Rare Black Rhinoceros Dies While Being Transported to Oregon Zoo

What else can be said other than score one more for the crulty of zoos. Good f…ing job Oregon Zoo. You killed another one!

Article:

Rare black rhino dies en route to Oregon Zoo

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008238237_webrhinodeath07.html?syndication=rss

A rare black rhinoceros died while being transported to Portland from Kansas City for breeding purposes, the Oregon Zoo said Tuesday. The rhino became agitated...

By Mary Hudetz

The Associated Press

PORTLAND — A rare black rhinoceros died while being transported to Portland from Kansas City for breeding purposes, the Oregon Zoo said Tuesday.

The rhino became agitated early Monday about 20 miles outside Phoenix, causing the truck to sway. Zoo staff immediately stopped the truck to check on her before heading to the city's zoo to seek care.

The Phoenix Zoo had a crane delivered and the rhino was unloaded from the truck into an elephant barn. The rhino died Monday night from unknown causes.

"It just doesn't always go they way you hope it does," said Oregon Zoo veterinarian Dr. Lisa Harrenstien, who flew to Arizona on Monday to help care for the animal. "It can take a turn for the worse, and you do what you can to get back on track."

The Phoenix Zoo is performing a necropsy to determine the cause of death, said Oregon Zoo spokesman Bill LaMarche. Preliminary results should be available within three weeks.

There are an estimated 3,500 black rhinos left in the world and 67 are held in captivity, LaMarche said. "Poachers hunt them mercilessly for their horn," he said. "The species is really on the brink."

LaMarche said staffers transporting the rhinoceros from Kansas City, where it was born in 2000, took a detour through Arizona because of snow advisories in Wyoming.

The Species Survival Plan, which is run by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, had called for the 8-year-old female named Kipenzi, which means "precious one" in Swahili, to breed with the Oregon Zoo's 21-year-old male.

LaMarche said another female will likely be sent to the Oregon Zoo through the plan, which aims to sustain a genetically diverse population among animals in North American zoos.

Black rhinos are native to Eastern and Central Africa.

Cast Your Vote for IDA's Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007 List: Take Part in Raising Awareness to the Plight of Captive Elephants in Zoos

What an innovative way to tackle this important issue. I encourage all to at least visit the page. You’ll quickly be able to see just how many zoos are listed. This gives you a good idea on how many places have had incidents that have either killed or harmed an elephant. Unfortunately, the list is long.

Article:

Cast Your Vote for IDA's Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007 List

http://www.helpelephantsinzoos.com/10_worst_2007b.php

For the last few years, IDA has released its annual list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants to draw attention to the appalling treatment of Earth's largest mammal in captivity and pressure zoos to provide the space and natural conditions elephants need or stop keeping elephants altogether.

The media has enthusiastically reported on our lists, bringing more scrutiny to the zoos that were singled out as being particularly sad and sorry places for pachyderms.

As the controversy surrounding elephants in zoos rages on, the 2007 list is sure to grab people's attention once again, and we need you to tell us which zoos are most deserving of this undesirable publicity.

This year, we are letting you—the people decide which zoos make the ignoble list. Cast your vote below and click on the zoo names for information to help you decide. The "losers" will be announced in 2008.

Cast your vote here: http://www.helpelephantsinzoos.com/10_worst_2007b.php

Another Disturbing Reality of Zoos: Many Sell Off Healthy Tigers and Other Endangered Species to Be Stuffed and Mounted As Trophies for Collectors

In essence:

“…zoos had recognized there was a market and were placing a “shelf life” on animals to cash in by having them stuffed before they got old, suffered illness and then cost them money. “What’s happening is that various zoos . . . [have] realized there’s a market, hence . . . there is a fixed price on tigers.”

Another reason to strongly appose zoos and the cruel reality that they represent. This is a sick as sick can be.

Just look at the facts. They are presented below.

Article:

Zoos kill healthy tigers for the skin trade

\http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/
europe/article2116179.ece

Daniel Foggo

ZOOS are killing healthy tigers and other endangered species and selling their skins to be stuffed and mounted as trophies for private collectors, an investigation has found.

The skins are sold by the zoos to taxidermists who prepare them for clients in defiance of attempts by the government to stifle the trade in tiger products.

Last week undercover reporters from The Sunday Times were offered the skins from two zoo tigers, which were both only a few years old when they died, for £6,000. “There are too many of them and if they are not put down they will die of old age, get incinerated and thrown away,” Andre Brandwood, a Hertford-shire taxidermist, told them.

He said zoos had recognised there was a market and were placing a “shelf life” on animals to cash in by having them stuffed before they got old, suffered illness and then cost them money. “What’s happening is that various zoos . . . [have] realised there’s a market, hence . . . there is a fixed price on tigers.”
Related Links

* ‘For a price I can get you any animal’

The taxidermists sell the stuffed tigers in Britain by exploiting a loophole in the European Union law controlling the trade in endangered animals.

Will Travers of the Born Free Foundation said: “It is abhorrent to imagine zoo animals, some of which may have been visitors’ favourites, are being killed to feed a demand for trinkets and decorative items.”

Craig Redmond of the Captive Animals’ Protection Society said zoos were overbreeding and creating a massive surplus of animals. “Nobody wants old animals. They think the public want to see babies,” he said.

Killing of Zookeeper and Subsequent Killing of Jaguar Shows Stupidity of Keeping Animals Captive (Zoos)

What a tragedy all around. A woman dies and then they kill the Jaguar who simply was acting out of instinct. I’ll let the following quotes sum it up, but really this proves once again just how unnatural zoos and keeping animals captive is. Just plain stupidity that is completely obvious to the thinking person.

Here are a couple quotes that sum this issue up:

"That is how a jaguar kills its prey, and that animal has been programmed to do that for thousands of years," she said.

"Regardless of the handling, the hand-rearing, the years of captivity, that animal is still a jaguar," she said. "Any predator is a predator and it will always have that instinct. They are looking for opportunities to be themselves."

"These animals should not be in zoos because of the possibility of these things happening, and for the welfare of the animals," Bekoff said. "What's to be gained by having an animal like that in the zoo?"


Article:

Jaguar Attack Renews Predator Debate

Some question whether big predators should be captive

http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/
Detail?contentId=2517996&version=2&locale=EN-
US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

DENVER --

A jaguar's lethal attack on a keeper at the Denver Zoo has renewed the debate over whether big predators should be kept in captivity in the first place.

Ashlee Pfaff, 28, died Saturday after she was mauled by a 140-pound jaguar named Jorge. The jaguar was shot and killed when it approached workers trying to save Pfaff.

Marc Bekoff, a retired University of Colorado biology professor and author of "The Emotional Lives of Animals," called Pfaff's death a tragedy.

"These animals should not be in zoos because of the possibility of these things happening, and for the welfare of the animals," Bekoff said. "What's to be gained by having an animal like that in the zoo?"

Others argue that allowing humans to see such animals up close makes it easier to raise money and public support to preserve the animals and their habitats in the wild.

"Money that's raised by zoos goes a great distance to preserve their habitats. We can do so much with education," said Jack Grisham, vice president of animal collections at the St. Louis Zoo.

Denver Zoo officials said Tuesday they were cooperating with investigations by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and Denver police.

An autopsy found Pfaff died of a broken neck and had extensive internal injuries. Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said toxicology tests from the autopsy will likely take several days.

Pfaff was attacked in a service hallway adjacent to the jaguar's enclosure. Zoo officials said the door to the enclosure was open.

"We don't know if she was going in, and we never will," zoo spokeswoman Ana Bowie said. "Why that door was open and what she was doing, we do not know."

Zoo policy requires doors to be closed when keepers are in adjacent areas and forbids keepers to be in an enclosure when an animal is present. Zoo officials said Pfaff had experience working with big cats and knew the routines.

The animal had no history of abnormal behavior, and a necropsy showed it was in good health.

Bekoff said even experts exercising extreme caution can make mistakes that put them in danger when dealing with predators.

He cited himself as an example: Despite extensive experience studying wolves, he once took a step toward a male gray wolf's food inside an enclosure. The wolf backed him against the fence, stared and growled before eventually backing off.

"I was foolish to do what I did and I know wolves well," he said. "I almost got nailed by a wolf being stupid."

Mara Rodriguez, an instructor at the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at Moorpark College in California, said Pfaff's neck injuries sounded like the result of a classic jaguar hunting behavior.

"That is how a jaguar kills its prey, and that animal has been programmed to do that for thousands of years," she said.

"Regardless of the handling, the hand-rearing, the years of captivity, that animal is still a jaguar," she said. "Any predator is a predator and it will always have that instinct. They are looking for opportunities to be themselves."

Steve Feldman, spokesman for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, said fatal animal attacks in zoos are "fairly rare." He said it was still too early to know exactly what happened in Denver.

The association, which accredits the Denver Zoo and more than 200 other institutions, requires its members to train its workers and follow safety procedures.

Zoo officials say they continually train employees and evaluate safety procedures and conduct "red alert" animal escape drills at least four times a year.

The zoo has 16 staffers trained in the use of firearms in case of an escape. Four of those employees responded to the attack on Pfaff.

Before Saturday, the most recent fatal attack at the Denver Zoo was a bear attack that killed a zookeeper back in the 1920s.