Bear Attacks Colorado Man Inside His Home

Associated Press

via foxnews.com

September 11, 2009

ASPEN, Colo. — A man was attacked by a large black bear in his Aspen home in the latest in a string of violent encounters with the animals this summer in the mountain community.

Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton said the man had gone to the first floor of his home to check on his three barking dogs when the bear struck him in the head...

Wildlife officers are searching for the bear in the neighborhood and have set up a trap in the area. The bear will be euthanized when it is found...

Wildlife officers...have killed at least nine bears so far this summer...because people are not disposing of trash and storing food properly.

read article here

Aww. Don't hurt him. What's a little slap on the head? He was hungry.

Doesn't sound like any human has been killed, so that's Humans 9; Bears 0. Looks like the humans cause the "violent encounters". What--this guy just leaves his door open? It could have been a human with a gun. Ought to thank your lucky stars it was a bear.

Prairie Chicken protections may threaten wind energy in Oklahoma

By The Associated Press
via newsok.com
August 5, 2009

LUBBOCK, Texas — A little prairie chicken could give the wind energy industry big fits in Texas, Oklahoma and three other states.

Should the lesser prairie chicken become listed as threatened or endangered — and it’s close now — there would be significant restrictions on companies hoping to plant towering turbines across a five-state region believed to have some of the nation’s best wind energy potential.

"We’ve never seen the likes of this,” said Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife biologist Heather Whitlaw, who is part of conservation efforts with the other states and believes the bird could be listed within two years. "Anybody who puts anything on our landscape would be evaluated in one form or another.”

Scientists believe the prairie chicken population has dropped 80 percent nationally since 1963, the result of habitat loss and fragmentation, population isolation, drought and changes in land usage.

They once numbered about 3 million across an area that stretches through eastern New Mexico, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, northwest Oklahoma, and in parts of the Texas Panhandle and South Plains. Estimates show their population now at about 30,000.

The birds’ habitat could shrink further beginning in September when 1.3 million acres in the five-state area come out of a federal land conservation program started about 25 years ago. Farmers and ranchers may then use the land as they wish — which could include crop cultivation that would eliminate more of the bird’s breeding and nesting grounds.

Their habitats also lie in areas with plentiful and strong wind resources — where energy companies are eager to build.

The companies, which have been criticized before over the number of birds and bats killed by flying into the blades of wind turbines, are being more careful about where they put wind farms, said Laurie Jodziewicz, a spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association.

For the lesser prairie chicken, it’s not about the blades — it’s about size.

The shortflight bird, which weighs about 400 grams, has an aversion to tall structures around its breeding and nesting grounds because its predators include raptors who perch in high places awaiting their opportunity.

For about five years the wind industry generally has not heeded a 2004 recommendation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking companies not to put turbines within 5 miles of a lek, the lesser prairie chickens’ breeding grounds. The American Wind Energy Association has asked for the scientific basis of the 5-mile limit.

"We still have not seen anything that looked at prairie grouse and leks and wind turbines,” Jodziewicz said. "I don’t know that (any wind company) is” looking at the 5-mile limit.
The lesser prairie chicken should have been listed as threatened or endangered 10 years ago, said Mark Salvo with the Sante Fe, N.M.-based group WildEarth Guardians, which filed a listing petition for it in the mid-1990s.

Restoring the prairie chicken population "will be much more difficult now” even if it is listed, he said. Moreover, as developers "slice and dice the habitat into ever smaller spaces,” Salvo said, other plants and animals that depend on that kind of habitat also will suffer.

"It’s already a relatively small landscape and it’s getting smaller,” he said. "We are in an emergency situation here.”

Three accused of letting rats chew toes off Ohio baby

ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 21, 2009
via freep.com

WAVERLY, Ohio — Three people have been accused of letting rats bite a 6-week-old girl and chew off her toes at their cluttered Ohio mobile home.

Pike County prosecutor Rob Junk says the baby’s toes on one foot were gone when sheriff’s deputies went to the home Sunday after receiving an anonymous tip.

The baby is in fair condition at a Columbus hospital.

A married couple and the 18-year-old boyfriend of the baby’s mother are charged with felony child endangering. They were in court for an initial hearing Tuesday. They’re jailed pending a plea hearing in two weeks.

The prosecutor says they all lived in the mobile home west of Piketon, a village noted for its old uranium enrichment plant.

He says the baby’s mother is a juvenile. He won’t identify her or say if she’ll be charged.

This is unbelievable. Where were these people? Why do they live with rats?

Dog drags newborn from family home in Kentucky

July 21, 2009
By JEFFREY McMURRAY
Associated Press Writer
via Kansas.com


LEXINGTON, Ky. - A father was frantically calling 911 to report his missing newborn when he spotted the baby, bleeding from the mouth and clutched in the jaws of a family dog who had carried him from his crib to the heavily wooded backyard.

Four-day-old Alexander James Smith was rushed to the emergency room at University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington, where he was listed in critical condition Tuesday with two collapsed lungs, a skull fracture, broken ribs and various cuts and bruises...

Smith said he and his wife, Chrissie, had just put Alexander James (or A.J.) in his crib Monday afternoon in their Nicholasville, Ky., home. Smith said he was preparing to leave for the store to buy various baby items, including a video monitor that he now believes could have prevented the entire ordeal...

When Chrissie returned to the bedroom minutes later after going downstairs to look at the shopping list, one of the doors was ajar and both the baby and their Native American Indian dog - a breed that looks similar to a husky - were gone.

Michael Smith initially headed to the backyard, knowing that Dakota, a mixed breed with wolves in its ancestry, had a reputation for stealing household items like cups and wallets and depositing them there. He spent 10 minutes searching among the trees and bushes in the two-acre fenced yard before finding the dog and child in tall grass some 200 yards behind the house.

He grabbed his son and sprinted toward the house, handing him over to emergency workers who had just arrived.

Smith, who is the owner of a corporate security business where his wife also works, said the dog was treating the baby as a puppy and wasn't being vicious. Still, he doesn't want her back in the family home. I believe that. If she wanted to kill or eat the child, it would have been dead in 2 seconds. I think it is a tragedy that the dog will probably be killed, but I think it goes to show that babies shouldn't be alone with large dogs like this one. Too many tragedies when humans underestimate a dogs instinct, no matter how sweet their disposition.

Dakota was taken into custody by animal control, and although Smith remains hopeful a good home can be found for her, he acknowledges the animal may have to be destroyed.
A call to Jessamine County animal control was not immediately returned.

The 4-year-old dog was one of three - including one from the same litter as Dakota - that the family had owned since they were puppies. None had any history of aggression, even when playing with Smith's two other children from a previous marriage, he said.

"It wasn't a vicious dog attack," Smith said. "She had A.J. for 10 minutes on her own, and if you look at A.J.'s belly, there's about 100 little marks. All the dog had to do was one bite and A.J. wouldn't be here."

Associated Press writer Bruce Schreiner
read article here

Newborn Horse Rescued From Well

In North Carolina, a newborn horse has to be rescued after taking a tumble down a well.

See Video here

Ocala pharmacy says it made mistake in polo horse drug

The Associated Press

Updated: 04/23/2009

WEST PALM BEACH - Unable to legally bring a supplement into the U.S. to make their horses more resilient, a Venezuelan polo team used another way to get ready for a champion match: Have a pharmacy mix up the concoction.
What happened next, though, was disastrous.

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The chemicals were mixed wrong, and 21 horses given the brew died in rapid succession, some collapsing just before taking the field in a championship polo match. The others fell soon after, one by one, shocking a well-heeled crowd gathered to watch the U.S. Open at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington.

The Lechuza polo team had hoped to get a compound similar to a name-brand supplement used safely around the world to help horses with exhaustion but hasn't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Veterinarians commonly turn to compounding pharmacies for medications that can't be found on shelves, but the dispensaries can only recreate unapproved drugs in limited circumstances.

A Florida pharmacy that mixed the medication said Thursday that an internal review found "the strength of an ingredient in the medication was incorrect." Jennifer Beckett, chief operating officer for Franck's Pharmacy in Ocala, Fla., would not say whether the incorrect amount was specified in the order that came from a Florida veterinarian.

Lechuza said the order was for a compound similar to Biodyl, a supplement that includes vitamins and minerals. The team has been using the supplement for many years without problems, but typically uses the manufactured version instead of going to compounding pharmacies.

"Only horses treated with the compound became sick and died within three hours of treatment," Lechuza said in a statement. "Other horses that were not treated remain healthy and normal."
While Biodyl isn't approved in the U.S., the supplement made in France by Duluth, Ga.-based animal pharmaceutical firm Merial Ltd. is widely used abroad. The president of the Agentine Equine Veterinarian Association, Fernando Ruiz, said the supplement is commonly used on horses that compete there, and he's not aware of any deaths.

It wasn't clear how closely Franck's mixture came to the name-brand drug, though. Lechuza said what they ordered was supposed to contain vitamin B, potassium, magnesium and selenium, a mineral that can be toxic in high doses.

Compound pharmacies can, among other things, add flavor, make substances into a powder or liquid or remove a certain compound that may have an adverse reaction in different animal species.

FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey said the agency's interest is now "heightened" with news the deaths could have been caused by a medical mistake at a pharmacy — one that not only produces drugs for animals, but also people.

Florida's State Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office are also investigating the deaths, and the pharmacy and polo team said they're cooperating.

Back on the field at the club, matches resumed for the first time since the deaths with a moment of silence and a prayer. White, red and pink carnations were laid on a pond bordering the field where the horses died.

"It's tragic for the horse world," said Dorothy Hungerford, of Wrightsville, NC. "This is a shock."
Jimmy Newman, the polo club manager, said the news about the trouble with the supplement let out a tremendous amount of tension at the club.

"It's a terrible, terrible thing and it's not going to bring those 21 horses back," he said. "But at least it's down to a simple mistake. It's not sabotage and it's not anything that anyone in polo planned to do."

Meanwhile, the state agriculture department wouldn't comment on the latest news, but said testing for chemicals in the horses' blood and tissue continued. They hoped to have some results by Friday. Necropsies of the 21 horses found internal bleeding, some in the lungs, but offered no definitive clues to the cause of death.

On its Web site, the FDA says it generally defers to state authorities to regulate compounding of drugs by veterinarians and pharmacists but would "seriously consider enforcement action" if one of the pharmacies breaks federal law. It isn't yet clear if Franck's broke the law. The pharmacy has had no complaints lodged against it, according to the Florida Department of Health.

A veterinarian not involved in the case said laws pertaining to compounding are unclear, and there is little oversight. "It's confusing to all of us," said Miami veterinarian Zachary Franklin. "We're not lawyers, we're veterinarians. Almost no one follows the exact letter of the law," he added.

Franklin said veterinarians often turn to compounding pharmacies to recreate drugs such as antibiotics, but it is much less common to compound vitamin and mineral supplements, because the ingredients are usually readily available.

"I don't know what it is about this Biodyl that they like so much," Franklin said. "There probably is no good scientific reason to do that."

While polo's U.S. governing body doesn't test horses for drugs, officials in horse racing wouldn't bother checking for the ingredients of Biodyl, said the head of a group that helps develop policies for regulating the racing industry.

"There's nothing in it that would be worth testing for in terms of performance," said Scot Waterman, the executive director of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium. "It's B vitamins and a mineral."

He said there's some concern in his industry about compounding pharmacies, which can be difficult to monitor. "There are FDA rules on what can and cannot be compounded but there is little oversight," Waterman said. "They play a very important role for the equine practitioner but there is also potentially a dark side to the compounders."

Florida pharmacy says it wrongly prepped horse meds before match

This just makes me so sad. What beautiful animals.

April 23, 2009

(CNN) -- A veterinary pharmacy in Florida acknowledged Thursday that it incorrectly prepared medication used to treat 21 horses who all died around the time of an international polo match last weekend.

The deaths of the ponies, witnessed in full view by spectators Sunday in a dramatic scene where horses collapsed one after another, have shaken the prestigious polo tournament at the marquee International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, Florida.

An internal investigation by Franck's Pharmacy in Ocala, Florida, "concluded that the strength of an ingredient in the medication was incorrect. We will cooperate fully with the authorities as they continue their investigations," the company said in a statement issued Thursday afternoon.

"We extend our most sincere condolences to the horses' owners, the Lechuza Polo team and the members of the United States Polo Association. We share their grief and sadness," the pharmacy's chief operations officer, Jennifer Beckett, said in the statement.

A memorial ceremony for the horses is scheduled for Thursday at the U.S. Open Polo Championship, where officials hope to resume play after matches were postponed by rain Wednesday. The memorial service will include a brief speech and a wreath-laying on the field.

The pharmacy said it prepared medication for the horses on orders from a veterinarian.

Liz Compton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, told CNN that the agency is awaiting toxicology results from the animals and could not comment on the pharmacy's disclosure. "Obviously, we are going to follow any and every potential lead to get to the bottom of this," she said.

The horses were trained by Lechuza Polo, a Venezuela-based team. Its captain, Juan Martin Nero, told an Argentine newspaper earlier this week that he had "no doubts" vitamins administered to the animals were at fault.

"There were five horses that did not get the vitamin, and those were the only ones that survived," Nero said.

The horses collapsed one after another in front of spectators at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, Florida, while being prepared for a tournament Sunday. Most were dead within an hour.

Post-mortem examinations done by a University of Florida laboratory found significant hemorrhaging in several horses, but the findings did not single out a specific cause.

Florida Opens Criminal Probe Of Dead Horses

April 21, 2009

cbsnews.com

Investigators Want To Know If Someone Poisoned 21 Polo Horses That Died Before Championship Match

Wellington, Florida

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(AP) Investigators have opened a criminal probe into whether someone poisoned 21 polo horses that died during preparations for a match in the sport's top championship in Florida, officials said Tuesday. The horses from a Venezuelan-owned Lechuza Polo team began collapsing Sunday as they were unloaded from trailers at the International Polo Club Palm Beach, with some dying at the scene and others hours later at stables or clinics.

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State investigators believe the horses died from an adverse drug reaction, toxins in their food or supplements, or a combination of the two. While state veterinarians run tests to determine what caused the deaths, law enforcement officers are looking into whether criminal negligence, or perhaps something more sinister, could have been involved, said a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. "We want to make sure from a law enforcement standpoint that there was no impropriety ... no purposeful harm or laws violated in Florida," said department spokesman Terence McElroy.

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Officials at the club hosting the U.S. Open tournament and several independent veterinarians have said the deaths appeared to be accidental, and investigators haven't identified suspects or foul play. "We would be looking at any and all possible leads," said McElroy, whose department is leading the investigation with the help of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

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It may take weeks to complete toxicologies to pin down the cause of what veterinarians believe was a swift toxic reaction that killed the horses, which were all from the Lechuza Polo team. Necropsies are also pending.

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The deaths of the horses scheduled to play in Sunday's finals could have cost the team's owner, affluent Venezuelan businessman Victor Vargas, more than $2 million, with each horse estimated to be worth $200,000. However, the player-owner didn't stand to lose much in potential winnings, as purses in the sport played largely for pride rarely top a few thousand dollars. There is no purse in the U.S. Open.

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The tragedy also shocked Wellington, a town of horse clubs, training facilities, stables, polo grounds and wide-open fenced fields where the animals roam and graze along straight-line, neatly groomed streets. "The players, the owners of the horses were in tears. Bystanders and volunteers were in tears. I mean, this was a very tragic thing," said Tony Coppola, 62, an announcer for the club, which hosts the tournament each year about 15 miles west of the millionaire enclave of Palm Beach.

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Lechuza Polo, a favorite to win the title at the event described as the sport's World Series, released a statement late Monday that the team does not know the cause of the deaths, but is helping with the investigation. "This is tragic news. We are deeply concerned about the death of our ponies," the statement read. "We have never encountered such a dire situation like this as our horses receive the most professional and dedicated care possible."

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John Wash, the polo club's president of club operations, said doctors had ruled out any sort of airborne infection and that the tragedy was isolated to Lechuza's team. He said games would resume on Wednesday, with the finals taking place Sunday. The Lechuza team has withdrawn.

Florida polo horse death toll hits 21; cause as yet unknown

Associated Press - April 20, 2009 8:03 AM ET
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WELLINGTON, Fla. (AP) - Seven more polo horses have died overnight to bring the death toll to 21 animals that were supposed to play in a Florida tournament.
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Veterinarians are waiting for test results to determine why the horses fell ill and died in a short time before their match.
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The International Polo Club Palm Beach says the horses from the Venezuela-based Lechuza Caracas team were being unloaded from their trailers yesterday when two collapsed and others acted dizzy and disoriented.
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7 of the horses died on the polo club grounds and the rest died after they were taken away. The Palm Beach Post reported that seven more horses died overnight in treatment or en route.

Beaver-built dam bursts on Whidbey Island, 8 homes struck by flood

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Wanda--check this out.

A breached dam built by a family of beavers sent a 10-foot cascade of water, trees and debris crashing through Clinton, Whidbey Island, on Friday morning, damaging eight homes.

By Erik Lacitis
Seattle Times staff reporter

WHIDBEY ISLAND — A breached dam built by a family of beavers sent a 10-foot cascade of water, trees and debris crashing through a little beachfront community here Friday morning.

Eight homes in Clinton were hit, one left tilting after tons of water pushed it from its foundation.

Up the hill, the rushing water left a crater 60 feet wide and 40 feet deep where a blocked culvert caused the road to give way.

There were no injuries, but, oh, the memories of a close call.

"It was like a boiling caldron," said Nancy Boyle, who lives in one of the waterfront homes along Humphrey Road in the south end of the island.

She jumped in her car with her two dogs and gunned it, mud and debris swirling around them.
When safe, about 50 feet up the hillside, Boyle stopped to watch.

"I saw logs, pieces of buildings," she said. In the space between her home and an adjoining cabin, "I saw this large, red cooler come shooting down."

Friday afternoon, residents were trying to quantify the damage — mud in the ground-level floors — and, more important, determining whether their septic systems had been hurt.
Repairing the latter likely would cost tens of thousands of dollars.

On a regular basis, it seems, nature reminds Pacific Northwesterners of its power; in this case, that of a family of beavers, likely six of them, a mom, a dad and four youngsters.

That's the size of the typical beaver family, said Robert Naiman, a professor at the University of Washington's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, who has studied the rodents.

He said a family can build a dam 20 feet across, using sticks of willow, poplar, alder and, sometimes, rocks and mud.

"It depends on how much is available to them," said Naiman. "In Canada and Tierra del Fuego (in Argentina), I've seen dams half a mile across."

He said beavers, native to the Northwest, build dams to find safety from predators such as wolves and mountain lions and to create a good habitat for themselves.

They build homes in the middle of a pond, and they store the tasty wood sticks just outside.
In turn, said Naiman, the ponds, which are full of nutrients, are great places for coho salmon to grow up in.

When beaver dams breach, it's usually because of structural failure at the bottom.

Island County Sheriff Mark Brown said residents of the Glendale neighborhood were warned in person around 2 a.m. Friday that the dam was breached and that they should evacuate, although it was not mandatory.

Boyle said she had quickly left her home and slept in her car with her dogs. But she returned to her house a few hours later and took a shower. Then she saw the lights flicker.

Within a couple of minutes, the cascade of water arrived. Brown said the water and its debris blocked up a culvert.

Mikah Janda, whose home is near the culvert, said water rose "at least 30 feet" where a couple of days earlier there had been a creek one could jump across. Then the road gave way.

By Friday evening, crews had cleaned up a good portion of the mud.

What was left was the memory of one dramatic morning.

"All of a sudden I heard a horrible boom, like a sonic boom," remembered Joan Handy, who lives just up from the beach and walked down the driveway to watch. She scrambled back up to safety. "There were trees and water everywhere. Oh, it was moving fast."

As for the industrious beavers? They are a fact of life in this country.

For professor Naiman, it was nothing unusual: "For people who haven't been around beavers, it's quite a surprise to them. I get a call like this once or twice a year."

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No word yet on whether the beaver family made it through...The best thing about this story: the folks on Whidbey aren't even pissed off at the beavers!

Deputies shoot chimp, then find squalid puppy mill

Apr 2, 2009
Deputies shoot chimp, then find squalid puppy mill

WINSTON, Mo. (AP) -- Officers shot and killed a rampaging chimpanzee in a rural area and then found a squalid, unlicensed puppy mill in the chimp owners' home, officials said.

Three people were arrested Wednesday on charges of animal abuse and neglect, operating as an unlicensed breeder and keeping wild animals without proper registration, Daviess County officials said.

The Sheriff's Department had responded to a call Monday night on a request to help capture an angry chimp running loose on a highway outside Winston in northwest Missouri. When officers arrived, the 9-year-old chimp opened the patrol car door and grabbed the leg of a deputy, who fatally shot it, Chief Deputy Todd Watson said.

"We never knew there was an animal like this in the county," Watson said.

When Watson went to talk to the owners, he smelled a strong odor and heard barking from an estimated 100 to 200 small-breed dogs inside. The occupants told Watson they also had three other primates.

Watson returned Tuesday with a search warrant and discovered only 13 dogs and two cats remaining, and they showed signs of abuse and neglect. Watson said he also discovered the remains of nine dead puppies in the yard and recovered records on breeding and sales of pups that brought as much as $400 each.

Brent Hudson, 49; his wife, Cherace Hudson, 41; and their friend Mary Overton, 52, were jailed on $5,000 bond. They did not have attorneys, Watson said.

The three other primates have been recovered. The Humane Society of Missouri is offering a reward for information on the dogs that were seen Monday but gone from the property by the time officials returned Tuesday.

State Agriculture Department spokeswoman Misti Preston said the breeder never had a state license. The home was in a remote location, with no neighbors nearby.

Missouri Agriculture Director Jon Hagler, who has said he wants to put bad breeders out of business, said in a statement that such operators put the health and welfare of animals at risk and place legitimate pet breeders at a competitive disadvantage.

Chimpanzee Attacks, Mauls Connecticut Woman Before Being Killed by Police

An out-of-control, 200-pound pet chimpanzee that had recently been given Xanax apparently went berserk and mauled a woman in Connecticut, leaving her in critical condition.

February 18, 2008

foxnews.com

The owner of the former TV star chimp Travis stabbed him multiple times after the Monday attack, but to no avail. Police were called to the scene and say they had no choice but to shoot and kill the pet-gone-wild.

The bizarre scene unfolded in Stamford, when Travis suddenly attacked and tore up the face of 55-year-old Charla Nash, who was visiting his owner Sandra Herold Monday night.
Nash was taken to the hospital with severe wounds and remained in critical condition Tuesday.

Click here for photos.

"He bit both of her hands off and the cop told me he just kept eating her. It's terrible," Lynne Mecca, a friend of the victim, told CBS News.

The animal had recently been given Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug that is used for pets as well as humans, because it had become agitated.

Stamford Police Capt. Richard Conklin said Herold gave Travis the drug in some tea. The medication can initially cause an increase in anxiety in animals until they adjust to it.

Authorities say there was no known provocation for the attack. The victim suffered "a tremendous loss of blood" from serious facial injuries, according to Conklin.

Nash was in critical condition Tuesday after suffering what Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy called "life-changing, if not life-threatening," injuries to her face and hands.

Her sister-in-law, Kate Nash, said Tuesday morning that Nash underwent surgery Monday night and came out of it "OK."

Herold and two officers also were hurt, though authorities said the extent of their wounds was not immediately known.

The 15-year-old chimp once starred in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola.

Police said they don't know why Travis attacked Nash as she got out of her car to visit Herold. There was speculation that it may have been because she had recently changed her hairstyle and the animal could have thought she was an intruder.

Photo Essays
Chimpanzee Attack

Conklin said Herold wrestled with the chimp, then ran inside to call 911.

"She retrieved a large butcher knife and stabbed her longtime pet numerous times in an effort to save her friend, who was really being brutally attacked," Conklin said.

Travis ran away and started roaming on Herold's property as police arrived. Officers set up security so that medics could reach the critically injured woman lying on the ground, Conklin said.

But the chimpanzee returned and went after several of the officers, who retreated into their cars, Conklin said. Travis knocked the mirror off a cruiser before opening its door and starting to get in, trapping the officer.

That officer shot the chimpanzee several times, Conklin said.

The wounded chimpanzee fled the scene, but Conklin said police were able to follow the trail of his blood: down the driveway, into the open door of the home, through the house and to his living quarters, where he had retreated and died of his wounds.

"He's been raised almost like a child by this family," Conklin said Monday. "He rides in a car every day, he opens doors, he's a very unique animal in that aspect. We have no indication of what provoked this behavior at all."

Conklin said the chimp has been sick with Lyme disease, so the drugs might have made him anxious. "Maybe from the medications he was out of sorts," he said. "We really don't know."

Police have dealt with him in the past, including an incident in 2003 when he escaped from his owners' vehicle in downtown Stamford for two hours. Officers used cookies, macadamia treats and ice cream in an attempt to lure him, but subdued him only after he became too tired to resist.

At the time of the 2003 incident, police said the Herolds told them the chimpanzee was toilet trained, dressed himself, took his own bath, ate at the table and drank wine from a stemmed glass.

He also brushed his teeth using a Water Pik, logged onto the computer to look at pictures, and watched television using the remote control.

Colleen McCann, a primatologist at the Bronx Zoo, said Tuesday that chimpanzees are unpredictable and dangerous even after living among humans for years.

"It's deceiving to think that if any animal is ... well-behaved around humans, that means there is no risk involved to humans for potential outbursts of behavior," she said. "They are unpredictable, and in instances like this you cannot control that behavior or prevent it from happening if it is in a private home."

Sheriff: Dog Stopped Rape Attempt

Attacker Fled After Being Bitten, Deputies Say
Saturday, January 24, 2009

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. -- A Boston terrier stopped a rape attempt in Pompano Beach, sheriff's deputies said.

The Broward County Sheriff's Office said a 46-year-old woman allowed a man inside her apartment Wednesday after he said he was a repairman. Once inside, however, the man attacked her, deputies said.

Her female dog then bit the man on the shoulder, and he fled the apartment, according to the sheriff's office.

The woman was treated at a hospital and released.

She described her attacker as 40 to 55 years old, about 6 feet tall and 180 pounds. She said he has wavy brown and gray hair and very white teeth.

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office.

Iguanas Fall From Trees Due To Cold Snap

Reptiles' Bodies Shut Off In 40-Degree Temperatures

Saturday, January 17, 2009

NAPLES, Fla. -- The chilly weather in southern Florida this week was cold enough to force some iguanas to fall from trees.

Experts say the cold-blooded reptiles go into a deep sleep when the temperature falls into the 40s. Their bodies basically shut off and they lose their grip on the tree.

According to Collier County Domestic Animal Services control supervisor Dana Alger, iguana reports traditionally rise when temperatures drop, as the reptiles seek to warm themselves on asphalt surfaces such as sidewalks, roads and driveways.

Most of the iguanas were once pets that got released when they got too big. The reptiles can grow up to six feet long.

Prairie dogs possibly help aquifer

BY LAURA BAUER
Kansas City Star

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Jeffrey Harsh admits he would try just about anything to save the prairie dog.

Not content to sit and watch counties and landowners across the Plains wipe the land clean of the critters, he wants to do something -- plead the case of the prairie dog, if you will.

His recent plea has some wildlife preservationists nodding their heads in agreement but others chuckling.

The theory -- espoused by others over the years -- is that by burrowing the land above one of the world's largest underground water supplies, prairie dogs loosen the soil and allow rain to seep through and recharge it.

More prairie dogs throughout the Plains would mean more rainwater into the dwindling Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies water to eight states, including Kansas.

"Prairie dogs can penetrate the zone (of the Ogallala) that rainwater can't do on its own," said Harsh, who owns an animal refuge in western Kansas' Logan County. "People have deemed them as being from the dark side... but, yes, the prairie dog is a major player in allowing the aquifer to be replenished."

Some say that's just a myth, one more effort to save the prairie dogs. Many farmers and ranchers have maintained that the animals cause havoc on their land. Through the years, their population has been significantly scaled back to a fraction of what it was.

The war over the critters has become so fierce it landed in a Logan County courtroom last year. One farmer, Larry Haverfield, understands the need for prairie dogs and wants them on his land. But when other farmers complained, the county intervened and did what state law allows counties to do: lay poison when landowners won't.

But as for that theory about the water supply? "Help recharge the (Ogallala) aquifer?" Joel Schneekloth, a regional water resource specialist with the Colorado State University extension, said with a laugh. "I've heard a lot of wild, goofy ideas, and this is one of them."

Schneekloth says there's no scientific evidence that one of cattle ranchers' worst nightmares could be a water-supply blessing. As Schneekloth put it: "In our business, we have to go with science and what you can prove."

OK, Harsh and some wildlife preservationists said, then do some analysis. See whether it's true. And do it soon.

"Do it before it's too late, before they're all gone," Harsh said. "My goal is to lighten up on the poor critters. they are being obliterated."

Father, 8-year-old son hurt in Tennessee bear attack

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) — An 8-year-old Florida boy and his father were treated and released from a hospital after battling a black bear in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, officials said Tuesday.

Evan Pala and his father John Pala of Boca Raton were able to leave Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center on Monday evening within hours of the incident in the park, hospital spokeswoman Amanda Bradson said.

Park rangers later killed a young 55-pound male bear matching the description of the one in the attack.

Park spokesman Bob Miller said the bear approached the boy around 7:30 p.m. Monday while Evan was playing in a creek about 300 yards up Rainbow Falls Trail, a popular hiking trail about 2.5 miles south of Gatlinburg.

Miller said the bear attacked the boy, was driven off and came back a second time.

Finally, the father was able to drive the bear off with rocks and sticks, Miller said. The boy suffered cuts, scratches and some puncture wounds. The father received several cuts during the attack.

Rangers found the bear in a spot matching the father's description. When the bear acted aggressively toward them, they shot it. They found a child's shoe and a cap there believed to have belonged to the family.

The animal was taken to the University of Tennessee Veterinary Medical Center for a necropsy to establish that it was the bear that attacked the child, Miller said.

The 520,000-acre Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the North Carolina-Tennessee border. It is the most visited park in the country with more than 9 million visitors annually. It is home to about 1,600 black bears and borders the Cherokee National Forest, which has another 1,500 black bears.

Fatal encounters with black bears are rare. The North American Bear Center lists 60 people killed by black bears across North America since 1900, with 45 of those in Alaska or Canada.

But there have been two fatal attacks in eastern Tennessee: A Tennessee school teacher was killed in 2000 by a female bear and cub during a day hike in the Great Smokies and an Ohio family was attacked in 2006 in Cherokee National Forest, killing a 6-year-old girl and injuring her 2-year-old brother and mother.

Cat saves owner from fire

Above: A brindle cat, but not BooBoo. Thanks to Google Images.

Associated Press

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - A 97-year-old woman says her cat's early-morning yowling saved her from a house fire.

Grace George of Independence said her cat Boo Boo's yowling from an open bedroom window early Wednesday woke her up from a sound sleep.

"I got so aggravated," George said. "I didn't know why she was doing that."

George picked up the black and gold brindle, a stray she had taken in about 15 years earlier, and felt her way through the dark house until she reached the kitchen.

It was just 4 a.m., and she wanted more sleep. So she started to put the cat outside.
Then she smelled smoke.

"I knew I had to get out of the house," said George, seated Thursday on a sofa in her daughter's house, just down the block.

George ran toward the street in the rain, and flagged down the third car she saw.

Firefighters got Boo Boo out of the house safely and administered oxygen.

For now, George and her heroic cat are staying with George's daughter. George said she plans to have the house repaired, though it's not clear how she will pay for the damage. She canceled her home insurance four years ago after paying 50 years of premiums.

The Independence Fire Department, which believes lightning caused the fire, estimates the damage at $75,000 to the house and $40,000 to possessions.

But George and her daughter were less concerned with the costs, and more thankful for George's survival -- and for the cat's role.

George told her daughter, "I'm going to get her a special treat, a can of salmon. That's $2."
"No," Patty Young said. "It's up to five."

Campgrounds Near Yellowstone National Park Closed After Bear Bites Camper

Friday, July 18, 2008

Associated Press

HELENA, Mont. — A bear attacked a person sleeping inside a tent early Thursday, leading authorities to close two campgrounds near Yellowstone National Park.

The camper suffered bite and claw marks on his arms while protecting himself. His name and age weren't disclosed. Authorities said he was taken to West Park Hospital in Cody, Wyo., which refused to release any information.

As a precaution, the U.S. Forest Service closed the Soda Butte campground, where the camper was attacked, and the nearby Chief Joseph campground, both in the Gallatin National Forest. The sites are along U.S. 212, a few miles from the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Forest spokeswoman Marna Daley said the bear was believed to be a grizzly. She didn't know how many people were evacuated from the campgrounds.

The camper apparently had stored his food properly, Daley said. She didn't know if he was camping alone.

The Forest Service said in a statement that the campgrounds will remain closed "until the bear is located or the immediate concern subsides."

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks will decide how to deal with the bear. In previous cases, problem bears have been relocated to more remote areas.

Wisconsin pair shoots 600 animals in 'thrill-killing' of rabbits, deer, turkeys, turtles: officials

June 1, 2008
FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS

PORTAGE, Wis. — The alleged thrill-killing of as many 600 animals in Columbia and Marquette counties is the worst case in the nation this year, officials said.

The Humane Society of the United States recently contacted authorities involved in investigating and prosecuting Josh Kerl, 21, of Portage, and Adam Stalsberg, 22, of Neshkoro.

Left: baby jack rabbit

The men are accused of using a high-powered rifle and spotlight to shoot animals from their vehicle over the past year, and the organization wants meaningful fines, permanent revocation of hunting licenses and restitution for the deaths of protected animals.

‘‘The amount of animals killed and the wide variety of animals involved in this case is unusual. It’s a blatant disregard for wildlife,’’ spokeswoman Casey Pheiffer said.

Right: punked out red squirrel

Kerl and Stalsberg are accused of killing mostly small game out of season, including hundreds of rabbits, squirrels and raccoons.

But the pair allegedly also killed deer, turkeys, crows, snapping turtles, ducks and protected species of owls, turkey vultures, red-tailed hawks and sandhill cranes.

The majority of animals killed were left to rot, according to officials.

Each man was charged with 82 citations in the counties combined, but the citations are not criminal in nature.

But each man will face two misdemeanor criminal charges that occurred in Columbia County for hunting deer during closed season and hunting deer at night with a spotlight.

For those charges, the men could face a $2,100 fine, 60 to 90 days in jail and having their hunting license revoked for three years. They make their initial appearance on Aug. 20 in Columbia County Circuit Court.

‘‘Thrill-killing lends itself to instant gratification, not the totality of the hunt, which includes everything from studying up on the animal, scouting and finding an ideal spot for a blind,’’ said Chuck Horn, a Department of Natural Resources conservation warden supervisor.

‘‘Trying to get people involved in legal hunting, we stress that pulling of the trigger, or releasing an arrow, are such a small part of the hunt.’’

The alleged thrill-killing by Kerl and Stalsberg is one of the biggest cases in Wisconsin within the last decade, Horn said.

‘‘That’s quite excessive compared to other cases we’ve had,’’ Horn said. ‘‘I was a bit appalled.’’

Although poaching and thrill-killing of animals are both illegal, Horn said, poachers use some or all of the animal, such as meat, antlers or fur, while people who thrill-kill shoot animals and leave the body to rot.

Above: raccoon

Pheiffer, who works as the manager for the Humane Society’s Wildlife Abuse Campaign, said states with the tightest laws against poaching have the lowest occurrences.

‘‘It’s difficult to know what the individual motives are,’’ Pheiffer said. ‘‘Sometimes it’s people who participate in it as a way to impress their friends, or maybe it’s a symptom of a bigger problem.’’

Left: deer in the headlights.

Right: Sandhill Crane (a gorgeous one at that) on the endangered species list.

Burro jailed in Mexico for biting, kicking people

AP 05/20/2008

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico -- A donkey is doing time in southern Mexico for assault and battery. The animal was locked up at a local jail that normally holds people for public drunkenness and other disturbances after it bit and kicked two men near a ranch in Chiapas state, police said Monday.

Officer Sinar Gomez said the donkey will remain behind bars until its owner agrees to pay the men's medical bills.

"Around here, if someone commits a crime they are jailed," Gomez said - "no matter who they are."

The owner, Mauro Gutierrez, told The Associated Press he would try to reach a friendly arrangement to pay the men's bills, estimated at US$420 (euro270).

The victims said the donkey bit Genaro Vazquez, 63, in the chest on Sunday and then kicked 52-year-old Andres Hernandez as he tried to come to the rescue, fracturing his ankle.

"All of a sudden, the animal was on top of us like it was rabid," Hernandez said. Police said it took a half-dozen men to control the enraged burro.

Chiapas police have thrown animals in the slammer before, including a bull that devoured corn crops and destroyed two wooden vending stands in March.

In 2006, a dog was locked up for 12 days after biting someone. His owners were fined US$18.