Cleveland Metroparks Zoo gets 2 sea lions saved from the brink of death

 Some good news in the wake of the tradegy at SeaWorld:

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Buzz and Annabelle are two young California sea lions who experienced the worst of nature and humanity last year. Both almost starved to death and are nearly blind, and one suffered a gunshot wound to an eye.

Around the Web

Images and information on sea lions from National Geographic
Sea lion shot in face to live at Six Flags (mercurynews.com)
Rescue center releases recovered sea lions (sfgate.com)

But thanks to the Marine Mammal Center of Sausalito, Calif., and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, the sea lions, which arrived here Wednesday night, are likely to live full, healthy lives.
The Cleveland zoo says this is the first time in at least 20 years that it has acquired exotic rescue-rehab animals. Most of these animals are born in captivity and find their way to zoos through an elaborate network within the 221-member Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Alan Sironen, the zoo's curator of carnivores and large mammals, said Annabelle and Buzz are the culmination of a two-year search. The zoo has another California sea lion and four harbor seals and wanted a larger group.
The new sea lions, both about a year old, flew into Cleveland from Oakland, Calif., on a FedEx flight, tended by Dr. Christopher Bonar, a zoo veterinarian, and Travis Vineyard, assistant animal care manager.
The animals traveled in their own 40-by-27-by-30-inch kennel-like enclosure. Sironen said FedEx is the only carrier that allows animals and handlers to travel together.

Read the rest of the article here.

Update on SeaWorld Whale Situation

While SeaWorld issued a statement late Friday that killer whale shows would begin again on Saturday, the animal trainers said they would not be getting in the water again with any of the whales until they had time to go over all of their safety procedures. SeaWorld currently has no plans to remove Tilly from the park however, while various groups have been crying out to the media asking for the whale to be either released into the wild (where is would surely die on its own) or even destroyed.
    While looking into this story however, I came across another story I had not seen before. About 5-6 years ago several SeaWorld whales were sent to Loro Parque in the Canary Islands on a long term loan from SeaWorld. Just this past December 24th, another accident took place at that park involving a former SeaWorld whale that caused a death of a trainer there. The whale there involved was thought to be Keto, which I believe is one of the many offspring of Tilly. You can read more and find links to other reports at Wikipedia.

Trainer dies in killer whale show at SeaWorld Orlando

Sad news out of Orlando today. A SeaWorld employee died this afternoon during an incident at SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium, an Orange County Sheriff's Office official confirmed. SeaWorld, rescue personnel and the Sheriff's Office are not revealing the identity of the victim, although a local TV station is reporting that a female employee was killed after she was grabbed by one of the theme park's whales at the start of a public show.

The Shamu Stadium area of the park has been cordoned off, and many guests are unaware of the incident. The reports are all over the place right now, but early indication is the incident occurred directly after the main show area was closed (the "splash zone wave" at the end of the show didn't go as planned because a few of the whales were being uncooperative).

Trainers were closing off that show and gearing up for a "Dine With Shamu" event. Mixed reports are coming in, and crime scene investigators have arrived - yet to make any statements. All of this happened between 12:30-12:45pm today.

One outlet has reported that this is the same whale that was involved in the death of someone who was trespassing after hours in 1999 - but that seems like conjecture at this point.

Female trainer, highly experienced, 40 years old. Slipped and fell alongside/into a holding tank. Since this is being called a drowning, it seems likely that the killer whale dragged her under. Sad news indeed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her friends, family and co-workers.   

Orlando Sentinel Article 

 

A Closer Look at BGT's Endangered Species Tour

Behind the Thrills has a great look at the Endangered Species Tour at Busch Gardens Africa in Tampa, Florida. They learned several interesting facts like:

• Giraffes have the same number of vertebrate in their necks as humans, just larger.
• Their tongue is black and purple to protect it from the sun since they spend most of their day eating
• They can see the color green from almost a mile away
• The name "Reticulated" means net, which makes sense since it looks like they have nets thrown over them

Check out the update!

A New Attraction for Gatorland

Gatorland has launched the start of a new attraction at the park that they’re calling the Mile of Monsters, "...a new showcase of reptiles at Gatorland. The self-guided walking tour, which began last week, currently features 10 of the park's most notorious alligators and crocodiles." Apparently, the plan is to expand this new attraction over the next few months to include 24 animal stops, each one starting with a different letter of the alphabet. If you get all the letters and arrange them into a password you’ll be rewarded with a prize from the gift shop on your way out. That sounds pretty cool! Read more about it at the Sun-Sentinel.

Columbus Zoo Polar Bears Arrive

10 TV News in Columbus is reporting that the Polar Bears have arrived at the new Polar Frontier exhibit.

Polar Bears Arrive At Columbus Zoo

Friday,  February 19, 2010 7:50 PM

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POWELL, Ohio — Twin polar bears, Aurora and Anana, arrived Friday at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. The pair were the first residents of the zoo's new Polar Frontier, which is scheduled to open this spring, 10TV News reported.
The young bears were accompanied by animal care staff during their trip from the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, where they have lived since December 2008.
The bears were born at the Toledo Zoo in November 2006.
It has been 20 years since polar bears were featured at the zoo, Executive Director Dale Schmidt said.
The new $20-million exhibit will feature animals that live in some of the coldest climates in the world, the zoo said.

Watch 10TV News HD and refresh 10TV.com for additional information

This great news! The exhibit was oringinally supposed to open in the fall but the zoo had a hard time finding polar bears to put on display.

Does the Endangered Species Act hurt more than it helps?

I am currently reading the book Super Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner and I found the following passage to be very interesting:

"...the law of unintended consequences is among the most potet laws in existence. Governments, for instance, often enact legislation meant to protect their most vulnerable charges but that instead ends up hurting them.
    The Endangered Species Act created a similarly perverse incentive. When landowners fear their property is an attractive habitat for an endangered animal, or even an animal that is being considered for such status, they rush  to cut down trees to make it less attractive. Among the recent victims as such shenanigans are the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl and the red-cockaded woodpecker. Some environmental economists have argued that "the Endangered Species act is actually endangering, rather than protecting, species."

Wow. That never occurred to me before. I hope this is not actually happening, but if so that is very sad. I will have to do some research and look into this further. Your thoughts?