Zoos
Machang site for country’s biggest zoo
MACHANG: The country's biggest zoo will be built here under the 9th Malaysia Plan.
Natural Resources and Environment Ministry's Parliamentary Secretary Datuk Sazmi Miah said a 40ha site in Bukit Baka had been identified for the RM25mil zoo.
“The project is expected to start in the middle or end of the year,” he told reporters after a meet the people session in Kampung Pangkal Petai on Saturday .
Sazmi said the proposed Machang Zoo would be three times bigger than the National Zoo in Hulu Klang, Kuala Lumpur.
He said there were also plans to house endangered species and some 300 fish species there.
He said it would have recreational facilities to attract tourists.
When completed, it was expected to attract 400,000 visitors and generate various benefits for local residents such as job and business opportunities, he added. – Bernama
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/2/27/southneast/13511011&sec=southneast
City Zoo comes out with novel plan
Monday February 27 2006 09:49 IST
VISAKHAPATNAM: Children, villages, trees, parks...and now, it is turn for animals. Yes, Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP), Visakhapatnam has come up with a novel theme of adopting wild animals.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) accorded to adopt 10 tigers of zoo, for which, it (HPCL) would pay Rs 3 lakh per annum.
With the maintenance and care of animals in the IGZP becoming quite an expensive affair, the zoo management invited donors to contribute for the welfare of the animals to tide over the financial crunch.
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEA20060226232814&Page=A&Title=Southern+News+-+Andhra+Pradesh&Topic=0
Furry Remains Shake Up Jurassic Thinking
The beaver-like animal indicates mammals played a greater role than long believed.
From Associated Press
February 25 2006
The discovery of the remains of a furry, beaver-like animal that lived at the time of dinosaurs has overturned more than a century of scientific thinking about Jurassic mammals.
The find shows that the role of mammals in the time of dinosaurs was greater than previously thought, said Zhe-Xi Luo, curator of vertebrate paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.
The animal is the earliest swimming mammal to have been found and was the most primitive mammal to be preserved with fur, which is important to helping keep a constant body temperature, Luo said.
For a century, the stereotype of mammals living in that era has been of tiny, shrew-like creatures scurrying about in the underbrush trying to avoid the giant creatures that dominated the planet, Luo said.
Now, a research team that included Luo has found that 164 million years ago, a mammal with a flat, scaly tail like a beaver, vertebrae like an otter and teeth like a seal was swimming in lakes and eating fish, according to their report in the current issue of the journal Science.
The team, led by Qiang Ji of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences in Beijing, discovered the remains in the Inner Mongolia region of China.
Thomas Martin of the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, Germany, said the discovery pushed back the mammal conquest of the waters by about 100 million years.
It's the first evidence that some ancient mammals were semiaquatic, indicating a greater diversification than previously thought, the researchers said.
Modern semiaquatic mammals such as beavers and otters and aquatic mammals like whales did not appear until between 55 million years ago and 25 million years ago, they said.
The new animal is not related to modern beavers or otters but has features similar to them. Thus the researchers named it Castorocauda lutrasimilis: castoro from the Latin for beaver, cauda for tail, lutra for river otter and similis meaning similar.
Weighing 1.1 to 1.7 pounds, about the size of a small female platypus, Castorocauda is also the largest-known Jurassic early mammal.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-sci-beaver25feb25,1,6157261.story?coll=la-news-a_section
Farewell to the Olympic Circus
From the Associated Press 11:51 a.m.
Spectators in Turin donned devil and angel masks in a closing ceremony doubling as Carnevale.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/
Zoo comment was insensitive, even if Patterson disagrees
Web-posted Feb 26, 2006
Al Elvin
Of The Oakland Press
Sometimes in the discussion about race, there is more to it than just black and white. There is gray, as well. Take, for instance, a recent remark by Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson.
"(The Detroit City Council) belongs in the zoo, not deciding the future of the zoo," Patterson said in an interview last week about the Detroit Zoo. Its future looked bleak after the council shot down a plan that would have meant saving the landmark.
Patterson called the plan a "no-brainer" and subsequently chided the council for not approving it.
While not completely a racist comment, yet definitely not void of any racial overtones, Patterson's zoo remark falls into that proverbial gray area. Such a comment, one that Patterson dismissed as "typical Patterson humor," is not funny at all.
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/022606/loc_2006022604.shtml
Meet the National Zoo's babies
By Joe Heim
THE WASHINGTON POST
They won't come right out and say it, but the whispers at the National Zoo about panda baby Tai Shan have grown louder over the winter.
"He's spoiled," one whined.
"He's had a free ride," snipped another.
And that was just the animals.
Oh, relax Tai Shan, we're just playing. It's just that panda fever that has gripped the nation, so it would be hard to blame the other animals for feeling overshadowed. After all, no one is scalping naked mole rat-viewing tickets on eBay. And they don't offer king vulture handbags at the zoo's gift shop.
We thought it was time to give some of the lesser-known youngsters at the zoo their due. So, here are some other new arrivals that you can visit without having to elbow past the pandarazzi. Check out the zoo's Web cam at http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/WebCams/
PREHENSILE-TAILED PORCUPINE
Born on Feb. 8, the porcupette (seriously, that's what you call a baby porcupine) is already on public view and is the fourth in the zoo's current collection of prehensile-tailed porcupines.
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/living/13944428.htm
National group says Garden City zoo's elephants need of more space
GARDEN CITY, Kan. A national animal rights group is citing two Texas zoos as part of six zoos nationwide that need to make major changes in how they house elephants.
In Defense of Animals charges widespread evidence of chronic foot and joint problems among captive elephants. The Mill Valley, California-based non-profit singles out the condition of the animals in six zoos and seeks changes in related federal rules.
Those are the Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City, Kansas, the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.; Cameron Park Zoo in Waco; Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, Arizona; Los Angeles Zoo; and Abilene Zoo.
The group has filed a complaint with the U-S Department of Agriculture, which oversees zoo animal treatment. They want an inspection, but an agriculture department spokesman said it'll take a few months to respond.
http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=4553520
In Kansas
Group: Elephants need more space
by staff, AP reports
2/26/06
GARDEN CITY, Kan. - A national animal-rights group has cited Garden City's zoo as one of six zoos nationwide that need to make major changes in how they house elephants.
In Defense of Animals, based in Mill Valley, Calif., charges widespread evidence of chronic foot and joint problems among captive elephants. The group singles out the condition of the animals in six zoos, including Garden City's Lee Richardson Zoo, and seeks change in pertinent federal rules.
The group filed its complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees zoo animal treatment. Agriculture department spokesman Jim Rogers said a preliminary response could be a couple of months away. In Defense, a nonprofit group, focuses on a range of animal issues, through protest, grassroots mobilization and legislative lobbying.
http://www.joplinglobe.com/story.php?story_id=230644&c=87
National group says Garden City zoo's elephants need of more space
Associated Press
GARDEN CITY, Kan. - A national animal rights group has cited Garden City's zoo as one of six zoos nationwide that need to make major changes in how they house elephants.
In Defense of Animals, based in Mill Valley, Calif., charges widespread evidence of chronic foot and joint problems among captive elephants. The group singles out the condition of the animals in six zoos, including Garden City's Lee Richardson Zoo, and seeks change in pertinent federal rules.
The group filed its complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees zoo animal treatment. Agriculture department spokesman Jim Rogers said a preliminary response could be a couple of months away. In Defense, a non-profit group, focuses on a range of animal issues, through protest, grassroots mobilization and legislative lobbying.
The group's petition, filed in early February, asks the government to respond within six months. The petition asks the USDA to inspect several zoos where elephants have arthritis and foot disease.
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/state/13961818.htm
Pandas strain finances at U.S. zoos
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- The four U.S. zoos that house giant pandas say the animals are putting too much strain on their finances.
They want to renegotiate future loan agreements with China, saying it may make more sense to send the animals back to China after contracts expire, the Washington Times reported.
The zoos in Atlanta, Memphis, Washington and San Diego each pay more than $1 million a year for what the Chinese government says is a fund to protect endangered animals. In addition, China charges the zoos a one-time fee of about $600,000 each time a panda cub, such as Tai Shan, is born, the newspaper said.
Zoo officials say the loan fees and money required for upkeep take away funds from other species that also need protection.
The National Zoo in Washington joined with the three other zoos to open an informal dialogue with China regarding a new contract. They hope a less-expensive agreement can be reached, the newspaper said.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060226-101858-5821r
Young red pandas debuting at Taipei Zoo (updated 12:12 a.m.)
Residents in Taiwan will have the opportunity to meet two young red pandas beginning today at the Taipei Zoo, which will hold celebration activities at 10 a.m.
The debut of the pair of red pandas, gifts from Japan, coincides with the celebrations of the forthcoming traditional Japanese Girls' Day (March 3) to mark the families' best wishes for healthy and happy lives for their daughters.
The two red pandas -- the male named Tsang Tsang and the female named Hsiao Chin -- came last October from Japan, who gave a total of four of the cute animals to Taipei.
The red panda (Ailurus fulgens, Latin for "fire colored cat") or the lesser panda, is a mostly herbivorous mammal, slightly larger than a domestic cat (60 cm long).
Its classification is uncertain. It was formerly classified in the raccoon family (Procyonidae), but now many experts classify it as a member of the bear family (Ursidae) or in its own family, the Ailuridae.
The most recent DNA research places the red panda in its own family, within the superfamily Mustelidae. It is not closely related to bears, but more so to the mustelid, skunk and procyonid families.
It is native to the Himalayas and southern China. A handful of fossils have also been discovered in North America.
Its Western name is taken from a Himalayan language, possibly Nepalese, but its meaning is uncertain. One theory is that "panda" is an anglicization of "poonya", which means "eater of bamboo." The red panda is also commonly known as the Wah because of its distinctive cry. This name was given to it by Thomas Hardwicke, when he introduced it to Europeans in 1821.
Like the giant panda originated in China, it eats large amounts of bamboo. The red panda, however, has a digestive system more suited to a carnivorous diet and cannot digest cellulose, so it must consume a large volume of bamboo to survive.
Its diet also includes fruit, roots, acorns and lichen, and red pandas are known to supplement their diet with young birds, eggs, small rodents and insects on occasion, according to experts.
Captive red pandas readily eat meat. They are excellent climbers and forage largely in trees. They do little more than eat and sleep due to their low-calorie diet.
The red panda has semi-retractile claws and a "false thumb," really an extension of the wrist bone. Thick fur on the soles of the feet offers protection from cold and hides scent glands. A popularity boom in Japan for the species has occurred due to red pandas at two different zoos being able to stand bipedal.
The species is endangered, largely because of habitat loss, though there is also some illegal hunting. Red pandas are often killed for their coats to make fur hats and clothes. Also, because of the growing population in China, their habitats are knocked down in order to build houses. Approximately 10,000 pandas die per year, and approximately 7,000 of the 10,000 die from deforestation.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/i_latestdetail.asp?id=35820
Lahore Zoo to have pair of giraffes after 14 years
Web posted at: 2/26/2006 2:24:32
LAHORE: The Lahore Zoo is buying a pair of giraffes after 14 years.
The pair, worth Rs12.5 million, is among 23 animals being bought by the zoo, including monkeys, baboons, addaxes and ostriches. The last giraffe died 14 years ago after swallowing a plastic bag.
According to the zoo management, there is no guarantee that the new giraffes would not have the same accident.
“Although plastic bags are banned in the zoo, the public still manages to bring them in,” said Lahore Zoo Director Yousaf Pal. “The media can play an important role in increasing awareness about it.”
The zoo has also purchased a female hippopotamus to mate with the male that it has had for over two decades. A wildlife expert said that there is no point in buying the female hippo, as the male has passed its reproductive age.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Pakistan+%26+Sub-Continent&month=February2006&file=World_News2006022622432.xml
Council won't vote on Detroit Zoo transfer before Friday
February 22, 2006
By MARISOL BELLO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A vote by the Detroit City Council on the future of the zoo could occur as early as Friday, but no later than next Wednesday, several council members said.
We don't want to drag this out, Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers said Wednesday.
The nine-member council is reviewing the plan reintroduced by Mayor Kwame Kilpatricks administration to spin the zoo off to the Detroit Zoological Society to run.
The city presented the council with a proposal to let the Society run the daily operations of the zoo -- though the city would maintain ownership -- because administration officials say the city can no longer afford the $5 million a year it costs to operate it.
The city is wrestling with a budget shortfall estimated at $100 million.
Council members expected to continue negotiations with the administration by offering proposed changes to the zoo plan Wednesday afternoon.
The issue will be discussed again Thursday morning at the council table.
The council voted down the proposal on Saturday by a 7-2 vote, but since then, members have received hundreds of calls from concerned city and metro area residents who fear the zoo may close.
Because the council rejected the proposal, administration and zoo officials say the zoo could close to the public by May unless a deal is reached.
Council members insist they want to keep the zoo open, but, at the same time, need to make sure the deal is in the best interests of the city.
My son loves the zoo, I cant go home and get beat up, Conyers said. We want to help them out to run the zoo efficiently and properly.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060222/NEWS11/60222005
City zoo to test birds for flu
HYDERABAD: The bird flu scare and the visit of migratory birds to the Nehru Zoological Park has prompted the authorities here to examine the birds in the zoo for avian influenza.
According to zoo director V Kishan, feathers and fecal samples are being sent to the Veterinary and Biology Research Institute (VBRI) to check for bird flu.
There are three aviaries in the zoo with nearly 20 bird cages and about 50 varieties of birds, including macaws,
parrots, peacocks and pheasants.
But the zoo is also home to scores of migratory birds, which, as some suspect, could have carried the flu to India. Hence, the authorities have decided to take precautions and have put in place measures to prevent an outbreak.
The zoo workers who are employed at the aviaries are now applying disinfectants before and after going anywhere near the enclosures. The cages and their surroundings are also being sprayed with disinfectants.
After reports came in about bird flu, the zoo officials had held a meeting with VBRI scientists on whether the birds should be vaccinated. But they were advised against it.
If the flu scare has affected anyone, it is the big cats. The tigers and other big cats, who are usually fed beef, were given chicken occasionally to break the monotony. But following the flu scare, the zoo has stopped feeding them chickens.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1424967.cms
Zoo letting chimps put hammer down
Primates are given a tool they can use
By James Janega
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 22, 2006
Looking for the perfect primitive hammer, Steve Ross left no stone unturned.
Ross, an ape behaviorist, wants to see if the chimps and gorillas at Lincoln Park Zoo can learn to crack nuts with heavy objects, a benchmark in primate tool use.
For this, he needed a "hammer" strong enough to open nuts but not too dangerous. Loose rocks could be heaved through windows. Quartz breaks when bashed.
But die-cast metal is tough and can be secured with chains. And fruit and vegetables seemed like they might be about the right size.
That is how, after six months of varying attempts, Ross wound up fashioning aluminum into the shape of a potato.
"I looked at turnips, apples. We looked at everything," he said.
The tools were introduced to zoo chimps Tuesday--aluminum potatoes as hammers, a concrete pad as an anvil. On Wednesday, Ross will demonstrate from behind a heavy cage door how to smack a macadamia nut to get at the meat inside.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/nearnorthwest/chi-0602220047feb22,1,1319906.story?coll=chi-newslocalnearnorthwest-hed
TV's 'Golden Girl' in LA zoo honour
Betty White, whose many TV roles included Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls, was honoured by the Los Angeles Zoo for her commitment to animals.
The zoo made the Emmy-winning star an Ambassador to the Animals at a ceremony attended by about 50 people, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
A bronze plaque will be placed next to the zoo's gorilla exhibit, home to White's favourite animal.
"Betty has such a big heart and a beautiful spirit. She is a 'Golden Girl' in every sense of the word," Villaraigosa said, referring to White's role in the former TV series, which ran from 1985 to 1992.
White, 84, joked that the honour would make her "tough to live with from now on".
"I'm not sure what I'm going to do as ambassador, except to love the animals as I have all my life," she said.
White has served for more than three decades on the Morris Animal Foundation and the board of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, and has been a zoo commissioner for eight years.
She also has written two animal-related books and received the Humane Award from the American Veterinary Medical Association.
"She's the real deal," said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Los Angeles.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=276312006
Zoo hysteria high as elephant's eye
By John Grogan
Inquirer Columnist
It might be easy to write off as a nutty extremist Marianne Bessey, the animal-rights activist who has been banned from the Philadelphia Zoo.
Easy, that is, until you look into the eyes of the giant, majestic beasts she so zealously - some might say hysterically - champions.
Until you look into the eyes of a captive elephant.
There is something there. Something more than docile existence. There is intelligence, fierce intelligence. No question about it. Even the zoo's own Web site notes the animal's innate smarts. Is it my imagination, or is there also sadness in those eyes?
Sadness and longing?
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/13970310.htm
So, should we be wild about zoos?
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/56856.html
Jerusalem zoo puts giraffe on birth control
Family planning introduced in order to curb fertile female
Giraffes stands in the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem on Thursday. After the giraffe population tripled to nine in recent years, outgrowing the zoo on the edge of Jerusalem, the most fertile female Shavit has been put on birth control.
JERUSALEM - Staff at Jerusalem Zoo have introduced birth control in a bid to curb a giraffe population boom.
The number of giraffes has tripled to nine in recent years, outgrowing the zoo on the edge of the city, according to officials and a 5-year-old female has been mostly to blame.
The most fertile female, Shavit, has now been injected with birth control hormones, delivered by dart, after giving birth twice in four years.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11539155/
48 different gorilla cultures thrive at American zoos
February 20, 2006
BY ANDREW BRIDGES
ST. LOUIS -- Captive gorillas actually are a cultured bunch.
Genetics or environment alone cannot explain variations in the behavior of different groups of the apes, a study found.
Behavioral surveys of the roughly 370 gorillas in U.S. zoos showed 48 variations in how individual groups of the apes make signals, use tools and seek comfort, said Tara Stoinski of Zoo Atlanta and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.
''What became very obvious is there is a very distinct pattern of similarities and differences between groups,'' Stoinski said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-gor20.html
Egypt closes eight state-run zoos
Published: Monday, 20 February, 2006, 1
1:30 AM Doha Time
CAIRO: The Egyptian authorities have closed Cairo zoo and seven other state-run zoos around the country for two weeks to prevent the spread of bird flu after cases of the H5N1 virus were detected on Thursday.
Cairo zoo manager Talaat Sidraus told Reuters yesterday that zoo workers has immediately started disinfecting bird cages.
Witnesses saw dead and sick birds inside the zoo grounds yesterday but it was not immediately clear if they had bird flu.
Large flocks of egrets and other wild birds live in the trees in and around the zoo.
The authorities have reported cases of bird flu in seven provinces, stretching from Dakahlia in the northeast of the Nile Delta to Qena in the far south.
At least 10,000 birds have been culled at a chicken farm north of Cairo.
Yesterday, merchants who normally slaughter and sell live chickens on the street had closed in compliance with a ban. Some remained open but had few customers.
No human cases have been diagnosed in Egypt. – Reuters
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=73551&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17
Pandas eat bamboo, zoos' budgets
By BRENDA GOODMAN
The New York Times
JESSIE COHEN / AP
Tai Shan, a giant panda cub at the National Zoo, nuzzles his mother, Mei Xiang. The public has snapped up tickets to see the cub, who was born last year.
ATLANTA — Lun Lun and Yang Yang have needs. They require an expensive all-vegetarian diet — 84 pounds a day, each. They are attended by a four-person entourage, and both crave privacy. Would-be divas could take notes.
But the real sticker shock comes from the fees Zoo Atlanta and three other U.S. zoos must each pay the Chinese government: $2 million a year to rent a pair of pandas.
Zoo Atlanta Chief Executive Dennis Kelly's financial headache is one familiar to Hollywood's booking agents, but decidedly more novel to conservationists. He says Lun Lun and Yang Yang, the park's giant pandas, are draining the institution's coffers faster than they can be replenished, even though they are the zoo's star attractions.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002800208_panda12.html
Melbourne Zoo's friends among animals
Sarah Wotherspoon
24feb06
SHE may not be able to talk to the animals, but she can tell you an awful lot about them.
As a voluntary guide, Fran Pfeiffer has a wealth of knowledge about the animal kingdom at Melbourne Zoo.
Vice-president of Friends of the Zoos, a support group for Victoria's three zoos, Ms Pfeiffer has been volunteering at the Royal Park site for 15 years.
And although she's in no hurry to stop helping, Ms Pfeiffer is looking for new guides to take tours at Melbourne Zoo.
"You have to love animals and you have to love people," she said.
"The guides on the properties take the tours with the public.
"Anyone who comes in has someone to talk to everywhere in the zoo."
New guides, who must be members of Friends of the Zoos, will join a 700-strong team spread over Melbourne, Werribee and Healesville.
"Being able to work in the most wonderful environment and meeting the animals and heaps of people is great," Ms Pfeiffer said.
Net link: www.zoo.org.au/fotz
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18250174%255E2862,00.html
Zoo growth plan enrages animal welfare groups
ANIMAL welfare organisations have condemned Edinburgh Zoo's plans to add elephants and manatees to its collection and continue keeping polar bears.
The zoo, which is one of Scotland's top tourist attractions, announced the £58 million expansion plan this week, which will see the park divided into four "biome" zones, joined by a railway.
Included in the redesign are plans to introduce new animals, including several endangered species, and to continue keeping polar bears, which the zoo previously admitted were unsuited to living in captivity.
Conservation groups including the RSPCA, the Born Free Foundation, Marine Connection, Animal Concern and the Orangutan Survival Foundation all expressed concern about the plans unveiled by the zoo.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=291552006
Council postpones Detroit Zoo talks
February 24, 2006
By MARISOL BELLO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Detroit City Council postponed until Monday discussions on changes to a plan to keep the Detroit Zoo open by turning over its daily operations to the Detroit Zoological Society.
The council was to discuss the topic Friday afternoon.
The council voted down the plan 7-2 last Saturday and has since been caught in a whirlwind of controversy and complaints from metro area residents concerned about the zoos future.
Mayor Kwame Kilpatricks administration says under its plan the city keeps ownership of the zoo, but turns over the daily management to the society. Administration officials say because of the citys budget crisis, it can not afford the average $5 million it costs the city to operate the zoo.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060224/NEWS11/60224010
Man accused of trying to steal sheep from Arkansas zoo
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A homeless man who police say tried to take a sheep from the Little Rock Zoo has been arrested.
A security guard at the zoo called police Tuesday evening after spotting a man carrying a trash can with a sheep in it, according to a police report.
Grady Allen Carnahan, 32, told officers he was a doctor and the sheep was sick, the report said. He said he was taking the animal to a veterinary clinic.
Carnahan fought with the officers as they tried to take him into custody, police said.
He was arrested on a felony charge of violating an animal facility and on misdemeanor charges.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-sheep24.html
Elephant rights activist banned from zoo
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- An animal-rights activist was banned from the Philadelphia Zoo for online comments directed at the facility's chief executive.
Marianne Bessey, leader of Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants, wrote in an Internet chat room called the Elephant Connection about Dulary, an elephant kept in a concrete barn since August. She said zoo director Alexander L. "Pete" Hoskins might suffer nightmares about Dulary, a 42-year-old, injured elephant in his care, and might indeed be past his own life expectancy, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The zoo notified police of Bessey's remarks.
Bessey and her supporters want the zoo's four elephants, currently housed in a small yard and an 1,800-square-foot barn, moved to a preserve in Tennessee where they can roam freely.
Chicago, Detroit and San Francisco zoos have closed elephant exhibits amid controversy about their habitats.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060224-015432-3445r
Council won't vote on Detroit Zoo transfer before Friday
A vote by the Detroit City Council on the future of the zoo could occur as early as Friday, but no later than next Wednesday, several council members said.
“We don’t want to drag this out,” Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers said Wednesday.
The nine-member council is reviewing the plan reintroduced by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s administration to spin the zoo off to the Detroit Zoological Society to run.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060222/NEWS11/60222005
City zoo to test birds for flu
HYDERABAD: The bird flu scare and the visit of migratory birds to the Nehru Zoological Park has prompted the authorities here to examine the birds in the zoo for avian influenza.
According to zoo director V Kishan, feathers and fecal samples are being sent to the Veterinary and Biology Research Institute (VBRI) to check for bird flu.
There are three aviaries in the zoo with nearly 20 bird cages and about 50 varieties of birds, including macaws,
parrots, peacocks and pheasants.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1424967.cms
Zoo letting chimps put hammer down
Primates are given a tool they can use
By James Janega
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 22, 2006
Looking for the perfect primitive hammer, Steve Ross left no stone unturned.
Ross, an ape behaviorist, wants to see if the chimps and gorillas at Lincoln Park Zoo can learn to crack nuts with heavy objects, a benchmark in primate tool use.
For this, he needed a "hammer" strong enough to open nuts but not too dangerous. Loose rocks could be heaved through windows. Quartz breaks when bashed.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/nearnorthwest/chi-0602220047feb22,1,1319906.story?coll=chi-newslocalnearnorthwest-hed
TV's 'Golden Girl' in LA zoo honour
Betty White, whose many TV roles included Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls, was honoured by the Los Angeles Zoo for her commitment to animals.
The zoo made the Emmy-winning star an Ambassador to the Animals at a ceremony attended by about 50 people, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
A bronze plaque will be placed next to the zoo's gorilla exhibit, home to White's favourite animal.
"Betty has such a big heart and a beautiful spirit. She is a 'Golden Girl' in every sense of the word," Villaraigosa said, referring to White's role in the former TV series, which ran from 1985 to 1992.
White, 84, joked that the honour would make her "tough to live with from now on".
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=276312006
concluding ...
