.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/NEWS38/710150348/-1/NEWS
Nigeria: Kano Zoo - Garden Or Jungle?
14 October 2007
Posted to the web 15 October 2007
Yushau Adamu Ibrahim, Kano
Kaduna
It was Alhaji Audu Bako, former military governor of Kano State, who established the Kano Zoological Garden as part of his efforts to modernise the ancient city. During the commissioning of the zoo in 1972, Bako said, "At this time, both my friends and detractors have questioned my wisdom of having such a garden in Kano. But my main objectives in establishing such a recreational facility is to bring to our people different specimens of wildlife with particular emphasis on animals which are not now available in this country, but which have been exterminated by hunters as from 99 AD. In this year 1972, we are trying to regenerate these animals that have long lost for our present and future generations."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200710151018.html
Zoo is the fair with flair
Forget Frieze, a frenzied bazaar for the art world's elite - Zoo is the place to find innovative, and affordable, art.
Much has been said over the past week - and was said this time last year - about the success of the Frieze Art Fair which, a mere four years since its audacious launch by Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp, has become a fixture on the international art calendar to rival the Venice Biennale, Basel and Miami fairs. And it seems likely to have raked in more than last year's takings once again.
But who actually runs their lives by the "international art calendar"? I have never understood how Frieze can be enjoyed by anyone outside the teeny, rarefied world of jet-setting, art collecting squillionaires , their adoring dealers and gallerists, neurotic star artists and the handful of critics, commentators and celebrities who are permitted to join in. Frieze and its ilk purport to be celebratory, art-for-all bazaars where the interested woman-or-man-on-the-street can experience the buzz that crackles through the upper echelons of the art world, but it always feels to me that the art world is simply putting up with the hoi polloi in order to reassure themselves they are dealing in proper culture and nothing so vulgar as mere profit and loss.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/2007/10/zoo_is_the_fair_with_flair.html
Mill Mountain Zoo director steps down
Stephanie Klein-Davis The Roanoke Times
Mill Mountain Zoo Executive Director Sean Greene
Mill Mountain Zoo Executive Director Sean Greene announced this morning that he is leaving the zoo in November to take a job in Dallas.
Greene, who has managed the zoo for 20 months, led the renovation of the zoo and an accreditation process that resulted in the zoo's September accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The zoo's general curator, David Orndorff, will serve as interim director while the board of directors works on finding a permanent replacement for Greene.
Greene is heading to Texas to work as director of community relations for the Dallas Zoological Society. Before coming to Roanoke, Greene worked for 10 years at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas.
More information about Greene's departure may be provided at a 2 p.m. press conference at the Mill Mountain Zoo today.
- Lindsey Nair
http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/135915
Louisville Zoo's three hand-raised baby siamangs make public debut
Siamang Zoli explores a tree in his new exhibit as he clings to Louisville Zoo keeper Tracy Parke.
2007-10-15 19:17:49 -
Louisville Zoo's three baby siamangs (all age 1 and under)Zain, Zoli and Sungaiwere greeted with snapping cameras and smiling faces as they made their public debut Oct. 11 in the Islands outdoor exhibit.
This is definitely a special day,- said Jane Anne Franklin, Louisville Zoo Animal Training Supervisor. 'This is a big step for these three youngsters. We are expanding their environment four fold.-
http://www.pr-inside.com/louisville-zoo-s-three-hand-raised-baby-r247472.htm
continued...
Zoo needs new rules
...When rescuing bigger animals, of course, they must use a tranquilizer gun or some other form of non-lethal object to stop the animal in their tracks and bring them back to the zoo; however, this was not the case at a zoo in the UK....
Lowly Species Gets Some Help Against Entombment in Florida
Thousands of Florida's gopher tortoises, recently reclassified as threatened, have been buried alive as development paved over their burrows, a practice now banned in the state after outrage over the deaths.
Photo Credit: By Joy M. Hill -- Courtesy Of The Florida Fish And Wildlife Conservation Commission Photo
THIS TOOK A CHANGE IN GOVERNOR TO ACHIEVE !
Morning Papers - continued...
Zoos
Endangered birds produce chicks at Garden City zoo
Associated Press - October 5, 2007 1:04 PM ET
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) - A Garden City zoo is celebrating the hatching of 2 healthy chicks whose species is almost extinct in its native Indonesia.
The Bali Mynah Bird is a distinctive white starling with an electric blue patch over its eyes. Its look and elaborate song make it attractive to bird lovers.
But capture and caging has reduced the Bali Mynah population in Indonesia to just a handful.
The Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City is involved in a plan to help rescue the species by mating two adult bird on loan to the zoo to produce a clutch of eggs, which they did two weeks ago.
The baby birds are on display but won't be visible to visitors for a few more weeks.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.kbsd6.com/Global/story.asp?S=7174421
Council seeks legislation to retain Forest Park zoo
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
By MIKE PLAISANCE
mplaisance@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - The City Council voted unanimously last night to authorize the mayor to seek state legislation aimed at extending the life of the Forest Park zoo another quarter century or more.
"The zoo is one of the (city's) top 10 tourist destinations. This little housekeeping move that we need to take will allow the property to continue to be a zoo for another 25 years," Councilor Bruce W. Stebbins, who sponsored the measure, said after the meeting.
The 9-0 vote at City Hall lets Mayor Charles V. Ryan seek a special act of the Legislature. The act would bypass a state law that limits the number of years a lease can be so the city can have another lease of 25 years or more when the current 25-year lease expires in 2010.
The nonprofit Forest Park Zoological Society Inc. operates the zoo under the lease with the city, but the language in the legislation the city will pursue doesn't mention a particular company to run the zoo.
The city's lease with the Forest Park Zoological Society is $1 a year. Patrick J. Sullivan, director of the Parks, Buildings and Recreation Management Department, has said the nominal-fee arrangement lets the city continue having a zoo without having to be in the zoo business.
The council also unanimously approved a resolution calling for the city to adopt so-called project labor agreements on municipal building projects. Two mentioned in the resolution were plans to rebuild Roger L. Putnam Vocational-Technical High School and Forest Park Middle School.
Under such provisions, a city or town enters into agreements with contractors and unions. The agreements ensure that the job's workers get fair wages and benefits, that workers get safety training, that apprenticeship programs train young people in building trades and that the job will be completed on time and on budget.
"I think they're very good for the economy in the city of Springfield," said council President Kateri B. Walsh, who proposed the resolution.
The city is in the design stages en route to building a new $120 million Putnam and an estimate four years ago put the rebuilding of Forest Park Middle School at $30 million.
Council resolutions are nonbinding, but union members who filled the seats in City Council Chambers erupted in applause after the resolution passed.
"This is outstanding, what just happened tonight," said Daniel D'Alma, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 7 of Western Massachusetts.
http://www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1192522948189380.xml&coll=1
Jungle cat succumbs to injuries at zoo
Tuesday October 16 2007 09:37 IST
Express News Service
T’PURAM: The jungle cat, which was brought to the city zoo on Sunday, turned out to be a one-day visitor. For the animal, which was kept under observation following bad health, breathed its last on Sunday night itself.
The cat, which had suffered deep injuries on its lungs, while being trapped by locals at Kottiyam, also suffered from haemorrhage, which caused the end.
According to Zoo Veterinarian Dr C.S.Jayakumar, the jungle cat was trapped by people and handed over to the authorities at Kottiyam, but a portion of its lungs had teared off during the process. The female cat had been admitted to a veterinary hospital at Kottiyam from where it was brought to the zoo.
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEO20071015231559&Page=O&Headline=Jungle+cat+succumbs+to+injuries+at+zoo&Title=Thiruvananthapuram&Topic=0
Council agrees to make zoo nonsmoking
By Jon Walker
Argus Leader
Published: October 15, 2007
The City Council approved a measure tonight that prohibits the public from smoking at the Great Plains Zoo.
Zoo President Elizabeth Whealy said that going non-smoking will make it a better experience for guests, as well as animals by reducing litter and second-hand smoke.
There will be no designated smoking area for the public. There will be one, however, for employees, but it won’t be for the public.
Councilor Bob Litz said he was “perplexed” by the contradiction of having a smoking area for employees, but no area for the general public.
“If we’re going to have no smoking, it should be no smoking, and that includes employees,” he said.
Litz voted for the measure, which ended on a 7-0 vote.
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/NEWS/71015059/1001
WELCOME TO SINGAPORE "ZOO"
Elephants at Play (Video)
http://stage6.divx.com/user/Michaelchong88/video/1745681/Elephant-show-at-Singapore-Zoo
Zoo director Greene moving on
After 20 months in Roanoke, Sean Greene announced he will leave Mill Mountain Zoo to work in Dallas.
By Pete Dybdahl
981-3376
Sean Greene, Mill Mountain Zoo's executive director and its popular face for the past 20 months, announced his resignation Monday to take a job with a larger zoo in Dallas.
Greene leaves the mountain Nov. 2 as the zoo upgrades its facilities, arranges for a new Zoo Choo train and enjoys recent success on its national accreditation review.
The director also leaves behind a renewed vigor to make the mountaintop zoo a more modern, relevant feature of Roanoke.
"Sean has revitalized the zoo to the community," said Sara Brooks, president of the Mill Mountain Zoological Society, which operates the zoo. "We've got five years of work out of him in 20 months."
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/135985
Enjoy the Zoo for Free on Thanksgiving Day
You won't find turkeys at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, but you can see its 3,000 other animals for free on Thanksgiving Day. All Zoo visitors receive complimentary admission from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving, November 22.
Throughout the day, you can see the Zoo's animals feast on some of their favorite treats, like pumpkins for the elephants and "fish-sicles" for the sea lions. (Of course, "fish-sicles" are frozen fish in blocks of ice.) Also, meet the keepers and watch the animals participate in special Thanksgiving Day enrichment activities meant to keep their minds and bodies active.
http://www.clemetzoo.com/pressroom/index.asp?action=details&pressrelease_id=1273
Build Your Wildself
http://www.buildyourwildself.com/
Bill & Alice Nix Petting Zoo dedicated
JONESBORO — On the day Bill and Alice Nix of Ash Flat married in 1949, their worldly possessions consisted of $5 and a Guernsey cow.
Over the 58 years since, they’ve built a business, a family and a reputation for hard work, honesty and service to others.
In honor of that lifetime commitment, the couple’s children have made a gift to Arkansas State University’s College of Agriculture to fund and provide livestock for a petting zoo, which has been named to honor their parents.
http://www.guardonline.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=41577&format=html
Photo: brown and white pelicans at the Bronx Zoo
mongabay.com
October 16, 2007
Colorful autumn leaves are starting to fall but they don't dampen the sunny disposition of these brown and white pelicans at the Bronx Zoo.
The pelican's most recognizable feature is its expandable, skin pouch used to scoop food out of the water. Their diets in nature consist mainly of fish, but they are also opportunistic feeders and eat a variety of small aquatic animals including crustaceans, tadpoles, and turtles. At the Bronx Zoo, pelicans are served herring, capelin, and whitebait.
While brown pelicans are the smallest species of this bird, American white’s can have a wingspan of over nine feet.
Pelicans can be found on all continents except for Antarctica.
Visitors can see these birds on a pond behind the Bronx Zoo's Children's Zoo. All the zoo's pelicans are rehab birds, meaning they have been rescued from injury or abandonment.
http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1016-wcs_pelican.html
Hogle Zoo pitching in expertise to help save Bornean orangutans
By Matthew D. LaPlante
Posted: 6:28 AM- If the world's population of endangered Bornean orangutans is ever to recover, it's going to take a long time.
Orangutan mothers often go eight years or longer between offspring. In any given year in the United States, where there are 220 orangutans in captivity, only one or two babies are born. So few zookeepers have much experience in breeding, let alone encouraging the mother-baby bonds that are a hallmark of the ape's species survival plan.
That's why two zookeepers from Utah's Hogle Zoo are in Chicago, this week, to speak with ape caregivers from around the world. Their success in bringing together a baby orang, Acara, with her mother, Eve,
Bornean Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus)
Habitat: The most arboreal of all the great apes, orangutans like those at the Hogle zoo live in the lowland rain forests of Borneo.
Lifespan: About 30 years in the wild, 50 years in captivity.
In Utah: The Hogle Zoo has four orangutans...
Talukan, a male born in 1986 at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Eli, a male born in 1990 at the Topeka Zoo. Eve, a female born in 1990 at the Kansas City Zoo. Acara, a female born at the Hogle Zoo in 2005, the daughter of Eli and Eve.
is being called a model for future breeding effort
"It's extremely significant," said Carol Sodaro, one of the world's foremost experts on ape husbandry and care, who consulted with Hogle zookeepers Bobbi Gordon and Erin Jones about Acara's birth and rearing. "Not having Acara and Eve together would prevent Eve from getting the normal maternal skills she needs."
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7202315
Frond Zoo coming to a library near you
Paint and imagination transform palm fronds into animals
By Andrea Stetson
Special to news-press.com
Originally posted on October 06, 2007
Lots of people see shapes in clouds, but Heidi Saletko sees everything from elephants to scorpions in palm fronds. Now she's opening the eyes of children around Southwest Florida to the creations they can make from something as common as a discard from a palm tree.
About 15 years ago Saletko's husband was trimming a palm tree in the yard of their North Naples home when Heidi Saletko immediately saw the face of an elephant in a cut frond. She took it inside, painted it and it looked just like the huge gray creature. That was the beginning of Saletko's Frond Zoo. From there she turned fronds into African animals, domestic pets, bugs, fish and more. She began displaying her Frond Zoo at art shows and festivals. Now she works with local libraries and other organizations to bring Frond Zoo art to children.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071006/LIFESTYLES/710070359/1075
Baby boom at zoo
20 October 2007 16:00
A MINI baby boom has hit Colchester Zoo with four offspring born within a matter of weeks of each other.
The birth of two Red River hog piglets, and two types of primates, a Squirrel Monkey and a Mandrill, is set to boost the zoo's breeding programmes and help protect endangered species.
The zoo's breeding group of Mandrills, the largest in the country, got one bigger this month with the birth of a baby to mother Celine and father Dume in the Edge of Africa zone.
In total there are now 24 mandrills all living together at the zoo.
http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveningstar/news/story.aspx?brand=ESTOnline&category=News&tBrand=ESTOnline&tCategory=News&itemid=IPED19%20Oct%202007%2010%3A34%3A11%3A780
Zoo manager charged with embezzling thousands
Bay City News
A former marketing manager at the Oakland Zoo who allegedly enjoyed traveling to Disneyland with zoo money won't be going there anytime soon because he's now been charged with embezzling $52,000.
Alameda County District Attorney Norbert Chu said Friday that Gregory Jueneman, 27, allegedly stole zoo funds over a period of at least 10 months but was tripped up last month when he tried to electronically transfer $3,000 from the zoo's bank account to his own account.
The large attempted transfer attracted the attention of Wells Fargo Bank, which notified zoo officials who then did an audit and discovered that Jueneman had been taking money since September 2006, Chu said.
Jueneman was then confronted and fired by zoo officials, Chu said.
http://www.ebdailynews.com/article/2007-10-6-bcn-26
Zoo funding 'step in the right direction'
Oct 05, 2007 @ 10:25 PM
By JENNIFER FUSCO
Observer-Dispatch
UTICA - The struggling Utica Zoo welcomed news about getting a 3 percent increase in county funding after Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente revealed his proposed budget Friday.
The zoo's county funding increased from $354,000 to $363,270, which is what the zoo requested.
"This is a step in the right direction," Zoo Executive Director Beth Irons said. "I am very much encouraged that Oneida County wants to continue to support the zoo."
The zoo's total budget is about $960,000 annually - $300,000 of which is mandated by the county to fund through an agreement.
County Legislator Ed Welsh, R-Utica, whose district includes the zoo, said he supports the increase for the zoo, and the overall budget shows a wise and prudent approach.
http://www.uticaod.com/news/x1381457719
Death comes quickly to eagle, surprising zoo staff
By CURT SLYDER
cslyder@journalandcourier.com
Columbian Park Zoo officials are hoping for answers regarding what caused the death Thursday of one of the zoo's most popular animals.
The zoo's only bald eagle, on display since the zoo reopened June 30, died unexpectedly Thursday evening.
Named Pride, the adult male bald eagle was experiencing difficulty breathing Thursday morning, said zoo director Claudine Laufman.
Officials brought in a veterinarian to treat the bird that zoo staff had seen struggling to breathe. But it was no use.
Pride died Thursday evening.
http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071006/NEWS/710060337/1152/NEWS
Zoo heist
BIRCH RUN, Michigan, Oct. 4, 2007 (NBC) -- The Wilderness Trails Wildlife Park in Birch Run, Michigan is home to more then 200 animals, but now the zoo is missing nine of its near and dear friends.
A couple of weeks ago, a baby wallaby and two fennec foxes were stolen sometime throughout the night. The thieves cut the fence lining the more the 30-acre zoo, snuck in netting, cut the wires, and made off with the prized animals.
Now five rare tortoises are missing after a second break-in. They range in size, with a majority of them being between 10 and 20 pounds, but one was between 50 and 60 pounds, so it was not an easy getaway.
It is suspected that the animals were stolen for monetary reasons but employees just want them back so the animals can get the care they need.
"We're hoping that the community will maybe see these animals or whoever took them will turn them loose. We're hoping that maybe someone will see them or maybe someone who purchased them not knowing will give us a call." said zookeeper Laura Wiley.
The Wilderness Trails Wildlife Park has never had any problems before these break-in's. Staff said they are working to improve security.
http://www.ksn.com/news/also/10268737.html
Trash or Treasure for Polar Bears?
Posted at 2:52 pm October 5, 2007 by Kelly Murphy
If you haven’t seen by now, there’s been quite a stir when viewing the Polar Cam. Many of you have heard me share stories about the bears: what they like to eat, how well they get along, and how they love to play. Enrichment is a major part of their day. We try to minimize food enrichment, as it is often short lived and offers little variety in behavior. By offering a toy or object, we allow the bears choices as to how and if they interact with it. If you’ve visited our bears, you may have experienced some of the more “unusual” items such as burlap sacks, feathers, traffic cones, and even plastic lawn ornaments. One of their all-time favorites has always been the plastic lids to trash cans.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/trash-or-treasure-for-polar-bears/
Kipuka 21: A New Home for Our Creeper and ‘Akepa
Posted at 12:09 pm October 5, 2007 by Alan Lieberman
The only thing more satisfying and exciting than hatching and rearing some of the most endangered species in the world is sending them off into native forests to be part of a restored Hawaiian ecosystem. As part of the recovery efforts to restore the biodiversity of Kipuka 21, the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program is in a two-month process, methodically releasing the Hawaii creeper (juvenile pictured above) and ‘akepa (female pictured below) back into a native ecosystem.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/kipuka-21-a-new-home-for-our-creeper-and-akepa/
Cherished new arrivals at Marwell Zoo
Somali wild ass, Jahzara, with her mother, Tikva
THE stork has made a valuable delivery to Marwell Zoo near Winchester.
A pair of rare female Somali wild asses, which are critically endangered, have been born at the venue.
Only 300 of the species are thought to exist elsewhere in the wild, and only in North East Africa, with none in their native Somali homeland.
The arrival of two new ones increases the size of Marwell's herd to seven.
Their head keeper, Simon Hawker, added: "Due to recent droughts and political turmoil it is very difficult to assess the current wild populations.
"With this uncertainty it is vital that we increase the number of Somali wild asses born in captivity to help safeguard their future."
http://www.thisishampshire.net/news/hampshirenews/display.var.1740238.0.cherished_new_arrivals_at_marwell_zoo.php
Rare panda arrives at Madison zoo
Associated Press - October 5, 2007 7:15 AM ET
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A rare red panda has arrived at the Children's Zoo in Madison.
Red pandas weigh about 15 pounds, have long, bushy ringed tails. They are natives of the cool, temperate forests of China. And they share their habitat with the more well-known pandas.
Chang Tan comes from the Red River Zoo in Fargo, North Dakota.
The Children's Zoo was recently completed at the Henry Vilas (VEYE'-lis) Zoo. Director Jim Hubing says there are only about 2,500 red pandas left in the wild.
The 5-year-old male red panda will eventually be paired with a female.
Information from: WISC-TV, http://www.channel3000.com
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=7172817
Correctional site may be relocated to help zoo grow
By JASON PULLIAM
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
October 5, 2007
City leaders want to move a south-side work-release center to make room for improvements at Blank Park Zoo.
The Fort Des Moines community correctional facility, with more than 275 men who include about 45 sex offenders, "simply does not fit with the comprehensive plan we have envisioned for that area as a kid-friendly place," south-side City Councilman Brian Meyer said.
Meyer and Mayor Frank Cownie head a panel appointed to draw up a revitalization plan for a "superblock" roughly bordered by Southeast 14th Street, Southwest Ninth Street, Army Post Road and County Line Road.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/NEWS/710050392/-1/ENT06
Blackpool Zoo nominated for two awards
Blackpool Zoo has been nominated twice in the annual Northwest Tourism Awards.
The zoo is up for best large visitor attraction of the year and best visitor experience.
The best visitor experience nomination is for the zoo's innovative Keeper of the Day experience, which allows members of the public to spend a day with one of the zoo's keeper teams.
Other attractions nominated in Blackpool include the Grand Theatre, for best tourism website of the year and the George Bancroft Park, near Bloomfield Road and St Anne's Square are competing for the best public space award.
http://news.holidayhypermarket.co.uk/Blackpool-Zoo-nominated-for-two-awards-18305967.html
Coastal Habitats Are The Biosphere's Most Imperiled Ecosystems
ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2007) — The BBVA Foundation’s Third Debate on Conservation Biology allowed leading international experts to present findings of their latest research into the scale, causes and consequences of global loss of coastal habitats. The disappearance of these ecosystems, which include coral reefs, mangrove forests, wetlands and seagrass meadows, has serious consequences like loss of biodiversity, depletion of exploitable living resources, impaired capacity of the oceans to sequester CO2 and loss of the leisure value of the coastal zone. Not only that, the coastline becomes more vulnerable to the increased erosion associated with rising sea levels.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071020090707.htm
Rare white rhino born at SA zoo
Posted Thu Oct 4, 2007 8:18pm AEST
A southern white rhinoceros has been born at South Australia's Monarto Zoo.
Weighing in at a hefty 40 kilograms, Watoto the baby white rhino is the second for Monarto Zoo's breeding program.
The male calf was born on Tuesday morning and is said to be wrinkly, with big feet and ears.
Poaching and civil wars all but wiped-out the southern white rhino in the 19th century, but conservation programs like the one at Monarto have helped restore the species to about 13,000 world wide.
It is hoped the model can eventually be used to improve the numbers of the black rhinoceros.
For now keepers are leaving Watoto to bond and feed with his mother and he is expected to put on several kilos a day as he feeds and grows to the full size of about 2.5 tonnes.
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/04/2051335.htm
Visit Boston's Zoos!
Zoo New England is the non-profit that runs Franklin Park Zoo in Boston and Stone Zoo in Stoneham. Franklin Park Zoo is a 72-acre site nestled in Boston’s historic Franklin Park, long considered the “crown jewel” of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace Park System. Visit the animals of the Australian outback, greet the new baby gorilla, listen to the lion roar, and enjoy all the trails!
Stone Zoo is a more intimate zoo located on a 26-acre site near the sparkling Spot Pond reservoir. Kids will love the flamingoes, the many wild cats (leopard, cougar, jaguar) and the daily Bird Show! Use your four tickets toward either one of our local zoos.
Donated by: Zoo New England
Value: $44
http://noodleandscribble.typepad.com/100_red_balloons/2007/10/visit-bostons-z.html
Pronghorn euthanized after being injured in transport
Published 10/5/2007
A female pronghorn from Lee Richardson Zoo was euthanized after injuries suffered while being transported to another zoo.
According to zoo Director Kathy Sexson, a pair of young pronghorn started being transported Tuesday to Zoo Leon, an AZA-accredited zoo in Leon, Guanjuato, Mexico. AZA, or the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, is a nonprofit organization "dedicated to the advancement of accredited zoos and aquariums in the areas of animal care, wildlife conservation, education and science," according to its Web site.
The pronghorn, born at Lee Richardson Zoo in May, were purchased by Zoo Leon because the zoo is trying to start a pronghorn herd. The pronghorn were loaded calmly into a section of an animal trailer operated by a professional animal transporter on Tuesday and left the zoo, according to the Lee Richardson Zoo.
http://www.gctelegram.com/News/141120
PalmGear
US Zoos & Aquariums Directory 2.0
http://www.palmgear.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=software.showsoftware&PartnerREF=&siteid=1&catid=0&area=software.newupdated&searchtitle=Search%20Results&searchterm=&step=1&orderby=modificationdate&direction=asc&userid=0&prodid=61927
Frozen Sperm Worked For White Rhino
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/07101...
by Pavlusha 13806 days ago, published 13806 days ago (sciencedaily.com)
Scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin successfully inseminated a rhino with formerly frozen sperm. This world-first artificial insemination of a white rhino with frozen rhino sperm took place in Budapest Zoo.
The test-tube father called Simba is 38 years old and lives in the Zoo of Colchester, UK. The pregnant female is called Lulu. Her baby is due in November 2008. It will be her second baby.
The first one, Layla, was also conceived by artificial insemination. At that time, however, the scientists had used fresh sperm from a male rhino that lives with Lulu in Budapest.
The fact that the scientists were able to use frozen sperm has far-ranging implications for the conservation of rhinos. “Now we can take sperm from free living rhinos and freeze it“, says Dr. Thomas Hildebrandt, scientist at IZW. “Then we will be able to use it in zoos all over the world.“ The sperm Hildebrandt and his colleagues had used was stored for three years in liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degrees Celsius. It was taken from Simba, a then 35 years old male rhino, in Colchester, UK. Tests had shown that Simba’s sperm cells were highly vital although he was already quite old at that time.
http://test.indianpad.com/story/121935
continued...
Endangered birds produce chicks at Garden City zoo
Associated Press - October 5, 2007 1:04 PM ET
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) - A Garden City zoo is celebrating the hatching of 2 healthy chicks whose species is almost extinct in its native Indonesia.
The Bali Mynah Bird is a distinctive white starling with an electric blue patch over its eyes. Its look and elaborate song make it attractive to bird lovers.
But capture and caging has reduced the Bali Mynah population in Indonesia to just a handful.
The Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City is involved in a plan to help rescue the species by mating two adult bird on loan to the zoo to produce a clutch of eggs, which they did two weeks ago.
The baby birds are on display but won't be visible to visitors for a few more weeks.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.kbsd6.com/Global/story.asp?S=7174421
Council seeks legislation to retain Forest Park zoo
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
By MIKE PLAISANCE
mplaisance@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - The City Council voted unanimously last night to authorize the mayor to seek state legislation aimed at extending the life of the Forest Park zoo another quarter century or more.
"The zoo is one of the (city's) top 10 tourist destinations. This little housekeeping move that we need to take will allow the property to continue to be a zoo for another 25 years," Councilor Bruce W. Stebbins, who sponsored the measure, said after the meeting.
The 9-0 vote at City Hall lets Mayor Charles V. Ryan seek a special act of the Legislature. The act would bypass a state law that limits the number of years a lease can be so the city can have another lease of 25 years or more when the current 25-year lease expires in 2010.
The nonprofit Forest Park Zoological Society Inc. operates the zoo under the lease with the city, but the language in the legislation the city will pursue doesn't mention a particular company to run the zoo.
The city's lease with the Forest Park Zoological Society is $1 a year. Patrick J. Sullivan, director of the Parks, Buildings and Recreation Management Department, has said the nominal-fee arrangement lets the city continue having a zoo without having to be in the zoo business.
The council also unanimously approved a resolution calling for the city to adopt so-called project labor agreements on municipal building projects. Two mentioned in the resolution were plans to rebuild Roger L. Putnam Vocational-Technical High School and Forest Park Middle School.
Under such provisions, a city or town enters into agreements with contractors and unions. The agreements ensure that the job's workers get fair wages and benefits, that workers get safety training, that apprenticeship programs train young people in building trades and that the job will be completed on time and on budget.
"I think they're very good for the economy in the city of Springfield," said council President Kateri B. Walsh, who proposed the resolution.
The city is in the design stages en route to building a new $120 million Putnam and an estimate four years ago put the rebuilding of Forest Park Middle School at $30 million.
Council resolutions are nonbinding, but union members who filled the seats in City Council Chambers erupted in applause after the resolution passed.
"This is outstanding, what just happened tonight," said Daniel D'Alma, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 7 of Western Massachusetts.
http://www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1192522948189380.xml&coll=1
Jungle cat succumbs to injuries at zoo
Tuesday October 16 2007 09:37 IST
Express News Service
T’PURAM: The jungle cat, which was brought to the city zoo on Sunday, turned out to be a one-day visitor. For the animal, which was kept under observation following bad health, breathed its last on Sunday night itself.
The cat, which had suffered deep injuries on its lungs, while being trapped by locals at Kottiyam, also suffered from haemorrhage, which caused the end.
According to Zoo Veterinarian Dr C.S.Jayakumar, the jungle cat was trapped by people and handed over to the authorities at Kottiyam, but a portion of its lungs had teared off during the process. The female cat had been admitted to a veterinary hospital at Kottiyam from where it was brought to the zoo.
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEO20071015231559&Page=O&Headline=Jungle+cat+succumbs+to+injuries+at+zoo&Title=Thiruvananthapuram&Topic=0
Council agrees to make zoo nonsmoking
By Jon Walker
Argus Leader
Published: October 15, 2007
The City Council approved a measure tonight that prohibits the public from smoking at the Great Plains Zoo.
Zoo President Elizabeth Whealy said that going non-smoking will make it a better experience for guests, as well as animals by reducing litter and second-hand smoke.
There will be no designated smoking area for the public. There will be one, however, for employees, but it won’t be for the public.
Councilor Bob Litz said he was “perplexed” by the contradiction of having a smoking area for employees, but no area for the general public.
“If we’re going to have no smoking, it should be no smoking, and that includes employees,” he said.
Litz voted for the measure, which ended on a 7-0 vote.
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/NEWS/71015059/1001
WELCOME TO SINGAPORE "ZOO"
Elephants at Play (Video)
http://stage6.divx.com/user/Michaelchong88/video/1745681/Elephant-show-at-Singapore-Zoo
Zoo director Greene moving on
After 20 months in Roanoke, Sean Greene announced he will leave Mill Mountain Zoo to work in Dallas.
By Pete Dybdahl
981-3376
Sean Greene, Mill Mountain Zoo's executive director and its popular face for the past 20 months, announced his resignation Monday to take a job with a larger zoo in Dallas.
Greene leaves the mountain Nov. 2 as the zoo upgrades its facilities, arranges for a new Zoo Choo train and enjoys recent success on its national accreditation review.
The director also leaves behind a renewed vigor to make the mountaintop zoo a more modern, relevant feature of Roanoke.
"Sean has revitalized the zoo to the community," said Sara Brooks, president of the Mill Mountain Zoological Society, which operates the zoo. "We've got five years of work out of him in 20 months."
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/135985
Enjoy the Zoo for Free on Thanksgiving Day
You won't find turkeys at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, but you can see its 3,000 other animals for free on Thanksgiving Day. All Zoo visitors receive complimentary admission from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving, November 22.
Throughout the day, you can see the Zoo's animals feast on some of their favorite treats, like pumpkins for the elephants and "fish-sicles" for the sea lions. (Of course, "fish-sicles" are frozen fish in blocks of ice.) Also, meet the keepers and watch the animals participate in special Thanksgiving Day enrichment activities meant to keep their minds and bodies active.
http://www.clemetzoo.com/pressroom/index.asp?action=details&pressrelease_id=1273
Build Your Wildself
http://www.buildyourwildself.com/
Bill & Alice Nix Petting Zoo dedicated
JONESBORO — On the day Bill and Alice Nix of Ash Flat married in 1949, their worldly possessions consisted of $5 and a Guernsey cow.
Over the 58 years since, they’ve built a business, a family and a reputation for hard work, honesty and service to others.
In honor of that lifetime commitment, the couple’s children have made a gift to Arkansas State University’s College of Agriculture to fund and provide livestock for a petting zoo, which has been named to honor their parents.
http://www.guardonline.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=41577&format=html
Photo: brown and white pelicans at the Bronx Zoo
mongabay.com
October 16, 2007
Colorful autumn leaves are starting to fall but they don't dampen the sunny disposition of these brown and white pelicans at the Bronx Zoo.
The pelican's most recognizable feature is its expandable, skin pouch used to scoop food out of the water. Their diets in nature consist mainly of fish, but they are also opportunistic feeders and eat a variety of small aquatic animals including crustaceans, tadpoles, and turtles. At the Bronx Zoo, pelicans are served herring, capelin, and whitebait.
While brown pelicans are the smallest species of this bird, American white’s can have a wingspan of over nine feet.
Pelicans can be found on all continents except for Antarctica.
Visitors can see these birds on a pond behind the Bronx Zoo's Children's Zoo. All the zoo's pelicans are rehab birds, meaning they have been rescued from injury or abandonment.
http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1016-wcs_pelican.html
Hogle Zoo pitching in expertise to help save Bornean orangutans
By Matthew D. LaPlante
Posted: 6:28 AM- If the world's population of endangered Bornean orangutans is ever to recover, it's going to take a long time.
Orangutan mothers often go eight years or longer between offspring. In any given year in the United States, where there are 220 orangutans in captivity, only one or two babies are born. So few zookeepers have much experience in breeding, let alone encouraging the mother-baby bonds that are a hallmark of the ape's species survival plan.
That's why two zookeepers from Utah's Hogle Zoo are in Chicago, this week, to speak with ape caregivers from around the world. Their success in bringing together a baby orang, Acara, with her mother, Eve,
Bornean Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus)
Habitat: The most arboreal of all the great apes, orangutans like those at the Hogle zoo live in the lowland rain forests of Borneo.
Lifespan: About 30 years in the wild, 50 years in captivity.
In Utah: The Hogle Zoo has four orangutans...
Talukan, a male born in 1986 at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Eli, a male born in 1990 at the Topeka Zoo. Eve, a female born in 1990 at the Kansas City Zoo. Acara, a female born at the Hogle Zoo in 2005, the daughter of Eli and Eve.
is being called a model for future breeding effort
"It's extremely significant," said Carol Sodaro, one of the world's foremost experts on ape husbandry and care, who consulted with Hogle zookeepers Bobbi Gordon and Erin Jones about Acara's birth and rearing. "Not having Acara and Eve together would prevent Eve from getting the normal maternal skills she needs."
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7202315
Frond Zoo coming to a library near you
Paint and imagination transform palm fronds into animals
By Andrea Stetson
Special to news-press.com
Originally posted on October 06, 2007
Lots of people see shapes in clouds, but Heidi Saletko sees everything from elephants to scorpions in palm fronds. Now she's opening the eyes of children around Southwest Florida to the creations they can make from something as common as a discard from a palm tree.
About 15 years ago Saletko's husband was trimming a palm tree in the yard of their North Naples home when Heidi Saletko immediately saw the face of an elephant in a cut frond. She took it inside, painted it and it looked just like the huge gray creature. That was the beginning of Saletko's Frond Zoo. From there she turned fronds into African animals, domestic pets, bugs, fish and more. She began displaying her Frond Zoo at art shows and festivals. Now she works with local libraries and other organizations to bring Frond Zoo art to children.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071006/LIFESTYLES/710070359/1075
Baby boom at zoo
20 October 2007 16:00
A MINI baby boom has hit Colchester Zoo with four offspring born within a matter of weeks of each other.
The birth of two Red River hog piglets, and two types of primates, a Squirrel Monkey and a Mandrill, is set to boost the zoo's breeding programmes and help protect endangered species.
The zoo's breeding group of Mandrills, the largest in the country, got one bigger this month with the birth of a baby to mother Celine and father Dume in the Edge of Africa zone.
In total there are now 24 mandrills all living together at the zoo.
http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveningstar/news/story.aspx?brand=ESTOnline&category=News&tBrand=ESTOnline&tCategory=News&itemid=IPED19%20Oct%202007%2010%3A34%3A11%3A780
Zoo manager charged with embezzling thousands
Bay City News
A former marketing manager at the Oakland Zoo who allegedly enjoyed traveling to Disneyland with zoo money won't be going there anytime soon because he's now been charged with embezzling $52,000.
Alameda County District Attorney Norbert Chu said Friday that Gregory Jueneman, 27, allegedly stole zoo funds over a period of at least 10 months but was tripped up last month when he tried to electronically transfer $3,000 from the zoo's bank account to his own account.
The large attempted transfer attracted the attention of Wells Fargo Bank, which notified zoo officials who then did an audit and discovered that Jueneman had been taking money since September 2006, Chu said.
Jueneman was then confronted and fired by zoo officials, Chu said.
http://www.ebdailynews.com/article/2007-10-6-bcn-26
Zoo funding 'step in the right direction'
Oct 05, 2007 @ 10:25 PM
By JENNIFER FUSCO
Observer-Dispatch
UTICA - The struggling Utica Zoo welcomed news about getting a 3 percent increase in county funding after Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente revealed his proposed budget Friday.
The zoo's county funding increased from $354,000 to $363,270, which is what the zoo requested.
"This is a step in the right direction," Zoo Executive Director Beth Irons said. "I am very much encouraged that Oneida County wants to continue to support the zoo."
The zoo's total budget is about $960,000 annually - $300,000 of which is mandated by the county to fund through an agreement.
County Legislator Ed Welsh, R-Utica, whose district includes the zoo, said he supports the increase for the zoo, and the overall budget shows a wise and prudent approach.
http://www.uticaod.com/news/x1381457719
Death comes quickly to eagle, surprising zoo staff
By CURT SLYDER
cslyder@journalandcourier.com
Columbian Park Zoo officials are hoping for answers regarding what caused the death Thursday of one of the zoo's most popular animals.
The zoo's only bald eagle, on display since the zoo reopened June 30, died unexpectedly Thursday evening.
Named Pride, the adult male bald eagle was experiencing difficulty breathing Thursday morning, said zoo director Claudine Laufman.
Officials brought in a veterinarian to treat the bird that zoo staff had seen struggling to breathe. But it was no use.
Pride died Thursday evening.
http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071006/NEWS/710060337/1152/NEWS
Zoo heist
BIRCH RUN, Michigan, Oct. 4, 2007 (NBC) -- The Wilderness Trails Wildlife Park in Birch Run, Michigan is home to more then 200 animals, but now the zoo is missing nine of its near and dear friends.
A couple of weeks ago, a baby wallaby and two fennec foxes were stolen sometime throughout the night. The thieves cut the fence lining the more the 30-acre zoo, snuck in netting, cut the wires, and made off with the prized animals.
Now five rare tortoises are missing after a second break-in. They range in size, with a majority of them being between 10 and 20 pounds, but one was between 50 and 60 pounds, so it was not an easy getaway.
It is suspected that the animals were stolen for monetary reasons but employees just want them back so the animals can get the care they need.
"We're hoping that the community will maybe see these animals or whoever took them will turn them loose. We're hoping that maybe someone will see them or maybe someone who purchased them not knowing will give us a call." said zookeeper Laura Wiley.
The Wilderness Trails Wildlife Park has never had any problems before these break-in's. Staff said they are working to improve security.
http://www.ksn.com/news/also/10268737.html
Trash or Treasure for Polar Bears?
Posted at 2:52 pm October 5, 2007 by Kelly Murphy
If you haven’t seen by now, there’s been quite a stir when viewing the Polar Cam. Many of you have heard me share stories about the bears: what they like to eat, how well they get along, and how they love to play. Enrichment is a major part of their day. We try to minimize food enrichment, as it is often short lived and offers little variety in behavior. By offering a toy or object, we allow the bears choices as to how and if they interact with it. If you’ve visited our bears, you may have experienced some of the more “unusual” items such as burlap sacks, feathers, traffic cones, and even plastic lawn ornaments. One of their all-time favorites has always been the plastic lids to trash cans.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/trash-or-treasure-for-polar-bears/
Kipuka 21: A New Home for Our Creeper and ‘Akepa
Posted at 12:09 pm October 5, 2007 by Alan Lieberman
The only thing more satisfying and exciting than hatching and rearing some of the most endangered species in the world is sending them off into native forests to be part of a restored Hawaiian ecosystem. As part of the recovery efforts to restore the biodiversity of Kipuka 21, the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program is in a two-month process, methodically releasing the Hawaii creeper (juvenile pictured above) and ‘akepa (female pictured below) back into a native ecosystem.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/kipuka-21-a-new-home-for-our-creeper-and-akepa/
Cherished new arrivals at Marwell Zoo
Somali wild ass, Jahzara, with her mother, Tikva
THE stork has made a valuable delivery to Marwell Zoo near Winchester.
A pair of rare female Somali wild asses, which are critically endangered, have been born at the venue.
Only 300 of the species are thought to exist elsewhere in the wild, and only in North East Africa, with none in their native Somali homeland.
The arrival of two new ones increases the size of Marwell's herd to seven.
Their head keeper, Simon Hawker, added: "Due to recent droughts and political turmoil it is very difficult to assess the current wild populations.
"With this uncertainty it is vital that we increase the number of Somali wild asses born in captivity to help safeguard their future."
http://www.thisishampshire.net/news/hampshirenews/display.var.1740238.0.cherished_new_arrivals_at_marwell_zoo.php
Rare panda arrives at Madison zoo
Associated Press - October 5, 2007 7:15 AM ET
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A rare red panda has arrived at the Children's Zoo in Madison.
Red pandas weigh about 15 pounds, have long, bushy ringed tails. They are natives of the cool, temperate forests of China. And they share their habitat with the more well-known pandas.
Chang Tan comes from the Red River Zoo in Fargo, North Dakota.
The Children's Zoo was recently completed at the Henry Vilas (VEYE'-lis) Zoo. Director Jim Hubing says there are only about 2,500 red pandas left in the wild.
The 5-year-old male red panda will eventually be paired with a female.
Information from: WISC-TV, http://www.channel3000.com
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=7172817
Correctional site may be relocated to help zoo grow
By JASON PULLIAM
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
October 5, 2007
City leaders want to move a south-side work-release center to make room for improvements at Blank Park Zoo.
The Fort Des Moines community correctional facility, with more than 275 men who include about 45 sex offenders, "simply does not fit with the comprehensive plan we have envisioned for that area as a kid-friendly place," south-side City Councilman Brian Meyer said.
Meyer and Mayor Frank Cownie head a panel appointed to draw up a revitalization plan for a "superblock" roughly bordered by Southeast 14th Street, Southwest Ninth Street, Army Post Road and County Line Road.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/NEWS/710050392/-1/ENT06
Blackpool Zoo nominated for two awards
Blackpool Zoo has been nominated twice in the annual Northwest Tourism Awards.
The zoo is up for best large visitor attraction of the year and best visitor experience.
The best visitor experience nomination is for the zoo's innovative Keeper of the Day experience, which allows members of the public to spend a day with one of the zoo's keeper teams.
Other attractions nominated in Blackpool include the Grand Theatre, for best tourism website of the year and the George Bancroft Park, near Bloomfield Road and St Anne's Square are competing for the best public space award.
http://news.holidayhypermarket.co.uk/Blackpool-Zoo-nominated-for-two-awards-18305967.html
Coastal Habitats Are The Biosphere's Most Imperiled Ecosystems
ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2007) — The BBVA Foundation’s Third Debate on Conservation Biology allowed leading international experts to present findings of their latest research into the scale, causes and consequences of global loss of coastal habitats. The disappearance of these ecosystems, which include coral reefs, mangrove forests, wetlands and seagrass meadows, has serious consequences like loss of biodiversity, depletion of exploitable living resources, impaired capacity of the oceans to sequester CO2 and loss of the leisure value of the coastal zone. Not only that, the coastline becomes more vulnerable to the increased erosion associated with rising sea levels.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071020090707.htm
Rare white rhino born at SA zoo
Posted Thu Oct 4, 2007 8:18pm AEST
A southern white rhinoceros has been born at South Australia's Monarto Zoo.
Weighing in at a hefty 40 kilograms, Watoto the baby white rhino is the second for Monarto Zoo's breeding program.
The male calf was born on Tuesday morning and is said to be wrinkly, with big feet and ears.
Poaching and civil wars all but wiped-out the southern white rhino in the 19th century, but conservation programs like the one at Monarto have helped restore the species to about 13,000 world wide.
It is hoped the model can eventually be used to improve the numbers of the black rhinoceros.
For now keepers are leaving Watoto to bond and feed with his mother and he is expected to put on several kilos a day as he feeds and grows to the full size of about 2.5 tonnes.
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/04/2051335.htm
Visit Boston's Zoos!
Zoo New England is the non-profit that runs Franklin Park Zoo in Boston and Stone Zoo in Stoneham. Franklin Park Zoo is a 72-acre site nestled in Boston’s historic Franklin Park, long considered the “crown jewel” of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace Park System. Visit the animals of the Australian outback, greet the new baby gorilla, listen to the lion roar, and enjoy all the trails!
Stone Zoo is a more intimate zoo located on a 26-acre site near the sparkling Spot Pond reservoir. Kids will love the flamingoes, the many wild cats (leopard, cougar, jaguar) and the daily Bird Show! Use your four tickets toward either one of our local zoos.
Donated by: Zoo New England
Value: $44
http://noodleandscribble.typepad.com/100_red_balloons/2007/10/visit-bostons-z.html
Pronghorn euthanized after being injured in transport
Published 10/5/2007
A female pronghorn from Lee Richardson Zoo was euthanized after injuries suffered while being transported to another zoo.
According to zoo Director Kathy Sexson, a pair of young pronghorn started being transported Tuesday to Zoo Leon, an AZA-accredited zoo in Leon, Guanjuato, Mexico. AZA, or the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, is a nonprofit organization "dedicated to the advancement of accredited zoos and aquariums in the areas of animal care, wildlife conservation, education and science," according to its Web site.
The pronghorn, born at Lee Richardson Zoo in May, were purchased by Zoo Leon because the zoo is trying to start a pronghorn herd. The pronghorn were loaded calmly into a section of an animal trailer operated by a professional animal transporter on Tuesday and left the zoo, according to the Lee Richardson Zoo.
http://www.gctelegram.com/News/141120
PalmGear
US Zoos & Aquariums Directory 2.0
http://www.palmgear.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=software.showsoftware&PartnerREF=&siteid=1&catid=0&area=software.newupdated&searchtitle=Search%20Results&searchterm=&step=1&orderby=modificationdate&direction=asc&userid=0&prodid=61927
Frozen Sperm Worked For White Rhino
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/07101...
by Pavlusha 13806 days ago, published 13806 days ago (sciencedaily.com)
Scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin successfully inseminated a rhino with formerly frozen sperm. This world-first artificial insemination of a white rhino with frozen rhino sperm took place in Budapest Zoo.
The test-tube father called Simba is 38 years old and lives in the Zoo of Colchester, UK. The pregnant female is called Lulu. Her baby is due in November 2008. It will be her second baby.
The first one, Layla, was also conceived by artificial insemination. At that time, however, the scientists had used fresh sperm from a male rhino that lives with Lulu in Budapest.
The fact that the scientists were able to use frozen sperm has far-ranging implications for the conservation of rhinos. “Now we can take sperm from free living rhinos and freeze it“, says Dr. Thomas Hildebrandt, scientist at IZW. “Then we will be able to use it in zoos all over the world.“ The sperm Hildebrandt and his colleagues had used was stored for three years in liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degrees Celsius. It was taken from Simba, a then 35 years old male rhino, in Colchester, UK. Tests had shown that Simba’s sperm cells were highly vital although he was already quite old at that time.
http://test.indianpad.com/story/121935
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