Morning Papers - concluding

Zoos

Squirrel knocks out power to 5,000
August 15, 2006
KOKOMO, Ind. --A wayward squirrel invaded a power substation and left more than 5,000 homes and businesses without electricity.
Duke Energy restored the service from the South Main Street substation near Wildcat Creek after about an hour Sunday night.
"We lost the squirrel and 5,039 customers for the space of an hour," Duke spokesman Rob Norris said.
The outage included much of the city's central neighborhoods west of U.S. 31.

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2006/08/15/squirrel_knocks_out_power_to_5000/



Dog groups seek to sway legislation
Target bad owners, not breeds, they say
By Charles Sheehan
Tribune staff reporter
Published August 20, 2006
Pushing back against what they called unfair media coverage, dog advocates said Saturday that the public would be better served by laws that target bad owners--not pit bulls or Rottweilers.
The 2006 Canine Legislation Conference, held in downtown Chicago, may be the first of its kind to devote its entire agenda to "breed-specific legislation," or laws that target dogs like pit bulls, according to national animal advocacy groups in attendance.
Organizers said they hope it is the beginning of a more focused and sophisticated response to a slew of municipal laws that ban specific breeds of dog.
The conference runs through Sunday.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0608200267aug20,1,6246334.story?coll=chi-news-hed



In Chicago Dog Owners Do It Right

Off Leash Parks

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2006-08/24949036.pdf



City puts dog dishes on table
By Trine Tsouderos
Tribune staff reporter
Published August 17, 2006
Chicago is nuts for its pets. Last year, Dog Fancy magazine even named Chicago the nation's most dog-friendly city.
You know it's true when hotels offer dog birthday cakes, pet turndown service and in-room directions about how to massage your pampered pooch.
It used to be ditto for restaurants, some of which, like Cucina Bella Osteria, even offered dogs free food. But over the past year, the city has cracked down on establishments welcoming canine customers and restaurants, from Brasserie Jo (which still offers dogs a plate of steak tartare) to Uncommon Ground, have been exiling pets outside of their sidewalk dining areas.
That could change this fall, if Ald. Eugene Schulter (47th) gets his way. The owner of a pair of Irish Terriers, Schulter introduced an ordinance in July that would allow pets within the confines of outdoor seating areas. "Why should we be retreating from something that has been going on for years?" Schulter asked. "What's the big deal?"

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-0608160305aug17,1,6831522.story?coll=chi-homepagenews-utl


With Costly Care, Barbaro’s Long Odds Improve
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa., Aug. 17 — Barbaro was reclined on his side in a stall. His left hind foot curled out beneath him, revealing a fitting that his surgeon called a foam-lined rubber sneaker. His right hind leg, the one that has been in a cast for 90 days, was hidden beneath a carpet of knee-deep straw.
Barbaro wears a bandage around his neck to protect a catheter, and his left hip has a few white splotches, healing blisters from a combination of his sweat and the antiseptics used in his initial operation. When he awakened from a serene slumber, however, his eyes burned as bright as a Kentucky Derby champion’s. After all, he is a Derby champion.
Barbaro’s owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, notice that look in his eyes, as does his trainer, Michael Matz, and the medical staff at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals. It is why they have never left this horse for dead.
They refused to do so when Barbaro took a catastrophic misstep and shattered his right hind leg in the opening yards of the Preakness Stakes on May 20. They forged on in early July when the colt developed severe laminitis, a painful and often-fatal condition that afflicts horses that bear excessive weight on a limb.
Instead, they have combined aggressive medical treatment with tender loving care in one of the most extraordinary efforts ever mounted to save a top-flight racehorse. Gretchen Jackson comes here twice a day with fresh grass clippings to feed Barbaro. Mr. Matz also arrives daily to change the leg bandages on the best horse that he has ever trained. Barbaro is also fed the carrots and apples that continue to arrive here from the public. He has been doused with holy water sent by well-wishers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/sports/othersports/21barbaro.html?ex=1156824000&en=48ebcf04d193aad5&ei=5070



Wildlife and wild nightlife
Thomas Kohnstamm
Lonely Planet
Published August 20, 2006
Venezuela is known for abundant oil reserves, steamy tropics and the firebrand rhetoric of its president, Hugo Chávez. But there is much more to the country than just Bush-bashing and petro-politics. It is a land of great contrasts, including vast grasslands, seemingly endless Caribbean coastline and — unbeknownst to many — the 240-mile-long northern terminus of the Andes mountain range.
Adventure awaits
Nestled among the snow-capped Andean peaks — some of which reach to more than 16,500 feet — is the town of Mérida. Americans may not be familiar with Mérida, but it is the bustling outdoor/adventure sport capital of the country — if not of the South American continent. The city is an unassuming grid of concrete streets that branch off of several leafy plazas.

http://www.chicagotribune.com:/travel/la-tr-merida20aug20,1,5443992.story?coll=chi-homepagetravel-hed



That’s Life: Population explosion -- Kangaroos put on the pill in Australia
Web posted at: 8/24/2006 2:45:42
Source ::: REUTERS
CANBERRA • Kangaroos around Australia’s national capital will soon be fed a contraceptive pill by authorities trying to control their booming population.
The move has been welcomed by Canberra animal rights advocates, who said feeding contraceptives to kangaroos was better than culling the animals.
“It’s definitely a lot better than shooting kangaroos,” Animal Liberation spokeswoman Simone Gray said yesterday. “In our nation’s capital, it certainly isn’t appropriate to kill our national symbol.”
Australia has an estimated 57 million wild kangaroos, or nearly three times the human population, which damage crops and property and compete with livestock for food and water.
Despite being featured on the nation’s coat of arms, Australia culls millions of kangaroos each year. But the number of sturdy marsupials keeps increasing.
The problem is prominent around Canberra, where five years of drought have seen more kangaroos move into the suburban fringes looking for feed and becoming traffic hazards for commuters.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=August2006&file=World_News2006082424542.xml



Animals in city may get another home
Surendra Gangan
Thursday, August 24, 2006 00:09 IST
The new zoo is expected to generate 50,000 jobs and attract six lakh tourists annually.
If the Maharashtra State Forest Department has its way, Goregaon will soon sport a 1,200 crore international standard zoo. Yup, you heard it right. A zoo, nestled near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Film City, will be spread across 600 acres of pristine greenery.
If the state cabinet’s approves the proposal, the zoo is expected to generate 50,000 jobs for Mumbaikars and attract six lakh tourists annually. The state government is planning to appoint a consultant to run the zoo on built-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. “It will be an open zoo and would be operated on a commercial basis like zoos in international cities like Singapore and London,” said a state official.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1049069



IDA eNews: 8/23/06
by Mat Thomas ( mat [at] idausa.org )
Wednesday Aug 23rd, 2006 5:49 PM
IDA eNews: 8/23/06
IDA ACTION ALERTS
1. USDA Seeking Public Comments on IDA's Elephant Petition
2. Animal Companions Abandoned in Lebanon Need Help
3. Help Save Feral Cat Colony at Netherlands Resort
CAMPAIGN NEWS & UPDATES
1. Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act Targets Animal Rights Activists
2. Country Western Star Troy Gentry Charged in Hunting Scam
3. International Anti-Fur Coalition Entreats Fashion Designers to Oppose Cruelty
IDA ACTION ALERTS
1. USDA Seeking Public Comments on IDA's Elephant Petition
Speak out now to increase space and improve living conditions for elephants in zoos
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is currently seeking public comments on space and living conditions for captive elephants in the U.S. This important development is a direct result of IDA's citizen's petition ( http://www.idausa.org/news/currentnews/zoo_petition.html ) seeking enforcement of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) at zoos and circuses, where elephants are suffering due to inadequate space, unnatural conditions, lack of exercise and social deprivation.
What You Can Do:
Zoos are mobilizing their members to write and defend the status quo. NOW IS THE TIME FOR EVERYONE WHO CARES ABOUT IMPROVING THE PLIGHT OF THESE MAGNIFICENT ANIMALS TO WRITE FORCEFULLY IN SUPPORT OF DRAMATICALLY IMPROVING THE STANDARDS FOR CAPTIVE ELEPHANTS (see sample letter below).

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/08/23/18300148.php



Born to be wild?
Some say that keeping animals in zoos is cruel. Others maintain that it's vital for conservation. Sanjida O'Connell reports on a beastly issue
The temperature is touching 30C and the cool, blue water in front of me looks inviting. Tamara edges delicately into the shallows and relieves herself noisily, sighs and submerges in the pool, wriggling her long, prehensile nose above the surface like a periscope. Tamara, a Brazilian tapir, is an ambassador. Her duties - stirring from her fat haunches, passing wind and swimming - have attracted a considerable crowd who, from a distance of a metre away, are staring at her intensely. Ignoring us all, she floats regally by.
Tamara is one of 430 species kept at Bristol's tiny five-acre zoo. According to the education staff, there are many reasons to justify keeping animals in small enclosures, including the idea that they are acting as ambassadors for their species. "Having big, smelly animals in captivity gets people so excited and thrilled to be close to them that they may want to help them," says senior education officer Dave Naish.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1221412.ece



This is an oddly interesting book cited by the San Francisco Chronicle. It takes the reader through a form of escapism of the Czech society in Pre-Nazi Europe using of all things giraffes as their object lesson. Interesting. Each character in the book plays a different role in society and see the giraffe exhibit's meaning differently as well. Good catch by the San Francisco Chronicle staff. It's nice to 'be aware' of the world we live in, including zoos, not to escape from it creating an alternate reality.

Giraffes penned in zoo wake up dazed Czechs
For Amina Dvorakova, who works in a toxic factory making Christmas tree decorations, the attraction is both physical and abstract. The giraffes "awaken her." Like the animals, she is a sleepwalker. (Giraffes don't sleep; they rest with open eyes, standing, moving.) Like them, she is "meant to reach up." No relation to her namesake Dvorak, she is nevertheless musical and resembles a "rusalka" -- an operatic heroine, a water nymph. Like Emil, she connects to the culture and color of old Europe, now bleached from an entire country, its population transformed into "sleepwalkers by day, who drink by night only as a lesser form of sleepwalking."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/20/RVG4RKGTSK1.DTL&type=books



Argus/Dispatch/Leader reporter gets down and dirty with the animal kingdom
By Janeé Jackson,
It took me less than a second to realize I had apologized to a goat.
"Sorry!" I said, after spilling their breakfast on the pygmy goats’ heads instead of the ground. They didn't seem to mind.
The pygmy goats nudged their bodies, hopping onto the gate. Their cries grew louder as soon as they saw me walking toward them with a scoop of pellets. "They won't get happy until they get their food," handler Anna Zhorne said. Just some fresh water, clean hay in their barn, oats and pellets is all they need to be ready to entertain parents and children.
It's not hard to tell the stars from the help at Niabi Zoo. The stars wait, ready for packs of parents and babies in strollers to arrive while the help brings breakfast and haul droppings away.
Working as a volunteer at Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley brought me closer than I've ever been to the 900-plus animals there.

http://qconline.com/archives/qco/sections.cgi?prcss=display&id=302162



Mill Mountain Zoo gets a little help from friends
Story time turned into a hands on demonstration on Saturday at Barnes and Noble.
Staff from the Mill Mountain Zoo brought in some hard shell friends. Kids were given a hands on lesson about tortoises.
The event was part of a zoo fundraiser. Folks could purchase book vouchers which could then be used to by a book and donate to the Zoo.
Officials hope the fundraiser will spark some interest in Mill Mountain as they try and overcome recent financial difficulties.

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=5302391&nav=S6aK



Crew saves dolphin trapped in Speedo
By William Mullen
Tribune staff reporter
Published August 20, 2006
The popularity of a Brookfield Zoo team's efforts to free Scrappy the dolphin just goes to show that everyone loves a good fish tale, making this the most e-mailed story of the week at chicagotribune.com.
A lucky adolescent male bottlenose dolphin is back to living nude and free in Florida's Sarasota Bay after making a potentially fatal wardrobe choice early this summer.
The 10-year-old dolphin, known as Scrappy, probably owes its life to a Brookfield Zoo marine mammal research team that works year round in the bay. The drama began July 6, when a member of the team spotted Scrappy uncomfortably swimming around while wearing a black, Speedo-brand man's swimsuit.
"He must have found the swimsuit floating in the water," said Randall Wells, a population biologist who runs the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program for the Chicago Zoological Society, Brookfield Zoo's parent organization. "Somehow he got his head and torso through the waist and one of the leg holes of the suit."
The project team feared the tight-fitting synthetic cloth suit could injure or kill the dolphin as "drag" force from swimming pushed it into the soft skin in front of the pectoral fins. The team got an emergency rescue authorization from federal officials.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0608190294aug20,1,2905197.story?coll=chi-techtopheds-hed



Getting shots not such a pain in the arm
Children receive free immunizations, participate in zoo activities
August 20, 2006
GABE SEMENZA - Victoria Advocate
Nicole Kasper was one of hundreds of area youth who received free immunizations Saturday at the Texas Zoo or DeTar Healthcare System's North campus.
And the free immunizations couldn't have come at a better time, the 11-year-old girl's mother, Kitty Kasper-Hancock, said.
"I don't have health insurance, and considering the cost of shots ..." the mother said from the zoo. "It's very tough not having health insurance. There are times Nicole doesn't get prompt medical attention like she should, but we watch her closely. Luckily, she's a very healthy child."

http://www.thevictoriaadvocate.com/local/local/story/3644443p-4213285c.html



Lessons inside the zoo
21 Aug 2006
ANITA ANANDARAJAH
Though Singapore Zoo has been at the forefront of education in this region, it is rebranding itself as a learning zoo. ANITA ANANDARAJAH writes.
FOR many Malaysians, the zoo conjures images of underfed, bored animals, oppressing heat and revolting odour.
Some of us stay away also perhaps because of the feeling of unease at seeing these creatures behind bars and in confined spaces.
Yet in Singapore, the zoo is right up there as a must-see destination on not only every tourist’s travel agenda but on many Singaporean’s list too.
And why not especially when the first arresting sight that greets you is Orang Utan lazily reclining in a hammock suspended among tall leafy trees.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Monday/Features/20060820145321/Article/index_html


Gorilla mother gains stature
While the breeding future of a gorilla whose newborn died last week remains in limbo, her short-lived motherhood appears to have helped gain her more stature within her troop at the Calgary Zoo, officials say.
Zuri, the lowest ranking female gorilla and typically an outcast from the troop, has shown signs of assertiveness since her unnamed baby died on Thursday at 12 days old, gorilla keeper Garth Irvine said on Saturday.
Instead of waiting to feed last, Zuri now forages with the troop and moves into the indoor enclosure at the same time, said Irvine.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2006/08/19/1765821.html


Caught in Junagadh, anteater sent to zoo
Sibte Husain Bukhari
Junagadh, August 20: AN anteater (Indian Pangolin), also known as Kidi-Khau by the locals, was caught by the residents of Dhara Gadh Darwaja area on the outskirts of Junagadh on Friday night. It was later handed over to Sakkarbagh Zoo authorities.
The residents of the area noticed the nocturnal animal and though they were not aware of what it was, caught it and informed the zoo officials, who shifted it to the zoo on Saturday morning.
“I noticed a strange animal moving in the area. At first we were afraid of it, but when we realised that it was an anteater and wouldn’t harm us, we caught it,” said Hanifbhai, an eyewitness and resident of the area.
Sakkarbagh Zoo superintendent R D Katara said that a team rushed to the spot after being informed by the residents and shifted the animal to the zoo. At present, it is being kept in captivity but will soon be released in the adjoining Girnar forests. The zoo authorities have released around six anteaters in the forest during the last 4-5 years.
This animal is hardly seen during the day and is only found in the forest.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=197605



Calling creatures of the night: Soon, a zoo after lights out
Tanvir A Siddiqui
Ahmedabad, August 20: THE Kamala Nehru Zoological Park authorities have a ‘wildcard’ to liven up things at night. A night zoo.
‘‘Keeping in mind the natural sleep cycle of nocturnal animals, which gets disturbed at zoos because of day hours, we have a submitted a proposal to the Central Zoo Authority for a ‘night zoo.’ If it gets the nod, it will be the first such zoo in the country,’’ says Dr RK Sahu, superintendent of Kamala Nehru Zoological Park at Kankaria. He says there’s reason enough to hope that the Central Zoo Authority’s reponse to the proposal, sent four months ago, will be positive. The land for the zoo has already been earmarked and if all goes well, Amdavadis will get a dekko at animals like porcupines, owls, palms bat, crates, flying foxes and honey badgers, in all their twilight splendour in two years time. ‘‘Animals which are more active at night will be shifted into enclosures of a different kind. The glass wall we plan to put up will enable visitors to see the animals, but the animals won’t be able to see the crowds or get disturbed by them,’’ says Sahu.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=197603



Six Asiatic lions dead in Delhi Zoo
* All deaths within 18 days
* New-borns first to die
* Virus found in one case
* Final report from Bareli awaited
Aman Sharma
New Delhi, August 20: IN what could be a deadly viral infection —or just a phase of “extreme bad luck” as Delhi Zoo Director D N Singh puts it — six Asiatic lions have died at the zoo in just 18 days.
Asiatic lions are an endangered species and four of them were new-born cubs.The Zoo is awaiting a forensic report from the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Bareli.
But the postmortem report of one of the dead lions, done by an independent board of doctors, points to a viral infection. All the dead lions were housed in the same enclosure.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=197664



A Calgary zoo mourns a loss
August 20, 2006 - 4:05 pm
By: Tanesha Batticks
Toronto - A baby gorilla has died in a calgary zoo.
Officials of the zoo say the cause of death was a lack of feeding.
The baby was taken away from its mother by a more mature mother gorilla, however, the new mother was unable to produce milk.
A veternarian of the zoo said that the newborn ran out of the small store of energy that newborns have and that caused the baby gorilla to die 12 days later.
The troop of gorillas consoled the birth mother following the death. The zoo hopes that soon the gorillas will go back to their regular routine.
In a zoo a baby gorilla's mortality rate is 30 percent, in the wild it is 42 percent.

http://www.680news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20060820_160555_4392



Broncos fans flock to zoo for hero day
21.08.2006
by AMY REMEIKIS
BRONCOS prop Tame Tupou was much more comfortable tackling a six-year-old than facing a four-metre python at Australia Zoo yesterday.
And Alex Ceh didn't mind a bit.
The junior was one of almost 300 diehard Broncos fans who descended on Australia Zoo to meet and greet their league heroes and give them a pat on the back for the 30-nil thrashing they handed to the Bulldogs on Friday night.
Tame was joined by team-mates Petero Civoniceva, Ben Hannant, Tonie Carroll and Joel Moon at the members' day and it was obvious they shared their fans' relief at ending their recent five-game losing streak.
But all were quick to point out that yesterday was "about the fans". "They all have smiles after Friday night's game," said prop Ben Hannant.
"And that's really good for us, they are all really confident."
Long-time fan Madonna Herbert acknowledged that it has been "a rough few months for the boys" but the Mooloolah resident said it was time to "concentrate on the finals and look to the future".
And that is exactly what Tonie Carroll said the team planned on doing.
"It's always important for us to hear what the fans have to say and they are looking forward to the next few weeks," he said.
"If we just keep on building on what we have done, then we'll be fine."
And for Petero Civoniceva it's about being there for the fans. "They come and support us through the good times and the bad and it's great to be able to give something back," he said.
And while the Broncos are the first to admit that rugby league has had its fair share of bad times, the popular prop said it was not all bad news.
"I think we do a lot, (but) unfortunately, the way the media is at the moment, they would rather highlight the bad stuff that goes on for a few guys, which taint a lot of the guys who do go out and do a lot of community things," he said.
"And as I said it is unfortunate (that) you do tend to hear about those sort of things, but I suppose those are the days that we are living in at the moment."
But for Brisbane mum Andrea Fraser, whose three-year-old daughter Tahneisha is "a huge Broncos fan" yesterday was about her daughter's heroes "getting back to basics".
"I think it¡¦s great that they have come out to Australia Zoo like this, because it¡¦s a family environment," she said.
"I think, especially in a male-dominated sport like rugby league, they need to reflect family values because we are the ones who they support them, rather than going to pubs and clubs and things."

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3697552&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=



Zoo's the place to spot rare cub
Baby snow leopard at capital facility is part of global push to protect endangered cats
By Pamela Martineau -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:01 am PDT Monday, August 21, 2006
Shanti, an adult snow leopard, grooms her 10- week-old baby, Molly, at the Sac- ramento Zoo on Sunday. They are among 3,500 to 7,000 remaining snow leopards in the world, according to biologists. Sacramento Bee/ Jay Mather
The tiny snow leopard ventured out of her "cubbing box" at the Sacramento Zoo on Sunday morning to chase her mother's tail and climb the man-made rocks in her enclosure.
Ten weeks old and ever the frolicking toddler, Baby Molly likely would be considered precious by most people even if she weren't on the endangered species list.
The spotted snow leopard kitten -- with her black and gray ink-like spots -- is enticing some Sacramento-area residents to leave their homes a bit earlier than usual on some days to catch the little tyke on one of her early-morning jaunts.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14303463p-15178653c.html



Pretoria Zoo to adopt breeding plan
Stuart Graham
August 21 2006 at 09:35AM
Creatures from as far away as Sri Lanka and the Amazon jungle have been bred by the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, but the Pretoria Zoo, as it is popularly known, is set to phase out its exotic animals project as it embarks on an affirmative action breeding campaign.
The executive director of the zoo, Willie Labuschagne, says the aim is to have 80 percent of the animals at the zoo African and 20 percent exotic.
"Most of the exotic animals will gradually be grandfathered in favour of African creatures," he says.
Many of the zoo's 126 species of mammals, 158 bird species, 283 fish, 21 invertebrates, 90 reptiles and four amphibians are exotic.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=143&art_id=vn20060820233050502C739863



The zoo plane
Dogs, cats, snakes, even vultures travel by air. (But they can't take a carrion)
Monday, August 21, 2006
BY KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Star-Ledger Staff
IN answer to your question:
No, venomous snakes are not allowed on airplanes.
Everything else -- from lemurs to lizards to lion cubs -- may be traveling in the belly of your next flight.
What, you thought they drove?
While the Burmese python with all that screen time in the new film "Snakes on a Plane" would get turned back at the gate, non-venomous snakes can and do travel by air. In fact, as cold-blooded animals who readily adapt to temperature shifts, they make great passengers.
Critters in cargo have become more commonplace as airlines, in response to new government rules, have made animal travel safer and more predictable. Joining the traditional shippers -- zoos, breeders, and researchers -- are regular folks who simply want to take their pets along.
"It's an evolution of our society, with pets becoming part of the family. People hate to leave them behind," said Lisa Schoppa, manager of QUICKPAK product development for Continental Airlines, one of the busiest shippers of animals.
A seeing-eye miniature horse once flew first class with its owner on their way to an appearance on "Oprah," said American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner. Just recently, a penguin flew from the Fort Worth Zoo to the Little Rock Zoo. "The penguin actually marched on board," he said.

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1156135918234680.xml&coll=1

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1156135918234680.xml&coll=1



Train offers visitors new way to see zoo
Electric vehicle can hold a dozen people and costs $2 to ride
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
SUAMICO — Enhancing a summer of additions at Brown County's NEW Zoo is a new kiddie train.
The train, which can seat more than a dozen children and parents in a tight squeeze, is electric and not on a track. It provides a new way for kids to see the zoo.
"My boy Kaden is a big fan of trains," said Nicole Warrichaiet of Oconto, who rode the train with her twins Friday. "He was really excited to see this."
The train makes a colorful trip around the zoo about four or five times each hour. The cost is $2 per person, but children under 2 can ride for free.
The train was purchased with a $100,000 donation from the KC Stock Foundation, a charitable group organized by Cruisers Yachts owner K.C. Stock.

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060821/APC0101/608210552/1979



Indianapolis Zoo to award $100,000 to top conservationist
August 21, 2006 (INDIANAPOLIS) - The Indianapolis Zoo awards a 100-thousand-dollar prize to an animal conservationist this week.
Among the finalists for the first Indianapolis Prize are people who have devoted decades to protecting and understanding whooping cranes, whales, wolves and even newts.
The winner will be announced tomorrow in Washington, D-C.
Zoo officials say the prize's size is unprecedented in the animal conservation community.
When the prize was announced in December 2004, Indianapolis Zoo President and C-E-O Michael Crowther said part of the goal would be attracting attention to conservation issues with the largest monetary award in the field and by involving celebrities.
Actress Jane Alexander will be master of ceremonies at a gala ceremony in Indianapolis September 30th.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=4480751



Jack the crow may be headed to zoo
By: Robin Kervin
Source: The Herald-News
08-20-2006
Since the story of Jack the crow was printed in the Aug. 16 issue of The Herald-News, e-mails have been coming in from all over the country voicing concern over Jack’s welfare.
According to Bruce Anderson, an officer with TWRA in Crossville, there have been numerous e-mails and phone calls to the Nashville office as well.
As a nestling, Jack was severely injured and could never fly. He was rescued from hawks by Jim Gracy 27 years ago and found a permanent home with Jim and his wife, Barbara. They have cared for him for nearly 30 years.
On July 15, on a routine inspection, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Officer Burton Capps cited Jim for possession of a crow. According to TWRA regulations, it is against the law to possess a crow. Normally, the bird would be released into the wild, but since Jack cannot fly, he would surely die.

http://www.rhea.xtn.net/index.php?template=news.view.subscriber&table=news&newsid=133037



Delhi zoo needs better hygiene: zoo authority
By Indo Asian News Service
New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) After the death of six endangered Asiatic lions at Delhi zoo, the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) Monday said the hygiene level at the institution should be enhanced to check such incidents.
'It's a sad event but authorities must concentrate on improving the hygienic aspect of the zoo. The enclosures should be kept clean and the water bodies must be sanitised regularly,' said Bipul Chakraborty, a senior scientist with the CZA.
Delhi zoo has not sent the CZA any formal information regarding the cause of death of the lions as yet, the scientist said.
'They may be waiting for the report from the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Bareilly. Till that time, we are not going to intervene in the matter,' he added.
Animal welfare organisations also advocated for a clean environment in the zoo.

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/53027.php/Delhi_zoo_needs_better_hygiene:_zoo_authority


Zoo's baby elephant to debut to public Friday
JIM SALTER
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS - St. Louis Zoo president Jeffrey Bonner couldn't help but smile watching the 3-week-old elephant struggle, then succeed, in picking up the long, green bamboo branch.
"You see her?" Bonner asked Monday as the baby elephant was introduced to the media. "Isn't she adorable? Just amazing."
The as-yet-unnamed elephant makes her full public debut Friday when visitors will be allowed in her area of the River's Edge exhibit. Zoo officials expect huge crowds to see the elephant born Aug. 2 to Ellie, a 34-year-old Asian elephant.
It is the first baby elephant at the zoo since Raja - still one of the zoo's most popular animals - was born in 1992. This time, Raja is the proud papa, though he still hasn't seen his daughter.
"In the wild the elephant bulls only come into the herd to breed," Fischer said. "So they don't have any association with the calves. They're very much solitary beasts."

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/15326360.htm



There was great hope to save this bear's life and that is what the video reflects.

Polar Bear Dies After Surgery
Polar Bear Broke Leg In Two Places
POSTED: 4:29 pm EDT August 21, 2006
UPDATED: 5:38 am EDT August 22, 2006
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KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. -- A polar bear from the Erie Zoo who underwent six hours of surgery in Chester County has died.
A veterinary surgeon repaired his broken leg on Monday and was headed to Cleveland for recovery. Officials said, however, that the bear died as the anesthesia wore off.
The bear got surgery to repair a broken leg from Dr. Dean Richardson at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square. That's the same vet and same hospital taking care of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro.
Erie Zoo officials don't know how the bear broke his leg. They initially thought they would have to euthanize the animal, before learning that Richardson thought he could save the bear.

http://www.nbc10.com/news/9712462/detail.html



Two dead owls at Dutch zoo probably not infected with bird flu
Two owls found dead at Rotterdam zoo earlier this month were probably not infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu as initially suspected, the Dutch agriculture ministry has said.
The deadly virus was suspected when the birds died on August 12 and tests were carried out.
Unlike most of the birds at the zoo in the southern port town, the owls had not been vaccinated against the bird flu.
"Initial test results show that the two owls did not die of H5N1," a ministry spokeswoman said on Monday.

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/137714.asp



3 Video Clips of the cubs with this article.

Lioness Gives Birth To Cubs At Denver Zoo
(CBS4) DENVER The Denver Zoo is celebrating the birth of two African lion cubs that arrived on August 2.
The lioness, Baby, gave birth to a male and a female, each weighing about 7 pounds.
The cubs have already opened their eyes. Their birth was considered unusual because the boy was born 12 hours after Baby gave birth to the girl.
Because zookeepers initially thought there was only one cub, the boy was named Razi, a Swahili word for "secret."
The girl is named Zuri which is Swahili for "beautiful."
Zookeepers said Baby is doing well caring for her cubs.

http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_story_233180419.html



Roosevelt Zoo's Baby Giraffe Dies
Aug 21 2006 7:54PM
KXMCTV
The recent arrival of a baby giraffe at Minot's Roosevelt Park Zoo caused a great deal of celebration at the site...but, unfortunately, it didn't last long...
Though the calf- named Cher-was healthy, she died unexpectedly after an accident while on exhibit with her parents Sunday morning.
Zoo workers found her after they heard a commotion among the animals in the exhibit area, but have yet to determine the exact cause of the accident.

http://www.kxmc.com/getARticle.asp?ArticleId=36233



Indianapolis Zoo announces $100,000 award for work on cranes
Aug 22, 2006 05:13 PM EDT
Washington - Tuesday is a big day for George Archibald, Wisconsin's best-known crane expert. He's the winner of the inaugural award for the Indianapolis Zoo for conservation of a species.
Archibald is one of six finalists for the unique award. The scientists dedicate their lives to conservation, and helping to save endangered species.
Dr. Archibald has made saving the endangered crane part of his life's work. For the past 30 years he's traveled around the globe to save the winged creatures, even risking his life to go into places considered forbidden.

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=5309507&nav=9Tai



Wolf dies after brief flirtation with freedom
CHEEWIN SATTHA
Chiang Mai _ A grey wolf which recently made a brief break for freedom from Chiang Mai Night Safari Zoo died over a week ago, but its demise was kept under wraps until yesterday. Just as zoo officials did not try to alert the public when the three-year-old wolf escaped, they also chose to keep quiet about its death.
The wolf's escape came to light only when villagers living near the zoo complained that a strange animal had stolen and eaten about 200 fowls and puppies over the previous month.
Zoo officials then admitted that the wolf had disappeared from its enclosure a month earlier, explaining they had kept quiet because it was tame, bred in captivity, posed no threat and they expected to quickly recapture the animal.
The missing animal was given the nickname Lhong, a Thai word for lost.
A team from the zoo finally recaptured the wolf on Aug 5. It was kept under close watch for rabies and other diseases and then returned to the enclosure it shared with five other Canadian grey wolves, the zoo's director for management, Supot Metapiwat, said yesterday.
However, the wolf then became sick and was sent to the animal hospital at Chiang Mai University. The animal died over a week ago, Mr Supot said.
Veterinarians were examining the carcass to find out what killed it.
The other five wolves are still in good health.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/24Aug2006_news03.php


SAVE THE ELEPHANTS

http://www.save-the-elephants.org/default.asp?linkID=1



It's baby season at the Rio Grande Zoo
By Rivkela Brodsky
Tribune Reporter
August 22, 2006
One overgrown joey at the Rio Grande Zoo thinks it fits into its mother's pouch, even though its feet hang out and it plops out every once in a while.
The kangaroo baby, unnamed and not yet identified as male or female, is about 7 months old and will stay - or try to stay - in his mother's pouch for a few more months.
It's one of three red kangaroos born at the Rio Grande Zoo through the spring and summer, a popular time for population explosions.
Since April, the zoo has also welcomed new prairie dogs, a camel, churro sheep twins, a zebra, a few tortoises, several birds and a klipspringer (that's an African antelope).

http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/neighbors/article/0,2565,ALBQ_19854_4933331,00.html



Pearson Education employees to read at zoo
August 24, 2006
INDIANAPOLIS -- Employee volunteers from Pearson Education, 800 E. 96th St., will read "The Little Engine That Could" to children and make an ABC's book for them to take home at 1 p.m. Aug. 24 in the dolphin pavilion at the Indianapolis Zoo.
It's part of the company's participation in the national Read for the Record campaign.
After taking pictures of the children, the volunteers will print the photos on stickers that will be affixed to blank pages in the ABC's book.
Pearson and Penguin Publishing published 75,000 copies of the "The Little Engine That Could," for the event. Books cost $9.95, and proceeds benefit low-income communities.

http://www.topics.com/articles/5/076097-2945-091.html



Zoo to focus on African animals
22/08/2006 23:01 - (SA)
Eagan Williamson, Beeld
Pretoria - Various exotic animal species from overseas will soon have to make way for species from Africa when the Pretoria National Zoological Gardens begins its own African renaissance.
Zoo director Willie Labuschagne said a decision was taken recently that some of the exotic animals would be replaced with animals out of Africa as part of the zoo's research strategy and breeding programme in the next three years.
The zoo comprises 60% African animal species and 40% exotic animals from other continents.
Labuschagne said: "We want to increase this ratio eventually to 80% African animal species and only 20% exotic animals from beyond the African continent."
Must adapt mandate
This decision was taken shortly after the zoo came under the management of the National Research Foundation (NRF).
Labuschagne said the zoo's mission and vision had changed dramatically to focus more on research and specifically on breeding programmes, especially for African species.
"We must look urgently at the National Environmental Biodiversity Act and adapt our mandate so that we can protect South Africa's and Africa's biodiversity."
But, he said that visitors to the zoo need not worry that favourites such as the koalas and the Komodo dragons would disappear.
"A team of officials will look carefully at the animals that must be phased out, but we'll still keep some of the favourite exotic animals at the zoo, and transfer the rest to other facilities or zoos."
Two Okapis on the way
Labuschagne said that phasing out would be done proportionately and that animals would not be removed arbitrarily.
They had yet to decide which exotic animals would be replaced by those from Africa.
The first of the new African animals are two threatened Okapis which are due at the zoo soon.

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1986890,00.html



Briefs: Ice cream fundraiser goes wild at Pittsburgh Zoo
Ice cream galore is the reward for the thousands who attend this weekend's Pressley Ridge Wild and Roaring Ice Cream Adventure at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, Highland Park. It's the 14th anniversary of the event, which raises money for The Pressley Ridge Opportunity Fund. The fund provides $1 million each year in free care to troubled children and their families.
The event -- 6-10 p.m. Saturday -- features all of the donated Hagan Premium Ice Cream you can eat, paired with novel cookies from corporate sponsors. There will be a scavenger hunt with prizes, and patrons can build sundaes at the Ice Cream Sundae School. Live entertainment and other activities -- plus a visit to the animals -- are included. Ice cream flavors developed by Duquesne Light Co., Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, First Commonwealth Bank, H.G. Baynard & Co. Inc., and Kolbrener Inc. will be judged by a panel of food experts and celebrities.
Admission is $10 per person, $30 for four people. Children younger than 2 can attend free. Corporate sponsors include Hagan, National City Bank, Kolbrener Inc., J.V. Chujko Inc. and Trib Total Media.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/living/fooddrink/s_467245.html



Children's Zoo Horsey Wants Liberal Media Traitors Executed by Firing Squad?
While looking for celebrity eagle Stephen Jr. in the children's area at the San Francisco Zoo, a colleague at the Chronicle ran into a different conservative icon: "Coulter," an American cream draft horse who bears a not-so-subtle resemblance to a certain controversial conservative pundit by the same name.
A follow-up visit shows that the similarities are plentiful: Both have a long mane of blonde hair and legs that are thin enough to comfortably slip a LiveStrong silicone bracelet on the lower thigh. And whether it's fair or not, many a liberal blogger has pointed out that Ann Coulter's head does have some equine qualities.
Then again, the horse appears to have a much better appetite than the pundit, and there's also the little issue of the zoo's Coulter being male -- although I suppose Ann Coulter's detractors will have a quick comeback for that as well. (Check out this and this.)
The zoo keepers I talked to were mum on the issue, refusing to confirm or deny that the horse was named with Ann Coulter in mind. But it's worth noting that there's another part of the zoo called the "Coulter Family Acacia Plaza," suggesting the horse's name could also be linked to a generous zoo patron.

Just a crazy coincidence, or another liberal conspiracy to brainwash young Americans before they're even out of diapers?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=3&entry_id=8199



Endangered Tiger Killed At Florida Zoo
(AP) TAMPA, Fla. An endangered tiger was shot to death after it escaped its holding area at the Tampa, Florida, zoo.
Officials at the Lowry Park Zoo say a latch on the holding cell was left unlocked, allowing a tiger named Enshala to slip through and head toward a construction area.
The zoo’s veterinarian shot a tranquilizer dart at the animal, but the female tiger became agitated and lurched at him and a seven-foot wall that separates the area from the public. So the vet fired a round from a 12-gauge shotgun, then three more shots when she continued moving.

http://kutv.com/topstories/topstories_story_235093021.html



The ZOO carries on after losing accreditation
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com
The ZOO of Northwest Florida (the ZOO) has suffered some set backs, but directors are still pushing forward to contribute positively to the community. The ZOO, like much of the surrounding community, suffered financially with insurance reimbursement after the busy 2004-2005 hurricane seasons. As reported previously in Gulf Breeze News, the ZOO staff received a check for $59,000 from its insurance company after sustaining $600,000 in hurricane damages. The loss of its accreditation from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) was an unexpected blow, but administrators are determined not to let the setback discourage them.
"It's not a road block, it's just a bump in the road. We have some amazing people who work here to make this zoo stay in Northwest Florida," said Natalie Aiken, The ZOO's Director of Visitor Services.
Despite the impediments placed upon the 50-acre facility over the past two years by disastrous weather, insurers and now the dissenting AZA, ZOO managers are quite proud of their progress.

http://www.gulfbreezenews.com/news/2006/0824/News/018.html



Eagle's Eye: Overcrowding makes life miserable
PETA has filed a case in the Supreme Court against the substandard state of zoos across the country after conducting investigations of more than 30 zoos- P Kumar Shrivastava
The famous Van Vihar National Park has recently gained international significance with the announcement to set up a vulture captive breeding centre. A rescue centre for the circus animals has already been established and recently rescued lions, tigers and other animals were brought to Van Vihar and more are likely to be brought in near future.
There is no doubt that the rare animals of Van Vihar should get better care and attention. With the setting up of rescue centre and arrival of more animals, the authorities must ensure that all the animals get sufficient space, suitable environment, food and medical care.

http://www.centralchronicle.com/20060705/0507303.htm



WILDLIFE CONTROVERSIES
Kenya, Australia suspend transfer of native animals
Nairobi court to hear NGO's plea; Koala deal stopped due to elephant blockade
Kenya and Australia have halted controversial wildlife deals with Thailand amid protests here and abroad.
A Nairobi court has put a stop on the Kenyan Government's plan to export animals to Thailand pending the hearing of a case filed by a local non-government group.
And Australian zoos have held up delivery of four koalas here after the transfer of eight Thai elephants to the country was blocked by protesters.
Kenya Broadcasting Corp said yesterday the Nairobi CBO consortium opposed the wildlife transfer, which it described as a waste of the country's few natural resources.
Justice Joseph Nyamu said the case involved interpretations of several conventions and that the two parties should exchange arguments before a hearing on Sept 25.
Meanwhile, Sopon Damnui, director of Thailand's Zoological Park Organisation said problems delivering eight Thai elephants to Australia had affected the transfer of four koalas, which had been due to arrive yesterday.
"Thai veterinarians went there but did not bring the koalas back with them due to the elephant problems," he said.
Local activists prevented the elephants from leaving a facility near Kanchanaburi a month ago. They suspect some of the elephants were born in the wild and want DNA checks to ensure they really are captive-bred. However the government has rejected this.
The activists also fear the elephants would suffer in their new homes at Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo and Melbourne Zoo, partly because of the colder climate.
Provincial Administration Department official Thanakom Thannat, in charge of animal registration, said the department had no authority to conduct DNA tests on the elephants, as requested by Friends of the Asian Elephant and Kanchanaburi conservationists.
Thanakom called the NGOs' suspicion that the elephants may have been taken from the wild "a heresy" - because the Australian zoos had spent 18 months acquiring the young jumbos from major ranches and the elephants' identity was done to state procedures.
Local conservationists delivered a letter to the Australian embassy on Monday in which they pointed out that the Senate's Environment Commission and the Parliament agreed last year that DNA tests should be conducted to create transparency for the Thai public.
The Australian zoos, meanwhile, say legal action will only be taken "as a last resort" against activists blocking delivery of elephants to Sydney and Melbourne.
A spokesman for the zoos said yesterday any talk of legal action to recover transport costs was "premature at best".
Mr Williams told the AAP news agency the cost of the failed transport operation was "in the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars". However, an embassy spokesperson told The Nation last week the cost was Bt49 million (A$1.7 million), for the rent of a cargo plane that sat idle at Don Muang airport.
The zoos say they have met all regulations to bring the elephants to Australia, which Williams said was a "vital conservation project". He was quoted as saying that opposition to the transfer did not make sense.
Meanwhile, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry will work with Bangkok officials to try to stop elephants being brought to the capital to tout for business - by reinforcing 17 related laws to punish mahouts.
Minister Yongyuth Tiyapairat said it was agreed that a clearer and more effective elephant welfare law should also be drafted. In the mean time, a special unit called "Mister Chang" would be set by the BMA and officials from other agencies to oversee elephant issues via the hotline 02 224-2958 or 1555 to help agencies reinforce existing laws, Yongyuth said.
"From now on, persons taking elephants to wander city streets would be arrested and punished by related 17 acts, punishable by both a jail term and fine up to Bt80,000. And the beasts would be taken into government care at an elephant ranch in Lampang," the minister said.
The Nation, Agencies

http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/07/06/headlines/headlines_30008120.php

concluding …

Children's Zoo Horsey Wants Liberal Media Traitors Executed by Firing Squad?

What does Ann Coulter have in common ...

... Coulter the horse?

Ann Coulter Banned in New Jersey?

Two New Jersey Democrats are pushing to have Ann Coulter's new book "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," banned from all bookstores in their state because she criticized four 9/11 widows known as "the Jersey Girls."
In a joint press release issued Friday, New Jersey Assemblywomen Joan Quigley and Linda Stender say they want New Jersey retailers to "ban the sale of [Coulter's] book throughout the state."

PERHAPS it took the kidnapping of FOX News Journalists to bring this completely offensive news team to it's senses. The scuttlebutt/Buzz is that Pat Robertson is stating "This is what FOX News gets for attacking others in incompassionate ways. After all we are all God's children."


Murky group claims responsibility for kidnapping Fox journalists

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/08/23/state/n150611D60.DTL&type=politics

An unknown militant group demanded the release of Muslim prisoners in U.S. jails within 72 hours in exchange for two kidnapped Fox News journalists, who were shown sitting cross-legged and barefoot on the floor in a video released Wednesday.
The video, which broke 10 days of silence from the kidnappers, marked the first time militants in Gaza have issued demands going beyond the conflict with Israel. The footage also had none of the trappings of locally produced videos, such as flags or masked gunmen, raising the possibility that foreign extremists may have taken root in Gaza.

I JUST WON'T put it past FOX to pull a stunt like this to win support for Tony "It's Great" Snow. The screaming wife was just 'the touch' we were all looking for. In similar cultural fashion to the way Muslim women beg for the lives of their men when captured, the wife of a captured journalist carried on the same way. It's all too strange, if you ask me. I hope the journalists are retuned home safely. No different than all the other journalists globally including the New York Times researcher in China whom's fate is to be announced on Friday. Whom by the way, never seems to make the headlines or even a story line at FOX News.

A couple possibilities. (Click on to animate)

August 23, 2006.

0230z.

Enhanced Infrared Satellite of the hemisphere.

A lot happened in twenty four hours. There are currently two major storms in the East Pacific. IOKE is a Cat Four. It is near the Hawaiian Islands. It's predicted to go west from it's current position. It has the appearance of a storm with the potential to bend it's path to the northeast as it is a part of a far larger system. It has 'tail' if you will, that leads to the northeast. that is the larger system. I'm going to put a water vapor GOES West image here.

To the left is IOKE. To the right is Ileana. (Click to animate)

August 23, 2006.

0330z.

Water Vapor GOES West Satellite.

IOKE is in a very odd position in the Pacific. The storms of the Pacific don't start near Hawaii. Hawaii is a land mass. It's warmer than the ocean. No different than the storms that start near Mexico all the time. The aire is hotter there. Hawaii is a volcanic sea chain. It's small in mass. I find it very unusual to have a storm BEGINNING there. It indicates to me the extreme heat of the Northern Hemisphere.

The 'tail' of IOKE extends northeast. This is very similar to a storm that existed in the Atlantic last year. That storm was Wima (click on). As soon as Wilma hit the open water it turned into the vortex it was attached to and head straight into it. I probably have a satellite picture on this blog that illustrates that. Wilma at it's strongest was a Cat 5 with the lowest millibars of central pressure of any Atlantic storm, 802 mbar. Katrina was 902 mbar. Wilma started on October 15 and continued through the 25th, ultimately causing a total of 61 deaths of which 36 were in Florida.

But to get back to the Atlantic storms. Every major storm in the Atlantic is accompanied by one in the Pacific. That is occurring now with Ileana. Currentlly Ileana is moving quickly north but as a rule when there is a major Atlantic storm heading to land, the Pacific storm lingers in a position that seems to support 'the path' of the Atlantic storm. That has been my experience in recent years in observing these stroms.

In realizing that, and that there is more turbulence off Africa resulting in another excalating storm I have to wonder what storm will follow Ileana. Not only that BUT, Ileana is also a part of a larger system noted above .

Now, additionally, there has been a lot of turbulence in the Carribean Sea as well.

Satellite below.

Click on to animate.

August 23, 2006.

0330z.

Enhanced Infrared GOES East.

Ileana is to the left and the Tropical storm off Africa is to the right. What worries me is the manifestation of a low pressure with rotation on the southwest shoreline of Cuba. It bears watching. It could take on speed as soon as it hits the Gulf of Mexico should it gain velocity and increase to a Tropical Depression. It will probably occur, if it's going to at least by the time the sunlight comes around again increasing the heat just enough to drive it into a higher vorticity. The lesser Antilles has it's questionable exacerbation of the lower angled solar rays of the sun as summer blends into autumn.

August 21, 2006.

Alsemberg, Belgium.

The crops may have done all right without storm damage but it all looks quite saturated to me. If this type of flooding continues there will be crop loss. Very wet soil isn't good for many crops.

August 21, 2006.

The storm that brought so much deluge to Alsemberg, Belgium. Obviously the pictures were taken after the worst of the storm had passed. It was probably quite an event.

August 21, 2006.

Alsemberg, Belgium.

Photographer states :: this is the result of one hour of severe rain in Beersel (10 km of Brussels)

The ocean is slowly claiming Malasiga. They say it's global warming.

This is an illustration of an area of Canada and projected sea level rise by Sierra Club. Just so everyone gets the picture this is a global phenomina. This is not a joke. This is not a 'tree hugger' issue. This is deteriorating coastlines and loss of land, loss of property, storms that kill and all sorts of things.



By Evan Osnos
Tribune foreign correspondent
August 20, 2006

MALASIGA, Papua New Guinea -- First, their fathers noticed the palm trees that seemed to be inching toward the water's edge and the fire pit that vanished beneath the tides.

Later, researchers came, scribbled measurements and offered a grim diagnosis: The sea is coming.

There is not a power line or factory or air conditioner within a day's walk of this village of 400 people in the southwest Pacific, but these subsistence fishermen are no strangers to the power of industrialization and climate change.

"There used to be two rows of houses," said Mickey Tarabi, a wood carver in his 50s, nodding toward the crystal blue sea. "The first one has been moved, and the second one will be gone soon."

Far over the horizon from the most advanced nations, scientists are measuring the effects of global warming in the world's least-industrialized corners. As the World Bank puts it, 15 percent of the world's population lives in high-income countries but releases "more than 75% of the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are altering the Earth's climate."

If anyone still had doubts, the Bush administration's Climate Change Science Program in May found "clear evidence of human influences on the climate system," echoing the world's leading science organizations on the causes of global warming:

That climate change raises sea levels by heating the oceans, causing them to expand, and by accelerating the melting of glaciers and ice sheets, which funnels fresh water into the seas.
By the middle of this century, smokestacks, tailpipes and other sources are on pace to raise the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by about 50 percent. In turn, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that sea levels will rise about 1 1/2 feet, or as much as 3 feet, by century's end.

That doesn't sound like much until you visit a place like this--or Sri Lanka or coastal Louisiana -- where communities are thriving on vulnerable shorelines. In Bangladesh, more than 10 million people live within 3 feet of sea level. Overall, the World Bank predicts that rising sea levels "could displace tens of millions of people living in low-lying areas" around the world.

Worries about the next century

"Sea-level rise isn't going to go away," said John Hunter, an oceanographer who studies sea levels at the University of Tasmania in Australia. "Our main worry is not what has happened in the past 30 or 40 years, but what will happen in the next century."

In a broad new study supported by the Australian government, Hunter and a team of researchers examined decades of measurements of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, concluding that natural fluctuations could not explain the rise. "The analysis clearly indicates that sea level in this region is rising," they wrote.

That is little surprise to Papua New Guinea, a rugged island nation about the size of California, east of Indonesia. The 5.7 million people in PNG, as it is known, have particular interest in their natural surroundings because 85 percent subsist on what they grow, fish or hunt.

Here, rising waters are swamping coastal villages and small islands. Salt water is inundating coastal farms, destroying vital crops and orchards. Among the hardest hit areas are the Carteret Islands, where citizens have tried and failed to hold back rising waters. In April, a minister who visited the area returned to report that islanders were surviving on only coconuts and fish after relief supplies ran out.

`You eventually get drowned'

Professor Hugh Davies of the University of Papua New Guinea calculates that if the estimate holds true, a rise of 50 centimeters to 100 centimeters would be enough to affect all of PNG's coastal plains and swamplands.

"If you are on one of these islands," Hunter said, "you will be continually swamped by water-laden sand, and if you don't clear it up, you eventually get drowned."

PNG has a plan, of sorts. While the country might seem to have little role in reducing carbon emissions--it is better known for forests than factories--its leaders see a way to take part in global efforts to control greenhouse gases.

In international climate talks, PNG and eight other rain forest countries have proposed that nations that reduce deforestation should be eligible to earn and sell "carbon credits." A carbon credit, which represents a ton of carbon absorbed from the atmosphere or prevented from burning, can be traded in international markets under terms set by the Kyoto Protocol--meaning, in theory, a farmer could make more money from saving his forest than razing it. Current rules allow countries to earn credits for planting new trees but not for protecting existing ones.

"You want us to go down the path to sustainable forest management. Now give us the right incentive to do this," said Gunther Joku, a senior policy planner at PNG's Department of Environment and Conservation.

Whatever happens, it will probably be too late for Malasiga. The village sits on a small, flat peninsula jutting into the Solomon Sea. Drying turtle shells dangle in the wind, and children shinny up palm trees for coconuts.

Some villagers have fled for higher ground, but most have not. They seem to know that when the history of the village is finally written, nobody will say they weren't warned. Yet they struggle to recognize the problems before them.

"I grew up here," said Aaron Mokedu, who is preparing to move the single-room thatched-roof home he shares with his wife and two sons. "But now the water comes up too far. It's not like before."

Elders first noticed the rising water in 1982. It eroded the sand and bared the rocks beneath. Then it tugged down the palm trees beside the ocean's edge. Eventually it began lapping at the stilts that hold up their thin-walled homes. About five years ago, the highest tides swamped the village entirely for the first time anyone could recall.

Holding back rising seas

A world away, other places are trying to hold back rising seas as well. A Dutch developer is selling "amphibious homes" built on pontoons. The German island of Sylt is reportedly coating its rocky shores with a polyurethane that it hopes will dampen erosion caused by waves and hurricanes.

Here in Malasiga, they have a slightly lower-tech strategy: reclaiming land on the leeward side of the peninsula, one handful of dirt at a time.

"When we sweep up, we put all the leaves and coconut shells and sand over here," Tarabi, the wood carver, said, studying the fragile brown sliver of land they had filled in behind their homes. He shrugged.

"In 1997, some graduate students came and told us this was going to happen," he said, "And now it has happened."

Desert Fires' Damage Will Last

August 21, 2006.

The government is using some kind of new classification system they don't bother to explain in the map key, but, who ever said the public should know what is going on with their government.

At any rate there are currently 55 wild fires of which six or so are controlled burns. Those that are controlled burns appear to be 'back fires' set in response to out of control destruction of forests due to drought.


It will take centuries for plant life to recover. Many experts say invasive vegetation is largely to blame.

By Janet Wilson
Times Staff Writer
August 21, 2006

April Sall stood in the charred remnants of a Joshua tree forest, bark peeling off melted black limbs. Above her, ridges once thick with 1,000-year-old piñon and juniper pines were scorched bedrock and stumps.

More than 90% of the surrounding Pipes Canyon Preserve was consumed in last month's Sawtooth blaze. It was one of half a dozen fast-moving fires this summer that burned 65,000 acres of the Mojave Desert, fueling debate over whether the desert is burning more frequently and explosively as a result of invasive weeds, smog, development and climate change.
"It's heartbreaking to see," said Sall, a biologist who manages the preserve and whose grandmother homesteaded the land a century ago. "We'll never see those piñon or juniper trees again in our lifetimes, nor will our children, nor will their grandchildren. It's a bitter pill…. This land isn't meant to burn."

Many scientists agree, saying the recent blazes offer fresh evidence that deserts across the Southwest are undergoing a profound shift, as ancient native pine, shrubs and cactuses give way to young, highly flammable weeds and grasses.

"Right now we're losing very large pieces of landscape," said Todd Esque, an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Henderson, Nev., who studies the cause and effect of fires in the desert. "It's happening in Joshua Tree National Park, it's happening in Mojave National Preserve … up in southwestern Utah … and in Arizona. We lost 750,000 acres of desert to fire in Nevada alone last summer."

This summer, five blazes have seared parts of Joshua Tree, where a fire only every few years was the norm for the last 50 years.

Esque and other researchers say that unlike forests and chaparral, the sparsely vegetated desert is not meant to burn frequently.

"The public has come to understand that fire is a necessary part of the life of forests," Esque said. "That is not the case with deserts. We have a major problem going on."

A vocal minority disagrees, contending there is no clear-cut evidence of far-reaching change. They blame this year's fires on bumper crops of wildflowers nourished by heavy spring rains two years ago. According to the theory, dried remnants of the prolific blooms fueled a 50,000-acre fire in the Mojave National Preserve last summer and in this year's conflagrations.
"The winter of 2004-05 was the wettest ever in 100 years of recorded data in the desert. We had a phenomenal crop of annual native wildflowers, and it was dry the next year and it stayed there," said Richard Minnich, a professor of Earth sciences at UC Riverside. "It's flash fuel of 1 to 2 tons per acre. What's really scary is, there's still a lot of it out there."

Scientists do agree that it will take centuries, if not millenniums, for the desert to recover.
"It won't be on a timeline we humans would like, but it will happen," said Tasha LaDoux, Joshua Tree National Park's botanist.

Inside the park, new growth provides fodder for the debate over whether the fragile, arid landscape is undergoing dramatic change.

At the scene of a 1995 fire, not a single juniper or piñon pine seedling has come up after 11 years. But healthy, 3-foot "pups" have sprouted from the roots of once seemingly dead Joshua trees. The pups may or may not survive, scientists say, because in drought years they may be gnawed by thirsty rodents and ground squirrels. Meanwhile, native apricot mallow, bright-green cheesebush and golden California marigold are blooming even in August.

Along a sandy road in the western section, the scene of a 1999 blaze that scorched 14,000 acres, a beige sea of grasses spreads beneath burned Joshua trees bleached silver by sun and rain. The new growth consists of native bunch grasses and a pair of noxious, ankle-scratching weeds.
These two nonnatives, known as red brome and cheatgrass, form highly flammable carpets between native shrubs and trees, and many scientists believe they are the main culprits behind increasing fires.

"These invasive grasses fill in the spaces between the desert plants. They carry the flame through at a very high rate, and much hotter. It spreads a lot faster," Sall said.
The weeds are also bad for animals.

"The ranchers call it cheatgrass because for the first few years it's good grass, but after that it cheats the cattle of their nutrients," Esque said.

Native to Mediterranean Europe and Asia, the weeds were probably blown across the West by the wind, tracked in by hikers' boots and construction equipment, and excreted by livestock. Researchers at UCLA and elsewhere say the weeds appear to capture nitrogen from smog-laden air more readily than native plants, eventually choking them out.

But Minnich of UC Riverside said years of drought had actually caused most of the red brome to die out, while annual native grasses remain safely stored in natural seed banks on adjoining, unburned islands of habitat.

Richard Halsey couldn't disagree more.

"You're going to see a solid blanket of yellow felt next year," he said, meaning a blanket of dried nonnative grasses. Halsey, a former biology teacher who is now a researcher and firefighter, was asked by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to evaluate the role of vegetation in the Sawtooth fire.

"No one else on the planet agrees with Rich Minnich," Halsey said. "I went out there during the fire and after the fire and looked…. Not only didn't I see the volumes of wildflowers he's talking about, but in the burn area specifically…. I had a hard time finding natives. The predominant fire fuel mix was cheatgrass and red brome."

Robert Webb, a hydrologist with the Geological Survey's Tucson office who has studied botany in the Mojave for 30 years, laughed when he heard about the debate.

"The truth is, they may all be right. The desert is very complicated. There is incredible local variability," he said. Echoing other scientists, he said, "Minnich often heaves these ideas out there that are different…. It's healthy, it makes us all look very carefully at our own data."
Webb is writing a paper with other researchers that looks at three post-fire scenarios for the Mojave, all plausible, all different. Rather than focusing on Joshua trees or pines, they studied ancient black brush, a gray-brown shrub that has evolved to withstand desert temperatures and scarce rain.

A single bush can survive thousands of years. But it is highly flammable, proof to Webb that fire is not natural in the desert. One scenario does show nonnatives replacing black brush and causing more frequent fires. But he said data gathered so far made that scenario "only slightly more likely" than two others in which black brush grows back.

"Some of those Joshua trees may sprout too," Wall said, referring to the Pipes Canyon Preserve. "They're an amazing tree."

But others say such a destructive fire in a preserve like Pipes Canyon did lasting harm.
Tom Scott, a zoologist affiliated with UC Berkeley and UC Riverside, said the canyon preserve encompassed "one of the greatest transition zones in North America. If you look at where it starts way up on top of the San Bernardino Mountains, and then descends down to the desert, you're covering this incredible array of habitats, from montane forest down to low desert."
Scott said there were probably smaller pockets of plants and animals that evolved over millenniums in nooks in the preserve, only to be wiped out by this summer's catastrophic fire.
"If we've introduced grasses that are driving fire much further than it used to go, and you've got a lot of these small patches that are really unique in terms of species, then you're erasing them with large conflagrations," he said.

Esque worries about vulnerable desert species such as the reclusive desert tortoise, Scott's oriole, logger-headed shrike and least Bell's vireo songbirds, as mature shrubs that offered shelter are replaced with grasses.

"When you have less cover, with that goes less diversity," he said.

Webb is most concerned about warming temperatures in the desert. Besides causing less winter snow, warmer weather generates more summer thunderstorms and lightning strikes. Lightning started all the fires that ravaged Pipes Canyon Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park this summer.

Others said urbanization, motorized recreation and military activities were also taking a toll on the natural desert.

"What will be the one thing that does in the desert as we know it? It's not one thing. It's the onslaught of all these things," Esque said. He said there was little that could be done to turn back the clock. Many nonnative weeds are too far spread to be dug out, while native seeds are not widely available and can cost millions of dollars to gather and plant.

Beyond planting a bit of native seed, Sall said, she plans to let Pipes Canyon come back on its own, however long it takes.

Greg Hill of the Bureau of Land Management's Palm Springs office said his agency will take a similar approach to other burned areas in the desert.

"We'll let it regenerate naturally," he said. "It's the largest big chunk of undeveloped land left in Southern California."



Joshua Tree park might lose trees Eco-group says global warming killing species
Chuck Mueller, Staff Writer


JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK - Global warming and air pollution are threatening to take Joshua trees right out of this national park, according to a national conservation group.

"Joshua trees require a cooler habitat," said Deborah DeMeo, California desert field representative for the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association.

"With global warming, the trees wouldn't survive and their habitat will shift northward," she said. "Since they propagate slowly, they won't be able to adapt.

"Within this century, global warming could eliminate more than 90 percent of the park's Joshua trees, leading to the park being overrun by invasive grasses and weeds."

Carbon-dioxide emissions from vehicles and trains contribute significantly to global warming and climate changes, according to the conservation group.

The group warns that the trees could disappear from the park in eastern San Bernardino County due to high levels of carbon-dioxide emissions and ozone levels.

"The impact of global warming and air pollution are inter-related," DeMeo said.

Joshua Tree National Park experiences the highest ozone pollution level of any of America's national parks, according to "Turning Point," a report issued earlier this month by the conservation group.

"For the first time at any of the national parks in the California desert, Joshua Tree has installed warning signs to alert the public about the health hazards from the park's poor air quality," DeMeo said.

The 794,000-acre national park attracts more than 1.2 million visitors each year.

Neither Death Valley National Park nor the Mojave National Preserve are considered at risk from air pollution, DeMeo said.

"But at Joshua Tree, park officials have installed signs at three of the park's entrances to alert visitors about the severity of health threats from poor air quality," she said.

Paul DePrey, Joshua Tree National Park's chief of resources, said a strategy to deal with the threat to the park's signature tree must be developed within 10 years to reverse that threat.

According to park naturalist Joe Zakki, the U.S. Geological Survey has launched studies into the threat of climatic change on Joshua trees and is working with the National Park Service to evaluate the impact of air pollution on the plants.

"When all the data is gathered, we'll know if young Joshua trees are replacing themselves," he said.
Joshua Tree National Park exceeds unhealthful air-quality standards at various times of the year, especially in the summer. Prevailing wind patterns lift polluted air passing through the San Gorgonio Pass into the national park.

"From Keys View at the south edge of the park, visitors can look down and see brown air streaming through," Zakki said. "The pristine air that many people expect in the park isn't always there."

Data collected at the Black Rock monitoring station near Yucca Valley shows that ozone levels exceed health standards and are among the worst in the national park system, the naturalist said. Two desert ecosystems converge in Joshua Tree National Park, according to "Turning Point."

"Global climate change is endangering the park's biodiversity, and especially the flagship species for which it is named," the report says.

The conservation association recommends 10 steps to clean the air in the national parks. These include cleaning up outdated power plants, requiring new power plants to use the lowest polluting technologies and enacting stronger power plant mercury controls.

"Also, we must ensure that legal limits on park air pollution are not exceeded, and measures are taken to promote clean, renewable domestic energy supplies," DeMeo said.

August 18, 2006. Upton, Wyoming. The Four Mile Fire.

August 18, 2006.

Upton, Wyoming.

August 18, 2006.

Upton Wyoming.

Photographer states :: This fire was called the 4 Mile Fire. It was a timber fire near Newcastle, Wyoming. I was fighting it Friday and Saturday of this week.

We are STILL frozen. (Click to Animate)

August 18, 2006.

12:00 PM.

Antarctica.

There is an occassional temperature that is inching closer to above freezing but considering we are leaving the days of winter it's not a complete surprise, but, still leaving a very short ICE season. HOWEVER, it was longer than last year. There were no freezing temperatures on the Peninsula at all last year.

The temperatures this week.

The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:

Scott Base

Snow

-26.0°

Updated Tuesday 22 Aug 8:15AM

The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:

57 °F / 14 °C
Overcast

Humidity:
72%

Dew Point:
48 °F / 9 °C

Wind:
6 mph / 9 km/h from the WSW

Pressure:
30.03 in / 1017 hPa

Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers

UV:
1 out of 16

Clouds:
Scattered Clouds 1200 ft / 365 m
Mostly Cloudy 1700 ft / 518 m
Overcast 3000 ft / 914 m
(Above Ground Level)

end