Peaceable Primate Sanctuary

Message from Scott Kubisch, Founder/President Peaceable Primate Sanctuary

2008-05-27T21:37:00.003-05:00

Amelia
Caleb
Hello Baboon Friend,
I know it has been awhile since you have heard from us but we have been busy with construction projects and getting ready for our first residents.I just wanted to give all of you some updates on our progress. We have completed the installation of all the roads,electric, septic system and a good portion of the outdoor caging. With the generous support from 2 of our donors we were able to install a office and volunteer area. The 1/2 acre outdoor enclosure and the indoor area are both 90% complete. With the help of my good friend John, the baboons will have a wonderful and exciting climbing structure that will give them many hours of fun. We have started construction on the perimeter fence and should have in completed in the next few months.

Our Baboons: Update
We have accepted 2 more baboons for sanctuary,that bring us to 5 for our first group. We are hoping that Cody,Sarah,Judy,Amelia and Kaleb will be moving at years end. With the assistance of Carol Asvestos at the Wild Animal Orphanage they are a stable and happy troop. Our 2 new members came from completely different situations,Kaleb was born in a research facility but was kicked out of the group when he became mature. Cody was a research baboon that was retired to Carol. She tried to have him join her baboon troop but was unable to do so. We decided to try him with our troop and he was willing accepted,so he will be moving to Indiana.

Just 2 more things. Our mailing address has changed so if you need to get in touch with us or would like to make a tax deductible donation to assist us please send it to:

Peaceable Primate Sanctuary
6415 North 800 West
Winamac, IN 46996

Please check out our web-site to see pictures of the above mentioned projects, www.primatesanctuary.org

Primate News Round Up

2008-05-18T21:28:00.005-05:00

(jpg from sepiamutiny.com)

http://buzzfeed.com/peggy/monkey-bartenders
Monkey Bartenders

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004351728_cookies16.html
Girl Scouts take a stand: Just say no to Thin Mints

http://www.kormorant.co.za/2008/02Feb/28Feb/Monkey.htm
Male vervet monkey survives brutal arrow attack

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080228124415.htm
Chimps May Have A 'Language-ready' Brain

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/gorillas_laga_drori.php
Keeping Gorillas In Our Midst

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/67725864.html
Human Viruses Jumping to Wild Apes

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/14797594/detail.html
Owner Of Monkey Accused In Burke County Attack Blames Lotion

Roadkill Stats Surprise Scientists

2008-04-18T13:33:00.005-05:00

The scientists focused their survey on four Indiana roads covering 11 miles, through urban and rural areas. Glista, then a Purdue University researcher who is now a scientist with the Indiana Department of Transportation, and colleagues DeWoody and Travis DeVault counted road kill on the routes twice weekly for over a year. They used a GPS unit to mark locations, also noting the weather and surrounding habitats.

Back at Purdue, they compiled the information into a database and were shocked by the results.

During the survey, they found 10,500 dead animals representing 69 species. Ninety-five percent were amphibians and reptiles, with bullfrogs and other frogs, often too damaged to fully identify, topping the list. The most frequently listed birds and mammals were opossums (79) and chimney swifts (36). The bodies of shrews, skunks, voles, muskrats, mice, raccoons, squirrels, Eastern cottontails, song sparrows, European starlings, American robins, turtles and snakes were also documented.

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
The above photo is from Getty Images

Cops Kill Cougar On The North Side

2008-04-15T18:08:00.004-05:00

Ever since I read "The Beast In the Garden", I knew it was just a matter of time. The book was published in 2003 and now, 5 years later, we have our first cougar killed in Chicago in Roscoe Village (roughly 3100 North to 3500 North and 2000 West to 2400 West).
The cougar was male, about 3 1/2 feet long and weighed 122 lbs. No information about its age or general condition was given at the Chicago Tribune's necropsy. It was not reported if this was an Eastern Cougar, an endangered species.

Cougars are the most versatile of the big cats. They are found as far north as Canada and as far south as Patagonia in a variety of habitats from desert to swamp to mountains. They are powerful predators. After killing their prey, they drag it to a place where it is cached. Can you imagine doing that to a deer or a full grown man?

The opening paragraph of "The Beast In The Garden" began with the death of Scott Lancaster, an 18 yo who went for a run behind his school. He didn't return. Running triggers the predator/prey response. The mountain lion stalked and ambushed Scott Lancaster as he ran. His body was found eviscerated and guarded by the lion which was shot and killed.

I lived for a year in Roscoe Village from September, 1988 to September, 1989 at 3307 N. Hoyne, a block from where the cougar was cornered and killed. Roscoe Village had opossum at that time. Since then, coyotes and dwarf earred rabbits have joined the city. Add in the dogs and cats everyone has and humans who like to jog when it's dark outside or children playing in the yard, and you have a plentiful food source for a carnivore like a cougar.

2000 ORVs vs 100 Panthers

2008-02-17T09:41:00.006-06:00

By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 17, 2008
Off-road vehicles were prohibited in 2000 in much of the region north of Interstate 75, known as Alligator Alley. But preserve superintendent Karen Gustin decided to reopen the Bear Island area to ORV use a year ago after a heavy lobbying effort by the off-roaders.

The previous prohibition against ORVs was influenced by a drop in the panthers' numbers, which fell to about 30 in the mid-1990s. Eight Texas cougars were introduced to breed with the Florida cat.

Schwartz of the Sierra Club counters that 15 panthers were killed in vehicle collisions last year, dropping the population closer to 80. None died due to ORV hits that he knows of, but he suspects the noise and habitat disruption from the off-roaders helped drive them onto highways.

Paul Souza, a field supervisor for South Florida from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, confirms that a record number of panthers were killed in 2007. But he disputes that their mortality rate is the result of panthers' being displaced by ORV noise.

"I haven't seen any scientific evidence that would support that specific line of logic," he said.

The increased deaths and sightings of the panthers on the populated fringes of the preserve "reflects growing numbers of panthers and the fact that we have more development and more people than we had in the past," Souza said.

Because of the pending litigation, Gustin said she couldn't discuss what effects ORV traffic might be having on the panthers. But she conceded that with rising air traffic, mining and growth, "we do have some kind of impact, and I don't think anyone would deny that."

The preserve has capped at 2,000 the number of ORVs licensed. The rigs are prohibited in all national parks, such as the Everglades immediately south of the preserve, and part of the rationale in expanding access to Big Cypress has been acknowledgment of off-roaders' rights to use some public lands, Gustin said.

Lyle McCandless, head of the Big Cypress Sportsmen's Alliance, said: "All I'm going to say is that my alliance is putting forth great efforts in protecting the ORV rights and other rights given to the public by the 1974 act of Congress that created the preserve. Our opponents -- the environmental extremists -- expect these public lands to be closed to anything other than foot traffic."

Schwartz says the responsibility for any threat to the panthers lies with the park service and Fish and Wildlife, the government agencies that are the wilderness stewards.

"It's not a hunters-versus-hikers issue," Schwartz said. "It's not about people at all. If I were to put it simply, I would say it's about machines versus nature."

The LA Times article was edited for brevity and space. To view the entire article, please click on the heading for this post.

The Florida Panther is a sub-species of the cougar and is classified as endangered. Starting in 1993, 27 Texas Cougars were introduced to Florida to help stabilize the Florida Panther population. 19 non-breeding Texas Cougars were introduced between 1993 - 1995 followed by 8 breeding Texas Cougars.

You can learn more about the Florida Panther at the Florida Panther Society and the Florida Panther Home Page.

I swerve for raccoons (and pigeons and squirrels)

2008-02-10T14:06:00.000-06:00

Last month, Monica Eng, a food writer at the Chicago Tribune, generated some controversy by an article on raccoon consumption. The raccoon was prepared by Homaru Cantu of Moto and plated like road kill. There was a follow up story on the hunting and selling of raccoon in Illinois. Even columnist John Kass got into the act with a tongue-in-cheek article on roasted giraffe after one of Brookfield Zoo's male giraffes broke his neck in a bizarre accident.

Tuesday evening, I saw a raccoon with a broken leg crossing Western Avenue at Wilson. It made it to the sidewalk where it laid on top of a pile of snow. I pulled over and called 311. I waited 40 minutes. I gave up waiting for animal control after a policeman told me it could take hours.

When I got home, I researched the internet for wildlife rehabilitation resources in Chicago. There are none. There's a handful of rural wildlife rehabilitators, most, it seemed, who don't deal with raccoons. There's Willowbrook Wildlife Center but they service DuPage County (they are funded by the DuPage County Forest Preserve). I also learned that most vets won't treat wild animals.

I emailed my alderman; Anne Kent, Executive Director of Cook County Animal Care & Control; Melinda Pruett-Jones, Executive Director Chicago Wildlife Corporate Council and Steve Thompson, VP of Lincoln Park Zoo.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile, at this animal rehabilitator's ebay store, you can view pictures of domesticated and wild animals she has rescued. The photos are graphic and not suitable for everyone.

Stan Gehrt, a wildlife biologist at the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation in Dundee, had been studying raccoons in Kansas, Texas, and northeastern Illinois for 17 years when he was interviewed for an article in the summer 2002 issue of Chicago Wilderness magazine.

You can learn more about raccoons at The Gable's Raccoon World.

The above photo came from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources website.

Last post on Tatiana

2008-01-11T21:53:00.001-06:00

I thought the following article was interesting because the American Sanctuary Association fencing requirements for big cats is shorter than the American Zoological Association requirements. Is it because legitimate sanctuaries are closed to the public?

It seems all wild animal professionals are in agreement: Tatiana was provoked.

Animal experts debate tiger safety
By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writer

Wed Jan 9, 6:17 PM ET

A tiger lurked in the tall grass at a park in India as gamekeepers tried to shoot it with a dart gun and missed. The animal suddenly sprang from the grass, sailed through the air and took a swipe at a man sitting on an elephant's back.

The man lost three fingers.

"I could never imagine that a tiger could so effortlessly leap from the ground on to an adult elephant's head, which is at least 12 feet above the ground," Vivek Menon, executive director of Wildlife Trust of India, said of the 2004 attack, a video of which has been circulating on YouTube.

That attack along with other examples of explosive encounters with tigers are stoking a debate that began after a 350-pound Siberian tiger climbed over the 12 1/2-foot wall around its pen at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day and mauled three visitors, killing one.

Among the questions experts are now asking: How high can tigers jump? And have zoos and sanctuaries dangerously underestimated tigers?

That is to say: Are the walls high enough?

"We are evaluating that right now," said Vernon Weir, director of the American Sanctuary Association, which has about 35 members, only a few of which have big cats. The ASA accredits sanctuaries and in the past recommended 12-foot fences.

Similarly, Association of Zoos & Aquariums, which accredits the nation's zoos, may adjust its 16.4-foot wall-height recommendation for tigers once it learns fully what happened in San Francisco, spokesman Steve Feldman said.

In San Francisco, the wall was well below the AZA minimum. But several other major U.S. zoos appear to meet or exceed the standards, with high walls topped in many cases with electrified wire or pronounced overhangs to prevent tigers from pulling themselves up and over the side.

Animal experts said they aren't aware of any hard numbers about the precise leaping ability of tigers. They said it depends on the animal and whether it has been taunted, as may have happened in the San Francisco tragedy. But Feldman said his organization's 16.4-foot figure was based on the opinions of a group of experts.

There are well-publicized examples of tigers' phenomenal leaping ability.

In an incident at a national park in Nepal in 1974, an enraged Bengal tiger protecting her cubs mauled a researcher who had climbed into a tree. The tiger managed to climb onto a 15-foot-high limb.

"She just went right up and she didn't have much to hold onto. She clearly made that jump without much problem," said Melvin Sunquist, professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Florida and an expert on tigers.

Sunquist, who published an account of the Nepal attack in his book "Tiger Moon: Tracking the Great Cats of Nepal," said he wasn't surprised by the news that a tiger had gotten out of its cage in San Francisco.

"I saw what a tigress can do," he said. "If they can get a purchase on anything, they can get up there."

Dale Miquelle, director of Wildlife Conservation Society's program in Russia, said he has seen tigers do many unusual things, such as climbing to the top of large trees when incensed something tigers don't normally do.

"What animals normally do, and what they can do, are often very different things," Miquelle said.

The AZA said it has 216 accredited members with 258 tigers among them. Only five of them were born in the wild, and tigers in captivity generally cannot jump as high as those that are in top condition from hunting in the wild.

Louis Dorfman, an animal behaviorist and chairman of the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Texas, oversees 24 tigers at his sanctuary, including an 11-year-old Bengal-Siberian tiger that weighs about 550 pounds and extends about 11 feet paw-to-paw when it stretches like a housecat.

Dorfman said his tigers have never tried to scale their fences, but warned: "With provocation, they're capable of unbelievable aggression and power. These cats are a combination of strong instincts, strong emotion and no inhibition."

Zoo visitors running back and forth can resemble prey to a tiger. Throwing objects at a tiger or dangling something can also trigger its predatory instincts.

"First and foremost, people need to be educated. We need to respect them accordingly," said Jonathan Kraft, who runs Keepers of the Wild in Arizona, which has more than 20 tigers. In the San Francisco escape, "I would bet my reputation that the animal was taunted."

Homo Sapiens: Wise Man

2008-01-06T13:06:00.001-06:00

The Tatiana tiger story is turning into heated discussions as to whether tigers belong in zoos and whether zoo visitors should be able to taunt wild animals without suffering repercussions .

You can view the latest news stories at the Big Cats Rescue Sanctuary blog which is doing a great job covering the story.

The following is from the 12/26/2007 Telegraph news story about chimps throwing stones at visitors:

"Visitors should know how to behave in a zoo. Annoying animals could be fatal, as had happened in the Guwahati zoo, where a visitor was mauled to death by a tiger while he was photographing the animal,"said an Alipore zoo official.

Our species is called Homo Sapiens which is Latin for "wise man".

Wildlife Conservation Success Stories for 2007

2008-01-02T19:27:00.000-06:00

This is from the AZA website:

$5K for Tiger Killer Conviction

2007-12-29T14:03:00.000-06:00

While we'll continue to follow up on the tiger tragedy at the San Francisco Zoo, there's an even sadder tiger story that occurred on the same Christmas. The following is from Big Cat News, the blog for the Big Cat Rescue Sanctuary in Florida.

5,000 Reward for Tiger Killer Conviction

Big Cat Rescue is offering a $5,000. reward for information resulting in the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the shooting death of the tiger found along side I-35E in Dallas, TX on Christmas day.

Watch the video on our home page and pass it on to your friends. We have to put an end to this! http://www.BigCatRescue.org

The same day the tragic tiger event happened at the San Francisco Zoo, a horrific story seemed to fall through the cracks. Please read below and pass this on. All credible information will be passed onto the authorities.

By DAVID SCHECHTER / WFAA-TV

DALLAS - Sanitation crews in Dallas made a shocking discovery after they received a call about a dead animal on Christmas Day.
A female Bengal tiger was found dead when the crews searched a wooded area near Interstate 35E and Overton Road. A city spokesperson said the tiger was shot several times. The animal, which was declawed and wearing a make-shift leash, was taken to the Dallas Zoo. A necropsy, the animal version of an autopsy, was completed at the zoo early Thursday evening. The tiger was estimated to be around one-years-old and weighed about 180 pounds. Shell casing were found in the tiger's chest and face. In all, there were five bullet entries. Chuck Siegel, deputy director of the Dallas Zoo, said he believes the tiger may have become more than the owner could handle.
"I find it very, very disturbing to see the nature of the collar-leash, which looks more like a bicycle cable than anything else," he said. "And this rusted wire, which is tangled around the leash, is obviously very hazardous." The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the United States Department of Agriculture are investigating the incident and searching for the owner of the tiger.

***BIG CAT RESCUE IS OFFERING A $5,000.00 REWARD FOR INFORMATION RESULTING IN THE ARREST AND CONVICTION OF THE PERSON OR PERSONS RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING THE FEMALE TIGER WHO WAS FOUND SHOT TO DEATH IN DALLAS, TEXAS ON CHRISTMAS DAY.
EMAIL INFO AT: INFO@BIGCATRESCUE.ORG
For the cats,

Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue
an Educational Sanctuary home
to more than 100 big cats
12802 Easy Street Tampa, FL 33625
813.493.4564 fax 885.4457

Most privately owned tigers in the U.S are in Texas.

We are a small blog, but we get visitors from around the world. If you are from Texas or know someone in Texas, please help out Carole Baskin and pass her post along.

For the tigers.

WCSH Portland news story link
ABC Local Dallas news story link

What Tigers See

2007-12-28T19:59:00.000-06:00

Newsweek has an interview with animal keeper Scott Lopes who works at the Big Cat Rescue Sanctuary in Florida at this link: What Tigers See.

Tatiana reacted to a change in her environment. One of the young men dangled his legs. (Over the fence? Over the moat? Blood inside the fenced area had been reported earlier.)

I think once all of the forensic evidence is in, we'll have a clearer picture of what happened.

Will the San Francisco Zoo close?

2007-12-28T19:38:00.000-06:00

What the San Francisco Zoo was less successful at (a continuation of the post below) was upgrading its exhibits and discontinuing outmoded practices like the public feedings at the Lion House (at youtube, you can view a video of a public feeding at the SF Zoo Lion House).

I visited the San Francisco Zoo five years ago. It's in a beautiful location. It's near the ocean and there are palm trees. But, I was surprised to see how antiquated many of the buildings and exhibits were. The Lion House was a huge disappointment, basically white concrete boxes.

Here's a story from today's New York Times on what is facing the San Francisco Zoo in the wake of the tiger tragedy:

Filed at 8:09 p.m. ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The deadly tiger escape at the San Francisco Zoo could prove to be a costly blow to an institution that has come under fire repeatedly in just the past few years over the deaths of two elephants and the mauling of a zookeeper.
The zoo could face heavy fines from regulators. It could be stripped of its exhibitor license. Its accreditation could be at risk. It could be hit with a huge lawsuit by the victims or their families. It could even face criminal charges, depending on what the investigation finds.
''All this legal action is likely to impact the financial viability of the zoo,'' said Rory Little, a professor at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law. ''Whether the zoo can stay open is a big question.''
It is becoming increasingly clear that 350-pound Siberian tiger that killed a teenager and severely mauled two other visitors in a Christmas Day rampage climbed over a wall that at 12 1/2 feet was about 4 feet below the recommended minimum for U.S. zoos.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which typically accredits zoos every five years and set the height standard, has released statements this week in support of the zoo, saying it is a member in good standing.
''The San Francisco Zoo is a great zoo, it's an accredited AZA member in good standing, and it has our support during this difficult time,'' AZA President and CEO Jim Maddy said in a statement.
The organization, however, has declined to renew the zoo's accreditation before. In January 2005, the zoo lost its accreditation after a three-day inspection found a number of operational and maintenance problems. The zoo eventually received full accreditation in March 2006 after the AZA found the problems had been corrected.
San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo said the AZA never noted any deficiencies with the wall around the tiger enclosure.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which is responsible for enforcing the Animal Welfare Act, also could impose penalties, including fines, or suspend or revoke the zoo's exhibitor license if it is found that the zoo violated federal regulations on animal enclosures. Mollinedo said Thursday inspectors from the department had visited the zoo.
San Francisco Zoo officials said Friday night they plan to reopen the zoo on Jan. 3.
Legal experts said lawsuits are likely. Already, the zoo is facing a lawsuit by zookeeper Lori Komejan, who was attacked last year when she fed the same tiger involved in the deadly escape. The animal mauled her arm.
In October, Komejan sued the city of San Francisco, seeking compensation for lost wages, medical expenses and emotional distress. She accused the city, which owns the zoo property, of ''housing the tigers with reckless disregard for the safety of animal handlers and members of the general public.''
The California Division of Occupational Health and Safety issued a report that found the zoo at fault for Komejan's injuries. The report said zoo officials knew the big-cat exhibit posed a hazard because the animals could reach under the cage bars. The agency fined the zoo $18,000 and ordered safety improvements.
The zoo added customized steel mesh over the bars, built in a feeding chute and increased the distance between the public and the cats.
Komejan's attorney, Michael Mandel, said he sees parallels between Komejan's case and the Christmas Day rampage, when the tiger killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. and mauled his friends Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23.
''In both cases, there were certainly insufficient safeguards to protect both employees and the public,'' Mandel said.
In the latest attack, Mandel said: ''I find it hard to accept the fact that they weren't even aware that the wall didn't meet the standard set by the association. They're not even aware of their own deficiencies.''
Three years ago, two elephants died at the zoo, prompting it to remove its remaining elephants to an animal sanctuary. Animal activists complained about conditions at the zoo, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed tough requirements that forced the zoo to extensively refurbish habitats for other animals.
Among the lawsuits that the zoo could face would be those filed by the victims and their families, even if investigators find that the Sousa and his friends had provoked the tiger or ignored warnings not to taunt the animals, Little said.
''Inevitably, there are going to be lawsuits filed,'' Little said. ''Even if they provoked the tiger, a reasonable person would believe that the tiger could not escape. That's what you count on when you go to the zoo. You count on the idea that the animals cannot reach you.''
It is also possible that the zoo could face criminal charges of negligent homicide if the investigation finds the zoo contributed to the death and injuries of the victims, he said.
The two surviving victims could also be charged with a crime if they are found to have caused or contributed to Sousa's death, even unintentionally, he said.
------
Associated Press Writers Terence Chea and Juliana Barbassa contributed to this report.

Tatiana, Monster of the Week?

2007-12-28T19:04:00.000-06:00

I've been reading the comments at the San Francisco Chronicle, scanning headlines at google news and now this from radaronline.com:

MONSTER OF THE WEEK

Tatiana the Tiger

TOO SOON? Busey's latest
Long before there was Freddy Kruger, Alien, or Predator, there were tigers, nature's boogeymen. Montecore (the tiger that mauled Siegfried's Roy. Tigra from Thundercats. Ming of Harlem. And now Tatiana.
This is no LOL cat. It killed one poor zoo-goer and injured several others on Christmas Day at the San Francisco Zoo. The tragic victim, 17-year-old Carlos Sousa, was probably psyched to have a day out of his relatives-and-rugrats- infested house during the Christmas holidays before he was mauled by the 350-pound Siberian (aka Amur) tiger. According to survivors and witnesses, Sousa yelled at Tatiana as it clawed at his friend Kulbir Dhaliwal, distracting the beast, which then slashed Sousa's throat. Dhaliwal and his brother Paul were able to hobble away to a café in the zoo. The tiger followed their trail of blood, but police came screaming in on dirtbikes and shot Tatiana dead as it loomed over one of the victims.
There were warnings about the four-year-old tiger's bad temper. She had attacked before, ripping the flesh off a zookeeper's arm as she reached in to feed the tiger before horrified onlookers.

This is also a blow to Gary Busey, who stars in Maneater, due to be released in early January on DVD.

Initially, officials suspected that a human helped this savage beast cross a moat surrounding its enclosure. But zoo officials have admitted their enclosures were 12.5 feet (not 18 feet as they initially claimed). By comparison, the San Diego Zoo nearby has 20-foot vertical walls on one side of its tiger exhibit and 12-foot vertical walls with inward-angling four-foot toppers on the other side. The association overseeing zoos nationwide recommends a minimum height of 16.4 feet for tiger enclosures. Go-to animal guy Jack Hannah told MSNBC that a 12.5-foot leap was "virtually impossible."

So either someone masterminded an assassination-by-tiger plot or, more likely, Tatiana was the evil Michael Jordan of tigers. Better put, she's quite literally the Monster of the Week.

Reached by phone, representatives for Siegfried Fischbacher declined comment.

By Tyler Gray 12/28/07 2:22 PM
File Under: Monster of the Week, Tatiana

No, Tatiana is not a killer tiger nor a maneater. Nor does she have a "bad temper". People have tempers, not tigers.

Tatiana acted like a tiger in the wild. She exhibited wild behaviors.

That's a sign, ironically, of a successful exhibit and a successful zoo.

Annoying animals can be fatal

2007-12-28T18:04:00.000-06:00

The following came in from monkeywire.org:

Stone for stone by chimp
December 26, 2007 The Telegraph, Calcutta, India
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071226/jsp/calcutta/story_8709069.jsp

A group of visitors threw stones at a chimpanzee in Alipore Zoological Gardens on Tuesday morning, provoking the primate to pay them back in their own coin.

The chimp kept pelting stones at the visitors for half-an-hour since 9.15am, prompting them to run for safety, ducking the missiles all the way. Fortunately, no one was injured in the brick-batting between the distant cousins.

The zoo authorities have deployed keepers around the cages and enclosures to protect the animals, but on Tuesday, they were far outnumbered by the record count of heads — 62,000 — the highest in recent years on Christmas.

"It is only normal that the chimpanzee got irritated when visitors threw stones at it. It may have chucked back a few stones, but we havenot received any complaints in this regard," said zoo director S.K. Chaudhuri. "Such incidents are quite common."

They definitely are. On December 5, two chimpanzees broke open their enclosure and ran amok on the grounds after a visitor threw a stone at them.

The live-in partners pushed a woman and scratched another, swung from branch to branch and ran around in circles for half-an-hour, till they were chased back to their enclosure.

Following the December 5 incident, the zoo management had decided to reinforce the locks and fences of the animal enclosures. The home is now protected by two locks and a chain.

"Visitors should know how to behave in a zoo. Annoying animals could be fatal, as had happened in the Guwahati zoo, where a visitor was mauled to death by a tiger while he was photographing the animal,"said an Alipore zoo official.

A Lucky Leap for Tatiana?

2007-12-27T21:48:00.000-06:00

Animal trainer and behaviorist Diana Guerrero posted an interesting theory at: Arkanimals.com. She thinks it was a lucky (i.e. adrenalin fueled) leap for Tatiana who was probably taunted by the three young men.

Did they cross the fence and approach her moat? There was a shoe print on top of the fence. Two men were attacked by Tatiana in front of her exhibit, the third at the outdoor cafe.

Diana Guerrero also has an eponymous website with other theories at: www.dianalguerrero.com .

At her website, you can view a youtube video about the powerful jaws and teeth of big cats. The premolars of big cats are called carnassial teeth and they are stong enough to crush bone! They act as scissors, slicing flesh into smaller chunks, because big cats lack flat grinding molars for chewing.

Big cats, because of their size, don't have the leaping power that leopards do. They can leap 20' as opposed to a leopard's 50' or a mountain lion's 40'. The moat at Tatiana's exhibit is 33' wide, in theory, unleapable for a big cat her size. But with adrenalin and wild animals, anything is possible.

San Francisco Zoo Siberian Tiger Attack

2007-12-27T18:52:00.000-06:00

"She was everything that a tiger is supposed to be," said big-cat expert Ronald Tilson. "She was essentially shot and killed for being a tiger."

Tilson was speaking about Tatiana, the 4-year-old Siberian who fatally attacked one zoo visitor and injured two others at the San Francisco Zoo late Christmas afternoon before police officers gunned her down.

Tatiana was born in the Denver Zoo on June 27, 2003, and donated to San Francisco in December 2005 to mate with a male named Tony.

Tilson, who is responsible for the 147 Siberians, or Amurs, that live in more than 60 AZA-accredited zoos in North America, said, "I'm the one who made the recommendation for her to be born in Denver. I'm the one who made a recommendation to send her to San Francisco. I feel personally involved with all of this. To me, it's very disconcerting and very upsetting."

Tilson said he can't recall a tiger ever getting out of its enclosure and killing a zoo visitor. He added that Tatiana's behavior, once she escaped, was very much in keeping with her species.

"She was an alpha predator in her environment," he said. "She was killing mammals and eating meat."

He said any loose zoo animal would want to return to its habitat and would become upset, disoriented, frightened - and potentially dangerous.

"Once the animal is out of its primary enclosure, it's pretty much shoot to kill," Tilson said. "You don't have a discussion - you kill it. A tranquilizer gun would take too long and you might miss."

(from the SF Chronicle 12/27/07)

For a different perspective on big cats and zoos, here's the Newsweek article and the Big Cat Rescue Sanctuary blog.

"Tatiana, the Siberian tiger that killed a teenager on Christmas Day, had lived at the San Francisco Zoo since December 2005, when she was transferred from the Denver Zoo. She was just a cub in August 2003, left, as she underwent a medical checkup by veterinary staffers at the Denver facility. (Karl Gehring / Denver Post)" (from the LA Times)

"Leigh Lawson, 25, stands in front of the San Francisco Zoo on Wednesday to protest the killing of the Siberian tiger that escaped its habitat and killed a zoo visitor on Christmas Day. Lawson, a student at Humboldt State, says she wishes officers had tranquilized the animal instead. (Noah Berger / Associated Press)(from the LA Times)

Merry Christmas from the Peaceable Primate Sanctuary!

2007-12-25T07:02:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from the Peaceable Primate Sanctuary!

The above handcrafted gourd by artist Jim Shore is from the http://www.amerheritage.com website.

Pigeons & Tigers

2007-12-23T09:14:00.000-06:00

We had 2 days of warmer temperatures and rain. Lots of rain. Today, it's back to 20 degree weather.

The death of Mr. Zeman, the pigeon man of Lincoln Square was a little ironic because I had been wanting to do a post about pigeons and began researching pigeons when Mr. Zeman died. His death prompted many heartfelt condolences at Eric Zorn's column and responses from a couple of very angry people who are angry about pigeons. If pigeons are the worst calamity in your life, I say you have a very good life!

The following article appeared in today's New York Times. Siberian or Amur tigers are highly endangered, as all tiger species are today. They are worth so much more dead than alive. It is very sad a tiger in a zoo was targeted.

The Amur Tiger is included in the Species Survival Program at North American zoos. North American zoos are helping to keep the genetic pool of this endangered species thriving.

You can get free tiger pictures at the Save the Tiger Fund website.

BEIJING (AP) -- Police were searching for the culprits behind the beheading and skinning of a rare Siberian tiger at a zoo in central China, state media reported Sunday.
The female tiger was found with its head, legs and skin missing Thursday morning at the Three Gorges Forest Wild Animal World in Yichang city in Hubei province, Xinhua News Agency.
It said the locks of the tiger's cage were broken and that police found four homemade anesthetic rifles near the cage.
''It is highly possible that the killer or killers broke into the room, anesthetized the tiger, opened the cage and then dragged the animal out of the room and butchered it,'' Xinhua quoted one unnamed official as saying.
Tiger skins are sold on the black market in China, and tiger parts are used in traditional medicines.
Calls to the zoo rang unanswered on Sunday. A man at the Forestry Bureau of Yichang city confirmed the killing and said an investigation was under way. He refused to give his name.
The WWF conservation group lists the Siberian tiger as ''critically endangered'' and says there are only about 530 of the animals alive in the wild. Most live in the far east of Russia or northeast China.
Hundreds more live in captivity. Xinhua said China has established breeding bases to help protect the animals.

RIP Pigeon Man Joseph Zeman

2007-12-21T07:26:00.000-06:00

Joseph Zeman sits with his feathered friends. (Tribune file photo / September 2, 2004)

By Barbara Mahany |Tribune staff writer
December 20, 2007
Police didn't know who he was, the old man killed Tuesday by a van near Devon Avenue and McCormick Road.

They found newspaper clippings -- about a half-dozen laminated copies of the same story -- tucked into one of his many Jewel bags.

Cut, copied, pressed between plastic, the clipping showed the man in full color, feathered with pigeons, and told a piece of his story. And except for that clipping, the cops and the doctors who pronounced him dead at the hospital had no clue who he was.

The pigeon man's life was like that. Barely a soul had a clue who he was.

That's why the cops called me, just an hour or two after he died. They knew I knew a bit of his story. I wrote the one they found in his possession. Two years and three months had passed, and he still carried it wherever he went.

After the old man died an hour later, the cops needed someone to call, needed to know if there was a soul in the world who might care to know what happened to Joe Zeman, who most everybody called "the pigeon man of Lincoln Square."

Here's just a bit of the pigeon man's story, the one he carried:

"Except for the lips, you would think he was made out of stone, the man who sits, hours on end, on the red fire hydrant on Western Avenue, just north of Lawrence, pigeons by the dozens perched on him.

"Pigeons on his head. Pigeons on his shoulders and right down his arms. Pigeons poised on each palm. Pigeons clinging to his chest. Pigeons on his lap. Pigeons on his thighs. Pigeons, of course, perched on each foot.

"The pigeons peck and coo, occasionally flutter their wings. Sometimes even scatter. But not the man; the man is motionless. You might mistake him for a statue.

"Joseph Zeman can sit for hours, barely flinching a muscle," I wrote. "Except for those lips."

I wrote how he cooed right back to the birds. How he kissed them, right on their iridescent necks, flat on the point of their sharp little beaks. How he nuzzled them, rubbed his nose in their wings, the herringbone of feathers all black and charcoal and pewter and white. How he called them by name, his favorites. How he worried when one was missing in action.

I wrote about the attic where he lived a few blocks from the hydrant, how he kept track there, in a neat little ledger, of whatever dollar bills might have been slipped into his hand, dropped by the side of his hydrant.

How he used the money for his pigeon supplies, the unpopped popcorn, the bags of white rice, the loaves of Deerfield Farms enriched white bread, the Maurice Lenell oatmeal cookies, the plain old birdseed that comes in 50-pound sacks, which he broke down, each night, into zip-top plastic bags.

I wrote, too, because he took me up to his attic, because he was proud to show off his deeply thought method, of the old baby food jars he filled, each morning and night, with rice or popcorn, seven jars in all, and tucked in his satchel, each time he shuffled off to the hydrant.

He went there twice a day, at least, once in the morning, once in the late afternoon.

He was a couple miles north of that spot at about 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, when he was hit by the van as it pulled out of a parking lot, and he died about an hour later at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. He had turned 77 on Sunday.

The driver, who said he didn't see Zeman, was ticketed.

After the police discovered the articles and then called me, they found he had an older sister in California and a cousin who lives not far from where he died.

"He had so much to overcome," wrote Charleen Behrschmidt, of her brother, upon learning he had died. She told how he suffered a stroke when he was 8 months old, had grand mal epileptic seizures that weren't controlled from the time he was 14 months until he was 48 years old, and of his 2-year stint at the Dixon State Hospital. She wrote that the hospital was "operating at snake-pit level" when he was there from 1944 to 1946.

But she told, too, how as a young boy he used to sing to the trolley car drivers at the trolley barn, not far from the family's North Side house. And how he shined shoes, mixed paint, delivered telegrams, but lost job after job, whenever he had a seizure at work.

There will be no funeral, the family said. Zeman will be cremated. And when the spring comes, and his sister can travel, the family will hold a memorial service.

Zeman, who for 47 years ran a newsstand downtown, told me that he considered sitting on the hydrant the most important work he had ever done.

"I'm really advertising to the public how easy it is to be good without an attitude; it's just as easy to show decency as it is to hate today."

Zeman, a man without much schooling, understood how when he took to the hydrant, raised both his arms, palms upward -- the veneration pose, really -- as thousands of cars and trucks and smoke-spewing city buses rumbled by, drivers craning their necks to take in the sight of the stooped little man covered in pigeons, he really did resemble a modern-day St. Francis of a city.

Matter of fact, up in his little attic, he had boxes and boxes of St. Francis postcards, each one printed with the peacemaker's prayer: "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. ..."

Zeman once grabbed a stack of the postcards, maybe a hundred or so, and gave them to me. I tucked them all in the drawer of my desk, here where I do all my typing. I keep them, right there, to remind me of the wisdom of a lost soul who found peace with pigeons.

Tuesday afternoon, before the phone rang, before any cops called to ask what I knew, I had reached in my drawer for a calculator, and my hand hit the stack, spilled and scattered it, making a mess in the old pine drawer.

I started to shove the cards back into a stack, but then, for some reason, I picked up the top one, and I read it through to the very last line, which just happens to be, "and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

Thinking back on Tuesday, I know that the clock ticking beside me had to have said it was just after 2 p.m.

Wednesday morning, for almost the first time in a decade, the hydrant was unocccupied. The pigeons were perched. But the pigeon man was not coming.

Not ever again, amen.

----------

bmahany@tribune.com

Snow

2007-12-16T19:02:00.000-06:00

We got between 7" - 8" of snow last night. The photo of a Bouvier des Flanders is from today's Chicago Tribune.

Tiger Attack At Tippi Hendren's Shambala

2007-12-03T22:39:00.001-06:00

An animal caretaker with 20 years of experience at Shambala, Tippi Hedren's wildlife sanctuary, was attacked by a 4 year old Bengal Tiger while cleaning the tiger's enclosure.

The caretaker was bitten in the neck which is a normal predator-prey response. Tigers go for the back of the neck.

Tigers are not pets. This mishap shows how dangerous a tiger can be even for someone with 20 years of big cat experience.

Shambala was started in 1983 as an outgrowth of a film Ms. Hedren did, kind of her own Heaven's Gate, called Roar. Shambala is home to that abomination of the animal world, the liger (dad's a lion and mom's a tiger). Ligers (and its opposite, the ti-ion) are bred solely for our amusement and require sanctuaries for their care after retirement from the entertainment business.

Tippi Hedren is the president and cofounder with Vernon Weir and Wally Swett of the American Sanctuary Association.

Links are in green. The title for this post is a link to the tmz.com post about the tiger attack. Tmz.com updated their post a couple of times. Their last update includes an mp3 file of the 411 call.

Nedbank Golf Course

2007-12-02T18:54:00.001-06:00

SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA - NOVEMBER 29: Luke Donald of England and his caddie Luke on the par four 3rd hole with Baboons of the fairway during the first round of the Nedbank Golf on the Gary Player Course on November 29, 2007 in Sun City, South Africa. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

African Warthog

2007-12-02T12:55:00.000-06:00

Photo by Lauren Darcey/perlgurl.org. All rights reserved.

Altho we are a baboon-only sanctuary, we love all animals. One of my favorites is the African warthog, a widely distributed ungulate in Africa. They have large heads with 3 pairs of warts, small eyes that are set near the top of their head and long legs with calloused knees. Most kids know warthogs as Puumba from the Lion King.

They are prey animals for big cats. Their upper tusks are actually their canines and reach their full growth at sexual maturity. They graze on their knees!

The piglet in Laurie's photo above was 1 week old. When threatened, piglets run into their burrow head first with mom entering rear first so her tusks face out.

Perlgurl: Naturally Speaking

2007-11-30T22:29:00.001-06:00

Perlgurl Laurie Darcy is a 30 yo wireless developer, nature photographer, world-wide traveler, baker (see the recipe and photos of her birthday critter cake here) and environmentalist in Santa Cruz, CA. She is a wonderful documenter of the natural wildlife around her and a zoo-goer. You can view her zoo photos here.

Her blog is called Naturally Speaking and subtitled Nature Photography and Conservation. I kind of prefer "perlgurl", her URL, which was taken from her favorite programming language. Not only for its alliterative qualities and cute spelling but because pearls come from nature, too.

She has a fun, interesting and very informative blog with fantastic nature photos. Check it out!

Gorilla Massacre

2007-11-25T16:24:00.000-06:00

The December issue of National Geographic has a stunning slide show of the July 23rd Mountain Gorillas massacre. Photographers Michael Nichols and Brent Stirton provide narration for their slide show which can be viewed here.

Among the gorillas who were killed was the silverback, Senkekwe, who was found lying on his back with his hand over his heart. He was shot while beating his chest, trying to protect his females. Three adult females were killed: Safari, Mburanumwe and Neza. Safari and Neza left juvenile offspring behind; Mburanumwe was pregnant.

Senkekwe was the offspring of Rugendo, who was shot dead in 2001 by militia forces. You can view the sad history of the Rugendo family here.

It is believed the gorillas were killed for charcoal. Trees in the Virunga National Forest where the Mountain Gorillas live are cut down to make charcoal.

Here is a youtube.com video of Senkekwe's troop taken the day before the massacre:

All for a bag of charcoal.