JOHANNESBURG — Jane Goodall, who turns 80 this year, knows how to work a crowd....
The United Nations designated her a peace messenger. Goodall’s character has popped up in television parodies. A celebrated photograph shows a chimpanzee reaching out to her in a kind of ‘‘E.T.’’ moment, reminiscent of the finger touch between alien and child in the science-fiction movie....
Related:
Human ‘moms’ dote on baby gorilla
US to retire most chimps from research
Harvard fined $24,000 for monkey deaths, animal care issues
Goodall’s 22-page resume, posted on the website of the Virginia-based institute that carries her name, lists the many advisory boards she sits on, honorary degrees, and awards (well over 100, including Dame of the British Empire and French Legion of Honor).
She gives talks with a stuffed monkey propped on the podium. She has also traveled with a rock from the prison island where Nelson Mandela, the South African antiapartheid leader who died Dec. 5, toiled in a quarry for years.
Related: Mourning Mandela
She has planted trees in Singapore, voted on favorite artwork by chimpanzees (the winner used only his tongue), picked up $1 million from Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen last year to study and protect gorillas in Africa, and ridden in a carriage as grand marshal at the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif.
I know I should be appreciative considering my favorite movie; however, I tend to charge when I see certain people in my agenda-pu$hing propaganda pre$$ now.
Next month, Goodall will view a migration of sandhill cranes in Nebraska.
A columnist in News24.com, an online news outlet in South Africa, was impressed, writing that the octogenarian ‘‘in a society terrified of aging, makes having reached this milestone seem, well, cool.’’
The thought of being here until I'm 80 -- if I even make it that long -- I dunno....
I'm like an adolescent kid. If the paper thinks it's cool, it isn't.
--more--"
Also see: Copenhagen Zoo’s brutal decision
"Amid protests, Danish zoo kills giraffe" Associated Press, February 10, 2014
COPENHAGEN — Saying it needed to prevent inbreeding, the Copenhagen Zoo killed a 2-year-old giraffe, ignoring a petition signed by thousands and offers from other zoos and a private individual to save the animal.
Maybe we should do that with.... never mind.
Maybe we should do that with.... never mind.
Marius, a healthy male, was put down Sunday using a bolt pistol, said Tobias Stenbaek Bro, a zoo spokesman. Visitors, including children, were invited to watch while the giraffe was then skinned and fed to the lions.
See: Boston Globe Slaughterhouse
See: Boston Globe Slaughterhouse
Marius’s plight triggered a wave of online protests and renewed debate about the conditions of zoo animals. Before the giraffe was killed, an online petition to save it had received more than 20,000 signatures.
Nothing against the giraffe, but people are being killed in wars across this planet every day and I don't see online protests and petitions being cited in my paper.
Nothing against the giraffe, but people are being killed in wars across this planet every day and I don't see online protests and petitions being cited in my paper.
Stenbaek Bro said the zoo, which now has seven giraffes, followed the recommendation of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria to put down Marius because there already were a lot of giraffes with similar genes in the organization’s breeding program.
The Amsterdam-based EAZA has 347 members, including many large zoos in European capitals. The group works to conserve global biodiversity and achieve the highest standards of care and breeding for animals.
Related: George Carlin on The Environment
He was one of a kind.
Related: George Carlin on The Environment
He was one of a kind.
Stenbaek Bro said EAZA membership isn’t mandatory, but most responsible zoos are members of the organization.
He said his zoo had turned down offers from other ones to take Marius and an offer from a private individual who wanted to buy the giraffe for $680,000.
Stenbaek Bro said a significant characteristic of EAZA membership is that the zoos don’t own the animals themselves, but govern them, and therefore can’t sell them to anyone outside the organization that doesn’t follow the same set of rules.
He also said it is important for the breeding programs to work.
As well as the sterilization programs for humans, right?
As well as the sterilization programs for humans, right?
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"The auction drew howls from critics, including wildlife and animal rights groups, and the FBI said it was investigating death threats against members of the club."
This post is going to the dogs.
"GROWLING MAD -- Bandar, a three-month-old Sumatran tiger cub, was displeased after he was dunked into a moat for a swim test at the National Zoo in Washington. All cubs born at the zoo must take such a test before they are allowed to roam in the exhibit area. Bandar passed his test on Wednesday (Boston Globe November 7 2013).
Judging from the look on his face in the printed photograph he was very displeased!
I know of another Bandar who could use a good dunking.
"The giant panda cub at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo appears to be in excellent health, zookeepers reported after a 10-minute physical exam Sunday morning."
Not so much for the birds and the bees, although I keep looking and checking to see if the real culprit is mentioned in my corporate pre$$. Same holds true for the fishes in the deep blue sea -- and even those on land.
If I had more time I would go through the whole animal kingdom with you as brought to me by the zoo that is the Boston Globe, but as it is....
