Category: Zoos & Aquariums

Mutilated for Your Viewing Pleasure

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2013:

Mutilated for your viewing pleasure: Pinioning birds in English zoos
Captive Animals’ Protection Soc. (P.O. Box 540, Salford, MS ODS,
U.K.), 2013. Free download from <www.captiveanimals.org>

“In zoos and wildlife parks up and down the country,
thousands of birds stand in large open enclosures, serenely surveying
their surroundings…The occasional flurry of wings flapping is seen,
but strangely none of the birds take flight. Are these birds simply
content with their surroundings, choosing to stay conveniently within
the boundaries of the zoo? Do they fly away at times and simply choose
to return, safe in the knowledge they will find food in abundance and
familiar flock mates? Is it a deep connection to their keepers that
stops them from taking to the air? Or is it something else that holds
these birds in the unnatural environment of a zoo?

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Georgia Aquarium appeals NOAA ruling against proposed first beluga whale imports since 1992

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.) 

ATLANTA–– The Georgia Aquarium on September 30,  2013 appealed an August 6,  2013 ruling by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration that it had not satisfied the requirements to import 18 beluga whales from Russia. Read more

Trouble at Boise, Portland, and Austin aquariums

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

BOISE,  Idaho––A new Boise Aquarium management team headed by former Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce president Nancy Vannorsdel has pledged to ensure that alleged mistreatment of animals at the aquarium will not be repeated.  Vannorsdel told KTVB reporter Matt Standal that she wants to add “a couple of very,  very strong marine biologists to sit on the board,”   to ensure proper animal care. Read more

Ending animal acts boosts Nanjing Zoo paid attendance

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

NANJING,  China––Ending trained animal acts in 2011 led to two consecutive years of record attendance at Nanjing Zoo,  show attendance figures obtained by the Animals Asia Foundation.  The Nanjing Zoo attracted 867,513 visitors in 2010,  the last year that the zoo featured animal acts,  but drew more than a million visitors each in 2011 and 2012. “Too often zoos fail to realize that they are losing customers because appetites for animal performances and exploitation are diminishing fast,”  commented Animals Asia Foundation welfare director Dave Neale.

Abolishing wildlife captivity gains momentum in Latin America

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

SAN JOSE,  Costa Rica––An appeal to an administrative law court filed by the zoo management foundation Fundazoo is the last hope the 97-year-old Simón Bolívar Zoo in San José and the Santa Ana conservation center have to remain open past 2014. Read more

How a Ruppell’s fox from Kuwait landed in New Jersey

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July-August 2013:

FORKED RIVER,  New Jersey––Cleopatra,  a three-legged Ruppell’s fox who survived a dog attack in the Kuwait desert, arrived on June 3,  2013 at the Popcorn Park Zoo,  operated since 1977 by the Associated Humane Societies of New Jersey as a care-for-life sanctuary for wild animals who have become habituated to humans. Read more

Giza Zoo officials are caught telling grim fairy tale about how three bears died

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  May/June 2013:

CAIRO––Two days after the Giza Zoo announced that the female North American black bears Farah,  Lulu,  and Nabila had killed each other in a nine-hour brawl over a male bear on the evening of May 5,  2013,  the newspaper Al Watan revealed that the bears actually died from effects of over-sedation.  Two of the sedated bears reportedly suffered fatal injuries in falls,  while the third bear drowned.  Two other sedated bears were injured.   Read more

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