HERP
NEWS 028/2010
THE
STAR
(Toronto, Ontario) 28 January 10 Cane Toads: The Conquest (Peter Howell)
Park City, Utah: "Welcome to Cane Toads: The Conquest –
or what has been dubbed more recently, Avatoad."
That was Aussie
documentarian Mark Lewis speaking Wednesday morning at the Eccles Theatre
screening of his new film, a sort of Michael Moore meets Monty Python exposé
that everybody here was hopping to.
He wasn't exaggerating one
bit. Those crazy cane toads are back: bigger, badder and now larger than life
in Dolby 3-D.
Lewis returns to the scene
of the slime with a sequel to Cane Toads: An Unnatural History, his 1988 short
doc that became an unlikely cult hit.
The feature-length Cane
Toads: The Conquest, world premiering at Sundance 2010, continues the epic saga
of how the well-meaning decision to import 102 Puerto Rican toads to Australia
in 1935 to combat sugar cane beetles became an ecological disaster of monstrous
proportions.
Facing none of the
predators or illnesses that kept them in check elsewhere in the world, those
original 102 toads brought to the northeastern state of Queensland have
multiplied into a squirming army that now tops 1.5 billion.
They've left a trail of
devastation in their wake, mostly the dead bodies of native species such as
crocodiles, dogs and cats. The animals die from eating the toads, which exude a
highly toxic poison through their glands.
Some animals survive the
poison only to become addicted to it. We meet a mutt named Dobby who regularly
licks toads in his garden, because it gives him a high similar to an LSD trip.
The cane toad army is
constantly on the march, spreading westward across Australia at a pace that can
reach one kilometre per day. The toads now occupy one million square kilometres
of land. Nothing humans have tried can stop the toads from breeding (females
lay between 30,000 to 40,000 eggs twice yearly) or from roaming.
Those unflappable Aussies
have certainly taken their best shots. Lewis humorously documents the many
attempts made to stem the toad tide, ranging from electric fences (they climb
right through), to whacking them with cricket bats and golf clubs to squishing
them by driving over them with cars.
"Practice makes
perfect," says one of the many citizen "toadbusters" seen in the
film.
The toad carnage is immense
onscreen, and quite vivid in 3-D.
But Lewis insists he
wasn't fibbing with the "no animals were harmed in the making of this
film" notice that appears in the end credits. He actually loves the little
critters, and used rubber toads and digital trickery in all the bashing scenes.
"This film is a
celebration of the cane toad," Lewis said at the Q&A following the
screening.
"The cane toad is my
friend. I brake for cane toads."
While he acknowledges that
the cane toad situation is bad and getting worse in Australia, it's more of a
nuisance than a threat to humans and native Aussie wildlife.
The advancing
"Olympian toads" do cause mammoth destruction when they first enter
an area, but the local wildlife soon learns to avoid eating them. Humans also adapt:
one man has created a mobile toad museum, showing stuffed toads in bizarre
nightclub and soccer stadium poses.
Here's the kicker: the
toads don't eat the bugs they were brought to control.
The cane beetle was too
high up in the sugar cane for the toads to reach. The beetles could only be
controlled by pesticides and are now becoming a problem again.
It makes for a hilarious
and instructive movie.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/sundance/article/756838--cane-toads-the-conquest?
CAIRNS
POST
(Australia) 28 January 10 Cut snake on mend as friend tucks into toy
(Ben Bomfield)
One made a feast of a
dog's toy bunny, while the other was fighting a losing battle to ensure its
meals stayed swallowed.
Airport Veterinary Surgery
on Sheridan St is caring for two snakes with two of the most bizarre meal-time
stories.
A Dimbulah farmer recently
brought in a carpet snake with a large slice along its body starting from its
jaw: the wound would not allow the serpent to keep meals down as they exited
from the cut after being eaten.
The farmer said he had
saved a wild rabbit from his two pet dogs earlier this month only to find the
animal being consumed by the snake not long after.
In a bizarre scene, the
farmer saw the rabbit’s ears protruding from the wound in the snake’s body just
as its feet were disappearing into the snake’s mouth.
The rabbit, though crushed
to death in the attack, eventually fully re-emerged from the wound.
Airport Veterinary Surgery
vet Carol Esson said the snake’s jugular could be seen from the cut, which she
believes was made from contact with a wire fence.
"It’s quite
incredible that its meals were actually going in one end and straight out the
other," she said.
The snake has been
stitched up and will be released soon.
In another strange snake
story, a 2.5m scrub python was brought into the surgery on Monday with a
squeaky toy bunny in its belly.
A Redlynch woman woke to
find her pet dog barking at something under her bed.
When she got up to
investigate, she stood on the snake before hitting the lights.
She then saw the snake
eating her dog’s squeaky toy bunny, which is made of foam and fake fur and is
about the size of a guinea pig.
"The snake was real
skinny and desperate for a feed," said David Walton, the owner of Cairns
Snake Removals, who was called to catch the reptile.
"I’ve seen them eat
cats, carrots, dogs and guinea pigs but never a stuffed toy animal."
Ms Esson said the snake
probably detected the dog’s saliva and thought the toy was a real meal.
The snake will receive fluids
and remain under observation. Vets will surgically remove the toy bunny if it
doesn’t digest the item in the next week.
Meanwhile, Cairns hobby
snake removalist Brian James caught a serpent at Babinda on Tuesday night after
the animal had been feasting on a family’s chook pen for a month.
The snake had been eating
one chicken a week from the pen before it was caught.
http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2010/01/28/90115_local-news.html
FIJI
TIMES
(Suva) 28 January 10 Reptile fears humans (Theresa Ralogaivau)
A reptile that has stirred
alarm on Taveuni and Qamea is scared of humans, according to the Department of
Agriculture.
The creature has been
identified as the Green Iguana of the Iguana
Iguana species, which is a new species in Fiji.
Fact-finding mission head
Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Robin Archari said the iguana was a herbivore that
fled from humans, contrary to reports from the islands.
The department is urging
people keeping the creature as pets to surrender them," Dr Chari said.
"We have reports that
some iguanas are being kept in Nadi.
We're concerned they could
be carrying pathogens that could threaten indigenous species."
Dr Archari confirmed the
iguanas were smuggled into Fiji in 2000 by a foreigner who owned a property on
Qamea.
He also rejected reports
the iguana was threatening the islanders' food source by eating crabs and fish.
"It's actually scared
of humans. All these reports are false because this is a herbivore that
consumes mangrove leaves and bark and occasionally eats insects," he said.
"The iguana was
introduced by this foreigner who constructed ponds with the intention of
breeding more. He brought in two iguanas and they've multiplied to about
1000."
Dr Archari said the
creature only took to the sea to escape from humans.
""We interviewed
the caretaker of the property of the person who introduced it in Fiji and he
has been living with the iguanas without any harm to himself for many years.
"It did not swim to
Taveuni."
The iguana discovered by
Lovonivonu villagers escaped the custody of a passenger on an inter island
ferry that was about to leave Waiyevo for Vanua Levu.
As a herbivore, the Green
Iguana also eats dalo leaves.
"We have had reports
that it has damaged the vegetable farms of some but we are trying to determine
the truth behind this and whether it is a threat to the natural flora and
fauna," he said.
Further trials will be
carried out on three iguanas at the Koronivia Research Station before a
decision is made about its future.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=138526
HINDUSTAN
TIMES
(New Delhi, India) 28 January 10 1,000 endangered turtles found dead in
Orissa beach
Bhubaneswar: At least 1,000 endangered Olive Ridley
turtles have been found dead in an Orissa beach since November, a senior state wildlife
official said on Wednesday.
The carcasses were spotted
at various places between the mouths of the Devi and Dhamra rivers under
Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, one of the world's largest turtle nesting sites,
in Kendrapada district, 174 km from Bhubaneswar.
"We have spotted the
carcasses of at least 1,000 turtles this winter. Some of them were spotted this
week," Divisional Forest Officer P.K. Behera told IANS.
Around this time last
year, the total carcasses of turtles found on the same beach were about 2,000,
he said.
The turtle mortality has
come down this year due to various protection measures the government has
initiated, he said.
Citing the measures,
Behera said government has set up several camps near the coast and deployed
dozens of officials to keep vigil.
The turtles arrive and
congregate in the shallow coastal waters in October, they nest between December
and March, and most hatchlings emerge by May.
Thousands of turtles have
already arrived for mating. Behera said forest officials have already spotted
the turtles in the sea water. They are likely to climb ashore for mass nesting
in February, he said. About 700,000-800,000 endangered Olive Ridley turtles
nest every winter at this site.
NORTHERN
TERRITORY NEWS (Darwin, Australia) 28 January 10 Toad
eating won't help, says boffin
A proposal to export cane
toads to China would do little to cut the destructive pest's population, an
expert says.
Professor Ross Alford of
James Cook University says Australia's cane toad population is estimated to be
in the hundreds of millions.
Trapping large numbers
would be time consuming and costly, he says.
However, Prof Alford
supports the proposal - reported in the NT News yesterday - by Charleville meat
processor John Burey to establish an export industry to China, where the
species is prized for its medicinal values and, in some parts, as food.
"I think all up it
probably wouldn't have an impact on the problem but if we can turn it into an
export industry that would be one slight plus we're getting from cane
toads," he says.
But he added: "Can
you imagine how many traps you would need? We would probably have to put the
entire population of Australia to work on it for a year."
http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2010/01/28/119101_ntnews.html?
NORTHERN
TERRITORY NEWS (Darwin, Australia) 27 January 10 Hop
into tasty tucker (Annie Sanson)
Australia's most hated animal
could soon end up in gourmet restaurants, served up on a plate as "fine
food".
Queensland meat processor
John Burey was looking for a sustainable use for the cane toads "to get
rid of the uncontrollable pest", when he came across the idea of processing
them for their meat.
"There are more and
more cane toads in Australia - collecting them and processing them for their
meat and their skin might be a way to get things under control," he said.
The Charleville-based food
processor said exporting Australian cane toad meat to China could help the
country to get rid of a population believed to have exceeded more than 200
million - and the unwanted toads might make their way onto plates in gourmet
restaurants.
"I had frogs' legs in
France where they are a delicacy, and I guess cane toad legs are pretty
similar.
"They are quite
popular in China - maybe we should set up a cane toad restaurant here and give
Australians the chance to eat their own way through the pest."
Mr Burey told the Northern
Territory News his idea was to set up cane toad collection centres and
drop-off places for toads, before processing them and sending the meat
overseas.
"It's like collecting
aluminium cans - you bring them in and get money per can or per kilo.
"We could do the same
with cane toads."
Mr Burey said he was also
hoping to export the unwanted animals to China for their medicinal qualities.
"Cane toad poison has
been used in China as a heart stimulant and an expectorant and in
painkillers," he said.
The meat processor told
the NT News he knew of the amount of toads in the Northern Territory and
had already been in contact with FrogWatch coordinator Graeme Sawyer.
"I spoke to him about
setting up collection centres in the Territory, and he was very interested in
the idea," Mr Burey said.
Last year a Melbourne
fashionista created a woman's high heel from cane toad leather in an attempt to
turn the pest into "something beautiful and useful".
http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2010/01/27/118591_lifestyle.html
AUSTRALIAN
BROADCASTING CORPORATION 27 January 10
Former exporter canes China toad
plan (Amy Simmons)
A former cane toad skin
exporter says a Queensland man who is trying to sell the hated, poisonous pest
to China will not have much luck.
Queensland meat processor
John Burey is travelling to China next month to negotiate a deal to export cane
toads for food and traditional Chinese medicine.
But Canberra man James
Terpstra, who says he knows more about cane toads than anyone else in
Australia, tried to do the same thing 30 years ago and failed.
Mr Terpstra says in the
1970s he sold more than 60,000 cane toad skins to New York for boots, but was
unable to export the pest's venom to Japan and China.
"We did cane toads
for about three or four years, tried to get them off the market, to turn them
into everything that we could and it just sort of fell into a hole," he
said.
"The cane toads that
are in Australia, the bufo marinus, they're a totally different species to what
China were interested in.
"We were milking the venom
over here and sending it over there... but being the wrong type of toad meant
they were unsuccessful in exporting to China and Japan."
Mr Terpstra says he
travelled to China to attend a trade fair and sent venom samples to Japan, but
both deals still fell through.
"I had an export
market development grants act, I had this guy milking cane toad venom for me, I
had permission from the Australian government to turn around and export them,
but Beijing knocked it on its head," he said.
"We had the wrong
type of toad. The ones they were interested in were called bufo
gargarizans."
While Mr Terpstra only
ever tried exporting cane toad venom, he believes Mr Burey's efforts to sell
the pest for human consumption will also fail.
"I think he's barking
up the wrong tree. They eat puffer fish so he might be all right... but the
human consumption of our cane toads would kill them," he said.
"Good luck to them
but I don't think that it's going to work. It's very very difficult."
Mr Burey says if his deal
does go ahead it could be a solution to Queensland's biggest pest problem, but
Mr Terpstra disagrees.
"It's rubbish,
absolute garbage," he said.
Earlier today, Professor
Ross Alford from James Cook University said he supported the idea to export the
pest to China but agreed it would not have a big impact on the animal's numbers
in Queensland.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/27/2802933.htm?
DECCAN
HERALD
(Bangalore, India) 27 January 10 Snakes for lunch, dinner and more (Sanjay
Pandey)
Lucknow (DHNS): A common man may dread the sight of a
poisonous snake. But a poor man in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district eats the
raw meat of live snakes as if it were a delicacy.
Forty-year-old Nanhu, a
servant at the former princely estate of Suraicha in Sitapur district, about 60
km from here, has so far eaten hundreds of snakes.
“The mere sight of snakes
increases my appetite...people immediately inform me whenever they spot a
snake,” Nanhu says. He started eating snakes 20 years ago. Interestingly Nanhu,
who was suffering from some health-related problems, had first eaten a
poisonous snake with the intention of committing suicide.
“I was fed up with my
mysterious disease and wanted to die...I caught a snake and ate it after
roasting it, though nothing happened to me,” Nanhu said.
He claimed that he began
to feel better after eating the snake. Since then he never looked back.
Nanhu can catch a snake
with a foot long stick. “He (Nanhu) is an expert snake catcher...he holds the
snakes by their hood and eats them raw,” said Udai Bhan Singh, Nanhu’s master.
Nanhu has become highly
popular in the area. Now, people inform him, instead of snake charmers,
whenever they see a snake in their house or in the fields, Singh said.
The sighting of snakes has
lessened to a great extent in Nanhu’s own village of Suraicha. “Some times I
have to go without them (snakes) for days together,” he said.
Doctors, however, say that
eating snakes is a common thing. “People in the north eastern states of Assam,
Manpiur and others eat snakes,” said the additional chief medical officer of
Sitapur, Dr Sharad Chandra.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/49647/snakes-lunch-dinner-more.html?
TIMES-ENTERPRISE (Thomasville,
Georgia) 27 January 10 ‘Golden’ occasion - Rattlesnake Roundup celebrating
50th year (Patti Dozier)
“We’ve never paid him a
nickel to come here,” Strickland explained.
This year’s Roundup kicks
off at 9 a.m. Saturday at Roundup grounds on U.S. 84.
“We’ll start bringing
snakes in that morning early,” Strickland said.
Snake-milking
demonstrations and lectures begin at 11 a.m. and continue throughout the day.
The event’s 50th
anniversary will be noted during the awards ceremony.
Anyone interested in
sampling rattlesnake meat for lunch should arrive at the snake meat tent early
— and get in line.
“They have a limited
supply of it,” Strickland explained. “It sells out pretty quick.”
For those not interested
in serpent flesh for lunch, more moderate fare of chicken kabobs, apple
dumplings, funnel cakes, Asian-type seafood, pork rinds and blooming onions,
among other food, will be available. Good ol’ all-American hot dogs and
hamburgers also will be for sale.
A wide variety of arts and
crafts will be available for purchase, and Confederate re-enactors will
perform.
More children-friendly
activities are in store for youngsters attending this year’s Roundup, said
Travis Shepherd, president of the Whigham Community Club, Roundup sponsor.
“As usual, it will depend
on the weather,” Shepherd said, when asked for a pre-Roundup estimate of the
2010 crowd.
For Saturday, the National
Weather Service predicts a 40 percent chance of rain and a high of 60 degrees.
Proceeds from the Roundup
— $20,000 to $25,000 annually — go to community needs that include, among
others:
Helping pay for Whigham
School trips, including Junior Beta Club trips to Washington, D.C.
Annual donations to Grady
County livestock shows
http://www.timesenterprise.com/archivesearch/local_story_027224156.html?start:int=15
EXPRESS
ADVOCATE (Gosford, Australia) 27 January 10 Monster
six-metre python snake Atomic Betty now weighs 131kg (Denice Barnes)
It only happens every
other year, but when Australia’s biggest snake, Atomic Betty, needs a weigh-in,
it’s quite an operation.
At more than 6m long and
weighing more than most rugby union front-rowers, Atomic Betty is more than a
handful.
Staff at the Australian
Reptile Park like to keep an eye on the reticulated python, the world’s only
snake capable of devouring a human, to ensure she remains a healthy weight for
her size.
“Every year or two we like
to have a look at her, weigh and measure her to make sure she’s in good shape,”
general manager Mary Raynor said.
Her diet consists of a
22kg goat once a month.
The staff approach the
measurement task with the respect it deserves and it takes about half a dozen
people to bag her, wheel her to the scales and stop her from literally crushing
them to death during the exercise.
The task was worth it and
head reptile and lizard curator Liz Vella said staff were delighted with Atomic
Betty’s statistics.
At 131kg, she has put on
11kg since her last weigh-in two years ago and has grown half a metre to 6.5m.
Atomic Betty has called
the Australian Reptile Park home since 2001 when she was imported from the US.
She is about 11 years old
and will eventually weigh about 150kg.
“She’s thriving and
there’s no excess weight,” Ms Raynor said.
“She’s where she should
be, so we’re happy about that.”
FLORIDA
TIMES-UNION (Jacksonville) 27 January 10
Exotic snake businesses in Florida
could get squeezed with ban (Kevin Turner)
Sellers and advocates of
large snakes as pets say state efforts to control the environmental impacts
when those snakes are freed into the wild have added some red tape to Florida’s
exotic snake business. But if U.S. congressional efforts to ban the importation
and interstate transportation of nine large snake breeds succeeds, the effect
on business could be worse, they say.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.,
recently introduced the ban legislation in Congress and U.S. Secretary of the
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has recommended the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service list the Burmese python and eight other large constrictor snakes as
“injurious wildlife.” Over years, snake owners have released their pets into
the wild, particularly in South Florida where the alien species have adapted
and bred, taking spots at the top of the food chain and disrupting fragile
ecosystems, state wildlife officials say.
Since January 2008, the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has branded the Burmese
python, Indian python, reticulated python, African rock python (Northern and
Southern), amethystine python and green anaconda as “reptiles of concern.” They
now require a $100 license and some an identifying microchip and officials may
opt to inspect where buyers will keep the pets to make sure they meet
standards, according to the FWC.
Stephen Brezil, co-owner
of Blazin’ Reptiles, a Jacksonville pet store near San Jose Boulevard and
Interstate 295, said he hasn’t sold any of the affected snakes to Florida
customers in the two years since the state permit program took effect, he said.
“We used to sell 40
Burmese pythons a year,” he said.
But he sold at least 200
boa constrictors in 2009, he said. That popular snake is not one of the FWC
reptiles of concern, but is one of the nine on the proposed federal “injurious
wildlife” list Nelson and Salazar back. Those snakes are the Burmese python,
northern African python, southern African python, reticulated python, green
anaconda, yellow anaconda, Beni or Bolivian anaconda, DeSchauensee’s anaconda,
and the boa constrictor.
“A big problem is a lot of
these snakes end up abandoned in the wild where they become a threat to the
environment, native animals and in some cases people,” said Nelson in a
release. “We need to do better at preventing invasive species from being
brought into the country.”
If the ban passes, Brezil
said, it will make his prices rise. Although he’s sometimes bred the store’s
snakes before, it’s now commonly necessary to order some from out-of-state
sources, he said.
“One of my biggest
suppliers I get my boas from is from Georgia,” he said. “That means we go from
paying $15 a snake to $65 a snake. That’s the difference between the Georgia
snake and the Florida snake.”
The Florida snake costs
more because that’s simply what that particular vendor charges, he said.
Liz Schumaker, who with
her husband, Bob, is a member of the Jacksonville Herpetological Society and
runs Jacksonville Reptile Rescue and the LB Reptile Experience, said the
state’s permitting program was a logical step toward preventing the snakes in
question from spilling into the wild, but the ban may be going too far.
“I almost feel like I’m in
a Communist country where people tell you what you can have and what you
can’t,” she said. “I love my reptiles as much as I do my dog.”
FWC isn’t sanguine about
the idea of a ban, either, said spokeswoman Pat Behnke. That’s because it could
worry unpermitted snake owners and even some legal ones into releasing their
snakes into the wild anyway, she said. And it might not stop the trade, she
said.
“A regulated industry is
always better than one that’s underground,” she said.
GYMPIE
TIMES
(Australia) 27 January 10 Rocky the croc finds lover (Hayley Webb)
It has been a rocky road
to love for Rocky the croc.
After a tough start in
life, 800kg Rocky is now off the meat-market and happily settled with an older
woman.
John Lever, owner of
Koorana Crocodile Farm, bought the young croc from a Thursday Island fisherman
back in the early 1980s.
The fisherman had caught
baby Rocky and kept him as a pet in his bathtub for over a year before finally,
forced by his wife after a few too many “run-ins” and the fact that Rocky had
outgrown the tub, sold him to John.
“When we received Rocky he
had no bone density and was the world’s biggest wuss!” John said.
“It turns out the owner
didn’t want Rocky to choke so he filleted and deboned every fish before feeding
him; he had grown up on a completely calcium-free diet!”
After two years at the
Koorana farm, and a diet consisting solely of chickens’ feet, Rocky was back in
fighting-fit condition and John decided he was ready for a girlfriend.
“We thought we would be
nice to Rocky and give him a lovely, young girlfriend.”
Unfortunately, upon
meeting the inexperienced female, the nervous bachelor had no idea what to do,
so he bit her.
John realised that Rocky’s
lack of socialisation meant that he needed an older, more experienced
girlfriend to show him the ropes.
Enter Mrs Robinson.
“She gave a submissive
posture; chin up high in the air, exposing her neck – very classic behavioural
stuff,” John explained.
“At first, Rocky rumbled
his windpipe sending vibrations through the water; a sign of aggression.
“It can sometimes take a
while for crocodiles to establish whether another croc is male or female; he
may have seen her as a smaller male.”
However, Mrs Robinson knew
what to do and retreated immediately.
John said that she first
waited for the cautious croc to approach her, before slowly slipping back into
the water.
The rest is history.
Fast-forward 12 years and
30-year-old Rocky and significantly older Mrs Robinson have the highest success
rate of all the breeders on the 3000-strong Koorana Croc Farm.
“Genetically they are the
best couple we have in the place,” John said.
“They are still relatively
young, they have a good hatchling rate, good survival rate of hatchlings and
good growthrate.”
“They have all the genetic
ingredients for the best farming stock.”
Mrs Robinson, a meagre
130kg, was caught in the wild near Ingham so John is unsure of her exact age
but estimates it at 60.
“What can I say?” John
joked.
“She made a very good
tutor!”
http://www.gympietimes.com.au/story/2010/01/28/rocky-finds-experienced-lover/
WITNEY
GAZETTE (UK) 26 January 10 Crocodile zoo would be top attraction
After an eight-year love
of crocodiles, Shaun Foggett is keen to share this with the rest of the
country.
He wants to open the UK’s
first crocodile zoo in West Oxfordshire.
These types of reptile
parks are usually seen across the Atlantic in the USA and other far-off shores.
So imagine the number of
tourists that will be drawn to the district if the unusual park does go ahead?
West Oxfordshire relies on
tourism to bring in extra capital, with the main draw being the beautiful
setting and proximity to the Cotswolds.
It has its fair share of
museums, parks, and historic houses, but a crocodile zoo is a completely unique
pull.
Those curious about these
rarely seen animals or who share Mr Foggett’s passion for the reptiles will
swarm to the zoo.
As he points out, most
animal parks have just one or two crocodiles or alligators.
He is also keen to dispel
myths surrounding the cold-blooded creatures: “It’s also about educating
people.
“People think these
animals lie in rivers waiting to attack the next human walking past, but there
is a lot more to them.”
Mr Foggett keeps 24
crocodiles and alligators in outbuildings in the garden of his home in Witney.
Costing £8,000 a year to
feed and heat, it is not a cheap hobby.
No wonder that the joiner
and father-of-three wants to turn his lifetime love into a full-time job,
which, hopefully will be a nice little earner.
We are sure we are not
alone in eagerly awaiting the opening of the UK’s first crocodile zoo, right on
our doorstep.
http://www.witneygazette.co.uk/news/opinion/leader/4872777.Crocodile_zoo_would_be_top_attraction/
WBAL (Baltimore,
Maryland) 26 January 10 Woman Bitten By Cobra Bags Snake, Takes To
Docs
Baltimore County, Md.: A woman told authorities she was bitten by a
poisonous cobra on Sunday in a Baltimore County parking lot.
Baltimore City Animal
Control recovered the snake on Sunday, but where it came from has yet to be
determined.
Authorities told 11 News
the woman walked into a White March Patient First location with a snake bite --
as well as the snake that bit her. She had stuffed it into a bag.
"What the patient
told our medic crews is that she was in the parking lot of a local shopping
center when she saw what she thought was a stick on the ground. She bent down
to pick up the stick when it bit her. It turned out to be a snake," said
Baltimore County Fire Department spokeswoman Elise Armacost.
The snake turned out to be
a venomous Asian cobra known as a monacle cobra.
Armacost said Patient
First called 911.
"The staff at Patient
First said that they had put the snake in a trash can and wanted to know what
to do with it," Armacost said.
She said as the patient
was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital, her team launched a search for the
antivenom, first calling Falls Road Animal Hospital.
Falls Road Animal Hospital
played a key role in locating the antivenom, which was ultimately flown in from
Philadelphia.
"There are so many
different species of venomous animals that you have to -- in order to get the
correct antivenom -- have the exact species. You have to know what antivenom to
use, because the antivenom is toxic by itself," Hammond said.
While the woman said she
stepped on the cobra in a parking lot, the Maryland Poison Center said it's not
a public health issue and that they're confident there are no cobras running
wild in Baltimore.
Animal experts said that
in January, that's not even possible.
"In this temperature,
there's no cobra out there running wild. It would be frozen. It's not just
unlikely -- it's impossible," Hammond said.
He said keeping a cobra as
a pet is "stupid" and dangerous. It's also illegal in Maryland.
Department of Natural
Resources Police took the snake to the Catoctin Zoo in Thurmont. Officials said
the cobra was clearly a captive snake and used to being hooked and handled and
around humans.
It's being quarantined for
a few months in case it has a virus, and then it will join the rest of the
collection, zoo officials said.
http://www.wbaltv.com/news/22347707/detail.html?
TCPALM (Stuart,
Florida) 26 January 10 Frog Leg Festival attracted 65,000 to Fellsmere (Janet Begley)
Fellsmere: A steady crowd throughout last weekend,
combined with great weather, brought about 65,000 to the Fellsmere Frog Leg
Festival.
“We had a nice, reserved
crowd,” said Fran Adams, one of the festival’s initial organizers 19 years ago.
“I think there was a really good mix - a lot of seniors came out early to shop
and families came out on Sunday for the ride specials. And kids and teens were
there every night when it got dark.”
The estimated 65,000
attendance figure was down from previous years, when organizers estimated that
80,000 people traveled to Fellsmere over the four-day-period.
“We’re ‘guesstimating’
about 65,000,” said Adams. “We think we’re pretty close to that number and with
the economy the way it is, we’re feeling lucky to have the numbers we did.”
Kitchen manager Ali Martin
reported that people ate about 4,221 dinners.
This was down from the
estimated 6,000 dinners that the committee had planned for, she said. Initial
estimates for food sales are around $50,000, Martin said.
Other revenue from craft
booths, T-shirt sales and a percentage of the ride ticket income won’t be know
until a final accounting is made, treasurer Debbie Cross said.
A full report will be
presented to the festival committee when they meet in about two weeks, she
added.
But one thing is for
certain - as in previous years, all of the profits will be donated to
Fellsmere-area educational and recreational programs.
] “Everyone looks forward to it because they know the money
goes right back into the community,” Adams said.
By The Numbers
Kitchen manager Ali Martin
estimated festival attendees purchased:
1,351 combination frog
leg/gator tail dinners
915 one-pound gator tail
plates
1,141 one-pound frog leg
plates
814 frog leg complete
dinners
The total 4,221 dinners
served was less than the planned 6,000 meals
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/jan/26/frog-leg-festival-attracted-65000-to-fellsmere/?
FREE
PRESS
(Detroit, Michigan) 26 January 10 Snake crashes boy's pool party (Eric D.
Lawrence)
Justin Moy’s 14th birthday
party included a surprise he won’t soon forget.
A snake interrupted the
pool party the Northville boy and six of his friends were having Saturday at
the Fairfield Inn near I-275 and 6 Mile in Livonia Saturday evening.
One of Justin’s friends
bent down to pick up what he thought was a rubber snake on the side of the
indoor pool, and it hissed at him.
As the boys scrambled out
of the pool area, the 18-inch black or dark-green snake slithered into the
water.
“I was like, ‘Oh my god,’”
Justin said as he and his friends went to get help.
Justin’s father, Will Moy,
said he was unhappy with what he felt was a cavalier response from the staff,
who told him the snake had been spotted at least twice before.
“If they knew there was a
snake in there, they should have told the guests,” he said.
Neither the hotel manager
nor officials at Fairfield’s corporate parent, Marriott, returned several calls
for comment.
Carol Austerberry, acting
environmental health director for the Wayne County Health Department, said the
pool was deemed safe in an annual health department inspection Friday — just
one day prior to the incident.
She confirmed today that a
snake was found at the hotel, but was unclear what kind or how it got there.
Hotel staff removed the snake and took it outside, so the matter is closed, she
said.
http://www.freep.com/article/20100126/NEWS02/100126059/1004/Snake-crashes-boys-pool-party?
ESSEX
ECHO
(UK) 26 January 10 Snakes rescued from a
fire in Marguerite Drive, Leigh
Firefighters rescued a
dozen snakes from a suspicious house fire in Marguerite Drive, Leigh yesterday
evening.
Crews from Leigh, Rayleigh
and Southend were called out at 7.45pm and found the lounge well alight with
smoke and flames pouring out the windows.
Firefighter Alan Weidner
said: “A neighbour told us about the snakes and we managed to save 12 of the 13
in the house by carrying them out in their cases.
“One of my colleagues did
appear with a snake wrapped round his hand but we had six people in breathing
apparatus and they did a remarkable job.”
The property owner
appeared before the firefighters left at 8.55pm and the snakes are thought to
be in the care of the RSPCA.
The cause of the fire is
thought to be suspicious and a joint Police and Fire Service investigation will
be carried out.
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/4871570.Snakes_rescued_from_a_house_fire_in_Leigh/
TOWNSVILLE
BULLETIN (Australia) 26 January 10
Saving a frog (Mary Vernon)
In the early hours of
yesterday morning, a Railway Estate resident was woken by the unearthly sound
of a frog screaming.
Unless you've heard a frog
screaming, you won't understand the hideousness of the sound. He leapt from his
bed and rushed out to the patio (history does not record whether he was wearing
'jammies' or not) to discover this murderous act taking place. The python had
the frog in its mouth and was busily trying to squash and swallow it. Our hero
rushed for the hose and turned it on to its most powerful spray, eventually managing
to make the snake disgorge its proposed breakfast and slither away, leaving the
frog sitting groggily, but still alive on the terrace. After composing itself
for some time, it hopped heavily away. . . probably just as bemused by being
saved as it was by being eaten.
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2010/01/26/109735_about_town.html
CTV (Toronto,
Ontario) 25 January 10 Aussies hopping mad at toad-busting
controversy (Kristen Gelineau)
Sydney (AP): When the enemy reached Australia's largest
state last year, the Kimberley Toad Busters knew the battle was on. But they
didn't expect that officialdom might strip them of their most effective weapon.
The enemy? The cane toad.
The weapon? Plastic bags full of carbon dioxide -- long considered the
animal-friendly alternative to whacking the creatures with golf clubs or
cricket bats.
But Western Australia's
Department of Environment and Conservation isn't so sure that euthanizing Bufo
marinus with carbon dioxide is the kindest way to go, and says further tests
are needed.
Should the tests prove the
toads are suffering, the carbon dioxide option could be banned across Western
Australia. And that, the Toad Busters fear, would make the war against cane
toads virtually unwinnable.
Keep on whacking them
instead, says the government. But to many, that makes no sense.
"Oh my lord, what are
they saying?" cried Lisa Ahrens, a veteran toad fighter. "That's
going right back to giving people a golf stick and telling them to go forth and
conquer!"
This all may sound like a
simple matter of bureaucracy and humane pest control, but cane toads are a
75-year-old Australian nightmare, and they amount to a cautionary tale about
the difficulties that can crop up when humans try to reverse their environmental
blunders.
The toads, native to
Central and South America, were deliberately introduced to Queensland, on the
other side of the continent from Western Australia, in 1935 in an unsuccessful
attempt to control beetles on sugarcane plantations.
The toads bred rapidly,
and their millions-strong population now threatens many species across
Australia. They spread diseases, such as salmonella, and their skin exudes a
venom that can kill would-be predators. They are also voracious eaters, gorging
on insects, frogs, small reptiles and mammals, and birds. Cane toads are only
harmful to humans if their poison is swallowed.
In recent years,
Australians have held festive mass killings of the creatures, complete with
sausage sizzles and prizes. Ahrens, of Cairns in Queensland, organizes the
state's annual "Toad Day Out," when people gather to collect the
creatures and either freeze them or expose them to carbon dioxide.
But the toads are
constantly on the hop, and by early 2009 had migrated more than 2,400 kilometres
from their original landing point in Queensland to the Western Australian
border.
Lee Scott-Virtue, an
archaeologist in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, saw it coming. Five
years before the toads reached her state, she founded the Kimberley Toad
Busters to mount a pre-emptive offensive across the border into the Northern
Territory.
"We were confronted
literally with walls of toads -- tens of thousands of them. It was like
watching a moving carpet," she said.
Since then, the group's
thousands of volunteers have killed more than 500,000 toads, largely with
carbon dioxide, which she says is fast and painless. By the time toads finally
crossed into Western Australia, their numbers had been reduced to the point
"where we're only picking up handfuls."
But the state Department
of Environment and Conservation says it ran tests in 2008 that showed the toads
regained consciousness after initially passing out. That, the department says,
might violate the state's Animal Welfare Act, which requires all killing of
vertebrates to be humane.
Pending further tests
scheduled for next month, the department advises people to go back to the
freezing and clubbing options. "It's quick, it's effective," said a
spokeswoman who spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with department
policy.
That suggestion has
outraged the cane-toad-killing community, which believes clubbing is a far more
painful way to end a toad's life.
"For it to suddenly
be dropped on us as the toad reaches Western Australia has been quite
shattering," said Scott-Virtue. "If you hammer a toad, you've got to
be very clever and very quick to be able to kill it instantly."
The Royal Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals agrees that a strike to the head is the best
method -- provided the toads are first chilled into unconsciousness.
But Shane Knuth, a
Queensland state legislator who has suggested placing a 40 Australian cent
(US$0.37) bounty on cane toads, says freezing them takes too long. Besides, he
said: "Mums and dads don't want toads in their freezers."
"We can go on and
spend the next 50 years debating on how to dispose the toads -- but in reality,
they're one of the greatest environmental catastrophes Australia has ever
seen," he said.
"The do-gooders need
to see the painful death our native animals go through after coming in contact
with a cane toad."
ASBURY
PARK PRESS (New Jersey) 25 January 10
Round 2 of proposed Manchester
Walmart vs. pine snakes (Kirk Moore)
Manchester: A first round in the rematch between land-use
regulators and developers of the proposed Route 37 West Walmart Supercenter
starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, when the
township Planning Board
holds a special meeting on a revised site plan that would split the property
between shoppers and pine snakes.
The project on the Toms
River-Manchester border at Northampton Boulevard has been downsized since
developers Jay and Linda Grunin and Wal-Mart first brought their plans forward.
That initial application was blocked by the state Department of Environmental
Protection because a northern pine snake — a reptile on the DEP's list of
threatened species — was found denned on the property in the winter of 2005-2006.
The nonvenomous pine
snakes favor sandy, pine-oak woods like the forest south of Route 37, and
advocates for the project like Manchester Mayor Michael Fressola have argued
the DEP should simply allow relocation of the snakes.
The plan was approved in
2005 by the Toms River and Manchester planning boards, but it ran into the
snake roadblock during the state's Coastal Area Facility Review Act procedure,
which focuses on environmental issues. According to plans filed with Manchester
and the state agency, their new efforts to overcome objections raised by the
DEP review include:
22 acres set aside for the
pine snakes, including a 3-acre circle around the 2005 den site.
A 3,300-foot-long,
4-foot-high wall to keep snakes on their wooded side of the property and off
the access drives and parking areas.
Reducing the building
footprint by 10 percent, to just below 188,000 square feet.
Reducing impervious
surface on the site by 7.24 acres — about 33 percent less pavement and building
cover. That leaves more open ground to absorb storm water, an important goal
for the DEP's land use rules.
Enhancing pine snake
habitat more than five miles across town, where the developers would buy 89
acres of old farmland with Pinelands zoning on Horicon Road, and create more
potential nesting sites on the tract.
SOUTH
FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL (Florida, Fort Lauderdale) 25 January 10 Editorial:
Pythons should be banned ASAP
The Issue: U.S. wants to ban importation of pythons.
Those python hunts in the
Everglades sure do make for good television. Too bad they don't come close to
fully eradicating the problem of invasive species in the River of Grass.
To have any real chance of
getting rid of the giant exotic snakes, federal officials have the right idea —
a proposed ban on all imports of the Burmese python, along with eight other
types of large snakes that also have been threatening the Everglades, and have
been spotted in neighborhoods in South Florida.
If the proposal from the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service becomes law, the snakes would also be
unavailable in pet stores, to which we can only say — Bravo!
Nobody can say with a
straight face that they need a Burmese python as a pet. They grow as long as 20
feet, often escape from pet shops during storms, or get released into the
Everglades by owners who no longer want them. Before long, the non-native
snakes are reproducing, and native wildlife is threatened.
This month alone, 25
Burmese pythons were captured in South Florida by water management workers.
Since 2000, more than 1,200 of the snakes have been removed from Everglades
National Park. And that's probably just a fraction of the snakes that are
actually in the Everglades.
The Pet Industry Joint
Advisory Council opposes the proposed ban, claiming dealers and pet owners can
regulate themselves. If that were true, you wouldn't have an estimated 100,000
snakes in the wild, nor would there be any need for the highly publicized hunts
that make for photo ops but don't really solve the problem.
These snakes should never
be allowed into the country in the first place. The only acceptable place to
see one of these huge snakes is the zoo.
After the proposal is
published in the Federal Register next month, the public will have 60 days to
comment before a final decision on the ban. The comment should be blunt —
"Yes, and do it as soon as possible."
Bottom Line: Time to
eradicate the snakes is now.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorials/fl-editorial-gs-pythons-20100122,0,4487553.story?
GASTON
GAZETTE (Texas) 25 January 10 Gaston man hospitalized after rattlesnake
bite (Diane Turbyfill)
Lincolnton: A Dallas man bitten by a timber rattlesnake
was flown to Carolinas Medical Center over the weekend.
Michael J. Jacobs, 32, of
Dallas, was at an East Sycamore Street home in Lincolnton Friday night when he
said he got an unwelcome surprise.
Jacobs opened a plastic
container and was bitten by a rattler that was inside.
“I didn’t know that it was
in there. If I had known it was in there, I wouldn’t have opened it,” he said
from his hospital bed Monday afternoon.
Jacobs said he expects to
be in the hospital a few more days but felt lucky it wasn’t worse.
“It was an unfortunate
accident. I’m lucky to be alive,” he said. “Luckily I watch enough ‘Animal
Planet.’”
Jacobs said he opened the
container to put a lizard inside. When the snake struck, one fang sunk into
Jacobs’ finger. His body quickly felt all warm inside and he knew he needed to
get to the hospital. Jacobs had a friend drive him to Carolinas Medical
Center-Lincoln. He was later flown by helicopter to Charlotte.
Jacobs said keeping a cool
head was important and noted that he had experience with exotic animals from
working at a zoo.
Jacobs said he doesn’t
know who put the snake in the tub.
The venomous snake,
indigenous to North Carolina, isn’t meant for captivity, according to Officer
C.R. Arnold with the N.C. Wildlife Commission.
Arnold was contacted by
Lincolnton Police and visited the Sycamore Street home Monday.
“I’ve got one of the
snakes in the front seat of my truck right now and I’m not real comfortable
with it,” he said.
Arnold drove the snake to
The Schiele Museum of Natural History Monday afternoon where the snake will be
kept indefinitely.
A snake and a lizard are
just two of the animals Lincolnton Police Detective Jason Munday saw when he
went to the home.
Munday said he saw a
caiman, part of the crocodile family.
Not typically found in this
region, caimans come with regulations, Arnold said.
Local police did not press
any charges, but the Wildlife Commission investigation is ongoing, said Arnold.
An important lesson can
come from Jacobs’ venomous encounter, according to Arnold.
“Poisonous snakes don’t
make good pets, especially if they’re indigenous to North Carolina,” he said.
“If they find a rattlesnake they cannot keep it. It’s not a pet. It’s a wild
animal. They cannot be bought, sold or traded.”
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/bite-42926-gaston-hospitalized.html
DAILY
STAR
(Dhaka, Bangladesh) 24 January 10 Near-extinct baby gharial dies at zoo
The baby gharial that was
captured from Padma river in Rajshahi 46 days ago died yesterday at Rajshahi
Central Zoo.
The authority recovered
the body of the gharial at around 4:30pm after the zoo workers saw it was
floating in the water upside down while they went to feed it, said the zoo's
caretaker Abul Kalam Azad.
Though the authorities
considered the death of the baby gharial, one of the most critically endangered
crocodilians on the globe and a near-extinct species in Bangladesh, was due to
cold, experts blamed the zoo authority for their negligence.
Forhad Uddin, veterinary
surgeon of the zoo, said the gharial was kept in a tiny cage of tortoise where
there was little scope of sunbath for it.
“Gharial needs a
temperature in between 24 degrees and 30 degrees Celsius for living, but the
water temperature went down much below the requirement as the region was
experiencing a cold wave”.
“The fishermen who
captured it in their net had beaten it. The injuries might have led to the
death of the gharial”, said Forhad adding that the zoo authority would have an
autopsy on the gharial.
Relying to a question,
Forhad Uddin said, the zoo authority had no expertise in bringing up captured
gharials. “We ought to have released the gharial into the Padma as we had no
expertise”.
Contacted, Rajshahi
University's fisheries department teacher ABM Mohsin termed the death
'unexpected' and said, “With the death, the prospect for captive breeding of
gharial is almost lost”.
Fishermen netted the two
and a half feet-long gharial from Gohomabona under Paba upazila on December 9
last year and two local youths took it to the zoo.
It is presumed that there
is no breeding adult gharial (Gavialis
gangeticus), one of the three crocodilian species found in the wild in
Bangladesh. Gharials are a natural heritage of Bangladesh and a flagship
species for the riverine habitat.
The other two species of
crocodiles -- freshwater crocodile or mugger (Crocodylus palustris), which is no more found in the wild, and the
saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus),
found only in the Sunderbans, -- are also declining due to various factors such
as habitat destruction, disturbances by humans, including capture of young
hatchlings by fishermen.
However, the Centre for
Advanced Research in Natural Resources & Management has started survey to
find out the breeding population of gharials in Bangladesh.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=123256
THE
TELEGRAPH (London, UK) 23 January 10
Crocodiles 'taught to recognise
their names' (Andrew Hough)
The reptiles, Paleo and
Suchus, have been taught to listen for their names being called, it was
claimed.
Keepers at the centre in
Ellesmere Port, Merseyside, they are even learning when to open their mouths
for food.
Dresden zoo forced to
rename primate called 'Obama'They ssaid the type of training had worked with
mammals before but hardly ever with reptiles.
"They are very
intelligent and started responding to their names in just a few days,"
said Tom Cornwall, the aquarium's manager.
In a bid to train them,
the crocodiles, which are called Cuvier's dwarf caiman, are given food as a
prize if they react in the right way.
The training takes its
idea from a similar scheme run at the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust in India.
Once fully trained, the
aquarium's zoological team will set up "enrichment activities" for
the pair.
Mr Cornwall, Blue Planet
Aquarium's ranger and exhibits manager, added: "As well as enabling us to
approach them and inspect and treat any potential health issues it will also
allow us to set up tasks and foraging exercises for them to mimic the types of
behaviour they would have to use in the wild."
Found throughout South
America, the Cuvier's dwarf caiman usually live in freshwater habitats like
rivers, including the Amazon, flooded forests and larger lakes.
STRAITS
TIMES
(Singapore) 23 January 10 Man survives croc attack
Kuching (Sarawak): A lorry driver survived a crocodile attack by
poking the reptile in its eyes repeatedly when it refused to let go of him.
Mr Mathias Winston, 37,
from Kampung Semada Belatok, had gone to the river for a bath at about 6.30pm
on Wednesday when the 5m-long crocodile struck.
'While I was having my
bath, the river seemed to be clear. Then suddenly, a crocodile bit my legs from
under the calm water.
'I tried to prise open the
crocodile's jaws but it would not let go. I then poked its eyes until it
released me,' Mr Mathias said at the Sarawak General Hospital, where he was
being treated for injuries to his hands and legs on Friday. Mr Mathias wrestled
with the creature for about 10 minutes before screaming for help.
His wife Mira Dehim, who
was cooking in their house near the river, heard him and rushed to his rescue.
'I ran to the river bank and was shocked to see him being attacked by the
crocodile. I grabbed his hand and tried to pull him out.
'I thought he was going to
die as the crocodile was so big,' she said, adding that this was the second
such incident in the village. In 2008, a villager was attacked by a crocodile,
but survived with injuries to his hips, thighs and ribs.
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_481135.html
SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD (Australia) 23 January 10 Toddler
survives lethal snake bite
(AAP) A toddler has survived the bite of a highly
venomous snake at a day care centre northeast of Perth.
Anais Nicholls, who is
just 14 months old, was bitten by a 36cm-long Dugite snake at Bencubbin day
care centre, 280km northeast of Perth on Friday afternoon, News Limited
reports.
The snake crawled through
a door at the centre, attracting Anais' attention before she picked it up.
The day care centre's
staff gave her immediate medical attention, which included splinting the bite.
The toddler was then flown
to Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth and was in a stable condition when she
arrived about 9pm (WST) on Friday.
The snake was killed and
brought to the hospital in a jar to help determine if venom had entered her
blood stream.
By Saturday morning the
little girl was said to be "very well".
It is believed she will be
released from hospital on Sunday.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/toddler-survives-lethal-snake-bite-20100123-mrog.html?
THE
MERCURY (Hobart, Australia) 22 January 10 Snake
charm comes ... in bulk (Charles Waterhouse)
Three keepers struggled to
hold a slithering mass of snake at Zoodoo Wildlife Park near Richmond
yesterday.
The reticulated python, an
impressive 4.5m long and weighing 37kg, is the park's latest addition.
The python, named Samson,
comes from a zoo in NSW.
Park owner Trevor Cuttriss
said: "He is listed as a dangerous animal and we respect him as such.
"Because he is listed
as a dangerous animal we have to have a minimum of two people present for
feeding or cleaning the reptile room."
Mr Cuttriss said he had
been told Samson was due for a big feed soon and would get it at the weekend.
"When I questioned
what to give him they said a goat about every six to eight weeks."
But Samson should not
expect goat on his new menu.
Mr Cuttriss said pythons
in the wild ate large prey with some small meals in between big feeds.
Female pythons grew bigger
than the males, up to about 70kg, he said.
"We are looking to
bring in an albino snake female friend for him," he said.
"I am lining up
another python."
The snakes were native to
Asia, Mr Cuttriss said.
Zoodoo has recently
developed a reptile room which has various examples including a pair of lace
monitors.
Mr Cuttriss said reptiles
were not among his favourite animals.
But he relented and
expanded the line-up at his zoo because many people kept asking when he was
going to get reptiles.
"It's amazing how
many people want to see them, but not everyone."
Mr Cuttriss intends to get
more reptiles and wants colourful exotic snakes.
"We want a wow factor
with unusual, exotic reptiles."
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2010/01/22/123221_tasmania-news.html?
ANDOVER
ADVERTISER (UK) 22 January 10 Snake in the glass
Florist Emma Miles had the
shock of her life when she discovered a slippery customer in her window display
in Union Street, Andover.
Emma, of Davenport and
Gallagher, said: “I was just reaching down to pick it up when I realised what
it was and screamed.”
Emma Everett of
neighbouring Dawkins Pet Supplies identified the 3ft creature as a harmless
corn snake. It has now been collected by the RSPCA.
http://www.thisishampshire.net/news/andoveradvertisernews/4864709.Snake_in_the_glass/?
GOLD
COAST BULLETIN NEWS (Australia) 22 January 10 Crocodile
mania comes to Gold Coast
The New Zealand tourist
who snapped what crocodile experts say was one of Australia's most feared
reptiles lurking in a Gold Coast canal, has challenged the State Government's
dismissal of her claims.
Anja Prigg said she saw
the jaws and teeth of the crocodile and watched it attacking a group of ducks
in a Hope Island canal, just near Marina Quays Markets, on Sunday January 10.
She then said it swam from
several hundred metres down the river to within metres of the bank where crowds
had flocked to catch a sight of the reptile after she raised the alarm.
"We were having coffee
at Romeo's (Rigos Cafe) when we saw this commotion between some ducks at the
other end of the river. They were screaming and making noise then we saw the
big jaws of a crocodile coming toward us," she said.
"Those ducks were
being pulled down by the crocodile -- they were fighting for their lives.
"There was no doubt
that it was a croc ... it definitely was not a log."
She said she grew up in
Indonesia and often had crocodiles come up from the river in their plantation
to attack their chickens, so she knew what the reptiles looked like.
Ms Prigg's detailed
account comes after the State Government ruled out the croc sighting after
'blowing up' the photograph published by The Bulletin yesterday.
It was in stark contrast
to the views of two croc experts from Johnstone River Crocodile Park who said
the image looked like a saltwater crocodile.
The Gold Coast descended
into croc mania yesterday, with speculation about what the mystery sighting
could be and one local radio station even nicknamed the crocodile 'Hopey'.
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2010/01/22/180845_gold-coast-news.html
SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD (Australia) 21 January 10 Canal
croc sighting a crock: officials (Tony Bartlett)
(AA) Claims a saltwater crocodile could be
stalking the canals of the Gold Coast have been nipped in the bud by a
government reptiles expert.
The Gold Coast Bulletin
on Thursday published a photo of an indistinct object floating in the water,
reporting "one of Australia's most feared killers could be stalking the
canals of one of the Gold Coast's ritziest suburbs".
The photograph was taken
by a New Zealand tourist at Hope Island canal on Sunday, but an authority on
crocs says he's confident whatever the object in the photo is, it's not a
saltie.
Senior director of the
Department of Environment and Resource Management, Clive Cook, said on Thursday
it was highly improbable to find a crocodile as far south as the Gold Coast.
"The last confirmed
sighting of a crocodile anywhere near the Gold Coast was in the Logan River in
1903 or 1905 when a three metre was shot, but we've never had a confirmed
sighting since then," he told AAP.
"We've had recent
sighting reports, but each one of those have been followed up and never been
substantiated as a confirmed sighting.
"I've had a look at
the photograph and I've had extensive experience in crocodile management.
"When you look
closely at the photograph it clearly is not a crocodile - I would be 99 per
cent sure."
A number of locals have
reported seeing a large turtle or dugong in the same area this week, which at a
distance bore a similarity to the shape in the photograph.
Mr Cook said the
crocodile's natural range was north of Gladstone, but anyone who believed they
had a genuine croc sighting should contact the government hotline on 1300 130
372.
BRISBANE
TIMES
(Australia) 21 January 10 'That's not a crocodile: this is a
crocodile' (Christine Kellett and Daniel Hurst)
Their tourism slogan may
be '100 % pure', but wildlife authorities say two New Zealand travellers were
talking 99 % pure rubbish when they told a Gold Coast newspaper they saw a
saltwater crocodile stalking a Hope Island canal.
Kiwi couple Anja and Chris
Prigg had reportedly spent the morning shopping at Hope Island markets on
Sunday when they claimed to have spotted the prehistoric predator in the nearby
canal.
Instead of notifying
wildlife authorities about the potentially dangerous situation, the Priggs
contacted The Gold Coast Bulletin with a holiday happy snap of a dark
shape in the water.
"We saw ducks making
a really crazy movements like they were chasing each other," Mrs Prigg
told the newspaper.
"Then I saw this
crocodile coming."
Queensland Parks and
Wildlife senior director Clive Cook called a press conference today to bury the
crocodile claim, saying the Priggs were almost certainly mistaken.
"I don't know what it
is but I can tell you it's not a crocodile," Mr Cook said of the Loch Ness
monster-style picture.
"You'll see in this
case it's too smooth. It doesn't leap out at you. For the untrained eye seeing
that shape in the water, you think 'crocodile', but it just doesn't add up.
"I would be 99 per
cent sure."
To demonstrate his point -
and perhaps for future reference - Mr Cook helpfully provided the assembled
media with a photograph of a real crocodile.
Veteran Queensland
crocodile wrangler Bob Irwin was more blunt this morning, saying the Priggs'
crocodile "was probably just a log."
"These people are
from New Zealand; you don't get many crocodiles in New Zealand."
The last confirmed
sighting of a crocodile anywhere near the Gold Coast was about 1903, when a
three metre specimen was shot in the Logan River.
Mr Irwin said a
crocodile's ability to survive in the man-made environs of a luxury canal
development was next to none.
"Canals have no no
mangroves or banks. There is absolutely no vegetation and nowhere for them to
hide," he said.
"Crocodiles are very
secretive, they need vegetation and somewhere to bask.
"They are also
nocturnal and come out at night to feed, so for them to be feeding on ducks in
the middle of the day is unlikely."
He said the Priggs had
likely been confused by the birds' frisky carry-on.
"It's their mating
season at the moment."
CITY
TV
(Toronto, Ontario) 20 January 10 Police In Timmins Find Alligator At
Suspected Grow Op
Police in Timmins Ont.,
made a startling discovery when they raided a home suspected of being a
marijuana grow operation.
Aside from the 430 pot
plants and 60 jars of magic mushrooms, they also discovered a 1.8 metre long
alligator.
They may have been
prepared to haul off the dope, but had to call the Humane Society to safely
move the gator.
Forty-two-year-old Ronald
Orton, is facing a number of drugs charges but there's no word on whether he
will face any for housing the dangerous reptile.
IDAHO
REPORTER (Boise) 20 January 10 Jarvis wants to recognize Idaho giant
salamander as state amphibian (Dustin Hurst)
For those constituents who
think government isn’t listening to the people, Rep. Rich Jarvis, R-Meridian,
might prove otherwise. Jarvis is
sponsoring House Bill 389, which would make the Idaho Giant
Salamander(dicmaptodon aterrimus) the official state amphibian. The reason behind the move? Some fourth and fifth grade classes from
Boise asked him to do it.
Classes from the Christian
Calvary School in Boise appealed to several legislators asking for the
designation. Jarvis agreed to sponsor the bill. The bill has been introduced into the House
and will be heard before the House Ways and Means Committee, which makes Jarvis
believe the death of the legislation is imminent.
“They look at it as a
frivolous bill,” said Jarvis “Unless there’s some up swell of activity…there
has to be that kind of activity for the House to take time and do that.”
The Idaho Giant Salamander
can reach a maximum length of 12 inches and are found only in central Idaho and
a small corner of Montana. They
typically inhabit cold, clear lakes, ponds, and streams and adults have been
known to feed on small mice, shrews, or snakes.
Several states have
official state amphibians, including Washington, New Mexico, and Arizona in the
western United States. As far as
salamanders for on the list, the Idaho Giant would join the Spotted, of South
Carolina, and the Barred Tiger, of Kansas varieties on the list, among
others. The list also includes several
different frog varieties and a newt from New Hampshire.
To the best of Jarvis’
knowledge, this is the first attempt from a state legislator to add a state
amphibian to the list of officially recognized Idaho trademarks. Should the legislation pass, it would have no
impact on the state general fund. Though
it would be recognized by the state, the Idaho Giant Salamander would be given
no environmental protections as a result of the legislation. The only change enacted by legislation would
be to add the salamander to the Idaho Blue Book, which is published by the
secretary of state and lists statistical and historical facts about Idaho. And
though it doesn’t currently have a listing for amphibians, the state does
officially recognize a state flower (syringa), fruit (wild huckleberry), gem
(star garnet), and even a state dance (square dance).
So why did Jarvis agree to
sponsor the bill?
“Myself, I think it’s
really cool,” said Jarvis. “Because it’s… indigenous to Idaho and it’s a
giant!”
He acknowledged, during
his interview with IdahoReporter.com, that other legislators are not as fond of
the proposal as he is and disclosed that other legislators informed him he will
lose “political capital” for pushing the measure forward. “I’m not too worried about that,”
laughed Jarvis.
The committee has yet to
set a hearing date for the proposal.
BURLINGTON
FREE PRESS (Vermont) 14 January 10
Monkton moves to save salamanders
(Candace Page)
When Monkton Selectman
John Phillips first heard of a plan to build salamander crossings under the
Monkton-Vergennes road he thought, "Are you kidding me?"
Other Monkton residents
had a similar reaction to what seemed like an unlikely idea. But, like
Phillips, the town has become a convert to the idea of creating Vermont's first
highway retrofit to protect wildlife.
"The more we studied
it, the more sense it made," Phillips said Wednesday.
Tonight, residents will
gather to hear the results of a $25,000 planning grant to design 10 special
culverts under the road. They will be briefed on the town's application for
$225,000 in federal funds to build the first two crossings.
Every spring, passing cars
squash thousands of salamanders and frogs as they try to migrate from uplands
southeast of the busy road to a big wetland northwest of the highway.
The migration has become a
cause celebre in this part of Addison County, with residents forming nightly
bucket brigades to ferry the creatures across the highway -- an unsafe activity
because of heavy traffic on the road.
Four species found here
are considered to be of conservation concern in Vermont, and one, the blue-spotted
salamander, is found in unusual numbers. As many as 1,000 dead salamanders and
frogs have been found on the road in a single night.
"This place is
unique," herpetologist Jim Andrews said Wednesday. "There are unusual
species here. There's great diversity and huge numbers. And there's high
mortality. That's the clincher. There's so much traffic that we've seen 30, 40,
50 percent mortality."
Chris Slesar, chairman of
the town Conservation Commission, has led the campaign for the wildlife
crossings. He said if nothing is done, some of the salamander populations will
not survive.
"We would have stood
by and watched an important part of our biodiversity blink out," he said.
If the town wins a grant,
crews would install special oversized culverts in two migratory hotspots near
the Huizenga swamp in West Monkton.
The boxlike concrete
underpasses would be topped by permeable pavement that lets moisture seep
through. They would have amphibian-friendly dirt floors with enough large rocks
to let the creatures hide from predators.
"We don't want to
build a buffet for raccoons," Andrews said.
The salamanders would be
herded toward the culverts by low retaining walls.
The culverts will be large
enough for use by small mammals, including bobcats, which also try to cross the
road near the swamp.
Traffic on the
Monkton-Vergennes road has increased in recent years, residents say, as the
road has become a shortcut from U.S. 7 in Vergennes to Interstate 89 and Taft
Corners in Williston.
Salamanders winter in the
rocky uplands above the highway, but must reach the wetlands in order to
reproduce. The females lay their eggs in water and the young spend a month or
two as water creatures before taking to the land. Adults and young must go back
across the highway before winter.
Survival of Monkton's
blue-spotted salamanders is of particular concern, Andrews said, because they
are not widespread in Vermont. Adults don't reach sexual maturity for several
years, and then lay fewer eggs than some other amphibians.
"Blue-spotteds can
live longer than some deer, but it is not so certain that they will be able to
replace themselves," Andrews said. The more spring migrations a salamander
survives, the more likely they will be to produce some young.
Newborn salamanders
provide a service to humans, he said, because they devour mosquito and blackfly
larvae in the wetland.
Competition for funding is
likely to be fierce. Like other states, Vermont receives federal transportation
money every year that must be set aside for enhancement projects such as bike
paths, landscape improvement and wildlife crossings. The money cannot be spent
on traditional highway projects like paving or bridge repair.
Monkton must provide 20
percent, or $56,400 of the total $282,000 project cost. The match will come in
the form of private grants and donated consulting services. No local tax money
would be spent, Phillips said.
Vermont will have more
than $3 million to spend on transportation enhancements in 2010, program
coordinator Curtis Johnson said Wednesday, but has received $8.8 million in
applications. He described the Monkton application as "competitive."
Grants will be announced in March.
Slesar said his commission
knew it was unlikely to win funding for all 10 wildlife culverts, so chose to
apply for the first two on their priority list.
"We're trying to be
realistic," he said. "One culvert would make an appreciable
difference. Two culverts would be tremendous."