One of the poachers involved in the recent killing of a critically endangered Sumatran tiger inside Jambi’s Rimbo Zoo has been arrested.

Last month, when Sheila the tiger was poisoned and then skinned inside her enclosure, authorities feared the incident was a horrifying new development in the illegal trade in tiger skin and body parts.

Tragically, they were correct: Now that one of the men who killed Sheila has been arrested, police questioning has revealed that the murder was financed by a Palembang “businessman.”

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Here’s some lighthearted news to bring a smile to your face. A nearly 20 year old giraffe at the zoo known as Israeli Safari has given birth to her 11th baby, setting a world record. She is formally known as Denissa, but more humorously known as “super-mum.”

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A female Bengal tiger has become the star attraction in a South African zoo, after it was born with no stripes.

The tiger, named Fareeda, has been hand-reared by keepers at the Cango Wildlife Ranch, near Cape Town, South Africa, as part of a unique breeding programme to save the White Bengal species from extinction.

Six-month-old Fareeda joins an exclusive club - stripeless tigers are so rare that experts estimate there are fewer than 20 others like it anywhere in the world - all in captivity.

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For years and years parents have taken their children to zoos to see exotic animals, animals that they don’t get to see everyday. They want to see lions and tigers and bears. Oh my! High on the the list of animals to be seen are elephants, nature’s gentle giants. These cute, (hardly) cuddly animals are the largest of the land mammals. But all of that could change. Elephants could be removed from zoos forever if In Defense of Animals (IDA) and a handful of scientists and activists get their way.

June 20 highlighted the International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos.  In Defense of Animals (IDA) and activists in over 30 cities worldwide (including L.A., Washington D.C., and more) participated in a day of demonstration to inform the public about the travesty of keeping Dumbo locked up - even Salt Lake City had one demonstrator brave the torrential rain in order to bring justice to our big grey friends.

Elliot M. Katz, DVM, President of IDA said that ”Zoos can no longer ignore the mounting scientific evidence of the devastating effects of captivity on elephants.” Infanticide, Herpes and tuberculosis are just a few of the ailments prevalent in captive elephants, and zoo populations are not self sustaining, unlike populations in natural environments.

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Despite extensive opposition and the rallying of animal activists and Hollywood celebrities alike, Los Angeles City Council voted today to go ahead with a $42 million elephant exhibit. About $12 million has already been spent towards the completion of the new exhibit, which is now 30 percent done.

Council also decided that the city will continue to keep Billy the elephant confined at the zoo instead of sending him to an animal sanctuary where he would have been afforded more space to roam. The planned six acre exhibit would be seven times larger than Billy’s current enclosure and feature approximately four acres of open space. Opponents argue that this falls far short of an elephant’s space requirements.

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We zoo, and so real-live lemurs and ostriches and boa constrictors are a familiar sight to my little Midwestern girls. They know about different environments, because the tigers live near the cafe over in the jungle habitat and the giraffes live way past the playground over in the plains. They know that different animals live together differently, because they saw the meerkats in the desert habitat all playing and fighting and humping each other, while the sharks in the oceans exhibit basically just ignore each other while swimming around looking predatory. They can tell which elephants are which in the elephant habitat, and which dolphins are which in the dolphin dome.

But at what price does this manufactured intimacy come?

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Writing out my thoughts was a sort of preparative exercise, mostly to try to articulate the main dilemma I have with zoos: do the potential education benefits of zoos outweigh the cruelty of caging animals in small spaces that I personally believe typically don’t provide them with fulfilling lives? I still am not sure of the answer, but my trip to the Huachipa Zoo did answer another intriguing question for me. When zoos are bad, would I personally prefer that a bad zoo exist rather than have no zoo at all?

Before I reveal the answer to the aforementioned question, I should explain that my wife and I came up with some criteria for rating zoos. For the purpose of reviewing more zoos in the future, I wanted to have some reasonable means to compare them.

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I find that zoos tend to reliably provoke more thoughts in my mind than other places that can also stimulate me to think, like aquariums, museums, shopping malls, movie theaters, and parks. Before I started writing this article, in my nerdy social scientist way I dug through numerous scientific papers about topics such as whether or not people learn anything when they visit zoos, what attitudes people tend to have about zoos in general, and studies about how animals living in zoos might be negatively affected by us going to see them (especially those of us with more interest in animals). After reading and seeking more knowledge, I was only left with more questions.

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Her name means “snowflake.” Since her birth in December, photos and videos from the zoo have been overloading the public with cuteness, stirring up “Flocke fever.”

Still, no one outside the zoo staff had ever seen Flocke in person. This week, she made her first live public appearance.

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Do you dream of working with animals? Find out how you can volunteer at your local zoo or wildlife rehabilitation center and gain the experience of a lifetime. It’s easy to become involved and easier still to fall in love with this rewarding volunteer activity.

Now you may be asking why anyone in his or her right mind would give up a relaxing Sunday at home to shovel poop, and it’s a fair question. But just imagine yourself bottle-feeding baby sea otters, teaching visitors about habitat conservation, or helping a wounded eagle to learn how to fly. If you admire animals and wish to contribute to their welfare, this is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Volunteering at your nearest zoo is easy, and most zoos offer many ways to get involved. Visit your zoo’s website and follow the links to learn about volunteer programs, or you can contact the zoo directly and ask what opportunities are available. Volunteer duties can range from visitor outreach to animal care giving.

You can also learn about the important role that zoos play in conservation. For example, the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle works collaboratively with villages and researchers in Tanzania to reduce conflict between humans and African elephants. In Ohio, the Columbus Zoo plays a key role in repopulating a local, endangered species of mussel. Some zoos may even offer qualified volunteers the chance to become directly involved in exciting conservation programs such as these.

Wildlife rehabilitation centers are another excellent place to get hands-on experience helping animals. Rehabilitation centers focus on treating sick or wounded animals and returning them to the wild. Many centers also offer outreach and education opportunities. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, consider volunteering with the Marine Mammal Center of Sausalito, where you can work directly with baby seals, sea lions, otters, and other local marine mammals. To find a wildlife rehabilitation center in your area, you can search for “wildlife rehabilitation center” and your city at Goodsearch.com, or visit AnimalHelp.com and search for a rehabilitator. To learn more about wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, visit The Wildlife Rehabilitation Information Directory.

Amazing hands-on work with animals is a reward in itself, but there are other benefits of taking action to help animals. Each October, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) presents its Animal Action Award to recognize individuals of all ages for contributions to animal welfare. Begin volunteering today with a zoo or wildlife rehabilitation center and by October you may qualify—or you may know somebody who qualifies—for this award.

The Woodland Park Zoo, Elephant Conservation

The Columbus Zoo, Mussel Conservation

The Marine Mammal Center of Sausalito, Volunteer Opportunities

Goodsearch

Animal Help, Rehabilitator Search

The Wildlife Rehabilitation Information Directory

IFAW, Animal Action Award Nomination

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jojo79/534619156/