Message from Scott Kubisch, Founder/President Peaceable Primate Sanctuary

Amelia
Caleb
Hello Baboon Friend,
I know it has been awhile since you have heard from us but we have been busy with construction projects and getting ready for our first residents.I just wanted to give all of you some updates on our progress. We have completed the installation of all the roads,electric, septic system and a good portion of the outdoor caging. With the generous support from 2 of our donors we were able to install a office and volunteer area. The 1/2 acre outdoor enclosure and the indoor area are both 90% complete. With the help of my good friend John, the baboons will have a wonderful and exciting climbing structure that will give them many hours of fun. We have started construction on the perimeter fence and should have in completed in the next few months.


Our Baboons: Update
We have accepted 2 more baboons for sanctuary,that bring us to 5 for our first group. We are hoping that Cody,Sarah,Judy,Amelia and Kaleb will be moving at years end. With the assistance of Carol Asvestos at the Wild Animal Orphanage they are a stable and happy troop. Our 2 new members came from completely different situations,Kaleb was born in a research facility but was kicked out of the group when he became mature. Cody was a research baboon that was retired to Carol. She tried to have him join her baboon troop but was unable to do so. We decided to try him with our troop and he was willing accepted,so he will be moving to Indiana.

Just 2 more things. Our mailing address has changed so if you need to get in touch with us or would like to make a tax deductible donation to assist us please send it to:

Peaceable Primate Sanctuary
6415 North 800 West
Winamac, IN 46996

Please check out our web-site to see pictures of the above mentioned projects, www.primatesanctuary.org

Save This Page

Primate News Round Up

(jpg from sepiamutiny.com)


http://buzzfeed.com/peggy/monkey-bartenders
Monkey Bartenders

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004351728_cookies16.html
Girl Scouts take a stand: Just say no to Thin Mints

http://www.kormorant.co.za/2008/02Feb/28Feb/Monkey.htm
Male vervet monkey survives brutal arrow attack

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080228124415.htm
Chimps May Have A 'Language-ready' Brain

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/gorillas_laga_drori.php
Keeping Gorillas In Our Midst

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/67725864.html
Human Viruses Jumping to Wild Apes

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/14797594/detail.html
Owner Of Monkey Accused In Burke County Attack Blames Lotion

Save This Page

Roadkill Stats Surprise Scientists

The scientists focused their survey on four Indiana roads covering 11 miles, through urban and rural areas. Glista, then a Purdue University researcher who is now a scientist with the Indiana Department of Transportation, and colleagues DeWoody and Travis DeVault counted road kill on the routes twice weekly for over a year. They used a GPS unit to mark locations, also noting the weather and surrounding habitats.

Back at Purdue, they compiled the information into a database and were shocked by the results.

During the survey, they found 10,500 dead animals representing 69 species. Ninety-five percent were amphibians and reptiles, with bullfrogs and other frogs, often too damaged to fully identify, topping the list. The most frequently listed birds and mammals were opossums (79) and chimney swifts (36). The bodies of shrews, skunks, voles, muskrats, mice, raccoons, squirrels, Eastern cottontails, song sparrows, European starlings, American robins, turtles and snakes were also documented.

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
The above photo is from Getty Images

Save This Page

Cops Kill Cougar On The North Side

Ever since I read "The Beast In the Garden", I knew it was just a matter of time. The book was published in 2003 and now, 5 years later, we have our first cougar killed in Chicago in Roscoe Village (roughly 3100 North to 3500 North and 2000 West to 2400 West).
The cougar was male, about 3 1/2 feet long and weighed 122 lbs. No information about its age or general condition was given at the Chicago Tribune's necropsy. It was not reported if this was an Eastern Cougar, an endangered species.

Cougars are the most versatile of the big cats. They are found as far north as Canada and as far south as Patagonia in a variety of habitats from desert to swamp to mountains. They are powerful predators. After killing their prey, they drag it to a place where it is cached. Can you imagine doing that to a deer or a full grown man?

The opening paragraph of "The Beast In The Garden" began with the death of Scott Lancaster, an 18 yo who went for a run behind his school. He didn't return. Running triggers the predator/prey response. The mountain lion stalked and ambushed Scott Lancaster as he ran. His body was found eviscerated and guarded by the lion which was shot and killed.

I lived for a year in Roscoe Village from September, 1988 to September, 1989 at 3307 N. Hoyne, a block from where the cougar was cornered and killed. Roscoe Village had opossum at that time. Since then, coyotes and dwarf earred rabbits have joined the city. Add in the dogs and cats everyone has and humans who like to jog when it's dark outside or children playing in the yard, and you have a plentiful food source for a carnivore like a cougar.

Save This Page

2000 ORVs vs 100 Panthers

By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 17, 2008

Off-road vehicles were prohibited in 2000 in much of the region north of Interstate 75, known as Alligator Alley. But preserve superintendent Karen Gustin decided to reopen the Bear Island area to ORV use a year ago after a heavy lobbying effort by the off-roaders.

The previous prohibition against ORVs was influenced by a drop in the panthers' numbers, which fell to about 30 in the mid-1990s. Eight Texas cougars were introduced to breed with the Florida cat.

Schwartz of the Sierra Club counters that 15 panthers were killed in vehicle collisions last year, dropping the population closer to 80. None died due to ORV hits that he knows of, but he suspects the noise and habitat disruption from the off-roaders helped drive them onto highways.

Paul Souza, a field supervisor for South Florida from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, confirms that a record number of panthers were killed in 2007. But he disputes that their mortality rate is the result of panthers' being displaced by ORV noise.

"I haven't seen any scientific evidence that would support that specific line of logic," he said.

The increased deaths and sightings of the panthers on the populated fringes of the preserve "reflects growing numbers of panthers and the fact that we have more development and more people than we had in the past," Souza said.

Because of the pending litigation, Gustin said she couldn't discuss what effects ORV traffic might be having on the panthers. But she conceded that with rising air traffic, mining and growth, "we do have some kind of impact, and I don't think anyone would deny that."

The preserve has capped at 2,000 the number of ORVs licensed. The rigs are prohibited in all national parks, such as the Everglades immediately south of the preserve, and part of the rationale in expanding access to Big Cypress has been acknowledgment of off-roaders' rights to use some public lands, Gustin said.

Lyle McCandless, head of the Big Cypress Sportsmen's Alliance, said: "All I'm going to say is that my alliance is putting forth great efforts in protecting the ORV rights and other rights given to the public by the 1974 act of Congress that created the preserve. Our opponents -- the environmental extremists -- expect these public lands to be closed to anything other than foot traffic."

Schwartz says the responsibility for any threat to the panthers lies with the park service and Fish and Wildlife, the government agencies that are the wilderness stewards.

"It's not a hunters-versus-hikers issue," Schwartz said. "It's not about people at all. If I were to put it simply, I would say it's about machines versus nature."

The LA Times article was edited for brevity and space. To view the entire article, please click on the heading for this post.

The Florida Panther is a sub-species of the cougar and is classified as endangered. Starting in 1993, 27 Texas Cougars were introduced to Florida to help stabilize the Florida Panther population. 19 non-breeding Texas Cougars were introduced between 1993 - 1995 followed by 8 breeding Texas Cougars.

You can learn more about the Florida Panther at the Florida Panther Society and the Florida Panther Home Page.

Save This Page

I swerve for raccoons (and pigeons and squirrels)

Last month, Monica Eng, a food writer at the Chicago Tribune, generated some controversy by an article on raccoon consumption. The raccoon was prepared by Homaru Cantu of Moto and plated like road kill. There was a follow up story on the hunting and selling of raccoon in Illinois. Even columnist John Kass got into the act with a tongue-in-cheek article on roasted giraffe after one of Brookfield Zoo's male giraffes broke his neck in a bizarre accident.

Tuesday evening, I saw a raccoon with a broken leg crossing Western Avenue at Wilson. It made it to the sidewalk where it laid on top of a pile of snow. I pulled over and called 311. I waited 40 minutes. I gave up waiting for animal control after a policeman told me it could take hours.

When I got home, I researched the internet for wildlife rehabilitation resources in Chicago. There are none. There's a handful of rural wildlife rehabilitators, most, it seemed, who don't deal with raccoons. There's Willowbrook Wildlife Center but they service DuPage County (they are funded by the DuPage County Forest Preserve). I also learned that most vets won't treat wild animals.

I emailed my alderman; Anne Kent, Executive Director of Cook County Animal Care & Control; Melinda Pruett-Jones, Executive Director Chicago Wildlife Corporate Council and Steve Thompson, VP of Lincoln Park Zoo.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile, at this animal rehabilitator's ebay store, you can view pictures of domesticated and wild animals she has rescued. The photos are graphic and not suitable for everyone.

Stan Gehrt, a wildlife biologist at the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation in Dundee, had been studying raccoons in Kansas, Texas, and northeastern Illinois for 17 years when he was interviewed for an article in the summer 2002 issue of Chicago Wilderness magazine.

You can learn more about raccoons at The Gable's Raccoon World.

The above photo came from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources website.

Save This Page

Last post on Tatiana

I thought the following article was interesting because the American Sanctuary Association fencing requirements for big cats is shorter than the American Zoological Association requirements. Is it because legitimate sanctuaries are closed to the public?

It seems all wild animal professionals are in agreement: Tatiana was provoked.

Animal experts debate tiger safety
By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writer

Wed Jan 9, 6:17 PM ET

A tiger lurked in the tall grass at a park in India as gamekeepers tried to shoot it with a dart gun and missed. The animal suddenly sprang from the grass, sailed through the air and took a swipe at a man sitting on an elephant's back.

The man lost three fingers.

"I could never imagine that a tiger could so effortlessly leap from the ground on to an adult elephant's head, which is at least 12 feet above the ground," Vivek Menon, executive director of Wildlife Trust of India, said of the 2004 attack, a video of which has been circulating on YouTube.

That attack — along with other examples of explosive encounters with tigers — are stoking a debate that began after a 350-pound Siberian tiger climbed over the 12 1/2-foot wall around its pen at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day and mauled three visitors, killing one.

Among the questions experts are now asking: How high can tigers jump? And have zoos and sanctuaries dangerously underestimated tigers?

That is to say: Are the walls high enough?

"We are evaluating that right now," said Vernon Weir, director of the American Sanctuary Association, which has about 35 members, only a few of which have big cats. The ASA accredits sanctuaries and in the past recommended 12-foot fences.

Similarly, Association of Zoos & Aquariums, which accredits the nation's zoos, may adjust its 16.4-foot wall-height recommendation for tigers once it learns fully what happened in San Francisco, spokesman Steve Feldman said.

In San Francisco, the wall was well below the AZA minimum. But several other major U.S. zoos appear to meet or exceed the standards, with high walls topped in many cases with electrified wire or pronounced overhangs to prevent tigers from pulling themselves up and over the side.

Animal experts said they aren't aware of any hard numbers about the precise leaping ability of tigers. They said it depends on the animal and whether it has been taunted, as may have happened in the San Francisco tragedy. But Feldman said his organization's 16.4-foot figure was based on the opinions of a group of experts.

There are well-publicized examples of tigers' phenomenal leaping ability.

In an incident at a national park in Nepal in 1974, an enraged Bengal tiger protecting her cubs mauled a researcher who had climbed into a tree. The tiger managed to climb onto a 15-foot-high limb.

"She just went right up and she didn't have much to hold onto. She clearly made that jump without much problem," said Melvin Sunquist, professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Florida and an expert on tigers.

Sunquist, who published an account of the Nepal attack in his book "Tiger Moon: Tracking the Great Cats of Nepal," said he wasn't surprised by the news that a tiger had gotten out of its cage in San Francisco.

"I saw what a tigress can do," he said. "If they can get a purchase on anything, they can get up there."

Dale Miquelle, director of Wildlife Conservation Society's program in Russia, said he has seen tigers do many unusual things, such as climbing to the top of large trees when incensed — something tigers don't normally do.

"What animals normally do, and what they can do, are often very different things," Miquelle said.

The AZA said it has 216 accredited members with 258 tigers among them. Only five of them were born in the wild, and tigers in captivity generally cannot jump as high as those that are in top condition from hunting in the wild.

Louis Dorfman, an animal behaviorist and chairman of the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Texas, oversees 24 tigers at his sanctuary, including an 11-year-old Bengal-Siberian tiger that weighs about 550 pounds and extends about 11 feet paw-to-paw when it stretches like a housecat.

Dorfman said his tigers have never tried to scale their fences, but warned: "With provocation, they're capable of unbelievable aggression and power. These cats are a combination of strong instincts, strong emotion and no inhibition."

Zoo visitors running back and forth can resemble prey to a tiger. Throwing objects at a tiger or dangling something can also trigger its predatory instincts.

"First and foremost, people need to be educated. We need to respect them accordingly," said Jonathan Kraft, who runs Keepers of the Wild in Arizona, which has more than 20 tigers. In the San Francisco escape, "I would bet my reputation that the animal was taunted."

Save This Page

Homo Sapiens: Wise Man

The Tatiana tiger story is turning into heated discussions as to whether tigers belong in zoos and whether zoo visitors should be able to taunt wild animals without suffering repercussions.

You can view the latest news stories at the Big Cats Rescue Sanctuary blog which is doing a great job covering the story.

The following is from the 12/26/2007 Telegraph news story about chimps throwing stones at visitors:

"Visitors should know how to behave in a zoo. Annoying animals could be fatal, as had happened in the Guwahati zoo, where a visitor was mauled to death by a tiger while he was photographing the animal,"said an Alipore zoo official.

Our species is called Homo Sapiens which is Latin for "wise man".

Save This Page

Wildlife Conservation Success Stories for 2007

This is from the AZA website:

Top 10 Wildlife Conservation Success Stories in 2007

1. Terrific toadlets
   

   Credit: Rebecca Johnson
   

   Habitat loss, pollution and disease are hitting some of the smallest creatures on earth the hardest. Frog populations have been in sharp decline the past few decades, but a fortunate native species is getting a helping hand from scientists. Staff at the Detroit Zoo are raising 40 juvenile Wyoming toads, one of the most endangered amphibians in the United States. The species is now considered functionally extinct in the wild, with the last remaining individuals only found in zoos and aquariums across the country. The zoo breeding partnership, led by Central Park Zoo and Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, has successfully released more than 6,000 tadpoles, toadlets and toads in Wyoming since the program's inception in 1995. Recent good news indicates that the recovery efforts may be paying off: this summer in a monitored protected area, conservationists discovered the first clutch of Wyoming toad eggs found in the wild in ten years.

2. Mice on the move
   

   Credit: Kathy Russell
   

   This summer, Santa Fe Community College Teaching Zoo in Gainesville, Florida, began housing 52 Perdido Key beach mice to protect the species from extinction. The mice originated from the University of South Carolina, but needed to be relocated after damage from Hurricane Ivan. The Brevard Zoo, Florida Aquarium and Palm Beach Zoo have since shared in the responsibility of caring for and studying the mice. There are only a few hundred individuals left in the wild, inhabiting just one barrier island off the coast of Pensacola. Scientists fear that a hurricane could be disastrous to the beach mice, potentially causing the species to become extinct in the wild. Breeding studies have commenced to safeguard their numbers.

3. The right stuff for right whales
   

   Credit: New England Aquarium
   

   The world's rarest large whale, the right whale, has been the topic of interest for scientists at the New England Aquarium this past year. Fewer than 400 North Atlantic right whales currently exist in the world, and are threatened by ship collisions and entanglement in fishing gear, habitat loss, pollution, and disease. The New England Aquarium's Right Whale Research Project recently developed a hormone test to learn more about the reproductive rates of the endangered species. This information is critical in helping these giant sea creatures survive.

4. Loose lemurs
   

   Credit: Saint Louis Zoo
   

   Black-and-white ruffed lemurs born in zoos are getting a feel for their new home at the Betampona Natural Reserve in eastern Madagascar. The Madagascar Fauna Group (MFG), and the Duke Lemur Center coordinated the plan to reintroduce zoo-bred lemurs to the wild, with the help of other MFG partners and institutions, including Salt Lake City's Hogle Zoo, the Los Angeles Zoo and the Santa Ana Zoo. The released individuals are being monitored and have fared well so far, with four offspring born from three reintroduced lemurs.

5. International sea turtle success
   

   Credit: Dr. Patrick M. Burchfield
   

   The Kemp's ridley sea turtle population is in bad shape, but thanks to cooperation between U.S and Mexican officials and scientists, the species can rest assured that their nesting sites will be safe. The Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, and Mexican conservation workers have protected the turtle's nesting sites on beaches in Tamaulipas, Mexico and Padre Island National Seashore. The Zoo reports an increase in nests by the hundreds each year on the Mexican Gulf Coast, indicating success of the program.

6. Black and white is all the rage
   

   Credit: Saint Louis Zoo
   

   Grevy's zebras are the hot topic in animal awareness thanks to the Saint Louis Zoo. The Zoo has partnered with several Kenyan non-profits and other zoo partners to spread awareness to communities in the zebra's home range across Kenya. Grevy's zebras are threatened by poaching and competition from livestock, but efforts to raise awareness in Kenyan villages have been paying off and benefiting their wild populations, reports the Zoo. Several communities have established livestock-free conservation areas, which benefit not only the zebras, but all forms of wildlife in the region. Additionally, over 30 Grevy's zebra foals have been born and raised at the Saint Louis Zoo over the past five decades.

7. Saving "Jaws"
   

   Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium/ Randy Wilder
   

   For the third time since 2004, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has placed a young white shark on public exhibit. The shark was caught accidentally in commercial fishing gear off Southern California. Through its White Shark Research Project, the Aquarium has worked since 2002 to learn more about white sharks in the wild, and has since tagged and tracked 10 juvenile white sharks off Southern California. White sharks are in decline worldwide, in part because they are slow to reproduce and also because of growing fishing pressure that is decimating all shark species. Their fearsome reputation has also made them a target of trophy hunters and the curio trade. The Aquarium's hope in exhibiting a white shark is to change public attitudes and promote greater protection for these much-maligned ocean predators.

8. Blue skies for butterflies
   

   Credit: Jaret C. Daniels, Ph.D
   

   Floridian zoos have teamed up to protect the small but mighty butterfly. The Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network, which includes Brevard Zoo, Central Florida Zoo, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Jacksonville Zoo, Lowry Park Zoo, and Miami MetroZoo, is working to survey butterfly populations throughout Florida. Saving this small creature is no small task, and volunteer citizen scientists trained by the zoos conduct monthly counts of butterflies in both natural and man-made habitats on zoo grounds. This information allows researchers to monitor populations and look into potential threats to fragile butterfly species.

9. Marmot Island
   

   Credit: Andrew Bryant
   

   The Vancouver Island marmot is the most endangered animal in Canada. Native to British Columbia’s Vancouver Island, these critters are being threatened by massive habitat destruction in the wild. Their current wild population is estimated at nearly 50 animals, but thanks to breeding centers devoted to the species, such as the Toronto Zoo, the population is now around 150. Calgary Zoo in Alberta was the first to successfully breed the marmots at their facility, and produced an impressive five litters in 2007. The pups will be reintroduced in Mount Washington, British Columbia, where they will undergo pre-release conditioning to improve survivability in the wild. Veterinarians at the Calgary Zoo were also recently awarded an AZA Conservation Endowment Fund (CEF) grant to study diseases impacting Vancouver Island marmot populations at the breeding institutions and in the wild.

10. The regal eagle's recovery
    

    Credit: Peter Sharpe
    

    This year, America's national symbol, the bald eagle, was removed from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Endangered Species List. This was a grand feat for the species, which just a decade ago faced dwindling populations. The San Francisco Zoo has been instrumental in breeding and releasing captive eagles, and has reintroduced more than 100 bald eagles over the past 22 years. The Zoo reports about 200 nesting pairs of bald eagles in California today.

When you support AZA certified zoos, you are supporting wildlife conservation.

Save This Page

$5K for Tiger Killer Conviction

While we'll continue to follow up on the tiger tragedy at the San Francisco Zoo, there's an even sadder tiger story that occurred on the same Christmas. The following is from Big Cat News, the blog for the Big Cat Rescue Sanctuary in Florida.

5,000 Reward for Tiger Killer Conviction

Big Cat Rescue is offering a $5,000. reward for information resulting in the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the shooting death of the tiger found along side I-35E in Dallas, TX on Christmas day.

Watch the video on our home page and pass it on to your friends. We have to put an end to this! http://www.BigCatRescue.org

The same day the tragic tiger event happened at the San Francisco Zoo, a horrific story seemed to fall through the cracks. Please read below and pass this on. All credible information will be passed onto the authorities.

By DAVID SCHECHTER / WFAA-TV

DALLAS - Sanitation crews in Dallas made a shocking discovery after they received a call about a dead animal on Christmas Day.
A female Bengal tiger was found dead when the crews searched a wooded area near Interstate 35E and Overton Road. A city spokesperson said the tiger was shot several times. The animal, which was declawed and wearing a make-shift leash, was taken to the Dallas Zoo. A necropsy, the animal version of an autopsy, was completed at the zoo early Thursday evening. The tiger was estimated to be around one-years-old and weighed about 180 pounds. Shell casing were found in the tiger's chest and face. In all, there were five bullet entries. Chuck Siegel, deputy director of the Dallas Zoo, said he believes the tiger may have become more than the owner could handle.
"I find it very, very disturbing to see the nature of the collar-leash, which looks more like a bicycle cable than anything else," he said. "And this rusted wire, which is tangled around the leash, is obviously very hazardous." The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the United States Department of Agriculture are investigating the incident and searching for the owner of the tiger.

***BIG CAT RESCUE IS OFFERING A $5,000.00 REWARD FOR INFORMATION RESULTING IN THE ARREST AND CONVICTION OF THE PERSON OR PERSONS RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING THE FEMALE TIGER WHO WAS FOUND SHOT TO DEATH IN DALLAS, TEXAS ON CHRISTMAS DAY.
EMAIL INFO AT: INFO@BIGCATRESCUE.ORG

For the cats,

Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue
an Educational Sanctuary home
to more than 100 big cats
12802 Easy Street Tampa, FL 33625
813.493.4564 fax 885.4457

Most privately owned tigers in the U.S are in Texas.

We are a small blog, but we get visitors from around the world. If you are from Texas or know someone in Texas, please help out Carole Baskin and pass her post along.

For the tigers.

WCSH Portland news story link
ABC Local Dallas news story link

Save This Page