ORE, Nigeria — More than two decades ago, fate took Tajudeen Babalola to his lifelong ambition. The 52-year-old longed for a more serene life that offered hope for survival away from the fake fancies of Lagos, Africa’s second-largest city and Nigeria’s commercial nerve center. One evening, after an exhausting shift of commercial driving, he received […]
Tag: Chimpanzee
Eight Chimpanzees Find Their Forever Home in Sanctuary
A fundraiser endorsed by Jane Goodall has helped to relocate eight chimpanzees to their new forever home in Center for Great Apes in Florida, according to an emailed release. The chimpanzees had been living temporarily at a closed wildlife refuge in California after financial difficulties caused it to close. It had been a haven for […]
Outgunned by militants, rangers fear for chimpanzees in southwest Mali
Forestry officer Karim Kamisoko is not at his post. Instead of patrolling Bafing Faunal Reserve in southwestern Mali, he and his fellow rangers are 70 kilometers (43 miles) away, taking shelter from Islamist militants who have seized control of much of this part of southwestern Mali. Bafing Faunal Reserve covers 176,000 hectares (435,000 acres), its […]
Are Zoos Vital for Education or Conservation?
As discussions about treating animals ethically progress, it’s difficult to graze over zoos and just how ethical or unethical they are. To start, we have to acknowledge there are people who work in and run zoos that genuinely care about animals. This is not an attempt to belittle or doubt their intentions. Nor is discussing […]
For Africa’s great apes, a post-pandemic future looks beyond tourism
On Jan. 11 this year, something happened that primatologists had both feared and expected: two western lowland gorillas at San Diego Zoo Safari Park tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Right from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts had assumed great apes would be susceptible to the virus. IUCN great ape specialists sent out a document […]
Tiger with Collar Wandering in Houston Neighborhood Caught on Video
A tiger creeping around a Houston neighborhood was caught on video recently. A video sent to local station KHOU-11 shows a tiger with a collar in their owner’s front yard. Police responded to the incident. In the video, a man is seen waving a gun at the animal. “This is about a tiger. I’m on […]
Bears beg tourists for food at Thai zoo declared ‘hell on Earth for animals’ where tigers and other animals have been left emaciated during Covid lockdown
A notorious Thai zoo has sparked concern for the health of its animals after it reopened to visitors following the Covid lockdown. People found bears begging for food in tiny enclosures, emaciated tigers and cattle, crocodiles swimming in filthy water and orangutans desperately reaching out to tourists behind bars. A vet dispatched by the government […]
First COVID-19 cases in zoo gorillas raise alarm about wild populations
Two gorillas at San Diego Zoo in California have tested positive for COVID-19, in the first reported cases of great apes contracting the novel coronavirus. Three of the primates showed symptoms as of this week, and zoo authorities have not ruled out other troop members also being infected. Since the pandemic broke out last year, […]