Community Community The DPS- Shangri- Modern La Hotel, P7Indian School P16 Doha has marked Qatar opened its first National Sport photography Day with a exhibition titled ‘A Sports Fiesta. Click for a Cause’. Friday, February 12, 2016 Jumada I 3, 1437 AH DOHA 14°C—21°C TODAY LIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE 11 LEISURE 12 & 13 COVER STORY Cage and wage Where zoos provide comfy apartments for main animal minders. P2-3 2 GULF TIMES Friday, February 12, 2016 COMMUNITY COVER STORY At the zoo So how does it feel to live with the animals? Anja Sokolow gives the lowdown on life around Berlin Zoological Gardens, PRAYER TIME which is the envy of some, but also trying sometimes Fajr 4.54am Shorooq (sunrise) 6.11am Zuhr (noon) 11.48am Asr (afternoon) 3.01pm Maghreb (sunset) 5.27pm Isha (night) 6.57pm USEFUL NUMBERS Emergency 999 Worldwide Emergency Number 112 Kahramaa – Electricity and Water 991 Ooredoo Telephone Assistance 111 Local Directory 180 International Calls Enquires 150 Time 141, 140 Doha International Airport 40106666 Labor Department 44508111, 44406537 Medical Commission 44679111 Mowasalat Taxi 44588888 Qatar Airways 44496000 Weather Forecast 44656590 Hamad Medical Corporation 44392222 44393333 Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation 44845555 44845464 Primary Health Care Corporation 44593333 44593363 Qatar Assistive Technology Centre 44594050 Qatar News Agency 44450205 44450333 Q-Post – General Postal Corporation 44464444 Qatar University 44033333 ote Unquo Qu te Life is really simple, but we insist on CENTRE OF ATTRACTION: The Berlin Zoological Gardens. hen Ruben Gralki There could be no better care for the few who live on zoo property are often making it complicated. wakes up and looks out animals than live-in keepers. jealous of such an exotic address. After his window, he sees Some 17 workers and their families all, it’s not just anyone who can claim to — Confucius antelopes and giraff es. have accommodation in the city’s other live with the birds and the pachyderms, One storey below zoo — the Tierpark, which lies in the much less in a building as unique as a Whim, chimpanzees and gorillas bounce city’s east — says Andreas Knieriem. former veterinary clinic. around their cages. His offi ce is in the Tierpark and he is The distinction is even rarer once It’s not an animal control problem in responsible for both facilities. you factor in that these residents are his building. The zoo minder has a home It’s not just animal tenders who live in the middle of the metropolis that is in the middle of Berlin’s Zoological in the zoos. Others who have taken up Berlin and on the historic site of one of Features Editor Garden. He has lived there for the past residence there include technicians and Germany’s oldest zoos. fi ve years. locksmiths, who are sometimes needed “For a lot of zoo visitors, living in the Kamran Rehmat “I only need a minute to get to work for emergencies. zoo seems like it would be heaven on e-mail: [email protected] from my fl at, right above the monkey “We try to spread it out and distribute earth,” says Knieriem, who lives at the Telephone: 44466405 house,” he says. the on-the-job accommodation based edge of the Zoological Garden, above Fax: 44350474 Gralki, who works with primates, is on the importance of the employee,” the aquarium. But there are drawbacks. one of 32 employees at the zoo who has says Knieriem. And even for those who enjoy the a fl at with all mod cons right in the zoo. Friends and relations of the select experience, it can quickly grow routine. Friday, February 12, 2016 GULF TIMES 3 COVER STORY COMMUNITY Ruben Gralki, left, says he generally just sees the positives. Being there means that when the unexpected happens — like last year, when an orangutan would not bond with its newborn — he gets called in. Just like a human baby, the infant orangutan needed to be carried around non-stop. It demanded a bottle and ON-SITE: Ruben Gralki, who works with the primates at the Berlin Zoological Garden, in front of the gorilla enclosure. needed a diaper “We have to make sure that the would not bond with its newborn — their own bathrooms, kitchens and pay admission fees. The only quickly,” she says. But she says the nice parts stay nice. We experience he gets called in. central heating. In exchange, the exception would be if the gate proximity also makes it hard to tune the problems close-up,” says In this case, he was the one who zoo expects him to take on more attendant already knows the out when she’s off the clock. Even Knieriem. He says he notices every got to take over the hand-feeding. responsibility. guest. a walk around the zoo for fun turns little problem at the zoo. Just like a human baby, the infant That’s no problem for Gralki. “I The Association of German into a veterinary exercise. “If the cranes call out loudly, I orangutan needed to be carried enjoy being an animal worker and Zoological Gardens says such “They’re not just any animals. have to ask myself if they’re just around non-stop. It demanded a like to be close to the apes.” cohabitation between animals They’re ‘my’ animals,” says the staking out territory or if there’s a bottle and needed a diaper. Of course, it does make everyday and minders is not unusual and doctor, who has known many of fox lurking nearby,” he notes. The German’s long-term life a touch more challenging. Every carries many benefi ts. It helps the them since birth. Then there are the more girlfriend, who now lives with time he goes to the store, it means workers identify more closely with Gralki says the only way to really mundane nuisances, like youths him at the zoo, treated the baby carrying his shopping bags home their workplace and means they’re get away from work is to take a trip. who loiter on the zoo property after orangutan, named Rieke, like her through a crowd of children. If he always on hand. He says it helps that his hobby is closing time or young mothers who own. needs to fetch a larger item — like a Christine Gohl, chief veterinarian motorcycling. don’t dispose of their baby’s nappy “That experience was a real piece of furniture — home with his at Munich’s Tierpark Hellabrun Knieriem also says he has a ritual properly. highlight,” says Gralki, 37. car, he can only do so outside of zoo zoo, can attest to that after six years to help him ease out of work mode. Gralki says he generally just sees Another benefi t is rent that’s opening hours. of residency at the zoo. She’s one of “I always take a long way home the positives. Being there means cheaper than what he would pay He has to meet any friends 30 workers who’s lived on site. from work. It’s only four or fi ve that when the unexpected happens “outside.” The apartments are of coming to see him at the front “Professionally, it’s a huge minutes of walking, but it helps me — like last year, when an orangutan a normal German standard with gate, otherwise they have to advantage to be able to be there close a door in my head.” — DPA DECENT ENVIRONS: The Alpaca and Elephant Enclosures at the zoo. RELAXATION: A polar bear at the zoo. 4 GULF TIMES Friday, February 12, 2016 COMMUNITY BODY & MIND FAST TRACK: University of Washington immunologist Michael Gale Jr holds frozen isolates from the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil that he will use in his testing. Scientists step up antiviral drug research for Zika virus Nile, Nipah, Lassa and Ebola —plus hepatitis challenging aspects of RNA viruses: their of area projects involving the virus. However, By JoNel Aleccia C and type-A infl uenza. ability to mutate and evade the immune other scientists and fi rms in the US and around Currently, there are no broad-spectrum system. Because such viruses are so wily, the world are now fast-tracking investigations antiviral drugs and few cures or even they’re the cause of emerging and re- into potential vaccines to prevent Zika amples of Zika virus from the treatments for RNA viruses. emerging outbreaks like those seen with West infections and drugs to treat them. outbreak raging across Brazil The local scientists see promise in Nile, dengue, chikungunya and Ebola, said A broad-spectrum antiviral drug is and Latin America arrived at the KIN1400, the small molecule that triggers Eramian. something of a holy grail for infectious- University of Washington last an innate immune response inside cells, The December paper didn’t mention Zika disease experts pondering Zika and other month, where they were quickly launching a cascade of eff ects that virus, but researchers say they decided to threats, said Dr William Schaff ner, a professor Slocked in a biosafety freezer, awaiting overwhelm the viruses, preventing them from speed up tests after it was clear the mosquito- of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt research aimed at stopping the germ tied replicating. borne virus was spreading rapidly. Originally University in Nashville, Tennessee. to growing numbers of devastating birth “The hope is to develop a pan-viral drug detected in Africa nearly 70 years ago, Zika “If you’re talking about my wish list, the defects. that would not have to be rejiggered to a has now spread to more than 25 countries. fi rst two things I would wish for, clearly, are The surge of the mosquito-borne virushas specifi c virus,” said Shawn Iadonato, Kineta’s Adding to the urgency is a suspected link a more precise diagnostic test and a safe and lent new urgency to early tests of a small, chief scientifi c offi cer.