Animals in The News

Sea Urchin Body Is One Big Eye
Prickly critters may use their feet as retinas, study says.

Sea urchins may use the entire surfaces of their bodies—from the ends of their "feet" to the tips of their spines—as huge eyes.

Scientists had already known the marine invertebrates react to light without any obvious eye-like structures—raising the question of how the animals see.

Previous genetic analysis of the California purple sea urchin had revealed that the animals possess a large number of genes linked with the development of the retina—the light-sensitive tissue lining the inner eyeball in people and other vertebrates.

This and other research suggested that sea urchin vision might rely on light-receptor cells randomly scattered across their skin, which collectively function like retinas.

Prior studies did find the number and placement of spines on a sea urchin could affect how sharp its vision might be, and this new find "might well be part of the picture," Arnone added.



Scientists had theorized the animals' spines simulate the light-blocking pigmented cells found in most animals' eyes. Because light-receptor cells in the retina can soak up light from every direction, pigmented cells work to block light from the back and the sides so animals can "see" what's in front of them.

Now, however, the scientists have found two distinct groups of bristly, light-receptor cells concentrated at the bases and tips of the purple sea urchin's 1,400-plus tube feet. These long, suction-tipped tubes, located on the undersides of sea urchin bodies, help the organisms move.

The team suspects that sea urchins use their tube feet as retinas and the rest of their bodies to shield against the extra incoming light, said researcher Maria Ina Arnone, a developmental biologist at Anton Dohrn Zoological Station in Naples, Italy.

Tenacious dog escapes Oregon veterinarian office
MEDFORD, Ore., Tue May 10, 10:52 AM
After three late-night escape attempts from an Oregon veterinarian's office, a German shepherd named Jack finally made it.

The Medford Mail Tribune reports the crafty canine managed to pull open his kennel, trip the dead bolt on the clinic's back door and pull down the handle to get outside.

He set off three motion-detector alarms on the way and managed to rip open four bags of food.

The dog roamed seven miles from the vet's office, but only made it home when animal control officers took him to a shelter where he was reunited with his worried family.

A veterinarian calls the dog's recovery from flulike symptoms "impressive."

Biologists: Bounty-collecting angler caught in lie
SANDPOINT, Idaho, Thu May 12, 10:02 AM
A Coeur d'Alene man has been ordered to pay more than $6,800 in restitution for defrauding a bounty program that pays anglers who catch trout in northern Idaho's Lake Pend Oreille (POND or-RAY').

Christopher Pluntz pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge Wednesday as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

The Coeur d'Alene Press reports that Idaho Fish and Game managers thought something was fishy last year after the 44-year-old angler turned in 443 rainbow trout heads and collected a $15 bounty on each.

Investigators examined the heads and determined that the rainbow trout belonged to a coastal variety, not the type found in Lake Pend Oreille.

The bounty program aims to help the lake's struggling kokanee trout population.

Chihuahua lifts leg, gets blame for NY bomb scare
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y., Sat May 14, 04:27 PM
A dog that wasn't quite housebroken may have indirectly been responsible for a bomb scare at a New York courthouse.

The trouble began Friday when 19-year-old Melvin Ruffin arrived at a court complex in Central Islip following a long bus ride from his home in Bellport.

During the trip, another passenger's Chihuahua urinated on his backpack.

So, he stashed the wet bag in some bushes while he went inside to answer a disorderly conduct citation.

But then a retired police officer saw the bag and alerted security.

The bomb squad was ultimately called in. Officers used a robot to determine that the bag didn't contain anything harmful.

Ruffin tells Newsday that authorities let him off with a warning to be more careful next time about where he left his stuff.

NY tells pet cemeteries to stop taking in humans
HARTSDALE, N.Y., Fri Jun 10, 07:40 PM
A state agency has told New York's animal cemeteries to stop burying the ashes of pet owners alongside their beloved cats, dogs and parakeets.

The order from New York's Division of Cemeteries comes as a growing number of Americans are deciding to share their final resting place with their pets.

The ruling has blocked at least one burial at the 115-year-old Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, which claims to be the nation's oldest. And it has upset a woman who had prearranged to have her ashes interred there along with five pets, four of which are already buried.

"Suddenly I'm not at peace anymore," Rhona Levy of the Bronx said Friday. "You want to be with the people you are closest with, your true loved ones. The only loved ones I have in my life right now are my pets, which I consider my children."

Levy, 61, said she has no backup plan and is hoping the state order will be reversed.

Taylor York, a law professor at Keuka College in Penn Yan, N.Y., said the state order compounded the grief in her family after the April death of her uncle, Thomas Ryan.

Ryan's wife, Bunny, and their two dogs, B.J. I and B.J. II, are buried at Hartsdale. Ryan had arranged, and prepaid, to join them, York said. There's also a space for B.J. III, who's still alive.

But Ryan's ashes sit in a wooden box at his sister's home because the state's new rule won't allow him into Hartsdale.

"My mother is completely distraught over this," York said. "She breaks down in tears again and again, every time it crosses her mind. After watching her brother die, she has to go through this insanity?"

Hartsdale was ordered to stop taking in human ashes - it never allowed intact human remains - on Feb. 8, three days after it was featured in an Associated Press story about human burials in pet cemeteries. The order was issued statewide in April, said Lisa MacSpadden, spokeswoman for the New York Department of State, which includes the cemetery division.

She said that remains buried in human cemeteries benefit from state protections more so than if they are buried at pet cemeteries. For instance, she said human cemeteries qualify for the state-mandated permanent maintenance fund, which ensures that lots and cemeteries are maintained.

Hartsdale, 20 miles north of Manhattan, has an estimated 700 humans interred with about 75,000 animals. It has added 10 or 12 in each of the past few years, compared with three to five before, Ed Martin Jr., the cemetery's president and director, said in February. The International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories has also noted a recent increase nationwide.

The New York cemetery division said any cemetery providing burial space for humans must be operated as a not-for-profit corporation. And by promoting the human-interment service and charging a fee - $235 to open a grave and add ashes - Hartsdale was violating laws governing not-for-profit corporations, it said.

However, Martin says the pet cemetery is a private, for-profit business. And the Division of Cemeteries' own website says private cemeteries do not fall under its jurisdiction.

"It seems ridiculous we can't do it," Martin said Friday. "As of now, we've suspended the human part of it, but it's our position that they don't have the authority to do this." He said the service was an accommodation for customers and never raised significant revenue.

York, who has a law practice in addition to her teaching post, has sent the cemeteries division a legal memo detailing why she believes it cannot prevent human burials in pet cemeteries.

"The law is clear," she said. "There's no authority for this board to just arbitrarily impose nonprofit corporation law on a privately incorporated for-profit business. ... If I have to file a lawsuit, then I'll file a lawsuit."

"My uncle wants to be buried beside his wife and what he considered to be his children and I'm not letting anyone stand in the way," she added. "His love for those dogs was just as real and just as strong as any parent's for any child."

The state asked Martin to sign a pledge that Hartsdale had stopped human interments, but he has resisted.

Instead, he asked the state to at least "grandfather" the cases of people who had already arranged to have their ashes buried with their pets.

MacSpadden said that request would be discussed at the next Cemetery Board meeting.

The state position could disrupt Martin's own plans. He said earlier this year he hoped his ashes would be added to a family plot - including a dog - at Hartsdale.

Ill penguin stranded in NZ is offered a lift home
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Sat Jun 25, 06:57 AM


An Emperor penguin which came ashore at Pekapeka beach is treated by vet staff at a zoo in Wellington, New Zealand, Friday...More
A young emperor penguin stranded in New Zealand has survived two medical procedures and now has an offer of a lift home.

Yet the aquatic bird that many are calling Happy Feet - after the lighthearted 2006 movie - is not out of danger yet. The penguin remained on an intravenous drip Saturday and faces another procedure Monday to remove more sand from its digestive system.

If it does pull through, a businessman wants to take it by boat to Antarctica next February.

Happy Feet arrived on Peka Peka Beach, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northwest of Wellington, last Monday, the first time in 44 years that an emperor penguin has been spotted in the wild in New Zealand. Typically, emperors spend their entire lives in and around Antarctica.

At first Happy Feet seemed fine, but as the week progressed, the bird became more lethargic. It ate a lot of sand, apparently mistaking it for snow, which emperor penguins eat in Antarctica to hydrate themselves during the frozen winters.

By Friday, conservation officials decided its condition had worsened to the point that it would likely die without intervention. So they transported the penguin in a tub of ice to the Wellington Zoo.

Zoo spokeswoman Kate Baker said the bird was put on anesthesia for 2 1/2 hours Friday while veterinarians flushed its throat and stomach with water to remove sand. A second procedure on Saturday was more of the same, yet the penguin's digestive system still remained clogged.



Baker said staff want to give the bird a break Sunday but plan a third flushing procedure Monday. The bird remained on an intravenous drip Saturday to help it rehydrate.

New Zealand investment adviser Gareth Morgan, who is leading an expedition to Antarctica next February, on Saturday offered Happy Feet a trip home aboard a Russian icebreaker. But it would not be for another eight months.

"Of course until that time Happy Feet will have to be cared for here in Wellington, where we're lucky enough to have a great community of wildlife experts, capable not just of pumping sand but also ensuring this wayfaring fellow is hosted appropriately until it's time to set sail," Morgan wrote on his website.

"A sea passage is far more akin to the animal's natural rite of passage across the Southern Ocean than any trip in a Globelifter jet might be, with no risk of deep vein thrombosis," Morgan added jokingly.

Whether officials choose to take Morgan up on his offer may depend on Happy Feet's health.

Peter Simpson, a program manager for New Zealand's Department of Conservation, said earlier in the week that there was a chance the bird might have picked up a disease in warmer climes which staff wouldn't want to introduce back into the Antarctic colony.

If a trip back to the Antarctic doesn't pan out, there's always the offer of a more sheltered life.

Lauren DuBois, assistant curator of birds at SeaWorld in San Diego, which has the only colony of emperor penguins in North America, said SeaWorld would be willing to step in and help. Thirty birds live there in a 25-degree Fahrenheit (minus 4 Celsius) habitat that simulates Antarctica, with up to 5,000 pounds (2,270 kilograms) of snow blown in every day.

Estimated to be about 10 months old, Happy Feet probably was born during the last Antarctic winter and may have been searching for squid and krill when it got lost. Experts haven't yet determined whether it is male or female.

The rare venture north captured the public's imagination, with school groups, sightseers and news crews coming to the beach to see the penguin and photograph it from a distance.

The amazing journey of emperors, the tallest and largest species of penguin, to breeding grounds deep in the Antarctic was chronicled in the 2005 documentary "March of the Penguins," which highlighted their ability to survive - and breed - despite the region's brutal winters.

Oregon man stung by scorpion on commercial flight
PORTLAND, Ore., Thu Jun 30, 05:36 PM
All Jeff Ellis could do was wait as he sat terrified 30,000 feet in the air staring at the wriggling scorpion that stung him on a flight to Alaska.

He repeated to himself that a doctor said he'd be fine - probably.

Ellis first had to wait 30 minutes to see whether he succumbed to anaphylactic shock.

"In the movies, scorpions kill people," Ellis, 55, said Thursday. "I was just nervous, on edge, making sure that my heart was beating normal, that I wasn't sweating."

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said the scorpion probably crawled on board the plane during a stop in Austin, Texas. The plane then landed in Seattle, where Ellis boarded for a flight to Anchorage.

About three hours into the flight, Ellis dozed off. Then, he felt something tickling his arm.

"I felt it on my shirt-sleeve and brushed it off, I thought it was a little spider or something," Ellis said. "Then I felt it back on my elbow."

He grabbed it with his napkin and his girlfriend, Suzanne Foster, called a flight attendant, who tossed the scorpion into a clear plastic bag.

The writhing arachnid terrified children seated nearby.

"Their mother told the flight attendant, `Get that thing out of my face,' " Ellis said.

As Ellis monitored himself for signs of a fatal allergic reaction, emergency responders in Anchorage were told to get ready; the flight would be landing soon.

But they had a problem, Ellis said: Scorpions aren't common in Alaska, and the EMTs didn't know what to do.

"They had to Google it," he said.

News traveled quickly through the cabin, but Ellis said no one panicked. He was the first to get off the plane, he said, where he was met by a police officer.

In the end, it turned out that the doctor on the flight was right. Ellis was OK, and all that's left of the incident is a mark on his arm.

Egan said the airline has never had a poisonous creature on one of its flights before, but it wasn't the first time someone found a scorpion on a plane.

During a Southwest Airlines flight in 2009, an Arizona man was stung while traveling from Phoenix to Indianapolis. His 10-year-old son found the rest of the family of scorpions in the luggage compartment over their seats.

Ellis thinks - based on photos he took of the eight-legged pest - that he was stung by a striped bark scorpion, which is common in Texas.

He said he is happy with the flight crew's response, and said the airline has offered him 4,000 frequent-flier miles and two round-trip tickets.

His return flight to Seattle, he said, was uneventful.

"Einstein," an adult bald eagle, is now soaring over America after his release July 4th from the University of Missouri's Raptor Rehabilitation Project, where the once-ailing bird underwent treatment.

The bald eagle is the national bird of the U.S., serving as an important symbol for the country's strength, wisdom, and freedom. It is even front and center on the seal of the President of the United States.


Einstein may be oblivious to all of the Independence Day pomp and circumstance, but his caretakers recognize how important it is to see healthy eagles flying free, particularly on this important holiday.

"When I realized that his release could be around July 4, I knew I had to do it," Elizabeth Groth, president of the Raptor Rehabilitation Project, told Discovery News before Monday's event. "He is ready to go and I thought it would be cool to try to get the public involved a bit for this release. It's not every day that a member of the public gets to see an eagle like this and on our nation's birthday, I thought it would be fitting."

Groth, who is also a student at the university (class of 2013), explained that Einstein was brought to her and her colleagues by a Missouri Department of Conservation agent in April. He was in terrible shape, due to lead poisoning.

"This is usually a cumulative process over the life of the eagle," she said, adding that people often think such birds are shot, but that's not always true. "They eat fish that have eaten lead sinkers or have been exposed to lead, and eventually the lead builds up in the eagle's body to the point where they start showing neurologic signs."

In this case, the signs included disorientation, listlessness, inability to stand, uncoordinated movements and, perhaps most disturbing of all, he was also discharging a foul-smelling liquid from his mouth and nose. Groth and her team knew that this was consistent with a condition known as gastrointestinal stasis, which "involves food rotting in the bird's digestive tract rather than being digested completely."

The bird, later named after German physicist Albert Einstein, required "a lot of supportive nutritional care when he got to us," Groth said. "He was very thin and couldn't handle solid food, so he was on basically a liquid carnivore diet for about the first week. After that first week, he started to act more normal and was able to stand on his own again. He also started showing the defensive and aggressive behavior that we tend to expect from an eagle."

Einstein was discharged from the hospital on May 18. Since then, he has been has been recuperating and rebuilding his flight muscles in the Raptor Rehabilitation Project’s flight cage at the College of Veterinary Medicine. He has been flying well. Blood and other tests determined he was ready for release, leaving behind four other birds that are still recovering. Nine other birds are more permanent fixtures, since they cannot go back into the wild.



"I'm always excited to be able to release a bird, but eagles are a bit special," Groth said. "Although we do get them through our project every year, they aren't that common and they don't always make it. Losing a bald eagle is tough, as they are such beautiful birds and they are a great symbol. I have no doubt that this particular eagle will do just fine out in the wild again."

Missing Arkansas dog found after 7 years
ROGERS, Ark., Thu Jul 07, 12:39 PM
A dog that went missing seven years ago in northwest Arkansas soon will be reunited with her original owner after living under a pseudonym for all that time with another family in the same town.

Andrew Navarette told animal control officers that he let his Shih Tzu, Mimi, out in the backyard of his Rogers home seven years ago but that when he went to retrieve her she had disappeared, the Rogers Morning News reported Thursday. Navarette was unable to track Mimi down, even though she had a microchip implanted in her neck containing his contact information.

It is not clear what happened to Mimi that day, but some time later, Kim Rafter of Rogers acquired the animal from someone in good faith, renamed her Gizmo, and has cared for her ever since, KHOG-TV reported.

Meanwhile, Navarette relocated to Woodlake, Calif.

On Saturday, Mimi showed up at an animal shelter in Rogers where officials found the chip and called Navarette, who had kept the same cell phone number through the years. Rafter did not explain to KHOG how she lost the pooch at the weekend.

"As far as I know, it was just running loose," the shelter's manager, Bud Norman, told The Associated Press on Thursday. "It was picked up and brought into the shelter."



Assistant shelter manager Matt Colston said Navarette was clearly excited that Mimi had been found and immediately said he would pay for the Shih Tzu to be shipped to his home in California.

Norman said Mimi is in good health and has been well-cared for. He said Rafter called the shelter Wednesday after losing the dog, and that was how she found out that Mimi has another owner.

Rafter said it will be difficult to say goodbye to the animal her family has known as Gizmo for the past seven years.

"We've loved Gizmo for all of those years and taken care of her," Rafter said. "She's a part of our family and it would be devastating for us to lose her."

Rafter said she had no idea that the dog's real owner had been looking for her. "They told me she had been a gift to this man's wife from her dad and then he passed away," Rafter said.

"I'm a sympathetic person and I wouldn't want to take anybody's dog away, but I'm sure that, as little as she was when we got her, I'm sure we're the only ones she's bonded with."

Norman called the dog's saga "bittersweet" because while one family is thrilled, another is sad.

"It just amazes me when this happens," he said. "I'm hoping people understand the power of a microchip, if they love their animals."

Tortoise gets artificial wheel at vet hospital
SPOKANE, Wash., Wed Jul 20, 08:17 PM

Watch out Mr. Hare, this tortoise has a wheel.

A 12-year-old African tortoise that recently had its front left leg amputated due to injury is now moving just fine, thanks to a swiveling wheel attached to his shell by doctors at Washington State University's veterinary hospital.

The 23-pound tortoise, named Gamera after the giant flying turtle of the old Japanese monster movies, is gaining weight and generally thriving with his new appendage.

"I don't know whether he'd pass the hare, but he moves around very well," said Charlie Powell, spokesman for WSU's veterinary hospital in Pullman, Wash.

The nearly teenage mutant turtle is particularly good at moving toward food, and has gained 3 pounds since the wheel was attached, Powell said.

The caster-style wheel should last for years before it has to be replaced, he said.

Powell said the caster-style allows Gamera to move well on both flat and lumpy surfaces like lawns.

The African spur-thighed tortoise was brought to the WSU hospital in April by its owner, suffering from a severe leg injury with an unknown cause, WSU officials said. The injury was life-threatening so the leg was amputated at the shoulder.

Veterinarians attached the wheel to the tortoise's shell using an epoxy adhesive, and the animal took to the new device immediately, WSU officials said.



The tortoise is part of a larger group called sulcata tortoises that are popular as exotic pets in the United States. The largest such tortoise on record topped 232 pounds. The oldest known sulcata tortoise in captivity is 56 years old.

Okla. officials find doughnuts help trap bears
COOKSON, Okla., Sat Jul 23, 01:00 PM
Oklahoma wildlife officials say nothing traps a black bear quite like a doughnut.

Wildlife officers are studying the growing black bear population in the eastern part of the state, and they say they've had the best success in trapping the animals when they use pastries as bait.

Craig Endicott of the Wildlife Department told Tulsa television station KOTV the agency usually finds 300-pound male bears and 200-pound females in its traps. But on a recent day, a 50-pound cub got to the doughnut first.

The bears are tagged and researchers take fur and tissue samples for DNA analysis. Some adult bears get tracking collars.

Researchers also are setting up about 200 bait stations equipped with hair snares. DNA from the hair will help map bears' movement.

Kangaroo at exotic-animal farm attacks Ohio man
GREEN CAMP, Ohio, Wed Sep 21, 07:40 PM
An 80-year-old man is in fair condition after a kangaroo attacked him for 15 minutes at an exotic-animal farm in central Ohio.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that the Marion County sheriff's office received a 911 call Tuesday from a woman saying her father-in-law was hurt. Maj. Jeff Cline says the injury happened at Kokas Exotics in Green Camp.

The Advocate of Newark reports the man was in fair condition Wednesday at a Columbus hospital.

The farm owner's son told WCMH-TV the man was attacked by a 6-foot-tall, 200-pound male kangaroo. The station reports the attack came at breeding time when males can be aggressive.

The son says the kangaroo will be euthanized.

Ohio's lax pet laws came under scrutiny last year when a bear killed its caretaker near Cleveland.

Hawk with nail in head seen in San Francisco park


SAN FRANCISCO, Wed Oct 19, 08:30 PM

A wildlife rescue group spent a third day in a San Francisco park trying to capture and rescue a red-tailed hawk that appears to have been shot in the head with a nail gun.

A rescuer spotted the bird Wednesday afternoon in one of its usual haunts in Golden Gate Park's southwest corner, where it had captured and was eating a gopher.

"We know he's gotten some nourishment, which is good because we know he's in a weakened state," said Rebecca Dmytryk, executive director of the Monterey-based group WildRescue.

At the same time, rescuers will have a harder time luring the hawk into their traps if it's been eating, she said. "We need him hungry."

Observers patrolling an area frequented by the hawk between a ball field and a lake got close enough to the bird to see the nail extending from its cheek through the front of its head. They said the hawk appeared to be in pain.

WildRescue was notified of the injured bird Sunday night.

It started scouring the park the following day, looking for signs of the hawk and setting traps. Rescuers are using traps rather than nets to capture the bird because they fear the nail could get caught on a net and further injure it.

"It's very time-consuming trying to find it," Dmytryk said. The bird was likely born in the park to parents who still live in the area, she said.

Rescuers believe someone intentionally hurt the hawk, saying a nail gun can be fired accurately at a distance of several yards.

A donor pledged an additional $5,000 to WildRescue's reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whomever harmed the bird, bringing the total reward to $10,000.

Red-tailed hawks are protected under federal law and harming one is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $15,000 fine, according to Elise Traub, outreach and policy manager for the Humane Society of the United States' Wildlife Abuse Campaign.

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NH authorities help porcupine with arrow in back


DANVILLE, N.H., Fri Oct 21, 10:58 AM


A porcupine is getting around a bit easier after a New Hampshire Fish and Game conservation officer and local police chief helped pull an arrow out of its back.

Danville Police Chief Wade Parsons tells the Eagle-Tribune (bit.ly/pCeYJm) the animal had to stop walking every four or five feet Thursday. He couldn't move forward without getting caught in the brush.

Conservation officer Chris McKee used a snare pole to rein in the porcupine - and took care not to come into contact with his quills. He said the arrow had missed muscle and bone.

The porcupine ran off afterward. McKee said the animal had been chattering and seemed to be in good health, otherwise.

Puppy rescued from top of train gets new home
COLUMBIA, S.C., Tue Oct 25, 01:34 PM
Four firefighters in a South Carolina town plucked a frightened black lab puppy from the top of a double-decker freight train car and delivered her to a new, loving home.

"We don't know how long she was up there," Liberty assistant fire chief Chris Rowland said Tuesday. "She was scared. She was ready to come down."

Rowland's team of four firefighters was called Sunday evening after Tina Parker of nearby Pickens spotted the pup while she and her family were stopped at a red light and saw the train pass by.

Parker said she saw what she thought was trash on the top of the train, but then it started moving and she realized it was a small dog.

"There's no question it was a puppy," Parker said.

She called 911 and followed the train to Liberty about six miles away.

A Norfolk Southern spokeswoman said they stopped the train, which was going about 50 mph while traveling from Pennsylvania to Atlanta.

The family helped firefighters find the car and firefighter Derek Sargeant scampered up a 24-foot extension ladder to get on top of the double-stacked containers.

"We don't know how she survived up there," Rowland said.

The Parkers named the dog Boxcar Hunter, or Boxy for short. They made an appointment with the veterinarian to have the dog checked, but Parker said it seems healthy and happy to be off the train. She has two other dogs and the new pup is getting used to her new surroundings.

Parker said no one knows who put the dog atop the train.

Rowland said the effort was a difficult one, given where the car stopped and how the firefighters had to maneuver to get the ladder in place alongside the tracks. But he said it was a good thing for all involved.

"We've rescued a cat here and there, but we've never had to get a dog off the top of a train," he said.

Whales off Calif. coast draw crowds, warning
SANTA CRUZ, Calif., Wed Nov 02, 03:57 PM

The U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday monitored the waters off Santa Cruz, where a pod of whales has settled unusually close to shore drawing crowds and threatening the safety of kayakers and other boaters trying to get a look at the creatures.

The humpback whales, each measuring about the length of a school bus, have come about a mile from land in search of food.

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary said no one has been hurt so far but at least one sailboat was damaged this week when it struck a whale.

"The sheer number of folks crowding around the whales is not only an issue for the whales themselves, but also public safety," Paul Michel, the sanctuary's superintendent, told The San Francisco Chronicle (bit.ly/ujST4A). He estimated that 100 people took to the ocean on paddleboards and in kayaks last weekend to get a look.

He worried that the gawkers might disrupt the whales as they eat and leave them without enough energy to make their migratory journey to Mexico.

On Tuesday, the sanctuary and Coast Guard issued warnings for people to stay at least 100 yards away from the whales or face fines of at least $2,500 for whale harassment.

Don Croll, a professor in ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, said whales are good at avoiding people while feeding but getting too close could pose safety risks. He said the whales are "lunge feeding," which involves dropping their jaw and swimming just below the surface capturing everything in their path.

Croll said watching such a spectacle - from a safe distance - is a thrill.

"Lunge feeding is probably one of the largest biomechanical events on the planet. It's a really, really great thing for people to see," he said.

Feeding grounds for the humpbacks are usually farther offshore, but scientists said this year weather conditions have brought anchovies closer to land, and the whales have followed.

The whales are likely to stick around Santa Cruz for another few weeks before continuing south.

A death most fowl: Turkey crashes into Pa. eatery


PENN HILLS, Pa., Thu Nov 24, 09:48 PM
A wild turkey smashed through a plate glass window at an empty western Pennsylvania restaurant and ended up where millions of its fellow gobblers did on Thanksgiving: a dining room.

Penn Hills police Officer Bernard Sestili tells the WTAE-TV the feathered fowl didn't survive impact when it barreled into the dining room of the Eat'n Park in Penn Hills on Thursday afternoon. The restaurant was closed at the time.

Sestili says he responded when the building's alarm went off.

He suspects the turkey may have been roosting in a nearby tree when it "got up this morning and went for his morning flight and flew into the window."

Penn Hills is about 10 miles outside Pittsburgh.

Dog steps on gun, shoots Utah hunter in buttocks
SALT LAKE CITY, Wed Nov 30, 06:11 PM
A Utah bird hunter was shot in the buttocks after his dog stepped on a shotgun laid across the bow of a boat.

Box Elder County Sheriff's Deputy Kevin Potter says the 46-year-old Brigham City man was duck hunting with a friend when he climbed out of the boat to move decoys.

Potter says the man left his 12-gauge shotgun in the boat and the dog stepped on it, causing it to fire. It wasn't clear whether the safety on the gun was on at the time.

Potter says the man was hit from about 10 feet away with 27 pellets of birdshot. He says the man wasn't seriously injured, in part because he was wearing waders. The man was treated at a nearby hospital.

Riadas Retort: The article said that the hunter was "duck hunting with a friend when he climbed out of the boat to move decoys". Sounds suspicious to me, blaming the poor dog...

Booie, the smoking chimpanzee, dies at 44

LOS ANGELES, Wed Dec 14, 09:06 PM
A chimpanzee that kicked a smoking habit and used sign language to beg for candy has died at a California animal refuge.

Martine Colette of the Wildlife WayStation says Booie (BOO'-ee) was being treated for a heart condition when he died Saturday at 44. The chimp had been living at the animal sanctuary near Los Angeles since 1995, after he retired from a research lab.

Colette says she turned Booie into a non-smoker but couldn't fix his sweet tooth. She says he would use his skill to panhandle by signing: "Booie see sweet in pocket."

Booie's death is a serious blow to the financially troubled refuge because he was one of its best fundraisers. Martine says he had fans around the world because of his TV appearances.

YUCK!!
NY judge: No lives left for cat litter commercial
NEW YORK, Wed Jan 04, 10:52 PM
A New York federal judge says the Clorox Pet Products Co. must stop airing a cat litter commercial that unfairly seeks supremacy over a competitor.

The Clorox ad was aimed at Church & Dwight Co. Inc.'s Arm & Hammer brands of cat litter. It claimed a smell test involving a jar proves Clorox's Fresh Step cat litter outperforms Church & Dwight's products.

The judge found it "highly implausible" 11 panelists would "stick their noses in jars of excrement and report 44 independent times that they smelled nothing unpleasant." He found the claims "literally false."

Oakland, Calif.-based Clorox says it's disappointed in Tuesday's ruling. It says it defends the ad's truthfulness.

A message left Wednesday with a lawyer for Princeton, N.J.-based Church & Dwight hasn't been returned.

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...And In Un-Related Kitty Cat News...

Florida man reunites with lost kitty in Colorado
GOLDEN, Colo., Wed Jan 04, 07:47 PM
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This photo provided by the Foothills Animal Shelter shows Daniel Johns from Naples, Fla., as he is reunited with his cat...More
A cat who wandered away from his new home in Florida has been reunited with his owner after being found nearly 2,000 miles away in Colorado.

Waylon, an orange-striped tabby cat, was reunited with Daniel Johns on Wednesday at the Foothills Animal Shelter in Golden.

The cat went missing from the Naples, Fla., area in June, disappearing within an hour after Johns adopted the stray. Waylon apparently fled through a hole in a dryer vent.

Last month, a woman in a Denver suburb noticed him hanging around as she walked her dog and brought him to the shelter. A microchip linked the cat to Johns.

It's not known how the cat made its way to Colorado. One of the shelter's theories is that snowbirds may have taken the cat home with them.

Out of room, Mass. man gives up 94 hamsters
LAWRENCE, Mass., Sat Jan 14, 03:31 PM
A Massachusetts man has turned over 94 hamsters to a local animal shelter, telling officials he was running out of room in his apartment.

The director of the shelter says the rodents were well cared for and will make nice pets.

Shelter director Mike Keiley tells the Eagle-Tribune (bit.ly/xEjiiR) that the hamsters' owner, whom he didn't identify, stopped by this month and said he had a lot of hamsters to surrender.

A Lawrence animal control officer says the man was "overwhelmed" when officials came to get the hamsters Friday, and initially wanted to keep a few. But she says he changed his mind.

Officials say the man started keeping the hamsters about five years ago.