Zoo

Zoological Society of London commissions poet laureate for animation to mark its 200th anniversaryOver its two centuries, acclaimed writers and artists have found inspiration at London zoo, from Edwin Landseer’s Trafalgar Square lions, to AA Milne’s naming “Winnie” after resident bear Winnipeg, and Sylvia Plath’s poem Zoo Keeper’s Wife.Plath’s husband, Ted Hughes, who would become poet laureate, worked at the zoo briefly as a dish washer, an experience said to have helped fuel his inspiration for The Thought-Fox. Continue reading...

Nine-day search for two-year-old Neukgu gripped nation and sparked safety concerns for animal and publicThe internet in South Korea erupted in celebration as a two-year-old wolf that escaped from a zoo was captured safely after a nine-day search that had gripped the nation and made the animal a national celebrity.The male wolf, named Neukgu, burrowed out of his enclosure at the O-World zoo in Daejeon on 8 April. Animal rights activists questioned whether the wolf could survive outside the zoo and also worried he might be killed during capture, something that happened to a puma that escaped from the same zoo in 2018. Continue reading...

Dozens of feral pachyderms linked to drug kingpin to be killed because of threat to native species and villagersColombian officials have authorized a plan to cull dozens of hippos descended from animals brought to the country in the 1980s by Pablo Escobar, after the feral beasts displaced native species and threatened local villagers.The environment minister, Irene Vélez, said the decision was reached because other methods to control their population had been expensive and unsuccessful, including neutering some of the animals or moving them to zoos. Vélez said that up to 80 hippos would be affected by the measure. She did not say when the hunting would begin. Continue reading...

Local school closes in Daejeon city as hundreds of emergency service and military personnel scour area around O-World theme park where the wolf escaped fromAuthorities are hunting for a wolf after it escaped from a zoo in Daejeon, a South Korean city with a population of 1.5million.More than 300 people – including firefighters, police and military personnel – are taking part in the search operation, an official from the Daejeon fire headquarters said. Continue reading...

Parents face child endangerment charge after their kid suffered a minor injury at ZooAmerica in HersheyparkThe parents of a toddler who suffered a minor injury at a Pennsylvania theme park zoo after squeezing through a fence near a wolf enclosure and making contact with one of the animals have been charged with endangering the welfare of children, with police accusing them of paying attention to their cellphones at the time.In a news release, police said that the parents both walked about 25ft to 30ft (7.6 meters to 9.1 meters) away from the child to a seating area with benches and appeared to be paying attention to their cellphones when they noticed what was happening Saturday at ZooAmerica in Hersheypark. Continue reading...

Five miles from their former city zoo, seven gorillas are exploring their new ‘African forest’ homeIt has been an eventful few months for Bristol’s gorillas. The troop made headlines across the world when an urban explorer snapped pictures of them looking downbeat in their old, almost deserted home near the city centre. Then they were moved – under armed police escort – to a new out-of-town base and promptly suffered a shock bereavement.On Monday, in warm spring sunshine, the western lowland gorillas were to be found exploring a new woodland habitat at Bristol Zoo Project, five miles from their former city home. Continue reading...