MADISON, Wis. (AP) - They slink through the woods in camouflage and face paint, armed with tire irons, screwdrivers and hoes, seeking a plant that looks like a cross between a Virginia creeper and poison ivy.
They're the new breed of ginseng diggers, a rough and tumble lot looking to parlay rising Asian demand for the increasingly rare plant's roots into a fast buck.
Amid a sluggish economy, police say, more diggers are pushing into the backcountry from the upper Mississippi River to the Smoky Mountains in search of wild ginseng, eschewing harvest permits, ripping up even the smallest plants and ignoring property lines.
Their slash-and-burn tactics have left property owners enraged and biologists worried about the slow-growing plant's long-term survival. In Ohio prosecutors charged one landowner with gunning down a man he believed was stealing ginseng.
'We're not finding big, healthy populations. It was there, and a lot of it has been taken,' said Nora Murdock, an ecologist with the National Park Service who monitors plant populations in four parks across the southeastern U.S. 'It's like taking bricks out of a building. You might not feel the first brick ... but sooner or later you're going to pull out too many.'
Ginseng, a long-stemmed plant with five leaves and distinctive red berries, long has been coveted in many Asian cultures because the plant's gnarly, multipronged root is believed to have medicinal properties that help improve everything from memory to erectile dysfunction. And the wild roots are believed to be more potent than cultivated roots.
The plant takes years to mature, and it has been harvested to the edge of extinction in China. Ginseng buyers have turned to North America, where the plant can be found from northeastern Canada through the eastern U.S.
Conscious of the harvesting pressure, the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora imposed restrictions on exports in 1975. Under those terms, states certify ginseng has been harvested legally and exporters must obtain a federal permit. Most states have restricted ginseng harvest to a few months in the fall and require diggers to obtain permits during that period. It's illegal to harvest ginseng from any national park and most national forests in the southeast.
The price of wild ginseng roots has climbed in the last decade. Now domestic buyers pay $500 to $600 per pound compared with about $50 per pound of cultivated roots. Law enforcement officials say the prices have pushed people looking for quick money into the woods.
'It's lucrative to spend a day in the woods and walk out with $500 of ginseng in a bag when you don't have a job,' said Wisconsin conservation warden Ed McCann. 'Every one of these plants is like looking at a $5 or $10 bill.'
Clad at times in camouflage, face masks and face paint to blend in, poachers trod through the underbrush with makeshift tools such as tire irons and screwdrivers looking for ginseng, police said. They don't have any qualms about digging up immature roots; they want to get at the plants before other poachers or before the state's harvest season begins. But that ensures the plants won't reproduce and feeds a cycle of dwindling populations and rising prices.
And poachers know how to get around the conservation regulations. They'll dig ginseng out of season to get a jump on competitors and take it to dealers when the season opens or purchase permits after the fact. In other cases dealers just look the other way, said John Welke, a Wisconsin conservation warden.
It's difficult to get a clear picture of the extent of poaching in the U.S. - violation statistics are spread across layers of state and federal jurisdictions, but law enforcement officials and biologists across the eastern half of the country told The Associated Press they believe it's on the rise.
In Wisconsin, the leading U.S. producer of commercially grown ginseng, wildlife officials say violations such as harvesting wild ginseng without a permit or harvesting out of season tripled from 12 in 2007 to 36 last year.
Ohio wildlife authorities have made 100 arrests between 2008 and last year for various ginseng violations ranging from digging without permission to digging or buying out of season.
A team of West Virginia University researchers counted 30 ginseng populations across New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia between 1998 and 2009. The team reported that of the 368 plants they discovered had been harvested, only five were taken legally.
'It's very difficult to catch a poacher,' said U.S. Forest Service botanist Gary Kauffman. 'You could put everything in a backpack and your hands are clean, nobody really knows what you're doing.'
A grand jury in southeastern Ohio charged 78-year-old Joseph Kutter of New Paris with killing a man whom Kutter claimed had trespassed onto his property to poach ginseng. According to court documents, Kutter shot Bobby Jo Grubbs with an assault rifle in May and hid his body in a mulch pile. Kutter's attorneys didn't return messages seeking comment.
Sara Souther, a University of Wisconsin-Madison botanist who worked on the West Virginia University ginseng team, said multiple times she has encountered poachers trying to harvest the plant.
'These are intimidating people,' Souther said. 'You can tell these men are not hiking. If you're out there and witness an illegal act, you don't know what people will do.'
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Friday, September 28, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Tigers' Fister strikes out a record nine in a row
(Reuters) - Detroit pitcher Doug Fister set an American League record by striking out nine consecutive batters as the first-place Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 5-4 on Thursday to boost their playoff hopes.
The win temporarily moved Detroit 1-1/2 games ahead of the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central division. The White Sox play the Tampa Bay Rays later on Thursday.
Fister's strikeout streak began with the Royals' final out of the fourth inning and ended with Salvador Perez's ground out to end the seventh.
Four American League pitchers had struck out eight batters in a row. Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan accomplished it twice. Blake Stein, Roger Clemens and Ron Davis each did it once.
New York Mets' Hall of Famer Tom Seaver holds the Major League record of 10, set in 1970.
Fister, a tall right-hander with a 10-9 record, left the game after 7-2/3 innings with a 4-3 lead, but did not figure in the decision.
Detroit won the game on Alex Avila's run-scoring groundout in the ninth.
In the American League West, the Texas Rangers strengthened their division lead with a 9-7 victory over the Oakland Athletics.
The win, highlighted by pitcher Matt Harrison 18th victory, gave the two-time AL champions a four-game lead over the Athletics with six games remaining in the regular season.
Harrison (18-10) pitched six innings, giving up four runs and seven hits, in becoming the Rangers' first 18-game winner since Kenny Rogers in 2004.
NO CABRERA
In the National League, the playoff-bound San Francisco Giants have decided not to use currently suspended slugger Melky Cabrera in the postseason.
Cabrera, serving a 50-game ban for a positive test for testosterone, would become eligible to play if the Giants' postseason goes beyond five games.
'It's a decision we had to make early because Melky would have to start rehabbing, and we have decided to develop our roster,' Giants manager Bruce Bochy told reporters.
Cabrera, the All-Star Game's most valuable player, was batting .346 with 11 home runs and 60 runs batted in when he was suspended on August 15.
'Our guys have done a good job of stepping up when we needed them to,' Bochy said. 'I think it's for the best of this club if you've looked at how they've played and all we've been through. These guys have really done a great job.'
The Giants, the 2010 World Series champions, clinched the National League West pennant last week.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina)
This article is brought to you by MATCHMAKING.
The win temporarily moved Detroit 1-1/2 games ahead of the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central division. The White Sox play the Tampa Bay Rays later on Thursday.
Fister's strikeout streak began with the Royals' final out of the fourth inning and ended with Salvador Perez's ground out to end the seventh.
Four American League pitchers had struck out eight batters in a row. Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan accomplished it twice. Blake Stein, Roger Clemens and Ron Davis each did it once.
New York Mets' Hall of Famer Tom Seaver holds the Major League record of 10, set in 1970.
Fister, a tall right-hander with a 10-9 record, left the game after 7-2/3 innings with a 4-3 lead, but did not figure in the decision.
Detroit won the game on Alex Avila's run-scoring groundout in the ninth.
In the American League West, the Texas Rangers strengthened their division lead with a 9-7 victory over the Oakland Athletics.
The win, highlighted by pitcher Matt Harrison 18th victory, gave the two-time AL champions a four-game lead over the Athletics with six games remaining in the regular season.
Harrison (18-10) pitched six innings, giving up four runs and seven hits, in becoming the Rangers' first 18-game winner since Kenny Rogers in 2004.
NO CABRERA
In the National League, the playoff-bound San Francisco Giants have decided not to use currently suspended slugger Melky Cabrera in the postseason.
Cabrera, serving a 50-game ban for a positive test for testosterone, would become eligible to play if the Giants' postseason goes beyond five games.
'It's a decision we had to make early because Melky would have to start rehabbing, and we have decided to develop our roster,' Giants manager Bruce Bochy told reporters.
Cabrera, the All-Star Game's most valuable player, was batting .346 with 11 home runs and 60 runs batted in when he was suspended on August 15.
'Our guys have done a good job of stepping up when we needed them to,' Bochy said. 'I think it's for the best of this club if you've looked at how they've played and all we've been through. These guys have really done a great job.'
The Giants, the 2010 World Series champions, clinched the National League West pennant last week.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina)
This article is brought to you by MATCHMAKING.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Halloweenie: 2012 Events for Dogs and Pet Parents
Halloween is going to the dogs in 2012. Dog costume contests and canine demonstrations meet up with pumpkin decorating and pet product vendors at these dog-friendly events. Pack your portable water bowl for him and a water bottle for you.
Fredericksburg Dog Fair & Masquerade Dog Parade: Oct. 6
Fredericksburg, Va.
Dog-friendly Fredericksburg, Va., hosts a day designed for canines. There will be a Canine Casino, an Ask-a-Vet booth, dog adoption, canine demonstrations, dog show competitions, a dog costume parade, and skill events. Live music and a beer tent keep pet parents happy. The Fredericksburg Dog Fair & Masquerade Dog Parade takes place on Saturday, Oct. 6, from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Admission is $10 per person with proceeds benefiting adoption, and spaying/neutering. Events take place at Riverside Park and Maury Field .
Pumpkins 'n' Pooches Autumn Fair & Dog Fest: Oct. 7
Colchester, Conn.
There's plenty to see and do for you, your dogs and your kids. Enjoy hay rides, pumpkin painting and decorating, a dog costume contest, awards for non-costumed pets, and tasty fair foods. Pumpkins 'n' Pooches Autumn Fair & Dog Fest takes place on Sunday, Oct. 7, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on the Colchester Town Green located on Main Street in Colchester, Conn. For more information, please call (860) 537-6555. Admission is free.
2nd Annual Doggie Derby: Oct. 7
Forked River, N.J.
Dogs can participate in novelty competitions or the costume contest. Watch canine demonstrations and browse the vendor booths at this dog-friendly event which benefits the Rotary Club of Forked River Charitable Foundation The 2nd Annual Doggie Derby takes place at Jones Park Soccer Field, on Jones Road in Forked River, N.J. The hours are Sunday, Oct. 7, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Admission is $5, and children 10 and under are admitted for free.
Halloween Howl: Oct. 20
Edmonds Way, Wash.
Dress up your pooch in his favorite costume for the annual Halloween Howl. There's also an auction and plenty of fun pet products to try and buy. Head to Edmonds Dog Park located at 498 Admiral Way in Edmonds, Wash. on Saturday, Oct. 20. Let your dogs off their leashes so they can enjoy the waterfront, dog-friendly space.
Halloween Pet Parade: Oct. 28
Columbus, Ohio
The Capital Area Humane Society hosts a Halloween Pet Parade on Sunday, Oct. 28, from noon until 2:30 p.m. The location is Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio. The event is part of October's Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month.
Howl-o-ween: Oct. 31
Coral Gables, Fla.
Celebrate Halloween at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 31. Leashed dogs are welcome to explore the gardens with their families. There will be special activities for your dogs. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is located at 10901 Old Cutler Road in Coral Gables, Fla. For more info please call (305) 667-1651. Members are free, otherwise admission is $25 for adults, $18 (65 and older), and $12 for children ages six through 17.
This news article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE 201 - where latest news are our top priority.
Fredericksburg Dog Fair & Masquerade Dog Parade: Oct. 6
Fredericksburg, Va.
Dog-friendly Fredericksburg, Va., hosts a day designed for canines. There will be a Canine Casino, an Ask-a-Vet booth, dog adoption, canine demonstrations, dog show competitions, a dog costume parade, and skill events. Live music and a beer tent keep pet parents happy. The Fredericksburg Dog Fair & Masquerade Dog Parade takes place on Saturday, Oct. 6, from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Admission is $10 per person with proceeds benefiting adoption, and spaying/neutering. Events take place at Riverside Park and Maury Field .
Pumpkins 'n' Pooches Autumn Fair & Dog Fest: Oct. 7
Colchester, Conn.
There's plenty to see and do for you, your dogs and your kids. Enjoy hay rides, pumpkin painting and decorating, a dog costume contest, awards for non-costumed pets, and tasty fair foods. Pumpkins 'n' Pooches Autumn Fair & Dog Fest takes place on Sunday, Oct. 7, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on the Colchester Town Green located on Main Street in Colchester, Conn. For more information, please call (860) 537-6555. Admission is free.
2nd Annual Doggie Derby: Oct. 7
Forked River, N.J.
Dogs can participate in novelty competitions or the costume contest. Watch canine demonstrations and browse the vendor booths at this dog-friendly event which benefits the Rotary Club of Forked River Charitable Foundation The 2nd Annual Doggie Derby takes place at Jones Park Soccer Field, on Jones Road in Forked River, N.J. The hours are Sunday, Oct. 7, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Admission is $5, and children 10 and under are admitted for free.
Halloween Howl: Oct. 20
Edmonds Way, Wash.
Dress up your pooch in his favorite costume for the annual Halloween Howl. There's also an auction and plenty of fun pet products to try and buy. Head to Edmonds Dog Park located at 498 Admiral Way in Edmonds, Wash. on Saturday, Oct. 20. Let your dogs off their leashes so they can enjoy the waterfront, dog-friendly space.
Halloween Pet Parade: Oct. 28
Columbus, Ohio
The Capital Area Humane Society hosts a Halloween Pet Parade on Sunday, Oct. 28, from noon until 2:30 p.m. The location is Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio. The event is part of October's Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month.
Howl-o-ween: Oct. 31
Coral Gables, Fla.
Celebrate Halloween at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 31. Leashed dogs are welcome to explore the gardens with their families. There will be special activities for your dogs. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is located at 10901 Old Cutler Road in Coral Gables, Fla. For more info please call (305) 667-1651. Members are free, otherwise admission is $25 for adults, $18 (65 and older), and $12 for children ages six through 17.
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Pandas Become Diplomatic Casualties
Pandas Become Diplomatic CasualtiesThis news article is brought to you by STOCK MARKET BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Giant panda cub that died at U.S. zoo had abnormal liver
(Reuters) - The death of a six-day-old giant panda cub at the National Zoo in Washington - an agonizing blow to wildlife conservation efforts - could be linked to an abnormal liver, the zoo's chief veterinarian said on Monday.
A day after the zoo's staff failed to revive the cub with lifesaving measures, including CPR, the initial results of an examination showed the panda was likely a female whose body displayed no obvious signs of trauma or infection.
'Her coat was beautiful. It was in very good condition,' veterinarian Suzan Murray said at a press conference.
The cub was born on September 16 but had not yet been given a name, in line with a Chinese tradition that pandas are not named for 100 days. The arrival was cause for celebration among zoo officials and wildlife conservationists given the daunting odds for the endangered species reproducing in captivity.
Fewer than 1,600 giant pandas are known to exist in the wild, and about 300 live in zoos and wildlife centers around the world. Breeding is a critical challenge. One in five cubs born in captivity die in their first year of life, the National Zoo said on its website.
Preliminary results of an examination of the cub show the tiny animal had a discolored liver, which was hardened in some areas, Murray said.
'This can suggest there was a liver component to the death,' Murray said.
Another unusual finding, according to Murray, was fluid in the cub's abdomen, normal for adult pandas but odd for a juvenile. Pathologists were analyzing the fluids, Murray said.
'The amount appears moderate to increased for such a small cub,' she said, adding that further testing was necessary to confirm a cause of death.
The body of the cub weighed about 3.5 ounces (100 grams).
Zoo officials said they were concerned about the reaction of the cub's mother, Mei Xiang, who had given birth after years of failed efforts at conception, including five 'pseudo pregnancies' in which her hormone levels and behavior indicated she was carrying a cub when she was not.
Her first cub, Tai Shan, was born July 9, 2005. Tai Shan is now at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong.
The zoo has used a Panda Cam to monitor Mei Xiang, who appeared to sleep well Sunday night and who ate her regular diet of bamboo, fruit and biscuits, the zoo said on its website.
'Watchers noticed her cradling an object, as she did before the birth of the cub. Scientists and keepers believe this is an expression of her natural mothering instinct,' according to the zoo's website.
The cub's death was discovered Sunday morning after panda keepers and zoo volunteers heard a distress sound from Mei Xiang.
'We want to make sure that her behavior adjusts back to normal,' said zoo spokeswoman Emily Grebenstein.
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Philip Barbara and Claudia Parsons)
This news article is brought to you by TAXES BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
A day after the zoo's staff failed to revive the cub with lifesaving measures, including CPR, the initial results of an examination showed the panda was likely a female whose body displayed no obvious signs of trauma or infection.
'Her coat was beautiful. It was in very good condition,' veterinarian Suzan Murray said at a press conference.
The cub was born on September 16 but had not yet been given a name, in line with a Chinese tradition that pandas are not named for 100 days. The arrival was cause for celebration among zoo officials and wildlife conservationists given the daunting odds for the endangered species reproducing in captivity.
Fewer than 1,600 giant pandas are known to exist in the wild, and about 300 live in zoos and wildlife centers around the world. Breeding is a critical challenge. One in five cubs born in captivity die in their first year of life, the National Zoo said on its website.
Preliminary results of an examination of the cub show the tiny animal had a discolored liver, which was hardened in some areas, Murray said.
'This can suggest there was a liver component to the death,' Murray said.
Another unusual finding, according to Murray, was fluid in the cub's abdomen, normal for adult pandas but odd for a juvenile. Pathologists were analyzing the fluids, Murray said.
'The amount appears moderate to increased for such a small cub,' she said, adding that further testing was necessary to confirm a cause of death.
The body of the cub weighed about 3.5 ounces (100 grams).
Zoo officials said they were concerned about the reaction of the cub's mother, Mei Xiang, who had given birth after years of failed efforts at conception, including five 'pseudo pregnancies' in which her hormone levels and behavior indicated she was carrying a cub when she was not.
Her first cub, Tai Shan, was born July 9, 2005. Tai Shan is now at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong.
The zoo has used a Panda Cam to monitor Mei Xiang, who appeared to sleep well Sunday night and who ate her regular diet of bamboo, fruit and biscuits, the zoo said on its website.
'Watchers noticed her cradling an object, as she did before the birth of the cub. Scientists and keepers believe this is an expression of her natural mothering instinct,' according to the zoo's website.
The cub's death was discovered Sunday morning after panda keepers and zoo volunteers heard a distress sound from Mei Xiang.
'We want to make sure that her behavior adjusts back to normal,' said zoo spokeswoman Emily Grebenstein.
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Philip Barbara and Claudia Parsons)
This news article is brought to you by TAXES BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Giant panda cub dies at U.S. National Zoo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The giant panda cub born at the National Zoo just one week ago died on Sunday, zoo officials said.
While the exact cause of the baby panda's death is yet to be determined, zoo officials said the cub, which weighed just under 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces), was in good body condition and that there were no outward signs of trauma or infection.
The cub's death was discovered Sunday morning after panda keepers and zoo volunteers heard a distress vocalization from its mother, Mei Xiang.
The panda cam that allowed the public to watch the baby and its mother over the Internet was turned off and zoo staff retrieved the body for evaluation.
The unnamed cub was born on September 16 after five years of failed efforts at conception. Fourteen-year-old Mei Xiang was described as a good mother. At the time of the birth, zoo officials had said the first month of life was crucial in the life of a panda cub.
This was Mei Xiang's second cub. She gave birth to her first cub, Tai Shan, July 9, 2005. Tai Shan is now at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong.
(Reporting by Donna Smith; Editing by Jackie Frank)
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While the exact cause of the baby panda's death is yet to be determined, zoo officials said the cub, which weighed just under 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces), was in good body condition and that there were no outward signs of trauma or infection.
The cub's death was discovered Sunday morning after panda keepers and zoo volunteers heard a distress vocalization from its mother, Mei Xiang.
The panda cam that allowed the public to watch the baby and its mother over the Internet was turned off and zoo staff retrieved the body for evaluation.
The unnamed cub was born on September 16 after five years of failed efforts at conception. Fourteen-year-old Mei Xiang was described as a good mother. At the time of the birth, zoo officials had said the first month of life was crucial in the life of a panda cub.
This was Mei Xiang's second cub. She gave birth to her first cub, Tai Shan, July 9, 2005. Tai Shan is now at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong.
(Reporting by Donna Smith; Editing by Jackie Frank)
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Saturday, September 22, 2012
Man Mauled by Tiger at Bronx Zoo Charged With Trespassing
A New York who was mauled by a tiger he wanted to be 'one with' has been charged with trespassing for jumping into the 400-pound cat's Bronx Zoo enclosure.
On Friday, David Villalobos, 25, jumped 17 feet off an electric monorail ride and over an electric fence into the tiger den, suffering bite wounds on his arms, legs shoulders and back, as well as a broken ankle and arm after the tiger mauled him.
'He told NYPD detectives today that he voluntarily jumped yesterday from the monorail into the tiger preserve at the Bronx Zoo and that his leap was definitely not a suicide attempt, but a desire to be 'one with the tiger,'' Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Paul Browne told ABC News.
'When an NYPD sergeant asked Villalobos yesterday why had jumped into the tiger preserve, he replied that 'everyone in life makes choices,''
Villalobos said today that he incurred most of his injuries in landing on all fours in the jump from the monorail. He recalled being dragged by the tiger by the foot, and afterwards being able to pet the tiger.
'No surprise he landed on all fours considering his passion for cats,' Browne said.
Perhaps there was one consolation for Villalobos -- Browne said he told police that he did get to pet the tiger -- after the animal had dragged him by the ankle.
Villalobos, recovering from his injuries in Jacobi Medical Center, was issued a desk appearance ticket on a charge of criminal trespassing, requiring his presence in court at a later date, Browne said.
A former class mate told ABC News Villalobos had been displaying bizarre behavior.
'Recently I saw some of his stuff on Facebook and it just seemed a little strange,' the class mate said.
Quick thinking rescuers at the zoo likely saved Villalobos' life. They used powerful fire hoses to distract Bachuta, an approximately 11-year-old, 400-pound, male Siberian tiger, and pull Villalobos to safety.
'Our emergency response staff immediately went to the site and used a CO2 fire extinguisher to move the tiger away from the person,' the zoo said in a statement released Friday. 'Once the tiger backed off, the man was instructed to roll under a hot wire to safety. The keepers were able to call the tiger into its off-exhibit holding area and safely secured the animal.'
As of last night, Villalobos' condition has been upgraded to stable condition, according to officials from Jacobi Medical Center, where he is being treated.
Zoo director Jim Breheny told reporters Friday Villalobos was in the tiger area exposed to the tiger for approximately 10 minutes. He remained conscious and in the area receiving first aid after the tiger was secured.
'I think it's safe to say that if the tiger really wanted to do harm to this individual, he certainly would have had the time to do that,' Breheny said. 'We honestly think that we're providing a safe experience and this is just an extraordinary event. He made a deliberate effort to get over the fence. It's not by accident that this happened.'
Asked if the man was emotionally disturbed, a police official said, 'It certainly appears that way.'
'The tiger was minding his own business,' New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said, 'up until the man cleared two sets of fences to get into the enclosure.'
The tiger will remain on exhibit at the zoo. 'This is the first incident of its kind. ... When someone is determined to do something harmful to themselves, it is very difficult to stop them,' Brehny said.
ABC News' Courtney Condron and Michael S. James contributed to this report.
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On Friday, David Villalobos, 25, jumped 17 feet off an electric monorail ride and over an electric fence into the tiger den, suffering bite wounds on his arms, legs shoulders and back, as well as a broken ankle and arm after the tiger mauled him.
'He told NYPD detectives today that he voluntarily jumped yesterday from the monorail into the tiger preserve at the Bronx Zoo and that his leap was definitely not a suicide attempt, but a desire to be 'one with the tiger,'' Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Paul Browne told ABC News.
'When an NYPD sergeant asked Villalobos yesterday why had jumped into the tiger preserve, he replied that 'everyone in life makes choices,''
Villalobos said today that he incurred most of his injuries in landing on all fours in the jump from the monorail. He recalled being dragged by the tiger by the foot, and afterwards being able to pet the tiger.
'No surprise he landed on all fours considering his passion for cats,' Browne said.
Perhaps there was one consolation for Villalobos -- Browne said he told police that he did get to pet the tiger -- after the animal had dragged him by the ankle.
Villalobos, recovering from his injuries in Jacobi Medical Center, was issued a desk appearance ticket on a charge of criminal trespassing, requiring his presence in court at a later date, Browne said.
A former class mate told ABC News Villalobos had been displaying bizarre behavior.
'Recently I saw some of his stuff on Facebook and it just seemed a little strange,' the class mate said.
Quick thinking rescuers at the zoo likely saved Villalobos' life. They used powerful fire hoses to distract Bachuta, an approximately 11-year-old, 400-pound, male Siberian tiger, and pull Villalobos to safety.
'Our emergency response staff immediately went to the site and used a CO2 fire extinguisher to move the tiger away from the person,' the zoo said in a statement released Friday. 'Once the tiger backed off, the man was instructed to roll under a hot wire to safety. The keepers were able to call the tiger into its off-exhibit holding area and safely secured the animal.'
As of last night, Villalobos' condition has been upgraded to stable condition, according to officials from Jacobi Medical Center, where he is being treated.
Zoo director Jim Breheny told reporters Friday Villalobos was in the tiger area exposed to the tiger for approximately 10 minutes. He remained conscious and in the area receiving first aid after the tiger was secured.
'I think it's safe to say that if the tiger really wanted to do harm to this individual, he certainly would have had the time to do that,' Breheny said. 'We honestly think that we're providing a safe experience and this is just an extraordinary event. He made a deliberate effort to get over the fence. It's not by accident that this happened.'
Asked if the man was emotionally disturbed, a police official said, 'It certainly appears that way.'
'The tiger was minding his own business,' New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said, 'up until the man cleared two sets of fences to get into the enclosure.'
The tiger will remain on exhibit at the zoo. 'This is the first incident of its kind. ... When someone is determined to do something harmful to themselves, it is very difficult to stop them,' Brehny said.
ABC News' Courtney Condron and Michael S. James contributed to this report.
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David Villalobos: Man Mauled by Tiger at Bronx Zoo Had Been Acting 'Strange,' Friends Say
A man who was mauled by a 400-pound tiger after deliberately jumping into its den at New York's Bronx Zoo is recovering from critical injuries, as friends and family try to understand what was behind his baffling behavior.
On Friday, David Villalobos, 25, jumped 17-feet off an electric monorail ride and over an electric fence into the tiger den, suffering bite wounds on his arms, legs shoulders and back, as well as a broken ankle and arm.
'Recently I saw some of his stuff on Facebook and it just seemed a little strange,' a former classmate of Villalobos told ABC News.
Quick thinking rescuers used powerful fire hoses to distract Bachuta, an approximately 11-year-old, 400-pound, male Siberian tiger, and pull Villalobos to safety.
'Our emergency response staff immediately went to the site and used a CO2 fire extinguisher to move the tiger away from the person,' the zoo said in a statement released Friday. 'Once the tiger backed off, the man was instructed to roll under a hot wire to safety. The keepers were able to call the tiger into its off-exhibit holding area and safely secured the animal.'
As of last night, Villalobos' condition has been upgraded to stable condition, according to officials from Jacobi Medical Center, where he is being treated.
Zoo director Jim Breheny told reporters Friday Villalobos was in the tiger area exposed to the tiger for approximately 10 minutes. He remained conscious and in the area receiving first aid after the tiger was secured.
'I think it's safe to say that if the tiger really wanted to do harm to this individual, he certainly would have had the time to do that,' Breheny said. 'We honestly think that we're providing a safe experience and this is just an extraordinary event. He made a deliberate effort to get over the fence. It's not by accident that this happened.'
Asked if the man was emotionally disturbed, a police official said, 'It certainly appears that way.'
'The tiger was minding his own business,' New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said, 'up until the man cleared two sets of fences to get into the enclosure.'
The tiger will remain on exhibit at the zoo. 'This is the first incident of its kind. ... When someone is determined to do something harmful to themselves, it is very difficult to stop them,' Brehny said.
ABC News' Courtney Condron and Michael S. James contributed to this report.
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On Friday, David Villalobos, 25, jumped 17-feet off an electric monorail ride and over an electric fence into the tiger den, suffering bite wounds on his arms, legs shoulders and back, as well as a broken ankle and arm.
'Recently I saw some of his stuff on Facebook and it just seemed a little strange,' a former classmate of Villalobos told ABC News.
Quick thinking rescuers used powerful fire hoses to distract Bachuta, an approximately 11-year-old, 400-pound, male Siberian tiger, and pull Villalobos to safety.
'Our emergency response staff immediately went to the site and used a CO2 fire extinguisher to move the tiger away from the person,' the zoo said in a statement released Friday. 'Once the tiger backed off, the man was instructed to roll under a hot wire to safety. The keepers were able to call the tiger into its off-exhibit holding area and safely secured the animal.'
As of last night, Villalobos' condition has been upgraded to stable condition, according to officials from Jacobi Medical Center, where he is being treated.
Zoo director Jim Breheny told reporters Friday Villalobos was in the tiger area exposed to the tiger for approximately 10 minutes. He remained conscious and in the area receiving first aid after the tiger was secured.
'I think it's safe to say that if the tiger really wanted to do harm to this individual, he certainly would have had the time to do that,' Breheny said. 'We honestly think that we're providing a safe experience and this is just an extraordinary event. He made a deliberate effort to get over the fence. It's not by accident that this happened.'
Asked if the man was emotionally disturbed, a police official said, 'It certainly appears that way.'
'The tiger was minding his own business,' New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said, 'up until the man cleared two sets of fences to get into the enclosure.'
The tiger will remain on exhibit at the zoo. 'This is the first incident of its kind. ... When someone is determined to do something harmful to themselves, it is very difficult to stop them,' Brehny said.
ABC News' Courtney Condron and Michael S. James contributed to this report.
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Friday, September 21, 2012
Man Critical After Jumping into Bronx Zoo Tiger Den
A man is in critical condition after apparently jumping off an electric monorail ride and over an electric fence into the tiger den at the Bronx Zoo this afternoon.
The man, who the zoo said is about 25 years old, had to have a foot amputated -- at least -- and also had other injuries consistent with a tiger attack, the New York Police Department told ABC News.
The zoo released a statement today saying the man jumped off the Wild Asia Monorail ride he was on, cleared the tiger exhibit's perimeter fence, and ended up in the tiger habitat.
'Our emergency response staff immediately went to the site and used a CO2 fire extinguisher to move the tiger away from the person,' the statement read. 'Once the tiger backed off, the man was instructed to roll under a hot wire to safety. The keepers were able to call the tiger into its off-exhibit holding area and safely secured the animal.'
The man was conscious and able to talk, the statement said, but was taken to the hospital by ambulance, where his foot was amputated.
A police official told ABC News the man leaped over two fences, including an electrified fence, in a single jump in order to get into the tiger habitat.
Asked if the man was emotionally disturbed, a police official said, 'It certainly appears that way.'
'The tiger was minding his own business,' police Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said, 'up until the man climbed two sets of fences to leap into the enclosure.'
The incident occurred shortly before 3:30 p.m. today, the New York City Fire Department said.
Courtney Condron contributed to this report.
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The man, who the zoo said is about 25 years old, had to have a foot amputated -- at least -- and also had other injuries consistent with a tiger attack, the New York Police Department told ABC News.
The zoo released a statement today saying the man jumped off the Wild Asia Monorail ride he was on, cleared the tiger exhibit's perimeter fence, and ended up in the tiger habitat.
'Our emergency response staff immediately went to the site and used a CO2 fire extinguisher to move the tiger away from the person,' the statement read. 'Once the tiger backed off, the man was instructed to roll under a hot wire to safety. The keepers were able to call the tiger into its off-exhibit holding area and safely secured the animal.'
The man was conscious and able to talk, the statement said, but was taken to the hospital by ambulance, where his foot was amputated.
A police official told ABC News the man leaped over two fences, including an electrified fence, in a single jump in order to get into the tiger habitat.
Asked if the man was emotionally disturbed, a police official said, 'It certainly appears that way.'
'The tiger was minding his own business,' police Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said, 'up until the man climbed two sets of fences to leap into the enclosure.'
The incident occurred shortly before 3:30 p.m. today, the New York City Fire Department said.
Courtney Condron contributed to this report.
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This news article is brought to you by LINUXOS.PRO - where latest news are our top priority.
Man Critical After Apparently Jumping into Bronx Zoo Tiger Den
A man is in critical condition after apparently jumping into the tiger den at the Bronx Zoo this afternoon.
The man, who is reportedly in his 20s, had to have at least his foot amputated and also had other injuries consistent with a tiger attack, the New York Police Department told ABC News.
A police official told ABC News the man climbed over two sets of barriers, including a first fence that led down to a second level, where he climbed a second fence to get to the tiger.
'The tiger was minding his own business,' police Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said, 'up until the man climbed two sets of fences to climb into the enclosure.'
Asked if the man was emotionally disturbed, a police official said, 'It certainly appears that way.'
The man was transported to Jacobi Medical Center for the injuries after ambulances were called to the zoo around 3:30 p.m., according to WABC.
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The man, who is reportedly in his 20s, had to have at least his foot amputated and also had other injuries consistent with a tiger attack, the New York Police Department told ABC News.
A police official told ABC News the man climbed over two sets of barriers, including a first fence that led down to a second level, where he climbed a second fence to get to the tiger.
'The tiger was minding his own business,' police Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said, 'up until the man climbed two sets of fences to climb into the enclosure.'
Asked if the man was emotionally disturbed, a police official said, 'It certainly appears that way.'
The man was transported to Jacobi Medical Center for the injuries after ambulances were called to the zoo around 3:30 p.m., according to WABC.
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Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Chile's Pacific paradise endangered by goats, cats
ROBINSON CRUSOE ISLAND, Chile (AP) - It's still a natural paradise far out in the Pacific, with thick jungles and stunningly steep and verdant slopes climbing out of the sea. But much of the splendor in the tiny Chilean islands that likely inspired Daniel Defoe's 'Robinson Crusoe' castaway novel is being eaten away.
Nearly four centuries of human contact have left many slopes denuded, their trees and plants lost to logging and fires, or devoured by imported goats and rabbits. Jungles remain, but invasive species are crowding out the unique native plants and birds that evolved during more than a million years of splendid isolation.
'It's a textbook example of how to degrade an ecosystem,' said Cristian Estades of the University of Chile, an expert on the islands' birds.
A handful of biologists, environmentalists, teachers and Chilean government officials are working with islanders on projects to save endangered species by eliminating non-native plants and animals. In a world full of daunting environmental challenges, they say this one can be solved with enough time, effort and money, in part because the three islands are so remote - 416 miles (670 kilometers) west of the Chilean mainland.
Chile has a $12 million plan to keep more outside species from reaching the Juan Fernandez archipelago and control what's already here. Island Conservation and other nonprofit groups say $20 million is needed just to start, by baiting the jungles with poison and flying hunters in on helicopters to eliminate animals that don't belong. Millions more would then be needed to keep invaders out and restore the natives.
Neither plan is fully funded, however, and at this point the scientists involved can do little more than document what's disappearing.
The islands were declared a world biosphere reserve by the United Nations in 1977. For their size, a total of just 38 square miles (100 square kilometers), they are 61 times richer in plant diversity and 13 times richer in bird life than the Galapagos, according to Island Conservation.
They still have 137 plants and a handful of bird species found nowhere else in the world, including a brilliant red hummingbird and the Dendroseris gigantea, a species so rare that until a few years ago, there was only a single tree left alive.
Forty-nine of the islands' plant species and seven kinds of birds are classified as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. At least eight others have already become extinct.
Their main enemies are the plants and animals imported by humans: Not only goats and rabbits, but cats, rats, mice and the carnivorous coati, a type of raccoon native to the American tropics. The cats are particularly adept at hunting the hummingbirds, whose numbers have dropped to as low as 1,000, in part because they didn't evolve in ways that made them fear feline predators.
Chilean settlers have cut down native trees and planted other types that foster wildfires and transform birds' habitats. Fast-growing blackberry brambles native to Europe and North Africa and maqui fruit trees native to mainland Chile have done the most damage, along with imported eucalyptus trees that grow as high as 230 feet (70 meters), sucking up groundwater and acidifying the soil.
'I don't want to think that this kind of cancer can't be solved,' said Juan Carlos Ordenes, who teaches history and geography in the islands' only school, and regularly leads his students on root-pulling expeditions.
Skeptics wonder if it's worth spending millions of dollars to preserve a few birds and plants on islands so small that they don't appear on many maps. But Hugo Arnal, the South America director for Island Conservation, says 'the cost of inaction is much more expensive.'
Without the dense jungles and unique trees and hummingbirds, tourists won't come, topsoil will blow away and fresh water for the 700 islanders will dry up. Supplying their town with food and essentials would become much more expensive for Chile's navy, which currently sails to the island once a month.
'The economic development of Juan Fernandez will depend on maintaining a healthy biodiversity: controlled and sustainable shrimp fishing, and ecotourism based on its unique species,' he said.
Key to any solution are the islanders who live in the neat little town of San Juan Bautista on Robinson Crusoe, the only island inhabited year-round. Domesticated cats ruled theirgardens during a recent visit by The Associated Press, and while most townspeople have agreed to sterilize their pets, many more cats are loose in the jungle.
U.S. ornithologist Erin Hagen, who has spent 10 years studying the hummingbirds, said few islanders are willing to abandon their pet cats or give up goat and rabbit meat for their dinners.
'There are people who are making the decision to live without these invasive animals, and others who are very attached to their pets, and others who like to go out hunting,' Hagen said.
Chile has protected 96 percent of the territory as a national park since 1935, but the budget 'is insufficient, without a doubt,' said Ivan Leiva, who runs the park for the state-owned forestry corporation. 'The problem is growing and defeating us.'
Leiva, whose office is surrounded by small gardens and makeshift greenhouses, has made each of his eight park guards personally responsible for two species of particularly threatened plants. The guards monitor their charges, note when they flower and seed, and confront challenges that might arise.
Such tactics worked with the Dendroseris gigantea, a member of the asteraceae family whose broad, long-stemmed leaves were munched to the nubs by wildly propagating goats.Leiva marshaled an international group of biologists to prevent its extinction. They kept vigil throughout the year, measuring weather and soil conditions and managing to collect enough seeds to produce 50 more trees. Most now grow in the park's gardens, while 15 have been planted around the 'mother' tree.
An earlier six-year, $2.5 million effort eliminated goats and rabbits from Santa Clara, an islet not far from town. Islanders were paid for each pelt and even provided with replacement bullets.
Goats were introduced by the Spanish in the 1600s to provide food for passing sailors, and their meat helped save the life of Alexander Selkirk, the marooned Scottish sailor whose four-year ordeal on the main island is widely believed to have helped inspire Defoe's 1719 castaway novel.. On the island Chile later named Robinson Crusoe, goats have been contained to a manageable area, but rabbits and rats run wild.
Meanwhile, on Alejandro Selkirk, the most remote of the islands, thousands of wild goats are destroying the habitat of the Rayadito de Masafuera, a small ovenbird whose numbers have dwindled to about 550.
Hunting down these animals on that island's steep slopes would be impossible by foot, but Chile can follow the lead of Ecuador in the Galapagos, where helicopters were used to eliminate wild goats and pigs from a much larger area, said Arnal.
'Using helicopters for eradication and restoration is to island conservation what the introduction of penicillin was to medicine,' Arnal said. 'These goats aren't going to die off naturally until they've eliminated all of the plants and the island is turned into a desert where there's nothing left to eat.'
___
Eva Vergara is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/evergaraap
This article is brought to you by MATCH.
Nearly four centuries of human contact have left many slopes denuded, their trees and plants lost to logging and fires, or devoured by imported goats and rabbits. Jungles remain, but invasive species are crowding out the unique native plants and birds that evolved during more than a million years of splendid isolation.
'It's a textbook example of how to degrade an ecosystem,' said Cristian Estades of the University of Chile, an expert on the islands' birds.
A handful of biologists, environmentalists, teachers and Chilean government officials are working with islanders on projects to save endangered species by eliminating non-native plants and animals. In a world full of daunting environmental challenges, they say this one can be solved with enough time, effort and money, in part because the three islands are so remote - 416 miles (670 kilometers) west of the Chilean mainland.
Chile has a $12 million plan to keep more outside species from reaching the Juan Fernandez archipelago and control what's already here. Island Conservation and other nonprofit groups say $20 million is needed just to start, by baiting the jungles with poison and flying hunters in on helicopters to eliminate animals that don't belong. Millions more would then be needed to keep invaders out and restore the natives.
Neither plan is fully funded, however, and at this point the scientists involved can do little more than document what's disappearing.
The islands were declared a world biosphere reserve by the United Nations in 1977. For their size, a total of just 38 square miles (100 square kilometers), they are 61 times richer in plant diversity and 13 times richer in bird life than the Galapagos, according to Island Conservation.
They still have 137 plants and a handful of bird species found nowhere else in the world, including a brilliant red hummingbird and the Dendroseris gigantea, a species so rare that until a few years ago, there was only a single tree left alive.
Forty-nine of the islands' plant species and seven kinds of birds are classified as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. At least eight others have already become extinct.
Their main enemies are the plants and animals imported by humans: Not only goats and rabbits, but cats, rats, mice and the carnivorous coati, a type of raccoon native to the American tropics. The cats are particularly adept at hunting the hummingbirds, whose numbers have dropped to as low as 1,000, in part because they didn't evolve in ways that made them fear feline predators.
Chilean settlers have cut down native trees and planted other types that foster wildfires and transform birds' habitats. Fast-growing blackberry brambles native to Europe and North Africa and maqui fruit trees native to mainland Chile have done the most damage, along with imported eucalyptus trees that grow as high as 230 feet (70 meters), sucking up groundwater and acidifying the soil.
'I don't want to think that this kind of cancer can't be solved,' said Juan Carlos Ordenes, who teaches history and geography in the islands' only school, and regularly leads his students on root-pulling expeditions.
Skeptics wonder if it's worth spending millions of dollars to preserve a few birds and plants on islands so small that they don't appear on many maps. But Hugo Arnal, the South America director for Island Conservation, says 'the cost of inaction is much more expensive.'
Without the dense jungles and unique trees and hummingbirds, tourists won't come, topsoil will blow away and fresh water for the 700 islanders will dry up. Supplying their town with food and essentials would become much more expensive for Chile's navy, which currently sails to the island once a month.
'The economic development of Juan Fernandez will depend on maintaining a healthy biodiversity: controlled and sustainable shrimp fishing, and ecotourism based on its unique species,' he said.
Key to any solution are the islanders who live in the neat little town of San Juan Bautista on Robinson Crusoe, the only island inhabited year-round. Domesticated cats ruled theirgardens during a recent visit by The Associated Press, and while most townspeople have agreed to sterilize their pets, many more cats are loose in the jungle.
U.S. ornithologist Erin Hagen, who has spent 10 years studying the hummingbirds, said few islanders are willing to abandon their pet cats or give up goat and rabbit meat for their dinners.
'There are people who are making the decision to live without these invasive animals, and others who are very attached to their pets, and others who like to go out hunting,' Hagen said.
Chile has protected 96 percent of the territory as a national park since 1935, but the budget 'is insufficient, without a doubt,' said Ivan Leiva, who runs the park for the state-owned forestry corporation. 'The problem is growing and defeating us.'
Leiva, whose office is surrounded by small gardens and makeshift greenhouses, has made each of his eight park guards personally responsible for two species of particularly threatened plants. The guards monitor their charges, note when they flower and seed, and confront challenges that might arise.
Such tactics worked with the Dendroseris gigantea, a member of the asteraceae family whose broad, long-stemmed leaves were munched to the nubs by wildly propagating goats.Leiva marshaled an international group of biologists to prevent its extinction. They kept vigil throughout the year, measuring weather and soil conditions and managing to collect enough seeds to produce 50 more trees. Most now grow in the park's gardens, while 15 have been planted around the 'mother' tree.
An earlier six-year, $2.5 million effort eliminated goats and rabbits from Santa Clara, an islet not far from town. Islanders were paid for each pelt and even provided with replacement bullets.
Goats were introduced by the Spanish in the 1600s to provide food for passing sailors, and their meat helped save the life of Alexander Selkirk, the marooned Scottish sailor whose four-year ordeal on the main island is widely believed to have helped inspire Defoe's 1719 castaway novel.. On the island Chile later named Robinson Crusoe, goats have been contained to a manageable area, but rabbits and rats run wild.
Meanwhile, on Alejandro Selkirk, the most remote of the islands, thousands of wild goats are destroying the habitat of the Rayadito de Masafuera, a small ovenbird whose numbers have dwindled to about 550.
Hunting down these animals on that island's steep slopes would be impossible by foot, but Chile can follow the lead of Ecuador in the Galapagos, where helicopters were used to eliminate wild goats and pigs from a much larger area, said Arnal.
'Using helicopters for eradication and restoration is to island conservation what the introduction of penicillin was to medicine,' Arnal said. 'These goats aren't going to die off naturally until they've eliminated all of the plants and the island is turned into a desert where there's nothing left to eat.'
___
Eva Vergara is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/evergaraap
This article is brought to you by MATCH.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Hotels and Inns Cats Call Home
Why should dogs get all the love? From all-Fido-can-fly passes to a new dog-friendly hotels popping up all the time, it's enough to make a cat lover feel purr-fectly ignored. While there are few hotels and inns that allow felines to come along on vacation, there are plenty that house a cat-in-residence, there to ease the pain of guests who miss the kitties they had to leave behind.
Click through the next few pages to see some of the travel industry's cutest feline ambassadors, find out how they spend their days and read a bit more about the hotels and inns where they reside.
Click through the next few pages to see some of the travel industry's cutest feline ambassadors, find out how they spend their days and read a bit more about the hotels and inns where they reside.
Otter Pups Make Zoo Debut
Perth Zoo's first litter of baby otters in 18 years made their public debut this week during a checkup.
At 13 weeks old, the four male Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea) are healthy and starting to become more active and adventurous, the zoo reports. Photos of the otter pups showed the zoo's veterinary staff handling them during their 'physicals,' during which the 13-week-olds received their second vaccinations.
'The pups, born on June 19, have just started to venture out of their nest box and explore their exhibit, including testing the waters of their pool,' Western Australia's environment minister, Bill Marmion, said in a statement from the zoo.
The pups' parents, a female named Asia and a male named Tuan, both arrived at the Australian zoo last year as part of a breeding program.
'Asia and Tuan are doing a fantastic job raising the pups,' Marmion said. 'Typical for a male otter, Tuan has been observed nest building and taking food to the pups and is very watchful over his family.'
Another breeding otter couple, female Boo and male Doan, also had a litter of four pups about a month later, on July 7, at the zoo. Those young otters, two males and two females, are currently in an off-display breeding facility and are slated to be transferred to Adelaide Zoo early next year, Perth Zoo said.
Asian small-clawed otters are the smallest of the world's 13 otter species, typically weighing just under 8 pounds (3.5 kilograms) when fully grown. They are native to freshwater streams, rivers, creeks and coastal regions in Indonesia, southern China, southern India, the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The species, which faces habitat loss in the wild, is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
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At 13 weeks old, the four male Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea) are healthy and starting to become more active and adventurous, the zoo reports. Photos of the otter pups showed the zoo's veterinary staff handling them during their 'physicals,' during which the 13-week-olds received their second vaccinations.
'The pups, born on June 19, have just started to venture out of their nest box and explore their exhibit, including testing the waters of their pool,' Western Australia's environment minister, Bill Marmion, said in a statement from the zoo.
The pups' parents, a female named Asia and a male named Tuan, both arrived at the Australian zoo last year as part of a breeding program.
'Asia and Tuan are doing a fantastic job raising the pups,' Marmion said. 'Typical for a male otter, Tuan has been observed nest building and taking food to the pups and is very watchful over his family.'
Another breeding otter couple, female Boo and male Doan, also had a litter of four pups about a month later, on July 7, at the zoo. Those young otters, two males and two females, are currently in an off-display breeding facility and are slated to be transferred to Adelaide Zoo early next year, Perth Zoo said.
Asian small-clawed otters are the smallest of the world's 13 otter species, typically weighing just under 8 pounds (3.5 kilograms) when fully grown. They are native to freshwater streams, rivers, creeks and coastal regions in Indonesia, southern China, southern India, the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The species, which faces habitat loss in the wild, is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.
- Image Gallery: Otter Pups Get a Checkup
- Album: The World's Cutest Sea Creatures
- World's Cutest Baby Wild Animals
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Monday, September 17, 2012
White Sox bolster playoff hopes with win over Tigers
(Reuters) - The Chicago White Sox scored a pair of runs thanks to some hard-edged baserunning by Alex Rios to beat the visiting Detroit Tigers 5-4 on Monday and increase their American League Central lead to three games.
The win improved the White Sox to 80-66 and dropped the second-place Tigers to 77-69 with 16 games left in the 2012 Major League Baseball season.
Playing a make-up date for a game rained out last week, the Tigers led 4-3 going into the bottom of the fifth inning.
Chicago loaded the bases on a single by Adam Dunn, a double by Paul Konerko and a walk to Rios, and after a lineout by A.J. Pierzynski, Dayan Viciedo hit a one-out grounder to short that looked destined to become an inning-ending double play.
Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta fielded it and flipped to Omar Infante covering second, but the speedy Rios got a great break off first and slid hard into Infante, who bounced his throw past first baseman Prince Fielder allowing two runs to score that put Chicago ahead.
It was the second time the White Sox had answered the Tigers with a quick comeback.
Detroit jumped to a 3-0 lead in the third inning on a run-scoring single by Austin Jackson and a two-run by Delmon Young off Chicago left-hander Jose Quintana.
The White Sox responded in the fourth with three runs after loading the bases with one out. Detroit starter Doug Fister hit Gordon Beckham with a pitch to force one run in and Dwyane Wise singled to right to drive in two more to tie it 3-3.
Another RBI-single by Young drove in Miguel Cabrera in the fifth to make it 4-3 Tigers before Infante's error after the hard slide by Rios swung the game back in Chicago's favor.
Chicago rookie manager Robin Ventura used three pitchers in the ninth and Brett Myers, Matt Thornton and Addison Reed retired Detroit in order.
Reliever Nate Jones (8-0) got the win, and Fister (9-9) took the loss, while Reed registered his 27th save.
(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York, Editing by Frank Pingue)
The win improved the White Sox to 80-66 and dropped the second-place Tigers to 77-69 with 16 games left in the 2012 Major League Baseball season.
Playing a make-up date for a game rained out last week, the Tigers led 4-3 going into the bottom of the fifth inning.
Chicago loaded the bases on a single by Adam Dunn, a double by Paul Konerko and a walk to Rios, and after a lineout by A.J. Pierzynski, Dayan Viciedo hit a one-out grounder to short that looked destined to become an inning-ending double play.
Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta fielded it and flipped to Omar Infante covering second, but the speedy Rios got a great break off first and slid hard into Infante, who bounced his throw past first baseman Prince Fielder allowing two runs to score that put Chicago ahead.
It was the second time the White Sox had answered the Tigers with a quick comeback.
Detroit jumped to a 3-0 lead in the third inning on a run-scoring single by Austin Jackson and a two-run by Delmon Young off Chicago left-hander Jose Quintana.
The White Sox responded in the fourth with three runs after loading the bases with one out. Detroit starter Doug Fister hit Gordon Beckham with a pitch to force one run in and Dwyane Wise singled to right to drive in two more to tie it 3-3.
Another RBI-single by Young drove in Miguel Cabrera in the fifth to make it 4-3 Tigers before Infante's error after the hard slide by Rios swung the game back in Chicago's favor.
Chicago rookie manager Robin Ventura used three pitchers in the ninth and Brett Myers, Matt Thornton and Addison Reed retired Detroit in order.
Reliever Nate Jones (8-0) got the win, and Fister (9-9) took the loss, while Reed registered his 27th save.
(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York, Editing by Frank Pingue)
Cub born to giant panda at National Zoo
WASHINGTON (AP) - A giant panda at Washington's zoo surprised scientists and zookeepers by becoming a mom again after years of failed pregnancies.
Scientists at the zoo had all but given up on 14-year-old Mei Xiang's chances of conceiving, but they were watching the panda for a possible cub nonetheless after she was artificially inseminated earlier this year. She gave birth late Sunday, her first cub since 2005.
Like all newborn pandas, the cub is pink, hairless and about the size of a stick of butter. Officials will follow Chinese custom and give it a name after 100 days.
Four American zoos have pandas, but Washington's pandas have special significance. The zoo was given its first set of pandas in 1972 as a gift from China to commemorate President Richard Nixon's historic visit to the country.
Mei Xiang and her mate Tian Tian, were born in China and are the second pair of pandas to live at the zoo. They're treated like royalty, and any offspring gets immediate star status.
'There's something very special here with our pandas,' said giant panda curator Brandie Smith. 'Everyone is part of our family. We, Washington, D.C., have had a baby panda cub.'
Mei Xiang gave birth to her first and only other cub, a male named Tai Shan, in 2005. Since 2007, zoo officials have had five unsuccessful attempts at artificially inseminating Mei Xiang. Each time, she went through what is called a 'pseudopregnancy,' building a nest and experiencing high hormone levels. But each time there was no cub.
Scientists at the zoo worried she had become infertile and believed there was a less than a 10 percent chance she would become pregnant after so many failed attempts. As a result, they had considered replacing Mei Xiang or 15-year-old Tian Tian with other pandas.
Still, there was hope.
Laurie Thompson, one of the about half a dozen panda keepers at the zoo, said each of the keepers gave Mei Xiang a pep talk.
'I know you can do this. You need to prove them wrong. You need to have a baby this year,' she said she told Mei Xiang, who she has worked with since 2000.
Thompson said she got a telephone call Sunday night from another keeper. 'I think I hear a panda cub,' the keeper said. A small group then got on their computers to watch the zoo's panda cam. Sure enough, there was the unmistakable bird-like screech of a cub.
For now, keepers said, Mei Xiang is doing well and responding to the cub's fussy grunt and high-pitched squeal. So far, there have only been fleeting glances of the cub and it's not clear what sex it is. But keepers will continue to watch the two on camera, the same view the public has online, and won't step in unless necessary.
Keepers will likely do their first exam in three to four weeks, and it will be several months before the public can see the cub in person.
Zoo director Dennis Kelly said officials expect the newborn will bring an additional 250,000 to 500,000 visitors to the zoo over the next year. That's on top of the 2 million visitors the zoo already receives annually.
Under an agreement with the Chinese government, zoo officials can keep the cub for four years before it has to go back to China, just as its older brother Tai Shan did in 2010.
Still, there's some danger for the cub, especially in the next two weeks. Pandas have accidentally crushed their small cubs. And the zoo's first panda couple, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, had five cubs, but none of them survived more than a few days.
Zoo officials said this cub's cries sound strong, however. They plan to name it Dec. 24.
For now, however, there's a glow of amazement after 'hoping and hoping and hoping for all these years,' said Marty Dearie, another zoo panda keeper. There are only a few hundred pandas in captivity and about 1,600 left in the wild.
'We're excited and in disbelief all at the same time,' Dearie said.
___
Online:
The zoo's online panda camera: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/default.cfm?cam=LP2
This article is brought to you by MATCHMAKING.
Scientists at the zoo had all but given up on 14-year-old Mei Xiang's chances of conceiving, but they were watching the panda for a possible cub nonetheless after she was artificially inseminated earlier this year. She gave birth late Sunday, her first cub since 2005.
Like all newborn pandas, the cub is pink, hairless and about the size of a stick of butter. Officials will follow Chinese custom and give it a name after 100 days.
Four American zoos have pandas, but Washington's pandas have special significance. The zoo was given its first set of pandas in 1972 as a gift from China to commemorate President Richard Nixon's historic visit to the country.
Mei Xiang and her mate Tian Tian, were born in China and are the second pair of pandas to live at the zoo. They're treated like royalty, and any offspring gets immediate star status.
'There's something very special here with our pandas,' said giant panda curator Brandie Smith. 'Everyone is part of our family. We, Washington, D.C., have had a baby panda cub.'
Mei Xiang gave birth to her first and only other cub, a male named Tai Shan, in 2005. Since 2007, zoo officials have had five unsuccessful attempts at artificially inseminating Mei Xiang. Each time, she went through what is called a 'pseudopregnancy,' building a nest and experiencing high hormone levels. But each time there was no cub.
Scientists at the zoo worried she had become infertile and believed there was a less than a 10 percent chance she would become pregnant after so many failed attempts. As a result, they had considered replacing Mei Xiang or 15-year-old Tian Tian with other pandas.
Still, there was hope.
Laurie Thompson, one of the about half a dozen panda keepers at the zoo, said each of the keepers gave Mei Xiang a pep talk.
'I know you can do this. You need to prove them wrong. You need to have a baby this year,' she said she told Mei Xiang, who she has worked with since 2000.
Thompson said she got a telephone call Sunday night from another keeper. 'I think I hear a panda cub,' the keeper said. A small group then got on their computers to watch the zoo's panda cam. Sure enough, there was the unmistakable bird-like screech of a cub.
For now, keepers said, Mei Xiang is doing well and responding to the cub's fussy grunt and high-pitched squeal. So far, there have only been fleeting glances of the cub and it's not clear what sex it is. But keepers will continue to watch the two on camera, the same view the public has online, and won't step in unless necessary.
Keepers will likely do their first exam in three to four weeks, and it will be several months before the public can see the cub in person.
Zoo director Dennis Kelly said officials expect the newborn will bring an additional 250,000 to 500,000 visitors to the zoo over the next year. That's on top of the 2 million visitors the zoo already receives annually.
Under an agreement with the Chinese government, zoo officials can keep the cub for four years before it has to go back to China, just as its older brother Tai Shan did in 2010.
Still, there's some danger for the cub, especially in the next two weeks. Pandas have accidentally crushed their small cubs. And the zoo's first panda couple, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, had five cubs, but none of them survived more than a few days.
Zoo officials said this cub's cries sound strong, however. They plan to name it Dec. 24.
For now, however, there's a glow of amazement after 'hoping and hoping and hoping for all these years,' said Marty Dearie, another zoo panda keeper. There are only a few hundred pandas in captivity and about 1,600 left in the wild.
'We're excited and in disbelief all at the same time,' Dearie said.
___
Online:
The zoo's online panda camera: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/default.cfm?cam=LP2
This article is brought to you by MATCHMAKING.
A cub is born to giant panda at National Zoo
WASHINGTON (AP) - A giant panda at the Smithsonian's National Zoo is a mother for the second time, giving birth to a cub after years of failed pregnancies.
Scientists at the zoo had all but given up on Mei Xiang's chances of conceiving, but late Sunday, the 14-year-old Panda gave birth to a hairless cub that is about the size of a stick of butter. The next few days will be critical and the newborn, as part of Chinese tradition, will be named when it is 100 days old.
Just four zoos in the U.S. have pandas, and Washington's pandas have special significance. They were the nation's first set of pandas in 1972, a gift from China to commemorate President Richard Nixon's historic visit to the country.
The current panda couple, Mei Xiang and her mate Tian Tian, are only the second pair of pandas to live at the zoo. They're treated like royalty, and any offspring gets immediate star status.
'There's something very special here with our pandas,' giant panda curator Brandie Smith. 'Everyone is part of our family. We, Washington, D.C., have had a baby panda cub.'
Mei Xiang gave birth to her first cub, a male named Tai Shan, in 2005. Zoo officials tried artificially inseminating her five times since 2007. Each time, Mei Xiang went through what is called a 'pseudopregnancy,' building a nest and experiencing high hormone levels. But each time there was no cub.
Scientists at the zoo worried she had become infertile and believed there was a less than a 10 percent chance she would become pregnant after so many failed attempts. As a result, they had considered replacing Mei Xiang or 15-year-old Tian Tian with other pandas.
Still, there was hope and they attempted artificial insemination again this year.
'Every year I believe with all my might that this is the year,' said Smith, who has been at the zoo for the last four years.
Smith said she got a call from one of the keepers Sunday at 10:47 p.m. 'I think I hear a panda cub,' the keeper said. Smith and several others then got on their computers to watch the zoo's panda cam. Sure enough, there was the unmistakable bird-like screech of a cub.
Keepers had blocked off the panda exhibit weeks ago, hoping to keep the area quiet for their possibly-expectant mother. An incubator has been running for weeks just in case the cub needed to be hand raised.
For now, Mei Xiang is doing well and responding to the cub's cries. Keepers will continue to watch the two on camera, the same view the public has online. They've so far only gotten fleeting glances of the cub.
Keepers will likely do their first exam in three to four weeks, and it will be four to five months before the public can see the cub in person.
Still, there's some danger. Pandas have accidentally crushed their small cubs. And the first panda couple to live at the zoo, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, had five cubs, but none of them survived more than a few days.
The new cub will be named Dec. 24. Under an agreement with the Chinese government, zoo officials can keep the cub for four years before it has to go back to China.
For now, however, there's a glow of amazement after 'hoping and hoping and hoping for all these years,' said Marty Dearie, one of about half a dozen panda keepers at the zoo.
'We're excited and in disbelief all at the same time,' Dearie said.
___
Online:
The zoo's online panda camera: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/default.cfm?cam=LP2
This article is brought to you by ONLINE DATING.
Scientists at the zoo had all but given up on Mei Xiang's chances of conceiving, but late Sunday, the 14-year-old Panda gave birth to a hairless cub that is about the size of a stick of butter. The next few days will be critical and the newborn, as part of Chinese tradition, will be named when it is 100 days old.
Just four zoos in the U.S. have pandas, and Washington's pandas have special significance. They were the nation's first set of pandas in 1972, a gift from China to commemorate President Richard Nixon's historic visit to the country.
The current panda couple, Mei Xiang and her mate Tian Tian, are only the second pair of pandas to live at the zoo. They're treated like royalty, and any offspring gets immediate star status.
'There's something very special here with our pandas,' giant panda curator Brandie Smith. 'Everyone is part of our family. We, Washington, D.C., have had a baby panda cub.'
Mei Xiang gave birth to her first cub, a male named Tai Shan, in 2005. Zoo officials tried artificially inseminating her five times since 2007. Each time, Mei Xiang went through what is called a 'pseudopregnancy,' building a nest and experiencing high hormone levels. But each time there was no cub.
Scientists at the zoo worried she had become infertile and believed there was a less than a 10 percent chance she would become pregnant after so many failed attempts. As a result, they had considered replacing Mei Xiang or 15-year-old Tian Tian with other pandas.
Still, there was hope and they attempted artificial insemination again this year.
'Every year I believe with all my might that this is the year,' said Smith, who has been at the zoo for the last four years.
Smith said she got a call from one of the keepers Sunday at 10:47 p.m. 'I think I hear a panda cub,' the keeper said. Smith and several others then got on their computers to watch the zoo's panda cam. Sure enough, there was the unmistakable bird-like screech of a cub.
Keepers had blocked off the panda exhibit weeks ago, hoping to keep the area quiet for their possibly-expectant mother. An incubator has been running for weeks just in case the cub needed to be hand raised.
For now, Mei Xiang is doing well and responding to the cub's cries. Keepers will continue to watch the two on camera, the same view the public has online. They've so far only gotten fleeting glances of the cub.
Keepers will likely do their first exam in three to four weeks, and it will be four to five months before the public can see the cub in person.
Still, there's some danger. Pandas have accidentally crushed their small cubs. And the first panda couple to live at the zoo, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, had five cubs, but none of them survived more than a few days.
The new cub will be named Dec. 24. Under an agreement with the Chinese government, zoo officials can keep the cub for four years before it has to go back to China.
For now, however, there's a glow of amazement after 'hoping and hoping and hoping for all these years,' said Marty Dearie, one of about half a dozen panda keepers at the zoo.
'We're excited and in disbelief all at the same time,' Dearie said.
___
Online:
The zoo's online panda camera: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/default.cfm?cam=LP2
This article is brought to you by ONLINE DATING.
Giant Panda Gives Birth at National Zoo
The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C., has some exciting news: Its female giant panda, Mei Xiang, has given birth to a cub.
Zookepers have not been able to get up close to the newborn, but based on Mei Xiang's behavior and the sounds observed in webcam footage, they believe the baby was born at about 10:46 p.m. ET on Sunday (Sept. 16).
'She is cradling her cub closely, and she looks so tired, but every time she tries to lay down, the cub squawks and she sits right up and cradles the cub more closely,' the zoo's chief veterinarian Suzan Murray said in a statement. 'She is the poster child for a perfect panda mom.'
The zookeepers are staying at a safe distance from the mom and baby, because they want Mei Xiang to raise her cub naturally. It could be a few weeks before the 14-year-old female leaves her baby alone long enough for the zoo's veterinary team to give the furball a brief checkup and determine its sex. The cub's birth comes seven years after Tai Shan, the zoo's only prior cub, was born to Mei Xiang in 2005. He was moved to China in 2010. [Fun Facts About Giant Pandas]
It's difficult to breed pandas in captivity. Females are fertile just one or two days a year, and attempts to coax a panda pair to mate naturally during that short window often fail. Moreover, it's tough to know the success of artificial insemination until a cub appears. Female pandas almost always undergo a false pregnancy after they ovulate, but don't conceive; the pseudo pregnancy mimics the real thing, as the pandas sleep a lot, make bamboo nests and show a spike in hormone levels.
Mei Xiang had been artificially inseminated on April 29 and 30 with sperm from the zoo's adult male, Tian Tian. The panda parents are on loan to the United States from China until 2015. As only 1,600 giant pandas are left in the wild, captive breeding is an important way for scientists to study and conserve the endangered species.
Across the country, the San Diego Zoo also welcomed a new panda cub this year. The baby boy was the sixth cub born to the zoo's female Bai Yun and zookeepers have reported that he is healthy and just started opening his eyes.
This news article is brought to you by ANIMALS AND PETS - where latest news are our top priority.
Zookepers have not been able to get up close to the newborn, but based on Mei Xiang's behavior and the sounds observed in webcam footage, they believe the baby was born at about 10:46 p.m. ET on Sunday (Sept. 16).
'She is cradling her cub closely, and she looks so tired, but every time she tries to lay down, the cub squawks and she sits right up and cradles the cub more closely,' the zoo's chief veterinarian Suzan Murray said in a statement. 'She is the poster child for a perfect panda mom.'
The zookeepers are staying at a safe distance from the mom and baby, because they want Mei Xiang to raise her cub naturally. It could be a few weeks before the 14-year-old female leaves her baby alone long enough for the zoo's veterinary team to give the furball a brief checkup and determine its sex. The cub's birth comes seven years after Tai Shan, the zoo's only prior cub, was born to Mei Xiang in 2005. He was moved to China in 2010. [Fun Facts About Giant Pandas]
It's difficult to breed pandas in captivity. Females are fertile just one or two days a year, and attempts to coax a panda pair to mate naturally during that short window often fail. Moreover, it's tough to know the success of artificial insemination until a cub appears. Female pandas almost always undergo a false pregnancy after they ovulate, but don't conceive; the pseudo pregnancy mimics the real thing, as the pandas sleep a lot, make bamboo nests and show a spike in hormone levels.
Mei Xiang had been artificially inseminated on April 29 and 30 with sperm from the zoo's adult male, Tian Tian. The panda parents are on loan to the United States from China until 2015. As only 1,600 giant pandas are left in the wild, captive breeding is an important way for scientists to study and conserve the endangered species.
Across the country, the San Diego Zoo also welcomed a new panda cub this year. The baby boy was the sixth cub born to the zoo's female Bai Yun and zookeepers have reported that he is healthy and just started opening his eyes.
- World's Cutest Baby Wild Animals
- Butter Balls: Photos of Playful Pandas
- Camera Trapped: Pandas & Wonderful Wildlife
This news article is brought to you by ANIMALS AND PETS - where latest news are our top priority.
Soccer-Armadillo follows Footix, Naranjito as World Cup mascot
RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Spain had Naranjito the smiling orange in 1982, France Footix the football playing rooster in '98, now Brazil have chosen an endangered armadillo as the mascot for the 2014 World Cup.
FIFA said the mascot, unveiled by former Brazil striker Ronaldo during a television programme late on Sunday, represented the three-banded armadillo, an endangered species indigenous to Brazil.
While nature's version is light brown in colour, FIFA's mascot is yellow with green eyes and a blue shell, the colours of the Brazilian flag, and will be holding aloft a football.
Other mascots over the years include 'Zakumi' the leopard from South Africa 2010, 'Pique' the chillipepper from Mexico 1986, and a lion named 'World Cup Willie' from England in 1966.
'The mascot will play a key ambassadorial role in the next two years,' said Ronaldo, who played in three World Cups and was an unused squad member in 1994, on Brazilian television.
'I'm sure he will inspire many young football fans in Brazil and all over the world with the great passion which he has for the sport and for his country.'
Three-banded armadillos live mainly in Brazil's arid northeast and are threatened by habitat destruction. They are unusual among armadillos in that they can roll up into a ball to defend themselves from predators.
'The fact that the three-banded armadillo is a vulnerable species is very fitting,' said FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke.
'One of the key objectives through the 2014 World Cup is to use the event as a platform to communicate the importance of the environment and ecology.
'We are glad to be able to do so with the help of a mascot who I'm sure will be much-loved, not only in Brazil, but all over the world.'
FIFA said a vote would be held to choose the mascot's name.
'The mascot is one of the key visuals of a FIFA World Cup, providing FIFA, the LOC (local organising committee) and other stakeholders with a strong and exciting brand asset through which promotional campaigns can be activated and target audiences can be engaged,' added FIFA in a statement. (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
This news article is brought to you by DATING AND RELATIONSHIP ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
FIFA said the mascot, unveiled by former Brazil striker Ronaldo during a television programme late on Sunday, represented the three-banded armadillo, an endangered species indigenous to Brazil.
While nature's version is light brown in colour, FIFA's mascot is yellow with green eyes and a blue shell, the colours of the Brazilian flag, and will be holding aloft a football.
Other mascots over the years include 'Zakumi' the leopard from South Africa 2010, 'Pique' the chillipepper from Mexico 1986, and a lion named 'World Cup Willie' from England in 1966.
'The mascot will play a key ambassadorial role in the next two years,' said Ronaldo, who played in three World Cups and was an unused squad member in 1994, on Brazilian television.
'I'm sure he will inspire many young football fans in Brazil and all over the world with the great passion which he has for the sport and for his country.'
Three-banded armadillos live mainly in Brazil's arid northeast and are threatened by habitat destruction. They are unusual among armadillos in that they can roll up into a ball to defend themselves from predators.
'The fact that the three-banded armadillo is a vulnerable species is very fitting,' said FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke.
'One of the key objectives through the 2014 World Cup is to use the event as a platform to communicate the importance of the environment and ecology.
'We are glad to be able to do so with the help of a mascot who I'm sure will be much-loved, not only in Brazil, but all over the world.'
FIFA said a vote would be held to choose the mascot's name.
'The mascot is one of the key visuals of a FIFA World Cup, providing FIFA, the LOC (local organising committee) and other stakeholders with a strong and exciting brand asset through which promotional campaigns can be activated and target audiences can be engaged,' added FIFA in a statement. (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
This news article is brought to you by DATING AND RELATIONSHIP ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Panda Cub Opens Eyes at San Diego Zoo
This news article is brought to you by PARENTING KIDS - where latest news are our top priority.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Russia's Vladimir Putin admits wildlife stunts are staged
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted that some of his most famous media adventures with wildlife have been carefully staged but has said they were worthwhile because they drew the public's attention to important conservation projects.
His macho appearances with everything from tigers to whales have been a staple of Russian state TV for years, cementing his image as a man of action but drawing mockery from critics who have likened them to Soviet-style propaganda.
Although Putin's spokesman has previously revealed that at least one of the stunts was a set-up, Putin until now has appeared to play along with the exercises, allowing state media to present them as they seem rather than how they really are.
But in a rare meeting with a Kremlin critic after his latest wildlife stunt - taking to the skies in a light aircraft with a group of cranes last week - Putin admitted he had often taken part in media exercises which were carefully staged.
Sometimes, he said the stunts had been over the top.
'Of course, there are excesses. And I am enraged about it,' he told Masha Gessen, a journalist and Putin critic whom he had invited for a meeting in the Kremlin after she was sacked from her job editing a travel magazine for refusing to send reporters to cover the crane flight.
She wrote an account of her meeting with the president in Bolshoi Gorod magazine.
'But I thought up these tigers myself. Twenty other countries where tigers live, also started taking care of them,' she quoted him as saying, referring to an incident four years ago when he was shown shooting a tiger with a tranquilizer gun that looked like it was poised to attack someone.
Environmentalists later suggested the tiger had been driven in from a zoo for Putin to shoot for the TV cameras.
'The leopards were also my idea,' Putin was quoted as saying. 'Yes, I know, they were caught before but the most important thing is to draw public attention to the problem.'
He was apparently referring to an episode in 2011 when he was shown tagging and releasing a rare and injured snow leopard. Environmentalists again said it had been brought in specially.
'OF COURSE IT WAS A SET UP'
'Everything I do in this area (wildlife conservation) should have nothing to do with politics. But for a man in my position it is very difficult,' Putin said.
Putin also admitted that a stunt last year for which he donned a wet suit and dove to the bottom of the Black Sea to apparently discover ancient amphorae was also not what it seemed.
'Why did I dive? Not to show my gills off but to make sure people learn history. Of course it was a set up,' the journalist quoted Putin as saying.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where Putin is spending a few days this week, that Gessen had provided 'a correct account of the meeting except for some insignificant details.'
Putin's summons to Gessen appeared to be an attempt to mediate in her dispute with her former employer.
She said that Putin, flanked by the magazine's owner, asked her whether she really wanted to have her job back or whether she was comfortable with the role of 'a persecuted journalist' in which case the conversation did not make sense.
Gessen wrote that she had refused to accept Putin's offer to take her old job back, saying she did not want to work in a magazine where an editor-in-chief is appointed by Putin. However, Peskov said that Gessen had initially agreed to take her old job back only to change her mind the following day.
(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
(This story removes erroneous reference to meeting in Kremlin cafeteria in paragraph 6)
This news article is brought to you by SEXUAL HEALTH NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
His macho appearances with everything from tigers to whales have been a staple of Russian state TV for years, cementing his image as a man of action but drawing mockery from critics who have likened them to Soviet-style propaganda.
Although Putin's spokesman has previously revealed that at least one of the stunts was a set-up, Putin until now has appeared to play along with the exercises, allowing state media to present them as they seem rather than how they really are.
But in a rare meeting with a Kremlin critic after his latest wildlife stunt - taking to the skies in a light aircraft with a group of cranes last week - Putin admitted he had often taken part in media exercises which were carefully staged.
Sometimes, he said the stunts had been over the top.
'Of course, there are excesses. And I am enraged about it,' he told Masha Gessen, a journalist and Putin critic whom he had invited for a meeting in the Kremlin after she was sacked from her job editing a travel magazine for refusing to send reporters to cover the crane flight.
She wrote an account of her meeting with the president in Bolshoi Gorod magazine.
'But I thought up these tigers myself. Twenty other countries where tigers live, also started taking care of them,' she quoted him as saying, referring to an incident four years ago when he was shown shooting a tiger with a tranquilizer gun that looked like it was poised to attack someone.
Environmentalists later suggested the tiger had been driven in from a zoo for Putin to shoot for the TV cameras.
'The leopards were also my idea,' Putin was quoted as saying. 'Yes, I know, they were caught before but the most important thing is to draw public attention to the problem.'
He was apparently referring to an episode in 2011 when he was shown tagging and releasing a rare and injured snow leopard. Environmentalists again said it had been brought in specially.
'OF COURSE IT WAS A SET UP'
'Everything I do in this area (wildlife conservation) should have nothing to do with politics. But for a man in my position it is very difficult,' Putin said.
Putin also admitted that a stunt last year for which he donned a wet suit and dove to the bottom of the Black Sea to apparently discover ancient amphorae was also not what it seemed.
'Why did I dive? Not to show my gills off but to make sure people learn history. Of course it was a set up,' the journalist quoted Putin as saying.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where Putin is spending a few days this week, that Gessen had provided 'a correct account of the meeting except for some insignificant details.'
Putin's summons to Gessen appeared to be an attempt to mediate in her dispute with her former employer.
She said that Putin, flanked by the magazine's owner, asked her whether she really wanted to have her job back or whether she was comfortable with the role of 'a persecuted journalist' in which case the conversation did not make sense.
Gessen wrote that she had refused to accept Putin's offer to take her old job back, saying she did not want to work in a magazine where an editor-in-chief is appointed by Putin. However, Peskov said that Gessen had initially agreed to take her old job back only to change her mind the following day.
(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
(This story removes erroneous reference to meeting in Kremlin cafeteria in paragraph 6)
This news article is brought to you by SEXUAL HEALTH NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
South Korean designer finds purrfect way for cats to share sofa
SEOUL (Reuters) - Living in a cramped urban apartment with a feline friend and wary of letting him or her sink their claws into your furnishings?
A Korean designer may have the answer with his 'Cat Tunnel Sofa,' an ingenious combination of human sofa and tubular tunnels for a cat to clamber through while its owner relaxes.
The sofa combines modern industrial type design with a bent tube running from the floor in one corner to the arm rest in the other for cats to play in. There's a slot cut in the tube at the rear of the sofa for cats to poke their head through.
'When the cats first saw the sofa, they instinctively went into the tunnel as if they knew it was for them,' said Seungji Mun, the designer of the sofa and a dog owner himself.
With 19.2 million households in South Korea home to pets, according to government figures, and more than half the country's 50 million people crammed into conurbations around the capital Seoul, space is at a premium and apartments are cramped.
'It's a living room where people spend most of their time together with their pets, not their room. I thought the sofa could be a place for communication between pets and their owners,' said the 22-year-old designer, who will market the product in 2013.
The 'Cat Tunnel Sofa' was Mun's graduation project with two other designers Yongjeh Park and Kangkyoung Lee. But it's likely the dog-lover will put his 'Dog House Sofa' on the market before moving into feline furnishings.
'I love animals so I put myself in their place, wondering what would intrigue them,' said Mun.
(Reporting By Jane Chung, Editing by Elaine Lies and Michael Perry)
This news article is brought to you by PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
A Korean designer may have the answer with his 'Cat Tunnel Sofa,' an ingenious combination of human sofa and tubular tunnels for a cat to clamber through while its owner relaxes.
The sofa combines modern industrial type design with a bent tube running from the floor in one corner to the arm rest in the other for cats to play in. There's a slot cut in the tube at the rear of the sofa for cats to poke their head through.
'When the cats first saw the sofa, they instinctively went into the tunnel as if they knew it was for them,' said Seungji Mun, the designer of the sofa and a dog owner himself.
With 19.2 million households in South Korea home to pets, according to government figures, and more than half the country's 50 million people crammed into conurbations around the capital Seoul, space is at a premium and apartments are cramped.
'It's a living room where people spend most of their time together with their pets, not their room. I thought the sofa could be a place for communication between pets and their owners,' said the 22-year-old designer, who will market the product in 2013.
The 'Cat Tunnel Sofa' was Mun's graduation project with two other designers Yongjeh Park and Kangkyoung Lee. But it's likely the dog-lover will put his 'Dog House Sofa' on the market before moving into feline furnishings.
'I love animals so I put myself in their place, wondering what would intrigue them,' said Mun.
(Reporting By Jane Chung, Editing by Elaine Lies and Michael Perry)
This news article is brought to you by PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Elephants play truant from Copenhagen circus
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Two elephants said goodbye to the circus and took a walk along a Copenhagen street packed with rush-hour traffic on Wednesday, one following the other with trunk linked to tail.
Sonia, 31, and Vana Mana, 41, star turns at the Circus Benneweis, strolled down the multi-lane Borups Alle in the Danish capital for about 200 meters before their trainer caught up with them.
'They were walking past the morning traffic trunk-to-tail,' a police officer told Danish news agency Ritzau.
Police blocked the road so the tuskers could return to the circus site unhurt.
'Nobody was hurt, so it was just two elephants out for a stroll,' the police officer said.
(Reporting by Kristian Mortensen; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
This article is brought to you by SINGLES.
Sonia, 31, and Vana Mana, 41, star turns at the Circus Benneweis, strolled down the multi-lane Borups Alle in the Danish capital for about 200 meters before their trainer caught up with them.
'They were walking past the morning traffic trunk-to-tail,' a police officer told Danish news agency Ritzau.
Police blocked the road so the tuskers could return to the circus site unhurt.
'Nobody was hurt, so it was just two elephants out for a stroll,' the police officer said.
(Reporting by Kristian Mortensen; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
This article is brought to you by SINGLES.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Gilles Marini & Peta Murgatroyd Ready To 'Compete For Real' On DWTS: All-Stars
Peta Murgatroyd won 'Dancing with the Stars' last season with partner Donald Driver, and she knows she's in for another run for the title with her Season 15 All-Star partner Gilles Marini.
'I truly believe that he can make it to the finals again,' Peta said as she and Gilles visited Access Hollywood Live on Tuesday. 'Although, this competition is so much tougher this time because everyone's been there before, everyone knows what it's like, they know the ins and outs, they know what it takes to get there. But, he definitely has it. He's working really hard and it's going to be good.'
PLAY IT NOW: What Is Gilles Marini's Biggest Nightmare For Dancing With The Stars: All-Stars?
Gilles' season of 'Dancing' - the show's eighth -- was won by gymnast Shawn Johnson. Shawn is back again to compete for the mirrorball, but now that she's older, Gilles said he'll have no mercy for his competitor.
'She was 17 when she won, so I really [wanted] her to win... Now she's 20, so... no pity. Let's do it. Now, let's compete for real,' he said.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Sexy 'Dancing With The Stars: All-Stars' Pairs Photos
The road ahead isn't easy, especially as Gilles recently had foot surgery.
'I stuck a needle in my toe and broke the toe. I stepped on a needle,' he said of stepping on a sewing needle in his home.
Still, one thing making it easier is having a gorgeous partner, something he first realized when they met at the photo shoot for the Season 15 cast pics.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: 'Dancing's' Marvelous Maksim Chmerkovskiy
'That was the first time I've seen Peta and she wears pretty much nothing. I'm like, 'It's going to be a great season,'' he laughed.
Gilles is happily married, and it appears Peta's boyfriend, fellow 'DWTS' pro, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, is also smitten with his girl, so much so, he stops by rehearsals - a lot.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Gilles Marini: From 'Sex & The City' To 'Dancing' Superstar
'Maks has been great. He actually has been coming to the rehearsal room quite a bit,' Gilles said.
'Dancing with the Stars' premieres September 24 at 8/7c on ABC.
-- Jolie Lash
Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING SITES.
'I truly believe that he can make it to the finals again,' Peta said as she and Gilles visited Access Hollywood Live on Tuesday. 'Although, this competition is so much tougher this time because everyone's been there before, everyone knows what it's like, they know the ins and outs, they know what it takes to get there. But, he definitely has it. He's working really hard and it's going to be good.'
PLAY IT NOW: What Is Gilles Marini's Biggest Nightmare For Dancing With The Stars: All-Stars?
Gilles' season of 'Dancing' - the show's eighth -- was won by gymnast Shawn Johnson. Shawn is back again to compete for the mirrorball, but now that she's older, Gilles said he'll have no mercy for his competitor.
'She was 17 when she won, so I really [wanted] her to win... Now she's 20, so... no pity. Let's do it. Now, let's compete for real,' he said.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Sexy 'Dancing With The Stars: All-Stars' Pairs Photos
The road ahead isn't easy, especially as Gilles recently had foot surgery.
'I stuck a needle in my toe and broke the toe. I stepped on a needle,' he said of stepping on a sewing needle in his home.
Still, one thing making it easier is having a gorgeous partner, something he first realized when they met at the photo shoot for the Season 15 cast pics.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: 'Dancing's' Marvelous Maksim Chmerkovskiy
'That was the first time I've seen Peta and she wears pretty much nothing. I'm like, 'It's going to be a great season,'' he laughed.
Gilles is happily married, and it appears Peta's boyfriend, fellow 'DWTS' pro, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, is also smitten with his girl, so much so, he stops by rehearsals - a lot.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Gilles Marini: From 'Sex & The City' To 'Dancing' Superstar
'Maks has been great. He actually has been coming to the rehearsal room quite a bit,' Gilles said.
'Dancing with the Stars' premieres September 24 at 8/7c on ABC.
-- Jolie Lash
Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING SITES.
Monday, September 10, 2012
How Humans and Tigers Can Coexist
Click here to listen to this podcast
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright in the forests of the night. Immortal though those William Blake lines may be, tigers actually used to go pretty much where they wanted, when they wanted. But new research suggests they've become far more the nocturnal creatures of Blake's poem.
Why? To keep away from us. Or at least share the landscape with the hairless, upright ape that has ascended to the top of the global food chain-there's very little we won't hunt down.
In Nepal camera traps have revealed that tigers and humans now walk literally the same paths through the forest-just at different times. Instead of roaming at will any hour of day or night, the tigers of this region have become creatures of darkness. When people retreat from the forest after a day of work, the tiger takes over.
The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Finding such an accommodation is vital if the last 3,000 or so remaining tigers worldwide are to be saved, especially as the world gets even more crowded with people. To save the big cat, we may just need to leave the forest when it's night.
-David Biello
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
© 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
This article is brought to you by DATING SERVICE.
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright in the forests of the night. Immortal though those William Blake lines may be, tigers actually used to go pretty much where they wanted, when they wanted. But new research suggests they've become far more the nocturnal creatures of Blake's poem.
Why? To keep away from us. Or at least share the landscape with the hairless, upright ape that has ascended to the top of the global food chain-there's very little we won't hunt down.
In Nepal camera traps have revealed that tigers and humans now walk literally the same paths through the forest-just at different times. Instead of roaming at will any hour of day or night, the tigers of this region have become creatures of darkness. When people retreat from the forest after a day of work, the tiger takes over.
The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Finding such an accommodation is vital if the last 3,000 or so remaining tigers worldwide are to be saved, especially as the world gets even more crowded with people. To save the big cat, we may just need to leave the forest when it's night.
-David Biello
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
© 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
This article is brought to you by DATING SERVICE.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
How Humans and Tigers Can Co-Exist
Click here to listen to this podcast
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright in the forests of the night. Immortal though those William Blake lines may be, tigers actually used to go pretty much where they wanted, when they wanted. But new research suggests they've become far more the nocturnal creatures of Blake's poem.
Why? To keep away from us. Or at least share the landscape with the hairless, upright ape that has ascended to the top of the global food chain-there's very little we won't hunt down.
In Nepal, camera traps have revealed that tigers and humans now walk literally the same paths through the forest-just at different times. Instead of roaming at will any hour of day or night, the tigers of this region have become creatures of darkness. When people retreat from the forest after a day of work, the tiger takes over.
The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Finding such an accommodation is vital if the last 3,000 or so remaining tigers worldwide are to be saved, especially as the world gets even more crowded with people. To save the big cat, we may just need to leave the forest when it's night.
-David Biello
Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
© 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
This news article is brought to you by SAVING MONEY BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright in the forests of the night. Immortal though those William Blake lines may be, tigers actually used to go pretty much where they wanted, when they wanted. But new research suggests they've become far more the nocturnal creatures of Blake's poem.
Why? To keep away from us. Or at least share the landscape with the hairless, upright ape that has ascended to the top of the global food chain-there's very little we won't hunt down.
In Nepal, camera traps have revealed that tigers and humans now walk literally the same paths through the forest-just at different times. Instead of roaming at will any hour of day or night, the tigers of this region have become creatures of darkness. When people retreat from the forest after a day of work, the tiger takes over.
The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Finding such an accommodation is vital if the last 3,000 or so remaining tigers worldwide are to be saved, especially as the world gets even more crowded with people. To save the big cat, we may just need to leave the forest when it's night.
-David Biello
Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
© 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
This news article is brought to you by SAVING MONEY BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Protected areas for wildlife expand to size of Russia
OSLO (Reuters) - Protected areas for wildlife have expanded worldwide to cover a land area the size of Russia in the past two decades, but far more parks and reserves are needed to meet a 2020 target, a study showed on Friday.
The sharp growth, as governments expanded existing areas and declared new ones, was needed to help slow a loss of animal and plant species and to conserve eco-systems which serve vital functions such as purifying water and storing greenhouse gases, it said.
'These rich natural areas are very important for people, who rely on them for food and clean water, climate regulation and reducing the impacts of natural disasters,' said Julia Marton-Lefevre, head of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The IUCN report, issued during a meeting of the organization in South Korea, said the areas protected had risen to 12.7 percent of the world's terrestrial area in 2010, or 17 million sq km (6.6 million sq miles), from 8.8 percent in 1990.
The United Nations has set a goal of protected areas reaching 17 percent of land area by 2020 - that would mean adding at least 6 million sq km (2.3 million sq miles) or an area about twice the size of Argentina or India, it said.
The area of the sea protected within national jurisdictions has risen more than four-fold to 4 percent, from 0.9 percent in 1990, but is also far short of a U.N. goal of 10 percent by 2020. Reaching the target would require adding marine areas the size of Australia.
Protected areas also vary widely in their effectiveness, according to the study by IUCN, which includes governments, scientists and activists.
'Some of the world's protected areas are properly managed but many, many of them aren't,' Trevor Sandwith, director of the IUCN's Global Protected Areas Programme, told Reuters.
One possible option to meet the U.N. target would be to recognize more of the land that is under the control of indigenous peoples as protected, he said. Indigenous peoples were often better at conserving territory than governments.
Sandwith said U.N. climate negotiations had failed to agree a financial reward for governments which protect rainforests, putting a brake on conservation efforts.
Trees soak up carbon as they grow and release it when they burn or rot. Deforestation, from the Amazon Basin to the Congo, may account for 17 percent of all greenhouse gases from human activities, according to some government estimates.
Talks on a new global deal to fight climate change, which may include forest carbon, are making slow progress. The United Nations' goal is to strike an agreement by 2015 which will come into effect in 2020.
(Reporting By Alister Doyle; Editing by Pravin Char)
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING SITES.
The sharp growth, as governments expanded existing areas and declared new ones, was needed to help slow a loss of animal and plant species and to conserve eco-systems which serve vital functions such as purifying water and storing greenhouse gases, it said.
'These rich natural areas are very important for people, who rely on them for food and clean water, climate regulation and reducing the impacts of natural disasters,' said Julia Marton-Lefevre, head of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The IUCN report, issued during a meeting of the organization in South Korea, said the areas protected had risen to 12.7 percent of the world's terrestrial area in 2010, or 17 million sq km (6.6 million sq miles), from 8.8 percent in 1990.
The United Nations has set a goal of protected areas reaching 17 percent of land area by 2020 - that would mean adding at least 6 million sq km (2.3 million sq miles) or an area about twice the size of Argentina or India, it said.
The area of the sea protected within national jurisdictions has risen more than four-fold to 4 percent, from 0.9 percent in 1990, but is also far short of a U.N. goal of 10 percent by 2020. Reaching the target would require adding marine areas the size of Australia.
Protected areas also vary widely in their effectiveness, according to the study by IUCN, which includes governments, scientists and activists.
'Some of the world's protected areas are properly managed but many, many of them aren't,' Trevor Sandwith, director of the IUCN's Global Protected Areas Programme, told Reuters.
One possible option to meet the U.N. target would be to recognize more of the land that is under the control of indigenous peoples as protected, he said. Indigenous peoples were often better at conserving territory than governments.
Sandwith said U.N. climate negotiations had failed to agree a financial reward for governments which protect rainforests, putting a brake on conservation efforts.
Trees soak up carbon as they grow and release it when they burn or rot. Deforestation, from the Amazon Basin to the Congo, may account for 17 percent of all greenhouse gases from human activities, according to some government estimates.
Talks on a new global deal to fight climate change, which may include forest carbon, are making slow progress. The United Nations' goal is to strike an agreement by 2015 which will come into effect in 2020.
(Reporting By Alister Doyle; Editing by Pravin Char)
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING SITES.
DMZ wildlife on agenda at environmental forum
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Efforts to preserve wildlife in the demilitarized zone that lies between heavily armed North and South Korea are on the agenda at a major environmental forum on South Korea's Jeju island.
Officials say more than 10,000 politicians, business leaders and scientists from nearly 200 countries will also discuss climate change and other environmental issues during the 10-day World Conservation Congress, which began Thursday.
The demilitarized zone is a 4-kilometer-wide (2.5-mile-wide) buffer between the Koreas and is home to many rare plants and animals. Officials say participants at the forum will discuss the threats wildlife in the area face. A Cornell University professor will also present a blueprint for a proposed DMZ peace park.
This news article is brought to you by WOMEN'S BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Officials say more than 10,000 politicians, business leaders and scientists from nearly 200 countries will also discuss climate change and other environmental issues during the 10-day World Conservation Congress, which began Thursday.
The demilitarized zone is a 4-kilometer-wide (2.5-mile-wide) buffer between the Koreas and is home to many rare plants and animals. Officials say participants at the forum will discuss the threats wildlife in the area face. A Cornell University professor will also present a blueprint for a proposed DMZ peace park.
This news article is brought to you by WOMEN'S BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Kevin McHale & His Super Cute Dog Stump For PETA's Pet Adoption Campaign
Kevin McHale has a busy schedule, playing senior high school student Artie on 'Glee,' but he took time recently to help out needy pets in shelters.
The 'Glee' star posed for a PETA ad campaign aimed at getting animals adopted, under the slogan, 'Adopt. Don't Buy.'
PLAY IT NOW: Matthew Morrison: Its 'It's So Great' Having Sarah Jessica Parker & Kate Hudson On Glee Season 4
The cute pup in the ad with the actor and singer is named Sophie, a cuddly cutie he found at a shelter, following the encouragement of his fellow 'Glee' castmates.
'I fostered her for a week to see how she worked on the 'Glee' set, and she worked out great,' he said in an interview with PETA. 'A few months later, she's still mine. I didn't bring her back, I kept her... It was kind of just a no brainer to do it.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Glee: Season 4
'There is somewhere else to look for pets and they need homes,' the longtime dog lover added, referring to pet shelters.
Click HERE to check out behind-the-scenes footage of Kevin and Sophie's PETA shoot.
-- Jolie Lash
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Gorgeous 'Glee' Gal Lea Michele
Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
This news article is brought to you by ADVANCED DATING ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
The 'Glee' star posed for a PETA ad campaign aimed at getting animals adopted, under the slogan, 'Adopt. Don't Buy.'
PLAY IT NOW: Matthew Morrison: Its 'It's So Great' Having Sarah Jessica Parker & Kate Hudson On Glee Season 4
The cute pup in the ad with the actor and singer is named Sophie, a cuddly cutie he found at a shelter, following the encouragement of his fellow 'Glee' castmates.
'I fostered her for a week to see how she worked on the 'Glee' set, and she worked out great,' he said in an interview with PETA. 'A few months later, she's still mine. I didn't bring her back, I kept her... It was kind of just a no brainer to do it.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Glee: Season 4
'There is somewhere else to look for pets and they need homes,' the longtime dog lover added, referring to pet shelters.
Click HERE to check out behind-the-scenes footage of Kevin and Sophie's PETA shoot.
-- Jolie Lash
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Gorgeous 'Glee' Gal Lea Michele
Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
This news article is brought to you by ADVANCED DATING ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
Pudgy Pets Get Their Own Fat Farm
The American waistline isn't the only thing that's got a growing problem. Our pets are packing it on as well - studies suggest that up to 60 percent of dogs and cats are obese or overweight. Comparatively speaking, they're in worse shape than we are; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35 percent of human Americans are obese.
To address this weighty problem, the nation's first obesity clinic geared especially for our animal companions has opened its door.
Created by the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, The Tufts' Veterinary Obesity Clinic will tap the strengths of the Cummings School's nutrition service, a 15-year-old clinical, teaching and research service located at its Grafton, Mass., Foster Hospital for Small Animals - one of the nation's busiest teaching hospitals.
[10 Crazy New Products You Have to See to Believe]
Obesity can be a complicated topic for pet owners, the Cummings School says. Although dogs and cats are not prone to coronary artery disease - a leading killer of humans and a common side effect of human obesity - being overweight can lead to complications such as diabetes, orthopedic problems and respiratory complications, as well as reduced quality of life and life expectancy.
The clinic, which aims to see more than 600 clients per year by 2015, will focus on three areas: providing effective weight-loss programs for pets deemed overweight or obese, especially hard-to-manage cases and pets with multiple medical conditions; educating veterinary professionals and the public on how to prevent, identify and combat pet obesity; and conducting state-of-the art clinical research regarding optimal methods for pet obesity treatment and prevention.
The clinic will have three board-certified clinical nutritionists on staff under the supervision of Deborah E. Linder, a graduate of the Cummings School's Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program and its two-year residency in clinical nutrition.
'By employing sound, research-proven methods, Tufts' Veterinary Obesity Clinic will help owners achieve safe and effective weight loss for their pets,' said Linder. 'While the common perception leans toward overweight pets being happy, research has proven otherwise, and we hope to effect change in the obesity epidemic among companion animals.'
The clinic may also provide some collateral benefits for the national girth. A 2006 study conducted at Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Wellness Institute suggested that overweight pets can encourage overweight people to exercise with them and lose weight simultaneously.
This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith and BusinessNewsDaily @bndarticles. We're also on Facebook & Google+.
This news article is brought to you by FREE ROMANTIC DATING SITE BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
To address this weighty problem, the nation's first obesity clinic geared especially for our animal companions has opened its door.
Created by the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, The Tufts' Veterinary Obesity Clinic will tap the strengths of the Cummings School's nutrition service, a 15-year-old clinical, teaching and research service located at its Grafton, Mass., Foster Hospital for Small Animals - one of the nation's busiest teaching hospitals.
[10 Crazy New Products You Have to See to Believe]
Obesity can be a complicated topic for pet owners, the Cummings School says. Although dogs and cats are not prone to coronary artery disease - a leading killer of humans and a common side effect of human obesity - being overweight can lead to complications such as diabetes, orthopedic problems and respiratory complications, as well as reduced quality of life and life expectancy.
The clinic, which aims to see more than 600 clients per year by 2015, will focus on three areas: providing effective weight-loss programs for pets deemed overweight or obese, especially hard-to-manage cases and pets with multiple medical conditions; educating veterinary professionals and the public on how to prevent, identify and combat pet obesity; and conducting state-of-the art clinical research regarding optimal methods for pet obesity treatment and prevention.
The clinic will have three board-certified clinical nutritionists on staff under the supervision of Deborah E. Linder, a graduate of the Cummings School's Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program and its two-year residency in clinical nutrition.
'By employing sound, research-proven methods, Tufts' Veterinary Obesity Clinic will help owners achieve safe and effective weight loss for their pets,' said Linder. 'While the common perception leans toward overweight pets being happy, research has proven otherwise, and we hope to effect change in the obesity epidemic among companion animals.'
The clinic may also provide some collateral benefits for the national girth. A 2006 study conducted at Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Wellness Institute suggested that overweight pets can encourage overweight people to exercise with them and lose weight simultaneously.
This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith and BusinessNewsDaily @bndarticles. We're also on Facebook & Google+.
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Four Baby Whales Rescued in Florida
Four rescued baby pilot whales have been taken to SeaWorld Orlando after washing up on a Florida beach. The whales, one male and three females, are the only survivors of a mass stranding that left 18 other whales dead.
On Saturday (Sept. 1), a pod of 22 short-finned pilot whales turned up at Avalon State Park Beach near St. Lucie on Florida's east coast. Volunteers and environmental officials responded to the scene to try to keep the whales - the largest of which was more than 25 feet (7.6 meters) long - hydrated and shaded.
But 17 died or had to be euthanized. The remaining five, all young whales, were brought to a rehab center at Florida Atlantic University's (FAU) Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. There, they were treated for malnutrition, dehydration, stress and infection, FAU officials said.
One of the whales died Monday around noon after a rapid decline in health, according to FAU; a necropsy, or animal autopsy, was performed Tuesday. The other four were taken to SeaWorld Orlando early Wednesday and placed in a quarantine area, where they will be cared for and tube-fed, a statement from the marine park explained. The caretakers hope to return the whales to the wild eventually, but a statement from FAU said the outlook for their survival 'remains guarded.'
Authorities are investigating the cause of the stranding and expect to get the dead whales' autopsy results in the next several weeks. Some officials speculate that one of the dominant adult whales became ill, stranded itself and the rest of the pod followed. Pilot whales live in pods of between 15 to 50 individuals and they tend to stick together - and that means even when one of the whales becomes ill or injured.
For instance, in May 2011, more than 16 pilot whales stranded in the lower Florida Keys. 'They tend to strand in pods, they stick together, if one is sick, the whole pod is going to strand,' Anne Biddle, media relations director for the Marine Mammal Institute, told LiveScience at the time. And in 2003, some 25 pilot whales were stranded in the Keys.
Scientists say many factors could cause a mass stranding of whales, including disease, loud noises (from oil and gas exploration, Navy sonar, and even natural events like earthquakes), toxins or simple confusion.
Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.
This article is brought to you by DATE.
On Saturday (Sept. 1), a pod of 22 short-finned pilot whales turned up at Avalon State Park Beach near St. Lucie on Florida's east coast. Volunteers and environmental officials responded to the scene to try to keep the whales - the largest of which was more than 25 feet (7.6 meters) long - hydrated and shaded.
But 17 died or had to be euthanized. The remaining five, all young whales, were brought to a rehab center at Florida Atlantic University's (FAU) Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. There, they were treated for malnutrition, dehydration, stress and infection, FAU officials said.
One of the whales died Monday around noon after a rapid decline in health, according to FAU; a necropsy, or animal autopsy, was performed Tuesday. The other four were taken to SeaWorld Orlando early Wednesday and placed in a quarantine area, where they will be cared for and tube-fed, a statement from the marine park explained. The caretakers hope to return the whales to the wild eventually, but a statement from FAU said the outlook for their survival 'remains guarded.'
Authorities are investigating the cause of the stranding and expect to get the dead whales' autopsy results in the next several weeks. Some officials speculate that one of the dominant adult whales became ill, stranded itself and the rest of the pod followed. Pilot whales live in pods of between 15 to 50 individuals and they tend to stick together - and that means even when one of the whales becomes ill or injured.
For instance, in May 2011, more than 16 pilot whales stranded in the lower Florida Keys. 'They tend to strand in pods, they stick together, if one is sick, the whole pod is going to strand,' Anne Biddle, media relations director for the Marine Mammal Institute, told LiveScience at the time. And in 2003, some 25 pilot whales were stranded in the Keys.
Scientists say many factors could cause a mass stranding of whales, including disease, loud noises (from oil and gas exploration, Navy sonar, and even natural events like earthquakes), toxins or simple confusion.
Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.
- World's Cutest Baby Wild Animals
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This article is brought to you by DATE.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Whales & Sharks from Above: A Fish Spotter's Amazing Tale
Wayne Davis has been spotting fish for 40 years, flying his airplane low over the water in search of bluefin tuna and swordfish. Usually he guides commercial fishermen to them.
But in all of his flights over the Atlantic from his home in Wakefield, R.I., he's seen a lot of other animals, including sharks and whales. And he's taken photographs.
'A lot of people don't believe me when I tell them about seeing these animals in New England,' Davis said. The photographs are proof.
Having worked with fishermen since purchasing his single-engine Citabria airplane in 1973, he recently tired of chasing fish. So he has strayed even farther from shore to find whale sharks, hammerheads, great white sharks, basking sharks, humpback whales, mobula rays and other giants of the deep.
He's partnered with underwater cinematographers and researchers to help them film and study these amazing animals. [Images: Sharks & Whales from Above]
Hammerhead close encounter
Two weeks ago, on Aug. 22, Davis helped underwater cinematographers Tom Burns and Eric Savetsky find a school of about 20 hammerhead sharks above Oceanographer's Canyon, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Nantucket, Mass. Davis saw the sharks from his plane and radioed their position to Burns and Savetsky. They piloted their boat toward the sharks and hopped into the water.
After failing at first to get close to the scalloped hammerheads, which are usually pretty shy, the school approached and surrounded the duo, Savetsky told OurAmazingPlanet. 'It was fantastic from a visual experience, but a little unnerving because they were acting bolder than I typically know them to be,' he said. But they didn't get too close, and swam off after a couple passes.
'It was an amazing experience, to swim among them, that never would have been possible without Wayne,' Burns said.
At some point, Savetsky took his eye off the camera to gauge his surroundings. 'When I looked up, there was a 500-pound [230 kilograms] tiger shark about 10 feet [3 meters] away, and I actually screamed into my snorkel,' he said.
Savetsky put his camera in front of him not only to film the animal but to protect himself, since tiger sharks can occasionally become aggressive toward swimmers on the surface. Luckily it seemed merely to be curious, and it soon disappeared into the deep.
Finding great whites
Davis has also worked with Greg Skomal, a scientist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, helping Skomal find great white sharks and other animals. On Aug. 27, 2010, off the coast of Chatham, Mass., Davis helped guide Skomal and other researchers to the carcass of a dead humpback whale, which was being circled by a great white.
The researchers tied the humpback whale to the boat and put down a cage to observe the shark up close. This also allowed them to tag the animal, to find out where it spends its time. Sharks are often found near dead whales, which they feed upon.
Davis grew up in New England and was always interested in flying. After serving in Vietnam, he decided to become a spotter pilot and bought his own plane. For 25 years he did hard labor as a deckhand on commercial vessels and worked a fish-spotter in the offseason. Now he just flies.
Skomal said Davis' expertise is invaluable in finding and correctly identifying animals, as is his ability to photograph what he sees. Sometimes Davis will tell Skomal if he finds anything interesting, and other times Skomal will hire Davis to locate animals.
Davis' photographs allow Skomal to know what animals show up where, but they also give an idea of the animals' size and condition. The photograph of the great white, for example, tells Skomal the animal is about 18 feet (5 m) long, as it's half the size of the 35-foot (11 m) boat. The animals are known to reach about 22 feet (6.7 m) in length.
'That was a big one,' Skomal said.
Reach Douglas Main at dmain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @Douglas_Main. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter @OAPlanet. We're also on Facebook and Google+.
This article is brought to you by DATE.
But in all of his flights over the Atlantic from his home in Wakefield, R.I., he's seen a lot of other animals, including sharks and whales. And he's taken photographs.
'A lot of people don't believe me when I tell them about seeing these animals in New England,' Davis said. The photographs are proof.
Having worked with fishermen since purchasing his single-engine Citabria airplane in 1973, he recently tired of chasing fish. So he has strayed even farther from shore to find whale sharks, hammerheads, great white sharks, basking sharks, humpback whales, mobula rays and other giants of the deep.
He's partnered with underwater cinematographers and researchers to help them film and study these amazing animals. [Images: Sharks & Whales from Above]
Hammerhead close encounter
Two weeks ago, on Aug. 22, Davis helped underwater cinematographers Tom Burns and Eric Savetsky find a school of about 20 hammerhead sharks above Oceanographer's Canyon, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Nantucket, Mass. Davis saw the sharks from his plane and radioed their position to Burns and Savetsky. They piloted their boat toward the sharks and hopped into the water.
After failing at first to get close to the scalloped hammerheads, which are usually pretty shy, the school approached and surrounded the duo, Savetsky told OurAmazingPlanet. 'It was fantastic from a visual experience, but a little unnerving because they were acting bolder than I typically know them to be,' he said. But they didn't get too close, and swam off after a couple passes.
'It was an amazing experience, to swim among them, that never would have been possible without Wayne,' Burns said.
At some point, Savetsky took his eye off the camera to gauge his surroundings. 'When I looked up, there was a 500-pound [230 kilograms] tiger shark about 10 feet [3 meters] away, and I actually screamed into my snorkel,' he said.
Savetsky put his camera in front of him not only to film the animal but to protect himself, since tiger sharks can occasionally become aggressive toward swimmers on the surface. Luckily it seemed merely to be curious, and it soon disappeared into the deep.
Finding great whites
Davis has also worked with Greg Skomal, a scientist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, helping Skomal find great white sharks and other animals. On Aug. 27, 2010, off the coast of Chatham, Mass., Davis helped guide Skomal and other researchers to the carcass of a dead humpback whale, which was being circled by a great white.
The researchers tied the humpback whale to the boat and put down a cage to observe the shark up close. This also allowed them to tag the animal, to find out where it spends its time. Sharks are often found near dead whales, which they feed upon.
Davis grew up in New England and was always interested in flying. After serving in Vietnam, he decided to become a spotter pilot and bought his own plane. For 25 years he did hard labor as a deckhand on commercial vessels and worked a fish-spotter in the offseason. Now he just flies.
Skomal said Davis' expertise is invaluable in finding and correctly identifying animals, as is his ability to photograph what he sees. Sometimes Davis will tell Skomal if he finds anything interesting, and other times Skomal will hire Davis to locate animals.
Davis' photographs allow Skomal to know what animals show up where, but they also give an idea of the animals' size and condition. The photograph of the great white, for example, tells Skomal the animal is about 18 feet (5 m) long, as it's half the size of the 35-foot (11 m) boat. The animals are known to reach about 22 feet (6.7 m) in length.
'That was a big one,' Skomal said.
Reach Douglas Main at dmain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @Douglas_Main. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter @OAPlanet. We're also on Facebook and Google+.
- Gallery: Creatures from the Census of Marine Life
- Image Album: Image Gallery: Mysterious Lives of Whale Sharks
- Image Gallery: Great White Sharks
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