Lonely elephant in Philippine Zoo

Mali, who is 38, spends her days in Manila picking peanuts from children's hands and being squirted with water in a concrete-floored enclosure that animal rights groups say is far too small for any elephant to enjoy living in.

They also say that, after being shipped from Sri Lanka when she was three years old, Mali is suffering profound loneliness after living her entire adult life without another elephant.

"She is definitely unwell. As much as her physical suffering... there is also psychological suffering," said Rochelle Rigodon, campaign manager for Manila-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

PETA began campaigning for Mali to be removed from the zoo seven years ago, and its efforts to have the elephant spend the rest of her life at a sanctuary in Thailand have brought together a strikingly diverse group of people.

British pop star Morrissey, 2003 Nobel laureate in literature J.M. Coetzee and famous animal welfare campaigner Jane Goodall have all written letters to the Philippine government asking for Mali to be transferred.

"Mali is cruelly denied stimulation, room to explore... (and) is in danger of going insane," Morrissey wrote in a letter to President Benigno Aquino when he performed in Manila in May.

Archbishop Jose Palma, president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, has also written a letter calling for Mali to be shifted to Thailand.

He has formed an unlikely union with local fashion models and actresses, such as Isabel Roces and Chin-Chin Gutierrez, who have posted messages expressing concern about Mali's plight to their masses of Twitter followers.

Their campaign has had some success, with Mr Aquino ordering the Bureau of Animal Industry in May to evaluate if Mali should be transferred to Thailand. So far, no decision has been announced.

Animal rights activists say the problems at the zoo are not limited to Mali.

Gone were the days
The zoo, owned by the City of Manila and built in 1959, is a far cry from its glory days in the early 1960s, when it boasted a huge menagerie of lions, tigers, bears, leopards, giraffes, chimpanzees and bison.

Many of these animals have succumbed to old age, and there are not enough funds to replace them.

Many of the animals that do remain reside in half-century-old cages made of wire and bars, with the zoo operating on a budget of $1.4 million a year, small for its size. It holds 717 animals from 102 species.

Anna Cabrera, executive-director of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society accused the zoo's veterinarians and administrators of "gross incompetence".

"It (the zoo) stinks... they don't have the expertise for the animals in the zoo," she said.

However chief veterinarian Donald Manalastas insisted Mali and the other animals were treated well.

"We could do better but their (the animals') care is never compromised," Mr Manalastas said.

He pointed to the advanced ages of Mali and another 38-year-old star of the zoo, Berta the hippopotamus, as proof the animals were being looked after.

"If we were not giving them the right food, the proper care, they would not survive. We must be doing something right," he said.

Mr Manalastas also talked enthusiastically about the zoo's success in breeding the Philippine freshwater crocodile, or Crocodylus Mindorensis, which is critically endangered.

From an original four, these reptiles reproduced rapidly until there were 20 last year, according to Manalastas. He said they were able to trade eight to another zoo overseas for a camel that will hopefully arrive next year.

And the zoo undoubtedly remains a popular attraction, with 950,000 visitors a year, many of whom come from poor communities in and around Manila.

The Philippines has a dire poverty problem, with roughly one quarter of the population of 100 million people living on a dollar a day or less.

The entrance fee for the zoo is set deliberately low at 40 pesos (95 cents) for adults and 20 pesos for children to give the poorer citizens of Manila the opportunity to see wildlife and have a fun day out.

"This place is a social service, not a profit-oriented organisation," said Manila City's parks and recreations chief, Deogracias Manimbo.

"It's an alternative place for less-privileged people. It is designed for the poor of Manila."

Amid the uproar over Mali, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim has rejected calls to relocate the elephant, and his stance is popular among the visitors.

"Manila Zoo would not be complete without an elephant," office worker Rowena Castro said as she pointed to her four-year-old son watching the enormous animal being hosed down by a keeper.

"That is the main reason he came: to see the elephant."

Pandas are eaten in prehistoric times

Are they delicious?

They are large, cuddly and the most gentle of creatures - but in prehistoric times, Giant Pandas were just another source of food to primitive man.

A Chinese scientist has claimed humans once included panda meat in their diet after uncovering fossils that show the animals died from wounds caused by hunters.

Wei Guangbiao said an examination of excavated fossils in the southwest Chinese city of Chongqing showed pandas had been "slashed to death by man".

He said prehistoric man would not have killed animals that would have been of use to them in the daily battle for survival.

Pandas, then in plentiful numbers, would have been a ready source of food and a good complement to a diet that consisted mostly of berries and anything else they could trap or catch.

Given their shy nature, and slow, lumbering walk, the bears would have been easy prey for hunters armed with sticks and stones, and later spears and knives.

The distinctive white and black fur of the panda would also have been used by primitive man to provide warmth.

Guiangbiao, head of the Institute of Three Gorges Paleoanthropology at a Chongqing museum, said the pandas who lived 10,000 to one million years ago were much smaller than those seen in captivity and the wild today.

He told the Chongqing Morning Post newspaper the pandas would have been found in the city’s high mountains. Here they flourished in their natural habitat of cool, wet and cloudy mountain forest land, which is rich in bamboo.

Historians believe panda meat was once a delicacy eaten by the rulers of Ancient China.

Today, the Giant Panda has been on the endangered species list for more than 50 years and is called a “National Treasure” in China, where there are breeding centres tasked with helping to boost the dwindling population.

Latest figures show there are 239 Pandas living in captivity, while the wild population is said to number under 3,000.

Jia Jia & Kai Kai moves into their new Home

Giant pandas Kai Kai and Jia Jia are being introduced to their new home at the River Safari after completing their month-long quarantine, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) announced on Thursday.

The River Safari's zoology team is helping them settle into the Giant Panda Forest, which simulates the bears' natural habitat.

To encourage the pandas to explore their new surroundings, keepers will be placing their favorite food, bamboo, in various locations around the exhibit.

The pandas currently live in dens linked to the Forest, which they are visiting daily. They first entered their new home on Monday and spent two hours there before returning to their dens. The duration will be progressively increased as they familiarise themselves with the area.

Precious Animals should be left in the Wild or placed in Captivity for security?

Do they really helps to prevent extinction of the species or accelerate the process as more attempts to capture their priced animal...

CAPTIVITY IS CRUEL

Dolphins, elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans are all mammals that have a very high cognitive potential.  Their life expectancy is important and all benefit from an extremely prolonged childhood, during which their parents charge themselves with their education and transmitting their proper savior-fare.

They are thus "cultural beings", living in the "third world" (Popper & Eccles, 1989) that interweave their rules of relationships, social identity, language, aesthetic emotion, filial attachments or friendly and moral values such as altruism, encouragement of talent or the sense of the common well being (F. De Waal, 1995).

In the context where the regard of another builds and reinforces the sensation of existence, isolation is felt as a serious punishment.

For man, life imprisonment often replaces the death penalty.  When this isolation becomes total - for example, in solitary confinement - hallucinations happen very quickly, then complete dementia and death by suicide.

Simple clinical observation teaches us that chimpanzees and dolphins demonstrate exactly the same reactions as we do under the same circumstances.  For them also, it is inconceivable to live far from others, far from the world with which they are familiar.

A chimpanzee is only a TRUE chimpanzee when it is in the forest, surrounded by its group, of behaviors and that it earns in this manner its proper identity.  However, for these highly encephalitic cetaceans beings, no form of captivity, no cage, no special facilities, no pool, even Olympic-sized, will ever replace the simple pleasure of living free in the wild.

In no way could the captivity imposed on dolphins replace the fantastic sensory and social diversity that they know in the natural environment.

Enclosure is for them, particularly, a treatment of extreme cruelty that comes to reinforce the measures of discipline imposed on stubborn dolphins (rationing and isolation). We remember to finish that these "combats to death" don't exist in the ocean, even if certain conflicts are sometimes resolved in a violent manner.

For commercial gains
Singapore Sentosa Underwater World's dolphin captive breeding programe has been struck a third blow in the space of six months - a miscarriage, the death of a newborn and now, the death of an adult female.

There are five pink dolphins left at the Underwater World after the death of Namtam, an adult female. She succumbed to a stomach inflammation. .

Namtam, a pink dolphin about 20 years old, miscarried last September and nearly died then. She succumbed on March 5 to acute gastritis, or inflammation to the stomach. A dolphin born on Feb 18 died within 15 minutes of its birth.

The pink dolphins in Singapore are bought from Thai fishermen who don't have the knowledge and care to handle the animals less cruelly when catching them.  Because of this trade, the wild Sousa chinensis in Thai waters have been unsustainable caught, seriously depleting the population.

Wild caught dolphins for Resorts World Sentosa - SPCA says 'NO' to dolphins in captivity
http://www.spca.org.sg/captivedolphins.html

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Who say Koalas are lazy?

Swimming koala surprises canoeists

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXC7vCP1GLI


Who knew Koalas could swim? This video shows a group canoeing through a river when a fuzzy marsupial decides to swim over and join them
.
The video posted on YouTube five days ago has already been viewed more than 5300 times.
Julie Elliot, who filmed the unusual scene in Queensland's Gold Coast, told Australia's Channel 9: "It took a sip of water and then saw us and obviously decided to come straight over. Then it started clawing at the boat and we didn't know what to do.

"We were thinking it was going to drown so my mate behind me just grabbed him and put him straight in the boat.

"I've been paddling along that particular creek for the best part of 10 years and never seen anything like a swimming koala before." 

Walk the Cat

I happened to witness my neighbour walking her cat. It just look weird!

 

 A least cat buries their poop.

A piece of Australia in Singapore Night Safari

See a slice of Australasia at new Night Safari Wallaby trail

A new walking trail with an Australasian theme will open on Friday at the Night Safari.

The Wallaby Trail, covering almost 5,000 sq m, has 13 indoor and outdoor exhibits featuring creatures from Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. These include an Australian native bird called the tawny frogmouth and the white-lipped python from Papua New Guinea.

A walk-through exhibit enables visitors to get close to marsupials such as the parma wallaby and bennett's wallaby.

A prominent feature of the trail, formerly the Forest Giants trail, is the Naracoorte Cave, a reconstruction of the Naracoorte Caves National Park, a World Heritage site in South Australia.

Loaned Panda to arrive in Singapore on 6th Sep 2012

Pandas Jia Jia and Kai Kai bound for Singapore will arrive on Sept 6, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) announced on Wednesday.

In the announcement, WRS also said that the public can expect to visit the panda pair in December after they have completed a month-long quarantine in Singapore and have been well-familiarised with their new home at the River Safari.

Earlier, ST had reported that the opening was expected to be in November.

The pandas, which are on a 10-year loan from the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) to Singapore, were initially meant to arrive in March but their arrival was delayed because more changes had to be made to their $8.5 million enclosure.

Director of CWCA, Mr Zhong Yi, told members of the media on Tuesday that representatives made a visit of the 1,225 sq m panda enclosure in June and found everything in order.

Mr Zhong said they are currently being quarantined in Ya'an sanctuary in Sichuan province, China. This phase began early this month.

The pandas will travel on a charter flight sponsored by Singapore Airlines and are expected to touch down at Changi Airport at 8.20am on Sept 6.

To ensure that the giant pandas are comfortable during their five-hour flight, the aircraft’s temperature will be set to the bears’ natural habitat conditions and ‘in-flight meals’ will also be provided in the form of bamboo, fruit and water, WRS said in a media statement. They will also be accompanied by a team of Chinese zookeepers and veterinarians.

After landing, the giant pandas will receive a celebratory welcome at the airport and will then be moved into a temperature-controlled truck for their journey to River Safari. There, the pandas will be moved into their den block to begin their quarantine for one month.

After the quarantine process, they will be released into their exhibit to explore and familiarise themselves with their new surroundings before going on public display.

The pandas will be housed at the Yangtze River zone of the upcoming River Safari, along with other endangered wildlife from China such as the giant salamander and the red panda, said WRS.

"After many months of careful planning and preparation, we are happy to welcome the giant pandas to Singapore and to their new home at River Safari. The arrival of Kai Kai and Jia Jia marks the start of an exciting panda research and development opportunity and we look forward to working closely with the Chinese experts to enhance overall understanding on giant panda conservation," said Ms Claire Chiang, Chairman of WRS.

Singapore will be the ninth country to receive giant pandas from China since 1994.

The pandas are sponsored by CapitaLand.

Game for a piece of game?

Victory! African lion meat is off Wichita’s “Taste and See” exotic dinner menu ichita chef pulls lion from menu

A Wichita Chef says after all of the concern raised about an upcoming exotic meat event, he's pulling African lion from the menu.

Eyewitness News first told you about the issue Thursday.  Taste and See Chef Jason Febres says after seeing all of the concern from the public, he'll no longer make lion.

"After careful consideration, we have decided to remove the Lion from our Ultimate Dining Experience. We wish to note that the small percentage of people who genuinely and intelligently plead their case was what persuaded us to reconsider, and we are not submitting to the threats, vulgarities, pressure or blatant disregard for our rights through the expression of yours, but rather to the few voices of reason. As to the supporters for our restaurant, this event, and our position on the matter, we whole heartedly appreciate the continued backing and hope you respect our decision."  Ownership Team - Taste & See

Febres still continue with what he calls an ultimate dining experience next week.  He'll serve seven exotic meats including crocodile, alpaca, kangaroo and foie gras.

"It's a special dining experience for people," Febres explained. "For people to just try something else that they haven't had a chance to eat."

Originally the menu included lion which prompted dozens of people to post negative comments on the Taste and See Facebook page and Twitter.  They wanted the chef to cancel the event.

"If I knew that was going to happen, I definitely would have not done it, I don't think," Febres said.

Eyewitness News received several calls to the newsroom concerned about the dinner.  And organizations including Change.org and Born Free USA have asked their followers to protest the event.

"We don't know where these animals are coming from, they could be from the wild, they could be from captive situations in the U.S." said Adam Roberts of the animal rights group, Born Free U.S.A.

None of the animals on the menu, including lion, are on the Endangered Species List.  Febres says the lion meat would have come from a farm in the United States.

Many of the concerned citizens say either way, serving lion meat sets a bad example since lion numbers are declining.

"Serving up species already threatened by everything man can throw at them?  You can't be that delusional. I absolutely adore adventurous and unique culinary experiences, but not this way," Alexandra Bowens Mason posted on Facebook.

All posts on Facebook pertaining to lion being served have been removed from Taste and See's Facebook page because of the controversy. Febres says the event will not be canceled, and he's planning an all vegan event sometime in the future.
Lion Meat Controversy.

Prague zoo expects new gorilla offspring in wake of Tatu's death

The gap in the Prague zoo's gorilla group after last week's death of Tatu, a young male, may be filled soon as the experienced gorilla mother Kijivu is pregnant again, the zoo director Miroslav Bobek has told CTK.


Kijivu is the mother of Kiburi, 2, the only young gorilla that lives with the Prague group now after his older sister Moja, 7, was transported to Spain and his brother Tatu died by unlucky coincidence on Friday at the age of five.

"The 19-year-old Kijivu is pregnant again. We expect her to give birth to her offspring at the end of the year," Bobek said.

Tatu, the most agile of the three offspring of Kijivu and male Richard, hanged himself accidentally while playing with ropes and twisting one of them around his neck.

The gorilla group has been very popular with the zoo visitors and fans, who are mourning Tatu's death on websites and social networks.

Tatu is to be stuffed and become a part of the National Museum's collections.

Besides Richard, Kijivu and Kiburi, the Prague group also includes another three females, Kamba, Shinda and Bikira.

Boater arrested for feeding Croc that bit off his hand

An Everglades airboat operator has been charged with illegally feeding an alligator that bit off his right hand, according to news reports.
Wallace Weatherholt, 63, was arrested Friday on the misdemeanor charge, according to our Gannett colleagues at the Fort Myers News-Press. He's scheduled to be in court Aug. 22.
Weatherholt, who works for Captain Doug's Small Airport Tours in Everglades City, was dangling a fish at the water's surface during a June 12 tour, an Indiana family told the Associated Press. A 9-foot-long alligator then lunged and bit off Weatherholt's right hand at the wrist.
State wildlife officers tracked and killed the gator. Weatherholt's hand was found in the reptile's stomach, but doctors could not reattach it.
The law against feeding alligators is intended to protect the creatures and humans, said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer Jorge Pino. Over time, alligators lose their natural fear of humans when they are fed, and then pose a danger to humans.
"It's a very sad situation for Mr. Weatherholt, and we wish this never happened to him," Pino told ABC News. "But there are laws on the books to protect people from this exact incident."

"As soon as you say there's an alligator that's not afraid of humans, that's like signing a death warrant for that alligator," he added. "The more people abide by the rules on the books, the safer the gators will be, and more importantly, the safer the humans will be."
Feeding an alligator is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $500 and possible jail.
Three weeks ago, an alligator bit off the lower right arm of a teenager swimming in the Caloosahatchee River in southwestern Florida.