Man Arrested with Frozen Tigers and Panther in House

This happened in Vietnam. The guy was clearly trafficking in illegal parts as there were about 50 kg of bones belonging to other tigers.

Sad Orangutan Trade

Very, very sad picture of baby orangutan. Be warned.

Malaysia Approves Controversial Research Lab

The investigation cleared the animal lab.

From Straits Time...

MALAYSIA will not shut down a controversial British-funded animal testing lab after investigations showed that the animals were not exposed to torture, a senior official said on Thursday.

The veterinary services department launched a probe this month after animal rights campaigners accused the Progenix Research lab based in the northern state of Penang of cruelty to animals.

The lab, which is run by the Britain-based Alpha Biologics, uses monkeys, dogs, rodents and rabbits for toxicology testing. Veterinary services department director Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin said there was no evidence that Progenix abused animals and that it would not order the facility to be closed.

Funny BP "Commercial"

I thought this was kind of funny. From "Barely Political"...

Everything You Want to Know about the Gulf of Mexico/Deepwater Horizon Disaster

All here at the Encyclopedia of Earth site. It keeps being updated so check in from time to time.

Humans AND Monkeys Enjoy Television

Another commonality between the two species, this one found by the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute.

Cat Being Fed by Chopsticks

CUTE!

Whales Share Some Human Traits, Study Shows

From the AFP...

As the future of whales once more comes under global debate, some scientists say the marine mammals are not only smarter than thought but also share several attributes once claimed as exclusively human.

Self-awareness, suffering and a social culture along with high mental abilities are a hallmark of cetaceans, an order grouping more than 80 whales, dolphins and porpoises, say marine biologists.

If so, the notion that whales are intelligent and sentient beings threatens to demolish, like an explosive harpoon, the assumption that they are simply an animal commodity to be harvested from the sea.

Calgary Zoo in Big Trouble

We've written about the Calgary Zoo here before. Not a stellar reputation. Now, the results of a long-awaited audit shows that this place truly sucks and needs a lot of improvement.

From eCanadaNow.com...

To many people, the number of animal fatalities at the Calgary Zoo in newer years seemed very high. A hippo passed away following a long, horrible transfer from another zoo. Over forty stingrays died following somebody messing up the oxygen levels in the tank. A huge spiral-horned goat got trapped in a toy rope and choked.

A study released by the associations that accredit zoos across North America said that the occurrence of deaths was not a fluke. It reported that human error surrounded more deaths than at any other zoo and forced immediate plans be taken to make sure of the animals’ safety. Woodyer wanted Lanthier to quit and for the zoo’s accreditation to be taken away. She additionally announced the City of Calgary to quit funding the zoo unless it could demonstrate the issues have been resolved.

The audit, created a picture of aging, crumbling institutions and outlined vital communication problems between staff and managers. For example, there was a higher-than expected number of bats passing away each year between 2004 and 2008, but the zoo didn’t do anything to decide why. Instead, it brought a new bat species into the exact place in the year 2009 — twenty-five of those creatures also passed away. There were also reports that the zoo may have concentrated too hard on enhanced visitor experiences without being sure that exhibits were up to par — something that could have led to many of the deaths.

The stingrays passed away right after an interactive display opened that let visitors put their hands on them. The study reported that the zoo was not properly able to handle the marine animals. The audit was requested after a capybara, a giant central American rodent, was pounded to death when a staff member shut a hydraulic door.

Interview with PETA re: Captive Orcas

This is an interview with Lisa Wathne from PETA regarding captive animals in aquariums. It's from MacLean's.

Marine Animals Trying to Escape from Oil Spill

From ShortNews.com....literally, short, short news!

Like forest creatures trying to escape a fire, marine animals such as dolphins, sharks, mullets, crabs, rays and fish are congregating in surprisingly shallow waters off the Florida coast line as they flee the encroaching oil spill.

Meanwhile, oil-covered birds crawl deep into swamps and don´t come back out. Scientists say that these animals wouldn´t behave like this if their normal habitat had not been destroyed, and now they may compete for oxygen in close quarters.

Rare Tortoises Found in Luggage

I've finally started getting email updates from Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring network. Here is one of their stories about tortoises being smuggled in luggage....note the drug connection.

Enforcement agencies discovered 300 tortoises from Madagascar bound and packed in two suitcases that also contained drugs at Kuala Lumpur International Airport last week.

The bags contained 285 Radiated Tortoises Astrochelys radiata, 14 Spider Tortoises Pyxis arachnoides and a single Ploughshare Tortoise Astrochelys yniphora, one of the rarest tortoise species in the world.

The tortoise- and drug-filled bags had come in on 1 June on an Air Mauritius flight and were discovered by Customs officers at the airport.

The tortoises, all still alive, have been handed over to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) which is making arrangements for their return to Madagascar, news reports said.

Sea Turtle Breeding Threatened by Oil Spill

Each day, I'm having a harder and harder time wrapping my mind around the enormity of this disaster and its ecological impacts.

Here's an article about the potential impacts on sea turtles, many starting to show up dead or sick.

Why I Question Animal Testing 2.2

I particularly question the use of chimpanzees in medical research. From what I recall, chimpanzees share at least 95 percent of human DNA, although the number that floats around the most is 98.6 percent.

The following is from The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan....

If chimpanzees have consciousness, if they are capable of abstractions, do they not have what until now has been described as "human rights"? How smart does a chimpanzee have to be before killing him constitutes murder? What further properties must he show before religious missionaries must consider him worthy of attempts at conversion?

I recently was escorted through a large primate research laboratory by its director. We approached a long corridor lined, to the vanishing point as in a perspective drawing, with caged chimpanzees. They were one, two or three to a cage, and I am 80 percent sure the accommodations were exemplary as far as such institutions (or for that matter traditional zoos) go. As we approached the nearest cage, its two inmates bared their teeth and with incredible accuracy let fly great sweeping arcs of spittle, fairly drenching the lightweight suit of the facility's director. They then uttered a staccato of short shrieks, which echoed down the corridor to be repeated and amplified by other caged chimps, who had certainly not seen us, until the corridor fairly shook with the screeching and banging and rattling of bars. The director informed me that not only spit is apt to fly in such a situation; and at his urging we retreated. I was powerfully reminded of those American motion pictures of the 1930s and 40s, set in some vast and dehumanized state or federal penitentiary, in which the prisoners banged their eating utensils against the bars at the appearance of the tyrannical warden. These chimps are healthy and well-fed. If they are "only" animals, if they are beasts which abstract not, then my comparison is a piece of sentimental foolishness. But chimpanzees can abstract. Like other mammals, they are capable of strong emotions. They have certainly committed no crimes. I do not claim to have the answer, but I think it is certainly worthwhile to raise the question: Why, exactly, all over the civilized world, in virtually every major city, are apes in prison?

For all we know, occasional viable crosses between humans and chimpanzees are possible.* The natural experiment must have been tried very infrequently, at least recently. If such off-spring are ever produced, what will their legal status be? The cognitive abilities of chimpanzees force us, I think, to raise searching questions about the boundaries of the community of beings to which special ethical considerations are due, and can, I hope, help to extend our ethical perspectives downward through the taxa on Earth and upwards to extraterrestrial organisms, if they exist.

Anti-Research Advocacy in Madison

Interesting article on anti-animal research advocacy in Madison, WI. Madison is a key battleground because it is one of only 8 cities with primate centers in the country.