Category Archives: Zoos

‘Free Bella’: campaigners fight to save lonely beluga whale from Seoul mall

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Five years after her last companion died and the aquarium’s owner pledged to free her, Bella still languishes in a tiny tank amid shops

In the heart of Seoul, amid the luxury shops at the foot of the world’s sixth-tallest skyscraper, a lone beluga whale named Bella swims aimlessly in a tiny, lifeless tank, where she has been trapped for a decade.

Her plight is urgent, with campaigners racing to rescue her from the bare tank in a glitzy shopping centre in South Korea’s capital before it is too late.

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Cinnamon frog species in ‘perilous state’ successfully bred in UK

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Froglets from species classed as near-threatened arrive for the second time at Cotswolds wildlife park

A frog species that is in a “perilous state” due to an infectious disease has been successfully bred at a wildlife park in Oxfordshire.

Keepers at the Cotswold wildlife park in Burford have again bred the near-threatened cinnamon frog, four years after it became only the second zoological collection in Europe to breed the species.

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Kosovo zoo rescue lion and bears come out to play in winter snow

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Sanctuary sets up heaters to take chill off rescue animals that have lost habit of entering full hibernation

Workers at a bear sanctuary in Pristina are working hard to look after a lion that wants to play in the snow and bears who were removed from their natural habitat when they were cubs and also enjoy the snowy conditions because they do not hibernate any more.

As the winter’s first snowfall covered Bear Sanctuary Prishtina in the Kosovan capital, visitors enjoyed the sight of a lion playing before quickly taking shelter indoors where a heater was installed to fend off temperatures which fell below freezing.

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Orphaned mountain lion sisters find new home at California zoo

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Willow and Maple, whose mother was hit by car on highway, were dehydrated and underweight when they were found in backyard

The two sisters are tiny – only five and a half pounds, and about two months old. They have giant eyes and mottled patches on their fur. Found in a backyard five days after their mother was hit on Highway 280 in northern California, the mountain lions headed to a new home at the Oakland zoo last week.

The sisters, now named Willow and Maple, were hungry and tired after not eating for five days. The cubs were visibly dehydrated, and underweight, and were checked for parasites and viruses by veterinarians, zoo officials said.

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Psychologists investigate meerkats’ response to human emotions

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Researchers explore whether the animals adapt their behaviour in response to people’s happiness, sadness or anger

They are known for living in packs and being sociable animals. Now meerkats are being investigated to see if they can also pick up on human emotions.

Researchers and psychologists from Nottingham Trent University are studying meerkats in zoos to see if they can detect emotions such as happiness, sadness or anger from people, and whether they then adapt their behaviour accordingly.

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‘Human in a costume’ sun bear draws crowds to Chinese zoo

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Visitor numbers rise by 30% as footage sparks claims animal could be a staff member in a bear suit

Visitors have flocked to a zoo in eastern China’s Zhejiang province after a video of one of its bears went viral with some suggesting she looked so human she could be a staff member in a bear suit.

Attendance numbers at Hangzhou zoo have risen by 30% to about 20,000 a day, with some people travelling overnight, since a video of the Malayan sun bear, named Angela, became a trending topic on Chinese social media over the weekend, Zhejiang-based Chao News reported.

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Calls grow for Pakistan’s zoos to close after death of 17-year-old elephant

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Case of Noor Jehan in Karachi draws criticism of conditions and renewed accusations of neglect at country’s facilities

Pakistan’s zoos have faced criticism and calls for their closure after the death of a 17-year-old elephant in Karachi.

Noor Jehan, an African elephant, which have an average lifespan of 60 to 70 years, was already in poor health when she fell into a pond last month and was unable to get up. She later died.

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‘Alligators don’t make good pets, y’all’: Texas zoo rescues reptile stolen as egg

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Woman who did not have a permit to keep alligator as a pet confessed to taking an egg from zoo near Austin 20 years ago

A Texas zoo said it had taken back an 8ft alligator which was stolen as an egg more than 20 years ago, then kept as a backyard pet.

In an Instagram post accompanying footage of three agents gingerly lifting the alligator into a truck and releasing it into a zoo enclosure, the state parks and wildlife department said: “Alligators don’t make good pets, y’all.”

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Mexico zoo chief accused of ordering pygmy goats to be killed and cooked for party

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Authorities claim animals in the zoo in city of Chilpancingo were sold, traded or eaten under orders of former director

The former director of a zoo in southern Mexico killed four of the zoo’s pygmy goats and served them up at a Christmas-season party, authorities have alleged.

“These four animals [were] slaughtered and cooked on the zoo’s premises, and were served as food at the year-end party,” said Fernando Ruiz Gutierrez, the state environment department’s director of wildlife, blaming the zoo’s director at the time, José Rubén Nava. “This put the health of the people who ate them at risk, because these animals were not fit for human consumption.”

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Mystery of the missing monkeys adds to litany of unexplained Dallas zoo attacks

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Monkeys were reported missing Monday after a vulture died, a clouded leopard escaped and a monkey cage was damaged

A mystery is unfolding at the Dallas zoo as two emperor tamarin monkeys were reported missing on Monday in what is now the fourth recent incident involving animals at the popular attraction in Texas.

Previously a vulture was apparently killed and a clouded leopard escaped after its cage was cut open. Before that another monkey cage was deliberately damaged.

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Men admit break-in at Hampshire zoo in which giraffes and tigers suffered

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Nathan Daniels, 21, and Bradley Green, 24, damaged enclosures and allegedly threw bottle at giraffe’s head

Two men have admitted breaking into a zoo and damaging the penguin and giraffe enclosures during an incident in which a bottle was allegedly thrown at a giraffe’s head.

Nathan Daniels, 21, admitted damaging the penguin enclosure at Marwell zoo, near Southampton, while Bradley Green, 24, admitted damaging an enclosure containing giraffes.

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Chester zoo hails birth of rare Malayan tapir as ‘important moment’

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Female calf named Nessa will help efforts to protect species, of which fewer than 2,500 remain in the wild

An endangered Malayan tapir has been born at a UK zoo, in what the zoo said was an “important moment” for conservation.

The female calf, which zookeepers have named Nessa, was born weighing 9kg on Wednesday at Chester zoo, one of only two places in the country to keep tapirs, a species related to the horse and the rhinoceros.

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‘Our worst nightmare’: Sydney’s Taronga zoo locked down after five lions escape enclosure

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Father of two staying overnight on ‘roar and snore’ experience says family told to flee tents and ‘it was pretty shocking – imagine facing a lion’

Five lions broke out of their enclosure at Sydney’s Taronga zoo, forcing staff and visitors to hide in “safe zones” and triggering a review of zoo safety.

The lions – four cubs and one adult – were seen outside their enclosure about 6.30am on Wednesday. A “code one” alert soon after sent the zoo into lockdown. Police were called at 7.10am and the lions returned to their enclosure just before 9am.

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Canada zoo finds escaped wolf pups in moment of joy tinged with tragedy

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Four days after a ‘suspicious’ break-in, one pup is found safe and another appears to have been hit by a car

Emotions are bittersweet at a Canadian zoo after a runaway wolf pup was safely located after four days on the loose, but another was found dead along a road.

Conservation officers and zoo staff in Canada have spent the last four days searching for a runaway wolf after mysterious break-in freed a pack of the predators from the popular zoo.

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Brexit threatening endangered species as red tape hits zoo breeding programmes

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Transferring critically endangered species within Europe to broaden the gene pool is more difficult with Britain outside the EU

Breeding programmes designed to save critically endangered species are being jeopardised by Brexit, with zoos warning they are being prevented from transferring animals such as rhinos and giraffes by red tape created by the UK’s departure from the EU.

The animal health regulation was passed in 2016 before the EU referendum, but came into force in April 2021. There have been no reports that the UK dissented from the regulation.

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An An, world’s oldest captive male giant panda, dies in Hong Kong zoo aged 35

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Thousands send condolences after zoo staff euthanise panda, who was in poor health and had stopped eating

The world’s oldest male giant panda in captivity has died in a Hong Kong zoo on Thursday.

The panda, named An An, was euthanised at the age of 35, the equivalent of 105 years for humans. He was born in the wild in the south-western Chinese province of Sichuan in 1986.

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Wild fox infiltrates flamingos’ pen at Washington’s National zoo and kills 25

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The birds’ wings are clipped to keep them from escaping their enclosure – leaving them unable to escape a predator

A wild fox in Washington DC, has chewed through a fence at the National zoo and killed 25 flamingos in the worst animal attack there in two decades.

On Tuesday, zoo officials announced that in addition to the 25 American flamingos that were killed early on Monday in their outdoor habitat, three more were injured. A northern pintail duck was also killed by the fox.

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Camel kills two men after escaping Tennessee petting zoo

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Sheriff’s deputies destroyed the animal after finding ‘two unconscious victims’ and ‘a camel still on the loose

A camel killed two men after escaping a petting zoo in Tennessee, a county sheriff said.

Officials from the Obion county sheriff’s office said the fatal incident unfolded around 5.44pm on Thursday, when they “received a call of a loose camel near Shirley Farms on South Bluff Road in Obion … attacking people”.

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‘It’s Tiger King meets Ace Ventura’: the wild true story of the world’s biggest insect heist

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From snails the size of dogs to the most venomous arachnids on the planet, the true-crime series Bug Out profiles the bizarre investigation into a robbery at the US’s first bug zoo

A room swarming with thousands of giant, exotic creepy-crawlies may sound like your worst nightmare (or one of Ant and Dec’s Bushtucker Trials on I’m a Celebrity). It is also the starting point for Bug Out, the latest bizarre true-crime documentary series, which is set in the US’s first bug zoo, the Philadelphia Insectarium & Butterfly Pavilion. Prepare for a mystery with more twists than a worm colony.

The show focuses on the moment in August 2018 when the museum’s boss, Dr John Cambridge, arrived at work and did a double take when he realised his room, that ought to have been full of critters, was suddenly empty. Glass tanks were upended, shelves bare, displays cleared out. Thousands of live bugs, worth an estimated $50,000 (£38,000), had been stolen. It was the biggest insect heist in history.

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The 90-year-old Australian fish who likes belly rubs is likely oldest aquarium fish – video

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A primitive Australian fish living in a San Francisco museum is believed to be the oldest living aquarium fish in the world. Methuselah is a four-foot-long (1.2-meter) Australian lungfish, weighing around 40lb (18.1kg). The species has both lungs and gills and is believed to be the evolutionary link between fish and amphibians. The lungfish was brought to the San Francisco museum in 1938 from Australia and now lives at the California Academy of Sciences. The species is threatened and can no longer be exported from Australian waters so biologists at the academy say it's unlikely they'll get a replacement once Methuselah passes away

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