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Spain sees first Baluga born in European zoo
November 04 2006 at 03:47PM
Masdrid - Yulka, a whale in a Spanish zoo, has given birth to the first Beluga born in captivity in Europe.
After a six-month pregnancy and an eight-hour labour, Yulka gave birth to the grey blue baby of undisclosed sex on Thursday, the Valencia Zoo in eastern Spain said in a statement.
The baby whale weighed 90kg and measured 1.20m.
A team of experts will attend to the young mammal to give it the best chance of survival. The zoo noted the mortality rate for newborn Belugas was high.
It will be at least a month before the public is allowed to see the zoo's new arrival.
Belugas are a creamy white as adults but dark blue or grey at birth, and have a rounded, cuddlesome appearance and a short snout. They can live for up to 30 years.
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=qw116262774376B215
Meet the swan who’s crazy in love with a plastic boat!
Posted on Sunday, November 05, 2006 (EST)
Meet world’s oddest couple - a black swan named Schwarzer Peter and a bird-shaped pedal-boat that has won his undying love.
London, Nov 5 (ANI): Meet world’s oddest couple - a black swan named Schwarzer Peter and a bird-shaped pedal-boat that has won his undying love.
The swan has recently been moved to a zoo with his plastic lover.
Biologists in Muenster, north-western Germany, said that the rare Black Australian Swan has been showing all the typical signs of love, which includes circling around its plastic lover, staring endlessly at it and making crooning noises.
The swan now refuses to fly south for winter without his mate. Park keepers say that the lovesick swan refused to leave the boat on the Aasee Lake, which also should be taken off during the cold weather.
http://news.sawf.org/Lifestyle/26158.aspx
Veterinary Hospital Opens at Sacramento Zoo
Special to SacUnion.com
Published: November 3, 2006
SACRAMENTO—On Nov. 9, the Sacramento Zoo hosted the long-awaited Grand Opening of the Dr. Murray E. Fowler Veterinary Hospital. Mary Healy, Sacramento Zoo’s Director and CEO turned the first shovel of dirt almost a year ago at the groundbreaking on December 1, 2005. This November she will be joined by Heather Fargo, Mayor of Sacramento and Councilman, Rob Fong. Also present will be Board President, Steve Brand and Dr. Murray E. Fowler, Director Emeritus, whom the hospital is named after.
http://www.sacunion.com/pages/sacramento/articles/8642/
Reported by Allison Martin
Memphis Zoo expanding space for elephants
Updated: Nov 13, 2006 07:19 AM EST
Elephants are some of the most beloved animals at the zoo, but some worry the massive animals don't have enough room to roam. The Memphis Zoo is one of at least 40 zoos across the country expanding the space it gives its elephants.
It's part of a national trend toward elephant conservation, amidst some concerns the animals may be better served roaming free.
http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=5632522
Whooping cranes move to Jacksonville Zoo
The 4-month-old chicks won't be on display for four to six weeks.
The Times-Union
Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is now home to two young whooping cranes.
It's the first time the zoo has ever had any of the birds, whose worldwide population is about 500.
The two 4-month-old chicks are in quarantine and will not be on display for four to six weeks, depending on how they grow and adapt. Then they'll go on display in the zoo's Wild Florida exhibit.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/110406/met_6000966.shtml
Miami zoo hosts poop exhibit
News Type: Event — Seeded on Fri Nov 3, 2006 3:34 PM EST
MIAMI - Meadow muffins. Guano. Feces. Solid waste. Caca. The words for poop are endless, but the Miami Metrozoo has another term to add to the list: educational.
Now on display is a 5,000-square-foot exhibit on excrement titled "The Scoop on Poop," which invites visitors to explore the science of scat. The exhibit is filled with photos of animals in some of their most indelicate moments. Stool sample models abound: haylike football-sized balls (elephant), kidney-bean-looking pellets (porcupine) and coallike lumps coated with fur (black bear).
Beyond the "ick" factor, however, zoo officials and the exhibit's creators say there is a lot of information being imparted. Visitors can smell the stench of flowers that mimic dung to attract flies for pollination. Videos include one of a hippo spreading its droppings around to mark its territory. Simple games include "Who Dung It?"
http://thehardmiddle.newsvine.com/_news/2006/11/03/426372-miami-zoo-hosts-poop-exhibit-
Fundraiser at Niabi Zoo to help teacher’s girls
Nick Loomis/QUAD-CITY TIMES A photograph of Niccole Thode holding her sister, Marissa Kunzman, hangs near the carousel at Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley, Ill., during a benefit held for the girls Friday. Their mother, Karla Kunzman, a teacher at Grant Wood Elementary School in Bettendorf, died July 2 from congenital heart failure at the age of 29. The benefit was held at Niabi because Kunzman loved the zoo and often brought her students there for field trips. Niccole lives with her father and stepmother, Jayson and Julie Sage of Davenport. Marissa lives with her father and Karla’s widowed husband, Mitch Kunzman of Sherrard, Ill.
COAL VALLEY, Ill. — Photographs of Karla Kunzman show her smiling as she poses with family members in her journey from small girl to marriage and mother of two young daughters.
Family, friends and supporters from Grant Wood Elementary School in Bettendorf celebrated her life with smiles and a few tears Friday during the Nighttime at Niabi fundraiser at Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley. The first-grade teacher at Grant Wood from Sherrard, Ill., died unexpectedly July 2 of a congenital heart defect.
http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2006/11/04/news/local/doc454c27292549a179269931.txt
NO to All Amendments and YES to the Metro Zoo Proposal
The six amendments that appear on the ballot (numbers are not consecutive since two were taken out) do not belong in the state Constitution. They should not be approved this Tuesday, November 7th. The Metro Zoo proposal should be approved.
Constitutional Amendment No. 1 which deals with the state’s planning and budget process sounds good in principle. It looks like it would promote fiscal discipline in the legislative budget by having fixed spending limits, but this is dangerous in an economic downturn. It is preferable that the entire Legislature votes and makes spending decisions year after year. Vote NO.
Constitutional Amendment No. 3 requires a 60% majority for approval by voters to change the state Constitution as opposed to the current simple majority, 50% plus one. Raising the percentage protects the Constitution from frivolous amendments, but impeding the voting public’s simple majority is wrong. Vote NO.
http://www.diariolasamericas.com/news.php?nid=16275
Estates leave Columbus Zoo $4.2 million
Published: Nov. 4, 2006 at 5:32 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's endowment fund boosted its bottom line by more than $4 million thanks to two bequests.
Zoo officials said they waited to announce the gifts, made in 2003 and 2004, until all legal details of the estates were settled, the Columbus Dispatch said.
Officials said the donations -- $2 million and $2.2 million -- are two of the largest bequests in the zoo's history and came as a surprise, the Dispatch said. The zoo's development department had not worked with the estates, learning of the gifts through letters from the estates' attorneys.
Officials said the gifts will go into an endowment used to fund special education and conservation projects, and to buy animals, the Dispatch said.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/2006/11/04/estates_leave_columbus_zoo_42_million/6093/
Zoo Receiving Donation for Tiger Exhibit
Posted: 7:41 PM Nov 1, 2006
Last Updated: 10:23 PM Nov 1, 2006
November 1 - A donor is giving the Sedgwick County Zoo money for an Asian tiger exhibit, but there's a catch. The community must come up with part of the cash.
The piece of land between the Downing Gorilla Forest and the Asian forest could soon become an Asian tiger exhibit. An anonymous donor is giving the zoo $1 million dollars to build the exhibit.
The zoo must match the million with other contributions. If that happens, then the donor will kick in another million to complete the total $3 million cost of the exhibit.
Visitors at the zoo say they'll be excited to see the new exhibit. If the zoo meets its fundraising goals, the exhibit could be open by late 2008 to early 2009.
http://www.kake.com/news/headlines/4545701.html
Thai elephants arrive at Taronga Zoo
PM - Thursday, 2 November , 2006 18:42:00
Reporter: Kathryn Roberts
MARK COLVIN: Four of the eight Asian elephants at the centre of an animal welfare row have arrived in Sydney.
There have been two years of legal argument and protests in Australia and Thailand about their move.
The group arrived in a huge Russian plane this morning from Cocos Island where they'd spent 90 days in quarantine.
They were taken to Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo under police watch. The hope is that they'll be able to breed there.
Animal activists have been fighting the move, but now that the elephants are here they say they'll keep watch to ensure they are healthy and happy.
Kathryn Roberts reports.
KATHRYN ROBERTS: In June, animal rights protesters in Thailand temporarily stopped the transfer of the eight elephants from the Thai countryside to Bangkok airport.
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1780058.htm
Puma Dies At Lincoln Park Zoo
CHICAGO (STNG) ― Lincoln Park Zoo veterinarians euthanized a 19-year-old female puma on Wednesday, saying the cat had been steadily declining due to conditions related to old age.
Though a full necropsy report will not be completed for about a week, the puma had been undergoing treatment for severe arthritis in her spine and was known to have progressive renal (kidney) failure, according to a release from the zoo.
Over the past few weeks, staff noticed mild changes in the puma's behavior, including a decrease in activity, and continued a close watch, the release said. During the past week, the puma lost her appetite and began vomiting and losing weight at an alarming rate.
Pumas, also known as mountain lions and/or cougars, are powerful predators native to the Americas. Once found throughout the United States, they were hunted for sport and killed by farmers and ranchers who feared for their livestock. By the 20th century, pumas had been eliminated from the Midwest and East and are now classified as threatened.
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/lincoln.park.zoo.2.333260.html
I do for zoo! Couple adopt animals as wedding gifts
By Staff reporter
THERE were no toasters or dinner plates waiting for newlyweds Damon and Joannah Barnard.
Instead their wedding list was made up of bats, elephants, tapirs and sealions.
Because the Burtonwood couple decided that instead of traditional presents, they wanted zoo adoptions as gifts from Chester Zoo.
http://www.thisischeshire.co.uk/display.var.999126.0.i_do_for_zoo_couple_adopt_animals_as_wedding_gifts.php
Thai elephants on display in Taronga Zoo
Four thai elephants that have arrived in Sydney after being in quarantine on the Cocos Islands will be on display to the public from today.
The elephants are part of a group of eight, with the rest to arrive in the next few days.
Their arrival has been delayed by about 18 months after animal welfare groups took legal action to try to stop it.
Taronga Zoo spokesman Guy Cooper says they will be housed in a new enclosure and used in a breeding program.
"Elephants are undoubtedly a big long-term investment and if you're going to go into it you need the best facilities you can develop," he said.
Five of the eight elephants will be kept in Sydney and the other three will go to Melbourne.
Animal welfare groups say they will monitor the elephants for signs of distress.
Zoo officials say the animals are in good health.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1780190.htm
Taronga Zoo's elephants take the stage
November 3, 2006 - 2:18PM
Taronga Zoo's new Asian elephants have taken to the stage like pros in their first public appearance.
A few excited children and a large media throng gathered at the pachyderms' new enclosure, where the four female elephants celebrated their long-awaited arrival with a roll in the dirt.
The animals are among eight elephants that began a controversial journey from Thailand in June and have been held in quarantine on the Cocos Islands, 2,750km north-west of Perth in the Indian Ocean.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Taronga-Zoos-elephants-take-the-stage/2006/11/03/1162340034822.html
Zebra dies at Virginia Zoo in freak accident
07:01 PM EST on Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Associated Press
CNORFOLK (AP) -- A young zebra at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk has died in a freak accident following a rabies shot.
Zoo spokeswoman Alison Swank says zookeepers administered the shot with a blow dart gun, but the zebra bolted, struck a fence and fell backward.
Swank says the zebra was having trouble breathing and died within minutes Friday from a broken neck.
The City of Norfolk wanted to keep the death under wraps to avoid news coverage of the animal's death. Zoo administrators say they were following new rules from the mayor's office.
http://www.wvec.com/news/topstories/stories/wvec_top_110106_zebra.8d70eb6.html
Press Release: Microsoft Makes a Splash at the Georgia Aquarium With National Essay Contest
Published by ImagingInsider.com November 1st, 2006 in NewsStream
Nov. 1, 2006 — Microsoft® Game Studios is teaming up with the Georgia Aquarium to introduce an educational initiative that will help excite and inform students about the complexity of and caring for marine life. Microsoft Corp., the Georgia Aquarium and AirTran Airways today announced a national essay contest on marine conservation and the importance of preserving aquatic life.
http://www.imaginginsider.com/?p=13612
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