Mosquito control is vital in the control of disease. West Nile. In Africa malaria is still an problem. With Global Warming the threat of malaria has increased.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Mosquito Control can begin at home by eliminating stagnant water. (Kindly click on.)
Mosquito control is vital in the control of disease. West Nile. In Africa malaria is still an problem. With Global Warming the threat of malaria has increased.
June 7, 2006
Pheonix, Arizona
During the day, dust storms, at night dangerous lightning. The color of the sky is significant, there is still significant amount of dust in the air. The particulate matter may very well ionically charged contributing to the severe lightning. I can't help but wonder if breathing is difficult at times for all and chronically for some.
Morning Paper - continued
The San Francisco Chronicle
Crews Search for Missing Alaska Climbers
By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, June 8, 2006
(06-08) 12:04 PDT Anchorage, Alaska (AP) --
Crews searching for two mountain climbers missing on one of Alaska's most difficult peaks spotted a torn backpack in an avalanche debris field and fear the women have now been without food and fuel for over week.
Sue Nott and Karen McNeill, both experienced climbers, started up Mount Foraker on May 14 and planned to complete the route in 10 to 14 days.
The search for the two began on June 1 after an air taxi operator flew the ascent route and didn't see them on the mountain.
"Given the harsh conditions up there, it makes the possibility that they have survived less and less with each passing day," said Kris Fister, spokeswoman for Denali National Park and Preserve.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/06/08/national/a112042D80.DTL
Cervical Cancer Vaccine Approved
By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, June 8, 2006
(06-08) 10:15 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
The first vaccine to protect against most cervical cancer won federal approval Thursday.
The vaccine Gardasil, approved for use in girls and women ages 9 to 26, prevents infection by four strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, Merck & Co. Inc. said. The virus is the most prevalent sexually transmitted disease.
Gardasil protects against the two types of HPV responsible for about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. The vaccine also blocks infection by two other strains responsible for 90 percent of genital wart cases.
Merck is expected to market Gardasil as a cancer, rather than an STD, vaccine. It remains unclear how widespread will be the use of the three-shot series, in part because of its estimated cost of $300 to $500. Conservative opposition to making the vaccine mandatory for school attendance may also curb its adoption.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/06/08/national/w100720D98.DTL
Senate Rejects Effort to Cut Estate Tax
By MARY DALRYMPLE, AP Tax Writer
Thursday, June 8, 2006
(06-08) 09:05 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
Senators voted Thursday to reject a Republican effort to abolish taxes on inherited estates during an election year with control of Congress at stake.
GOP leaders had pushed senators to permanently eliminate the estate tax, which disappears in 2010 under President Bush's first tax cut, but rears up again a year later.
A 57-41 vote fell three votes short of advancing the bill. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said the Senate will vote again this year on a tax that opponents call the "death tax."
"Getting rid of the death tax is just too important an issue to give up so easily," he said.
A small group of senators, knowing Republicans lacked the votes to eliminate the tax, had hoped to keep the issue alive with an agreement to remove the tax from smaller estates and lessen the hit on larger ones.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2006/06/08/national/w082336D29.DTL
SAN FRANCISCO
Police fatally shoot man in friend's attic
Officers thought glasses case was gun and opened fire
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, June 8, 2006
Two San Francisco police officers who shot and killed an unarmed man in the darkened attic of an apartment mistook him for a trespasser with a gun, police officials said Wednesday.
Asa B. Sullivan, 25, had his arms outstretched and was holding a "cylindrical object" when the officers confronted him Tuesday night in the apartment near Lake Merced, prompting them to open fire, said Police Chief Heather Fong. The object turned out to be an eyeglasses case.
Police refused to release the officers' names, saying only that one was a male officer with four years' experience on the force and the other was a female officer with the department for three years.
A department spokesman initially told reporters that Sullivan had fired at the officers through the attic floor, a version of events that police did not officially correct for more than 16 hours. Fong said the earlier story was based on a preliminary account.
The incident began when the two officers, both of whom work at Taraval station, responded to a report of an open door at a two-story townhouse at 2 Garces Drive at the Villas Parkmerced. Police were told the unit was vacant and undergoing renovation, and neighbors said they suspected squatters were living there, Fong said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/08/BAG46JAKDE1.DTL
Federal probe of drugs in sports goes beyond BALCO
Pitcher whose home was raided said he used human growth drug, according to affidavit
Lance Williams, Mark Fainaru-Wada, Chronicle Staff Writers
Thursday, June 8, 2006
A federal raid on the home of a veteran pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks highlights a gaping loophole in Major League Baseball's steroid testing policy and shows that government investigators are becoming more aggressive in their efforts to go after suspected sports drug cheats.
A team of 13 federal agents led by the investigator who ramrodded the BALCO steroids case in San Francisco spent six hours Tuesday searching the Scottsdale home of pitcher Jason Grimsley.
The pitcher, who has played for seven major league teams in his 15-year career, was implicated in drug use when a parcel containing $3,200 worth of the powerful anabolic drug human growth hormone was delivered to his home April 19, according to an affidavit written by Internal Revenue Service special agent Jeff Novitzky.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/08/MNGQIJANKI1.DTL
Loaiza Leads A's Over Indians 4-1
By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer
Thursday, June 8, 2006
(06-08) 11:49 PDT CLEVELAND (AP) --
Esteban Loaiza came off the disabled list and got his first win for Oakland, pitching seven superb innings Thursday to give the Athletics a 4-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
Activated before the game, Loaiza (1-3) took a two-hit shutout into the seventh in his first major league start since April 23. The right-hander, signed as a free agent in the offseason, had been sidelined with a strained shoulder muscle.
Loaiza, however, looked sharp in his return and had no trouble handling the hot-one-day-cold-the-next Indians, who didn't get a runner past second base until the seventh when Ben Broussard homered leading off.
Loaiza allowed three hits, walked one, struck out five and gave the A's some return on their three-year, $21 million investment in him.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/08/sports/s114918D82.DTL&type=as
GOP senator accuses Cheney of meddling
Specter says VP went behind his back
Carl Hulse, Jim Rutenberg, New York Times
Thursday, June 8, 2006
Washington -- A senior Republican lawmaker went public on Wednesday about his often tense and complicated relationship with the Bush White House in a remarkable display of the strains within the party.
The lawmaker, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, accused Vice President Dick Cheney of meddling behind his back in the committee's business, bringing into the open a conflict that has simmered for months.
In a letter to Cheney that the senator released to the news media, Specter said the vice president had cut him out of discussions with all the other Republicans on his own committee about oversight of the administration's eavesdropping programs, a subject on which Specter has often been at odds with the White House.
The trigger for Specter's anger was a deal Cheney made with the other Republicans on the committee to block testimony from phone companies that reportedly cooperated in providing call records to the National Security Agency.
Specter, who had been considering issuing subpoenas to compel telephone company executives to testify, learned of Cheney's actions only when he went into a closed meeting of the committee's Republicans on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after encountering the vice president at a weekly luncheon of all Senate Republicans.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/08/MNGQIJANKC1.DTL
AIDS AT 25
Steven Winn
Thursday, June 8, 2006
First of two parts.
They were tenors and trumpeters, playwrights and dancers, novelists and record producers, actors and printmakers. The roster of Bay Area artists who have died from AIDS over the past 25 years carries a poignant double message. It reminds us of all the light these men and women brought — and how much more they had to give when the shadow fell. Death came, in most cases, when these artists were just reaching their prime. Much of their best work lay ahead. Names, inevitably, are missing here. No list of this type can be complete. Even this imperfect register requires two days to print (the second half will appear here Friday). Time, as it will, has started to buff away details, reputations, the sight of someone’s face at a piano or in a pas de deux in a moment of inspiration. In trying to remember, we realize just how much life and art have been lost to AIDS.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/08/DDGOGJ9EQP1.DTL
CALIFORNIA
State's schools found skimping on PE classes
Less than 20 minutes a day at majority of districts reviewed
Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, June 8, 2006
More than half of school districts reviewed by the state are giving kids less physical education than the law requires -- at least 20 minutes a day -- according to public documents obtained by the nonprofit California Center for Public Health Advocacy.
"This is a tragedy for California education," said Harold Goldstein, executive director of the group, which found that 37 of the 73 school districts checked by the state Education Department over the last two years had failed to make students sweat to the extent required.
"These results are appalling," Goldstein said. He added that children are increasingly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes -- once associated with adults -- because of their sedentary, snack-gobbling habits.
Goldstein and his team of health experts are the same people who got junk food banned from public school premises, beginning in July 2007.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/08/BAG46JAKDG1.DTL
The Jakarta Post
Villagers huddle for survival in flimsy tents
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Life was already difficult for residents of the two remote hamlets in the parched hills of Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta, but it took a turn for the worse on May 27.
Karang and Padangan, which lie in the village of Nglegi, did not suffer the widespread damage or deaths of many areas battered by the earthquake, but their difficult to reach, rugged location leave them at a disadvantage in recovering from the damage.
The area is plagued by deficiencies: There is not enough food at the best of times, and the electricity supply was cut by the disaster.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060608.B01&irec=0
Merapi spews more hot gas clouds, 15,000 villagers flee
MT. MERAPI, Yogyakarta (AP): Indonesia's Mt. Merapi spewed a spectacular roiling cloud of hot gas and ash down its southern slope Thursday, sending more than 15,000 villagers running to safety or piling into cars and trucks, officials and witnessessaid.
The volcano has been venting steam and ash for weeks, but the 9:15 a.m. (0215 GMT) burst was the largest yet, with billowing, dark gray clouds avalanching 5 1/2 kilometers (3 1/2 miles) downits slopes, said Sugiono, a government vulcanologist.
It was one of a series of powerful explosions early Thursday at Indonesia's most dangerous volcano - but hundreds of villagers living on the mountainside were still refusing to leave.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060608130111&irec=6
'Playboy' back with more skin but ad pages laid bare
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The second edition of Playboy Indonesia is not only free of steamy nude pictorials, but also conspicuously lacking in advertisements.
White space occupied the pages where the glossy advertisements that filled April's first edition should have been placed.
"These blank pages are dedicated to our loyal clients who have been threatened against placing ads in this magazine," is the message from publisher PT Velvet Silver Media on the blank pages, acknowledging unnamed cell phone, cologne and tobacco advertisers
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060608.@03&irec=5
Police find 43 bombs in East Java, motive unclear
JAKARTA (AP): Police found a box full of bombs in central Indonesia after one of the explosives accidentally detonated, but refused to speculate whether the cache was intended for terroristattacks or dynamite fishing."We are investigating," Ari Subiyanto, a senior police official in East Java, said Thursday after 43 homemade bombs were discovered in a house in the city of Pasuruan. "We don't know yet what they were for."
The man who allegedly assembled the bombs, identified only as Jordan, was seriously wounded when one accidentally detonated late Wednesday, ripping off his left hand and burning his face, chest and legs, said Subiyanto.
Though the man was a fisherman, Subiyanto said the explosives - along with sulfur residue, circuits and batteries - were not the type usually used by fisherman in the area.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060608173355&irec=0
Australia, Indonesia to discuss security accord
SYDNEY, Australia (Bloomberg): Australia's Prime Minister John Howard said he will discuss a security agreement when he holds talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
A meeting with Yudhoyono will probably take place later this month, Howard said Thursday in Sydney. The security accord will include counter-terrorism and illegal immigration, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Thursday.
"Our relationship with Indonesia is very important," Howard said. A security agreement "would be one of a number of things that we would discuss."
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060608135553&irec=3
Thai police seize Sumatran tiger body parts
BANGKOK (AP): The body parts of six endangered Sumatran tigers discovered at a warehouse near Thailand's main international airport were likely destined for China to be sold for traditionalChinese medicine, police said Thursday.
Police discovered tiger skulls, fangs and other body parts stored in fruit boxes when they raided a cargo warehouse near Bangkok airport late Wednesday, said Lt. Gen. Wuth Liptapanlop, chief of the police economic crime division.
The six tigers likely came from Indonesia or Malaysia, Wuth said, adding that police raided the warehouse on a tip that the parts had been transported there from the southern Thai city ofHat Yai, near the Malaysian border.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060608151655&irec=2
Attackers burn down a district office in East Timor
DILI (AP): A mob looted and burned a district office of East Timor's ruling party on Thursday in an area where rebel soldiers are based, officials said, in the first reported violence outside the capital since fighting broke out in Dili last month.
The attack occurred in Gleno, a district capital 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Dili, said Parliament Speaker Francisco Guterres.
"I condemn those who attacked my representative in Ermera district and burned down our office," Guterres told a news conference. Many East Timorese blame the government for recent violence and are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and the dissolution of Parliament.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, but Saturnino Babo, the head of the ruling Fretilin party in the district, said his deputy was attacked by a crowd as he headed to the office, and was forced to hand over his government car.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060608125039&irec=7
Soeharto celebrates 85th birthday with big party
JAKARTA (AP): Former Indonesian President Soeharto may be too sick to stand trial, but he planned to celebrate his 85th birthday with a party for up to 400 people at his upscale home Thursday.
A close aide to the former strongman said the Soeharto family also planned to distribute 85,000 packages of staples - rice, noodles, coconut oil, soap, books and pens - to poor people in Jakarta and victims of the recent earthquake in Yogyakarta andCentral Java.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060608133052&irec=4
Bird sellers say bird flu does not exist
JAKARTA (Antara): Bird sellers in Jakarta said Thursday they did not believe that bird flu really existed, although it has killed at least 37 people in the country, 13 of whom were from the capital.
"I do not believe that bird flu really exists. There is no bird trader here infected with the disease," Santoso, 30, a bird trader at Pramuka bird market in Central Jakarta was quoted by
Antara news agency as saying.
"If there is bird flu, all the birds in the market would have already died," he added.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah said Wednesday she was struggling to warn people of the danger of bird flu. During a seminar for Indonesia's second-largest Muslim group, Muhammadiyah, she said many people have seen information campaigns on television but "donot realize that they are directly threatened by the disease".
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060608172713&irec=1
The Boston Globe
Somalis flee possible militia offensive
Seizure of capital has citizens in fear
By Mohamed Ali Bile, Reuters June 8, 2006
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Scores of Somali residents fled the warlord stronghold of Jowhar yesterday, in fear of a bloody offensive for control of the town by Islamic militia members who had taken Mogadishu two days earlier.
Gunmen loyal to courts that use the Islamic code of justice known as sharia seized the capital on Monday from a group of clan leaders who described themselves as antiterrorist, and who are widely believed to be backed by the United States. They won after fierce fighting that reportedly has killed 350 people since February.
Locals said the clan leaders were preparing to defend their last redoubt of Jowhar, about 55 miles north of the capital, including an advance line outside the town.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2006/06/08/somalis_flee_possible_militia_offensive/
Senate OKs syringe sales
By Russell Nichols, Globe Staff June 8, 2006
The state Senate passed a bill yesterday to legalize purchase of hypodermic needles over the counter, setting up a battle with Governor Mitt Romney, who has said he opposes the legislation.
Massachusetts would become the 48th state to legalize over-the-counter sales of syringes to curb the spread of blood-borne diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C through dirty needles shared by drug users. Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey joined other Republicans in opposing the bill, saying it would encourage illegal drug use.
Supporters say the bill would save the state healthcare costs and lives.
New Jersey and Delaware are the only other states where over-the-counter sales are illegal. Currently, four Massachusetts cities -- Boston, Cambridge, Northampton, and Provincetown -- are running needle exchange centers where used needles can be returned for clean ones.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/06/08/mass_senate_oks_sales_of_syringes/
Wet, wary, and weary again
Drenching storm brings sodden memories of May
By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff June 8, 2006
Unrelenting rains smothered the Boston area yesterday, prompting another round of flood watches, closing roads on the South Shore, and prolonging a record-setting stretch of soggy weather that is disrupting daily life and dampening spirits.
Forecasters predicted that another coastal storm would bring more rain through early Saturday, though less severe than yesterday. Early June, they said, is shaping up much like May, when nearly 12.5 inches fell in Boston, making it the second-wettest May since record-keeping began in the late 1800s.
Yesterday's northeaster lingered mostly over Southeastern Massachusetts. Authorities there nervously watched the Blackstone, Taunton, Wading, and several other rivers that were on the brink of overflowing, but expected any flooding to be less serious than that on the North Shore, because South Shore rivers are generally smaller.
``There aren't a lot of serious rivers down there," said Peter Judge, spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. ``We're keeping our fingers crossed."
http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2006/06/08/wet_wary_and_weary_again/
Lamenting the decline of good conversation
By Scot Lehigh, Globe Columnist June 8, 2006
IF I HAD to guess at the three most spoken words in the English language - or what passes for English in 21st-century America - my nominees would be: ''And I'm like.''
Certainly one can't walk across the Common or down Newbury Street at any weekend hour remotely inhospitable to vampires without being bombarded with that multi-purpose locution, usually followed by a similarly phrased summary of a second person's sentiment: ''And he's like.''
Things can get idiomatically involute when a story requires that the speaker relate what an- other party told her (or him) about the sentiments of a third. Then, you get something along these lines: And she's like, he's like, they're like, no way. It's enough to make you fear you've become entangled in a Mobius-strip simile.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/06/08/lamenting_the_decline_of_good_conversation/
GOP takes aim at PBS funding
House panel backs budget reductions
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff June 8, 2006
WASHINGTON -- House Republicans yesterday revived their efforts to slash funding for public broadcasting, as a key committee approved a $115 million reduction in the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that could force the elimination of some popular PBS and NPR programs.
On a party-line vote, the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees health and education funding approved the cut to the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes money to the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. It would reduce the corporation's budget by 23 percent next year, to $380 million, in a cut that Republicans said was necessary to rein in government spending.
The reduction, which would come in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, must be approved by the full Appropriations Committee, and then the full House and Senate, before it could take effect. Democrats and public broadcasting advocates began planning efforts to reverse the cut.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/06/08/gop_takes_aim_at_pbs_funding/
Secret US `web' of prisons alleged
Europe aided CIA flights, probe says
By Colin Nickerson, Globe Staff June 8, 2006
BERLIN -- The head of an investigation into alleged CIA secret prisons charged yesterday that 14 European nations collaborated with the United States to create a ``spider's web" of clandestine flights and detention centers across the continent and beyond.
Dick Marty, a Swiss senator who led the Council of Europe's investigation, offered little in the way of hard evidence for what he called serious violations of the human rights of at least 17 terrorist suspects allegedly shunted around the globe by CIA interrogators. But the long-awaited report issued by the council -- which monitors human rights issues -- signaled the outrage felt by many Europeans over America's alleged use of the continent's air space and landing ports in prosecuting its war against Islamic terrorism.
``It is now clear -- although we are still far from having established the whole truth -- that authorities in several European countries actively participated with the CIA in these unlawful activities," Marty said at a news conference in Paris.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2006/06/08/secret_us_web_of_prisons_alleged/
Giving online world a link to JFK
Project to allow detailed look at presidential papers, photos
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff June 8, 2006
A handwritten draft of President Kennedy's inaugural address is beginning to show its 45 years of age. The coloring has begun to change along the edges, and the yellow legal paper containing its famous words feels fragile.
But rather than be restricted to the view of a very few, this precious document, which talks of a torch being passed to a new generation, and millions of others are scheduled to be preserved for posterity through digital technology. The project is an unprecedented effort to replicate the entire collection of a presidential library and post much of it on the Internet.
The years-long project , made possible by donations of computer equipment and technical support from EMC Corp. in Hopkinton, will give researchers worldwide an opportunity to study Kennedy's career without visiting the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Dorchester.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/06/08/giving_online_world_a_link_to_jfk/
Army reserve support hospital deployed
June 8, 2006
AUBURN, Maine --Dozens of Army Reserve doctors, nurses and medics left Maine on Thursday in preparation for deployment to Iraq.
The 399th Combat Support Hospital is the second combat hospital unit from New England sent to Iraq. The unit is based in Taunton, Mass., and consists of about 450 soldiers, more than 50 of whom come from Maine.
The Maine group left the state by bus Thursday afternoon. A mobilization ceremony will be held in Boston on Saturday, according to Linda Jeleniewski, spokeswoman for the 94th Regional Readiness Command.
The unit will spend one to three months training in Wisconsin before being sent overseas. The deployment could last up to 18 months, Jeleniewski said.
While in Iraq, the unit will serve as a mobile hospital, treating soldiers and civilians.
The combat support hospital is the present-day equivalent of the former mobile Army surgical hospital, or MASH unit.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/06/08/army_reserve_support_hospital_deployed/
In proposed Iran deal, Bush might have to waive law
'05 statute forbids providing reactor
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff June 8, 2006
WASHINGTON -- If President Bush follows through on a reported proposal to provide a nuclear reactor to Iran in exchange for a pledge by Iranian leaders to cease activities that could produce an atomic bomb, he could set up another confrontation between presidential power and a law passed by Congress.
In August 2005, Congress passed a law forbidding the United States from exporting any nuclear materials or equipment to countries the State Department says sponsor terrorism -- a list that includes Iran. The law allows Bush to waive the ban if he certifies to Congress that the technology transfer would not increase the risk that Iran will acquire ``nuclear weapons, nuclear reactors, or any materials or components of nuclear weapons."
The terms of the proposed deal, as reported in the European and American press, would involve the United States and European nations providing Iran with a light-water nuclear reactor technology to produce electricity. Legal specialists said that if the United States offers any equipment or know-how that results in Iran getting a nuclear reactor, it would be difficult for Bush to justify waiving the law.
Bush may not believe he is bound to obey the law, however. When he signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into law on Aug. 8, 2005, he issued a ``signing statement" in which he asserted that he has the authority to ignore several dozen of the newly-created statutes because they conflict with his interpretation of the Constitution.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2006/06/08/in_proposed_iran_deal_bush_might_have_to_waive_law/
Militants hit Nigeria plant
By Associated Press June 8, 2006
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Gunmen in speedboats attacked a Shell gas plant early yesterday , sparking a firefight and kidnapping five South Korean contractors in the latest violence to hit Africa's leading crude producer.
Police spokesman Haz Iwendi in the capital, Abuja, said one policeman was in critical condition , and four civilians were injured.
The Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger Delta, which claimed responsibility, has been responsible for a wave of attacks and abductions this year in the country's oil-rich southern delta. The militants say impoverished southern Nigerians aren't getting enough of the oil revenue.
Abductions are common in the volatile delta, with most captives released unharmed.
An official at the Nigerian arm of Royal Dutch Shell said the hostages were working near Nigeria's oil hub, Port Harcourt. Shell said it had shut down the plant .
The militants said they would exchange the hostages for the region's most prominent leader, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who called for autonomy for southerners and was jailed last year on treason charges. His release has been a top militant demand this year.
Nigeria is the United States' fifth-largest oil supplier . Violence has been common in the Niger Delta for the past 15 years.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2006/06/08/militants_hit_nigeria_plant/
continued...
Morning Papers - continued ...
Some Zoo News
Zoo's big cats get new home
Associated Press
Published: Saturday, June 03, 2006
PHILADELPHIA -- Thirteen big cats -- from a rare black jaguar to a trio of young snow leopards -- are enjoying spacious new digs in the city after some time away "vacationing" at other zoos.
The Philadelphia Zoo has formally opened its new $20 million US habitat, which is designed to give the animals a more natural setting and visitors a more intimate experience.
The exhibit also preaches conservation, using interactive games, video clips and other tools to describe the threats humans pose to big-cat species around the world.
Exhibits describe the human encroachment that has largely driven jaguars from the southwestern United States into Mexico and pumas -- also called mountain lions or cougars -- from the eastern United States.
The zoo also offers information on a program in Kenya it supports that teaches ranchers how to build lion-proof corrals for their herds, so they don't shoot the endangered lions.
Big Cat Falls is likely to be a summer blockbuster for the zoo, which attracts as many as 13,000 visitors on a weekend summer day and 1.2 million visitors a year. It is the first new exhibit at the Philadelphia Zoo since 1999, spokeswoman Ginette Meluso said. For more information: http://www.philadelphiazoo.org.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/travel/story.html?id=845dd9b5-c6a9-4b2c-87a9-c1eb538d0306
Delhi Eye in sight
7.20am Wednesday June 7, 2006
Tourism authorities in New Delhi are planning a new amusement park with a giant Ferris wheel that would give visitors a bird's-eye view of India's capital, with its historic tombs and forts.
The Great Delhi Wheel, similar to the London Eye, is awaiting approval by the city's chief minister, Sheila Dikshit.
The 150m- diameter wheel would be installed at Millennium Park, being developed by Yamuna River.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385345
Elephant activists hold up jumbo load
8.00am Wednesday June 7, 2006
By Jan McGirk
BANGKOK - The controversial shipment of eight young elephants from Thailand to Australia was temorarily abandoned yesterday after animal rights activists blockaded the roads in Kanchanaburi, forming a human chain around the animals' quarantine site.
The protests, a last-ditch attempt to prevent the animal-exhange project, succeeded in delaying the departure of the elephants, which were due to be loaded onto cargo planes at Bangkok airport last night.
It was to have been the first stage of a swap between Thailand and two zoos in Australia.
In exchange, more than a hundred kangaroos and other marsupials were to be shipped to the new Chiang Mai night zoo in northern Thailand, where bush meat features heavily on the menu.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385377
Zoos seek Thai elephant assurances
By Paul Carter
June 07, 2006
AUSTRALIAN zookeepers were seeking assurances that the transfer of eight Asian elephants from Thailand would proceed, after it was delayed by protests.
Sydney's Taronga Zoo and Melbourne Zoo, which have offered to take the animals, today approached the Thai Government for confirmation the elephant export would go ahead.
Protesters who yesterday blocked the path of a convoy of trucks carrying the elephants were today calling for them to be DNA tested, in order to prove they qualified for export.
Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, an elephant is only eligible for export if both its parents are bred in captivity.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19395480-1702,00.html
Zoos pool funds to rescue monkeys from South Africa
Thirty-three orphaned primates, left behind by poachers, are distributed to six parks in the U.S.
By Tony Perry
LOS ANGELES TIMES
SAN DIEGO - It started with a shocking phone call from a man in South Africa to a monkey expert at the San Diego Zoo: How much should he charge for young monkeys caught in the wild?
To Karen Killmar, associate curator of mammals, the idea of selling monkeys was repellent.
"In this profession, you get some strange calls, but this was a first," Killmar said, adding in a chilly tone, "We do not put a price tag on our animals."
Still, Killmar was intrigued. She started asking the caller questions. The more she learned about the monkeys, the more she thought they should be rescued rather than sold as exotic pets.
The monkeys had been caught in the Democratic Republic of Congo and brought to South Africa.
They were leftovers from the illicit traffic in "bush meat" that is pushing some monkeys and other species to the brink of extinction.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/14759629.htm
Fire at zoo kills 43 animals
Investigators search for cause of after-hours blaze at Stanback Petting Barn in Salisbury Stanback
Petting Barn in Salisbury
jvick@charlotteobserver.comslyttle@charlotteobserver.com
Rowan County authorities are investigating the cause of a Sunday fire that destroyed a popular petting zoo and killed 43 of its animals.
No people were injured in the fire, which destroyed the Stanback Petting Barn at Dan Nicholas Park on Bringle Ferry Road in Salisbury.
The fire was reported about 8 p.m., two hours after the park closed, said Rowan County Fire Marshal Arthur Delaney. The staff was out of the park by 7 p.m., said manager Don Bringle.
Park officials said they were saddened by the loss of animal life and of the teaching opportunities the barn provided.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/14147955.htm
Russia Vaccinates Birds At Moscow's Zoo Against Bird Flu
MOSCOW (AP)--Authorities vaccinated birds at Moscow's Zoo Tuesday as part of a program to protect domestic fowl in Russia against the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
For the workers tasked with giving the injections, however, catching up with the birds proved a challenge. Some zoo workers were forced to chase after uncooperative birds with nets.
"We put the vaccine in the syringe and inject it into the bird's chest," said Nataliya Istratova, the zoo's spokeswoman. "It's stressful for (the birds), but better to be in the hands of a doctor than in death's grip."
Russia's lower house, the State Duma, heard testimony Tuesday from the country's top sanitary official on measures being taken to deal with the spread of bird flu. Gennady Onishchenko told deputies the country had sufficient supplies of vaccine and had set up a nationwide monitoring headquarters.
"The situation is under control," Onishchenko assured lawmakers.
Some 50,000 doses of vaccine have been provided to inoculate fowl in Moscow, the Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement.
Cases of bird flu have been detected in eight regions in southern Russia that are in the path of migratory birds, according to the Agriculture Ministry.
No cases of bird flu in humans have been registered so far in Russia. However, Onishchenko has called for border controls to be tightened. In a recent letter to health officials, he proposed preparing medical facilities at ports, airports, railway stations and other border crossings to hospitalize people suspected of carrying the disease.
Source: Dow Jones Newswire
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=24363>
MDE Wraps up Zoo Investigation
03/21/2006
SALISBURY, Md. (AP)- The Maryland Department of the Environment says it has completed its investigation of the Salisbury Zoo.
Two animal pens had been draining directly into the Wicomico River. There was also a possibility that sewage could back up and overflow through a grate in the bison area.
The MDE says those problems have been fixed and the city will learn if will be penalized sometime this week.
http://www.wboc.com/Global/story.asp?S=4662064&nav=MXEF
Lion, Dog Become Pals At Zoo
Lioness Abandoned As Cub
POSTED: 10:42 am PST March 21, 2006
JINJOO, South Korea -- A female lion that was abandoned as a cub and a dog have become good friends at a South Korean zoo.
The lioness is named "Soonee," which means "tame" in Korean.
Her friend is a South Korea Jindo dog called "Tang-Chil," after a popular cartoon character.
After she was abandoned by her mother, Soonee was lonely, but rejected all male lions.
Then Tang-Chil came along. After letting the dog live near Soonee's cage for a month, zookeepers let him enter the cage under supervision.
The two animals became friends, and now they look after each other, zookeepers said.
http://www.nbc4.tv/irresistible/8165481/detail.html
Some of this is dated, but, still of interest.
Cool cats rule Auckland Zoo these school holidays
Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 10:22 am
Press Release: Auckland Zoo
MEDIA RELEASE
22 March 2006
Cool cats rule Auckland Zoo these school holidays!
Race to Auckland Zoo these Easter school holidays (Friday 14 - Tuesday 25 April) and catch up with all our cool cats - the new cheetah boys, servals, lions, tiger and more. Brought to you by Newstalk ZB, the fur will fly if you miss out!
The newest cats to spot at the zoo are ten-month-old cheetah males, Anubis and Osiris. Arriving from South Africa in mid-April, they are the first cheetah to be exhibited at the zoo in its 84-year history. The fastest land mammal on the planet, and Africa's most endangered cat, they will be helping us spread the word about their plight. These brothers will need some serious cat-napping for their first few days, to get over their jet lag, and settle into their new home. But following this quiet time, visitors will soon be able to see these magnificent felines in the flesh.
Be a cool cat yourself, and come learn more about these fascinating felines. Unfortunately, not all cats have nine lives. Find out why the endangered cheetah, tiger, golden cats and others are at risk, and need everyone's help to ensure they have a future.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0603/S00129.htm
'Art Museum by the Zoo'
Though a 'small' film, it's one that deserves attention
Darcy Paquet (internews)
Yet another film by a first-time director/screenwriter, "Art Museum by the Zoo" is the only film in this list directed by a woman (Lee Jeong Hyang). It debuted a week before Christmas and was extremely well received by audiences and critics alike. It stars a very popular actress in Shim Eun Ha ("Christmas in August") together with first-time actor Lee Sung Jae. Of all the films I saw in 1998, I think this one may be my favorite.
The story is reportedly based on events from the director's own life. On leave from the military, a man named Chul Soo arrives at his fiancee's apartment and finds her not at home. He cleans the apartment and prepares dinner for her, only to discover that she has moved out, and another woman is now renting the apartment. When a few days later his fiancee tells him she is marrying another man, he has nowhere to go, and ends up staying at the apartment.
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=318088&no=280695&rel_no=1
Air Zoo exhibits WMU Sunseeker
By Jordan White
News Writer
March 23, 2006
Visitors to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo will be able to view the product of the hard work of a group of Engineering students from Western Michigan University’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences until April 9.
A solar powered car, known as the Sunseeker, will be on display at the request of the air museum, according to Abraham Poot, a lab supervisor at the CEAS and an advisor to the team that built the car.
As the car will be on display during the local public school’s Spring Break, Poot said that he and the team hope for added exposure to their efforts and to provide answers to any questions visitors may have.
http://www.westernherald.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/03/23/44220bf76bbfc
A Coyote Is Spotted Roaming Near the Zoo in Central Park
By THOMAS J. LUECK; MICK MEENAN CONTRIBUTED REPORTING FOR THIS ARTICLE. (NYT) 493 words
Published: March 22, 2006
It started on Monday with reports of a strange, wolf-like creature in Central Park. The mystery deepened before dawn yesterday, when it was seen loping across the 65th Street transverse road.
By late last night, the mystery was solved, but the hunt continued. There was a coyote loose in the park.
''It didn't look the least bit worried,'' said Adrian Benepe, the city's parks commissioner, who spotted the coyote about 3 p.m. in the Hallett Nature Sanctuary, near the southeast corner of the park. Nearby were the feathery remains of a duck or pigeon.
''He leaped over the fence and disappeared in the park,'' he said.
Coyotes, though not normally a threat to humans, can pose a threat to small animals.
As a result, Mr. Benepe said, until the coyote is captured or determined to have left, the department is warning people to keep their dogs on leashes in the park at all times, even after 9 p.m., when the leash law is generally not enforced.
Last night, the coyote managed to evade a formidable search party, including dozens of police officers and parks workers with a police helicopter searching overhead. Police sharpshooters shot tranquilizer darts, but it was not known if any had found their mark.
Mr. Benepe said the darkness rendered dart guns too dangerous, and the focus shifted to warning dog walkers. The full search was to resume early this morning, he said. ''Either the police will catch it, or it will find a way to leave on its own accord,'' he said.
About 10:30 p.m. a reporter spotted what appeared to be the coyote -- a tawny, furry animal that resembled a German shepherd -- on the steps leading to the parks department headquarters, at 64th Street off Fifth Avenue. It leveled a distinctly blank stare from black eyes as it was approached.
For the next half hour it darted in and out of the bushes. It was last seen around 11 p.m. on the stone wall that borders the park at 63rd Street. It stared back briefly, jumped back into the park and disappeared.
The police were notified, but the coyote had not been caught by 12:30 a.m.
How the coyote, which parks staff members have named Hal, arrived in the park may never be known. But the species has became common in parts of Westchester County, and has often been spotted in the Bronx.
In April 1999, a coyote was seen in the same section of the park, tracked down, and tranquilized, and has since resided at the Queens Zoo.
Mr. Benepe said Hal may have wandered south, perhaps swimming across the Harlem River and making its way into Manhattan.
''People shouldn't feel threatened,'' he said, but suggested that no one get close. ''Treat it like a strange dog,'' he said. ''He's probably more frightened of you than you are of him, but never pet a strange dog.''
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=FB0617FA3D540C718EDDAA0894DE404482
You don’t know Jack? Visit zoo’s new penguins
By BERTRAM RANTIN
News Columnist
What do a Gentoo penguin at Riverbanks Zoo and the lead singer of the rock band White Stripes have in common?
The name Jack.
Amy Butler of Columbia suggested the name after she researched the penguins online and learned that one of their distinguishing features is the white stripes on their heads.
“So I immediately thought about the band,” said Butler, who works at Continental American Insurance Group.
The Columbia resident is among several people from across the state who soon will be getting an up-close and personal visit with the 10 new Gentoo penguins at Riverbanks Zoo.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/14156082.htm
Trip to zoo is big deal
By Kathy Williams
Herald Democrat
Before our grandson Jacob could speak human, he could mimic nearly every animal. He had a special voice for mama and papa and baby animals.
Once in a while, we’d ask, just to be mean in the good-hearted grandfolk sort of way, what sound does an aardvark make or what does a rabbit say? He understood it was a joke after he searched his memory banks and came up empty or developed an impressive attempt at wiggling his nose bunny-esque.
Several trips to small zoos were marred by an unexpected surge of fear about birds visiting him in the night.
On a recent visit to Austin, we went to the San Antonio Zoo for Jacob’s third birthday. “These would be the big zoo animals,” Jacob had talked about incessantly for weeks.
http://www.heralddemocrat.com/articles/2006/03/22/good_morning/good01.txt
Reid Park Zoo no longer trying to breed African elephant Shaba
By Rob O'Dell
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 03.23.2006
The Reid Park Zoo will no longer attempt to breed its 26-year-old African elephant Shaba.
The zoo announced Wednesday, that the decision was made last week despite the fact that Shaba is a healthy elephant of breeding age. The decision was based on new research that older first-time elephant mothers have a lower success rate and a greater chance for complications, said zoo administrator Susan Basford.
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/121352
Baby swans, just weeks old, draw fans to S.A. Zoo
Web Posted: 03/23/2006 12:00 AM CST
Vincent T. Davis
Express-News Staff Writer
Joe and Kay Hott guided their grandchildren, Austin and Jazman, to gaze at the newest additions to the San Antonio Zoo's swan family Wednesday afternoon.
The Hotts, on vacation from Bella Vista, Ark., reassured their grandchildren that they were indeed at the Australian black swan habitat.
Austin, 8, leaned on a metal foot rail, asking where the quartet of young swans was. "Right there," Joe Hott said, pointing at four stone-colored fowl that hatched Feb. 14, sporting what looked like crew-cut feathers.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA032306.08B.black_swans.d35172c.html
Zoo welcomes agouti babies
Visitors to the Minnesota Zoo's exhibit "Creatures Beneath the Canopy" who look carefully and are patient may catch a glimpse of the Zoo's newest additions.
Two agouti, large rodents that live near water, were born at the zoo on Tuesday. The male and female were about the size of a baby bunny when born. They are typically curious and independent creatures which means they'll venture into the exhibit area within the next few weeks.
Agoutis are native to Central and South American forests where there is thick brush and water.
They are not an endangered species, but their numbers are dwindling in the wild because of they are hunted for food.
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=121425
131 yrs later, Adwaita leaves empty shell at Alipore Zoo
Sharmi Adhikary
Kolkata, March 23: AFTER 131 years, Adwaita is no more with the Alipore Zoo. Two days after the death of the nearly 300-year-old tortoise, the zoo’s oldest occupant, its dusty enclosure lies empty.
Brought from Latbagan in Barrackpore, the tortoise was a part of the zoo since its inception in 1875. The tortoise, or Geochelone gigantea as it is scientifically known, was estimated to be more than 260 years old.
The zoo authorities have decided to preserve its shell in the zoo museum which is being planned.
Incidentally, the shell had suffered a mild crack a few years back, but it was repaired. Zoo officials said Adwaita showed no signs of any illness, and the death was rather sudden. A post-mortem examination showed the tortoise had died of renal failure.
The tortoise, minus the shell, was cremated at the zoo hospital. The shell is being processed in the veterinary zoo hospital for preservation. ‘‘The processing work is going on. We will preserve the shell, but the sit of exhibit is yet to be finalised,’’ informed Dr Subir Chaudhuri, director of Alipore Zoo.
‘‘The animal had shown no symptoms of kidney or liver failure. It ate its usual quota of vegetable diet in the morning,’’ said Dr Chaudhuri. Adwaita died on Tuesday night.
‘‘Biswanath Ram, the caretaker who attended to the tortoise for years is really going to miss it,’’ said Chaudhuri. ‘‘When one takes care of an animal for so long, there is bound to be a bonding. And ever since Ram joined here, he was responsible for Adwaita,’’ he added.
After Adwaita’s death, the zoo’s oldest inmate is a 75-year-old Red and Blue Macaw. ‘‘The bird is well taken care of. But it must be mentioned that Adwaita was the oldest of its type in the whole of India. We have no immediate plans to replace it,’’ said Chaudhuri.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=175003
Zoo launches Experience Great Things campaign
3/24/06
In response to the outpouring of sympathy, the Seneca Park Zoo is honoring the memory of Genny C's unborn calf. Experience Great Things will pick up where the Bucks for Baby campaign left off. Genny C's calf died last month during the delivery process. Seneca Park Zoo Veterinarian Dr. Jeff Wyatt says Genny C is doing well, eating and drinking normally and even playing. The zoo’s veterinary staff is monitoring Genny C on a daily basis.
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and Seneca Park Zoo officials announced Friday that they will continue to raise money to support a new elephant exhibit, specifically a new pool. The goal is to raise $250,000.00 by the fall of this year. “We are going to be calling a future fund raising campaign, "experience great things" and we are going to transform the Bucks for the Baby campaign into this new campaign that is Experience Great Things. The money raised will still support the new elephant exhibit will specifically help fund a pool for our elephants, and if you’ve ever watched Genny C and Lilac play out in the yard in the new area, a pool would be a perfect addition for these two elephants.”
Zoo officials also announced the zoo’s sox Spokeskids will continue to serve as ambassadors for the zoo and the new elephant exhibit.
http://www.10nbc.com/news.asp?template=item&story_id=18209
continued ...
Zoo's big cats get new home
Associated Press
Published: Saturday, June 03, 2006
PHILADELPHIA -- Thirteen big cats -- from a rare black jaguar to a trio of young snow leopards -- are enjoying spacious new digs in the city after some time away "vacationing" at other zoos.
The Philadelphia Zoo has formally opened its new $20 million US habitat, which is designed to give the animals a more natural setting and visitors a more intimate experience.
The exhibit also preaches conservation, using interactive games, video clips and other tools to describe the threats humans pose to big-cat species around the world.
Exhibits describe the human encroachment that has largely driven jaguars from the southwestern United States into Mexico and pumas -- also called mountain lions or cougars -- from the eastern United States.
The zoo also offers information on a program in Kenya it supports that teaches ranchers how to build lion-proof corrals for their herds, so they don't shoot the endangered lions.
Big Cat Falls is likely to be a summer blockbuster for the zoo, which attracts as many as 13,000 visitors on a weekend summer day and 1.2 million visitors a year. It is the first new exhibit at the Philadelphia Zoo since 1999, spokeswoman Ginette Meluso said. For more information: http://www.philadelphiazoo.org.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/travel/story.html?id=845dd9b5-c6a9-4b2c-87a9-c1eb538d0306
Delhi Eye in sight
7.20am Wednesday June 7, 2006
Tourism authorities in New Delhi are planning a new amusement park with a giant Ferris wheel that would give visitors a bird's-eye view of India's capital, with its historic tombs and forts.
The Great Delhi Wheel, similar to the London Eye, is awaiting approval by the city's chief minister, Sheila Dikshit.
The 150m- diameter wheel would be installed at Millennium Park, being developed by Yamuna River.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385345
Elephant activists hold up jumbo load
8.00am Wednesday June 7, 2006
By Jan McGirk
BANGKOK - The controversial shipment of eight young elephants from Thailand to Australia was temorarily abandoned yesterday after animal rights activists blockaded the roads in Kanchanaburi, forming a human chain around the animals' quarantine site.
The protests, a last-ditch attempt to prevent the animal-exhange project, succeeded in delaying the departure of the elephants, which were due to be loaded onto cargo planes at Bangkok airport last night.
It was to have been the first stage of a swap between Thailand and two zoos in Australia.
In exchange, more than a hundred kangaroos and other marsupials were to be shipped to the new Chiang Mai night zoo in northern Thailand, where bush meat features heavily on the menu.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385377
Zoos seek Thai elephant assurances
By Paul Carter
June 07, 2006
AUSTRALIAN zookeepers were seeking assurances that the transfer of eight Asian elephants from Thailand would proceed, after it was delayed by protests.
Sydney's Taronga Zoo and Melbourne Zoo, which have offered to take the animals, today approached the Thai Government for confirmation the elephant export would go ahead.
Protesters who yesterday blocked the path of a convoy of trucks carrying the elephants were today calling for them to be DNA tested, in order to prove they qualified for export.
Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, an elephant is only eligible for export if both its parents are bred in captivity.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19395480-1702,00.html
Zoos pool funds to rescue monkeys from South Africa
Thirty-three orphaned primates, left behind by poachers, are distributed to six parks in the U.S.
By Tony Perry
LOS ANGELES TIMES
SAN DIEGO - It started with a shocking phone call from a man in South Africa to a monkey expert at the San Diego Zoo: How much should he charge for young monkeys caught in the wild?
To Karen Killmar, associate curator of mammals, the idea of selling monkeys was repellent.
"In this profession, you get some strange calls, but this was a first," Killmar said, adding in a chilly tone, "We do not put a price tag on our animals."
Still, Killmar was intrigued. She started asking the caller questions. The more she learned about the monkeys, the more she thought they should be rescued rather than sold as exotic pets.
The monkeys had been caught in the Democratic Republic of Congo and brought to South Africa.
They were leftovers from the illicit traffic in "bush meat" that is pushing some monkeys and other species to the brink of extinction.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/14759629.htm
Fire at zoo kills 43 animals
Investigators search for cause of after-hours blaze at Stanback Petting Barn in Salisbury Stanback
Petting Barn in Salisbury
jvick@charlotteobserver.comslyttle@charlotteobserver.com
Rowan County authorities are investigating the cause of a Sunday fire that destroyed a popular petting zoo and killed 43 of its animals.
No people were injured in the fire, which destroyed the Stanback Petting Barn at Dan Nicholas Park on Bringle Ferry Road in Salisbury.
The fire was reported about 8 p.m., two hours after the park closed, said Rowan County Fire Marshal Arthur Delaney. The staff was out of the park by 7 p.m., said manager Don Bringle.
Park officials said they were saddened by the loss of animal life and of the teaching opportunities the barn provided.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/14147955.htm
Russia Vaccinates Birds At Moscow's Zoo Against Bird Flu
MOSCOW (AP)--Authorities vaccinated birds at Moscow's Zoo Tuesday as part of a program to protect domestic fowl in Russia against the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
For the workers tasked with giving the injections, however, catching up with the birds proved a challenge. Some zoo workers were forced to chase after uncooperative birds with nets.
"We put the vaccine in the syringe and inject it into the bird's chest," said Nataliya Istratova, the zoo's spokeswoman. "It's stressful for (the birds), but better to be in the hands of a doctor than in death's grip."
Russia's lower house, the State Duma, heard testimony Tuesday from the country's top sanitary official on measures being taken to deal with the spread of bird flu. Gennady Onishchenko told deputies the country had sufficient supplies of vaccine and had set up a nationwide monitoring headquarters.
"The situation is under control," Onishchenko assured lawmakers.
Some 50,000 doses of vaccine have been provided to inoculate fowl in Moscow, the Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement.
Cases of bird flu have been detected in eight regions in southern Russia that are in the path of migratory birds, according to the Agriculture Ministry.
No cases of bird flu in humans have been registered so far in Russia. However, Onishchenko has called for border controls to be tightened. In a recent letter to health officials, he proposed preparing medical facilities at ports, airports, railway stations and other border crossings to hospitalize people suspected of carrying the disease.
Source: Dow Jones Newswire
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=24363>
MDE Wraps up Zoo Investigation
03/21/2006
SALISBURY, Md. (AP)- The Maryland Department of the Environment says it has completed its investigation of the Salisbury Zoo.
Two animal pens had been draining directly into the Wicomico River. There was also a possibility that sewage could back up and overflow through a grate in the bison area.
The MDE says those problems have been fixed and the city will learn if will be penalized sometime this week.
http://www.wboc.com/Global/story.asp?S=4662064&nav=MXEF
Lion, Dog Become Pals At Zoo
Lioness Abandoned As Cub
POSTED: 10:42 am PST March 21, 2006
JINJOO, South Korea -- A female lion that was abandoned as a cub and a dog have become good friends at a South Korean zoo.
The lioness is named "Soonee," which means "tame" in Korean.
Her friend is a South Korea Jindo dog called "Tang-Chil," after a popular cartoon character.
After she was abandoned by her mother, Soonee was lonely, but rejected all male lions.
Then Tang-Chil came along. After letting the dog live near Soonee's cage for a month, zookeepers let him enter the cage under supervision.
The two animals became friends, and now they look after each other, zookeepers said.
http://www.nbc4.tv/irresistible/8165481/detail.html
Some of this is dated, but, still of interest.
Cool cats rule Auckland Zoo these school holidays
Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 10:22 am
Press Release: Auckland Zoo
MEDIA RELEASE
22 March 2006
Cool cats rule Auckland Zoo these school holidays!
Race to Auckland Zoo these Easter school holidays (Friday 14 - Tuesday 25 April) and catch up with all our cool cats - the new cheetah boys, servals, lions, tiger and more. Brought to you by Newstalk ZB, the fur will fly if you miss out!
The newest cats to spot at the zoo are ten-month-old cheetah males, Anubis and Osiris. Arriving from South Africa in mid-April, they are the first cheetah to be exhibited at the zoo in its 84-year history. The fastest land mammal on the planet, and Africa's most endangered cat, they will be helping us spread the word about their plight. These brothers will need some serious cat-napping for their first few days, to get over their jet lag, and settle into their new home. But following this quiet time, visitors will soon be able to see these magnificent felines in the flesh.
Be a cool cat yourself, and come learn more about these fascinating felines. Unfortunately, not all cats have nine lives. Find out why the endangered cheetah, tiger, golden cats and others are at risk, and need everyone's help to ensure they have a future.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0603/S00129.htm
'Art Museum by the Zoo'
Though a 'small' film, it's one that deserves attention
Darcy Paquet (internews)
Yet another film by a first-time director/screenwriter, "Art Museum by the Zoo" is the only film in this list directed by a woman (Lee Jeong Hyang). It debuted a week before Christmas and was extremely well received by audiences and critics alike. It stars a very popular actress in Shim Eun Ha ("Christmas in August") together with first-time actor Lee Sung Jae. Of all the films I saw in 1998, I think this one may be my favorite.
The story is reportedly based on events from the director's own life. On leave from the military, a man named Chul Soo arrives at his fiancee's apartment and finds her not at home. He cleans the apartment and prepares dinner for her, only to discover that she has moved out, and another woman is now renting the apartment. When a few days later his fiancee tells him she is marrying another man, he has nowhere to go, and ends up staying at the apartment.
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=318088&no=280695&rel_no=1
Air Zoo exhibits WMU Sunseeker
By Jordan White
News Writer
March 23, 2006
Visitors to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo will be able to view the product of the hard work of a group of Engineering students from Western Michigan University’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences until April 9.
A solar powered car, known as the Sunseeker, will be on display at the request of the air museum, according to Abraham Poot, a lab supervisor at the CEAS and an advisor to the team that built the car.
As the car will be on display during the local public school’s Spring Break, Poot said that he and the team hope for added exposure to their efforts and to provide answers to any questions visitors may have.
http://www.westernherald.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/03/23/44220bf76bbfc
A Coyote Is Spotted Roaming Near the Zoo in Central Park
By THOMAS J. LUECK; MICK MEENAN CONTRIBUTED REPORTING FOR THIS ARTICLE. (NYT) 493 words
Published: March 22, 2006
It started on Monday with reports of a strange, wolf-like creature in Central Park. The mystery deepened before dawn yesterday, when it was seen loping across the 65th Street transverse road.
By late last night, the mystery was solved, but the hunt continued. There was a coyote loose in the park.
''It didn't look the least bit worried,'' said Adrian Benepe, the city's parks commissioner, who spotted the coyote about 3 p.m. in the Hallett Nature Sanctuary, near the southeast corner of the park. Nearby were the feathery remains of a duck or pigeon.
''He leaped over the fence and disappeared in the park,'' he said.
Coyotes, though not normally a threat to humans, can pose a threat to small animals.
As a result, Mr. Benepe said, until the coyote is captured or determined to have left, the department is warning people to keep their dogs on leashes in the park at all times, even after 9 p.m., when the leash law is generally not enforced.
Last night, the coyote managed to evade a formidable search party, including dozens of police officers and parks workers with a police helicopter searching overhead. Police sharpshooters shot tranquilizer darts, but it was not known if any had found their mark.
Mr. Benepe said the darkness rendered dart guns too dangerous, and the focus shifted to warning dog walkers. The full search was to resume early this morning, he said. ''Either the police will catch it, or it will find a way to leave on its own accord,'' he said.
About 10:30 p.m. a reporter spotted what appeared to be the coyote -- a tawny, furry animal that resembled a German shepherd -- on the steps leading to the parks department headquarters, at 64th Street off Fifth Avenue. It leveled a distinctly blank stare from black eyes as it was approached.
For the next half hour it darted in and out of the bushes. It was last seen around 11 p.m. on the stone wall that borders the park at 63rd Street. It stared back briefly, jumped back into the park and disappeared.
The police were notified, but the coyote had not been caught by 12:30 a.m.
How the coyote, which parks staff members have named Hal, arrived in the park may never be known. But the species has became common in parts of Westchester County, and has often been spotted in the Bronx.
In April 1999, a coyote was seen in the same section of the park, tracked down, and tranquilized, and has since resided at the Queens Zoo.
Mr. Benepe said Hal may have wandered south, perhaps swimming across the Harlem River and making its way into Manhattan.
''People shouldn't feel threatened,'' he said, but suggested that no one get close. ''Treat it like a strange dog,'' he said. ''He's probably more frightened of you than you are of him, but never pet a strange dog.''
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=FB0617FA3D540C718EDDAA0894DE404482
You don’t know Jack? Visit zoo’s new penguins
By BERTRAM RANTIN
News Columnist
What do a Gentoo penguin at Riverbanks Zoo and the lead singer of the rock band White Stripes have in common?
The name Jack.
Amy Butler of Columbia suggested the name after she researched the penguins online and learned that one of their distinguishing features is the white stripes on their heads.
“So I immediately thought about the band,” said Butler, who works at Continental American Insurance Group.
The Columbia resident is among several people from across the state who soon will be getting an up-close and personal visit with the 10 new Gentoo penguins at Riverbanks Zoo.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/14156082.htm
Trip to zoo is big deal
By Kathy Williams
Herald Democrat
Before our grandson Jacob could speak human, he could mimic nearly every animal. He had a special voice for mama and papa and baby animals.
Once in a while, we’d ask, just to be mean in the good-hearted grandfolk sort of way, what sound does an aardvark make or what does a rabbit say? He understood it was a joke after he searched his memory banks and came up empty or developed an impressive attempt at wiggling his nose bunny-esque.
Several trips to small zoos were marred by an unexpected surge of fear about birds visiting him in the night.
On a recent visit to Austin, we went to the San Antonio Zoo for Jacob’s third birthday. “These would be the big zoo animals,” Jacob had talked about incessantly for weeks.
http://www.heralddemocrat.com/articles/2006/03/22/good_morning/good01.txt
Reid Park Zoo no longer trying to breed African elephant Shaba
By Rob O'Dell
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 03.23.2006
The Reid Park Zoo will no longer attempt to breed its 26-year-old African elephant Shaba.
The zoo announced Wednesday, that the decision was made last week despite the fact that Shaba is a healthy elephant of breeding age. The decision was based on new research that older first-time elephant mothers have a lower success rate and a greater chance for complications, said zoo administrator Susan Basford.
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/121352
Baby swans, just weeks old, draw fans to S.A. Zoo
Web Posted: 03/23/2006 12:00 AM CST
Vincent T. Davis
Express-News Staff Writer
Joe and Kay Hott guided their grandchildren, Austin and Jazman, to gaze at the newest additions to the San Antonio Zoo's swan family Wednesday afternoon.
The Hotts, on vacation from Bella Vista, Ark., reassured their grandchildren that they were indeed at the Australian black swan habitat.
Austin, 8, leaned on a metal foot rail, asking where the quartet of young swans was. "Right there," Joe Hott said, pointing at four stone-colored fowl that hatched Feb. 14, sporting what looked like crew-cut feathers.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA032306.08B.black_swans.d35172c.html
Zoo welcomes agouti babies
Visitors to the Minnesota Zoo's exhibit "Creatures Beneath the Canopy" who look carefully and are patient may catch a glimpse of the Zoo's newest additions.
Two agouti, large rodents that live near water, were born at the zoo on Tuesday. The male and female were about the size of a baby bunny when born. They are typically curious and independent creatures which means they'll venture into the exhibit area within the next few weeks.
Agoutis are native to Central and South American forests where there is thick brush and water.
They are not an endangered species, but their numbers are dwindling in the wild because of they are hunted for food.
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=121425
131 yrs later, Adwaita leaves empty shell at Alipore Zoo
Sharmi Adhikary
Kolkata, March 23: AFTER 131 years, Adwaita is no more with the Alipore Zoo. Two days after the death of the nearly 300-year-old tortoise, the zoo’s oldest occupant, its dusty enclosure lies empty.
Brought from Latbagan in Barrackpore, the tortoise was a part of the zoo since its inception in 1875. The tortoise, or Geochelone gigantea as it is scientifically known, was estimated to be more than 260 years old.
The zoo authorities have decided to preserve its shell in the zoo museum which is being planned.
Incidentally, the shell had suffered a mild crack a few years back, but it was repaired. Zoo officials said Adwaita showed no signs of any illness, and the death was rather sudden. A post-mortem examination showed the tortoise had died of renal failure.
The tortoise, minus the shell, was cremated at the zoo hospital. The shell is being processed in the veterinary zoo hospital for preservation. ‘‘The processing work is going on. We will preserve the shell, but the sit of exhibit is yet to be finalised,’’ informed Dr Subir Chaudhuri, director of Alipore Zoo.
‘‘The animal had shown no symptoms of kidney or liver failure. It ate its usual quota of vegetable diet in the morning,’’ said Dr Chaudhuri. Adwaita died on Tuesday night.
‘‘Biswanath Ram, the caretaker who attended to the tortoise for years is really going to miss it,’’ said Chaudhuri. ‘‘When one takes care of an animal for so long, there is bound to be a bonding. And ever since Ram joined here, he was responsible for Adwaita,’’ he added.
After Adwaita’s death, the zoo’s oldest inmate is a 75-year-old Red and Blue Macaw. ‘‘The bird is well taken care of. But it must be mentioned that Adwaita was the oldest of its type in the whole of India. We have no immediate plans to replace it,’’ said Chaudhuri.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=175003
Zoo launches Experience Great Things campaign
3/24/06
In response to the outpouring of sympathy, the Seneca Park Zoo is honoring the memory of Genny C's unborn calf. Experience Great Things will pick up where the Bucks for Baby campaign left off. Genny C's calf died last month during the delivery process. Seneca Park Zoo Veterinarian Dr. Jeff Wyatt says Genny C is doing well, eating and drinking normally and even playing. The zoo’s veterinary staff is monitoring Genny C on a daily basis.
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and Seneca Park Zoo officials announced Friday that they will continue to raise money to support a new elephant exhibit, specifically a new pool. The goal is to raise $250,000.00 by the fall of this year. “We are going to be calling a future fund raising campaign, "experience great things" and we are going to transform the Bucks for the Baby campaign into this new campaign that is Experience Great Things. The money raised will still support the new elephant exhibit will specifically help fund a pool for our elephants, and if you’ve ever watched Genny C and Lilac play out in the yard in the new area, a pool would be a perfect addition for these two elephants.”
Zoo officials also announced the zoo’s sox Spokeskids will continue to serve as ambassadors for the zoo and the new elephant exhibit.
http://www.10nbc.com/news.asp?template=item&story_id=18209
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