I was watching the story, but, only caught up with it this evening.
A bobcat (click here) that escaped from the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C., took a walk on the wild side and then returned is doing fine.
The zoo said in a statement that Ollie the bobcat had a full physical examination Thursday morning and it showed no major problems.
Veterinarians treated a cut on Ollie’s paw with dissolvable stitches. They also gave her some booster vaccines.
Ollie will stay in the hospital for a few days to be monitored for signs of respiratory illness. The 7-year-old female bobcat normally shares her space with two male bobcats.
Ollie was found to be missing on Monday morning. She was spotted Wednesday afternoon on zoo property and walked into a trap that zookeepers set up for her.
This good news is not shared by Virginia Zoo in Norfolk. They are still missing a Red Panda. Cooler weather also provides incentive to some animals to try some adventure.
February 6, 2017
Red pandas are the Houdinis of zoos. (click here) The raccoonlike creatures, who lounge on tree branches like stuffed animals made real, have escaped exhibits in the United Kingdom, California and Washington, D.C. They’re often retrieved in days, if not hours.
But at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, Sunny has been AWOL for more than a week. The 19-month-old broke out on a stormy night — likely after her lust-driven male companion, Thomas, began to pursue her.
Red pandas, which are native to China, are in their breeding season, the zoo said on its website. And the animals, with their white-trimmed faces and furry red tails, can become “agitated.”
Sunny has so far evaded infrared cameras, search dogs and drones, not to mention zoo staff and volunteers. “I’m sure someone took it,” Brianna Maison, 22, a college student in Norfolk, said last week at the zoo with her children.
Sunny may have slipped from a wet branch, which helped her escape, the zoo said. And the theory surprised no one who passed by the exhibit at lunchtime Wednesday.
Frequent visitors said large branches from a tree in the enclosure had sloped above a pedestrian walkway. “We used to wonder what kept them from getting out,” said Karen McSpadden, 32, of Virginia Beach. “I guess nothing was.”...
Red Pandas are susceptible to heat stress and like it cool.
This good news is not shared by Virginia Zoo in Norfolk. They are still missing a Red Panda. Cooler weather also provides incentive to some animals to try some adventure.
Red pandas are the Houdinis of zoos. (click here) The raccoonlike creatures, who lounge on tree branches like stuffed animals made real, have escaped exhibits in the United Kingdom, California and Washington, D.C. They’re often retrieved in days, if not hours.
But at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, Sunny has been AWOL for more than a week. The 19-month-old broke out on a stormy night — likely after her lust-driven male companion, Thomas, began to pursue her.
Red pandas, which are native to China, are in their breeding season, the zoo said on its website. And the animals, with their white-trimmed faces and furry red tails, can become “agitated.”
Sunny has so far evaded infrared cameras, search dogs and drones, not to mention zoo staff and volunteers. “I’m sure someone took it,” Brianna Maison, 22, a college student in Norfolk, said last week at the zoo with her children.
Sunny may have slipped from a wet branch, which helped her escape, the zoo said. And the theory surprised no one who passed by the exhibit at lunchtime Wednesday.
Frequent visitors said large branches from a tree in the enclosure had sloped above a pedestrian walkway. “We used to wonder what kept them from getting out,” said Karen McSpadden, 32, of Virginia Beach. “I guess nothing was.”...
Red Pandas are susceptible to heat stress and like it cool.
Red pandas (click here) usually live in the temperate forests of the Himalayan foothills and other Asian mountains, where climates remain consistently cool and rainy throughout the year. They forage for bamboo at night and curl up in trees to sleep during the daylight hours. Unfortunately, these adorable animals are endangered in the wild, and they're often illegal as pets. You can observe and appreciate them at many U.S. zoos....
Oddly, the USDA doesn't seem to want Americans to know about cruelty to animals. I guess the animal folks will have to up their game and hire their own inspectors.
Strange, I didn't know privacy of animals was a constitutional right. Now, I know plants are not insured privacy at all.
Citing privacy concerns, (click here) the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has removed public access to tens of thousands of inspection reports from its website.
The reports catalogue the number of animals kept and how they are treated by research labs, zoos, companies, circuses and animal transporters....
Lawsuit!
