Over the weekend, a man climbed into the bear enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo. Authorities still aren't sure why Kenneth Herron, 21, who is described as a "transient," made his way into the grizzly bear grotto late Sunday afternoon. It seems Herron managed to scale a wall, get himself into the enclosure, and crouch behind some bushes once inside.
As SF Appeal is reporting, the San Francisco Zoo has no plans to build (and cannot afford to build) any new sanctuary that would humanely house elephants, following on a 2005 decision by the city not to house elephants there after all the zoo's elephants croaked. This revelation comes on the heels of reports of a certain Rec and Park commissioner who wishes they'd get some elephants again because his grandchildren like them.
The first gorilla birth in over a decade, this little tyke plays "a contributing role to the conservation efforts taking place for this critically endangered species through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan (AZA, SSP)." Wee.
An eight-year-old mother giraffe, one that recently gave birth in Febuary this year, died at the SF Zoo today. (Giraffes usually live anywhere from 15 and 20 years.) Gezi collapsed today a little after noontime, and succumbed to cardiac and respiratory arrest. If you recall, over four years ago two elephants died at the local zoo, and just last year a tiger named Tatiana was shot and killed after mauling a visitor. What leads us to ask: Is the is zoo deathtrap now? Should they instead make it into a theme park with zany rides? Maybe call it "The Haunted ZOOOOOOOOOOO!"?
The Examiner is reporting that morale is low over at the San Francisco Zoo: low attendance, a year's worth of the maintenance budget squandered in two months on necessary upgrades to the zoo (whose figure apparently "doesn’t include a $1.8 million bond released by the Recreation and Park Department to pay for upgrades at the tiger grotto"). Following the infamous tiger attack on Christmas Day, the zoo is plagued by numerous problems that its board of directors is digging its way out from under.
The Intrepid Travel, some sort of online travel guide -- one that clearly has no access to the internets, TV, newspapers, phones, water coolers -- is bestowing the SF Zoo (along with 60 others) with the title of Best Zoo of 2008. Yes. Yes, they are. While the title of Most Interesting Zoo of 2008 seems appropriate, we still can't figure out if this is some sort of joke. Here's part of the remarkable press release:
Cute, yes? The San Francisco Zoo just released images of the newborn Sumatran tiger cub triplets born this past week to Leanne and George. Here are a few shots of the new kittens waiting for their first health exam.
The big cat grottoes re-open for public view.
Ride your bike at the San Francisco Zoo without fear of ejection or arrest on the BikeAbout tour.
Because Valentine's Day is about necking, red roses, and Whitman's Samplers -- and not about making that special someone your creampie cutie for the night, you perverts -- the San Francisco Zoo's annual adult-only "Zoo Sex Tour" has changed its name to “Woo at the Zoo.” Why? No idea. But the zoo tells us:
Wow. This is a bit depressing. Scratch that, a lot.
Due to the "unusual and extraordinary" Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo -- which resulted in the mauling death of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. and wounding of Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal -- a three-member tiger team formed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums has been called in to examine the zoo's big cat grotto. While the investigation and renovations are underway, the tigers and lions are currently kicking it indoors. What's more, according to zoo director Manuel Mollinedo, the cats have been subjected to the wonderful world of Disney:
At the bargain price of just $35 dollars down at City Hall this morning, authorities released the emergency 911 tapes of the San Francisco Zoo tiger attacks. The attacks, if you don't remember, occurred on Christmas Day, taking the life of Carlos Sousa Jr. and injuring the now (in)famous Dhaliwal brothers. The footage is raw, with the most unnerving robotic British female voice overlapping the frantic phone call, but to check listen to the audio, go here. According to the Gate:
At about 7:10 a..m. this morning, Lisa, a San Francisco Zoo zebra died. Named Lisa, the zebra was born in February of 1998. (An Aquarian? An even greater loss.) According to a spokesperson at SF Zoo, "reports of [Lisa] salivating while on exhibit in the African Savanna led to an examination by the Zoo veterinarian. The zebra was placed in her indoor stall in the Hoofstock Barn and treated with a common equine medication."
(Look at us, getting all PETA on you with that headline. Gross.)
SFist Jim reports that he went to the reopening of the San Francisco Zoo today, where he snapped the picture, above, of the tributes being placed at the zoo's tiger statue, and which he described as "a big bust." When we first read SFist Jim's email, we thought he was talking about the tiger statue (we were like, "they made a bust of Tatiana? So fast!"), but no, he meant the crowds, which were sparse to the point where there was more media there than zoo visitors.
Behold, the tight-lipped duo who, at this point last week, couldn't have imagined the death and subsequent big-cat madness in store for them today. Under supervision at San Francisco General Hospital, due to severe bite and claw wounds since last Monday, Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, were released into the wild yesterday afternoon.
Second verse, same as the first:
SFPD arrived at the zoo to find the critically endangered cat on top of one of her victims. According to CBS 5, "the tiger then started moving toward [the] group of approaching police officers, and they opened fire with handguns," killing Tatiana. As of now, it's not known just how the tiger managed to escape, well, captivity.
A stone’s throw from Lake Merced and San Francisco Zoo, there’s a secluded land where the scent of freshly cut and watered grass wafts through the air. Where the juniper bushes are neatly sculptured and the single-family houses are defiantly unattached to one another. Where untidiness of yard and home is possibly met with scorn and derision among whispering neighbors. On Country Club Drive between Berkshire and Ocean, landscaping is king, putting green lawns and rock gardens remain all the rage, and the number of residents in the 20-39 age bracket appears to be minimal, at most. This block may be an allergy sufferer’s or Mission hipster’s nightmare, and its name may portend false images of Chase and Hilary Whitebread whizzing off in their electric golf cart to the first tee, all bent out of shape about how “the help” failed for the third time this month to feed Shrilly the Pomeranian her Alpo Premium. But, holy smokes, the street’s called “Country Club Drive,” and it’s in San Francisco. We could not resist its pull.
Remember back in December when a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo went ballistic on a trainer and mauled her to near-death in front of dozens of visitors? Well, guess what kids…the Lion House is finally open again for your maul-viewing pleasure!
They’re just so darn cute. Take a look at three of the four baby penguins that just moved into their new digs at the San Francisco Zoo yesterday. Riley, Charlie, Thistle, and Gnocchi (omg, too cute) are only 12 weeks old. Fresh out of “fish school,” these tuxedo-wearing chick magnets are living it up across from the Lion House on Penguin Island.
Visitors will revel in this ultimate after-hours adventure that includes more than 10 special animal presentations and feedings and continuous live entertainment...Highlights include the African Savanna at dusk; exclusive behind-the-scenes tours at the Zoo Hospital and Zoo Kitchen; the big cats feeding in the Lion House; animal grooming in the Family Farm; great food; plus much more. Marvel at our magnificent American bald eagle, Sequoia, meet Smokey Bear, and play the “Feces Species Game”!
SFist covers the "March of the Penguins" at the San Francisco Zoo
Many of us were disconcerted by the stories of forced abandonment of animals by their guardians in the wake of disasters, and asked ourselves "How would our dumb-ass cats fare on their own? Maybe if they were forced to fare for themselves, they'd finally appreciate how freakin' good thay have it. Yeah!" It looks like we're getting closer to never having to find out just how well Mr. Sniffy can operate a can opener, as a bill proposed by SF-based state Assemblyman Leland Yee requiring the state Office of Emergency Services to take animals into account when coordinating evacuations has recieved unanimous approval from the Governmental Organization Committee. We're waiting for the final hurdle of Senatorial approval before we start packing any tiny cat suitcases.
A few years ago we went to the San Francisco Zoo and became entranced with the prairie dog and meerkat exhibit. We could have spent the entire day in that one section watching the prairie dogs prairie-dogging, and the meerkats doing their sit-on-hind-legs-turn head-this-way-and-that-way thing all day. ALL DAY, we tells ya!
Yay San Francisco Zoo! Not only did it win back its accreditation, but it also vaulted into Comedy Central gold with an inspired intern's (possibly unauthorized?) email to the Colbert Report show asking if Stephen Colbert would be interested in having a baby bald eagle named after him. Genius! The picture to your left is a still from the show, featuring John Ashcroft's rendition of "Let The Eagle Soar," as Stephen picked his namesake hatchling-to-be. (Click here to watch the video -- it's labeled "Stephen Jr.")
According to the zoo, this is all part of its Bald Eagle Breeding Program, which was started in 1985 to repopulate California with eagles after they almost died out because of DDT. Since 1991, the SF Zoo has released 90 bald eagle chicks into the wild, and this year, the eagles have laid 17 eggs so far, one of which is Stephen Jr. When they hatch, about half of the chicks will be raised on Catalina Island, and the other half will be raised at the conservation center and released on Santa Cruz Island. Check out on the right what little fuzzy Stephen Jr. will look like when he makes it out of his chiton shell!
Webcam fans, watch the eggs here (site appears to have down for now, but will hopefully come back up soon -- click on Eagle Nest Cam). John Ashcroft fans, click here for video and audio clips of "Let The Eagle Soar."
When God Winked opens The Marsh's new space in Berkeley.
Missed all the big controversy involving "Grizzlygate" due to endless contemplation that Tom Cruise is now dating Joey? Well, we did too. But have no fear, SFist is here! What the what is that the San Francisco Zoo has gotten themselves in a bit of a pickle over the naming of two new grizzly bears that they rescued from Montana. The zoo thought it would be a great idea to hold a contest and so, with great fanfare, announced one. They thought the idea was so good, in fact, that they tried to get sponsorship for the contest to raise money. When all of the possible sponsors dropped out, the zoo quietly announced that instead of naming the bears based on the more than 750 contestant entries, they'll auction off the naming rights to the highest bidder. When Merrill and Cinnie Magowan paid $32,500 to name the bears after themselves, or at least their grandchildren's nicknames for them, the up met roar. The zoo now has a major PR nightmare on their hands for bailing on a hyped contest in a money grab. And as, expected, most of the anger and concern is over the children. Because what will we tell the children when they find out that all of their entries were thrown away and instead given to the highest bidder? We bet those kids are already contemplating a life of crime. Said one poster to an SFGate forum: "This is sick how some rich folk can name the bears after their family members."
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