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At last, some good news from Ohio after the devastating recent killing of 49 animals released into the countryside…six exotic animals have survived and are now readjusting to life at Columbus zoo. The grizzly bear, three leopards and two monkeys are said to be ‘calm’ and not aggressive.
The events have led many people to question whether members of the public should be allowed to keep such animals after it’s thought the owner, suffering from severe debts, released them all before committing suicide.
If you want to help the rescued animals, a special web page has been set up to donate towards their upkeep.

Photo : Grahm S. Jones / Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

London Zoo’s Lucifer and Abi have had another pair of cubs! The Asian lion cubs are important to their conservation with only around 350 animals left in the wild. Although they are yet to be sexed, they have been given the Halloween-inspired names Pumpkin and Spook.
If you’re lucky you might be able to see them with their mum in their den…before they’re let out into the rest of the enclosure in November.

Congratulations to Bristol Zoo Gardens! Last night, their mouse lemur gave birth to three tiny babies! One of the smallest primates, they normally give birth to twins so this is an extra bonus. They are not endangered, although all lemurs are protected, this is partly because the mouse lemur has such a varied diet; eating pretty much anything that comes its way!
The lemurs are obviously getting a bit of a rest at the moment, but the Zoo have some webcams set up, so you can keep an eye on the gorillas, seals and penguins!

An update on the lost penguin found in New Zealand…after concerns he had become lethargic from mistakenly eating sand believing it to be snow, Wellington Zoo are now caring for the bird. The penguin has already undergone two operations to pump the sand from its stomach and faces another. His new nickname stems from the children’s film, Happy Feet. Also, he may have found a way home after a kindly businessman leading an expedition to Antarctica next year has offered him a lift!
Photo : AP

No lilos to be found here, it’s London Zoo’s new enclosure for their penguin Humboldt and Macaroni colonies! The zoo’s original penguin pool, a 1934 Grade I listed building, can no longer be used due to the concrete floor being very bad for the penguin’s health. Instead, their new pool includes a special breeding area and small pool for chicks to learn how to swim.

Sad news…Mjukuu’s baby mountain gorilla has died. The little infant had been introduced to the male silverback Kesho and the rest of the group successfully. But during the second time, a scuffle broke out and the young gorilla was injured and could not be saved. Gorillas, like most primates, have complex social structures and as Kesho was not related to the young gorilla, it was particularly difficult.

Brilliant news, Twycross Zoo are celebrating the birth of a baby Western Lowland Gorilla, notoriously hard to breed in captivity. The little one is about two weeks old and so keepers haven’t been able to determine its sex yet. This is especially good news as the species is critically endangered in the wild, with only 100,000 left.

Mercedes, the 30 year old polar bear in Edinburgh’s Zoo has been put down due to ill health. She was originally brought over from Canada after she risked being shot after continually wandering into towns scavenging for food. In captivity she’d raised two cubs successfully but after the death of her partner, Barney, keepers noticed she had been showing signs of senility. Two years ago she was moved into a specially designed enclosure. In the wild, polar bears rarely live past 25 but the oldest polar bear in captivity was thought to be 43.
Photo : Royal Zoological Society Of Scot/PA

This little baby orangutan is just over a month old but was rejected by his mother. The zoo keepers in Houston are now taking it in turns to look after the 5lb bundle of fun.
Orangutans are the largest arboreal (tree living) creature and are only found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Their name even originates from their habitat, using the Malay words for man, ‘orang’, and forest, ‘(h)utan’, literally ‘man of the forest’.

Knut the polar bear cub who won over millions of fans after his mother rejected him and he was handreared by Berlin zookeepers, has sadly died. An inquest is due to determine why he died at such a young age as polar bears in captivity can live to over 20 years.
As the world’s largest land carnivore and the largest bear an adult male can grow up to 1,500lb. The polar bear and brown bear are closely related (strictly speaking, they aren’t two defined species as they can interbred and the offspring are fertile…!)
Photo : AFP/Getty