Photo by Krisha Williams Turbeville

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

About 100 people stood sweaty and eager to see a streak of black fur leap out of a concrete building Saturday morning. When the small metal door finally rattled open – nothing happened.

Then, just as some in the crowd started to lose hope, a black 2-year-old leopard named Spyke strode out of his den, pausing to stretch and scratch on the deck of his new home at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.

Founded in 1991, the refuge is home to lions, tigers, leopards and bears, most of which would have otherwise been euthanized. Its staff travels the country rescuing exotic animals that were not meant to be pets, according to its website. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PEKIN, Ill. — Whether they’re stroking the wiry fur of a potbelly pig, marveling at the downy feathers of a 3-day-old chick or gazing at fish in an aquarium, nursing home residents love to connect with animals.

Liberty Village Nursing Home plays host to various animals throughout the year, according to activities director Tracy McCabe. Visiting family members or friends often bring along a dog or cat, McCabe said. And a favorite among residents, their families and friends is a visit by a traveling petting zoo.

“Animals bring back a lot of memories for the residents and give them a chance to reminisce,” McCabe said. “Anything that triggers good memories is a wonderful activity.” (more…)

THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — The idea was for the National Zoo to establish a captive colony of endangered Virginia big-eared bats, to shield them from a deadly epidemic and ensure that there would be survivors should the wild population be destroyed.

But five months after the project began, most of the bats in the colony are dead, and a consultant hired by the zoo says it mishandled the animals and disregarded advice she gave that might have saved them.

“Mishandling of the bats resulted in broken fingers, soiled fur, skin infections … bruised legs … anorexia, capture myopathy and death,” the consultant, Missy Singleton, wrote in a report last December. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Charleston’s Municipal Beautification Commission says it won’t oppose a request from People for the Ethical Treatment Animals to display a statue of a shackled, weeping elephant in the city.

But there are conditions.

The animal rights group has put the 4 1/2-foot fiberglass statue in cities around the country to protest what it calls animal cruelty in circuses. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — The Detroit Zoo is serving as a sanctuary to more than 1,000 mammals, reptiles and spiders seized from a Texas exotic animal dealer.

The Macomb Daily reports that the 1,100 animals now at the Detroit Zoo home were among nearly 27,000 animals seized Dec. 15 in the nation’s largest exotic animal rescue effort.

After a judge ruled the animals will not be returned to U.S. Global Exotics, Detroit Zoo employees spent seven weeks helping care for the animals at a temporary site in Dallas. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona — Police in a small northern Arizona city are investigating the deaths of two giraffes from Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, and two others likely will have to find new homes.

Freddie and Tom Hancock of Page acquired the giraffes as part of a plan to build a wildlife preserve on city property they leased in 2008 that also would house exotic birds, reptiles and a camel. (more…)

THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — A federal judge Wednesday sided with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in a legal fight in which animal rights activists accused the circus of abusing its Asian elephants.

In a 57-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said a former Ringling employee, Tom Rider, and the Animal Protection Institute (API) did not have legal standing to sue the circus under the Endangered Species Act. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia — Eight circus tigers and a lioness died during a 20-hour journey in an enclosed and heated truck across Siberia, and Russian police are investigating whether they might have been suffocated by exhaust fumes or sickened with food poisoning.

The animals were dead when they arrived early Tuesday in the city of Yakutsk, where they had been due to perform in holiday shows, police spokesman Nikolai Sizykh said. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Those interested in casting a vote in the Little Rock Zoo’s Name Our Baby Chimp contest have until 4 p.m. Monday to visit the zoo’s Web site, www.littlerockzoo.com, and choose from four names.

The great-ape keepers at the zoo culled the names from more than 400 submissions made since the male chimp was born in late August to Mahale, a 15-year-old also born at the zoo. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OKLAHOMA CITY — It’s not unusual to see a deer or a cow crossing Oklahoma’s rural highways. But an elephant?

A couple driving home from church nearly slammed into a giant pachyderm that had escaped from a nearby circus late Wednesday. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPOKANE, Wash. — John and Jane Schreiner have a new pet, a month-old giraffe they are raising at their Spokane County home.

Karson enjoys drinking milk and loves to scamper across the grass on the 13-acre spread he shares with five wallaroos and two kangaroos. (more…)

(All close-up photography by Benjamin Krain/ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE)

ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

They’re not yet operating on a wing and a prayer, but the Little Rock Zoo is hoping a new show featuring birds swooping over patrons’ heads will draw at least 35,000 more visitors this year compared with 2008 and help make up for lost city funding.

Zoo officials estimate that the facility needs to see at least that many more patrons to make up for a slight decrease in city funds and attendance and an increase in operating expenses. (more…)

McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In Southwest Ranches, Fla., a 100-pound Siberian lynx named Sasha roams Steve and Barbara Burk’s house like the alpha-male predator he is.

At times the powerful cat paws playfully at a llama, a goat or another critter in the menagerie of animals the Burks invite in to wander the house. At other times Sasha grows bored with the barnyard hoi polloi and retires to his bedroom, furnished with a double bed and a television. (more…)

BY EVIN DEMIREL
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Beneath an 8-foot-tall, wood-paneled portrait of a golden, full-maned lion, the Little Rock Zoo Cafe Africa’s fireplace crackled.

In a nearby wreath-adorned chair, Santa Claus, whose white, curly beard billowed down his red suit, extended his white gloves to a child waiting for him Saturday morning during the first session of the fourth annual Christmas in the Wild, during which more than 100 participants watched Santa treat animals with wrapped gifts of food. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

So that’s why they like hanging out in the dark.

When zookeepers and a veterinarian were giving the vampire bats at the Little Rock Zoo a routine checkup they discovered two babies and a pregnant female. (more…)