Elephants at the Bowmanville Zoo

Photo From thestar.com RYAN PFEIFFER / METROLAND

On December 3rd, Limba the elephant was euthanized at the Bowmanville Zoo. Elephants are very social animals but Limba has lived alone for many years.  In October a mass was discovered in her abdomen and later a tumour on her spleen. Despite her serious illness she was still made to walk in the Santa Claus parade a few weeks before. 

Many are concerned that the Bowmanville Zoo is planning to purchase a new elephant to replace Limba. According to CAZA (Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums) zoos should make every effort to maintain elephants in social groupings. They also state it is inappropriate to keep highly social female elephants singly long term. 

Please let the Bowmanville Zoo know how you feel about elephants being kept alone, socially isolated from a group, and how you feel about them acquiring an elephant to replace Limba. You can email them at info@bowmanvillezoo.com, call them at 905-623-5655, or send them a letter at 340 King Street East, Bowmanville, Ontario, L1C 3K5

You may also be interested in signing a petition about this issue at  Change.org

Awesome Orcas

Picture by Emre

Grade 4 students at Grenoble recently participated in a Keep It Wild workshop about orcas.  They learned a lot about orcas in the wild. 

 They discovered that orcas are top predators and spend much of their time hunting. 

Picture by Khan

They learned that orcas live in large open spaces in the ocean, travelling 

Picture by Areesh

They learned that orcas live in tight social groups, never leaving their family. 

Picture by Anirud

They also compared the orca's wild habitat to that of Kiska's, a lone whale that lives in Marineland, in Ontario Canada.

A lot of the students were concerned about how Kiska was feeling:

Kiska is alone. She misses her family. - Hatem

I thnk Kiska is sad that all five kids have died. - Tudor

I think you should let her go or bring another orca because Kiska will be sad. 
     - Kademcan


Here are some of their comments about how to improve Kiska's habitat:

You can keep Kiska so others can see her too. But just get Kiska another whale to keep Kiska busy. Make her feel like home. - Tia

I think you should let Kiska have a lot of other orcas in there with Kiska and give her more room. 

     - Maariyah

Please put more fish into Kiska's pool. She needs to learn to hunt. Also please give Kiska a bigger pool. That's all I want. - Shadman

Kiska should get a friend. She is alone. At least she can have fun with someone like her, not like people. She is missing happiness. - Sarah

I think you should make it look like under the sea if you are going to keep Kiska. - Deyono

Some students thought that her captive habitat was not appropriate, and wanted Kiska released back to the wild:

I wish that you let Kiska free. But first teach her to hunt and breed and all other stuff. - Ryan

Please let Kiska go. A whale's life is supposed to be exciting, but Kiska's life is boring because there is no adventure in her life. - Mariah

It isn't nice to have a living thing captured. Kiska needs love and family. She's part of the wild. Please let her go. - Nabiha

Can you please stop keeping Kiska. She is alone. There is no one to talk to her. She is sad. - Siraj

You should let Kiska out of there and let her have space and let her explore a little bit of the world. 
     - Hud.

Let Kiska go. She must be very alone in a small place. Let her have some fun with her friends. 
     - Ruhaba

Kiska should be free from your cage. Let her be wild. Would you like it if you were forced to do entertainment? Before you let her wild, train her how to hunt. - Areesh

Others were concerned about the issue of orcas in captivity, not just Kiska:

Do not capture more orcas because then the orcas wouldn't be with its family. It will lose the population of orcas in the wild. - Michael

I hope Kiska and the other whales get to be free. Please let whales be in the wild. More of them are losing their families. - Safiullah

If the orca can't take care of its babies then you should not get more animals. - Mateen

You should let Kiska go. And the other animals that are alone, because they have nothing to do. 
- Esfar

Thanks for all your great ideas! You are making the world a better place for animals by sharing your thoughts on how animals feel and how we should treat them.

Save The Polar Bears!

The grade 2 and 3 students at Reesor Park P.S. have been busy working on a campaign to save polar bears in the wild. Polar bears migrate across the sea ice to hunt for polar bears, but global warming is causing the sea ice to melt early. The students have been learning about ways that they can help stop global warming. 

Check out some of their great posters to learn ways to help the polar bears. 

Keep up the great work Reesor Park! You're doing a great job helping wild animals. 

Wildlife Photography Exhibit

Badger Dream Scene by Mark Steichen (Luxembourg) as found on the ROM website

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) has a Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, displayed from November 23 2013 until March 23 2014. The competition celebrates nature and wildlife and captures animals in their natural settings. A recent Toronto Star article about the exhibit says: The elephants have left Toronto's zoo, but you can find some more at the Royal Ontario Museum. Read more of the article here. To learn more about the exhibit, check out the ROM's website. 

Good News for Wild Animals

Wild animals made headlines in several places today. 

Here in Ontario, the Community Safety Minister, Madeleine Meilleur, announced changes to protect animals. These include more money and power for the OSPCA (Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), inspections of all zoos and aquariums in the province, and specific guidelines for the care of marine mammals, like the whales and dolpins in marine parks. This will mean that the provinces' 60 zoos and aquariums will be inspected regularly and will need to be registered. Learn more about these changes in the Toronto Star

In the east coast of Canada, the mayors of Atlantic Canada announced that they want that their government to make some new rules about how and where exotic animals are kept. This is in reaction to a terrible tragedy in which 2 young boys were killed by a snake, an African rock python, when they were sleeping in an apartment about a pet store in Campbelton, New Brunswick. Learn more about this issue at CBCNews

And outside of Canada the Government of England has made a decision to ban the use of all wild animals in circuses. The ban will be fully in effect by the end of 2015.  Many leading charities and animal welfare organizations worked together to speak out against wild animals being used in circuses. Wild animals in circuses live in very unnatural environments and endure constant travelling and cramped temporary cages. Learn more about this exciting news in the Express

Toronto Elephants Are on the Move!

Thika, Toka and Iringa, the three elephants from the Toronto Zoo are now on the road, heading for a new chapter in their life at an elephant sanctuary in California. Yesterday, after a long day of waiting for the journey to begin, the elephants were finally loaded onto two trucks, and left the zoo around 10:30. The elephants are doing well on their journey so far. To follow their trip, check out the CBC coverage. And stay tuned to the fifth estate on Friday October 25th to see the full documentary of the elephant trek. 

Gorilla Trackers

Our newest workshop is up and running, available for bookings for the 2013-2014 school year. The workshop is designed to enrich and enhance the grade 3 curriculum on Plants. Gorillas are herbivores and eat over 50 different species of plants. Some of their favourites are wild celery, thistles, and bamboo shoots. But their plant-based diet isn't the only thing students will get to discover. Students will find out what to pack for a trip to the jungle, and whether any of the items are made from plants. And they'll get a chance to find out what gorilla researchers study in the forest - dung! Students will measure, weigh, and dissect gorilla dung, and learn about the crucial role of the gorilla in seed dispersal. 

They'll also get a chance to discover how gorillas use plants not just for food, but for shelter, tools, and more. And of course they'll learn some of the threats that gorillas face, and some great tips about how to take action to help gorillas! 

Keep It Wild is back in the classroom!

Our animal-themed workshops are back in the classroom for the 2013-2014 school year, and our blog is back too, after a bit of a hiatus! Today the first workshop of the new school year was delivered, our Awesome Orcas workshop for grade 4's.

During one of our discussions about how orcas live and communicate within their family pods, several students referred to individual whales as people.  When India put a ban on the import and capture of cetaceans (whales and dolphins) for entertainment this past summer, they released a statement noting that dolphins [and whales] are highly intelligent and should be considered 'non-human persons'. The idea of a non-human person seems like a concept that scientists, lawyers and ethicists might be discussing, but it seems that nine-year-olds are also more than capable of considering the idea of a person who is of a different species.

The grade 4's also learned about orcas in captivity, including Kiska, an orca who has been living without the companionship of another whale since 2011 at Marineland in Niagra Falls.  Learn more about Kiska and Marineland through this series of  Toronto Star articles. 

Photograph of Kiska by JoAnne McArthur We Animals

 

Primates on Planes

Monkeys being shipped by Air France (www.buav.org)

Air Canada has joined other airlines in refusing to transport primates that are being used for research. Their decision was prompted by almost 50,000 letters from people who voiced their concerns. A recent tribunal upheld Air Canada's decision. Learn more about this issue at CBC news 

Every year, thousands of macaques and other monkeys are flown into Europe and North America to supply university and industry research labs. These monkeys are transported as cargo in crates. Many other airlines, such as British Airways, already refuse to transport primates. If you want to write a letter of thanks to Air Canada, here's their contact info: 

Air Canada - Customer Relations
PO Box 64239,
RPO Thorncliffe
Calgary, AB, Canada
T2K 6J7
Fax: 1-866-584-0380
       1-403-569-5333

Remember, letter-writing campaigns work! If there is an animal issue that concerns you, make sure to write a letter, and have your friends write a letter too!