Zoo News Digest - May-June 2007

24Jun2007

84 Siberian tigers born at China center
Eighty-four Siberian tigers, among the world's rarest animals, have
been born since March at a northeastern China breeding center, an
official said Sunday.
Liu Dan, an official with the Hengdaohezi Feline Breeding Center in
the suburbs of Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, was quoted by
Xinhua News Agency as saying the cubs were doing well.
He said 13 more pregnant Siberian tigers were expected to give birth
to a total of 20 to 30 cubs by October.
Fewer than 400 Siberian tigers — also known as Amur, Manchurian or
Ussuri tiger — are believed to survive in the wild, about 20 of them
in China and the rest in Russia.
They are the largest
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070617/ap_on_sc/
china_rare_tigers_3;_ylt=AjLPFseURwEdWc6HxYHL9yOFDvII

Animal park's charity opens a second school
VISITORS to South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Dalton have raised money
to build a school in Indonesia.
The zoo, through its international charity the Sumatran Tiger Trust,
has opened a second school in the heart of the remote Bukit Tigapuluh
National Park.
As well as working in the forests to protect the 350 critically
endangered wild Sumatran tigers left on the planet, the anti-poaching
rangers and teams of the Sumatran Tiger Trust Conservation Programme
work very closely with local communities.
One of the activities for the community is an education programme for
native people who live in the national park.
Since 2004 a school room, teacher and health visitor have been funded
by the Sumatran Tiger Trust, to educate people in Datai orchard. This
month a second school opened in Sadan orchard.
For the last three months zoo members of the Sumatran Tiger Trust have
been working to set up the school.
Education and
http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=512404

Native wadi fish under threat
Diminished water tables, the introduction of non-native fish and
pollution is affecting the survival of an indigenous fish species.
Colloquially known as wadi fish after their habitat, the first study
of this species is currently under way and results so far have spread
light on the threats mountain ecosystems and endemic species are
facing here.
The main study site for this fish is in the catchment of Wadi Wurayah
near Fujairah, which covers an area of 129 square kilometres.
Sixty-eight freshwater wadi pool habitats have been mapped in the last
18 months which range from small, isolated pools to extensive, flowing
streams. The largest habitat is a water fall
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Environment/10134399.html

Beastly business: zoos under the microscope (Very long and interesting
article)
Critics accuse Taronga and Western Plains zoos of putting
commercialism before animal welfare, writes Kelly Burke.
THE Sydney veterinarian Dr Tom Lonsdale has written to politicians and
protested to zoo directors. He has badgered zoo keepers, been
threatened with legal action and wrote about it in his 2001 book, Raw
Meaty Bones.
But 12 years after first seeing the sponsor's sign, the cheetahs at
Western Plains Zoo are still being fed Whiskas Milk Plus.
"They have assured me they draw the line at jelly-meat," he says. "But
the justification that they 'like' Whiskas milk is about as absurd as
saying nicotine addicts 'like'