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Thai Elephants Pose as Pandas
 Thai Elephants Pose as Pandas 
Jun 29, 2009 1:29 AM CDT

Thai Elephants Pose as Pandas

Zoo staff reminds countrymen that elephants, too, need love

(Newser) - A $20 million house for a newborn female panda and family at a Thailand zoo has rankled the staff of Ayutthaya Elephant Kraal, who are sick of the nation's panda obsession, reports the Bangkok Post. Concerned that the panda craze has diverted resources from Thailand’s national symbol, they've painted...

Poachers' Poison Slays Rare Elephant

Giant male ate spiked pineapples

(Newser) - A rare Sumatran elephant died after eating pineapples spiked with poison by poachers in northwestern Indonesia, officials report. The giant 30-year-old male, its tusks ripped out for the ivory, was the ninth Sumatran elephant found dead in the region in the last three months. At least seven of them were...

Zoo Webcasts Elephant Birth
 Zoo Webcasts Elephant Birth 
May 18, 2009 2:39 AM CDT

Zoo Webcasts Elephant Birth

(Newser) - A Belgium zoo webcast its first elephant birth to enthralled animal lovers yesterday as the newborn plopped out of mom Phyo Phyo after 38 hours of labor. The mother, sister and aunt scrambled in excitement in a circle around the newborn, trumpeting, until the baby responded with squeals of its...

Queen of Spain Pleads for Grief-Stricken Zoo Elephant

Barcelona Zoo urged to move bereaved elephant to more suitable habitat

(Newser) - Spain's Queen Sofia has intervened to help save an elephant campaigners say is dying of grief, the Independent reports. Susi, Barcelona Zoo's only elephant, lives alone in a concrete compound and has exhibited behavior experts say shows anxiety and deep depression since her companion died last year. The queen has...

Betty White-Barker Feud Heats Up

Price is Right host won't attend game show awards if she's there

(Newser) - Bob Barker might not come on down to the Game Show Awards this weekend—at least, not if Betty White dares to show her face, BuzzerBlog reports. The feisty oldsters are feuding over an elephant Barker wants relocated from the Los Angeles Zoo, and since the Golden Girl got her...

'Gay' Elephant Gets Polish Pol Riled Up

(Newser) - A Polish lawmaker is incensed over a local zoo's acquisition of an elephant that might be gay, Reuters reports. “We were supposed to have a herd, but as Ninio prefers male friends over females how will he produce offspring?” the flustered lawmaker said. Zoo officials said the 10-year-old elephant...

India's Rampaging Elephants Become Election Issue

Villagers promise to vote for party that can save them from animal attacks

(Newser) - Villagers in eastern India have pledged to give their votes in the upcoming election to whoever can save them from rampaging elephants, Reuters reports. Dozens of people are trampled to death in the region every year by elephants forced to raid farmland because of habitat loss, and the two biggest...

NYC Weighs Ban on Circus Elephants

(Newser) - The circus is in town, and in a related development, the New York City Council is considering a ban on the display of "wild or exotic animals" for entertainment, the Times reports. The bill, understood to be aimed at the Ringling Brothers pachyderms, has the support of almost half...

Jacko Adds Elephant to Concert Cast

Plus, auction moves forward, glove on display

(Newser) - Yesterday it was a riverboat, today it’s an elephant. Michael Jackson wants to take the stage at his London concerts atop a magnificent jungle beast, the Daily Mirror reports. And that’s not all: Jacko also wants “panthers led on gold chains," said an insider. "...

Circus Elephant Abuse Case Hits Court

Animal rights groups allege circus group engages in jumbo-sized cruelty

(Newser) - The nation's circus elephants finally have their day in court, reports the Washington Post. Animal rights groups who accuse circuses of mistreating their elephants have battled for eight years to bring a case against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. In opening arguments in Washington DC district court yesterday, an...

Los Angeles Zoo to Bob Barker: Price Is Wrong

Park turns down $1.5M offer to relocate controversial elephant

(Newser) - The Los Angeles Zoo responded forcefully—and negatively—late yesterday to a $1.5 million offer from celebrity Bob Barker to relocate the zoo’s last elephant to a sanctuary, the Times reports. “Billy’s home is at the Los Angeles Zoo, not a distant location that is both...

Zoo Elephants Die Much Younger Than Those in Wild

(Newser) - Elephants in the wild live up to three times longer as those in zoos, a new study says. The six-year report by British and Canadian scientists is sure to fire up the debate between animal rights activists and zoos over the well-being of the animals. African and Asian elephants tend...

Namibia's Ivory Sale Raises Poaching Fears

Legal auction could lead to more poaching

(Newser) - Namibia kicked off two weeks of ivory auctions yesterday, marking the first time in almost a decade that the elephant tusks have sold legally, reports the Times of London. Seven tons brought $1.18 million from Chinese and Japanese buyers, and 108 tons—the equivalent of 10,000 elephants—will...

EBay Bans Ivory Sales
 EBay Bans Ivory Sales 
Oct 22, 2008 4:23 AM CDT

EBay Bans Ivory Sales

Total ban announced ahead of report showing site fuels trade in wildlife products

(Newser) - EBay will introduce a total ban on ivory sales after the holidays in a bid to prevent elephant poaching, Ars Technica reports. The company banned international sales of ivory on its site in 2007 but critics say it did little to halt the trade in illegal ivory. Conservationists estimate 20,...

Numbers Soaring, S. Africa Mulls Elephant Cull

In 13 years since killing ban, overpopulation posing serious threat

(Newser) - South Africa's 1995 ban on culling elephants has proven wildly successful—perhaps too successful, writes Karen Lange in National Geographic. As the population has skyrocketed from 8,000 to 13,000 in the years since, starving elephants are now ravaging vegetation and taxing the nation's ecosystem, forcing experts to consider...

UN Approves China to Buy Ivory
 UN Approves China to Buy Ivory 
Jul 16, 2008 5:29 AM CDT

UN Approves China to Buy Ivory

Critics say allowing imports plays 'Russian roulette' with elephants' lives

(Newser) - China has been given a green light to begin importing African ivory by a UN body that banned the sale 10 years ago, a decision that has infuriated conservation groups, the Daily Telegraph reports. African states say they need to sell stockpiles of ivory from elephants that are culled or...

Elephant Bubble Plans Popped
 Elephant Bubble Plans Popped 
Mar 15, 2008 6:46 PM CDT

Elephant Bubble Plans Popped

Outcry bursts science center's plans to surround elephant with soap bubble

(Newser) - A California science center has ditched plans to surround an elephant with a giant soap bubble, reports the LA Times, after a thousand outraged emailers protested the plan and zoo professionals blasted it as a "Vegas-style sideshow."  A "bubble artist" had planned to break a world...

Illegal Poaching Funds Militant Groups

US lawmakers to probe $10B wildlife trade in hearings this week

(Newser) - Shipments of African contraband such as ivory, tiger parts, and rhino horn are funding militant groups and perhaps terrorists, Newsweek reports. After the theft of $1.3 million in ivory in Chad last year and a reported rise in contraband smuggling, US lawmakers have become interested: A House hearing on...

South Africa to Lift Ban on Killing Elephants

Government says culling is a 'last resort' population control option

(Newser) - South Africa will lift its 1994 ban on elephant culling, sparking outrage among animal rights activists, the Guardian reports. Killing animals will remain "the option of last resort, acceptable only under strict conditions," said the environment minister. He added that managing the elephant population, which has grown to...

Rangers Kill Taunted Tusker
Rangers Kill Taunted Tusker
Jan 8, 2008 3:25 AM CST

Rangers Kill Taunted Tusker

Elephant executed when teasing partygoers provoke him into trashing cars

(Newser) - Tusker, a 50-year-old bull elephant, was an old  favorite at a safari park in Zimbabwe, but rangers shot him dead after he trampled several cars at a rowdy New Year's Eve party where the animal was taunted. Witnesses say that drunken partygoers teased Tusker by flashing car lights, lighting fireworks,...

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