All posts tagged: zoo

Florida zoo treats a manatee, a duck, and a chick with acupuncture

Florida zoo treats a manatee, a duck, and a chick with acupuncture

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. Just like some humans, animals can benefit from acupuncture, too. ZooTampa at Lowry Park in Tampa, Florida is using veterinary acupuncture to treat some of its animals with complex medical conditions. The patients that have received this treatment include a manatee (Trichechus manatus) named Sloth, a black-bellied whistling duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis) named Earl Grey, and a roseate spoonbill chick (Platalea ajaja). According to the Mayo Clinic, acupuncture involves putting very thin needles through the skin at strategic points on your body, and is most commonly used to treat pain. “Acupuncture has a wide range of applications that can be applied to some of our diverse animal cases here at the zoo,” Alex Mason, the staff veterinarian who is certified in veterinary acupuncture and leading …

Waste Of The Day: Mismanagement At SF Zoo

Waste Of The Day: Mismanagement At SF Zoo

Published by Jenni Sidey

Waste Of The Day: Mismanagement At SF Zoo Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations, Topline: The taxpayer-funded San Francisco Zoo “does not have a healthy or stable financial condition,” according to a city audit released in May. The zoo has no written plans or budgets to guide its construction projects, and spent $12 million on them without city approval. Employees are also allegedly hiring their friends and relatives as contractors. Key facts: The zoo is required to get approval from San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Commission before paying more than $50,000 for a construction project. But employees never did so while spending millions on a new “Madagascar Center” and other huge projects, auditors found. There is also a “widespread view among staff that [the zoo] has a toxic workplace environment,” according to the audit. Employees were allegedly chosen for senior roles based on “discrimination and favoritism,” not “professional qualifications.” The zoo spends more than $4 million on contracted services like security and advertising every year, but there is no evidence that any of them went …

Man Punished for Breaking Into Moo Deng’s Zoo Enclosure

Man Punished for Breaking Into Moo Deng’s Zoo Enclosure

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech The maniac who broke into Moo Deng’s crib finally got his due. The BBC reports that a Thai court fined a man 10,000 baht, or around $300, after he was caught entering the zoo enclosure of the baby pygmy hippo, which became an internet sensation in 2024. Authorities arrested the intruder last month. Security footage released by local media and widely shared online shows a man wearing a beanie, tank top, shorts, and sandals hopping into the enclosure at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo. As he films Moo Deng with a tablet, the man circles the young creature and comes within just several feet of her.  According to reports, the man was inside the enclosure for one or two minutes before staff noticed him, and made no attempt to flee when they called the police. Moo Deng was “startled” by the encounter, the staff said, but unharmed. Now, Narongwit Chodchoy, who runs the zoo, says that a local …