1. Sitting at the podiums, Seniors Esmerlda and Marissa Uballe practice a mock trial for their intern class. The Law Intern course helps prepare students interested in law careers once they have graduated.
2. In exhibition for the class, health teacher Teresa Delgado displays her Star Wars collectibles. In honor of the new film Star Wars Awakens, Delgado has been on the hunt for more items to add to her growing inventory.
3. Answering a question, english teacher Alan Brooks gives advice to senior Ally Johnson about her essay. As a military veteran, Brooks went into a teaching career to share his love of literature.
4. Playing an original, senior Ruben Castro performs for his fellow students in the new creative arts class. Students are able to come here and display their individual talents like music, art, and writing.
5. During rehearsal, freshman Sierra Gomez exclaims her lines for the Christmas show to her cast mates senior Celina Tijerina and sophomore Estrella Martinez. The show will be performed on December 12th and 13th in the theatre.
Finishing a lap, senior Marc Solis races into another round during track practice. He is preparing for the final track meet of the year which will take place on April 3rd, on the track at Akins High School.
Stories found from The Eagle's Eye at Akins High School
1. Wheelchair bound senior rolls into awareness campaign
2. Mock court trials take place in the Law Intern program
3. The Pledge of Allegiance unfair towards students of differing religions
4. Rising population of homeless students causes fear
5. New creative arts class provides opportunities to excel
The article is describing Carnival being a danger to people because of exposure to Zika mosquitoes.
Brazilians Shrug Off Zika Fears to Revel in Carnival Fun
SALVADOR, Brazil — From a mosquito’s point of view, the sweaty, minimally clothed multitudes thronging the streets of this northeastern city on Monday night must have looked especially delectable.
Drunk on beer and preoccupied by the prodigious carnal possibilities, young men and women danced their way along Avenida Oceânica as Brazilian pop icons performing atop giant motorized stages exhorted them to jump, party and celebrate life.
Momentarily distracted from the bacchanal, Mariana Souza, 26, rolled her eyes when asked about Zika, the mosquito-borne virus that is raging across the nation and much of Latin America. “Do I look worried?” Ms. Souza, a shop clerk dressed in short-shorts and a stringy halter top, shouted above the din. “Ask me next week, after Carnival is over.”
PhotoDespite deepening fear and worry across the Americas since the World Health Organization declared that Zika is a global emergency, millions of Brazilians this week offered a collective shrug and took to the streets to celebrate Carnival. Such dispassion has alarmed public health officials, who are scrambling to curb the outbreak among a population that has long lived with mosquitoes — and which seldom takes precautions to avoid bites, especially those too poor to afford repellent, window screens or air-conditioning.
Despite a World Health Organization declaration that Zika is a global emergency, millions of Brazilians this week offered a collective shrug and took to the streets for Carnival celebrations.CreditMario Tama/Getty Images
In interviews with scores of revelers in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Salvador, only a handful expressed concern about Zika — and few people wore the pants or long-sleeve shirts that would reduce the chance of mosquito bites.
“Carnival in Rio: A Party for Humans and a Feast for Mosquitoes,” is how one newspaper headline summed up the mood.
Here in Salvador, an impoverished, sweltering city of three million that has been hit hard by Zika, hotels are fully booked, news outlets are fixated on Carnival, and cologne-suffused sweat, not mosquito repellent, is the dominant scent wafting through the crowds that gather day and night. According to some estimates, attendance is up 25 percent over last year.
Amid soaring unemployment, a plummeting currency and an expanding corruption scandal that threatens the presidency of Dilma Rousseff, Zika barely registers among Brazilians.
“Most of my friends are more worried about finding jobs,” said Andre Olveira, 38, the owner of a small hotel in Salvador that went belly up last year. He noted that dengue fever, another mosquito-transmitted virus that killed more than 800 people in Brazil last year, is far more pernicious. “If you’re not a pregnant woman, you don’t need to worry. Let’s be honest: Brazilians have far bigger problems than Zika.”
Still, for outsiders, the sight of so many people gallivanting about in various stages of undress and seemingly oblivious to the potential dangers of Zika can be striking. The warning last week that the virus might be transmitted through saliva appeared to have little impact on the hallowed tradition of snogging complete strangers. An entirely unscientific survey of revelers who were asked about the dangers of contracting Zika through unprotected sex yielded expressions that blended ridicule with disbelief.
Carnival is simply playing its time-honored role as a national escape valve during tough times, said Raul Juste Lores, editor at large at Folha de São Paulo, one of the nation’s largest newspapers.
During the currency crisis of 1999, foreign media outlets that predicted a subdued Carnival in Rio were proved wrong by jubilant, record crowds. “No crisis has ever diminished the magic and excitement of Carnival. During pessimistic and depressing times, it becomes more important,” Mr. Lores said. “It’s escapism on steroids.”
Photo
Workers cleaned up after a parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday. Citing the growing threat of Zika, some critics have questioned the state government’s decision to add extra nights to the traditional pre-Lenten festival.CreditLeo Correa/Associated Press
Citing the growing threat of Zika, some critics have questioned the state government’s decision to add two nights to the traditional five-day pre-Lenten festival, which ends Wednesday; others have bemoaned what they described as lackluster public education about the virus and piecemeal efforts at mosquito eradication. In many Brazilian cities, mosquito repellent has become nearly impossible to find.
“It’s just absurd,” said Dr. Gúbio Soares, a virologist at the Federal University of Bahia who identified some of the first cases of Zika. “It’s like Caesar in Rome: he gave the people circus and bread, but in Brazil we only get the circus.”
Compared with the international renown and well-orchestrated celebrations of Rio, Carnival in Salvador feels more unscripted and at times chaotic. Most of the action takes place on narrow city streets blasted with the sounds of axé, an Afro-Caribbean influenced genre of music that was born in coastal Bahia, the state that counts Salvador as its capital.
Despite conga lines of scowling, truncheon-bearing military police, pickpockets eagerly work the crowd and episodic brawls only briefly dent the merriment. This year, the biggest controversy appears to be a mayoral decision to grant a monopoly to a single beer company, Schin, prompting a clash between the police and protesting beverage vendors whose goods had been confiscated. Most years, more than two million people, most of them Brazilian, participate in what has been described as the world’s largest street festival.
Brazilian doctors have reported more than 4,000 cases of microcephaly — a rare condition in which infants are born with abnormally small heads — that they believe are linked to the Zika virus. By some estimates, the virus has infected more than a million Brazilians, though few people experience symptoms, which include joint pain, fever and a rash. Health officials in some affected areas have also reported a surge in cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a nerve disorder that can cause temporary paralysis and leave some patients dependent on life support.
In the face of Zika, dengue and other diseases spread by mosquitoes, Dr. Soares said the Brazilian government had failed to expand mosquito eradication or improve the nation’s overburdened health care system. More money, he added, should be spent on Zika research and providing poor Brazilians with repellent. “Carnival is like anesthesia,” he said. “It stops people from thinking about the problems we have.”
The apathy, however, is not ubiquitous. Fabrizio Andrade, 35, a hairdresser from Aracaju, the capital of Sergipe State, said he began slathering his body with mosquito repellent after his younger brother contracted Zika last month. “I’m frightened to death of mosquitoes,” he said, shortly before taking off his shirt and disappearing into a dancing mob.
Even those who acknowledged their fears of Zika said their dread was tempered by a belief that tough times should never get in the way of a good party. Taking a pause from banging on a drum, Priscila Lacerda, 28, a cook from Rio who is eight months pregnant, said many pregnant women she knew refused to leave their homes, or did so only fully covered.
She said that she was vigilant about wearing mosquito repellent, and that she made sure the potted plants in her home were free of standing water.
“I don’t want to develop a neurosis over Zika,” she said. “I’m not totally relaxed about it now, but I’m not going to stop living.”
These facts are very new and urgent towards developing babies and their mothers who are exposed to Zika.
Study in Brazil Links Zika Virus to Eye Damage in Babies
Infants infected with the Zika virus may be born not only with unusually small heads, but also with eye abnormalities that threaten vision, researchers reported on Tuesday in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.
The study described damage to the retina or optic nerve in 10 of 29 newborns examined at Roberto Santos General Hospital in Salvador, Brazil. All the infants were presumed to have been infected with the Zika virus and had small heads, a condition called microcephaly. Other causes of the defect, like infection with rubella or toxoplasmosis, were ruled out.
Seven out of the 10 newborns had defects in both eyes, while three infants had damage in a single eye. The most common problems were black speckled lesions in the back of the eye, large areas of tissue damage in the retina itself, or damage in the layer of blood vessels and tissue below the retina.
“Exactly how much these babies can see is unknown at this point,” said Dr. Lee M. Jampol, a professor of ophthalmology at Northwestern University, who co-wrote an editorial accompanying the study. But, he added, “when we can see these lesions, that means there’s damage.”
The lesions themselves can’t be repaired. But “the earlier you make the diagnosis, the better,” said Dr. Rubens Belfort Jr., the paper’s senior author and a professor of ophthalmology at the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil.
The study’s authors urged that all infants withmicrocephalyroutinely receive examinations for lesions in the eyes.“Based on my experience, I would say a large number of these kids will be blind,” he added.
“Any baby with a damaged retina has to be followed to make sure they develop the best vision possible,” Dr. Jampol said.
It is not yet clear whether a baby with a normal-sized head who was exposed to Zika in utero might develop ocular damage.
To discover potential eye problems, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last month that any infant whose mother lived in or visited any country experiencing a Zika outbreak during her pregnancybe tested for the infection. If the mother’s test was positive or inconclusive, the baby would receive an ophthalmologic evaluation within a month of birth. In the latest study, roughly 80 percent of the mothers reported symptoms of Zika infection, like a rash or a fever during pregnancy, usually during their first trimester. But no mother reported conjunctivitis, also known as red eye.
“This is important,” Dr. Belfort said. “Red eye should not be expected in patients with Zika.”
The study had limitations. The sample size was small, and all cases were examined at one hospital.
In China on Tuesday night, the health authorities announced the country’s first known case of Zika. The patient, a 34-year-old man, had recently returned from a trip to Venezuela, according to the Xinhua news agency.
The man, who lived in Jiangxi province in eastern China, was being treated at a hospital there under quarantine, Xinhua said.
This shooting occurred in Austin which is where we live.
Police: Victim, 17, had no weapon
Tuesday’s revelation that the naked 17-year-old had no weapon when he was killed Monday by an Austin police officer ignitedan outcry about how Austin police responded and left some leaders in the African-American community questioning the officer’s actions before he pulled the trigger.
The slain teenager, David Joseph of Austin, and the veteran officer, Geoffrey Freeman, are both African-American.
“How much of a threat could a boy pose to police under those circumstances?” said the attorney for Joseph’s family, Scott Medlock. “His mother wants to know why this happened, why her son would be found in this state and why they would respond by shooting him.”
Austin police didn’t have the answers for those questions Tuesday. Freeman gave only a brief statement to police at the scene and was set to provide a full account to criminal and internal investigators later this week.
Freeman was responding Monday to a disturbance at an apartment complex in the 300 block of East Yager Lane at 9:57 a.m., Austin police Chief of Staff Brian Manley said. There, Freeman spoke with several witnesses who said they saw a man chasing another man through the complex.
A short time later, police received another call from neighbors on the 12000 block of Natures Bend. Freeman arrived in his patrol vehicle and saw Joseph lying naked in the street. Freeman exited his vehicle and approached. Joseph charged at Freeman, and the officer opened fire; the confrontation lasted a matter of seconds, Manley said.
Manley couldn’t say if Freeman attempted to use a stun gun or any nonlethal force.
Medlock said the family is looking for answers from Austin police as it explores legal options. Joseph, a charter school student at Premier High School known as Pronto to his friends, was on track to graduate this spring, Medlock said. He had played football at Connally High School, liked to rap and once sported a Mohawk that drew teasing from classmates.
“David is sweet and funny. There’d be no day that went by where you wouldn’t see a smile on his face or him joking around,” said one of Joseph’s close friends, 19-year-old Samone Morales. “I’m always going to remember how he cared for the people close to him.”
The nature of the shooting had several questioning how it was handled, including Council Member Ora Houston, whose district includes the neighborhood where Joseph was shot. Houston said initial details made it appear that Joseph was experiencing a mental or behavioral crisis.
Houston, who has worked in mental health, said the officer should have had backup and tried harder to de-escalate the situation.
“That didn’t happen; I don’t know why that didn’t happen,” Houston said. “Hopefully as we go through the process, we will figure out why didn’t that happen.”
Jim Harrington, longtime director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, called Joseph’s death possibly the worst fatal police shooting in Austin’s history. “My heart sank when I heard that this had happened,” he said.
“When you come on to a scene and you see someone running around naked, you know one of two things: either it’s mental health problems or drugs, so you know that this person is not a threat,” Harrington said. “You’re supposed to de-escalate.”
Joseph’s family lawyer and friends said the teenager had no history of mental health issues.
Austin NAACP President Nelson Linder met with Joseph’s family Tuesday. He said the family is distraught and overwhelmed with grief. Like Harrington and Houston, he also questioned Freeman’s actions in the shooting.
“The bottom line is a young man is dead,” Linder said. “He lost his life based on poor conduct and terrible tactics.”
Members of the Austin Justice Coalition and Black Lives Matter Austin hastily organized an “emergency response meeting” at an East Austin church Tuesday night.
Freeman — who is now on paid administrative leave, which is standard policy in police shootings
— has received positive performance evaluations since he joined the Austin Police Department in 2005. His public civil service file had no instances of him being disciplined. It contained numerous commendations for his work on investigations and with a group that provides homes for troubled and abused children.
Whether Freeman’s actions were justified will hinge on several factors, law enforcement experts said, such as whether Joseph was on drugs, such as PCP, that could have made him more dangerous, and his proximity to Freeman when he fired his gun.
David Klinger, a top police use-of-force expert and a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said the fact that Joseph was nude makes him think he might have been under the influence of a drug that could have given him “superhuman strength” and made him appear more dangerous.
“When you’ve got somebody who is in an altered mental state, who is attacking you, a police officer is in grave danger, first from simply losing the physical fight and getting severely hurt or even beaten to death,” he said.
Greg Meyer, a retired Los Angeles police captain who specializes in use-of-force issues, said if Freeman thought Joseph was capable of overpowering him, and possibly taking his gun away, the shooting might have been justified, especially if there was little distance between the two. The officer might have feared that using less-lethal options, including a stun gun, might not be effective, he said.
Klinger also questioned whether Freeman could have waited for other officers, but he added, “You can’t let the guy run because he might harm someone.”
(Found at Austin American Statesman)
4. PROMINENCE
Cruz is our state governor and is also running for President. The article explains his 'newsworthiness' which is what he is planning on doing and is choice of action.
Cruz looks south, counting on ‘Reagan coalition’
HOLLIS, NEW HAMPSHIRE — As expected, Donald Trump won the New Hampshire GOP presidential primary Tuesday. And, also as expected, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, bolstered by last week’s Iowa win that obviated his need for a New Hampshire victory, earned a good-enough finish.
Short of a disaster of biblical proportion for Cruz, there really was no way-up-North outcome that could have ended his crusade before it could come to evangelical voters — and others in the coalition he needs — in South Carolina on Feb. 20.
When Cruz spoke to supporters Tuesday night, he and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush were battling for third place behind Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, both of whom had the strong showings they needed here. Cruz led Bush for third by a hair and said he was “effectively tied for third,” a result that allowed him to sound the same themes he did after his surprising win over Trump in Iowa.
“We’ve done what the pundits and media said could not be done,” he said, also calling the result “what the Washington establishment desperately hoped would not be done.”
For Cruz, the good news about the third place finish meant he had beaten U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida in the battle to emerge as Trump’s prime foe.
As New Hampshire residents voted Tuesday, Cruz was deeply confident — not of victory here but of surviving and moving on while others in the field faded away. He spent the past week determined to decline setting a bar too high to clear. In fact, he refused to set a bar. Tuesday afternoon, Cruz walked away from a question about how he would define victory for him in New Hampshire.
While the so-called “establishment lane” candidates fought their intramural fight, Cruz was happy to focus his attention on Trump, who — in the surprise of this race — has out-outsidered Cruz, who had counted on owning that lane.
At a Monday night rally in Manchester, Trump raised eyebrows (actually though, is there anything Trump can do that would raise eyebrows?) by repeating an audience member’s shouted accusation that Cruz is a “pussy.” That kind of talk is political music to Cruz’s holier-than-though ears.
“He is welcome to do that,” Cruz said of Trump. “My approach from the beginning has been that I don’t respond in kind. I’m not going to insult Donald.”
Cruz did, however, blast Trump’s insults as “pretty crude.” And in his Tuesday night remarks, Cruz made sure to mention “temperament” in describing the qualities voters should look for in a commander-in-chief. He also congratulated Trump for “an impressive win.”
In what’s got to be music to Cruz’s (and Trump’s) ears, Tuesday exit polling — to nobody’s surprise — showed that 9 in 10 GOP voters are none too happy with the federal government.
And in the second verse of that question, half the GOP voters said Republican politicians have betrayed them. Roughly the same percentage said they want a president from outside the political establishment.
Of the 46 percent who said they feel betrayed by the GOP, 32 percent went for Trump and 16 percent backed Cruz. Among the 48 percent who want an outsider as president, Trump took a whopping 57 percent. Cruz was second at 12 percent.
And 66 percent agreed with Trump’s call for a temporary ban on allowing Muslims to enter the U.S. Of those, 42 percent backed Trump. Cruz was second at 14 percent.
New Hampshire always was a long shot for Cruz, who is not a natural fit here. As an Iowa GOP caucus winner, he followed Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Rick Santorum in 2012. Huckabee followed up his 2008 Iowa win by taking only 11 percent of the New Hampshire GOP vote. Santorum did worse, getting only 9 percent in New Hampshire. Cruz was registering slightly more than 11 percent support.
And, as you recall, neither Huckabee nor Santorum came close to winning their party’s presidential nomination, with GOP voters going with more moderate candidates ( John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012).
The Tuesday exit polling showed that only about a quarter of GOP New Hampshire voters call themselves born-again or evangelical Christians. In Iowa, that demographic made up a Cruz-friendly 62 percent of the GOP vote. He led with 34 percent of those folks’ votes in Iowa. Trump was second with 22 percent and Rubio third with 21 percent.
Prior to Tuesday’s vote counting, Cruz was solidly on message about the coalition he needed in New Hampshire and will need elsewhere, including the upcoming South Carolina primary that’s sure to further shrink the field.
“We’re seeing that old Reagan coalition coming together,” Cruz said. “We’re seeing conservatives and libertarians and evangelicals and Reagan Democrats and young people all coming together.”
If he’s right, and if that coalition goes for Cruz, he indeed could be the second coming of Reagan.
But while Cruz got something of a pass in New Hampshire, South Carolina will mean a lot as it sets the race up for crucial March contests that more than likely will end it.
(Austin American Statesman)
5. CONFLICT
The effect of drugs, guns, and car incidents are clashing against people who are in contact with these dangers which is lowering life expectancy.
Study: Car crashes, guns, drugs causing U.S. longevity gap
CHICAGO — Guns, drugs and cars contribute substantially to the life-expectancy gap between the United States and other developed nations, a study found.
Deaths from old-age ailments sometimes get more attention in longevity research, but deaths from these three causes tend to happen at younger ages, contributing to many decades of life lost, the researchers said.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show injuries from violence, car crashes, and drug poisonings and overdoses are the leading cause of deaths for Americans up to the age of 44.
U.S. death rates from these three injury categories exceed those in 12 other developed countries included in the study: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, the researchers said.
Among men, life expectancy in 2012 in those countries was 78.6 years versus 76.4 in the United States. Injury-related deaths accounted for almost half of that difference, the study found.
Among women, life expectancy was similarly higher — 83.4 years versus 81.2 years in the United States. Injury-related deaths accounted for less of the difference — about 20 percent.
Gun deaths were a major factor among men: The U.S. rate was 18.4 such deaths per 100,000 men, versus 1 per 100,000 in the comparison countries.
Among women, drug-related deaths explained most of the injury-related difference: the U.S. rate was 10 per 100,000 women versus fewer than 2 per 100,000 among women in comparison countries.
The researchers’ estimates are based on an analysis of 2012 data from the U.S. government and the World Health Organization. The government study was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“If we brought mortality from car crashes, firearm injuries and drug poisonings down to levels that we see in these other countries, we’d gain about a year of life expectancy,” said lead author Andrew Fenelon, a sociologist with the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
The injury data include accidental and intentional deaths and suicides, and deaths from prescription medications and illicit drugs.
The study bolsters the argument that improving U.S. life expectancy will require addressing premature deaths among younger ages, said Jessica Ho, a Duke University sociologist who has done similar research.
Strengthening U.S. gun laws, making safer cars and addressing the root causes of drug use, including income inequality, are among policies that might help, she said.
(Found at Austin American Statesman)
6. HUMAN INTEREST
Surrounding the drama of the 'affluenza' teen, this story explains his life in prison and what is to come for him.
Inside 'affluenza' teen's Texas prison home
The Texas teen known for his "affluenza" defense when he was given probation for killing four people in a 2013 drunken-driving crash has been a model prisoner in adult jail, said the Tarrant County sheriff.
Ethan Couch, 18, was quietly moved to the maximum security Lon Evans Corrections Center on Friday.
On a national talk show Monday, Sheriff Dee Anderson fielded questions about how Couch passes time by watching exercise videos and eating Blue Bell ice cream.
To dispel any concerns that Couch is being coddled in prison, Anderson gave a tour of the facility Tuesday.
"This is what we call an isolation cell,” said Anderson, stepping into a typical room. It's all steel and concrete. There's a built-in concrete bench to hold a bed mat; a steel sink and toilet, and even a shower. But there is no privacy.
“This gives us the ability — if we need to — to leave a person in here 24 hours a day. We don't have to move them at all."
It’s an existence a medieval monk might embrace, but Anderson says most inmates prefer the old jail, and view the new Lon Evans maximum security facility as punishment.
When a judge ordered Couch out of juvenile detention last Friday, Anderson put him here, because he said this is the safest place for him.
"With a notorious high-profile inmate, you have to worry about someone else trying to hurt him,” Anderson said. The 3-year-old Lon Evans center has the tightest security, so it's safest for jailers and prisoners.
Couch is known as the "affluenza" teen because during his trial his defense attorney claimed his affluent upbringing prevented him from understanding his responsibility in the crash.
Couch returned to Texas on Jan. 28 after 28 days in custody in Mexico.
Couch and his mother, Tonya, fled to Mexico after a video surfaced that appeared to show the teen playing beer pong at a party, a violation of his probation. He is serving 10 years probation for killing four people and injuring several others in a 2013 drunk-driving crash.
The Couches were found and detained in December after calling out for pizza in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta. Tonya Couch was quickly sent back to the United States, charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon and released from jail after posting bail.
She could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
At the Lon Evans facility, inmates never interact. They don't even pass each other in a hallway.
Food is passed through the “bean chute,” a heavy steel portal in the heavier steel door.
There is a window that jailers can open or close. And a small window at the back that cannot be closed.
Visitation also occurs through the bean chute, via a computer monitor. The monitor is rolled up to the door for the inmate to see. Visitors sit in booths off the jail lobby.
"There's no TV-watching in this facility,” the sheriff said. That is, unless an inmate wants to watch an exercise video. There are two choices: Richard Simmons or ancient videos of the late fitness guru Jack LaLanne. The videos also are viewed through the bean chute on a small monitor rolled up to the closed door.
It is true that inmates can get ice cream, but only if they buy it from the commissary cart. Jailers can take away the privilege to help control behavior.
A decision on moving his case to an adult court won’t come until after another hearing Feb. 19, and he could face 120 days in jail. He turns 19 in April.
This is definitely an unusual subject which draws the reader in.
Black rhino balances on exercise ball
Work it!
A black rhino named Ayana is keeping busy during the cold Iowa winter by exercising with the equivalent of a Pilate’s ball for large animals.
Ayana, a five-year-old female, lives at the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa. Ayana's zoo keeper, Katie Twellman, took video of the 2,755-pound rhino playing with a hard plastic “boomer ball” and posted it on Facebook Monday morning.
"Today, Ayana is using her [boomer ball] like a pilates ball," the zoo wrote in the caption.
In a clip, which resembles of human Pilates class, Ayana balances on the ball and then playfully steps off and kicks it with her head.
See ya!
“She uses it like a soccer ball almost, she likes to hop on it and play around with it, or hit it with her nose,” said Ryan Bickel, a spokesman for the zoo.
Ayana and another black rhino are given the boomer balls as a way to keep the “animals active” and occupied when they are stuck indoors, according to Bickel.
