Fairmount CA

This time of year, people often find baby animals. But rescuing an injured or seemingly abandoned baby wild animal may not be helping it, and your action could break the law, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources cautions.

Indiana law prohibits people from keeping protected wild animals without a permit, a DNR news release said. Most species of wildlife are protected by law and cannot be kept as a pet, including migratory birds such as songbirds, raptors and waterfowl.

It also is illegal to treat wild animals for sickness or injury without a permit, the DNR said.

Here are a few reminders if you find a baby animal:

*While some baby animals may be orphaned or abandoned, it may not be true with others that appear to be alone.

*Picking up a baby animal that is not orphaned or abandoned is unnecessary and also can be bad for the animal. Its also illegal if you dont have the proper permit or if you dont take the animal straight to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

*Baby wild animals can be a health and safety risk. They can bite or scratch people who try to hold them, possibly infecting the person with a disease or parasite.

What to do

Adult animals often leave their babies alone in a nest or den while the adult looks for food, Linnea Petercheff, operations staff specialist for the DNR Division of Fish and Wildlife, said in the news release.

If a bird has fallen out of a nest, it is OK to gently return it to the nest, Petercheff said. The best way to make sure an animal is truly orphaned is to wait and check it periodically.

For clues about whether a parent animal has returned, you can lay strings, grass or sticks across a nest and check back to see if they are moved, she suggested.

If you find a fawn that appears to be alone, wait and check it periodically to see if its mother returns for it, the news release said. Try to watch from where the mother deer cant see you so you dont scare her away.

If you believe a mother animal has not returned to a nest or a mother deer has not returned to feed her fawn or has died, call a licensed wildlife rehabilitator listed at www.dnr.IN.gov/fishwild/5492.htm.

Wild animal rehabilitation permits are issued to qualified individuals who take in sick, injured or orphaned wild animals with the intent of releasing them back into the wild, the news release said.

If you find an injured, truly abandoned or sick wild animal, you also can call:

*The DNRs Division of Fish and Wildlife in Indianapolis at 1-317-232-4080.

*DNR law enforcement district headquarters or regional headquarters; find the number at www.dnr.IN.gov/lawenfor/2755.htm.

*A licensed veterinarian for immediate help with a sick or severely injured wild animal.

The real budget action will begin in earnest next month, but Democratic lawmakers have already staked out some territory by rejecting what they view as some of the governors most objectionable cuts – and this week, it was animals and poor people who received the majority partys support.

In fact, the states furry residents and their supporters can breathe a big sigh of relief, as both houses have now turned down Gov. Jerry Browns proposal to roll back major portions of a state law aimed at protecting stray, abandoned and lost animals from death.

Brown earned the wrath of animal lovers up and down the state when he proposed eliminating requirements for shelters to hold dogs and cats for four to six days before they can be killed; to post lost-and-found lists so owners can locate lost pets; and, if they are holding an animal for only four days, to stay open some evenings and weekends to allow owners an opportunity to pick up lost pets after business hours.

But after some serious lobbying by pet lovers, budget committee members in both houses decided the requirements should remain suspended, as they have been since 2009 for budget reasons – not eliminated outright.

Also rejected by Assembly Democrats this week was a plan by Brown to cut In Home Supportive Services, the program that offers 372,000 disabled and elderly adults help with everything from getting dressed to doing grocery shopping. The governor wants to cut out services covered by IHSS – things such as bathing, feeding, laundry and, yes, grocery shopping – that state officials think can be offered by someone else.

No word yet on how Democrats plan to fill the budget gaps left by rejecting those, and several other, proposals. A revised budget from Brown is due out in mid-May.

Bills, bills, bills: Budget season may be getting a slow start in Sacramento, but bill season is in full swing, with nearly daily hearings on the hundreds of proposals lawmakers made this year. Here are a few that may be of interest, and where they stand:

– SB1506 would make simple possession of cocaine, heroin and other (non-cannabis) drugs a misdemeanor, instead of a felony. Its authored by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who also wrote the 2010 law that lowered possession of small amounts of marijuana to an infraction, down from a misdemeanor. The bill will be considered by the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.

– AB1756 was yet another attempt to limit a 2011 law requiring schools to teach about the historical contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, as well as people with disabilities. The bill by Assemblyman Steve Knight, R-Antelope Valley, would have let school districts opt out of the requirement, but it died in committee this week. An earlier effort to repeal the law at the ballot box failed to qualify for the ballot.

– SB1338 would expand access to abortions, particularly in rural areas of the state, by allowing properly trained nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwifes and physician assistants to perform the procedure. Authored by Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, it will face its first hearing Monday in the Senates Business Professions Committee. It has 19 co-authors – all Democrats – including the leaders of both houses.

A welcome return: State Assembly members on Monday welcomed Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, R-Camarillo (Ventura County), back to their chambers, following his yearlong deployment to Afghanistan. A lieutenant commander in the US Navy Reserve, it was Gorells second tour of Afghanistan since 9/11.

On Monday, with his wife by his side, he said it was fantastic to be back in the States and to return to the best job in the world.

Twelve months is a long time to be gone and in Afghanistan, he said. Did I miss anything?

Capitol Notebook appears every Saturday for an inside look at state politics. notebook@sfchronicle.com

This article appeared on page C – 1 of the San#xA0;Francisco#xA0;Chronicle

Decades ago in Mexico, Rosario Cisneros had a dog that stood nearly as tall as her waist, and in later years she snuggled in bed at night with a tiny Chihuahua.

Now, living in a nursing facility that does not allow animals, she misses her furry friends, she said, tears forming in her eyes.

All that changes on Thursdays.

When Browns Valley resident Kathleen K. Morris and her therapy dogs walk into her line of sight, a grin spreads across Cisneros face and she reaches out for affection. Petra, a Belgian Malinois, gently sidles up as Tula, a miniature Australian shepherd, puts two little salt-and-pepper paws on Cisneros knees.

The little one gives me all the loves. It reminds me of my little dog, Cisneros said. When they come close, I hug them to me.

Animals can sometimes be the best therapy for residents in nursing homes and medical facilities who have infrequent visitors and mental and physical debilitations that limit interaction with others, Morris said. Volunteers travel to care facilities at their leisure, with dogs small and large, old and young, as long as they have a gentle, friendly nature.

You dont want it dragging you down the hall, biting, barking, jumping, but thats about it, she said. It doesnt have to be a purebred. It can be the biggest mutt in the world.

Therapy dogs and their owner volunteers are in short supply, Morris said. She is certified through Therapy Dogs Inc. to train and certify volunteers, but only a handful in the area have licenses.

Even one more person to do this would thrill me out of my mind, she said. Everyone wants to see the dog and everyone wants to pet the dog, and theres simply not enough of me to go around.

After ensuring a dog is healthy and has up-to-date vaccines, Morris tests them around noises, people and other dogs. For final certification, she observes them three times in a real-life therapy setting.

Lupine, an 8-month-old Australian Labradoodle, is expected to earn her certification by her first birthday. Until then she wears an in-training vest and practices in River Valley Care Centers hallways most Thursdays with her tail wagging, looking to spread a little cheer.

Oh so you like to get scratched? Does that feel good? Shirley Cain asked, rubbing Lupines rump.

Like many residents, Cain has a long history with pets and looks forward to the weekly visits. Canines seem to have a second sense, she said, and somehow speed the healing process.

There is nothing like a dog, she said. There is something in a dog that brings love out of themselves and we feel it.

Cynthia Terrel, activities director at River Valley Care Center, said therapy dogs bring the biggest smiles. That is one reason she got Tate, her miniature Australian shepherd, and has brought him to work every day for seven months.

Its so fun, its rewarding, but most of all, you can make other people happy, she said.

Staying at the center with some knee troubles the past few months, Nancy Matthews has missed her Great Pyrenees at home, and the weekly therapy dog visits are a real treat, she said.

They represent the freedom and the beauty everyone longs to be a part of, and things from home and childhood, Matthews said.

Lupines owner, Julie Byers Hadley of Yuba City, is a former special education teacher and has been a caretaker for family members, which prompted her more than a year ago to become a canine volunteer.

I love dogs and I see the connection between people and dogs, she said. A dog can work miracles.

Staff at the nursing homes and care centers vouch for the dogs magic.

They love these animals, said activities assistant Patty Gudino. Some dont speak, but when the dogs come, they do. Or they never move, yet they reach out to touch.

The Alzheimers and dementia wing of the care center can sometimes be a harried place, but after a dog visit, they are calm and peaceful, Gudino said.

People say, what did you give them? And I say, no, its the dogs, she said.

CONTACT Ashley Gebb at agebb@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4783.Find her on Facebook at /ADagebb or on Twitter at @ADagebb.

In 1995 and 1997, NASA sent me to Brazil to measure the atmosphere during the tropical burning season. One day the smoke was so thick at a remote camp on the Cristalino River that no ultraviolet sunlight could be measured on the forest floor. Something else was missing, because no birds could be heard or seen.

All that changed back at the rivers edge. There was still plenty of smoke, but birds were singing, and iridescent butterflies were everywhere. Three bird watchers at the camp were having a great time adding new species to their notebooks.

The sharp increase in the abundance of animal life along the river was an example of what ecologists call the edge effect. Before that experience in Brazil I had noticed the edge effect while riding a bicycle from Albuquerque, NM, to the Padre Island National Seashore.

We saw only antelopes in New Mexico and coyotes in West Texas. But there was an obvious increase in animal activity in the Hill Country where the road crossed rivers and streams and sliced through the borders between fields and woods.

The fence line between our place and a neighbors open field is often populated by more birds, dragonflies and butterflies than the adjacent woods. Feral hogs that visit our place do much more damage along boundaries between wooded and open areas.

Our house is under trees adjacent to an open field to the north. On most days there are many more birds around the house than in the woods.

The edge effect shows that many animals can quickly adapt to changes in environmental destruction caused by human activity and fires. Plants also are influenced by the edge effect. There can be at least as many species of plants along fence lines as in adjacent fields or wooded areas.

Edge effects are not always beneficial. For example, herbicides applied to agricultural fields can cause great damage to plants along adjacent boundaries.

Large animals often travel along boundaries and trails made by people. But the range they need to forage or hunt is reduced when development arrives, even though there may be more edge effects.

A survey of edge-effect plants and animals might make a good science fair project. Students can observe edge effects by walking through and around city parks and even in some neighborhoods. If safe roads are available, a bike ride provides an excellent way to observe edge effects in rural areas.

From inside a car youll not hear singing warblers, gobbling turkeys, rustling armadillos or the sound of pecans falling into leaves.

But you surely will when walking or cycling.

Forrest Mims III, an amateur scientist whose research has appeared in leading scientific journals, was named one of the 50 Best Brains in Science by Discover Magazine. His science is featured at www.forrestmims.org. Email him at forrest.mims@ieee.org.

Volunteer Rose Schabillion cares for a foster dog in need of socialization through the Cold Noses, Warm Hearts program. Since 1999, the program has provided potentially adoptable animals from the center with temporary homes until they are ready to be placed up for adoption. / Special to the Press-Citizen

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) — Animal lovers opened their hearts and their homes during a 24-hour pet adoption event.

Hundreds took their search for a loving companion to Tropical Park in Southwest Miami-Dade for the first ever 24-hour adoption event.

The Human Society of Greater Miami hosted the event, which kicked off on Friday night.

Organizers were pleased with the amount of people who showed up to give an animal a second chance. We are so happy and so excited with the turnout, said Laurie Hoffman, of Miami-Dade Humane Society.

Im really glad for the people that have adopted a pet, said one man. Its a great outcome. If you havent been here, I hope you give a pet a chance, said Luis Fernandez, who adopted a pet.

Some of the animal up for adoption had come from a long way, many on the brink of death when they were brought to shelters. He was found down in Homestead by a woman who actually watched him in a dog fight being mauled like crazy, said Hoffman.

Vets and shelter workers across South Florida made sure the pets were nursed back to health and given a second chance at life. We go to great lengths to take care of them. All the animals here are spayed and neutered, said Hoffman.

A dog isnt just something that stays home like a piece of furniture or something that you play with like a basketball, said an event attendee. Its a creature that has feelings.

Those who attended the event were able to bond with the animals up for adoption. Some even brought their own pets along to see how the animals would get along. Everybody is pumped, everyone is excited and everyone is happy to be here, said Hoffman.

Ten to 15 different shelters and rescue groups brought in cats and dogs to the event around the clock. We just got another truck load, another delivery of dogs and kittens, said Hoffman. I think the shelters are empty but its not empty here.

We were walking around and we saw her and we fell in love so we chose her, said a new owner of a dog.

Many people walked away with one of more than 500 animals that were available for adoption at the event. The community has really come out and supported us, said Hoffman.

Now I get to go home with a new best friend, said Maria Espinoza, who adopted a dog.

(Copyright 2012 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

By

Zane McMillin | zmcmilli@mlive.com

The Grand Rapids Press

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BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — State environmental officials say they accepted four snakes, two alligators and a turtle in Bridgeport during an amnesty day allowing people to turn in prohibited exotic animals with no questions asked.

Col. Kyle Overturf of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection police told the Connecticut Post (http://bit.ly/HvMaOi ) that the amnesty day at the Beardsley Zoo Saturday yielded two Burmese pythons, a ball python, a boa constrictor, two alligators and an alligator snapping turtle.

Officials were only accepting prohibited exotic animals. When they held their first amnesty day in 2009, they took in 136 pets that werent native to Connecticut including 14 illegal animals.

Overturf says officials are glad the seven animals collected on Saturday arent a public threat anymore and now have a safe environment to live in.

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Information from: Connecticut Post, http://www.connpost.com

April 1, 2012

Updated Apr 1, 2012 at 10:43 PM CDT

Duluth, MN (Northlands NewsCenter) – Duluths Animal Allies teamed up with other area animal shelters and humane societys in a marathon to give northland pets a home.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Match-a-Thon was held this weekend.

Dave Reaver could be called the founding father of police dog training in Southern California.

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He started working with dogs for Santa Monica and other Los Angeles County police departments in the mid-1970s — those were the first agencies in the Southland to have K-9 units.

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Now, the firm he founded, Adlerhorst International, trains police and service pooches for more than 500 domestic and international organizations, including almost all law enforcement agencies in Orange, San Diego, Riverside and Los Angeles counties.

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The dogs are valuable not only for their ability to locate and take down suspects, but for their keen sense of smell to locate drugs, explosives, fugitives, missing persons and cadavers.

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Dogs have an olfactory capability 1 million times that of a human, Reaver said. Its something that Mother Nature is pretty much done with, if you think about evolution.

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Thursday afternoon, Adlerhorst hosted a class of police dog handlers from all over Southern California — Riverside, Irvine, Vernon, Alhambra, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego County.

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Reaver and his Adlerhorst trainers were teaching current and aspiring K-9 officers to work safely in bite suits — big, padded outfits used to train the dogs to subdue suspects.

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After lecturing the class, Reaver took his position as agitator in a small shed inside the fenced-in training course. A K-9 officer entered with an unmuzzled dog and enacted a standoff situation.

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If you dont come out, Im sending my dog in after you, called out Kevin Laing of the Alhambra Police Department.

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After a few seconds, he released his dog, Enzo, who raced to the sheds open face where Reaver waited, wearing only a jute bite sleeve and wielding a soft nylon crop.

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Hes crazy, said one of the Adlerhorst trainers, Lazlo Brasko, admiringly. Ive been doing this 30 years, but I wouldnt go in there with just a sleeve.

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Brasko pointed to his crotch and leg.

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Sometimes, even with the sleeve, they try to bite you here, he said.

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Despite precautions, dogs can injure trainers during the intensely physical exercises. Brasko pointed to a round, puckered scab inside his middle knuckle where a dogs tooth punctured his flesh and hit a nerve.

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Still, theres a difference between accidents that happen in the rough-and-tumble training course and the normal demeanor of police dogs. Many police dog handlers treat their animals as family pets when theyre off-duty. The dogs are trained to be aggressive only on command.

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Adlerhorst, in addition to its training course in Jurupa Valley outside Riverside, leases kennel space in Europe where the Belgian Malanois and German shepherds are bred.

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Reaver imports them, continues the training they started in Europe, and sells them to police agencies in addition to training handlers.