Archive for ‘Zoo’

08/09/2019

Circus tiger escapes during show in China, but dies after being captured and sent to zoo

  • Two people from the circus have been detained after the animal managed to get out of its cage and run towards nearby cornfields on Friday evening
  • It was found the next morning and police used a tranquilliser to subdue the tiger but it died on the way to the zoo, which believes it had been hit by a car
Video footage shows circus handlers using sticks to try to coax the tiger back inside the cage after it escaped on Friday night. Photo: Thepaper.cn
Video footage shows circus handlers using sticks to try to coax the tiger back inside the cage after it escaped on Friday night. Photo: Thepaper.cn

A circus tiger that escaped from its cage during a show in central China was captured by police after an overnight search, but died while it was being transported to a nearby zoo, according to media reports.

Two people from the circus where the tiger was raised in the county of Yuanyang, Henan province, have been detained, Beijing Youth Daily reported, without elaborating. It said the tiger escaped during the circus’ first public show, which had not been registered with the local authorities.

The tiger was part of a performance for a local school on Friday evening when it managed to get out of its cage and run towards nearby cornfields.

A video posted by news site Thepaper.cn shows the moment it escaped from the cage, with its handlers using sticks to try to coax the animal back inside. The scene is chaotic, as people scream and run from the venue.

A tranquilliser dart was used to subdue the tiger on Saturday morning and it was transported to a zoo in Xinxiang. Photo: Thepaper.cn
A tranquilliser dart was used to subdue the tiger on Saturday morning and it was transported to a zoo in Xinxiang. Photo: Thepaper.cn

The police were called in, and officers used drones, police dogs and thermal imaging equipment to hunt for the tiger, according to the local government.

The authorities also put out an emergency advisory telling residents to stay indoors and contact police if they had any information on the tiger’s whereabouts.

It was spotted the following morning, and a tranquilliser dart was used to subdue the animal at about 10.30am on Saturday. The tiger was then transported to a zoo in the city of Xinxiang.

According to one of its zookeepers, the animal had already died by the time it was delivered to the zoo, China Youth Daily reported on Sunday.

The \jsq, surnamed Feng, said the tiger was hit by a car after it escaped and may have sustained internal injuries. The zoo is conducting an autopsy.

Chinese circus tiger attacks two children after breaking out of cage in middle of performance
Thousands of social media users expressed their sympathy for the tiger’s plight, saying it must have suffered greatly, with many people calling for animal circuses to be banned in China.
“Tigers don’t belong in cages, they belong in the wilderness,” one person wrote on microblog site Weibo.
Chinese circus defends using rare animals in its acts despite poor crowds at shows and criticism of its methods.
Source: SCMP
02/09/2019

Double happiness for Berlin as resident panda gives birth to twins

  • Germany welcomes first panda cubs born in the country
  • Zoo reports mother and babies doing well and in good health
Chinese giant panda Meng Meng has given birth to twins at Berlin zoo, the first pandas to be born in Germany. Photo: EPA-EFE
Chinese giant panda Meng Meng has given birth to twins at Berlin zoo, the first pandas to be born in Germany. Photo: EPA-EFE

Berlin zoo is celebrating the safe arrival of panda twins, in the first time that the rare animals have been born in Germany.

Resident panda Meng Meng delivered her first cub on Saturday evening, with the second baby arriving about an hour later.

The zoo posted a video on Twitter of the new mother guiding one of her pink babies to feed, with the announcement: “Meng Meng became a mom – twice! We are so happy, we are speechless.”

The cubs weighed in at 136 and 186 grams but their genders had not been determined, the zoo said.

Meng Meng guides one of her newborn panda twins to feed. Photo: EPA-EFE
Meng Meng guides one of her newborn panda twins to feed. Photo: EPA-EFE

“Meng Meng and her two cubs coped well with the birth and are all in good health,” zoo director Andreas Knieriem said.

At birth, the pink cubs, with their fine white down and disproportionately long tails, bear little resemblance to the adult black and white bears.

The births are particularly rare as it is notoriously hard to breed pandas.

Famed for its “panda diplomacy”, China has sent its national treasure to only about a dozen countries as a symbol of close relations.

The zoo pays US$15 million for a 15-year contract to host them, with most of the money going toward a conservation and breeding research programme in China.

While the cubs are born in Berlin, they remain Chinese and must be returned to China within four years after they have been weaned.

China has previously given three pandas to Germany but the last one, 34-year-old Bao Bao, died in Berlin in 2012, having become the oldest male panda in the world.

About 1,864 pandas remain in the wild in China, up from around 1,000 in the late 1970s, according to the environmental group WWF.

Just over 400 pandas live in zoos around the world, in conservation projects set up with Beijing.

Source: SCMP

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