AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
This is posted in the interest of establishing baseline numbers for zoos....
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200611/kt2006112217583011970.htm
Only 6 percent of animals die of natural deaths in the Seoul Grand Park Zoo, a city council member said. The rest die of stress or disease.
Boo Doo-wan, a member of the Seoul Metropolitan City Council, said that most animals died while trying to get out of their cages or they died of infectious diseases.
In February 2004, a crane died of a rupture of its liver when it was only two years old. The cage was specially treated to protect against bird flu, and the bird was shocked by the noise that resulted when it hit the iron bars. Cranes are natural treasure No. 202.
A panda imported from Japan died of hepatitis in August. It was worth 13 million won.
A swan ate some bad food and spread enteritis, an inflammation of the small intestine, to 20 others in September.
Boo said that out of the 516 animals that died between January 2004 and October this year, only 6 percent died natural deaths.
The annual average death rate of the animals in the zoo is 5.8 percent, which is lower than the rate at Taiwan??s Taipei Zoo (6.15 percent) or Ueno Zoo in Japan (18.8 percent). However, most of the animals in foreign zoos die as the result of natural aging.
There have been constant reports on the necessity of mending the cages and concrete stalls, but the government postponed the repairs.
Boo said the reason for the unnatural deaths is that the government stopped its support of the zoo after Lee Myung-bak, former mayor of Seoul, planned to establish a Disneyland in Kwachon, Kyonggi Province, where the park is located. There were rumors that the zoo would be closed or be moved elsewhere, and funds for the zoo dried up.
The zoo said that it has made a survival plan, the contents of which it has yet to disclose, and that will soon give it to Mayor Oh Se-hoon.
According to a city government official, the plan to build a Disneyland is still just an idea and a lot more time is needed to realize it.
``The animals gave up their basic instincts. It would be rather weird to see a healthy animal when it is surrounded by old concrete walls or locked in an iron cage,???? Boo said.
Currently, there are 3,000 animals of 349 different kinds in the zoo.
.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200611/kt2006112217583011970.htm
Only 6 percent of animals die of natural deaths in the Seoul Grand Park Zoo, a city council member said. The rest die of stress or disease.
Boo Doo-wan, a member of the Seoul Metropolitan City Council, said that most animals died while trying to get out of their cages or they died of infectious diseases.
In February 2004, a crane died of a rupture of its liver when it was only two years old. The cage was specially treated to protect against bird flu, and the bird was shocked by the noise that resulted when it hit the iron bars. Cranes are natural treasure No. 202.
A panda imported from Japan died of hepatitis in August. It was worth 13 million won.
A swan ate some bad food and spread enteritis, an inflammation of the small intestine, to 20 others in September.
Boo said that out of the 516 animals that died between January 2004 and October this year, only 6 percent died natural deaths.
The annual average death rate of the animals in the zoo is 5.8 percent, which is lower than the rate at Taiwan??s Taipei Zoo (6.15 percent) or Ueno Zoo in Japan (18.8 percent). However, most of the animals in foreign zoos die as the result of natural aging.
There have been constant reports on the necessity of mending the cages and concrete stalls, but the government postponed the repairs.
Boo said the reason for the unnatural deaths is that the government stopped its support of the zoo after Lee Myung-bak, former mayor of Seoul, planned to establish a Disneyland in Kwachon, Kyonggi Province, where the park is located. There were rumors that the zoo would be closed or be moved elsewhere, and funds for the zoo dried up.
The zoo said that it has made a survival plan, the contents of which it has yet to disclose, and that will soon give it to Mayor Oh Se-hoon.
According to a city government official, the plan to build a Disneyland is still just an idea and a lot more time is needed to realize it.
``The animals gave up their basic instincts. It would be rather weird to see a healthy animal when it is surrounded by old concrete walls or locked in an iron cage,???? Boo said.
Currently, there are 3,000 animals of 349 different kinds in the zoo.
.