Jango, a Belgian Malinois, and Rocky, a German shepherd, have stood up to armed criminals for years with no protection.

Until now.

A ninth-grader from Shaler has raised $5,000 to purchase bulletproof vests for the two pooches, as well as for two other trained dogs that work for the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office.

“This is important. If a police dog is shot, it’s like a police officer losing a partner,” said Amanda Platt, 15, who attends Shaler Area Intermediate School.

Amanda began raising money three years ago. She has helped buy $825 vests for six police dogs, including dogs in Ross and Franklin Park. The sheriff’s dogs received their vests last month.

“She is a very determined young lady who cares a lot about dogs. We are very grateful,” said Acting Sheriff William Mullen, who presented Amanda with a plaque Wednesday. “We struggle with the budget, so this is a great help.”

Amanda isn’t finished. She wants to buy vests for the six Allegheny County Police dogs.

She was inspired to raise money for the vests when she read “Chicken Soup for the Pre-Teen Soul,” a book of stories about youths that included an account of how a California girl, Stephanie Taylor, raised money for police dog vests.

“I have had a dog every year of my life, so I liked this girl’s idea,” Amanda said.

Her mother, Donna Platt, said Amanda has a soft spot for dogs.

“She always cried when dogs were hurt in movies. She still does,” Donna Platt said.

To raise the money, Amanda asked classmates for small contributions and contacted businesses with fliers and letters. She sometimes was surprised by generous replies. Duquesne Light Co., for example, donated $1,000.

“We expected maybe a couple hundred dollars,” Amanda said.

Bob Chambers, a K-9 police officer with the sheriff’s office, said he’s thrilled to have the vests.

“My dogs go into felony arrest warrants with no protection. People often have all kinds of weapons in these situations,” Chambers said.

None of the sheriff’s dogs has been killed in the line of duty. But in September, a Polk County Sheriff’s deputy and his canine partner were killed.

“These dogs are my best friends. They are like my children,” Chambers said.

A little aquatic bird without name has piqued the A. MUSTAFFA BABJEE, so he has turned two years of and recording into a documentary for nature lovers.

WHAT partly inspired me to devote two years of study on a little aquatic bird was that it had no Malay name.

My journey took me to villages close to habitats where wild aquatic birds could be found and I learnt from the villagers the local name of this bird — Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis).

The majority of the villagers said it is the chick, or young one of the “Belibis” or Whistling Teal (Dendrocynia javanica).

The rest said they have not seen or noticed the Little Grebe. One of the reasons that they thought the Grebe is the progeny of the Belibis is because these two totally unrelated species share the same habitat and the Little Grebe (25cm) is almost half the size of the Belibis (41cm).

The other reason is probably due to my theory that the Grebe is a recent introduction to peninsular Malaysia, migrating from Bengal east and southwards in the early 20th century. Abandoned tin mines exposed to the forces of nature became suitable habitats to attract the Little Grebe and a number of other species.

The Grebes, as a group, are very unique as they have no close relatives that share their characteristics. The ancestors of the Grebes diverged from the main stream of bird evolution at least more than 55 million years ago.

At a distance, the Little Grebe appears like a little duck but on closer examination, it has a pointed bill, is almost tailless and does not have webbed feet like ducks.

Each toe has an independent leaf-like paddle.

The Little Grebe is mostly seen singly or in pairs in former mining pools, especially in the Klang Valley, Paya Indah Wetlands and Batang Berjuntai in Selangor, Malim Nawar and Kinta Valley in Perak and also in shallow artificial lakes like Timah Tasoh in Perlis. It has not been seen east of the central range of the peninsula or in Sabah and Sarawak.

This little aquatic bird is an excellent swimmer and diver. In fact, it dives some 600 to 1,000 times a day in search of food or plant materials for nest-building. It feeds mainly on aquatic insects and larvae, fish and frogs.

The relationships of mature pairs are exemplary as they share all the chores of house-keeping and parental care of the young till they fledge. Sex equality was there 55 million years ago.

I have proposed a Malay name for this bird — “Taktik” — which is an abbreviation of bukan itik (not a duck).

And because their life-cycle is so interesting, my colleague Dr Yusoff Noor, my son Shamyl and yours truly have made a 30-minute documentary of this bird entitled “The Little Diver”, which we hope will be shown on TV one day.

Two years of observation and recording compressed into 30 minutes should be exciting for nature lovers.

Back to the wildlife IN the 1990s, Dr A. Mustaffa Babjee contributed articles on fauna and flora with photo illustrations to the Environment column of the New Straits Times Group. His hiatus from writing is not because he had abandoned his pursuit and passion for nature conservation. On the contrary, he is even more active studying and recording our depleting wildlife on digital video to produce a series of documentaries on the country’s rich biodiversity. Having scaled down his corporate activities, he has more time now to devote to his serious hobby of nature watching.

“At the moment, I am recording the free living wildlife in their natural habitats or man-made ones that have become habitats by primary succession, viz former mining pools, abandoned fish ponds.

“At the rate natural habitats are being destroyed, I fear it would become more and more difficult to encounter wildlife that may appear relatively common today.

“In today’s world, the audio-visual media has the greatest impact on the masses, especially through the TV and the Internet. My documentary will be natural with minimum special effects and unnatural sounds,” says Mustaffa.

With his friend Dr Yusoff Noor, another nature lover, they roam the rural and wild places in Malaysia — wetlands, rivers, hills and islands — to watch and record the fascinating lives of wild birds, insects, plants and animals.

“If you don’t have the patience and the passion, it would be quite impossible to document the life-cycle of a bird or any wildlife. To get one minute of acceptable video footage could mean eight hours of waiting or even five to eight different visits to the location,” says Mustaffa.

“For example, we have been watching the behaviour of Grebes for two years now and we still do not know all their secrets. Often, the subjects disappear from the location due to human intrusion.” On the future of our environment, Mustaffa says: “We have no political leaders who are passionate about conservation.

We also lack public officials who care for the environment.

Most of them equate conservation to anti-development.

“They won’t and some cannot comprehend the economic values and benefits that conservation can contribute to the entire nation beyond the five years of political tenure.

“The sad thing is that by the time this county realised and recognised the economic and social values of conservation, there will be little left to conserve and a big bill for the future generation to foot for a livable environment.”

Animal control officers are trying to figure out why at least 19 domestic rabbits were living and breeding, unattended, in an aviary off White Road this week.

The rabbits were found Thursday at a rural Emerald City Way property, injured and malnourished alongside a pair of nesting geese, pigeons, doves and about 30 chickens, after a tip, according to Todd Stosuy of the county Animal Services Authority.

Two Rabbit Haven volunteers hopped to the task of rescuing 14 rabbits — a probably pregnant mother rabbit, her litter of day-old brood, four month-old bunnies and four male adults — from the enclosure Thursday.

“Each one we took out was worse than the one before, but the babies were cute as buttons,” Rabbit Haven volunteer Sherri Lynch said.

Animal control officers opened an investigation Friday into the bunnies’ care and who was responsible for them.

Animal neglect is a misdemeanor punishable by fines and a County Jail sentence.

Officers were alerted to the ailing rabbits a week ago when a woman living at the property brought in an injured bunny that was later euthanized, Stosuy said.

An animal control officer visited the site Monday and found rabbits living in burrows dug into the aviary’s dirt floor.

On Thursday, Rabbit Haven volunteers found two dead rabbits — an adult female and a four-week old — inside the 800-square-foot enclosure.

“The timing was good and bad,” Lynch said. “We got the babies out, but we didn’t get there in time to save the other adult”

Stosuy said they were lucky there weren’t more rabbits in the aviary.

Rabbits breed every 28 days and can have litters as large as 12, according to Heather Bechtel, director of Scotts Valley-based Rabbit Haven. The mother rabbit, a little chocolate-brown lop, had given birth to a litter of seven earlier this week and was probably already pregnant again, she said.

The adult males fought one another to breed with her, Lynch said. One had a serious eye injury and another had the top half-inch of his ears chewed off, she said.

“All the adults are covered in wounds, top to bottom,” Lynch said. “They battled”

In addition, the rabbits had not been properly fed, could only get water from a koi pond and were covered in bird feces from their feathered roommates roosting above.

“Our priority now is to get these guys medical care and get them into foster homes where there’s time and quiet and patience,” Lynch said. “I’ve seen hand-shy rabbits come around and become snuggle-bugs”

The bunnies were distributed to some of the 60 foster families Rabbit Haven uses to rehabilitate and socialize rescued rabbits.

The organization, started in 1987, puts rescued bunnies up for adoption and also offers classes about rabbit care in Scotts Valley and Watsonville.

“If we can help these bunnies heal, they’ll find homes,” she said.

If you have ever taken a photograph of a wild bird, the chances are about 99 percent that you have been frustrated.

Birds are difficult to photograph – extremely difficult most of the time. Just for starters, they seldom stay in one spot for more than a few seconds. And they are wary about letting humans get anywhere near them.

But birds can be photographed.

Charles Mills of Ashdown is one of Arkansas’ more accomplished bird photographers, and the hobby goes along well with his birding, his knowledge of all sorts of resident and migrant, seasonal and year-round Arkansas birds.

“The first thing you need in photographing birds is patience,” Mills said. “They don’t pose for you. Birds and wildlife in general have a tendency to bolt before you can shoot.”

Mills’ photographs have become commonplace on the annual Arkansas Wildlife calendar published by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. This takes professional-grade wildlife photographic work.

For the beginner, the nature enthusiast who wants to take bird photos, the first requirement is a camera, of course. Right away, forget the low-priced point-and-shoot cameras, whether digital or film. These won’t do.

Bird photography requires telephoto lenses, “long” lenses in the vernacular of photographers.

“You need a minimum of a 300-millimeter lens for birds. A 400 is better, but 300s are a lot more common and a lot more affordable,” Mills said. He is referring to single lens reflect cameras with interchangeable lenses.

Many amateur bird photographers begin by shooting photos around their homes – the backyard birds that may be common, and that’s an advantage. “One thing you will learn is when you are working a bird and it gets antsy, stop. Stay still. The bird may settle back down,” Mills said.

Approaching a bird on foot is difficult, as the creatures are highly aware, alert and on guard against threats. A human is a threat. Many bird photographs are made from vehicles, and camera mounts that clamp to windows are available for steadier shooting. The telephoto or long lenses are difficult to work by holding them in hand. A mount or a tripod is virtually a necessity. Sometimes, bracing the camera against a wall, tree or fence post will suffice. Keeping low is another necessity, Mills said.

Mills uses blinds of several types. Some are simply camouflaging drapes over the head and body of the photographer. Others are tent types with room inside for a stool and even for more than one person.

“When you are trying to approach a bird, a meandering route is better than walking straight toward the bird,” Mills said. “I have been told that approaching from the water is best for shorebirds and others close to water.”

Early morning and late afternoon are much better for photographing birds than the middle of the day with the sun overhead, Mills said. A low sun, either rising or setting, provides more favorable light and birds are more active these times of the day.

“I am a strong believer in what John Shaw, a prominent nature photographer and naturalist, said. You need to know what your subject is going to do. Sometimes, though, it is just being lucky that produces a good bird photograph. You can reduce the variables by planning, too,” Mills said.

“Feeders in your yard attract birds for photographing, but I like to pick a perch near the feeder and wait for a bird, not shoot the bird when it’s on the feeder.”

Mills is a career employee with the U.S. Postal Service. He is the postmaster at Ogden, a few miles south of Ashdown in Little River County.

“When I was 17, I read a National Geographic (magazine) that had an article and photos by Frederick Ken Truslow of a pair of nesting swallow-tail kites,” Mills said. “That hooked me. I went out and bought a Mamiya camera with a tele-converter, and my first pictures were of a bluebird. All I got was a tiny little image of the bird in the film frame. I had to do better than that.”

He added, “I have gotten into (photographing) dragonflies along with birds now. I hope people enjoy my pictures. I want people to understand about these things we have. Education is the key. My dad taught me to educate yourself so you can educate others.”

One thing I enjoy about working at Wild Birds Unlimited is playing bird detective – attempting to help people identify the birds in their yards. Usually, they describe what they are seeing, and I ask lots of questions.

“Was it smaller than a crow, bigger than a breadbox? Did it have wing bars? What shape was the beak? ”

Considering their descriptions, I pull out our much-worn shop copy of David Sibley’s “Birds of North America” and turn to a variety of pages. “Did it look like this? What about this?”

Then along comes spring, with its symphony of bird song. About the only thing more challenging than identifying a bird based on a description of its appearance is making an ID based on the description of a call.

Recently, a customer came in puzzled by a bird that was singing incessantly in her back yard. She recounted its serenade as sounding like “pretty-bird, pretty-bird” followed by a short trill.

I grabbed the “Identiflyer,” a small machine with 10 buttons that uses interchangeable cards, each containing 10 birds. I began playing the calls of some of the most common backyard birds.

“Teakettle, teakettle, teakettle” the tiny Carolina wren intoned.

“No,” she said. “That wasn’t it.”

“Purdy, purdy, purdy… what cheer, cheer cheer,” chirped the Northern cardinal.

She shook her head “no.”

“Drink your teeeeeea, drink your teeeeeea, ” trilled the Eastern towhee.

Again she shook her head.

Finally, I changed to the “Forest Edge” card and pressed the button for a familiar friend, our Georgia state bird. As she listened to the burry couplets, her puzzlement turned to delight.

“That’s him … can’t you hear it? ‘pretty bird, pretty bird,’ ” and then that sort of trill.”

I advised her to search the nearby treetops for Mr. Brown Thrasher. When spring arrives, he abandons his usual pursuit – searching for worms in the leaf litter – in favor of claiming a territory and wooing a mate.

Each spring, as the morning symphony increases in volume and complexity, I am grateful for the hours spent listening to the Peterson “Birding by Ear” tapes, mostly while driving around town.

Just as a connoisseur of orchestral music can pick out the distinct sounds of violin, viola, flute, oboe, trombone or snare drum, I have trained my ear to distinguish the individual voices of spring’s feathered choir.

Perhaps easiest to pick out are the birds with a call that sort of matches their name.

The lilting “chick-a-dee-dee-dee, chick-a-dee-dee-dee,” lets me know that the tiny Carolina chickadee with his black cap and white cheek patch is in the neighborhood. Assuming the role of the brass section, five or six blue jays blare out “jay, jay, jay.” And in the dark before dawn, one of my favorite spring visitors jars the night with his ringing “chuck-will’s widow, chuck-will’s widow.”

Some birds opt for simplicity, relying on looks rather than voice, to attract their mates. Any day now I expect to hear a sharp “weeep, weeep,” or an unmelodic “skeow,” announcing that the great crested flycatchers and the green herons are back in town.

The glowingly yellow pine warbler is one of a handful of birds that sings year-round. However, when spring arrives, it seems that his evenly pitched musical trill rings out from the top of each and every pine tree.

The American robin goes in for musical theater, contributing a sing-song “tweedle-dum, tweedle-dee,” as well as a harsher, staccato descending whinny.

The vireos are also sing-songers. They come in an assortment of colorful flavors (blue-headed, red-eyed, yellow-throated) and boast slower, slightly whiny calls that can be likened to “here I am, where are you?”

The tiny ruby crowned kinglet attempts to make up for his small size with impressive vocal dexterity. He begins his serenade with several high pitched “zeet, zeet, zeet” notes, followed by a complex tumbling torrent of song. For visual emphasis, he raises and fluffs his ruby crown.

Purple martins and American goldfinches also seem to delight in complexity, sending up a bubbling chatter of chirps, whistles and trills.

And for percussion, there is the loud drumming of the red-bellied woodpecker, interspersed with the squawks of boat-tailed grackles, and descending grunts of the clapper rails.

No offense to Click and Clack, but they can have “Car Talk.” I’ll take “Bird Talk” any day, but most especially in the spring.

A boy who suffers from a rare illness which stunts his growth has shot up two inches – with the help of hamsters.

A pioneering treatment using the rodent’s enzymes has given Oliver Moody his life back, according to his parents.

As well as the growth spurt, the 12-year- old’s organs are being cleansed of the deadly toxins they once held.

And in a rather pleasant sideeffect, the injection of a little hamster has made his hair much softer.

“It is absolutely amazing,” said his father Paul. “Who would have thought a little creature like a hamster could help to give my son his life back. It’s every parent’s dream.”

At the age of four, Oliver was diagnosed with the genetic disorder mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) VI.

This means he is missing a vital enzyme which breaks down harmful chemicals in the body.

Without it, the toxins collect in vital organs, potentially starving them of oxygen.

Sufferers usually have severe problems with their bones, too, and most stop growing before their teens.

Until now, there was no way to treat the condition. But this method, developed by an American company, appears to relieve the symptoms.

The enzyme that Oliver lacks is extracted from Chinese hamsters, genetically modified and encased in vials. The solution is given to the patient through a drip.

At an estimated £300,000 a year, it does not come cheap, and has to be approved by the Government, rather than an NHS trust. Only seven others are using it in the UK.

But Mr Moody, 48, and his wife Dawn, 44, from Leeds, were determined to give their son a chance.

Before beginning the treatment last May, Oliver was around 3ft 10in tall, and had not grown in two years.

Mr Moody, a company director, said: “The increase in his height was the best thing for Oliver because he really wanted to be a bit bigger.

“But we also know that his organs are improving, too. Before, his liver and kidneys and the area around them were swollen and his tummy had a sort of bulbous look.

“Soon after though, we could tell he was getting better because his tummy went flat. We can see he is getting better – there are little things like his hair was really coarse but then a few weeks after he started treatment it started getting softer.

“We are over the moon, absolutely delighted.’

Oliver, who has a brother Elliot, 15, and sister Emily, eight, receives the hamster extract once a week at home.

“A nurse comes and administers the treatment. It takes four hours so he plays on his computer or watches TV.

“He’s delighted because he gets an afternoon off school. But for us it is just amazing.

“Nothing could compare to getting this treatment for our son – it’s better than winning the lottery.”