Visit Singapore Zoo: September 2012

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Panda Diplomacy Isn’t Working for China & Japan


It was supposed to be a goodwill gesture.

After the earthquake and tsunami devastated much of her Japanese city last year, Sendai Mayor Emiko Okuyama asked Beijing if it would loan a pair of giant pandas to the local Yagiyama Zoo to cheer up young kids in the Tohoku region.

In a meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said he would strongly consider it.

Yet, a year later, that panda diplomacy has been stalled by an escalating dispute between China and Japan over the uninhabited Senkaku or Diaoyu islands. Michiya Ujiie, who is spearheading Sendai’s efforts, says he has not spoken with his Chinese counterparts in months.

“Neither side has suggested suspending the exchange altogether,” Ujiie said. “But under these circumstances, I don’t expect to get a call at all.”

Sendai residents aren’t so eager now to accept accepting China’s national treasures. Ujiie said the city has received dozens of emails from residents urging officials to halt the panda luring efforts, saying Sendai should not negotiate with a country that holds so much animosity towards Japan.

City officials hoped to firm up plans to bring the pandas to Sendai at an event marking the 40th anniversary of normalization between Japan and China this month, but Beijing cancelled the celebration.

This isn’t the first time the cuddly creatures have been dragged into diplomatic disputes.

In June, nationalist Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara quipped the newly born panda cub at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo should be named “Sen-sen” or “Kaku-kaku,” referring to the Japanese name for the disputed islands, Senkaku. China calls the rocks Diaoyu.

The cub died six days later, but its body remains in a freezer on zoo grounds, nearly three months later. China maintains full ownership of the pandas it loans out, but Tokyo officials say they have not received any word from Beijing about what to do with the frozen creature.

China and Japan both claim the tiny, uninhabited archipelago in the East China Sea. Tensions between the two countries have escalated since Tokyo nationalized the islands earlier this month, setting off a wave of anti-Japanese protests throughout China.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

India tiger killed by poachers inside Itanagar zoo


Police in India's north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh are looking for a gang of poachers who entered a high-security zoo in the capital, Itanagar, and hacked a tiger to death.

Officials have ordered an investigation into the incident, which happened on Monday night.

The arrival of security guards prevented the poachers from carrying away the mutilated animal.

The poaching and smuggling of tiger body parts is common across India.

The animals are prized throughout East Asia in general and China in particular for the supposed medicinal value of their body parts.

Tiger numbers have shrunk alarmingly in India in recent decades.

A 2011 census counted about 1,700 tigers in the wild. A century ago there were estimated to be 100,000 tigers in India.

The poachers tranquilised the six-year-old tigress before entering its enclosure and cutting it into six pieces, officials at the zoo say. A post-mortem of the animal has now been carried out.

Zoo chief Zoram Dopum said that the poachers fled when three security guards who had gone for dinner returned to the area.

There have been attempts at poaching animals in the zoo before, officials say.

In February 2006, three tigers and a leopard were poisoned by unknown people. One tiger died, while the other two other animals survived.

In June 2006, 30kg (66lb) of tiger parts - mainly bones and nails - were seized from a vehicle belonging to a police officer in Assam state.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Marine Life Park set to open in S’pore in December

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) said it targets to bring in 16 million visitors next year.
The integrated resort also announced that its second anchor attraction - the Marine Life Park - will open days ahead of RWS' official opening on December 7.

The exact date of the park's opening was not given to the media.

The Marine Life Park will be the world's largest oceanarium and will house more than 100,000 marine animals.

These include 25 dolphins, which will be part of the park's interactive programme that starts next year.

The dolphins were the subject of controversy last year, with some animal welfare groups calling for them to be freed.

In response to critics, Mr Biswajit Guha, director of Education and Conservation at the Marine Life Park, said: "The dolphins are doing very well, 25 of them (are) in the Philippines. I don't have any firmed up dates yet to share with you at this stage about when they'll be arriving.

"Essentially, all of the standards meet and in fact exceed the guidelines set by the American Zoos and Aquariums Association, as well as the Alliance for Marine Mammals Parks and Aquariums. In that respect, we're fully confident that the dolphins will receive the best care possible."

Mr Guha added the Marine Life Park is open to continue working with non-government organisations (NGOs) and other agencies that focus on marine education and conservation.

He said they welcome the opportunity to collaborate on such issues.

RWS first opened to the public in 2010 and has attracted some 30 million visitors since then.

It is hoped the new attraction will also encourage more to extend their stay at the resort.

Mr Greg Allan, vice president, Rooms and F&B, Resorts World Sentosa, said: "We hope they'll stay an additional night. We feel that the Marine Life Park will add significantly to the options available to families visiting. We are very much a family resort, and this is an experience that all age groups can come and enjoy together."

Visitors can also expect a weekend of festivities during the grand opening.

The highlights of the grand opening include public performances and a 12-minute public fireworks display at the RWS waterfront promenade.

Marine Life Park director to make dolphins 'ambassadors'

Ex-zoo GM moves from land to marine life with ease
Tan Dawn Wei Straits Times 11 Jul 12;

FOR 18 years, Singapore Zoo stalwart Biswajit Guha tended to land creatures, but he has since moved on to taking care of sea animals.

The former general manager of the zoo quietly joined the new Marine Life Park of Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) in March as its director of education and conservation.

He had quit the zoo last December under a cloud of controversy, when its parent company Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) appointed its board member Isabella Loh as its group chief executive.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Why is it so hard to raise a baby panda?

Week-old panda cub dies in US zoo

A baby giant panda born just one week ago at the National Zoo in the US capital died on Sunday of still to be determined causes.

Panda keepers and volunteers "heard a distress vocalization from the mother, Mei Xiang, at 9:17 am and notified the veterinarian staff immediately," zoo officials said.

"The staff were able to safely retrieve the cub for an evaluation at 10:22 am. Veterinarians immediately performed CPR and other life-saving measures but the cub did not respond," the statement said.

At a first observation, veterinarians said there was no outward sign of trauma, no outward sign of infection, and the cub was "in good body condition" weighing just under 100 grams.

"The National Zoo community mourns the loss of the giant panda cub," the statement read, adding that mother panda Mei Xiang "is under close observation."

Zoo officials immediately turned off the "panda cam," the internet-accessible 24-hour camera trained on the animals.

Mei Xiang, on loan to the Smithsonian-run zoo from China, gave birth to the cub on September 16.

Zookeepers had chosen to keep a physical distance from Mei Xiang, in order to let her raise the cub naturally.

Giant pandas are rare and endangered, with as few of 1,600 surviving in the mountain forests of central China. More than 300 others live in zoos and breeding centers, mostly in China.

The main reason why giant panda is near extinction: The giant panda is very slow to reproduce, it has only a few babies during its life, thus contributes to its vulnerability.

Just like true-breed Singaporeans, low birth rates, difficulties and stress of raising children, eventually Singaporean will be extinct too.
Take time, lots of care and sacrifices!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Kai Kai and Jia Jia are in Pink of Health

I wonder do they have health insurance?



Singapore's resident pandas, Jia Jia and Kai Kai underwent their first routine medical examination today, said Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WSR).

The medical tests included a full dental and body check, blood sample withdrawal, an X-ray and ultrasound scan, and a Tuberculin test.

Each examination took approximately one hour and checks show that both pandas are well.

WSR said the examination is usually carried out after the new animals have settled in their quarantine dens.

On Sep 8, it was reported that the pair are adjusting well in their homes. Easy-going Kai Kai apparently did not take long to settle in his 15 sq m air-conditioned den, while Jia Jia took about five hours to get used the new environment.

The pandas will stay in their dens for one month in quarantine to prevent any diseases from spreading to other animals in the zoo.

After they are given the all-clear, they will be released into their 1,225 sq m exhibit at the River Safar in Mandai, which is situated between the zoo and the Night Safari.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Kai Kai Happy 5th birthday


Giant panda Kai Kai turned five on Friday. And unlike his arrival in Singapore a week ago, his birthday celebrations were a quiet affair treating him with an "ice" birthday cake filled with carrots and panda biscuits.

The five-year-old is in quarantine, just like his female counterpart, Jia Jia.

And both have started munching on locally grown bamboo.

The pandas are in Singapore on a 10-year loan from the Chinese government to mark two decades of strong ties between China and Singapore.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Zoo staff well-being

No mosquito bites please!


No glue No drill No nails Magnetic anti-insect screen
Supply & installation of magnetic insect screen for Singapore Zoo Staff Quarter

Thursday, September 06, 2012

VVIPs welcome China's loaned Pandas (Kai Kai & Jia Jia)


欢迎,欢迎,热列欢迎!

Singapore on Thursday gave a VIP welcome to a pair of giant pandas loaned by China for 10 years to mark two decades of close diplomatic relations.

The bears – five-year-old male Kai Kai (“victorious’) and four-year-old Jia Jia (“beauty’) – will be the stars in a new section of the Singapore Zoo and will make their public debut in December after a quarantine period.

Singapore hopes they will have babies during their stay in the city-state and has devoted millions of dollars to a climate-controlled enclosure designed to promote breeding in the island’s humid tropical climate.
“It is indeed our privilege to be entrusted with two of China’s national treasures,” a Singapore government representative, Teo Ser Luck, said at Changi airport after the pandas arrived.

Dai Bing, charge d’affaires of the Chinese embassy in Singapore, called the animals “the friendship ambassadors of China and Singapore.”

The pandas were delivered in a chartered Singapore Airlines Boeing 747 cargo jet that stopped at an exclusive terminal normally reserved for foreign dignitaries, celebrities and wealthy flyers.

Singapore is the ninth country to receive the bears from China since the loan scheme began in 1994, and the fourth Asia-Pacific nation to be given the honour after Thailand, Japan and Australia.

Other places such as Hong Kong received pandas under a different scheme. The two pandas will be housed in a custom-built 1,500 square metre (16,145 square foot) enclosure costing $8.6 million within the zoo’s new attraction called the River Safari.

The accommodation will be cooled to between 18 and 22 degrees Celsius (64-72 degrees Fahrenheit). In Singapore the temperature usually ranges from 25 to 32 degrees.

Humidity will be set at 50 to 60 percent to simulate the pandas’ natural habitat in southwest China’s Szechuan province. Live plants, boulders and waterfalls have also been installed.

State-linked Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) operates the zoo, which welcomed 1.6 million visitors in 2010.

The River Safari, which is scheduled to open fully next year, expects to attract at least 850,000 visitors annually, WRS said.

WRS director of exhibit design and development Cham Tud Yinn said he had visited panda enclosures all over the world to look at their designs, and learnt most from Hong Kong’s Ocean Park.

“We went there and actually we learnt a lot from them, the mistakes that they made especially with the technical aspect of cooling a building,” he told AFP.

Should the pandas wish to sample Singapore’s tropical temperatures, the enclosure has an outdoor segment where they can laze around.

WRS hopes to use temperature and lighting conditions to stimulate the bears to produce babies.

“In the wild, their breeding behaviour is very much triggered by the change in seasons,” Cham said.

A dedicated den and nursery for baby pandas were constructed in advance.

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

China summon PM Lee to China to oversee the safe transfer of their precious Pandas

Meeting President Hu Jintao in Beijing on Tuesday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said his nation is looking forward to the arrival of the panda pair Kai Kai & Jia Jia .
The pair left the Bifengxia Base of China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Ya'an, Sichuan province, on Wednesday afternoon, for Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.

"They will be flown from Chengdu in the wee hours of Thursday on board a Singapore Airlines Cargo Boeing 747 and are expected to touch down at Changi Airport in Singapore at 8:20 am," said Heng Yi, an information officer at the center.

To prepare for the pair's trip to Singapore, the base put them in quarantine on Aug 1. On the morning of Aug 28, experts from the base and Singapore gave them a thorough physical examination.

"The examination showed that Wujie and Hubao are very healthy," said Tang Chunxiang, a veterinarian and assistant to the director of the center.

The center prepared a week's worth of food for the duo, including bamboo, buns and fruits.

"Pandas can adapt quickly. While receiving food from Bifengxia, keepers will feed them Singaporean bamboo, too. After a week in Singapore, they can adapt to bamboo there," he said.

Wujie, a male panda who will be renamed Kaikai in Singapore, was born in September 2007; and Hubao, a female who will be renamed Jiajia, was born in September 2008. They will stay in the River Safari Zoo in Singapore for 10 years.

After a monthlong quarantine, they will be released into their exhibit in the River Safari Zoo to familiarize themselves with their new environment before going on public display in December.

Some Singaporean companies are already geared up to jump on the panda bandwagon, according to the Jakarta Post.

They are rolling out souvenirs, such as panda-inspired bags and toys, to coincide with the arrival of the two pandas.

The souvenirs include stamps by Singapore Post and commemorative coins issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Singapore Airlines will offer limited-edition panda plush toys this weekend to raise funds for children with special needs.

People who donate S$20 ($16) or more can choose a male or female panda plush toy clad in the airliner's signature batik cloth.

Tourism and marketing experts said the pandas will boost tourism receipts, Jakarta Post reported.

Hu signed an agreement loaning a panda pair to Singapore during his visit there in 2009.

However these two are not the first pandas in Singapore. After China and Singapore established diplomatic relations in 1990, two pandas from China, An'an and Xinxing, were on display for more than three months in Singapore, attracting more than 400,000 visitors. It was the first exhibition of pandas in Southeast Asia.

China started implementing panda diplomacy in the 1950s.

From 1957 to 1982, it presented 23 pandas as gifts to nine countries as a form of goodwill. It set up a loan system in 1984 under which foreign zoos can house pairs of pandas in the captive breeding program.
China usually gets $1 million annually in fees for each loaned panda. The State Forestry Administration promises to use 60 percent of the funds received for wild panda protection and 40 percent for research on pandas raised in captivity.