Kara Bussabarger/Louisville Zoo

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Another football expert has weighed in on the upcoming Super Bowl.

Amber, the Louisville Zoo’s 20-year-old orangutan, predicts the New England Patriots will prevail against the New York Giants this Sunday.

Amber was given a choice between Patriots and Giants t-shirts. She first grabbed the Giants shirt, but then grabbed the Patriots shirt. After going back and forth between the two, she finally chose the Pats shirt and put it on.

The t-shirt prediction was part of Amber’s animal enrichment program.

“Animal enrichment is an important aspect of animal management at the Louisville Zoo,” said Animal Training Supervisor Jane Anne Franklin. “Amber and other animals at the zoo are given regular enrichment that provides them with mental and physical stimulation.”

Franklin said playing with T-shirts and other items of clothing is one of Amber’s favorite activities.

“When she is given a shirt, she often likes to take it and rub it across her face and feel the texture before she puts it on. Oh, and she really likes handbags,” she laughed. “If she had to choose between two handbags that might have been hard for her, because I bet she would have carried both of them around and not let them out of her sight.”

Franklin said that Amber might make more predictions in the future.

“It’s just something fun for her,” Franklin said. “And she enjoys all the attention.”

Source: http://www.wlky.com/news/15186881/detail.html?rss=lou&psp=news#

By Bryan Sims
Jan. 30, 2008

Major environmental and cultural organizations in Hawaii have reaffirmed their stances on opposing a “palm oil pipeline” intended for large-scale biodiesel production on the islands.

Hawaii is the most petroleum-dependent state in terms of electrical production, with more than 90 percent of the state’s energy needs coming from imported oil. Despite abundant renewable energy sources from solar, wind and hydroelectric power, Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc. has spent the past year supporting proposals to construct two large biodiesel plants—one by Imperium Renewables Inc. on Oahu and one by BlueEarth Biofuels LLC on Maui. Both intend to use imported palm oil from Indonesia and/or Maylasia as a feedstock.

In October , HECO and the Natural Resources Defense Council finalized a policy to ensure that HECO’s two electric companies—Maui Electric and Hawaii Electric Light Co.—would only purchase biodiesel fuel produced from locally grown, sustainable feedstocks and palm oil. These feedstocks would comply with international standards established by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, an international organization made up of more than 200 members who represent all facets of the palm oil industry.

HECO, in partnership with BlueEarth Biofuels LLC, intends to build a 40 MMgy biodiesel facility to supply the renewable fuel to Maui Electric Co., which uses diesel for approximately 85 percent of its electricity production. The project is slated for full operation by mid-2009. In addition, HECO has committed to using 100 percent biofuels at its new 110-megawatt electricity generator at Campbell Industrial Park on Oahu, which is expected to be completed in July 2009.

If constructed, the two plants’ combined capacity of 220 MMgy would exceed the potential output that could be produced in Hawaii, even if all available statewide agricultural lands were utilized for the sole purpose of biofuels. Though neither company has broken ground yet, Hawaiian environmental advocates are focused on preventing the global side effects that might follow when sourcing palm oil from other countries. Their concerns include the destruction of rainforests, threatening of endangered species and/or imposing the rights of indigenous peoples. “Our mantra is that all sustainability is local,” said Rob Parsons, executive vice president of the Maui Tomorrow Foundation, an environmental protection organization that has lobbied for ecological preservation on Maui for nearly 15 years. “What’s happening in Indonesia and Malaysia is really an ecological disaster of our time with rain forest destruction and habitat loss of endangered species, particularly over the past decade.”

Alternative indigenous bidiesel feedstocks include jatropha, African palm oil, algae, and coconut and kakui nuts. However, it may take some time before the islands realize their contributions to the renewable energy arena on the islands.

“Sustainability is of utmost importance to Imperium Renewables as evidenced by the fact that we were the first biofuel company to become a member of the RSPO,” said Imperium Renewables spokesman John Williams. “Hawaii has massive potential to be a center for both research and cultivation of such feedstocks, and we intend to support the development of its potential.”

Concerns about imported palm oil surfaced this week in light of a major climate change meeting, “Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change,” held at the University of Hawaii East-West Center. The conference was the second of two rounds. The first was hosted in Washington, D.C., in September. Sixteen of the top 17 carbon-emitting nations attended to discuss voluntary carbon reduction strategies. The conference differed from the United Nations-sponsored event held in Bali, where the focus was on establishing global carbon standards pertinent to the Kyoto Protocol.

“We’re saying it’s time to phase out the liquid-fuel-burning generators and use the available resources that we have an abundance of here in Hawaii,” Parsons said. “If biodiesel is to be used here, it makes more sense to use it for transportation fuel rather than for electrical generation.”

Source: http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=2079

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s nine-month-old baby orangutan, Mahal, will be leaving the Zoo in early February. Mahal will be traveling in style (via private plane) to the Milwaukee County Zoo to be paired with a new surrogate mom.

Mahal was born at the Zoo on April 4, 2007 to parents Hadiah and Tujoh, Bornean orangutans. Mahal is Hadiah’s first baby and she didn’t immediately take to her infant, requiring Zoo staff to step in to begin caring for the baby. Since Mahal’s birth the dedicated hand-rearing team has cared for him 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week.

As you may remember Mahal was introduced to Sandra, the Zoo’s 51-year old orangutan matriarch, in November. Sandra raised nine of her own children and immediately took to Mahal. The keepers noticed a renewed energy in Sandra and the two were inseparable. Unfortunately, Sandra died in her sleep in mid-December.

The search for a new surrogate mom continued after Sandra’s passing, but we were not able to pair Mahal with a surrogate here at the Zoo. Since all babies need a mom, the Zoo knew it would be in Mahal’s best interest to transfer him to another accredited Zoo with a proven orangutan surrogate program. Mahal will be dearly missed by all of us at the Zoo but we are very happy that he will be with a new mom.

Stop by and say goodbye to Mahal; he will be with his caregiver in the indoor exhibit at Primate World for the next week. A “Goodbye Book” will be available in Primate World for those who would like to write a farewell message or share a photo or personal story about Mahal. And, if you are ever in Milwaukee stop by the County Zoo to see Mahal with his new mom.

Visit the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s website
Visit the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s palmoil website

I have no idea whose page this is, but when I came across it I really got a kick out of it. So many of the posts on redapes.org have to do with palm oil infestation and pain suffered by orangutans that it was nice to see something so blissfully simple and lighthearted for a change. I just had to put up a link to it for orangutan fans everywhere! Take a look. It’ll make you smile.  Peace. ~ Richhttp://community.livejournal.com/animal_figures/4884.html

KOTA KINABALU (Bernama) – HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad has pledged a RM200,000 grant to the Sabah government for the conservation and restoration of the Deramakot forest reserve in Sandakan.Datuk Sam Manan, director of the Sabah Forestry Department, through which the grant was pledged, said the grant would go towards conservation work in the southern part of the forest, which has a high population of orang utans.

“There are about 1,000 orang utans in the southern part of Deramakot forest and we expect the number to increase with movements of these animals coming from the nearby Malua and Ulu Segama forests.

“That could add up to half of the Sabah population of orang utans, which is about 11,000 to 12,000,” Sam told reporters at the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the state government and HSBC here yesterday.

He said the conservation project, to be undertaken by HSBC for two years, covered 500ha (the Deramakot forest is 55,083ha in size) and is targeted to ensure that the orang utans’ habitats were sustainable for their continual survival and growth.

HSBC deputy chairman and chief operating officer Irene M Dorner said the grant was not only to conserve the endangered orang utan but also to engage the local communities in the restoration process.

“Ultimately, we hope this programme will result in a model orang utan conservation area for other stakeholders to follow as well as create ecotourism opportunities for the local people,” she said.

At the ceremony, Dorner presented Sam with a RM200,000 cheque for immediate implementation of the project.

KOTA KINABALU (NST) – Home to a third of orang utan in Sabah, the once-logged Ulu Segama and Malua commercial forest reserves are attracting international and local donors.

The donors are keen to do their part to restore degraded jungles and protect key wildlife habitats.

As pledged by the Sabah government almost two years ago, logging ceased at the end of last month at both reserves which measure 236,825ha.

The reserves, almost five times the size of Langkawi, are located within what the Sabah Forestry Department has called the “Ulu Segama-Malua (USM) project” which covers several other forest reserves, including the world-famous Danum Valley.

Sabah Forestry Department director Datuk Sam Mannan said that in the last couple of years, about RM25 million had been raised and pledged for the administrative development of the USM project, restoration of wildlife conservation zones, silviculture and wildlife surveys.

While the main funding sources are the Sabah government and Yayasan Sabah which have come in with RM12 million each, about RM1.2 million was raised by the Arcus Foundation, Alexander Abraham Foundation, the US embassy and the Regional Natural Heritage Programme of the Australian government.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) is supporting the development of the “High Conservation Value Forests” concept at the project sites while Hutan is helping with the conservation of orang utan.

It has been learnt that Sime Darby Berhad is the latest organisation to have expressed interest in playing a conservation role at USM by funding restoration of degraded forests for the protection of orang utan.

The company is expected to make an announcement when the Sabah Development Corridor blueprint is launched on Tuesday by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

“About 35 per cent of Sabah’s orang utan population or some 4,500 are found in USM, making it one of the highest concentrations of orang utan in Borneo. It also has a population of Sumatran rhinos, Borneo Pygmy elephants, honey bears and tembadau or wild ox.”

Source: Borneo Bulletin http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/mon/jan28b3.htm

Source: The Jakarta Post – January 23, 2008
JAMBI

Uncontrolled poaching has been spreading to protected forests and national parks, threatening rare species, local experts say. Technical coordinator of the Jambi center for natural resources conservation, Titin Heryatin, said poachers have been hunting for protected animals including Sumatran tigers, elephants, rhinos, crocodiles, snakes and forest goats. Poachers have freely hunted protected species in protected forests and national parks since special forest police were allegedly involved in a poaching and rare species trade syndicate.

“Poachers have frequently worked at night and used sophisticated weapons to avoid police,” she said here on Tuesday. She said her office and police were also lacking personnel to improve surveillance and enforce the law.

The center has deployed only some 24 personnel to conduct surveillance over the 60,500 hectare-Bukit Duabelas National Park, 4.1 million-ha East Coast mangrove forest and the 120,000-ha Durian Luncuk natural reserve, she said.

“We are working to improve coordination between relevant authorities including the Forestry Ministry and the Environment Ministry, the police and local military to control the poaching,” she said. –JP