I love to travel, mainly to Africa where I was born, I enjoy reading and playing bridge. I go for rambles in the countryside. I collect stamps and go to T'ai Chi classes. I love my two cats and my garden birds. I adore the African wildlife and try to help Conservation groups.
Brown promises help for farmers.
The government will help farmers who are affected by bluetongue disease, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said. After praising farmers for their resilience, the prime minister said the government would be considering the financial impact of the outbreak. The government's deputy chief vet had earlier said there would be no compensation for farmers whose livestock were hit by the disease.
Mr Brown said there were now 11 cases of bluetongue disease in the UK. He said the government would do all it could to "contain, control and eradicate" the outbreak. The PM said Environment Secretary Hilary Benn would be consulting the farming industry over coming days on the financial implications of the outbreak and would look at what actions the European Commission could take to help. He said Mr Benn would make a statement about what the government could do to relax regulatory requirements on the farming industry to make things easier for them.
Rachel Carrington, of the National Farmers' Union in East Anglia, said there were "a number" of potential bluetongue cases being investigated, and "unconfirmed cases" in Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and the East Midlands. She said the outbreak had left farmers confused. "We desperately need things clarifying so we can tell people what they can and can't do," she said. "We need a detailed map of the movement restriction boundaries. "Economically, things are very difficult for farmers. On top of foot-and-mouth, bluetongue is just another layer of pressure on them."
Mr Brown also announced that a 24-hour phone and internet service had been set up to keep farmers up-to-date on the latest developments.
The president of the National Farmers' Union, Peter Kendall, told BBC News his members needed government help. "Now I generally try and give a really positive view of farming but the culmination of the events this summer has put livestock farming in a really difficult position," Mr Kendall said. "And I think the government should find a way of helping those most at need."
Earlier, deputy chief vet Fred Landeg said movement controls would cost the industry tens of millions of pounds. But he said there would be no compensation payments because no more culling would take place. A protection zone has been set up in Suffolk after government vets confirmed bluetongue disease was circulating in the UK and was classed as an outbreak. The zone will be a minimum of 150km (93 miles) around infected premises.
A stricter 20km control zone has also been set up around the known bluetongue cases, with restrictions preventing animals being moved out of both zones. Mr Landeg said test results had shown the disease was being transmitted by biting midges "rather than animal to animal". This meant a cull would not help stamp it out, he said.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Homing crocodiles defy relocation.
By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney
Three homesick crocodiles in Australia have shocked experts by returning hundreds of kilometres back to their homes after being relocated. The discovery was made after tracking devices were attached to the reptiles.
Saltwater crocodiles caught near popular Australian beaches and rivers are often shipped to more remote areas. But the policy of relocating rogue crocodiles will now be questioned - since it seems the animals have a well-developed homing instinct.
Researchers said the results of their study were "staggering". One large croc was trapped on the west coast of Queensland's rugged Cape York Peninsula. It was flown by helicopter to the east coast. Within three weeks it was back home, after a journey of more than 400km (250 miles).
The other crocodiles in the experiment did exactly the same. They were, according to one scientist, just like boomerangs. It is unclear, though, what enables the reptiles to navigate so skilfully.
One theory is they have homing instincts similar to birds, and are guided by smell and magnetic fields.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Trapped whale found dead in loch.
A badly injured whale which became trapped in a sea loch off Lewis has died, rescuers have confirmed.
The northern bottle-nosed whale became beached in Loch Roag, on the west of the Hebridean island, on Monday morning before managing to free itself. It later vanished and experts hoped it had managed to find its way back to the open ocean.
But the whale, which was severely underweight, was found dead at about 1030 BST on Tuesday at Garynahine. Staff from British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), which specialises in rescuing stranded whales and dolphins, said the seven-tonne creature appeared to have died of natural causes.
Scientists from the Scottish Agricultural College will carry out a post-mortem examination on the carcass.
Tony Woodley of BDMLR said rescuers had feared the worst when they noticed how thin the 40ft long animal was. He added: "We didn't manage to get a good look at the whale while it was swimming in the loch but it did appear to be very thin and in quite poor condition. "It clearly had something wrong with it and it is a deep sea creature that shouldn't be in shallow waters, so when you add all that up its death was not really unexpected, unfortunately.
"Our guys got there as quickly as they could when we learned the whale had re-stranded at Garynahine but by then there was really nothing they could do and it was just a case of letting nature take its course." The search for the whale had been called off due to bad light at about 2130 BST on Monday, but was resumed on Tuesday morning.
It had first been spotted in the loch at about 0900 BST on Monday. The regular bursts from its blow hole were used to mark its course around the loch. Blood was seen around its dorsal fin and in the shallow water where it was swimming.
Local fishing and fish farm boats kept clear while the whale was swimming around the loch and Northern Constabulary asked the public to stay away from the area until further notice because of the risk of contamination from the whale's wounds.
Northern bottle-nosed dolphins are only found in the north Atlantic, where they prefer water deeper than 1,000m and normally travel in groups of up to 10. Small numbers live around the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland and the west of Ireland, but they are most commonly found off Norway and the Barents Sea.
Last year, a female bottle-nosed whale died after becoming stranded in the River Thames.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Fox invasion fear grips Tasmania.
By Phil Mercer - BBC News, Sydney.
Tasmania is intensifying its controversial war against an invisible yet potentially destructive foe - the European red fox. Officials in the southern Australian state believe numbers are increasing and plan to spend up to A$50m ($43m) on an eradication campaign.
Foxes could decimate ground-nesting birds and some native rodents. But sceptics insist the government has been hoodwinked by hoaxers bringing fox carcasses from the mainland. No-one knows how many foxes there are, if any, in Tasmania. The official estimate is between 50 and 200.
The state government is convinced that these voracious creatures have made it to the "Apple Isle" as stowaways on cargo boats from the mainland or brought in by smugglers. To counter the threat, a special taskforce has been set up. It claims to have hard evidence of fox activity, including the remains of three animals found on roads as well as droppings and footprints.
There have been hundreds of alleged sightings but there is no concrete proof, however, that pregnant vixens or cubs are present. Sceptics believe that the government's evidence is flimsy and blame pranksters for creating this panic. Tasmanians do have good reason to cast a worried look north towards the mainland.
According to experts, there are 30 million foxes across the Australian continent. They were introduced by European settlers and are thought to have played a major part in the extinction of at least 23 native species.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Two alpacas offer hen protection.
A farm in West Cornwall has recruited two unusual security guards to protect its hens from harm Tremayne Farm, near Camborne, has taken on two Peruvian alpacas - named William and Harry - to keep predators away. Farm manager Giles Greenhough said: "Because of the alpacas' nature, they'll take up the role of becoming guardians of the flock."
Farm director Lisa Rowe added: "Alpacas are used extensively in Australia and New Zealand to safeguard sheep." She added: "We know that happy hens lay the tastiest eggs and for that reason, we recruited the alpacas."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Hungry Zimbabweans target giraffe.
Many of the local schoolchildren had never seen a live giraffe before. A giraffe that strayed into a township close to Zimbabwe's capital has been rescued after residents tried to kill it for its meat, local media reported. The animal was put under police guard before wildlife officers removed it.
A dry spell has forced wild animals into urban areas in search of grazing, animal welfare experts say. Zimbabwe is suffering chronic food shortages and the animal protection society is investigating claims that a number of pets have been slaughtered.
It is not known how the stray giraffe ended up in the southern Seke district, Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper said, but police had to restrain those who wanted to kill the animal. "We had to guard the animal until National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority officials arrived. Some villagers wanted to slaughter it so we had to remain here until it was taken to a safe place," one of the officers told the Herald.
The tall creature drew huge crowds, including dozens of school children, many of whom had never seen a giraffe. It was not immediately clear where the giraffe was relocated.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Man 'steals iguanas in fake leg'.
A Californian man has been charged with using his false leg to smuggle three endangered iguanas from a nature reserve in Fiji to the United States. Prosecutors say Jereme James stole the banded iguanas while on a visit to the South Pacific island in 2002.
He is alleged to have constructed a special compartment inside his prosthetic limb to move the reptiles. Officials began investigating Mr James after receiving a tip off that he was in possession of several of the beasts.
The Fiji Island Banded Iguana (Brachylophus fasciatus), noted for its bright green skin, is threatened with extinction and protected under an international treaty regulating trade in endangered species. Mr James could face up to five years in prison if convicted.
Having been informed that Mr James had several specimens at his home, the United States Fish & Wildlife Service launched an undercover investigation into his activities. On one occasion, Mr James reportedly told an undercover agent that he sold three banded iguanas for the sum of $32,000 (£16,000) four years ago. When Mr James's house was searched in July agents are said to have found a further four banded iguanas.
Officials say they think Mr James was breeding the animals for sale. "That's what we believe has been going on," Assistant US Attorney Joseph O Johns told the Associated Press news agency. "Mother Nature has taken her course."
The iguanas would now be placed in a breeding programme in the US, Mr Johns added.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
New foot-and-mouth case confirmed.
A fourth case of foot-and-mouth disease has been confirmed on a farm in the Egham area of Surrey, officials say. The Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) said around 40 cattle had been culled on the premises, within the current 3km protection zone. Tests were carried out after the animals showed signs of the disease.
The disease has been confirmed at three other farms in the Egham area during the last two weeks; the latest case is the sixth in Surrey since early August. A Defra spokeswoman said: "Positive test results for foot-and-mouth disease have now been confirmed at the site where it was decided that cattle should be slaughtered on suspicion."
The spokeswoman added that "minor changes" had been made to the protection and surveillance zones. The farm has not been named. BBC correspondent Helena Wilkinson said it was not yet known if it was the same strain as the other five cases, but the news would be a further blow to farmers prevented from moving livestock at a busy time of year for sales.
"It has had a devastating effect, a lot of farmers are saying, on their sales and their livelihood but there's some relief that this sixth confirmed case is within that three-kilometre zone," she said. A number of sites outside Surrey have also been investigated and several control zones set up, but these have all proved to be false alarms. On Thursday a temporary control zone imposed around a farm near Solihull, West Midlands, was lifted after tests on animals for the disease proved negative.
Four new cases near Egham have emerged in the last two weeks - just days after officials declared the UK free of the disease following the August outbreak. That had been blamed on the virus escaping from leaking pipes at the nearby Pirbright laboratory site. Some 1,800 animals have so far been slaughtered but some of the movement restrictions outside the surveillance zone have been lifted.
Licences are now available to allow pigs to be moved for welfare reasons, and the movement of animals up to 3km (1.8 miles) or cows for calving up to 50km (31 miles) between premises belonging to the same owner.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Bittern boom in East Anglian Fens.
Bitterns had to be reintroduced to the UK The numbers of one of Britain's rarest birds, the bittern, have increased in the East Anglian Fens, the RSPB has revealed. Newly created habitats are helping the bittern, known for its "booming" call, recover from losing breeding grounds.
Pairs have been recorded nesting in newly created reedbeds, as conservationists attempt to prevent loss of habitat for the birds. The bird is nesting in more sites in the UK than in any year since 1990. A privately owned wetland site converted from farmland in Cambridgeshire had evidence of four nests involving three different breeding females, the RSPB said.
The bittern was extinct in Britain between 1886 and 1911 and had to be reintroduced to the country. In the 1990s, research found reedbeds were drying out, threatening their survival once again. But 10 years after the UK's bittern population hit a new low of just eleven males in 1997, the RSPB and Natural England have recorded at least 51 male birds across 33 sites this year.
The numbers are up from last year's 44 male bitterns and only four behind the recent record of 55 in 2004. The news that they were nesting in man-made reedbeds was seen as a positive sign as many of their traditional natural habitats were threatened by rising sea levels, the RSPB said.
Dr Mark Avery, conservation director of the RSPB, added: "The spread of bitterns into newly created reedbeds is a testament to all those involved with habitat creation, especially in the East Anglian Fens. "Encouraging bitterns to nest in newly created sites away from the coast helps to buffer these sensitive birds against the impacts of climate change."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The gruesome nature of dog fighting.
Ten men have been found guilty and a further 16 have admitted involvement in what the RSPCA says is one of the largest dog fights it has uncovered. Both dogs were found with multiple bite wounds.
In February 2006 a passer-by tipped off police after seeing a large group of men enter a building in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham, in what appeared to be suspicious circumstances. It led West Midlands police to uncover what they believed to be a dog-fighting ring, calling the RSPCA immediately. The society's Special Operations Unit had been investigating suspected dog-fighters in the area at the time.
When the RSPCA visited the building - a kitchen interiors shop - they found cupboards had been taken out and converted to make a pit - much like a boxing ring - for the fight between two dogs to take place.
One of the dogs was found in a cupboard in a pool of blood, with multiple bite wounds and a bloodied head and legs. It died a few hours later. The other was so badly injured it was put down 48 hours later. Both would have been extremely fit and strong pit bulls before the fight, which is estimated to have lasted for an hour-and-a-half.
The prosecutor for the RSPCA, Nick Sutton, told the court it was "an extensive fight. It was a fight to the death." In a video shown to the jury squeals of pain could be heard and phrases such as "shake him" and "come on boy" as the dogs bit each other. While it is not yet clear in this case how the dogs were trained for fighting, methods can include provoking the dogs from a young age to encourage them to be aggressive and putting two dogs together for unofficial "bouts" or rolling.
It can also involve fitness training such as putting them on treadmills and jaw strengthening with tyres. In some cases, drugs may also be used. There are believed to be hundreds of people involved in organised dog fights across the country. Since 2000, the RSPCA has prosecuted around 150 people for dog-fighting related offences.
The practice was banned in the UK in 1835, but experienced popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. It was largely stamped out after the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and a number of successful operations, but in recent years there has been a resurgence in the popularity of dog-fighting. But Chief Inspector Mike Butcher, of the RSPCA's Special Operations Unit, believes the nature of dog-fighting is changing. He says that previously it was done more for "prestige" than betting.
Dogs were trained as a prize-fighter would be - in a regulation-sized pit with fixed rules and a referee, and would be stopped when one of the dogs had won. Owners would also treat their dogs' injuries. Now, he says, there is an increase in "urban street-fighting", where the "emphasis appears to be more on betting and fighting the dogs to the death".
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Ten men convicted over dog fight.
Ten men have been convicted after police raided the biggest illegal dog fight uncovered in the UK since 1990. One of the pit bull terriers died a few hours after the fight and the other was so badly injured he had to be put down.
A district judge found the 10 guilty of attending the fight. Five of them were fined, while five convicted of more serious charges have been remanded. The trial at Birmingham Magistrates' Court had been shown a tape of the contest in Alum Rock, Birmingham. The video showed the two dogs fighting in a pit constructed from kitchen units.
Spectators could be heard urging the animals on with cries of "shake him" and "come on boy". District Judge Kal Qureshi issued fines ranging between £750 and £1,400 to the five men found guilty of attending the fight.
These are:
Mamoon Ahmed, 24, of Phipson Road, Birmingham
Yasser Khalid, 25, of Rotton Park Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham
Nabeel Safdar, 25, of Ash Road, Saltley, Birmingham
Majid Mushtaq, 28, of Fletcher Road, Preston, Lancashire
Imran Arif, 29, of Sandway Gardens, Washwood Heath, Birmingham.
The other five have been remanded on bail for sentencing in October, along with two more men who admitted several offences before the trial. Mr Qureshi has told the men that custody is an option.
The fight took place in rooms at the back of a kitchen unit shop in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham in February last year, the court heard. A carpeted fighting pit, medical kits, a treadmill and portable kennels, were discovered in the premises. One of the dogs was so badly bitten, he was covered in blood with hardly any fur on his face. One dog, Bullet, was found crammed in a ceiling void when the premises were raided. He died a few hours later and the other, Elvis, was put down 48 hours later.
Finding the men guilty, Mr Qureshi ruled that all 10 who denied attending the fight had been there for at least 25 minutes. One man, Ummar Ahmed, 26, of Phipson Road, Birmingham, said he went to the showroom to attend a music party. Another man, Barkat Hussain, 42, of Unett Street, Smethwick, West Midlands, claimed one of the pit bulls was not his despite him referring to "my dog" three times while giving evidence. A further man claimed the fighting pit had been constructed as a dance floor.
Earlier this month, 14 men were fined after pleading guilty to attending the fight. The RSPCA, which brought the prosecution, said it was one of the largest dog fights it had ever uncovered. Ch Insp Ian Briggs of the RSPCA's special operations unit, said it was right that the judge took the case seriously. "Dog fighting is barbaric and this was one of the longest, most brutal and most highly-attended dog fights we've ever come across," he said.
He added that the dogs' injuries had been "horrendous". "For a super-fit pit bull to die so soon after the fight showed how terrible it must have been." He added it was the largest fight uncovered for 25 years and that dog fighting appeared to be growing in popularity. "If we are entering a new area of dog fighting then we need to stamp it out fast," he said.
The convicted men who will be sentenced in October are:
Barkat Hussain, 42, of Unett Street, Smethwick, West Midlands, and Intikab Hussain, 31, of Sladefield Road, Ward End, Birmingham. They were found guilty of attending the fight, causing animals to fight, possessing a pit bull and causing unnecessary suffering.
Sohail Hussain, 25, of Parkfield Road, Saltley, Birmingham and Zahir Ahmed, 31, of Bevington Road, Aston, Birmingham, who were convicted of attending the fight and possessing a pit bull.
Ummar Ahmed, 26, of Phipson Road, Birmingham, is guilty of attending the fight and keeping premises for dog fighting.
The more serious charges include possessing a pit bull and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Baby bats hit by cold, wet summer.
By Steven McKenzie. - Highlands and Islands reporter, BBC Scotland news website.
The poor season is thought to have affected all UK bat species. Bats have been abandoning their young as the mammals struggle to survive during a cold and wet summer. Calls to the Bat Conservation Trust's UK helpline about baby bats have more than doubled this year. The number of calls about grounded and injured bats over June and July - the trust's busiest period - also went up from just over 500 to more than 630.
A shortage of insects has left adults battling to find enough food for themselves and their young. Anne Youngman, BCT's Scottish officer, said people who know they have bats roosting in their homes have been finding starving youngsters. She said: "People have been noticing babies which have been abandoned because there is not enough food. "Some have found five babies walking about the floor. It's heartbreaking. "The trust's helpline has been flooded with calls. This happened during a cold, wet summer four or five years ago, but it was not as bad as this year."
Between June and July last year, the BCT helpline received 67 calls about baby bats. In the same period this year, the calls increased to 166. Mrs Youngman said this may only be the "tip of the iceberg" as other people may have contacted other wildlife organisations and as a result have not been recorded by the trust. She said: "For bats it's very bad news.
"It means we have probably lost a good proportion of these year's young. The mothers only have one baby a year and must wait until next year to breed again. "The pregnancy birth and lactation make huge demands on the mothers, in terms of the time, energy and care that goes into bringing up a youngster so abandoning babies is a really desperate last measure."
Ideally, bats need a warm spring followed by a summer without heavy rain and high winds and a steady cold winter so they remain in hibernation. Mrs Youngman said a recent scorching hot summer led to the young of one colony emerging onto a sticky felt roof where many of them became stuck and perished.
The poor breeding season has also been noticed by Highland Council's countryside ranger service. Its staff have been leading a series of walks where the public were given bat detectors to help spot the animals. Ranger John Orr said: "What we have heard across the country is that there seems to be less bats returning to summer roosts. "People who have bats in their homes and buildings have noticed the bats have not come back or are staying for only a short-time which means they are not raising young."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Call to protect shark-filled sea.
By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney
Conservationists are urging the Australian government to protect the Coral Sea, one of its last tropical marine wildernesses. The sea was recently declared a "predator diversity hotspot" because of its abundant shark populations. Campaigners fear the region could be targeted by illegal shark fishermen as well as oil and gas prospectors.
The Coral Sea comprises 780,000sq km, and borders the Great Barrier Reef off of Australia's east coast. Environmental groups have described the Coral Sea as a stunning blue water highway full of oceanic predators. The area is a haven for hammerhead and white-tipped sharks, as well as manta rays.
Wildlife groups want the government in Canberra to give it full environmental protection and create what would be the world's largest marine park. Gilly Llewellyn, from the conservation charity WWF, says the region is likely to face serious threats in the future. "It could potentially be targeted by illegal fishermen," she says.
"Sharks are increasingly rare in our oceans today. These are the sort of lions and tigers of the sea and unfortunately they are prized for their shark fin, which commands a high price in the Asian marketplace. "So illegal fishers looking for sharks for their fin are becoming increasingly bold. Without formal protection for the Coral Sea we are afraid it might be vulnerable to that in the future."
An Australian government spokesman said that calls for the Coral Sea to be protected were being investigated by a specialist panel. The area is considered to be one of the most spectacular diving destinations anywhere, largely because there are so many sharks in the water.
Campaigners, though, are asking just how long will it be before this pristine eco system faces potentially destructive challenges from the outside world.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
HK woman grapples pet from python.
The biggest Burmese python has weighed in at 180kg .A Hong Kong woman kicked and punched a 4.5 metre (15 foot) Burmese python to wrest free her pet dog after the snake wrapped itself around it. Catherine Leonard grappled with the python after it attacked Poppy during a walk in the Sai Kung country park.
Ms Leonard, 41, said she heard "a yelping that was like a scream". She said she acted because she remembered a husky dog was crushed by a python last year in the same area despite the owner's attempt to save it.
Ms Leonard told the South China Morning Post she had been alerted by the barking of one of her other dogs. "I'm not sure exactly what I did but I kicked it and I tried to pull Poppy free. The snake was twisted around her. "Somehow Poppy managed to get away and the python slithered away. It was all over in about a minute."
Ms Leonard said she was "shaken afterwards and really scared". "If I'd had the chance to think about it, I wouldn't have done what I did, but I hear the dog in distress and I just waded in there."
Snake expert Dave Willott told the AFP news agency that Poppy would have been "unconscious within two minutes and dead within five". He said it was unusual for the dog to have been released. "They usually don't let go, not when they've locked onto their prey." Burmese pythons can grow to a weight of 180kg and a length of eight metres.
Ms Leonard warned action should be taken to relocate the python. "These two attacks have both been close to the family walk... A small child would weigh less than my dog."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Russia blasts gerbils into space
The Russian space agency has blasted ten gerbils into space for a 12-day mission to test the possible effects on humans of a flight to Mars. The small mammals, similar to mice and rats, are being kept in special cages with a supply of nuts and cereals. Day and night will be simulated and special machines will clean their excrement in the weightless conditions.
The gerbils may find space preferable to returning to Earth - several are to be dissected upon their return. The furry rodents lifted off from the Russian-run Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan on Friday in a Soyuz rocket. Gerbils are probably more suited than most rodents for space flight because they conserve body fluids by producing a minimum of waste.
The 10 are all sand rodents, praised as "a very interesting object for research" because they "can live for more than a month without using liquids," said Anatoly Grogoryev of the Russian Academy of Science. "This will enable scientists to determine salt exchange mechanisms in zero gravity conditions."
Gerbils, as many pet owners have discovered, are gregarious and active in daylight, which makes them easy to observe. The ten gerbils will be filmed during their space flight.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Surrey has brought chaos and uncertainty to the UK agricultural community. Farmers explain how the government restrictions on the movement of animals have affected their livelihoods.
MATTHEW BAINBRIDGE, 21, NEAR CARLISLE, CUMBRIA
I haven't sold anything for eight weeks - since before the first outbreak. If I don't sell my cattle it means I have to keep feeding them and that costs money. Even before the foot-and-mouth outbreak I was barely breaking even because prices are so low. I bought a new tractor in January, but I think I'm going to have to sell it to make ends meet.
SUSAN CRIMES, 39, NEAR SWANSEA
Lifting the movement restrictions in Wales hasn't helped much. You can take your livestock direct to slaughter, but you won't get as much for them as you would at market. We haven't been able to move anything for two weeks. We're running out of grass because we didn't expect to still have so many animals. It's just heartbreaking because every farmer spends so much time and money building up their herds. People think that farmers have it easy, but it's an incredibly difficult time for all of us.
JOHN BARCLAY, 29, NEAR MAYBOLE, AYRSHIRE
We have 100 sheep to sell and it looks like we've got nowhere for them to go. They are worth roughly between £40,000 and £50,000 and if we don't get them sold it will be disastrous. The easing of movement restrictions in Scotland makes no difference because we don't sell for slaughter and much of our trade is down south. It's absolutely devastating for us. This is the time that these sheep have to go - this is the breeding season.
ALISTAIR MACKINTOSH, 49, RAVENGLASS, WESTMORLAND
At the weekend I sold 300 lambs, but now I can't move them. So I'm stuck feeding £10,000 worth of livestock that should be with someone else. This time of year is when I - and most livestock farmers in this part of the country - make 90% of their money. Cashflow is a big at the moment and there's a huge amount of despondency about.
JAMES TAYLOR, 28, BANBURY, OXFORDSHIRE
The value of our stock is falling sharply and we can't get replacement ewes in to breed for next year, so the impact will be long-lasting. On top of everything else, our heifers are calving at the moment. The sheep are just sitting in the field and if they get too fat their prices will come down. We don't deserve this.
MATTHEW ROBINSON, 45, KENDAL, CUMBRIA
When foot-and-mouth struck in 2001, I lost £100,000 and nearly went to the wall. This time I know it's going to be difficult. I've still got 80 lambs I need to sell. The growth of the grass for feeding is starting to slow down and time is running out. The timing really couldn't be worse. But there are others worse off than me who are in danger of going to the wall. It really is the final straw for them.
LOUISE TODD, LINCOLNSHIRE
This has basically brought everything to a halt. We buy 60% of our cattle at this time of the year and now we can't buy or sell anything. We normally sell every week at Newark or Selby, but our production has stopped, our cashflow has stopped. We can't even take the cattle down the road. We've got 700 cattle and buy about 300. We usually sell them just before they reach 30 months because after that they lose value, and we've got a lot that are near 30 months now. If we can't sell them until after 30 months we're going to lose money.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Hedgehog survives 40-degree wash.
A hedgehog is recovering after surviving a spin in a 40-degree washing machine cycle. The female creature was nicknamed Lucky by staff who have been caring for her at the Brent Lodge wildlife hospital, near Chichester, in West Sussex.
Hospital manager Penny Cooper said the hedgehog wandered into a private home and burrowed into a pile of washing that was then put into the machine. Lucky is now being cared for by a hospital volunteer in Hampshire. Ms Cooper said she was undergoing rehabilitation care before being given a "soft release" back into the wild. "We monitored her [at the hospital] to make sure there was no chest infection and none of the water had gone into her lungs," she said. "She didn't seem disorientated, she was fine, and very clean with no parasites or anything of that nature on her."
She explained the hedgehog was brought to the hospital at the beginning of September with the kind of story she had never experienced before. "This lady came in and said, 'I've got a hedgehog that's just been through an eco cycle in my washing machine'. "She'd left the back door open and this little hedgehog found a nice warm nest of clothing. "It was only when she took the washing out that she got some prickles going into her hand."
Brent Lodge made a funding plea in July and warned that it was facing closure, but Ms Cooper said it had now won a temporary reprieve through public donations. "Currently our position is that we can keep going until about Christmas, but we're still doing lots of fund-raising to help keep the money coming in," she said
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Mining bee stronghold uncovered.
The bee burrows into soft soil and favours sandy dunes. One of the UK's rarest bees has established a stronghold in sandy dunes on the Western Isles. RSPB Scotland said its staff and enthusiasts had discovered multiple nest sites of northern colletes, or mining bees, on the Uists.
Berneray, off the tip of North Uist, has emerged as the most northerly site in the UK for the threatened species, said the wildlife organisation. More than 10 colonies have been found on the island.
Jamie Boyle, RSPB Scotland's Uist warden, said: "This is really great news and extremely encouraging for this struggling and very rare species."
Northern colletes is a solitary variety and burrows underground into soft soil to build its nest where it stores nectar and pollen for its larvae. They differ from bumblebees and honey bees in having no workers. Although they do not co-operate with each other, they nest in what are termed "aggregations" - the insect equivalent of rookeries.
Because of this it prefers gently sloping sandy banks and dunes, close to the herb-rich machair meadows familiar on the islands. Mr Boyle said: "As well as in the Uists, there are only a few other isolated UK locations that the northern colletes bee occurs, such as on the Ayrshire coast - where it was first discovered in the UK more than a century ago."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Chimps 'raid' fruit to lure mates.
Desirable fruits like papaya were targeted by the chimps. Experts studying the evolution of human behaviour have discovered chimpanzees will raid fruit to attract a mate. The study found that males will abscond with fruits like papaya from nearby orchards and give it to females.
The University of Stirling research was carried out with a small chimp community in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa. The finding is the only recorded example of regular sharing by unrelated non-provisioned wild chimpanzees. Scientists think the chimps use the crop-raids as a way of advertising their prowess to other group members, especially the opposite sex.
The study, which took place in the village of Bossou in the Republic of Guinea, also found that males mainly shared their spoils with females of reproductive age.
Lead researcher, Dr Kimberley Hockings from the university's department of psychology said: "Such daring behaviour certainly seems to be an attractive trait and possessing a sought-after food item, such as papaya, appears to draw even more positive attention from the females.
"It is unusual behaviour as even though the major part of chimpanzees' diets consists of plant foods, wild plant food sharing occurs infrequently."
The study showed that males who shared the most food with certain females, engaged in more consort ships and received more grooming than others, including the alpha male.
Dr Hockings said that like chimpanzees, the pursuit of certain foods for humans is also strongly sex-biased. "It has been proposed that men in hunter-gatherer societies acquire large and risky-to-obtain food packages for social strategising and to garner attention," she added.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Kenya wants Tsavo man-eaters back.
Kenya is trying to recover the remains of two infamous lions which killed 140 railway workers in the 19th Century. They are the legendary man-eaters of Tsavo who caused havoc among the Indian labourers who built the railway line between Mombasa and Lake Victoria.
The lions' skulls and hides are housed at a museum in the US city of Chicago. But Kenya's National Museum says they represent an important part of Kenya's history and heritage - and it wants them back. The two lions struck over a nine-month period in 1898, bringing construction of the line to a halt.
An Oscar-winning film was made about the Tsavo man-eaters in 1996. They were eventually shot by a British engineer, Lieutenant Colonel John Patterson, who later sold the skulls and hides to the Chicago Field Museum. A spokeswoman for the state-owned National Museum of Kenya (NMK), Connie Maina, said: "We will use international protocols to repatriate them... it would be good to get them back."
Ms Maina said the NMK was planning an exhibition of its artefacts in the United States and would ensure the lions' remains were part of the exhibition on Kenyan history. "We hope these artefacts will form part of these exhibitions," she said. Officials said the Chicago Field Museum might host part of the exhibition.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Whale 'success story' questioned.
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website.
A whale conservation success story, the recovery of the eastern Pacific gray whale, may not be quite what it seems. Since the end of commercial whaling, numbers rose to about 20,000, thought to be the level they had been at before hunting began. But a new study using genetic methods, reported in the journal PNAS, suggests pre-hunting numbers were much higher. The scientists say climate change may be altering the whales' supply of food significantly. Earlier this year, researchers noted signs that grays were showing distinct signs of malnutrition when they arrived at their winter breeding grounds along Mexico's Baja peninsula.
They raised the idea that this might be connected with climate change. But the prevalent theory was that numbers had risen beyond the maximum level which the ecosystem could support. The new research challenges that idea. "I think that when we see large-scale issues in the population, such as starving or malnourished whales, we should be looking to long-term climatic changes in their feeding grounds," said Liz Alter from Stanford University, US.
A few hundred years ago, three separate populations of gray (or grey) whales lived in the oceans. The Atlantic stock is thought to have perished in the first frenzies of commercial hunting. Later, the eastern and western Pacific populations almost followed suit. The western stock, which lives along the eastern coast of Russia, is close to extinction once more, with development for oil and gas fields the prime cause. Numbers may be as low as 120.
But the eastern Pacific gray has supposedly seen rude health. It was taken off the US endangered species list in 1994, with numbers each year hovering about 20-25,000, which historical records from the whaling industry and computer models of population indicated was around the historical level.
The new genetic analysis, which Liz Alter's group has published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), challenges this view. By looking at variation in the animals' DNA, the team concludes there were once 76,000-118,000 grays in the Pacific. Even if those numbers were split between the eastern and western stocks, this indicates that the population of the eastern gray today is well below the historical level.
The researchers themselves acknowledge that further analysis should be done to confirm their findings. In particular, they would like to have samples from the critically endangered western stock, but given its parlous health, this would clearly be a sensitive issue.
Confirmation could have implications for traditional, or subsistence, whaling. Aboriginal groups in Chukotka in the Russian northeast are permitted to hunt 124 eastern grays each year to provide meat for their communities. The Makah tribe of Washington State near Seattle is allowed a further five. Its hunting is currently suspended pending a domestic US legal settlement, though one gray was killed just this weekend, apparently without permission of tribal elders.
If historical numbers were much higher, that would imply the grays are not as robust as believed, which could lower these hunting quotas still further.
Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
Conservation alone 'is not enough'
VIEWPOINT - Richard Leakey.
Ahead of Wednesday's publication of the 2007 Red List of Threatened Species, Dr Richard Leakey argues that conservation alone cannot save threatened species like the mountain gorilla. In this week's Green Room, he calls for action on humans' needs as well.
These deaths were repulsive for the fact that the gorilla corpses served no use to the killers. Millions of people were horrified by the recent slaughter of mountain gorillas that dominated headlines for the inhumanity that seems to cling to this corner of the world. In the space of a month, nine gorillas - more than 1% of the known population of these charismatic relatives of ours - were wiped out. All were from the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Virunga National Park. Predictably, the slaughter drew an outraged response. Wildlife conservation organisations leapt into action and began raising funds to deal with it, and a crisis team went in on the ground.
In the following four weeks, peoples' compulsion to do something to save the species produced donations amounting to tens of thousands of dollars. Living at the epicentre of the bloodiest conflict since the Second World War, the mountain gorillas share their habitat with heavily armed militia. In other lawless regions, where wild meat comes into contact with hungry gunmen, species are slaughtered for food, or for trophies to be traded for cash and weapons.
But these deaths were repulsive for the fact that the gorilla corpses served no use to the killers. On the contrary, it is the very presence of mountain gorillas in the Virunga National Park that threatens them, for the animals draw attention to an area that unscrupulous people would rather have us forget.
At the heart of the crisis is charcoal - the main form of household energy in Africa. And making charcoal means felling forests, destroying wildlife habitats, damaging ecosystem services such as water catchments and soil fertility. Wildlife protection rangers earn just $5 a month for risking their lives. Charcoal production has been going on for millennia, but recent events in eastern DRC have led to a sharp escalation in demand.
In neighbouring Rwanda, an enormous human population has stripped almost all its indigenous forests bare; while in the Congolese border town of Goma, refugees fleeing the region's crises have swelled the population to more than half a million. Together, they've created an insatiable demand for charcoal worth an estimated $30m (£15m) a year. To save Rwanda's few remaining forests and the gorillas that have become a major source of tourist revenue, President Paul Kagame has installed a surprisingly efficient and effective ban on charcoal production.
Ironically, however, that has driven the black industry across the border into DRC, threatening the habitats of the very same gorillas in the park which straddles both countries. Given the lack of any form of effective government in eastern Congo, and the ludicrously small government salaries - a ranger earns about $5 (£2.50) per month - it is not surprising that the parks' forests have become a commons and virtually everybody is involved in the scramble for resources, from peasants to high ranking government officials and rebel militia.
If gorillas focus unwelcome global attention on the park, it is hardly surprising that those getting rich on charcoal will want to remove that attention by getting rid of one of our closest biological relatives. As shocking as the gorilla executions were, this is fundamentally a human tragedy, with very human solutions.
There must alternative sources of energy to meet the demand in both Rwanda and eastern Congo. There must be a return to the rule of law in DRC, where the forests are saved for the long term good of all, rather than looted for the short term riches of a few.
Although it seems to be a very local problem, we all have an interest in protecting the forests. It will take a focused global initiative to end the conflict, introduce alternative sources of household fuel, and create alternative livelihoods Not only do we risk losing one of the most charismatic and important species on Earth, but we are in danger of doing more damage to the world's warming climate.
In that respect, the forests' destruction is a double whammy. Burning charcoal is one of the greatest sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide, but it also strips away the trees that otherwise soak up so much of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. While the alarm has been raised by conservation organisations concerned about gorillas, and the global public has responded, it is clear that the problem is much greater than one of conservation alone.
This is a human development crisis and it will take a focused global initiative to end the conflict, introduce alternative sources of household fuel, and create alternative livelihoods for the population living in eastern Kivu. If the underlying demand for charcoal is ignored and we focus too much on the gorillas alone, we will not only see the extermination of the mountain gorillas, but the forests, woodlands and all the unique species that inhabit this biologically diverse landscape. We will also lose the climate mitigation services that the intact forests provide. In the end, we could see a human crisis that will dwarf the tragedy of nine gorillas.
Dr Richard Leakey is the founding chairman of WildlifeDirect, a former head of the Kenyan Wildlife Service and a leading palaeontologist
The Green Room is a series of opinion pieces on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website
BBC NEWS REPORT.
US predicts polar bear meltdown.
Polar bears use ice as a base for hunting and feeding. Two-thirds of the world's polar bears will be gone by the middle of the century, says a US government agency. The US Geological Survey (USGS) says parts of the Arctic are losing summer ice so fast that no bears will be able to live there within several decades. Scientists believe Arctic ice will hit a record low this year. The US government commissioned the study to assess whether polar bears should be protected under the national Endangered Species Act.
Its decision is due in January 2008. The species (Ursus maritimus) is classified as Vulnerable to extinction on the internationally acknowledged Red List of Threatened Species. The USGS surveyed evidence on the decline of Arctic summer ice, which has accelerated in the last decade, and the projections of climate models. Based on this, they concluded that some areas where polar bears now roam, such as the Barents Sea north of Norway and Russia, would be unable to support the animals at all by the middle of the century.
The bears might persist in other regions; but about 40% of the summer habitat will be gone by 2050, and with it, two-thirds of the current population, the USGS concludes. Last month, scientists at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center said Arctic summer ice was almost 30% below the long-term average, and predicted 2007 would show the lowest ice cover on record. Polar bears use ice as a hunting base. "The grim news about polar bears and sea ice decline is horrifying, but it is a call to action, not despair," said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity.
"Our hope lies in a rapid response, including both deep and immediate carbon dioxide reductions and a full-court press on other greenhouse pollutants." The Center has petitioned the US to list the polar bear as an endangered species, which would oblige the government to protect it. Campaigners believe this would mean curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
As the USGS report came out, the US administration was negotiating the "Sydney Declaration", a document on climate change, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Australia. The deal aims to reduce the rate of growth of greenhouse gas emissions on a voluntary basis.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Tougher bird poison sentence plea.
A golden eagle was found poisoned in the Borders last month. RSPB Scotland has called for tougher sentences for people caught killing birds of prey. A report by the charity has revealed that 2006 was the worst year for poisonings and illegal trappings since the start of the 1980s.
Out of nearly 100 allegations made to the RSPB and wildlife crime officers, more than 40 were confirmed and seven resulted in convictions.
Last month, a golden eagle carcass was discovered in the Borders. The RSPB is calling for tougher sentences and a better understanding in courts of the seriousness of the crimes. Police are still hunting for the killers of a female golden eagle found in Peebleshire last month.
It was one of the only breeding pair in the Borders. Their chick is expected to survive. A £10,000 reward, supplied from public donations, is being offered for a conviction in that case. Environment Minister Mike Russell has promised to take a hard line on bird poisoning and wildlife crime.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Rabies 'could be gone in decade'.
Infected dogs are the most common cause of human infection. Rabies could be wiped out across the world within a decade if sufficient vaccination programmes are carried out on domestic dogs, according to experts. Edinburgh University's Royal Dick Vet School staff have carried out extensive research into the disease, which kills about 55,000 people per year. If enough domestic dogs are vaccinated, worldwide the disease cycle could be broken leaving no threat to humans. They hope village-based campaigns could reach 70% of the dog population.
The first World Rabies Day took place on Friday. Edinburgh University staff are working with vaccine manufacturer Intervet on a programme to eradicate the disease in the Serengeti region of east Africa. This follows work by the university which found all animals infected with rabies there had a variant of the disease that originated from the domestic dog. Staff at the university's vet school have also been involved in setting up the Alliance for Rabies Control, a Scottish-based charity established to combat the disease.
They claim that in areas where there is a high prevalence of the disease, such as Africa and Asia, the need for vaccination schemes has often been overlooked, despite the fact this would cost less than other healthcare programmes. Vet school staff member Sarah Cleaveland, one of the alliance's board members, said: "Very few people in Western Europe will ever die from rabies, but for those affected in developing countries it can cause immeasurable suffering. "Children are most at risk of being bitten by a rabid animal and in sub-Saharan Africa it can cost 40% of an annual income to pay for post-exposure vaccination and hospital visits.
"It's estimated that in Africa and Asia almost eight million people a year receive costly post-exposure prophylaxis, yet the cost to eradicate rabies is comparatively small compared to other healthcare programmes." More than 45 countries across the world are holding events throughout September to raise awareness of the need to control the spread of the disease.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Rise in divers mystifies experts.
The success of a wild bird in Scotland despite declining numbers in the rest of Europe has mystified experts. RSPB Scotland said it was delighted but puzzled by breeding figures for the red-throated diver. The rarer black-throated diver is also on the increase, possibly thanks to the anchoring of man-made rafts in lochs.
A survey of divers by the RSPB and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) found the two species had increased in the UK by 16 and 34% in the last 12 years. Both have declined in Europe and the black-throated diver was last week made a conservation priority by the UK government because of the declines elsewhere.
In Scotland, its numbers rose from 187 pairs in 1994 to 217 pairs in 2006. In the Highlands - their stronghold - they were declining because some nests were being drowned in floods while eggs at other sites were lost to collectors and predators.
The new study shows the greatest increase in the Western Isles, but also improved figures in the Highlands. A total of 58 rafts have been installed on remote lochs in the region. They protect the birds from flooding and animals that prey on them and their eggs.
Stuart Benn, senior conservation officer for the RSPB, said: "We can't say hand on heart that the overall increase is due to the rafts because we haven't ringed the chicks, but there is no doubt that the rafts have turned out to be very, very good at what they do." The RSPB said it was a mystery as to why red-throated divers had done so well. Its numbers have risen from 935 to 1,255 breeding pairs in 12 years.
However, in Shetland the population has dropped from 700 pairs to 407. The red-throated diver is steeped in mythology and is known as the rain goose in Orkney and Shetland. In the 19th Century, it was regarded as a foreteller of storms in many parts of the world. Dr Mark Eaton, an RSPB scientist, said: "We feared the numbers of red-throated divers might drop because the warming of the North Sea seems to be reducing stocks of the fish they feed on.
"The black-throated diver could also be at risk in the future, despite the recent increases. If climate change causes loch temperatures to rise, the small fish the birds feed on could grow too large to eat.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Grizzly tree rub secrets revealed.
By Rebecca Morelle - Science reporter, BBC News.
The mystery behind the tree rubbing antics of North America's grizzly bears may at last have been solved. A few select trees are used by grizzlies to perform strange rubbing rituals, but for years the reasons for this behaviour have baffled ecologists. Now, a study suggests that male grizzlies seeking mates are marking the trees to communicate with other males - possibly to dodge deadly bear battles.
The work will be presented next week at a British Ecological Society meeting. Owen Nevin, a behavioural ecologist at Cumbria University, UK, who carried out the study, said: "A handful of trees ('rub trees') are used for years by different grizzlies who each approach the trees in exactly the same way.
"They will step into the footprints of other bears that have approached the trees, urinating as they approach. "Then they rub their back on the tree, turn around and then bite the tree and claw it. Then they give it a 'bear hug' by rubbing their chest against it, and then they rub it with their back again."
Many theories have been put forward as to why grizzlies are rubbing these trees: some thought they were using them to scratch an itch, others that they were trying to rub on tree sap to repel insects, while some thought they were using the trees to attract mates.
Dr Nevin told the BBC News website: "Until now, we haven't really known which bears use these trees and why they use them." To investigate the bears' behaviour, Dr Nevin looked at a grizzly population living in a 150 sq km (58 sq miles) valley in British Columbia, Canada. He set up digital cameras, activated by infra-red sensors, at four frequently used rub trees and attached satellite collars to bears to track their movements.
The cameras revealed that large adult male bears were marking and carefully inspecting the rub trees, but female bears were ignoring the trees. The satellite telemetry showed that the grizzlies were moving around the area in large loops, marking trees along the way, while looking for females.
Dr Owen said he thought the male bears were using the trees to communicate with other males in the area and that this could be a way of reducing fighting amongst them. He said: "For a large grizzly bear, the only real source of mortality is other big bears, so lots of strategies are adopted to reduce the likelihood of having to fight. "If one recognises the other from the scent marks on the rub trees in the area, he knows he's in for a tough fight - he's on the other guy's patch so to speak - so it might be better to back away than make a serious challenge. "When two males meet, the more information they have, the better for both of them."
The digital cameras also recorded that the rub trees were occasionally visited by young cubs that were being chased away by a male courting their mother. Male bears can sometimes kill a female's cub in order to mate with her, explained Dr Nevin, and the cubs might be visiting the trees for self-protection.
He said: "In the animal world, related individuals recognise each other by the fact that they smell a bit like each other, so perhaps the cubs are seeking security by trying to smell like the males who have just chased them off."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Dog walks 'prompting bird flight' .
Taking your dog for a walk could be having an impact on local birdlife, a study suggests. An Australian team found dog-walking was prompting birds to take flight, causing numbers to plummet by 41%. The researchers, writing in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, said the birds were fleeing because they viewed the dogs as potential predators.
Charity Birdlife International said the longer-term effects of the dogs' presence now needed to be looked at. Peter Banks, the lead author of the paper from the University of New South Wales, said: "There is an obvious link between people wanting to walk their dogs and the potential disturbance effect on wildlife, and there has been a lot of debate around this, so we wanted to resolve this issue."
The researchers looked at 90 woodland trails a few kilometres north of Sydney, half regularly used by dog-walkers and half where the animals were prohibited. Dogs were walked, on leads, along the 250m-long (820ft) trails, followed 20 seconds later by an observer who counted the birds seen and heard. The experiment was repeated for walkers without dogs and for a control scenario where there were neither walkers nor dogs.
Dr Banks said: "The key finding is that dog-walking certainly does have an impact on birds - and we were quite surprised by the magnitude of the impact." The team found that dog-walking was causing bird numbers to drop by an average of 41% at each site and the numbers of species counted fell by 35%.
The results were similar in sites often frequented by dog-walkers and those where the practice was prohibited, suggesting that birds did not get used to the dogs' presence, despite frequent encounters. Humans walking alone also caused a disturbance to bird numbers, but on average less than half of that caused by dog-walking.
The team also found that two humans walking together without a dog had no more impact on the birds than a lone walker without a dog, suggesting that birds were responding uniquely to the presence of dogs. Dr Banks said: "The birds were clearly showing an aversion to dogs - they clearly perceived dogs as a potential predator."
The team is now planning to look at how long the birds stay away for, but Dr Banks said that even if it was a short period of time this could have a potential impact on nesting and feeding. The researcher added that the results of the study could be useful for conservation and wildlife management, and although the work was carried out in Australia, the results were applicable to other areas around the world.
He said: "We hope that this information will be useful when people are weighing up decisions about access by people and by people with their dogs. "For example, in places where there is a very high value conservation area, perhaps dogs really shouldn't be allowed there; but there may be other areas where those conservation issues are not as great and maybe those are where dog-walking can be allowed."
Martin Fowlie, a spokesman for Birdlife International, said the study confirmed what conservationists already suspected. He said: "This is not a surprising result; there is already evidence that dogs can disturb birdlife, but it is interesting that someone has now quantified it. "It would now be really interesting to see how long those reductions in bird numbers last, to see whether it is a few minutes, hours or days."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Goats sacrificed to fix Nepal jet,
A goat offering is a holy act for Hindu devotees. Nepal's state-run airline has confirmed that it sacrificed two goats to appease a Hindu god, following technical problems with one of its aircraft. Nepal Airlines said the animals were slaughtered in front of the plane - a Boeing 757 - at Kathmandu airport.
The offering was made to Akash Bhairab, the Hindu god of sky protection, whose symbol is seen on the company's planes. The airline said that after Sunday's ceremony the plane successfully completed a flight to Hong Kong. "The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights," senior airline official Raju KC was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Nepal Airlines has two Boeing aircraft in its fleet. The persistent faults with one of the planes had led to the postponement of a number of flights in recent weeks. The company has not said what the problem was, but reports in local media have blamed an electrical fault.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
China dishes up menu translations.
China is working hard to present a positive image during the Games. China is taking action on the English translations of its restaurant menus in its campaign to brush up the country's image for next year's Olympics. The Beijing Tourism Bureau has released a list of 2,753 dishes and drinks it thinks could do with a wording rethink. Translations such as "virgin chicken" for a young chicken dish and "burnt lion's head" for pork meatballs are confusing for foreigners, it says.
China has launched a major drive to present a good image next year. Spitting, littering and bad driving have all been targeted in a bid to stamp out bad habits in the Chinese capital ahead of the Olympic Games. The aim of the latest campaign is to end the "confusing, even ridiculous translations" on menus, China's state news agency Xinhua quotes the bureau as saying. The names of many Chinese dishes have historical, cultural, regional and political connotations that would not necessarily be understood by foreigners, Xinhua reports.
But the poor English translations "either scare or embarrass foreign customers and may cause misunderstanding of China's diet habits". The tourism bureau is seeking opinions on the translations of 2,753 dishes and drinks. The final, approved list of translated names will then be rolled out to restaurants across the country, Xinhua says.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Australians cook up wild cat stew.
By Phil Mercer -BBC News, Sydney
Australians have come up with a novel solution to the millions of feral cats roaming the outback - eat them. The felines are the descendants of domestic pets and kill millions of small native anima