Zoo News Digest March-April 2007

30Apr2007

Scottish beavers headed for zoo
A pair of beavers who built a home on a Perthshire loch are believed
to be the first members of their species to live in the wild in
Scotland in 250 years.
But one animal has already been trapped, and the other faces a
future in captivity. They are believed to have been released
illegally.
Edwin Blake, a head keeper at the Edinburgh Zoo, who is leading the
hunt for the toothsome pair, told The Scotsman he would like to see
wild beavers re-established in Scotland. But he does not like
animals being released at random.
"Frankly, that was just stupidity as well as being illegal," he
said. "If
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/57098.html

Disease, cruelty killing zoo animals
Last week, a puma, a large slender cat kept in the Karachi
Zoological Garden, suddenly died in the cage. Though nobody at the
zoo is willing to talk about the cause of the death, sources say
that the puma had stopped eating two days before she died, probably
from lungs failure.
This is the second death among the six big cats in recent months at
the zoo. One and a half months ago, a black male leopard had also
died. However, his wasn't a sudden death. Sources said the cause of
the leopard's death was TB. He had contracted the disease from his
mate, who had died some two years back.
Recalling a visit to the zoo some five months back, Ahmer, a college
student, said that when he asked a zoo keeper about the condition of
the limping leopard which
http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/28/local11.htm

Last gorilla transferred from Memphis Zoo
Koga, the lone silverback gorilla left at the Memphis Zoo, was
transferred to a New York zoo to be with four female gorillas.
With the 425-pound, 19-year-old silverback gone, it's the first time
the zoo has been without a gorilla since 1994 when Koga and three
other silverbacks on loan from the Bronx Zoo moved to the Memphis
Zoo.
Koga was the only silverback left after Congo was transferred to
another zoo where he died of old age. Oliver landed
http://www.silive.com/newsflash/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-
25/1177615489181380.xml&storylist=simetro

Abu Dhabi to get unique desert islands destinations tdic creates
multi-experience tourism proposition
the largest of the seven emirates making up the United Arab Emirates
and home to the capital city – is to create a unique multi-
experience tourism destination, a culmination of the rich natural
heritage and eco-tourism vision of the UAE's late President His
Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
The Desert Islands destination – which lies off the emirate's
western coastline – will consist of eight islands and an onshore
gate – providing a multitude of experiences encompassing a nature
reserve, a cultural destination and a showcase for world-class
environmental, conservation and ecological tourism, including the
Arabian National Park.
"This project embodies Abu Dhabi's ambitions to develop its islands
and other natural resources in line ......sanctuary for endangered
species. He himself planted the first tree on the island, which now
has over 18,000 date palms and some 3.5 million trees and shrubs,
including sea-view olive groves reminiscent of the Mediterranean,"
explained Sheikh Sultan.
Dolphins and huge sea turtles inhabit the waters around Sir Bani
Yas, which is home to a profusion of wildlife raised in a free-range
environment and bred in safety. Herds include the Arabian Oryx,
antelope, black buck, wild sheep, the scampering Arabian sand
gazelle and a wild goat which was
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/UAE/212365

29 birds of different species released at Dulahazara Safari Park
Twenty-nine birds of different species were released at Dulahazara
Safari Park, the country's lone safari park, in Cox's Bazar on
Sunday.
Bangladesh Forest Department in cooperation with the Joint Forces
rescued the birds from a house at Sen Gupta Road in Chandpur
district on Friday.
The rescued birds include three large flamingos, one pelican, two
white-necked storks, two painted storks, two storks, 11 common fowl,
four emus and a lesser adjutant stork.
Of them, painted stork, pelican, lesser adjutant stork, white-necked
stork and common fowl are enlisted as rare and endangered species of
birds in Bangladesh, sources said.
Project Director of Dulahazara Safari Park
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/04/04/d704043502143.htm

3 African elephants move into Pittsburgh Zoo's Conservation Center
Three African elephants from the Philadelphia Zoo will be moving to
the Pittsburgh Zoo's 724-acre International Conservation Center in
Fairhope, Somerset County, officials from both zoos announced today.
The elephants -- Petal, 51; Kallie, 24; and Bette, 23 -- will be the
first animals to reside at the center. The relocation is expected to
be completed by this fall.
"This is a major development in elephant conservation and zoo
partnerships," says Vikram H. Dewan, president and CEO of the
Philadelphia Zoo, said in a statement. "We
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_504791.html

Rescuing The Baghdad Zoo
In The Aftermath Of Invasion, A Wildlife Conservationist Worked To
Save Animals Caught In War
On March 19, 2003, the United States begins its shock-and-awe
campaign, with missiles raining down on Baghdad as the opening salvo
of the Iraq war.
Four thousand miles away, at the idyllic Thula Thula Game Preserve
in South Africa, wildlife conservationist Lawrence Anthony was
following the war on TV.
"I was actually standing outside, looking at a herd of elephants,
and it was two o'clock in the morning, and my attention just kept
getting pulled back to the TV I'd been watching," Anthony told CBS
News correspondent Randall Pinkston. "And I thought, I've got to do
something
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/29/sunday/main2739181.shtml

Bilbo at the zoo
One of only 25 bamboo lemurs in captivity, rejected by his mother at
birth six weeks ago, has passed his first tricky stages of being
reared by humans in a Stockholm zoo, says an AFP report. Handlers
were not sure if Bilbo would accept the mixture of cat and baby milk
they offered him, but zoo manager Jonas Wahlstrom says he is doing
well. "The first days were very delicate, we didn't know if he would
accept the food. We had to see if it was enough for him," he
said. "Today, Bilbo is doing well," he said, adding: "He has a 99
per cent chance of survival." Bilbo is one of only three bamboo
lemurs in captivity in Sweden — the other two being his parents —
and only about 200 live in the wild in Madagascar, according
http://www.thehindu.com/yw/2007/04/27/stories/2007042700500300.htm

Big cats breeding well in Lahore zoo: Report
Wildlife Park zoo in Pakistan's second largest city Lahore have
announced that its tigress has given birth to four male tigers and a
lioness has given birth to a female cub.
This recent boom in population has brought the number of tigers and
lions to nine, the official sources said here yesterday.
Although the wildlife authorities were initially reluctant to reveal
the exact number of births, but it was announced later on that the
park population had risen by five. However, unfortunately,
authorities said, one of the tigers died few hours after the birth.
Sources said this was their first pregnancy. The colour of two tiger
cubs is white while one is brown. The head keeper said we were
anxiously looking forward to female cubs for continuity of the
generation.
A spokesman for the park said that
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?
section=World_News&subsection=Pakistan+%26+Sub%
2DContinent&month=April2007&file=World_News200704263416.xml

Accreditation for Adelaide Zoo
The Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks (ARAZP)
has awarded Adelaide Zoo for its efforts in animal welfare,
commitment to education, research and conservation.
ARAZP has given the zoo its full accreditation – a new initiative
aimed at assessing zoos and aquariums.
The ARAZPA accreditation programme offers a framework for assisting
zoos and aquariums to achieve established ARAZPA standards of zoo
and aquarium operation.
It also aims to provide the
http://www.health-club.co.uk/newsdetail.cfm?codeID=20803

Accra zoo animals in Kumasi
Animals from the Accra zoo, dislocated because of the construction
of a presidential palace, have finally been settled at the Kumasi
zoo. Friends of the zoo, animals and the earth complained about the
decision to shut down the Accra zoo to make way for the building,
but government insisted that the new structure needed more land
space.
An earlier suggestion to construct a new zoo in the Achimota forest
for the eventual relocation of the animals from Kumasi has been
rejected by the GaDangne Council, which annoyingly asked government
to look elsewhere.
But Minister for Lands & Forestry Professor Dominic Fobih speaking
at the re-launch of the Kumasi zoo, which had itself been neglected
for a long time said a new public zoo will be constructed
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?
ID=122909

'Rubbish roads mean zoo misses out'
MP raises concern over transport links to premier attraction
Whipsnade Zoo could be missing out on valuable tourism because of
poor transport links in the area, according to South West Beds MP
Andrew Selous.
At a late night debate in the House of Commons on Monday, he said
that tourism in the country could be hampered by gridlock on
Bedfordshire's roads.
Mr Selous stated: "The director of Whipsnade Zoo told me this
evening
http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/duns-news?articleid=2710839

CITY COUNCILORS CRITICIZE KAOHSIUNG ZOO FOR ¡§MALFUNCTIONS¡¨
Kaohsiung municipal Shou Shan Zoo was fiercely criticized by several
councilors during a city council question period Monday for what
they called poor management, a lack of professionalism and inhumane
treatment of animals.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilor Lien Li-jen
dressed himself like an orangutan to express concern for the mental
condition of zoo orangutan that always hides itself and appears to
be afraid of people.
Lien said many animals in the zoo display abnormal behavior, are
in poor health and appear solitary or aggressive. ¡§The zoo acts
against the global trend in promoting animal welfare, ¡¨Lien said,
suggesting that the zoo, which he describes as poorly-funded and
dysfunctional, be closed.
Hung Fu-feng, head of the city government's Economic Affairs
Bureau (EAB) , which oversees the zoo, said the bureau will draft a
plan to reform the zoo.
Earlier this month, a crocodile in the zoo bit off a
veterinarian's left forearm while the vet was attempting to remove
anesthetic needles from it. DPP councilor Lee Wen-liang demanded
that the EAB clarify responsibilities over the incident and take
disciplinary actions accordingly.
He also asked that bureau raise the amount of danger pay for zoo
staff.
The male crocodile that attacked the vet was, for 10 years,
regarded
http://www.cna.com.tw/eng/cepread.php?id=200704230034

Transfer of zoo saves city jobs
Continued subsidy would have added to Lansing deficit
The regionalization of Potter Park Zoo comes at an ideal time for
Lansing as the city faces a $6.6 million deficit, a top financial
official said.
Without turning the zoo over to Ingham County, the budget shortfall
would have forced city officials to make deeper cuts, likely
eliminating more jobs, said Jerry Ambrose, the city's finance
director.
The city already proposes eliminating
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20070423/NEWS01/704230346/1001/opinion

`Probe elephant behaviour'
The Elephant Lovers' Association on Saturday urged the Chief
Secretary to conduct an investigation into incidents of elephants
turning violent at the Thrissur Pooram.
In a memorandum, the association alleged that Thiruvambadi
Unnikrishnan, an elephant that ran amok, showed signs of musth.
"Officials did not verify fitness certificates of elephants paraded.
The association smelt a rat and contacted Forest Minister Benoy
Viswom at 1 p.m. over telephone. At his behest, the association
called up the Divisional Forest
http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/29/stories/2007042909970500.htm

Founder of primate sanctuary excluded from reorganization
A probate judge Friday agreed to return a primate sanctuary in Bexar
County to a restructured board of directors in a settlement that
permanently excludes Wally Swett Jr., the facility's troubled
founder, from the premises.
The ruling by Travis County Judge Guy Herman tentatively ends a
costly legal battle over control of the sprawling Primarily Primates
Inc. sanctuary, which the judge placed under court control last year
after the state attorney general charged that the facility's
managers had misspent thousands of dollars
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA042807.05B.primate
s.3573729.html

"Kingpin" in lion poaching racket arrested
In a major breakthrough in the lion poaching case in the Gir
sanctuary, the only abode of the Asiatic lions, the Criminal
Investigation Department (Crime) police of Gujarat have arrested
Sarkashlal, believed to be the kingpin in the poaching racket.
Sarkashlal, who was picked up from his home State of Madhya Pradesh,
was produced before the Una court on Friday and was given four-day
police remand for further investigation.
Police sources indicated that Sarkashlal may actually have been
picked up about a week ago but this was not disclosed by the police.
He had already been take
http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/29/stories/2007042910110400.htm

Saved from the jaws of death
A young Australian diplomat mauled by lions during a posting to
Zimbabwe is recovering after weeks of intensive treatment.
Gemma Huggins, 27, was saved by her boyfriend, who managed to scare
the animals away and drag her to safety.
South African surgeons treated Ms Huggins last month for severe
injuries to her head, neck, torso and legs. She is at home in
Canberra.
She was lucky to survive after a lion's teeth came within
millimetres of her jugular vein. A gouging claw narrowly missed her
eye.
She underwent skin grafts at Pretoria's
http://www.news.com.au/sundayheraldsun/story/0,21985,21638572-
661,00.html

Vets converge on city zoo to discuss bird flu
A TEAM of vets from zoos and wildlife attractions around the world
will be discussing how to deal with the threat of bird flu when they
meet at Edinburgh Zoo next month.
More than 300 vets are expected at the zoo for the 43rd Annual
Symposium on Diseases of Zoo and Wild
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=657712007

Settlement looming for Primarily Primates
The Texas Attorney General wants to settle litigation over San
Antonio's Primarily Primates sanctuary by returning the facility to
a reformed board of directors and permanently removing the man who
founded the refuge for abandoned and unwanted animals nearly three
decades ago.
The settlement would end complex litigation that began last October,
when a court took control of the sanctuary after the attorney
general charged that thousands of dollars in donations were being
misspent while animals lived in substandard conditions at the Leon
Springs sanctuary Wallace Swett founded 28 years ago.
Travis County Probate Court Judge Guy Herman has a hearing scheduled
for Friday on the settlement. If he accepts it, a court-appointed
receiver who has run the facility for the past six months will be
required to vacate the sanctuary by Friday afternoon. The proposal
drew sharp rebuke from Skip Trimble, a Dallas attorney representing
the receiver, Lee Theisen-Watt. He called the settlement "a total
and complete betrayal" of the animals and th
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA042607.03B.Primate
Sanctuary.3430c33.html

Taiwan zoo misidentified elephant's sex for 28 years
A Taiwan zoo has become the laughingstock for having mistaken a
female elephant for a male for 28 years, a newspaper said on Sunday.
The Shoushan Zoo in Kaohsiung, south Taiwan, received two baby
African elephants from a US zoo in 1979, believing they were a male
and a female, the Taipei Times reported.
Since then, the Shoushan Zoo raised the two elephants, Ali and
Annie, as a couple and even held a much-publicized wedding for them
in 2002. Annie died in 2003.
Although Annie never gave birth, zookeepers apparently never
suspected both animals were females because Ali, now 33 and weighing
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/news/article_1294774.p
hp/Taiwan_zoo_misidentified_elephants_sex_for_28_years

Migratory birds poisoned by pesticides in south
Little birds told Bridget Stutchbury their days may be numbered, and
the Canadian biology professor listened.
In her book Silence of the Songbirds, the Ontario resident and bird
enthusiast says some North American birds that spend their winters
in Latin America aren't making it back.
They're facing habitat loss, lack of food and chronic pesticide
poisoning in the tropics. When it's time
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070420/bird_pes
ticides_070421/20070421?hub=SciTech

Kenyan farmers want land opened to hunters
For the farmers of Kenya, life is a constant contest for grass and
water between their herds and the wild animals that share the land.
Now they are waging a new struggle, this time against the
international animal welfare lobby. Pleading poverty, the farmers
want to open their land to wealthy fee-paying hunters. The advocacy
groups are firmly opposed.
The standoff has made Kenya the latest and perhaps most dramatic
arena for the international debate over hunting and its role in
financing conservation.
A million tourists a year spend
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070422/kenyan_f
armers_070422/20070422?hub=SciTech

ZOO POISED TO CLEAR WILDLIFE PLAN HURDLE
Bristol Zoo looks to have beaten a planning challenge which could
have scuppered its £50 million dream of building the UK's first
national wildlife conservation park.The zoo was originally granted
planning permission to convert its 136-acre Hollywood Towers estate
at Cribbs Causeway into a public zoo more than 40 years ago.
But Almondsbury Parish Council argued the permission had never been
implemented so the consent should have been revoked.
South Gloucestershire Council's planning committee will meet on
Thursday to decide if the zoo should been given a certificate of
lawfulness
http://www.thisisbristol.com/displayNode.jsp?
nodeId=144913&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231190&home=yes&more_
nodeId1=144922&contentPK=17150369

Lovelorn rhinoceros is the last hope for his species
Andalas the rhino is on a mission. He has been sent from Los Angeles
Zoo to the wilds of Sumatra to defend his male honour and do what it
takes to propagate his endangered species. In other words, he has
been taken to the rhino equivalent of a singles bar and left to
follow his natural desires.
It sounds like a simple mission, but of course rhinos aren't quite
like the lounge lizards who inhabit sleazy Hollywood pick-up joints.
The world's zoologists are, in fact, on tenterhooks. A special rhino
sanctuary set up in the wild in Sumatra has failed to produce a
single rhino baby since it opened in 1995. Efforts to get the
species to reproduce in zoos has been, for the most part, an abject
failure - something about being behind bars seems to kill a rhino's
sex drive stone dead.
And so Andalas's mission is close to a last chance for the world's
Sumatran rhinos, whose numbers - desperately depleted by logging and
poaching - have dwindled to about 300. He was
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2488814.ece

China's Turtle Farms Threaten Rare Species, Experts Say
China's hunger for turtle meat, which has sparked a conservation
crisis across Asia since the 1980s, is increasingly being met by
farm-raised animals.
But the rapid expansion of commercial turtle farming is continuing
to place China's native species at risk of extinction, some experts
say. At the same time, continuing demand in China for wild turtles
is now affecting species from other parts of the world, including
the United States.
In a letter published in the February issue of the journal
Conservation Biology, four turtle experts from China and the U.S.
wrote that turtle farms are the number one purchasers of Chinese
turtles captured in the wild.
"The captive breeding of turtles for profit is widespread in China,"
said co-author James Parham, of the California Academy of Sciences
in San Francisco. "The sheer scale of it dwarfs all previous
predictions.
"Turtle farmers buy wild-caught turtles to improve their breeding
stock," Parham explained. "There is a belief that wild turtles breed
better
http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20070304/070323-4.htm

21Apr2007

Tiger meat sold at Chinese zoo
A Chinese tiger park has been exposed for illegally having tiger
meat on the menu of its restaurant.
When confronted with DNA evidence confirming that the meat served at
the zoo was tiger the owner, ironically in Nepal at an international
conference on saving the tiger, continued to deny it and turned
nasty.
In 1993 China banned the sale of tiger bones and hides, which
practically wiped out the market for traditional medicines made from
tigers.
For centuries tiger products in China have been considered to have
special healing qualities.
Tiger bones have been used to treat
http://www.itv.com/news/world_cef527cc4cd6b114ef09facf5e42040b.html

A sorry zoo story
It seems we just can�ft protect our animals, be it in sanctuaries or
zoos. In the latest incident, a 15-year-old chimpanzee that was
brought from a German zoo died from heatstroke at the Delhi zoo.
This is not the first such case and will not be the last one.
Wildlife activists have long argued that most Indian zoos are thinly
disguised �etorture chambers�f with high mortality rates of inmates.
Many have even proposed their closure. The real problem lies in the
way we look at them. Zoos here are not set up to serve the needs of
the animals; they are still seen purely as entertainment zones where
you have amenities for visitors but not much for animals. They are
poorly designed and mismanaged, lack trained staff and are not
supported by expert veterinary care. Also, thanks to our high-
inbreeding programmes, animals have low immunity, making them
susceptible to diseases. Moreover, animals have to contend with
insensitive visitors who throw objects at them or poke them.
The results of such utter mismanagement have been visible over the
years. A few years ago, three endangered Al Debra tortoises died at
the Alipore Zoo in Kolkata after visitors pelted them with stones to
see if they were alive. In 2000, 12 tigers in Nandankanan Zoo died
in a span of four days due to Trypanosomiasis, a disease transmitted
through flies. Eight of them were rare white tigers. One of the main
reasons for the deaths was over-breeding. In fact, most zoo
authorities measure their success by the number of births they are
able to show on record.
The need of the hour is to change the way we look at our zoos.
Instead of being entertainment zones, they should become nature-
orientation centres and botanical parks, with modern facilities and
some live animal exhibits to supplement film and slide shows, nature
trails and camps. The paltry resources could be restricted to 15-20
good zoos that would pursue conservation studies. According to
Central Zoo Authority figures, at present, we have 163 zoos that
house 14,000 birds, 12,000 mammals and 6,000 reptiles.
Since every species has different needs, and we are perpetually
short of funds to meet these, it is imperative that we stop housing
every exotic species
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=6887f0f4-
c292-4a1d-b97b-44cfc2cb1ede&

Glowing report for Dudley Zoo
Dudley Zoo has been given a clean bill of health following
inspection of its care and conservation techniques.
Five licensing inspectors – including two vets – examined
the zoo on
behalf of Dudley Council and Government environment chiefs as part
of routine checks.
The inspection team considered all aspects of work at the zoo,
including animal welfare, conservation, education and research.
Zoo chief executive Peter Suddock said: �gThe inspection results in
the production of a fully detailed report, testing against national
standards.
�gThese inspections take place every six years with an interim
inspection every three.
�gDuring the inspection comment was made on how much the zoo had
improved in the last six years and inspectors were complimentary
about Lemur Wood, Wallaby Walkthrough, general improvements of the
smaller exhibits such as yellow mongoose, and the renewal of the
aviaries.
�gThey also complimented us on the high standard of tidiness and
cleanliness of the site.�h
Mr Suddock said the inspection team had highlighted just three minor
recommendations ahead of ambitious
http://www.expressandstar.co.uk/2007/04/20/glowing-report-for-dudley-
zoo/

Animal park shortlisted for top tourism award
DALTON�fS South Lakes Wild Animal Park is in the running for one of
Cumbria�fs top tourism awards.
The popular animal park has been short-listed for the Large Visitor
Attraction of the Year in the annual Cumbria Tourism Awards.
It will be going head-to-head against the Rheged Centre, Penrith,
and Carlisle�fs Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery.
Grizedale�fs Go Ape High Wire Forest Adventure is a finalist in the
Small Visitor Attraction against Whitehaven�fs Rum Story and High
Head Sculpture Valley and Spa, Ivegill.
The Lakeside Hotel, Lakeside, Windermere, and Lindeth Howe Country
House Hotel, Bowness. are both in the running for the Large Hotel of
the Year.
Small Hotel of the Year finalists include Gilpin Lodge Country House
Hotel, and Linthwaite House Hotel, both Windermere.
Finalist in the Caravan Holiday Park of the Year is between
Fallbarrow Park Bowness, White Cross Bay, Windermere and Wild Rose
Caravan Park, Appleby.
Murthwaite Green Trekking Centre, Silecroft, the Lake District
Calvert Trust, Keswick, and the Go Ape High Wire Forest Adventure,
will battle it out for Tourism Experience of the Year. Other awards
up for grabs include Best New Entrant to the Industry: Matty Todd,
general manager, McMenamins; Vickie Parr, deputy executive director,
Lakeland Wildlife Oasis; and Michael Salaki, trainee chef, Grasmere
Hotel. Rothay Manor
http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=490406

Study shows three genetically distinct groups of chimpanzees
Differences 2 to 3 times greater than variation among human
populations
The largest study to date of genetic variation among chimpanzees has
found that the traditional, geography-based sorting of chimps into
three populations — western, central and eastern — is
underpinned by
significant genetic differences, two to three times greater than the
variation between the most different human populations.
In the April 2007 issue of the journal PLOS Genetics, researchers
from the University of Chicago, Harvard, the Broad Institute and
Arizona State show that there has been very little detectable
admixture between the different populations and that chimps from the
central and eastern populations are more closely related to each
other than they are to the western �esubspecies.�f
They also devised a simplified set of about 30 DNA markers that
zookeepers or primatologists could use to determine the origins of a
chimpanzee with uncertain heritage.
�eFinding such a marked difference between the three groups has
important implications for conservation,�f said Molly Przeworski,
PhD, assistant professor of human genetics at the University of
Chicago
http://www.nature-science.info/news/07042003.htm

Sea lions drown in salmon-farm nets
The nets of a salmon farm ensnared and drowned 51 California sea
lions this month, a spokesman for the Vancouver Island fish-farm
operator says.
Employees of Creative Salmon Co. Ltd. discovered the mass of dead
animals April 12 while changing nets on the farm, located in Tofino
Inlet on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
"In 16 years of operation, we have never experienced anything like
this," general-manager Spencer Evans. "It was very unfortunate."
The incident and other reported sea-lion drownings at fish farms has
environmentalists calling for a move away from open-ocean net cages
to closed-containment systems.
So far this year, Creative Salmon has reported 110 drowned sea
lions, up from 46 in 2006.
Evans said divers initially discovered a few drowned sea lions
between the grower net and shark guard while performing a routine
inspection.
The grower net houses the salmon. The shark guard, attached to the
bottom of the grower net, is a false bottom designed to keep ou
http://www.thestar.com/article/205467

NYC whale beaches itself, dies suddenly
A young whale that swam aimlessly for two days in a small bay off an
industrial section of Brooklyn beached itself at an oil depot dock
Wednesday and died suddenly. Animal activists said the minke whale,
about a year old, was too young to survive on its own.
"It's very sad," said Kim Durham, a rescue specialist at the Long
Island-based Riverhead Foundation for Research and Preservation, who
had monitored the troubled animal's activities around the clock. "It
was a very young whale that became confused and disoriented."
Earlier, experts had reported seeing nothing to indicate the mammal
was sick, such as swimming erratically or in tight
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070418/whale_ne
wyork_070418/20070418?hub=SciTech

Chimp breaks out at Japanese zoo
A chimpanzee at a Japanese zoo enjoyed a few minutes of freedom
before being shot with a tranquilizer gun.
The Tennoji Zoo in Osaka was closed Monday morning when Puteri, a 24-
year-old female, made her break, the Mainichi Daily News reported.
She ran about 1,000 feet before coming to a halt near a polar bear
cage.
A veterinarian, after stunning the chimp, captured her with
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/53024.html

Zoo passes on its skills
LOOKING after primate orphans who have suffered as a result of the
devastating Bush Meat Trade is all in a day's work for Andreas Mbong
and Bama Alfred. In their home in the Cameroon, the pair work at the
Limbe Wildlife Centre where they care for orphaned chimpanzees and
gorillas in preparation for potential release back into the wild The
Limbe Wildlife Centre is one of 17 primate sanctuaries across Africa
affiliated with the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) which was
set up to provide links between primate experts and sanctuaries such
as Limbe.
Chester Zoo has long been a supporter of PASA and, as a result,
Richard Read and Kevin McDonagh from the zoo's maintenance team
recently spent time at Limbe building new chimpanzee enclosures.
Andreas, who works predominantly with chimps at Limbe, and Bama, who
works with gorillas, flew back to the UK with Richard and Kevin and
are now working with the zoo's primate team picking up new skills
with Chester's orang-utans, chimpanzees, lemurs and more.
The pair will also spend time working
http://www.thisiswirral.co.uk/display.var.1331245.0.zoo_passes_on_its
_skills.php

Mike Janis: Former Henson Robinson Zoo head has no plans to retire
Mike Janis no longer puffs on the large briar pipe filled with
Captain Black tobacco that became one of his trademarks during his
six years as head of the Henson Robinson Zoo.
Janis, 60, decided to cut back after he was diagnosed with colon
cancer in July, six months after moving from Minnesota to New York
to become director at Binghamton Zoo.
He soon underwent open-heart surgery so his heart could be strong
enough for another procedure that removed 12 inches of his colon and
part of his liver.
Since then, Janis has received chemotherapy treatments, and recent
test results have come back cancer-free.
Though harrowing, Janis says he hasn�ft let his personal obstacles
affect his enthusiasm for heading a new zoo and
http://www.sj-r.com/sections/news/stories/112356.asp

Two Bears Escape Zoo in Bulgarian Town
Two bears have escaped from the zoo in the town of Blagoevgrad, in
southwestern Bulgaria, in the early hours of Sunday.
The two bears, named Yavor and Kalina, broke a wooden fence and a
metal door on their way to freedom.
Some 13 policemen and zoo workers are now looking for the two
fugitives. There is no danger to the town's residents, a police
spokesman
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=79332

National accrediting group mostly praises Denver Zoo
Compliments are many, but concerns noted
The Denver Zoo gets high marks from the private association that
examines zoos and aquariums.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums, based in Silver Spring, Md.,
has praised the organization over the years, but has also pointed
out occasional flaws in the grounds or buildings, almost all of
which have been quickly addressed.
The association has inspected the Denver Zoo six times, on a roughly
every-five-year schedule, since 1975. Every time, the zoo earned the
AZA's accreditation.
Zoo cites approval
Denver Zoo officials characterize the AZA seal of approval an
important distinction. There are more t
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_54
82064,00.html

Kaohsiung croc has yet another surprise for zoo
The crocodile that bit off a vet's forearm at Kaohsiung's Shoushan
Zoo on Wednesday had another surprise for authorities on Friday.
As well as not being tranquilized when the vet tried to treat it and
surviving being shot after reports said it had been killed, it now
turns out that the reptile belongs to a different species of
crocodile than was originally believed.
In a press release issued by the zoo after the crocodile bit off
veterinarian Chang Po-yu's ('£"Ž‰F) left forearm on Wednesday
afternoon, the zoo identified the animal as a Nile crocodile.
But on Friday evening, the zoo admitted having mistaken the
reptile's species after a report on Pingtung Technology University's
Wild Animal Information Web site stated that the crocodile was a
salt-water crocodile.
"The zoo apologizes for the incorrect information," said Chen Po-
tsai ('Â"Œ�Þ), a deputy section chief from the zoo yesterday as
authorities were replacing the illustration signboard in front of
the crocodile's stockade.
A report was carried out on the request of the zoo after a crocodile
breeder in Tainan saw media coverage of the accident and challenged
the zoo's identification of the crocodile.
The zoo at first defended its identification on Friday
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/04/15/2003356694

Report: Teenager attacked by sea lion off Australia's western coast
A sea lion leaped out of the sea and attacked a 13-year-old girl as
she surfed behind a speedboat off Australia's west coast, a
newspaper reported Sunday.
A marine scientist said the attack by the sea lion, which can grow
to more than 880 pounds in weight but usually stay away from humans,
was bizarre and that the sea lion may have been trying to play with
the girl.
Ella Murphy had her jaw broken and lost three teeth after the sea
lion attacked her on Friday as she was being towed on a surfboard
behind a speedboat at Lancelin, a town 80 miles north of the Western
Australia state capital of Perth, The Sunday Times newspaper
reported.
``This thing just exploded in a full-on, frontal attack,'' family
friend Chris Thomas told the newspaper. ``It jumped out of the water
at her and hit her head on.''
Sydney Aquarium marine scientist Grant Willis said he had never
heard of such an attack before.
``To be out in the water and be attac
http://cbs5.com/worldwire/SeaLionAttack_a_i_-----/resources_news_html

Wolves go on charm offensive
Four wolves doze among pine and white-barked aspen trees, beneath a
slate-grey sky. They are sated after last night's meal, and the
remains of a deer lie nearby. These are not just any wolves, though -
they are diplomats.
This is the "ambassador" wolf pack at the International Wolf Center
here in Ely, near Minnesota's border with Canada. The wolves' task
is to foster a truce between the species they represent and us
humans gazing at them from the other side of a viewing window.
That truce is under strain as this iconic animal enters a new stage
in its struggle to survive in the US. A few decades ago, hunting and
poisoning had all but exterminated the grey wolf (Canis lupus) in
the contiguous states. The only survivors were the western Great
Lakes population, which lived in a small area around Ely and were
listed for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
in 1974.
Last month they
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11599-wolves-go-on-charm-
offensive.html

Poachers kill another lion in Gir sanctuary
Even as the mystery behind the killing of six lions in the Babariya
range in the Gir sanctuary here remains unsolved, one more animal
has fallen victim to poachers.
Police and forest officials are tight-lipped over the latest
casualty in the only abode of Asiatic lions. But Forest department
sources said the remains of an adult lion were found at Bhandariya
village near the Jain pilgrim centre Palitana, on the periphery of
the sanctuary on Saturday morning. Unconfirmed reports, however,
said the remains indicate that at least four lions were killed.
The sources said the information
http://www.hindu.com/2007/04 /15/stories/2007041514860900.htm

Elephant census in South India from May 7 to 9
An extensive census of elephants roaming the forests of South India
will be carried out from May 7 to 9.
According to Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Bangalore,
Anur Reddy, forest officials of Karnataka along with their
counterparts in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh will carry out
a census of elephants for three days to estimate their numbers.
Officials were carrying out a synchronised head-count of the
pachyderms in view of their tendency to migrate across state
borders.
Hundreds of forest department officials along with wildlife
enthusiasts and volunteers will scour the forests to count the
number of wild elephants. The census will be carried out by direct
counting on sighting elephants or, indirect method like dung-
counting. The teams will be looking for elephants near ponds and
other water bodies.
The census assumes importance in Karnataka as the state probably
has 4,500 elephants which is the highest for any
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?
xfile=data/subcontinent/2007/April/subcontinent_April566.xml&section=
subcontinent&col=

Chimps knocked off top of the IQ tree
ORANG-UTANS have been named as the world�fs most intelligent animal
in a study that places them above chimpanzees and gorillas, the
species traditionally considered closest to humans.
The study found that out of 25 species of primate, orang-utans had
developed the greatest power to learn and to solve problems.
The controversial findings challenge the widespread belief that
chimpanzees are the closest to humans in brainpower. They also
suggest that the ancestry of orang-utans and humans may be more
closely entwined than had been thought.
�gIt appears the orang-utan may possess a privileged status among
human kindred,�h said James Lee, the Harvard University psychologist
behind the research. �gIt is even possible that an orang-utan-like
forager occupied a pivotal link in the chain of descent leading to
man.�h
Both orang-utans and chimpanzees share about 96% of their DNA with
humans, although molecular studies suggest that chimpanzees are more
closely related.
The study comes at a time when orang-utans are endangered as never
before. Once widespread throughout the forests of Asia, they are now
confined to just
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1654998.ece

One vet for 359 Gir lions!
Life is tough for Rakesh Hirpara — sometimes he is mending a
broken
leg of a deer in Gir sanctuary, doing a post-mortem on a lion in
Sasan or tranquilising a beast that has fallen into a well in a
rescue operation in Amreli! Hirpara, is the only veterinary doctor
for the 359 lions and the rest of the animals in the Gir forest.
The lion population has grown from 284 in the 1990s to 359 in 2005,
but the government has not bothered to fill the vacant posts for
veterinary doctors in Gir.
In fact, Hirpara is the only vet between Junagadh, Bhavnagar,
Porbander and Amreli. There are three posts of vets, but two have
been vacant since 1998, and Hirpara has been on contract for the
last 10 years.
And he is paid a pittance for this round-the-clock job,which is
around Rs 12,000 a month. In fact, the government built
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Ahmedabad/One_vet_for_359_G
ir_lions/articleshow/1911279.cms

2,000-pound elephant seal wearing out welcome in northern California
coastal community
Nibbles the elephant seal is defying his tame nickname by killing
smaller seals, menacing a kayaker and chomping on a surfer and a dog
on the northern California coast.
The 2,000-pound lone male is seen frequently at the Russian River
outlet to the Pacific, and local marine recreational outlets are
warning the public about the seal's aggression.
On Easter Sunday, the seal grabbed an 80-pound pit bull and only let
her go after he was attacked by the dog's owner.
"I was throwing a stick in the water for the dog," Angel Garcia
said. The dog "started to shake when this torpedo thing launched
itself out of the water and grabbed her."
On Tuesday, Nibbles growled at a kayaker, scaring him out of the
water, said Suki Waters of Water Treks, a kayaking tour company.
Surf shop worker Craig Henderson
http://ap.brainerddispatch.com/pstories/20070414/163149120.shtml

India to set up 4 breeding centers to rescue endangered vultures
Alarmed at the rapid decline in the vulture population, India's
government is setting up four breeding centers across the country to
save the once-common birds from extinction, the Press Trust of India
reported
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/403952

Don't stare at the apes, zoo tells visitors
Most people visit zoos to see the animals - but visitors to Antwerp
Zoo in Belgium are being told not to look at the apes.
Instead, visitors are now confronted with signs telling them that
making prolonged eye contact with the apes leaves them sad and
withdrawn. Zoo staff reckon staring can result in the creatures
becoming less sociable.
A spokesman said: "We are saying to visitors that, if our apes hold
eye contact with them, then they should look away for a bit or take
a step back. Our evidence shows that chimpanzees and other apes who
have a lot of contact with visitors apparently tend to isolate
themselves from their companions over the course
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?
xml=/news/2007/04/16/wzoo16.xml

Zoo ready to welcome elephants
If talks with India prove successful, Okinawa Zoo will put a couple
of elephant calves on public view in the hope that they will live
happily there for many years to come, and possibly breed.
This will be the third time the zoo, located in Okinawa city, has
introduced an elephant or attempted to do so. An elephant calf it
imported in 1973 escaped and mysteriously vanished and 10 years
later the zoo received an elephant from another Japanese zoo, but it
died in 2001.
Okinawa Zoo has been negotiating with the Indian government for the
past three years in response to wishes by local residents who hope
once again that an elephant will take up residence in the
prefecture. Even though negotiations are still under way, the zoo
completed an elephant house and enclosure in December.
The zoo opened in 1972, and is currently operated by the Okinawa
Kids Kingdom Foundation as part of a theme park.
The following year, a 10-month-old male elephant weighing 220
kilograms that had been shipped from Bangkok escaped from a
warehouse at Naha Airport before dawn on the day after its arrival.
The elephant apparently broke out of a 1.3-meter-high wooden box,
forced open the warehouse door and apparently ran onto the U.S. air
base adjacent to the airport.
Despite a sweeping search by police and Self-Defense Forces and U.S.
military personnel, who mobilized helicopters and sniffer dogs, the
elephant was never found.
"The air base was so huge," recalled Isamu Inamine, 63, a former
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070416TDY19002.htm

4 zebras arrive at Marghazar Zoo
Two long awaited pairs of zebras have finally arrived at the
Marghazar Zoo, officials told Daily Times on Saturday.
�gWe have been waiting for their arrival for quite some time because
those received e earlier have been sent back as they are not of an
appropriate height,�h Zoo and Wildlife Director Raja Muhammad Javed
said. The zebras are a welcome addition to the facility that is
still without some main animals like lions, tigers and giraffes.
Javed said four Vervet monkeys had also been procured along with
four African grey parrots and as many white cockatoos. �gWe also have
plans to get giraffes and some other animals but their arrival will
depend on when their enclosures are ready,�h he said.
The zoo, located at the foot
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C04%5C15%
5Cstory_15-4-2007_pg11_10

WALKING WITH THE PENGUINS
South Lakes Wild Animal Park allows visitors into the Penguin
enclosure to feed them.
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=485907

Is the beast back?
A WOMAN has described how her "blood ran cold" after she heard and
saw evidence of what she believes is an escaped black panther.
The woman, who does not want to be named, heard the noise of an
animal growling in the back garden of her home in The Grove, Biggin
Hill, around two weeks ago.
She was in her garden this morning when she noticed deep scratch
marks reaching almost 20ft up the trees.
She said: "I heard something growling a few weeks ago and it was
blood curdling, but it wasn't today until I made the connection.
"The trees have been scored with huge claw marks going up around 15
to 20ft where it looks like it has leapt up to find a branch to lie
on.
"I am really worried because a small child would obviously make a
nice snack for something capable of causing such damage.
"Whatever it was it was
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/mostpopular.var.1329888.mostviewed.is_th
e_beast_back.php

Saving snow leopards in India and pandas in China
Zoo's head of conservation outreach thinks outside the cage
Dressed in a turtleneck and sport jacket, Brian Keating doesn't
strike one as the type to trek treacherous Nepalese mountains, hot
on the tail of the elusive snow leopard. But as the full house drawn
to his 'Going Wild' lecture Wed., Apr. 4 at the University of
Calgary can attest to, when it comes to Keating, there is clearly
more than meets the eye.
Only several minutes into his presentation, Keating quickly shed his
mild-mannered exterior as images of grinning mountain guides,
enormous peaks and snow leopard urine flashed across the screen.
Keating's lecture revolved around his many travels as head of
conservation outreach at the Calgary Zoo, and was sponsored by the
Students' Union and University of Calgary Ecoclub.
"I've been traveling the world now for 30 years and all of my focus
has been on places where there's some of the best wildlife-watching
in the world," said Keating. "When I come back, I come back with a
story of hope. We have a huge problem facing us now with the
disappearance of habitats, global climate change and so on, but I
want to show people that there's still a lot out there. What I want
to do is inspire people and get them excited about nature."
After serving as the education director at the Calgary Zoo for 15
years, Keating entered his current position inspired by the progress
being made internationally by other zoological societies.
"I realized then that there were lots of zoos doing amazing things,
not just caging animals," said Keating. "I realized that there was
maybe something else I could do at the zoo, and ever since then it's
been a whirlwind. Zoos are starting to think of different ways of
affecting the world. If you want to be a progressive zoo, it's your
duty to be
http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/11318

SAUSALITO: FORMER MOUNTAIN GORILLA VET JOINS MARINE MAMMAL CENTER
A veterinarian who treated sick and injured mountain gorillas in the
mountains of Rwanda will now care for seals and sea lions at the
Marine Mammal Center, the Sausalito-based organization announced
Wednesday.
Dr. Felicia Nutter joined the team as a staff veterinarian and will
manage day-to-day animal care operations at the facility, according
to Marine Mammal Center spokeswoman Jessica Hsu.
Nutter's most recent work with the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary
Project took her to Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of
Congo.
Dr. Frances Gulland, director of
http://cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2007/04/12/n/HeadlineNews/M
ARINE-MAMMALS/resources_bcn_html

Gift pandas get ready for trip
Two pandas chosen as a gift to Hong Kong from China's central
government to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the special
administrative region have been placed in isolation for one month.
The temporary quarantine is needed to comply with exit-entry
regulations, according to Wei Jicheng of the Sichuan Province Bureau
of Quality Supervision and Quarantine.
The pandas have been in isolation since the beginning of the month.
Since then, inspectors have been closely monitoring their health and
behavior.
"So far, the couple are healthy and energetic," Wei said.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang asked the central government
to send another pair of giant pandas last September. The request was
approved the following month.
The Hong Kong government launched a competition calling on the
public to name the pandas early this month.
The government received nearly 9,000 sets of names
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-04/16/content_851111.htm

Berlin's polar bear cub Knut receives death threat
Germany's celebrity polar bear cub Knut has received an anonymous
death threat, causing alarm at Berlin Zoo on Thursday and prompting
heightened security.
Top-selling Bild newspaper said the zoo had received a hand-written
fax from a suspected animal hater with the words: "Knut is dead!
Thursday midday."
But that deadline came and went safely for media star Knut, who has
been on newspaper front pages around Germany and the world for
weeks. "He is safe and in good spirits," said zoo official Ragnar
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSKUA94445520070419

'Fewer leaves' behind frog demise
A decline in the amount of leaves on the ground could be behind the
rapid demise of frog species, a study of a rainforest in Costa Rica
has suggested.
Until now, the prime suspect for the amphibians' population crash
was a deadly fungal infection.
By studying data over a 35-year period, researchers found that
lizards, which were not susceptible to the infection, had also
declined by a similar rate.
The study appears in Proceedings
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6564329.stm

Ape crusaders: Uganda offers sanctuary to orphaned chimps
Driven from their habitat by loggers and hunted by bushmeat traders,
our closest relatives are staring into the abyss. But a Ugandan
sanctuary offers hope to chimps orphaned by poachers. James Hopkirk
reports
Published: 12 April 2007
When Rutoto was just one year old, he was snatched from his home in
Uganda's Kalinzu Forest and his mother was butchered in front of him
with a machete.
For more than a month he was locked in a cramped box, and the only
daylight he saw was when his container was opened to feed him bread
and bananas, food that his young stomach was unable to digest
properly. When he was finally rescued he was in a pitiful state:
traumatised, weak from malnutrition and with yellow skin, moulting
hair and a belly painfully bloated with unprocessed food.
It took three months in a rehabilitation centre to nurse him back
from the brink of death but now, nine months on,
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2 442495.ece

Race is on to save the leatherback turtle
The ancient Pacific leatherback faces extinction. So experts have
found a novel way to generate interest in the plight of this mighty
creature and its annual odyssey, reports Peter Popham
What is it about the word turtle? Why must a fatally outdated style
of knitwear, one of America's corniest Sixties pop groups and a dire
children's cartoon series all cluster round this innocuous word? The
clumsiest thing you can do in a boat is turn turtle. The turtle
itself invariably cuts a ridiculous figure, with its hapless looking
flippers, its armour-plated clumsiness, the gently extra-terrestrial
contours of its skull, its famous sex drive... "The turtle
lives 'twixt plated decks, Which practically conceal its sex. I
think it clever of the turtle In such a fix to be so fertile," wrote
Ogden Nash.
But now a group of very serious people who have made their life's
work the study of the Pacific leatherback turtle, have gritted their
teeth behind fixed grins and decided to make the most of
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2461407.ece

'Protected' Congo forest is logged regardless
The world's second largest forest – one of the oldest on Earth
– is
being traded for bars of soap and bottles of beer, a Greenpeace
report has revealed.
A moratorium on logging in the Congo forest was agreed with the
World Bank and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in May 2002.
But the new report reveals that, between then and October 2005, the
government issued large numbers of concessions giving logging
companies access to the forest. Together, the concessions amount to
15 million hectares – an area five times the area of Belgium.
"Forty million Congolese depend in one way or another for their
survival on the Congo forest," says Stephan Van Praet of Greenpeace,
who coordinated the research for the report, entitled Carving up the
Congo. "I can assure you they know the value of their forest. If you
cut the sapele trees you take away the caterpillars they rely on as
a source of protein."
The Congo forest is an important biodiversity hotspot. It is home to
okapi, bonobo
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn11585-protected-congo-
forest-is-logged-regardless.html

'Gold rush' for wood flooring is destroying endangered habitat
British shoppers are unwittingly playing a part in the destruction
of one of the world's last great wildlife habitats by buying
flooring made of endangered wood from "paradise forests".
Just as demand for mahogany is disfiguring the Amazon, demand for
the golden wood merbau is doing immense damage to the forests of New
Guinea, described as the place on earth that best resembles "the
Garden of Eden".
Dozens of new creatures such as a new species of honeyeater bird
were discovered in New Guinea by an expedition in 2005, whose co-
leader, Bruce Beehler, said: "There were so many things, it was
almost overwhelming."
In a report handed exclusively to The Independent, Greenpeace warned
a "gold rush" for merbau was destroying
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/lifestyle/article2455033.ec

14Apr2007

Stray dogs kill 28 peacocks in Lahore Zoo
Two stray dogs have killed 28 caged peacocks in the `well-guarded'
Lahore Zoo. The zoo administration has quietly removed the dead birds
and repaired the broken cage.
Zoo director Yousaf Pal told Dawn on Monday that early on Sunday
morning the two dogs had sneaked into the zoo and entered the peacock
cage, and killed the birds. He said the dogs had entered the cage
through a broken portion of the fence.
According to Mr Pal, the watchman of the cages had gone to offer Fajr
prayers when the dogs sneaked in. "When he came back half an hour
later, he found the dogs were killing the peacocks. By the time he
managed to get the dogs out of the cage, they had killed 28 peacocks."
The director said the watchman had been suspended and asked to
deposit Rs66,500.Mr Pal said that all birds were four to five years
old. Eighteen of them were of common
http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/10/top17.htm

Will romantic singles be leaving the zoo two by two?
SINGLE men are being offered the chance to show their animal
instincts for love in a speed-dating night at Edinburgh Zoo.
Organisers are hoping that the venue will help couples to find love
at the lemurs, or romance at the rhinos.
The 19 April event has proved popular with the female of the species -
all the ladies' tickets have been snapped up.
Mel Jarron, a director of the Silver Card company which is organising
the event, said: "Edinburgh Zoo is a great location for a singles
night.
"There is such a relaxed atmosphere and plenty of points of interest
for people to talk about. I hope that there are some men in the area
who are willing to try a singles night wit
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=553172007

ITS doesn't take zoo signage project lightly
ITSEnclosures was approached by Electrosonic's Orlando office with
the opportunity to participate in a very prestigious project;
providing large format display enclosures for the new Asia Trail
exhibit at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. When approached with
this project we had a number of concerns, not the least of which was
what type of lighting environment the enclosure would be hung.
In providing any ViewStation large format display enclosures, ITS is
always concerned with regard to the lighting environment,
particularly outdoors. In a high ambient light environment standard
glass, or polycarbonate window materials can turn into virtual
mirrors. By using an anti-reflective glass solution reflectivity is
cut nearly 95% while nearly all of the light being generated by the
display is allowed to escape for outstanding visibility. Though the
enclosures at the National Zoo would be covered by natural shading
most
http://www.selfservice.org/article_2646_23.php

Zoo boss blasts neighbour's plans for new glasshouse
ZOO chief David Gill has blasted a neighbouring business's extension
plans, saying buildings should be in keeping with their surroundings.
But bosses at Crooklands Garden Centre, in Dalton, who are behind the
proposals, have hit back and branded Mr Gill "a hypocrite".
The garden centre, in Ulverston Road, Dalton, was today seeking
Barrow Borough Council's permission for a new glasshouse and an
extended car park.
Mr Gill, owner of nearby South Lakes Wild Animal Park, slammed the
plans. He said the zoo had always promoted itself as having a rural
setting and excellent outlooks but now the "industrialisation of the
view" had become "seriously prominent".
Mr Gill said this spoiled the countryside and changed people's
perceptions.
He added: "The proposed glasshouse will be more detrimental from this
site from many areas due to the reflective light and does not fit
into the council's own `green ideal' and certainly does not assist
development of this area as a tourist region.
"We would urge (that) any building to take place in the area should
be in keeping with surroundings and that safety and priority of car
parking before any expansion is essential, as every one of the
200,000-plus visitors to this site have to negotia
http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=486030

Why keeping 2 elephants at Phila. Zoo makes senseBy Carolyn Davis
The Philadelphia Zoo should keep two of its elephants, even if they
are bored, even if they cannot roam the savannas, woodlands and
forests of Africa or Asia, even if captivity means a shortened life.
It's worth the trade-off if Kallie, Bette or Petal stay to fire the
imagination of children and educate young and old about wildlife and
the importance of conservation.
Zoo officials are closing one of the most popular attractions: the
elephant exhibit. The space for these behemoths is too small - most
zoos' space for elephants is too small, according to animal-rights
activists.
The lone Asian elephant among her three zoo-mates, Dulary, is set to
go to the Elephant Sanctuary in rural Tennessee.
The three others were supposed to move to the Maryland Zoo in
Baltimore, a reasonable day trip. But recently that zoo
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20070410_Why_keeping_2_elephant
s_at_Phila__Zoo_makes_sense.html

Zoo defends itself after protest
Dudley Zoo has defended itself after protestors claimed animals were
being "driven mad" by the conditions there.
Peter Suddock, chief executive, said it had been given a "clean bill
of health" by inspectors and animal welfare "was of the highest
standard".
The Captive Animals' Protection Society (Caps) picketed outside the
zoo on Bank Holiday Monday.
Richard Brown, of Caps, claimed some animals' enclosures were 100
times smaller than their natural environment.
He added: "They are in concrete, they receive very little natural
shade from trees, as they would in the wild.
"They're basically in such unnatural conditions where the public are
roaming by in thousands by the hour and the animals are basically
driven mad." Dudley Zoo said its conditions
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/6540573.stm

Zoo animals to taste test road salt
The elk and reindeer at a Swedish zoo are being used as taste-testers
to determine whether animals prefer straight salt or salt mixed with
sugar.
If the animals display a preference for one, the other will be used
on icy roads in Sweden, The Local reports. That's because road
officials are trying to figure out ways to reduce collisions between
cars and wildlife.
Frida Hedin of the Swedish National Roads Administration said that
five elk and five reindeer at the Skansen wildlife park in Stockholm
will be the subjects of the
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/50204.html

Killer Whale Knocks Trainer Off Wall
A killer whale at SeaWorld Adventure Park was getting a sonogram to
prepare for possible artificial insemination when she knocked her
trainer off a low wall Tuesday.
The 35-year-old trainer, who hit her head and side after the bump
from the 5,900-pound whale, had minor injuries and was released from
the hospital Tuesday afternoon, park officials said.
''She just lost her balance,'' spokeswoman Darla Davis said.
The 19-year-old whale named Orkid was getting her weekly ultrasound
when she knocked the trainer off the wall next to the whale's tank,
said Dave Koontz, another park spokesman. He said it was unclear if
the whale intended to head-butt the trainer or accidentally bumped
into her.
SeaWorld monitors all of its female orcas
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Whale-Accident.html?
_r=1&oref=slogin

Cancer forces devils off native Tasmania
Tasmanian devils are being relocated to an island off Australia to
avert their extinction by a contagious cancer.
Some scientists fear the move could endanger rare birds and other
animals on the island, but other experts say it is a last resort and
should pose no problem because the devils are scavengers, not
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-
0704100464apr11,1,4018337.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Knut Is Cute
But can he save the world?
He is small, white, fluffy, and cuddly. Though only 4 months old, his
face has already graced thousands of T-shirts, most major German
newspapers, and a good number of coffee mugs. This month, he shares a
glossy magazine cover with Leonardo DiCaprio. Haribo, the company
that brought us the gummi bear, has announced it will produce a
raspberry-flavored candy in his honor. In case you have somehow
escaped seeing him featured on the evening news (and in Europe, this
is impossible), you can click here, here, or here to watch him
playing with his trainer, chewing on a towel, or taking his first
steps.
I am talking about Knut, of course, the baby polar bear born in
December at the Berlin Zoo. Rejected by his mother, he has been
raised by a zookeeper (now a minor celebrity himself) over the
objections of some animal rights groups, who wanted him put to sleep
rather than be raised "unnaturally." Now strong, healthy, and cuter
than ever, he currently receives 15,000 to 20,000 visits a day and
has single-handedly transformed the fortunes of a zoo whose most
popular attraction, as I can testify, was hitherto its centrally
located
http://www.slate.com/id/2163794?nav=tap3

Berlin's Sad News Bears
Never mind the polar bear: Captive brown bears have lived in a hard-
to-find park in Berlin since 1939. They symbolize the city -- a bear
has been on Berlin's coat of arms since at least 1280 -- but do they
have enough Lebensraum? Knutmania has led some activists to ask if
the official mascots have enough space.
While Knut the baby polar bear stumbles twice a day in front of
adoring fans at the Berlin Zoo, doubling the park's stock price and
achieving world celebrity just for being alive, three adult brown
bears lie around in a small concrete enclosure in another part of
Berlin, looking bored. Schnute, Maxi and Tilo belong to the city
itself: They're Berlin's official, living mascots. But now animal-
rights activists argue a new home
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,476849,00.html

Anteater attacks zookeeper
An anteater attacked a young zookeeper in Argentina, ripping open the
woman's abdomen and legs with its long claws and leaving her in
critical condition, a doctor said Wednesday.
This female anteater apparently attacked her keeper at a Buenos Aires-
area zoo to protect her offspring.
The unusual attack damaged the zookeeper's stomach, liver and lungs,
said Jose Potito, director of the hospital where the woman was being
treated.
"The woman's condition is very serious," Potito told local TV channel
America.
Anteaters, which can measure up to 9.2 feet long and weigh as much as
110 pounds, are native to Latin America and have toothless
http://www.thestar.com/article/202096

Revealed: plight of Chessington's gorillas
At London Zoo, visitors these days marvel at the new �5.3m Gorilla
Kingdom which replicates a forest clearing and incorporates heated
rocks and a waterfall. But only a few miles away, gorillas are not
living in the same luxury at London's second biggest zoo, Chessington
World of Adventures. Far from it. Two unpublished official reports
obtained by The Independent under freedom of information legislation
have expressed grave concern at conditions for the zoo's western
lowland gorillas.
The local authority has issued the theme park with an ultimatum - to
build a new home for the primates, or risk losing its licence.
At present the gorillas, suited to tropical rainforest in Africa, are
housed in a cage with a concrete backdrop, ropes for swinging and a
hay floor. Although basic by modern standards, the compound's real
problem is that the zoo's breeding programme has left it housing 10
gorillas.
The overcrowding has been worsened by the group's ejection of its
dominant male, Kumba, who is being kept indoors when the others are
outside and vice-versa. This "time share" further reduces space.
The zoo's owner, the Tussauds Group, is planning a new gorilla centre
at a 22-acre safari park beside a new 150-bed Holiday Inn hotel. In
the short term the zoo, which attracts about a million visitors a
year, intends to extend the enclosure. But the Tussauds Group, which
also owns Madame Tussauds waxworks and Alton Towers, has been
criticised for delaying the construction of new animals facilities in
the past.
Two years ago, in November 2005, inspectors for the Royal Borough of
Kingston upon Thames said they were "most concerned" at the situation
at Chessington. The zoo had still not fulfilled an essential
undertaking to house the sea lions in salt water, while there was
great concern at the dilapidated condition of the lion and tiger
pounds, which had serious structural problems, buckled fencing,
broken mesh and a defective gate.
In the gorilla enclosure, keeping the silverback apart
risked "destabilising" the main group, which in any case had outgrown
the current internal accommodation "even allowing for the exclusion
of the male".
The inspectors warned: "The company must take immediate action to
resolve and find a solution to this issue, and specific proposals for
the future of the gorillas' enclosure should be submitted as a matter
of priority to the licensing authority."
The inspectors noted their great disappointment that, although
Tussauds had frequently stated the importance of the animals to the
zoo, proposals for a safari park that "appeared imminent" during
their last inspection were still in doubt.
They wrote: "This leads us to question the viability of the animal
collection at Chessington."
Following the report, the Tussauds Group appointed a new manager from
Chester Zoo and improvements were made in the big cat and sea lion
enclosures. In December 2006, an inspection was impressed by
the "high standard" of animal health and welfare, but the gorillas
remained a problem. The report stipulated it was
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2442007.ece

Berlin Zoo stock rises 94% on appeal of polar bear cub
Shares of the operator of the Berlin Zoo climbed 94 percent this week
as investors bet that "Knut," the name of a baby polar bear rejected
by his mother, would become a brand name like Paddington Bear or
Winnie the Pooh.
Knut, born at the zoo Dec. 5, has captivated Germany. Television news
channels have documented the fluffy white cub's every move: quaffing
milk from a bottle, snoozing in a hammock, snuffling up to his
handlers and scampering around outdoors.
His appeal was enhanced last month when Bild Zeitung, the largest
German newspaper, quoted the animal rights activist Frank Albrecht as
saying that the bear should be euthanized rather than be raised by
humans. Though Knut was never in danger, schoolchildren wrote letters
begging that
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/03/europe/bear.php

Zoo's poster child for hand-rearing
3 staffers caring for baby ape -- a practice criticized by some
animal lovers --until adults of her own species found to accept her
Sungai is only 7 months old, but she's already had enough rejection
to qualify for a lifetime of therapy. Born in Albuquerque, she was
instantly cast aside by her mother. Sent to Houston, she fared no
better. Now she's in San Francisco, clinging to three foster parents
who tend to her needs 24 hours a day.
There's only one problem: They're human and Sungai is a siamang.
In the next few weeks, San Francisco Zoo officials will discover
whether adult siamangs Mindy and Storm will accept the baby ape. If
they do, Sungai will finally
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?
f=/c/a/2007/04/09/SIAMANG.TMP

Bred for the freezer: how zoo rears tigers like battery hens
Carcasses kept in storage as Beijing looks to lift ban on sale of
exotic animal parts
The padlocked freezer at Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village
attracts little attention from the tourists who throng to the park
each day.
Most are more interested in the bloody spectacle of tigers savaging
live cows, the monkey bicycle race or the highwire displays by bears
and goats. But it is the freezer rather than the freak shows that
will soon be at the centre of a fierce international debate on the
trade in endangered species.
Xiongsen is the world's biggest battery farm for rare animals.
Located just outside the southern Chinese city of Guilin, it is
smaller than Regent's Park but holds 1,300 tigers - almost as many as
the whole of India - as well as hundreds of bears, lions and birds.
The stock is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in China, where
consumers pay high prices for remedies, tonics and aphrodisiacs made
from rare species. But until now the park has only been able to bank
its assets in cold storage because of a ban on tiger products.
All that could be about to change. After a decade of lobbying by
Xiongsen, China is preparing to call for a lifting of the ban. Next
week it will send its first ever delegation to the Global Tiger Forum
in Kathmandu. In June, at a conference in the Hague of signatories to
the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species
(Cites), it is expected to push the issue. In a paper to Cites, China
says the global ban has failed to halt the decline of the wild tiger
population, despite a cost of �2bn to the Chinese economy and damage
to China's traditions and medicinal culture.
Conservation groups warn that relaxing the ban could be disastrous.
According to the World Wildlife Fund there are only 3,500 tigers left
in the wild, compared with
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2056432,00.html

Chessington Zoo defends its gorillas' home
Bosses at Chessington Zoo yesterday blasted newspaper reports saying
they have not been properly caring for their 10 gorillas.
According to reports in national newspapers the zoo risked seeing its
gorilla enclosure closed down if conditions there did not improve.
The information came to light after a Freedom of Information Act
request from The Independent.
The newspaper managed to get hold of two unpublished reports from
2005 expressing grave concern over the condition of the zoo's western
lowlands gorillas.
The zoo was criticised in the report for housing the animals in a
cage with just a concrete backdrop and a hay floor and a few ropes
for
http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.1326270
.0.chessington_zoo_defends_its_gorillas_home.php

Zoo vet's arm sewn back on after croc attack
Chang Po-yu, a vet in a Taiwanese zoo, waves from his hospital bed
yesterday following seven hours of surgery to his other arm -
reattached after being bitten off by a crocodile.
Mr Chang lost his left forearm as he reached through iron railings to
pull out a tranquilliser dart from the 200kg (440lb) reptile on
Wednesday.
He was rushed to hospital leaving zoo staff with the tricky task of a
quick retrieval of his arm, above, from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2056091,00.html

Zoo staffer tests positive for TB
The person in charge of the ostrich and addax enclaves at the Lahore
Zoo has tested positive for tuberculosis, Zoo director Yousaf Pal
told Daily Times on Thursday. Pal added that the animals in the two
enclaves did not carry the virus. He said the infected man was sent
to Gulab Devi Hospital for treatment. He said the zoo was making
efforts against TB and treating the animals suffering from the
disease. Other officials at the zoo said all staffers were tested for
TB after some animals at the zoo died from the disease. They added
that 70 percent of the animals were suffering from TB. The officials
said the zoo was having trouble treating the Hoax Deer and kangaroos
because the animals attacked anyone approaching them. The officials
said that a couple of years ago, a Refina
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\04\13\story_13-4-
2007_pg7_32

It's touch and go in fight for great apes
Madu is one of two Sumatran orang-utans in an Atlanta Zoo research
program, which uses computer games to study the primates' skills.
ALL of four years old, Bernas is not the computer wizard his mother
is, but he is learning.
Just the other day he used his lips and feet to play a game on the
touch-screen monitor as his mum, Madu, swung from vines and climbed
trees.
The two Sumatran orang-utans are part of new Atlanta Zoo research
that uses computer games to study the cognitive skills of the
primates.
The best part? Visitors can watch their every computer move.
The orang-utans play on a touch screen built into a tree-like
structure in
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/its-touch-and-go-in-fight-for-
great-apes/2007/04/12/1175971259489.html

Mumbai's oldest zoo to shut for make-over
This city's oldest zoo will shut its doors to visitors to facilitate
a complete make-over of the almost 150-year-old institution that will
take about two years.
"A race is on to complete the project before its sesquicentennial
year, with zoo authorities and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
(BMC) going ahead in full speed following approval of renovation
concepts," BMC's Additional Municipal Commissioner R A Rajeev said on
Wednesday.
With the delineation of "global mapping" approved, the zoo, begun in
1862, will go hi-tech in many areas, including the setting up of a 4D-
theatre, an amphitheatre and plazas.
According to concepts, Indian and African enclosures will greet
visitors as they enter, and Australian and South East Asian ones
would mark its far-end. The "continents" and walk-ways around them
will touch the "shores of a water body representing the Indian
Ocean".
The trappings are aimed at "making the zoo more
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200704120314.htm

7Apr2007

Herb farmer gets order from zoo
An organic herb farmer in South Gloucestershire is to begin supplying
London Zoo with food for its animals.
Jekka McVicar has an order for a variety of herbs for the lions,
bears and reptiles as part of the zoo's new approach to treating
animals.
Ms McVicar, winner of 11 Chelsea gold medals, has been a grower for
more than 30 years and has an encyclopaedic knowledge about herbs.
This is the first time she has supplied them to animals.
"This is going to be a huge learning curve for us," she said.
The nursery will be supplying Gotu kola or tiger grass which tigers
like to roll in, to heal their wounds; cat thyme for the lions; olive
trees for the reptiles
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/6521259.stm

Zoo animals get creature comforts
A zoo in the north west of England has unveiled the new homes for its
two tonne rhinoceros and a family of tiny Komodo dragons born in
January.
Patna, an Asian rhino who came from a Berlin zoo, can now wallow in
his own heated swimming pool and mud bath.
The five Komodo dragon babies, Irwin, Herman, Indie, Bert and Ernie,
have been moved to a purpose-built enclosure in Islands in Danger at
Chester Zoo.
The siblings join their mother Flora. This will be their first public
outing.
Flora and her babies became overnight stars when it was revealed she
had laid
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/6515817.stm

Captive: The bars have gone. But should zoo animals go free?
Crowds are flocking to see the new Gorilla Kingdom in London and Knut
the polar bear in Berlin. So why do some people still want zoos shut
down?
The big beast came prowling through the mist, trailing a pack of
nervous, lesser creatures behind him. Then he stopped. There, daring
to stare, was an animal unimpressed by his sleek coat and more than
able to rip it from his back. The big beast they call the Duke of
Edinburgh had just met his match in Bobby, the 30-stone silverback
gorilla, at London Zoo. Neither spoke. But Bobby raised himself to
human height, looked the Duke up and down, then turned and displayed
his backside.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2411385.ece

Houston Zoo makes golden effort to save iconic frog
Everyone else was still back at the truck when Bill Konstant sounded
the call.
"I got a frog."
For a few heart-stopping moments, the dread of the past months gave
way to hope.
Maybe the river would be filled with life in a way it hadn't been
since an invisible fungus arrived a year earlier, killing virtually
all of the amphibians in its path.
Konstant, director of science and conservation for the Houston Zoo,
was high in the mountains of central Panama with Edgardo Griffith, a
biologist working to save his country's frogs and other amphibians
from extinction.
The project is small for now but epic in ambition: to end the
downward spiral of some of the world's most fragile species,
including Panama's revered golden frogs.
After Konstant's alert, Griffith pulled on rubber wading boots and
rushed to the banks of the Rio Maria, a clear, shallow river that
less than a year earlier held more than a dozen species of frogs. It
was one of the most reliable hunting grounds for the golden frog, a
dazzling technicolor creature that,
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/world/4678198.html

Zoo releases 150th kiwi for Operation Nest Egg
Three-week old Auckland Zoo-born kiwi Taepaepaetanga oterangi travels
to a new home on Motuora Island today, becoming the 150th kiwi chick
to be incubated, hatched, reared and released by the zoo.
While the "overseas trip" to the kiwi creche north of Auckland is a
major milestone for this little 430g chick, today marks an even
bigger accomplishment for Auckland Zoo. The zoo has been contributing
to the Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi's Operation Nest Egg
programme with partner, the Department of Conservation (DOC), since
late 1996, and today achieves a 93 per cent success rate with
incubation to final release of kiwi.
Taepaepaetanga oterangi (Taepapepae), whose name refers to the "place
where the horizon meets the sky", and "a pinnacle of achievement", is
the off-spring of male kiwi Rainbow, who was one of the first eggs
received by the zoo in December 1996.
"It's fantastic to know that over 10 years on, Rainbow is still going
so strong," says the zoo's New Zealand fauna team leader, Andrew
Nelson. "He's fathered 11 other kiwi through Operation Nest Egg and
at least 19 more in the wild in Northland. These chicks are in turn
growing up and contributing further to the North Island brown kiwi
population. It's a contribution that illustrates just how effective
the programme is, and we're very proud to be a part of it," says Mr
Nelson.
Taepaepae will stay on Motuora until he/she reaches 1200grams in
weight (large enough to fend off stoats) before being relocated back
to predator-controlled bush north of Whangarei. Another of Rainbow's
off-spring, the 151st kiwi that hatched at the zoo in mid-March, will
also soon be released onto Motuora. The island is home to around 40
kiwi at any
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0704/S00006.htm

Kinkajou flees zoo, bites bus passenger
A kinkajou, also known as a honey bear — that escaped from a Mexico
City zoo boarded a bus and attacked a passenger, officials said
Tuesday. The kinkajou, which is about the size of a small dog, got on
the bus at about 11 p.m. Monday after escaping from the San Juan de
Aragon Zoo.
There was some initial confusion about the animal`s identity. While
Red Cross spokesman Jair Martinez initially identified the creature
as a monkey, and some local media referred to it as a lemur, Aleli
Mayorca of the city`s main Chapultepec Zoo said
http://www.localnewswatch.com/skyvalley/stories/index.php?
action=fullnews&id=90046

National Zoo attempts to breed giant panda
The National Zoo is again turning to artificial insemination in hopes
of breeding giant panda Mei Xiang.
The panda was inseminated this week with semen taken from Gao Gao, a
giant panda at the San Diego Zoo. Gao Gao's genes are considered
valuable in efforts to diversify the bloodlines of giant pandas in
captivity, zoo officials said.
The first procedure took place Wednesday evening, and Mei Xiang was
inseminated again early Thursday. It could take six months
http://www.examiner.com/a-
658819~National_Zoo_attempts_to_breed_giant_panda.html

Mumbai zoo to be revamped after 150 years
Nine-year-old lioness Jimmy looks up quizzically from a mid-afternoon
snooze, "is it mealtime already?".
Her leopard friend greets the passing zoo official with only a tip-of-
the-tail-wag. "It can't be time yet", she knows.
Jimmy and her friends, ensconced at historic Veermata Jijabai Bhosale
Udyan (VJBU), are to be shaken up soon, in the first-ever major
overall revamp of their surroundings.
VJBU, the almost 150-year old institution, better known as Byculla
Zoo, is being transformed into a 'global entity in keeping with
trends in the country'. Ambitious 'imports' include zebras and
giraffes.
"Byculla Zoo is undertaking its first-ever major revamp and most
comprehensive since its inception in 1862", Additional Municipal
Commissioer of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, RA Rajeev said.
"Two workshops have been conducted
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1089257

Layla the rhino calf wows crowds at Budapest zoo
The world's first rhino calf born through artificial insemination
thrilled scores of children and journalists in her press debut at
Budapest Zoo on Thursday.
Layla, a two-and-a-half-month old Southern White Rhino who is
Hungary's answer to celebrity German polar bear cub Knut, at first
appeared intimidated by the crowd at her naming ceremony, but later
sniffed happily around her paddock.
"Every new life is a miracle and we have had the fortune of being
part of an even more special kind when this vigorous and playful calf
came to light," Budapest Zoo Director Ilma Bogsch told
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL0517488520070405

Spanish operator buys Blackpool zoo
Spanish-based leisure operator Parques Reunidos has bought
Blackpool's zoo as part of a £10.4 million deal which includes the
Aquarium of the Lakes in Lake Windermere and The Oceanarium in
Bournemouth. Blackpool Council has agreed to transfer the lease on
the 32-acre animal park from Grant Leisure to the new owners, with
the transaction expected to be completed next week.
Julian Kearsley, Blackpool's strategic director of business services,
said: "We welcome the news that Grant Leisure is to be sold to
Parques Reunidos.
"We have formally agreed to grant a lease to Parques Reunidos and we
are delighted that a company with such an impressive track record
http://www.ateonline.co.uk/60/74/79/articles/11210.php

Male elephant kills female in Israel zoo
A seven-ton bull elephant charged and killed a female elephant half
his weight as visitors to an Israeli nature park looked on in horror.
"What happened to Yossi, who grew up all his life with Atari, and
they always got along?" Yigal Horowitz, a veterinarian at the park,
told Israel Radio. "Here and there were small fights, but they never
had a fight like this one."
In a 2005 essay in the Journal of Nature, Oregon State University
psychologist Gay Bradshaw argued that the worldwide population of
elephants is suffering from a form of
http://www.localnewsleader.com/olberlin/stories/index.php?
action=fullnews&id=89895

Australia Zoo unveils major expansion plans
FIVE months after losing Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, Australia Zoo
this morning announced major expansion plans which will see its staff
triple to 1500 people.
The Zoo put on a VIP breakfast to thank hundreds of supporters of the
Beerwah tourist attraction for their help in getting them through the
pain of the last few months.
An emotional Zoo director Wes Mannion revealed plans for an open-
range safari experience like nothing else in the world.
"Steve had a dream to make the zoo the world's greatest
http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?
storyid=3728875&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsectio
n=

Cameroon: CFA 3 Million to Boost Mvog-Betsi Zoological Garden
Minister Elvis Ngolle Ngolle announced the payment of 16 months
salaries owed to the personnel of the Mvog-betsi zoological garden.
The Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, last
Thursday visited the Mvog-betsi zoological garden in Yaounde. The
visit, was in line with the activities of the Ministry of Forestry
and Wildlife in the fight against poaching and most of all to
sympathise with the ailing lion of the zoo. The visit which was the
second in six months, was equally meant to see the state of the zoo
and how it
http://allafrica.com/stories/200703261580.html

Korean team unveils first cloned wolves
The first cloned wolves were announced yesterday by a former
collaborator of the disgraced South Korean scientist Dr Hwang Woo-
Suk, as part of an effort to restock endangered populations.
Two wolves, Snuwolf (Seoul National University wolf) and Snuwolffy,
were unveiled by Dr Lee Byeong-Chun, a veterinary professor at Seoul
National University.
Both are healthy and now weigh about 45lb. They have been moved to a
zoological garden, for public viewing
Although the clones were born on Oct 2005, Prof Lee said it took the
team a while to publish its findings in a journal because of the
extra scrutiny after
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?
xml=/news/2007/03/27/wclone27.xml

Fowler Park Update
Plans to build a 7000-acre animal safari theme park in northwest
Florida appears to have fallen through.
A spokesman for the developing company says the Jim Fowler Wildlife
Park may have to be built somewhere else.
Local officials and business folks in Bonifay say it's not the end of
the world with a new hospital and an international airport to be
built north of Panama City Beach.
Land is a valuable commodity along I-10 and highway 79.
Barbara Farris of Blue Dolphin Development, states in a prepared
release that negotiations broke down with investors.
The 7000-acre refuge was to be located in the southeast corner of I-
10 and Highway 79 in Bonifay.
Local officials say it's disappointing, but the site is very
attractive to business interests.
Jake Jacobs with the Holmes Co. Industrial Co
http://www.wtvynews4.com/news/headlines/6893412.html

Wildlife park to widen horizons
ONE of the Highlands' most popular attractions is to expand its
horizons in a bid to boost visitor numbers and to provide a home for
endangered species from across the globe.
Changes are afoot that will see the Highland Wildlife Park in
Kincraig transformed from solely being a home for Scottish species
past and present to include endangered animals from mountains and
tundra regions worldwide.
http://www.strathspey-
herald.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/1254/Wildlife_park_to_widen_horizo
ns.html

Sanctuary staff headed to South Africa
Seventeen people from Tuttle's exotic animal sanctuary will be
heading to South Africa in a few short weeks. The travelers, which
include 14 Tiger Safari staff members and three area veterinarians
who regularly donate their time to the facility, will be visiting the
Savannah Cheetah Foundation in an effort to help preserve the
endangered species.
Only a few thousand cheetahs remain in the world, in captivity or
otherwise. Tiger Safari park director Bill Meadows learned more about
the animal's plight during a recent convention, where he heard a
presentation by Bobby Hartslief, the founder of the Savannah Cheetah
Foundation. The foundation, basically a cheetah breeding facility, is
located an hour and a half south of Johannesburg.
The team from Tiger Safari will be flying out on May 2 to work on
different projects at the foundation, including building habitats for
the animals and working on waterways.Weekends, Meadows said, will be
dedicated to seeing other exotic animal-related sights in South
Africa, including Kruger National Park, a park for elephants and one
for lions.
The veterinarians who will accompany
http://www.tuttletimes.com/local/local_story_094110530.html?
keyword=secondarystory

Two zebras, 2 wildebeests released at Dulahazra Safari Park
Two Zebras and two wildebeests were released at Dulahazra Safari Park
in Cox's Bazar yesterday.
They were released in the African Safari one of the four special
encircles inside the only Safari park in the country.
The new guests arrived here by a cargo flight from Africa with the
help of Falcon Traders, sources said.
Safari Park Project Director Dr Tapan Kumar Dey, who released the
animals in the park, said the zebras and wildebeests, also available
at the Zoo in Dhaka, are mainly seen in Savannah and bare forests of
the countries located in the eastern part of Africa.
These animals live on grass and move in herds in places near the
water-bodies, said Dr Tapan.
They have an average lifespan of 25 to 30 years and give birth to a
calf every year, he added.
So far a total of 119 animals and birds of different species, out of
the 157 animals rescued by the Department of Forest with the help of
joint forces from different areas of the country in the last two
months, were released in Dulahazra Safari Park.
Meanwhile, sources said, the park authorities achieved some
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/03/29/d70329061281.htm

Aquarium sold to Spaniards
A LAKES tourist attraction has been sold to a Spanish-based company.
The Aquarium of the Lakes, in Newby Bridge, makes up part of a £10.4m
deal for European leisure operator Parques Reunidos.
The company has bought the aquarium as part of a package, which
includes Blackpool Zoo and The Oceanarium in Bournemouth.
The three attractions together make up Grant Leisure Group Limited,
which was sold by parent company MICE Group PLC to reduce the group's
debt.
MICE announced the sale on March 30 and expects the deal to be
completed later this week.
Cathy Burrows, group marketing manager for Real Live Leisure which
operates the Aquarium of the Lakes and Oceanarium said: "The sale of
Aquarium of the Lakes, Oceanarium Bournemouth and Blackpool Zoo to
Parques Reunidos is a positive development.
"The group's parks are among
http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=484076

Seals make big splash at aquarium
Two eight-month-old seals have arrived at a North East aquarium ahead
of the opening of a giant outdoor habitat.
The male harbour seals, Sofus and Marvalo, will live in the £500,000
Seal Cove at Tynemouth's Blue Reef Aquarium, which opens on Good
Friday.
The habitat contains 500,000 litres of seawater, a series of man-made
islands and underwater caves.
Both seals were born in captivity in Denmark and transported to
Tynemouth last week.
They were accompanied by aquarium curator Zahra d'Aronville, who
said: "The seals
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/6517995.stm

Vietnam farms keeps endangered animals
Three private tiger farms in southern Vietnam will be allowed to keep
43 endangered animals.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has decided that, while the owners had
breached a ban on keeping the tigers, they were better equipped than
Vietnam's zoos to take care of the animals, which cannot be released
into the wild.
The ruling ended an emotional dispute between the owners and a
coalition of environmental groups which demanded the enforcement of
Vietnam's wildlife
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s1891704.htm

Tiny blind animal halts billion dollar Aussie mine
A blind spider-like animal has stopped development of a multi-billion-
dollar iron ore mine in Australia after an environmental body
rejected the project for fear the tiny cave-dweller would become
extinct.
Western Australia's Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) rejected
the proposal by Robe River, a unit of mining giant Rio Tinto, to
develop the iron ore mine near Pannawonica in the Pilbara region
after the company unearthed troglobites, which measure just 4
millimetres (0.16 in) in length.
A troglobite is an animal that lives entirely
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?
type=worldNews&storyID=2007-03-29T192714Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-
292582-1.xml&archived=False

Malaysian Police Seize 260 Sea Turtles, Detain 17 Chinese Fishermen
Malaysian marine police uncovered what was believed to be a major
international turtle-poaching syndicate with the seizure of 260
protected turtle species' on board a Chinese fishing trawler, a news
report said Thursday.
Marine police detected the boat in waters off the eastern Sabah state
on Borneo island on Wednesday, and attempted to stop the boat. A high-
speed sea chase ensued, ending in police cornering the suspects after
firing warning shots, marine authorities said.
Some 260 Hawksbill and Greenback turtles were discovered on the
fishing trawler. Only
http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_21526-Malaysian-Police-Seize-260-Sea-
Turtles-Detain-17-Chinese-Fishermen.html

Three arrested in connection with killing of 13 Asiatic lions
Police of India have arrested three men which helped killing 13
Asiatic lions in the past two month around the only sanctuary for
this rare animals in Western India.
Asiatic lions once roamed much of Asia but only about 350 remain, all
of them in the Gir National Park, and the recent killings have raised
fears for the future of the species.
All of the men detained this week were suspected to be local contacts
for lion poachers, said Kuldeep Narain Sharma, a senior police
official, adding one was a forest guard at the sanctuary, nearly 185
kilometers (115 miles) south of Ahmadabad, the main city in western
Gujarat state.
Sharma refused
http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/04-04-2007/89042-asia_lions-0

Bird `flu follows trade, not migration routes
A comprehensive critical review of recent scientific literature on
the spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N, published in the
British Ornithologists Union journal Ibis[1], concludes that poultry
trade, rather than bird migration, is the main mechanism of global
dispersal of the virus.
The review finds that migratory birds have been widely and repeatedly
blamed for outbreaks that have subsequently been found to originate
in the movement of live poultry and products such as poultry meat.
The authors, French ecologists Michel Gauthier-Clerc, Camille
Lebarbenchon and Frederic Thomas of Station Biologique de la Tour du
Valat (a research centre for the conservation of Mediterranean
wetlands) and GEMI (Génétique et Evolution des Maladies Infectieuses –
the Laboratory of Genetics and Evolution of Infectious Diseases),
warn that a misdirected emphasis on contacts between wild birds and
outdoor poultry may lead to a reversion to intensive indoor poultry
rearing, which actually increases the risk of outbreaks. Wild birds
constitute a permanent source of gene fragments of low pathogenic
avian influenza, which are sometimes transmitted to domestic birds.
But Gauthier-Clerc et al. say that how the virus subtypes
subsequently evolve depends on poultry rearing practices.
"When bird densities are low, a very virulent subtype leading
http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2007/03/avian_flu_report.html

Bungle delays return of gorillas
A bureaucratic bungle has again disrupted the repatriation of the
infamous "Taiping Four" gorillas from South Africa to their homeland
Cameroon.
It looks like the planned departure on April 10 will be postponed as
Malaysian authorities have yet to issue the go-ahead to their South
African counterparts, after the first relocation plan was called off
last December.
That plan was aborted at the eleventh hour after Malaysia sought an
assurance from the South African government that it would not be
billed for expenses incurred at the Pretoria Zoo, where the primates
had been held since April 2004.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is financing the
return of the African apes. Its communications
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?
file=/2007/4/5/nation/17326644&sec=nation

New Species of Leopard arrives at the Kow Keow Zoo.
Last Month, Scientists claimed that the clouded leopard found on the
islands of Borneo and Sumatra is an entirely new species of cat. One
such example of this new species is now on show at the Kow Keow Zoo,
45kms outside of Pattaya. This press conference presented the Leopard
to the gathered media and it was announced that in association with
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the cat has been renamed the ASEAN
Leopard, to celebrate
http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_07_04_50_3.htm

Al Ain Zoo shines once again
After more than 30 years since its establishment, Al Ain Zoo is
shining once again as an example in the Gulf region for animal
management, conservation practices and visitor comfort.
Over the past year, Al Ain Zoo has been undergoing transformations
into a 21st Century attraction that not only addresses wildlife
conservation but also supports Abu Dhabi's environmental education
efforts and its future tourism aspirations. Today, the Zoo has taken
steps to promote an emotional bond between the visitor and the
wildlife living in the Zoo by conjuring a memorable experience.
As a result of these improvements, Zoo officials have observed that
the animals have become much more active, demonstrating their natural
behavior. Throughout its improvements, the Zoo has built upon the
cultural
http://www.ameinfo.com/115975.html

Al-Ain Zoo Provides a Unique Experience in Animal Management,
Imagine dining in the open air while before you is the rare spectacle
of giraffes, zebras and other animals in what is virtually their
natural habitat. To imagine such a scene is to think of some exotic
place, such as Kenya, South Africa or Thailand. And if you think
those places, then you can be excused for getting it wrong.
However, the plain truth is that such a spectacle is neither surreal
nor exotic. It is right here in Al-Ain, where the general public will
now be able to enjoy the opportunity of a lifetime when Al-Ain Zoo
opens its nocturnal programs sometime this summer. After more than 30
years, the zoo is again a shining example in the Gulf of animal
management, conservation practices and visitor comfort, the WAM news
agency reported.
Over the past year, the zoo has undergone changes to transform into a
21st century attraction that not only addresses wildlife conservation
but also supports Abu Dhabi's environmental education efforts and its
future tourism aspirations. Today, the zoo has taken steps to promote
an emotional bond between the visitor and the wildlife in the zoo by
promoting memorable
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=94714&d=8&m=4&y=2007

Rethinking the zoo
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore is endangered.
Plagued by declining attendance, reduced funding, high ticket prices
and facilities in disrepair, the zoo seems more a candidate for
closure than expansion.
But some Baltimoreans are reluctant to give up on it, largely because
of a sense of history and tradition that has endeared it to them.
"Every year we looked forward to going to the zoo," said Sarah David,
a Johns Hopkins senior raised in Pikesville. "When I speak to other
people who grew up in Baltimore, we remember the zoo as a part of
growing up. It unites people, and in that respect, it's a very
important aspect of the city."
But with a growing deficit and too few visitors, if things don't
change in Druid Hill Park, the 131-year-old
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-
ed.notebook07apr07,0,7708157.story?coll=bal-opinion-headlines

ZOO PROJECT TO SAVE ENDANGERED ANTELOPE
A volunteer is needed to help a South Devon zoo research an elusive
and critically endangered antelope in Africa.
Paignton Zoo needs a volunteer to spend three months in eastern
Kenya, studying and helping to safeguard the Aders' duiker.
The zoo said the breed was difficult to study, which means it is also
proving tough to help conserve.
Natasha de Vere, conservation officer for the Whitley Wildlife
Conservation Trust, which owns Paignton Zoo, said: "We have been
researching Aders' duiker since 2001. In 2006 we successfully
trialled the use of camera traps, taking what are thought to be the
first photographs of this rare species in the wild."
The internship will run from early June to the end of September, with
time at the beginning and end of the project at Paignton Zoo and
approximately three months in Kenya working with another researcher
and a local guide. The volunteer
http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?
nodeId=143632&command=displayContent&sourceNode=142719&contentPK=17055
499&folderPk=91672&pNodeId=142722

Striped rabbit spotted in Sumatra
One of the rarest species of rabbit in the world has been spotted for
only the third time in the last 35 years.
The Sumatran striped rabbit was photographed in late January on the
Indonesian island of Sumatra, the Wildlife Conservation Society said.
The species is listed as critically endangered by the World
Conservation Union, due to loss of habitat.
The rabbit was previously photographed in 2000, with the last
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6530365.stm

"Highways of death" lead to elephant extinction
They're called "highways of death" and it's elephants that are being
slaughtered.
A new study reveals roads penetrating into the heart of Africa's
jungles are making it easier for ivory poachers to kill large numbers
of forest elephants.
"Unmanaged roads are highways of death for forest elephants," said
lead author Stephen Blake, a biologist at the Wildlife Conservation
Society in New York.
The study, detailed in the current issue of the journal PLoS Biology,
reveals that along roadways elephant numbers plummeted, which the
authors say is largely due to heavy ivory poaching because of the
international black-market trade in the ivory from elephants' tusks.
"It is not the physical effect of the road that is the issue --
forest elephants actually like roadside vegetation -- rather it is
the fact that
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/03/content_5929882.htm

Interview: `Bear Mother' fights extinction tirelessly
DYING HARD: The Formosan black bear is close to disappearing, but one
woman is doing all she can to increase knowledge of the animal before
it is too late
Local Aborigines call her "Bear Mother" and the media have dubbed
her "Taiwan's Jane Goodall" after the primatologist whose work in
Africa made her a household name worldwide.
Hwang Mei-hsiu has been tracking Formosan black bears in the
wilderness of the central mountain ranges for a decade as she tries
to ensure that the endangered animal is brought back from the edge of
extinction.
Researching the bears, which she began for her doctoral dissertation,
has led the 37-year-old to the most remote and isolated regions of
Taiwan and at times has put her in life-threatening situations.
"To study bears I have to capture them alive to gather first-hand
information, and people thought it horrifying for a girl to chase
bears," said the slim, energetic and eloquent biologist.
"My family were also worried because nobody had done it before," she
said in a recent interview.
Hwang worked on the small mongoose for her master's degree in Taiwan
and switched
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/03/27/2003354044

31Mar2007

Woman wearing live crocs arrested
A woman with three crocodiles strapped to her waist was stopped at
the Gaza-Egypt border crossing after guards noticed that she
looked "strangely fat," officials said today.
The woman's shape raised suspicions at the Rafah terminal in southern
Gaza, and a body search by a female border guard turned up the
animals, each about 50 centimetres long, concealed underneath her
loose robe, according to Maria Telleria, spokeswoman for the European
observers who run the crossing.
"The woman looked strangely fat. Even though she was veiled and
covered, even with so many clothes on there was something
http://www.thestar.com/article/196085

Suffer the animals
Caging wildlife for public display is inhumane and unethical but we
still see plenty of it here.
A LEASHED pig-tailed macaque looks forlorn in its tiny hut. Nearby, a
white-bellied sea eagle is tethered to a log. In a cage, a pair of
nocturnal slow lorises desperately seeks cover from the harsh sun. In
the paddock, a listless ostrich plucks at its own feathers out of
boredom. Squirrels, a leopard cat and a tiger, all creatures which
roam large spaces, are instead confined in tiny cages.
These sad sights greet visitors to a mini-zoo in Klang, Selangor.
Elsewhere in the country, other mini-zoos, bird parks, reptile farms,
butterfly farms and theme parks with wildlife displays fare no
better. Many not only house animals in constricted, deplorable
conditions and make them perform silly shows, but also run foul of
the law by acquiring wildlife illegally.
Our outdated wildlife law, being narrow in
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?
file=/2007/3/27/lifefocus/17231619&sec=lifefocus

Zoo loses accreditation for second time
A community zoo forced to close last year by federal regulators after
failing to apply for a license renewal has had its accreditation
revoked for a second time in three months by a national organization.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums revoked accreditation for the
New York State Zoo at Thompson Park on Sunday at an AZA hearing in
Denver, Colo., after four members of the zoo's board made a
presentation to the organization.
The zoo was first accredited in March 2000. When the accreditation
was renewed in September 2005, the Watertown zoo was one of only 181
zoos nationwide to hold the distinction. There are more than 2,000
zoos in the United States.
The accreditation was stripped by AZA Dec. 22, a day after the U.S.
Department of Agriculture forced the zoo to close for failing to
apply
http://www.examiner.com/a-
639281~Zoo_loses_accreditation_for_second_time.html

Need for greater scrutiny
MANY animal park start out fine but quickly deteriorate due to high
running costs, shortage of trained staff, poor knowledge of animal
ethics and welfare, and poor funding, says Zoo Negara director Dr
Mohamad Ngah.
"Keeping animals is costly. Zoo Negara, for instance, has a RM7mil
operation expenditure annually," he says.
Zoo Taiping director Dr Kevin Lazarus laments that many think keeping
wildlife simply means housing them in a cage or enclosure and feeding
them when, in reality, captive animals need loads of care and
attention.
"Keeping animals is not easy. If a theme park wants to keep animals,
it must have the right people, proper facilities, good husbandry and
a good feeding regime."
Animal enclosures, he says, should not be empty but filled
with "enrichment furniture" such as logs, trees, pools, elevated
platforms and a family group for social interaction.
Lazarus says some mini-zoos need help to improve, and the Malaysian
Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria (Mazpa), which he chairs,
can assist as it holds training courses in animal ethics and welfare.
Perhilitan guidelines on zoo management also state that all animal
parks must be members of Mazpa but this is not necessarily helpful
since several of Mazpa's 12 members themselves have flouted the law.
World Wide Fund for Nature executive director Dr Dionysius Sharma
attests that zoos are important for ex-situ conservation, education,
captive breeding and research but many fail to fulfil these
functions, being merely exhibitions of animals with little
educational worth.
He says audits are needed to judge an operator's ability to sustain
the venture in terms of management and funding.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), which
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?
file=/2007/3/27/lifefocus/20070327073309&sec=lifefocus

Wolf rescue center wins rare accreditation
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums board said it had just one more
question Sunday when it called Darlene Kobobel of the Colorado Wolf
and Wildlife Center back into the boardroom. Board members had
grilled her about every part of the Teller County wolf sanctuary,
from finances to fences to the staff’s CPR skills (for humans,
not wolves). What could be left? Kobobel
http://article.wn.com/view/2007/03/27/Wolf_rescue_center_wins_rare_acc
reditation/

Orissa's Nandan Kanan to breed vultures
The Nandan Kanan Zoo in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, is all set to become the
first zoo in the country to begin a captive vulture breeding center
for the critically endangered White backed vulture.
Director Nandan Kanan Zoo Ajit Patnaik speaking to Hindustan Times
said, "We have received approval for this Rs 1.5 crore project from
the Central Zoo Authority alongwith Rs 41 lakh as the first
instalment.
"The project is to be carried out in a collaborative mode with the
Bombay Natural History Society with whom we are going to sign an MOU
soon."
"We plan to install CCTV to monitor and record the movements and
behaviour of the birds including foraging, nesting, egg laying and
other important behaviour of the birds," he
http://www.hindustantimes.in/news/181_1958546,0008.htm

Herds of Arabian Oryx to be released into wild
Abu Dhabi: After the successful release of captive-bred falcons and
houbara bustards into the wild, the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi
(EAD) has drawn up another plan for the development of wildlife -
this time herds of Arabian Oryx will be released in a desert area of
the emirate.
According to the EAD over the next four years a herd of 100 captive-
bred Arabian Oryx (Oryx leucoryx) will be introduced back into their
natural habitat after 40 years of extinction in the wild.
"This reintroduction is part of the EAD's long-term commitment to
conserve our precious biodiversity. The project will be termed a
success when the status of this beautiful creature in the wild is
significantly improved.
"Our Terrestrial Environment Research Centre has been releasing some
of these oryxes in the hope of creating a self-sustaining population
that roams freely in our deserts," said Majid Al Mansouri, Secretary-
General of the EAD.
Protected area
For the new project the agency has already submitted a proposal to
the Abu Dhabi Executive Council to declare the selected territory a
protected area.
Each released animal will be continuously monitored and breeding
closely observed. The agency will set up desert rangers to patrol the
protected areas.
According to the agency, the release sites have been very carefully
chosen based on several criteria. More than 30 shelters and feeding
stations have been temporarily installed to provide the oryxes with
shade and water.
This is also done to support the animals in their learning process of
surviving in the wild. These shelters and feeding stations will be
gradually removed as the oryx learns to depend on its natural
environment for survival, as it did years ago in the UAE.
The project is being launched in partnership with Al Ain Zoo which
has been helping to select the release areas and have even donated
some oryx from the zoo. The zoo
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/03/26/10113606.html

Animal welfare should be taken more seriously
IN response to Melinda's letter (GDN, March 21) about the recent
missing dogs in the Saar area, my dog happens to be one of the
mentioned (the male, - not female ñ shi'tzu with the obvious scar on
his back), who went missing from our compound three weeks ago.
Just to make a point, he was a part of our family, just like most (we
would like to think) pets are.
I agree that as owners, their welfare is in our hands, but, my dog
did not go missing out of negligence. Myself, along with other pet
owners around the Saar area, are well aware of people picking up our
animals, for whatever reason, whether it is dog fighting, breeding,
to make an extra dinar, or just for the fun of it, so we would
definitely not let our dogs wander around as we know that there is a
huge risk.
I love my dog, just
http://article.wn.com/link/WNAT738c7bcce0e51acbfd958bf130e0ce29?
source=modular_search&ranking=385&search_string=zoo

Scientists snatch at-risk falcon eggs from bridge
A peregrine falcon shrieked as scientists snatched three eggs from
his precarious perch beneath the Bay Bridge to save the chicks from a
deadly fall or car collision when they hatch.
University of California, Santa Cruz, biologist Brian Latta on Friday
removed the eggs from a narrow beam about 200 feet above San
Francisco Bay.
"It's the most dangerous place in the world for them," said Latta.
Latta moved in after the female parent left the male parent alone to
defend the nest, a two-inch depression in a wind-blown pile of dirt.
Peregrines are known for their ferocity when their nests are invaded,
and
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070331/peregrine
_falcons_070331/20070331?hub=SciTech

Zoo Negara the only zoo in the world to breed 100 Milky Storks
BREEDING animals one loves may seem natural for humans, but for Zoo
Negara staff, it is much more than that.
"We have four major roles to play – conservation, education, research
and recreation," said Zoo Negara director Dr Mohamad Ngah. "They are
all related to one
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?
file=/2007/3/31/central/17224913&sec=central

Shark disappearance threatens sea life: Report
The near extinction of several species of sharks is causing a
dangerous ripple effect through the marine food chain, according to a
new study that links their virtual disappearance to depletions of
other sea life.
The report by a team of researchers at Dalhousie University in
Halifax has found that species that were once the primary food source
for certain types of large sharks are undergoing a population boom
because there aren't as many sharks to prey on them.
The scientists contend that the explosive increase in about a dozen
types of smaller sharks, rays and skates has caused a cascading
effect throughout the ecosystem as they begin to deplete limited
nutrient sources and alter nature's complex food web.
"It's incredibly serious," said Julia Baum, who co-wrote the report
to be released Friday in the journal Science. "Everyone knows that
the oceans are being overfished and it's the top predators that are
being disproportionately hit by overfishing.
"Because they structure everything underneath
http://www.thestar.com/article/197438

'Gorilla kingdom' opens in London
A new enclosure is to be officially opened at London Zoo, where
keepers hope gorillas will begin to breed.
Gorilla Kingdom consists of a large open island, surrounded by a
moat, an indoor "gym" and a back den.
Three western lowland gorillas will live in the enclosure: Bobby, a
23-year-old male; and two females, Zaire, 32, and Effie who is 13.
The £5.3m project means that Bobby can see the sky without bars for
the first time since he was captured as a baby.
Rescued from a circus in Italy
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6499593.stm

Britain gives $98 mln to protect Congo forests
The British government has donated 50 million pounds ($98 million) to
protect the fragile ecosystem of the Congo Basin, the world's second
largest rainforest, a British diplomat said on Wednesday.
The Congo Basin, which spans 10 countries at the heart of Africa,
loses 3.7 million acres a year to agriculture, logging, road
development, oil exploitation and mining, environmentalists say.
The British aid was intended to protect the fragile
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2864549.htm

British tourists trampled to death in safari stampede
A mother and her daughter were killed when an elephant trampled them
during a safari in a game reserve in western Zimbabwe.
The woman's husband was injured in the accident, which occurred after
the group of holidaymakers had left their vehicles to look closer at
a male bull elephant while on a two-night visit to Hwange national
park.
Managers at the safari camp where the family were staying said last
night that the elephant had been in musth, the breeding period when
bulls can become very aggressive, and armed guides had not had time
to fire directly at the charging animal. The injured man was released
after hospital treatment.
Gavin Rennie, of the Hide camp in the heart of Hwange, which is
renowned for its diversity of big game, said: "It happened
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2396003.ece

Veteran panda keeper hangs up his cap after 24 years at Ueno Zoo
A veteran zookeeper who cared for the popular giant pandas at Tokyo's
Ueno Zoo for 24 years retired on Saturday.
Yoshiaki Sagawa, 60, was hired by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
in 1970 and then began working for Ueno Zoo.
Initially, Sagawa was in charge of elephants and monkeys. But after
two pandas came from China to Japan in October 1972 to commemorate
diplomatic normalization between the two countries, the zoo formed a
panda keeper team in February next year, to which Sagawa was
appointed.
Sagawa performed his duties with dedication, recording the pandas'
diet and even the amount of feces they produced. Their
http://mdn.mainichi-
msn.co.jp/national/news/20070331p2a00m0na013000c.html

In this zoo, only the rabbits seem to have a raw deal
ROBERT MCNEIL
I LEFT you last week at the zoo. I trust they have fed you well. Let
us now proceed with the second part of our tale. As you will recall
with dreadful clarity, on spying my approach, most of the animals had
fled into their shelters, where they'd pretended to sleep. Then, as
soon as I'd gone, they'd get out the top hats and canes, and launch
into song-and-dance routines, giving the metaphorical vickies to
their would-have-been voyeur.
However, just when I was thinking I'd spent ten quid to see a crow
and a couple of seagulls, I came upon a perambulating polar bear.
After that, the beasties came thick and fast. A member of staff
bunged bits of banana and other fruit to the macaques, who must be
exceeding the Government's five-a-day limit for this sort of muck.
Crows grabbed much of it, anyway, which didn't bother the apathetic
primates a bit.
I think I saw a wolverine, which looked like a badger with a
hangover, and then came the sublime evil of a black jaguar. Bejasus,
it was scary. Its black spots on a blacker body evoked primeval fear
in my bones, doubtless stemming from some McNeil of yore who'd spent
his days fleeing hither and yon from one vicious beast after another.
Thanks to evolution, the only beast we fear now is the traffic
warden.
It was thrilling when the jaguar caught my eye. I thought: "My image
is currently imprinted on that brutal creature's brain." And it
thought: "They aren't half letting some berks into this place
nowadays." On platforms, two tigers looked out over the city, trapped
http://living.scotsman.com/people.cfm?id=489202007

MCH seizes zoo equipment
The MCH seized office equipment, including a few computers and
furniture, from the office of Nehru Zoological Park for non-payment
of property tax and expiry of the 24-hour deadline on Friday.
A property attachment notice was served on the zoo for not paying Rs.
36-lakh property tax dues earlier this week. Additional time was also
given following an appeal
However, with no payments forthcoming and zoo officials expressing
inability to pay up without getting permission from higher
authorities, MCH
http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/31/stories/2007033125580500.htm

Zoo payout for tiger attack
A Chinese zoo has paid out compensation of 44,000 dollars to a man
whose six-year-old daughter was mauled to death by a tiger, state
press reported.
The girl was standing behind the tiger while waiting to have her
photo taken with the animal but it turned around and bit her head,
Xinhua news agency said in a report late Wednesday.
The death, on February 22, was the second fatal tiger attack at
Kunming Zoo in China's southwest Yunnan province. A Bengal tiger
killed a female employee at the zoo in October 2001, according to
Xinhua.
The girl's father, Mo Jicai, said the zoo had agreed to pay him
340,000 yuan (44,000 dollars) as compensation for losing his
daughter, but that he was not satisfied.
"Nothing can compensate for the loss of my
http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/fri/mar30w28.htm

Philip reflects on a life with animals
It was "because they were there" that Philip Wayre embarked on half a
lifetime's work to save the British otter. Nearly four decades of
effort have certainly paid off, and the animals have Mr Wayre in
large part to thank for their survival.
It has been a curious turn of events for a man who might have been
the next Bernard Matthews, who failed at farming and who set up the
country's first wildlife park.
At 85, Philip Wayre is best known as the founder of the Otter Trust,
based in Earsham, which pioneered the breeding of British otters and
successfully reintroduced them into the wild.
Those with long memories will recall him as the man who played with
hawks and foxes on Anglia television in the late 1950s, and also
produced nature films for Anglia and the BBC, including Wind in the
Reeds, about the wildlife of the Broads, Twilight of the Tiger and
the Vanishing Otter.
The last of those titles says it all about the plight of the otter
when it was made in 1978. Thanks to pesticides, polluted rivers and
humans who shot and trapped them, there were just 20 in Norfolk and
Suffolk by 1980. Now that figure is thought to be around 400.
Mr Wayre said: "They were there. They
http://www.becclesandbungayjournal.co.uk/content/bbjournal/news/story.
aspx?
brand=BBJOnline&category=NEWS&tBrand=BBJOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=N
OED29%20Mar%202007%2018%3A01%3A47%3A067

Dutch Team Harvest Eggs From White Rhino
This egg hunt shortly before Easter was not for the faint-hearted. A
team at Beekse Bergen safari park in the southern Netherlands on
Thursday successfully harvested eggs from Ans, a 4,190-pound southern
white rhino.
The plan is now to inseminate the eggs, then freeze them before
placing the fertilized eggs in "surrogate mother" rhinos, the zoo
said in a statement.
How do you remove eggs from a rhinoceros that tips the scales at
nearly two tons?
"It's not a job you want to try on your own," said Jacques Kaandorp,
a veterinarian who was assisted
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=106&sid=1101822

New aviary for black stilt breeding centre at Twizel
A brand new aviary stands at the Department of Conservation kaki
(black stilt) captive breeding centre on the outskirts of Twizel.
The impressive dwelling was constructed by Timaru firm KiwiSpan.
"Our last aviary was made of jointed steel pipes and even though it
had stood for over 15 years it couldn't handle the devastating
snowstorm of winter 2006," said ranger Emily Sancha.
"The whole aviary collapsed from the weight of fallen snow leaving 24
kaki (black stilt) trapped underneath tangled netting and twisted
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/timaruherald/4010175a6571.html

Near-extinct cat claws back from brink
THE world's most endangered cat, the Iberian lynx, may be making a
comeback. Five Iberian lynx were born in captivity in Andalusia in
southern Spain over two days last week, reviving hopes that Spain's
increasingly successful lynx breeding program may pull the species
back from extinction.
A further three captive lynx are pregnant, prompting lynx biologists
to claim that this year could mark the species' turning point.
Three Iberian lynx were first born in captivity in 2005 to Saliega,
who gave birth to two more cubs last Friday.
One of Saliega's 2005 cubs was killed in a fight with her brother, so
biologists have increased monitoring of the newborn cubs to ensure
that none dies unnecessarily.
"They are under surveillance 24 hours a day," said Astrid Vargas,
director of El Acebuche breeding centre in the Andalusian
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/nearextinct-cat-claws-back-from-
brink/2007/03/28/1174761566163.html

Sumatran tiger cubs born in Queensland
A litter of Sumatran tiger cubs born in Queensland will help the
critically endangered species claw its way back from the brink of
extinction.
At 7.45am (AEST) Saturday, four-year-old female Sumatran tiger Soraya
began giving birth to two cubs in the Dreamworld tiger facility at
the Gold Coast, and all three are said to be doing well.
And the extra good news is another two furry bundles of joy are on
the way.
The birth is part of the Australasian Species Management Program for
Sumatran tigers to save the endangered
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=257933

26Mar2007

Monkey World's founder Jim dies
JIM Cronin, the founder of Monkey World ape rescue centre, has lost
his battle against liver cancer.
The world-renowned primate expert died in hospital in his native New
York at the weekend, his wife and fellow conservationist Alison by
his side. He was 55.
Staff at the primate sanctuary near Wool were recently told that Jim
had been diagnosed with liver cancer earlier this year while
travelling with his wife, but despite intensive chemotherapy
treatment started a month ago, he succumbed to the disease on
Saturday.
Stunned colleagues and staff at Monkey World were told of his death
yesterday.
As Jim fought the rare primary liver cancer in hospital, Alison and
members of his family in New York had been joined by
http://www.thisisdorset.net/display.var.1270969.0.monkey_%
20worlds_founder_%20jim_dies.php

Knut Should Be Killed, Say Some Animal Activists
Berlin's polar bear cub Knut is more famous than ever. Even star
photographer Annie Leibovitz has been to take his picture. But not
everyone loves the little bear. Animal rights activists want him put
to sleep because he has been raised on a bottle.
Everyone loves Knut. The three-month-old polar bear born in one of
Berlin's zoos has become a star in the German capital and has won
hearts the world over. Indeed, the exact date of his first public
appearance -- likely to be made later this week -- is the subject of
almost as much anticipation as the details of Britney Spears
Alcoholics Anonymous love affair. It's impossible not to love the
little
http://www.spiegel.de/internat ional/0,1518,472480,00.html

Zoo with a twist
The Amazing Ten Animal Kingdom houses some pretty neat creatures that
you probably won't find in other zoos in the country. SHANTI
GUNARATNAM is thrilled.
THEY are definitely the laziest creature in the animal kingdom. These
nocturnal animals can take a whole day to just eat an apple. They are
sloths, after which one of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Roman
Catholic Church was named. (The other six are pride, envy, gluttony,
lust, anger and greed). Sloths are so lazy they can't be bothered to
look after their offsprings. This often results in the death of
babies. A sloth baby clings to the mother as she hangs upside down
from a tree. But if one should fall off, the mother is reluctant to
retrieve it, preferring to continue to sleep instead. It would also
rather have a shut eye instead of getting cosy with a male or female
partner to mate. In the sloth's world, sleeping rules and it has
turned doing nothing into an art. The slow-moving sloth spends all
its life hanging upside down from trees and a meal of leaves can take
up to one month to digest as its metabolism rate is slow, just like
the animal itself. To learn .......
of the more, the merrier," says Lim Boon Seng, managing director of
Amazing Ten Animal Kingdom. The zoo, which opened last December, has
been attracting many ........
Getting There
Gohtong Jaya is on the way to Genting Highland. From Kuala Lumpur,
the journey via the Karak Highway takes about an hour.
http://www.nst.com.my/Weekly/Travel/article/FeatureStory/2007032010533
0/Article/

You don't have to kill a zoo animal that hurts someone
The 4-year-old rhinoceros stood out in the sun yesterday, munching on
new grass shoots, still very much alive.
Dominique, who gored a zookeeper last week, was much luck- ier than a
pair of Maymont bears.
The bears in Maymont's wildlife exhibit were killed in February of
last yearafter one bit a young boy's hand when he stuck it through a
fence.
Health and game officials decided the bears had to be killed for
rabies testing.
The decision outraged the public and politicians, who called it rash
and ultimately unnecessary. Two replacement bears were obtained. The
Richmond park improved its fencing.
The latest incident happened at the Metro Richmond Zoo in
Chesterfield County, near the Amelia County line.
Dominique raised his head suddenly, sticking
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%
2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173350298787&path=!
news&s=1045855934842

Prayer for the dying: shut down zoo at Byculla, shift animals
elsewhere
Backed by friends, 15-yr-old writes to CJ about how HC order is being
ignored
WHEN a sixth grader simply asks, shining-eyed, if you're a
vegetarian, if you love animals and if you have any pets, the most
toughened meat-connoisseur feels some discomfort. But not the
authorities at the civic-run Byculla zoo, it seems.
So, after getting no response to two earlier missives—one to zoo
authorities and the other to the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court—
15-year-old Nishiki Bhavnani decided to write another plea to the
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=227531

Claims zoo hushed up cheetah attack
Wellington Zoo has been accused of endangering public safety to
protect its lucrative "rent-a-cheetah " programme after revelations a
big cat attacked two zoo keepers during a staff meeting.
Animal advocacy group Safe says the incident, which happened six
months ago, was hushed up by zoo bosses.
Safe campaign director Hans Kriek said zoo visitors were allowed
direct contact with the same cheetah soon after the attack, and
within days, it was taken out for a school visit.
The zoo has been running its "cheetah encounter" programme since late
2005, hiring out Charlie and Delta for private events for a $2500
appearance fee.
The animals and their trainers have attended private parties, a pet
store opening, university lectures, primary schools and an A&P show.
The zoo also sells encounters with the animals, where the public can
meet and pet them in a special enclosure for $195.
A source told the Sunday Star-Times that a zoo keeper was bitten on
the neck
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/westcoast/3997125a11.html

Zoo whistleblower reveals attacks and abuse
Group maintains position. Zoo downplays incident to protect programme.
The seriousness of the allegations against Wellington Zoo, revealed
yesterday by the Sunday Star Times, can not be fobbed off or
dismissed says animal advocacy group SAFE. SAFE received the
allegations (below) from an inside source. The groups says the zoo is
endangering lives by allowing its lucrative cheetah encounter
programme to continue.
"These allegations are extremely serious as they accuse Wellington
Zoo of animal abuse, reckless endangerment of public safety and
misconduct by zoo management following an incident where zoo
personnel were attacked by a cheetah", said SAFE campaign director
Hans Kriek.
The informant claims the incident occurred in August 2006 and that:
- a zoo keeper sustained bite wounds to his neck when the head animal
trainer lost control of a cheetah that the trainer had brought to a
staff meeting. Before the trainer was able to regain control of the
animal the cheetah also attacked a volunteer, biting them on the
ankle.
- after restraining the animal the head animal trainer delivered
hard, closed-fisted punches to the face area of the cheetah.
- within days of the attack staff took the same cheetah to a local
school to appear in front of children.
- zoo visitors were permitted to have dire
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0703/S00222.htm

Detroit Zoo social directors
To keep animals lively through the long dark winter, night keepers
engage them with games, music and poppy seed bagels
Humans might be tempted to lounge all winter, staying in their
jammies, sipping hot tea, napping regularly, watching favorite old
movies and waiting for spring.
Animals at the Detroit Zoo do not have that luxury.
They submit each day -- and, now, each night -- to what zookeepers
call "enrichment." That is, human beings approach them at
unpredictable hours with unpredictable things, challenging them to
keep alert and guessing.
Working till almost midnight are three women who flick on lights,
greet animals by name and engage them with bagels, onions, gangly
tree branches, spices, ketchup, mouthwash, perfume, pictures of other
animals, a CD of jungle music or even the songs of Bruce Springsteen.
Zoo director Ron Kagan told me: "Our challenge is to make sure life
for our animals is stimulating, that there are surprises, that things
happen. Old zoos were very boring for animals."
Getting the most attention these days are animals locked inside, away
from the cold: giraffes, rhinos
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20070318/COL02/703180609/1184/FEATURES

ASBO Gorillas: how delinquent gorillas were given a second chance
Delinquent and dangerous - a group of wild gorillas are part of a
remarkable new rehabilitation experiment in which they are sent for a
fresh start in life on an Alcatraz-style island:
Will the crate be strong enough? I give it a rattle. Thick welded
bars at the front, padlocks, a steel frame and 15 millimetre ply
panels. Even Houdini wouldn't have stood a chance.
But Houdini did not weigh a quarter of a tonne, did not possess
rippling muscles capable of throwing a grown man several feet into
the air - and nor did he have the animal equivalent of an Asbo
hanging over him. Even in his weakened state, the crate's inmate,
Sid, is growing restless, and this most truculent and traumatised of
beasts is capable of causing a lot of
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.h
tml?in_article_id=443183

WILDLIFE STAR MAULED BY WILD CHEETAH
A British TV wildlife expert has been attacked by a rabid cheetah
while filming in Kenya. TV presenter SIMON KING was mauled by the six
stone (35 kilogram) animal, which pounced on the star at the Lewa
Wildlife Conservatory during filming for BBC show TOKI'S TALE - in
which he releases a cheetah he hand-reared for four years into the
wild. King was taken to a nearby hospital after the wild beast
inflicted a large
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/wildlife%20star%20mauled%
20by%20wild%20cheetah_1025540

Baby Elephant Born At Louisville Zoo
Mikki, the Louisville Zoo's 21-year-old African elephant, has given
birth to a 285-pound, 37-inch tall male calf.
The elephant -- to be named through a contest -- arrived Sunday night
and is the first elephant born at the zoo in its 38-year history.
Zoo officials say the strong, stocky calf can be heard trumpeting
from hundreds of feet away. The public won't get to see the baby
pachyderm until zoo officials are confident the calf's development is
problem-free.
They declined to
http://www.wlky.com/news/11304885/detail.html

China announces selection of two pandas for Hong Kong zoo
China announced the selection of a pair of pandas Tuesday to be sent
to Hong Kong to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the former
British colony's handover to Chinese rule.
The pair, a male and female both born in 2005, weigh about 60
kilograms (132 pounds) each and will move to their new home in Hong
Kong's Ocean Park before May 1, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
There, they will join another pair of pandas, An An and Jia Jia, who
were given to Hong Kong in 1999, it said.
"It is an exceptional case for the Central Government to give an
extra pair to Hong Kong," Hong Kong's No. 2 leader Rafael Hui was
quoted as saying on his recent visit to the China Panda Protection
and Research Center at Wolong in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
China has been building anticipation over the July 1 Hong Kong
handover commemorations as part of efforts to instill patriotism and
faith in
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/20/asia/AS-GEN-China-Hong-Kong-
Pandas.php

Zoo animals 'may jump into park'
Dangerous animals at London Zoo could jump the facility's perimeter
fence into Regent's Park unless security is improved, a report has
warned.
Tigers and lions kept at the zoo could leap over the 6ft-high
perimeter fence if they escaped from their enclosures, a Defra vet's
report said.
The report said the fencing should be improved within six months.
The Zoological Society said there was no question the animals were
not being held securely.
'Strict security'
The report follows vet inspections of the zoo in January, which did
not criticise the enclosures in which the animals are held.
"It is a concern, however
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6486327.stm

Warning: zoo animals could escape into park
In Regent's Park's 140 acres of greenery, visitors may spot a variety
of animals: hedgehogs, foxes, grey squirrels, tawny owls, bats,
damselflies and butterflies. And, perhaps, a tiger.
An unpublished inspection of London Zoo has warned that dangerous
animals could quickly emerge into the outside world, after leaping an
inadequate perimeter fence. That would lead to big cats surprising,
not to say terrifying, the picnickers, joggers and tourists enjoying
the adjoining park, central London's biggest.
The warning came in an official inspection report by vets obtained by
The Independent under Freedom of Information legislation. Their
criticism is something of an embarrassment to the Zoological Society
of London, which runs the oldest and most famous public menagerie in
Britain. Although the zoo's tigers and lions are held in high
security compounds, the Government-approved vets feared that if they
did escape a 6ft perimeter fence would not hold them back for long.
In fact they would be able to climb the metal railings before
marksmen fired their tranquilliser guns. Once out, the creatures
would be faced with dodging traffic on the Outer Circle or roaming
Regent's Park, a few miles from the West End and the Houses of
Parliament.
The vets visited London Zoo for two days in January and warmly
welcomed improvements for the
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2383906.ece

Chimps forced to break bad habit
VISITORS TO the Emperor Valley Zoo and its two chimpanzees have been
banned from smoking.
This follows a directive from President of Zoological Society of
Trinidad and Tobago, (ZSTT) Gupte Lutchmedial, that the Emperor
Valley Zoo become a smoke-free environment. The decision was taken at
the ZSTT's meeting last week. Lutchmedial said the policy had been
adopted in the interest of the public and the animals.
Hardest hit by the smoking ban will be "Sudi" the 32-year-old
chimpanzee at the Emperor Valley Zoo and her male buddy, 31-year-
old, "Njujo," — meaning "clown." Sudi — her name means "good girl" in
Swahili — has been taking an occasional "smoke" since she was a
juvenile chimp, having developed the habit from her original owner.
Sudi and Njujo, who were both born in Africa, came from a Canadian
zoo around 1984 and visitors have
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,54409.html

Zoo Defends its right to sack psychiatric Killer
The Auckland Zoo is defending its decision to terminate the
employment of a psychiatric patient who killed his mother.
The zoo has asked Waitemata Health, which runs the Mason Clinic, to
remove Mark Burton from a work programme saying it is not appropriate
for him to be there.
Burton killed his mother the day after he had been discharged from
Southland Hospital's mental health unit in 2001. He was found not
guilty on grounds of insanity; he has worked part-time at the zoo for
four months for a rehabilitation organisation, Second Chance.
Auckland Zoo director, Glen Holland says the zoo has a policy of not
employing high profile people and it should have been informed about
his employment.
Burton's father says he is no
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200703260752/zoo_defends_decision
_to_sack_psychiatric_killer

Zoo awaits AZA ruling
Improved conditions may finally win Chaffee delayed accreditation
Fresno Chaffee Zoo officials are expected to learn Monday whether the
zoo gains a long-sought accreditation from the Association of Zoos
and Aquariums.
An AZA accreditation panel has put the decision off three times.
The panel meets during the AZA's annual conference in Denver. If
approved, the zoo will be accredited through 2011.
Last year, an AZA panel extended the zoo's accreditation while a list
of repairs and improvements was completed. Accreditation also had
been
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/37340.html

Monkey bites lead to zoo thief's capture
A man was convicted of stealing a rare monkey from a British zoo
based on blood spilled during a unified attack by the animal's fellow
primates.
Marlon Brown was convicted Friday of stealing "SpongeBob" the monkey
from the Chessington World of Adventures. Police linked his blood to
that of the robber's found at the scene of the crime, The Independent
reported.
Others are thought to have also been involved in the theft.
While the 23-year-old offered several reasons for his blood being
found at the zoo, a jury found him guilty of stealing the rare
Bolivian squirrel monkey.
"SpongeBob" was found two days after
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/Monkey_bites_lead_to_zoo_thiefs_ca
pture/20070324-015100-7789r/

Three sharks die in aquarium move
An investigation is under way into the deaths of three sharks which
were moved to an aquarium in Norfolk.
The black tipped reef sharks were three of five moved 70 miles
(112km) from Great Yarmouth to their refurbished tank at the
Hunstanton Sea Life Centre.
The centre said the deaths were "almost unprecedented in the Sea Life
network" after "over 100 shark transportations over the past 20
years".
Manager Nigel Croasdale said he was "deeply concerned" at the loss.
"Something has clearly
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/6492987.stm?ls

Palm Oil Products Linked To Orang-utan Demise
New Zealanders must stop buying palm oil products if they want to
save the critically endangered orang-utan, according to a leading
international conservation expert coming to Auckland this week.
"Only 7000 orang-utans are left, in Indonesia and Malaysia, due to
their homes in the rainforests being cut down," says Dr Peter Pratje,
the director of Sumatran Orang-utan Conservation Programme
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0703/S00377.htm

Sex and co-operation - it's the bonobo in you
COULD there be more of the bonobo in us than the chimpanzee? And does
this explain the extraordinary ability of humans to co-operate with
each other to create everything from a symphony concert to a space
station?
They are questions Australian scientist Vanessa Woods has explored in
a new study, the first to compare the co-operative behaviour of our
two closest living relatives.
"Bonobos and chimpanzees can provide us with secrets about
ourselves," said Ms Woods, who works at the Max Planck Institute for
Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
These hairy cousins have very different natures. Chimpanzee society
is dominated by aggressive males. "They beat females, kill infants.
There is torture and war," said Ms Woods, who is in Australia to
promote her new book, It's Every Monkey for Themselves.
Bonobos, on the other hand, live a much more peaceful life. "They are
female-dominated and use sex to resolve tensions."
But when it comes to co-operation in the wild, chimpanzees seem to be
best, banding together to catch monkeys for food. Bonobos are famous
for their sexual exploits but they have never been seen to help each
other hunt.
To find out how co-operative bonobos were, Ms Woods and her
colleagues tested those living in the Lola ya bonobo sanctuary in
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sex-and-cooperation--its-the-bonobo-
in-you/2007/03/23/1174597882730.html

17Mar2007

Chessington Zoo is sold
Chessington World of Adventures' (CWA) parent company Tussauds - a
tourist attraction empire second only to Disney - has been sold.
Private equity group Blackstone has acquired Tussauds Group from
Dubai International Capital (DIC) to create an empire which will
operate 50 attractions in a dozen countries.
Attractions include CWA, Thorpe Park, the London Eye and the waxwork
museums on Tussauds' side, while Merlin owns Legoland in Denmark and
Germany and Italy's biggest theme
http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.1264626.0.chessington_zoo_is_sold.php

The zoo and the prison (Very curious write up...Peter)
Meet the Animal Man, a fictional character created by writer Dave
Wood and artist Carmine Infantino in the mid-1960s. He was known as
Buddy Baker until he gained supernatural power after an extra-
terrestrial spaceship exploded near him.
He could borrow the abilities of animals, such as a bird's flight or
the proportionate strength of an ant. The Animal Man was a superhero
who used his new-found powers to fight against crime.
Now meet the Animal Man on the rebound. He is a super-criminal who
did horrible things but loved to raise animals. He kept deer,
peacocks, turkeys and even pythons in his backyard. God knows if he
has borrowed anything from these animals, but he used his stupendous
powers to spread crime. In our times the Animal Man slipped, and
performed backward.
Frankly, there is nothing wrong if a man likes animals. As a matter
of fact, all animals, man included, are primordial cousins and they
have something common stamped in their genetic memories.
Psychologists have laboured to find that commonality, and their
conclusion is that people are known by the company they keep. And it
works both ways. People make the company as much as the company
makes them.
So, when a lonely woman keeps a cat, it could show that she treats
men distrustfully, and will enter into intimate relationships
gingerly. If a man likes cats, it is an indication that he accepts a
woman's right to be independent. A bachelor who has cat is likely to
be self-sufficient and reluctant to marry. Anybody who hates cats is
showing his antipathy to the whole female sex.
To give more examples, a woman who buys a French bulldog values
devotion, trustworthiness, constancy and sense of humour in her
partner. A lady with Doberman has strong will-power and challenges
men. If a child insists that he should have a puppy, mark it as a
sign of his inner loneliness.
It is, then, safe to say that when man keeps animals, it is a
psychosis. In that case, what about the men who kept deer and
peacocks, for that matter, turkeys and pythons? Some of them, I
hear, had horses and cows, dogs not mentioned because they come
almost as given as rest of the family. But what does it indicate?
Did they want to embellish their homes and pleasure pads with a
touch of innocence? Did they look for respite from human beings and
want to be entertained by animals?
In loop-d-loop, the conscience
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/03/16/d70316020435.htm

WALES: Couple Give Up the Seychelles to Run North Wales Sea Zoo
A NORTH Wales couple have given up managing nature reserves in the
Indian Ocean to run their own sea zoo.
Dylan Evans, and his wife Frankie Hobro, both33, whowereworking in
the Seychelles, have teamed up with best pal Scott Waterman ofMenai
Bridge, to take over Anglesey SeaZoo - a popular tourist attraction
on the banks of the Menai Strait at Brynsiencyn. And the final
decision was made over a glass of wine.
Yesterday the trio, with Scott's wife as a "silent
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/872199/wales_couple_give_up_the_seychelles_to_run_north_wales/index.html?source=r_science

Metro Richmond Zoo Worker Gored by Rhino
New information about the Metro Richmond Zoo worker gored by a rhino
Thursday night. The injured employee is out of surgery.
Jennifer Hollenbeck is out of the hospital at home recovering from a
wide, 2-3 inch deep puncture wound under her arm after being
accidentally gored last night by a rhino."
Zoo Director Jim Andelin says Jennifer was gored by the youngest,
and smallest of their three rhinos -- a 4500
http://www.wric.com/Global/story.asp?S=6239178

Go-ahead for Zoo's £58m expansion
EDINBURGH Zoo is set to get the go-ahead for a controversial £58
million expansion.
Green-belt land which the zoo hopes to sell for housing on the west
of its existing site has now been deemed suitable for development.
Council leaders have "reluctantly" given their backing to the idea
in their new development blueprint in order to allow the zoo to
expand.
The zoo wants to sell the land for an estimated £15m in order to
fund a proposed
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=413282007

Zoo 'threat to Kidnapped site'
ROBERT Louis Stevenson could imagine no more dramatic a location for
two dear friends to part company than the windswept spot with
stunning views of Edinburgh.
But conservationists last night claimed Corstorphine Hill - site of
the famous "Rest-and-Be-Thankful" spot immortalised in Stevenson's
classic novel Kidnapped - was under threat from lions, tigers,
reptiles, penguins and a ring-tailed lemur.
Edinburgh City Council has agreed to strip land owned by the
capital's zoo of its green-belt status - potentially allowing it to
be sold to housing developers.
The zoo wants to sell the land for an estimated £15million in order
to fund its controversial proposed expansion on to Corstorphine
Hill.
Conservationists worry that the project could impact on the site of
David Balfour's final farewell to Allan Breck in Kidnapped.
In the novel, Stevenson writes: "When we got near to the place
called Rest-and-Be-Thankful, and looked
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=417612007

Spider has pupils in a spin
TROPICAL spider experts from the Welsh Mountain Zoo were alerted to
an uninvited guest at a local primary school.
Staff from St Elfod Junior School on Ffordd y Morfa, Abergele, found
a large spider on Monday morning after receiving a delivery of fresh
fruit and vegetables.
The Welsh Mountain Zoo's Head keeper Mr Peter Litherland was
contacted after the arachnid was discovered.
He said, "Someone from the school rang me to say they'd come across
a large spider in a box of bananas. They told me they'd got it in a
jam jar, so I said they could drop it off at the zoo or I'd go and
get it for them. The school said they would take a picture of it and
send it to me but I didn't hear anything."
On Tuesday morning Mr Litherland was contacted by an Environmental
Health to inform him that the spider had been
http://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=2117873&SectionID=5274

New zoo exhibit lacks safety feature
Worker says tiger exhibit needs door with window
Wendy Klesig is concerned for her safety and that of her fellow
zookeepers at the Miller Park Zoo.
The second phase of "Operation Roar," a project that should be under
way sometime in June, calls for a renovation of the Katthoefer
Animal Building exhibits. This includes an expansion for the
http://www.pjstar.com/stories/031707/REG_BCLU405H.033.php

Zoo loses 6 gazelles in two weeks
Authorities seek divine intervention
ABOUT HALF a dozen spotted deer (gazelles) have died in quick
succession due to throat infection in the last two weeks at Kamla
Nehru Prani Sangrahalay, which has been in the news for all the
wrong reasons during the past six months.
Puzzled, Mayor-in-Council and member in charge of the City zoo, Lal
Bahadur Verma performed havan this Monday to seek divine blessings
for good health and long life of the zoo inmates. "Its not only for
the gazelles who died but
http://www.hindustantimes.in/news/181_1952345,0006.htm

New species shows leopard can change its spots
SCIENTISTS have identified a new species of leopard on the South-
East Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
Genetic testing on the animal, now called the Bornean clouded
leopard, or Neofelis diardi, have shown it is almost as different
from clouded leopards found on the Asian mainland as lions are from
tigers.
"For over 100 years we have been looking at this animal and never
realised that it was unique," said Stuart Chapman, co-ordinator of
animal conservation group WWF.
Clouded leopards were first documented in 1821 by British naturalist
Edward Griffith. Until now, the mainland and island animals were
believed to be a single species.
But DNA tests at the National Cancer Institute in the US found
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/new-species-shows-leopard-can-change-its-spots/2007/03/15/1173722655330.html

PETA CALLS ON ANTELOPE COUNTY SUPERVISORS TO INVESTIGATE ZOO
NEBRASKA
USDA Reports Reveal Chronic Violations of Minimum Standards Required
Under Federal Animal Welfare Act
When PETA filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Zoo
Nebraska's records following the death of three chimpanzees who were
shot after escaping from an improperly secured enclosure in 2005, it
did not know what would turn up. The U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) inspection reports, which PETA has just received, reveal
longstanding and chronic violations of the minimum requirements
established by the Animal Welfare Act. PETA is urging the Antelope
County Board of Supervisors to investigate the unaccredited zoo for
potential violations of state cruelty-to-animals laws.
Of the more than 130 citations issued in 16 USDA inspection reports
between May 2000 and November 2006, 27 were categorized as repeat
http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=9599

Zoo plans take new direction
The interim board for the "Move the Zoo" effort announced today that
Tom and Allie Harvey, the owners of the Safari Zoological Park (or
Caney Zoo), have decided to withdraw from the effort to create a not-
for-profit zoological park in the Bartlesville area.
Speaking during a press conference held downtown at the Market
Square, interim board chairman Sharon Hurst announced the board's
intentions to continue seeking a "community zoo" in the Bartlesville
area.
Members of the board said they sat down and looked at the mission
statement and realized that nothing had changed. The mission and
intent remain the same, according to a prepared statement.
In response, Tom Harvey announced he too plans to continue the
effort to move the Caney Zoo to Bartlesville but with private
investors.
"If you're going to give everything you have away, there's got to be
some kind of compensation in the future," said Harvey. "There needs
to be some kind of guarantee that you're going to have a job for X
amount of months or years and there's going to be some income coming
in and
http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/articles/2007/03/15/news/news783.txt

Two big cat deaths in Junagadh zoo
The historic Sakkarbagh Zoo of Junagadh lost two precious
possessions this week, when a tigress and a female leopard died
natural deaths recently. While the 11-year-old tigress died due to
cardiac arrest, the 12-year-old leopard died of kidney infection.
According to zoo superintendent R D Katara, tigress Tohima was on
display at the zoo and it died a sudden death due to cardiac arrest.
The zoo's animal keeper found the tigress dead in its cage on
Tuesday. Prior to its death, the
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=226870

Tiger Bites Off Woman's Arm at Zoo in Montenegro
A Siberian tiger at a private zoo in Montenegro bit off an arm of a
woman who tried to feed the animal.
Slavka Sekulovic, 58, had put her arm into the cage with two
Siberian tigers when one of them grabbed it and bit it off, said
doctor Zoran Srzentic who admitted the woman at a nearby hospital.
Srzentic said that Sekulovic's life is not in danger, though she
remained in shock after losing a lot of blood.
"The tiger just wouldn't let it go," he added.
The tigers were brought into Montenegro last year
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258543,00.html

Zoo's elephant matriarch is euthanized
The matriarch of the St. Louis Zoo's Asian elephant herd has been
euthanized.
The elephant Clara was 54-years-old and has been suffering from
arthritis for several years. Her death was announced early this
morning.
Veterinarians say Clara hadn't been responding to pain medications
as well as she used to, so she was in constant discomfort.
Over the last five decades
http://www.kmov.com/localnews/stories/kmov_localnews_070314_elephant.10514d89.html

Cromer zoo's new residents
The tree-speckled farmland on the edge of Cromer is currently home
to woodpeckers, blue tits, kestrels and frogs.
But soon they will be joined by pumas, snakes, piranha fish and
flamingos as the town's latest tourist attraction takes shape.
Work is well under way creating the new Cromer Zoo, which should
open in late May or early June nearly 24 years after the last one
shut.
Wire enclosures to house big cats, a timber-clad building which will
house crocodiles, and café which will overlook a lake and flock of
flamingos are emerging from the rolling countryside.
Zoo director Jim Irwin-Davis said the collection of animals was
linked to South America, but 99pc of them were coming from other
zoos in Britain and Europe.
Wet winter weather in Norfolk and abroad caused some problems, with
parts of the site - and a timber forest in Latvia which was due to
provide the wood - being too boggy for work.
But the timber had been obtained from the Northumbrian Kielder
Forest instead, and the local land was now drying out and work was
catching up.
The zoo, which is owned by Ken Sims of the Thrigby Hall Wildlife
Gardens near Yarmouth, is set to apply for its licence, and has
logged a list of about 400 planned animals and 80 species.
They include six types of monkey and five of rodents, including
alsatian-sized capiburra, birds ranging from blac
http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/News/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED13%20Mar%202007%2021%3A20%3A29%3A440

Zoo wins bronze
A North Devon zoo has been praised for ongoing fund-raising to help
endangered animals across the globe.
Exmoor Zoo at Bratton Fleming has collected £2,000 for the Eaza Save
the Rhino Campaign for which it received a Bronze Award certificate.
The campaign aims to highlight the plight of the five surviving
species of rhino, the rarest of which now number fewer than 60.
Exmoor Zoo belongs to the British and Irish Association of Zoos and
Aquaria and adopts its annual appeals.
The rhino campaign in North Devon exceeded its target thanks to
local schools, businesses and groups.
The money will help pay for rangers, vehicles and tougher security
measures to protect the rare animals.
"The certificate belongs to everyone who worked so hard for this
campaign," said
http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/northdevongazette/news/story.aspx?brand=NDGOnline&category=news&tBrand=devon24&tCategory=newsndga&itemid=DEED14%20Mar%202007%2009%3A42%3A11%3A333

Baboon's art will be auctioned at Zoobilee
When Ana correctly picked UCLA to reach the NCAA basketball
tournament Final Four last year, her pick was labeled miraculous by
some. For Ana, though, it wasn't that big a deal.
Nearly a year later, the Washington Park Zoo's 14-year-old Hamadryas
baboon has given up sports prognostication and taken up another
hobby which, zoo officials hope, will help pay for a needed overhaul
to the zoo's "Monkey Island."
"She's an artist now," Ana's trainer and zoo curator, Jaime LeBlanc,
said Monday. "It's not a task for her. It's something she really
seems to like."
Ana began painting
http://www.michigancityin.com/articles/2007/03/10/news/n2.txt

Los Angeles Zoo elephant to go to sanctuary
The city's oldest elephant is poised to live out her remaining days
at an animal sanctuary in Central California after years of lobbying
by animal activists for her retirement to a preserve.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has expressed concern about the
conditions for elephants at the Los Angeles Zoo, was expected to
announce Ruby's retirement Monday, according to a statement from his
office.
Activists have long pressed officials to retire Ruby to a sanctuary,
saying elephants simply don't have enough space at the Los Angeles
Zoo.
Zookeepers have said Ruby is in good health, and zoo director John
Lewis has insisted space alone is not
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070312/LA_elephant_070312/20070312?hub=SciTech

Plans Afoot for Elephant Research Site
Zoos see potential in state sanctuary
After 16 years of operating Riddle's Elephant and Wildlife
Sanctuary — 330 acres in the Ozark foothills — Scott and Heidi
Riddle are poised to sell their land, facilities and elephants.
But that doesn't mean their sanctuary will disappear.
Representatives from 10 zoos — including the Little Rock Zoo — want
to turn the facility into a national research, breeding and holding
facility for elephants.
The proposed National Elephant Center would be a nonprofit
organization devoted to protecting and adding to the nation's
elephant population as well as providing a training facility for
animal keepers, say founding members of the center.
"This will be a major international facility," said Mike Blakely,
director of the Little Rock Zoo and a member of The National
Elephant Center's board of directors.
"It will be part of elephant conservation on a global basis," he
said earlier this week. "This is really a significant opportunity
for the state."
Other zoos represented on the board are: St. Louis Zoo; Columbus
(Ohio) Zoo & Aquarium; Indianapolis Zoo; Birmingham Zoo; Fort Worth
Zoo; Denver Zoo; Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle; Disney's Animal
Kingdom; and the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kan.
"We have explored many avenues to keep our facility open," Scott
Riddle said Wednesday night. "This is still in the discussion
stages. Nothing is a done deal."
However, Riddle added, he and his wife will sell if someone else can
do more than they can — not only for their 13 charges but all
elephants.
http://www.elephants.com/media/ArkansasDemGazette_3_8_07.htm

Elephants fed to cash crocs
Zimbabwe's national parks and wildlife management authority is
killing elephants near Lake Kariba to feed to crocodiles at a parks-
owned commercial crocodile farm.
Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task
Force (ZCTF), says the guardians of Zimbabwe's national parks have
entered the lucrative crocodile breeding business and have allocated
50 to 100 elephants a year to feed the crocodiles.
"They have shot three already. We are looking into allegations that
other crocodile farms in the country are being supplied with
elephant meat from culls in conservation areas," said Rodrigues.
Geoff Blyth, a Kariba resident, this week sent out an international
e-mail appeal to help save the elephants of Lake Kariba, saying
national parks had been given the go-ahead to build their own
crocodile farm in the Kaburi wilderness area, on the shore opposite
two popular tourist attractions.
Crocodile farming is a lucrative business, with owners of such
ventures earning millions through the sale and export of skins for
the manufacture of leather products such as handbags and shoes, as
well as the sale of the reptiles' meat, a delicacy among local
communities.
While Blyth saw nothing wrong with the planned development, he was
concerned about the proposal that crocodiles were to be fed elephant
meat.
He questioned the need to cull elephants in the area, saying they
did not have enough to sustain the proposed quota of 50 to 100
pachyderms
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=vn20070311082558943C174795

City Council OKs Zoo Expansion Plan
Park Visitors Say They Don't Mind Proposed Changes
A $25 million plan to expand the Blank Park Zoo got its first
official thumbs up.
The Des Moines City Council discussed the new plan on Monday night.
The zoo wants to expand into the lake area of the Fort Des Moines
Park. In exchange, the zoo will buy land just south of Southridge
Mall and make it into a new
http://www.kcci.com/news/11236798/detail.html

10Mar2007

Will African safari park have to change stripes?
Lawyer who won lawsuit sees ban on personal vehicles; reserve says no
way
The African Lion Safari may have to ban personal vehicles as a result
of losing a multi-million-dollar civil lawsuit, according to a lawyer
who acted for two people mauled by tigers in 1996.
However, officials with the drive-through wildlife park insist they
won't be taking this drastic measure.
"We've been hearing these rumours for years, but it's going to be
business as usual when we open for the season May 5," said Lori
Latter, a spokesperson for the Cambridge, Ont., park.
However, lawyer Douglas Christie says pressure from the insurance
companies involved will almost certainly mean changes to the way the
park conducts business, including banning personal vehicles.
Christie and co-counsel Bruce Haines say there is no reason for the
African Lion Safari to go out of business because of the total award
of $2.5 million, which
http://www.thestar.com/article/190348

Zoo president joins effort to obtain, set up elephant research site
A group of zoo leaders around the country, including one from
Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, joined forces to arrange the purchase,
and operation of a 330-acre elephant sanctuary in Arkansas, which
they want to turn into a national center for elephant research,
breeding and training.
"I think it is something that has been on the minds of the zoo
community for a long time," said Deborah Jensen, president and chief
executive at Woodland Park. "Right now it is a dream. We are holding
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/306754_elephant09.html?source=rss

Duluth zoo should privatize, consultants say
A consulting firm says the aging Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth should
be privatized as a nonprofit with one director if it is to thrive.
The city and Lake Superior Zoological Society both manage zoo
operations now, each with an appointed director.
The report by Schultz and Williams recommends that the two entities
draft a plan to boost attendance and local involvement. Zoo
attendance has dropped 36 percent since 1998.
The report says the management change should encourage donations
because people are more inclined to give money
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1043279.html

Mini zoo seized in Bangladesh
Security forces more used to confiscating luxury cars in Bangladesh's
anti-corruption drive were instead called on to seize a virtual mini
zoo from a former minister, a report said Thursday.
They removed dozens of animals and birds including four deer, seven
peacocks, two emus, three golden pheasants, eleven turkeys, two
mynahs, a dove and four rare pigeons.
The animals belonged to former junior power minister Iqbal Hassan
Mahmood Tuku, the report in the English-language Daily Star said.
A case has been filed against the politician for rearing wild animals
at his home
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070308/od_afp/bangladeshpoliticscorrupti
onanimalsoffbeat_070308080723

Chimp Bites Off Trainer's Finger At San Diego Zoo
A trainer at the San Diego Zoo lost part of his finger to a chimp
Wednesday.
A coworker of trainer Mike Bates said the two of them were doing a
medical check on pygmy chimps known as bonobos Wednesday morning.
He said when Bates pointed at a chimp named Ikela to give the all
clear that she was OK, the chimp bit off the tip off his finger
Bates told a San Diego newspaper he must have gotten his hand too
close to the chimp's mouth.
Later, zoo workers noticed the finger tip in the middle of a cage.
They signaled for another chimp named Lana to retrieve the finger.
As soon as the second
http://www.nbc4.tv/news/11205720/detail.html?rss=la&psp=news

Study: Humans Caught Pubic Lice From Gorillas Three Million Years Ago
Humans caught pubic lice, aka "the crabs," from gorillas roughly
three million years ago, scientists now report.
Rather than through close encounters of the intimate kind,
researchers explained humans most likely got the lice, which most
commonly live in pubic hair, from sleeping in gorilla nests or eating
the apes.
"It certainly wouldn't have to be what many people are going to
immediately assume it might have been, and that is sexual intercourse
occurring between humans and gorillas," explained researcher David
Reed of the Florida Museum of Natural History. "Instead of something
sordid, it could easily have stemmed from an activity that was
considerably more tame."
Humans are unique among primates
http://www.foxnews.com/story/ 0,2933,257439, 00.html

Jughead, Beloved Grizzly Bear, Dies at Bronx Zoo, Age 13
A male grizzly bear relocated from the wild 12 years ago due to
dangers created by human encroachment on his mountain habitat has
died at the Bronx Zoo, where he was a popular attraction, zoo
officials said.
The 13-year-old bear named Jughead died last Friday while undergoing
surgery for an abdominal abscess, said Dr. Patrick Thomas, the zoo's
curator of animals.
He is survived by his
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257324,00.html?
sPage=fnc.science/naturalscience

BABY RHINO BORN AT PAIGNTON ZOO
Rhino keeper Julian Chapman raced to the rescue as a long-awaited
youngster struggled to get to its feet at Paignton Zoo.
The birth of the black rhino calf has been anticipated for several
weeks and although 1.3 ton mum Sita delivered the 80lb youngster
unaided Julian Chapman had to step in to help the youngster suckle. A
zoo spokesman said the birth started at 7.45pm on Monday evening and
the calf was born half an hour later.
"When the birth started the back feet were coming out first and that
was a bit worrying as most births are head first, but as it was all
over quite quickly.
"As luck would have it the calf landed on part of the pen devoid of
straw and it
http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?
nodeId=135239&command=displayContent&sourceNode=135077&contentPK=16817
140&folderPk=79060&pNodeId=134831

Zoo works to help leopards flourish
Part of effort aimed at helping endangered animals thrive
Two pairs of young clouded leopards have begun the trek through
international red tape that stands between them and the opportunity
to breed here in Nashville and at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
Nashville Zoo President Rick Schwartz says the zoos are part of a
consortium, here and in Thailand, whose goal is to help the
endangered animals
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20070307/NEWS01/703070447/1006/NEWS01

Bannerghatta Biological Park celebrates Zoo Day
Festive mood prevailed at the Bannerghatta Biological Park on Tuesday
on the occasion of `Zoo Day'. Nearly 200 working staff got together
to indulge in revelry and entertainment as a part of the celebrations.
V Geethanjali, Executive Director of the Park, inaugurated the
celebrations. She said that the day should be observed as a fair for
the forest staff.
``Ambitious projects like Butterfly Park and a zoo master plan have
been initiated this year. Everyone should
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?
ID=IE120070307015333&Page=1&Title=Bangalore&Topic=0&

Zoo fire kills eight birds
A fire at the Roosevelt Park Zoo Tuesday afternoon severely damaged a
small, red barn next to the Discovery Barn in the children's zoo and
killed eight animals, although no people were injured.
Becky Dewitz, education coordinator at the zoo, said the fire
happened around 12:40 p.m. The six peahens and two peacocks that died
in the blaze were the only animals in the barn, which doubles as the
petting zoo in the summer.
Keepers last checked on the barn around 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. Tuesday,
according to Dewitz, and there were no problems at that
http://www.minotdailynews.com/News/articles.asp?articleID=9436

Last hope for vanishing white rhinos
The world's most endangered large mammal may yet be saved by human
fertility methods
A new born southern white rhino calf rests next to his mother Lulu at
Budapest Zoo.
In a small Berlin laboratory, Robert Hermes is testing instruments
that would do credit to a James Bond villain. He has metal probes,
giant syringes and a set of electrodes that would embarrass an Abu
Ghraib jailer.
This fearsome collection has a benign purpose, however, for Hermes
intends to use it to save the world's most endangered large mammal:
the northern white rhino, whose breeding population has been wiped
out in the wild and consists, in captivity, of just
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2007/03/06/2003351242

Pygmy rabbits bred in captivity to be released in wild
An emergency effort to save endangered Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits
will get its first test next week when state and federal scientists
release nearly two dozen of the animals back into their native
habitat in north-central Washington.
The rabbits that will be released next Tuesday are the product of an
emergency roundup six years ago of the remaining pygmy rabbits in the
region, who were put into a captive-breeding program in a last-ditch
effort to increase their numbers.
"This is the first reintroduction, so it's a learning process," said
Tom Buckley of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
http://www.examiner.com/a-
602738~Pygmy_rabbits_bred_in_captivity_to_be_released_in_wild.html

KARACHI: Safari Park founder ignored
The man who had the idea of creating Safari Park and who moved heaven
and earth to make it a reality was not invited by the city government
or Governor House to the inauguration of the Go Aish ceremony held on
Monday. Governor Sindh was the chief guest at opening ceremony.
Dr A.A. Quraishy, advisor of the park and former director Zoological
Gardens acquired 406 acres in 1970 to establish a bigger zoo,
zoological garden and botanical garden.
The former director who is very active despite his 80 years said he
was happy that the Safari Park was offering entertainment to the
people. When asked why he was not at the opening ceremony he said
perhaps the city administration had forgotten but he did not mind at
all.
Asked for comments, he told this scribe the newly built amusement
section was not for people of all groups but meant only for the teen-
age group. He advised the city government to think of
http://www.dawn.com/2007/03/06/local4.htm

Paper plate row hits oceanside park
Staff at a Hong Kong theme park say management have fined them
hundreds of dollars for the loss of disposable paper plates and lunch
boxes, a media report said on Tuesday.
Unions at Ocean Park, a cliffside zoo and recreation park, say that
although the lost items cost just a few cents, management had fined a
handful of employees the full cost of the drinks and meals - up to
HK$25 (about R24) - that would have been served in them.
"When the management found that our kiosk was one or two lunch boxes
short, they
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?
set_id=1&click_id=126&art_id=nw20070306071750103C274381

Rare vulture to be flown to Mongolia
The next time you take a Thai Airways flight to China, a passenger
with a wingspan of 9.2 feet and a taste for rotting carcasses may
also be on board.
The country's national carrier announced Wednesday that it will
transport a juvenile cinereous vulture to Beijing on March 21 to help
return the rare bird to its natural environment in Mongolia.
The vulture -- normally not found in Thailand -- has been nursed back
to health by veterinarians at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, after
apparently getting lost in late December and ending up dehydrated and
near death in Chanthaburi province.
"We understand that it is the first time in Thailand that this type
of vulture has been located and it is important that they are
returned to their natural habitat," Thai Airways President Apinan
Sumanaseni said in a statement. He said the airline
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070308/vulture_m
ongolia_070308/20070308?hub=SciTech

Wetland bird rediscovered in Thailand
A wetland bird that eluded scientists for nearly 130 years has been
rediscovered at a wastewater treatment plant in Thailand, Birdlife
International announced Wednesday.
Little is known about the large-billed reed-warbler because it had
not been seen since its discovery in 1867 in the Sutlej Valley of
India. Because it was so rare, scientists had long debated whether it
represented a true species or was an aberrant individual of a more
common species.
That debate appears to be settled after Philip Round, an
ornithologist at Bangkok's Mahidol University, captured one of the
birds on March 27, 2006, at a wastewater treatment center outside
Bangkok, the conservation organization in Cambridge, England said.
"Although reed-warblers are generally drab and look very similar, one
of the birds I caught that morning struck me as
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070307/thailand_
bird_070307/20070307?hub=SciTech

Species under threat: Honey, who shrunk the bee population?
Across America, millions of honey bees are abandoning their hives and
flying off to die, leaving beekeepers facing ruin and US agriculture
under threat. And to date, no one knows why. Michael McCarthy reports
Published: 01 March 2007
It has echoes of a murder mystery in polite society. There could
hardly be a more sedate and unruffled world than beekeeping, but the
beekeepers of the United States have suddenly encountered affliction,
calamity and death on a massive scale. And they have not got a clue
why it is happening.
Across the country, from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific, honey bee
colonies have started to die off, abruptly and decisively. Millions
of bees are abandoning their hives and flying off to die (they cannot
survive as a colony without the queen, who is always left behind).
Some beekeepers, especially those with big portable apiaries, or bee
farms, which are used for large-scale pollination of fruit and
vegetable crops, are facing commercial ruin - and there is a growing
threat that America's agriculture may be struck a mortal blow
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2314202.ece

Mystery of where bald ibis goes in winter is solved
It's a weird-looking bird, a mysterious bird, and one of the rarest
on earth. Now at least part of its mystery has been solved.
Satellite tracking has enabled scientists to find the wintering
grounds of birds from one of the only two known colonies of the bald
ibis, a wader once found in Europe, but now on the brink of
extinction in north Africa and the Middle East.
Its population has shrunk to 250 at a site on the Atlantic coast of
Morocco, and a tiny group of 13 birds found in 2002, near the city of
Palmyra in Syria, 150 miles north-east of Damascus.
While the Moroccan birds are resident on their nesting areas all year
round, the Syrian ibis migrates south at the end of the summer - and
a tracking experiment has found out where. The adult birds fly nearly
2,000 miles across seven countries and the Red Sea, to spend the
winter in the highlands of Ethiopia, 50 miles from the country's
capital Addis Ababa.
This week, the three birds that were
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2318732.ece

Global warming threatens Scottish puffin paradise
One of Britain's largest puffin colonies is being wiped out by an
invasive plant that is thriving in warmer temperatures brought about
by climate change.
In just seven years a colony of 29,000 breeding pairs of puffins on
the island of Craigleith, just a mile from the coast of North
Berwick, has been reduced to fewer than 3,000. They have been driven
to the edge of extinction by a dusky-pink, 8ft flowering plant called
tree mallow. Introduced by 18th-century lighthouse keepers and sheep
farmers on nearby Bass Rock the woolly-leafed plant is renowned for
its medicinal properties and was used as natural bandage.
Over the years the plant, lavatera arborea, spread to other islands
in the Firth of Forth but for centuries the Mediterranean plant was
kept at bay by harsh Scottish winters and the appetites of wild
rabbits. However, since 1999 the rise of myxomatosis along with a
series of mild winters has left the plants to spread rapidly across
more than 85 per cent of the island.
Helped by fertilisation of the soil from the
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2323405.ece

Sex lives of grey seals boosted by warming climate
It's an ill climate change that blows nobody any good, or so seals
have been discovering. For global warming has been making them hot in
more senses than one.
Research shows that warmer temperatures and reduced rainfall have
dramatically improved their sex lives, strengthening them genetically
and thus improving their prospects as a species.
A nine-year study by researchers at Durham and St Andrews
universities just published by the Royal Society, the country's top
scientific body, shows that climate change is allowing many more
males to seal the knot, as it were, and is giving females a much
greater variety of sexual partners.
Grey seals living off the Scottish coast gather on remote islands to
mate each October and November. Traditionally, the dominant males are
the only ones to score, each lording it over a harem of 10 to 15
females, which they guard jealously against other suitors.
In the past, they have found this easy, as
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2326238.ece

Born to die: Climate change disrupting life cycles with fatal results
The behaviour of Britain's wildlife is raising alarm about the
seriousness of climate change as animals' breeding patterns are
thrown into confusion. The second mildest winter on record has
resulted in mammals, reptiles, birds and insects emerging from
shelter far too early.
They are getting caught out by cold snaps or wet weather and the
young of many species are dying. Baby hedgehogs, baby squirrels, even
baby grass snakes are being found in distress in many places.
The disturbing trend is emerging as climate change once again moves
to the political centre stage. The Government's long-awaited Climate
Change Bill will be published next week, the Environment minister
Lord Rooker announced yesterday. Delays in the preparation of the
Bill have led to questions being asked about the Government's
commitment to tackling global warming.
Opposition parties fear that the Government's
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2338372.ece

Inseminated elephant gives birth in Asia
Thai veterinarians announced Thursday that an artificially
inseminated elephant has given birth to a bouncing baby boy -- a
first in Asia that could be a crucial step in conserving the
endangered species.
The baby Asian elephant was born late Wednesday at the Elephant
Hospital at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in the northern
Thai town of Lampang, said
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070309/asia_elep
hant_070309/20070309?hub=SciTech

6Mar2007

Elephant hits girl in dad's arms
A man in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, is negotiating with
the Wuhan Zoo after an elephant threw a stone that hit his daughter
in the head, causing her to bleed.
The elephant used its trunk to throw the stone in retaliation after
tourists threw stones, mud and plastic bottles at it. The girl,
however, was not among the attackers. She was in her father's arms
when she was hit.
The zoo staff had to immediately send the girl to a nearby
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-03/05/content_819491.htm

Ho Chi Minh trail a safe haven for wildlife
Four decades after U.S. warplanes plastered it with bombs, a remote
corner of the old Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia is making a comeback
as a treasure trove of endangered wildlife.
Tigers prowl imperiously down tracks where weapons-laden North
Vietnamese trucks once rolled. Elephants shepherd their young past
giant bomb craters to drink at jungle water holes, and rare apes call
from treetops that used to hide communist forces from American pilots.
Much of the credit for this swords-into-plowshares story goes to the
New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, which has managed and
protected this forest in southern Mondulkiri Province since 2002, in
partnership with the Cambodian government. A former free-fire zone is
now a strictly policed no-hunting
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070304/wildlife_
cambodia_070304/20070304?hub=SciTech

South Africa finalizes lion hunting laws
South Africa's government announced restrictions Tuesday on the
hunting of lions born and raised in captivity, overriding protests by
breeders who warn they could face financial ruin and be forced to
euthanize their animals.
The laws protect lions from being hunted until two years after they
are released into the wild and have developed survival instincts,
said Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk. They also ban
hunting from vehicles and using a bow and arrow to kill big predators
and thick skinned animals.
"South Africa has a long-standing reputation as a global leader on
conservation issues," he said. "We cannot allow our achievements to
be undermined by rogue practices."
South Africa is famous as the home of the so-called Big Five animals -
- elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, buffalo and leopards -- and its
flagship Kruger National Park attracts hundreds of thousands of
camera-toting visitors every year.
Some 9,000 privately owned game farms and other government-run
reserves also offer visitors a taste of the
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070220/lionhunti
ng_laws_070220/20070220?hub=SciTech

Dolphin 'dying of broken heart' after keeper is stabbed to death
A rare grampus dolphin, rescued 18 months ago after it swam into an
Italian port, seems to be dying of a broken heart after the woman who
reared it like her own child was murdered.
Tamara Monti, 37, the creature's keeper, was stabbed to death two
weeks ago by the man who lived in the flat above her. Police found an
unemployed man, Alessandro Doto, 35, standing in the street outside
the block where they lived, frozen like a dummy with a blood-
spattered knife in his hand. He told them Ms Monti's two dogs barked
all day and it drove him mad.
The issue had been simmering between them for months. Ms Monti and
her partner had found a new place to live with their cat and dogs and
were due to move the next day.
Ms Monti was from the Lake Como region, hundreds of miles north-west
of Riccione, a resort on the Adriatic coast just south of Rimini, but
Riccione had taken her to its heart. The town was in mourning on
hearing of her death. But no one missed her like Mary G.
The grampus dolphin was a calf in June 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2287034.ece

Animals Kept in Miserable Conditions at Riyadh Zoo
In spite of the fact that the zoo in Riyadh is home to a wide range
of animals, less and less people visit it. For many people, what is
meant to be an enjoyable and educational trip is distressing as they
see filthy animals kept in miserable conditions, reported Al-Riyadh
newspaper.
"It is painful to know that this zoo has changed from being a
delightful venue into becoming a horrible and disgusting place," said
Riyadh resident Hind Al-Shaikh. "I used to go to the zoo every now
and then, but I don't go there anymore because of the stench. The
animals aren't cleaned regularly. It seems they aren't even fed
properly," she added.
"The animals are so underfed that they would probably eat visitors
alive if they were let out of their cages," said Al-Shaikh, who
wondered why the municipality
http://www.arabnews.com/?
page=1&section=0&article=92865&d=28&m=2&y=2007&pix=kingdom.jpg&categor
y=Kingdom

Bill could give zoo $500,000 for improvements
Efforts to build Asian tiger and African lion exhibits at the
Hattiesburg Zoo could get a boost this year if Hattiesburg Sen. Ed
Morgan is successful in amending a bill that has already passed the
Senate.
Morgan, R-Hattiesburg, said he is asking that a $500,000 state bond
be issued for the city-owned Hattiesburg Zoo. It would be attached to
a bill to provide $1 million for the Jackson Zoo.
"I do have high hopes but no guarantees yet," Morgan said. "I'm
working with Finance Committee Chairman Tommy Robertson to try to get
that money."
He said the addition to the bill would likely be added during the
conference process, when representatives of the House and Senate work
out their differences on particular bills.
The $1 million for the Jackson Zoo is set aside for capital
improvement projects.
Zoo Administrator Lori Banchero said the
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20070227/NEWS01/702270318

Gasper, Beluga Whale Saved From Mexican Amusement Park, Euthanized at
Age 17
Gasper, one of the Georgia Aquarium's five prized beluga whales, was
euthanized Tuesday morning after months of declining health,
officials said.
The 17-year-old whale had been ill before arriving at the aquarium in
October 2005, officials said. He and his tankmate Niko had been moved
to Atlanta from an amusement park in Mexico City, where Gasper had
developed skin lesions while living in a tank under a roller coaster.
His immune system was weak from chronic illness, including the bone
disease osteomyelitis, and medical tests showed his health had
deteriorated further over
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,240641,00.html

Two baby giraffes born in Al Ain Zoo
Two baby giraffes were born at Al Ain Zoo's new Mixed African
Savannah Exhibit section recently.
This is for the first time that baby giraffes were born in the
section which also includes Dama Gazelle, Thompson Gazelle, Fringe-
eared Oryx, Grants Zebra, Egyptian Geese and Marabou Stork.
The babies, both female giraffes, were born 15 days apart and
although not `twins', they have bonded together well like true
sisters.
Both babies are doing fine.
Baby Minu was born to Nina while her companion Tintu was born to
Tena.
Both mothers and their daughters
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?
xfile=data/theuae/2007/March/theuae_March143.xml&section=theuae&col=

Zoo's new recruits to save breed
Conservation experts are hoping that Chester Zoo's latest recruits
will help save an endangered species.
The zoo is the first in the UK to welcome four Visayan Warty pigs.
The hirsute creatures, which originate from the Philippines, are to
take part in the zoo's conservation breeding programme in a bid to
swell numbers.
Habitat loss and deforestation are the main causes of the pigs'
decline. The zoo also recently took possession of a Warthog from the
Netherlands.
Mike Jordan, curator of higher vertebrates, said: "Our pigs may be
rather unusual looking, particularly
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/6413405.stm

Sofia Zoo's only elephant to be provided with a bed by month's end
The cow elephant of the Sofia Zoo will have a bed by the month's end,
Dr. Ivan Ivanov, director of the zoo, told FOCUS News Agency. "The
bed is in fact a wall, alongside which sand will be piled at a 45
degree angle and 65 degrees at some places. The elephant will lean
upon the sand to rest", Ivanov explained. At present the elephant
doesn't have a bed. It
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n107140

DNA 'bar-codes' help find new species
Canadian researchers have co-authored a biodiversity study on
DNA "bar-coding" they say will pave the way for cataloguing the
world's organisms and lead to the discovery of untold numbers of new
species.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscr
ibe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%
2FRTGAM.20070218.wdna0218%2FEmailBNStory%2FScience%
2Fhome&ord=1172622378027&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true

New Director For Aquarium
Whether adding exhibits or programs, the North Carolina Aquariums
always have something exciting to offer. And this month is no
exception. But, instead of new fish, stingrays or otters, the North
Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island has a new director. Joe Malat is
a familiar face among the fish...he's been at the aquarium on Roanoke
Island for 18 years, serving as the exhibits curator. Aquarium
administration says he was instrumental in the aquarium's expansion
in 2000, when it
http://www.witntv.com/news/headlines/6046726.html

Asian elephant born at St. Louis Zoo
The St. Louis Zoo has welcomed a 236-pound baby.
An Asian elephant, Rani, gave birth to a female calf Sunday night,
said the zoo's curator of mammals, Martha Fischer.
"She wanted to stand, walk and run right away. She is very active,
very precocious," Fischer said Monday.
Rani began showing signs of labor at 3 a.m. Sunday
http://www.kmov.com/news/asseenonnews4/stories/kmov_localnews_070226_b
abyelephant.1584d3f9.html

Rare Turtle Appears in Central Zoo
A rare turtle, Macrochelys Temminckii, has newly inhabited the
Central Zoo of the DPRK.
It has a rough shell like a crocodile's back, a developed sharp-
pointed beak, a large head and long tail compared with those of other
kinds of turtles.
It weighs seven kilograms. Its shell is 32 centimeters long and 26
centimeters wide. Its ducked head is 10 centimeters long, its tail 23
centimeters long and its body 12 centimeters high.
It is a 20-30 years old male turtle.
The inhabitant of Macrochelys Temminckii is lakes
http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2007/200702/news02/27.htm#8

14-Foot Burmese Python Bites Handler During Show at Aquarium in
Florida
A 14-foot python bit its handler and tried to drag her into its cage
during a show at an aquarium, and wouldn't release the woman until a
police officer zapped the reptile with a stun gun.
Alison Cobianchi, 18, was taking Chloe, a Burmese python, out of her
cage for the daily snake presentation Saturday at the Tarpon Springs
Aquarium when the snake wrapped itself around her arm and waist.
Visitors and aquarium employees kept the nonvenomous snake from
pulling Cobianchi into the cage, but couldn't make it release its
grip.
Police were called to help. "We either had to Taser it or we would
have had to kill it," police Sgt. Allen MacKenzie said.
Cobianchi suffered puncture wounds on her wrist.
"It was definitely the most scary and painful
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,240298,00.html

Elephants Released to Wild for First Time in India
IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare http://www.ifaw.org) and
its partner, WTI (Wildlife Trust of India) today announced that six
elephant calves have been successfully released to the wild in Manas
National Park.
The elephants -- which were hand-raised at the Centre for Wildlife
Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) -- were transported 450
kilometers from India's Kaziranga National Park to Manas National
Park.
In Manas the elephants will be reintegrated into a wild herd once
they are familiarized with the area. It is the first time elephants
have been rehabilitated and released to the wild in India. Sri Lanka
and Kenya are the only other countries to have successfully released
hand-raised elephants into the wild.
"The elephants will be allowed to move freely in the jungle during
the daytime under the supervision of a keeper," said Dr. N. V. K.
Ashraf, director of wild rescue of WTI. "At night, for their
security, they will be sheltered in a stockade built in an area of
about one hectare [about 10000 sq. meters]."
The elephants were transported to an area of Manas
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20070226/pl_usnw/elephants_released_to_wi
ld_for_first_time_in_india

Africa sees the return of the elephant killers
The world believed that an international ban on ivory trading would
protect the largest land animal. But the poachers are back, and
African states seem unable to stop them
The growing trade in ivory is fuelling an alarming rise in elephant
poaching which could undermine attempts to save the world's biggest
land animal from extinction, according to a study published today.
Scientists believe that poaching of African elephants has returned to
a scale not seen in decades and that the number of animals being
killed could cause some regional populations to become extinct.
They believe that elephants across vast areas of Africa are once
again endangered despite the significant increase in numbers recorded
by the small number of countries with good conservation records. The
study was carried out by scientists who have pioneered a new DNA
technique of tracing the geographic origins of elephant ivory. They
found that intensive poaching can and does occur over a relatively
small area of land.
The scientists warn that the illegal trade has escalated to
the "devastating levels" that occurred before the 1989 ban on the
sale of ivory imposed by the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species.
"The illegal ivory trade recently intensified to the highest levels
ever reported," says the study published in the journal Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences by a team led by Samuel Wasser of
the University of Washington in Seattle.
"Policing this trafficking has been hampered
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2308414.ece

Zoo-Bred Sumatran Rhino Returns to Ancestral Homeland
The first Sumatran rhino born in captivity in more than 100 years
arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday with a single task — to breed and
help save the endangered species from extinction.
The 5-year-old rhino, Andalas, was flown from a zoo in the United
States to Jakarta's international airport. After a checkup he was to
travel another 12 hours by truck and ferry to a rhino sanctuary on
Sumatra island, where females Rosa and Ratu await.
"He is young and still full of energy," said Arman Malonongan,
Indonesia's director general of forest and wildlife
conservation. "Let's just hope he falls i
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,253121,00.html

Zoo worker trampled by elephant
A zoo worker was injured when he was trampled by a male elephant at
the Taiping zoo here on Tuesday.
The worker, Mohd Hashim Ishak was subsequently warded at the Taiping
hospital here for suspected fractures and internal injuries.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Mohd Hashim,40 said he was cleaning a
den where the elephant was kept at about 8am when the animal lunged
at him from behind.
"One of the elephant's tusks hit the side of my chest and the next
moment I was pinned down by his foot," said Ishak who suspected that
his left shoulder could be fractured.
Some of his collegues who saw the incident, rushed into the den and
pulled him out to safety.
Meanwhile Taiping zoo director Dr Kevin
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?
file=/2007/2/27/nation/20070227183625&sec=nation

Frustrated elephant retaliates against taunting tourists in China zoo
A young girl was injured at a zoo in central China on Sunday when an
African elephant, in retaliation to abuse from a group of tourists,
hurled a stone towards the mob, striking the girl in the face,
according to a local Wuhan newspaper.
The 13-year-old elephant, named Ahai, was being subjected to taunts
from tourists and was being pelted with stones, mud and plastic
bottles, according to an unnamed spokesman with Wuhan Zoo.
Ahai, who has lived in the zoo with his friend A'nan for seven years,
curled up a stone in his trunk and hurled it over the fence, hitting
a girl
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-02/27/content_5779307.htm

Zoo defends staffing levels
Five investigations seeking answers in keeper's death
Denver Zoo leaders Monday defended staffing levels in the aftermath
of a jaguar attack that killed a zookeeper Saturday and has triggered
five investigations, including two by federal agencies.
In a wide-ranging news briefing, zoo officials said the investigation
into the mauling death of zookeeper Ashlee Pfaff was ongoing, and
they wouldn't speculate on why an exhibit door that should have been
closed was opened, allowing the jaguar contact with Pfaff.
They did, however, confirm that the investigation has turned up no
evidence of faulty doors, locks or gates inside the Feline Building
where the attack occurred.
That suggests that either Pfaff opened the door herself or that
someone else left it open. The latter appears less likely, however,
as a zoo official said workers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_538
1285,00.html

Tiger, orangutan babies become playmates at Indonesian zoo
Call them the odd couples. A pair of month-old Sumatran tiger twins
have become inseparable playmates with a set of young orangutans, an
unthinkable match in their natural jungle habitat in Indonesia's
tropical rainforests.
The friendship between 5-month-old female baby primates Nia and Irma,
and cubs Dema and Manis, has blossomed at the Taman Safari zoo where
they share a room in the nursery.
After being abandoned by their mothers shortly after birth, the four
play fight, nipping and teasing each other, and cuddling up for a
shared
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=bizarre&id=5077709

Man vows to film Tasmanian tiger
A German tourist who claims to have photographed a Tasmanian tiger,
solving one of Australia's enduring wildlife myths, said on Friday he
had returned to the country to video the animal and end doubts over
his find.
The Tasmanian tiger, or Thylacine, was a striped, wolf-like native
mammal which was hunted to extinction by European settlers. The last
one died in a zoo in 1936.
But stories of surviving animals persist and yearly unconfirmed
sightings have turned the tiger, whose scientific name means pouched
dog with a wolf's head, into a holy grail for mystery hunters from
across the globe.
In February 2005, German tourists Klaus Emmerichs
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/01/australia.tiger.reut/index
.html

American Association of Zoo Veterinarians, 581705 White Oak Road, Yulee, FL 32097; Telephone: (904)225-3275