Category Archives: Europe

Baby Penguin Stolen From British Zoo

by Amy Posted on 20 December 2005

A baby Jackass penguin was stolen from the Amazon World Zoo on the Isle of Wight on Monday. The three-month-old penguin, named Togo, cannot survive for more than three or four days without his parents, on whom he relies for his special diet. He was known to refuse food from humans. Togo has lived in an enclosure at the zoo with his parents, Kyala and Oscar, and four other penguins, since he was born in September. If he is not returned to the zoo by Thursday, his chances for survival are slim.

Zoo officials speculate that the penguin may have been taken to be used as a Christmas gift for someone, and that the popularity of the French movie March of the Penguins may have sparked this misguided idea.

Sources:
Who’s p-p-picked up our penguin?
STOLEN PENGUIN’S LIFE AT RISK, SAY ZOO
Keepers Fear Penguin Was Snatched as Gift

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Posted in Europe, Zoo | 1 Comment

R.I.P. Domino Sparrow

by Amy Posted on 16 December 2005

Yesterday the frozen body of the “domino sparrow” arrived at her final resting place, the Rotterdam Nature Museum. The sparrow, a female, was shot dead on 14 November after knocking over some dominoes prior to Domino Day. The sparrow will eventually be displayed at the museum in part of a larger exhibit on sparrows.

Sources:

Dead Domino Sparrow, Metro 16 Dec 2005
Metro, 16 December 2005

Domino Sparrow Given to Musuem
Sp!ts, 16 December 2005

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Zoo Birds Inoculated Against Bird Flu

by Amy Posted on 14 December 2005

There’s a flu-shot shortage in the U.S. and here in Holland people have to jump through hoops if they want one. But a zoo in Rotterdam is doing something to protect a group even more at risk. Rotterdam Zoo “Blijdorp” has become the first zoo in Europe to vaccinate resident birds against bird flu. Penguins, flamingos and even the ducks in the ponds have been injected as prevention against the virus.

Zoos in so-called “high-risk areas”, where many migratory birds visit, should protect their birds against the flu via vaccinations or isolation of the zoo birds. Blijdorp is not in a “high-risk area” but did the vaccinations as a safety precaution.

The vaccinations were given as a preventative measure before the migration season in spring 2006. There is a chance that migratory birds from Africa will bring the virus with them when they start returning to the Netherlands as early as February. With this immunization the zookeepers hope that their in-house birds will build up a resistance to the virus.

The vaccinations have two parts. The first shots were administered on Tuesday and a follow up shot will be given in six weeks. After that the birds should be flu-resistant for a year.

The veterinarians had difficulty injecting the ostriches. They were so strong that it took four persons to hold the birds down in order to administer the shot.

Penguin gets pricked in Rotterdam zoo

Originally posted on wolfstad.

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Domino Sparrow Killer Fined

by Amy Posted on 9 December 2005

The Dutch government has fined the killer of the Domino-Day sparrow EUR 200. According to Dutch law, the shooter violated the “Flora and Fauna” Act because the bird was a protected species.

Meanwhile, news agency NOS today reported that the body of the sparrow will be displayed in the Nature Museum in Rotterdam. A source from the museum said, “It is an animal with a story and therefore our museum gladly takes (the sparrow).” The bird will be part of an exhibit on sparrows which will go on display at the end of 2006.

See also: Domino-Day sparrow condolences book

Sources:

Originally posted on wolfstad.

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Sparrow Shot Dead To Save Dominoes

by Amy Posted on 16 November 2005

Here in the Netherlands, the murder of a sparrow is causing a bit of an uproar. On Friday, 18 November, a group of domino-maniacs, sponsored by the entertainment giant Endemol, will try to break their own record for toppling dominoes. They have taken domino-felling to an extreme level: a maze of over four million dominoes has been set up in an expo center in Leeuwarden. Five days before the big event, an innocent creature threatened to topple the record prematurely: a common house sparrow (huismus in Dutch). The sparrow was spotted by the domino-setters (an international group of over 100 which has spent the last month at the tedious task) as a very real threat. Attempting to capture the sparrow caused the bird to panic, and it ended up knocking over 23,000 dominoes in the melee. As humane capture methods proved unsuccessful, the sparrow was shot to death. Animal rights groups are threatening legal action, as the bird was a protected species. Public outcry (in the form of letters to the editors of two local newspapers) has been great. One writer wondered what would have happened if an unsupervised child happened into the expo center.

Originally posted as part of an article on our personal blog wolfstad.

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Posted in Netherlands, Offbeat | 2 Comments