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Tag: zoo

  • Suicide By Crocodile: Thai Woman Eaten Alive At Zoo

    An elderly Thai woman committed suicide by crocodile last Friday by jumping into a pit full of the fierce predators. The 65-year-old woman was identified as Wenpai Inyai after police found her healthcare card floating in the water after she jumped.

    Inyai reportedly went to the Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm & Zoo on Friday, and was caught by CCTV leaving her shoes on the walkway before jumping into a crocodile pit. The pond was 3 meters deep and reportedly full of hundreds of crocodiles. Staff members of the popular Thai tourist attraction tried to use long sticks to keep the crocodiles from getting to the woman, but failed to protect her, according to the Bangkok Post.

    Relatives of Inyai said that she had been suffering from stress and depression, and had not spoken to anyone for days before she committed suicide. Her family apparently tried to file a missing persons for Inyai on Friday morning, but were told by local police to wait for 24 hours before doing so, as required by law.

    In an interview with a local Thai radio station, Uthen Youngprapakorn, owner of the crocodile farm, said that additional fences and security measures had already been installed in the walkways such as the one from which Inyai had jumped. He reportedly described her death as “force majeure” and expressed condolences to her family.

    Previously, two other suicides using the same method as Inyai’s were reported at Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm & Zoo, one in 2002 and another a decade before that. The farm was established in 1950 and claims it is the largest crocodile farm in the world, reportedly housing over 100,000 crocodiles. The farm spans 3 acres and was established to save the reptiles from extinction. One of its popular draws is that tourists can feed crocodiles from the walkway.

  • Netflix Deals With CBS For ‘Zoo’ Series

    Netflix Deals With CBS For ‘Zoo’ Series

    Netflix announced that it will be the exclusive subscription video-on-demand service in the U.S. for the new CBS drama Zoo, based on the bestselling James Patterson (co-authored with Michael Ledwidge) novel of the same name.

    The show will premiere on CBS next summer, and will become available to U.S. Netflix subscribers immediately after its thirteen-episode run.

    “We’’re excited to expand our relationship with Netflix as our premium subscription partner on ZOO,” said Scott Koondel, Chief Corporate Licensing Officer at CBS. ““This is another creative model to build a summer programming event on CBS and deliver Netflix members an addictive thrill ride series based on a story by one of the world’s biggest authors.””

    ““ZOO is just the kind of smart, gripping and shocking series that Netflix members love,”” said Sean Carey, Vice President, Content Licensing for Netflix.

    The show’s description is as follows:

    ZOO is a global thriller about a wave of violent animal attacks against humans across the planet. As the assaults become more cunning, coordinated and ferocious, a young renegade biologist is thrust into the race to unlock the pandemic’s mystery before there’s no place left for people to hide.

    Zoo is a production of CBS Television Studios. The book was published in 2012.

    Image via Thinkstock

  • Burmese Python Massage Available In Zoo

    Everyone likes a good massage; relaxing and releasing the stress of the day. But what if the massage was a snake massage? That’s right … a SNAKE massage!

    This is exactly what the Cebu City Zoo in the Philippines offers their visitors. Sounds crazy right? Well, according to the snake handlers, the snake massage is actually quite calming and therapeutic, and only costs the price of zoo admission – $0.50.

    So, how does the snake massage work? Each visitor, who chooses to participate, lies down on a bamboo mat while they are explained the rules of the massage. There are really only two rules: 1. No shouting for help, and 2. No blowing air on the snakes.

    After the rules are relayed to the visitor, four giant Burmese pythons, named Michelle, Walter, EJ and Daniel, are placed on top of them, one at a time; the combine weight of the snakes is approximately 550 pounds. The snakes then slither over the person’s body for 15 minutes while they remain as still as possible.

    Giovanni Romarate, the zoo manager, explained that most of the people who took part in the massage found it to be relaxing and actually enjoyed it. He also explained that they chose to use Burmese pythons because they are not venomous. “Snakes do not attack as long as they are not harmed,” Romarate said.

    “At first, visitors feel fear but most of the guests who try the snake massage say that they like it,” Romarate added. “It’s like getting a hand massage. You get to enjoy the cold grip of our snakes.”

    Romarate, who owns Michelle and Walter, is convinced that the massage is safe. However, what keeps the snakes from turning and attacking the person underneath them? Well, nothing exactly, but the handlers do take precautionary actions before each massage. The snakes are receive a pre-massage meal that usually consists of 10 chickens so they will theoretically not be hungry.

    Image via Cebuzoo.blogspot.com

  • Elephant Kills Zookeeper In Missouri

    Elephant Kills Zookeeper In Missouri

    An elephant has reportedly showed its aggression and killed the zookeeper that was working with her, in a zoo in Missouri. Patience, an elephant that has a history of aggression toward handlers, attacked and crushed her keeper on Friday morning. The keeper was a veteran at the zoo, and died in an unavoidable incident, when Patience decided to charge at him and crushed him to death. The shocking event happened in a matter of seconds.

    John Phillip Bradford was the keeper working with the group of elephants at the time, and as the manager of the elephants at Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri, when Patience charged at him, for an unknown reason. Other zookeepers working with Bradford quickly worked to pull the elephant away from him, whose actions were consistent with zoo policies, stated Cora Scott, a spokeswoman for the city, which runs the zoo. Scott also reported that Patience had been showing actions that were “hesitant and submissive” since the death of the herd’s matriarch, who died on October 4th, after suffering from kidney disease.

    The zoo officials have said that the elephant will not be punished for the incident. Working with wild animals of any kind can always be aa challenge, and especially with a big animal like an elephent, the danger is always there. In fact, according to a report that Time Magazine put out in 2007, more than 500 people die from elephant attacks worldwide each year. This is not the only incident in elephant related aggression in zoos that has occurred recently, following an attack by a mother to her newborn baby at a zoo in China in September.

    Bradford was 62 years old, and attacked by an older elephant, 41 years of age. Patience is an Asian elephant who has been at the zoo since 1990. He had worked at the zoo for 30 years, and the news of his death came as a huge shock to all of his colleagues, after such a long career there. The Chicago Tribune mentions that since 1984, 13 people have been injured in incidents involving elephants at zoos and other facilities nationwide, 10 of them fatally. However, this is the first incident that has involved the Dickerson Park Zoo.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpY5sJh40RY

    Image via Youtube

  • Snake Handler Dons Google Glass To Show Us How She Inspects Venomous Snakes

    Google Glass offers us a chance to see the world through the eyes of some of the most interesting professions in the world. The Taronga Zoo in Sydney has already shown us what a day in the life of a zookeeper is like, and now the Houston Zoo shows us what life is like for those who handle dangerous animals.

    The Houston Zoo was recently asked how it handles its venomous snake species, and one of its snake handlers was more than happy to strap on Google Glass to show us. In the below video, you’ll see our snake handler try to coax a black forest cobra into a tube for a routine inspection.

    The black forest cobra isn’t the most dangerous snake in the world, but it’s venom still packs a punch. According to Wikipedia, this particular snake can inject a large amount of venom in a single bite. After a bite, a human can die within 30 to 120 minutes if antivenom is not administered immediately. During that time, those who have been bitten will suffer drowsiness, limb paralysis, hearing loss, inability to speak, dizziness, fever, abdominal pain and respiratory symptoms. As you can see, it’s not pleasant and makes the work of snake handlers all the more impressive.

    Google Glass is amazing in that it let us see into the world of such a dangerous profession. It also reconfirms my convictions that going near snakes is always a bad idea, especially when snakes have proven time and time again that they become eldritch abominations upon death.

    [h/t: Softpedia]
    [Image: houstonzoo/YouTube]

  • Media Falsely Reports Gorilla for Being Sexist

    Meet Patrick, a 23-year-old single male Texan residing in Dallas, who is also a 430-pound Western lowland gorilla that was recently mistaken for hating women (gorilla women in particular). You see, a lot of media reports (MailOnline, E!, Fox News, ABC) picked up on the sensationalism that Patrick was a sexist ape, when really, he just prefers to be alone, indifferent to other gorillas. The media went bananas with the story (a sexist gorilla?), but The Dallas Zoo’s Official Facebook page said otherwise:

    Yes, Patrick will be moving out of his humble abode at Dallas Zoo where he’s been living for 18 years. The decision for his move had been years in the making, with “gorilla experts” all over the United States advising on the best  choice of action for Patrick. He will be sent over to the Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens in Columbia, South Carolina.

    It also started back in April 13th, 1990 at the Bronx Zoo in New York, where little baby Patrick was born and abandoned by his mama. From there, he was transferred to the Toronto Zoo, where he was hand-raised with another male ape companion around the same age. As little innocent and motherless Patrick grew, he became less and less social with other apes.

    According to the Patrick’s Departure Q&A on the Dallas Zoo Facebook page, Patrick is leaving Dallas “due to maternal neglect” and because he was “hand raised”.

    “He hasn’t socialized well with gorillas and prefers his own company. We’ve tried for years to create social relationships for Patrick, with little success. Two separate female groups were introduced to him, but he was indifferent and the relationships never progressed to a stable social grouping. At Riverbanks, he will continue to live alone, but in close proximity to other gorillas.”

    The move is not meant to punish Patrick, but instead, is the best choice of action that will serve to benefit him and his solitary life style.  “It’s not punitive in any way.”

    The Dallas Zoo’s Facebook page announced on September 23rd that Patrick will have a going away party on September 28th through 29th. The celebration is titled “We’ll Miss Ya, Patrick!”, and zoo admission is only $5 for everyone three and older. There will be mini cupcakes.

    (Photos courtesy of The Dallas Zoo’s Facebook page)

  • Misundertood Gorilla Being Booted From Dallas Zoo

    Patrick, a 23-year-old Western lowland gorilla, is being kicked out of the Dallas Zoo for anti-social behavior. The 430-pound silverback bachelor, known for his geniality while among visitors and zoo staff, has shown little interest in forming any meaningful bonds with his gorilla contemporaries, during his 18-year stint in Dallas. According to a statement issued by Dallas Zoo staff, Patrick will be transferred to the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, S.C., where he’ll be able to enjoy more solitude.

    Head Dallas Zoo veterinarian Dr. Lynn Kramer states, “It’s become clear that he prefers to live a solitary life. This move will allow Patrick to continue to thrive while creating an opportunity for our four remaining males to form a cohesive bachelor group.”

    The western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) is a subspecies of the “plain” western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) that lives in forests and lowland swamps in central Africa, in countries including Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Western lowland gorillas are the ones usually seen in zoos. Gorillas live in family groups consisting of one dominant male silverback, 5 to 7 adult females, some children and adolescents, and at times a few non-dominant males. Gorillas reproduce slowly – roughly one baby gorilla every 5 years. Patrick got the boot mainly because he showed little interest in the lady gorillas, and his departure would give the remaining 4 males a chance to form a tighter bachelor posse.

    Still, Patrick is popular with the patrons of the zoo, and is very intelligent and adept at using hand tools, according to Dr. Kramer. A two-day going away party is scheduled at the Dallas Zoo over the coming weekend, though no set transfer date has been established. Upon Patrick’s departure, six gorillas will be left at the zoo.

    In other gorilla news, the recently-deceased “Snowflake” from Barcelona has been found to have had albinism due to his parents being uncle and niece.

    Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

  • Zoo Dog: Lion Cage Yields Surprise For Visitors

    A Chinese zoo is facing some backlash today after some visitors noticed that a “lion” was barking.

    The Henan Zoo in the People’s Park of Luohe had placed a large Tibetan mastiff–a breed which has a fluffy mane around its head–inside the lion’s cage without an explanation. Now, paying visitors say they feel ripped off.

    “The zoo is absolutely cheating us,” said one guest, who was charged 15 yuan ($2.45) for the ticket. “They are trying to disguise the dogs as lions.”

    Zoo officials said that the dog belonged to an employee and had been put in the cage for “safety reasons” while the lion was at another zoo to breed. However, further inspection at the zoo led to the discovery of a cage advertising leopards which actually contained a white fox, a snake cage which actually contained coypu rats, and a wolf cage which contained another dog.

    While some have speculated that the faux wild animals will actually drive traffic into the zoo, officials say the will correct the signage promptly.

  • Baby Elephant In Pool Is Your Daily Cute

    A baby elephant at the Fort Worth Zoo is getting quite a bit of attention after a video of her playing in a kiddie pool went viral.

    Baby Belle, who was born July 7, is only the second Asian elephant to be born at the zoo in over a hundred years, so her popularity was already a given. But when zookeepers gave her a little pool to cool off in, she endeared herself to visitors immediately with a childlike love of water, splashing and slipping around.

    When the weather gets unbearably hot, the adult elephants have a place to cool off, too, but because Belle is so small she needed a place of her own.

    “The Asian elephant exhibit has a 3,200-gallon pool that the adult elephants often utilize, so keepers provided Belle with a safer, smaller-sized pool for her to play in,” spokeswoman Katie Giangreco said. “Belle is full of personality and is learning and discovering new things every day, such as using her trunk to push, pull and lift objects.”

    Check out Belle and her mama playing in the water and delighting passerby.

  • Pudu Deer: World’s Smallest Deer Born In New York

    A tiny baby Southern pudu deer has been born at the Queens Zoo, and a photo of her has gone viral due to her extreme cuteness.

    The doe–whose name hasn’t been announced yet–weighed just one pound when she was born last month to mom Josephine and dad Hamilton and will only grow to be about 20 pounds and a foot tall. The species originates in Argentina and Chile, and they have been known to bark when they sense danger to alert others. They’re also good climbers.

    The baby is doing well in her new environment and will flourish under the care of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the zoo.

    “She’s adjusting really well,” said Barbara Russo, a spokeswoman for the Wildlife Conservation Society. “She’s very cute and still nursing. She will eventually transition to solid foods.”

    It’s a good year for babies at zoos across the country; earlier this month it was announced that Lun-Lun, a giant panda living at Zoo Atlanta, is pregnant with her fourth cub. It will be the first giant panda cub born this year in the U.S. and is expected to arrive later this month.

    (image)

  • Gorilla Taunting Leads To Animal’s Retaliation

    A gorilla at the Dallas Zoo recently got some revenge on a group of nasty kids who were taunting him and calling him ugly.

    With an annoyed facial expression so close to that of a human who’s been bullied too many times, the gorilla patiently waited for the right moment and then jumped against the glass, scaring the kids and making them scream before turning around to show them his backside.

    Video of the incident has gone viral, with many viewers upset that the kids were allowed to taunt the animal that way, even if they were divided by a glass barrier.

    “Where were the kids? All I saw was a gorilla on one side and monkeys on the other,” wrote one YouTube commenter.

    Check out the video below and see for yourself.

  • Red Panda Missing For 7 Hours Found Safe

    Red Panda Missing For 7 Hours Found Safe

    Red panda Rusty, who is fairly new to the Smithsonian National Zoo, escaped early this morning and caused an intensive search, which lasted until almost 2:30 today.

    When Rusty wasn’t found in his cage around 7:30 this morning, an alert was issued within the zoo and a search party formed. He eluded capture until this afternoon, when someone spotted him in a nearby neighborhood, snapped his picture, and alerted zoo officials.

    “We have been searching all morning,” spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson had said earlier. “It is most likely that he has not really left the vicinity. He would have to have some very strong motivation to leave the area.”

    The adorable little guy was never a harm to anyone while he was out, but zoo authorities say they are looking into how he escaped and are wondering if the fact that he hasn’t had much of an appetite in recent days may have led to his escape. He’s only been at the zoo since late April and is a new part of their exhibit after transferring from a zoo in Lincoln, Nebraska. It’s possible the little guy is homesick.

    The zoo used Twitter to help them in their search, which saw a tweet featuring a photo of Rusty retweeted over 3,000 times.

  • Tiger Kills Worker In British Zoo

    Tiger Kills Worker In British Zoo

    A zoo worker mauled by a tiger at a British zoo died of her injuries at the hospital yesterday. The worker, 24-year-old Sarah McClay was in the big cat enclosure when the tiger attacked her. She was airlifted to nearby Royal Preston Infirmary, but did not survive. She reportedly suffered numerous head and neck wounds.

    The zoo, South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Dalton-in-Furness, closed early and sent all visitors away after the incident. Zoo officials said in a statement that the tiger had been secured in its cage, and that at no time was there any danger to the public.

    The circumstances of the attack remain unclear, though area authorities and zoo officials are investigating.

  • Lion Kills Heron in Zoo Incident Caught on Film

    Anyone who has ever been to a zoo knows that they are usually pretty docile places. The animals, being animals, mostly lounge around all day.

    This is especially true for big cats, which don’t seem to have temperaments much different from the house cats all of us on the internet are so familiar with. However, big cats still possess their hunting instincts, and an unfortunate heron took this fact for granted at an Amsterdam zoo recently.

    The incident was caught on video by zoo-goers. It shows the heron innocently striding along the water in the Lion enclosure before a lioness takes notice. The heron gets only a spit-second to try and fly away before the lioness takes him down. A very excited younger lion then tries to get in on the action, taking the dying bird away and promptly losing it.

    If you’ve ever wondered how your cat catches those birds it leaves on you doorstep, the video below is a good approximation.

    If that video hasn’t sated your thirst for zoo animals, you can also check out the video of drunken monkeys that National Geographic uploaded this week.

  • Rare Tiger Born at San Francisco Zoo

    The San Francisco Zoo this week announced that a rare sumatran tiger cub was born on Sunday, February 10.

    The cub hasn’t been named yet and even its gender won’t be known for some time. It is currently spending time bonding with its mother, Leanne, at the Lion House in the Zoo. The cub’s father, Larry, is continuing to live a normal zoo tiger’s life.

    The Lion House has been closed “until further notice,” and it will be a while before the cub will be on display for the public.

    The announcement of the birth came via the San Francisco Zoo’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

    A San Francisco Chronicle report on the event quoted a San Francisco Zoo zookeeper as saying that Leanne is “responding very well to motherhood” and grooming the cub.

    Sumatran Tigers are considered “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The worldwide population of the species is estimated by the group to be less than 700 tigers, total. That minimal population is still declining due to the loss of the tigers’ habitat in Sumatra, a western Indonesian island.

    (Image courtesy the San Francisco Zoo)

  • Foxconn: Workers Are Animals

    Foxconn: Workers Are Animals

    Foxconn thinks their workers are animals. No, really.

    Want China Times is reporting that the chairman of Hon Hai, parent company of Foxconn, invited the director of the Taipei Zoo, Chin Shih-chien, to talk about the management of animals. Foxconn, if you remember, is the company that manufactures all those pretty iPads, Xbox 360s and Nintendo Wiis.

    “Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide and as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache,” Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou said.

    Gou invited the zoo director to speak at the company’s annual review meeting. He also asked all of the general managers to listen to the lecture. He apparently wanted them to learn how to manage a wide variety of animals and their various quirks.

    While Chin was lecturing, sharing his experiences at the zoo, Gou was attentive and listening carefully. He then asked Chin to put himself in his shoes as chairman which reportedly garnered laughter from the managers.

    Even if the method was unorthodox and demeaning, Want China Times says that Gou was sincere as his company faces a crisis with handling their workers.

    Foxconn has had trouble in the past with worker suicides and worker threats that even reportedly shut down the manufacturing of Xbox 360s during the mass suicide threat last week.

    Want China Times says that China is no longer the cheap labor camp it once was and that companies like Hon Hai and Foxconn will have to work on bettering their work conditions for those workers who won’t take low wages and terrible conditions just to improve their family’s condition.

    With more and more people in the West becoming aware of the sacrifices and conditions that people go through to make shiny new iPads and other gadgets, those changes may come sooner than later.