Just like Alaska
A likely story.  Now we have two bear cubs left on their own "deemed old enough to be left on their own".  The small dog was probably teasing the bear...so why didn't the moose attack the driver?

Charlie appeared one day...
He became my mother's companion - just when she needed one!  AND TODAY THE NYTIMES SAY HE IS A KILLER.

2013 COPPER BASIN 300 FIRST PLACE!  Congratulations to super fast, SP Kennel BLACK TEAM!!!

Definition of "noisy" worries animal not specifically named (l).  How loud can Bossie "mooooo" without infringing on zoning?
Lower CT River Valley Council of Government comes to the rescue, pointing out that a less restrictive zoning amendment might be to propose an overall "noise" ordinance.

Many Crying 'Fowl' Over Request for Zoning Amendment
DAY
By Marianne Sullivan Courier Senior Staff Writer

DOGS AT RISK - HUMANS NEXT?
Coyotes run in packs.  Small dogs, (Jack Russell), are particularly vulnerable. 

NEWS ALERT: Two Weston nature preserves closed because of aggressive coyotes
Weston FORUM
By Patricia Gay on August 24, 2012

Two Weston nature preserves are closed due to aggressive coyotes.

The town of Weston issued a Code Red alert this morning warning residents of the presence of aggressive coyotes at two Aspetuck Land Trust nature preserves.

Weston Animal Control Officer Mark Harper said he has closed the Taylor Woods/Thorp Preserve along Hunt Lane and Thorp Drive, and the Tall Pines Preserve located at Fanton Hill Road and Twin Walls Lane until further notice.  The Code Red alert sent to homes surrounding the nature preserves warned of the coyotes and said, “No attacks have been reported, but increasingly aggressive behavior has been observed.”

The alert further advises, “If you see a coyote, retreat but do not run. It is also advisable to keep your pets attended for the immediate future.”

The town of Weston and the Aspetuck Land Trust have requested a state biologist visit the sites to recommend an appropriate response to the coyote presence.

“We’re working with the DEEP to deal with the problem,” said Mr. Harper.

While coyote sightings are nothing new in Weston, the coyotes at the nature preserves are displaying unusual behavior by following residents and large dogs. “It’s a big enough problem and could be a compromise of safety to residents and pets,” Mr. Harper said.

In addition to reports that coyotes are following people and their dogs, Mr. Harper said he received a report that a woman was chased by a pack of coyotes, and that a coyote followed another woman nearly to the front door of her home. There was also a recent report that a coyote lured a Jack Russell terrier from a home, where a pack of coyotes then emerged and attacked it.  Mr. Harper said he is not sure how many coyotes are in this particular pack, but at least one of them, a young one, is white colored.

He said the coyotes appear to be in good health and are not suspected to be acting aggressively because of an illness, such as rabies. “My belief is these coyotes are getting very comfortable around people and so they aren’t afraid to approach them. They’re getting smarter,” he said.

Signs saying the preserves are closed have been posted at their entrances.

Residents with any questions about the coyotes may contact Mr. Harper at 203-222-2642. Emergency calls should be made to 911.

The Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection EP maintains a web page providing further advice on coyotes.

NON-CONFORMING LOT (UNDER 2 ACRES)
How to deal with zoning in CT:  Bring along a really big rabbit and a really small child - especially if you live on a non-conforming lot and want to have animals.

"BRINGING UP BABY"
How did someone in Mongolia go about stealing an 8-foot tall object from a museum?  Oh!  That's right, you deconstruct the Tyrannosaurus (T-Rex at right) into separate bones!

Tyrannosaurus skeleton sold for $1.1 million to be seized by feds
YAHOO
By Tecca | Today in Tech
22 June 2012

Intrigue continues to surround the Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton that was sold for a whopping $1,052,000 at auction back in May. Even before the auction took place, the government of Mongolia stepped forward to claim that the bones were stolen from the country. But it's only now that a judge signed a warrant, giving feds the power to seize the prehistoric animal's remains.

The 75% complete, 8-foot tall, 24-foot long skeleton belonged to a species called T. bataar — the North American T. rex's Asian relative. Heritage Auctions sold it to an anonymous buyer, but chances are the buyer will never get their hands on the skeleton. It's still unclear how Heritage Auctions ended up with what's possibly a stolen national treasure. When asked for a comment on the issue, auction house president Gregory Rohan said one wouldn't sell a stolen Tyrannosaurus skeleton at a public auction.

As for Mongola's government, all it wants is to get the skeleton back. "We want this dinosaur to go back to Mongolia where it belongs," said Bolorsetseg Minjin, director of the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs. Homeland Security is expected to seize the skeleton tomorrow, after which it will be kept at an undisclosed location while the court decides its rightful owner.

THOR THE BLOODHOUND
Who better to track down a missing person, as opposed to drugs, bombs, etc.?

Bloodhound Found Woman Lost In State Forest

WHICH BEAR WAS IT WHO GOT TRANQUILIZER DART?
Bear caught on film at a bird bath looks smaller than the one DEEP tranquilized a few days later (it fell out of the tree and missed the net).  Bear playing possum?

Bear not in any mood to get on the scale...
Bear tranquilized in downtown New Britain
New Haven Register
By The Associated Press

PHOTOS ABOVE (L) GRADUATING K-9 DEEP DOGS AND GOOGLED GERMAN SHEPHERD - WOOF!!!
Looks like Yellow Labs have the best nose for fire danger!  The German Shepherd, or Alsatian.  The story of "Rin Tin Tin" came out of WW1 and a German Shepherd of that name starred in 23 movies...

State's Newest K-9 Team Graduates
By JOSH KOVNER, jkovner@courant.com
10:48 AM EDT, June 14, 2012

OLD LYME –

Connecticut's newest law-enforcement K-9 team graduated Thursday morning after completing training with the state police.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's K-9 squad is comprised of four environmental conservation police officers and their Labrador Retriever partners.

The officers and dogs are now certified in tracking and evidence recovery, DEEP spokesman Dwayne Gardner said.

The Labradors will be used in search and rescue missions, and receive additional training in detecting wild booty obtained illegally by hunters and fishermen, including venison, duck, lobster, and crab. The dogs have been living with their handlers for the last year, Gardner said.

The graduation took place at the EnCon police division's marine headquarters on Ferry Road in Old Lyme.

The team members are Officer Erin Crossman and Ellie; Officer Holly Bernier and Saydee, Officer William Logiodice and Ruger; and Officer Karen Reilly and Hunter. The squad completed four weeks of training with instructors from the state police K-9 unit.

Gardner said DEEP received three of the dogs from Connecticut Labrador Rescue Inc. in Haddam. Michael Case, a private breeder from Colebrook, donated the fourth dog.

Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report awards
Protesting the administration's lack of response to Newsweek's survey, senior class prank garners attention statewide and perhaps nationally for their school..

"Rescued" Linus has a remarkable revival of spirit and condition.

Connecticut Horses Being Dumped On Rescue Groups As Economy Pressures Owners To Give Up Pets
CTNEWSJUNKIE
April 29, 2012
By Kathleen Kiley

Copyright CtWatchdog.com 2012  (Souldn't this be "wartchhorse"?)

Mary Tyler Moore recently remarked she’d like to come back as a horse in her next life. Not a good choice, even in Connecticut, which has a reputation for being one of the wealthiest states in the nation. Many horse owners are eliminating the feedbag and basic care so they can feed their families in an economic recovery that fails to bring many along, including the rescue operations that now have way too many mouths to feed and too few funds.

As tens of thousands of Connecticut families still struggle to make ends meet, horse rescue operations in the state have been hit hard by the economic crisis, as they fight an uphill battle trying to save more unwanted and abused horses with a shrinking pool of funds. (YOU CAN FIND A LIST OF VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATIONS ON THE LAST PAGE OF THIS ARTICLE)

Since the economy crashed in 2008, horse owners have been dumping horses on rescue operations and at auctions where they are sold for slaughter in Mexico and Canada.

Buying a horse is not expensive. It is keeping the horse healthy and well fed that costs real money. A good young horse can be purchased for a few hundred dollars. Taking good care of the animal can cost thousands a year.

Horse's name is Linus. He was seized in Meriden in May of 2011. As you can see he has rehabilitated into great shape. Just a few weeks ago he was adopted out to a family in Warren.

“We’ve seen numerous instances where people don’t have enough money to feed their horses; they can barely feed themselves,” says George Krivda, legislative program manager for Connecticut’s Department of Agriculture. “We try to work with folks, helping them feed their horses, so we don’t have to seize them. We also work with the rescue network. But they are at a breaking point.”

Prior to 2003, the state’s Animal Control Division would work with rescue operations to help with abandoned, abused and neglected horses. But as the division started to deal with a greater number of horses involved in abuse cases, 20 to 30 horses per case, and in some instances considerably more, it became clear it was too much for the rescue operations to handle, says Ray Connors, supervisor of Connecticut’s Animal Control Division, Department of Agriculture.

After Linus received some TLC

So the state built a 22-stall barn at the York Correctional Institution in Niantic, to rehabilitate horses involved in abuse cases. Here, they can be safe and rehabilitated with the help of the inmates, Connors says. “Sometimes I think it’s a financial issue, where people are leaving horses at boarders because they can’t afford to pay their bills. Then sometimes, I think it’s a hoarding mentality – people don’t know their limitations.”

Whether it’s a financial issue, selfishness or irresponsibility, as some rescuers say, the fallout has the state, rescue operations and volunteers working well into the night to save as many horses as they can. Even when people sell their animals at auctions for a few bucks or have them euthanized, which vets are reluctant to do if a horse is healthy, the state and rescue organizations are grappling with a huge problem.

Remember the P&Z subdivision hearing and complications about this?

WE THINK IT IS BOTH, PLUS LOOKOUT
Dispossessed, fox takes a page from ground squirrel...or is it a truly coordinated attack of "olympic" proportions?

London 2012: Foxes attack shooting venue during test event
By Ollie Williams BBC Sport at the Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich
23 April 2012

Foxes have damaged equipment during an Olympic shooting test event ahead of this summer's London Games.  The animals have chewed cables, wrecked microphones and soiled the podium area at the event, being held around the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich.  They have evaded capture - or worse - even though more than 800 of the world's finest shooters are present.

"The place is inundated with them up here, I'm sure there's more than one," said organiser Peter Underhill.

Sydney 2000 Olympic champion Richard Faulds is among those who have spotted the foxes at work during the test event.

"We were dropping our guns off in the armoury when I caught something out of the corner of my eye. Ian, our coach, saw it full-on and he swears it was a fox," Faulds told BBC Sport.

"Rumour has it there was a little present left by the fox found in the indoor rifle range. It adds a bit of fun to the event. Most of the shooters are very fond of them."

Underhill, in charge of the shooting competition for Olympic organisers Locog, said: "They lived here before we created the venue so, at night, they're getting into some of our enclosures, going around and chewing things.

"They've chewed through some of our fibre optics and they've destroyed some of our microphones as well. We're taking natural precautions to cover up our equipment, to make sure the foxes don't have them all away and don't damage them all.

"We have to live with the foxes. We have guards here at night that go around and, if need be, shoo them away."

SP KENNEL SPRINTERS HANDICAPPED!!!

Who didn't go to Natural Extreme's mushing into the ANWR?  Olivia still recovering, we guess, left.

ANIMAL OPINION POLL
Really big Maine lobster; a neighbor here in Weston.  Both animals, when asked said "What?  Another study?"

File Photo:  Bull Moose stands 6 to 7 feet high at the shoulder and weighs in at between 850 and 1580 pounds.

File photo of female moose (l);  at right, in the Iditarod 2009, eventual winner Lance Mackey attempts (successfully) to persuade moose to vacate trail for team.

Don't laugh. It could begin this summer.  A moose-mover bill is heading for approval in the Alaska Legislature, and Gov. Frank Murkowski looks likely to sign it. Sponsored by Sen. Con Bunde, R-Anchorage, it would authorize state-approved groups to tranquilize and remove "nuisance moose" from urban yards, playgrounds and roadways and relocate them to the Bush.

While almost none of the relocation details have been decided, the idea behind it has drawn support in many quarters, from Anchorage schools Superintendent Carol Comeau, who says she is concerned for the safety of her students, to subsistence advocates, who would love to augment rural moose herds with a few hearty urban transplants.

But the moose bill has met some resistance, particularly in the city it was designed to help. Biologists call it well-intentioned but expensive, potentially dangerous and probably ineffective, while wildlife advocates say Anchorage residents prefer peaceful co-existence with moose rather than their forced relocation.

"Most people don't consider moose to be a nuisance," said Defenders of Wildlife spokeswoman Karen Deatherage. "That's not the majority viewpoint in this city."

The man behind the plan is unfazed by the criticism. Gary Olson, founder, chairman and, to date, unpaid director of the 16-month-old Alaska Moose Federation, said moose transplants are but a small part of his dream to improve the health of moose populations all over the state.  "For decades, we've sat back and watched" as new homes and highways encroached on moose habitat, said Olson, 33. Alaskans love their moose, he said, but "moose have shouldered the burden of conservation by themselves for far too long."

Olson and the federation have a long list of supporters, including Alaska's congressional delegation and half of the state Senate. The group has big plans as well. It is seeking federal money for fencing and overpasses to keep moose off highways and railroad tracks. It proposes mowing large tracts of land and controlled forest fires to improve moose browse. It envisions National Guardsmen plowing rural roadsides to lead moose away from the asphalt.

"It's a public-safety issue, first and foremost," Olson said. Moose-car collisions kill hundreds of moose and several humans every year and cause millions of dollars in damage.  But while the proposed fences and overpasses would help eliminate highway collisions, Olson believes the
moose-mover bill could dramatically reduce moose-human interactions in one of the few areas of Alaska with a moose abundance -- Anchorage.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimates the winter moose population from Eagle River to South Anchorage has grown over the past decade to about 1,000. The population is held in check by skimpy habitat and about 160 car-crash deaths a year.

SAD, SAD STORY...NOT THEIR FAULT
The animals did not "run amok" but were gunned down, and the Grizzly was not free as of today, but had been killed last evening.  Wolf (r) and monkey still at large.


Cheetah well-known scene-thief
Cheetah, Chimpanzee in ‘Tarzan’ Movies, Has Died
NYTIMES
By DAVE ITZKOFF

Colorado kitty in New York after 5-year, cross-country trip
NYPOST
By CYNTHIA R. FAGEN
Last Updated: 8:32 AM, September 15, 2011
Posted: 2:12 AM, September 15, 2011

What a tail this cat could tell!

An adventurous feline named Willow wandered away from her home in Boulder, Colo., nearly five years ago - and mystreriously turned up on a to light when she was discovered Saturday prowling the streets around Gramercy Park.

“We got a call asking us if we had a cat named Willow, and we thought that was pretty strange, since we thought Willow might have been eaten by coyotes,” her jubilant owner, Jamie Squires, 37, told The Post.

“We’ll never know what happened,” added Squires, a photographer who is married with three children.

“Now, we just want to get her home. I can’t tell you how thrilled we are.’’

Squires marveled that back in Colorado, Willow had been anything but adventurous.

“She was a house cat, and probably got out during renovations,’’ Squires said. “We have mountain lions and bears, so she’ll be glad to be back inside. And she’s going to stay inside.’’

Does Squires believe that her country cat has turned sophisticated city kitty and will miss the bright lights of Broadway?

“I’m sure she’ll be glad not to be around buses and cars,’’ Squires said.

Willow was picked up by a good Samaritan who took her to Animal Care and Control, which found the owners because the cat had an ID-chip implant.  Squires’ kids, Shelby, 17, Jack, 10, and Lola, 3, are already making plans for a reunion celebration, although Lola is too young to have met Willow.  Coincidentally, the Squires family had been in the Big Apple as recently as March.

“My daughter said, ‘Mommy, we were there when Willow was there.’ If only this cat could write a book.’’

Willow’s imminent return will go a long way toward cheering up the family, whose other cat died three months ago.

“This is a strange blessing,” said Squires.

Willow’s strange journey apparently left her none the worse for wear. In fact, she’s gained a few pounds.  Willow still has a few more miles to go, but this time, it will be in the comfort of an airplane.  The cat will have to spend two weeks in foster care here until she is issued a certificate of health.

Loose bull won't be fenced in
CT POST
Frank Juliano, Staff Writer
Updated 07:45 a.m., Tuesday, October 11, 2011

MILFORD -- If the 700-pound steer on the loose here since July had a theme song, it would be "Don't Fence Me In."

Animal control officials said Monday the animal, which escaped from a farm on the West Haven-Orange line and is now hunkered down in a clearing off Milford Point Road, has bashed through the steel fencing meant to contain it.

"It's a very powerful young animal, and it's been banging its way out," said Rick George, the city's animal control director. "So far the fencing has not been successful and next week we may have to go to Plan B: sedation."

Kathleen Schurman, owner of the Locket's Meadow animal sanctuary in Bethany, said the steer isn't busting through the fence as much as knocking through it. "It's steel, nothing is going through. But there are metal rods and pins connecting the sections and by repeatedly ramming it, he has popped them.''

The need to corral the errant steer grows as the nights get colder, George and Schurman said. The animal has been grazing on the lush foliage and was even seen sharing a stand of greens with a deer, but that vegetation is beginning to die off.

"He could starve if we don't get him out of there,'' Schurman said. "And when he gets hungry, he'll get cranky. Cows are very aggressive feeders and it'll take food wherever it can find it."

Large-animal veterinarians said that steers can be temperamental and can grow quickly in size. Right now, the animal that George has nicknamed "Waldo'' and others here are calling "Ferdinand'' after the gentle bull in a children's book, seems gentle enough. 

The male calf had earlier been described as a bull, but George and Schurman said that the animal had been castrated. "It was being raised for food,'' Schurman said. "They were going to kill it and eat it. Animals seem to sense when they are in that kind of trouble, and it has worked very hard to be OK. So whatever happens, it won't be slaughtered. It deserves better than that.''

The farm that it escaped from does not want the steer back, George said. It is possible that once the animal is captured, the city could seek to collect its costs from the owner, he said.

George said if the steer has to be sedated, it is likely that several men will have to carry it from the clearing where it spent much of the summer. "We may be able to back up a tow truck and pull it out, too; we won't know until we get in there," he said.

Schurman said an electric fence would contain the steer, but one isn't available at the moment. Waldo, or Ferdinand, or whatever its name is, won't be joining the menagerie at Locket's Meadow, she said. Her Bethany farm is already home to horses, pigs and cows marked for slaughter.

"I am going to call some other sanctuaries I know of; hopefully, one of them will have an opening," Schurman said.

George agreed that the rescued steer will need a lot of land to roam. "It's very exuberant, and an escape artist besides,'' he said.

Warning issued for missing Connecticut cow
New London DAY
Associated Press
Article published Jul 15, 2011

ORANGE, Conn. (AP) — Animal Control officials say a cow missing in near the Orange-West Haven city line could be a bit dangerous.

Animal Control Officer Rick George tells the New Haven Register that the 400-pound animal, which fled from a farm on Prindle Hill Road, is a "runner and a jumper" and could cause problems if it is approached.

He notes that a cow can jump up to 7 feet in the air.

He also worries the cow could run into a congested area of the city if approached.

The cow was last seen Tuesday night near Gulf Pond.

Cows, bull go on the lam in Ledyard after making a break from Sunset Farm
By Izaskun E. Larrañeta Day Staff Writer
Article published Jun 22, 2011

Ledyard - Andrea Trout didn't almost have a cow Tuesday - she had 10 in her yard. Along with a bull.

Trout, who recently moved to her home at 118 Lambtown Road from Groton, said she did a double-take when she saw the small herd of cattle wandering down the road and into her yard, where they began feasting on her grass.

Trout called 911. The dispatcher asked if she could contain the 11 beasts.

"I do have some farm experience, but there was a bull and I didn't know its temperament, and there were some calves, so I didn't want to get too close," she said.

In their defense, Trout said, the beef cows were fairly well-mannered and didn't destroy her lawn, though some took the opportunity to lick her car.

They eventually left her yard and moseyed down Lambtown Road. When he arrived at the scene, Ledyard police Sgt. Mike Ravenelle said, the cows were munching on some shrubs before they made their way down a long dirt path to another yard .

"I was working on some criminal work," Ravenelle quipped, "and now I'm dealing with this."

Liz Barber, who was a passenger in a vehicle on Lambtown Road Tuesday, said it's not uncommon to see animals on the loose. "I live down the road, so this is normal," she said. "This is Ledyard. We deal with cows, wild turkeys on the road all time."

Still, Barber said, she found the sight of the cattle wandering down the road quite amusing. The cows eventually trekked over to Laurel Wiers' back yard at 126R Lambtown Road.

"My dad called me and told me that cows were heading toward my house, and sure enough when I looked outside they were in my yard," said Wiers. "They were eating my grass and I thought, 'My husband isn't going to like this.' But, you know, they were really good."

The cattle didn't stay on Wiers' property very long. Ron Lewis of North Stonington, with a bucket of grain in his hand, had come to fetch the wayward herd. "Come on, girl," he called from a distance. The cows quickly turned in his direction.

Lewis, owner of Sunset Farm on Colonel Ledyard Highway, figured the animals must have gotten spooked and gone right through an electric fence.  Their brief encounter with freedom over, the herd sauntered down the road with their eyes fixed on the bucket of grain in Lewis' hand. They cut through the woods on Lambtown Road and were soon safely led back to their pen.

Panel members split over deficit plan
Retirement-age raise; gas-tax hike proposed in sweeping package
By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch

By Imogen Foulkes, BBC News

A nationwide referendum is taking place in Switzerland on a proposal to give animals the constitutional right to be represented in court.

Animal rights groups say appointing state-funded animal lawyers would ensure animal welfare laws are upheld, and help prevent cases of cruelty.

Opponents say Switzerland does not need more legislation regarding animal protection.

The Swiss government has recommended that voters reject the idea.

There is already one animal lawyer in Switzerland.

Zurich has made legal representation for animals in cruelty cases compulsory since 1992.

The current incumbent is Antoine Goetschel. He has gone to court on behalf dogs, cats, cows, sheep, and even a fish.

Animal 'minority'

He believes speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves is the essence of justice.

"For me the animals are one of the weakest parts in society and they need to be better protected.

"So, it's kind of a fight for a minority that needs to be supported. And to make legislation more respectful towards humans and animals as a whole."

But Switzerland has very strict animal welfare laws, and the Swiss government, conscious that the taxpayer would have to pay the fees for a nationwide system of animal lawyers, has recommended voters reject the idea.

And there is opposition from Switzerland's powerful farming lobby.

Struggling with reduced subsidies and falling milk prices, Swiss farmers say animal lawyers would simply add another layer of bureaucracy to a system already overburdened with animal protection legislation.

Watch out for crazed Central Pk. raccoons!

By ED ROBINSON and HELEN FREUND
Last Updated: 6:26 AM, December 8, 2009
Posted: 2:54 AM, December 8, 2009

Some masked troublemakers are causing big concerns in Central Park -- three rabid raccoons have been found there in the past few months.  Two of the raccoons were discovered last week, causing the city Health Department to issue a warning.

"Protect yourself, avoid interaction with them," said the department's rabies expert, Dr. Sally Slavinsky.

"If an animal looks sick or has trouble walking, then you should tell a park employee or call 311."

If an animal attacks, you should call 911 and seek medical attention, authorities said.  Rabid raccoons are commonly found in Staten Island and The Bronx, but they're rarely seen in Manhattan.

It wasn't known how one found its way into the park to infect other animals, but Slavinsky said, "It's very possible that it might have been dropped off."

It takes several weeks for an animal carrying rabies to exhibit symptoms, and the person who left the animal in Central Park might not have realized the raccoon was infected.  Rabies is a viral disease spread by bites and scratches. It can be fatal if not treated promptly.  There have been no human cases of rabies in the city since 1953.

City residents are being warned not to touch or feed wild animals, including stray cats and dogs, and to stay away from any aggressive or sick animals, as well as creatures who appear unusually friendly.  Skunks and bats have also been known to carry rabies. Pet owners are being told to not leave their animals outdoors and to use a leash.  Vaccinations should also be kept up to date.

The news spooked some parkgoers.

"Those animals are pretty nasty," said Maxi Kaulisch, who works across the street at The Plaza hotel. "As a jogger, that is something I would be very worried about."

Carriage driver Colm Glennon, who works at night, jokingly referred to himself as a "raccoon expert."

"I've worked in this park for 20 years, and the raccoons have never bothered me," he said.

"However, I wouldn't corner them or go too close because then they would probably attack you, and it would be ugly."

By Jyotsna Singh, BBC News, Delhi

The find has been likened to the discovery of a treasure trove

Geologists in southern India say they have found hundreds of dinosaur egg clusters which could be about 65 million years old.

It was a chance find discovered when a team of scientists were locating a place to excavate an ancient riverbed in the state of Tamil Nadu.

As they dug deeper they saw layers of what looked like fossilised eggs.

The photos and samples were then sent to various universities who confirmed that they were dinosaur eggs.

Each egg is the size of a football - about 13 to 23cm in diameter, lying buried in sandy nests.

The leader of the team, MU Ramkumar, told the BBC the finding is significant and could help to unravel the mystery about the extinction of dinosaurs.

'Infertile'

"The important finding is that these eggs have been found in different layers that means the dinosaurs came to the place over and over year after year," he said.

Sauropods are renowned for their size

"The second important thing is that we have got volcanic ash deposits on the eggs which suggests that volcanic activity could have caused their extinction.

"The other thing we have found is that all these eggs are unhatched and infertile. So what made the eggs infertile? We need to carry out further studies to learn more from the findings."

Scientists believe the eggs belong to the docile leaf-eating Sauropod branch of dinosaurs. Their remains have been dug up on every continent, including Antarctica.

Palaeontologists use the term to describe large, four-legged, plant-eating dinosaurs with bulky bodies, long necks and tails and tiny heads with relatively small brains.

Dr Ramkumar and his team have called on the central and state governments to protect what they are calling a "Jurassic treasure trove".

The presence of dinosaur eggs was first recorded in the same district by a British geologist in the 1860s. In the 1990s a dinosaur egg was found in a government-owned factory in the state.

Humans project their own emotions onto dogs, researchers found

25 November 2010 Last updated at 00:38 ET
Alaska polar bears given 'critical habitat'

The US has designated a "critical habitat" for polar bears living on Alaska's disappearing sea ice.

The area - twice the size of the United Kingdom - has been set aside to help stave off the danger of extinction, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said.

The territory includes locations where oil and gas companies want to drill.

Environmentalists hope the designation will make it more difficult for companies to get permits to operate in the region.

"This critical habitat designation enables us to work with federal partners to ensure their actions within its boundaries do not harm polar bear populations," said Tom Strickland, assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks.

Any proposed economic activity in the area, which covers 187,000 sq miles (almost 500,000 sq km) must now be weighed against its impact on the polar bear population, Mr Strickland said in a statement.

Most of the designated habitat is sea ice and includes some of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, where the oil company Shell wants to drill.

Shell was due to start drilling in the Arctic earlier this year, until the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico brought the plans to a temporary halt. It is now aiming to start drilling in 2011.

Environmentalists welcomed the move.

"Now we need the Obama administration to actually make it mean something so we can write the bear's recovery plan - not its obituary," said Kassie Siegel from the Center for Biological Diversity.

Ms Siegel urged the US government to impose a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in bear habitat areas.

Environmentalists also want the polar bear to be listed as an endangered species. Currently the US interior department describes them as "threatened" or likely to become endangered because the sea ice on which they live and hunt is melting.

By Jody Bourton , Earth News reporter

Arctic waters are at best chilly and at worst close to freezing.

Which may explain why a polar bear cub has recently been seen riding on the back of its mother as the bears swim across parts of the Arctic Ocean.

The cub then briefly rode her back as she clambered out of the ice, a unique event photographed by a tourist.

Experts have rarely seen the behaviour, and they say the latest find suggests it may be a more common practice than previously thought.

Dr Jon Aars from the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromso describes what happened in the journal Polar Biology.

On the 21 July 2006, Mrs Angela Plumb, a tourist from the UK, was aboard a ship in the mouth of a fjord in the Svalbard archipelago.

I would imagine a big benefit is the ride is faster Professor Andrew Derocher from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Holidaying in the wildlife hotspot of Duvefjorden, Nordaustlandet, Mrs Plumb spotted the mother bear with a seven-month-old cub hitching a ride on her back.

"The cub was on the back of the polar bear when it was in the water, then it got out of the water and stayed on its mother's back a little, then she shook it off," Mrs Plumb explains.

For large parts of the year, polar bears (Ursus maritimus) live among the sea ice, feeding mainly on seals.

The challenge for the bears is to navigate the many areas of open water between the islands of floating ice.

Seeing the bear had a radio collar, Mrs Plumb got in touch with Dr Aars to report her sighting and asked if this was a common behaviour.

"I hadn't seen this behaviour before or heard about it so I asked other researchers and found out it is something that has been observed but not frequently at all," Dr Aars says.

Out of the cold

Cubs are known to ride their mother's back when moving through deep snow as they leave their den areas.

Cubs of other bear species such as the sloth bear also ride on their parents.

However, the the extent to which polar bear cubs hitch a ride on swimming adults in open water is unknown.

Dr Aars was especially interested if this behaviour might have some adaptive value for the bears.

"This could be potentially important because it means that the cubs get exposed to less water. If they are in the water they would have to swim and very small cubs are very badly insulated in water," he says.

Adults are well adapted to swimming in the cold water with insulating subcutaneous fat and and large body mass.

However, young bears have very little insulating fat, as they do not develop brown fat stores until adulthood. Their fur coat also loses most of its insulating properties if immersed in ice water.

Dr Aars suggests staying out of the water could be vital for the cub's ability to survive in habitats where sea ice is scattered across open ocean.

Speedy transport

Another reason for the behaviour could be that it aids the mother's mobility in the water.

"I would imagine a big benefit is the ride is faster, an adult female polar bear is a strong swimmer, cubs of this size are much slower and time in water is time lost hunting," suggests Professor Andrew Derocher from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

"The mother would rather put her time into gaining more food by reaching good habitat rather than swimming and using energy," he explains.

The scientists are interested to find out if this behaviour might be a regular occurrence within the polar bear population.

"It's important to remember the vast areas it may happen in. It has not been observed that much, but it could be more common than we think," says Dr Aars.

Prof Derocher also wonders if the people who share the bears' habitat might be able to help unravel this behaviour.

"It would be interesting to hear if Inuit have seen this behaviour, I'm always very impressed that our observations match what local people have seen before, but they don't tell you about them unless you ask."

At 10 years old, Stump the Sussex spaniel should be well into his dotage. Instead, the dog who technically retired four years ago took home Best in Show on Tuesday at the 133rd Annual Westminster Kennel Club show at Madison Square Garden, becoming the oldest to win the award...

It was the first time that a Sussex spaniel won the top prize, although the breed, which originated as a hunting companion in England, was among the first to be recognized by the American Kennel Club.

Judge Sari Brewster Tietjen said she made her decision at the last minute.

“I didn’t know who he was or how old he was,” Tietjen said. “He’s just everything that you’d want in the breed, and I couldn’t say no to him."

Stump won the sporting group at Westminster in 2004, but in early 2005 fell seriously ill with an undetermined sickness...

Study Finds Decline of Honeybee Colonies Slowing
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:43 p.m. ET

CT musher minus snow - woof!!!

A team of dogs, one sled and a bundle of energy
Becki Tucker's sled-dog passion keeps her moving

The exterminator Tom Rasberry, with his namesake “crazy Rasberry ants,” in Deer Park, Texas. (Photo: David J. Phillip/Associated Press)

As recently as Wednesday, all was well in Houston, at least according to the papers. But today, a story resembling “a really low-budget horror film” is playing out there, with billions of monsters (tiny ones) spreading in a “crazy” (or astonishingly organized) way with a killer instinct (for other ants, and oddly, for electronic equipment).

Two spine-tingling reports, from The Houston Chronicle and The Associated Press, leave no gory detail unarticulated about the city’s suddenly immense problem with ants.

Rasberry ants, to be specific — a swarming, voracious type of small red-brown ant named for an exterminator with enough experience to play the world-weary veteran in this flick. Tom Rasberry (whose name is one letter short of the red fruit) faced this particular ant menace in Pasadena, Texas, back in 2002, and learned that the pesky things had no problem existing in an ant apocalypse of sorts:

Rasberry said he treated a half-acre plot with insecticide, returning months later to find the area covered thickly with two inches of dead ants. Living insects teemed on the top layer of insect corpses.

No one seems able to say for sure how the Rasberry ant — which the A.P. says is formally known as paratrenicha species near pubens — reached Houston, though the A.P. mentions the possibility of a ride on a cargo ship. However it got there, the species is evidently in town to stay.

While the local exterminators seek stronger poisons and the Texas Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency brainstorm ideas for controlling the ants, an entomologist at Texas A&M University doubted that humans could win. ‘’At this point, it would be nearly impossible to eradicate the ant, because it is so widely dispersed,'’ Roger Gold told the A.P.

If true, that means Houston residents will have to get used to regular extermination calls (nothing new for New York City apartment dwellers) as well as ant sabotage of electrical and electronic devices. For obscure reasons, the insects chew up the wiring inside things like pool pumps, computers, gas meters and fire alarms when they get inside them. Even the Johnson Space Center and Hobby Airport are on the lookout after signs of a Rasberry ant advance.

Though the individual ants seem to wander aimlessly (that’s what “crazy” refers to), as a group their advance can be shockingly efficient, as scientists found out when they studied Biosphere 2, the life-in-a-bubble project that captured imaginations at the end of the 20th century. Here’s a description from a New York Times article in 1996:

Swarms of them crawled over everything in sight: thick foliage, damp pathways littered with dead leaves and even a bearded ecologist in the humid rain forest of Biosphere 2, an eight-story, glass-and-steel world in the wilds of the Sonora Desert that cost $200 million to build.

As the would-be Eden turned into a nightmare, a cousin of the rasberry known as the “crazy ant” thrived, even though it was never intentionally allowed into the ecosystem. A 1999 study [pdf] offered a timeline:

In 1990-91, surveys in Biosphere 2 found no one ant species dominant. By 1993, populations of the crazy ant, Paratrechina longicornis (Latreille), a tramp species not found in 1990-91, had increased to extremely high levels. In 1996, virtually all ants (>99.9%) coming to bait were P. longicornis.

Against all the odds, therein lies the good news (of sorts) for Houston: If the Rasberry ants succeed as well as their cousins did in Biosphere 2, they will wipe out the city’s population of fire ants, or as the A.P. calls them, “the stinging red terrors of Texas summers.”

While the new ants will also bite humans, it reportedly doesn’t hurt nearly as much as a fire ant bite. So, despite the scary headlines, the crazy Rasberry may wind up being an unlikely hero — or at least, the lesser of two evil ants.

V O T  E   ' Y E S '   O N    S H E L T E R - W O O F ! ! !  (How does "Leona's Place" sound for a catchy name for it?)
Leona Helmsley prefers "Trouble" to human members of her family.  Her will has the last laugh on uncharitable relatives.

Helmsley’s Fortune May Go to Benefit Dogs
NYTIMES
By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: July 2, 2008
Sure, the hotelier and real estate magnate Leona Helmsley left $12 million in her will to her dog, Trouble. But that, it turns out, is nothing much compared with what other dogs may receive from the charitable trust of Mrs. Helmsley, who died last August.

Her instructions, specified in a two-page “mission statement,” are that the entire trust, valued at $5 billion to $8 billion and amounting to virtually all her estate, be used for the care and welfare of dogs, according to two people who have seen the document and who described it on condition of anonymity.

It is by no means clear, however, that all the money will go to dogs. Another provision of the mission statement says Mrs. Helmsley’s trustees may use their discretion in distributing the money, and some lawyers say the statement may not mean much anyway, given that its directions were not incorporated into Mrs. Helmsley’s will or the trust documents.

“The statement is an expression of her wishes that is not necessarily legally binding,” said William Josephson, a lawyer who was the chief of the Charities Bureau in the New York State attorney general’s office from 1999 to 2004.

Still, longstanding laws favor adherence to a donor’s intent, and the mission statement is the only clear expression of Mrs. Helmsley’s charitable intentions. That will make the document difficult for her trustees, as well as the probate court and state charity regulators, to ignore.

The two people who described the statement said Mrs. Helmsley signed it in 2003 to establish goals for the multibillion-dollar trust that would disburse assets after her death.

The first goal was to help indigent people, the second to provide for the care and welfare of dogs. A year later, they said, she deleted the first goal.

Howard J. Rubenstein, a spokesman for the executors of Mrs. Helmsley’s estate, said they did not want to comment on the statement because they were still working to determine the trust’s direction.

Mrs. Helmsley, the widow of Harry B. Helmsley, who built a real estate empire in Manhattan, was best known for her sharp tongue and impatience with humanity. She became a household name when she was featured in glossy advertisements for the Helmsley hotels. “It’s the only palace in the world where the queen stands guard,” advertisements for the Helmsley Palace proclaimed.

But for many Americans, she later became a symbol of unbridled arrogance and belief in entitlement, particularly after she was convicted in 1989 of $1.2 million in federal income tax evasion, for which she was sent to prison. She was the subject of a 1990 television film, “Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean,” with Suzanne Pleshette in the title role, and at least three books.

When she died last year at 87, she left all but a few million dollars of her vast estate to what will become one of the nation’s dozen largest foundations when the probate process is finished. She had $2.3 billion in liquid assets when she died, according to the probate petition, and the disposal of her real estate holdings is expected to produce an additional $3 billion to $6 billion.

Even if the resulting total is at the low end of the estimate — $5 billion or so — the trust will be worth almost 10 times the combined assets of all 7,381 animal-related nonprofit groups reporting to the Internal Revenue Service in 2005.

The five executors of her will — Mrs. Helmsley’s brother, Alvin Rosenthal; two of her grandsons, Walter and David Panzirer; her lawyer, Sandor Frankel; and her longtime friend John Codey — have been preoccupied with disposing of the real estate.

They are also the trustees of the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and, according to the two people who discussed the mission statement, have fretted about the public outcry that disclosure of its terms might incite.

They have reason for concern: News last year that the biggest named beneficiary in Mrs. Helmsley’s will was Trouble, her Maltese, led to death threats against the dog, which now requires security costing $100,000 a year. But they also cannot sit on the liquid assets much longer without raising questions from the attorney general’s office, which oversees the use of charitable assets in New York State.

The trustees recently hired a philanthropic advisory service to help them figure out a way to remain true to Mrs. Helmsley’s intentions while at the same time pursuing broader charitable goals with her foundation.

Judge Renee R. Roth of Surrogate’s Court in Manhattan will also play a role. She has already demonstrated a willingness to be flexible, cutting the size of Trouble’s trust fund to $2 million, from the $12 million prescribed in Mrs. Helmsley’s will, and ordering that the difference be added to the pending charitable trust.

Judge Roth also agreed to a settlement between the trustees and two of Mrs. Helmsley’s grandchildren who were explicitly left out of her will. The agreement gave those grandchildren $6 million each.

There are many ways the trustees could spend the Helmsley money on dogs. National groups like the Humane Society and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have programs dedicated to dogs, and many smaller local groups rescue abandoned and abused dogs.

Or the trustees could use the trust’s money to finance veterinary schools or research on canine diseases.

Her goal of helping dogs was not Mrs. Helmsley’s only posthumous quirk. In her will, she ordered that her tomb, in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., be “acid-washed or steam-cleaned” once a year.

She also made two grandchildren’s combined $10 million inheritance contingent on their visiting their father’s grave, requiring that a registration book be placed in the mausoleum to prove that they had shown up.

In the spirit of one-ness with Cha-Cha and the dogs on Aliy Zirkle's team, a link to the New London DAY series re: Animal Control, regionalism - check it out!  http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=de532527-29f8-4d62-824b-c8f2c22c56df

A Seoul National University panel said it believed that Hwang Woo-suk never had the data he said he had. Dr Hwang quit last week after the panel said some research was fabricated. Correspondents say the finding is important as individually-tailored stem cells were seen as a key to treating diseases like diabetes and Alzheimers...

Herpes Infection Strikes UConn's Horse Herd;   Whole Herd Placed In Quarantine
By GRACE E. MERRITT, Courant Staff Writer
January 10, 2007

STORRS -- There's a herpes outbreak at the University of Connecticut, but you don't need to worry unless you're a horse.

The state Department of Agriculture, together with the university, has quarantined the university's horse herd until the equine herpes virus infection runs its course.

The virus, a respiratory disease, cannot be spread to humans and poses no human health risk, but it will put a crimp in the polo team's schedule and equine management classes this spring. The quarantine will last for several weeks, said Mary Jane Lis, state veterinarian with the state Department of Agriculture.

Lis imposed the quarantine Monday after several horses tested positive for the relatively common disease.

"It is quite contagious from horse to horse. We don't want to move them around where they could spread the infection," said Sandy Bushmich, a veterinarian and associate professor of pathobiology and veterinary science at UConn.

The 72-horse herd, stabled mostly in two barns on the pastoral Horsebarn Hill area on campus, normally come in contact with other horses during polo matches, shows and other events. The infection can be spread from horse to horse or through contaminated equipment.

"It's like a cold. It's spread through respiratory secretions," UConn spokeswoman Karen Grava said Tuesday.

The disease usually affects young horses and causes respiratory complications, similar to a bad cold. But the infection can also cause abortion in pregnant mares as well as neurological diseases, Bushmich said.

In the meantime, the university has been regularly sanitizing the stables and has postponed student coursework involving horses, such as equine or breeding management. The polo teams, which were scheduled to begin their season with a match against Michigan State on Jan. 26, will have a truncated season. The state Department of Agriculture has also postponed a planned Jan. 20 sale of rescued horses at the polo arena and will reschedule once the herd is released from quarantine.

Outbreaks of the virus have occurred in at least 10 states in the past three years.

HARTFORD — United Illuminating Co. refused Tuesday to suspend its program to eradicate monk parakeets from utility poles, and state officials said they are, for the moment, powerless to stop the killing. Lawmakers, power company officials and some bird advocates met for almost two hours at the Capitol to discuss the parakeet problem.

This month, they began capturing the birds and removing the nests. Under state law, the birds are handed over to the United States Department of Agriculture, which euthanizes them. Because the parakeets, native to South America, are considered an invasive species under state law, the USDA told lawmakers an executive order requires they be killed.

"We cannot at the moment, stop what is happening," said state Rep. Richard Roy, D-Milford, the chairman of the legislature's Environment Committee. "We have learned where we have to work, where we have to go." Over 130 of the green and gray pigeon-sized birds have been captured since the program began two weeks ago.

UI estimated it would take six weeks to remove the 103 monk parakeet nests from poles in West Haven, Milford, Stratford and Bridgeport. The nests can each weigh more than 200 pounds and hold more than 40 parakeets. Dwight Smith, a bird expert at Southern Connecticut State University, said he told lawmakers and power officials that killing the birds won't work.

An eradication program was tried 30 years ago, and the birds just came back, he said.

"So why can't we come up with a different solution?" he asked.

The Humane Society of the United States and others have asked UI to take down the nests without killing the birds, then send out crews to dismantle them when the birds try to rebuild. The birds, they said, will eventually learn to build elsewhere. Al Carbone, a UI spokesman, said the company will look at the costs of such a maintenance program, but he did not promise one.

"We are going to continue to remove the nests as we have already planned," he said. The pigeon-sized monk parakeets, natives of South America, were imported into the United States by the thousands in the 1960s. Birds that were accidentally or intentionally released by owners and breeders have established wild colonies in cities all over North America.

The public, including the Norwalk-based environmental group Friends of Animals, were kept out of the meeting. The group's president, Priscilla Feral, accused lawmakers of knuckling under to the power company.

A group of Moose Pass residents and state and national conservation organizations sued the U.S. Forest Service on Tuesday to stop the expansion of helicopter-assisted skiing and snowboarding in the mountainous Chugach National Forest south of Girdwood.   They contend the agency didn't fully analyze the economic, social and environmental impacts before it granted Chugach Powder Guides a five-year permit last fall. It would allow the Girdwood-based business to carry nearly twice as many clients every winter into an area 60 percent larger than in previous seasons.

The plaintiffs accept heli-skiing as a legitimate use in a national forest, said plaintiff Rick Smeriglio of Moose Pass. "Our beef is with the process," he said. "We want (the agency) to go back and do it right."

But the lawsuit came as no surprise to Chugach co-owner and business manager Chris Owens. Alaska's fledgling heli-ski industry has faced opposition virtually everywhere it lights, largely from local residents who don't want to hear the whop-whop-whop of rotor blades on a still winter day, or who fear that well-heeled skiers will shred their favorite secluded slope.

"This is where things tend to go if the public process doesn't go your way," Owens said.  Chugach Powder Guides has operated in the mountains around Girdwood since 1997 with a series of one-year permits from the Forest Service. The most recent, approved in 2003, allows it to carry 1,200
clients during the 10-week season and use about 160,000 acres of national forest land.

But to compete in the multibillion-dollar international heli-ski industry, Chugach wanted additional slopes in the backcountry farther south, plus highway-accessible landing zones.

"Alaska has a great reputation for heli-skiing," Owens said. It's becoming known as the "pinnacle of big mountain skiing. Alaska is what you aspire to achieve sometime in a ski career," he said.  "It also has a great reputation for having people sit on the ground," waiting for the weather to improve.

His company has worked around that by taking clients uphill in wide-track snow cats or having them ski at Alyeska Resort. But skiers and snowboarders who pay as much as $5,550 a week for an Alaska ski vacation really want helicopter access, he said, and the new five-year permit offers that.  It expands the company's ski terrain from 159,000 acres to more than 260,000 acres and opens miles of new runs, including many that have never been skied before, Owens said.

"The whole reason we want into this terrain is we need viable alternatives," he said. "We don't want to own the world. We want to have enough safe ski areas that when we have bad weather in one of these areas we have someplace else to go."  Several of the newly approved areas are considered tentative, and Chugach has only a one-year permit to use them. The Forest Service says it will monitor the impact this winter and determine later whether to extend the permit.

In addition, two areas are closed to helicopters for a portion of each week, which the Forest Service says will help ensure that other users can plan a quiet backcountry trip. The company must post all its flight plans on a daily hot line, which backcountry users can call to determine whether a certain valley will have helicopter traffic that day.

To mitigate the concerns of residents along the Seward Highway and other forest users, the permit requires Chugach to follow specific flight routes and fly at least 1,500 feet above ground level.  Helicopters cannot circle or harass wildlife and must honor no-fly zones around mountain goat and Dall sheep concentrations.  It took nearly five years to complete the environmental impact statement for the new permit, which Owens called full and complete.

The lawsuit takes issue with that. The five Moose Pass residents, along with the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society and the Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition, say the Forest Service's study doesn't fulfill the requirements in federal law. They want the agency to perform a new environmental impact statement, and in the meantime limit Chugach Powder Guides to its old territory.

Teresa Berwick, staff attorney for Trustees for Alaska, which is representing the plaintiffs, called the agency's study superficial.  "They don't know the actual number of sheep, goats or brown bears in the area, yet they come to the conclusion that heli-skiing won't have any impact," she said. The agency considered sound levels from the company's helicopters but not how it affects residents in the Moose Pass area.

"We just think the Forest Service didn't do its job," she said.  Forest Service spokeswoman Rebecca Talbott said Tuesday that the agency hadn't seen the lawsuit and couldn't respond to the charges. But she noted that agency officials reviewed the environmental impact statement closely before approving it and upheld it after it was appealed.

The district foresters in Girdwood and Seward "wouldn't have signed if they didn't think it was comprehensive and met the test" set out in national environmental law, Talbott said.  Residents of Moose Pass are shaking their heads over the permit, said several of the plaintiffs. In spite of the mitigation efforts included in the permit, "I think the tone in the community is that our concerns and comments were either ignored or dismissed outright by the Forest Service," said Mike Cooney, an avid backcountry skier, hunter and fisherman.

After the permit was issued last September and the Forest Service dismissed their appeals, he said, "we're left with no choice but to sue them. They've pushed us to this point. We wouldn't be here if they considered more carefully the concerns of the community."

If the Forest Service does another environmental impact statement that goes into greater detail, yet reaches the same conclusions, Cooney said, "I could live with that." Heli-skiing is a legitimate use in national forests and should never be banned outright, he said.

"But I want to make sure that if they expand to this level, the Forest Service has done the job that (federal law) requires them to do," he said. "I'm interested in seeing the forest managed well, and in the public interest, and there are interests in the forest beyond heli-skiing that need to be considered with this type of permit."

Owens said his company's ski and snowboard season starts Saturday. This weekend's clients include a film crew whose previous work has helped create the buzz on heli-skiing in Alaska. 

BANG NIENG, Thailand (AP) -- A year ago, they were filming battle scenes for the movie "Alexander." Now six elephants are pitching in to help with the massive cleanup from the tsunami that devastated many of Thailand's prime tourist destinations.

The massive waves, which killed 5,000 and left nearly 4,000 missing in Thailand, dumped debris more than a mile from the popular beaches of Phuket island and Phang Nga province a week ago. While heavy machinery works on the tangled wreckage that used to be posh seafront resorts, some areas are too muddy or hilly for anything other than 4 foot drive.

So the Wang Chang elephant farm in the 17th-century Thai capital of Ayuddhaya offered to send in its best pachyderms. They arrived by truck Sunday in Phang Nga and got to work immediately - after a quick shower to cool off in the tropical heat.

"The six were chosen because they are smart and can act on command," said Romthongsai Meephan, one of the elephant farm's owners.

The elephants, all males, were cast with Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie in "Alexander," recreating their ancient roles as battle tanks. Today, they mostly entertain tourists and give them tours around Ayuddhaya, but they also are experienced at dragging logs through forests.

"They will be assigned to work in towing heavy objects and pulling out debris," said Siriphong Leeprasit, a district official in Phang Nga. "Elephants could work better in pulling out the remains of collapsed buildings and houses, especially in areas flooded with mud or hilly areas."

In Indonesia, another 11 elephants - native to badly hit Sumatra island - have been pressed into similar duty because there were few trucks and other heavy equipment to do the job there. A TV report showed them pulling a sport utility vehicle from a collapsed building.

Cranes and backhoes have been used to open routes to areas cut off in Thailand, but many local residents have complained that assistance has been slow to arrive and some areas have still not been accessed, particularly near Khao Lak beach, another hard-hit tourist zone about 50 miles north of Phuket.

So two of the elephants headed into a rough forested road that was blocked by uprooted palm trees, cement utility poles, cars, motorbikes and TV sets. A gray police patrol boat had washed up on a hill, more than a mile from the beach. The receding waters left behind two murky saltwater lakes.

The beasts were watered down by their trainers, called mahouts, then began using their trunks and tusks to clear the road. One mahout clambered aboard each elephant, with two others on the ground leading them.

The animals made quick work of huge muddy clumps of plant material and didn't need much more time to handle the heavy utility pylons. Then, after a little lunch, they were ready to start the next task.

As cold December mornings go, it was one for the birds.

Literally.

Just after sunrise Saturday, with temperatures in the mid teens, bird enthusiasts fanned out across the Hartford area in conjunction with the 105th annual National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count.

Between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5, birds will be counted in approximately 2,000 locations in the Western Hemisphere, including 18 in Connecticut. The information gathered helps scientists chart trends in the bird population. The Hartford area is defined as being within 7½ miles of the Old State House.

Jay Kaplan of Canton, co-compiler of the Hartford-area count, appears unfazed by the weather as he gathers with a small group of fellow birders at the entrance to the city's Cedar Hill Cemetery.

The cemetery's 270 acres of rolling terrain are home to many species of birds, and it doesn't take Kaplan long to spot some kinglets and chickadees, which he says is a "good omen."

Pausing occasionally to allow Kaplan to attract birds with a type of shushing call, the small group makes its way around a pond, where it is joined by two other birders who have circled from the opposite direction.

When they meet, they relay what they have observed - species and numbers - to Phyllis Winer of West Hartford, who is carrying a clipboard and is charged with recording all the sightings.

Winer got into birding eight years ago through her daughter, Sarah, now a college junior, who had taken a birding course taught by Kaplan, the director of the Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton.

"I guess the reason I do this is because it's fun," Winer says. "It releases stress. It's something I really enjoy."

Pat Junno of Canton says she became involved in birding for similar reasons. "I just find it to be very relaxing," Junno says as she listens to a woodpecker tapping in the distance.

One does not have to observe birders for long to realize they are much more attuned than the average person to the sounds and movements of birds. They are also capable of instantly identifying a species - even from a distance - while the bird is in flight.

After surveying the pond area, the group, which also includes Marianne Piche, a graduate student from Willimantic, and Brian Kleinman of Granby, who owns an educational business called "Riverside Reptiles," fans out throughout the cemetery.

Because the annual count is conducted year after year in the same locations to assure continuity, there are specific locations to be canvassed. At one point, Kaplan decides to head up to the resting place of J.P. Morgan, where he expects to find - and does find - yellow belly sap suckers.

Cedar Hill was designed as a place of serenity open to the public. In addition to birds and all manner of wildlife, the cemetery includes many elaborate monuments and gravestones, among them those of Samuel Colt, Morgan G. Bulkeley and Katharine Hepburn.

Driving slowly, Kaplan spots several birds, including a red tail hawk atop a tree, and a mockingbird, its feathers puffed up to ward off the cold.

After a few hours in the cemetery, the group heads over to nearby Goodwin Park to count the gulls, and then to Riverside Park, to work the area along the Connecticut River.

Coming upon a group of cardinals, Kaplan uses the sighting to make the central point about the purpose of the annual count.

"Fifty years ago, you wouldn't have seen cardinals, woodpeckers, Carolina wrens and other southern or northern birds," Kaplan says. "But because we do this every year, we can chart their progress over time.

"Why are these birds here now? Who knows? Could be global warming, or milder winters, or because backyard bird feeders have become such a big thing."

By noon, the group has seen 36 species of birds - but nothing rare or unusual - with a full afternoon of watching still ahead. Kaplan says they usually see about 45 species each year.

As evidence that birding can be done almost anywhere, after leaving the banks of the Connecticut, the group heads over to another regular stop - the Hartford landfill.

So what do you do when a 400-pound black bear ambles up onto your deck and peeks into your kitchen window? If you're Bonnie Reynolds from Barkhamsted, you take pictures. Lots of them.

"They are beautiful animals and have shiny black fur, very soulful expressions on their face, deep brown eyes," said Reynolds, who has taken dozens of photos of the bears who visit her home near Route 181. "They just happen to be looking for food. We just happen to be their supermarket."

According to the Department of Environmental Protection, Connecticut's population of black bears is growing, and becoming more visible. In the past year, there have been more than 1,700 reported sightings of the animals, with New Hartford in the lead at 153 individual sightings and Barkhamsted following closely at 150.

"We've solicited the sightings for about two decades," DEP wildlife biologist Paul Rego said of a report on the department's website that lists, by town, the number of bear sightings that have been phoned, faxed or mailed into the office. "They give us an index to the populations and give us information on the geographical spread."

Sightings have been reported in about 120 towns and cities in the past 12 months, including Bloomfield with 21, Marlborough with 10, New Haven with three, Simsbury with 149 and Waterbury with six. The DEP estimates that several hundred bears live in Connecticut.

Black bears disappeared from the state beginning in the mid-1800s. Their comeback, according to a DEP information series on the animals, is due to a re-growth of forestland after the abandonment of farms during the late 1800s. In the 1980s, the DEP wildlife division found evidence that black bears were indeed living in Connecticut again and since then, the annual sightings have increased.

In September, a black bear cub was struck and killed in East Granby, leaving an agitated mother on the loose. Troopers on the scene clapped and yelled and the mother and her surviving cub retreated into the woods. In late June, a 400-pound black bear was removed from West Hartford after it climbed a tree behind a shopping plaza near South Main Street and Sedgwick Road. Earlier that month, black bears were pursued in, or removed from, business and residential areas in West Hartford, Hartford, Willimantic and Middletown.

Unlike grizzlies, black bears are seldom aggressive. They are generally shy and secretive, usually fearful of humans. However, if bears regularly find food near houses or places where there is human activity, their fear of humans decreases. In areas where bears are prevalent, bird feeders, birdseed, gas grills and garbage cans should be well-stored or removed.

"We have bears that would be surprised by seeing a human and then there are those that seem to be accustomed to human disturbances and don't run off when people yell at them," Rego said. "It increases the danger level. It increases the frequency of human and bear contact."

In May, a bear broke into a Suffield home and stole a 50-pound bag of birdseed. Caution should always be taken when dealing with bears or any wild animal, Rego said.

"It is a concern in that along with more bears, we've received more reports of bear problems of various types, ranging from bears killing livestock, bears getting into cities, to bears causing damage around homes," Rego said.