Thursday, November 23, 2017

Zoo News Digest 23rd November 2017 (ZooNews 976)

Zoo News Digest 23rd November 2017  (ZooNews 976)

 

The ZooKeepers Life




Peter Dickinson

elvinhow@gmail.com

 

Dear Colleague,

I am just about to head off on vacation for a few days and have not started to pack yet so I will save the comments for this issue. Enjoy....there is a lot of interesting reading.



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Did You Know?
ZooNews Digest has over 73,000 Followers on Facebook( and over 73,000 likes) and has a weekly reach often exceeding over 350,000 people? That ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 823 Zoos in 154+ countries? That the subscriber list for the mail out reads like a 'Zoos Who's Who?'
If you are a subscriber to the email version then you probably knew this already. You would also know that ZooNews Digest pre-dates any of the others. It was there before FaceBook. It was there shortly after the internet became popular and was a 'Blog' before the word had been invented. ZooNews Digest reaches zoo people.

I remain committed to the work of GOOD zoos,
not DYSFUNCTIONAL zoos.
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Sea Shepherd eco group drops anchor in UAE
Sea Shepherd, a self-described “international direct-action ocean conservation organisation” has dropped anchor in the UAE waters with a view to spreading its 40-decade legacy of protecting marine life around the world, said officials on Monday.
With the Gulf waters under pressure from regional development and overfishing, the new chapter says it will focus on environmental awareness, fund-raising and marine conservation.

Known globally for engaging Japanese whaling ships on the high seas to stop the illegal slaughter of endangered whales, dolphins and sharks, Sea Shepherd said its new UAE chapter received approval to register in the UAE in September.
Paul Watson, Canadian fou




3 Seconds Can Make You Accept Failure
I don’t have any kids. I would like them though because I think it’s great to see such little creatures growing up and to be part of their adventures. Raising kids is hard and I have to give a lot of credit to my mom because if I look at myself…. Wow I wasn’t an easy one. My mom did a great job to “fix” me, my brothers and sister. I look at it and it seems like my mom had a very strong ingredient raising us. I still don’t know what it is but we have a thing in common and that is that we don’t get mad or frustrated quickly. We are willing to try more often and become more successful afterwards. We stay motivated to try a failure again and we see the best in every scenario. I still don’t understand how my mom did that. Although I find my mom the strongest woman in the world what makes me understand the underlying idea more and more. You get shaped by the experiences you get over time. This obviously with positive or negative thinking. I mean I consider my family quite the optimists. We try and many times we come out with success instead of going the other way of being a pessimist when we have more failure then success. Could this be because we accept our failures more and believe in reaching the goals?

I started




There Are Far Too Many Elephants In Southern Africa
Don’t get me wrong. I love elephants. Next, to the black rhino, they are my favourite animal but, as they say in the classics: “Enough is enough”.

The elephant is one of the most important animals in Africa at this time because the species has focussed world attention on Africa.

The continent’s whole wildlife future rests on:

(1) What we are going to do with our (own) elephants; or

(2). What the rest of the world is going to allow us to do with our (own) elephants; or

(3) how far we are going to allow the rest of the world to push us around – with regards to how they believe we should manage our (own) elephants. And the truth of the matter is that it seems neither they nor our own authorities, have any idea just what our management options are.

There is truly nothing mysterious about wildlife management; or about elephant management. The concept is actually very simple.





Pre-inquest review to be held into death of zookeeper Rosa King killed by tiger at Hamerton Zoo
A pre-inquest review is set to take place tomorrow (November 23) into the death of zookeeper Rosa King, who was killed by a tiger in a “freak accident” at a Cambridgeshire zoo.

Rosa was fatally injured by the Malayan male tiger after it entered an enclosure she was in at Hamerton Park Zoo near Huntingdon.


The tiger, eight-year-old Cicip, can still be seen at the zoo after Rosa's parents backed a public call for him to not be put down following the tragedy in May this year.





New greyhound rules in NSW after dogs raced against cheetahs in Shanghai
New South Wales authorities will introduce new rules to stop greyhounds being shipped to cruel and degrading conditions, after a large-scale export racket sent 70 animals to a Shanghai zoo known for racing dogs against cheetahs.

The new rules seek to place a greater onus on racing greyhound owners to prevent their animals being sent to places with shocking animal welfare records.

But critics have already dubbed it a “Band-Aid” solution that will mean little unless the federal government toughens its stance on greyhound exports.

Earlier this month, two family members – Mark and Stephen Farrugia – were fined for exporting 70 dogs to the Shanghai Wild Animal Park and another 96 dogs to the Macau Canidrome racetrack. A third family member, Donna Farrugia, was found guilty of knowingly aiding and abetting the exports, and suspended for a year and a half.

The Farrugias had bought the dogs from greyhound racetracks across the state, often when they were no longer wanted by their owners.





We don’t need to save endangered species. Extinction is part of evolution.
Near midnight, during an expedition to southwestern Ecuador in December 2013, I spotted a small green frog asleep on a leaf, near a stream by the side of the road. It was Atelopus balios , the Rio Pescado stubfoot toad. Although a lone male had been spotted in 2011, no populations had been found since 1995, and it was thought to be extinct. But here it was, raised from the dead like Lazarus. My colleagues and I found several more that night, males and females, and shipped them to an amphibian ark in Quito, where they are now breeding safely in captivity. But they will go extinct one day, and the world will be none the poorer for it. Eventually, they will be replaced by a dozen or a hundred new species that evolve later.

Mass extinctions periodically wipe out up to 95 percent of all species in one fell swoop; these come every 50 million to 100 million years, and scientists agree that we are now in the middle of the sixth such extinction, this one caused primarily by humans and our effects on animal habitats. It is an “immense and hidden” tragedy t




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www.zoolex.org in November 2017

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Hello ZooLex Friend,
We have worked for your enjoyment!

              ~°v°~

NEW EXHIBIT PRESENTATION

Ocelot Temple at Zoo d'Asson is themed around the Maya culture and 
designed to allow breeding of the species. Fishing behaviour is induced 
by dead trout that are fed in a pool once a week.


We would like to thank Luc Lorca from Zoo d'Asson for preparing this 
presentation.

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SPANISH TRANSLATION

Thanks to Eduardo Díaz García we are able to offer the Spanish 
translation of the previously published presentation of "Leopard 
Heights" at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Great Britain:


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BIRD COLLISION MONITORING

In our June newsletter we presented resources for the prevention of bird 
collisions on glass. This time we are presenting methods for monitoring 
bird collisions. The better the monitoring, the better the choice for 
investing in methods for preventing bird collisions. The study was done 
in Berlin and is in German. It can be downloaded for 2 Euro from 
Schüling Buchkurier:


A short article in English is here http://www.zoolex.org/research.html
under the reference

STEIOF K., ALTERNKAMP R., BAGANZ K. (2017): Surveys of bird collisions 
on glass at zoo exhibits in Berlin. 16 pages article in German: 
Vogelschlag an Glasflächen von Tiergehegen. Tiergarten 4/2017: 36–51. 
Schüling Buchkurier. Münster.

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AMENDMENT

There was a mistake in the citing of a study in our October newsletter. 
The correct citing is

FINLAY T., JAMES R.L., MAPLE T.L. (1988) People's perceptions of 
animals: The influence of zoo environment. Environment and Behavior, 
vol. 20, no. 4. Sage Publications. Newbury Park, California.

              ~°v°~

We keep working on ZooLex ...

The ZooLex Zoo Design Organization is a non-profit organization
registered in Austria (ZVR-Zahl 933849053). ZooLex runs a professional
zoo design website and distributes this newsletter. More information and

                      ~°v°~



Zoo tigress suffers snake bite, critical
Nine-year-old Jaai, one of the two tiger cubs that was rescued from a belligerent mob 9 years ago from Mendki in Bramhapuri forest division in Chandrapur, is battling for life after a snake bite at the Maharajbagh Zoo.
"Though the movement of Jaai appears to be normal, blood report shows renal failure. Her both kidneys have failed," said zoo officer in-charge Dr SS Bawaskar.
According to sources, on November 5, Jaai was seen by visitors playing with a snake in her cage. The snake must be non-venomous otherwise some unfortunate would have happen.
The zoo, which is surrounded by agriculture land and a nullah, is vulnerable to presence of snakes. On Monday, a Russel's Viper was s





Uruguay Reopens Zoo After Almost Two Years of Construction
Among the 500 species, some of the most prized inhabitants are its hippopotami, coati, yacare caiman and big cats, which are a priority
Durazno, Uruguay reopens the doors to its zoo this week after a year and a half of renovations, the city’s mayor, Carmelo Vidalin said.
Over the last year, the former Washington Rodriguez Piquinela Zoo has been transformed into an animal reserve, home to approximately 500 specimens and 250 species of animals, birds, and reptiles.

Among the zoo's prized inhabitants are its hippopotami, coati, and yacare caiman, however, the conservation considers its big cats' high priority. The reserve houses lions, tigers, pumas, and jaguars, all of which are considered endangered in Uruguay.




The Tiger Subspecies Revised, 2017
There are certain animal species where – for reasons related to the charisma of the animal concerned, and the distinct nature of its various populations – we tend to learn about the various subspecies. Giraffes are one good example. Another is the Tiger Panthera tigris.
Most people interested in animals know that tigers vary enough across their extensive (historical) range that the naming of several different forms is warranted. There’s the ‘typical’ tiger of India (the Bengal tiger P. t. tigris), the comparatively gigantic Siberian or Amur tiger in far north-eastern Asia (P. t. altaica), the west Asian Caspian tiger (P. t. virgata), a Chinese form with distinctive stripes (P. t. amoyensis), some poorly known forms from mainland south-east Asia (P. t. corbetti and P. t. jacksoni), and the island-dwellers of south-east Asia (P. t. sondaica of Java, P. t. balica of Bali and P. t. sumatrae of Sumatra). Several of these forms were unable to avoid the persecution and destruction wrought upon them by our own species...





PHOTO: 'Huge, but well-behaved' elephants safe after tractor-trailer fire at GA-TN line

Well, this is an interesting site for a Monday morning commute - three African elephants on the side of the road.

The incident happened on I-24 East in Dade County, GA, just near the Georgia-Tennessee line, around 2 a.m. on Monday.

Firefighters posted at the tractor was on fire, but the trailer was not, and the elephants, who were called "huge, but well behaved," by the fire department's chief, were safely removed.

"The owners got the elephants safely out of the trailer and gave them some hay to munch on while firefighters put the fire out," the post says.

Once the owner made some calls, the elephants were placed on another tractor and headed to Sarasota, FL.

Meanwhile, first responder Tracy Beavers snapped a photo while she and her unit were responding to the tractor-trailer fire. By the time she responded, the scene was calm a





Why are the elephants leaving Twycross Zoo and where are they going?
The decision to move the entire herd of Twycross' elephants more than 130 miles away "was not taken lightly" say zoo bosses.

Four female Asian elephants will be leaving the East Midlands site early next year for their new home at Blackpool Zoo where they will be able to breed.
Twycross’ current enclosure, Elephant Creek, does not have the resources to house a male bull elephant.
“The decision to move our elephants was not taken lightly," said Dr Sharon Redrobe, CEO of Twycross Zoo.

"We carefully assessed all viable options for our herd, but as Blackpool can now boast one of the best elephant facilities in the UK, this was the best option and it’s the right thing to do for the long-term survival of not only this herd, but Asian elephants as a species.

"We will of course be sad to see our girls go and our staff will be monitoring their progress as they settle in.

"As they go we will be making changes at the zoo - we look forward to the new developments to be announced soon.”





The voice missing from the elephant trophy debate? Africans.
The answers for conserving the Earth’s wild creatures seem easy from the office chairs of the affluent west. Ban trophy hunting! Hunt down the poachers! More tourism!

But the social media campaigns and President Trump’s flip-flopping on Twitter over the past few days on U.S. elephant trophy imports from Zimbabwe and Zambia highlight the deficiencies of this model of decision-making. We need a lot less shouting and lot more listening — and to different voices.

How can we help secure a future for wildlife? We know what the animal lovers and celebrities will say. We know what the hunting organizations will say. We’ve heard these voices before, loud and clear, with the same simple answers. But what might the people and government of Zimbabwe say (if they could look aw





Smoky mouse breeding boosted by food and flowers as scientists work to save mammal
For centuries, aspiring lovers have used flowers and exotic delicacies to woo their partners, and it seems the animal kingdom is no different.

Scientists have bolstered the numbers of one of the nation's most critically endangered species, the smoky mouse, by decking out the breeding enclosures of six adult mice with flowers and food.

The old-fashioned dating techniques have seen six new litters of baby mice welcomed at Australia's only smoky mouse captive breeding facility — spearheaded by the New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH).

Breeding specialist Daniel Gowland said researchers played Cupid by creating the perfect breeding environment for the cute critters.

"Food is a stimulus for us all, it's one of the first little integrations we do … and it's one of the main things we had to work on," he said.

  

Zoo, university dig into prairie dog mystery
Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo and the Biology Department at Fairfield University are teaming up to solve an underground mystery.
Staff from the two organizations are using ground penetrating radar to map the maze of burrows that’s home to the zoo’s two black-tailed prairie dog colonies. According to a news release from the zoo, the experiment grew out of an encounter between Ashley Byun, Fairfield University’s associate professor of biology and Brian Jones, state archaeologist.
Ground penetrating radar mapping equipment was brought to the zoo by Jones.
Rope lines and colored flags identified a path for the radar equipment to follow, corresponding to carefu





Leadership Change at Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute Director Dennis Kelly plans to retire after a temporary appointment as the interim president of Smithsonian Enterprises. Effective Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, Steven Monfort will become acting director of the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

Kelly has served as the director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo since February 2010. As director, he has led the operations of the public Zoo, created a visionary plan for the Zoo’s future, and has ensured that the important work of the conservation scientists continues to have a global impact.

Kelly earned a bachelor’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University. After serving in the military, Kelly held positions with Procter & Gamble and Touche Ross & Co. From 1982 to 1999, he served in various positions at The Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta. In 1999, Kelly joined Green Mountain Energy Co. and before coming to the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Kelly was President of Zoo Atlanta for six years. Kelly recently completed a term as Chair of the Board of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the most prestigious zoological accrediting body in the world.

Monfort has been at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute since 1986. He is currently the John and Adrienne Mars Director, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and deputy director of Smithsonian's National Zoo.

Monfort served for 20 years as a research veterinarian, and he founded and co-led the Zoo’s Endocrine Research Laboratory. He launched the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation and played a key role in a number of significant conservation initiatives, including the Sahara Conservation Fund, Conservation Centers for Species Survival, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, and the Global Tiger Initiative. He has been instrumental in reintroducing scimitar-horned oryx, which were extinct in the wild, to their ancestral Sahelian habitats in Chad—one of





Biology's Beloved Amphibian--the Axolotl--Is Racing Toward Extinction
When biologist Luis Zambrano began his career in the late 1990s, he pictured himself working miles from civilization, maybe discovering new species in some hidden corner of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Instead, in 2003, he found himself counting amphibians in the polluted, murky canals of Mexico City’s Xochimilco district. The job had its advantages: he was working minutes from his home and studying the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), a national icon in Mexico and arguably the world’s most recognizable salamander. But in that first year, Zambrano couldn’t wait for it to be over.
“Let me tell you, I hated the project at the beginning,” he says. For one thing, “I couldn’t catch anything”.
Over time, however, he did catch some axolotls. What he found surprised him—and changed the course of his career. In 1998, the first robust study to count axolotls estimated that t





Zoo chief’s sexual harassment allegation draws pros and cons over sanction
A zoo director who allegedly sexually harassed a female worker received a pay cut, Yonhap News Agency reported Monday.

Lee Ki-sub, the director of the Seoul Grand Park, allegedly told the victim to sleep at his residence last December, when the workers at the zoo had to work overtime at night due to the outbreak of Avian Influenza. Doubts over his inappropriate remarks and physical contact in the past have also been raised.

Lee only admitted to parts of the allege




The Return of the Crested Ibis
I went to see Kin at the Sado Japanese Crested Ibis Preservation Center in the spring of 2003 only to find the last crested ibis in Japan blind and weak, huddled in a large cage about 2.5 meters square.
I learned of Kin’s death on October 10 of that same year from the TV news. She had apparently flung herself against aluminum siding at a height of about 1 meter and died from hitting her head. Perhaps she had hoped to make her weakened body fly once again in the great skies. She was 36 years old, well over 100 by human count.
Kin’s death reminded me of another. The place was the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio; the date, September 1, 1914. Martha—the last remaining passenger pigeon, named for the wife of George Washington, the first US president—fell from her perch in the zoo and died.
Prior to this, passenger pigeons numbered more than 3 billion and darkened the skies over the eastern part of the United States when they migrated. But they were decimated for their meat and their habitat destroyed as American pioneers cut down forests and cleared land. By 1901, wild passenger pigeons had disappeared.
Fortunately, Kin was not the last crested ibis, and her death did not mean the extinction of the species. The same species of crested




Can Freeing Captive Bears in Armenia End the Attitudes That Imprisoned Them?
A young family of three enjoys a delightful meal on an uncommonly warm fall day in one of Armenia’s many outdoor restaurants. A doting father leans playfully across the table to poke a fork at his cherub-like son. The child’s mother looks on lovingly. It’s a scene that would be the stuff of tourist brochures—were it not for its disturbing backdrop.

Visible from the family’s table is a wild brown bear, hovering despondently in the backdrop, pacing the length of its rusty cage to and fro, just meters from the happy family on the other side of the river.




Wildlife park worker, 37, is left with deadly illness after she was bitten by insect in Indonesian jungle while on a mission to save tigers
An animal conservation worker has been left with a deadly illness after she was bitten by an insect while trekking in the jungle to save the tiger.
Zoo owner Rebecca Willers, 37, has been diagnosed with a rare and incurable condition that she says leaves her body feeling 'like it is turning into stone'.
Known as Diffuse Systemic Sclerosis, the disease makes her body think its immune system is under attack and hardens her skin and connective tissues.
Ms Willers, who runs Shepreth Wildlife Park in Cambridgeshire, does not know how long she has left to live but doctors have told her one in ten people with the condition die within five years.
Since her diagnosis in September, she has cancelled her pension and is arranging to put he





What grosses out a chimpanzee?
Chimpanzees do some pretty disgusting things.
In their natural habitats, chimpanzees are known to pick up seeds from feces and re-ingest them. In captivity, some practice coprophagy: the deliberate ingestion of feces. These behaviors usually involve their own fecal matter, or that of their closest family members. If presented with feces and other bodily fluids from others, however, that's an entirely different story.
In 2015, researchers from Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute went to the Primate Center at the 'Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville' (CIRMF) in Gabon to test whether chimpanzees are grossed out by some of the same things as humans, particularly those that are sources of infectious disease.
Avoiding biological contaminants is a well-known manifestation of the adaptive system of disgust. In theory, animals evolved with this system to protect themselves from pathogens and parasites, which are often associated with media or substrates that invoke our sense





Chimps found to use arm and mouth expressions to convey distance
A small team of researchers working at the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University has found evidence that chimps are able to use gestures to convey distance to a person. In their paper published in the journal Biology Letters, the group describes experiments they carried out with chimps in a confined location, what they found and what their findings might mean for the development of symbolic communication in primates.
When people want to express distance to someone else they simply tell them using words or in some cases, use their hands to point. The ability to understand distance and convey it to another individual requires some degree of intelligence, which is why the research team in Japan wondered if chimps might the same abilities and if they did, how was it conveyed.
To find out, the team ran a series of experiments with eight chimps living at the institute. Each was allowed entry to a closed pen that was separated into two sections by bars preventing the chimps from coming into contact with the researchers. In the pen on the other side of the bars were two tables—one close to the bars, the other farther away. Each experiment consisted of a researcher coming into the table side of the pen and setting a piece of banana on one of two tables within sight of the chimp. The researcher would then leave the pen. Soon thereafter, another researcher would enter the room and begin interacting with the chimp, in effect, asking if they wanted the piece of banana. Regardless of how they c




Fate of lynx shot dead in Wales raises questions over 'hobby zoos'
When the Mee family bought Dartmoor Zoological Park in October 2006, it was in a state of complete dilapidation. The initial attraction had been the 12-bedroom, 18th-century house on the edge of the Dartmoor national park in Devon, with the attached zoo a “massive encumbrance” that was putting off buyers.

After some research the former science journalist Benjamin Mee decided the site could not only be a new home for his family, but also a new career. He concluded that if he “not only employed people who knew what they were doing, but also took their advice”, then he could reverse the fortunes of the 30-acre wildlife park, with its 200 exotic animals.

“It needed hundreds of thousand of pounds spending on it to get it up to licensing standard again,” said Mee. “So it was a huge gamble. But we just thought, if we don’t do it [the zoo] will definitely close … and it would just be wrong for those animals to be destroyed.” In 2011, Mee’s account of his family’s decision to buy, renovate and reopen the zoo was turned into the film We Bought a Zoo, starring Matt Damon.





A CHANGE AT THE TOP!
The Zoological Society of East Anglia is delighted to report the appointment of Professor David Field as Chief Executive Designate. Professor Field will take over from the founding Chief Executive Martin Goymour in the spring of 2018. The two will work together to achieve a smooth transition in the management of this prominent local charity and wildlife resource.

Martin Goymour comments: “As you may imagine this will be a momentous change for us both, but necessary to ensure that ZSEA and its parks have every opportunity to progress, evolve and grow.  We are extremely proud of the contributions and achievements made to wildlife conser





The Big Game killing field: Sickening bloodlust of trophy hunters who kill endangered animals for sport exposed
A trophy hunter poses with pride beside the young elephant he has just killed. Philip Glass shows no remorse and even boasts: “God says we have dominion over the animals . That means we can do what we choose with them.”

He is so convinced of his divine right to shoot big game, he also agreed to be filmed hunting a lion and hippo in South Africa for shocking new film Trophy.


The documentary ’s grim footage comes after Donald Trump sparked fury by lifting Barack Obama ’s ban on hunters importing elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia to the US.

The Mirror today exposes the sick reality of trophy hunting in South Africa and the firms offering package holiday-style hunts. And we rev





A tranquiliser shortage is holding back rescue and rehabilitation of rhinos in India
“Watching a rhino get tranquilised is indeed an experience to cherish. It is hard to imagine that such a powerful animal can become so vulnerable too,” said Dharanidhar Boro, an officer on special duty at Manas National park, who has been working with greater one-horned rhinos in India’s Assam state since 1987.

He describes the frenzy as more than 30 trained elephants circle a grazing rhino to try and contain it and an official with a dart gun, riding atop one of the pachyderms, shoots a drug-laden syringe at the rhino’s rump or neck.

It takes eight to 10 minutes after the needle pierces the rhino’s thick skin for the animal to go completely under; it takes off




Even more good news for a Friday: first captive-reared vultures released
Yesterday was a momentous day in Nepal. Five captive-reared vultures were released back into the wild as part of the Saving Asian Vulture Programme (SAVE).  This is an important milestone in the programme established to try to reverse the catastrophic decline in white-rumped vultures, and two other species of Gyps vulture (long-billed and slender-billed) all Critically Endangered as a result of the use of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug called diclofenac. This drug was, until recently, a very widespread treatment for sick cows. Meat of a dead, recently ‘diclofenac-dosed’ cow, is lethal to vultures and, being sacred, cows are not eaten but taken to carcass dumps and left for scavengers. Thus, one toxic cow can kill an awful lot of vultures.





Pigs to debut at new zoo in the Muslim-majority north
ndia’s lone Muslim majority state of Jammu and Kashmir has decided to showcase pigs at its upcoming zoo – a move that is bound to spark a fresh controversy. Pigs are deemed as unclean animals in Islam and hosting them in a zoo will have political consequences.

The state government has decided to dedicate a special area for pigs at the Jambu Zoo, also known as the Shivalik Biological Park in the Jammu region, on the national highway that connects it to the summer capital of Srinagar in the Kashmir Valley.




Fact Check: was it right to kill Lilith the escaped lynx?
An escaped lynx was recently destroyed by experts working on behalf of Ceredigion County Council in Wales after attempts to recapture it failed. Some people have responded angrily, arguing that officials should have tranquilised the animal rather than killing it. The council claimed it had done all it could and was left with no other option. So was there a way Lilith the lynx could have been saved?

Zoo animals all receive a danger category for their potential to cause serious harm. Animals such as tigers, lions, elephants, and lynx are classed as Category 1, the most dangerous animals, due to their natural behaviour and predatory way of life. Animals which may cause slight harm or injury are classified as Category 2, and those which are no threat to the public get classed as Category 3.

Within the UK, zoos are licenced by local authorities, who conduct inspections on a regular basis to ensure the health and safety of the animals, staff and the public that visit them. Safety from the animal enclosure side of things is always viewed to reduce the likelihood of the public getting in, and the animals getting out.

But zoos are home to some incredibly smart animals which are able to notice small gaps in the gates and doorways or when electric fencing ma




Zookeepers chase, beat kids with sticks at Hyderabad zoo on Children’s Day
Young boys can be seen fleeing from the khaki-clad men charging at them with sticks, some even fallen to the ground, as a crowd of many students look on from beyond a barricade. The fear is writ large on the faces of the boys’ as they try to escape.

The images were taken by Suresh Kumar, a photojournalist from Sakshi at Hyderabad’s Nehru Zoological Park (NZP) on Children’s Day.

The pictures have triggered outrage on social media, with one user even tagging the city police so that they can take action.





Study gives genetic clues to the extinction of the passenger pigeon
Martha, the last of her kind, resides in a glass case at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, perched on a thin branch. She’s a passenger pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius, and in the final years of her life, before her death in 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo, she achieved fame as the last survivor of a species once so populous that its flocks could darken the noonday sky.

Martha is small and gray, with flecks of blue and green iridescence on the back of her neck. She is looking sharply to the right, as if looking over her shoulder — as if a bit wary.

“Some people find her a little plain-looking,” said Helen James, the Curator of Birds, who can put her hands





Elephant Keeper Diaries
Today was the day that the first crate arrived to begin the introductions with the elephants – Minbu (the dominant female known as a matriarch), Tara, Noorjahan and Esha (our three year old calf, born here at Twycross Zoo by Noorjahan). All of the keepers who work with our girls daily were present and emotions were high with excitement to begin the next steps of our elephants’ move.

Once all of our morning jobs were completed – which included cleaning and the daily animal checks – our girls were given their breakfast and sent off into the grass paddock which was set up with some exciting enrichment to keep them entertained. The safest thing for them was to keep them busy and away from the noises and vibrations of the vehicles delivering the crate.





Creating Serendipitous Experiences That Have An Impact: A Conversation with Sue Chin, Vice President of Planning and Design and Chief Architect at the Wildlife Conservation Society
Unlike most other institutions who hire design firms, the four zoos and one aquarium under the Wildlife Conservation Society have their own design department responsible for all their exhibits and graphics. The Exhibition and Graphic Arts Department (EGAD), particularly at the Bronx Zoo, has designed many ground-breaking immersive habitats recreating the natural environment of its animals. No other institution has won the Exhibit Award from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums as many times as the Bronx Zoo. Currently EGAD is headed by Sue Chin, one of the most well respected zoo designers in history. Along with John Gwynne and Lee Ehmke (her partner for nearly two decades), she and the EGAD team have been responsible for many of the incredible exhibits at the Bronx Zoo. This is her story.




The Ark in Lincoln Park: A Conversation with Mark Rosenthal
 One of the oldest zoos in the nation, the Lincoln Park Zoo has been a leader in the zoo field for over a century. No one knows this better than Mark Rosenthal, retired Curator of Mammals from the zoo. He has an intimate knowledge of its history few have both from personal experience and documenting the stories of others. Rosenthal authored The Ark in the Park, a book on the history of the zoo, and since retirement has run the Zoo and Aquarium Video Archives, which contain hours upon hours of video interviews with retired zoo professionals. Here is his story.





Cumbria zoo scandal: Govt minister Michael Gove to study case of animal deaths
County MP set for top-level talks as report compiled into tragedy at family attraction
SCANDALOUS failings at a Cumbrian zoo - which saw hundreds of animals die of starvation and neglect - are to form the basis of a government report aimed at preventing such a tragedy from ever happening again in the UK.

The Zoos Expert Committee is in the process of considering the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 500 animals at South Lakes Safari Zoo, near Dalton, over the course of just four years.

The committee, which provides advice to the government, has been tasked with identifying lessons that can be learnt from the case so that changes to the way zoos are licensed in the future can be implemented nationally.

Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock, who has campaigned for changes to the laws which govern how animals are kept in zoos, is set to meet environment secretary, Michael Gove, to discuss the issue once the report is complete.
Mr Woodcock has called for anyone who applies for a zoo licence to first pass a fit and proper persons test in a bid to ensure the highest standards of safety for animals, staff and the public.
He said: "Since the awful events at South Lakes Safari Zoo, I have been campaigning to reform the current zoo licensing system which has clearly been shown to be not fit for purpose.

"We need a fit and proper persons test so that those involved in running a failed zoo can be barred from obtaining a new licence and a more professional regulatory system that mirrors the high standards seen in other areas where health and welfare are at risk.

"It is a huge boost to the campaign that the govern





Explainer: mass coral spawning, a wonder of the natural world
During the late spring, corals on the Great Barrier Reef release little balls that float to the ocean surface in a slow motion upside-down snowstorm.

These beautiful events are studied avidly by scientists: the tiny bundles will become young corals, and unlocking their secrets is vital to the continuing life of our coral reefs.





Will SeaWorld ever be allowed to return trainers to the water?
On February 24th, 2010 SeaWorld Orlando Trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by the largest Killer Whale to ever be in captivity at any park in the world, Tilikum. The world changed that day in many ways, from the way many saw SeaWorld, to the way SeaWorld operated, to even what the whales were called.  Perhaps one of the biggest changes came from the removal of a staple of the park, and the very shows that they performed. That day would be the last that any SeaWorld trainer would be in the water with an Orca during a show, and the water contact between trainers and the whales would be minimal. It was a decision that would change the fabric of the company, and would tear apart the image of bonding nature and humans that SeaWorld worked almost 50 years to create and perfect. Seven years later, there are no trainers and Orcas in the water at Shamu Stadium, and the way that people and the whales interact has changed forever. Is there any hope of ever going back, even one little baby step? What would have to change so that trainers and Orcas could once again show that connection that we are one world, one ocean?





Primatologist Jane Goodall: ‘Tarzan married the wrong Jane’
Growing up in Britain during the second world war, Jane Goodall was often told her dreams were just that – fantasy, unrealistic, unachievable: “I had read Tarzan and fallen in love, although he married the wrong Jane, the wretched man,” she jokes. “I wanted to live with wild animals and write books about them. But people would say: ‘How can you do that? Africa is far away, we don’t know much about it. You don’t have any money in your family. You’re just a girl.’”

Now, at 83, the celebrated British primatologist tours the world, never stopping anywhere for more than a few weeks at a time, giving sold-out lectures on what she has learned over five decades of chimp study in Tanzania.

Angelina Jolie, Colin Firth and Judd Apatow are vocal fans. Michael Jackson, she says, wrote Heal the World about her. Goodall just wants to get on with the job of better protecting our planet from the effects of climate change, but now her schedule has been interrupted once again by National Geographic’s Jane, a film about her life (of which there are now more than 40). She sounds mildly annoyed when she tells me that she recently had to pause her activism to travel to the Hollywood premiere of the documentary,





Experts call for urgent action to protect Myanmar bears
Bears are being hunted with impunity for their gall bladder and bile in eastern Shan State, where the rule of law remains weak, conservationists said, calling for immediate protection of the species.

WWF Myanmar said Malay bears and Himalayan bears are being caught in forests and kept in small cages on livestock farms where their bile is harvested for traditional medicine.

“Bears are being kept inside small cages and their bile is harvested every day by piercing through their rib cages,” said U Tin Htun Aung, program officer at the Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA).

“They are forced to produce bile for many years. If the bear is killed, bile can only be extracted once so people resort to this cruel method to harvest bile for years,” he added.

The Sun bear, which can be found in Myanmar, requires full protection by law. The Himalayan bear, the other type of bear in the country, is included on the list of protected species, according to BANCA.

As Himalayan bears are rather large with big gall bladders, they are more targeted, the organisations added.

Conservationists lamented that although these bears ar





New program releases endangered whooping cranes into wild
A group of 12 juvenile whooping cranes were released into the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday as part of an ongoing effort to protect the species from extinction.

The juvenile cranes join 49 other whooping cranes that are a part of an experimental population being monitored by LDWF.

Supported by donors like Chevron, LDWF and Audubon Nature Institute have been longtime leaders in whooping crane conservation and recently expanded their partnership with the goal of developing a self-sustaining population of whooping cranes in Louisiana.

Of the 12 cranes, seven were reared at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland, two were raised at Calgary Zoo in Canada and three were hatched from eggs collected from the wild in Wisconsin and reared at the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center in New Orleans. All 12 cranes were brought to the Species Survival Center where they formed a “cohort,” the scientific term





ZOO ANIMAL LITTLE MAMA, WORLD'S OLDEST KNOWN CHIMPANZEE, DIES AT 79 YEARS OLD
Little Mama, the oldest known chimpanzee on record, died on Tuesday in her late 70s, according to The Palm Beach Post.

Born before the end of World War II, Little Mama lived into her 70s until Tuesday, when she died in the company of eight other chimpanzees and employees at the Lion Country Safari park in Loxahatchee, Florida. Although not yet confirmed, the cause of death is suspected to be kidney failure. According to the Post, a necroscopy will be carried out. 

As South Florida's Sun Sentinel reports, chimpanzees in captivity typically live to between 50 and 60, and their counterparts in the wi




Court allows appeal of order to edit Vancouver Aquarium documentary
Filmmaker was to remove some footage in piece that looks at treatment of dolphins and beluga whales.
The B.C. Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of a filmmaker whose documentary criticized the Vancouver Aquarium’s practice of keeping beluga whales and dolphins in captivity.

It says a lower court judge erred in ordering the filmmaker to remove 15 segments of his documentary that the aquarium said could cause the facility irreparable harm.





Conservation by killing? Documentary asks if commerce can save threatened species
 Could a hunter’s bullet be a tool in helping save Africa’s endangered species from extinction? The question is one of the many complex ethical dilemmas raised by “Trophy”, a documentary that examines whether commerce can help wildlife conservation.
The film, directed by Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau, assesses some of the ways that threatened species are used for commercial gain, from elephants being auctioned to hunters as prey, to rhinos being farmed for their horns.

While Schwarz and Clusiau began the project with the intention of shaming the hunting industry, they soon found that situation was more complex and nuanced than they had imagined.

“In Africa, for example, their relationship to animals is very different from our relationship to animals in the sense that,





From cooking pot to conservation, a turtle’s tale
A royal turtle once rescued from villagers who wanted to eat it was one of two handed over to a conservation centre yesterday.

The turtles had been raised by former Koh Kong provincial Fisheries Administration’s official Nay Ol, 60, for 17 years.

Tears welled up in his eyes when he spoke about his turtles during the inauguration of the Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Centre in Mondol Seima district.

One turtle weighed more than 30 kilos and was more than 50 years old. It was rescued in 2000 from villagers who were about to kill and cook it.

Mr Ol said his wife could not be there because she would cry if she saw the turtles being given away.

He joined the turtle conservation project in 2000 and went that year to Sre Ambel to educate people about royal turtles.




The Pittsburgh Zoo should want to be in the best league
Sean Hamill’s excellent article “Pittsburgh Zoo Was Kicked Out of Important Conservation Programs When It Left National Association” (Nov. 12) merits clarification. Most important, Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium did not leave the Association of Zoos and Aquariums due to “a dispute over how it cares for elephants” or “philosophical issues.” It left, plain and simple, because the zoo’s executive leadership did not want to meet AZA’s improved and stringent standards for maximizing occupational safety of elephant care professionals — standards designed by their colleagues and which our 62 elephant-holding members are meeting today.

This is a deadly serious issue. Zoo leadership also knew, in leaving AZA, that the zoo’s participation in member programs, like Species Survival Plans, would be restricted. And participation will likely get more restrictive in the months and years to come, as our members continue reviewing SSPs and raising standards for animal care.





The Pittsburgh zoo is world class
So it doesn’t matter if a single self-important organization criticizes us
I was greatly amused by the comments from Association of Zoos and Aquariums executive director Daniel M. Ashe, who has never visited the Pittsburgh Zoo (“The Pittsburgh Zoo Should Want to Be in the Best League,” Nov. 16 letters). Sadly, Mr. Ashe has been misled and wrote his letter in an attempt to protect AZA’s brand and self-proclaimed position as a zoo organization.

The Pittsburgh Zoo has always upheld the highest standards of animal care and welfare. We are now certified by the oldest national animal welfare organization in the country, American Humane, passing a rigorous third-party, independent audit. We have not only increased our expertise and standards in our animal care, but also have the Gold Stamp of the American Humane Conservation program’s Humane Certified seal to prove it.

Our zoo is accredited by the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks & Aquariums Association and the Zoological Association




'Hobby zoos' face calls for crackdown after second lynx dies at animal park home of Lillith
A Welsh zoo is facing calls to close after it emerged a second lynx was accidentally strangled in  “a terrible handling error” days before Lillith the lynx was shot and killed following her escape from the same attraction.

Borth Wild Animal Kingdom near Aberyswyth was branded a “hobby zoo” after news of the death of the second lynx emerged, throwing a spotlight on fears that at some UK animal attractions well-meaning but underqualified owners are failing to look after creatures properly.

Launching a petition for Borth to close in the light of the two deaths, the Lynx UK Trust, a conservation group working to reintroduce the lynx to Britain, accused the zoo’s management of having “little to no understanding of wild animal behaviour or welfare needs”.

Dr Paul O'Donoghue, Chief scientific adviser to the trust, added: “What if it had been Borth's crocodile that esca





EXPOSED! Blood Rhino Blacklist
On Saturday 28 October 2017, I exposed the ‘blood rhino blacklist’ syndicate, live on air, on the award winning Radio New Zealand show with Kim Hill. Listen to the 30 minute interview here.

I am staking my life on this shocking expose you are about to read. I can only take it so far. It is now up to global citizens, environmental organisations, press and politicians worldwide to ensure that justice is done. Because if we fail, the rhinos of South Africa will tumble into extinction, and rapists and murderers will be set free.

I am the guardian of the ‘blood rhino blacklist’. I have already exposed two magistrates and two defense attorneys involved in the case of Zululand’s accused rhino poaching kingpin, Dumisani Gwala. But this is just one thread in a systematic web of corruption.





First-ever animal rights lawsuit filed on behalf of zoo elephants
Pachyderms are people, too.

That’s the argument being made by the Nonhuman Rights Project, which filed the first-ever animal rights lawsuit this week on behalf of captive elephants in Connecticut — claiming they are legal “persons” who deserve to be in sanctuaries, not zoos.

The nonprofit organization believes that because the creatures are autonomous beings, who live “emotionally, socially, and cognitively complex lives,” they have a fundamental right to be set free from the Commerford Zoo in Goshen.

Lawyers for the group are specifically requesting that their “elephant clients” — Beulah, Karen and Minnie — be released and sent the Performing Animal Welfare Society’s ARK 2000 natural habitat sanctuary in California, “where their right to bodily liberty will be respected.”

They announced the filing on Monday in a press release, saying they were seeking a common law writ of habeas corpus in Connecticut Superior Court.

“This is not an animal welfare case,” explained attorney Steven M. Wise, president and founder of the NhRP.





Tenerife marine park loses court battle over orca welfare
Tenerife’s Loro Parque has lost a defamation battle against an animal rights charity over treatment of orcas at the marine park.
A Spanish court has thrown out a defamation lawsuit bought against PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – in which Loro Parque sought €100,000 in damages.

The case was brought after PETA published photographs in 2015 showing the killer whales covered with scars and wounds, which it said had come from the animals being kept in too close proximity to each other.

Other images showed severe dental trauma, which PETA says captive orcas typically develop from gnawing on tank gates and walls. Another (above) showed an orca with a collapsed dorsal fin, which PETA says is the result of having inadequate space to swim and dive.

Dismissing the case, the judge ruled that PETA’s views, which are based on expert analysis and research, were protected under Spanish laws on freedom of expression. The judg





Unloved vultures fight for their survival in Pakistan
Once a common sight in the skies, today the white-backed vulture is facing extinction – its population devastated by the use of industrial drugs to breed the cattle whose carcasses they traditionally feed on.

Bird numbers have plummeted by more than 99 per cent since the 1990s, according to the local branch of the World Wildlife Fund [WWF], which is desperately attempting to ensure the species does not die out.

“Once vultures were found in a very good number in Pakistan,” explains Warda Javed, coordinator for the WWF backed Vulture Restoration Project. But due to several threats – principally the use of the anti-inflammatory drug Diclofenac, which causes kidney failure the birds are dying out.





Royal turtles released into wild
More than 20 critically endangered turtles were released into the wild yesterday after spending the last eight years in a conservation centre.

Som Sitha, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s technical advisor of theo Koh Kong Conservation Project, said the adult turtles were ready to return to their natural habitat in the Sre Ambel river system.

Each of the reptiles was equipped with a GPS device prior to the release.

“Each turtle is about eight-years-old and weighs over ten kilograms,” Mr Sitha said. “There are 13 females and 12 males, because we want these to breed in the wild.”

The royal turtle, or southern river terrapin, has been Cambodia’s national reptile since 2005. It is on the Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The Sre Ambel River system o





Worst-case scenario: There could be only 30 wild Sumatran rhinos left
As we sit cross-legged at a restaurant in Java over plates of local delicacies — cow brains, avocado juice and dried fish you eat whole — Haerudin R. Sadjudin tells me a little about his life. Lanky, weathered, with a welcoming demeanor and an open smile, Haerudin, 62, started studying rhinos — both Indonesian species, the Sumatran and the Javan — in 1975. I tell him he’s been doing this job longer than I’ve been alive.

Haerudin, program manager at local rhino NGO YABI, has had the pleasure of seeing Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus) 31 times in the wild. He’s been attacked by them three times, including once when he had to abandon his canoe and cling to a tree. But this isn’t what really takes my breath away. He’s actually seen Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in the wild — but only once in his 40-plus years of studying the animal.

This highlights just how endangered the Sumatran rhino has long been. Already by the 1970s they were virtually impossible to encounter. And today they are so rare, so nearly lost, as to be almost mythical: they’ve become like the Tasmanian tiger in the 1920s or Stellar’s sea cow in the 1760s.

The world knows exactly how many Javan rhino





Illegally Conceived Genetically Defective Liger Turns 7
A lion-tiger hybrid born on a tourist farm in 2010 in circumstances that breached Taiwan’s Wildlife Conservation Law turned 7 years old last month.

The animal’s low-key birthday was reported in various local media outlets today, after the story was originally posted on Facebook by National Pingtung University of Science and technology’s (NPUST) Center for Wildlife Conservation and Management October 23.

Ah Biao, as he is nicknamed, was born in 2010 at the tourism-oriented World Snake King Educational Farm in Tainan in 2010 after the managers cross-bred a male African lion with a female Bengal tiger. The result of the experiment produced three offspring which the breeders touted as the first Ligers produced in Taiwan.

One of the cubs died at birth, and another survived just one week. The surviving sibling, Ah Biao, was confiscated by the Council of Agriculture as his birth had contravened Taiwan’s Wildlife Conservation Law.

Ah Biao suffered from congenital defects, including a malformed tail, hip problems, spinal curvature, and an immobile left-rear leg. Ah Biao was taken to NPUST’s Center for Wildlife Conservation and Management, where he resides to this day. Weighing just 680 grams when he arrived, today he weighs 165 kilograms and has a body-length of 170 centimeters.





STURGEON: UNLIKELY GEOPOLITICAL SUBJECTS
Sturgeon are more critically endangered than any other species. A number of factors contribute cumulatively to sturgeon’s endangered status: namely, overfishing, habitat destruction, and river fragmentation. But what makes the endangered status of sturgeon even more precarious is the world’s voracious appetite for their ‘black pearls’: caviar.

In the closing ceremony of ISS8, it was said that sturgeon are “living encyclopaedias” due to their long lifespans, and the fact that their bodies – much like the rings of the tree – tell stories of climatic disturbances and environmental change. These can be dated to past events, such as periods of nuclear testing.





Birth control at zoos is all about strategy
Animals take birth control too.

At the Dallas Zoo, zookeepers have to get creative with the birth control they give to their animals.

Chimps, who are similar to humans biologically, take birth control just like women, but the keepers have to sneak it into their food, according to the Dallas Morning News. Some chimps take the pill in their juice, while others eat it in their oatmeal.

Birth control at zoos is an important matter of keeping breeding in line with space and health concerns, while also balancing the natural social order of the animals and accounting for animals that just don't want to take their meds.





Beijing zoo under fire after tigers suspected to have been fed street dogs
A Beijing wildlife park on Monday denied feeding its tigers street dogs, saying the park had in fact merely put several dogs and wolves into a cage together.

A post which claimed Beijing's Badaling Wildlife Park fed its tigers and wolves street dogs has been circulating online over recent days. Some netizens have also posted pictures showing the park put dogs and wolves together, calling for intervention from the relevant government department.

A manager at the park told the Beijing-based newspaper The Mirror that several months ago, they did indeed put several dogs and wolves in a cage together, but that they never harmed each other.

The manager denied feeding tigers street dogs and said that all meat the tigers eat is purchased through legal channels and passes through quarantine inspectio





Twenty dolphins saved in Solomon Islands
Police and fisheries officials in Solomon Islands are urging the public to restrain from the illegal activity of trapping dolphins for export.

Earlier this month 20 dolphins were rescued and released from captivity in Rapata Village in Kolombangara Island.




US to allow imports of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe, Zambia
US authorities will remove restrictions on importing African elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia.

That means Americans will soon be able to hunt the endangered big game, an activity that garnered worldwide attention when a Minnesota dentist took Cecil, perhaps the world's most famous lion, near a wildlife park in Zimbabwe.
A US Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman said the move will allow the two African countries to include US sport hunting as part of their management plans for the elephants and allow them to put "much-needed revenue back into conservation."




Lions next in line of fire as US rolls back curbs on African hunting trophies
Hunting interests have scored a major victory with the Trump administration’s decision to allow Americans to bring home body parts of elephants shot for sport in Africa. Another totemic species now looks set to follow suit – lions.

As the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) was announcing it was lifting a ban on the import of elephant “trophies” from Zimbabwe and Zambia, it also quietly published new guidelines that showed lions shot in the two African countries will also be eligible to adorn American homes.





What if Cecil the lion died as part of a successful conservation business?
Think of Cecil the lion’s death in 2015. Were you horrified? Why? For many, the outrage over Walter Palmer’s decision to hunt the lion and then pose with his dead ‘trophy’ simply stemmed from the idea that this majestic creature had been needlessly killed when it may be soon facing extinction. But what if Palmer’s actions were actually part of an incredibly successful conservation business that in fact helped to stop the extinction of animals, and bought an economy to a struggling region? That’s the question new documentary Trophy aims to pose. Originally planned as an expose on the hunting community and those that save for years to fly to Africa and shoot an animal, it quickly became apparent to directors Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwarz that it was actually a more complicated and morally grey ideology. As Schwarz says, no one wants to hear about money and wildlife together, but as they began researching for the documentary, one ideal kept popping up: ‘If it pays it stays’. This ideology places a value on an animal; it says some animals are worth more alive than dead, and for that reason it is economically smarter to breed p




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About me
After more than 49 years working in private, commercial and National zoos in the capacity of keeper, head keeper and curator Peter Dickinson started to travel. He sold house and all his possessions and hit the road. He has traveled extensively in Turkey, Southern India and much of South East Asia before settling in Thailand. In his travels he has visited well over 200 zoos and many more before 'hitting the road' and writes about these in his blog http://zoonewsdigest.blogspot.com/


Peter earns his living as an independent international zoo consultant, critic and writer. Currently working as Curator of Penguins in Ski Dubai. United Arab Emirates. He describes himself as an itinerant zoo keeper, one time zoo inspector, a dreamer, a traveler, an introvert, a people watcher, a lover, a thinker, a cosmopolitan, a writer, a hedonist, an explorer, a pantheist, a gastronome, sometime fool, a good friend to some and a pain in the butt to others.


"These are the best days of my life"






Peter Dickinson
Independent International Zoo Consultant
+971 50 4787 122 | elvinhow@gmail.com | Skype: peter.dickinson48