Zoos
Seattle zoo's parking garage plan set back
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE -- A Seattle hearing examiner says a 700-car parking garage cannot be built at the Woodland Park Zoo.
The decision in the three-year land use dispute is a victory for neighborhood opponents who said the four-level garage was too big for a park.
Zoo officials are deciding whether to appeal, ask for a break from the land use code or change their expansion plans.
The zoo says it needs the $28 million parking structure to accommodate its one million annual visitors.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Zoo_Garage.html
Under The Needle: Savoring a NIMBY victory over the zoo garage plan
Chalk one up for the neighborhood
By MIKE LEWIS
P-I REPORTER
Politics and NIMBY-ism found Diane Duthweiler comfortable and in her brick home high on the corner of 52nd Street and Greenwood Avenue, a long home run from Woodland Park.
She hadn't involved herself in civic issues before, she explained, because her former work as a producer for local television stations prevented social activism.
Phinney Ridge resident Diane Duthweiler will be recycling signs that she and neighbors made to protest the proposed construction of a parking garage at Woodland Park Zoo.
Not anymore. Now a freelancer, she gave in to the temptation when her neighborhood collectively decided that maybe the wrong critters had been caged at Woodland Park Zoo.
"I mean, what were (zoo administrators) thinking?" Duthweiler said, sitting on the couch in her living room. "Does a parking garage in this neighborhood make any sense?"
She didn't wait for an answer. It wasn't that type of question.
"A lot of people thought that we were well-off people who didn't want to disturb our precious neighborhood."
True, some people did.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/337583_needle01.html
City official rules garage planned for zoo is illegal
By Bob Young
Seattle Times staff reporter
A controversial 700-car garage proposed for Woodland Park Zoo is illegal, according to Seattle's hearing examiner.
City officials failed to make the case that garages are common or customary in Seattle parks, Hearing Examiner Sue Tanner said in a decision that city and neighborhood leaders received Tuesday.
Tanner serves as the city's administrative-law judge and is charged with reviewing decisions by city agencies.
Dubbed the "garage mahal" by neighborhood critics, the proposal for a four-story, $28 million structure has been hotly debated for three years. Phinney Ridge Community Council President Irene Wall called Tanner's ruling a decisive blow.
"It really means the end of this garage proposal and back to the drawing board," Wall said.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003984677_zoogarage31m.html
Annual Boo at the Zoo draws thousands
By Leslie Williams-Dennis/The Brownsville Herald
October 31, 2007 - 12:50AM
Ten-year-old Gilbert Saldaña emerged from the Gladys Porter Zoo’s special events building last night with a frightened look on his face.
Wearing a black and white Ghost Rider costume, Saldaña, along with his family and friends, visited various booths and game stations in search of free candy. Others’ spooky costumes left him unfazed, but his journey through the venue’s 5,000 square foot haunted house left him quivering with fear.
“The saw — I thought it wasn’t going to move but it scared me so much,” he said. Saldaña, a student at First Baptist Elementary, was one of the estimated 6,000 guests at the 18th annual Boo at the Zoo celebration.
“It’s big, dark and scary,” added his friend, Jesse Wilson. “The saw, the wolf, that doctor that was fixing the wolf…”
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/_81678___article.html/_.html
PETA calls for U.S. probe into hippo's death at zoo
DAWN WALTON
October 31, 2007
Calgary -- An animal-rights group asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture yesterday to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of a hippopotamus that was shipped last week to the Calgary Zoo from the Denver Zoo.
Hazina, a six-year-old female hippo, arrived in Calgary on Friday unable to stand after a 30-hour trip from Colorado and died the next day of circulatory complications.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals urged the government to probe whether the Denver Zoo used an appropriately sized crate and why officials opted to send her on the long drive rather than move her by air.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071031.NATS31-1/TPStory/National
Jennifer Garner and Violet Anne at the Bronx Zoo on Monday
By Shannon CBB Senior Contributor
Actress Jennifer Garner, 35, takes daughter, Violet Anne, 23 months tomorrow, to the Bronx Zoo on Monday. The pair enjoyed a private tour -- checking out the monkeys and horses. Upon leaving they hopped in a limo and headed back to their NY apartment.
http://www.celebrity-babies.com/2007/10/jennifer-garn-5.html
Sticking his neck out for his favorite team
By Michael Givens
Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - Updated 2d 20h ago
A baby Masai giraffe has been named “Sox” by the Franklin Park Zoo to commemorate Boston’s World Series win.
When he was born Thursday, Sox weighed 154 pounds and stood 6 feet 2 inches tall. He tried on several names including, “Red,” “Fenway,” “Champion,” and “Boston.” But after Sunday’s win, zoo staff members decided on “Sox.”
The Masai or Kilimanjaro giraffe is one of the most rare species of giraffes in North America. When grown, Sox will have jagged spots and a tassel on the tip of his tail.
“Our beloved New England institutions - Franklin Park Zoo and the Red Sox [team stats] - both have a reason to celebrate,” said John Linehan, president and CEO of the Franklin Park Zoo.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1041331
Pygmies and pumpkins at ZSL London Zoo
Tuesday 30 October 2007
The rainforest is an eerie place at the best of times, but at ZSL London Zoo this Halloween, our own rainforest animals were given an extra spooky treat.
Carved pumpkins full of tasty morsels were placed around the biome in our hot and humid Clore Rainforest Lookout exhibit for the animals to investigate.
Pygmy marmosets, titi monkeys, silvery marmosets, sloths and golden headed lion tamarins were all be able to make the most of their natural curiosity finding out what’s inside them.
Having to work to find food forms part of their regular enrichment activities, stimulating their natural behaviours and making them work for their grub.
Looks like the scary pumpkin faces did not frighten away an animal appetite!
http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/news/pygmies-and-pumpkins-at-zsl-london-zoo,406,NS.html
Cape May County Zoo - New Alpacas (Video)
http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1278017080
Cameron Park Zoo in Waco gets some new members
2007-10-29 - Waco, United States
The Cameron Park Zoo in Waco has some new residents. The zoo has three new animals, including a brand new baby jaguar. The female cub was recently born at the zoo, and made her first public appearance Monday. Theres also a new elephant, Tanya on-loan from the Abilene Zoo. And zoo keepers are also caring for a 2-month-old East African Kori Bustard, hatched in Waco from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. The zoo says new animals are always good for business.
http://www.elephant-news.com/index.php?id=2888
Audubon Zoo: A look at Asia's endangered species
by Chester Moore (Editor)
Posted October 30, 2007
New Orleans---The piercing yellow eyes of an Amur leopard caught the fleeting rays of early morning light. Though obscured by shadows they turned the gaze of the beautiful cat from engaging to downright mesmerizing. For a moment it seemed as I were in the wild, locking eyes with this magnificent animal but in reality it occurred in the Asian domain of the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans.
Housing a vast collection of animals ranging from African plains game to denizens of southern U.S. Swamps the Audubon Zoo gives visitors a chance at viewing some of the world’s most unique and endangered animals.
http://www.thesop.org/article.php?id=8068
Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 10:20 AM EDT
Zoo gets three more elephants
The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area
The North Carolina Zoo has received three more African elephants, bringing its total to seven.
The three elephants -- Artie, Tonga and Batir -- traveled to Asheboro via truck from Riddle's Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary, an elephant facility near Greenbrier, Ark.
The move was part of the zoo's goal to promote long-term preservation of elephants and its elephant breeding program. The three new arrivals are now in a $2.5 million, 12,000-square-foot elephant holding barn within the "Watani Grasslands Reserve." The zoo also expanded its outdoor elephant enclosure to seven acres for the new animals.
The upgrades are part of an $8.5 million renovation and expansion of the zoo's elephant and rhinoceros facilities. Since November 2006, the Watani Grasslands Reserve project has raised $7.5 million in private contributions through the N.C. Zoological Society. The reserve's grand opening is scheduled for April.
http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2007/10/29/daily10.html
Culp Fights Elephant Plans at LA Zoo
2 days ago
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has ruled that Robert Culp's lawsuit alleging that the Los Angeles Zoo mistreats elephants can go forward.
Judge Reginald A. Dunn rejected arguments by the city that the complaint filed by the 77-year-old actor and real estate agent Aaron Leider lacks a legal basis.
Culp and Leider accuse zoo authorities of withholding medical care from elephants and keeping the animals cramped in small places.
Their lawsuit seeks to stop the zoo from building a $40 million elephant exhibit, and also says the zoo shouldn't keep any elephants.
Deputy City Attorney John A. Carvalho argued Monday that the pair's complaint was political, not legal, and said the zoo is in compliance with federal and state statutes.
"There is no standard by which you can look to once this case proceeds," Carvalho argued. But Dunn rejected the argument and refused to dismiss the lawsuit.
David Casselman, a lawyer for Leider and Culp, who starred in the "I Spy" TV series, said the ruling makes it "a great day for elephants."
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g8PuVhiSbWxmJynF5LX6tf4pwrfQD8SJITJ00
Californian fires scorch zoo's edge
Researchers deal with burned habitats and landscapes.
San Diego Zoo's curator of birds sifts through what is left of one of the two condor breeding facilities.Ken Bohn, Zoolog. Soc. San Diego
Most of the wildfires in southern California have now been contained and the weather has turned damp, leaving fire fighters optimistic and turning residents' thoughts to the clean-up operation.
But the blaze has left its mark on the local ecology and some research facilities.
San Diego Zoo’s Conservation and Research for Endangered Species programme, for example, suffered some losses, including damage to a California condor breeding facility (the birds themselves were safe, having been evacuated), and the destruction of a planned habitat for endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs. Ironically, this habitat had been designated after the frogs’ original home was burned in similar Californian wildfires in 2003. The amphibians may now have to be moved to yet another zoo, says spokesperson Yadira Galindo.
One of only two known habitats of the endangered Pacific pocket mouse was also burned by the fire, at Camp Pendleton. It is as yet unknown how these mice fared, Galindo adds.
Researchers with the zoo are now planning to study the effect of the fires on plants, amphibians, reptiles and small mammals in the surrounding park area, where such animals have been monitored for the past decade. Some instrumentation in this area — such as temperature sensors within rattlesnake dens — is also expected to provide insights into fire ecology.
Since 21 October, the fires have caused the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed some 2,000 homes. Similarly devastating fires hit California in 2003 and 1991, with each incident taking more than 3,000 homes.
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071029/full/news.2007.200.html
New policy bans smoking on zoo grounds
Woodland Park Zoo is going smoke-free.
The new policy, which goes into effect Thursday, bans smoking on the Seattle zoo’s grounds. Smoking already was prohibited in zoo buildings and near animal exhibits.
“Providing a quality experience for our visitors is a priority for the zoo, and smoking on grounds has recently been the No. 1 complaint,” said zoo President and CEO Deborah Jensen.
The zoo is open every day except Dec. 25.
http://www.mughaleazam.com/2007/10/30/new-policy-bans-smoking-on-zoo-grounds/
Bearcat well after Melbourne Zoo escape
October 30, 2007 - 7:14AM
Advertisement
Police thought it was a panther, but it was just a naughty bearcat lucky to be alive after his early morning escape from Melbourne Zoo.
The male binturong, also known as a bearcat, was seen scampering across the road by a motorist about 1.45am (AEDT) on Tuesday before taking refuge up a tree on the corner of The Avenue and Walker Street at Parkville, in Melbourne's inner-north, Victoria Police said.
Senior Constable Jenny McDonald from Carlton police station said she and her partner, who were called to investigate the sighting, initially thought they were dealing with a panther.
"They (the motorist) actually rang triple-0 and said something three times bigger than a cat had run across the road in front of them and climbed up a tree," Snr Const McDonald told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Bearcat-well-after-Melbourne-Zoo-escape/2007/10/30/1193618829380.html
Gingrich, ex-Zoo Atlanta CEO write 'green' treatise
Book calls for entrepreneurial solutions to environmental woes
By BO EMERSON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/30/07
One problem with the green movement is the lack of green.
Solutions to environmental problems take money. But they can also make money.
Such is a tenet of "A Contract With the Earth" (Johns Hopkins Press, $20), a call for a new environmental movement co-authored by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former CEO of Zoo Atlanta Terry Maple.
The bottom line of the new treatise is that entrepreneurial forces must be engaged if a global crisis is to be averted.
"You have to bring people to the table that have resources, not just good intentions," said Maple during a recent telephone interview from his new post at the Palm Beach Zoo, where he is CEO.
Atlantic Station is a stellar example of environmentalists and businessmen working together, Maple said. The Midtown development, formerly a polluted industrial site, is now a booming live-work community.
Today Atlantic Station will serve as the backdrop for a book signing and panel discussion by Gingrich, Maple and others titled "A Forum on the Environment: Restoring Planetary Balance." It will take place from 2-4 p.m., between East District and West District avenues.
The forum is co-sponsored by the Trust for Public Land and the Nature Conservancy. (For information: www.mogulpr.com/earth.html.)
Maple spoke to the AJC on a variety of topics, including public/private cooperation, working with a co-author better known as a firebrand than a consensus-builder, and baby pandas.
• On the difficulty of building a bipartisan movement (given Gingrich's take-no-prisoners political style):
"He has ruffled a lot of feathers. ... It will be a hard sell to a lot of people who were polarized. When I first talked to him about writing this book, I said, this has to be absolutely nonpartisan. ... In his political life he's had to throw stones at the ruling party. Newt is a tough politician, he goes after things that have to be attacked. Our book is outside the realm of that."
• On their working methods:
"Maybe it's fair to say I drew out of him what was in him, but [that] he hadn't expressed in public. ... He was a strong reader and correcter. ... We continued to exchange chapters. ... Everything is based on conversations we had. I tell people when they ask me: I literally mind-melded with him. I read everything he had written that was around these issues, so I could understand better his principles."
• On who did most of the writing:
"I did a lot of the heavy lifting."
• On entrepreneurial solutions to water shortages:
"Countries all around the world are using desalinization. We should be working on that in the state of Georgia. That's one of the ways to supplement or augment water scarcity in time of drought."
• On drawing conservatives into the environmental movement:
"He knows the Republican Party has a lot of work to do in terms of the environment."
• On reducing greenhouse gases (considering that Congress has failed to pass requirements for better automobile fuel efficiency):
"Newt's point of view is, you can say, 'If you don't get up to 30 mpg in so many years, then you can suffer the consequences.' Or you can say 'Here's a tax break if you get up to 50 mpg.' He's in favor of big incentives. He's been saying this for some time. We need prizes."
• On baby pandas (specifically, whether they have one at the Palm Beach Zoo):
"Don't start with me ..."
More on ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/living/stories/2007/10/29/contract_1030.html
Zoo welcomes new rhino; hopes to make a love match
By BRENDAN O’BRIEN
Journal Times
Monday, October 29, 2007 9:44 PM CDT
RACINE — Racine Zoo officials are hoping that Timu digs playful, easygoing, curious and friendly males. That’s exactly how Kianga, who is coming for a long and extended stay, is described.
Kianga, a 3-year-old black eastern rhinoceros, arrived Monday from Brookfield Zoo in suburban Chicago with the sole purpose of mating with Timu, his female eastern black rhino counterpart.
For the next several years, the romantic interludes between Kianga and Timu will be watched with great anticipation.
“It could be easily five years, because he is just a little fellow and the males don’t sexually mature in the wild until about 7 years old,” Jay Christie, president and chief executive officer of the Racine Zoo said of the 2,200-pound rhino that stands 5 feet tall and is 9 feet long. “In captivity, it could be as early as 5 years and that’s because they don’t have the competition of other adult rhinos and the other stresses of the wild.”
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2007/10/29/local_news/doc47269944f13b1321688816.txt
Kiddie critters run a-mock at zoo
BY ELIZABETH AHLIN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
The Henry Doorly Zoo is no stranger to curious creatures, but the zoo got curiouser and curiouser Sunday as superheroes, skeletons and vampires overran the grounds.
With big bug eyes on his Spider-Man mask, Josh Rule, 3, took his best shot at looking menacing as he peered through the glass of a tank at a green sea turtle.
Josh was there to celebrate Halloween at the zoo's annual Spooktacular, where costumed children wandered the grounds trick-or-treating for candy, doing craft projects and marveling at the animals.
The green sea turtle barely registered Josh's gaze as it lazily flipped a foot and swished its head through the water. Josh's sister Gabrielle Rule, 6, tried to do a little better by staring down the sharks that swam around in the tank.
Dressed in a dark, velvety-looking vampire costume, Gabrielle thought she had a good shot. While she wouldn't take any chances by swimming in a shark tank, she said, vampires are pretty scary.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2620&u_sid=10170654&u_rss=1&
El Paso Zoo Hosts Menagerie of Costumes
Posted by Armando Saldivar, KDBC 4 News
The El Paso zoo was filled with more than just exotic creatures on Sunday. The "Boo at the Zoo" event featured a "zoo-rific kids costume contest" which made it a little difficult to tell the children from the animals.
Infants to 12 year olds donned their Halloween costume all in an effort to win top honors. Everyone was a winner at the treat stations where area vendors handed out free goodies during the two-day event.
"El Paso has just turned out for this. We had 2,400 people last year. Yesterday we had 2,300, so we are just seeing so many el pasoans come out. We're just doubling our numbers as people enjoy this great event." said Zoo Spokesperson, Liz Kern.
http://www.kdbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=7277771&nav=menu608_2
Lim orders free admission for children to Manila Zoo
By Tina Santos
Inquirer
Last updated 09:26pm (Mla time) 10/27/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- For five days until October 31, parents may bring their children to the Manila Zoo and Botanical Gardens free of charge.
Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim on Saturday ordered city parks and recreation bureau chief Deng Manimbo to grant free admission to children until October 31 as part of the activities lined up by the city government in observance of the Children's Month celebration or "Pista ng Batang Pilipino."
Lim added that the free admission would be extended even to children who are not residents of the city.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view_article.php?article_id=97159
continued...
