OMG Cute Red Pandas At The Zoo!

Aww! Uwishunu blogger Eric Smith writes about the new red panda couple at the zoo, Pip and Jing Li. I have no idea if red pandas can actually be a couple, if this is just a Valentine’s Day publicity stunt or if the above photo is even of the Philadelphia Zoo’s two red pandas. But when I come across red panda news at a local zoo, I report it.

Cute Alert: New Red Panda Couple @ Philadelphia Zoo [Uwishunu]

Yet Another Excuse To Run Cuteness

The tiger cubs at the zoo are growing up. Gawwwww. Look, they’re learning to eat and play and get weighed!

Koosaka, Changbai, and Terney are about four months old now and averaging about 40 pounds each. They are eating their collective 15 pounds of red meat a day, playing, and scampering around their exhibit at the Zoo’s Big Cat Falls. Now, it’s time to train the cubs so the Zoo’s keepers can take care of them properly. Permanent keeper Tara Brody: “They’re starting to learn some basic behaviors that will help us when they’re bigger to take care of them, like sit and lay down, get on scales. We’re going to have to vaccinate them pretty soon.”

Just too, too cute.

Philly Zoo Keepers Train Its Tiger Cub Trio [KYW 1060]

City To Be Overrun By Non-Elephant Animals

A letter writer in this week’s Northeast Times complains about the lack of elephants at the Philadelphia Zoo:

What kind of a zoo has no elephants? The Philadelphia Zoo, that’s who! Our elephants have been with us forever. Now they are packing their trunks and moving. The worst is they are going to a bigger and better habitat that has more room for them to roam. Do they know something we don’t?

Who’s next?

The high prices for admission and parking are keeping a lot of families away from the zoo. They can no longer afford to spend that amount of money for a day’s outing. The gorilla families were the biggest draw to the zoo, and tragically they were lost in a 1995 fire, due to someone not caring enough to check on a preventable event. It’s sad, but if the situation gets worse, I think all the animals will pack up and leave.

Ask any kid what animals do they want to see at the zoo? They will say monkeys and elephants.

Holy shit! Without elephants, our city will be overrun by lions and tigers and prairie dogs! Aw, but I could probably snag a cutesy red panda or two in that case.

Plus, do you think the animals would have little suitcases when they packed up and left? That’d be so cute!

Northeast Times Letters 5.10 [NET]

First You Get The Elephants, Then You Get The Plurality Of Votes, Then You Get The Women!

We were all a little confused back in January when Bob Brady announced his candidacy for mayor and included a wish to bring the elephants back to the Philadelphia Zoo.

The elephants hadn’t left yet, but one was set to go to an elephant sanctuary and the others were to head to the Maryland Zoo.

But, well, apparently, you control the construction business, you control the elephants.

The Philadelphia Zoo’s three African elephants will not move to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, which announced today that it has delayed the expansion of its elephant habitat and would not be able to accommodate Petal, Kallie and Bette this spring as planned.

It’s amazing. Bob Brady has enough power to stall construction in other cities. (Well, how would you explain it then?) Also, it appears he’ll be able to keep a campaign promise without actually having to do anything, like get elected or maybe even be on the ballot. That’s pretty impressive.

Baltimore’s out for 3 Philly elephants [Inquirer]
Feb. 23: Bob Brady’s HELP!!!111 To Include Elephants

Bob Brady’s HELP!!!111 To Include Elephants

It’s been a while since Bob “HELP IS ON THE WAY!!!111” Brady made the announcement he was going to run for mayor, but since I just found said announcement on this website, I figured it was finally time to talk about it.

I’m talking, of course, about the elephants.

A great city does not boast the oldest zoo in the country and then ship its elephants off to Maryland and Tennessee.

And I want to make one thing clear to my grandchildren – Alexandra, Serena, Ricky and Robby – when I am Mayor, there will be elephants in the Philadelphia Zoo and they will live in a place we can be proud of. [...]

A great city recognizes the assets it has –

In culture, Arts, History, and yes, elephants –

It protects these assets and works tirelessly to grow them.

While Bob Brady may have lost Marianne Bessey’s vote, I still wonder: Whose vote, exactly, is he trying to get with this “bring the elephants back to the zoo” campaign promise?

Okay, let’s assume Bob Brady really does want the elephants back at the zoo. Personally, I think elephants are one of the more boring animals — give me some red pandas and lions, please! — but, hey, to each his own.

But Bob Brady’s a longtime politician, a good politician, and so he wouldn’t say something in his announcement speech if it wasn’t, at some level, designed to gain him votes. Is there a disaffected group of Philadelphians who go around grumbling under their breath that there aren’t elephants at the zoo anymore?

I know I’ve joked before about the Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants just being like 20 people or whatever, but I also think the group that really, really wants to keep the elephants at the zoo no matter how small their pen is is equally small, if not smaller. Right? Was anyone really upset the elephants are gone from the zoo? (Besides Bob Brady, I guess.) Is there a big elephant constituency I’m unaware of? Someone please clue me in here.

Announcement [Bob Brady Works]
Feb. 12: Bob Brady Campaign Keyboard Is Stuck On Caps Lock

A Tiger In The Sack

That little furball of cuteness at right most certainly would bring in the crowds to a zoo. And, as such, the Philadelphia Zoo is attempting to create its own little giant-pawed ‘aww’ machine to bring in the crowds. (Maybe not the same tiger species as the one in the photo, but here’s the deal: I don’t care.)

Okay, so the zoo isn’t mating its tigers for monetary reasons. But the zoo did attempt to mate two of its Amur tigers earlier this week. The species is down to just about 400 in the wild and 144 in captivity, but mating the tigers is dangerous, since, instead of having sex, the two could end up attacking each other. The male, Dimitri, could kill the female, Kira, in just about two minutes.

But we all got a treat: The Inquirer was there to document the hot tiger sex.

The result is, basically, tiger porn.

More »

Cute report: Baby pumas at the zoo

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Dakota, the cutest wittle mountain lion ever! Dakota, as you may know, is one of three baby pumas the zoo just adopted. He went on display Saturday, and yours truly was there on a fact-finding mission to see if this little tyke was cute enough to be the official Philadelphia Will Do mascot of the forseeable future.

Well, really, I would have taken any of the pumas, but Dakota (the boy) was the only one nice enough to be up front for my viewing pleasure and not all the way in the back like those two girls, Sage and Cinnabar. Even female pumas reject me.

Anyway, Dakota was nice and cute, and while he’s not a puppy, he’s currently the new mascot of Philadelphia Will Do. (His possible future competitor? The kitty who lives at The Foodery, the deli near my apartment. I’ve been scouting him out for a little bit.)

There’s a few more photos of the three puma cubs over here. They’re also better, as my digital camera is from 2001, which means the instructions are written on parchment and it doesn’t take great photos anymore.

Jan. 24: Yay! Puma kittens!

Yay! Puma kittens!

When I heard there were baby pumas (aka cougars) at the Philadelphia Zoo, I thought, “Hot damn! I’ll write an oh-so-clever lead about how there finally actually are cougars in Philadelphia!”

Then the Inquirer wrote the same thing today. Blast.

The Zoo hasn’t had pumas since the mid-90s, and acquired the three cubs after their mother was shot in a state-sanctioned puma hunt in South Dakota. They will be part of the zoo’s new Big Cat Falls exhibit, which will open in may.

And, aww, aren’t they cute? They’re little Nittany Lions! Now all the zoo needs to do is get some puppies and they’ll be set.

No urban myth: Pumas find a habitat in Phila. [Inky]
Mammals: Pumas [Philadelphia Zoo]