An emaciated wolf rested its head on a block of ice, seeking relief from stifling heat in a zoo in Pakistan's capital, while another gazed at a family enjoying an afternoon picnic as an elephant swayed its head nearby.

The elephant, named Kavaan, generated international headlines for the zoo in 2016, when pop star Cher sent representatives to check on its living conditions after it had been chained for 27 of its 29 years there.

Now the zoo is getting headlines again, as government agencies in Islamabad tussle over who is responsible for its management, leaving neglected animals to run short of food and clean water, with many falling sick.

"The animals are suffering in this tug-of-war between federal and local governments over the zoo," said Owais Awan, a lawyer who has gone to court to help resolve the issue.

The Islamabad High Court ordered the municipal corporation to hand management of the zoo to the Ministry of Climate Change on Friday, but a ministry official said the corporation had shut its offices and zoo management was reluctant to meet.

"The keepers of the animals are there, but not the management," ministry secretary Hassan Nasir Jamy told Reuters.

"We are sending volunteers and vets to check on the animals ... We are afraid of the animals dying."

The zoo management's refusal to talk to ministry officials, despite repeated letters and telephone calls, amounted to contempt of court, he said.

The zoo's deputy director declined to comment to Reuters and Islamabad's metropolitan corporation could not be reached.

The court called for urgent steps to save the animals from further harm, ordering immediate treatment for a Himalayan bear that was injured in a fight with another bear, zoo officials said, and also suffering a long-term skin ailment, Awan said.

"The animals have been suffering," said Sana Jamal, a spokeswoman for a group of about 40 citizens working to improve the zoo facilities.

"Whenever we have visited, there was no food and water in most of the enclosures. That's the main reason we wanted the pressurise the ministry to officially take over."

Some birds and animals died for lack of food and medication, newspapers said this year.

Asked about the conditions, one of the zoo staff told Reuters, "Everything is fine."

Nearby, crows pecked at bones littering the wolves' enclosure.

An emaciated wolf rested its head on a block of ice, seeking relief from stifling heat in a zoo in Pakistan's capital, while another gazed at a family enjoying an afternoon picnic as an elephant swayed its head nearby.

An emaciated wolf rested its head on a block of ice, seeking relief from stifling heat in a zoo in Pakistan's capital, while another gazed at a family enjoying an afternoon picnic as an elephant swayed its head nearby. The elephant, named Kavaan, generated international headlines for the zoo in 2016, when pop star Cher sent representatives to check on its living conditions after it had been chained for 27 of its 29 years there. Now the zoo is getting headlines again, as government agencies in Islamabad tussle over who is responsible for its management, leaving neglected animals to run short of food and clean water, with many falling sick. "The animals are suffering in this tug-of-war between federal and local governments over the zoo," said Owais Awan, a lawyer who has gone to court to help resolve the issue. The Islamabad High Court ordered the municipal corporation to hand management of the zoo to the Ministry of Climate Change on Friday, but a ministry official said the corporation had shut its offices and zoo management was reluctant to meet. "The keepers of the animals are there, but not the management," ministry secretary Hassan Nasir Jamy told Reuters. "We are sending volunteers and vets to check on the animals ... We are afraid of the animals dying." The zoo management's refusal to talk to ministry officials, despite repeated letters and telephone calls, amounted to contempt of court, he said. The zoo's deputy director declined to comment to Reuters and Islamabad's metropolitan corporation could not be reached. The court called for urgent steps to save the animals from further harm, ordering immediate treatment for a Himalayan bear that was injured in a fight with another bear, zoo officials said, and also suffering a long-term skin ailment, Awan said. "The animals have been suffering," said Sana Jamal, a spokeswoman for a group of about 40 citizens working to improve the zoo facilities. "Whenever we have visited, there was no food and water in most of the enclosures. That's the main reason we wanted the pressurise the ministry to officially take over." Some birds and animals died for lack of food and medication, newspapers said this year. Asked about the conditions, one of the zoo staff told Reuters, "Everything is fine." Nearby, crows pecked at bones littering the wolves' enclosure.

Skinny wolves, sick bear: Pakistan officials wrangle over zoo

A turtle in a zoo in India&#39;s southern Tamil Nadu state has been fitted with wheels after it lost one of its front legs in a suspected predator attack. 
 
The two-year old female star turtle, an endangered species, was seriously injured and faced difficulty moving around. It had even stopped consuming food. 
 
The veterinary doctors at the zoo then thought of the novel idea of fitting wheels on her. 
 
They made it a point to use lightweight material, including wheels used for rolling windows and a light steel rod, in order to make movement easy for the turtle. 
 
&quot;We had a small plan of a prosthetic involvement already,&quot; Dr. Boon Allwin said on Thursday.&nbsp;&quot;So what we did was we used special window wheels with a stainless steel grid. We pasted the entire lot on the vental surface of the tortoise using an epoxy non-irritant compo. So the moment it was pasted and the moment the surgery was done the next second the tortoise started walking. It has been doing very good,&quot; 
 
Allwin added that an upgradation of the wheels was on the cards. 
 
The turtle can now be seen freewheeling around and is probably the fastest of all in its enclosure. 
(Reuters)

The fitting was made using light-weight materials like wheels used for rolling windows and light steel rod to allow smooth motion

A turtle in a zoo in India's southern Tamil Nadu state has been fitted with wheels after it lost one of its front legs in a suspected predator attack. The two-year old female star turtle, an endangered species, was seriously injured and faced difficulty moving around. It had even stopped consuming food. The veterinary doctors at the zoo then thought of the novel idea of fitting wheels on her. They made it a point to use lightweight material, including wheels used for rolling windows and a light steel rod, in order to make movement easy for the turtle. "We had a small plan of a prosthetic involvement already," Dr. Boon Allwin said on Thursday. "So what we did was we used special window wheels with a stainless steel grid. We pasted the entire lot on the vental surface of the tortoise using an epoxy non-irritant compo. So the moment it was pasted and the moment the surgery was done the next second the tortoise started walking. It has been doing very good," Allwin added that an upgradation of the wheels was on the cards. The turtle can now be seen freewheeling around and is probably the fastest of all in its enclosure. (Reuters)

Turtle in Indian zoo fitted with wheels after losing a leg

A month-old Bactrian camel named Alexander Camelton at Chicago&#39;s Lincoln Park Zoo has become a social media star.

The gangly brown camel has Twitter abuzz over his name, a play on Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States and the inspiration for the smash Broadway&nbsp;musical &quot;Hamilton.&quot;

&quot;We&#39;ve been very surprised with the reaction we&#39;ve gotten on social media,&quot; Lincoln Park Zoological Manager Dan Boehm said on Tuesday.

Boehm described Alexander Camelton, the first Bactrian camel born at the zoo since 1998, as very precocious and said he was adjusting very well.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote and stars in &quot;Hamilton,&quot; posted an emoji of a camel and a blushing face on Twitter in recognition of baby Camelton.

Other social media users had fun with the camel&#39;s name.

&quot;It&#39;s going to be really awkward when Alexander Camelton dies in a duel with Aaron Brrrr the Penguin,&quot; tweeted Mike Sager (@msager) on Monday, referring to Aaron Burr, who mortally wounded Alexander Hamilton in a duel 1804.

<div class="twitter-block">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Soon all the zoo animals will have &lsquo;Hamilton&#39; names. Alexander Camelton. Salamander Hamilton. Alexander Lambilton. Lin-Manuel the Panda
&mdash; Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) <a href="https://twitter.com/gilbertjasono/status/739894758684794880">June 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="~/platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div>

A month-old Bactrian camel named Alexander Camelton has Twitter abuzz over his name

A month-old Bactrian camel named Alexander Camelton at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo has become a social media star. The gangly brown camel has Twitter abuzz over his name, a play on Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States and the inspiration for the smash Broadway musical "Hamilton." "We've been very surprised with the reaction we've gotten on social media," Lincoln Park Zoological Manager Dan Boehm said on Tuesday. Boehm described Alexander Camelton, the first Bactrian camel born at the zoo since 1998, as very precocious and said he was adjusting very well. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote and stars in "Hamilton," posted an emoji of a camel and a blushing face on Twitter in recognition of baby Camelton. Other social media users had fun with the camel's name. "It's going to be really awkward when Alexander Camelton dies in a duel with Aaron Brrrr the Penguin," tweeted Mike Sager (@msager) on Monday, referring to Aaron Burr, who mortally wounded Alexander Hamilton in a duel 1804. Soon all the zoo animals will have ‘Hamilton' names. Alexander Camelton. Salamander Hamilton. Alexander Lambilton. Lin-Manuel the Panda — Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) June 6, 2016

Chicago zoo's baby camel a social media star

After shooting dead a&nbsp;gorilla&nbsp;at the&nbsp;Cincinnati&nbsp;Zoo to save a 3-year-old boy, zoo officials said they had collected a sample of his sperm, raising hopes among distraught fans that Harambe could sire offspring even in death.

Officials at the main U.S. body that oversees breeding of zoo animals, however, said it was highly unlikely&nbsp;that the Western lowland&nbsp;gorilla&#39;s contribution to the nation&#39;s &quot;frozen zoo&quot; of&nbsp;genetic material of rare and endangered species would be used to breed.

&quot;Currently, it&#39;s not anything we would use for reproduction,&quot; Kristen Lukas, who heads the Association of Zoos and Aquariums&#39; (AZA) Gorilla&nbsp;Species Survival Plan, said on Wednesday. &quot;It will be banked and just stored for future use or for research studies.&quot;

Lukas&#39; statement undercuts a weekend statement by&nbsp;Cincinnati&nbsp;Zoo director Thane Maynard that the death of the 17-year-old young silverback, who had been too young to breed, was &quot;not the end of his gene pool.&quot;

Zoo officials did not respond to calls on Wednesday seeking more detail on their plans for Harambe&#39;s sperm.

There are currently 350&nbsp;gorillas of Harambe&#39;s species in US&nbsp;zoos, according to the AZA, which accredits zoos, including&nbsp;Cincinnati&#39;s and approves breeding plans. That population is large enough to maintain a breeding program so robust that many female gorillas&nbsp;of child-bearing age are given hormonal contraceptives.

Zoo officials have stood by the decision to shoot Harambe dead on Saturday, saying the 450-pound (200-kg) animal could have easily&nbsp;slain&nbsp;or grievously injured the toddler.

But their decision to kill the&nbsp;gorilla&nbsp;has drawn criticism online and sparked a&nbsp;Cincinnati&nbsp;police investigation into the boy&#39;s family.

The highly charismatic animals are closely related to humans, making them popular zoo attractions. Major US&nbsp;zoos from New York&#39;s Bronx Zoo to the San Diego Zoo rely on&nbsp;gorillas as a major draw for visitors.

&nbsp;

INTO THE &#39;FROZEN ZOO&#39;

Harambe&#39;s sperm will&nbsp;likely&nbsp;go into a collection of samples taken from&nbsp;gorillas and other animals that are preserved in liquid nitrogen and typically viable for hundreds of years, said the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians director Robert Hilsenroth.

&quot;We call it the frozen zoo,&quot; said Hilsenroth. &quot;It&#39;s nice to have that in your pocket just in case.&quot;

Given the numbers of&nbsp;gorillas in captivity, Harambe&#39;s&nbsp;genetic&nbsp;material would&nbsp;likely&nbsp;be drawn on only in the event of some new disease that took a heavy toll on the population, the AZA&#39;s Lukas said.

&quot;In a dire situation like that, we would then be able to continue the population,&quot; Lukas said.

There are about 175,000 of the&nbsp;gorillas in the wild, but habitat destruction, hunting and disease are resulting in a rapid decline in the population.

The practice of breeding&nbsp;gorillas in captivity has been criticized by animal rights groups.

&quot;In theory, conserving is great but without a habitat what&#39;s the point,&quot; said Julia Gallucci, primatologist for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

After shooting dead a?gorilla?at the?Cincinnati?Zoo to save a 3-year-old boy, zoo officials said they had collected a sample of his sperm for future use

After shooting dead a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo to save a 3-year-old boy, zoo officials said they had collected a sample of his sperm, raising hopes among distraught fans that Harambe could sire offspring even in death. Officials at the main U.S. body that oversees breeding of zoo animals, however, said it was highly unlikely that the Western lowland gorilla's contribution to the nation's "frozen zoo" of genetic material of rare and endangered species would be used to breed. "Currently, it's not anything we would use for reproduction," Kristen Lukas, who heads the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' (AZA) Gorilla Species Survival Plan, said on Wednesday. "It will be banked and just stored for future use or for research studies." Lukas' statement undercuts a weekend statement by Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynard that the death of the 17-year-old young silverback, who had been too young to breed, was "not the end of his gene pool." Zoo officials did not respond to calls on Wednesday seeking more detail on their plans for Harambe's sperm. There are currently 350 gorillas of Harambe's species in US zoos, according to the AZA, which accredits zoos, including Cincinnati's and approves breeding plans. That population is large enough to maintain a breeding program so robust that many female gorillas of child-bearing age are given hormonal contraceptives. Zoo officials have stood by the decision to shoot Harambe dead on Saturday, saying the 450-pound (200-kg) animal could have easily slain or grievously injured the toddler. But their decision to kill the gorilla has drawn criticism online and sparked a Cincinnati police investigation into the boy's family. The highly charismatic animals are closely related to humans, making them popular zoo attractions. Major US zoos from New York's Bronx Zoo to the San Diego Zoo rely on gorillas as a major draw for visitors. INTO THE 'FROZEN ZOO' Harambe's sperm will likely go into a collection of samples taken from gorillas and other animals that are preserved in liquid nitrogen and typically viable for hundreds of years, said the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians director Robert Hilsenroth. "We call it the frozen zoo," said Hilsenroth. "It's nice to have that in your pocket just in case." Given the numbers of gorillas in captivity, Harambe's genetic material would likely be drawn on only in the event of some new disease that took a heavy toll on the population, the AZA's Lukas said. "In a dire situation like that, we would then be able to continue the population," Lukas said. There are about 175,000 of the gorillas in the wild, but habitat destruction, hunting and disease are resulting in a rapid decline in the population. The practice of breeding gorillas in captivity has been criticized by animal rights groups. "In theory, conserving is great but without a habitat what's the point," said Julia Gallucci, primatologist for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Slain Cincinnati gorilla likely to live on in genetic 'frozen zoo'

Zoo, News on Zoo, stories on Zoo, articles on Zoo, Zoo stories at Wion, Zoo news, Zoo latest news