The man who solved one of New Zealand’s ornithological mysteries in Kaikoura more than 40 years ago was recognised with a prestigious award on Saturday.

Christchurch man Geoff Harrow, 80, has won an Old Blue award from the New Zealand Forest and Bird Protection Society for outstanding contribution to conservation for his efforts in protecting hutton’s shearwater.

The award commemorates the famous black robin who saved her species from extinction and is awarded each year to people who make an outstanding contribution to conservation.

Hutton’s shearwaters winter in Australia and return to the Kaikoura Ranges each August to breed at altitudes of 1000-600 metres above sea level.

It is the only New Zealand seabird which breeds in a sub-alpine environment.

Each day the adult birds fly about 20km to the sea to feed, reaching speeds on the downhill trip of more than 150kph ? which means they can make the journey in as little as seven minutes.

The return journey, climbing more than 1000 metres in altitude with a bellyful of fish to feed their chicks, takes them considerably longer ?about 38 minutes.

Mr Harrow was nominated for the award by the Kaikoura branch of Forest and Bird.

Branch secretary Barry Dunnett said Mr Harrow’s confirmation that this was the location of the world’s only breeding colonies of hutton’s shearwater, and his subsequent work studying and protecting the birds, had been a valuable contribution to conservation.

“He told the ornithological world about the shearwater, and it is to his credit that we know so much about them now.”

Mr Dunnett said local deer hunters, the Hislop brothers, had spotted burrows in the remote and rugged area in the early 1960s and mentioned it to Mr Harrow whose ears “lit up” as he realised the potential of their observations.

A keen tramper, mountaineer and naturalist, Mr Harrow set out on a difficult search to find the breeding site of the shearwaters, which nest at about 1300 metres above sea level at the steep, inaccessible location ? a location completely unknown to science till the 1960s.

“Over the past 40 years, at great physical risk to himself from the rock fall and avalanche danger of the sites, he studied and recorded the shear-waters’ unusual breeding habits, identified threats to the birds’ survival from introduced pests such as pigs and stoats, and has campaigned and gathered others to work for the protection of the species, the plight of which would have remained largely unknown without his dedication and support.”

Mr Harrow joined Forest and Bird in 1936 at age 10.

Even now at age 80 he remains actively involved in the shearwater recovery programme, in particular efforts to establish a new colony of hutton’s shearwaters on the Kaikoura Peninsula, and in educating community and school groups.

“He remains largely unrecognised by the general public, despite the huge respect for him from all who know him.

“He is a man who has made a great environmental difference to Kaikoura and is an inspirational figure, responsible for much of the environmental awareness that our local youth show today.”

Today the adult population of hutton’s shearwaters stands at about 460,000 but it is classified as nationally endangered because of its rapid rate of decline.

It is thought that hutton’s shearwaters once bred in at least eight sites in the Kaikoura Ranges, but now just two colonies remain. Wild pigs are thought to have been the main factor in the demise of shearwater colonies.

Call him the Mona Lisa of the bird kingdom. The rare recurve-billed bushbird, recently rediscovered by scientists in Colombia after a 40-year absence, sports a curving beak that gives the illusion of an enigmatic smile.

The elusive species had not been spotted between 1965 and 2004, due to its limited range and remote habitats. It was seen recently in Venezuela and in a region of northeastern Colombia, where it was photographed.

Researchers found the bird in a 250-acre (101-hectare) reserve next to the Torcoroma Holy Sanctuary near the Colombian town of Ocana, where in 1709 locals claimed they saw the image of the Virgin Mary in a tree root. The forests of the sanctuary have been protected by Catholic Church authorities in the centuries since, Kazinform quotes National Geographic News.

The researchers also found and photographed the extremely rare Perija parakeet, of which only 30 to 50 individuals likely survive.

Deforestation and wildfires for agriculture and grazing have denuded much of the birds’ habitat, conservationists say.

“[A]s more and more remote areas are being settled, the bushbird reminds us how important it is to conserve as much natural habitat as we can,” said Paul Salaman of the American Bird Conservancy.

“Who knows what wonderful biodiversity is being destroyed before it has had a chance to be discovered?”

Salem probably doesn’t have many of his nine lives left.

Salem, a 7-year-old black cat with spooky green eyes, survived a 75-day ordeal and recently was reunited with his owners, Jon and Kathryn Snowden of Franklin.

After Salem ran away on March 31 — a common occurrence — they expected him to return the next morning, either sitting in the front window or on the porch of their home on Ohio 123.

Instead, Salem was on the loose, beginning his odyssey.

The Snowdens put up fliers, notified their veterinarian and called the Warren County Humane Society.

Days passed. No Salem sighting.

“We gave up,” said Kathryn, 26.

“It didn’t look good,” said Jon, 26.

Weeks after he ran away, Salem was found in the Franklin area, wearing no identification.

He was dropped off at the humane society. There, his name was changed to Elvis, and soon he — I can’t resist — had left the building.

The shelter updated Elvis’ shots and placed a microchip near his shoulder.

He was taken to PetSmart in Deerfield Twp., in the middle of May, and adopted by a Morrow couple, who owned seven cats.

They changed his name from Salem/Elvis to Ralph. After about a month, they noticed Ralph missed his owners and, since he wasn’t accustomed to other cats, remained isolated.

So they placed “Found Cat” posters around the Franklin area, and one day, the Snowdens’ neighbor noticed the flier in a gas station near Interstate 75 and Ohio 123.

Kathryn called the woman and described Salem, how he liked to place his paws around your neck, drink water from the bathroom sink, and how was thin, had a few white hairs and his tail hocked.

After hearing the description, the woman said, “It’s him.”

Well, except the thin part. This cat was, well, fat.

Salem/Elvis/Ralph, or whatever his name was, had gained 10 pounds because of the medication, his diet and inactivity. Living three lives can do that to a cat.

When Kathryn was reunited with Salem and notified he resembled Elvis in a white jumpsuit, she said, “That can’t be my cat.”

Then Salem ran to Kathryn. Salem was back home.

“We were all meant to be together,” Kathryn said.

“This all seems crazy,” Jon said.

But so does the Snowden relationship. They met as students at Franklin High School. She tutored him in 10th-grade math, and the following year, their first date was at Homecoming.

They just celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary with a weekend at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky.

And with Salem safely home, there was no need for presents.

About two decades ago, Kathleen Schwartz says, she felt sorry for a 20-year-old horse named Toby who was so weak and sick from years of neglect that he was not expected to survive much longer.

At a time when Howard County animal control was not equipped to handle abused or neglected horses, Schwartz nursed Toby back to health and cared for him for about eight years until he died. Soon after encountering Toby, she began caring for other ill horses as a family project.

Kathleen and her then-husband Allan Schwartz established Days End Farm Horse Rescue in 1989, and the nonprofit animal welfare organization has rapidly expanded to become one of the primary horse rescue facilities in the state. Days End has cared for more than 1,000 abused or neglected horses impounded by animal-control bureaus across the state, and it is recognized in Maryland and nationwide for its horse rescue and community outreach programs.

Because most of the funding for Days End’s $1 million budget comes from donations, the organization holds spring and fall fundraising carnivals each year. The carnivals also allow Days End to showcase horses ready for adoption and to educate the public about what the farm does.

The 15th spring carnival was held Saturday. Schwartz said the fair draws about 800 to 1,000 people annually. As country music played in the background, children and adults from around the state came to see the horses and participate in family-oriented activities that included a petting zoo and games for children.

Days End, on Frederick Road in Lisbon, relies on hundreds of volunteers and a small staff to rehabilitate horses and prepare them for adoption. Days End also focuses on spreading awareness about equine issues, promoting animal welfare education and assisting in animal disaster rescue efforts.

“Education is very high on our focus, and we do a lot of youth education,” said Kathleen Schwartz, Days End’s executive director. “We know that if people are better educated about horses, they won’t get involved with horses without knowing what it takes to care for them.”

Days End is caring for more than 70 horses on its 20 acres, which is 25 more horses than it normally has. The organization got the 25 extra horses in December from the animal-control impoundment in Washington County.

The horses, many of which arrive at the barn extremely thin and weak from neglect, usually stay at Days End about six to nine months. Once they are fully rehabilitated and trained to be comfortable around people, Days End posts adoption notices on its Web site.

Those interested in adopting a horse are expected to donate from $500 to $1,200, depending on the horse’s age and capabilities. Staff members inspect the farms of potential owners and once the adoption is approved, they conduct follow-up visits on all adopted horses for three years.

Days End also has a foster care program to help establish a bond between horses and people. Under the program, the horses stay at Days End and are visited regularly by a foster person or family.

Lisa Shifflett of Westminster has been fostering one of Days End’s horses for two months and came Saturday for the carnival and to visit the animal. She first read about Days End on its Web site.

“This is a way for me to give back to them,” she said. “I like how they try to train any kind of horse and how they focus on educating people.” Shifflett said she also is fostering the horse to re-establish her involvement with horses to benefit herself and her toddler son.

Betsy Brewster and her husband, Dana Brewster, both of whom used to work on a farm and own horses, came from Annapolis to visit Days End for the first time Saturday. Brewster said she learned about the organization through the Internet, and “now I check their site once a week because I like to read their stories about their horse rescues.”

As Days End continues to get more horses to care for, the 20-acre property that the organization is leasing is becoming overcrowded. Schwartz hopes to move to an area with at least 30 acres, but she has not found a piece of land that meets the organization’s needs.

Brittney Carow of Mount Airy, the assistant farm manager, has been working at Days End for 10 months, after volunteering there when she was in high school.

“I came back to work here because of my love of horses. I’ve been around horses all my life, and I’m really interested in animal welfare,” she said.

Days End has more than 700 volunteers, ranging from adults to children and longtime horse owners to people with no experience with horses.

Vickie Allin from Bethesda in Montgomery County owned horses for 30 years and has been volunteering at Days End for three years.

“I’ve always wanted to volunteer here, and now that I’ve retired I have the time,” she said. “Days End does amazing, lifesaving work.”

Dahlia Cain, who is entering high school, began volunteering a few months ago.

“I have always loved horses, and I wanted to do something fun. I came in with almost no experience with horses but every time I come here I learn something new,” said Cain, who lives in Frederick.

Schwartz said her primary goal for Days End is to invoke greater respect for animals. “I hope that people who visit leave with a feeling of compassion for animals, and hopefully they will carry that throughout their life.”

The first bald eagle successfully hatched in Sangamon County in recorded history flew off the nest last week, just as its species was on the brink of flying off the endangered-species list.

Helicopter pilot Steve Young, Illinois Department of Transportation bureau chief of air operations, saw an immature bald eagle fly off its nest along the Sangamon River near the Illinois 29 bridge just north of Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport.

Young flew the helicopter that videotaped the young eagle in its nest last spring, the first documented active bald eagle nest in Sangamon County.

He contacted John Wilker, Illinois Department of Natural Resources natural areas program manager, to report seeing the fledgling eagle last week during another flight.

“The one we saw in the nest obviously has fledged out and is out of the nest and flying around,” Young said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to decide by Friday whether to remove the eagle from the list permanently.

The eagle population was reduced to only 417 pairs in the lower 48 states in the early 1960s. Today, there are about 10,000 pairs, including more than 100 pairs in Illinois. Only two pairs were known to nest in the state in the early 1980s.

Eagles still will have strong protection if they are taken out from under the umbrella of the Endangered Species Act.

For one thing, eagles already have their own law. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act “prohibits, except under certain specified conditions, the taking, possession and commerce of such birds.”

The eagle was upgraded from endangered to threatened in 1995. Removal from the list altogether has been a slow process as language used in laws to protect eagles needed to be clearly defined.

And the Fish and Wildlife Service wanted to develop management guidelines for landowners to help them avoid disturbing nesting eagles.

H. David Bohlen, assistant curator of zoology at the Illinois State Museum, observed the Sangamon County chick in its nest earlier in the spring, but had been unable to observe it after leaves on the tree obscured the view in May.

“It’s impossible to see it from the bridge now (next to Illinois 29), so that’s nice to know,” he said of Young’s report of seeing the eagle fledge. “I’ll have to go out to see if I can see it flying around.

“I’m glad (the helicopter pilot) saw it,” he said. “I was getting worried.”

The young eagle still faces long odds for survival to adulthood. Bald eagles don’t achieve their signature white head and tail feathers until they are about 5 years old.

Only about one in 10 eagles hatched survive to maturity.

But for now, the first bald eagle born in Sangamon County appears to be thriving.

“When we went by, it hopped out of the nest,” said pilot Young. “It’s in good shape.”

Poachers seeking to bag a Royal Bengal tiger in the Sunderbans reserve are encountering a unique new security measure to keep them away: hundreds of crocodiles that have been released in the mangrove forest.

Originally brought into the reserve in the late 1990s for breeding, the crocodiles are having the unintended beneficial effect of scaring away poachers from the forest - home to the largest wild population of Royal Bengal tigers.

“With tigers on land and the crocodile in water, the fear factor does work,” divisional Forest Officer Rathin Banerjee said Tuesday.

During winter months, the crocs often come out of the cold water and lie in the jungle path of the poachers.

Nearly 400 crocodiles, bred in captivity over the years, have been released in the reserve, Banerjee said. A 2004 census said more than 270 tigers were roaming the reserve in West Bengal state, bordering Bangladesh.

“The use of crocodiles is one of the measures to save the wildlife there from poachers,” said V.K. Yadav, a forest conservator.

Conservationist Ranjit Mitra said it was difficult to say how many tigers have been killed by poachers in the past five years, “but it will run into dozens.”

Another conversationist called the idea of using crocs “novel.”

“It is surely a novel idea, but this can be one of the measures to check poaching,” said Animesh Basu of the Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation, a local non-governmental organization.

The state Forest Department was assessing the effectiveness of the new measure.

“It is not like you count how many hens you had and how many have been taken away by the jackals at night,” Yadav said. “Here the idea is to ensure that there is no unusual change in the demography,” Yadav said referring to major species of animals in the Sunderbans.

India’s border guards also have set up camps in the area to guard against the poachers.

“We are trying our best,” Yadav said.

Preliminary results of a recent exhaustive study of tiger habitats found that the population in some Indian states may be nearly 65 percent smaller than experts had thought.

Conservationists said the early results indicated the most recent tiger census - which found about 3,500 tigers - was far too optimistic. The study was conducted in the past two years by the government-run Wildlife Institute of India.

On his recent visit to the Providence Volunteer Fire Company’s station on Providence Road, Moosecoons BB, a big, friendly Maine Coon cat, seemed disinterested in the miniature oxygen mask that was pressed gently against his face for demonstration purposes.

What Moosecoons didn’t know was that in certain circumstances that mask could save his feline life.

The SurgiVet animal oxygen mask was donated to the fire company by local members of the nonprofit Colonial Annapolis Cat Fanciers’ Association.

“Ironically, a few weeks ago we had a dwelling fire where we rescued two cats,” said Matt Herweck, president of the Providence Volunteer Fire Company. “These would have been ideal then.

“We should have multiple uses for these,” Herweck said. “For instance, when our collapse rescue team responds to a collapsed building or something like that, you never know what you’ll find.”

The animal masks come in three sizes and can be used on cats, dogs and other small, furry critters such as rabbits and ferrets. They are adjustable and also will fit animals with varying face shapes.

Each mask comes with an oxygen bottle and a flexible air bag so rescuers can hand-pump air into the mask, if necessary. The SurgiVet masks cost about $120 for a set of three.

Laurie Coughlan, of Hampton, and Susan Blevins, of Westminster, the breeder and owner of Moosecoons, made the donation on behalf of the Annapolis Cat Fanciers’ Association.

Coughlan said she first learned of the masks a year or so ago at the annual meeting of the New Jersey-based Cat Fanciers’ Association, the parent organization of the Annapolis-based association in which the women are also members. Its Web site says it has the world’s largest registry of pedigreed cats.

“They showed us films of animals being rescued with the masks in emergency situations,” Coughlan said.

About a year and a half ago, the international Cat Fanciers’ Association launched a program through its local chapters to donate the masks to fire companies across the nation.

In addition to the Providence Volunteer Fire Company, other companies in California, New Jersey, Florida and elsewhere in Maryland have received the masks.

In most cases, it was the firefighters’ first introduction to the pet rescue apparatus.

“To be honest, we weren’t familiar with them,” Herweck said. “But we met Laurie at a meeting of the Hampton Improvement Association, and she told us all about them.”

Herweck doubts that the masks will gather dust at his company’s North Towson fire station.

“These can even be used in automobile accidents or floods or anywhere,” he said. “There are multiple possibilities for using them.”

A century of caring for elephants is a major milestone, indeed, and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo will mark the occasion in a big way.

Everyone’s invited to join the celebration during “Elephantennial,” a day of special activities for the elephants — and their fans — from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, July 27 at the Zoo.

The event will include enrichment activities for the elephants, Q & A sessions with their keepers, elephant check-ups and training demonstrations, public feeding times, children’s crafts, pachyderm painting and a special anniversary surprise for the Zoo’s elephants.

At 1 p.m., Jo, Moshi and Martika each will get a big “birthday cake” made of ice, filled with fruits and vegetables and frosted with one of their favorite treats - ketchup. The frozen dessert will serve as an enrichment activity for the elephants, stimulating their minds as they try to find the quickest ways to get through the ice and reach their treats, including 100 sliced apples.

At 4 p.m., the Pachyderm Picassos will get the chance to paint their latest masterpieces, with one of the works being donated to the new Cleveland Visitors Center on Public Square and another being given away to a lucky visitor at Elephantennial. And, the first 2,000 kids under age 12 through the gates will get an elephant trading card - one in a set of 10 marking the Zoo’s 125th anniversary.

Zoo Director Steve Taylor will be on hand during Elephantennial, offering informational sessions about African Elephant Crossing, the Zoo’s forthcoming elephant habitat and conservation center that will quadruple the amount of indoor and outdoor space dedicated to elephants. Set to open in 2010, the exhibit will house up to 10 elephants in stimulating surroundings similar to their native savanna.

Freddie Flintstone and his friends in Bedrock won’t be the only persons to see a woolly mammoth alive, if researchers have their way.

Palaeontologists are piecing together the complete genome species of long-dead species such as the woolly mammoth and the Neanderthals in an effort to bring them back to life, much like billionaire John Hammond resurrected the extinct dinosaurs in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.

A team led by Stephan Schuster and Webb Miller at Pennsylvania State University, US, and Tom Gilbert at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, is working on the genome of woolly mammoths preserved in the Siberian permafrost.

Scientists have already deciphered the complete gene sequences – or genomes – for many living species, including humans, dogs, and mice. However, they are divided over how they should do it in the case of long extinct species, and whether it’s even feasible.

Max Planck researcher Svante Paabo, who together with colleagues, is aiming to assemble a Neanderthal genome from bones preserved in arid caves, in a paper appearing in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) said only certain types of errors appeared in ancient DNA.

As such, its not that difficult to piece together much of the original genetic instructions.

However, he is unsure whether the animals can be resurrected completely.

“Resurrecting these animals is for the most part science fiction,” said Paabo.

“Retrieval of DNA from ancient specimens is relatively easy now,” said Alan Cooper, of the University of Adelaide in Australia.

“I think it’s definitely feasible to assemble these genomes. But it’s going to be extremely hard work,” National Geographic quoted Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, as saying.

According to Cooper, the basic problem is that living animals package their DNA with proteins that help it wind up into chromosomes. This packaging is crucial to making the DNA work properly, and this is something absent in these fossils.

Willerslev however, believes it is possible to bring back an extinct species like a mammoth only if an extremely well-preserved cell is found.

“That’s extremely unlikely to happen, because all parts of a cell break down over time, even in mammoths that have been encased in ice since they died. But, researchers working on cloning have contacted me wanting to get a hold of mammoth tissue so they could try to clone a mammoth,” he said.

According to Hendrick Poinar of McMaster University in Canada, “it’s theoretically possible” to recreate a woolly mammoth.

“I think it’s going to be done at some point. Once you have the genome of a mammoth, you could compare it with the genome of its closest relative, the Asian elephant. Then you could genetically engineer the elephant DNA, point by point, so that it matches the mammoth DNA,” he said.

“Then, by inserting this modified DNA into an elephant’s egg cell, and implanting it in an elephant’s womb, you could create a modified elephant that’s nearly identical to the original mammoth. Or it could become possible to make entire chromosomes from scratch. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in ten years, you’d be able to synthesize chromosome-length DNA,” he said.

“Five years ago everybody was saying you’d never be able to sequence the genomes of extinct animals … but here we are. We’re not that far away now,” he added.

An injured bald eagle found earlier this month is slowly recovering at Wildlife Prairie State Park.

The eagle, discovered June 11 in a private Fulton County lake, has regained strength while living in an enclosure and taking antibiotics for a week, said park naturalist Joe Hand.

“He was pretty weak when he was found,” Hand said.

The eagle was discovered stomach side up and couldn’t pull itself from the water. X-rays showed a mass in front of its heart, but park officials said they can’t conclusively determine whether a gunshot caused the wound.

Officials also haven’t determined when they’ll release the bird into the wild.

“It depends how fast he recovers,” Hand said.

Including the injured eagle, the park is home to four bald eagles.

The species is making news as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide by Friday whether to remove it from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants.

But the bald eagle will retain strong protection under federal law, according to a news release.

The federal organization finalized modifications to the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the primary law that will govern eagles if they are delisted, it announced June 1. The modifications prohibit disturbing an eagle to a degree that causes injury, a decrease in productivity or nest abandonment.

Those who take, possess or sell eagles will continue to be subject to penalties under the act.

Conservation police investigated the shooting deaths of two bald eagles in Fulton County earlier this year, state officials said.

Local eagle enthusiasts said they don’t think delistment will negatively affect bald eagles, though it may reduce habitat protection.

“It depends on how strictly they enforce it or interfere with it,” Hand said.

The eagle was placed on the predecessor to the current Endangered Species Act in 1967 when its population greatly declined because of habitat loss and widespread use of the pesticide DDT, which resulted in weakened eagle egg shells. It was moved from the endangered to the threatened list in 1995.

Bert Princen, a longtime member of the Peoria Audubon Society, said the eagle population soared in recent years, thanks in part to the ban of DDT in 1972 and conservation efforts. Princen has overseen eagle counts along the Illinois River each winter for more than 40 years.

“There were no eagles nesting anywhere in Illinois in the ’60s and ’70s,” he said. “Right now if we are not getting 700 eagles between Henry and Havana - that’s about an 80-mile stretch - we don’t know what’s wrong.”

Princen said the only major implication of delistment may be that developers will start building properties too close to eagle habitats.

Bob Moseley, the director of conservation for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, said the organization trusts the judgment of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

“(The habitat) is so highly visible that they’re still going to be protected,” Moseley said. “And (eagles) could still be listed again if they see the protections don’t work.”