DNA Helping Find Illegal Ivory Sources

The complex science of DNA analysis is now helping protect elephants by showing police and conservationists the source of black-market ivory.

The price of ivory has nearly quadrupled in recent years, prompting poachers to kill more elephants to sell their tusks illegally.

Protecting the giant beasts is complicated by the fact they spread across large parts of Africa and authorities are unsure where the illegal hunting is occurring.

But the seizure of more than six tons of ivory in Singapore in 2002 has helped solve part of that puzzle, according to a report by Samuel K. Wasser of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington in this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.




Wasser and colleagues took samples of the confiscated ivory and compared it with baseline DNA collected from elephants across the continent over several years. DNA is the internal blueprint for life that carries the genes that develop into each individual.

The comparison showed that the tusks seized from the black market came from elephants on Africa's broad savannas, primarily from a small area of southern Africa, most likely centered on Zambia, the researchers said.

Authorities had suspected the confiscated ivory had multiple origins, the researchers said, but "our results caused law enforcement to substantially narrow the area of origin and the trade routes being investigated."

The research was funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, African Elephant Conservation Fund, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Center for Conservation Biology.


AP Photo

Zeroing In With DNA
Kenya Wildlife rangers stack elephant ivory at the Kenya Wildlife Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, March 8, 2000, during a conference to discuss the upcoming Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Scientists are now using DNA analysis to track seized, illegal ivory.


Reference:discovery

Pit bull attack leaves man injured, his dog dead

Two pit bulls attacked an Horry County man and his dog as they went for a walk around their neighborhood. The man was hurt and the dog had to be put down because its injuries were so severe. It's the second time just this month that someone's been hurt trying break up a fight when a pit pull attacked.
Jim Blanco says he won't take as many walks each day, now that his dog Mica is dead. Last Friday morning, she was attacked by two pit bulls.

"When he got close, he lunged and caught my dog by the nose and brought her down. Then the other one went at her too." Blanco said he tried to pull them apart.

"I laid on one dog, but it didn't do a thing."

It took two neighbors to finally break them apart.

"Everybody was saying thank God he didn't attack you. I didn't even think about that."

Blanco's hand was punctured, but he says he didn't even notice. He knew he had to get Mica to the veterinarian right away.

"She was not moving or anything else, but the blood was just pouring out of her."

The vet told Blanco it would be best to put her down.

"They held no hope that she would make it because she didn't have any brain waves, plus she lost so much blood."






The pit bulls are now at the Horry County Humane Society. It's state law for dogs that bite to be under rabies observation for 10 days. Their owner, Les Williamson, did not want to go on camera, but did release a statement which says in part, "I assume full responsibility for this incident. The two dogs escaping from my home was an accident."

Blanco says the attack has made him think twice about pit bulls as a pet.

"I do have an opinion on it, and to me they're not a pet, they're just a fighting dog."

In his statement to us, Williamson also said that he will help the Blancos pay for Mica's medical bills. One of the neighbors we talked with says he plans to sign a petition asking for the other dogs Williamson owns to be euthanized as well. Williamson is charged with having nuisance animals. That charge carries a fine. He will face a judge at a hearing on March 29th.


Reference:wpde

Judge orders DNA testing of dog hairs in child murder case

ATLANTA (AP) - A judge on Monday ordered DNA testing of dog hair and other evidence used to convict a man linked to two dozen murders more than a quarter of a century ago.


Wayne Williams' lawyers say the DNA tests were not available when Williams went to trial in 1982. Prosecutors agreed to the tests, saying they don't believe the outcome will prove Williams was wrongfully convicted.

Williams was convicted of murdering Jimmy Ray Payne, 21, and Nathaniel Cater, 27, and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. Their killings were two of 29 black slayings, mostly boys, in the Atlanta area between 1979 and 1981.

After the trial, officials declared Williams responsible for 22 other deaths, and closed those cases.

Williams maintains his innocence. His attorneys requested the DNA tests in hopes of winning Williams a new trial.





Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore ordered a comparison of animal hairs found on some of the victims to samples of hairs from the defendant's dog. In Williams' original trial, hairs found on some victims were found to be consistent with hairs removed from his family dog.

Additionally, human hair that was used as evidence will be compared to samples of Williams' DNA. A car seat and clothing from two of the victims also will be analyzed.

It was not immediately known how long the tests would take.

Williams, who is black, has maintained that Atlanta officials covered up evidence of Ku Klux Klan involvement in the killings to avoid a race war in the city, a claim investigators have denied.


Reference:9news

Man Says Dog Saved Him From Black Bear

Jason Schindler says he wouldn't be alive if it were not for his dog, Dude. The 27-year-old rural Cataract man said the 8-year-old mixed-breed hound jumped between him and an attacking black bear Thursday night, saving his life but giving up his own. The animal sustained at least 28 puncture wounds to his chest and neck, he said.

"I'd hate for someone else's dog to go through what mine did," he said.

Schindler and his wife, Kimberly, buried the dog with a blanket and pillow the next day, using a rented jackhammer to dig the grave in the frozen soil.

He said he
heard the dog yelping loudly Thursday after dark and went out to see what was happening.




Suddenly, "all I saw was this dark thing lunging at me," Schindler said.

But his dog jumped between the two and was quickly snatched up in the bear's jaw, he said.

"If not for the dog, I wouldn't be standing here," Schindler said.

The bear, estimated at being between 400 and 500 pounds, dragged the dog to his nearby den under a thicket of downed trees.

Schindler said he returned to his house, grabbed a .30-30 rifle, returned to the scene and fired, possibly hitting his target before the bear fled into the woods. He rescued his dog, gushing blood but breathing, and rushed him to the Sparta Veterinary Clinic.

He said Dude was the last of a litter of puppies available at the Monroe County Animal Shelter when Schindler adopted him.

Another week in the shelter and he would have been euthanized, Schindler said.

"I saw him lying there alone in his cage and I felt so bad for him," he said. "In a way he was a miracle dog."

Reference:businessportal24

Cat bites pose great threat, see doctor quickly

BY KATHRYN COSSE COMMUNITY PRESS STAFF WRITER
Miami Township resident Lee Hite received not one, but two surprises recently, when he tried to help a stray cat.

First, he was bitten, but second - he was hospitalized as a result.

The cat was recovering at Hite's home as part of a local catch and release/neuter and spay program. "My wife had done a wonderful job," he said. The recovering cat was caged and had food and water. "And husband comes along, and thinking I'll do a little act of kindness, I opened the cage to get the cat an extra towel." Presented with freedom, the cat leapt out of the cage. Though Hite was familiar with catching cats, "it turned around and nailed me like a banshee."

But when Hite went to his doctor expecting antibiotics, they put a hand surgeon on standby. His doctors told him that it was very common to have a hospital stay of three to four days with a cat bite.

Miami Township Fire Chief Jim Whitworth said Hite and he are now "kindred spirits" of the cat bite variety. Whitworth experienced a similar situation 15 years ago, when he tried to bring a neighborhood cat in on a cold night. After cleaning and dressing the wounds, Whitworth thought he'd "done all the right things." But when he woke up the next morning, his hand was swollen, with a red streak running up to his wrist. "By 3 p.m., I was in surgery."

Neither men, although experienced in first aid, realized the heavy risks associated with cat bites. Dr. John J. McDonough, associate professor of surgery at the University of Cincinnati and surgeon at the Hand Surgery Center of Cincinnati, estimates his group sees between 75 to 100 animal bites a year. Most cases require surgical care, he said, "almost always due to an infection."

"Cat are more dangerous," he said. "They have sharper teeth that penetrate like needles, and can go into the tendon or joint easily." Once through the skin, the teeth can easily deposit bacteria.

"We've found ... that cat bites can be pretty infectious," said Kim Naegel, director of Clermont County Humane Society. "There are a lot of cats out there, sometimes in cat colonies." With little socialization, she said, the cats can easily become feral. Naegal said Clermont County has a large population of stray cats.





The Clermont County General Health District has recorded an average of 74 cat bites per year for the past 10 years, with a high of 106 bites in 1996 and a low of 36 in 2005. To date, there have been three reported in 2007.

"The secret to the whole thing is the puncture wound," said Hite. "It's small, clean ... heals up within 24 hours ... It's so deceiving, you look at it and go, 'it's nothing.'"

McDonough backs up Hite's observations, saying most complications result from the bitten not seeking immediate medical attention: "It's a widespread problem and a burden on the health care system."

All officials recommend caution when dealing with stray animals, and outright avoidance of menacing or feral animals. "If bitten at all, by your pet, your neighbor's pet, you cannot take it for granted," said Whitworth.

Now out of recovery, Hite's concern is getting his new knowledge to the public.

"It was 100 percent my fault. But I never would have put myself at risk had I known the risks. My ignorance got me in trouble," Hite said.

Reference:communitypress

'Cat in the Hat' turning 50 in style

By Ron Hayes

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

On Thursday, The Cat in the Hat turns 50.

On Friday, its late, beloved author, Dr. Seuss, would have turned 103.

And on Thursday and Friday, children will turn the book's pages to honor both birthdays, as libraries throughout Palm Beach County host special parties to celebrate the short book with the long life.

The events are also part of a national celebration, sponsored by the National Education Association's Read Across America literacy campaign, aimed at having as many youngsters as possible read The Cat in the Hat on Dr. Seuss's birthday.

"The Cat in the Hat has lasted because for preschoolers it's fun and learning at the same time," said Samantha Crawford, the assistant children's librarian at The Four Arts Children's Library in Palm Beach. "It's a whole different world to children, and a whole set of characters who are new and real to them."

On Thursday, "Miss Sam" will trade her usual work clothes for a full-body Cat-in-the-Hat suit when she greets children for the weekly story hour. After hearing the book, they'll be led into a playroom that's been transformed into "Seussville" for games, face-painting and crafts inspired by Dr. Seuss's books - including, of course, green deviled eggs.

And all children are welcome.

Because it's affiliated with The Society of the Four Arts, which charges a membership fee, outsiders often assume the children's library is also a private endeavor. Not so. All children 18 or under are welcome to borrow books anytime, and they needn't live in Palm Beach or even Palm Beach County.

"We're a hidden jewel," said children's librarian Susan Harris.

At the West Palm Beach Public Library, the celebration begins at exactly 3:30 Friday afternoon, when three different volunteers will read The Cat in the Hat simultaneously in the library's adult, teen and children's areas. The point, said youth services librarian Lisa Webb, is to honor The Cat in the Hat as a book that transcends the generations.






"My mother just celebrated her 50th birthday," said Webb. "And she still has a copy of this book that was given to her when she was just beginning to learn to read, and I remember listening to my mom reading me this book for the very first time at 4 years old."

Not bad for a mere 236 words.

Theodor Seuss Geisel - born March 2, 1904 - was already a successful, 50-year-old cartoonist in May 1954, when Life magazine published an article by Pulitzer prize-winning journalist John Hersey called, Why Do Students Bog Down On The First R? Because, Hersey concluded, children's books are boring, and so are the illustrations.

Geisel's publisher, Random House, sent him a list of 400 words important for children to learn and asked Geisel to pare the list to 250 and use them in an entertaining book.

He needed only 236 to write a classic.

"Beginning readers and parents who have been helping them through the dreary activities of Dick and Jane and other primer characters are due for a happy surprise," said The New York Times Book Review.

Published on March 1, 1957, The Cat in the Hat sold for $2. And sold, and sold. And it still does, along with 43 other books by "Dr. Seuss."

Geisel died at 87 on Sept. 24, 1991, but in 2003, Forbes magazine rated him number six on its list of "Top-Earning Dead Celebrities" at $16 million, just behind former Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison.

"People have tried to copy him," said Miss Sam of the Four Arts Children's Library. "But they can't."

People have tried to stump him, too.

In 1960, Random House publisher Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 he couldn't write another book using only 50 words.

Ever heard of Green Eggs and Ham?

Reference:palmbeachpost

Jaguar that Killed Zookeeper had Aggressive Sibling

DENVER --
A Bolivian-born jaguar named Jorge that killed a Denver zookeeper was well-behaved as a young cat, but he had a twin brother who was so mean that his handlers named him Osama, a Bolivian zoo official said Monday.

Ashlee Pfaff, 27, died from a broken neck and other injuries after Jorge attacked her while she was inside an employee hallway that opened into his outdoor enclosure on Saturday, the coroner said. A zoo employee shot and killed Jorge when he approached emergency workers trying to save Pfaff.

Denver Zoo officials said the jaguar attacked Pfaff when she opened a door from a service area into his enclosure while the cat was still in the enclosure. They said they did not know why, because zoo policy forbids keepers and big cats from being in an enclosure together.

"We don't know if she was going in, and we never will," zoo spokeswoman Ana Bowie said. "Why that door was open and what she was doing, we do not know."

Jorge -- Spanish for George -- had been named after President Bush, said Dr. Margot Ugarteche, a veterinarian at the Santa Cruz Municipal Zoo of South American Fauna in Bolivia, which sent Jorge to the Denver Zoo.

"Osama was always the more dominant of the two," Ugarteche said. "He was always rough with George. That was the relationship we saw between them."

"Jorge wasn't bad, really," she said. "I don't know what could have happened. Perhaps because he was so well-behaved, the trainer (in Denver) thought she could trust him. But you never know with wild animals. Anything can happen at any moment."

Craig Piper, the zoo's chief operating officer, said investigators don't know what went wrong and why Pfaff ended with an open doorway between her and the cat. The training stresses that workers should keep a barrier between themselves and the animals, he said.

"The phrase we often us is 'know where your animals are,"' Piper said.

The jaguar had no history of unusual behavior in Denver, Denver Zoo spokeswoman Ana Bowie said.

Dr. Lynn Kramer, a veterinarian who heads the zoo's biological programs, said she was experienced and well-trained, and it is common practice for zoo employees to work alone. That, he said, could change as officials look for ways to improve operations.

"We're looking at all of our procedures," he said.

The zoo and Denver police have launched investigations. The U.S. Agriculture Department, which inspects zoos at least annually, also planned to investigate, spokesman Darby Holladay said, and zoo officials said the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is also involved.






The Denver Zoo has said Jorge was about 6 years old, but Ugarteche said the brothers were born in 1996. Kramer said his birth date had not been documented and it is possible he is 10 years old. The cat's age would have likely had no effect on his behavior, and a necropsy showed the animal was healthy.

Jorge and Osama were captured by a family in the countryside of the tropical lowland state of Santa Cruz, in eastern Boliva, and were keeping them as pets until a local conservation group brought them to the zoo when they were 6 months old, Ugarteche said.

The pair did not have names until two or thee years ago, she said.

"We named him Jorge, like President George, the president of the United States, and the other one Osama, because he was the bad one of the two," she said.

The Denver Zoo obtained Jorge in March 2005. Ugarteche said the Santa Cruz zoo received various supplies in exchange, including computers and lab equipment.

"Jorge wasn't very big, but he's the one that qualified (to be shipped to Denver), because his attitude made him seem the better animal" for the trip, Ugarteche said.

She said Osama remains at the Santa Cruz zoo. She said news of Pfaff's death had saddened the staff there.

Pfaff had undergone regular safety training for the jaguar exhibit, shadowed veteran keepers and attended mandatory safety



meetings, officials said.

"She was an experienced animal keeper," Bowie said. "This wasn't like it was her first job working with cats."

Pfaff, a native of Sante Fe, N.M., graduated from New Mexico State University in 2002 with a degree in biology. She started work at the Denver Zoo in the fall of 2005.

Zoo officials said the were honoring her family's privacy and declined to say much about Pfaff's personality.

"Ashlee was a great zookeeper, she was dedicated to this institution, dedicated to her animals," Bowie said.

"I would describe her as passionate to come to work every day," Piper said. "We celebrate life every day. It's a very difficult time for us because Ashlee was a very dear friend and a colleague ... We're a close-knit family. We do this because we love animals and we want to protect them."

Kramer said zoo employees go through at least four "code red" drills a year, including one already this year. The "code red" designation refers to the escape of an animal that is capable of killing a human. He said the zoo has 16 employees trained in firearms, four responded to the alarm within minutes of the attack on Pfaff.

Bowie said Pfaff's death is the first fatality involving an animal at the zoo in modern times. She said there are account of a zookeeper being killed by a bear in the 1920s, and a zoo employee was injured, but not killed, by a leopard in the 1970s, she said.

The feline exhibit area where Jorge lived has been closed since the incident. Piper said he did not know when it would be reopened.

At the entrance to the zoo, friends and zoo visitors piled flowers and notes in her honor.

One letter read, "A void has been left that will never be filled, and I will think of you often."

A family member said Pfaff's parents, Norman and Janice Pfaff, were traveling to Denver from their home in New Mexico. A memorial service planned for Tuesday night at Highlands Lutheran Church in Denver.

Referencemyfoxcolorado

Rabbit farmer appeals seizure of his animals

IROQUOIS, Ill. Rabbit farmer Paul Kraft today appealed the state's seizure of 182 of his animals.

State-approved investigators took the animals from his farm on Friday. They said the animals were living in unsanitary conditions, and many were sick.

Kraft tells The Daily Journal newspaper in Kankakee that he faced financial trouble the past few months that, combined with recent bad weather, had hurt his care of the farm. He says the rabbits are worth about three-thousand dollars.





Phyllis Piunti of the Humane Society, though, says the build-up of feces and urine appeared to be older than a few months.

Jackie Eckert of the state Department of Agriculture says no date has been set to hear Craft's appeal.

Reference:wqad

Fundraiser for abused animals in March

By Alicia Barrón, Fox 11 News

A second fundraiser will be held to raise money for medical care and rehabilitation of abused animals.

Volunteers of the Animal Cruelty Task Force of Southern Arizona, or ACT, in collaboration with the local Humane Society, said they felt the need to hold another fundraiser because their funds are dwindling and must be replenished if they are to continue to do their, what they call "much needed work".

ACT held the first Action for Animals fundraise in 2005, where they generated almost $25,000. Volunteers said they spent 90% of the funds on providing medial care to hundreds of animals rescued by agencies, as well as provide long-term rehabilitation to those who need it.




The rest of the funds, according to a news release, were used for public education and training for law enforcement agencies to help end animal cruelty.

ACT does not receive public funds and depends entirely on public donations.

Among ACT's efforts are shutting down cockfighting operations, arresting what they describe as unscrupulous animal vendors or investigating cattle shootings.

The agency is made up 75 volunteers who say they are on the job 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The 2007 Action for Animals fundraiser will kick off in March. The agency’s goal is to exceed the $25,000 raised two years ago.

All funds are 100% deductible and will be administered by the Humane Society.

Reference:fox11az

Exotic animals seen where Antarctic ice used to be

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
Reuters

Feb 25, 2007 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Spindly orange sea stars, fan-finned ice fish and herds of roving sea cucumbers are among the exotic creatures spied off the Antarctic coast in an area formerly covered by ice, scientists reported on Sunday.

This is the first time explorers have been able to catalog wildlife where two mammoth ice shelves used to extend for some 3,900 square miles over the Weddell Sea.

At least 5,000 years old, the ice shelves collapsed in two stages over the last dozen years. One crumbled 12 years ago and the other followed in 2002.

Global warming is seen as the culprit behind the ice shelves' demise, said Gauthier Chapelle of the Polar Foundation in Brussels.

"These kind of collapses are expected to happen more," he said. "What we're observing here is probably going to happen elsewhere around Antarctica."

Melting ice shelves are not expected to directly contribute much to global sea level rise, but glaciologists believe these vast swaths of ice act like dams to slow down glaciers as they move over the Antarctic land mass toward the coast. Without the ice shelves, glaciers may move over the water more quickly, and this would substantially add to rising seas.

Since 1974, 5,213 square miles of ice shelves have disintegrated in the Antarctic Peninsula.

SEA SQUIRTS

But the collapse of the ice shelves gave the scientists a unique opportunity to see what had been hidden beneath them; before the collapse, researchers could only peer through holes drilled deep into the ice.

Chapelle and other scientists from 14 nations traveled to the area aboard the icebreaking vessel Polarstern in a 10-week voyage to investigate underwater wildlife along the Antarctic peninsula, the part of the southern continent that curves up toward South America.

Looking down 2,800 feet into the icy water — a comparatively shallow depth — they found fauna usually associated with seabeds about three times that deep, in places where the creatures must adapt to scarcity to survive.





There were blue ice fish, with dorsal fins like ribbed fans and blood that lacks red cells, an adaptation that makes the blood more fluid and easier to pump through the animal's body, conserving energy at low temperatures.

Long-limbed sea stars, some with more than the usual five appendages, mingled with the ice fish, and groups of sea cucumbers were observed moving together, all in one direction.

The explorers also found thick settlements of fast-growing animals called sea squirts, which look like gelatinous bags, which apparently started colonizing the area only after the ice shelves collapsed.

Among the hundreds of specimens collected, the scientists identified 15 possible new species of shrimp-like amphipods, and four possible new species of cnidarians, organisms related to coral, jellyfish and sea anemones, the scientists said in a statement.

These specimens will be analyzed to determine whether they in fact are newly discovered species.

Reference:abcnews