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Congo’s wildlife also dying from volcano eruption
“This eruption will affect every level of the mountain’s ecosystem, from worms to primates,” says Sam Kanyamibwa, head of the World Wildlife Federation in East Africa. “The problem is the physical destruction of habitat, and of course the sulphur gases over the area. It is to fear that the ecological integration in the whole region is going to be affected one way or another.” Adds Annette Lanjouw, director of the International Gorilla Conservation Program, “It is unlikely that the forest the gorillas inhabit will be affected greatly. However, chimpanzees and other wildlife in the forest around Nyiragongo will probably be devastated.” The eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed about 45 people, not including the 50 to 60 killed when looters accidentally blew up a gas station.
posted by Ted at 6:57 PM

 
Which is a bigger hit with the ladies? “I’m working on a cure for AIDS” or “I sample monkey crap”?
You can’t improve on the title of Science magazine’s article: “Monkey pee, monkey poo.” Researchers in Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, and Tanzania, are carefully testing chimpanzee waste to find out how many animals have contracted SIVcpz, the animal virus closest to human HIV.
posted by Ted at 6:54 PM

 
Suburban sprawl threatens Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum—and the Arizona-Sonora Desert
“A metropolitan area of 850,000 is quickly spilling around and across the Tucson Mountains’ jagged silhouette,” reports The Arizona Daily Star, and that could spell trouble for one of the country’s unique zoos, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, located just outside Saguaro National Park. “As Tucson continues to urbanize, we’ll certainly have the same issues that many big cities have,” museum president Richard Daley tells the paper. “Kids will grow up with almost no connection to the land and having not seen any wildlife. They’ll seldom see native-plant communities aside from a saguaro here and there.” The area’s mountain lions are especially at risk. Critics (including the museum’s former science and conservation director) say it’s the museum’s own fault; they haven’t been political enough. The museum turns 50 this year.
posted by Ted at 6:53 PM

 
Don’t feed the bears
Or the raccoons, sandhill cranes, foxes, or any other wildlife. That could be a new Florida law, which would punish offenders with a up to 60 days imprisonment and a $500 fine. Currently the state only prohibits the feeding of alligators and manatees (though that Russ Rector guy says he’ll destroy anyone who feeds dolphins—along with the town they live in).
posted by Ted at 6:48 PM

 
Everyone loves the king of the sea
The Miami Herald introduces readers to Russ Rector, a former dolphin trainer who, the paper says, “depending on your point of view is either an unsung protector of one of man's most beloved marine creatures or the dysfunctional member of a family that refuses to have him.” At a meeting over whether Rector’s Dolphin Freedom Foundation should be allowed by the National Marine Fisheries Service to rescue stranded dolphins, somebody even compared him to Osama bin Laden. “There's going to be a world of hurt come down on the Keys, because I am tired of dead dolphins,” he says. Last year, WVEC reported that the Virginia Beach police chief identified him “as an animal rights activist who posed a potential threat to public safety.” Police even infiltrated his meetings.
posted by Ted at 6:46 PM