CANADA: Elderly man lay dying for days in cat-filled home

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VANCOUVER ISLAND, British Columbia / CTV News / News / April 20, 2011

An elderly Vancouver Island man has died after being found unconscious in a home crammed with almost 50 cats.

SPCA investigators removed 45 cats and two dead kittens from inside a home on Vancouver Island. (Duncan SPCA)


By: Darcy Wintonyk, ctvbc.ca

RCMP say the 85-year-old had been lying on the floor of his Shawnigan Lake residence for up to three days before his wife realized he was there and called 911.

Sgt. Rob Webb told ctvbc.ca that the spouse, 83, was very confused and suffers from mental health issues. She was sent to hospital for a medical examination.

Police were called in to assist after BC Ambulance attendants and the Mill Bay Volunteer Fire Department found "deplorable conditions" inside the home, including a significant amount of debris blocking doorways.

SPCA investigators removed 45 cats and two dead kittens from inside the home. Another nine cats were found wandering outside.

Webb told ctvbc.ca no emergency personnel went into the home without a respirator because of the overwhelming stench of cat urine and feces.

"The ammonia levels were off the charts," he said. "Many of our members are junior and these are some of the worst conditions many of them have ever seen."

The wife was treated in hospital, where she remains. RCMP are working with the Vancouver Island Health Authority to find the woman a temporary residence because authorities have deemed that it is unsafe for her to return home.

The man passed away in hospital Monday.

Police say they haven't located any relatives in B.C., but they have contacted next of kin in Ontario.

Marcie Moriarty, general manger of SPCA cruelty investigations, said the cats were in remarkably good condition based on the state of the home, although one may need to be put down.

She expects the majority will be eligible for adoption at various Vancouver Island shelters within a few weeks.

Moriarty said the agency believes the couple are hoarders, both of felines and household objects.

"It's a sad case of too little spay and neuter and certainly a situation that got out of control for an extremely elderly couple," she said.

© 2011 Bell Media

CHINA: Sleep knows no place, time

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LONDON / BBC News / Day In Pictures / April 5, 2011

A Chinese worker at a duck farm in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province,

takes a nap surrounded by ducklings. BBC photo

BBC © 2011

USA: Deep Thoughts on What Makes Humans Special

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PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island /  LiveScience / Culture / October 15, 2010

Human brain power greater than animals
By Jeremy Hsu, LiveScience Senior Writer

Our special stature among Earth's creatures may look shaky when considering that humans share 98 percent of our genes and many behaviors with chimps. Yet human behaviors stand out by reaching levels of complexity unseen in any other part of the animal world, according to a neurobiologist.

Seeing humans beyond mechanistic cause-and-effect or animal-like behaviors can be difficult after a lifetime spent studying brains and behavior, said Robert Sapolsky, a neurobiologist and primatologist at Stanford University. But he plunged wholeheartedly into a keynote talk about human uniqueness during a brain science symposium here at Brown University on Wednesday (Oct. 13).

What makes humans special comes in no small part from the sheer quantity of available brain power – at least 300,000 brain cells for each neuron in a fruit fly brain. Sapolsky referred to a quip made by chess grand master Garry Kasparov after being defeated by IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer: "Sometimes quantity becomes quality."

Basic biological units such as brain cells remain more or less the same across species. Yet humans have harnessed their higher neuron count and complex brain networks to achieve an unmatched level of cognitive sophistication.

"We have the same nuts-and-bolts physiology, yet we're using it in very novel ways," Sapolsky explained.

Taking it to another level

Animals may share characteristics with humans such as politically motivated aggression, empathy and culture, but humans take them to a level without parallel among animals.

Bands of chimps regularly patrol their territories to kill any intruders, conquer the territory of neighboring chimps, and even wipe out other chimp bands in an act bordering on genocide, Sapolsky said. By contrast, humans have deployed terrible yet sophisticated weapons technologies so that a drone operator sitting at Creech Air Force Base outside Las Vegas can "rain down hellfire on Mesopotamia [Iraq]" by day, and then rush out in the evening to a daughter's ballet recital.

Chimps and some other species have also demonstrated "theory of mind," which allows them to understand the thoughts or motivations of another creature. But they fall short of humans when considering secondary theory of mind – understanding what another person thinks of a third party. Such capabilities allow humans to enjoy delicious stories with layers of intrigue and gossip, such as "every Shakespeare play ever written," Sapolsky said.

Like us, animals such as chimps have shown they can take pleasure in just anticipating a reward, and will perform an action even if there is some delay in getting the reward. But no chimp has the long-range vision of a human to study for the SAT so that he or she can get into a good college in order to get a good job.

Empathy is also not unknown among chimp troops, as evidenced when members of a troop groom an "innocent bystander" that was pummeled by an aggressive alpha chimp. Yet humans can commonly extend empathy over time and space, even experiencing feeling on behalf of other species. People can understand the terror in the eyes of a horse in Picasso's Guernica painting, or even feel sympathy for the fictional blue-skinned Na'vi aliens of the 3D film "Avatar."

The uncharted brain

On a darker note, Sapolsky pointed out how the sophisticated thought processes of humans can also go haywire in ways that defy imitation in the animal world. Depression stands out as one of the few big exceptions as a mental illness that afflicts humans and animals alike.

But plenty more can and does go wrong in the human brain. Some obsessive-compulsive disorder sufferers ritualistically act out the same behavior again and again. People with Tourette syndrome often make uncontrolled noises and curse like sailors.

Even rarer neurobiological problems exist. Patients suffering from so-called Rapunzel syndrome compulsively seek out and eat so much hair that it blocks their intestines; acrotomophiliacs can only experience sexual arousal with amputees; and apotemnophiliacs try to lop off limbs in the belief that they deserve to be amputees.

Certainly no chimp or baboon ever suffered from so-called Jerusalem syndrome, Sapolsky said. The bizarre instances of temporary insanity almost exclusively afflict devout Christians on pilgrimage to Jerusalem who tend to be traveling alone, jetlagged and experiencing disappointment with a modern Jerusalem that does not resemble their dreamy vision of the Holy Land. These individuals typically end up wrapping a white sheet around their naked bodies like a toga and preaching on street corners in the belief that they are the messiah or an apostle.

Answers to everything and nothing

Some people may still worry about neuroscientists slowly stripping away the uniqueness of humans and reducing human motivations and behaviors to equations or chemical formulas. But Sapolsky suggested two reasons not to worry.

First, explaining everything in purely mechanistic terms would not diminish our appreciation of classical music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach or the sight of a leaping gazelle, Sapolsky said. But he added that the second and more crucial reason to have no fear is that researchers will never somehow figure out an answer for everything.

"Every time neuroscience comes up with an answer, it's attached to 10 new questions, and nine of them are better than the original," Sapolsky said.

That idea of science being meant to encourage a sense of mystery rather than cure seemed to infect the audience of scientists and laypeoplewhen it came time for questions. One person pointed out that one of the few differences between humans and chimps comes from the amount of cell division for brain cells, and wondered about someday getting chimp genes to "crank out a few more orders of complexity" and boost chimp intelligence.

That's an open possibility, Sapolsky agreed.

The questioner then asked about applying the same procedure to humans and cranking up our intelligence. Sapolsky didn't miss a beat.

"I think it would transform reality TV as we know it," Sapolsky said.

Copyright © TechMediaNetwork.com

CHINA: Beijing supermarket sells crocodiles

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BEIJING, China / The People's Daily / Life & Culture / May 24, 2010 

The public selling of a 2-meter-long crocodile in a newly opened supermarket in Fengtai District in Beijing has raised criticism from citizens on May 22.

According to Miss Zhang, she came to the newly-opened Yonghui Supermarket and saw a crocodile was lying in the seafood section with its mouth and limbs being tied up, which attracted many citizens. The crocodile is about two meters long. Some cooking method has also been introduced near the crocodile.  "Crocodiles are the national protected animals. How can they sell them as commodities?" She said. [rc]

Photo by People's Daily Online
Copyright by People's Daily Online

INDIA: Part of family, pets cheer lonely, retired

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PUNE, Maharashtra / The Indian Express / People / May 17, 2010

By Garima Mishra

Even after retirement, the life of 65-year-old professor Vasant Wagh is buzzing with activity. Topsy, an eight-year-old cross-breed Pomeranian, keeps Wagh and his wife on their toes all the time. The couple doesn’t mind attending to its needs. In fact, Topsy has helped them combat with loneliness after their son and daughter settled down in the US.

“Having a pet at home at this age keeps you mentally and physically active throughout the day. My wife and I are so busy with Topsy that we don’t realise how the day passes.

There is so much to do — morning walk, evening walk, taking care of her food, appointments with the vet and so on,” says Wagh.

In the pensioner’s paradise, retired residents whose children have left the city have found a way to combat with problems of loneliness. A number of senior citizens are buying pets to give them company.

Neha Tiwari. owner of N R Pet Junction, a city-based firm that deals with sale of pups, says that 40 per cent of her clients are either single or elderly couples. She adds that she has sold dogs to about 20 elderly couples in the past six months

“The trend is more about extending the family rather than combating with loneliness,” she said. Seventy-one- year-old Vasundhara Latkar and her husband couldn’t agree more.

Their parrot Bunny, whom they got home just a month ago, is no less than a member of the family. Vasundhara said that she had found a new companion in Bunny with whom she could talk when her husband was not around.

“Ever since Bunny has joined us, there is so much activity in the house. He keeps us engaged all the time. Even while I am cutting vegetables, he keeps shouting for a bite,” she says.

For 67-year-old Prakash Sanadi and his wife Geeta, their pet dog Ruff has been a companion for the past 15 years with their only child staying away from home. With the increasing incidence of crimes in urban areas, the dog gives them a sense of security.

According to psychiatrist Dr Ulhas Luktuke, elderly couples face isolation with the concept of the nuclear family catching up in cities. Senior citizens share a relationship of mutual affection with their pets that makes up for the lack of familial relationships to some extent.

“Having a pet is a great idea because it has a positive effect on the well-being of senior citizens,” he said.
[rc]

© 2010 The Indian Express Limited

TANZANIA: Jane Goodall looks back – and forward

TORONTO, Ontario / The Globe and Mail / National News / April 9, 2010

Fifty years after she first went to Africa on a 'crazy' expedition, her research has revolutionized animal studies, and expanded beyond

A film about Jane Goodall, Janes's Journey, is slated for release in the fall.
Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail

Q and A  By Sarah Boesveld

Fifty years ago, people laughed when a sprightly 26-year-old Jane Goodall went to the wilds of Africa to study chimps. There was no money for what she remembers her doubters calling a “crazy” expedition to learn from the human-like creatures in the Tanzanian parks. But her breakthrough observation that they could make and use tools just like chimps in captivity was an epiphany that would change the way scientists studied hot-blooded animals. Today, her work helping others to understand chimpanzees has expanded to become something of a social empire. She’s honed in on youth, motivating them to make social and environmental change through Roots & Shoots and other programs with the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada and in more than 100 other countries. She’s working on yet another book, this one about plants, and a documentary about her called Jane’s Journey is scheduled for release in the fall. As she reflects on her career before an audience at the University of Toronto Friday and advocates for the environment with International Conservation Caucus on Parliament Hill next week, she’s casting her view forward to the next 50 years. She spoke with The Globe and Mail in Toronto. We’re here because of that day 50 years ago. What were your expectations when you came upon the shores of Lake Tanganyika? I didn’t have any expectations except that I was jolly well going to get the chimpanzees to accept me and I was going to learn about them. The big problem was every time they saw me, they’d run away. They’d never seen anything like this white ape before, I was peculiar to them. How did you gain their trust? I found this famous peak, it’s now known as Jane’s Peak. And from the peak I could look over two valleys. I realized that sitting up there day after day I could see the chimps moving below. Gradually they got used to me. And then one of them, David Graybeard, lost his fear before the others. He came every day when the fruit was ripe and he found and stole some bananas. After that, when he saw me in the forest, he would sometimes approach. Gradually the others would watch and think, ‘Well, she can’t be so scary after all.’ If David was in the group, I could probably get a little close. Why did you name the chimps? Wouldn’t you have given them names? I cannot imagine, honestly, anybody giving animals numbers. I wasn’t a scientist, I hadn’t been to university. I described their personalities as I got to know them. I could see that they were thinking creatures who planned what to do to some extent. I certainly knew they were emotional. And one of my Cambridge professors – because I had to go to Cambridge and get a degree – they’d told me I’d done everything wrong. What do you think about people teaching chimps how to do very human things like driving. Does that hold any value? It depends on how it’s done. Chimps in the circus are taught to do tricks, they’re very clever at it. But showbiz is showbiz and mostly it’s being done very harsh punishment if you don’t do it right. Same with the intelligence tests in the labs originally all this was done through punishment, rather than do it all through reward. Chimpanzees can do almost anything. So if it’s done by reward, is it valuable? Not just for its own sake, but we now know that it’s very, very wrong to have a chimpanzee as a pet, for example, because they get to be aged and too big and potentially dangerous. Once we have them in zoos, in captivity, one of the worst things they have to contend with is boredom. So the programs that teach them to communicate with sign language or computer, once they are captive and they’re not any more in the wild, is good for them. And what about zoos? Is there a place for them in the future? Certainly some zoos shouldn’t exist. And some animals don’t belong in zoos, for example elephants and wolves perhaps most of all, dolphins and orcas. That’s wrong. However, a good zoo, which understands that they need the right kind of space, social structure and environmental enrichment, that kind of zoo can educate. Most kids don’t get the chance to see a giraffe in Africa. If they see them where they can walk and they have some parklands and they can put out that long neck and they can see the black tongue curling out around the leaves, that child won’t forget that. Jane Goodall with Mr. H, a stuffed monkey doll she's had for the last 15 years. Your work has taught us not only about animals but about human interactions. What has it taught you personally? I think the most important lesson I’ve learned personally is the importance of early experience for our children. It’s very clear with the chimps that if you have a good mother, she’s protective but not too protective. She’s affectionate, playful and perhaps most important of all, supportive of the child if it gets into trouble. Then that child is likely to thrive into an individual who plays an important role in his or her community. Do you think your work is reconnecting us with nature and the more ancient indigenous ways of viewing animals as our peers? Yes, well, with our youth program. We are part of the animal kingdom, we’re not separate from it. And that gives you a new way of thinking, new respect not just for chimps, but the other amazing animals with whom we share the planet. Why is youth your main focus now? It’s the very main focus because I could kill myself trying to save chimps. In a way I am killing myself trying to save chimps. They are in a terrible state in the wild, the numbers are just plummeting and we’re doing everything we can through the Jane Goodall institute. But for all of us, it’s useless unless new generations become better stewards than we’ve been. And young people are not going to become good stewards if they don’t have hope that their actions are going to make a difference. There’s so much lack of hope. What are the major challenges sustaining the future for chimps and the rest of the world? One is the sheer number of people on the planet and the growing number. The second one is that way over half of those people are living in poverty, and when you’re living in poverty you are not able to be a good steward of the environment. Then there’s the unsustainable lifestyle of everybody else, like you and me. The youth get it, they understand. And the great thing is the main message of our program is that every one of us makes a difference every day. [rc] © Copyright 2010 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc

TANZANIA: Jane Goodall - 'My job is to give people hope'

. LONDON, England / The Guardian / People in Science / January 13, 2010 It is half a century since she began her seminal work studying chimpanzees in Africa. But Jane Goodall, 75, says her work is far from finished. Jane Goodall's project is HOPE. By Stephen Moss, The Guardian Jane Goodall in London Photograph: Eamonn McCabe Jane Goodall, grey in complexion but resplendent in a red shawl, is sitting on the sofa in a dimly lit room in west London. The scientist-turned-environmentalist has just arrived from Bournemouth, had a rotten journey, has a hacking cough, but accepts it all stoically, rejecting the suggestion that the heating be turned up. She is here with her talisman, a stuffed monkey called Mr H, given to her by the blind magician Gary Haun ("the Amazing Haundini"), who thought it was a chimp. Goodall, who has a childlike quality, sees a metaphorical significance in a blind magician who is able to pull the wool over the eyes of the sighted. The letter H, standing for Hope, also attracts her. The world seems to divide into people who are besotted with Goodall and people who have barely heard of her. She is more prominent in the US, where the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) is headquartered, than in the UK, despite being born here in 1934 and, after half a lifetime spent documenting the lives of chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream National Park overlooking Lake Tanganyika in the far west of Tanzania, now living with her sister Judy in their old family home in Bournemouth..... ....... ...a life as an environmental evangelist. One journalist who has followed her career likens her to a "peripatetic Mother Teresa", and it's a good description: she combines stateliness with a kind of holiness, her religion a predominantly green one. The message of her new book, with its stories about black-footed ferrets, American crocodiles and whooping cranes, is surprisingly upbeat. "My job seems to have increasingly become giving people hope, so that instead of doing nothing and sinking into depression, they take action," she tells me. "It's very clear to me that unless we get a critical mass of people involved in trying to create a better world for our great-grandchildren, we'd better stop having children altogether.".... ...."I loved animals as a child, read the Tarzan books, and decided at the age of 11 that I would go to Africa, live with animals and write books about them," she says. ..... ...she says. "I certainly prefer a lot of animals to a lot of people, but then I prefer some people to some animals too." [rc] Hope for Animals and Their World is published by Icon Books (£17.99). For more information see janegoodallhopeforanimals.com or janegoodall.org The above report consists of extracts from interview in The Guardian. For full text, please click here © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

USA: A cowboy hat, a saddle and a smile

. DENTON, Texas / Denton Record-Chronicle / Entertainment / January 9, 2010 Sanger rancher follows her dream of capturing horse buffs in the buff By Rachel Mehlhaff / Staff Writer SANGER — Anita Witt proves a person is never too old to bare it all, as long as she has a little help from Jose Cuervo and Whiskey — her horses. The 71-year-old posed semi-nude with her horses for her recent book, Lady Godiva’s Book of Horsemanship. “It’s modern,” Witt said with a laugh while sitting at her kitchen table. Sanger rancher Anita Witt, pictured with her 21-year-old American paint horse, Whiskey, realized a dream when she produced a picture book depicting horse aficionados in the nude. Her horses, Jose Cuervo and Whiskey, are models in the book. Witt, 71, also posed for the book. DRC/Rachel Mehlhaff The book is a collection of quotes from horse whisperers — horsemen and -women who break horses for riding without using force — to go along with the photos taken at her ranches in Sanger and Missouri Heights, Colo. Friends and strangers agreed to pose for the book, including a reporter for the Aspen Times; Witt’s blacksmith, who agreed only if he could sit behind his anvil; her niece; and a jazz pianist who works in Aspen. Witt said while she was out one night in Fort Worth she saw a group of people laughing and dancing and she decided she had to have them in her book. So she explained the project and they agreed. But not everyone she asked agreed. Some of her friends said no. The horse whisperers quoted in the book include Franklin Levinson, who posed for the book, Dave Kluge, Mark Mulligan, Heidi Alles and Susan Gibbs. All of them live in Colorado. Witt was convinced to pose for the book herself by a friend. And she figured, hey, if her friends could pose for the book, so could she. “I’m showing my one little boob,” she said, pointing to the picture of herself in the book. In it, Witt is shot from the chest up, wearing nothing but a wide grin and her cowboy hat. Back at the ranch Witt got the idea for a book that mixes artful nudity with horses when she was in her 20s. The idea came from the legend of Lady Godiva and her husband, Leofric. Leofric was going to impose a tax on the poor that Lady Godiva said they could not afford to pay, so he said he would take away the tax if she agreed to ride through the streets naked. “And she did, according to the legend,” Witt said. “She rode naked on a horse through the streets of Coventry.” And her husband didn’t tax the poor. The legend has caught the imagination of many. The British duo Peter and Gordon released their song “Lady Godiva” in 1966, and it still gets airplay today. Witt said she was sitting on her couch last summer and decided she was either going to make the book or get it out of her head. Saddling up Witt enlisted photographer Robert Royem to take the pictures. The two had met one day at a grocery store in Colorado. Witt said she was dressed in her normal cowgirl gear when Royem approached her. He asked if he could take a picture of her with her horse and she agreed. “She had a great cowgirl look about her and I had been trying to develop a little more of my portfolio,” Royem said. Shortly after, she asked him to help with her book. “That was quite the project,” Royem said. He said it is challenging to take pictures of animals — especially outdoors, because it is an uncontrolled environment. “You are having to adjust constantly to the animal,” said Royem, who photographs a variety of subjects, from weddings to railroads to architecture. And how comfortable were the subjects posing naked? “Usually it took everyone a little bit of time,” he said. “People were a little nervous going into it.” He said being open in front of a photographer is not easy to do, but once the process got going they were fine. Most were photographed nude on horseback or near a horse, and they often wore cowboy hats and boots. “The biggest gift to me doing the work was witnessing firsthand this connection people have with horses,” Royem said. The book of horsemanship wasn’t the first book Witt assembled. She has two others about ranchers in Colorado, They Came From Missouri: The History of Missouri Heights, Colorado and I Remember One Horse … The Last of the Cowboys in the Roaring Fork Valley and Beyond. Animal nature Witt has always been a horse lady. Her horses are like her children. When she was young her parents bought her a horse, Kim, and she began trick riding. She currently has two horses, Jose Cuervo and Whiskey. They travel with her between her Colorado ranch and her Texas ranch, where she spends winters. Colorado is where she really considers home. It is where she lived with her husband, who died in 1993. Jose Cuervo is an 11-year-old paso fino horse and Whiskey is a 21-year-old American paint horse. “They’re my best friends,” she said. Witt does tricks with her horses, and she said Jose and Whiskey make people smile. She and her horses entertain at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas and at nursing homes in Denton, Sanger and Colorado. She said the kids at the hospital are thrilled to see the horses. “It makes them happy and it makes me happy,” Witt said. Her horses can hold flags, nod, grin, cross their feet and take a handkerchief out of Witt’s pocket for her when she sneezes. Jose can also push a baby buggy with a stuffed horse in it. Witt’s dog Spanky also gets in on the act. She asks the dog: “Would you rather be married or dead?” Spanky plays dead. She has received a positive response from people who have seen her book. They “think its beautiful photography,” she said. “They think it is done well.” Finishing the book has been a dream come true for Witt. She said she doesn’t believe a person has to have the money to realize a dream. She believes a person just has to decide to go for it. [rc] ABOUT THE BOOK Lady Godiva’s Book of Horsemanship Anita McCune Witt Photography by Robert Royem 84 pages, $29.95 Web: www.ladygodivas.biz Rachel Mehlhaff E-mail: rmehlhaff@dentonrc.com © 2010 Denton Publishing Co.

INDIA: Living In The Tiger's Shadow

. KOLKATA, West Bengal / The Times of India / Life / December 7, 2009 Living In The Tiger's Shadow The Sunderbans tiger widows have been fighting grinding poverty and state neglect for decades. Photo credit: tigerwidows.org By Satadru Ojha & Monotosh Chakraborty, Times News Network Otho otho Ma Bonbibi, tomar namey baralam pa/ Amar ei lokjoner opor je debe gha, tarey tui dhore dhore kha [Arise, O Mother Bonbibi, I step forward in your name/ Whoever tries to harm my people, hunt him down and eat his flesh] Gopal Mullick says this prayer every time his boat rocks against the riverbank. But looking out at the vast expanse of oozing mud and hostile forest the deep jungles of the Sunderbans delta his hands tremble. For Bonbibi, the guardian deity of the forest, is distant and inscrutable. Gopal knows that the incantation often doesn't work. And when it doesn't, Bonbibi's vahana strikes. One vicious bite on the neck, the spinal cord snaps and life dissolves in a haze of blood and gore. The Royal Bengal tiger takes its prey. Mullick, a fisherman from Gosaba in the Sunderbans has seen this bizarre drama played out a number of times. Twice, the tiger took his own people: his father and son-in-law. But for the 76-year-old, such misfortunes are a part and parcel of life. Mullick lives in Gosaba's Bidhaba Palli (widow colony), where almost every second family has similar tragedies to recount. Around 350 families of widows live in this colony spread across Arampur, Malopara, Haldarpara and Kantakhali a cluster of villages hugging the Bidya river. All of them have lost husbands to the tiger's maw, but poverty and neglect have forced them to send other men a brother, a son to the forests. "I lost my husband 40 years back in a tiger attack. But when my son-in-law Nilkamal Biswas took up fishing, I couldn't say no. What would we eat otherwise?" asked 70-year-old Belmoti Sana, a resident of Malopara. So every time Nilkamal's team goes fishing, the women wait on the banks, seeing the boats disappear down the river. The vigil can be long, as the men are gone for 10-15 days. "For those days, we follow a strict regimen, eating little and praying. Who would want to anger Bonbibi?" says Belmoti's neighbour Pushpa Mondal. Boats on the river at dawn The colony in Gosaba is the largest, but many such villages are scattered across Sunderbans' inhabited areas like Satjelia, Jharkhali, Patharpratima and Kultali. Reports suggest that over the last century, more than 50,000 people have been killed by tigers in the Sunderbans. "A tiger attack doesn't just mean the loss of a life. Often, the victim is the only earning member of the family and his death pushes his wife and children towards destitution," says Sushanta Giri of Baikunthapur Tarun Sangha, an NGO that has worked with tiger widows over the past five years in the Patharpratima-Kultali area. Subhadra Haldar of Arampur has struggled with this reality for years. "My son abandoned me in old age, leaving me to work as a domestic help. No one has helped, not even the government..." the 70-year-old sobs into her pallu. Her husband was dragged away by a tiger in the Chamta forest 30 years back. Petitions for help often reach the Gosaba panchayat office, a short distance from the widow colony. "A family can receive pension only if it is below the poverty line. Strangely, though these villagers are among the worst-off in Gosaba, none has a BPL card," says Jayanta Das, the upa-pradhan. The politics of compensation can be vicious. The chain of contact from villager to administration is controlled by touts. "A tiger victim's family can receive state compensation up to Rs 1 lakh if the victim had an entry permit and was killed outside the core area. Families can't always figure out the nitty-gritty of official papers and give in to middlemen," says Mrinal Chatterjee, secretary of Institute of Climbers and Nature Lovers, an NGO that works on wildlife issues in the Sunderbans. The tiger widow tag also means that these women and their families are treated as outcasts. They're not welcome at village gatherings. It is this attitude that riles youths like Pabitra Mondal. Hailing from a family of Gosaba fishermen, Pabitra's father died in a tiger attack 23 years ago. "My mother was ridiculed and humiliated for years. But once I started earning, I made sure that no one dared to call her a tiger victim's widow," says Pabitra, who teaches village kids. For some like Sumit Haldar, village life has become unbearable. As soon as he got a teacher's job he sold off his father's boat and fishing net. "I was very young when my grandfather was taken by a tiger. But we didn't even have time to mourn. My father had to go out with his boat and net. Now that I have a job, I'll leave this village and cross over to the mainland with my family," he says. But for every family that dreams, many are trapped in the rhythms of the tide country. Fish has to be caught, honey and wood collected, a life lived. "Late in the night, when we are anchored in the middle of the river, we can hear them roaring. We put out our lamps and huddle together. It's Borobabu (the big lord), declaring his presence," says Kangsa Bairagi, a fisherman. [rc] Copyright © 2009 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.

GERMANY: Germans eat 1,000 animals

. LONDON, England / Daily Express / World News / October 17, 2009 GERMANS enjoy sausages and other meat dishes so much that they each eat more than 1,000 animals in their lifetime, it was claimed yesterday. A study estimated that on average individual Germans consume four cows, four calves, four sheep, 46 pigs, 37 ducks and 46 turkeys as well as 12 geese and 945 chickens. Feasting on sausage Research by the German Vegetarian Association estimated that more than one billion animals, not including fish or sea creatures, were eaten in Germany every year. The organisation wants Germans to have one meatless day a week which would save 157 million animal lives a year, according to spokesman Sebastian Zosch. Raising plant products for food results in much less “greenhouse” gas emission than raising animals, the organisation said. Out of a population of around 83million, between five and six million Germans are vegetarian. India has the highest number of vegetarians in the world, with 40 per cent of the population not eating meat. [rc] Copyright ©2006 Northern and Shell Media Publications.

USA: Those were the days - Remembering Lassie !

. MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho / Mountain Home News Weekly / Blogs / September 3, 2009 Remembering Lassie ! For some unknown reason to me I started thinking about television and the way it used to be. Those were the days when we had a lot of family shows to watch. You could sit comfortably in your living room with your children and watch tv without worrying about what 4 letter word is going to come spewing out of someones mouth. A time when male and female products were not advertised, and you didn't have to explain to your kids what they were used for, right then at that moment of family time when you are spending time together. lol ! I fondly remember Lassie. What a good girl she was and I always wanted a dog just like her. She was so smart and there wasn't anything she couldn't do. For those of you who never grew up with Lassie she was an American television Icon who had her own television series that followed her adventures and her companions, human and animal. Jeff instructs Lassie to lie on some duck eggs while Gramps looks on. Courtesy: chucksconnection.com/lassie.html One of the longest running dramatic series on television, Lassie was broadcast by a television network from September 12, 1954, to March 24, 1973. The show saw seventeen seasons on CBS before entering first-run syndication for its final two seasons. Filmed initially in black-and-white, the show transitioned to color during the 1960s. [rc] © 2009 Mountain Home News

USA: Harvey Cox, 80, to exercise traditional grazing rights with ‘Pride’

. CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts / Harvard Divinity School / August 30, 2009 Renowned Harvard Professor Claims Privilege of Grazing Cow In Harvard Yard On September 10, a jubilant event will celebrate Harvey Cox's retirement as Hollis Professor of Divinity after 44 years of teaching at Harvard Divinity School and Harvard College, says a press release from Harvard Divinity School. The Hollis Chair is the oldest endowed chair in American higher education. A well-known legend attests to the Hollis Professor's privilege to graze his cow in Harvard Yard, and Cox will assert that right on September 10, borrowing a Jersey cow named Faith from the Farm School in Athol, Massachusetts, a working farm widely known in the sustainable farming movement.[rc] (Read on) Copyright 2009 President and Fellows of Harvard College. Related report The Boston Globe Holy cow! Bovine to visit Harvard Yard Photo: Carrie Branovan/NYT © Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company

NEW ZEALAND: Parrot takes charge of new owners

. WELLINGTON, New Zealand / Taranaki Daily News / July 29, 2009 By Brooke Sheehan, Taranaki Daily News FEATHERED FRIEND: Oscar the music-loving parrot with his new owner, Ben Buscke. Cameron Burnell / Taranaki Daily News Here's a Taranaki senior citizen who can boogie with the best of them even though he's only 27. And a bird. He's Oscar, the little corella parrot, who's been impressing his new owners ever since they began caring for him at the end of April. "His favourite song is Boom Boom Pow by the Black-Eyed Peas," says animal-lover Ben Buscke, who adopted Oscar when the bird's previous owner, a former music teacher, was unable to care for him. "He really gets down and boogies to it, and if you don't dance and sing with him, he gets mad." But this sweet-sounding tale of a man and his new bird hasn't developed without bloodshed. Having spent 26 years in the same house with one owner, Oscar didn't adapt well to change and Mr Buscke soon learnt the parrot had control issues. The car ride home was traumatic enough, when Oscar attacked Mr Buscke's ear and drew blood, while screeching, "What a mess, what a mess." And when the daily 4.30am wake-up calls began, Mr Buscke and his partner, Margie McLean, quickly realised that life would never be the same. The couple love the fun, though. Oscar, who refers to them both as Seven, has an ever-growing vocabulary and enjoys being read a pop-up book called 10 Chirpy Chicks, from which he has learnt to count to seven. And with more than 50 different phrases, Oscar is one pet guaranteed to surprise his new owners even more. Battle-scarred Mr Buscke says it was not easy gaining Oscar's trust, and he lost a lot of flesh in the process. But despite the parrot's need to exert his authority over the entire household, Ms Mclean says Oscar never swears and always remembers his manners. "When I have to move his cage to vacuum under it, he always says 'That's better, isn't it? Thank you, Mum.' " [rc] © 2009 Fairfax New Zealand Limited

USA: A Fan of Camel Milk Struggles to Start a Drome-dairy

. NEW YORK, NY / Wall Street Journal / US News / July 22, 2009 In North Carolina, Ms. Millie Hinkle, 57, Promotes Hard-to-Get Beverage; Milking Martha By Lauren Etter RALEIGH, North Carolina -- Millie Hinkle first tasted camel milk in the United Arab Emirates about 10 years ago. She had no idea the salty drink, still warm from the camel and served in an ornate bowl with a side of walnuts, would become an obsession. "It has taken over my life," said the 57-year-old practitioner of natural medicine as she cruised down a tree-lined road here in her white SUV emblazoned with a camel. Ms. Hinkle has drained her savings, slashed the number of hours she spends at her day job and started a company called Camel Milk USA. Her goal is to bring the milk, reputed to have healing and aphrodisiac powers, to the U.S. where it's been hard to get mainly because camels weren't listed in rules governing the sale of milk. In April, Ms. Hinkle won initial approval from the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments, a nonprofit group, to market the milk. Now, she's awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on some final details. But there are several humps to overcome before camel milk is widely available in the U.S. For starters, there aren't many camels here. Those that are mainly work in circuses or live in zoos. Another challenge: Camels don't much like to be milked. Camels can be cantankerous and persuading them to give up their milk can be part chore, part art. Camel experts say the animals are often ticklish around their udders and, without proper training, might lie down in the middle of being milked. Camel milk is a centuries-old staple for nomadic tribes across the Middle East and Africa. It is also drunk by elderly men to enhance virility; by the sick to treat a variety of ailments; and by those who believe it has magical properties. Camels feed at North Carolina's Ferncroft Farms, which is working with Millie Hinkle, proprietor of Camel Milk USA. Lauren Etter/ The Wall Street Journal In some countries, camel milk is called "liquid gold" for its healing and nutritional qualities. But camel dairy is not widely available in the U.S., in part because the animals don't like to be milked. Lauren Etter reports from Raleigh, North Carolina. Click for link to page with video Ms. Hinkle said she's working with a large camel dairy in the Middle East that is interested in helping start a camel dairy in the U.S. She declined to name the dairy. Most camel milking is still done by hand, but some modern dairies have gotten into the game. A dairy in Dubai called Emirates Industries for Camel Milk & Products sells camel-milk chocolate and camel milk under the brand "Camelicious." The milk comes in flavors including saffron and date. The Camelicious dairy, opened in 2006, uses mechanized milking technology and trains camels to walk into the milking parlor. When the dairy first started, "the Bedouins said, 'No way will the animals enter that milking parlor,'" said Peter Nagy, the Hungarian farm manager there. He and his wife, both veterinarians, solved the problem, he said, but "I cannot explain exactly how this was done." Mr. Nagy credits training by his wife: "A woman has a sixth sense" that allows her to "know how the animals feel." Today, the Camelicious dairy has more than 1,500 camels. They are taken by the Bedouins on one-hour walks daily through the desert in a caravan formation. The dairy is working to develop higher-yielding milking camels. An average milking camel produces about two gallons of milk a day, Mr. Nagy said. Dairy cows produce around seven gallons a day. In a 2006 report, the United Nations recommended camel milk as an area for Middle East economic development, saying that $10 billion in global sales "would be entirely within the realm of possibility." Ms. Hinkle, who dons flowing white pantsuits and dangly gold earrings, sometimes tears up when talking about her quest. "I have to try to do what I can to help the most people," she said. "And for me this is it." She said she was interested in becoming a physician as a young woman, but after being "poisoned" by lawn pesticides decided instead to study natural medicine. She opened her own clinic about 20 years ago in Raleigh, called Natural Health Resource Center. Here, from a second-floor office, she says she fields emails and calls from people who want camel milk as a health remedy and immigrants who crave the drink. She gets a phone call almost every week from Abdirizak Mohamuod, a Somalian man in Minnesota who sells dried fruits and ethnic food. He says he has at least 70,000 Somalian customers in Minnesota who would buy it. "We would like to get the milk as soon as possible," he said. Ms. Hinkle got her first taste of camel milk in the late 1990s while on a trip to the United Arab Emirates with her husband, who was then working for the state of North Carolina. As guests at the home of a member of the royal family, she recalls they were shown a lush backyard filled with racing camels and treated to fresh camel milk. "I liked it OK," she said. But "it was one taste, and I never thought of it again." Until three years ago. Her curiosity was piqued after reading about the benefits of camel's milk in an alternative-health magazine. Camel milk has three times as much vitamin C as cow's milk and contains high amounts of iron, unsaturated fatty acids and B vitamins, according to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization. Proponents tout it as an aid for everything from diabetes to autism. A biomedical research company in Belgium, called Ablynx, has been working on developing drugs based on antibodies found in camels and llamas, called nanobodies. When Ms. Hinkle tried to buy camel milk in the U.S., she couldn't find any, which she found frustrating. "As I read more about camel milk, I thought 'I gotta get it here.'" Her drive sent her before the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments, a nonprofit, industry-backed group formed in 1946 that oversees drafting of certain regulations that are then sent for FDA approval. She put together a proposal asking for camels to be included under the milk rules. The FDA recently gave tentative approval to cover camels, as well as reindeer, llamas, moose and donkeys under the rules. An FDA spokesman said, "We wanted to improve the science basis in the definition" of milk coming from hooved mammals to include "species that may not have 'true hooves,'" such as camels. Now, Ms. Hinkle is working to get FDA approval of a series of tests required to ensure the quality of camel milk. To do that, she needed samples. Larry Seibel, an animal breeder just north of Raleigh who specializes in white and spotted camels, agreed to help. On a recent day, Mr. Seibel's wooded 85-acre reserve, called Ferncroft Farms, was abuzz with peacocks, munchkin cats, French bulldogs and a zebra. One of his 40 camels, named Martha, had recently given birth, providing a perfect milking opportunity since a camel tends to give up milk only with its baby nearby. Martha, standing nearly 6 feet tall at the hump, moaned and kicked around hay in her barn. Her baby hungrily suckled her udders as a farmhand tiptoed around her and started milking. Mr. Seibel petted Martha and cooed, "Good girl." Finally, Martha squirted her milk, which resembled a cappuccino, into a glass jar. "Mission accomplished," said Ms. Hinkle. [rc] Lauren Etter E-Mail: lauren.etter@wsj.com Copyright ©2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Seniors World Chronicle adds: Millie and Clyde, a camel friend. Photo by courtesy of Chris Seward, The News & Observer

UK: Me and my ...Dog Walker

. GLASGOW, Scotland / Sunday Herald / Life / June 7, 2009 Me and my ... dog walker Two women, one four-legged friend, and a relationship that has developed over time PAULINE MCGARRY, 31, HOUSEWIFE AND OWNER OF BOXER DOG KAI Kai was a newborn pup when we bought him, and we've had him for five years. We really wanted a dog - my husband Steven loves dogs, and had to get the biggest dog available. We stayed in a flat in Townhead, Glasgow when Kai came to live with us. I worked nearby, so I used to come home at lunchtime to walk him. Then we moved to the southside, which was too far from my work, and didn't have a solution as to who would walk Kai. Steven's aunt had sold her car to Alice, who walked dogs. It was a match made in heaven for us - they were both comfortable with each other from the offset. Alice has a great reputation; she walks dogs for a lot of people. We liked her immediately and felt we could trust her - there's a great deal of trust involved. Kai is our baby, a member of our family. We wouldn't just send him off with anyone. We also hand over our house keys to Alice. She comes in every day to get Kai. He is always dried after his walk, and everything is always how we've left it. Dogs can be left up to eight hours on their own, but we didn't get a dog to leave him on his own all day. Steven takes him out for a big walk before he goes to work. Alice walks him at lunchtime. We get in about 5.30pm and take him for a big walk. He gets a run with the other dogs in the neighbourhood. Alice has done things other than dog walking for us. When it was our daughter Holly's christening, she took Kai for the whole day so we could concentrate on Holly's big day. She's kept him when we've gone on holiday, sometimes for up to two weeks at a time, as she provides a boarding service for dogs. She's come in and fed him if we've been out for the evening and not been able to get back. Alice has always accommodated us, and over the years has become a good family friend. When I was pregnant with Holly and on maternity leave, I saw her a lot. I still see her every day - typical women just having a gab. ALICE ASHFORD, 46, OWNER OF JACK-AL DOG WALKING SERVICE I worked in an office for 24 years, doing accounts. I became disillusioned with working in the same place doing the same job for so many years. Friends had given me their dogs to look after in the summer and had always encouraged me to do it full time. One summer I looked after three friends' dogs, and that's when I decided to chuck in my job. The office I worked in was within a mile of my home so I used to go home during my lunch hour to see the dogs, feed them and walk them. I've always had an affinity with dogs, but that summer gave me the impetus I needed to do this as a career. It had a huge impact on my life. I was becoming stressed out in my job, and was no longer enjoying it. I was off sick when I thought I should give it up and go for dog walking. My health has improved - I am happy to get up in the morning. I love going to get the dogs because they are so happy to see me. They are better than people in my opinion, because they don't bitch. They all sit and wait at the door until I get there. You need to invest time teaching your dog manners. I found Kai was well looked after and well trained. He is a good laugh, a brilliant dog. He's an alpha dog - he's the leader of the pack but at the same time he looks after all the wee dogs. If one of the dogs is still in the bushes, he stands and waits until it is done, then wags his tail when the dog comes out, because he's a caring, loving dog. The McGarrys are really nice - very down to earth - and have recommended me to other friends. I was worried when Holly was born. I thought they would no longer require my services, and the thought of not being able to walk Kai any more broke my heart. You form such a close bond, not only with the dog, but with the family. You get to love them. Luckily they kept me on. ©2009 newsquest (sunday herald) limited.

USA: Alaskan man, 70, faces jail for mixing with bears

. LONDON, England / The Telegraph / World News / North America / USA / May 24, 2009 An elderly man who has spent the last 20 years living with bears in Alaska is facing prosecution under strict new rules to stop people feeding wild animals. By Henry Samuel Charlie Vandergraw, 70, has become so familiar with the grizzlies that he can scratch their bellies, pat them on the head and feed them biscuits. But he has been charged with 20 counts of feeding bears and could be given a year in prison or a $10,000 fine, sparking a row in the state over individual freedoms. Game officials have said anyone who feeds bears is putting their life at risk and they are concerned less-experienced individuals may copy Mr Vandergraw's behaviour. Two friends who allegedly provided food have also been charged. Mr Vandergraw, a retired teacher and wrestling coach, became known to the wider public thanks to a documentary shot last year by a British filmmaker at his remote Alaskan cabin and also featured in the recent Animal Planet TV series Stranger Among Bears. Footage shows him scratching the belly of one black bear, resting his head on another but also warding one off with a small stick after it charged ferociously. This undated photo released by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game shows Charlie Vandergaw with a brown bear at his property near Alexander Creek, Alaska. The 70-year-old retired science teacher who has been feeding bears at his property in the Susitna River valley about fifty miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska, for 20 years was charged with 20 counts of illegally feeding game in May, 2009. (AP Photo) His friend, John Frost, said that when he came to Alaska in 1973, he saw a T-shirt that said: "Alaska land of the individual and other endangered species. "Yet here we are as a state going to crush this kind, gentle little guy." The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has claimed the bears at Mr Vandergraw's cabin, roughly 50 miles northwest of Anchorage, pose a threat as they have no fear of humans. When state troopers searched the cabin last year, the animals had to be scared off with "cracker shots". They also pointed out that the filmmaker, Richard Terry, was struck, dragged across the yard and bitten in the leg by one of the bears during filming. Alaska was deeply shocked in 2003 when Timothy Treadwell – known as the Grizzly Man – was eaten along with his girlfriend in Katmai by the animals he considered his friends. Mr Vandergraw said his approach was different, as he did not camp out with the bears but let them come to his cabin. "(Mr Treadwell) didn't live in the same world I'm living in. He went out and was tough enough to live in their bedroom basically," he said. "I've been slapped. I've been knocked unconscious. I've been T-boned by large bears and knocked to the ground and had a hard time getting up," he said. "But it was in no way that any of those was an all-out attack. I guarantee I wouldn't be sitting here today if a bear had given me an all-out attack." © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009

USA: The New Diseases of Our Own Making

. TAMPA BAY, Florida / St. Petersburg Times / May 6, 2009 By Mark Walters, special to the Times From swine flu to mad cow to HIV-AIDS, the Age of Ecodemics has arrived. Now our attention is focused on swine flu as we count the number of confirmed cases and deaths, close and then reopen schools and cancel then reschedule sporting events. But we should remember how we are creating many of these diseases in the first place. You can't get swine flu from eating pork, but you can get it from live pigs. When pigs get the flu — and they often do — they cough and sneeze. Nearly half of commercially raised swine in the United States have at some point been infected with some kind of flu. Up to one-quarter of pig farmers and about 10 percent of veterinarians may have been exposed to one type or another, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Human cases are almost always mild, and it's extremely rare for swine flu to spread from one person to the next. The current outbreak is one such rare strain. Warning: this cartoon is irrational because you can't get infected by eating pork.. Source: cagle.msnbc.com Swine flu is one of several notable human diseases arising of late from agriculture or food production. Mad cow was born when farmers fed rendered parts of sheep infected with scrapie to their cows in an effort to turn every scrap of meat, sinew and bone into profit. HIV probably jumped to humans through the African bush meat trade in which infected chimpanzees or mangabeys with a similar virus were slaughtered and sold in large markets where contaminated blood or bodily fluids infected hunters, butchers, market workers or buyers. Some drug-resistant strains of salmonella have been traced to agriculture in which antibiotics were regularly used to make animals grow faster instead of to treat them for illness. Bird flu jumped from wild aquatic birds to domesticated poultry and then to people. The list goes on. It is not surprising that livestock agriculture has given rise to so many human diseases new and old. One of the first great waves of human epidemics may have occurred during the Neolithic Revolution millennia ago, when humans began domesticating animals. Smallpox came from cattle and the common cold apparently from horses. Now, through modern livestock agriculture, along with ecological disruptions such as global climate change, humans are creating a new wave of epidemics or spreading old diseases into new areas. Increased global trade and travel have accelerated the spread. These new diseases include viruses (novel influenzas, HIV), bacteria (drug-resistant food poisoning and Lyme disease) as well as rare prion diseases (mad cow), to name a few. Influenza is of paramount concern because agricultural practices permit a regular influx of genes from their natural home in wild aquatic birds into human- and swine-flu strains. These genetic exchanges are games of chance whose gravity can range from Friday night poker to the Russian roulette of a severe pandemic. So many diseases are coming at us that new ones seem to become old almost overnight. SARS (unrelated to influenza) emerged in southern China in late 2002. Bird flu, which has been all but forgotten, claimed its first human victim the following year. So far in 2009, 26 people have caught it from poultry. Seven have died. Fortunately, bird flu does not spread person to person. Each of the two novel influenzas around now separately carries a key trait of a severe pandemic. Swine flu is contagious but mild (so far), while bird flu is lethal but unable to spread (so far). That doesn't mean the two will ever meet — or, even if they did, fiendishly combine into a dangerous pandemic. But two new types circulating at once reminds us that, far from closing the book on infectious disease, as the surgeon general in the late 1960s suggested we would do, we are quickly adding new chapters. From novel influenzas to mad cow to HIV-AIDS, the Age of Ecodemics has arrived. As our attention now understandably turns to creating a swine flu vaccine if one is needed, we would do well to consider how we are creating many of these diseases in the first place and begin to find ways to mitigate their emergence. Whatever the future of swine flu — and there are indications it is not as severe as first feared — it is still a warning. And it will not be our last. Mark Walters is a veterinarian, the author of Six Modern Plagues and How We Are Causing Them, and a professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. © 2009 • St. Petersburg Times

NETHERLANDS: Q fever cases surge

. AMSTERDAM, Netherlands / DutchNews.nl / May 6, 2009 The number of cases of Q fever reported among humans in the Netherlands has risen 'explosively' over the past few weeks, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday. The paper says over 200 cases have been reported in recent days, half of them in Noord-Brabant province. Q fever was rarely known among humans until 2007, when 168 cases were reported. Last year there were more than 1,000 instances in the Netherlands. Q fever is spread by livestock which shed the bacteria in urine, faeces, birth products and milk. The bacteria reach humans after faeces and dirty straw is used as fertiliser and blown about, the Volkskrant says. The disease, which leads to spontaneous abortion in sheep and goats, causes flu-like symptoms in humans but can lead to lung infections. © DutchNews.nl

INDONESIA: 70-Year Old Killed as Elephants Run Amok in Lampung Village

. JAKARTA, Indonesia / The Jakarta Globe / April 28, 2009 Bandar Lampung. Two wild elephants ran riot through a village in Lampung Province over the weekend, killing a 70-year-old man, a nature conservation official said on Monday. It was the second such incident in less than two months. Kurnia Rauf, head of the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, said the elephants went on a rampage on Saturday after they were left behind by their herd and strayed into Belimbing Bengkunat village in West Lampung district, killing a man identified as Punirah. Kurnia said the elephant herd was following a seasonal migration path from the national park. Local residents tried to drive the two elephants away but they ran at Punirah. On March 4, an 83-year-old man was crushed to death by a herd of wild elephants in Riau Province. The elephants trampled the man as they thundered through a village in Bengkalis district. “Around 30 rampaging elephants surrounded the man and trampled him until his body was torn to pieces,” a local villager said at the time. Late last month, two tame Sumatran elephants used by rangers to patrol protected forests in Kerinci Seblat National Park were killed by hunters. Wildlife officials said at the time that the elephants appeared to have been killed by professional poachers. Kerinci Seblat National Park covers 13,750 square kilometers in West Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu and South Sumatra provinces. Park rangers ride tame Sumatran elephants while patrolling the park for illegal loggers and poachers. There was speculation that the poachers had been hired by illegal loggers, who have been clearing the country’s rainforests to make way for palm oil plantations. Antara Copyright 2009 The Jakarta Globe

USA: Fido and Fluffy behind 86,000 falls a year, reports CDC

. ATLANTA, Georgia / Associated Press / March 26, 2009 By Mike Stobbe Watch out for Fluffy and Fido! Cats and dogs are a factor in more than 86,000 serious falls each year, according to the first government study of pet-related tumbles. Such incidents are relatively rare, accounting for just about 1 percent of injuries from falls. The vast majority cause only minor injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But they are a disproportionate hazard for senior citizens, said CDC officials. They advise older people to improve lighting, remove pet toys and use obedience training. "There are many benefits to pet ownership. But they also can be a hazard," said Judy Stevens, a CDC epidemiologist who co-authored the study. Stevens, an injury researcher, said she got the idea for the study after getting asked at conferences about falls caused by pets. The report was released Thursday and is being published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Researchers looked at emergency department reports for 66 U.S. hospitals for 2001 through 2006. They checked patient charts for mentions of dogs and cats involved in nonfatal injuries. From that, they concluded that about 3 out of every 10,000 people annually suffer fall-related injuries from cats or dogs that are serious enough to send someone to the hospital. The rate was nearly twice as high for people 75 and older. And women were two times more likely to be injured than men. Most were quickly treated and released, but nearly 10 percent involved broken bones, internal injuries or other conditions that required hospitalization, the researchers found. Cats mainly caused injuries by tripping people — a phenomenon well understood by cat owners who have affectionate felines that rub against their shins and ankles during the morning walk to the coffee pot. Dogs were blamed in most of the pet-caused injuries. They tripped people, startled them and pushed or pulled them off balance during a walk. Or they ran away and their owners toppled chasing after them. Their dog toys also caused tumbles. "A lot of these statistics show the owner does not have complete control of dog," said Lisa Peterson, a spokeswoman for the American Kennel Club, which runs a purebred dog registry and promotes responsible dog ownership. Obedience training can help. Also, reducing the number of dog toys and storing them each night could help. And people who might get knocked over could consider getting already-trained dogs or smaller dogs, she said. Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press.