Wild animals banned from UK circuses

After many years of campaigning by groups including Born Free and RSPCA, a ban is being imposed on animals being used in travelling circuses in England. According to this article, there are 24 wild animals including big cats and zebras still used in circuses in the UK.

Although the practice seems somewhat outdated, animals such as lions, tigers, zebras and snakes are still used by several travelling circuses in the UK. The practice is recognised as cruel for several reasons:

• Animals are often kept in cramped cages whilst in transit.
• They are forced to perform tricks which are not natural to them
• They are subject to loud noises from the crowds, light, and special effects such as pyrotechnics, which can be scary for the.

This report, published by the RSPCA shows that circus life has a negative impact on animal welfare.

According to the BBC in July last year, some MPs believed that the then-intended ban went too far, saying that animals such as snakes and zebras* should still be allowed in UK circuses.

It is thought that Born Free and the RSPCA will help to rehome animals currently in circuses.


*On a side note, after elephants, zebras are responsible for the most human deaths in zoos worldwide, predominantly because people fail to realise how dangerous they are, and assume they can be treated the same as domestic horses.

Snakes on loose in London under threat

The Evening Standard has reported that a species of snake whose London population is on the increase is under threat of being culled.

The Aesculupian snakes were released into the Regent's Canal are in the 1990s as part of a scientific experiment. However, an increasing number of them have been seen on rooftops and in trees in recent months.

The species is capable of crushing children to death, and it is thought their presence is having an impact on the natural ecosystem of the area - they have been spotted eating rats and birds.

What do you think? Should these snakes be culled? Or is it wrong to cull a species that would not have been released into this habitat in the first place, were it not for human intervention?

Five reasons why we love World of Animals magazine

In case you haven't heard, there's a new(ish) publication on the block. World of Animals is a monthly magazine all about animals. It has features, factfiles, photography and zoo profiles. It might just be the best thing we've ever read, and it's definitely filled a gap in the magazine market. At time of writing issue six is in the shops, with chimpanzees plastered across the cover. Here are our top reasons why we love it:

1. There are some truly amazing facts in each issue. Not just your average, run-of-the-mill animal facts that are trotted out on Buzzfeed every few weeks, but really interesting things that have taken some deep research to discover. Our favourite from the current issues is that Ham, the first chimpanzee sent into space, shook the hand of his commander on returning to Earth. On the off chance that anyone caught that moment on camera, can we have a copy of the tape please and thank you?
2. Each issue gives an indepth profile of a specific species. Past subjects have included tigers, chimps, grizzly bears, orang utans, lions and penguins. 
3. It's brilliantly written, with some great journalism. It's clever in that it manages to inform without being patronising - whether you're a keen conservationist or can't tell an ape from an anteater, there'll be something for you, we promise. 
4. Conservation is becomingly an increasingly political issue, yet WoA manages to keep the politics out of it, providing a balanced and factual read about issues faced by various species. Each issue provides a profile of a zoo of the world, but beyond that, there is little comment on which conservation methods it supports.
5. The first issue had a tiger on it. Sadly, we never managed to catch the first issue whilst it was in shops, so our collection is sadly lacking. Yes, we know you can download the issue digitally, but it's just not the same, is it? If anyone knows where we can get a hard copy of the issue (we'd definitely settle for secondhand), we'd be forever in your graititude.

Psst...in case you're wondering, we aren't being paid or bribed in any way to write this. We truly believe that World of Animals is a great magazine. Long may it prosper. Pop out and buy an issue soon.

How are animals moved between zoos?

If you thought moving house as a human was hard work, imagine the difficulties of moving a large, wild or dangerous animal between homes.

This feature on the BBC gives a great insight into the process of reloctaing animals from one zoo to another, often overseas, as part of zoo breeding exchange programmes. The process often takes months, including acclimatizing animals to their travelling containers before hand.

There are many stories (and photos) of the first elephant arriving at Whipsnade Zoo - the elephants were simply walked through the village on leads.

Read the full article here.

And if you're not convinced about how hard it is to move an animal, just take a look at how hard it is to put an infant giraffe to bed for the night:

New Chinese law against eating endangered animals

A new law in China means that eating an endangered animals could now result in ten years in prison.

The law covers 420 rare and endangered species, including giant pandas, Asian black bears and golden monkeys. Also eligible for prosecution are people who buy illegally hunted animals.

More on this story here.

Two male, one female tiger cub at London Zoo

A few weeks back, ZSL London Zoo announced that their breeding Sumatran tiger pair, Jae Jae and Melati, had welcomed three cubs.

They've now announced that the cubs are one female and two males, and all seem to be in good health. Check out the video below of them being health checked and sexed by the zoo's keepers. They weren't happy about it!

London Zoo's new tiger exhibit, Tiger Territory, opened last March. A cub was born last summer, but sadly died on its first trip into the outside world.

Sumatran tigers are critically endangered, with estimates of just 300 left in the wild. Several subspecies of tiger have already been wiped out.

#BanCannedHunting #SaveOurLions

Like many people around the world, we managed to get involved in Global March For Lions at the weekend. Here are a few of the photos we took in Trafalgar Square, London:

Nice to see Sea Shepherd represented too. The event fell the same weekend as Whalefest so no doubt there will have been some people who wanted to go to both events.

Somebody has a Lion King moment.