More animals

Following my post about Christian the lion yesterday, I found a couple more animal stories to cheer me up.

The first is from Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, WA, which has a poop problem.

Talk about your endangered feces.

Gardeners are sure to be bummed to learn that Woodland Park will not be providing any of its coveted Zoo Doo this spring.

The latest batch of Zoo Doo can't be distributed after testing revealed that it contained clopyralid, a herbicide that does not typically break down in the composting process.

But Woodland Park officials say that they found the source, and the zoo's prized compost should be ready by the fall.

"Through our regular testing procedures, we traced the persistent herbicide to specialized animal feeds for our non-primate herbivores," explained EJ Hook, Woodland Park Zoo's maintenance operations manager, in a press statement Wednesday morning. "In response, we've made changes with our feed supplier and switched to organically certified feeds. We expect to see the changes in future test results."

He added that the herbicide has not affected the animals. Zoo Doo was canceled because the herbicide could kill some garden plants.

I have one question. If the contents of the animals' food can kill plants, how do they know it hasn't affected the animals? I wouldn't be so sure!

Be that as it may, there's a rather entertaining video about making Zoo Doo at the link. Recommended (and funny) viewing.

The second story is about Mosha the elephant and her prosthetic leg.

The young Asian elephant lost her right front leg after stepping on a landmine aged only seven months old.

Close to death, she was rescued and brought to the Friends of the Asian Elephant hospital in Lampang, Thailand, where she became the first elephant in the world to be fitted with a prosthetic leg in 2007.

Now aged three, Mosha is growing at such a rate she has now been fitted with a second prosthetic leg.




Her home in the tropical jungle of northern Thailand, near the Cambodian border, is an orphanage for elephants.

The gentle giants are the new symbol of the fight against the banned weapons.

Thousands of Thais have been injured and killed due to landmines, with a recent survey estimating there are about 100 new mine casualties each year.

There are more pictures at the link. Here's a video of Mosha doing her thing, both without and with her new leg.

All together, now: "Awwww!"



Peter