The Maui Ocean Center invites ocean enthusiasts to check out the newest addition to its tanks, a 6-foot tiger shark named Ikaika, whose home is the Open Ocean exhibit, a 750,000 gallon tank featuring a 54-foot acrylic tunnel that allows guests to stand nose to nose with a shark or watching them swim above.

“Ikaika” means “strong” or “the strong one,” and was named by the center’s Hawaiian cultural advisor kahu Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr. Other sharks that dwell at the center are scalloped hammerhead sharks, sandbar sharks, black-tip reef sharks, gray reef sharks and white-tip reef sharks. Only the tiger sharks, aumakua or spiritual guardians to Maxwell and his family, are given names.

If you ever have wondered how big bird-watching is in America, you need only look at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service surveys that are conducted every five or so years. The numbers may surprise you.

The most recent, released in 2002, shows there are 46 million bird-watchers in the U.S. Most of them watch birds around the house, but 18 million love to travel to places where they can go bird-watching.

They may travel to festivals or marshes within a state such as Michigan.

Or they may travel out of state to bird-watching destinations such as Ontario’s Point Pelee on Lake Erie.

The FWS report lists Michigan as having approximately 1.9 million bird-watchers. Most are residents. About 12 percent come from out of state.

Birders travel the world

Birders also will travel to exotic locales such as Central or South America, Africa or elsewhere, drawn by the prospect of colorful and exotic birds. Even though the number of U.S. bird-watchers declined since 1991, when participation peaked at 51.3 million birders, bird-watching continues to be a major economic booster.

Consider that U.S. bird-watchers spent $32 billion in retail sales in 2001, according to the report. Their overall economic impact totaled $85 billion. They spent money on travel, food and lodging, birdhouses, bird seed, binoculars, field guides, clothing and gear.

Birders generated $13 billion in state and federal income tax. Their pursuit created 863,406 jobs nationwide.

Given the large-scale economics involved with bird-watching, there is reason to pay heed to a fledgling idea being discussed by a coalition of Michigan groups with an interest in bird conservation.

Their idea involves creating birding trails in Michigan. These are places where birders could plan a one-day, two-day or three-day bird-watching tour. Imagine, perhaps, a southern corn-belt trail, a northern boreal forest trail, a beach sand trail, even a muck and marsh trail.

“We are talking a combination of self-guided trails and (drive-to) areas where there are birds,” Jeannette Henderson, program coordinator for Michigan Audubon Society in Lansing, said.

“If they are done right, they get the community and local business involved — like at Grayling where the Kirtland’s warbler tour is drawing more and more people in from around the world.

“The businesses there are catching on that they need to protect this bird.”

Michigan Audubon is one of 69 organizations involved with the Michigan Bird Conservation Initiative. It began as an ad-hoc effort in 2003 with a few groups, but since has grown to include various hunting organizations such as the Ruffed Grouse Society, Michigan Duck Hunters Association and Turkey Hunters Association along with universities, government agencies, regional metro-parks, nature centers and birding groups, even the Society of American Foresters.

“Texas is the great granddaddy of birding trails,” said Karen Cleveland, the all-birds coordinator for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and the coordinator for MiBCI. “They have done stuff that makes the rest of us drool.”

Many Texas birding trails are located on private lands, large ranch holdings where eco-tourism has become big business.

“Those landowners know they have rare species on their property, and that people will travel across country to see them,” Cleveland said. “So they end up managing for those species and offer package deals to spend a day or two looking for them on their ranch.”

It is a progressive approach that seeks a win-win outcome. Michigan only is beginning to discuss and research the possibilities. But a quick visit to the American Birding Association Web site at americanbirding.org shows there are a great number of trails across the country.

The biggest of them all is the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail. It is 2,110 miles long and links 310 sites in 41 counties along the Gulf of Mexico, where more than 300 species can be seen.

Other states do it differently, Cleveland said.

“Virginia found the sweet spot is a visit from one to three days long,” she said. “They’ve designed their trails so they can be done in that time. They have a number of trails around the state and maps to them that are available in a ring-binder.

“North Carolina is building a trail and has a bird-friendly certificate for business that designates them as someone who does things that aid in conservation.”

One only needs to begin to think about the economic possibilities to see that a little smart packaging could do wonders for bird species in Michigan. But it will be important to do it right.

Conservation has to be the end goal, but bully for us if we can make it pay, too. One can only hope that the members of MiBCI get on with their deliberations and develop a plan in this next year.

The economy of the state can use a shot in the arm and there is no reason that bird-watching can’t make a more substantial contribution.

When man’s best friend goes missing all stops are pulled out to reunite the two - but one north Suffolk woman has gone further than most, chartering a helicopter to find her missing pets.

Sabrina Wheetman has spent anxious weeks scouring the south Norfolk and north Suffolk countryside since Spook and Buffy escaped her garden in Syleham, near Harleston, one night.

But after the traditional methods of driving around, putting up posters, failed to find the trail hound and German shepherd Ms Wheetman went one step further, taking to the skies.

“I know someone who has a small plane and he said he would take me up to see if we could track down the dogs,” she said. “But it was too wet to take off on grass. My friend then contacted Seething airfield instead and they said they’d be happy to help.

“A pilot took me up in his helicopter and we went round south Norfolk for 45 minutes. They only charged me for the fuel, which came to about £35, which was incredibly kind of them.”

Pilot John Baker said it was the first time in a decades-long flying career he had been asked to help look for a dog and that he had been happy to help.

“It’s not out of the ordinary to be asked to help look for something but missing dogs are a first,” he said. “She said they had been sighted a couple of times in the Pulham area but sadly we couldn’t find them.

“I once helped out a government official who wanted to test a new infrared thermalling device on finding swans at Haddiscoe - that would have been a useful bit of kit for finding Spook and Buffy but was sadly unavailable.”

Ms Wheetman, 47, a student nurse, said someone had called to say they had spotted a German shepherd near Pulham Market but nothing could be seen from the helicopter - other than dogs clearly out walking with their owners.

“We’ve had two calls about a dog matching Buffy’s description being seen in Broome, another by the Hempnall cross roads, and today I dashed out after a white dog like Spook was found but again it wasn’t my dog.

“Each call has filled us with renewed hope, only to be replaced with total despair. My hope is that they were given a home by someone and are being well looked after. The alternative is something we dare not contemplate. But not knowing what has become of them is putting a strain on all of us.”

Ms Wheetman said she was offering a £100 reward for the safe return of either or both dogs, and anyone who recognises either is asked to call her on 01379 668486.

“It’s difficult to know what to do next,” she added. “They’ve been missing since March 5, and not hearing now is almost preferable to the other options. It’s so upsetting - every time we go out to look, despite everything, you think this is the time, and then it’s so deflating when it’s not. We just want our pets back, desperately.”

For two nights recently, Nancy Bowker listened to the moanful cries of her cat, Curry. The year-old, gold-and-white female cat was stranded 70 feet up in a hard maple tree.

“I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “I called the fire department and the sheriff’s department, and they said there was nothing they could do.”

A friend suggested calling a tree trimmer, and Kane Farmer of Alexander Tree Service rescued the traumatized cat.

The tree is in a thickly forested ravine in Greenbriar subdivision in Lafayette. The sun’s rays barely penetrate the canopy near Bowker’s home on Shenandoah Court.

Farmer strapped on his climbing spikes and used a safety line to quickly reach the cat. After securing the animal, he easily rappelled down the tree.

Kenny Alexander, owner of the tree service, said Bowker was in distress when she called. He decided not to charge her, although Bowker was willing to pay.

“When I found out about all the stuff she had been through, I decided to help her out,” he said.

“We probably do two or three cat rescues a year.”

He said cats can climb with no problems, but they have difficulty getting down.

“They need to go down like they are sliding on a pole, rear end first. Their tendency is to go head-first, and they lose their balance and fall.”

He said stranded cats have been known to die in tall trees.

Bowker said she heard her cat crying on a Saturday night. She grabbed a flashlight and saw light reflecting in the cat’s eyes.

“I tried to talk her down,” Bowker said. “My vet told me that if she hadn’t come down by now, she probably wasn’t coming down.

“Something must have really scared her.”

Bowker said she is going to redouble her efforts to keep the neutered cat inside. As she spoke, Curry was sitting in the window, scratching a screen.

“We see deer back here,” she said of the rugged ravine. “Raccoons have broken into my home to eat cat food.”

Bowker also has a 16-year-old Brittany spaniel, Bridget. As she opened the front door to show the pooch, the cat again tried to get out. This time, Bowker was able to grab her.

“I’ll do my darnedest to keep her inside,” she said. “Maybe I should give her tree-climbing lessons in my front yard.”

It’s outrageous.

A whirlpool bath, treadmill, suites with a child-size bed and lounge chair, limousine service, a massage parlor, etiquette classes and a boutique that sells custom-made clothing — all for dogs.

Welcome to the Petite Pet Inn & Spa on Hilliard Road in Henrico County, a luxury facility for canines under 25 pounds or 13 inches long.

When Montpelier resident and veteran dog trainer Donna Anderson opened her 5,000-square-foot, 30-dog facility west of Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in July 2006, she became another player in the fast-growing, $2.9 billion services sector of the U.S. pet industry.

Dozens of doggie daycares, spas and pet-related stores have opened across Virginia in recent years.

Many of them are luxury facilities. Some, including one in Northern Virginia, have cyber cameras so that pet owners can watch Fido playing. Others, such as the Pamplin Animal Wellness Services (P.A.W.S.), offer homeopathic therapy for pets.

Baby boomers helped push pet care to the limits of luxury, she said. They and other doting pet owners across the nation have shown by their spending habits that they are willing to spare nothing to pamper Fifi and Fido.

The statistics prove it: The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association in Connecticut said total pet expenditures for food, vet care, supplies and medicine, animal purchases and services, including grooming and boarding for all pets, reached $38.5 billion in 2006.

They’re expected to be $40.8 billion by year end, the group said. About 43.5 million U.S. households — 41 percent — own a dog, it said.

Birds, cats, horses, fish and reptiles — they’re in the sales mix, too.

When it comes to dogs, Anderson is a good example of what-a-baby-boomer-wants, a-baby-boomer-gets, and she was savvy enough to recognize that what she wanted might make a nice business niche: a special place for small dogs.

Anderson opened the inn because of Blink, her 4-year-old papillon (pronounce that PAP-ee-yon). Papillons grow no taller than 12 inches, and they weigh 7 to 10 pounds. Anderson wanted somewhere to take Blink for pet care where there were no big dogs around and he wouldn’t feel terrified or get trampled or hurt.

“Can you imagine if you were only 10 inches tall and a big German shepherd walked in?” she asked. German shepherds reach 77 to 85 pounds.

Anderson also wanted a safe place for family pets Limit, a border collie; Runner, a yellow Lab, and Toby, a 13-year-old papillon.

Anderson’s pet inn and spa was years in the making.

As a hobby, “I’ve been training dogs going on 30 years in the Richmond area,” she said. “I was the first to teach agility [a competitive sport in which canines run an obstacle course] in Richmond.”

During those years, Anderson also home schooled her children, worked as a bookkeeper, apprenticed as a dog trainer and worked at a Richmond dog training center.

She taught agility in her backyard to private clients.

About four years ago, she set her sights on starting a business and began looking for locations. She got rebuffed by zoning offices in a few counties — one was concerned about whether barking dogs would disturb the neighbors.

She eventually settled on the 3010 Hilliard Road location in Henrico.

Why a luxury pet facility?

Because that’s what dog owners want, she said.

Dogs are like people’s children, she said. The owner might have only a little money, “but every nickel they’ve got, they’re going to spend it” on their dog.

“We try to provide a home environment, even though they’re not at home,” she said. “We have the home furnishings. We have the extra luxuries that they want and the attention to detail that they want.”

The Petite Pet Inn isn’t the only luxury facility in Virginia.

Four-legged guests of the Olde Towne Pet Resort in Springfield, which accommodates 185 dogs and 40 cats in 27,000 square feet, have their choice of high-end treatments: a hydrotherapy pool, hospital-grade air systems and a half-million-dollar power generator so the dogs never lose their cable TV during an outage.

Cybercams are available in five-star dog suites so clients can watch what their dogs are doing while they’re on vacation.

The resort also offers pet shopping sprees, diet treats and Opi brand doggie nail “pawlish” in fire-hydrant red and other colors in the salon.

The rooms are luxurious at the PetSmart chain’s PetsHotels in Virginia Beach and elsewhere — spacious and stylish with hypoallergenic lambskin blankets. If their owners miss them too much, they can call their pet and talk to them using the facility’s “bone booth.”

Holiday Barn Pet Resorts in northern Henrico and in Chesterfield County and St. Francis Pet Resort & Rehabilitation Center in Williamsburg also lure canines with luxuries.

Pamplin Animal Wellness Services (P.A.W.S.) in Pamplin is a homeopathic resort that specializes in doggie swim therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, physical therapy, nutrition and pain management.

There are many more pet boarding facilities in the state.

What’s it all cost?

Canine accommodations at Olde Towne range from $55 to $120 per night for dog guests, $25 to $45 for cats. Walks, play time and meals are included; all other services are a la carte.

A canine massage, for example, costs $35 per half hour. Doggie day camp costs $35 per day, or $150 for five days. A fitness training exercise session costs $75 per hour. Many other services are available for a fee.

Petite Pet Inn’s rates are all-inclusive, said Anderson: $35 to $75 for an overnight stay, $20 for day care.

The priciest suite includes a large room with a window, bed, armchair, limousine pick-up, day care, medication administration, a bath and outdoor exercise; staff will cook food guests bring.

Consider some of the frou-frou offered by other pet resorts nationwide: a bone-shaped swimming pool; themed vacation suites; antique furnishings; and retro lofts.

Also, VIP rooms with cast iron beds and “comfortable linens changed daily;” Cape Cod-style cottages; cozy condos, skylights, music therapy, aromatherapy, room service, in-room TV/VCR.

Canines and other pets even have their own national magazines and boutiques.

“The luxury pet market is exploding,” Anderson said.

Are there some hikes in your spring and summer plans? If so, make sure you pack your binoculars and field guide. Extra weight is frowned on when you are deciding what goes in the backpack, but I have a reason for encouraging hikers to carry binos and a book. Anyone going into the high country for several days has a good chance of seeing some interesting birds.

There is another reason to encourage backpackers to carry extra weight. Hikers that get high into the mountains can gather information on this state’s birds. Believe me, all birders aren’t hardy hikers. Many of us never get to those higher elevations if we can’t do most of it in a vehicle.

I wish that when we were backpacking with our children that I had realized what a great birding opportunity was waiting on those trails. The struggle up to Heather Pass or Honeymoon Meadows would have been easier if I had thought I might see something unusual, even important.

A couple of years ago, I was surprised to learn from a biologist with the Department of Fish and Wildlife that there are resident Clark’s nutcrackers high in the Olympics. I thought they were only resident in the Cascades. There is a year-round population in the Olympics. Someone had to discover that the birds are more than occasional winter visitors. Chances are they were hikers familiar with birds.

I recently had the opportunity to meet with a local mountaineering group. Preparing the program opened my eyes to the information this club could collect on the high elevation birds in our mountains.

All of the books and field guides show that mountain chickadees are only found in the mountains to the east. They aren’t listed for the Olympics. Why not? These are mountain chickadees and the Olympics are mountains.

During the latter part of 2004, for whatever reason, mountain chickadees were seen in many areas throughout the Puget Sound lowlands. If they were traveling on the Kitsap Peninsula, why couldn’t they be in the Olympics? Maybe they are. One experienced mountaineer saw a photograph of the bird during the meeting and stated that he had seen “that bird” in the Olympics. He saw them while hiking in the Bailey Range at about 5,000 feet.

Bird populations and their territories change. Up until the early ‘50s, the Western scrub jay only occurred in small numbers in the southwest corner of Washington. In the decades that followed, they began expanding their range northward. Now they are regularly reported on the northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula and have nested north of Seattle.

The Anna’s hummingbird wasn’t even mentioned in the textbook, “Birds of Washington State,” that once was used by ornithological students at the University of Washington. It was published in 1953. This hummingbird is now shown as a year-round resident in Puget Sound, the southwest coast and the lower Columbia River area.

Birding is young in the Pacific Northwest. There are more discoveries to be made and some of those will be found in those mountains only the hardy reach by packing in. If you’re one of them, please add those binos and a field guide to your pack.

If you thought that outsourcing was true of just the IT industry, you need to live a dog’s life to know how not true it is.

Dog owners in Mumbai are fast discovering the comfort of a new phenomenon called “dogsourcing”.

With most dog owners finding it difficult to spend quality time with their pets, “doggie” businesses have been sniffing success bigtime in Mumbai’s suburbs.

One of the aspects of dogsourcing is professional dogwalkers.

Take the case of businessman Karamjit Singh. A Goregaon resident, Singh finds it difficult to spend time with his dog Tuffy like he once did.

“I leave early for office, so I get no time,” he rues.

In walks professional dogwalker Hemant who gives Tuffy the perfect company and that much-needed walk.

“I walk dogs for 40 to 45 minutes in a day,” says Hemant who works for Mumbai’s Royal Art Pet Shop.

One can now engage a professional to walk their dog for anything between Rs 900 to Rs 5,000 a month depending on the breed and quality of services provided.

You can even get your pet groomed in the comfort of your home for Rs 1,000 per sitting. And that’s cheap considering high-end pet care is much more expensive (Rs 10,000-Rs 25,000 per sitting).

So if you don’t mind the money, it’s most certainly a walk on the finer side for your pet

A woman who is six months pregnant and her two young sons escaped injury when a fire broke out yesterday in their South Amboy home, officials said.

The family cat was saved using cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

The fire struck the three-story South Pine Avenue house shortly after 5:30 p.m., city Fire Marshal Ed Szatkowski said.

The mother, whose name and age were not immediately available, was taken to a hospital to be checked out because she is pregnant, the fire marshal said.

Her children, an 11-year-old and his younger brother whose age was not available, were not injured, Szatkowski said. Neither child’s name was released.

The investigation into the fire is continuing, but officials said they suspect it may have been caused by an electrical problem.

Family members told authorities the older brother was called out of his room by his mother, and when he returned, the room was filled with smoke, the fire marshal said.

The mother tried to use a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze, but the equipment did not work. At that time, the family fled the apartment.

Two South Amboy firefighters rescued Oliver, the family’s calico cat, according to Szatkowski. Firefighter Michael Wilday performed CPR, and oxygen was administered. Wilday was assisted by firefighter Chris Norek.

It took some 70 firefighters about 30 minutes to put out the fire, Szatkowski added. The blaze gutted the second floor, and the first and third floors sustained extensive water and smoke damage.

No one besides the mother and her sons was in the house when the fire broke out, Szatkowski said. The family is staying with relatives.