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.
Call for national pet blood bank !
By Helen Briggs - BBC News science reporter.
Leading UK vets say a national blood bank is needed to save the lives of sick and injured dogs and cats. The blood would be used for emergency trauma cases and during complex operations such as open heart surgery. Specialist centres are now offering pet owners hi-tech treatments pioneered in human medicine, including hip replacements and radiotherapy.
But they come at a cost - with some owners spending thousands of pounds to save a much-loved family pet. Dr Jerry Davies, Council Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and founder of the largest specialist veterinary referral practice in Europe, said that pets were worth more than their commercial value.
"Animals do have a huge benefit to the human population so we should be striving to help the animal for the animal's sake and also for the welfare of the human attached to them," he said.
Mr Dan Brockman, an expert in cardiothoracic surgery at the Royal Veterinary College, London, said he was now carrying out several open heart surgery procedures a year. Other surgical procedures for dogs and occasionally cats - including heart valve replacement, heart valve repair, cancer operations, and knee-, hip- and elbow-replacements - are becoming routine. The cost of between £3,000 and £10,000 is met by pet insurance policies or by the individual.
"Pets should be considered a luxury item," said Mr Brockman. "What we do is not for every owner. The important thing is that part of responsible pet ownership is to at least give thought to what you might do if your animal became ill."
Many such operations relied on the "benevolence" of owners of large dogs who were prepared to let their pets donate blood, he said. "One of the things that has held back critical care in the UK has been an unwillingness to develop blood banking in the UK," Mr Brockman told reporters at the Science Media Centre, London. "It's not possible to have a well functioning trauma centre without having blood product support as in human trauma medicine."
Mr Brockman said it should be possible to create a central blood banking facility or several regional centres so that blood could be extracted, stored and moved to where it was needed. "I think it is only a matter of time; I really hope one will be set up." he added. "Personally, I would like to see someone fund a non-commercial venture - that would be much better but it would cost money."
Large dogs of 25kg and above with a calm disposition are suitable as blood donors. The dog is made to lie down, has a needle placed in a vein in its neck, and 400ml of blood is collected over the course of 10-15 minutes. A typical heart operation would use three to four blood transfusions of this quantity.
Dr Jerry Davies said about 100-150 dog owners, and about 100 vets, had signed up to a preliminary blood donor scheme launched on the internet. Critics of the idea have raised commercial, legislative and ethical objections.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Thai airport 'faces bird threat'
Large birds can be sucked into the engines of aircraft on take-off
Flocks of birds are creating a safety threat at an airport in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, local reports say.
Birds have been involved in 48 minor collisions with planes at Suvarnabhumi airport, according to the Bangkok Post.
Thousands of birds are said to be attracted by drainage canals around the runways and food on nearby farms.
Earlier this month pilots' groups expressed concern that a major accident could happen if a large bird was caught in the engines of a plane on take-off.
Abundant food
Airports of Thailand (AoT), which runs Suvarnabhumi, monitored the runways after pilots voiced their fears.
The organisation found that the most serious threat came from open-billed storks, which gather in flocks of up to 700 and can grow to around 80cm (31.5in) in length.
They also found that the large fish ponds and tall trees at a temple 6km (3.7 miles) away were providing additional food, shelter and breeding grounds for the birds.
Efforts to scare the birds away, including firecrackers and bird nets, have so far failed.
The AoT is now attempting to control rubbish and vegetation around the runways to reduce the amount of food available.
Suvarnabhumi, which means golden land in Thai, opened in September 2006 at a cost of $4bn (£1.95bn).
The construction project was plagued by problems, including cracks in the runway and claims of corruption by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup shortly before the official opening.
A government representative told the Bangkok Post that the newly-formed Thai aviation safety committee will meet in November to discuss possible solutions to the problem.
Dog shoots Iowa man during hunt.
A man out hunting in Iowa was shot in the leg after a hunting dog stepped on his gun, authorities said. The accident happened after James Harris, 37, put his gun on the ground to retrieve a fallen pheasant. One of a pack of hunting dogs following behind stepped on the trigger, and up to 120 birdshot pellets hit Mr Harris in the left calf at short range.
A local official told a news agency the injury was "not life-threatening, but will give him trouble for a long time". Alan Foster, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, told AFP it was not uncommon for hunters to be shot by their dogs. "I hear about it a couple times a year," somewhere in the country, he said. "They'll step on the trigger assembly and, if the gun for whatever reason wasn't on safety, it doesn't take a whole lot to trip a trigger."
Mr Harris was treated at Grinnell Regional Medical Center and later transported by helicopter to University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, following the accident in Poweshiek County on Saturday afternoon. An investigation into the accident is under way.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Endangered twins are born at zoo.
Twin endangered monkeys have been born at Colchester Zoo. The Golden Headed Lion Tamarins, native to Brazil's forests, were born as part of the European breeding programme for endangered species.
The population in the wild has dropped dramatically as their habitat is lost with only 6,000 to 15,000 remaining, a spokesman for the Essex Zoo said. The new arrivals are said to be thriving at the zoo with their parents Nala and Samuel. There are no plans to re-introduce them to the wild.
Anthony Tropeano, Zoo curator, told BBC News: "There was a successful introduction for a very close cousin of this species, the Golden Lion Tamarin. "So there's a possibility that if the areas in which the animals live can be secured and put into national park status perhaps there will be a need for a re-introduction programme for them.
"The animals that are in captivity currently are a safety net to that increasingly threatened wild population."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
'Horse therapy helped my daughter' !
By Jane Elliott - Health reporter, BBC News.
Elizabete Gouveia has cerebral palsy, cannot stand or sit up by herself and needs regular physiotherapy. But for the last few months she has been enjoying horse riding as part of her treatment regime. Her father Manuel, from Torres Vedras, Portugal, says the treatment - known as hippotherapy - is proving very beneficial to three-year-old Elizabete. "She is not afraid of the horse and we have found she is more relaxed after the treatment."Her legs particularly are more relaxed and we have seen a big difference since she started the therapy. "Now she even looks forward to having her therapy," he said.
The therapy, which is also available in the UK, is used to help people of all ages with different physical or psychological difficulties. Treatment involves putting patients on horseback in a variety of positions and adapting to the horse's movements and working on co-ordination and posture. Catia Roche, Elizabete's physical therapist at CampoReal, in Portugal, said she had noticed that using hippotherapy increased mobility and muscle relaxation, improved tone and decreased involuntary movement as well as boosting the rider's self-esteem.
"The temperature of the horse is about 38 degrees, so their warmth helps make the patients' limbs easier to work with." She added that the three-dimensional movement of the horse's pelvis also leads to a movement response in the patient's pelvis, which is similar to the pattern of walking - something some of her patients cannot do.
What benefits using a horse gives -
The movement stimulates postural responses - it encourages people to sit up
Sitting astride a horse increases the base area of support
The rhythm of the horse at walk affects muscle tone and helps to reduce muscle spasm.
The temperature of the horse, higher than that of a human, is very relaxing and helps to increase blood supply and release tight tissues.
"We have been using the hippotherapy here since January, but I have been training in it for two years," she said. "I have really found it helps with the co-ordination and after hippotherapy they stay relaxed for longer. "After physical therapy I have found that they are relaxed for one to two hours, but after hippotherapy the benefits can last for up to five hours. "I find that people are also calmer and less stressed out, following their 30 minute sessions."
She said she was currently using hippotherapy for people with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, multiple sclerosis, people who have suffered trauma and those with neurological problem. Lesley Furnell, a physiotherapist for Revive Scotland, which works with MS patients, said hippotherapy is very different from riding for the disabled, which has been around for over thirty years.
She said that hippotherapy, which was first used in the 90s, is growing in popularity now in the UK and she has waiting lists of people with MS wanting to use it. "The courses have become so popular I have had to limit them to 10 weeks each, otherwise it would not be fair on the others. Everyone who does it seems to enjoy it. "It uses the three dimensional movement of the horse's hips, pelvis and shoulders at the walk to provide a movement challenge to the rider and I consider it to have been a success when the rider can replicate what they feel when they are on the horse to what they feel when walking.
"Hippotherapy is a unique treatment, which cannot be rivalled or reproduced by any other therapeutic method or piece of equipment," she added. But a spokesperson for Scope, the charity for those with cerebral palsy said that although they are aware of the benefits of hippotherapy it should not be thought of as a cure. "As with all treatments and therapies, Scope would recommend caution and consultation. "There are no cures for cerebral palsy; rather it is important to promote independence and equality for disabled people.
"Some people will find relaxation in horse riding, and there are benefits in the warmth and movements of the horse in improving circulation. And it can be fun and exciting for children with CP, the same as it is for non-disabled children"
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Fat squirrel trapped behind bars.
A grey squirrel had to be rescued from a bird feeder as it had gorged on so many nuts it could not squeeze back out through the bars. A resident in Christchurch, Dorset alerted the RSPCA after finding it stuck in the peanut-filled feeder.
Insp Graham Hammond said that the squirrel had "eyes bigger than its stomach" and had lost its figure while feasting in the wire-frame last week. He said it was "quite an unusual rescue". "I think this squirrel had eyes bigger than its stomach but after it had stuffed itself with nuts, it had a stomach too large to escape the feeder - one which ironically, was designed to be squirrel-proof," he said.
Insp Hammond said he managed to widen the gaps between two of the bars with the aid of a crow-bar and a grasper - to release the squirrel, which was not hurt. "As soon as the gap increased he shot off. I was slightly insulted," he added.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Third of primates 'under threat' !
By Steve Jackson - BBC News.
Almost a third of the world's primates are in danger of extinction because of destruction of their habitats, a report by conservation groups has warned. The report says many apes, monkeys and other primates are being driven from the forests where they live or killed to make food and medicines.
The research is being presented at the International Primatological Society (IPS) on the Chinese island of Hainan. It was compiled by a team of 60 experts led by the World Conservation Union.
The report focuses on the fate of the world's 25 most endangered primate species, which are threatened by a depressing list of problems. The authors say all the surviving members of these species combined would fit in a single football stadium.
Of particular concern are the Hainan gibbon from China and Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey from Ivory Coast, both of which have only a few surviving creatures left in the wild. The report says the threat to primates is worst in Asia where tropical forests are being destroyed and many monkeys are being hunted or traded as pets. It also argues that climate change is making some species more vulnerable.
Scientists have been warning for decades about the growing human threat to animal species around the world, but this study says we should be especially concerned about primates because they are the closest living relatives of humans.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
'Bird-friendly' call for gardens.
The number of house sparrows is in decline, the RSBP says. UK householders can halt the decline of many birds by making their gardens more wildlife-friendly, a charity says. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said simple measures can help preserve populations of house sparrows, starlings and song thrushes. It has recommended allowing patches of long grass to grow, so that insects which act as food can thrive. Dr Darren Moorcroft from the RSPB said the British garden was part of a larger wildlife community.
The charity's Homes for Wildlife scheme, which is launched on Saturday, will call for gardeners to plant deciduous trees, native shrubs and climbers like as honeysuckle or roses - all of which provide food and shelter for birds. The RSPB has also suggested plants which are rich in nectar and seeds such as sunflowers and alyssum. It said it hoped that more than 200,000 people will support the scheme.
Leaving pot plants on balconies can also encourage insects which provide food for birds, it added. Dr Moorcroft, RSPB head of conservation management advice, said "gardens are the richest wildlife habitat on earth". He added: "By taking simple wildlife-friendly steps in our gardens, collectively we will make a real difference for many of our birds and other wildlife," he said.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Indian elephants 'electrocuted' !
By Subir Bhaumik - BBC News, Calcutta
The north-east of India contains large numbers of Asian elephants. Six elephants have been electrocuted in the north-eastern Indian state of Meghalaya, officials say. It has emerged that that the animals died last week when they became entangled in loose wires. The Meghalaya wildlife department said that the elephants may have been looking for food, before stampeding into a line of pylons.
Such incidents are becoming more commonplace as humans encroach on land traditionally occupied by elephants. "They got entangled in the live wires that ran loose as the posts were uprooted," wildlife department spokesman Sunil Kumar said. "Six elephants died on the spot, but thankfully the villagers chased away the rest," he said.
Four wild elephants died in similar circumstances in the region near the border with Bangladesh three years ago. More and more elephants are being killed in the north-east (Photo: Subhamoy Bhattacharjee) Last week, five rare Asiatic lions were reported to have been electrocuted near Gir National Park in the western state of Gujarat.
The authorities said the lions were killed by an electrified fence that a villager had put up illegally to protect crops near the sanctuary. India's north-eastern states of Assam and Meghalaya account for the world's largest concentration of wild Asiatic elephants, with nearly 7,000 of them at large. Apart from electrocution, scores of elephants have been poisoned to death in Assam by angry villagers or killed by other means.
Hundreds of villagers have also been trampled to death by the elephants. North-east India falls in the great elephant corridor that stretches from northern Thailand to the foothills of Bhutan - a corridor used by hordes of Asian elephants to move back and forth in search of food. Human encroachment in this corridor, particularly in Assam, has led to intense man-animal conflicts.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Wee Man the vulture returns home !
An African vulture who escaped from a bird rescue centre in Aberdeenshire has finally been recaptured. Wee Man the white backed vulture had been on the loose since flying off from the 2 Wit 2 Woo sanctuary near Huntly two weeks ago. He had perched 30ft up a nearby pine tree and refused to be tempted down before vanishing completely on Tuesday.
But the vulture, who has an eight-foot wingspan, flew back into the centre at the weekend to look for food. Patricia Downie, who helps run the centre with her parents, said they had feared they wouldn't see Wee Man again after he flew off from the pine tree despite their best efforts to lure the hungry bird down with food.
But her dad Jeff was stunned to see the bird suddenly reappear in the skies above the centre on Saturday with his wings spread open, before swooping down and gobbling up a piece of meat that had been left out for him. She added: "Dad put out a bit of deer onto a block of the waste ground and wee man just jumped up there and started eating the meat so dad immediately tethered him. "We are absolutely delighted to have him back and to know he came back of his own accord.
"Because we lost him on Tuesday we didn't know if we would see him again but he obviously decided it was time to go home and he'd had enough adventure out there - it was quite agonising there for a little while and it has been a hectic couple of weeks."
Ms Downie said the family were now keeping a close eye on Wee Man to make sure he could not escape again from his tether.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
International bid to save Devils.!
By Phil Mercer - BBC News, Sydney.
Australian researchers are teaming up with zoos and wildlife parks around the world in a bid to save the iconic Tasmanian Devil. The world's largest carnivorous marsupial has been devastated by a mysterious facial tumour. Experts fear that the unusual animal could be extinct within 30 years. It is hoped that by relocating healthy animals away from Tasmania, the future of the species can be safeguarded.
The cantankerous Tasmanian Devil was given its name by early European settlers. Although it is only the size of a small dog, this carnivorous marsupial can look and sound exceptionally fierce. But despite the appearance of strength and aggression, the Devil population in Tasmania is in real trouble. A cancer that eats away at the mouth and face has in some parts of the island killed more than 90% of adults. It is thought the disease is spread when the animals bite each when they are mating or fighting. Researchers are now relocating healthy specimens to zoos on the Australian mainland.
Wildlife parks in the United States and Europe will take part in an international rescue mission. Professor Hamish McCallum from the University of Tasmania describes the project as an "insurance policy", but says that efforts to sustain Devils in the wild must also continue. "In my firm opinion, a captive population on its own is not sufficient. We need to be trying to maintain free ranging populations as well," he said. Prof McCallum said that current indications show the animal could become extinct on the mainland of Tasmania within 30 years.
However this programme would mean that they could release captive animals into the wild. There are also plans to introduce these nocturnal marsupials to disease-free islands off Tasmania. Breeding in captivity is not easy, which makes the recent birth of four Devils at a wildlife sanctuary in Queensland so significant. Newborn Devils are the size of a grain of rice, and the ones born in Queensland were the first babies to be produced under the captive breeding programme.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Experts bid to help birds of prey !
Experts from 60 countries are to gather for a conference at Loch Lomond aimed at helping save rare birds of prey. Delegates will try to develop an international agreement to conserve endangered migratory birds in Europe, Africa and Asia.
Eagles, falcons, harriers, kites, buzzards and osprey are among the 77 species of birds that could benefit.
The aim is to bring together expertise from around the world to monitor and protect the birds. It is also hoped that funds will be raised for future conservation activity. Two years ago, an independent study commissioned by Defra found that more than 50% of the birds likely to be covered by the agreement were threatened either at the global or regional level.
UK climate change and biodiversity minister Joan Ruddock is among those who will attend the conference. She said: "There is no doubt these magnificent birds are under serious threat. Our commitment to their conservation is clear. "The government has brought together experts from around the world to develop an agreement for their conservation. "I have pledged an initial £10,000 towards the practical conservation work that an agreement will undertake."
The experts will discuss the geographical boundaries of the proposed agreement, the species to be covered, and whether or not it should be legally binding. The agreement is expected to be finalised at a meeting in the United Arab Emirates in 2008. The decline in numbers of migratory birds of prey are being driven by a variety of human-induced threats, such as habitat loss and degradation and electrocution by power lines.
Other issues include climate change and direct persecution in the form of illegal shooting and poisoning.
Michael Russell, Scottish environment minister, said: "I am delighted to see so many delegates from around the world at Loch Lomond. "Birds of prey are iconic species for Scotland but the huge international presence shows that we are not alone in our respect and admiration for raptors."
Professor Colin Galbraith, director of policy and advice at Scottish Natural Heritage, said: "I am confident that the meeting will lead to a new conservation plan for these species in the 21st Century."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Monkey attack kills Delhi leader !
The deputy mayor of the Indian capital Delhi has died a day after being attacked by a horde of wild monkeys. SS Bajwa suffered serious head injuries when he fell from the first-floor terrace of his home on Saturday morning trying to fight off the monkeys.
The city has long struggled to counter its plague of monkeys, which invade government complexes and temples, snatch food and scare passers-by. The High Court ordered the city to find an answer to the problem last year. One approach has been to train bands of larger, more ferocious langur monkeys to go after the smaller groups of Rhesus macaques. The city has also employed monkey catchers to round them up so they can be moved to forests. But the problem has persisted.
Culling is seen as unacceptable to devout Hindus, who revere the monkeys as a manifestation of the monkey god Hanuman, and often feed them bananas and peanuts. Urban development around the city has also been blamed for destroying the monkeys' natural habitat. Mr Bajwa, a member of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is survived by his wife and a son, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
New York sends in the ladybirds.
More than 700,000 ladybirds have been released in two New York City housing complexes in an effort to kill insects without using artificial pesticides. The ladybirds, from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in the western United States, will eat pests on the newly-landscaped Manhattan property. The bugs can eat 50 aphids a day, and will lay more larvae in due course. "They'll do their thing out there!" said Eric Vinje, whose company Planet Natural supplied the ladybirds.
The ladybirds, Hippodamia convergens, were scattered across the grounds of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village on Manhattan's Lower East Side as an alternative to using chemical pesticides.
"In most cases, we reach for a can of pesticide - and we kill not only the 'bad guys,' but the 'good guys'," Mr Vinje told the Associated Press news agency. "All we're doing here is putting more of the 'good guys' to tip the scale, to get some kind of pest population control."
After being collected in Oregon, California and Montana, the ladybirds are chilled to a semi-dormant state, until they are shipped to purchasers. When they arrived in Manhattan, "they were lively and ready to eat anything that was not too quick for them," Mr Vinje said.
Local residents need not worry about the ladybirds swarming or infesting homes, Mr Vinje says, as this is not the aggressive Asian ladybird Harmonia axyridis.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Otter evidence caught on camera !
BBC Scotland news website has obtained the "exciting new video evidence" of an otter in the Water of Leith. As they are largely nocturnal and elusive animals, experts have been relying on droppings and footprints to back up reports they are in cities.
Wildlife information officers said otters were a "very important" indicator of the health of a river. Bob Anderson, Wildlife Information Centre biodiversity data officer, said: "I am extremely interested in this video footage because it is very rare to have an adult otter filmed as we just don't tend to see them. "They are very elusive creatures so we normally receive reports of droppings and footprints than actual sightings.
I was very excited when I saw it and my teacher was even more so as she said it was the first one she had
"They are a European protected species and the more sightings we receive the better we can build up a picture of where they are. "I would urge for people to contact me with any otter sightings in the Lothians." Jean-baptiste Direz, 23, an Edinburgh student who is studying aquatic ecosystem management, said he was on a day field trip on 27 September, when he spotted the otter. He said: "I was very excited when I saw it and my teacher was even more so as she said it was the first one she had ever seen. "It is amazing to think that we saw it just 50 metres away from The Water of Leith visitor centre where there are lots of people. "We watched it fishing for food and catching and eating fish."
Otters are rarely filmed in the wild in city centres. Iain Ross, a Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) spokesman, said: "This exciting new video evidence of the presence of otters in the Water of Leith backs up SNH's recent findings that these charming animals have made a remarkable recovery in population terms throughout Scotland.
"Otters are now found in watercourses throughout the country and it is especially cheering to see them thriving in the heart of our major urban areas. "This shows the improvement in water quality in the Water of Leith is now sustaining a viable food supply for otters and that's great news for people in the city who enjoy seeing Scotland's wildlife up close."
The latest SNH survey, which focused on 1,376 sample sites across the country, discovered positive traces of otter populations at 1,267 locations (92.08%). The two-year investigation has confirmed the animal is now thriving over the whole of Scotland in both coastal and freshwater sites. There are now believed to be around 8,000 otters spread across virtually every part of Scotland, including water courses in Aberdeen and the River Clyde.
In particular, all of Scotland's large urban areas now show signs of otters. In these areas, improvements in water quality have helped create sustainable habitats for otters through increasingly healthy fish stocks and more varied biodiversity. Otters live mainly on a diet of fish including eels, salmon and trout, but also often eat crabs, frogs and occasionally small mammals and birds. They live beside the sea or by fresh waters such as rivers, lochs and marshes, but coastal otters must wash their fur regularly in fresh water to maintain its waterproofing quality.
It was made illegal to kill otters in 1981. They are now fully protected by European legislation. They had previously been hunted for sport, their fur, and because they kill fish
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Farm bird numbers 'hit new low' .
The number of wild farmland bird species breeding in England is at the lowest level since records began, a key government wildlife "indicator" shows. The RSPB called the UK government's Wild Bird Populations 2006 indicator "extremely depressing". The data showed that these species had declined by about 60% since 1970. The charity warned that cuts in "set-aside" payments, which take land out of food production, could hit bird numbers even harder in the future.
Sue Armstrong-Brown, the RSPB's head of countryside policy, said: "Farmland birds are the barometer by which the government measures the health of the countryside. "We wish there was a better story to tell, but the farmland bird index reaching its lowest point is extremely depressing news," she added. "Specialist" species, such as the skylark, which are dependent on farmland habitats for breeding and feeding, have suffered the greatest decline.
The farmland bird population index, which measures 19 species, showed a decline of more than 50% in bird numbers between 1977 and 1999, but then stabilised at this level. The yellowhammer is one of the birds that has seen its numbers fall. "However, the indicator has fallen slightly in recent years," the document published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) stated. "[But] it is too early to say whether this is the start of a further period of decline."
Defra suggested that the decline of species included in the index was a result of changes to agricultural processes, "including the loss of mixed farming, the switch to autumn sowing of cereals... and the loss of field margins and hedges".
Since the 1990s, farmers have received payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (Cap) to set aside some of their land and take it out of food production. Dr Armstrong-Brown feared that EU plans to phase out these payments would have a "devastating effect", despite the introduction of other agri-environmental plans.
"The decision to reduce set-aside to zero this year throws a spotlight on the importance of individual farmer decisions in caring for birds on their land," she said. "We want to work with the farming community to make sure that the trend from here is upwards."
Gareth Morgan, head of the RSPB's agricultural policy team, said the UK had developed some of world's best examples of agri-environment schemes. "More resources for these schemes are urgently required if we are to stand any chance of halting and eventually reversing the decline of some of our best-loved birds," he warned.
Other bird populations covered by the indicator are: woodland birds, which have seen a 20% decline since 1970; and seabird species, which have risen by 30% over the same period. The indicator forms part of the UK government's sustainable development strategy, as bird populations are considered to give a good indication of the health of the nation's wildlife and habitats.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Elephants sense 'danger' clothes.
Elephants associated the colour red with the Maasai..Elephants can tell whether a human is a friend or foe by their scent and colour of clothing, according to Fife experts. St Andrews University researchers found that elephants could recognise the degree of danger posed by different groups of individuals.
The study found African elephants reacted with fear when they detected the scent of garments previously worn by men of the Maasai tribe. Maasai men are known to demonstrate their virility by spearing elephants. The elephants also responded aggressively to red clothing, which is characteristic of traditional Maasai dress. However, the elephants showed much milder reaction to clothing previously worn by the Kamba people, agriculturalists who pose little threat.
The psychologists said they had expected to find elephants might be able to distinguish among different human groups according to the level of risk they posed. They said: "We were not disappointed. In fact, we think that this is the first time that it has been experimentally shown that any animal can categorise a single species of potential predator into subclasses based on such subtle cues."
The researchers, Dr Lucy Bates and Professor Richard Byrne, first presented elephants with clean, red clothing and with red clothing that had been worn for five days by either a Maasai or a Kamba man. They found that Maasai-scented clothing motivated elephants to travel significantly faster in the first minute after they moved away.
The elephants also travelled further in the first five minutes, and took significantly longer to relax after they stopped running away. They then investigated whether elephants could also use garment colour as a cue to classify potential threat and found the elephants reacted with aggression towards red but not to white cloth. This suggested that they associated the colour red with the Maasai.
The researchers believe the difference in the elephants' emotional reaction to odour versus colour might relate to the amount of risk they sense in the two situations, encouraged by a particularly keen sense of smell.
"With any scent of Maasai present, fear and escape reactions seem to dominate anything else," said Dr Bates. Professor Byrne added: "While elephants can undoubtedly be dangerous when they come into conflict with humans, our data show that, given the opportunity, they would far rather run away, even before they encounter the humans in person. "We see this experiment as just a start to investigating precisely how elephants 'see the world', and it may be that their abilities will turn out to equal or exceed those of our closer relatives, the monkeys and apes," he added.
The study is published online by Current Biology and will appear in the 20 November print issue.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
'Giant dino' found in Argentina.
Scientists think they have found a new species of giant plant-eating dinosaur, Futalognkosaurus dukei, that roamed the earth some 80m years ago. It would have measured at least 32m (105ft) in height, making it one of the tallest dinosaurs ever found, Argentine and Brazilian palaeontologists say. The skeleton showed signs that its owner had been eaten by predators. The excavation site in Argentina has yielded a series of specimens since the first fossils were found there in 2000.
The skeleton found in Patagonia appears to represent a previously unknown species because of the unique structure of its neck. Its name (pronounced foo-ta-long-koh-sohr-us) derives from the Mapuche Indian words for "giant chief of the lizards" and for Duke Energy Argentina, a company which helped fund the its excavation.
"This is one of the biggest [dinosaurs] in the world and one of the most complete of these giants that exist," said Jorge Calvo, director of the palaeontology centre at the National University of Comahue, Argentina. He is lead author of a study on the dinosaur published in the peer-reviewed Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
The dinosaur's remains are thought to have washed into a river, creating a barrier that collected the remains of other now-fossilised animals, fish and even leaves found at the site. Since the first bones were found on the banks of Lake Barreales in the Argentine province of Neuquen in 2000, palaeontologists have dug up the dinosaur's neck, back region, hips and the first vertebra of its tail.
"It's among the biggest dinosaur finds and the most complete for a giant dinosaur," Alexander Kellner, a researcher with the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, told Reuters news agency. "The accumulation of fish and leaf fossils, as well as other dinosaurs around the find, is just something fantastic. Leaves and dinosaurs together is a great rarity. It's like a whole lost world for us."
Researchers say the fossilised ecosystem points to a warm and humid climate in Patagonia, which had forests during the Late Cretaceous period. The area is steppe-like now and almost bare of vegetation.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Chimps exaggerate calls for help.
Chimps have been found to exaggerate their screams. Chimpanzees under attack exaggerate their screams to get help from higher ranking group members, researchers from Fife have discovered. The study found primates produce high-pitched and prolonged screams when they were the victims of severe aggression such as beating. Their cries were exaggerated if there was another higher-ranking chimp in the area who could challenge the aggressor.
St Andrews University experts spent nine months in Budongo Forest, Uganda. They recorded the apes' screams during attacks by chimps and carried out a computerised analysis of the acoustics. Dr Katie Slocombe from the university's School of Psychology, who led the study, said: "We conclude victims use screams flexibly to recruit help from others and have a complex understanding of third party relations. "They know exactly who can challenge who, and this knowledge of social relationships influences their vocal production. "If no-one is there to help them then the screams are normal but if someone is about then they make it sound even worse than it is. "This shows there is more flexibility in their vocal communication than previously thought."
Dr Slocombe said they were still researching the underlying reasons for the exaggerated screams. "It could be that they are wanting to falsely deceive the higher ranking chimpanzee into thinking it is really bad," she said. Dr Slocombe said that while direct parallels could not be drawn between the actions of the chimps and human behaviour, they displayed similar characteristics. She said children often did not cry when they hurt themselves while on their own, but started crying if someone else was there.
The research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. It is part of a wider study into the behaviour of chimpanzees. The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Tortoises prepare for hibernation.
Tortoise owners in Edinburgh are being urged to take their pets for a free health check to help see their pets through hibernation. Tortoises suffering from illnesses are more likely to die during their winter sleep, according to scientists. Experts from Edinburgh University's Royal School of Veterinary Studies will carry out examinations to determine if pets are healthy enough to hibernate.
A clinic will be open on Wednesday from 1600 BST to 1900 BST. Emma Keeble, from the Royal School of Veterinary Studies' exotic animal service, said: "Tortoises are notoriously bad at showing signs of illness, which are often subtle.
"If hibernated with these problems they may not wake up the following spring, as diseases that would normally be fought off by the tortoise's immune system may take hold whilst the animal's metabolism is slowed. "As a result, it is also very common for problems to occur on waking up from hibernation that require veterinary treatment such as eye infections, colds, pneumonia, mouth rot, ear abscesses and anorexia. "These could prove fatal if the tortoises are not treated and have not undergone check-ups."
The advice provided at the clinic will also relate to different species of pet tortoise and terrapins, which may require specialist housing and feeding.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Ewes not sheepish over fighting.
Females use their horns to fight, a study has shown. Female sheep have been found to use their horns to fight over food, researchers say. In many species males use weapons, such as horns, in competing for mates. But it was thought some females developed horns as an evolutionary by-product.
However, Edinburgh University scientists have found females will use their horns to fight against other females over food. Researchers studied wild Soay sheep on the island of Hirta, St Kilda. They found many fights took place during the lambing season, when food was scarce. The study, published in Biology Letters, backs previous theories which suggest male sheep's horns are curved to withstand head-on clashes, while female sheep's horns are spiked in order to push competitors away.
It was also found that female sheep with fully-developed horns were found to be more aggressive than those with partial horns or no horns. Matthew Robinson, from the university's School of Biological Sciences, said: "Males use weapons to win mates and females use weapons to win food. "This shows that females will behave aggressively towards each other using weapons when resources are in short supply.
"It was previously thought that for females, horn growth might be a drawback and a waste of nutrition, but in fact it might give a competitive advantage meaning that they may be able to better provide for their offspring."
Soay sheep are primitive domestic sheep and originate from the island of Soay.
Mini pigs are big success on farm.
A Devon fun farm is reaping the rewards of a nine-year breeding programme for miniature pigs. The pigs, which are about a fifth of the size of ordinary pigs, have been a hit with visitors at Pennywell Farm. TV celebrity Jonathan Ross bought two of the pint-sized porkers as pets at £150 each and there have even been offers from as far away as Australia. The pocket pigs are a variant of the rare kune kune breed, which is native to New Zealand.
Chris Murray, co-owner of the farm near Buckfastleigh, began cross-breeding the pigs nine years ago and believes he has the perfect pet pig. He said: "Pigs are very cute when they are young, but they outgrow a home environment and can be aggressive when they get older. "These pigs are just at home indoors or outdoors."
Some pet pigs, such as the Vietnamese pot-bellied variety, have in the past been bought for their cuteness. But they fell out of fashion when it became clear how big they grow. There are no big surprises in store for anyone who falls for the Pennywell miniatures.
An average adult pig weighs about 500kg (1,102lb), but the mini pigs weigh only 70kg (154lb). The world's smallest pig is thought to be the 28in-long wild pygmy hog, an endangered species which lives in wildlife sanctuaries in Assam, India. Mr Murray said: "They are easy to house train and have a good temperament.
"A sow would normally snap at you if you picked up one of her litter, but these are amazingly content." Mr Murray doubts if they will be appearing on restaurant menus. "They are too small, he said. "It would be uneconomic so it's unlikely they will be used for meat and there is already a huge amount of different pig meat available."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Australia plagued by feral pigs.
By Phil Mercer - BBC News, Queensland.
Feral pigs have caused widespread damage to crops in Queensland. Scientists in Australia have warned that rising numbers of disease-ravaged feral pigs pose a threat to farmers and the environment. Experts in the northern state of Queensland say that the pig population is out of control. The pigs are causing untold damage to crops as well as threatening native wildlife, they say. It is estimated there are 23m wild pigs in Australia. That means there are now more pigs than people.
In Queensland's rain forests, professional hunters are trapping large numbers of these feral scavengers. The pigs will be shot and buried. They are riddled with disease and cannot be eaten. Paul Smith runs a hunting business called Boar Busters. He is a former soldier who served in Iraq, East Timor and Somalia. "It is just like operating in a guerrilla warfare environment," he says. "I need to utilise the information that I gain from the local population and then to be able to effectively react to that information to respond to the incursions from the feral pigs."
The pigs have caused widespread damage to sugar cane and banana crops. It is just like operating in a guerrilla warfare environment - Paul Smith, hunter.
Government scientists have warned that they are contaminating streams and rivers that run into the Great Barrier Reef. Doctor James Butler says that the pigs could also spread disease. "If foot and mouth disease was ever to hit Australia," he says, "pigs would be one of the major vectors. And given that they are almost ubiquitous everywhere and very, very difficult to control, there would be a major problem."
It is thought Australia's wild pigs were brought here by early European settlers. Like other introduced species such as the red fox and the cane toad, they have been an environmental disaster.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Rare China tiger seen in the wild.
A rare South China tiger has been seen in the wild for the first time in decades, according to reports from China's official Xinhua news agency. The sighting, which came after a farmer handed in some pictures, surprised researchers who feared the tiger was extinct. Experts have now confirmed that the photographs do show a young, wild South China tiger. The tiger is critically endangered and was last sighted in the wild in 1964.
The farmer, who took the pictures at the beginning of this month, lives in Shaanxi province. Experts have said that no more than 20 to 30 of the tigers were believed to remain in the wild, but none have been spotted in decades, with many fearing that a small number of captive-born tigers were all that remained.
The population of the South China tiger, the smallest tiger subspecies, was believed to number 4,000 in the early 1950s. But numbers were greatly reduced after China's Communist leader Mao Zedong labelled the elusive felines "pests" and ordered an extermination campaign. The animal has also fallen victim to the decimation of China's natural environment and the elimination of its natural prey.
The South China Tiger is one of six remaining tiger subspecies. Three other tiger subspecies, the Bali, Java, and Caspian tigers, have all become extinct since the 1940s, according to tiger experts.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Man threw dogs into path of cars.
Paul Postgate was accused of animal cruelty. A Teesside man has been given a five-year Asbo for a string of offences, including throwing dogs into the path of oncoming traffic. Cleveland Police, Redcar and Cleveland Council and the RSPCA sought the order against Paul Postgate, from Boosebeck, after 20 incidents in six months. Other offences included being in control of dangerous dogs and being under the influence of drugs.
Postgate, 45, was said to have plagued surrounding areas for months. The majority of the incidents took place in Lingdale and Boosebeck, although some offences were also carried out in Loftus, Guisborough Skelton, Redcar, Saltburn and Lazenby. Cleveland Police said many residents were intimidated by Postgate's anti-social behaviour and by his physical appearance.
A spokesman said: "It is clear members of the public are concerned for their personal safety and feel deeply distressed and incensed by his behaviour towards animals in his possession in public. "This order would not have been possible without the support and assistance of the numerous members of the public who have reported incidents to the agencies and have provided the information to support this application."
Police said reported incidents included one in Boosebeck, where Postgate jumped into the path of a vehicle while carrying a lurcher-type dog, almost causing a serious accident.
In Lingdale, Postgate jumped onto the bonnet of a moving vehicle. He then jumped off the bonnet and stood in the middle of the road. As the vehicle manoeuvred away, Postgate grabbed the lurcher-type dog by the scruff of the neck, pushed its face into the ground and kicked it three or four times. Also in Lingdale Postgate was seen walking down the centre of a busy main road with two dogs chained together - one of which was a bullmastiff bitch, which had recently given birth and was leaking milk.
Sgt Brian Tams, of Cleveland Police, added: "The community of East Cleveland really pulled together to try to tackle someone who was instilling a disproportionate level of the fear of crime within their midst. "Some very brave actions also took place to take these dogs out of danger. "This has showed that things like cruelty, crime and anti-social behaviour are committed by a small number of offenders but have a massive impact on the areas they affect. "The villages of Lingdale, Brotton, Skelton and Boosebeck really showed their community spirit in dealing with something they knew was wrong.
"We have worked closely with our partners at Redcar & Cleveland Council's Safer Stronger Communities and also with the RSPCA and are very pleased with this outcome."
Police said Postgate's dogs were now with the RSPCA.
How mother moose outwits the bear.
Pregnant moose seek out human company when they are about to give birth, moving closer to roads and camps to escape the threat of bears. US scientists say Yellowstone moose have adopted the strategy to try to outwit their road-shy predators. The study in Biology Letters suggests human pressures are having unexpected effects on wild animals. Other species, including monkeys, deer and elephants, have also been shown to use people as cover from predators.
Wildlife Conservation Society biologist and study author, Dr Joel Berger, said moose mothers were "using human infrastructure as a shield". "The study's results indicate that moose and other prey species find humans more benign and hence move to humans for safety, whereas predators do not because we humans tend to be less kind to predators," he explained.
The study was carried out in the mountains in and around Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. Female moose and bears were tracked each year over the course of a decade from 1995. Researchers found that pregnant moose were moving an average of 122m (400ft) closer to roads each year to give birth.
Given that bears seldom venture within 500m (1,600ft) of roads, moose were effectively protecting their offspring from attack. Dr Berger told the BBC: "Moose figure out very quickly where the danger zones are and how to buffer against them. "If we're using our national parks to understand pristine conditions, the presence of humans is altering interactions in very subtle but important ways."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Starving lambs to be slaughtered.
Plans to slaughter and dispose of a quarter of a million lambs caught up in the foot-and-mouth crisis have been announced by the Scottish Government. The so-called "light lambs" are usually sold to a specific European market but the outbreak in England meant they could not be moved. The onset of winter and lack of grazing means the animals face starvation.
Farmers will be paid £15 to send each animal to an abattoir in an incentive scheme estimated to cost up to £6m. The problem has come to the fore in Scotland ahead of the rest of the UK due to the colder climate and pasture on many hill farms now becoming thin. The export markets for which the sheep are bred have been closed for most of the past two months and will only reopen on Friday.
Light lambs are usually roasted whole in Europe and there is little demand in the UK. Some carcasses will be used for biodiesel and the remainder will be incinerated. Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said he had already received isolated reports of lambs dying and called on Westminster to cover the cost of the scheme.
"The foot-and-mouth crisis has left hundreds of thousands of sheep stranded on our hills facing starvation," he said. "We cannot countenance the prospect of this continuing given the impact not only on the welfare of the animals but also on those farmers who would otherwise face watching their flocks starve to death."He added that the moral and financial responsibility for this crisis lay with the UK Government. "Action is needed now and we will provide funding on an emergency interim basis and seek to recover this from Defra in due course," Mr Lochhead said.
Charles Milne, chief veterinary officer for Scotland, said the scheme was essential to prevent a catastrophe of animal suffering on a large scale. "All animals entering the scheme would have been slaughtered and their meat exported," he said. "However, with the lack of availability of this market we must ensure that welfare of these animals is not compromised."
The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it opposed the culling of animals unless there is a clear animal health or welfare issue. Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn said, "There are already reports of livestock mortalities in these regions, and if the situation remains it will put these light lambs at severe risk of starving to death."
Tory rural affairs and environment spokesman John Scott welcomed the scheme and backed the SNP administration in seeking compensation from Defra. "It's better late than never," he said.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Escaped vulture spotted near home.
Wee Man the vulture escaped from the centre on Saturday. A vulture with an 8ft wingspan which escaped from a rescue centre in Aberdeenshire has been spotted in a tree nearby. The rare African white-backed vulture - known as Wee Man - broke free during a feeding session near Huntly. The three-year-old bird has now been seen about 30ft up a tree close to the bird of prey centre. Staff now hope to lure Wee Man - who feeds on dead animals - back down to safety.
It was feared he may have travelled a long distance already in search of food. Owner Jeff Downie told the BBC Scotland news website: "He's quite a friendly bird but will be quite scared." Mr Downie said of Saturday's escape: "He was flying for his food when he got away. It's very unfortunate." He explained: "Wee Man could go for about a week without food. He would not have a clue what to do. He's not an attacking bird."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Bees to make elephants 'buzz off'.
The buzz of angry bees could provide some relief for African villagers whose crop fields are regularly pillaged by hungry elephants. Oxford University researchers found that elephants would quickly vacate a spot after hearing recordings of bees. The insects are able to inflict painful stings inside the animals' trunks, and it is thought that elephants have learned to avoid them.
The research is reported in the scientific journal Current Biology. "We're a bit cautious about how effective this would be on a large scale," lead researcher Lucy King told the BBC News website from Kenya, where she is running field trials. "But bees may become one deterrent that farmers could use in the right situation." Elephants are partial to maize, the principal crop for millions of Africans. Typically the animals seek out the crops just before harvest time.
The Oxford team set up concealed loudspeakers in trees where elephants regularly came to find shade.
While the animals rested, researchers played either buzzing sounds recorded at beehives, or a control sound of white noise.
The buzzing clearly had the animals concerned. Ninety-four percent of the elephant families left the tree within 80 seconds of hearing bee sounds, nearly half of the time at a run. White noise, by contrast, only scared away 27% of the families. "So you could use sounds to deter elephants," noted Dr King, "but there are two major hiccups. "Firstly, farmers don't have money to pay for a loudspeaker and a minidisc, and on that level it's not practical. Secondly, elephants are smart and would work out that there are no painful beestings; we don't know if that would happen after three playbacks or 30, but it is clearly going to happen."
It might be more practical and more desirable, she believes, to use real bees rather than their sounds. Another of the projects that the group is running in Kenya involves creating a "beehive fence", where the passage of a hungry elephant would trigger bees to start flying and buzzing, giving the animal cause to turn and not come back. One experimental set-up involves suspending a chain of hives from stanchions, linked together by wires which would be disturbed by an elephant's leg.
In certain situations, putting more bees into rural communities could help crop yields and provide honey either for local consumption or sale. But African bees are quite aggressive and cause painful stings, so some communities might not welcome them. Lucy King has felt their dark side more than once, having had a swarm settle on her during field trials. "I was just covered in the things, and they are very scary, very aggressive," she recalled. "They sting you and they die; and when they sting you it releases a pheromone that encourages others to sting you. I was stung once on the jugular vein, so I've been very lucky."
The research was partly funded by the organisation Save the Elephants, which has as part of its mission "to develop a tolerant relationship between the two species" of human and African elephant.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Farmland yields to major wetland
By Jeremy Cooke - Rural affairs correspondent, BBC News.
Looking at Wallasea Island, it's hard to imagine that this flat, featureless landscape is about to become one of Britain's most important wildlife sanctuaries. But 500 years ago - before this corner of coastal Essex was drained to make way for crop production - this was salt marsh. It was a thriving natural environment teeming with life.
Now, in its most ambitious project in this country, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is about to spend £12m recreating the salt marsh, turning the clock back by hundreds of years. The plan is simple: the ancient sea walls which have held back the tides for so long will be carefully breached, and the waters will once again flood the land which has been used for wheat production for centuries.
The project manager, Mark Dixon, says: "We will have a landscape of marshes, islands, lagoons and creeks little more than 20 inches deep at high tide. "Wallasea is one island now but was once five separate pieces of land. We will restore these ancient divisions and each new island will have its own tidal control." There is good reason for the high hopes for this massive project.
Last year a similar, smaller-scale development was funded by the government. Wallasea should become a rich and diverse habitat. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) put up £7.5m and the newly-recreated salt marsh is already attracting a wide variety of coastal birds, marine flora and other wildlife.
Once work begins on creating another 730 hectares (1,800 acres) of salt marsh in this latest RSPB project, it seems certain that we will see wading birds, ducks and geese in huge numbers. And the hopes go beyond that.
Conservationists hope that we may see a return of the Kentish plover, which has been absent for some 50 years. We could also see spoonbills, which have not successfully nested here for more than 400 years. Otters are also likely to be attracted to what will be a rich and diverse habitat. If things go really well, we may also see black-winged stilts, which have only bred in Britain three times. The RSPB's chief executive, Graham Wynne, says: ''Wallasea will become a wonderful coastal wetland full of wildlife in a unique and special landscape. "It will be a true wilderness experience, attracting huge numbers of birds to feed, shelter and breed."
But this project is not just about wildlife. It's about people too. Mr Wynne says: "It will be a place for people to visit, savour and enjoy, with several miles of new coastal walks, and it will make a major contribution to efforts to help wildlife adjust to the serious impacts of climate change."
BBC NEWS REPORT
Hermitage palace is cat's whiskers.
By James Rodgers
BBC News, St Petersburg
The Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, is famous as the palace of Empress Catherine the Great. The greatness of its cats is the less well-known side of its astonishing story. They have been here since the 18th Century. Fed up with rodents running through the palace, Empress Elizabeth sent out a decree that the best ratters in Russia should be sent to St Petersburg. The first to respond are thought to have come from the city of Kazan - then apparently famous for the rat-catching skills of its cats.
The cats survived the Napoleonic wars. They lived through the revolution of 1917. Their royal masters, Tsar Nicholas II and his family, died in a hail of Bolshevik bullets the following year. As Russia turned communist, the cats kept their regal home. They only disappeared during World War II. Hitler's armies laid siege to St Petersburg, then known by its Soviet name, Leningrad. Hundreds of thousands of people perished as for 900 days, the Nazis tried to strangle the life out of the city.
The most important items in the Hermitage collection were removed to storage in the Ural mountains, far from the front line. The museum's cellars became bomb shelters. In peacetime, a new generation of cats was welcomed to the palatial surroundings their predecessors had made home.
Now, two full-time employees take care of them. Cosy corners of the Hermitage's cellars are their shelter in the depths of the icy Russian winter. They are no longer chosen for their ability to catch rats. Poison has taken that job away from them. They have come here from the streets, and the Hermitage is happy for them to move on to good homes, where they can be found.
Officially, there are 50 of them. Museum staff make voluntary contributions to pay for their upkeep. They are considered so important that they even have their own press secretary. Maria Khaltunen combines that role with her job as assistant to the museum's director.
While we spoke, one of her charges did its best to leap from her arms. "We like them," she explained. "And all our staff decided to keep up this tradition: to have the cats, and to like them." They may have retired from rat-catching, but a trip to the Hermitage's accounts department shows the cats are still there when a mouse is around. But these days, that's a computer mouse. To be honest, the cats are more likely to be getting in the way than helping. Some have made their home with the book-keepers. They lounge across desks or curl up to snooze in open boxes of printer paper.
They are not allowed in the galleries. But that does not mean they are cut off from the artistic atmosphere. Some of them appear perfectly at home among the statues in the Hermitage's gardens and courtyards - even occasionally seeming to strike poses copied from the classical-era art which surrounds them.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Organic farming grips China.
By Juliana Liu
Business reporter, BBC News, Yanqing, China.
Cows at Green Yard, one of China's first organic dairies, enjoy a pampered life in the country. They take daily strolls in the pasture. For a morning snack, the cows graze on grass untouched by pesticides. Green Yard is at the forefront of Chinese organic farming. When it's time for a more filling meal, they dine on organic hay from Inner Mongolia, or perhaps sweetcorn, grown right on the farm. When they get sick, they take only traditional Chinese medicine.
The man behind Green Yard is Wang Zhanli, a farmer born in Yanqing, about two hours' drive from Beijing. He persuaded 50 of his neighbours to invest in his business. Mr Wang had initially started a traditional dairy, but his small farm was no match for mass-market brands such as Mengniu Dairy, base