Equine illness kills big cats in Iran–feral cats blamed

March 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:

TEHRAN–A Russian/Iranian zoo animal exchange reportedly
promoted by Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin came to grief, the
Iranian National News Agency and the Russian ITAR-TASS agency
disclosed in January 2011, after an Amur tiger sent from the
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Zoo in Russia to the Eram Zoo in Tehran died from
the bacterial disease glanders. Fourteen African lions were later
euthanized after also becoming infected.
Russian natural resources minister Yury Trutneve and Iranian
counterpart Mohammad Javad Mohammadizadeh brokered the deal in early
2010. In April 2010 a Russian aircraft flew a pregnant female Amur
tiger and a male to Tehran, picked up a pair of Persian leopards,
and returned to Moscow.

Two major zoos defy Chinese order to halt animal acts

March 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:
Guangdong–Defying a nationally publicized order from
Beijing–and claiming it was never received–the Shenzhen Safari Park
and Xiaomeisha Sea World have continued daily animal acts using
birds, tigers, lions and dolphins, the Guangdong Daily Sunshine
reported on February 2, 2011, without hinting at what the Chinese
federal authorities might do about it.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development,
responsible for zoo regulation in China, on October 26, 2010
“suggested” in an official web posting that zoos should adequately
feed and house animals, should stop selling wild animal products and
serving wild animal parts in restaurants, and should stop staging
circus-like trained animal acts, including feeding live prey to
carnivores, because “These activities go against the public good.”

Manuel Mollinedo to direct Honolulu Zoo

January 1, 2011 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2011:

HONOLULU–-Former Los Angeles and San Francisco Zoo director Manuel Mollinedo, 64, was on December 16, 2010 introduced as the new director of the Honolulu Zoo.

Mollinedo, then heading the Los Angeles Parks & Recreation Department, with no background in zoo work, was in September 1995 drafted to run the Los Angeles Zoo on an interim basis. Several of the animal exhibits were frequent targets of protest. The American Zoo Association had given the zoo a year to make improvements or lose accreditation. By year’s end Mollinedo was credited by the AZA and the Los Angeles city council with achieving an unexpectedly quick turnaround, winning over some of the zoo’s leading critics. Made zoo director on a permanent basis, Mollinedo introduced a series of ambitious upgrades to most of the major Los Angeles Zoo exhbits, but came under criticism after a Komodo dragon bit a celebrity guess in 2001. Read more

Zimbabwe/North Korea “Noah’s Ark” animal deal is reportedly cancelled due to international pressure

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2010:

HARARE–The Zimbabwean government “has aborted a wildlife
trade deal with the secretive Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea
amid widespread condemnation from pressure groups,” Bernard Mpofu of
The Independent reported on June 17, 2010.
The Independent is the largest Zimbabwean newspaper not
controlled by the Zanu-PF political party, which is headed by
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.
The $23,000 deal was “blocked after local and international
natural resources campaigners criticised the destined living
conditions of the animals at Pyongyang Zoo,” Mpofu said.

Chinese government announces a crackdown on zoo animal abuses

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)

BEIJING–Moving to bring zoos into compliance with
regulations included in a draft Chinese national anti-cruelty law,
the Ministry of Housing & Urban/Rural Development on October 27,
2010 “suggested” in an official web posting that zoos should
adequately feed and house animals, should stop selling wild animal
products and serving wild animal parts in restaurants, and should
stop staging circus-like trained animal acts.
The ministry “said inspections would be carried out to see if
zoos were complying,” reported Agence France-Press. “The ministry
pointed out that some zoos had been turned into for-profit
organizations, leading to poor management and to some animals dying
in abnormal conditions or maiming people. The suggestions laid out
include providing necessary health care and banning animal
performances to ‘prevent animals from being alarmed or provoked,'”
Agence France-Press continued.

Sammi & Becca

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)
EDINBURGH–Sammi and Becca, a pair of five-month-old Red
River piglets, a species native to Africa, were killed in January
2010 at the Edinburgh Zoo. Their deaths came to light in October
2010.
Edinburgh Zoo head keeper of hoofstock Kathleen Graham said
when Sammi and Becca were born on August 14, 2009 that she was
“thrilled” that the zoo’s Red River pigs had bred for the first time
since 2004, and hoped that “this is the first of many contributions
our Red River pigs make to the breeding program.” But Sammi and
Becca were killed after the European Association of Zoos & Aquaria
informed the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland that Red River pigs
are overabundant in captivity.

German zoo staff convicted of cruelty for killing hybrid tigers

July 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2010:
MAGDEBURG, Germany–Magdeburg Zoo
director Kai Parret and three members of the zoo
staff were on June 17, 2010 convicted of cruelty
for killing three tiger cubs at birth in May 2008
because their father was found to be a hybrid of
the Siberian and Sumatran tiger subspecies. A
fine of 8,100 euros was suspended on condition
that the offense not be repeated.
The charges were brought at request of
the German pro-animal organizations Animal Public
and People for Animal Rights/ Germany.
The Magdeburg Zoo bought the tigers’
parents with the intention of breeding them,
believing them both to be purebred Siberian, but
found Sumatran genes in the father in February
2008, after the mother was already in advanced
pregnancy.

Commissions to probe death of Kyiv Zoo elephant

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
KYIV–The Kiev city government on May 5, 2010 announced that
two separate commissions of senior personnel from other zoos in the
Ukraine and Russia would investigate the April 26, 2010 death of the
Kyiv Zoo elephant Boy, 39.
Kyiv Zoo director Svitlana Berzina claimed Boy had been
poisoned, but SOS Animals Ukraine founder Tamara Tarnawska produced
skeptical statements from British and German zoo experts. Tarnawska
has long campaigned against substandard conditions at the zoo, which
was considered particularly unsuitable for an elephant.
“In 2008, as part of a campaign to urge citizens to help
support the zoo, Kyiv mayor Leonid Chernovetsky said he personally
pays $6,000 a month for the feeding and care of Boy,” recalled
Svitlana Tuchynska of the Kyiv Post.

BOOKS: Zoo Animals: Behaviour, Management, & Welfare

April 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2010:

Zoo Animals: Behaviour, Management, & Welfare
by Geoff Hosey, Vicky Melfi, & Sheila Pankhurst
Oxford University Press (198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016), 2009.
660 pages, paperback. $50.00.

Zoo Animals: Behaviour, Manage-ment, & Welfare pulls
together the sum of current perspectives about what constitutes “best
practice” zookeeping into a single text. Though Zoo Animals might be
used as the basis for a single university-level course, it is
actually an entire curriculum for would-be zookeepers. Each of the
15 chapters could frame a course also including much supplementary
reading–and the recommended texts are listed, included specialized
web sites.

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