Authorities Looking for Home for Seized Animals Owned by Columbine Killer Wannabe

Article from The Times
Animal control officials want a reptile rescue group to help find a home for seven snakes, a baboon spider and a Pac-Man frog seized from the home of a 16-year-old boy being detained after allegedly planning a Columbine-style attack at Penn High School.

The animals were seized last week after a search of the boy's home in South Bend, where he lives with his uncle. Except for a toad, which had a broken leg and has since died, the animals appeared to be well-cared for and healthy, said Gary Libbey, manager of South Bend Animal Care and Control.

The animals were seized because city code prohibits keeping wild animals in general, and venomous snakes in particular. Two of the snakes are timber rattlesnakes, which are venomous. They also are an endangered species. The other animals include two corn snakes, a king snake and a red-tailed boa constrictor. The Potawatomi Zoo's reptile expert, called in to help, has been unable to identify one snake, Libbey said.

Colossal Squid Thaw to Be Webcast Live

Article from Discovery.com
Marine scientists in New Zealand on Tuesday were thawing the corpse of the largest squid ever caught to try to unlock the secrets of one of the ocean's most mysterious beasts. No one has ever seen a living, grown colossal squid in its natural deep ocean habitat, and scientists hope their examination of the 1,089-pound, 26-foot long colossal squid, set to begin Wednesday, will help determine how the creatures live. The thawing and examination are being broadcast live on the Internet.

The squid, which was caught accidentally by fishermen last year, was removed from its freezer Monday and put into a tank filled with saline solution. Ice was added to the tank Tuesday to slow the thawing process so the outer flesh wouldn't rot, said Carol Diebel, director of natural environment at New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa. The Discovery Channel is producing a new documentary about the squid, in cooperation with the museum.

After it is thawed, scientists will examine the squid's anatomical features, remove the stomach, beak and other mouth parts, take tissue samples for DNA analysis and determine its sex, Diebel said. "If we get ourselves a male it will be the first reported (scientific) description of the male of the species," Steve O'Shea, a squid expert at Auckland's University of Technology, told National Radio. He is one of the scientists conducting the examination.

The squid is believed to be the largest specimen of the rare deep-water species Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, or colossal squid, ever caught, O'Shea has said. Colossal squid, which have long been one of the most mysterious denizens of the deep ocean, can grow up to 46 feet long, descend to 6,500 feet into the ocean and are considered aggressive hunters.

At the time it was caught, O'Shea said it would make calamari rings the size of tractor tires if cut up -- but they would taste like ammonia, a compound found in the animals' flesh. Fishermen off the coast of Antarctica accidentally netted the squid in February, 2007 while catching Patagonian toothfish, which are sold under the name Chilean sea bass.

The previous largest colossal squid ever found was a 660 pound female squid discovered in 2003, the first ever landed. Researchers plan to eventually put the squid on display in a 1,800 gallon tank of formaldehyde at the museum in the capital, Wellington. Colossal squid are found in Antarctic waters and are not related to giant squid found round the coast of New Zealand. Giant squid grow up to 39 feet long, and are not as heavy as colossal squid.

La Gomera Gets New Reptile Species

Article from Tenerife News

Skinks, those small(ish), slithery reptiles halfway between a lizard and a snake, are in the news after a study carried out by Spanish, British and French geneticists decided that the Gomera variety is a species in its own right rather than the sub-species it was previously taken for.

DNA testing has proved conclusively that the Gomeran skink (Chalcides viridanus) is an endemic one-off and it already has a new unscientific name: the Lisa de Salvador, in honour of Alfredo Salvador, investigator in evolutionary ecology at Madrid’s Natural Science Museum, who first noticed their difference and got them categorized as a sub-species back in 1975.

Skinks, or lisas as they are known here, are found in abundance in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, La Gomera and El Hierro and their survival is not under any threat. They are thought to have arrived in Gran Canaria, probably in a floating log or other botanical debris. From Gran Canaria they somehow got to Tenerife, probably by the same method. Then came La Gomera. Their colonization of El Hierro must have been later given that that island is geologically the youngest of the islands in the archipelago.

Rare Reptiles Seized at Sana'a Airport

Article from SabaNews.net
Yemeni authorities have seized 3000 chameleons and 350 lizards at the Sana'a airport planned to be smuggled to abroad, the al-Thawra Daily has said. The rare reptiles that only live in Yemen, were put within banana products that would have been exported via the airport.

The paper said an Arab citizen along with a Yemeni collected the chameleons and lizards from three provinces in Yemen to smuggle them and sell them in other countries. The two persons were arrested and referred to prosecution and the reptiles were handed over to the Authority for Environment Protection and the Sana'a Zoo.

Alligator Wants to Become a Pet

Article by Ted Moore / eNews20.com

Apparently cats, dogs and parrots are not the only ones who have the right to benefit from a cozy home. Who says that alligators must not walk around a house? Maybe that’s what the 8-foot, 8-inch alligator weighing about 230 pounds was thinking when it entered Sandie Frosti’s house near Oldsmar.

The reptile was seen by Frosti walking around her kitchen. At first, she thought she was hallucinating, but after taking a second look she realized that her house was invaded by an enormous alligator. She immediately locked herself in her bedroom and called 911. As it was obvious, the operator also thought that this couldn’t be true and asked Frosti whether she was sure that the reptile was not an iguana.

"The lady thought I was crazy," Frosti said. Twenty minutes later, the sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene and saw the dark green alligator. It was only after about one hour that the animal trapper from Animal Capture came. It was quite hard to catch the alligator that had knocked over a few things in the 12-by-8-foot kitchen, including the cover to the garbage compactor and a heavy plate that fell from a counter and apparently left the creature injured and bleeding. Fortunately, nobody was injured.

Sandie realized that something was fishy after hearing some scratches from somewhere near the kitchen. "I thought that scratching sound was much too loud to be my cat," Frosti said. When she went in the kitchen she saw the alligator’s head. Apparently, the reptile broke through a porch screen, crossed about 10 feet to the open door and entered the house. It traipsed across the living room, through the dining room and into the kitchen. "The police told me it may have been interested in my cat," Frosti said. For a while Sandie didn’t even know whether her cat, Poe was all right or not. Finally, while waiting outside for the trapper to arrive, Frosti saw Poe hop on a piece of furniture in the living room.

OR Tambo Reptiles to go Home

Article from iAfrica.com
Surviving reptiles from Madagascar that were found in three crates at OR Tambo airport in March, will be released back into the wild on the island, the NSPCA said on Tuesday. National Inspector Alistair Sinclair said the NSPCA, Johannesburg Zoo and the Madagascar Embassy had met to plan the release of about 450 reptiles.

The animals were still being tested for diseases, in order not to endanger the island's indigenous fauna and flora. Once all arrangements were made, the reptiles would be transported back to the island under supervision of a Joburg Zoo veterinarian and a NSPCA representative, said Sinclair. He hoped the transport would take place within a month. "The care for the animals costs us about R5000 a week. It is straining our funds," he said, adding that "every lizard is our responsibility".

Charges against the owners of the crates in which the animals were found have been laid by the Madagascar Embassy. The NSPCA has laid charges against the warehousing agency where the crates, destined for the Czech Republic, stood.

The crates were left unattended for five to six days before the NSPCA was informed of their existence and the animals were transported to Joburg Zoo. Two other crates containing reptiles had been in the warehouse for 12 to 14 days before they were returned to Madagascar - because the transporting agent had not paid the duties.

Road Kill Losses Add Up, Taxing Amphibians And Other Animals

When frogs hit the road, many croak. Researchers found more than 65 animal species killed along a short stretch of roads in a Midwestern county. Nearly 95 percent of the total dead were frogs and other amphibians, suggesting that road-related death, or road-kill, possibly contributes to their worldwide decline, a trend that has concerned and puzzled scientists for decades.

The Purdue University study found that habitat along roadsides heavily influences road-kill. More than 75 percent of the carcasses originated alongside a one-mile stretch of road that traverses a wildlife-friendly wetland known as Celery Bog in West Lafayette, Indiana. "On hot summer nights when it rains, there are literally thousands of frogs out there," said Andrew DeWoody, a Purdue researcher who led the study in Tippecanoe County, home to the university.

During the 17-month study, researchers found 10,500 dead animals along 11 miles of roads. Of those, 7,600 were frogs of unidentifiable species and another 1,700 were bullfrogs, said DeWoody, an associate professor of forestry and natural resources. "In addition to indirect costs of habitat fragmentation, roads have direct costs in terms of animals' lives," he said. Several steps can be taken to help reduce road-kill, said Dave Glista, study co-author and a Purdue master's graduate who began the study as part of his since-completed thesis measuring roads' environmental impact. For one, development planning should take into account an area's wildlife value. Second, structures to mitigate, limit and prevent road-kill should be explored whenever possible, he said. Options include underpasses, viaducts and overpasses to allow wildlife safe passage, and special fences to keep animals off roads.

"We need to avoid, minimize and mitigate," said Glista, now a scientist with the Indiana Department of Transportation. "As a biologist, I do think we should avoid building roads in wetlands and other wildlife-rich areas. Mitigation structures are worth the cost, as is any measure we can take to minimize our impact on the overall environment." Scientists estimate that one-third of amphibian species are threatened, and hundreds of species have gone extinct in the past two decades alone.

Road-kill adds to numerous factors already implicated in amphibian declines, DeWoody said. These include habitat loss and degradation, disease, pollution, competition from introduced exotic species, and threats posed by climate change. Frogs, toads and salamanders are all amphibians, a class of four-legged animals known for their moist, scale-free skin. Most species begin life as gilled, water-dwelling creatures before undergoing a dramatic metamorphosis to become four-legged, air-breathing adults, walking or hopping about on land. They serve vital roles in many ecosystems, as consumers of various animals like insects and as a food source for carnivores. To maintain healthy ecosystems, it is vital to limit amphibian losses, DeWoody said.

The study, published online in the latest issue of the journal Herpetological Conservation and Biology, significantly underestimated the number of animals killed because many specimens were scavenged, degraded beyond recognition or moved, DeWoody said. About five times more animals died than could be recorded, he estimated. The dead included 142 road-killed eastern tiger salamanders, a finding DeWoody said was troubling. "The absolute number might not look that large, but most of these individuals were mature, up to 10 years old," DeWoody said. "Many of them were gravid, or females bearing eggs on an annual trip to breeding grounds where they often lay 500 to 1,000 eggs. This could make a potentially big difference for the population." Researchers also found 74 dead northern leopard frogs, a species of special conservation concern in Indiana.

To survive, most amphibians require habitats with running or standing fresh water, in which they lay eggs and begin life. This makes them vulnerable to water pollution and land-use changes like drainage or waterway disruption. Habitats like wetlands and rainforests are in decline worldwide, DeWoody said.

Adapted from materials provided by Purdue University.
Purdue University (2008, April 21). Road Kill Losses Add Up, Taxing Amphibians And Other Animals. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 21, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/04/080416151943.htm