Thread: Move Over Knut - Meet Snowflake

Originally Posted by November Rain

Originally Posted by kingwilly

hmmm, a somewhat simplistic concept here, what about when an animal's natural habititat is extremely threatened? or the host country does not value conservation all that much.

Then it would be even more necessary to institute conservation in those countries, as far as I can see. To allow the habitat to disappear but say "Oh, it's OK - we've got a few of them in zoos, so we're doing our bit" is a far more simplistic concept, & frankly, a monumental cop-out.

What about the case of the Panamanian Golden Frog? I saw this animal, filmed for the last time in the wild on the BBC's 'Life in Cold Blood'. The reason for it's extinction in the wild was from local collecting (the frog is thought to be lucky) and mainly because there was a naturally occurring fungus that was killing amphibians in the region.

The last of these amphibians had to be collected and taken into captivity for their own protection or we would never see this beautiful frog again.



Denver Zoo: Conservation: Projects

In collaboration with the Amphibian Recovery Conservation Coalition and the Houston and Denver Zoos, researchers are helping build the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center in central Panama.

So you have Denver Zoo contributing to research projects in Panama, and on the other hand we also have this....



Bear cages in a Chinese Zoo.



Killer Whale on display.

Wouldn't it be better for the animals if conservation efforts were concentrated in the animals' native countries - in their own habitat? Less stressful, same climate & geography.

Yes, but not always practical.

But, then you wouldn't get the punters bringing their kids on a Saturday, would you? Education?

These punters are bringing a lot of money into zoos which goes towards the funding of research and conservation projects in the animal's native countries.

I also want to add I spent many a day at London Zoo as a kid, and it was educational for me and developed an awareness for animals and conservation that stays with me to this day.

I think the modern ideal of zoos as conservation centres is excellent, but unfortunately most zoos do not meet this ideal.

I also think there is an argument to be made that zoos are often underfunded and need to compromise their ethics to keep running.

The Blue Planet DVD cost me £10.99 by David Livinstone or whoever

More than one way of contributing to animal conservation.

^David Attenborough.

Sometimes these animals need to be placed in sanctuaries/zoos because they have been mistreated their whole lives. This is my favourite animal, the moon bear (they look like my Thai dog or vice versa).

Wanna read the latest from Clever Magazine?
Click here and return to the coverpage!

©Animals Asia/Kees Metselaar

This is a Chinese Moon Bear...
destined to live its life in this cage
with a rusty catheter attached to its
gall bladder
so that Chinese can extract
its "coveted" bile!
Dee Walmsley, Clever's nature writer, first brought this Moon Bear information to our attention. She asks the following questions:
What would you do if you stood eight feet tall and were never able to stand?
What would you do if you lived in a cage with only enough room to stick out a paw for food?
What would you do if your teeth were cut off and your nails pulled out?
What would you do if your ulcerated insides burned from a rusty catheter thrust into your gall bladder to milk its bile?
What would you do if you were an Asian Moon Bear?
We contacted Andi Mowrer of the Animals Asia Foundation and she supplied us with answers to these very perplexing questions:
In October 2000, 63 long-suffering endangered Asiatic Black Bears, nicknamed Moon Bears because of the crescent-shaped marking on their chests, arrived at Animals Asia Foundation’s (AAF) Moon Bear Rescue Center in Sichuan Province, China. Thus began the world’s largest rescue of Moon Bears from bile farms in China, where today approximately 7,000 remain imprisoned in coffin-like cages throughout the country. This historic rescue is the result of a special partnership between the Sichuan Forestry Department, the Beijing-based China Wildlife Conservation Association and Animals Asia Foundation (AAF).
Although bear bile does have medicinal properties and can be used to treat gallstones and liver disease, the advent of bear farming in the early 1980’s led to a glut in production, and now bile is often marketed in products such as shampoos, wines, sodas, and lozenges, where it is absolutely useless. There are over 50 herbal and synthetic alternatives, which are used worldwide and are cheaper and equally if not more effective.

Truly sickening.

Animals Asia do not put their rescue animals in zoos, Jettie! I've been to one of their sanctuaries in China. It was based solely on rehabilitation of the bears & not on gawp-ability factors.

Originally Posted by November Rain

The whole thing is fucking sick. Zoos are prison camps for entertainment purposes. The people that go to them are neanderthals or ghoulish. If you want to see real animal behaviour, observe it in the wild or watch Animal Planet (or similar).

This is wrong. So was Knut's story. Sometimes I really hate people.

Well here that's certainly the truth and I would say even understated..But I disagree about western zoos...

Originally Posted by bkkmadness

The last of these amphibians had to be collected and taken into captivity for their own protection or we would never see this beautiful frog again.

Froget me not.

^ Cute.

Originally Posted by November Rain

Animals Asia do not put their rescue animals in zoos, Jettie! I've been to one of their sanctuaries in China. It was based solely on rehabilitation of the bears & not on gawp-ability factors.

OK, I have heard of these places. I would not want them in a Chinese zoo where they are targets of abuse, but I always think of western-type zoos.

There is a tiger "preserve" near Puebla, Mexico that's pretty sick. I quit zooing after seeing that shit. The tigers were either sick or doped up quite sad to see.

As far as polar bears go they're SOL stuck in a zoo when their natural habitat is vast areas of ice and snow.

Let's face it humans are focking up the planet for many poor little furry creatures.
Now where is that neutron bomb we ordered anyway.

If the Chinese were made extinct think of all the animals who would be saved from lives of misery.

^ True, Marmers, but then where would we get all those cheap microwaves and lead toys from?

Originally Posted by Mr Earl

As far as polar bears go they're SOL stuck in a zoo when their natural habitat is vast areas of ice and snow.

Let's face it humans are focking up the planet for many poor little furry creatures.
Now where is that neutron bomb we ordered anyway.

Agree and disagree. I love the animal rights wanklettes who take photos of polar bears perched on a little piece of ice. Oh! Global warming! No ice. Fer fek's sake, they can swim. The prob is their food source is shrinking a bit. So, send Heather Mills back up there. If she can play with baby seals, she'd be good with polar cubs. I am a symbolic adoptive parent of patuqutaujuq (sparkling soft snow) or Pat for short, a polar bear "taken care of" by the WWW. (Hey, he was a Christmas gift). And he is hungry. Heather!!!

In 20 years we'll be eating these critters, not saving them.

^ I think Mother Earth will groan and do away with alot of us before that.