Sunday, May 13, 2018

Zoo News Digest 13th May 2018 (ZooNews 993)

Zoo News Digest 13th May 2018  (ZooNews 993)

 
Orpheus - depicted in ancient Roman Floor Mosaic


Peter Dickinson

elvinhow@gmail.com

 

Dear Colleague,


Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water than Craig Busch raises his ugly head again. He, David Gill and 'Doc' Antle have this uncanny knack of grabbing the media's attention.

So Dubai Safari is closing to the public next week and won't open again till October. That's a pity because up to now I have not found time to visit and now it is too late. I am planning to leave Dubai at the end of August and resume my zoo consultancy work. It is not without many regrets and the lack of a regular salary is going to hit me hard. I am hoping to attend the WAZA conference in Bangkok in October and the SEAZA conference in Chiang Mai the following week and so will be looking for sponsors for registration and accommodation. Flights are not an issue. Email me if you can help.

Most of you will be aware that I take every news story with a pinch of salt, and sometimes a bucketload. There are stories and comments I have read this week which have read this week which have led me to remark to myself....'that is absolute bullshit'.  At other times I just wonder when there are several stories on the same subject. Right now I am curious as to whether the new elephants at Dubai Safari came from Namibia or Zimbabwe. It is for things like this that I refuse all interviews. I have learned from experience that what you say and what is printed can be two very different things.

I had to close off the advertisement for Penguin Trainer in Dubai as the interest was so overwhelming. It is a similar picture for many of the vacancies I post on the ZooWork page. It starts out as a trickle but if the ad is appealing it can literally get thousands of reads in just 24 hours.

The death of a Tiger Keeper in China has not gone unremarked. Sadly most who comment have not been sympathetic…in fact they have been downright nasty. True enough the collection in which this keeper worked is a nasty piece of work and should have been shut down long ago…but the keeper? I know nothing about him but I do know he had family and that there were people who loved and cared about him. They will grieve and possibly suffer financial hardship. There are crap zoos everywhere, including in the West and this includes some quite well known ones if you scratch the surface. There are far more bad zoos than there are good ones. But the keepers? Well I personally know or knew many who stayed working in bad zoos because they thought their animals would be worse off without them. This could easily be the case here and yet some of the media have described this unfortunate man as a 'Cruel Chinese ZooKeeper'. It may be true but I don't know that and I doubt the press do either. The sins of the zoos (and management) should not be placed on the shoulders of the keepers.

You will no doubt have seen the video of the Cheetah worrying the ignorant visitors who decided to go for a stroll in a Safari Park. There are many out there who seem to believe that Cheetah are 'safe'. They aren't! In my years in the zoo business I have had a few scratches and bites from the cat family but the worst of all was from a Cheetah…..and this from defending a stupid group of people who thought Cheetah were safe.

The Zoo Biology group has been more active this week. It saddens me that more professional Zoo Keepers don't use it. They used to before Facebook came along. I note so many Q and A's on the various animal keeping Facebook groups and I know the answers are already there on the Zoo Biology group. The professional expertise of members there is unsurpassable but then you do have to be a professional to join.

I am delighted that the bear from Oradea Zoo has been moved Libearty Sanctuary but I hardly think that this can be termed 'freedom'. More space and a better place but still captivity (or "under human care" for the new keeper generation) because after all sanctuaries are still zoos albeit with a different moniker.

Apart from the Penguins I don't have any animals in my life right now. True enough the penguins give me immense pleasure and I continue to learn something new from them each and every day. There are the odd days I get to stroke a cat or a dog and these are actually special moments. There is an ants nest in the Mall car park which fascinates me daily. Then there are the birds. I rarely see more than the four same species in a day. It is the Bank Myna which gives the most interest. There are dozens scraping a living in the Mall car park. Their powers of imitation are always amusing. There are those who are mobile phones and others who are house crows. There is one how has perfected a fast car screeching through the car park which is so realistic that it makes people jump....little things which keep me happy.




 "good zoos will not gain the credibility of their critics until they condemn the bad zoos wherever they are." Peter Dickinson


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Lots of interest follows. 


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Did You Know?
ZooNews Digest has over 77,000 Followers on Facebook( and over 78,000 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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Zion's big cat pride set for a public revival
A troubled big cat park in Northland has been closed to the public for years, with its population of lions and tigers in decline. Harrison Christian goes inside Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary as it gears up for a re-opening, which the park's founder claims he'll fight to stop.

The bad headlines came lightly at first, then thick and fast. Financial trouble; domestic violence; alleged mistreatment of animals. Craig "the Lion Man" Busch collected dozens of lions and tigers at a facility in Northland before he left the country – and the cats – to start again in South Africa.

Four tigers; two cheetahs; seventeen lions and one black leopard. That's the full inventory remaining at what is now called Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary. Where the park once had almost 40 animals a decade ago, there are now only 24 left.

Nestled in the countryside east of Whangarei and echoing with the roars of the big cats, the park has stood dormant since the government ordered it closed to the public four years ago. There's been talk of a revival ever since, but dates indicated for a re-opening have come and gone.

Meanwhile, various operators kept things running; the cats might be off-limits to the public, but they still have to eat, getting through an average of four cows per week. A new level of activity is stirring behind the fences under Australian couple Janette and Dale Vallance, who plan to have tourists through the gates this summer.





Balancing tourism and conservation: Dubai shows how
As Dubai grows into the metropolis we know it as, so does the need for environmental awareness and conservation. While many conservationists continue to insist animals solely belong in the wild, what they often fail to address is the fact that the boundaries of their natural habitats are shrinking by the day. Regrettably, animals are increasingly coming under the threats of poaching, global warming, and conflict. In this context, Dubai Safari Park, which imported older elephants and other animals last year, is playing a critical role in the conservation of endangered species. It is also sensitising tourists and residents about protection and conservation.

Timothy Husband, the park’s technical director, gave his assurance to a local newspaper that the desert elephants, brought in from Namibia, were to enhance breeding and care facilities, and for rides. “Some of them are critically endangered. We aim to increase the n





ESSENTIAL READ FOR EVERY BIG CAT 'HANDLER'




Dubai Safari park to close on May 15
The Dubai Safari will close its doors to the public on May 15 as the attraction undergoes some "beautification works", it was announced on Saturday.

The park will welcome visitors again on October 1, following the completion of the embellishment programme scheduled to take place during the summer months.





The activists are wrong: Aquariums support conservation
Judging by the dozens of aquariums around the country offering Mother’s Day programming, tens of thousands of American moms appear set to spend their special day getting a front row seat to the majestic and awe-inspiring creatures of the sea. For good reason. A trip to the local aquarium is something the whole family can enjoy, with sea life giving moms a well-deserved break from entertaining the kids.

Unfortunately, an activist movement called Empty the Tanks is trying to spoil the fun. Today, it is hosting coordinated worldwide protests demanding that aquariums return their inhabitants to the sea. Its mission statement is, “End captivity, protect the oceans.”





The 26th South East Asian Zoos and Aquariums Association (SEAZA) Annual Conference 2018 (SEAZA2018)





Great Indian Bustard’s numbers down to eight
A latest report by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has revealed that Maharashtra may have less than eight Great Indian Bustards (GIB) currently. With the number of GIBs pegged so low in a recent survey, the forest department will be focusing on measures to conserve the endangered bird species.

Officials have stated that the count of GIB was around 30, decades ago. The forest department will be focusing on protecting the grasslands and monitor the eleven clusters across the state, which have been identified as the species' habitat. Moreover it will also be focusing on preventing fire in these areas.

The GIB is listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and listed as an endangered species.  A report on potential habitat by the WII, in collaboration with the state forest department, was recently released and it stated that during a survey in September 2017, out of 1,401 respondents, 72 confirmed that they have spotted the bird in their area. “While doing the survey, the GIB was not found. However, we had kept dummy birds throughout an area of 55,000 sq km to know the detection rate of these species. Only 13 per cent of the dummy birds could be identified during the survey, leading to the conclusion that less than eight GIB are there in the state,” said M.K. Rao, additional principal chief conservator of forest (Wildlife West).

“We had carried out radio telemetry survey for two years, where we found that t





Mexico City Officially Bans Dolphinariums
In a victory for captive dolphins, Mexico City announced an official ban on dolphinariums last week, putting an end to captive dolphins within the city limits.

According to La Verdad, the reform not only bans captive dolphins, it also includes sea lions. All captive dolphins and sea lions within the city must be relocated to accredited sanctuaries within the next six months. The animals’ new homes will be thoroughly evaluated prior to the move in order to ensure that they are as close as possible to the natural habitats of dolphins and sea lions in the wild. Those who do not comply with the new law will face fines ranging from 300,000 to 300,960 pesos (about $15k).

The vast majority of politicians were in favor of the ban, with 40 vote





Zookeeper mauled to death at Chinese animal centre which sold 'tiger wine'
A zookeeper was reportedly killed by a tiger at a controversial wildlife centre in southern China accused of selling "tiger wine".
The man, who was aged around 50, went to clean a tiger enclosure with a colleague at the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village in Guilin, a city in the Guangxi autonomous region on Tuesday (May 8) morning, according to China National Radio.

His colleague left the man, who has not been named, alone in the enclosure at around 11am.

His body was found at around 2.30pm and his family were told later that day that he had been mauled by a tiger.





Panda-hosting Ähtäri Zoo losing money
Ähtäri Zoo, which is hosting two pandas from China, is seeking a million euros from the city of Ähtäri, its main financier, to help cover last year’s losses.
The zoo’s consolidated financial statements put it around one million euros in the red. Some 800,000 euros of the losses at the animal park in South Ostrobothnia are directly panda-related. The zoo is, however, upbeat about the future. Visitor numbers have been growing in the past few months, and operations are expected back in the black during 2018, according to Ähtäri Zoo CEO Jonna Pietilä.




Bear from Romanian zoo tastes freedom for the first time in 28 years
Pamela, a female bear from the Zoo in the Romanian city of Oradea, got the chance to roam free after 28 years in a cage, local Stirileprotv.ro reported.

Representatives of the Oradea Zoo asked the Millions of Friends Association to take the bear, as she was being attacked all the time by her grown up cubs. The situation had forced the zoo employees to move Pamela to an even smaller cage, which led to an unhappy life for the animal.

Thus, the female bear was taken to the Libearty Bear S





The Beginnings of Waikiki's Wildlife Treasure: A Conversation with Paul Breese, the Founding Director of the Honolulu Zoo
In 1947, Paul Breese was named the first director of the Honolulu Zoo and was tasked with turning a small bird park into a world-class zoological park. With the help of Belle Benchley of the San Diego Zoo, he built the zoo from the ground up and put together an impressive collection of exotic animals. The zoo soon had significant breeding success with a number of species including Galapagos tortoises (the first successful births in America), cassowaries (the first successful birth and rearing in captivity), Asian hornbills and giraffes. Most noteworthy, Breese became Chairman of the Nene Advisory Committee and the Honolulu Zoo successfully saved the Hawaiian geese from extinction through the Nene Restoration Project. Here is his story.





Like the fossil fuel industry, trophy hunting is unsustainable
Trophy hunting is like the fossil fuel industry. They’re both messy, unsustainable, in need of an alternative approach and, ultimately, fail to deliver on their promises.

Trophy hunting is a colonial construct with an anachronistic view on the environment. While it has served certain interests, its failures to effectively deliver on wider conservation promises and its negative impacts outweigh any benefits it accrues. It’s time to search for more effective and sustainable alternatives. 2

Despite being entrenched in conservation programmes, doubts around trophy hunting started a long time back. Some argue that distaste for sport killing began when Theodore Roosevelt returned from East Africa in 1909 with his hunting bag of over 500 trophies, including 17 lions, 11 elephants and 20 rhino.

Back then, indiscriminate hunting had already placed many of the continent’s charismatic species under threat. Today, and with many of these same species still





UAE releases 1,000 Houbara bustards
Officials of the UAE Embassy in Islamabad have released 1,000 Houbara bustards in Rahim Yar Khan region of Punjab province as part of the country’s commitment and efforts for preservation of the bird.

Representatives of the Fund for Houbara Conservation Abu Dhabi, officials of Forest, Wildlife and Fisheries Department of Punjab and media were also present.

Speaking on the occasion, UAE Ambassador in Islamabad Hamad Obaid Al Zaabi said that his country has achieved a distinguished position on the global level for its efforts to conserve the Houbara bustard. Several projec





Nearly Two Years Later, ‘World’s Saddest Polar Bear’ No Longer Sad?
As animal welfare increasingly becomes a part of the public conversation, it’s becoming more common to see stories about animals living in situations that are harmful to their mental and physical health. Take SeaWorld’s dolphins, or Yemen’s starving zoo animals—or the tragic case of Pizza the polar bear.

Too often we never find out what ultimately happens to these animals. Do they ever leave their decrepit enclosures in that zoo? Do they ever get a reprieve from performing for people? Do they survive their near-death experiences in captivity?

In a new series, “Where are they now?” Wildlife Watch will report on animals whose plights have elicited widespread concern and sympathy, to see how they’re faring now. We begin the series today with an update on a bear called Pizza, who’s been called “the world’s saddest polar bear.” Please send us an email at ngwildli





Carnivores in captivity give birth at the same time of year as those in the wild
Many species have a specific mating season when living in their natural habitat. The young animals are usually born in spring when environmental conditions are optimal for their survival, while births at less favorable times such as the start of winter are thus avoided. Depending on whether seasonal reproduction is a strong characteristic of a species or not, the time period for births will be a longer or a shorter window.

Researchers at the Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife at the University of Zurich investigated the seasonality of more than 100 species of carnivores. As it is rather difficult to ob-serve births of animals in their natural habitat, they evaluated data from 150,000 births that took place in zoos. Zoos consistently document births and forward the i





Patience pays off for elephants' keepers in North Sumatra
A certain bond, albeit with caveats, seems to define the relationship between tame elephants and their mahout ( keepers) in Mount Leuser National Park’s Tangkahan Elephant Ecotourism Camp in Langkat, North Sumatra.

Tangkahan Elephant Ecotourism Camp’s elephant and mahout coordinator Sudiono recalled the time when his wife was feverish, he told her to see a doctor.

“When an elephant is ill, I look after it day and night until it is fully recovered. I am afraid it will die. If it refuses to eat, I’ll go the extra mile to find the food it likes such as ripe bananas,” the 44-year-old said.

Under the current arrangement, all sick elephants have to be referred to the Veterinary Society for Sumatran Wildlife Conservation.

“I don’t really know why I have such a deep affection for elephants, which is just there by itself and is perhaps forged by the many years we have spent together,” Sudiono said.

He and the 11 other mahout under him accompanied Environment and Forestry Ministry officials during a recent visit to Tangkahan, which was formerly an illegal loggers’ transit point.





What will it take to stop the animal selfie phenomenon?
LAST WEEK, IT was reported that kangaroos at a popular tourist area in New South Wales had begun attacking tourists for their food and causing significant injuries. Why? In a bid to get the perfect selfie, tourists were coaxing the kangaroos with carrots and if the animals didn’t get the carrots, or any other food high in sugar, they would become aggressive.

The area around the Morisset hospital, which boasts a notoriously large population of kangaroos making it a popular tourist destination, had signs telling tourists not to feed the kangaroos, not only because the animals were known to become aggressive but because it was to the detriment of the animal’s health. Despite this, people persisted.



The Zoo Keepers Part in the Illegal Animal Trade





For lemurs, size of forest fragments may be more important than degree of isolation
Occurrence of these endangered primates rises with patch size, but is mixed for patch connectivity
Occurrence probability of three lemur species in tropical dry forest increases with fragment size but can increase or decrease with fragment isolation depending on the species, according to a study published May 9, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Travis Steffens and Shawn Lehman from University of Toronto, Canada.

Lemurs live only in Madagascar, and nearly all species are at risk of extinction primarily due to habitat loss and fragmentation. The independent effects of forest loss and of forest fragmentation are not well understood, however. To assess the relative impact of these threats, Steffens and Lehman surveyed lemurs in fragmented dry deciduous forest in Ankarafantsika National Park, Madagascar between June and November 2011, observing six lemur species in 42 forest fragments. The researchers then used incidence function models to examine whether the lemurs formed metapopulations, spatially-separated populations within a species, in a fragmented landscape and under different forest fragmentation conditions.

In their simulations, the researche





The Last Days of the Blue-Blood Harvest
Every year, more than 400,000 crabs are bled for the miraculous medical substance that flows through their bodies—now pharmaceutical companies are finally committing to an alternative that doesn't harm animals.
Horseshoe crabs are sometimes called “living fossils” because they have been around in some form for more than 450 million years. In this time, the Earth has gone through multiple major ice ages, a Great Dying, the formation and subsequent breaking up of Pangaea, and an asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs and most of life on Earth yet again. In other words, horseshoe crabs have truly seen some shit.

Yet, I would conjecture, some of their strangest experiences must have come in just the past few decades, as one of the soft-bodied mammals that came after dinosaurs began using their hands to scoop horseshoe crabs out of the ocean en masse. Contemporary humans do not deliberately kill the horseshoe crabs—as did previous centuries of farmers catching them for fertilizer or fishermen using them as bait. Instead, they scrub th



Eating Horseshoe Crab





Standard for zoo containment facilities
We approved a new standard for zoo containment facilities.

The new standard comes into force on 1 July 2018, and replaces the MAF Biosecurity New Zealand Standard 154.03.04 Containment Facilities for Zoo Animals.

However, there will be a transitional period of 12 months, ending on 30 June 2019, during which zoo containment facilities may choose to comply with the previous standard.

Read the new Standard for zoo containment facilities (pdf 700KB)

Read the decision document for the approval of the new standard (pdf 200KB)

We received three submissions during the consultation.

View the submissions received (pdf 1MB)

View the report on the submissions (pdf 400KB)

Guidance available soon
MPI is developing guidance material to help people who have to comply with the standard. It will include information about how the requirements can be met, what measures will be considered acceptable, and what information needs to be provided to MPI to a





A judge just raised deep questions about chimpanzees’ legal rights
For several years, an animal rights organization has sought to convince New York courts that chimpanzees kept by private owners are “legal persons” with a right to be free. For several years, the courts have rejected that argument.

New York’s highest court did the same on Tuesday, denying an appeal of a lower court’s refusal to grant writs of habeas corpus to two caged chimps named Tommy and Kiko. But in a striking concurring opinion that was cheered by the chimps’ advocates, one judge wrote that the legal question at the heart of the case — whether all animals are mere property or things — is far from settled.

“Does an intelligent nonhuman animal who thinks and plans and appreciates life as human beings do have the right to the protection of the law against arbitrary cruelties and enforced detentions visited on him or her?” wrote Eugene Fahey, one of five Court of Appeals judges who ruled on the matter. “This is not merely a definit





Zoo Plantman: A Conversation with Rob Halpern, Owner of Zoo Horticulture Consulting and Design
Rob Halpern has carved a role in the zoo industry as the authority on zoo landscapes. While he will always be remembered for his work on the renowned Congo Gorilla Forest at the Bronx Zoo, he has worked on dozens of projects with his company Zoo Horticulture Consulting and Design. Halpern believes design of planting is essential to the quality of an exhibit. “When I design the planting, I think of how it will be like grown in,” he articulated. “Landscape should change over time and the people in charge of running them should make them better than I made them. The whole role of horticulture in zoos is interesting. It’s an ongoing battle.” Here is his story.




Procapra Przewalskii: "ballet dancer" on China's plateau
Procapra Przewalskiis are seen in Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Qinghai Province, April 26, 2018. The number of Procapra Przewalskii, an antelope species being listed as endangered, has increased to a record high of 2,057 in the latest survey. Przewalski's gazelle was named after Nikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, a Russian explorer who found a specimen and brought it back to St. Petersburg in 1875. A typical Procapra Przewalskii is 110 to 120 centimeters long and weighing about 15 kilograms. The long-horn animal with a short tail was described as a "ballet dancer" on plateau by Przhevalsky because it jumps in a beautiful curve.





Venture Bound: Zoos work to save species
Carla and I, as fans of zoos, are particularly interested in how successful zoos will be in trying to save endangered species.

For years we enjoyed taking our daughters and later our grandchildren to see the exciting variety of animals at exhibitions. When zoos first opened, animals were mostly confined in cages. This is an uncomfortable situation for the animals with little stimulation, little room to move around and few natural surroundings. The problems with these cages were recognized and remedied over time with zoo environments that more resembled animals’ natural habitats.

For example, at the San Diego Safari Park and Busch Gardens in Florida we were the ones in cages (buses) traveling the wide open areas in which the animals also had housing.

The space problem has not been completely solved. At the St Louis Zoo although the elephant area was bigger than that of other zoos, they still seemed unhappy. They stood swinging their trunks and slowly shifting their weight from side to side, looking sad.

When I attempted to take a picture, two of them




Would You Capture a Behaviour or Shape the Behaviour?
In 2008 I started with my travel addiction. Seeing other places is just wonderful. I’m fortunate that I know quite some friends who share the same passion I have in the field and that actually allowed me to visit many different Zoos and Aquariums over the years. Throughout that time, I was able to shadow most of the trainers at these facilities what helped me to become the person I am today. I always brought questions with me what I wanted to know or wanted to see. One of the discussions that popped up at one of the facilities I was had to do with capturing behaviours.





The precarious lives of rare albino animals
Alba is one of the rarest creatures on Earth: She's the only known albino member of a dwindling population of Bornean orangutans. Her snowy fur and inquisitive pale eyes make her an otherworldly anomaly - and such a target that people are taking unprecedented measures to keep her safe.

To protect her from poachers, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation has spent $80,000 on an island off Indonesia where Alba will reside for the rest of her life. The sanctuary, where Alba will live with three other orangutans starting in June, will be patrolled around the clock by security guards.

Many zoos have attracted crowds by keeping rare white animals, including Snowflake the gorilla at the Barcelona Zoo and Onya-Birri, an albino koala, at the San Diego Zoo. But these creatures





Traumatised bears, wolves find solace at Greek sanctuary
Orphaned as an infant, three-year-old Patrick takes a wary view of visitors. He crouches low, licks his claws and starts humming - a bear's equivalent of thumb-sucking.

"It soothes him when he's stressed," says Melina Avgerinou, a caretaker at the Arcturos bear sanctuary in northern Greece.

Patrick's tale is typical of many bears that have found refuge in the Arcturos sanctuary at Nymfaio on the slopes of Mount Vitsi, some 600km northwest of Athens.




Everything You (and John Oliver) Need to Know About Koala Chlamydia





Tiger chemistry: Delhi zoo explores mix and match idea
Call it a mix-and-mate proposal, the first in Delhi Zoo in the last 27 years. White tigress Nirbhaya and Royal Bengal tiger Karan have been moved into the same enclosure—No. 10—by alert zoo officials, who claim they have noticed a certain “chemistry” building up between them over the last several months.

The obvious purpose is to get the big cats to make cubs, May-June being the prime mating season for tigers. The last time such a thing was done was in 1991, when Sundar—a yellow tiger—and Shanti—a white tigress—were moved in together. That union had produced twin cubs: Swaraj, who was white, and Aman, who was yellow.

This time round, all eyes are on Nirbhaya, born in Delhi Zoo in 2015, and Karan, born in Mysore Zoo in 2013 and brought to Delhi a year later. For both, this will be the first mating experience, zoo officials said.
“In the two days that they have been in the same enclosure, they have mated 15 times. So, our move has





Concern over fate of tiger at defunct Melios zoo
Mystery surrounds the fate of one of the Siberian tigers at a controversial Nicosia private zoo following reports by animal activists that one of the two tigers is believed to be dead as it has not been seen in its enclosure.

A lawyer from Luxemburg, advisor to a number of animal protection associations, said in an email on Monday night that one of the two Siberian tigers in Melios Pet Centre in the Nicosia district is feared to be dead. She said that following a report by a visitor that the animal was missing from its enclosure, and after enquiries, the zoo owner, Menelaos Menelaou, confirmed the animal was dead but that he did not inform authorities.





Tricolour Burial For Peacock In Delhi, Activists Say "Protocol Not Followed"
However, wildlife activists criticised the handling of the case, saying animals should be preferably be cremated in the presence of forest officials.

"Post-mortem has to be done in a supervised environment in the presence of a forest official. The post-mortem has to be photographed and videographed," Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder and chairman of Wildlife SOS, said.

"And, the animal should be preferably cremated in the presence of a forest official, to avoid harvesting of any body parts with an intent to smuggle," he said.

There is an incinerator in the Delhi Zoo as well, the official of the NGO said.

Wildlife activist Gauri Maulekhi said that the forest department needs to be pro-active in assisting the police in such cases.

"I am not aware of any such protocols. There is no such thing t




Zookeeper is mauled to death by a tiger while cleaning the cage of the beast at a Chinese zoo
A zookeeper has been mauled to death by a tiger at a zoo in south China.

The 50-year-old man was cleaning the cage alone as the beast charged in and launched an attack.

The zoo, which claims to keep about 1,300 tigers of different species, has confirmed and reported the incident to local police.





Pressure mounts on ‘zoo’ as minister confirms tiger death
Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis confirmed on Wednesday that one of the two Siberian tigers in a Nicosia private zoo has died, and that he will preside over a meeting with all state services to discuss how to best handle the case of Melios Pet Centre.

The zoo, in Ayioi Trimithias in the Nicosia district, has been operating illegally since last September, the minister said, and that both the town planning service and the state vet services have reported the owner, Menelaos Menelaou, to the police.





Canadian zoo faces charges after taking bear out for ice cream at Dairy Queen
A private zoo in the Canadian province of Alberta is facing charges after a bear from the facility was taken through a drive-thru Dairy Queen in a pickup truck and hand-fed ice cream through the vehicle’s window.

News of the outing emerged earlier this year after Discovery Wildlife Park, located about 70 miles north of Calgary in the town of Innisfail, posted a video on social media showing a captive Kodiak bear sitting in the passenger seat of a truck.

The video later showed the one-year-old bear, known as Berkley, leaning out of the truck’s window, enthusiastically licking an ice cream cone held by the owner of a local Dairy Queen.

Amid widespread criticism, the video – along with a second one showing Berkley licking frosting off an ice cream





Taronga Zoo settles dispute with rival over 'Sydney Zoo' name
A Federal Court cage fight between Taronga Zoo and a rival over the name Sydney Zoo has been settled out of court, with the western Sydney newcomer set to keep the name.
In a joint statement released on Thursday, the parties said they were "pleased to confirm that they have resolved the legal proceedings over the use of the name ‘Sydney Zoo’".







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About me
After more than 50 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


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