Zookeepers at the Tama Zoo and the Ueno Zoo, both in Tokyo, undergo annual training in what to do if an animal escapes. Although the training is serious business, it appears ridiculous to onlookers because they cannot use real animals. This year’s escaped animal drill at the Ueno Zoo featured a papier mâché rhinoceros. It appears to be the same fake rhino they used for the drill in 2008. Link -via Arbroath

See also: the Ueno Zoo’s zebra drill and the tiger drill at the Tama Zoo.

But when Sally lost the ability to go to the bathroom, Boon understood she had only days to live if the obstruction wasn’t removed. So on a Friday afternoon she fired off e-mails to the team, telling them the surgery had to be done by Sunday. And they wouldn’t have blood.

“It had to be a bloodless surgery,” Boon said. “It was either this would work, or this wouldn’t work and it would be fatal for Sally.”

And then, the group got a break. Covidien, a Boulder company that makes a device called LigaSure that helps limit blood-loss during surgery, donated the use of a machine for Sally’s sake.

Another snag loomed. The procedure demanded quite a bit of rummaging around in Sally’s abdomen. If a wayward blade nicked her distended bowel, she would die; Sally would not understand how to use a colostomy bag.

There were other hairy moments during the six hours of surgery, but Sally came through it. Read the entire story (and see a video) at The Denver Post. Link -via Fark

When police went to investigate, they were met by a herd of about 50 exotic animals, and Thompson’s body in the driveway. “I had deputies that had to shoot animals with their side arms,” said Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz. Soon after, officials from nearby Columbus Zoo came armed with tranquilizers to help locate and rescue as many of the animals as possible. But it didn’t go as planned: ”We just had a huge tiger, an adult tiger that must’ve weighed 300 pounds, that was very aggressive. We got a tranquilizer in it, and this thing just went crazy,” Lutz said. After the incident, he ordered a shoot-to-kill for the remaining animals.

49 of Thompson’s 56 animals were dead and buried on his property, at the request of his estranged wife, by Wednesday morning. Authorities captured a grizzly, three leopards and two monkeys, which were sent to the Columbus Zoo for safekeeping. A baboon possibly infected with hepatitis B was still missing as of Wednesday night.

How did this happen?

Ohio has extremely lax governance over the ownership of exotic animals. The state’s “inadequate regulation” puts it near the bottom of the list in a 2009 report from the Humane Society of the United States. And earlier this year, an emergency rule which “prohibited people convicted of animal cruelty from owning exotic animals” expired, allowing Thompson, who was previously charged with and found guilty of animal cruelty and neglect, to keep his 56 lions and tigers and bears.

Public safety vs. animal protection

Immediately after this story broke, Zanesville residents and national news viewers began calling the sheriff’s office and Zanesville area shelter to ask why the animals–many of them listed as endangered species–were being killed rather than tranquilized or recaptured. The short answer: No time. The longer answer is best explained by Jack Hanna, beloved animal rights activist and director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo:

“[Y]ou can’t tranquilize an animal in the dark. It upsets them … they settle in, they hunker down, they go to sleep. Obviously, we can’t find them in the dark. So what had to be done had to be done. Even a bear came after one of the officers last night, and she was just trying to get out of a car. … No one loves animals more than me, but human life has to come first.”

As night descended on Ohio and liberated exotic animals ran loose, swift and decisive action was needed to protect the human residents of Zanesville; unfortunately, it was at the expense of Thompson’s pets. The Humane Society supports Lutz’s actions and those of his team, and PETA, in a written statement, blamed legislation instead of law enforcement for the deaths.

Preventative action

Over the years, Lutz received “around 35 calls” about Thompson’s farm–all concerning “animals running loose to animals not being treated properly.” He went on to say that his office has “handled numerous complaints here, we’ve done numerous inspections here. So this has been a huge problem for us for a number of years.”

Former governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland, imposed the legislation that was allowed by current governor, John Kasich, to lapse in April. Of Thompson, he said, “Someone with a record like this man was not intended to have these animals.” Strickland asserted that Thompson “would almost certainly have had his animals removed by May 1, 2011, if the emergency order had not expired.”

PETA, for its part, has been petitioning Ohio (and a number of other states) for years to institute “an outright ban” on owning exotic animals. The group is currently asking the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to “exercise its authority to declare emergency regulations to prohibit the keeping of exotic animals” as well as petitioning the state to “seize the animals over whom the agency has jurisdiction and see that they are placed in reputable sanctuaries.” Whether Gov. Kasich will comply has yet to be seen.

Is an outright ban on owning exotic animals the right move here, or should there just be stricter limitations on who can keep the animals (and where)?

Sources:

• Deputies Hunt Exotic Animals on the Loose in Ohio
• Freed tigers, lions and bears cause panic in Ohio
• Exotic animal laws called into question after Ohio killings
• Humane Society Doesn’t Fault Ohio Authorities In Animal Deaths
• At Least Two Dozen Dead in Ohio

Image

Did animals know that the 5.8-magnitude earthquake was to hit the East Coast before it happened? Maybe so, according to zoo keepers:

Behavior ranged from jumping into trees and "vocalizing," to banding together.

Red ruffed lemurs sounded a distinct high-pitched barking about 15 minutes before the quake, and then again after the shaking stopped.

Apes, including the orangutan Kyle and the Western lowland gorilla Kojo, abandoned feeding-time chow seconds before humans felt the quake and climbed to the top of a "tree-like structure."

The easy-going pandas "did not appear to respond to the earthquake," zoo officials said. Also in the Great Ape House, the orangutan Iris began what zoo keepers describe as "belch vocalizing" before and after the quake. They describe the sound as an unhappy noise normally reserved for "extreme irritation."

And just before the quake, the zoo's flock of 64 flamingoes gathered close together in a "tight, flocking behavior," Moore said.

They looked, he said, "like a big pink ball."

Link

Photo Credit: AP

Not that one is to believe that two heads are better than one… especially when it comes to snakes!  Zookeepers in the Ukraine’s Skazka Zoo have experienced a doubling of visitors since this two-headed albino snake arrived on loan from Germany. Each head is able to act and think on its own.  Zookeeper Rusian Yakovenko stated that sometimes the two heads will fight for food, not realizing that it has the same destination. They’ll even steal food from each other, making feedings interesting, to say the least. Workers state that the three-year-old two foot long snake is quite a handful. The private zoo is in the resort of Yalta on the Black Sea.

Link

ZooBorns brings us news and pictures of baby animals born in zoos all over the world. Get the condensed version as Jill Harness culled the cutest pictures from Zooborns in a list at Oddee. The baby red panda shown is from the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Link

An orangutan saves a tired baby chick with a leaf, then inspects it afterward to makes sure it’s all right. There’s not a ton of info available about this video (for instance, which zoo this is or when it was filmed), but the important takeaway here is that orangutans are both extraordinarily compassionate and also kind of gross, as evidenced by the first 40 seconds of the clip. How many times did you think the orangutan was going to eat the bird? I’m not gonna lie–I held my breath a few times.

via Pharyngula

An otter at Sea World in San Diego has fun with an energetic toddler. Which is what otters really are underneath that fur! -via Buzzfeed

The government-run zoo in in Johor Baru has erected a ‘no smoking’ sign but that will do precious little to stop the sad practice while attendants turn their backs on it.

Shirley spends much of her sad existence tearing apart drinks cans and chewing on food wrappers thrown at her by visitors.

She regularly reaches through the bars of her cage to beg for cigarettes.

The Daily Mail is there: Link

Neatorama author Jill Harness went to the zoo and brought back lots of pictures of all kinds of different animals. She fed a Galapagos tortoise, collided with an owl, and petted a giraffe! She also looked up fun facts about each of them, which you can read at Rue the Day. Do you know what animal is shown here? Link

Three-month old Evita the ocelot was born in January at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. She was introduced to zoo visitors for the first time yesterday. See more pictures at the zoo blog. Link -via Urlesque

“This guy is crazy!” …crazy like a fox. This is apparently a vending machine at a petting zoo from which people can buy treats to feed the animals. But Billy here has figured out how to “tap” into it himself! -via Buzzfeed

Update: purple_phoenix, who works there, tells us this is not a billy goat, but a female sheep! That’ll teach me to go by YouTube titles.

The New York Zoo and Aquarium has a generator in which you can design yourself as a fantastic wild animal! On the left is my basic although deceptively youthful self, and on the right I have Fennec fox ears, giant tree frog arms, pintail duck legs, and a ring-tailed lemur tail. There are lots of different animal limbs and features to select from for your personal wild self. Link -via Everlasting Blort

The Tama Zoo and the Ueno Zoo (both in Tokyo) perform annual training drills so that zookeepers know what to do when an animal escapes. Since they cannot use a dangerous beast, workers dress as the escapee, which gives zoo visitors and web surfers an entertaining interlude. The drill this week at the Tama Zoo featured a Siberian tiger who got out of its pen during an earthquake. -via Pink Tentacle

Previously: Rhino and Zebra drills.

This Russian site has photographs of a lynx that lives at the St. Petersburg Zoo. With a house cat. They are apparently very close friends. Link -via reddit

Female cheetah Zazi is raising a cub she gave birth to and another mother’s cub, both born in December 2010. Cheetahs that give birth to only one cub, called a singleton, cannot produce enough milk to keep the cub alive. The cub born to Amani, a first-time mother, was hand-raised for 13 days before being placed with Zazi, creating a litter of two that will likely help stimulate milk production from Zazi. These cheetahs are at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia.

Link to webcam.

If you don’t see any action on the webcam, there is a gallery of baby cheetah pictures. Link -via KTAR

What will a flock of penguins do when a fake penguin comes around? The Japanese TV show Shimura Zoo finds out. Link -via Everlasting Blort

‘I was there photographing him, and a father and sons were watching him,’ said Mark Rogers, who captured the finger in full flight. ‘Jackson’s a bit grumpy and really doesn’t like being photographed, but what he likes even less is people shouting at him.

‘The father tried to make fake ape sounds and Jackson raised his hand with the finger extended. The entire crowd watching him then laughed out loud and the father quickly stopped making the noise.’

Mr Rogers added: ‘I did find out later that the mandrill had arthritis in that finger. I can’t help but wonder if he used that to his advantage.’

More at Metro: Link (Photo: Caters)

A new cougar was born at the Oregon Zoo in Portland on September 19th. The cub and her mom Chinook are in seclusion, but you can see a video at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog. Link -via Fark

(Image credit: the Oregon Zoo)

Salzburg Hellbrunn Zoo director Sabine Grebner said today (Mon): “It’s horrible! We never thought such a thing was possible. We are here for families and kids – and we don’t have anything to do with drugs.”

Police said the 59-year-old rhinoceros carer kept 33 marijuana plants in a part of the enclosure which is hidden from visitors’ view, adding that they acted on an anonymous tip-off by “customer” of the offender.

Link -via Arbroath

(Image credit: Flickr user Martin Belam)

This baby monkey clings to a young boar for security as it roams about the Fukuchiyama Zoo in Kyoto, Japan. TV reports on the two have caused five times the usual number of people to visit the zoo!

Baby monkeys are known to cling to their mother for many months after they are born, and Miwa the orphaned monkey seems to think of the boar as his mommy (even though the boar is a boy). Miwa has also taken a liking to the woman who works at the zoo’s ticket counter. When he’s not riding the boar, Miwa is usually sleeping in the woman’s lap.

Both the monkey and the wild boar are growing up fast. The rodeos will only continue until the monkey grows out of the stage at which he feels it needs to cling to a parent – or – until the the boar will no longer tolerate the presence of a monkey on his back.

See several other videos of Miwa and the boar at Japan Probe. Link

Christina Spicuzza of Spicuzza Photo A Day went to the San Francisco Zoo last week and snapped this priceless photo of an inquisitive pair of gorillas playing with a Nintendo DS that someone had accidentally dropped into their habitat:

The gorilla tried all he could to figure the thing out turning it forward, backwards and holding it really close to his head. A trainer at the zoo was able to trade the DS for an apple and gave the console back to the boy who dropped it. It reportedly still worked though it was scratched and covered with gorilla slobber.

Link | Christina’s Blog | More photos on Flickr

Steef de Prouw built an entire zoo out of Lego bricks! It’s got all the things you expect at a zoo, including a duck pond, an enclosure with a missing sign that makes you wonder what is in there, zookeepers shoveling manure, an aquarium, the snackbar you must pass no matter where you are going, and the animals of course. It also has some things you don’t normally see in a zoo, like a crocodile in the monkey enclosure, clowns, and a kraken. Link -via b3ta

Dr Kertesz is one of only a few specialist zoo dentists in the world, a sideline to his day job of treating humans at his surgery in London’s West End.

His animal career began more than 20 years ago when someone brought in their cat for treatment and he has carried out dental work on exotic species including whales, pandas and elephants.

Zoo curator Will Walker said: “We have had him twice before over the last couple of years to do all our bears and other tigers.”

Dr. Kertesz is paid well for his bravery and expertise, as the bill for the two tigers was £4,500. Link -via Arbroath

For seven hours, I was entertained and, I hope, moderately entertaining, as a parade of moms with strollers, grandparents with charges, art students from Santa Ana College, biology students from Fullerton College, friends, regular readers and media types wandered up.

If they had no idea a human being was on loan from the Register, the look on their faces said, “What the …” If they did know, they wanted to know, “Why the …”

“Three days, and you’re getting paid?” one woman asked, as I regaled onlookers with a variety of tricks that included blowing smoke rings and figuring out how to extract tiny bits of papaya from a hollow ball my keeper tossed at me.

“Well, uh, yeah, I guess I am getting paid,” I replied indignantly.

“Paid just to sit in a cage three days a week,” she said, shaking her head.

“Oh, no!” I said, finally realizing where she was going. “I’m not here three days every week!”

The zoo has a live webcam trained on their “human exhibit.” Link

(Image credit: Paul Bersebach, OC Register)

Most of the time, the image of a zoo is one of animal protection and education. However, the Beijing zoo has expanded this ‘education’ to include the culinary aspects of some of the more exotic animals housed therein.

For about 20-200 dollars, visitors to the Bin Feng Tang restaurant can sample hippo, scorpion, peacock, shark fin, kangaroo tail, or deer penis. Of course, the restaurant is not without controversy in the animal-loving world, and the restaurant and zoo are under fire for the practices.

“It is utterly inappropriate for a zoo to sell such items,” said Ge Rui of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “One of the zoo’s missions is to foster love of animals and a desire to protect them. But by selling the meat of caged beasts, this zoo stimulates consumption and increases pressure on the animals in the wild. It is socially irresponsible.”

Link – via shanghaiist

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by nmiller.

Moody Gardens on Galveston Island in Texas welcomed rare twin baby pygmy lorises, a male and a female, born March 22nd. The pygmy loris is not an easy species to breed in captivity, but the twins’ mother Luyen has been very attentive to the babies. The lorises will go on display to the public when a new facility is finished in 2011. See more photos and a video at Zooborns. Link -via Fark

Watch as Oliver the otter creates a masterpiece to be auctioned off for the Pretoria Zoo in South Africa. -via Unique Daily

You might recall Sir David Attenborough introducing us to the lyrebird, a master of mimcry (and later the wonderful remix). Chook the lyrebird lives at the Adelaide Zoo. After a period of construction at the zoo, Chook was able to recreate the sounds of hammers, saws, and power tools exactly. Link -via Arbroath

I don’t know what’s really going on in this picture, but “turtle wax” was my first reaction. Link -via Buzzfeed

A spokesman for Montenegro’s natural disasters commission, which responds to floods, said the law required animals that can endanger human lives to be killed. But state veterinary authorities said they were not entitled to kill animals.

Zoo owner Dragan Pejovic insisted Nikica is not dangerous, “unless someone attacks and kicks her.”

He said that her movements were being tracked by the zoo’s private security and that she was “tame and peaceful”.

Pejovic added that Nikica now had nowhere to return because the zoo, on a small island in a lake south of the capital, remains flooded. She was being fed with loaves of bread and bales of hay at a swimming pool of a restaurant owned by Pejovic and his brother.

Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: Savo Prelevic/AFP/Getty Images)

This may look like a snake attack, but it’s actually an ad on a bus inviting everyone to the Copenhagen Zoo. Link -via J-Walk Blog

The Daily Mail reveals why she’s so interested in photography:

Using a specially-adapted Samsung ST 1000 digital camera, Nonja is rewarded with a raisin that drops out of the equipment each time she takes a snap.

The Vienna Tiergarten zoo set up the project to help keep Nonja and her three hairy ape friends entertained in their enclosure.

‘Of course the apes don’t care about the pictures, they are just an accidental side product,’ zoo spokesman Gerhard Kasbauer said.

‘They just know that when they press the button, a raisin pops out.’

Links: Facebook page (over 40,000 fans!) – via CNET

Organiser Maria Mastalerz says the weeklong “performance” aims to attract interest in a play, “Caveman,” showing in the Polish capital. But she says it also carries a message that humans today are not all that different from their prehistoric ancestors.

Dressed in furs and animal skins, the young woman and man smoked a fish over a fire Friday, poking it with a stick, or stared from behind bars at startled zoo visitors.

Video at the link.

Link via Stuff | Photo: AP

Thier glee turned to horror as the 300lb lion firmly took the rear door handle with his teeth and pulled it open in one deft movement.

For several seconds the car remained still while the occupants digested the shock of what had happened before finally hitting the accelerator and driving off.

As they fled, the lion followed in pursuit until it reached the gates of the enclosure. There it was finally held back by a warden who hurled stones to shoo it back.

Richard Holden was in a car behind the Toyota and managed to take pictures of the incident. Link -via Arbroath

It looks like a lioins has jumped up on the hood of an open vehicle! Look closely, though -it’s an illusion, as the front of the car and the passenger area are separated by a sheet of glass. Invisible lion cages are the mane attraction Werribee Open Range Zoo, in Melbourne, Australia. VERY strong glass is used in place of other enclosure types more familiar in zoos – the result is stunning shots of the lions and a unique visitor experience.

This incredible Lions on the Edge exhibit, which puts you just inches from a lion’s jaws, is one of the biggest attractions at the zoo.

Kings of the jungle Tombo and Tonyi are joined by two lionesses in the exhibit. Though it has been open since 2006, the male lions were added just last month – leading to some startling photo opportunities.

Link – via cakeheadlovesevil

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by cakehead loves evil.

The Tama Zoo in Tokyo has unveiled their new snow leopard cub named Yukichi. The male cub was born on July 2nd. He is the fourth cub born to his mother Yuki and the first for his father Valdemar. And he’s adorable! Link

After a gestation period of nine months, humans usually live in their parents’ nest for around 16 years. While the parents are out foraging for food, juveniles are looked after in large groups by other adults.

In adolescence, the offspring adopt a more nocturnal lifestyle and engage in ritualized activities of drinking fermented liquids and dancing to rhythmical sounds, which scientists believe help them to find a mate.

Enlarge the picture at the link to read all of it. Link -via Boing Boing

A school trip to the zoo! What fun for the kids! You can make one of these automatons yourself with a kit for £8, plus £2 for postage. Link -via b3ta

“It’s really a painted donkey,” admitted Mahmud Berghat, the director of Marah, when asked about the creature. Making a fake zebra isn’t easy—henna didn’t work and wood paint was deemed inhumane, so they finally settled on human hair dye. “We cut its hair short and then painted the stripes,” Berghat explained behind the closed door of his office.

It did the trick—if not for zoologists, then at least for legions of Gaza schoolchildren who have never seen a real zebra. When I asked him whether anyone had ever caught the ruse, the director admitted that two sharp university students had IDed the counterfeit creature. “But don’t tell anyone,” he said. “The children love him.”

Most zoo animals have to be smuggled in through tunnels, but a zebra was too expensive for the Marah zoo. Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: Sharon Weinberger)

The elephants at the Wildlife Safari near Eugene, Oregon are fundraising and they don’t seem to mind. The safari’s three African elephants, Tiki, Alice, and George, have a job at the new "Elephant Car Wash".

For $20, visitors can have an up-close-and-personal encounter with the elephants as they wash down their car.

There’s no guarantee that your car will actually get cleaned, but hey, everybody seems to be having fun!

Link (with self-starting video)

Zoo staff members say the animals cannot burrow their way out because the former Kodiak bear environment is essentially a large concrete swimming bowl. The soil depth at Prairie Dog Town ranges from 6 feet to 8 feet.

“The dirt must be deeper than 36 inches in order for the prairie dogs to make their burrows under the frost line,” Kranz said. “We took soil samples from the old exhibit so the soils could be matched exactly to what they were used to having.”

After foiling the escape attempt, zoo workers adjusted wire fencing and installed more slippery plastic on the walls.

Link -via Boing Boing

(image credit: Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun)

When zookeepers found that a Macaw had vanished, they were baffled because they knew his wings were clipped, preventing him from flying away. They later found that did not stop him from fluttering out of the enclosure and catching a ride inside an RV’s engine cabinet.

Link -via Unique Daily

The pig is a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan, where pork and pig products are illegal because they are considered irreligious, and has been in quarantine since Sunday after visitors expressed alarm it could spread the new flu strain.

“For now the pig is under quarantine, we built it a room because of swine influenza,” Aziz Gul Saqib, director of Kabul Zoo, told Reuters. “We’ve done this because people are worried about getting the flu.”

Link -via YesButNoButYes

Zookeepers in Cairo are charging visitors to actually go inside the animal cages. Hugging bears, feeding crocodiles, pestering seals and provoking lions can all be achieved for under ten bucks!

I don’t know what’s worse, the exploitation of these poor animals or the stupidity of the patrons for getting inside an enclosure with a live bear.

Photo: Nasser Nuri/Reuters

An Egyptian family asked to play with the lions. Two dollars, said the zookeeper. The mother nodded and the zoo employee motioned to them to come to a side door away from the row of cages and mesmerized onlookers.

The zookeeper looked nervous, peering up and down the sidewalk. Seeing none of the authorities, he swung the door open and beckoned the family of four inside. By the time the family had entered, the zookeeper had grabbed a lion cub and hoisted it into the arms of the startled teenage son. Another lion cub looked on from a few feet away.

The family posed for photos. The cub snarled with displeasure.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by bethtucker.

Obviously upset about the proposed budget cuts to New York City’s zoos, Staten Island Chuck let Mayor Michael Bloomberg know exactly how he feels.

As reported by the Staten Island Advance, the mayor tried several times to lure the petite prognosticator out of his home, tempting him with delicious ears of corn. This resulted in Chuck grabbing the corn, and hastily returning to his den. At some point in their back and forth, Chuck bared his wood-cutting teeth and went to work on the mayor’s finger.

Personally, I would be upset too if some strange guy tried to pull me out of bed at 7am.

Thankfully the Mayor was not badly bit and Chuck was still able to perform his prediction duties: No shadow, early spring!

“His hand was nicked,” a Bloomberg spokesman said. The mayor is up to date on his Tetanus shot, so he simply washed his wounded finger and put on a bandage.
…
The bite happened just before Chuck made his prediction that spring is coming, as the mayor bravely reached into the groundhog’s cottage, and tried to coax him out with some of his favorite snacks.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by TheKeyLime.

Remember the gay penguins that got ejected from their colony because they were trying to steal eggs from other penguins? Well, the zookeepers gave the couple two eggs laid by an inexperienced penguin mom … and it turns out they became the best parents in the zoo!

‘We decided to give them two eggs from another couple whose hatching ability had been poor and they’ve turned out to be the best parents in the whole zoo,’ said one of the keepers.

‘It’s very encouraging and if this works out well we will try to arrange for them to become real parents themselves with artificial insemination.’

Wildlife experts at the park explain that despite being gay the three-year-old male birds are still driven by an urge to be fathers.

‘One of the responsibilities of being a male adult is looking after the eggs. Despite the fact that they can’t have eggs naturally, it does not take away their biological drive to be a parent,’ said one.

Link

Gorilla keeper Michael Rozzi said: “We feed the gorillas brussel sprouts during the winter because they are packed with vitamin C and have great nutritional benefits.

“Unfortunately, an embarrassing side effect is that it can cause bouts of flatulence in humans and animals alike.

“However, I don’t think any of us were prepared for a smell that strong.”

The zoo has taken the sprouts off the menu while the zoo is open to the public. The gorillas will enjoy them when the zoo is closed on Christmas Day. Link -Thanks, Rich!