Some people spend a long time deciding what they want to do in life. Hazel McBride feels lucky that she’s always known. As a child in Scotland, she watched a VHS tape of Free Willy on repeat. That was the first time she felt a connection with killer whales. The second time was at age eight, on a trip to SeaWorld Orlando in 2000. Shamu was the animal world’s greatest celebrity, and in the US, SeaWorld ads were ubiquitous. Kids wanted to see the killer whales, and after they saw…
Tag: Animals
World Bank’s funding of ‘hog hotel’ factory farms under fire over climate effect
The private sector arm of the World Bank is facing claims that it contributes to global heating and the undermining of animal welfare by providing financial support for factory farming, including the building of pig farming tower blocks in China. A coalition of environmental and animal welfare groups is calling on the World Bank to phase out financial support for large-scale “industrial” livestock operations. More than $1.6bn was provided for industrial farming projects between 2017 and 2023, according to an analysis by campaigners. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of…
Panda diplomacy: meet the giant (and expensive) diplomats on loan to Australia from China – video
Wang Wang and Fu Ni are the only giant pandas in the southern hemisphere. The giant pandas are on loan from China and have lived in Adelaide zoo for the last 15 years. The pandas were loaned to Australia in 2009, under an initial 10-year agreement, which was extended by 5 years in 2019. Australia pays China around $1m dollars to keep the pandas in the country. The contract is likely up for discussion again as China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, visits Australia this week The Guardian
Ai Weiwei’s ‘Zodiac’ Is a Mystical Memory Tour
As the Year of the Dragon dawns, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has released “Zodiac,” a “graphic memoir” of scenes from his career — both real (hanging with Allen Ginsberg, the O.G. of Beat poets, in 1980s Greenwich Village) and imagined (debating Xi Jinping, China’s paramount leader). Each chapter frames the artist’s take on traditional beliefs about the characteristics humans share with the 12 animals of the Chinese lunar calendar. Gianluca Costantini’s intricate line drawings pair with Elettra Stamboulis’s comic-bubble text to help expand Ai’s lifelong campaign for free expression…
Giganto, largest ever primate, died out due to diet change, say scientists
It was the largest primate ever to have roamed the Earth, but just why – and when – our distant cousin “giganto” ended up extinct has been something of a mystery. Now researchers say the enormous ape was victim of an unfortunate choice of food when its preferred snacks became scarce. Gigantopithecus blacki roamed mainland south-east Asia 2 million years ago, with estimates suggesting it was three metres tall and weighed 200-300kg – roughly three to four times a human’s weight. Previous studies have shown giganto’s range decreased considerably by…
‘Rock star of an animal’: Edinburgh zoo’s pandas to return to China
As soon as she heard that Edinburgh’s pandas were about to be flown home, Sarah Greenwood knew she had to see them. “I love everything about pandas,” she said. “I absolutely couldn’t miss it.” Wrapped in a thick coat and hat to guard against the freezing temperatures and the first snow flurries of winter, Greenwood, an events manager, 52, travelled from Cambridge on Wednesday to watch Tian Tian and her partner, Yang Guang, grazing on bamboo, sleeping and exercising. She is not alone: the news that the only pandas in…
Exit from Edinburgh zoo may signal end to era of China’s panda diplomacy
As the UK’s only giant pandas leave Edinburgh zoo , returning to their native country after a 12-year sojourn away from China, the era of panda diplomacy also looks to be coming to an end. Tian Tian and Yang Guang will board the panda express back to Sichuan less than a month after three giant pandas left the Smithsonian national zoo in Washington DC, ending the zoo’s five-decade panda programme. The homecoming of the five giant pandas in recent weeks reflects the end of long-agreed lease arrangements. Zoos typically pay…
Britain Says Bye-Bye to Its Only Pandas as They’ll Soon Depart for China
Britain’s only two pandas will soon be returned to China, officials said, in a send-off that has dispirited fans of the playful, waddling bears and signals what appears to be the end, at least for now, of panda diplomacy. “Bamboo bon voyage,” the Edinburgh Zoo of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland said on its website, noting that there would be “a giant farewell” on Thursday for the bears, whose names are Yang Guang and Tian Tian. The pair of giant pandas will be prepared to return to China in…
Two giant pandas begin return to China from Smithsonian’s National zoo
The two giant pandas at the Smithsonian’s National zoo officially began their return to China on Wednesday. The two panda bears, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, had been in the United States on loan from China for more than two decades as part of a research agreement set to expire early next month. Their cub, three-year-old Xiao Qi Ji, is also going. The giant pandas will be forklifted in a crate out of the zoo on Wednesday and then transported on a 19-hour flight to a panda reserve in Chengdu,…
China local governments launch crackdown on dogs after child was mauled
Local governments across China have launched a crackdown on dogs after a toddler was mauled by a rottweiler earlier this month. The child was injured while walking with her mother in Chengdu on 16 October, leading authorities to announce they would tighten control of dogs while reiterating the importance of “civilised dog ownership”. China state media reported the toddler was transferred out of the ICU on 23 October and her vital signs are stable at the moment. The police have taken criminal coercive measures against the dog’s owner, and the…