World Zoo Today

Crackdown on Rhino Horn Trade

Sara — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:15:32 +0000

THE EASTERN Cape’s Green Scorpions and the police organised crime unit have played a major part in cracking down a syndicate, which trades in illegal rhino horn smuggling all over South Africa.

As a result of a huge undercover operation, during which officials of the provincial Department of Economic Development & Environmental Affairs (Dedea), combined with its counterparts in the North West province, a Vietnamese kingpin was last week sentenced in the Kimberley Regional Court for illegal trading in rhino horns.

Thien Tuan Nguyen had earlier been arrested in Kimberley following the undercover operation, which also involved the SA Police Services’ airwing.
Economic Development head of department Sybert Liebenberg said the conviction of Nguyen was a clear indication that the department had a zero tolerance approach to environmental crime.

Nguyen, a jeweller from Selwood in Port Elizabeth, was given a R200 000 fine, of which R100 000 was suspended for four years.
The court also ordered the Asset Forfeiture Unit to attach R1.3 million Nguyen had paid undercover agents for the 14 rhino horns he bought from them during the sting operation.

The combined operation came after it was reported last year that Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Le Dung, admitted that an employee at the Vietnamese Embassy in South Africa, Vu Moc Anh, suspected to have been involved in rhino horn smuggling, was returning home.
Dung affirmed the Foreign Ministry’s policy of strictly punishing any employee who traded and trafficked in wild animals.

Three years ago, Commercial Attaché Khanh Toan, at the Vietnamese Embassy in South Africa, was detected to have connections to rhino horn smuggling and was punished, according to the embassy.

The Herald last year also reported that rhino horn and ivory worth an estimated R850 000 had been stolen in a dramatic heist at the Addo Elephant National Park. Five armed men who hit the famous tourist destination also made off with five R1 assault rifles. – By EDDIE BOTHA, Investigations Editor

News items on this page are from external sources and the International Rhino Foundation cannot be held responsible for the authenticity of their content, nor for the continuing presence of original links.

First Baby Giant Anteater at the Sacramento Zoo

Sara — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:28:03 +0000

A first in the Sacramento Zoo’s 83-year history, the Zoo welcomed a newborn Giant anteater on the morning of March 9, 2010. On the morning of the birth, the Zoo keeper checked in on Amber, the mother, and found the young anteater bleating loudly and the baby was soon clinging to its mother’s back. Mother and baby will be inside the den for a few weeks, away from public view, until the baby is strong enough to travel on Amber’s back and the pair establishes a routine.

A second baby was born a few hours later, but died shortly after birth. The birth of two Giant anteaters is rare and has only been recorded very few times in Zoos, with only one pair surviving to adulthood. The survival rate of newborns is increased in captivity but complications can still occur.

“While it’s never easy to lose an animal, and we’re saddened by the loss of one of our newborn anteaters, we are very hopeful that the surviving youngster will thrive and be a exciting addition to our zoo family,” said Harrison Edell, Zoo General Curator.

The surviving newborn was taken to the Dr. Murray E. Fowler Veterinary Hospital when Animal Care staff determined it required medical attention. The baby was slowly warmed to a normal body temperature and hand-fed in an incubator overnight. As its mother has successfully raised two other infants and was still showing maternal behaviors, the staff felt the infant had its best chance being raised by its mother. Less than 24 hours later, the Animal Care staff and Veterinarians reintroduced the baby to its mother. Close observations through a closed circuit video feed showed the pair to be responding well, and by Thursday morning, the mother and baby were sleeping comfortably in their den and appeared to be in good health.

Baby Giant anteaters are almost identical in coloration to an adult with short course hair growing in with an identifiable white stripe running from head to tail, and longer hair on the tail which becomes very bushy. The unique long nose is only a few centimeters long at this stage and their strong front limbs have small effective claws that enable them to cling onto the mother’s back.

The Sacramento Zoo started exhibiting anteaters in 2004. Amber arrived in March 2009. Zoo keepers observed breeding behavior and a full exam and ultrasound in January confirmed the pregnancy.

The mother gives birth after a gestation period of 180 days. In the wild, Giant anteaters are solitary and the male is not involved in caring for the baby. That leaves the mother to do the heavy lifting, literally. Once the newborn lets out the first high-pitched screech, baby anteaters climb on their mother’s back and many will ride there for up to a year. A mature anteater can weigh as much as 140 pounds and stretch as much as seven feet from snout to tail tip.

Sacramento Zoo – Wildly Inspiring!

Open since 1927, the Sacramento Zoo is home to over 140 native, rare and endangered species and is one of over 200 accredited institutions of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Located near the corner of Land Park Drive and Sutterville Road in William Land Park, the Zoo is wholly managed by the non-profit Sacramento Zoological Society. This Sacramento treasure inspires conservation awareness through education and recreation. Open daily from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, general admission is $11.00; children ages 3-12 are $7.00 and two and under are admitted free. Parking is free throughout the park or ride Regional Transit bus #6. For information, call 916-808-5888 or visit saczoo.com.

Tiger decline is ’sign of world’s failure’

Sara — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:14:30 +0000

There are now considerably more tigers in captivity than in the wild

By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website

Governments need to crack down on illegal tiger trading if the big cats are to be saved, the UN has warned.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Doha, Qatar heard that tiger numbers are continuing to fall.

Organised crime rings are playing an increasing part in illegal trading of tiger parts, CITES says, as they are with bears, rhinos and elephants.

Interpol is working with CITES to track and curb the international trade.

Last year, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said the global black market in wildlife products was worth about $10bn per year, making wildlife the third most valuable illicit commodity after drugs and weapons.

Global medicine

Despite attempts to protect tigers, numbers have approximately halved over the last decade, with fewer than 3,200 remaining in the wild.

The decline is seen across sub-species and in most range states. Many populations are small, and are threatened by deforestation as well as poaching.

“If we use tiger numbers as a performance indicator, then we must admit that we have failed miserably and that we are continuing to fail,” said CITES secretary-general Willem Wijnstekers.

“Although the tiger has been prized throughout history, and is a symbol of incredible importance in many cultures and religions, it is now literally on the verge of extinction.”

CITES enforcement officials said government agencies including police and customs needed to step up efforts to combat the illegal trade.

Although China and other East Asian countries are the principal consumers of tiger parts, exports travel much further afield.

Earlier this month, Operation Tram, co-ordinated by Interpol and including enforcement authorities in 18 countries, netted medicines containing wildlife products worth an estimated $10m.

Tigers, bears and rhinos were among the animals used in making the medicines.

Traditional cures

Conservationists also point to China’s tiger farms as a threat to the wild animals.

Although China does not officially permit the sale of goods from these farms, in practice several investigations have revealed tiger parts are being sold.

Campaigners warn this perpetuates a market into which wild tiger parts can be sold, often commanding a higher value as products made from wild animals are perceived to be more “potent.”

Just before the CITES meeting opened, the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS) called on traditional medicine practitioners to abandon the use of tiger parts.

“We will ask our members not to use endangered wildlife in traditional Chinese medicine, and reduce the misunderstanding and bias of the international community,” said WFCMS deputy secretary Huang Jianyin.

“The traditional Chinese medicine industry should look for substitutes and research on economical and effective substitutes for tiger products.”

A resolution before the fortnight-long CITES meeting calls for greater co-operation between regional enforcement authorities to cut down the tiger product trade, and to ensure that breeding operations are “consistent with the conservation of wild populations”.

St. Louis Zoo has two pregnant elephants

Sara — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:09:20 +0000

Photo Courtesy Saint Louis Zoo Ellie, the Asian elephant.

From – St. Louis Globe-Democrat

The St. Louis Zoo currently has two pregnant elephants. Ellie and Rani are both expecting in summer 2011.

Zoo officials said Monday that Ellie, 38, one of its’ Asian elephants, is now pregnant. This will be her third birth. Ellie’s daughter, Maliha, will turn four on Aug. 2. Ellie’s 14-year-old daughter Rani is also pregnant.

The Zoo’s bull elephant, Raja, 17, is the father of both expected babies. He was the first Asian elephant ever born at the zoo in 1992, and this calf will be his fourth offspring. An elephant pregnancy lasts about 22 months. Ellie will be due to deliver in late summer 2011. Rani will deliver in mid-summer 2011.

“We are looking forward to this pregnancy,” says Curator of Mammals Martha Fischer. “Ellie has proven to be such a good mother, and we are optimistic that everything will go well. We have already begun to prepare for both deliveries,” adds Fischer. “We are developing exercise plans with stretches and exercises specifically designed to get these elephants ready for the rigorous delivery,” Fischer said.

A newborn elephant weighs about 250-350 pounds. “Both elephants are receiving regular prenatal and ultrasound exams by the veterinary team. Soon we should be able to determine the gender of both babies with blood tests.”

Ellie lives with Maliha, Rani, Jade and the rest of the elephant herd at the Zoo’s River’s Edge habitat. She and Rani arrived at the Saint Louis Zoo in 2001 from the Jacksonville Zoo, where Rani was born in 1996.

Both elephant breedings were recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Elephant Species Survival Plan, a national cooperative breeding and management program.

There are fewer than 35,000 Asian elephants left in the wild, and they are facing extinction. Given the shrinking population of Asian elephants, Saint Louis Zoo officials said they are committed to conserving this species. Zoo officials also said they support the welfare and conservation of Asian elephants in Sumatra, Sri Lanka and other countries in Asia through the International Elephant Foundation, as well as the conservation of African elephants in Kenya.

The St. Louis Zoo released this photograph of an Asian elephant baby born on August 2, 2006 in St. Louis. Ellie, the Zoo's 34-year-old Asian elephant, gave birth to this 341-pound baby girl. This is Ellie's second baby and the first for the baby's father, Raja.

Albino alligator coming to aquarium

Sara — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:03:23 +0000

By Allyson Bird – ninemsn.com.au

One of fewer than 50 living albino alligators makes his debut at the South Carolina Aquarium this week.

Although an adult American alligator, a species that lives in South Carolina’s Piedmont and Coastal Plain, this particular reptile lacks melanin in its eyes and skin, leaving it translucent, light-sensitive and vulnerable to predators in the wild.

It weighs in at 150 pounds and stretches 7 1/2 feet from teeth to tail.

The alligator greets the public Saturday, but look for a sneak preview in Friday’s Post and Courier.

The exhibit comes one year after Penguin Planet launched with its four playful, warm-weather birds, originally scheduled to depart upon the alligator’s arrival. That plan changed after the aquarium experienced an 11.5 percent jump in attendance thanks, in part, to the penguins, who will stick around until October.

Slow climb

Hotel occupancy fell less than 1 percent year over year for February, according to the

College of Charleston’s Office of Tourism Analysis.

Though not ideal, the slight drop means an improvement in the trend.

Occupancy in North Charleston properties fell 2 percent and in East Cooper less than 4 percent, after both areas experienced double-digit declines month after month last year.

The new attraction will reside in the Aquarium’s renovated

Blackwater Swamp exhibit with life-size cypress trees and other new species, including gopher tortoises, rattlesnakes and screech owls.

China funds zoo after Siberian tigers die: reports

Sara — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:29:57 +0000

In this Jan. 8, 2010 file photo, an endangered Siberian tiger runs away with a chicken tossed by tourists at the Harbin Tiger Park in Harbin in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province. Eleven rare Siberian tigers kept in small cages and fed only chicken bones have died of malnutrition at the cash-strapped Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo in Liaoning province in China's frigid northeast, state media said Friday March 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

(AP)

BEIJING — A municipal government in northeastern China has allocated 7 million yuan ($1 million) to improve conditions at a local zoo after the recent deaths of 11 rare Siberian tigers and other animals, state media said Sunday.

The Siberian tigers at the Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo starved to death in the past three months, having been fed nothing but chicken bones as the facility ran into financial trouble, according to reports last week, although a zoo manager said unspecified diseases killed the animals.

The deaths reflected the mixed results as China attempts to save its dwindling number of tigers. While extensive conservation efforts are under way, animal protection groups say zoos and wildlife parks may be deliberately breeding more animals than they can afford, hoping to sell off the carcasses on a black market where tiger parts fetch a high price for use in traditional medicines and liquor.

Four of the tigers were among 26 animals reported dead in January, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, citing a copy of a list it obtained from the zoo on Sunday. Xinhua said no reason was given for the deaths.

The list also included several species classified as being under state protection, such as a red-crowned crane, four stump-tailed macaques, a rhesus monkey and a brown bear, Xinhua said.

The zoo has struggled financially, even withholding pay from staff, employees have said.

Zhang Jinghui, secretary-general of the Shenyang municipal government, said the funds would be spent on protecting the zoo’s animals and on facilitating the zoo’s management and operations, Xinhua reported.

Siberian tigers are one of the world’s rarest species, with an estimated 300 left in the wild, 50 in China. But more than 5,000 are held captive on farms and wildlife parks across China.

A duty officer who answered the phone at the zoo refused to comment. Calls to the municipal government and the State Forestry Administration rang unanswered Sunday.

Home Loan Modification

Sara — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:27:21 +0000

Loan Modification

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Rio’s zoo a maternity ward for endangered species

Sara — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:00:20 +0000

A female anteater (Tamandua Mirim) carries her baby at the zoo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

By Claire de Oliveira (AFP)

RIO DE JANEIRO — Rio’s zoo has been abuzz with activity in recent months, welcoming new arrivals to its collection of animals as it battles to try to save many of the nation’s endangered species.

Among its rare residents are the black-collared anteater, the Ararajuba Golden Parakeet and the yellow-breasted capuchin — just some examples of Brazil’s rich and colorful wildlife threatened by extinction.

Now to ensure their survival, the Rio de Janeiro zoo has morphed into a maternity ward of sorts, with some of these animals being born in captivity for the first time.

In the heart of the historical Sao Cristovao neighborhood, close to Rio’s open-air football stadium of Maracan, the zoo is home to over 500 mammals, 900 reptiles and 1,000 birds representing 400 species from the Brazilian ecosystem.

“This is the first time species like the anteater or toucan birds with spotted beaks have reproduced. These births prove that

these species are well adapted to captivity,” biologist Rodrigo Costa said with delight.

He noted that the Tamuanda-Mirim anteater faces extinction in Rio state, as it is originally from the Atlantic Forest.

This humid tropical forest, which covered all of Brazil’s coast when it was discovered in 1500, is considered the richest, most diverse ecosystem in the world. But the forest will disappear within 40 years if it continues to be destroyed at the current pace.

Having animals reproduce and successfully give birth in captivity is no easy task and requires much patience.

“For toucans, we studied how they adapted, what they ate, how they made their nest and the couple itself. We switched around males and females until they really got along,” Costa explained. The successful couple are the proud parents of two little ones.

When temperatures peaked at over 40 degrees C (104 degrees F) during the southern hemisphere’s record-breaking February summer, he had to pierce bird nests to aerate them, he said.

Bears and wolves were fed frozen fruit and ice creams.

Among the hundred or so newborns from endangered species at the zoo are the scarlet ibis, the little Ararajuba Golden Parakeet and the Cuxiu primates of the Amazon (Black-bearded Saki or Chiropotes satanas), whose black beards give them a devilish look.

The yellow-breasted capuchin (Golden-bellied Capuchin or Cebus apella xanthosternos) is among the 25 most endangered primate species in the world.

“These births in Rio are an important gain for preservation,” explained another biologist, Anderson Mendes Augusto.

Experts estimate that about 300 of these monkeys remain in the wild in the northeastern state of Bahia.

Around 25 of them are now held at the zoo, which is planning to reintroduce the primates to their natural habitat, an operation fraught with risk for animals born in captivity and not well adapted to the trials of surviving independently in the wild.

Opened in 1888, the Rio zoo is Brazil’s oldest. It is now based in the park of the former Portuguese imperial family’s residence.

The president of the Rio zoo foundation, Monica Valeria Blum, calls it the “most visited site” in Rio, ahead even of the Christ the Redeemer statue at the peak of the Corcovado mountain, boasting some 100,000 visitors per month.

San Jose’s zoo to reopen after renovation

Sara — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:52:09 +0000

The Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif.—San Jose’s zoo is set to reopen after a multimillion dollar renovation project that kept it closed for nearly two years.

Happy Hollow Park and Zoo officials say the revamped zoo will open to the public on March 20. The zoo has added several new exhibits and children’s rides and is four acres larger.

Zoo curator Valerie Riegel says visitors will get to see new animals, including spider monkeys and red-ruffed lemurs.

The zoo has also gone green, adding radiant flooring to heat and cool buildings and growing roofs. The new facility will recycle water and keep all rainfall on site.

The $72 million renovation was mostly funded by a parks bond approved by voters in 2000. The zoo closed its doors in July 2008 for the project.

Kenya elephant deaths soar as ivory sales debated

Sara — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:50:18 +0000

By JASON STRAZIUSO (AP)

TSAVO EAST NATIONAL PARK, Kenya — Tracking the wounded elephant to its death bed was easy for the ranger. Hit by a poison arrow, the huge mammal could only drag its hind leg, creating a wide gash across the bush.

Poachers’ footprints were all around the kill, but the hunters did not have time to remove the valuable ivory tusks before Mohamed Kamanya’s team of armed rangers arrived. Instead, the emotional task fell to the rangers, who cut off the tusks so they could not be sold.

Beginning this weekend, the international community will debate proposals from Tanzania and Zambia to allow a one-time sale of ivory to clear out stockpiles. Kenyan officials are warning that if sales are approved in neighboring countries, elephant poaching will soar.

“We totally believe that any experiments to allow partial lifting of (the) international ban in ivory trade stimulates elephant poaching and leads to ivory laundering,” the Kenyan Wildlife Service’s Patrick Omandi said. “Indeed there has been an increase in poaching across the entire continent, with some countries losing their entire population.”

Poaching of elephants has risen seven-fold in Kenya since a one-time ivory sale was approved in 2007 by CITES — the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species — for four African countries, the wildlife officials say. Last year 271 Kenyan elephants were killed by poachers, compared with 37 in 2007, Omandi said.

Tribesmen have lived among wildlife for centuries in Tsavo East, a huge expanse of wilderness where some 6,000 elephants live. But park officials say those locals are increasingly turning to poaching. An average set of tusks can net $2,000 or more locally — a huge sum to an impoverished rural family in an area where seasonal rains have failed the last five years, ruining crops and spreading hunger.

Kenyan officials are particularly angered that Tanzania wants to sell its ivory stocks. Kenya and Tanzania share a long border where parks like Kenya’s Masai Mara and Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park intertwine. As Omandi likes to point out, elephants carry no passports, and cross the border freely.

At the CITES meeting in Qatar from March 13-25, Tanzania is asking the 175 members to allow it to sell almost 200,000 pounds (90,000 kilograms) of ivory. It noted in its proposal that its elephant population has risen from about 55,000 in 1989 to almost 137,000, according to a 2007 study.

Zambia wants to sell 48,000 pounds (21,700 kilograms) of ivory. Zambia says its elephant population of 27,000 is steadily increasing.

While populations might be healthy in those two countries, Omandi warned that populations elsewhere in Africa are being driven to extinction. Sierra Leone, in northwest Africa, lost its last elephants in December, and Senegal has fewer than 10 left, he said.

In its proposal, Tanzania argues that trade in elephant products is essential to conservation.

“Human-elephant conflicts are growing and the view by the communities is that elephants are a pest. Elephant products such as ivory picked up from the wildlife management areas could increase the value of elephants to those communities and this can only result in the community appreciating elephants more,” the proposal says.

Critics of the proposal point to poaching practices that drove down Africa’s elephant population from 1.3 million in 1979 to about 600,000 in 1989, when CITES banned the ivory trade, and say that poaching has surged since the 2007 ivory sale approval.

“I believe the risk of the sale is enormous,” Samuel Wasser, the director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington said. “If the current situation continues unabated, poaching is going to continue to rise. This will negatively affect many countries, not just Kenya and Tanzania. Effort needs to be put into stopping poaching, not arguing over whether we should have more sales.”

Omandi said African ivory is used to make rubber stamps and necklaces in Asian countries like China and Japan. Some consumers buy the tusks whole.

Though the majority of the ivory trade ends up in Asia, the United States also has an internal ivory market, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. From 1989 to 2007, the number of seizures of illegal ivory made by the service accounted for about 30 percent of all reported seizures in the world.

The U.S. has not yet said whether it will vote to allow the sales. The Fish and Wildlife Service said it is waiting for a ruling from a CITES panel of experts.

In Tsavo East National Park, three-quarters of the 500 park staff are security personnel trained in paramilitary techniques, said Senior Warden Yussuf Adan. Last month, a team of rangers got into a shootout with six poachers, one of whom died of wounds from the exchange, he said.

“We think if the Tanzanians are allowed to sell their ivory stock, even the poachers in Kenya would be motivated,” Adan said. “They would know it’s easy to kill in Kenya and cross to the other side and sell.”

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