2009-01-22 - Seattle, United States
A U.S. study shows the negative effects of African elephant poaching persist for decades after the killings. Kathleen Gobush, a research ecologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who led the study, said African elephants rely heavily on matriarchs to lead groups and keep families together. Before the 1989 ban on ivory trade, nearly 75 percent of all elephants in Tanzanias Mikumi National Park were killed, many of them females with large tusks.
2008-08-08 - Seattle, United States
The Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle says an elephant that had been artificially inseminated has miscarried. The zoo says its monitoring the 29-year-old Asian elephant Chai around the clock after Thursdays miscarriage, but shes eating and behaving normally. One of three elephants at the zoo, Chai had been inseminated in January with semen from an elephant named Sneezy at the zoo in Tulsa, Okla.
2008-07-31 - Seattle, United States
The number of poached elephants is on the rise and could lead to the extinction of large populations of African elephants in a scant 12 years, according to new research from the University of Washington. Said Sam Wasser, a UW biology professor, in a press release: "If the trend continues, there wont be any elephants except in fenced areas with a lot of enforcement to protect them."Wasser is a master of DNA extraction from difficult sources such as ivory and various animal scat. Through his resea...
2008-06-20 - Seattle, United States
An elephant at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle may be pregnant. The zoo says it wont know for sure until an ultrasound scheduled this fall. The elephant, named Chai (chy) was artificially inseminated in January. The father is an elephant named Sneezy at the zoo in Tulsa, Okla. It all goes as planned the baby would be born by Thanksgiving of 2009. Some animal rights activists are worried about the health risks. The group Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants says its unethical to breed Chai bec...
2008-06-08 - Seattle, United States
Wind, rain and bitter cold could not keep five determined women from sending their message to Woodland Park Zoo: An elephant never forgets. Bruce Bohmke, the deputy director of the zoo, disagreed. "They are not aware of the facts, or not using the facts accurately," he said. "About a month and a half ago, we met with these women and told them all about herpes, and that you cant pass herpes through artificial insemination, but thats not what theyre saying today."Instead, Bohmke said that deprivin...
2008-05-14 - Seattle, United States
A year after Hansas death, we are still grieving the loss of our beloved baby elephant. From the moment she was born in November 2000, Hansa was a hit, doubling attendance at the Woodland Park Zoo. People were captivated by her toddler-like behavior, running around the elephant barn, trying to fit her whole body into a small plastic tub and dribbling her blue ball like a budding soccer star. What a joyful escape from our busy lives to watch the portly little pachyderm having so much fun.
2008-05-05 - Seattle, United States
A sick elephant at Woodland Park Zoo has prompted her keepers to close the elephant barn temporarily to give the recuperating animal some peace and quiet. Watoto, a 39-year-old African elephant, apparently has colic, but is on medication and responding well, a spokeswoman for the zoo said. The elephants appetite and activity level are returning to normal. Two other elephants, Chai and Bamboo, are still making their usual appearances in the yard. Chai, who is close to Watoto, is allowed to return...
2008-02-12 - Seattle, United States
A group opposed to the elephant-breeding program at Woodland Park Zoo has asked the federal government to investigate the death of Hansa, a 6-year-old Asian elephant who died in June. The elephant died from a previously unidentified strain of herpes virus, and it remains a mystery how the virus was transmitted. In a letter sent Monday to the Agriculture Department, the Northwest Animal Rights Network asked the agency to investigate the death and order the zoo to freeze its elephant-breeding prog...
2008-01-08 - Seattle, United States
Comforted by buckets of fresh cantaloupe, apples and carrots, the Woodland Park Zoos 29-year-old Asian elephant, Chai, was artificially inseminated over the weekend. Zoo officials said they performed the 20-minute procedure with the help of a leading expert in elephant reproductive physiology, Dr. Dennis Schmitt, professor of animal science at Missouri State University. The sperm donor was a 36-year-old bull at the Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma.
2008-01-07 - Seattle, United States
2007-12-05 - Seattle, United States
An animal rights group criticized U.S. zoos for breeding and transferring Asian elephants despite the known risks of a deadly virus, but a local zoo official said facilities are handling the risk appropriately. In Defense of Animals distributed its report Tuesday and claimed U.S. zoos are putting Asian elephants at risk for spreading Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus. This weekend, a young Asian elephant died from the virus at a Missouri zoo.
2007-09-15 - Seattle, United States
This protocol describes a method for the extraction of DNA from elephant ivory. These techniques are being used to assign geographic origin to poached ivory by comparing the ivory genotype to a geographic-based gene frequency map, developed separately. The method has three components: ivory pulverization, decalcification and DNA extraction. Pulverization occurs in a freezer mill while the sample is deep frozen in liquid nitrogen, preventing degradation of DNA during the process. Decalcification ...
2007-07-05 - Seattle, United States
Samuel Wasser is a conservation biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, and an outspoken opponent of elephant poaching. He talks to Emma Marris about his genetic methods for tracing poached ivory. The secret is to pulverize the ivory without heating it up, which denatures the DNA. We use a freezer mill. It submerges a tube containing a small piece of ivory and a magnet into liquid nitrogen. This freezes the ivory and makes it brittle. We rapidly switch the magnetic field back and f...
2007-07-03 - Seattle, United States
A previously unknown elephant herpes virus killed the Woodland Park Zoos youngest Asian elephant in Seattle. Hansa, 6, who died last month, was one of 12 elephants fathered by a bull at a zoo in Missouri. Three of the others exhibited herpes symptoms in the past decade. Two of them died, while the third, Chandra, was successfully treated in 1997.
2007-06-22 - Seattle, United States
Test results have eliminated some possible causes for the death of Hansa, a 6-year-old Asian elephant at Seattles Woodland Park Zoo, but officials said Friday they still dont know the reason she died. Scientists in Washington and across the country have been studying tissue, organ and blood samples to discover why Hansa died June 8 after reduced activity and appetite. Conclusive results could take a few more weeks, the zoo said in a news release.
2007-06-15 - Seattle, United States
When an elephant roams free, it gets shot; not just its tusks, but its whole face gets cut off to supply the illicit ivory trade; its feet are removed and made into ashtrays; its flesh is smoked and sold at market as a delicacy. Elephants are dying in the wild at the rate of 100 every day. What does the loss of one elephant in Seattle, Hansa, have to do with the wild elephants? Everything, because Woodland Park Zoo and accredited zoos everywhere are making the life of every elephant count in sup...
2007-06-08 - Seattle, United States
Hansa, a 6-year-old Asian elephant who delighted visitors to the Woodland Park Zoo, was found dead Friday, about a week after she began displaying colic-like symptoms, the zoo said Friday. Hansa was born in 2000 after another of the zoos elephants, Chai, was sent to the Dickerson Park Zoo in Missouri, where natural breeding resulted in a pregnancy. Hansa was the first elephant born at the 100-year-old Woodland Park Zoo, which has no male elephants.
2007-03-14 - SEATTLE, United States
Once again, two German scientists have artificially inseminated a Woodland Park Zoo elephant in hopes of producing a second offspring from Chai, now 28. Its the fourth time over the past two years that Chai, an Asian elephant, has undergone insemination. She became pregnant last year, but lost the pregnancy at an early stage, the zoo said. The sperm sample used Tuesday night was collected from Rex, a 39-year-old bull elephant at African Lion Safari, in Cambridge, Ontario. He has sired three offs...
2007-03-06 - Seattle, United States
We extend an innovative DNA assignment method to determine the geographic origin(s) of large elephant ivory seizures. A Voronoi tessellation method is used that utilizes genetic similarities across tusks to simultaneously infer the origin of multiple samples that could have one or more common origin(s).
2006-11-22 - SEATTLE, United States
For the first time in four years Gary Larson is releasing a page-a-day calendar of some of his greatest hits, in stores now. All his earnings from the 3 million calendars printed, about $2 million according to publisher Andrews McMeel, will go to Conservation International for the organizations work to help end the illegal trade in Asian elephants, Indochinese tigers, Asiatic black bears, pangolins, freshwater turtles, and Siamese crocodiles in Cambodia.
2006-09-20 - Seattle, United States
L.E.L. "Bets" Rasmussen, an Oregon biochemist renowned for her discoveries of how elephants chemically communicate, died Sunday in a Seattle hospital. She was 67. Rasmussen, a research professor with the OGI School of Science and Engineering at OHSU, was being treated for myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone marrow disorder. She was diagnosed with the disease in January.
King County Superior Court Judge Julie Spector dismissed a lawsuit Monday brought by local animal-rights activists against Woodland Park Zoo and the city of Seattle. The Northwest Animal Rights Network (NARN) and two private citizens sued in June, accusing the zoo of violating the federal Endangered Species Act and the State Environmental Policy Act with its treatment of elephants at the zoo.
2006-08-14 - Seattle, United States
As visitors to Dickerson Park Zoo watch an infant elephant darting in and out of a forest of looming adult elephant legs, they may not notice the baby proofing going on at the zoos elephant exhibit. Head keeper Jeff Glazier and other zoo employees have been busy making sure the baby pachyderm, temporarily named "Calf," stays safe and secure. Elephant keepers are just thinking ahead, something that has to be done with the zoos largest animals, also among its smartest, Glazier said.
2006-07-21 - Seattle, United States
Bamboo and the other elephants at Woodland Park Zoo are healthy and thriving, and people should come see for themselves. The Northwest Animal Rights Network is simply wrong about what is best for Bamboo. What Bamboo does need is expert care, which she gets. She also needs daily, frequent interaction with humans, because she is highly bonded to people.
2006-07-15 - Seattle, United States
About 80 animal rights activists and community members protested outside a Woodland Park Zoo fundraiser Friday, asking that the 39-year-old Asian elephant Bamboo be moved to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. Protesters young and old stood at the north entrance of the zoo, passing out fliers to donors, holding signs and chanting, "Tell the zoo, to free Bamboo."
2006-07-13 - Seattle, United States
The asian elephant Bamboo has become the focus of one of the most heated and bitterly debated controversies the Woodland Park Zoo has seen in years. What started as a citizens note of concern has escalated into a letter-writing campaign, public rallies and even a lawsuit accusing the Seattle zoo of harming an endangered species. Zoo officials say the critics are uninformed and using Bamboo as a pawn in a larger debate over whether zoos should keep elephants at all.
2006-06-24 - Seattle, United States
Woodland Park Zoo officials "vigorously dispute" claims that they are not providing sufficient care for Bamboo, a 39-year-old Asian elephant who grew up at the zoo, was transferred to Tacoma last summer and returned to Seattle this month. Lawyers for Woodland Park Zoo announced Friday that they have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by an animal rights group that claims the elephant should be placed elsewhere.
2006-06-23 - Seattle, United States
Today, attorneys for Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) filed a Motion to Dismiss a lawsuit filed earlier this month by a local animal rights group, Northwest Animal Rights Network (NARN), and two private citizens. In its lawsuit, NARN is attempting to force transfer of the zoos Asian elephant Bamboo
2006-06-12 - SEATTLE, United States
A female Asian elephant, Bamboo, returned yesterday to the 92-acre Woodland Park Zoo. The 39-year-old elephant was transported from Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Wash. in an air conditioned vehicle driven by one of the nations most highly regarded animal movers. Zoo veterinarians and zookeepers accompanied her on the short trip to Seattle.
2006-05-17 - Seattle, United States
Seattles elephants receive great care, but thats not enough. They deserve more space. A controversy over the future of one of the zoos elephants, Bamboo, provides a window into the questions Seattles political leadership needs to face at Woodland Park Zoo. Amid a host of zoo changes, city government has paid far too little attention to how well the planets largest land animals may fit there for the long term. In the 1980s (with help from a Seattle P-I campaign), the zoo built a new elephant home...
2006-02-22 - Seattle, United States
In 1990, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association deemed Woodland Park Zoos elephant forest "best new exhibit." Today, Seattles seemingly plush pachyderm quarters have garnered a much different title. The animal-rights organization In Defense of Animals has named Woodland Park Zoo one of the countrys 10 worst for elephants.
2006-02-14 - Seattle, United States
On 14th February 2006, Jazz musician Kenny G & actor Pierce Brosnan came together and held a "Save the Elephants" Valentines Day benefit whose proceeds went to the Save the Elephants Trust. Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Founder, Save the Elephants attended the benefit and said it was "just sensational".
2005-09-20 - SEATTLE, United States
Woodland Park Zoo officials hope that this time, the stork comes for the elephant. An ultrasound taken Sunday morning revealed that Woodland Park Zoos 26-year-old Asian elephant, Chai, is ovulating, prompting scientists to try once again to inseminate her artificially. Fresh bull elephant semen was rushed to Seattle from the Oregon Zoo in Portland and the Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma on Sunday, and the tricky business was performed that evening.
2005-09-18 - SEATTLE, United States
An ultrasound taken Sunday morning revealed that Woodland Park Zoos 26-year-old Asian elephant, Chai, is ovulating, prompting two German scientists to try once again to inseminate her artificially. The scientists, Dr. Thomas Hildebrandt and Dr. Frank Goeritz, last tried to inseminate Chai in March. Zoo officials had to wait until June to learn that the procedure hadnt worked, and this is Chais next cycle, said zoo spokeswoman Gigi Allianic. Elephants ovulate just three times a year.
2005-09-09 - Seattle, United States
Usually, zoos seek publicity for major events, such as the arrival of a new elephant. But late last month, an Asian elephant named Bamboo was transported without fanfare from Seattles Woodland Park Zoo to Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma. It was a sad final chapter in a tragic story. The history of elephants in zoos is full of mental and physical pain. Wild elephants, astonishingly intelligent, perceptive and complex beings, live in caring and secure extended families that stay intact for life. But ...
2005-03-02 - Seattle, United States
It is no small feat to artificially impregnate an elephant. The basics of artificial insemination may be routine, but a glance into the elephant house at the Woodland Park Zoo yesterday evening should have been enough to convince anyone that this super-sized branch of animal husbandry poses some uniquely huge problems. The object of this attention is Chai, the zoos 26-year-old Asian elephant. She is already a mother, having given birth to Hansa, now 4, by natural means. But this required the str...
2005-03-02 - SEATTLE, United States
A ticklish business, artificially inseminating an elephant. With the help of high-tech ultrasound and computer gear, special protective clothing, wheelbarrows and not a little cooperation from Chai, a 26-year-old Asian elephant, Woodland Park Zoo officials hope the complicated process led by two German scientists will result in the pachyderm giving again birth, as she did four years ago. Chai got pregnant by natural means last time around, but it wasnt all candy and flowers. She h...
2005-01-15 - Seattle, United States
Bamboo, a 38-year-old elephant with no close friends at Woodland Park Zoo and a limited tolerance for the high jinks of baby Hansa, is packing her trunk and heading for the zoo in Tacoma, which welcomes prickly pachyderms. The 4-ton Bamboo, an Asian elephant, was born in the wild in Thailand. She has lived in Seattle since she was a year old. "Shed never been exposed to a calf" and has not done well with 4-year-old Hansa, daughter of 26-year-old Asian elephant Chai, Woodland Park ...
2004-09-28 - SEATTLE, United States
Its like doing cold-case detective work on elephants, but University of Washington scientist Samuel Wasser has devised an innovative method for pinpointing the DNA fingerprints of poached elephant tusks. The method, reported yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could give conservationists their most powerful tool yet in the battle to hunt down the poachers who are decimating the African elephant population.
2000-11-03 - Seattle, United States
The mother, 21-year-old Asian elephant Chai, gave birth today on November 3, to a female calf. The newborn elephant weighs 235 pounds. In September 1998, the zoo sent Chai on a breeding loan to Dickerson Park Zoo in Missouri. Her intended mate, Onyx, a 36-year-old Asian bull (male elephant), sired the calf.
2000-10-31 - Seattle, United States
Human tuberculosis, one of the leading infectious diseases in the world, has emerged as a threat to North Americas aging Asian elephants, a species that already is inching toward extinction because of its increasing proximity to humans. Researchers think the animals - most of them born in the wild - were exposed in their homelands or while in close contact with infected handlers in zoos and circuses in North America.
2000-09-25 - SEATTLE, United States
The Puget Sound Blood Center joined Woodland Park Zoo today to draw the final of 15 units of blood from the zoos pregnant Asian elephant, 21-year-old Chai. The first-time expectant mother is due to give birth late October. The milestone event will mark the first-ever elephant birth for Woodland Park in its 100-year history and also the first in all of Washington state.
