Abilene Zoo's Baby Ocelot Cubs (click title to entry - thank you)
Reporter-News Staff Report
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The Abilene Zoo announced Wednesday the birth of two ocelot kittens, one male and one female.
"Clutch," the male kitten, weighs 2 pounds 1.79 ounces, according to a news release from the zoo. "Jade," the female kitten, weighs 1 pound 15.11 ounces.
The two were born Feb. 25.
Also known as a painted leopard, an ocelot is a wildcat with an appearance similar to a domestic cat and fur resembling a clouded leopard or jaguar.
It can be found in South and Central America and Mexico and has been seen as far north as Texas and in the Caribbean.
While the ocelot has sometimes been killed for its fur, it was classified as vulnerable from the 1980s until 1996.
Now it is listed endangered in Arizona and Texas, as well as in Central and South America....
Rescued penguins return home (click here)
Associated Press - Friday, March 20, 2009 at 1:13 EDT
Two rescued penguins being cared for by a Sydney zoo in Australia were released back into the ocean on Friday, but one was a little reluctant to leave his human companions behind
Deadly spider surprise (click here)
Associated Press - Friday, March 20, 2009 at 6:42 EDT
Employees at an Oklahoma grocery store find a dangerous spider in a shipment of bananas...
2 condors born at San Diego's Wild Animal Park
The Associated Press
Posted: 04/01/2009 10:11:27 PM PDT
SAN DIEGO—Two endangered California condors have been born at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park over the past several days.
The zoo said Wednesday that seven more are expected to hatch in the next few months.
Zoo officials say two California condor chicks have hatched since Friday and a third was beginning to emerge Wednesday.
Officials say the Wild Animal Park has hatched 150 California condors since breeding of the critically endangered species began 27 years ago.
The California condor was near extinction in the 1980s, when the world population of the species hit a low of 22. There are now more than 300 of the giant vultures, more than half of which have been released into the wild.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12051809?nclick_check=1
New chimp born at Colchester Zoo
Last updated: 4/1/2009 5:28:00 PM
A NEW baby chimp has been born at Colchester Zoo.The two-week-old is the main attraction now at Chimp World at the Maldon Road zoo and has been venturing outside with its mother Tekita.Other Easter attractions at the zoo, between April 4 to 19, include a spot the egg trail, a visit from the Easter bunny and the Wild About Animals theatre....
http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveningstar/news/story.aspx?brand=ESTOnline&category=News&tBrand=ESTOnline&tCategory=xDefault&itemid=IPED01%20Apr%202009%2017%3A28%3A15%3A840
Posted on Thu, Apr. 2, 2009
Another side of the story at the Philadelphia Zoo
Animals are kept in cramped, outdated spaces.
Marianne Bessey
heads the Philadelphia chapter
of the League of Humane Voters
As the Philadelphia Zoo celebrated its 150-year anniversary recently, dozens of local citizens gathered outside to call attention to long-standing animal-welfare problems and wasteful spending at the zoo. For the most part, the media provided only partial coverage of the day's events, ignoring the other side of the zoo story.
Criticizing a childhood tradition such as the zoo is about as popular as a root canal, but it's just as necessary. Questions and calls for change are the only way we move forward.
Just a few months ago, the zoo spent $800,000 to import a spanking-new "Rainforest" carousel from the Netherlands, an executive told Fairmount Park commissioners. At the same time, many of the zoo's animal inhabitants remain confined to crumbling, Depression-era enclosures.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20090402_Another_side_of_the_story_at_the_Philadelphia_Zoo.html
Joburg zoo strike illegal
Gill Gifford April 02 2009 at 10:36AM
The Joburg Zoo shut its gates for the day on Wednesday and visitors were turned away with the explanation that there were some internal problems.The closure, it turned out, had not been caused by an escaped lion or some other animal emergency, but by staff embarking on an unrecognised strike.The facility remained closed throughout the day as Joburg Zoo management met with the workers who handed over a memorandum of grievances.A meeting was arranged with union representatives from the Service Animal Monitoring Unit in the afternoon to resolve matters, but, because the strike action had not happened in accordance with procedures, it was declared illegal.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=594&art_id=vn20090402055815804C877882
Two-nosed rabbit found in Connecticut pet store
3:25 PM, April 1, 2009
Unsuspecting Milford, Conn., pet store employee Allison Noe made a strange discovery when receiving a delivery of 6-week-old dwarf rabbits
last week.
One of the rabbits had two noses.
The baby, according to Purr-Fect Pets store owner Tom Fomenko Sr., can eat, drink and hop about just the same as its littermates. "In my 25 years in the pet shop business, I've never had anything like this," Fomenko told the Connecticut Post.
Staff at Purr-Fect Pets are holding a naming contest for the rabbit (among the nominees are "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "Deuce"). But some employees say they've grown attached and hope he won't be sold.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2009/04/twonosed-rabbit-found-in-connecticut-pet-store.html
Lions to be welcomed with gift at Detroit Zoo
By Bill Laitner
Free Press staff writer
April 1, 2009
Three rescued lions are due to arrive at their new home at the Detroit Zoo late tonight or Thursday, and zoo spokeswoman Patricia Janeway said they’ll be greeted by a gift basket sent by the organization that alerted authorities in Kansas to their maltreatment there.
The gift basket includes “spices that lions really like,” Janeway said today.
Officials of PETA — the nonprofit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — assembled the gift basket of “very, very heavy rubber balls,” a package of spices that are especially prized by leonine palates, and a full pound of catnip, said PETA spokeswoman Lisa Wathne, the captive exotic animals specialist with the group’s Seattle office….
http://www.freep.com/article/20090401/NEWS03/90401158/1005/NEWS/Lions+to+be+welcomed+with+gift+at+Detroit+Zoo
The original Press Release
Every year, Zoos across the world, including Iowa’s Blank Park Zoo receive hundreds of April Fool’s Day prank phone calls from unsuspecting callers. These callers are given a message from a co-worker asking them to return a call to Mr. C. Lyon, Ms. Anna Conda, Mr. Albert Ross, Mr. Don Key and others at the Zoo’s phone number.
Blank Park Zoo's April Fools Prank Phone Call Line A Huge Success
By Ryan Bickel
Des Moines, IA - The Blank Park Zoo’s April Fools’ hotline proved to be popular after media outlets as far away as California, New York and even Canada reported the April Fools’ Day prank.
While the bulk of the calls were taken by the hotline numbers, many calls still came in the main zoo switchboard.
“It’s amazing how many people called to talk to Mr. C. Lyon didn’t want to believe it was all a joke, said Anna Hudson, a Development Coordinator at the Zoo.
The Zoo’s phone system provider, A+ Communications and Security, estimates that over 30,000 attempts have been made to call the numbers today. Despite all the phone call attempts, the phone system has kept up well, with the average wait time being about one minute.
The public is encouraged to listen to the phone messages at the Zoo’s website, www.blankparkzoo.com.
http://www.zandavisitor.com/newsarticle-1172-
Attorney cites retaliation in zoo firings
By Doug Myers (Contact)Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Two Abilene Zoo employees were wrongfully terminated after expressing concern about zoo operations to representatives of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, their lawyer said Wednesday.
Donald MacPhail, attorney for former zoo curator Diane Longenecker and former reptile aquatics supervisor Larry Lemon, said Zoo Director Bill Baker used "false pretenses" in dismissing the two.
However, City Manager Larry Gilley said no one has lost a job over the zoo's accreditation. The AZA tabled the zoo's accreditation for 12 months so that the zoo can fix problems cited by the AZA….
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/apr/01/attorney-cites-retaliation-in-zoo-firings/
I baited jaguar trap, research worker says (video)
Attorney general opens investigation into capture
Biologist denies telling worker to use scat to lure cat
State claimed Macho B's capture was inadvertent
By Tony Davis and Tim Steller
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 04.02.2009
A trap the state says inadvertently snared the last known wild jaguar in the United States actually was baited with female jaguar scat, a member of the Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project says.
Janay Brun told the Star that on Feb. 4 she put the scat at the site of the trap that two weeks later snared the male jaguar, known as Macho B. He was released but recaptured 12 days later, on March 2, because he showed signs of poor health. He was euthanized that afternoon….
… The borderlands jaguar project obtained female jaguar scat from the Phoenix Zoo in November and December of last year and from the Reid Park Zoo on Feb. 18 of this year, officials of both zoos told the Star this week. They said they understood the scat would be used to attract jaguars to cameras, not snares.
On Dec. 10 of last year, in an e-mail exchange forwarded by Brun, McCain sent her an e-mail saying he "just got a package of female … jag scat. Am thinking about placing it under a certain tree. You concur?"
"Si," Brun replied in an e-mail nearly an hour later.
Brun, of Arivaca, is out of state taking care of a family matter. But she said by phone and e-mail that she is speaking up because of the guilt she feels over the death of Macho B, whom she had been studying since she accidentally saw him in 1999.
"I felt guilty as all hell that I never questioned Emil enough, that I didn't go back and set the snares off or do something to get them out of there," said Brun, who has been a paid, part-time field technician for the jaguar detection project….
http://www.azstarnet.com/news/287095
Crew keeps close eye on newest member of zoo family
An Asian elephant was born last week -- only the ninth such pachyderm born in a North American zoo in the last five years.
By GARTH BISHOP
Published: Thursday, April 2, 2009 9:46 AM EDT
It's a healthy, 300-plus-pound baby boy.The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium welcomed the newest member of its family -- a newborn Asian elephant -- at 2:35 p.m. Friday, March 27.The elephant, which has yet to be named, is the son of 21-year-old Phoebe and 38-year-old Coco.The mother had been under close watch for several weeks. The average gestation period for an Asian elephant is 659 days, and the new calf was born after 655.
http://www.snponline.com/articles/2009/04/02/multiple_papers/news/allnewelep_20090401_0105pm_1.txt
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