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January 2007

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This month's stories:

• More Bad News for DRC Hippos
• Pygmy Hippo Born at Louisville Zoo
• Vancouver Avoids Hippo Cruelty Charges
  

More bad news for DRC hippos

According to the Independent (online) of South Africa, the Mai Mai militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo has slaughtered hippos by the hundreds reducing their population from about 30 000 in Lake Edward to only about 300.

As recently as mid-January 25 additional hippos were killed along with three elephants at Vitshumbi, a small fishing village on the southern shores of the lake.  In a recent aerial survey conducted by Robert Muir of the Frankfurt Zoological Society estimated the hippo population there was about 30.  "It may be too late to save the last few hippos that remain. However, we must try," he said.

Meanwhile in Virunga National Park, conservationists have blamed rebels and militias for slaughtering even more hippos, and say more than 400 were killed last year, mostly for food. Only 900 hippos are left, a huge drop from the 22,000 reported there in 1998.  The job of protecting the country's parks falls on local rangers, and the risks are high.  In Virunga alone, some 97 rangers have died on duty since 1996, Africa Conservation Fund said.

Conservationists were asking the United Nations to remove rebel groups from the southern shores of Lake Edward, where they and rebel bandits posed a threat to local security, while decimating the hippo population, said Muir.

After the UN peacekeeping force forced demobilization and disarmament, many of the rebels and bandits took their pay packets and returned to their villages, only to pick up new weapons a few weeks later and head back into the bush.

"It is vital that the UN now act in all urgency to remove these rogue elements before there is nothing left to save," Muir urged.

He mentioned rangers belonging to the DRC's wildlife body, ICCN, were unable to carry out their legal mandate to patrol the area and protect the wildlife due to the presence of these armed groups.

Pygmy hippo born at Louisville Zoo

A nine-pound pygmy hippo calf was born at the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky, USA.  Consistent with their policy of not announcing births until they are sure of the newborn’s health, zoo officials said the hippo was born between 6 p.m. Dec. 25 and 8 a.m. Dec. 26.

Pygmy hippos reproduce relatively easily in captivity.  Gestation for pygmy hippos is about 6 months.  The mother, named Tracy, is being attentive to the calf and is nursing the infant, zoo officials said. The baby is currently gaining about a pound a day.  This is the second offspring for Tracy and her mate, Maji Kitoto. A female named Kibibi was born in May 2005 and is now sharing a stall and indoor pool with her father, zoo officials reported.  Tracy and the baby will remain off exhibit for some time, partly because of the cold weather. Officials said the public probably will be able to view the baby early this spring.

Note: The editor of this newsletter once worked with Maji Kitoto when he resided at Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park in Washington, DC.

16 January 2007 (27-27-07)

Vancouver Avoids Hippo Cruelty Charges

The Vancouver Sun reports that the Aldergrove Zoo in Vancouver, B.C. Canada has avoided animal cruelty charges with the development of a new facility for their hippo Hazina.

Two counts of cruelty to animals were laid in May 2006 after it was alleged by the B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that for 19 months the Aldergrove zoo kept Hazina, a two-year-old hippo, alone in a dark shed with a pool so shallow she couldn't float.

The SPCA further alleged that the only stimulation provided to Hazina during her confinement in the wooden shed were a rubber tire and a ball, and that she was forced to stand for months on a concrete floor.

Following the opening of the new facility in June 2006, the government decided that it was “no longer in the public interest” to pursue charges.  Then B.C. SPCA stated it, “was bitterly disappointed by the Crown's decision.”

In 2004, the zoo was stripped of its aJumpt Article #1JJumpJump to #1reditation by the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums for its treatment of hippos acquired before Hazina.

24 January 07 (27-02-07)