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Bleak future for rhino sperm at SD Zoo
Inside the brain of Gloria’s whiz kid
Have horn, will kill.
Rhino-cide
The San Diego Zoo made headlines last spring with news that its so-called frozen zoo might be used to clone members of a critically endangered rhinoceros species. “In 2018, the last male northern white rhino died, leaving behind only two sterile females and seemingly spelling the end of the species,” Popular Mechanics wrote in an April 16, 2024 post. “Scientists working in partnership with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance released a new study this week detailing the possibility of reviving the northern white rhino by generating embryos from 12 frozen cells. These cells are located in a facility called the ‘Frozen Zoo,’ which contains over ‘10,000 living cell cultures, oocytes, sperm, and embryos,’ according to the San Diego Zoo.” But a recently released inspection report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, dated December 19, 2024, shows the zoo has not had much luck with the well-being of at least two of the rhinos it already has. “On October 18, 2024, a 19-year-old female greater one-horned rhinoceros sustained fatal injuries, and her 9-month-old-calf suffered mild injuries, when a 10-year-old male greater one-horned rhinoceros was able to gain entrance to the female’s habitat,” says the December 19 document. “According to the senior curator, on the morning of the incident, the male repeatedly manipulated the gate separating the two animals’ habitats by moving it back and forth, which resulted in failure of the locking mechanism on the gate, allowing it to slide open. The locking mechanism was of insufficient strength to keep the gate closed and contain the male rhinoceros. The curator also indicated that upon the male entering the female’s habitat, the female approached the male, they interacted, exhibiting sparring behaviors, then he aggressed her resulting in the fatal injuries.” The report continues, “The male has since been moved to a separate habitat and the calf is under veterinary care. Records show the facility took immediate corrective action to ensure the safety of the animals.” Adds the document: “Failure to provide structurally sound enclosures may allow for the escape of animals and lead to possible injury or death. The facility must be constructed of such material and such strength as appropriate for the animals involved to protect the animals from injury and contain the animals.”
Greater one-horned rhinos are known for killing each other, per a November 28, 2024 dispatch in MongaBay.com regarding conditions in Nepal’s Chitwan National Park. "The greater one-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) represents a conservation success story for Nepal — going from a low of around 100 in the 1960s to 752 as of the 2021 census, with 694 in Chitwan. But too many rhinos in the park’s western sector, popular with tourists, may be contributing to a current increase in mortality rates, prompting the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation to launch a program in March to move some rhinos to the eastern sector,” says the account. “A 2022 study looking at mortality cases found a significant decline in poaching deaths from 2008-2018, thanks to intensified community-based law enforcement measures. However, there was also a notable increment in non-poaching deaths during this period, including from individual rhinos fighting each other and from attacks by tigers, whose population has also flourished across Nepal.”
Sclar’s secret Signal
A big winner in November’s mayoral race was San Diego political consulting outfit Jared Sclar & Associates, LLC, which notched a $25,150 “win bonus” from the San Diego for Fairness PAC, which ran a high dollar independent expenditure campaign on behalf of incumbent San Diego mayor Todd Gloria against San Diego cop Larry Turner, backed by a roughly million-dollar expenditure by the Lincoln Club. The pro-Gloria group spent a total of $1,002,382 during 2024, per a January 21 disclosure filing with the city clerk’s office, largely devoted to Gloria’s cause. Digital and radio ads, along with text messages for Gloria, totaled $769,777.04 during the year, the disclosure says. Sclar & Associates is run by Jared Sclar, former deputy chief of staff to San Diego city councilman Raul Campillo. Among his other accomplishments, according to his LinkedIn page, Sclar has “raised over $2 million and counting into Super PACs, leading to the election of numerous candidates.” He was also 2020 Deputy Campaign Manager for then city councilwoman and Gloria opponent Barbara Bry, the profile says. When asked last summer about how much money the so-called Fairness PAC hoped to raise for its pro-Gloria campaign, Sclar — identified as “a political strategist running the committee” with real estate mogul Steve Cushman — declined to say, per an October 9, 2024 dispatch by Axios San Diego, “What we can say is, when the other side put up $1 million to support Larry Turner, they should expect that there is an equal and opposite reaction to any action that they may take.”
Jared Sclar: secrets in his success?
During his tenure with Campillo, Sclar, also known as Miller-Sclar, came under scrutiny in a May 25, 2022 story by public broadcaster KPBS about use by city council staffers of a private messaging application known as Signal. “Miller-Sclar, who at the time was Campillo’s spokesperson, gave his junior colleague some advice: download the messaging app Signal. He even sent her a download link. ‘Def download signal, its (sic) preferable for me for communicating about campaign/work stuff, or of course just the tea,’ Miller-Sclar wrote,” said the story. “This exchange over standard text messaging was among disclosures from Campillo’s office in response to a California Public Records Act request made by KPBS. Miller-Sclar’s admission that he was using Signal for communicating about ‘work’ should mean his Signal messages are public records. State law says that most communications about government business must be made available to the public. However, when KPBS asked Miller-Sclar for his Signal messages about government business, he said he had none to disclose.” Added the story: “This raises bright red flags for lawyers and experts in California’s public records laws, who say government employees should not be communicating about public business on an encrypted messaging app because there’s no way to check whether the communications should be made public.”
— Matt Potter
The Reader offers $25 for news tips published in this column. Call our voice mail at 619-235-3000, ext. 440, or sandiegoreader.com/staff/matt-potter/contact/.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Bleak future for rhino sperm at SD Zoo
Inside the brain of Gloria’s whiz kid
Bleak future for rhino sperm at SD Zoo
Inside the brain of Gloria’s whiz kid
Have horn, will kill.
Rhino-cide
The San Diego Zoo made headlines last spring with news that its so-called frozen zoo might be used to clone members of a critically endangered rhinoceros species. “In 2018, the last male northern white rhino died, leaving behind only two sterile females and seemingly spelling the end of the species,” Popular Mechanics wrote in an April 16, 2024 post. “Scientists working in partnership with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance released a new study this week detailing the possibility of reviving the northern white rhino by generating embryos from 12 frozen cells. These cells are located in a facility called the ‘Frozen Zoo,’ which contains over ‘10,000 living cell cultures, oocytes, sperm, and embryos,’ according to the San Diego Zoo.” But a recently released inspection report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, dated December 19, 2024, shows the zoo has not had much luck with the well-being of at least two of the rhinos it already has. “On October 18, 2024, a 19-year-old female greater one-horned rhinoceros sustained fatal injuries, and her 9-month-old-calf suffered mild injuries, when a 10-year-old male greater one-horned rhinoceros was able to gain entrance to the female’s habitat,” says the December 19 document. “According to the senior curator, on the morning of the incident, the male repeatedly manipulated the gate separating the two animals’ habitats by moving it back and forth, which resulted in failure of the locking mechanism on the gate, allowing it to slide open. The locking mechanism was of insufficient strength to keep the gate closed and contain the male rhinoceros. The curator also indicated that upon the male entering the female’s habitat, the female approached the male, they interacted, exhibiting sparring behaviors, then he aggressed her resulting in the fatal injuries.” The report continues, “The male has since been moved to a separate habitat and the calf is under veterinary care. Records show the facility took immediate corrective action to ensure the safety of the animals.” Adds the document: “Failure to provide structurally sound enclosures may allow for the escape of animals and lead to possible injury or death. The facility must be constructed of such material and such strength as appropriate for the animals involved to protect the animals from injury and contain the animals.”
Greater one-horned rhinos are known for killing each other, per a November 28, 2024 dispatch in MongaBay.com regarding conditions in Nepal’s Chitwan National Park. "The greater one-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) represents a conservation success story for Nepal — going from a low of around 100 in the 1960s to 752 as of the 2021 census, with 694 in Chitwan. But too many rhinos in the park’s western sector, popular with tourists, may be contributing to a current increase in mortality rates, prompting the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation to launch a program in March to move some rhinos to the eastern sector,” says the account. “A 2022 study looking at mortality cases found a significant decline in poaching deaths from 2008-2018, thanks to intensified community-based law enforcement measures. However, there was also a notable increment in non-poaching deaths during this period, including from individual rhinos fighting each other and from attacks by tigers, whose population has also flourished across Nepal.”
Sclar’s secret Signal
A big winner in November’s mayoral race was San Diego political consulting outfit Jared Sclar & Associates, LLC, which notched a $25,150 “win bonus” from the San Diego for Fairness PAC, which ran a high dollar independent expenditure campaign on behalf of incumbent San Diego mayor Todd Gloria against San Diego cop Larry Turner, backed by a roughly million-dollar expenditure by the Lincoln Club. The pro-Gloria group spent a total of $1,002,382 during 2024, per a January 21 disclosure filing with the city clerk’s office, largely devoted to Gloria’s cause. Digital and radio ads, along with text messages for Gloria, totaled $769,777.04 during the year, the disclosure says. Sclar & Associates is run by Jared Sclar, former deputy chief of staff to San Diego city councilman Raul Campillo. Among his other accomplishments, according to his LinkedIn page, Sclar has “raised over $2 million and counting into Super PACs, leading to the election of numerous candidates.” He was also 2020 Deputy Campaign Manager for then city councilwoman and Gloria opponent Barbara Bry, the profile says. When asked last summer about how much money the so-called Fairness PAC hoped to raise for its pro-Gloria campaign, Sclar — identified as “a political strategist running the committee” with real estate mogul Steve Cushman — declined to say, per an October 9, 2024 dispatch by Axios San Diego, “What we can say is, when the other side put up $1 million to support Larry Turner, they should expect that there is an equal and opposite reaction to any action that they may take.”
Jared Sclar: secrets in his success?
During his tenure with Campillo, Sclar, also known as Miller-Sclar, came under scrutiny in a May 25, 2022 story by public broadcaster KPBS about use by city council staffers of a private messaging application known as Signal. “Miller-Sclar, who at the time was Campillo’s spokesperson, gave his junior colleague some advice: download the messaging app Signal. He even sent her a download link. ‘Def download signal, its (sic) preferable for me for communicating about campaign/work stuff, or of course just the tea,’ Miller-Sclar wrote,” said the story. “This exchange over standard text messaging was among disclosures from Campillo’s office in response to a California Public Records Act request made by KPBS. Miller-Sclar’s admission that he was using Signal for communicating about ‘work’ should mean his Signal messages are public records. State law says that most communications about government business must be made available to the public. However, when KPBS asked Miller-Sclar for his Signal messages about government business, he said he had none to disclose.” Added the story: “This raises bright red flags for lawyers and experts in California’s public records laws, who say government employees should not be communicating about public business on an encrypted messaging app because there’s no way to check whether the communications should be made public.”
— Matt Potter
The Reader offers $25 for news tips published in this column. Call our voice mail at 619-235-3000, ext. 440, or sandiegoreader.com/staff/matt-potter/contact/.
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