“Kansas City Zoo mothers baby orangutan until adoptive mother could ... - FOX2now.com” plus 3 more |
- Kansas City Zoo mothers baby orangutan until adoptive mother could ... - FOX2now.com
- Kansas City Zoo nurtures baby orangutan - Fort Mill Times
- Kansas City Zoo Making Baby Orangutan Feel at Home - fox4kc.com
- US Healthcare History: Our Very Own Killing Fields - Democratic Underground.com
| Kansas City Zoo mothers baby orangutan until adoptive mother could ... - FOX2now.com Posted: 17 Oct 2009 12:28 PM PDT |
| Kansas City Zoo nurtures baby orangutan - Fort Mill Times Posted: 17 Oct 2009 12:14 PM PDT KANSAS CITY, Mo. A baby orangutan at the Kansas City Zoo is bonding well with an adoptive mother after zoo workers took care of baby Kalijon for months. The orangutan mother had refused to nurse her new baby. So zookeepers began human intervention to save the youngest member of a highly endangered species. About 30 staff members and volunteers worked around the clock for five months to nurture the infant. They took shifts wearing a hot, furry shirt on their chest, bottle-fed her and slept with her at night. The humans even took her along while going to the bathroom. The effort has paid off because the baby now clings contentedly to a foster orangutan mother. And zoo workers hope the experience will nurture maternal behavior in future generations of the endangered animals. While spending time with the orangutan, the helpers didn't have much of a choice in activities. She would knock away books and watching TV was what most used to pass the time. "That orangutan has probably watched more movies than any other ape," joked zookeeper Heidi Fisher. The orangutan's bloodline comes from among the most desirable genetic stock among Borneo orangutans in North America. "We're just glad we have a baby," said Randy Wisthoff, director of the Kansas City Zoo. Orangutans are the only ape found in Southeast Asia, but their forest habitat is fast being cleared for lumber and for palm plantations as palm oil is used extensively in cosmetics and in processed foods from snack chips to chocolate. Orangutans foraging for food often are killed by farmers. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation said there are fewer than 60,000 left in the wild, with even fewer Sumatra orangutans. The Kansas City Zoo workers call their baby Kali, for short. She now is about 8 pounds with big eyes and Bozo-like tufts of red hair that stick out from her head. The zoo now has seven Borneo orangutans of varying ages. Breeding is controlled by a species survival plan that attempts to maintain a diverse gene pool. For this birth, a female was sent to Kansas City from the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb., to mate with a young male from the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Fla. Both are rated as highly desirable for their stock. The mother had also rejected her first baby, but keepers had hoped for better results and used a stuffed doll to encourage maternal behavior in her. She was not responsive. Wisthoff said maternal behavior seems to be a learned behavior among apes. In the past, the baby would have been placed in a zoo nursery and left to grow up not knowing what it means to be an orangutan. "The biggest thing was the health of the baby, obviously," said animal curator Sean Putney. "But the ultimate plan was to lessen our role and get her back with the orangutans." One of Kansas City's other female orangutans, Jill, successfully reared her own daughter, born here seven years ago. Keepers had high hopes that she would adopt the new baby. On Sept. 23, keepers put Kalijon with Jill. Within a few hours, the two had bonded and Kalijon "has never looked back," Fisher said. The baby has been climbing all over her new mother and sticks close by her side. The next step will be to introduce the baby to Jill's own daughter, Josie. "We give Josie an opportunity to see another orangutan being raised by a mom," Putney said. "So hopefully we don't get into this situation again of having to come in and help." This content has passed through fivefilters.org.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Kansas City Zoo Making Baby Orangutan Feel at Home - fox4kc.com Posted: 17 Oct 2009 01:18 PM PDT KANSAS CITY, MO. - A baby orangutan at the Kansas City Zoo is bonding well with an adoptive mother after zoo workers took care of baby Kalijon for months. The orangutan mother had refused to nurse her new baby. So zookeepers began human intervention to save the youngest member of a highly endangered species. About 30 staff members and volunteers worked around the clock for five months to nurture the infant. They took shifts wearing a hot, furry shirt on their chest, bottle-fed her and slept with her at night. The humans even took her along while going to the bathroom. The effort has paid off because the baby now clings contentedly to a foster orangutan mother. And zoo workers hope the experience will nurture maternal behavior in future generations of the endangered animals. While spending time with the orangutan, the helpers didn't have much of a choice in activities. She would knock away books and watching TV was what most used to pass the time. "That orangutan has probably watched more movies than any other ape," joked zookeeper Heidi Fisher. The orangutan's bloodline comes from among the most desirable genetic stock among Borneo orangutans in North America. "We're just glad we have a baby," said Randy Wisthoff, director of the Kansas City Zoo. Orangutans are the only ape found in Southeast Asia, but their forest habitat is fast being cleared for lumber and for palm plantations as palm oil is used extensively in cosmetics and in processed foods from snack chips to chocolate. Orangutans foraging for food often are killed by farmers. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation said there are fewer than 60,000 left in the wild, with even fewer Sumatra orangutans. The Kansas City Zoo workers call their baby Kali, for short. She now is about 8 pounds with big eyes and Bozo-like tufts of red hair that stick out from her head. The zoo now has seven Borneo orangutans of varying ages. Breeding is controlled by a species survival plan that attempts to maintain a diverse gene pool. For this birth, a female was sent to Kansas City from the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb., to mate with a young male from the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Fla. Both are rated as highly desirable for their stock. The mother had also rejected her first baby, but keepers had hoped for better results and used a stuffed doll to encourage maternal behavior in her. She was not responsive. Wisthoff said maternal behavior seems to be a learned behavior among apes. In the past, the baby would have been placed in a zoo nursery and left to grow up not knowing what it means to be an orangutan. "The biggest thing was the health of the baby, obviously," said animal curator Sean Putney. "But the ultimate plan was to lessen our role and get her back with the orangutans." One of Kansas City's other female orangutans, Jill, successfully reared her own daughter, born here seven years ago. Keepers had high hopes that she would adopt the new baby. On Sept. 23, keepers put Kalijon with Jill. Within a few hours, the two had bonded and Kalijon "has never looked back," Fisher said. The baby has been climbing all over her new mother and sticks close by her side. The next step will be to introduce the baby to Jill's own daughter, Josie. "We give Josie an opportunity to see another orangutan being raised by a mom," Putney said. "So hopefully we don't get into this situation again of having to come in and help." This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| US Healthcare History: Our Very Own Killing Fields - Democratic Underground.com Posted: 17 Oct 2009 10:41 AM PDT  by Donna Smith Jenny Fritts was 24 years old. Jenny lived with her husband Sean for the past five years, and together they had a little girl named Kylee, 2. Jenny was seven-and-a-half months pregnant with her second child - a beautiful, baby girl. Jenny is dead. Jenny's unborn baby is dead. They died because they were turned away for appropriate care at a for-profit hospital because they did not have health insurance. Sean rushed Jenny back to another hospital when her symptoms became even more severe, and he lied about having insurance to get her in the door. She was placed on a respirator in intensive care, but she didn't make it. She died. And so did her baby. They become two more of the more than 45,000 Americans who die preventable deaths due to our broken healthcare system every year. Two more. Mother and child. And the tragedy doesn't end there. Sean has been very depressed since he lost Jenny and their baby. The rest of his family and friends are worried about him. But he cannot get treatment either. He doesn't have insurance. (You can watch their story here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td802aj-7Sc ) Imagine how you might feel. Imagine. These are our killing fields. In America. In October 2009. In Barack Obama's America. That land full of hope and promise for those who can afford that hope and promise. Yet few in our government offices react as one might think you would when hearing of Jenny and the baby and Sean and Kylee. I read these stories every day on the guaranteedhealthcare.org website. I read them and clean up a spelling glitch or two and then post them for the world to see. The website belongs to the nurses of the California Nurses Association and the National Nurses Organizing Committee. Patients send their stories to the nurses in cascading waves of anger and frustration and desperation. They want someone to listen and to give a damn. And they want someone to help. But there are so many. The nurses advocate for their own patients whenever they can. And when it's possible, nurses take to the streets and to the phone to try to protest. But the numbers swell every day. Many are like Jenny and Sean and have no insurance at all or have lost their insurance when they lost jobs or because an employer cannot afford to offer it. Some are insured and fighting insurance companies for care that their doctors have ordered. continued>>> This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
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