A Malayan tiger named Nadia in the Bronx Zoo has caught the CoronaVirus and has gotten sick from it. Other tigers and lions have as well, but only Nadia the tiger has been tested so far because her symptoms are the worst.

It seems they were infected by a human.

What crazy human would get close enough to a group of tigers and lions that he could infect them with the virus?

I have always been a big fans of zoos. I find the animals fascinating - how they look, how they interact, how they behave, everything. And I know I am not unusual in this. People are tremendously fascinated by the animal kingdom, between zoos and aquariums and wildlife documentaries and the like.

Generally zoos try to get new animals for a variety of reasons. Largely to be able to increase education to the viewing public. Also for more entertainment, and to be different, more unique, or better than other zoos in the area. 

The zoo in Bnei Braq does things differently.

There is a small zoo at the edge of the Ramat Elchonon neighborhood of Bnei Braq. According to Kikar, Rav Yitzchak Zilbershtein, the rav of the neighborhood, had asked the people in charge and the mayor to try to bring an owl to the zoo. It took some time, but they finally were able to obtain an owl, and they have now installed it in its new home in the Bnei Braq zoo.

Why did Rav Zilbershtein want an owl in the zoo?

Rav Zilbershtein wanted an owl so he could say the bracha of "meshane habriyos" - the bracha upon seeing an unusual creature. The bracha is commonly made on a monkey, but according to many it can also be made when seeing an owl.

Yesterday, Rav Zilbershtein went with local schoolchildren to the zoo, along with the mayor, Avraham Rubinstein, and discussed the halachic issues. They then looked at the owl and Rav Zilbershtein led the group by saying the relatively rare bracha.

I like that reason. it puts things in perspective. We do things for good reasons - education, entertainment, curiosity, appreciating nature, and all sorts of reason. Another very good reason, maybe the best of all, is to be able to appreciate God's creations and recognizing His hand, and to serve God better.

not the giraffe from kiryat Motzkin, but worldwide problem

In a sad and unfortunate piece of news, a giraffe in the zoo of Kiryat Motzkin died after suffering from an intestinal blockage caused by ingesting plastic bags after having been fed from them by zoo visitors who then abandoned the empty bags.

The zoos all have signs up by the animal cages not to feed the animals. Often the reasons for these warnings are that the animals cannot handle the foods that the human visitors feed them, and at times it even makes them sick. Another common reason is so the zookeeper knows how much the animal has eaten and can feed it properly. if every visitor is feeding the animals, the zookeeper has no idea how much, or what, the animal has eaten, and how much it still needs to be fed. Despite the signs, it is very common to see people throwing food to the animals. It is probably the public's favorite past-time and activity when visiting the zoo.

The death of the giraffe is leading to a law proposal. From now on there might not just be a warning sign to not feed the animals, but you might incur a hefty fine for not heeding the warning.

In light of the death of the giraffe in Kiryat Motzkin, MK Yoel Hasson (Kadima) has announcing that he is proposing a law that would levy a fine of up to 5000 NIS to anybody who feeds animals in the zoos and parks.

Hason said that the unnecessary death of the giraffe, just like the deaths of tens of other animals each year in zoos as a result of being fed by visitors against the rules, requires a law to establish a fine that will deter and prevent such incidents happening in the future.

Let's see if he remembers to actually submit the proposal when the Knesset gets back to regular action... but if he does, you better control your kids (and yourselves) next time you go to the zoo....


------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

In Gaza Zoo, Stuffed Animals Join Live Ones


------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

The Israeli eagle that had been captured in Saudi Arabi and dubbed an agent of the Israeli Mossad is the centerpiece attraction in a conference bringing 100 zookeepers to Jerusalem.

From Haaretz:

Over one hundred managers of leading zoos from around Europe met in Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo Friday, the first time the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria has held a conference in Israel.


Among other issues the meeting tackeld, delegates got the full story of the “Mossad agents” recently captured in Saudi Arabia.


Over one hundred managers of leading zoos from around Europe met in Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo Friday, the first time the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria has held a conference in Israel.


Among other issues the meeting tackeld, delegates got the full story of the “Mossad agents” recently captured in Saudi Arabia.


In January, Saudi media reported that a vulture captured in the country was sent by the Mossad, after its captors found standard Israeli tracking marks on the bird. The vulture, like all other vultures born in captivity in Israel in recent years, hatched in the Biblical Zoo and was released from the Golan Heights.


The vulture’s story was told in a panel on “Birds as peacemakers in a conflict zone,” showcasing of the Zoo’s incubator and the return to nature of wild birds hatched there.
“Some of the project we initiate could be a bridge to our neighbors,” zoo director Shai Doron told Haaretz.


Doron said the zoo was extremely excited to host the conference.


“On their way are nearly mythological figures of the zoo-keeping world,” he said. “They are nearly leaders in their home countries. It’s not people like Shai Doron but slight more serious folks, with no disregard to myself.”


Some of the guests included the managers of the London Zoo; managers from the oldest zoo in the world, in Amsterdam; the managers of the Zurich zoo and the managers of the Copenhagen zoo, where a new 40-million-euro section for Asian elephants was recently inaugurated.


While relatively small, the Jerusalem zoo is world renowned for conservation efforts and the reintroduction of endangered species to the wild.


One of its most famous achievements is a rare in vitro fertilization of Tamar, an Asian elephant, using semen from a British elephant flown to Israel. The elephant born as a result, Gabi, was recently transported to Turkey, where he was successfully introduced to one of the local zoos. The Tamar and Gabi story will also be discussed at the conference.


Another reintroduction project said to be discussed in the conference is that of the fallow deer. Fallow deer have been released in the Jerusalem and Kaziv stream area, and the Nature and Parks authority is currently looking for an area to release deer in the Galilee as well.


The project was co-sponsored by the San Diego Zoo.


Some of the visitors used their trip to check on animals they’ve sent to Jerusalem in recent years. The Amsterdam zoo guests were able to meet the descendants of the black-footed penguins they’ve sent to the zoo, which had multiplied exponentially. “Israel will soon start exporting penguins to zoos worldwide,” said Doron.


The director of the Lisbon zoo paid a visit to the Siamang gibbon sent to the zoo just a few months ago. The ape, born in Portugal, was brought to Israel after a failed date with an Israeli ape named Richard, who was sent to Lisbon as part of a matchmaking effort.
She met her current partner, Dylan, soon after her arrival to the Jerusalem zoo.


EAZA is the world’s largest zoo body, and it operates the European program for saving endangered species. Israel became a member five years ago.


“The Jerusalem conference is going to be a lot of fun,” said Doron before the event. “The fact that 100 people from Europe are coming to the conference, in Jerusalem, knowing full well the event is happening in Jerusalem, means the Israeli-European relationship is still there, despite what we’ve been hearing lately. We are very proud that they are coming to Jerusalem.”

Yahoo had the following Reuters picture of the "Zebonkey" in Gaza (the donkey painted like a zebra)

In Gaza, nothing is as it seems... not even the zebra..

A zoo in Gaza lost its zebra, as they starved to death when the animal feeders refused to show up after the Operation Cast Lead in Gaza was complete. They tried to smuggle in a couple new zebra, but the operators of the tunnels were charging exorbitant amounts of money - $15,000 per zebra smuggled in, so the zookeepers found an alternate solution.

They took a donkey and painted it like a zebra. Now the kids in Gaza have an exciting zoo again.

It's really a painted donkey," admitted the zoo's director Mahmud Berghat when asked about the creature.

After explaining that the zoo used hair dye on the unsuspecting donkey, Mr Berghat said: "We cut its hair short and then painted the stripes."

Despite the confused four-legged beast hardly being able to fool zoologists, the "zebra" has been a hit with the thousands of Gaza-bound school children who have never seen such an exotic animal.

"But don't tell anyone," Mr Berghat said. "The children love him."

Daniel Gordis is a great writer. You really should subscribe to his "dispatches"...

In this week's Jerusalem Post column, Gordis starts talking about a trip to the zoo. he notices outside of the animal cages on the bottom of every sign describing animals that it says in Yiddish "This is not a pig."

Strange.

He writes a great article, and what is most amazing is that he gets all that from "This is not a pig"...

It means, clearly, that there is a population of Israelis, sufficient in size to merit its own sign, that does not speak Hebrew, English or Arabic, but rather knows only Yiddish. And that population, were it to think that this was a pig, would be very upset. To ensure that no untoward reactions were elicited by this new non-pig, the zoo has assured the haredi population, which visits the zoo in large numbers, that in keeping with Jewish tradition, there are no pigs in this pen.

Am I over-interpreting this? Is the notion that the zoo might be worried what some (yes, only some) of these people would do if they thought a pig were in the zoo far-fetched? I don't think so. Ask the residents of the Anglo community who live in and near Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet, many of them newly-arrived immigrants, about their aliya experience. Listen long enough, and you will hear of a small but extreme group of anti-Zionist, extremist haredim in that community who are literally terrorizing them.

....

Loyalty cuts both ways. Citizens, to be sure, can be expected to show a modicum of loyalty to the democratic state in which they live. The olim of Ramat Beit Shemesh gave up everything to come here, and now many live in fear. There are enemies of Israel who are terrorizing some of Zionism's best. That's what the Yiddish sign at the zoo hints at, and what the Ramat Beit Shemesh stories make abundantly clear. And the state is not protecting them.

We started off the day with a decision to daven vasikin at the Kotel. With sunrise being at 6:03 AM, that meant getting up at 4:15 am to have enough time to get to the Old City, find parking and get down to the Kotel in time for davening which would start at 5:30am. Being a holiday, the Kotel was pretty busy. There were a few hundred people there for the early morning shift.

After davening, a couple of us decided to go to Har HaBayit. We figured we would go to the mikva in the Old City and then be the first on the Mount which would allow us to go around quickly. Little did we know there was a large group planned for the first shift at 7:30am. So we joined the group, which was scheduled to be led by Rav Yitzchak Levi, the Rosh Yeshiva of Alon Shvut (not to be confused with Rav Yitzchak Levi the MK).

During the holiday everything seems to be busier than njormal. So it took a very long time to process our group, which consisted of over 50 people. While we were waiting, a number of tour groups (mostly Germans it seemed) passed through being allowed to go right up with no impediments or security checks. I suggested we sue the State, the Police, and the Waqf for racial profiling and discrimination, as only religious Jews are stopped and checked and escorted by police and Waqf officials. Anybody else can walk freely unescorted.

While we were waiting to be processed and allowed up, Tuvia Sagiv joined our group. I was up once with Sagiv. He is an interesting fellow. He is an engineer who has made his hobby and life interest studying the Temple Mount and trying to find what really is up there and where things really were. He is the author of an alternate explanation of where the Temple really stood. He claims it was further south than the opinion held by most people. He is really an expert on the material and sources, and makes for an interesting group companion raising issues and questions.

Sagiv introduced himself to Rav Levi and asked, very politely, that even though he knows Rav Levi does not ascribe to his opinions and views, if he would respect his work and not walk on the Southern Side of the Mount. The issue is really that the police generally do not allow groups to break up, as each person who would be breaking off would need his own escort. If Rav Levi would insist on walking on the southern side, it would present a difficulty for Sagiv who holds the actual Temple stood in a spot on the southern side rendering it not passable. The only solution for Sagiv is to walk along the west, north and east, and then retrace his steps, which he would not be able to do alone separated from the group.

Rav Levi agreed, meaning the whole group would walk along the west, north and east and then retrace the route backwards, thus avoiding the southern side.

The whole time, both while we were waiting and while we were on the Mount itself, Rav Levi and Sagiv were discussing the various opinions. Rav Levi asking how Sagiv deals with certain issues; topographically, archaeologically, sources, etc, Sagiv explaining, Sagiv asking, Rav Levi explaining. Often, while explaining something on the Mount, Rav Levi would then ask Sagiv if he wanted to add anything according to his understanding.


After leaving the Mount and Kotel area, traffic was a mess with roads being opened and closed and rerouted because of the expected holiday traffic. We ended up driving by the site of a new hotel being built that was just announced in the news. The Waldorf-Astoria group is building a luxury hotel in Jerusalem and is expected to be completed by 2010. Here is a picture I got of the site and sign as I drove by it...

My family and I then went to visit relatives and spend the afternoon in Park Ra'anana, in, you guessed it, Ra'anana.

The park was pretty busy. It is a popular spot because it is a great park with lots of grassy areas, lots of play options, other activities (some for pay), and a small "zoo" with a few animals. I must say some of the "animals" were on the wrong side of the cages... as people were giving all sorts of food to the animals...one person gave his lit cigarette to a monkey who, in turn, burned himself as he touched it to his body.

They had a peacock who chose to give us a treat and opened his tail while we were there. he was not actually opening it for us, but for the female. Let's just say his wiles did not work and he was left disappointed.

The video of the elephant murder has been uploaded to YouTube, and I bring it to you here...

WARNING: This video is not for the faint of heart...