tagged w/ Ban Zoos
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Los Angeles Times...
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L.A. Zoo's only hippo euthanized after weeks-long illness
January 20, 2012 | 6:56 pm
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Jabba the L.A. Zoo's hippo had to be euthanized
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The sole hippopotamus at the Los Angeles Zoo was euthanized Friday after being ill with an unknown ailment for a month and not responding to treatment, zoo officials said.
Zookeepers noticed in December that the 28-year-old hippopotamus, Jabba, had a decreased appetite, abnormal bloating and was not responding to medication, zoo spokesman Jason Jacobs told City News Service. The hippo was under close veterinary care, but his condition rapidly worsened in the last few days.
The zoo's staff made the "difficult decision" to euthanize Jabba, according to a statement released by the zoo.
Jabba had been at the zoo since 2009. Before that, he lived at the San Diego Zoo for several years, where he sired several calves.
His body will be taken to the California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory System at UC Davis for a necropsy.
.Los Angeles Times...
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L.A. Zoo's only hippo euthanized after... more
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Animal Equality...
International Organization for the Abolition of Animal Slavery
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31 December 2011
Make it your New Year's resolution to Help Animals!
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Each year Animal Equality carries out many vegan outreach activities and investigations in defence of animals. With this work we aim to touch peoples’ hearts, in the hope that they will discover a lost empathy towards non-human animals. We aim to show them that it is easy to create a world without animal exploitation.
Much impassioned work was carried out during 2011, and it would not have been possible without the dedication of new volunteers and supporters just like you.
Read ahead to see how we carried out activism for animal rights in the UK and elsewhere in Europe throughout the year.
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2011: a year growing up!
We believe that human education is the first step to equality, and a truly kind world. During 2011, we carried out dozens of events and info-stalls in the UK.
Here are some examples of our work:
• In the UK alone, during our Demonstrations promoting veganism and free vegan food giveaways, we handed out 12,000 vegan leaflets.
• We launched a brand new website called ChooseVeganism.org, Thanks to the website’s new video, 'A message of respect', we received more than 11,000 visitors in a few days.
• Hundreds of vegan outreach events were carried out in Spain, Poland, UK and Venezuela, more four undercover investigations.
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Our dedication did not stop in these countries; in India we started to work to convince the Indian Government to prevent elephant deaths on railway tracks.
Another important event during 2011, was the creation of a new branch of Animal Equality in Italy, based in Rome!
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International Animal Rights Day 2011:
A fantastic celebration of the International Animal Rights Day 2011, marked this year as being such a success in terms of recruiting new activists and achieving excellent worldwide media coverage on our activities. A brief summary of our events to mark this important day are as follows:
• LONDON (UK): Crime scenes featuring the outlines of the victims of the speciesism calling on passers-by to adopt a vegan lifestyle.
Photo gallery: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjxhi5Na
• MADRID (Spain): 400 activists gathered to show 400 corpses of dead animals, and demand justice for the billions of animals who continue to die each year as victims of speciesism.
Photo gallery: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjxgLviM
• ROME (Italy): For six hours, the Pincio's square was covered with 100 crosses, each one accompanied by a photo of an animal who had been exploited and/or killed for human consumption.
Photo gallery: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjxhWfTD
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Investigations:
Behind the closed doors of the animal exploitation centers, Animal Equality's Investigation Team with hidden cameras exposed the reality and misery of animals' lives. With our investigation work, we aim to change society into one that respects animals by promoting a vegan lifestyle.
Some examples of our investigation work are as follows:
• We recording of the brutal killing of minks on one of the biggest fur farms in Spain.
• We carried out a unique and intensive undercover investigation into the most important zoos in Spain.
- Visit the website: Spanishzoos.org
• We infiltrated Tordesillas, one of the biggest bullfighting traditions in Spain.
• We documented the gruesome ritual slaughter of 6.000 lambs for the ‘Feast of Sacrifice’ in Melilla, Spain.
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.Animal Equality...
International Organization for the Abolition of Animal Slavery... more
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L.A. considers putting zoo operations in private hands
Officials say the change would save nearly $20 million over five years and prevent possible closure. Critics question the savings and say the move could mean less transparency in animal welfare.
Los Angeles Zoo
Photo: Zoo patrons view a pair of Masai giraffes at the Los Angeles Zoo. Two potential private operators have expressed interest in running the zoo. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times
July 28, 2011
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Someone else may soon be tending to the misty artificial rain forest at the Los Angeles Zoo where Bruno, a 300-pound orangutan with a wispy orange beard and a hulking frame, makes his home.
The city opened the zoo and botanical gardens in 1966, but officials are now considering a proposal to turn over management to a private operator. That means the gardeners, plumbers and other city employees who help run the zoo could be transferred to other departments and replaced with private workers.
Like any issue involving labor — or animals — the fight over the fate of the zoo has caused a considerable stir.
City officials say the change would save nearly $20 million over the next five years and rescue the zoo from possible budget reductions or even closure. But opponents of the plan question the savings and warn that privatization could mean steeper ticket prices for the zoo's 1.5 million annual visitors and less transparency when it comes to animal welfare.
The zoo plan is only the latest example of a shift in how budget-strapped officials think about "core services" and City Hall's basic obligations to taxpayers. They are also considering proposals to privatize the Los Angeles Convention Center, an animal shelter in the San Fernando Valley and several arts facilities.
Such public-private partnerships are common in Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History are two county facilities operated by nonprofit organizations.
"It's not a revolutionary idea," said Miguel Santana, L.A.'s chief administrative officer, who came to City Hall from the county in 2009. "This model has worked across the country as a way of ensuring services are maintained in an era of declining revenues."
According to a draft proposal for the zoo plan, which the City Council's Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee will consider Thursday, Bruno and the rest of the animals would remain the property of the city, along with the zoo's Griffith Park grounds.
All current staff would remain employees of the city, but those who do not hold zoo-specific jobs might be transferred to other city departments. Future hires would be employees of the new operator.
Two potential operators have already stepped forward.
One is the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., or GLAZA, a nonprofit headquartered on the zoo's campus that raises money for the institution, manages its memberships and operates its concessions. In 2010-11, it raised about $13 million for the zoo, according to GLAZA President Connie Morgan
The other party is Parques Reunidos, a Madrid-based theme park operator that runs 70 amusement parks, water parks and zoos worldwide.
Dave Towne, a former consultant for the L.A. Zoo, said that if a private company takes over, the face of the zoo may change. "Any private, for-profit operation is going to Disney-fy it," he said. "That's just what they do."
Towne, former director of the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, oversaw the transition of that zoo's management to a nonprofit 10 years ago. He said private operators run the majority of the nation's major zoos and are often more successful at marketing and fundraising than cities, in part because they are less encumbered by bureaucracy.
Animal activists fear that could result in a lack of transparency. Catherine Doyle, of In Defense of Animals, said that if the zoo is privatized, "it will become even more secretive and insular."
She and others have long accused the zoo's management of not being forthcoming about animal care, and have asked that the operator be required to answer to a city-appointed animal welfare commission.
Adriana Hawkins, a zoo gardener for six years, says everyone will suffer if longtime employees are reassigned. The zoo will lose expertise, she said, and the employees will lose jobs they love.
"I don't want to go down to the harbor; I don't want to spend my life on the freeway," Hawkins said. "I have a passion for the zoo."
Santana and others have said that privatizing the zoo will allow it to flourish. A report he commissioned said that under private management, the zoo would be able to reap up to $3.8 million more each year in revenue, thanks to new opportunities for corporate sponsorship, fundraising and special events.
But City Councilman Richard Alarcon said that's all the more reason to keep control of the zoo. "If a private corporation can make it profitable, why can't we?" he said.
It costs $26 million a year to run the zoo and pay the salaries, benefits and pensions of more than 200 employees. The city contributes about $14.6 million; the rest of the budget comes from ticket sales and donations.
Officials say if the city does not privatize management, that figure could grow as high as $19.4 million by 2015. But even if it does complete a deal, the city will still contribute about $13.8 million to the zoo in 2015, according to the proposal.
The savings may be small in the short term, but Santana insists that it adds up. Next year, he and other officials will have to find a way to close a $200-million budget deficit.
.L.A. considers putting zoo operations in private hands
Officials say the change... more
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San Francisco gorilla gets gastro surgery
Saturday, December 04, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO (KABC) -- An unusual medical procedure took place at the San Francisco Zoo this week - the patient was a gorilla.
Zura, 29, was having gastrointestinal problems, so doctors did an endoscopy to see what was wrong.
Part of the problem could be that Zura likes to taste anything she can get her hands on -- including cups, purses, and even cellular phones.
Once doctors get results of the endoscopy, they can figure out how to treat Zura.San Francisco gorilla gets gastro surgery
Saturday, December 04, 2010
SAN... more
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Hang around for reasons to end the palm off on palm oil
GABRIELLA COSLOVICH - The Sydney Morning Herald
June 30, 2010
Wonderful species on the brink of extinction, in part for cosmetics.
We took our four nieces to the Melbourne Zoo recently. The things we saw. Butterflies hatching in cocoons shaped like precious jade pendants. A cassowary with a pelt of feathers so glossy and thick that it looked like something Kate Moss would wear down the runway. Seals that shot through the water like rockets, sleek and euphoric as they darted and flipped, creatures of awesome grace underwater, clownishly awkward above.
Mali, surely the cutest baby elephant in the world, so small, so fat, so wrinkly. My nieces squealed in horrified delight as one of the adult elephants discharged a torrent of urine and a canon fire of poo. Of course, I laughed too.
But it was a day of conflicting emotions. I marvelled at the miraculous beauty and diversity of nature, and wondered whether one day such variety would be found only in the safe confines of a zoo. What kind of world would my nieces inherit? Many of the animals we saw were endangered, among them the siamangs, tree-dwelling primates, found mainly in the tropical rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia.
The fragility of life struck me as I looked at a couple of these shaggy creatures, nestled close together. They looked straight back, with melancholy, knowing eyes. One of them ever so gently groomed its mate. Those hands. Long, delicate, expressive, uncannily human as they softly swept across its mate's black fur, checking for bugs, for dirt.
Next door lived their cousins, the orang-utans, auburn-haired trapeze artists extraordinaire, effortlessly swinging, whirling, pivoting on their artificial jungle of ropes.
Endangered trapeze artists. On the brink of extinction. Of course, I knew this in that dim, foggy way we have of knowing many things we'd rather not. But coming face-to-face with an orang-utan made it impossible to ignore.
One of the greatest threats to orang-utans is the clearing of their natural habitat in the forests of Malaysia and Indonesia to make way for oil palm plantations. According to a 2007 United Nations report, between 1967 and 2000 the total oil palm area in Indonesia grew from fewer than 2000 square kilometres to more than 30,000 square kilometres. The demand for palm oil was expected to double this area by 2020.
As forests are cleared for plantations, confused orang-utans can be found wandering into the newly planted areas that used to be their home. They're an intimidating sight, and it's common for them to be killed by plantation workers.
Palm oil is now ubiquitous. It's found, according to the UN, in one out of 10 supermarket products, including margarine, baked goods, sweets, detergents and lipsticks. But it is not necessarily labelled as ''palm oil'' in the ingredients list - it might be called palmate, or sodium laureth sulphate (which can also be from coconuts), or glyceryl stearate, or scores of other mystifying variations. The zoo is urging people to sign an online petition requesting Food Standards Australia New Zealand to make it compulsory to clearly label palm oil as ''palm oil'' - the chance to sign the petition ends today.
Now, I'm not a huge fan of processed food, so I didn't think I'd be causing too much trouble. Nonetheless, after our visit to the zoo, I checked the contents of my bathroom cupboard. What I found was highly unsettling.
According to the Australian Orangutan Project, more than 1 million kilograms of palm oil makes its way to Australia each year - and my bathroom had an arsenal of the stuff. Even products from companies that promote themselves as somehow more virtuous and natural than the rest included palm oil (albeit not labelled as such) in the fine print. My favourite shampoo and conditioner had ''retinyl palmitate'' in it. My (cheap) deodorant had ''steareth-2'', a chemical containing palm oil. My lip balm had ''glyceryl stearate'' in it, so too did my face cream, exfoliant and hand cream.
How many orang-utan scalps was I personally responsible for? I had no option but to sign the petition, and reconsider my purchases. People can have an effect on the demand and use of palm oil - they did last year when public pressure compelled Cadbury to stop using it in its chocolate.
My face cleanser, by the way, was in the clear, no palm oil or synonymous chemicals were detected. Although it did have something in it called methylchloroisothiazolinone. Thought I'd do a cross-check. The online ''cosmetics database'' rated it as hazardous and to be avoided. And that's a whole new stratosphere of anxiety.
Gabriella Coslovich is an Age senior writer.
http://www.orangutan.org.au/assets/images/adoptions/infants/carlos_tn.jpgHang around for reasons to end the palm off on palm oil
GABRIELLA COSLOVICH - The... more
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