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.
Turtles return home after UK stay !
By Anna-Marie Lever -Science and Nature reporter, BBC News
Two loggerhead turtles, which were washed up on the south-west UK coast this winter, have been flown to Gran Canaria and released back into the sea. Twenty-three loggerheads have been stranded on UK and Irish coasts this year, an unprecedented number. "Dink" and "James" were the only survivors.
Having tenderly nursed the turtles back to health, Blue Reef Aquarium curator Matt Slater said he was "delighted".
Loggerheads (Caretta caretta) are categorised as endangered.
"Hopefully, we won't be seeing you again. Have many, many years of swimming in the ocean," Mr Slater called out to Dink and James as they disappeared into the clear water.
After six months of rehabilitation at Blue Reef Aquarium, Newquay, the two loggerheads have been returned to the sea off a beach in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. "It was absolutely beautiful. Let's hope no more turtles get stranded, but if they do we know we can look after them," Mr Slater said.
Both turtles have been microchipped. If they are ever spotted again, by fishermen or on the beach, a tag in their flipper can be used for identification. Otherwise, their adventures in the vast Atlantic Ocean will be unknown. "I hope they will be OK," Mr Slater mused. "In their lifetime, things will change a lot. The future for turtles in general is not great."
After arriving in Gran Canaria, Dink and James were checked over and given the all-clear at the Wildlife Recovery Centre of Tafira. Some 150 injured turtles from around the Canary Islands are taken here each year.
"Seventy-five percent of the sea turtles that we receive have been hurt because of man's activities," said Pascual Calabuig, the centre's director. He added: "We see turtles damaged by hooks, nets, pollution, oil and plastic bags. Turtles damaged by boats are the worst to recover. We try to patch up their shells with fibreglass, but survival rates are low. "Through diagnosis, treatment, operations, protein-rich food, fluid and antibiotics, we help save 80% of the turtles that we receive," said Mr Calabuig.
Along with industrial fisheries, habitat loss and climate change are the main threats facing turtles. It was Mr Calabuig's excellent reputation and his centre's track record that helped Blue Reef decide to choose Gran Canaria as the release site. "We could also get cheap flights and the Canary Islands are the nearest land point to the loggerheads' migration route around the Atlantic," explained Mr Slater.
Loggerheads breed on the beaches of the Mediterranean, West Africa, Brazil and along the south-east coasts of the US. Florida has the largest loggerhead population. "Within 24 hours hatchlings swim into the open water of the Atlantic Ocean," explained Peter Richardson, biodiversity programme manager at the Marine Conservation Society.
Loggerheads travel around the large ocean currents in a wide loop. From nesting beaches in Florida, they follow the Gulf Stream across the Atlantic to Madeira, and then head south to the Canary Islands and Cape Verde Isles, before heading back to the south-east coast of the US.
Mr Richardson added: "They join the North Atlantic Gyre's circulatory system for three to five years before coming inshore. They then gradually move towards a nesting beach in the vicinity of where they were born." He continued: "We are not 100% sure how turtles navigate this route. They have some geo-magnetic understanding, for broad-scale navigation, and can use chemical cues coming off of islands, such as windblown dust, as a homing device."
Why UK strandings?
Scientists are uncertain why loggerhead turtles have been stranding on UK and Ireland coasts in record numbers this year. Most agree that extreme weather systems over the UK may be a cause. "From December to February we had strong and persistent south-westerly winds towards UK shores. Small or compromised turtles in the north-east Atlantic may have drifted off-course because of this," explained Mr Richardson.
Loggerhead turtles are hard-shelled and unable to raise their body temperature in order to survive in the cold UK waters. Mr Richardson adds: "At 15C (59F) the turtles stop feeding and at 10C (50F) they shut down." Unable to feed, the loggerheads became lethargic and drifted inland. Mr Richardson also suggests a rare unseasonable jellyfish bloom at the end of November off the west coast of the UK may also have contributed to an increase in strandings. "Juvenile jellyfish are opportunistic feeders. The jellyfish may have attracted them off their normal course. Then they may have got caught in a weather system and blown over."
Mr Brendan Godley, a conservation biologist at the University of Exeter, suggests another possibility: "It may simply be because there are more hatchlings in the open water. "The Florida population of loggerheads has increased since the 70s because of good conservation. The more hatchlings there are out there, the more likely that some may be stranded."
Curator Matt Slater followed Dink and James on their journey back to the wild. James was stranded on Blackrock Beach, Bude, on 26 January this year, and Dink a week later further up the coast at Putsborough Beach, Woolacombe. "They were both in a poor state when they arrived," explained Mr Slater. "James was particularly bad. It was touch and go for a while.
"Being a larger, more powerful turtle, James is thought to have battled the strong currents, which left him exhausted. Dink, being younger, probably endured less stress as he just drifted on the current and arrived inland faster."
James was suffering from pneumonia, dehydration and a lung infection when he arrived. Both turtles had hypothermia.
Dink and James were warmed up steadily but slowly. The water temperature of their rehabilitation tanks was increased from 10C, the temperature of the UK sea in January, to 25C.
James had to be tube fed when he first arrived at Blue Reef
"As a result, their metabolism speeded up and they are able to heal faster," said Mr Slater.
"James was put on a course of antibiotics and anti-fungals to cure infection. When he first took food by himself, after two weeks of tube feeding, we knew he was on the road to recovery."
After six months of dedicated rehabilitation, the turtles had reached peak condition and were ready for repatriation. They flew to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, on Monday 23 June and were released on a beach two days later.
While the Cetacean Stranding Investigation Programme (CSIP) is funded to investigate cause of death in marine animals that strand around the UK, no such funding is available for animals that strand alive. James and Dink were given their second chance back in the ocean through generosity and goodwill.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Treasury chief on 'wombat leave' !
Australia's top treasury official is taking five weeks leave to look after endangered wombats. Ken Henry, treasury secretary and animal conservationist, has warned that hairy-nosed wombats are "on death row".
But opposition politicians - and even wombat lovers - question if now is the time to be thinking about wombats.
Inflation is at a 16-year high, interest rates are up and fuel prices are rising. Mr Henry will also miss a central bank meeting.
Mr Henry will be looking after 115 hairy-nosed wombats in an isolated spot in northern Queensland, with no mobile phone coverage and two-and-a-half hours on a rough track from the nearest town.
Wombat facts
There are two types: common and hairy-nosed
Wombats are native to Australia
The average wombat is about one metre long
They eat mainly grass and roots
Source: Wombania's Wombat Information Center
"There are 10 times as many giant pandas in the world as there are these guys," Mr Henry told Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper. "This place doesn't stop when I am not here."
Mr Henry's leave will take place during the government's winter recess but he will miss a central bank meeting.
An editorial in the Daily Telegraph noted that "given half a chance, most of us would happily take several weeks off work to play with wombats in their native environment. But most of us aren't the Treasury Secretary."
"I think we all love the hairy-nosed wombat," opposition politician Brendan Nelson said. But he expressed concern that Mr Henry will be out of telephone contact while Australia "is going through one of the most challenging economic periods that we have seen in recent history."
His government colleagues say the leave was approved and Mr Henry will return refreshed and ready to tackle Australia's economic problems.
"It's appropriate he takes a break now and gets recharged," said Treasurer Wayne Swan.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Diary: Protecting mountain gorillas !
In July 2007, armed men entered the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park and killed five critically endangered mountain gorillas at point-blank range, leaving the bodies where they fell.
Since September, rebel forces have controlled the area, threatening to kill any conservationists or gorilla rangers who attempted to enter the area.
Diddy and Innocent are long-serving rangers who have spent their working lives protecting the remaining gorillas in the war-torn region.
In this weekly diary, they describe life on conservation's frontline.
FRIDAY 27 JUNE - A PLEA TO TOURISTS
We have received news from our sources that tourists are once again crossing the border into the Congo to visit the gorillas in the Mikeno sector.
Laurent Nkunda's rebels are charging tourists to take them to see the Mapuwa and Lulengo groups of habituated gorillas.
Visits organised by the rebels are putting the gorillas at risk
We are worried that the rebel "rangers" are not following the proper guidelines, such as observing a minimum distance of seven metres in order to prevent disease transmission.
We also hear that last Friday a group of 20 tourists came into the park; the week before it was 22. Again, that is above the maximum limits allowed in legal tourism.
We assume that the people choosing to visit the gorillas this way either could not reserve a place on the gorilla visits in Rwanda, or decided they would prefer to pay less.
We are urging tourists to think twice before visiting the Congo gorillas at the moment, as their dollars will be going straight into the pocket of the rebels.
Remember, these are the very same rebels who killed and ate two silverbacks last year.
Rangers had to abandon the patrol post just weeks after moving back
On Sunday, we had to evacuate from the Gatovu Patrol Post, just weeks after moving back into the area.
There have been significant movements by Nkunda's rebels over the past week in the area, and last weekend they arrived at Rwankuba Hill, which is right next to the patrol post and opposite a Congolese army position.
The rangers were concerned that an attack was about to take place with them caught in the middle, so we decided to evacuate the area.
We are now trying to find out more information from the FARDC army about what is going on, and when it might be safe to return.
Until then, our anti-poaching patrols, unfortunately, will be suspended.
BBC NEWS REPORT
The problem of keeping track of thousands of near-identical African penguins may have been solved.
Researchers have developed surveillance technology that can identify individual birds and then monitor them over long periods of time.
The team says the system will boost our understanding of the animals; it could even help ecologists solve the mystery of how long penguins live. The researchers say it could also track other species, from cheetahs to sharks. The technology is on display at the Royal Society's Summer Exhibition.
Peter Barham, professor of physics at Bristol University, who developed the Penguin Recognition System, said: "Until now, if you wanted to follow penguins you would use metal flipper bands, which have an ID code." To read them, ecologists need to capture the animals and record the tag number. But this is time intensive and error prone, says Professor Barham.
Especially when dealing with large numbers of birds such as the 20,000-strong population of African penguins that live on Robben Island, South Africa, that have been the focus of this study.
"These bands have also been suggested to be damaging to some species and there is clear evidence that they are, possibly due to the wear of the feathers that they cause," he added. "We really wanted to find a way to automatically monitor these birds without harming them."
The technology, first tested on captive penguins, works by spotting the birds' spots. Here, it identifies David the penguin The new tracking system is able to detect unique markings on the penguins.
Adult African penguins carry black spots on their chests; scientists believe that no two penguins have the same pattern.
Professor Barham said: "We set a camera up in a location where the penguins will regularly walk past on their way to or from the sea. "Every image that the camera processes is then sent back to a computer."The software has been trained to recognise if there are any penguins in the camera's field of vision. If there are, it looks at the spot patterns to determine whether it is a bird that it recognises or new penguin. It then records and ID number and the date, time and location of the sighting.
Professor Barham told BBC News: "It means we can track penguins out in the wild, in real time and with real accuracy."
The technology is already having an impact on tracking the penguins on Robben Island. Professor Barham believes it will help to better understand the animals both in terms of their movement patterns and behaviour. "The information we will get is going to be enormous, and there are questions we can answer that nobody has even thought of before."
The researchers now plan to use a moving camera, which can pan, zoom and tilt to track the animals. The team also want to try the technology on species other than African penguins. Professor Barham said: "For any species with patterned plumage, cheetahs or whale sharks for example, then the same technology could use the patterns as individual identifiers.
"You just have to train the system to spot a particular species, then to find the areas where the pattern is likely to occur and then to process this information."
Dr Tilo Burghardt, from the Department of Computer Science at Bristol University, who has worked on the system, added: "We believe the new technology will enable biologists to identify and monitor large numbers of diverse species cheaply, quickly and automatically."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Lion cub lives with zoo director !
A lion cub is being hand-reared by the director of a Cambridgeshire zoo because her mother would not feed her.
Zara has been bottle-fed daily by staff at Linton Zoo after her parents struggled to cope with their newborn.
She was just 2lb 4oz and would have died without human intervention, but six weeks on she weighs a healthy 10lb.
Zara, who lives at Kim Simmons' home, has also made friends with the family cat Arnie - but it is hoped that ultimately she will be freed in Uganda.
Mrs Simmons said: "We only hand-rear the cubs if it is absolutely necessary, but this was Safina's (Zara's mother) first baby and she couldn't feed her due to her young age and inexperience."
Mrs Simmons said Zara had become "great friends" with her ginger tom cat Arnie since moving into her home, on the zoo site.
"She's got an absolutely wonderful personality and is very laid back and affectionate.
Zara was 2lb 4oz and would have died without human intervention.
"Arnie the cat loves having cubs in the house and the two are great friends, but we'll have to guard him as Zara gets bigger and stronger."
Zara is the latest edition to a family of five lions' at family-run Linton Zoo, near Cambridge.
Her parents Safina and Zuri and her grandparents Riziki and Karla are all at the zoo which has been operating since 1972.
Safina and Zuri are expecting another litter of cubs in October and Ms Simmons believes their brief experience with Zara will help them to be more able to cope next time.
All lions born at Linton Zoo will be moved to Uganda as part of a joint project between West Midlands Safari Park and Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Heartbreak over cub confiscation !
By Sanjaya Jena - BBC News, Bhubaneswar.
A tribal man in India who rescued an abandoned bear cub to help his daughter overcome her mother's death has fallen foul of forestry officials.
They confiscated the animal arguing that its capture was in contravention of wildlife laws.
As a result, Ramesh Munda, 35, was briefly jailed and the bear was sent to a zoo where some reports say it has refused to eat. His daughter is now distraught over the loss of a "much-loved" family friend.
Mr Munda, who is also known as Ram Singh, rescued Rani almost two years ago from the dense forest of Keonjhar in the eastern state of Orissa.
From the moment the cub was recovered, both man and animal appeared to develop an unusual bond of love. Such was the level of affection between the bear and Mr Munda's family, that the local press began to write stories about this rare example of mutual affection.
But Orissa forestry department officials were not so sentimental.
Keonjhar district forest officials arrested and jailed him under the Wildlife Protection Act and sent Rani to Nandankanan Zoological Park.
Now both man and animal are pining to be reunited, with the bear reportedly refusing to eat any food.
Recently released on bail, Mr Munda is desperately looking for an opportunity to visit Nandankanan and spend a few moments with Rani. "I brought her up like my own daughter Gulki. I'm eager to meet her," he said. Little Gulki, who spent her childhood with Rani, is also shedding tears over the absence of her furry friend. She has now been reunited with her father after his time in prison, but the pair are pining for Rani.
Nandankanan Zoo director Ajit Patnaik insisted that Rani was doing well in the zoo. "She is absolutely well and taking her normal food. If Ram Singh wants to meet the bear, we can allow him," he said. Mr Munda stumbled upon the newborn bear during one of his regular visits to the forest to collect firewood.
The cub had been deserted by its mother.
Mr Munda fed it and the animal ate, drank and slept with father and daughter. The trio have even been seen riding around on a bicycle. The tale of the confiscated cub has evoked strong protests from wildlife activists, who accuse officials of hypocrisy.
"The rights of animals and reptiles to live a life of freedom in their natural surroundings in the dense forests of the state are being illegally violated by the zoo authorities," Wildlife Society of Orissa secretary Biswajit Mohanty said.
India's Wildlife Protection Act stipulates that only a wild animal dangerous to human life or which is diseased or disabled beyond recovery can be kept in captivity.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Chicago locals beware the birds !
Chicago residents have been sharing tips about how to avoid coming under attack by dive-bombing blackbirds. Cyclists and pedestrians complain of being pecked after being chased for up to 100m (109 yards) by the creatures.
During nesting season, male red-winged blackbirds are known to defend their territory fiercely. Some victims have made comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller The Birds, and have named one of the worst offenders after the British director.
"Something just came down, pecked me in the head, took my hair and started flying away," said Holly Grosso, a local businesswoman and one of Hitchcock's recent victims. "It's so bizarre. It's this little bird."
Chicago ornithologist Douglas Stotz said blackbird attack hotspots included parks and areas along the shores of Lake Michigan. He said angry blackbirds could be deterred by a direct stare.
More radical suggestions aimed at fending off the swooping attackers have included mimicking the sound of a barking dog or even imitating a larger bird.
"Spread your arms and advance on him," one e-mail advisory suggested. "His pattern recognition will kick in making you look like a dangerous predator, such as a hawk."
Another correspondent suggested cyclists should install baskets on their bikes with a cat inside. "Or better yet, wear an oversized helmet with a trap-door with a stealth cat inside."
Potential victims are taking new precautions to avoid the birds by changing their commuting patterns or cycling only with a helmet.
Although it had been suggested that wearing any form of head covering was enough to prevent attacks, this myth was debunked recently when a man was swooped upon while wearing a baseball cap, the Chicago Tribune reported.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Anger at calm in whaling waters !
By Richard Black - Environment correspondent, BBC News website, Santiago
The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has opened in Santiago without the usual war of words between pro- and anti-whaling nations. Some campaigners in Chile's capital complain dissent is being suppressed.
But Japan says anti-whaling countries will be able to pursue conservation goals more effectively if they accept that whaling can be sustainable.
Meanwhile, Chile's President Michelle Bachelet signed a bill aiming to set up a whale sanctuary in national waters.
Accompanied by ministers from several other countries, including the UK's Lord Rooker, Ms Bachelet signed the largely symbolic bill at an old whaling station on the Chilean coast. As she did so, her Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley was opening the IWC plenary with a request for the organisation to sort itself out.
"The IWC was at some point a leading-edge instrument designed to stop the lack of regulation in whaling," he said.
Since its establishment 60 years ago, the entire context of whaling and whale conservation had changed, and now, suggested Mr Foxley, delegates had to recognise the need to catch up.
"It is necessary for parties to seek solutions that are acceptable to all and can meet the expectations of the international community, and that is not an easy process."
On the first day of five, the signs were that delegations were sticking to their pledges to avoid confrontation and look for ways of working together.
Japan and Argentina - speaking for the pro- and anti-whaling blocs respectively - vowed to build consensus wherever possible and to avoid tabling motions that might result in a divisive vote.
THE LEGALITIES OF WHALING
Under the global moratorium on commercial whaling, hunting is conducted in three ways:
Objection - A country formally objects to the IWC moratorium, declaring itself exempt.
Example: Norway
Scientific - A nation issues unilateral 'scientific permits'; any IWC member can do this.
Example: Japan
Aboriginal - IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food.
Example: Alaskan Inupiat
IWC chairman William Hogarth told reporters he would like the meeting to progress without any votes at all, if possible.
Lunch hours have been lengthened, leaving less time for disagreements to break out, and parts of the normally open week have been set aside for private commissioners' meetings.
Mr Hogarth's aim is to build bridges here, then to use the next year to construct a compromise package of reforms on which all parties might agree.
This might well involve a limited resumption of commercial whaling, which some environment groups view as anathema, and they fear the consensus-building process will stifle dissent and prevent their fundamental message being heard.
"The IWC agreed to end commercial whaling in 1986," said Patrick Ramage, director of the global whale programme at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw).
"This is not the time to compromise that decision. IWC member countries should pull themselves together and end commercial whaling once and for all."
Protesters gathered outside the conference hotel to send a similar message - a demand to end whaling. Police said 15 people were detained.
But Joji Morishita, Japan's deputy whaling commissioner, said anti-whaling countries - and by extension, anti-whaling activists - could advance their conservation agenda by accepting that whales could be hunted sustainably.
"If that is accepted, it's much easier for our delegation to be involved in the so-called conservation agenda," he told BBC News.
"Those should be hand-in-hand, but in the past it was either one or the other, black and white. There should be a good combination between the so-called conservation agenda and sustainable utilisation."
Mr Morishita said he was encouraged by the conciliatory mood so far, but warned that bumpier roads might lie ahead as substantive issues arose.
Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
BBC NEWS REPORT.
'Gus' crowned world's ugliest dog !
A three-legged, one-eyed, cancer-afflicted dog named Gus has been crowned the World's Ugliest Dog at a fair in California.
Gus, a Chinese Crested dog, beat allcomers to take the title at the Sonoma-Marin Fair. Owner Jeanenne Teed, from Florida, said she would spend the $1,600 prize on treatment for Gus's skin cancer.
The competition has been running for 20 years, and is one of the fair's top attractions, organisers said.
Vicki DeArmon, marketing director of the fair, said that in the past few years, winners had been dogs that had been abandoned or neglected before being adopted by dog-lovers.
"They may look hard to love, but apparently they are not. I've never seen dogs better cared for," she added. Gus was rescued from a bad home. One of his legs was amputated as a consequence of his skin tumour. He lost an eye to a tomcat in a fight.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Time for peace in the whaling world?
By Richard Black -Environment correspondent, BBC News website.
The annual meetings of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) have at times fallen into all three categories. There are diplomatic (and sometimes un-diplomatic) attempts to build forces and push agendas through. There is often vigorous jousting with verbal harpoons; and there are definitely elements of comedy in some of the more self-important interjections and excessive awareness of TV cameras shown by some of the delegates.
This year, the IWC turns 60; and there are signs of a new maturity.
Some parties in both pro- and anti-whaling camps have had enough of the deadlock which on one side sees up to 2,500 whales hunted each year under what is supposed to be a global moratorium, and on the other sees little appreciation of the argument that whales are just another natural resource that can be hunted sustainably.
The IWC needs a three-quarters majority to make major changes, and it has long been clear that neither side is likely to achieve that. So its member governments have a choice: to continue what is likely to be a fruitless search for ultimate victory, or to find a compromise.
As delegates make their way to the Chilean capital Santiago for this year's meeting, which opens on Monday, there are indications that the timing may be right to build bridges across the divide.
"It's not impossible to come to some kind of agreement or compromise," says Joji Morishita, Japan's alternate (deputy) commissioner to the IWC. "In the past we had discussions on various proposals but the time was not ripe. I couldn't say that it's fully ripe this time, but all the players and member countries recognise now that if we can't reach some kind of compromise, the IWC will collapse."
Mr Morishita's Brazilian counterpart, Jose Truda Palazzo, agrees that common ground may be found. "Compromise is possible; however, it will depend on parties being honestly willing to concede on practical issues," he says.
And there is the rub. There are things on which the various camps appear honestly to agree - the need to conserve the iconic blue whale, the need to research potential impacts of climate change - but on hunting, the divide is deep and largely genuine.
The current IWC chairman, William Hogarth, has spent the last year attempting to create an environment in which trust and constructive dialogue can flourish. He convened a special IWC meeting in London in January, and brought in experts in international law and international agreements to help him, such as Alvaro de Soto, whose diplomacy helped end the El Salvador civil war in 1991. Also called in as special adviser was Calestous Juma, an international governance expert from Harvard University. "I'm confident that the parties will find common ground on a larger number of issues than they think possible," he says. "This is a moment when creativity is more important that victory."
Negotiators do not have to look far to find the elements of what a compromise might look like, because the IWC has approached the issue several times before.
The anti-whaling bloc would be likely to insist that scientific whaling - under which Japan currently hunts - would be banned, that greater areas of ocean be set aside as whale sanctuaries, that existing sanctuaries be respected, that international observers monitor hunts, that DNA registries of whalemeat be set up, that international trade be banned, and - above all - that the overall number of whales being hunted falls significantly and permanently.
The pro-whaling position is a bit more complicated. Japan, which attracts most of the attention, has long asked that its coastal fleets be allowed to hunt commercially, with sustainable quotas; but Norway, which hunts similar numbers to Japan in openly commercial fashion, has little to gain from any change of rules.
THE LEGALITIES OF WHALING
Under the global moratorium on commercial whaling, hunting is conducted in three ways:
Objection - A country formally objects to the IWC moratorium, declaring itself exempt. Example: Norway
Scientific - A nation issues unilateral 'scientific permits'; any IWC member can do this. Example: Japan
Aboriginal - IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food. Example: Alaskan Inupiat
Other countries might be looking for clauses that would allow them to begin hunting. Some European countries believe China, South Korea and the Faroe Islands fall in this category.
For some, this is all too much.
The anti-whaling camp, which has long maintained a public show of unity, is in fact split between doves and hawks - those who believe a compromise would be better than the current impasse, and those who would keep fighting for a total global ban (except for the subsistence quotas awarded to indigenous groups).
The recent declaration that Dominica, one of Japan's traditional allies, will not automatically support pro-hunting resolutions adds weight to the hawks' thesis that a consensus big enough to defeat the whalers can eventually be built.
The hawks are supported by the majority of environmental groups that cannot countenance any acceptance of commercial whaling, however limited.
So why does it matter whether the IWC finds ways to reform itself into a properly functioning organisation?
Well, if you care about whales and the other varieties of cetaceans, it certainly should matter.
It is currently the only organisation that can regulate hunting. It is also the organisation best placed to build a comprehensive picture of the various threats facing all cetaceans, not just the great whales, and to advise governments and other authorities how to respond.
Japan's "scientific" whaling is still the major sticking point for anti-whalers
Conservationists argue that the IWC should be devoting far more of its attention to issues such as whales being hit by ships, the effects of pollution and climate change, and the pressures that drive species such as the baiji (or Yangtse river dolphin) to extinction.
As things stand, it cannot. The logjam of hunting has to be overcome first. From the point of view of whaling societies, meanwhile, repairing the IWC could put the days of opprobrium behind them. They believe what they do is legitimate and sustainable, and would like to be left alone to catch their whales in peace.
William Hogarth believes the first steps to resolving all this must and will be taken in Santiago. "I'm fairly optimistic - I sense that many of the parties involved do want to move forward," he says. "I think we can come to agreement on a process that would aim to deliver a package by the 2009 IWC meeting." Dr Hogarth was instrumental in persuading Japan to withdraw plans to include humpback whales in its annual Antarctic hunt, which Japan says is a gesture intended to show it can be flexible and is prepared to compromise.
Japan has also pledged that so long as a constructive atmosphere endures in Santiago, it will not table its usual request for commercial quotas for its traditional whaling communities, nor spring surprise motions on the meeting.
Its officials now say that having made what it sees as conciliatory gestures, it must see something concrete from the opposing faction next week, otherwise it is likely to give up on the organisation and walk away - potentially ushering in a situation where whaling was largely unregulated.
So far, there is no sign that the anti-whaling bloc is prepared to offer anything, beyond being a bit nicer in meetings.Campaign groups are raising support for an Atlantic whale sanctuary The main ambition of the South American countries has long been to secure a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic. It has tabled the proposal before, and has never looked like achieving the three-quarters majority.
"The sanctuary is again being proposed, it will be discussed in Santiago," says Mr Palazzo.
How far the South Americans push it, and how Japan reacts, will be vital factors in determining the course of the meeting. There are, of course, two ways to deal with a logjam. If removing it is too hard, you just abandon the attempt, and take a different route. "The momentum built in the last year for a diplomatic solution will not last much longer," says Remi Parmentier, senior policy adviser to the Pew Environment Group.
"If no outcome is found by next year, it may well be too late."
Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
Insecticide 'killing Kenya lions' !
By Adam Mynott - BBC News, Kenya.
Two Maasai Mara lions have recently died after carbofuran poisoning. Environmentalists in Kenya are worried that an insecticide is being used by farmers to kill lions and other predators. Carbofuran is a very powerful and toxic insecticide. Spread in the soil, it destroys bugs in the ground and is taken up by plants and kills insects which feed on the sap or foliage.
It is so powerful and toxic that it has been banned in Europe. In the United States it cannot be used in granular form, and the US Environmental Protection Agency is seeking a total ban.
But in Kenya, carbofuran can be bought across the counter without restriction. According to world-famous naturalist Dr Richard Leakey, it is being bought not by farmers wanting to control bugs and insects, but mainly by herdsmen who use it to kill lions, leopards and other predators. Among the latest incidents two lions were poisoned and killed in the Maasai Mara game reserve after eating the carcass of a hippo that had ingested carbofuran.
Vets and wildlife rangers were called to watch the pathetic sight of the lions staggering and weakened from the effects of the poison.
One of the lions was shot to bring a quick end to its suffering. Another lion died a few months ago from carbofuran poisoning on a private ranch in Laikipia. In November last year, a dead camel was apparently found laced with carbofuran near Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. The result was the death of at least two lions and 15 vultures which feasted on the carcass.
Also near Lewa, several lions from the nearby Samburu Wildlife Reserve were poisoned; again, it is thought carbofuran was responsible. There are many other cases throughout Kenya of predators dying after eating meat contaminated with the chemical. Dr Leakey says carbofuran is "deadly poisonous" and he has called for it to be banned in Kenya.
"It's become known in rural communities in Kenya as an easy way to get rid of predators: lions, leopards and hyenas," he says.
Dr Leakey says his research shows that Furadan, the trade name of the biggest-selling carbofuran insecticide in Kenya, is being bought not by farmers but by pastoralists who do not have any land for growing crops, and use the chemical to kill lions and leopards which threaten their herds.
There is no record for the number of predators killed in Kenya by poisoning, but many naturalists believe carbofuran is responsible for thousands of deaths, not just of big cats but all carrion eaters.
Simon Thomsett, a world renowned expert on vultures, eagles and other birds of prey, says there has been a "dramatic drop-off in the number of birds of prey in the past few years", and the finger of blame is being pointed at carbofuran.
He gives the example of 187 vultures that died when they fed on a carcass of an an animal that apparently laced with the deadly poison in an area by the Athi River.
Simon Thomsett says the poison cannot be detected when sprinkled on the carcass and is very fast to act.
"I literally saw vultures dropping out of the sky just a few minutes after they had eaten the poisoned meat," he said. Carbofuran comes in granular form, tiny dust-like purple pellets. I went into several agricultural merchants in the capital, Nairobi, and found it easy to buy. Three shops said it posed no health threat to animals or humans. "It's safe, it's perfectly safe," one shop assistant told me. Others warned it was poisonous and one shop-keeper even described carbofuran as a "lion-killer".
The container warns that it should be kept "locked away out of reach of children", but there is not a word on the label about a potential threat to wildlife. Kenya's Pest Control and Products Board is carrying out research into carbofuran's dangers and toxicity, and say it is too early to come to a conclusion. Dr Leakey says the evidence is there for all to see. His worries are shared by Thomas Manyibe, a vet with the Kenya Wildlife Service who carried out post-mortem tests on the lions that were killed in the Masai Mara.
He says evidence shows that carbofuran is being used to target lions and leopards. I spoke to pastoralists who said they had heard that Furadan was used to kill big cats. On the edge of the Maasai Mara a young herdsman, Ndigwa, said he lost many cows every year to lions and leopards, but he said he would never resort to poison to take revenge on the predators.
We take stewardship of our products very seriously and condemn any intentional baiting misuse of carbofuran
FMC Corporation
Others do not hesitate.
Carbofuran comes from a number of different overseas suppliers, but the main producer is the US firm FMC Corporation. The company said in a statement: "We take stewardship of our products very seriously and condemn any intentional baiting misuse of carbofuran. "FMC is very concerned about reports of carbofuran (Furadan) being used to bait lions in Kenya and we have offered our services to the Kenya Pest Control Products Board in their investigation."
Concerns about the use of carbofuran are not new.
Fifteen years ago there were a number of cases of mass killings of birds in western Kenya; what is lacking is a comprehensive record of predators killed by poisoning. There is lots of circumstantial evidence but few hard facts. Detailed information is elusive, affected animals often disappear into the bush to die, and the evidence is then eaten by other carnivores.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Greenland whale hunt 'commercial' !
By Richard Black - Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Animal welfare campaigners say Greenland's whaling, held under rules permitting subsistence hunting, has become too commercial in character.
The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) found that a quarter of last year's catch was traded for profit through a private food company.
International Whaling Commission (IWC) rules allow hunting where there is a nutritional and cultural need.
The IWC annual meeting gets underway next week in Santiago, Chile.
"Greenland has been on the slippery slope towards commercial whaling for years, and now, demonstrably, they've crossed the line," said WSPA's marine mammals manager Claire Bass.
"The IWC has heard anecdotally about these processing operations, but this is the first time it's been quantified, so we're expecting it to be explosive," she told BBC News
Quotas for the five communities claiming a need for subsistence hunting were renewed at last year's IWC meeting in Anchorage, Alaska.
At the time, some delegates queried Greenland's plans to expand its hunt to include bowhead and humpback whales - two species it had not previously targeted - and noted allegations that whalemeat regularly changed hands for money. THE LEGALITIES OF WHALING
Under the global moratorium on commercial whaling, hunting is conducted in three ways:
Objection - A country formally objects to the IWC moratorium, declaring itself exempt. Example: Norway
Scientific - A nation issues unilateral 'scientific permits'; any IWC member can do this. Example: Japan
Aboriginal - IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food. Example: Alaskan Inupiat
IWC rules do not explicitly prohibit commercial trade, but they specify that permits are granted only "to satisfy aboriginal subsistence need".
Delegates eventually voted to allow the bowhead quota, but rejected the request for humpbacks. Denmark, which speaks for Greenland in the IWC, is bidding for humpbacks again this year.
Over the last 12 months, WSPA visited markets and harbours around Greenland. Investigators posed as a documentary film crew reporting on local traditions and culture.
They concluded that at least a quarter of the whalemeat landed around the coasts was traded through a single company, Arctic Green Food, with supermarkets the principal destination.
The company advertises packets of whalemeat for sale within Greenland on its website. Products include steak, mince, salted blubber, and cuts from the fins and tails of minke whales, as well as unspecified meat from fin whales.
Tonnes Berthelsen, managing director of Arctic Green Food, told BBC News his company traded meat from about 40 whales each year. "We're selling it frozen; and if we didn't sell it like that, if people weren't able to buy it frozen, then the waste would be very high."
But whereas the IWC says that "the meat and products are to be used exclusively for local consumption", WSPA points out that because the meat is sold in supermarkets, anyone can buy and consume it, even foreign nationals, raising the question of whether there is a genuine nutritional and cultural need. WSPA is one of the few groups to campaign against subsistence whaling.
The majority of conservation organisations support it as providing a sustainable resource to communities that need the meat. There was a tacit agreement among anti-whaling NGOs not to oppose the renewal of subsistence quotas at last year's IWC meeting, an agreement that WSPA did not support on animal welfare grounds.
"The record of these hunts is really bad," said Ms Bass. "Only one in five whales dies within a minute. These are the worst whale hunts in the world on welfare grounds."
Records submitted to the IWC show that in 2006, fin whales took on average 35 minutes to die, with one taking nearly six hours. Norway's overtly commercial hunters, by contrast, kill the majority of their prey within one minute.
The IWC's various committees are coming to the end of their series of meetings in Santiago before the full organisation convenes on Monday.
Its week-long meeting is likely to be dominated by South American proposals for a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic, and by discussions on whether pro- and anti-whaling blocs can find a path towards eventual compromise.
Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Judge cuts US dog's $12m legacy !
Leona Helmsley's will was challenged by some of her relatives. A judge in New York has agreed to slash $10m (£5.1m) off the $12m inheritance given by real estate billionaire Leona Helmsley to her pet dog, Trouble.
Manhattan Surrogate Judge Renee Roth switched the $10m from the nine-year-old Maltese's trust fund to Mrs Helmsley's charitable foundation.
Trouble lives with a manager at the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel in Florida.
Mrs Helmsley, who died last August aged 87, was dubbed the "Queen of Mean" during a trial in 1989 for tax evasion.
An ex-housekeeper testified during the trial that she heard her say: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes," although Mrs Helmsley always denied making the comment.
The court's decision was reportedly made at the end of April but became public on Monday.
Trouble's trustees said the dog did not need the full $12 million and requested the switch, the New York Post reported.
It quoted an affidavit from Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, which said $2m would be enough for twice the dog's life expectancy.
He put the annual expenses at $190,000, the Post said.
In an apparently separate agreement worked out between Mrs Helmsley's grandchildren and executors of the estate, two grandchildren previously excluded will now receive money, although none of the parties has spoken publicly.
Mrs Helmsley's will says when Trouble dies she will be buried alongside her and her late husband Harry in their mausoleum.
Mrs Helmsley and her husband built a company which managed some of New York's most prestigious addresses, including the Empire State Building, as well as hotels across the country.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Street sweep truck sucks up dog !
A street-sweeping truck has sucked a dog up through its bristles on a New York street, leaving its horrified owner holding nothing but the lead.
Robert Machin, 57, had just finished walking his two Boston terriers in the Bronx and was about to load them into his car when the truck appeared. He recalls being whipped around, only to glimpse Ginger meeting her end in the sweeper's round brushes.
City sanitation officers described the dog's death as "rare and unfortunate".
But Mr Machin, a retired public transport worker, questioned whether the driver had been observing proper procedures. The truck, he said, seemed to have been barrelling through the street at an unsafe speed.
"It happened so fast," he told the New York Daily News. "It spun me around, and as it spun me around, I caught a last glimpse of her. "I was devastated. I was completely dumbfounded and shocked. I mean, I just witnessed my dog sucked up into a street sweeper." He said he had chased the truck for about two and a half blocks, shouting for the operator to stop.
The driver eventually came back but refused to turn off the whirring brushes that had crushed Ginger, until he arrived, the paper adds.
The Department of Sanitation offered its condolences to Mr Machin and his family but added: "It is important for all New Yorkers to remember to maintain the safety of their animals while walking city streets."
Ginger's master who, according to the New York Daily News, plans to contact the Humane Society and hire a lawyer, said his lost dog had been like family to him.
"My children are all grown up," he said. "These two dogs, they're my life," he added, choking back tears.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Kestrels thrive on steak dinners !
A retired couple in south west Scotland have successfully reared five kestrel chicks left orphaned after their mother was attacked.
Douglas and Vivien Bremner, of Dumfries and Galloway, had watched the birds breed in a nesting box in their garden. The mother kestrel was attacked a week after the chicks hatched and was so badly injured she had to be put down.
The couple stepped in and the birds have thrived on a diet of rump steak three times a day.
Mr Bremner said they were alerted to the birds' plight by a farm worker who spotted what had happened to the female kestrel. When they went to investigate they found the mother was in a terrible condition.
"We saw that its eyes were pecked out and the head was bloody and it had obviously suffered some pretty horrendous treatment by something," said Mr Bremner. "We think it was possibly an owl which came into the box with the female on the eggs and attacked the female - it had to be put down unfortunately."
That was when Mrs Bremner stepped in as a "foster parent" for the chicks which remained in the nesting box. They have enjoyed some special treatment. "I have been buying rump steak for the last three weeks and cutting it up fine and feeding them three times a day," said Mrs Bremner.
Two of the birds have now fledged with three remaining in the box. According to Mrs Bremner, it seems they all adapted well to their unusual situation. "It felt rather special because it appeared to be successful from the beginning - they ate straight away," she said.
"They were very shy - they always went to the back of the box when I appeared but they were very, very pleased, I think, to get their food quite easily." She admits, however, that her one concern is that the birds might have got used to their steak meals. "The only thing that bothers me now is what is going to happen when they do fledge, will they know how to search for voles and kill them?" said Mrs Bremner. "But it perhaps comes naturally."
RSPB Scotland area manager for Dumfries and Galloway Chris Rollie said it would be a disadvantage to the birds not to be shown how to hunt. "Quite a distinctive sight and sound is of a family of kestrels being taught by their parents," he said. "They also watch the adults hunting and all of that activity trains the youngsters in going about their business."
However, he stressed that it was still quite possible they could learn on their own. "That is not to say that these birds won't survive as a number of practices like hovering and catching are instinctive to them," he said. "These folk have done a great job bringing them up."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Chinese parks 'sell tiger wine' !
Campaigners want China to continue cracking down on tiger poaching.
Illegal "tiger bone wine" is still being made and sold by some animal parks in China, say campaigners. The Environmental Investigation Agency says staff at two parks offered to sell the drink, made from carcasses soaked in rice wine, to its researchers.
The trade in parts of the endangered species has been subject to an international ban since 1987, and has been outlawed in China since 1989.
Despite global conservation efforts, tiger numbers continue to decline. There are an estimated to be 3,500-7,500 tigers left in the wild, compared with roughly 100,000 at the start of the 20th Century.
The UK-based NGO said its investigators found that the wine, deemed to be a health tonic to treat conditions such as arthritis and rheumatism, was being openly advertised at the parks. Staff said the wine was made from tigers that had died after fighting with other big cats at the venues.
One park produced what they said was a government permit that allowed the sale of the tiger-derived wine on the premises, but the EIA researchers said it was not possible to verify whether the permit was genuine.
The EIA said a senior worker, when questioned by its researchers, said that she was aware that the tigers were a protected species and trading of any part of the animals "in the open market" was prohibited.
But the agency said that she went on to explain that the permit allowed "closed market" sales of the wine; in other words, it could be sold from the park's premises.
Debbie Banks, head of the EIA's tiger campaign, called on the Chinese authorities to close down the illegal trade. "We want other parks with similar tiger attractions to be investigated to see how widespread this tiger-bone wine-making practice is," she said. "We also want the authorities to give a clear message to the business community that this illegal trade will not be tolerated."
Conservationists estimate that tigers now only occupy just 7% of their historical range, primarily as a result of habitat loss, hunting and poaching.
They believe that there are just 2,500 breeding adults left in the wild and without more resources made available to protect the animals, the cats face an uncertain future. Since the 1980s, a number of "tiger farms" have been set up in China. These establishments are believed to house about 5,000 captive tigers, possibly more than remain in the wild.
During last year's high-level summit of the global Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), the Chinese delegation raised the possibility of ending its domestic ban in order to allow the use of farmed tiger parts.
They argued that this would prove to be the most sustainable option because it would satisfy the demand from traditional medicine practitioners without threatening the wild tiger population.
Although this approach was supported by some conservation groups, others warned that it would undermine efforts by the Chinese government to curb poaching. They said that it would be cheaper to kill a wild tiger than to rear a captive one, and it would be very difficult to tell the difference between the two.
"Lifting the ban would increase demand and lead to a surge in poaching," said Ms Banks. "It would be far too easy to launder their skins, bones and parts among those from legalised tiger farms. This would effectively declare an open season on wild tigers."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Kitten rescued by vacuum cleaner !
Firefighters have used a vacuum cleaner with a sock on the end of the nozzle to rescue a six-hour-old kitten which had become trapped down a drain.
The fire crew was called to a house in Dunbar, East Lothian, in the early hours of Monday morning.
It is thought the kitten's mother had climbed behind the kitchen sink to give birth.
Rescuers used a vibrascope camera to locate the kitten, before using the vacuum cleaner to pull it to safety.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Whales stranded off Madagascar !
By Jonny Hogg -BBC News, Antananarivo
Marine noise has been known to disorientate whales in the past. A mission is under way to rescue more than 100 whales trapped in a bay in the north of Madagascar. About 30 whales have already died and experts are being flown in from across the world.
The site is near an area where ExxonMobil is carrying out seismic surveys but the oil company has denied any link. The first whale became stranded at the end of May and the first fatality was reported three days later. The majority of the melon-headed whales swam through a narrow entrance into a bay where they have become trapped.
ExxonMobil had been carrying out seismic surveying in the area, although it says this began several days after the first whale washed ashore. However, it told the BBC it had been using echo-sounding before this. The company said it is confident it is not responsible, given that its operation was over 50km (31 miles) away from the Baie de Loza, where the whales have been washed up.
Despite this, it has halted its surveying programme until the issue has been resolved. Meanwhile, a rescue effort involving local people and international conservation agencies is under way to save the remaining animals.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Giant panda sex secrets revealed !
The giant panda's courtship and mating sequence - from boisterous beginning to noisy ending - has been filmed in the wild for what may be a TV first. A BBC Natural History team recorded the magic moments deep in the bamboo forest that lines China's Qinling mountains. The pictures show a male panda having to fight off the competition as he tries to woo and finally win a female. The sequence, shot for BBC Two's Wild China series, illustrates behaviour that is rarely displayed in zoos.
These include the loud calls which will make viewers think instantly of the Wookie character from the hit Star Wars movies. "I liken it to Chewbaccas in a pub brawl," explained Gavin Maxwell, the producer of Wild China. "Most of the time, pandas live by themselves. It's only in the mating season that they come together; and that's when they start these extraordinary vocalisations. "The sounds are so unlikely and just the last thing you would expect a panda to make. "When you get two or three males together with a female there's an awful lot of barking and shouting going on."
Just getting in position to film the pandas took months of research, location reconnaissance and negotiations with the Chinese authorities. Obtaining the filmed sequence itself required an awful lot of patience and skill, and quite a bit of luck.
The Qinling mountains are carved with steep ravines and gullies. The growth of bamboo is so thick it can be extremely hard to get near the pandas, let alone get a clear shot of their behaviour. If you make too much noise, the creatures will be long gone by the time you find their location.
Finally, the male wins his female "They're like mini-quad bikes and once they go, they're off and they're very hard to keep up with," recalled Mr Maxwell.
Eventually, the team found an excellent spot looking across a ravine at a female high up in the branches. She was swaying back and forth as her would-be suitors patrolled below. The biggest male is seen chasing the opposition off into the thicket. Finally, he gets his girl when she decides to descend from her tree.This is not the first time panda sex has been filmed in the wild, but it is thought to be one of the most complete courtship sequences ever caught on camera.
Mr Maxwell described the venture as an eye-opener - to see pandas in a context that is far removed from the shy, placid reputation we traditionally associate with the animals. "Occasionally, you will be sitting there quietly trying to keep in the background and the males will suddenly come charging out of the bamboo towards you," he explained. "They're really fired up, they're breathing hard and panting, and you can see the steam coming out of their mouths. They seem like different creatures altogether."
Wild China is the BBC's first ever co-production with Chinese state television.
Wild China: Land of the Panda is broadcast on Sunday 8 June at 2100 BST
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Beaver's 'cruel' death in the sea !
Beavers are to be legally reintroduced in a test project next year.
A beaver found dead on a beach in the Highlands suffered a "cruel" death after ingesting a large quantity of sea water, police said. Its body was discovered at Eathie on the Black Isle in April.
Northern Constabulary's wildlife crime officer, Ch Insp Paul Eddington, said its release and cause of death were being treated as a cruelty matter. He said it was suspected the animal was linked to illegal releases of beavers in other parts of Scotland. Ch Insp Eddington told the BBC Scotland News website: "Our inquiries are still ongoing.
"Beavers are no longer native to Scotland and this one was deposited in the Black Isle. "We are looking closely at similar incidents in Tayside and we believe there are strong links." The Black Isle beaver's body is being held at a museum in Edinburgh.
Ch Insp Eddington said samples may be taken with the hope of checking its DNA against any obtained from other cases. The officer said the release of the beaver into an unfamiliar and inappropriate environment was "reckless". He said: "The cause of death was ingesting large quantities of sea water.
"Beavers need freshwater and the only open water this one found was the sea. Its stomach was found to be full of water, otherwise it was found to have been a healthy animal." Once native to Britain, beaver were hunted to extinction more than 400 years ago. However, damaged trees have been recorded in Perthshire, Angus and Fife, and it was thought illegally released animals were to blame.
Last month, the Scottish Government announced the European beaver is to be reintroduced legally to Scotland for the first time in more than 400 years. Environment Minister Michael Russell has given the go-ahead for up to four beaver families to be released in Knapdale, Argyll, on a trial basis.
The beavers will be caught in Norway and released in Spring 2009.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
A woman from East Sussex who bought an emu egg sold as a novelty food item on a farm on the Isle of Wight has managed to hatch it into a chick.
Gillian Stone, from Bexhill, who breeds chickens, brought home three large green emu eggs from a holiday and put them in an incubator in her kitchen.
Two turned out to be infertile, but after 52 days little Osborne hatched.
He needed to be hand fed at first, but at nine days old he is now thriving and Ms Stone is hoping to get him a mate.
"We decided to risk putting the eggs in the incubator and, after a little bit of help Osborne arrived," she said. "He was destined to be an omelette [but] now he's an emu."
Osborne will grow to over 6ft tall and will soon move from Ms Stone's home to her smallholding nearby.
Family friend Jenny Cosham said nothing Ms Stone did surprised her.
"She turns up with all sorts of things," she said. "We've had chicks, we've had lambs, we've had all sorts - there was even a duck in the shower once."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Pigeons make pupils high flyers !
Racing pigeons are helping pupils on Tyneside sharpen their numeracy and literacy skills. More than 170 pupils at Gateshead's St Agnes' primary School in Crawcrook, Gateshead, have adopted birds from a local loft to help them in lessons. The youngsters study flight paths, plot wind speeds and check the progress of races on the internet. School bosses also say recent SAT tests showed writing about the birds had helped to improve literacy skills. Each class has its own adopted pigeon, which they have been allowed to name.
Pupils in Tyneside explain how racing pigeons are helping them in lessons Head teacher Lynn Hudson said: "The children have really embraced the pigeons and taken them to their hearts. "They follow their progress in races avidly and it has really helped to focus their studies. "During our recent SATS, Year 2 pupils were asked to write about something interesting that had happened during the year. More than 50% wrote about our pigeons. "This just shows how much impact the initiative has had in a very short space of time."
Catherine Donovan, Gateshead Council's cabinet member for children and young people, added: "A fundamental part of education is to engage students so that learning becomes fun and interesting. "It is clear that St Agnes' has identified a great way to accomplish this and I am sure the children will reap the rewards for years to come."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Decline at biggest UK puffin site !
By Richard Black - Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Fewer puffins are going to breed at the UK's largest colony of the species, on the Isle of May, scientists report. Numbers are down to about 41,000 breeding pairs this year from almost 70,000 pairs in 2003 - a 30% decline.
Researchers believe the decline is linked to changes in the North Sea food web, perhaps related to climate change.
Birds are also arriving underweight, which the RSPB describes as "worrying", because puffins are generally able to feed on a range of creatures in winter.
The Isle of May, in the Firth of Forth, is home to the UK's largest single puffin colony, although more birds overall nest in the St Kilda archipelago. Mike Harris, from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, has been monitoring and studying the Isle of May population since the 1970s, labelling individual birds with rings to follow their progress. After decades of spectacular growth, he now believes the colony is in decline.
The five-yearly count of nesting pairs, which Professor Harris's team completed in April, revealed the 30% decline. "Also, we found some birds were coming back later than expected and others were coming in underweight," he told BBC News. "And a lot that we knew were alive last year have not turned up at all, so we assume they're dead - although it's possible they knew it was a bad year for food and decided not to come back at all."
Puffins spend the winters at sea, floating, swimming and diving for food, coming to land only during the nesting season. In the winters they catch fish, squid, worms and other much smaller marine organisms, which means they are more flexible feeders than other seabirds.
Puffins are counted every five years by looking into holes where they nest."So whatever the problem is, it's got to be a widespread one," said Professor Harris. The suspicion is that climate change is altering the distribution of plankton across the North Sea. This disrupts the entire food web, including predators such as puffin.
"This fits in with other evidence that North Sea birds have been desperately short of food over several seasons," said the RSPB's Grahame Madge. "But these have been birds such as the Arctic tern and kittiwake which only feed in the top part of the sea.
"This is probably the best adapted seabird that the UK has; they're deep divers, they're specialists in going down deep into the water column to find fish, so it's troubling to find that they're encountering a shortage of food."
Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Elephants caught in Sri Lanka war !
By Roland Buerk - BBC News, Anuradhapura.
"Gunshot wound, this is a gunshot wound, and this one, there are so many gunshot wounds," said Sri Lankan government vet, Doctor Chandana Jayasinghe. He was standing next to the huge, slumbering bull elephant in a clearing in the jungle, hypodermic syringe in hand. "It is normal, they all have gunshot wounds."
The men of the Wildlife Conservation Department had ventured into the tangled scrub to find the wounded elephant. Treading carefully not to snap twigs and prompt a charge, they had moved up close, so near they could see his ears flapping behind the thick greenery, before one man shot him with a tranquiliser dart. Now he lay on his side, slow, heavy breaths rattling in his trunk. They gave him antibiotic injections and sprayed disinfectant on his wounds, some old and calloused, others new and raw.
The renewed civil war between Sri Lanka's government and the separatist Tamil Tigers is claiming many victims, among them increasing numbers of the island's wild elephants. Of the 74 elephants which died in the north and north-west region last year, 44 were killed by gunfire. The others fell victim to poison, were deliberately electrocuted by farmers who connected wire fences to the mains, or fell down wells. Just four died of natural causes.
The home guards are now being trained not to shoot at elephants The elephants are not straying into the frontlines. Wildlife officials say the shootings are in part an unintended consequence of a government initiative to deploy thousands of new home guards to villages near the frontlines and to arm local people.
"Due to present security conditions people are armed by the government to protect themselves from the Tamil Tigers," says Manjula Amararathne from the Wildlife Conservation Department. "But in some areas people use such weapons to kill elephants also." There are as many as 4,000 wild elephants in Sri Lanka and many live in uncomfortably close proximity to man.
Farms are being carved out of what was once jungle and the remaining forest patches are getting smaller. As dusk falls, local farmers set out to patrol their fields, peering into the gloom and starting at shadows. They set off crackers to try to frighten away foraging herds.
It is not just crops that are damaged by the elephants, houses are frequently knocked down, and people are killed too. "They didn't see the elephant until they came near it," said Asanga Reno, standing by the freshly dug grave of his mother Ranjini. "They were afraid of the elephant and the elephant panicked too."
Asanga Reno has been given compassionate leave from Sri Lanka's navy to come back to bury his mother.
The Wildlife Conservation Department wants to keep man and elephant apart As is traditional in Sri Lanka the last yards to the grave were fenced off with white streamers that blew in the hot breeze. The elephant pulled Ranjini off the back of the motorbike on which she was travelling home from the fields, and threw her down by the side of the road. By the time her husband got there she was dead.
The Wildlife Conservation Department is trying to keep man and elephants apart. They are erecting low-voltage electric fences around villages. Plants palatable to elephants are being cultivated in the remaining jungle patches so the animals are less tempted to go and forage elsewhere.
And new recruits to the home guards are being given special training - they are being taught to shoo away the animals rather than turning their guns on them. "We train them to avoid them and not to harm them, how to protect them and by doing that, how to love fauna and flora," said Major Priyantha Rathnapriya, who is in charge of the Galakiriyagama traini