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 State Journal-Register in Springfield, Illinois
Article written my Mr Chris Young

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.”