January 1994
It's turtles, all the way down...
Government agencies want to preserve 1.3 million acres of public lands in Nevada to ensure the survival of the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). However, ranchers, miners, developers, and desert recreationists fear their uses of the "empty" lands will be prohibited. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) held hearing in October in Las Vegas hoping an accommodation can be reached. Other species will be protected, too, including the California bear poppy, the gila monster, the Southwest willow flycatcher, and the Blue Diamond cholla. Presently local developers pay $500 an acre to fund research, collection, and adoption of desert tortoises. [Las Vegas Sun, October 10, 1993, from Bob Pierson] The October 13 issue of the same paper said that more than 30 critics showed up to speak against the proposal to protect land for the use of species other than Homo sapiens.
Environmentalists and real estate developers in Melbourne Beach, FL are at loggerheads over recent building on the beach within a few hundred feet of the ocean. Government officials and environmental activists are trying to protect a stretch of beach used as a nesting site by up to 15,000 sea turtles every year. In 1990, the U.S. Congress approved the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge which is supposed to include about 860 acres in four separate areas on the barrier island in Southern Brevard and northern Indian River counties. So far, however, less than half that much land has been purchased with the $63 million raised by county, state, and federal sources as well as private foundations. Congress contributed $5.5 million. Builders are pushing to get at the other land slated for protection. More than 30 projects are up for review by Brevard County and the Disney Company intends building a time share resort next to the proposed southern boundary of the Refuge. More development means more roads, more lights, more people driving and playing on the beaches. One researcher said, "If the Carr Refuge lands are not acquired nearly in their entirety, there probably won't be any green turtles here by the year 2000." [Chicago Tribune, October 9, 1993, from P.L. Beltz and Claus Sutor]
Two young eastern painted turtles were found east of the town of Como, N.C. (six miles south of the Virginia state line) covered in asphalt-covered fiberglass strings being used by highway workers to stop erosion along a small cypress swamp. They were rescued and cleaned off by two Richmond-area women and will apparently survive. Their experience prompted an article in the Richmond Times Dispatch [September 13, 1993, from Kathy Bricker] that discussed all forms of habitat loss and encroachment. CHS member and conservation biologist at the University of Richmond, Joseph Mitchell, was quoted, "Every time we cut down a tree that we didn't plant, every time we put in a new road or house, we modify the landscape so that what was living there originally can no longer live there, or we modify the life of that organism."
The EarthFirst! Journal features a story titled "Mexican Sea Turtles in Trouble" by Mark Heitchue [September 22, 1993, from Alan Willard]. Heitchue states that four "problems have been identified by Mexican biologists and conservationists... Mexico keeps promising to put turtle excluder devices (TEDs) on all Mexican shrimp trawlers... The unpunished rape and torture of two women sea turtle biologists by known turtle poachers is not only unforgivable, but has also created a climate of fear and intimidation for biologists doing front line work. The sale of two important nesting beaches despite promises to recognize these areas as protected turtle preserves. The continued poaching and open sale of sea turtle products throughout the country... It took a grassroots activist movement to close the notorious sea turtle slaughterhouse in Mexico where 75,000 turtles were being killed every year... a coalition of grassroots activists... helped force Japan to stop importation of endangered Hawksbill sea turtles for jewelry." They suggest several actions which are rather radical and will not be repeated here, but I will include their call for volunteers. You can contact them at P.O. Box 1415, Eugene, OR 97440.
From other materials I have received, it appears that the four charges above are being circulated widely and did indeed come from the research community involved. Also, Carole Allen of H.E.A.R.T. (Help Endangered Animals - Ridley Turtles) wrote saying that they were unable to obtain hatchlings this year. Call it a bureaucratic snafu, or an attempt to end the H.E.A.R.T. program depending on your point of view. TEDs aren't even being enforced well in the U.S. yet, as a letter sent by the Center for Marine Conservation to the Director of the Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) brings forward. Dated October 20, 1993 it reads in part: "[we are] pleased to support NMFS interim final rules published on September 20, 1993 requiring the use of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in the summer flounder fishery from the southern border of North Carolina to Cape Charles, Virginia to protect sea turtles... the National Academy of Sciences 1990 report documented that the incidental capture of sea turtles in non-shrimp fisheries, including the summer flounder bottom trawl fishery, is the second largest source of human induced moralities [sic] of sea turtles (the first being the shrimp trawls)... We also urge the NMFS to require and place adequate numbers of observers to obtain an accurate picture of both the interactions between the ... trawlers and ... [the] sea turtles, the functioning of newly certified TEDs in this fishery. We are concerned that many such observer programs in the past have been only poorly staffed, resulting in scattered data inadequate for estimating the true magnitude of such interactions."
Another point of view from Baton Rouge on the turtle/trawler problem [The Courier, Terrebonne Parish, LA October 5, 1993, from Ernie Liner]: "If the politicians would wake up, they would recognized [sic] they are to blame for dwindling shrimp and crab populations, a commercial fisherman said." It seems that the Louisiana Legislature outlawed the commercial catch of redfish to please sport fishermen and now the redfish are reproducing so fast that they are eating all the shrimp. The article said: "State biologists have said that Louisiana has 68 million pounds of reds and they eat 1.5 percent of their bodyweight each day... and they just love shrimp and crabs... [Bert Jones, Chairman of the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission said] `We just want to make shrimping better for shrimpers." Shrimpers claim the commission is insensitive to their needs.
Two new turtle escape hatches for fishing nets, the Jones TED and the Flounder TED, have been approved by the NMFS. Both resulted from cooperation between members of the fish and flounder industries and the fisheries service. The vice president of the 551-member South Alabama Seafood Association said he was not aware of the new designs and added that TEDs have caused many shrimpers to go out of business. "We've lost millions and millions of dollars putting up with this stuff. I've lost thousands myself. I hope the good Lord sees fit to give us something this time that will actually work and not put more of us out of business." [Houma, LA Times-Picayune, November 6, 1993 from Ernie Liner]
Observers on Florida fishing boats were used to see if net restrictions could help endangered sea turtles without completely abolishing night fishing off that state's east coast, according to Governor Lawton Chiles. He said, "If there are additional strandings, we will go farther than that." [Orlando Sentinel and Leesburg, FL Daily Commercial, October 13, 1993 from Bill Burnett]
An ancient tortoise fossil was displayed for the first time since it was found 15 years ago at the third annual Fossil Fair in Orlando, FL. The fossilized shell which appears to be the size of a coffee table was found on an underwater ledge in Little Salt Spring in 1975. Its discovery was reported in National Geographic and Science magazines, but as Russell McCarty, a paleontologist reported, "The pieces had been sitting in boxes in a trailer in Little Salt Spring for a decade and a half." McCarty assembled the 200 plus pieces in slightly over two years. A sharpened wood stake found between the turtle's
carapace and plastron is considered evidence that a human hunter killed the animal when the ledge was at the ground level. Carbon dating of the stake gives an age of 12,030 years ago. Charring on the tortoise's shell shows that it was turned upside down and cooked on the spot. The species of turtle is given as Geochelone crassiscutata and the dimensions are three feet long and three feet wide, although the animal was killed before it was full grown. [Orlando, FL Sentinel, November 19, 1993 from Bill Burnett]
The Marine Mammal Stranding Center published their stranding list for the three month period of June to September. In previous issues, I have occasionally summarized their findings, but the list this time was so appalling, I am including each animal listed and excerpting from the stranding record. The abbreviation "UC" is for "unknown causes."
- Loggerhead female, UC, 66 pounds;
- Loggerhead female, propeller cut behind head, 125 pounds;
- Loggerhead, female, UC, decomposed;
- Loggerhead female, UC, digestive tract loaded with spider crabs, 101 pounds;
- Kemp's Ridley male, liver severed by propeller, 12.9 inches;
- Loggerhead female, captured alive and released;
- Loggerhead, UC, 24 inches;
- Loggerhead, prop cut along 25 inch length of top shell;
- Kemp's Ridley, released after found in water intake system of Salem
Nuclear Plant, 8.9 inches, 4.5 pounds;
- Loggerhead female, prop cut on head, 26 inches;
- Leatherback, UC, 700 pounds;
- Leatherback male, UC, 700 pounds;
- Loggerhead male, UC, 40 inches;
- Kemp's Ridley, prop cut on head and neck, plastic in gut, 9.2 inches,
4.6 pounds;
- Loggerhead female, UC, 35 inches;
- Loggerhead male, UC, 37 inches;
- Loggerhead male, UC but rope was tied around one front flipper, 41
inches;
- Leatherback, UC, head and flippers missing, 53 inches;
- Leatherback female, 3 prop cuts on carapace, 400 pounds;
- Kemp's Ridley, UC, 12 inches;
- Leatherback male, prop cuts on carapace, 5 feet, approximately 700
pounds;
- Loggerhead, UC;
- Leatherback, UC, 54 inches;
- Leatherback female, UC, cuts on both front flippers, 52 inches;
- Leatherback female, UC, 75 inches, 800 pounds;
- Leatherback entangled in netting, released, 5 feet, approximately 600
pounds;
- Leatherback male, UC, large crack in top shell, braided
dacron line wrapped around neck and right front flipper, 80.5 inches;
- Leatherback, UC, 5 feet;
- Leatherback female, UC, 60.5 inches, about 700 pounds;
- Leatherback female, propcuts on carapace caused death, 60 inches, 500
pounds;
- Leatherback, entangled in gill net buoy line 2 miles off shore cut
loose and released by U.S. Coast Guard, 5 feet, 600 pounds.
Folks, this list is from the area of New Jersey right around Atlantic City. If this is the case for approximately 50 miles of coastline, how many turtles are dying on the rest of the Eastern Seaboard? Is anybody collecting data on this? You can help the inappropriately named, but highly active Marine Mammal Stranding Center. Send checks to MMSC, P.O. Box 773, Brigantine, NJ 08203. Be sure to ask for their mail order list, the shirts, toys, magnets, mugs, etc. are very reasonably priced and proceeds benefit the center.
The Arkansas Department of Fish and Game has issued an Emergency Proclamation prohibiting capture and possession of alligator snapping turtles (Macroclemys temmincki) in that state. The action was prompted by evidence of their decline as well as a large scale commercial trade in the export of turtle meat. For information contact: Steve Wilson, Director, Arkansas Fish and Game 800-364-4263. [Herpetological Review 24(4), 1993, p. 125 from Kurt A. Buhlmann's Legislation and Conservation Alert column]
Holmes County, OH game officers had to reduce a population of snapping turtles in a local pond. The snappers had eaten a bunch of spring ducklings in a private wildlife refuge and an ornamental fish farm was also threatened by the voracious reptiles. Twelve snappers were captured, the largest was 18 pounds. The animals were relocated to more appropriate habitats where they may grow to 80 pounds someday. [The Wooster, OH Daily Record, September 25, 1993 from Steve Frantz]
Michael Klemens, Director of the Turtle Recovery Program [TRP] at the American Museum of Natural History sent their annual report: "The Turtle Recovery Program marked its fourth year of operation by organizing a "turtle summit," gathering scientists and policy makers from around the world to critically asses past efforts and chart a new course for turtle conservation. New field investigations began in Burma, Madagascar, and Tanzania. In the United States, we increased our efforts to integrate turtle conservation into land management and public policy issues. In September, an agreement was concluded that protected 45,000 acres of desert grassland in Mexico. This single action has ensured the survival of the endangered Bolson tortoise by protecting one of North America's last remaining tracts of pristine Chihuahuan grassland. Despite these successes, we are facing new challenges in our efforts to steward the world's turtles safely into the twenty-first century. Habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation still remain the major threats facing tortoises and freshwater turtles. However, recent evidence indicates that large-scale commercial exploitation for food, medicine and the live animal trade is beginning to surpass habitat loss as the primary threat to an increasing number of turtle species! The TRP, in partnership with six other conservation groups, has established a task force to examine the scope and magnitude of this problem. The task force will develop educational and policy materials concerning trade issues that are to be targeted at all levels- from elementary schools to government decision makers.
All our activities are made possible by the generosity of our donors. We gratefully acknowledge your past support and ask you to renew, and if possible increase, your contribution to sustain our mission in the forthcoming year."
Regular readers know that I often suggest that we contribute to the TRP, and so I was a little shocked to read their annual report of individual donors and find so few names I recognize from CHS on the list. In fact, we were so few, that the list includes: Walter Allen, Ellin Beltz, Fred Caporaso, Philip and Diane Drajeske, Karen Furnweger, Richard Glasser, Cynthia and Paul Johnson, David Lee, Edward Moll, Barry Paterno, and Frank Slavens. Since these few wonderful people represent only 17 percent of the total individual donators this means that either CHS is not reaching a lot of turtle people or that a lot of well-known CHS turtle people are not contributing. In either case, we've work to do.
The TRP is an international project, supported by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The project spans political boundaries and has the respect of researchers and governments worldwide. I know Michael. He gives his heart and soul to this project - constantly off in some other country - trying to find solutions that can come from within the community of the native peoples, rather than impose restrictions from without. Project locations range from Madagascar to Mexico, from New England to Namibia, from Viet Nam to Venezuela. Everywhere on earth, including the U.S., turtles are vulnerable to habitat destruction and their inability to respond quickly to environmental disruptions. The TRP works with zoos on Species Survival Plans for turtle and tortoise species and has received donations from prestigious institutions and individuals worldwide (including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.). This project is IMPORTANT for turtle conservation and I would hope that even if you can only spare $5.00 or $10.00 that you would address the check to "AMNH-IUCN-TURTLE" and mail it to Dr. Michael W. Klemmens, Director, Turtle Recovery Program, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192. Contributions are tax deductible to the extent permitted by the current IRS rules and US law.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the turtle spectacular this month and to Paul Gritas, Mike Zelemski, and Allen Salzberg who sent in clippings on turtles that I didn't use. A personal note, P.L. Beltz who has been a regular and voluminous contributor to this column will undergo surgery for cancer at about the time that the January Bulletin will be in your hands. Let's hope he's around for many more issues! You can contribute, too. Send clippings with date/publication slug and your name and address firmly attached with tape (not staples) to me. Contributors who photocopy articles with date and publication as well as their names all on one page are deserving of special praise!!!
February 1994
End of his Age of Aquariums
After four decades of service as Director of Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, William P. Braker retired on December 31, 1993. According to an article titled "Days of Brine and Hoses..." in the WaterShedd newsletter [December, 1993 from Karen Furnweger], Braker first began his career at the aquarium as a "tank man," left to serve in the Korean War, returned after graduate school, and became the institution's second director in 1964. The Shedd maintains thousands of fish, marine mammals, sea turtles, and a few amphibians in its collections which are visited by millions of Chicagoans and visitors every year. In keeping with his paperweight motto ("I said maybe, and that's final!"), Braker will continue to serve on the Shedd's Board of Trustees.
Egregious or necessary?
U.S. Vice President Al Gore's committee on reinventing government suggested that the Department of the Interior should eliminate a $100,000 budget item "to train beagles in Hawaii to sniff out brown tree snakes." [Washington Post National Weekly Edition, September 27- October 3, 1993 from Gary R. Durkovitz] Herpetologists are aware that brown tree snakes are a "super tramp" species which have consumed much bird fauna on the island of Guam after being accidentally introduced there. Brown tree snakes have shown up in Texas in a serviceman's luggage, and are greatly feared on the Hawaiian islands with their unique and endemic avian fauna.
Are we what we keep?
Two recent articles suggest particular behaviors as representative of certain subgroups of reptile keepers. The first, titled "Pets an upscale reflection of owners" [Albuquerque Journal, October 28, 1993 from James N. Stuart] describes a psychological study done by Aline and Robert Kidd of over 200 pet owners. According to that study, "Turtle/tortoise owners [are] hard-working, reliable and upwardly mobile" but "snake owners [are] rulebreakers who want to be different and don't like routine jobs." Ms. Kidd reportedly said that "she had the best time with rule-breaking snake owners, who often traded in illegal snakes... `I'd get a call saying, "Leave the packet for Joe at Baskin Robbins."'"
The second article [Richmond, VA Times-Dispatch, October 3, 1993 from Laverne A. Copeland] refers to an interview with Dr. Alan Savitzky, an herpetologist at Old Dominion University, in which he compares gun owners and snake owners. Rex Springston wrote that "there is a small subculture within each group that likes to collect the most dangerous snakes or guns they can find." Savitzky opposes keeping venomous snakes at home, but said, "many snakes make ideal pets." Make my day, complain Including summaries of articles such as the foregoing often raises comments about "why do you include this #*!# stuff?" First of all, it's nice to know you're reading the column. Second of all, I like to use just about everything sent in by members. Why should I have all the laughs alone? Also, I like to read things with which I do not agree, it keeps the old blood pressure high, and all the arteries clear. Besides, I feel it's important to know what ignorant myths are being propagated in press. I do quite a few programs for schools and so on during which I have a segment about reptile myths. I've heard quite a few new snake myths, urban legends, etc. from audience members at these things, too. Most recently, I spent a week on the island of St. Lucia in the Eastern Caribbean where some believe that geckos, which are called "mabouya," stick themselves to people like glue and drive them mad. Personally, I'd rather have a room full of geckos than a room full of blood-sucking mosquitos which probably would drive me mad, but there's no pleasing some people. So, keep the comments, cards and letters coming - good, bad, or indifferent - I read them all.
Salamanders in the news
The U.S. Department of the Interior and International Paper have struck a deal under which the latter will set aside 4,500 acres of habitat for the red hills salamander (Phaeognathus hubrichti) in exchange for the department's permission to move ahead with timbering around the new preserve. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said, "It may turn out to be a harbinger of many things to come," and added he hopes to avoid the environmental and economic "train wreck" which occurred in the Northwest when the spotted owl issue derailed logging industry resource utilization. [The Houma, LA Courier, November 21, 1993 from Ernie Liner]
Climbers of Half Dome, an apparently impregnable fortress of granitic rock at the Yosemite National Park, may be unknowingly killing off a small salamander (Hydromantes platycephalus) which is one of the rock's few native inhabitants. A formal study is needed and work will be done this year during the first ever monitoring of the salamanders on Half Dome. The Park Service is already trying to save other endangered amphibians including Rana boylii and Bufo canorous and has no plan to end the popular cable trek up Half Dome. The climbers who endanger the salamander may not even know they're doing anything wrong. The problem occurs when hikers use loose rocks to create wind shields for themselves thus depriving the salamanders of their own protection. The Park Service has plenty of other problems at Yosemite, not the least the thousands of tourists who descend on the park in season. [The Sacramento, CA Bee, May 24, 1993 from Bruce Hannem] Does anyone know the results of this study?
Mixed croc-tales
A clipping from the Lucknow, India Pioneer [September 18, 1992 from Harry Andrews] reports good news and bad news for the endangered gharial (Gaviakis gangeticus). Seventeen years ago, only about 60 gharials were swimming in the major rivers of Uttar Pradesh state. Now, largely because of efforts of the Ghariyal Rehabilitation project which was begun by the UP Forest Department, there are over 3,000 gharials and magars (Crocodilus palustris) in their rivers. The rehab project has been so successful that official plan to wrap it up in the next few years. Mr. R.S. Bhadouria, the chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) said, "This kind of rearing project cannot continue for an indefinite period. We have been successful in achieving our primary objective of saving the reptile from becoming extinct... Since the past two years, the central Government has stopped giving grants for this project. As of now, it is subsisting on the aid being given by the state government. But it is increasingly being felt that this money should now be diverted towards protecting other endangered species." The project began with the collection of 38 gharial eggs in 1975. Two centers were established and achieved an incubation success rate of 85 percent. Out of a total of 9,116 eggs collected and incubated, 7.835 eggs have been hatched. The reptiles were returned to the wild when they had grown to 1.5 meters at the rehab center. From 1979 until 1991, the centers released 2,849 gharials and 66 magars. The decline in gharials and magars is blamed on human pressure on their habitat and indiscriminate hunting for the skin trade. Contributor Harry Andrews is with the Madras Crocodile Bank, a center which raises several species of Indian crocodiles for release in the wild.
Three men were arrested by a Brevard County deputy sheriff and charged with alligator poaching following a chase across two lakes west of Cocoa, Florida. The deputy said he spotted the three trying to load a wounded alligator into an airboat on Lake Winder at about six in the morning. They then dropped the gator and sped away in their airboat with the deputy in hot pursuit in his airboat. [Orlando, FL Sentinel, October 3, 1993 from Bill Burnett]
The Shanghai Star [December 10, 1993 from P.L. Beltz] reports that the Shanghai Eastern Crocodile Boutique is trying to teach their customers the difference between their shoes and "fake" crocodile shoes. The shoes (real and fake) are not made from crocodiles but are named after the reptile apparently to appeal to Chinese consumers' sense of quality. Visitors to Hong Kong can shop at the authorized Crocodile dealership in the Crown Colony (at least until the lease is up).
According to Don Ashley, a consultant to the U.S. Alligator Farmers Association, "If people in America want to protect the alligator, the best thing they can do is buy an alligator handbag." Apparently the price of alligator skins is in free fall due to the current Japanese recession. About one third of all the farms in Louisiana and Florida may go under in the near future. Ashley said, "giving the gator a value gives their habitat a value. It gives society another good reason not to dam and dike and drain the swamps. Look, Florida has lost half its wetlands. Half. And it's not going to save the rest unless there's a good reason." Ginte Hemley, director of a wildlife trade monitoring program at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C. agrees: "There's little question in our minds that controlled hunting and ranching has helped provide incentives to protect both the species and habitat." During the late 1980s, alligator ranching was a booming business with skins bringing $60 per foot from the wild and $180 per foot for ranch- produced. Many farms were started, but by late 1990, the bottom had dropped out of the market. Now, wild skins fetch $20 per foot and farm-raised bring $75 per foot. [The New Orleans, LA Times-Picayune, October 10, 1993 from Ernie Liner]
Australian crocodiles were a traditional food source for an isolated 600 member community of Pormpuraaw aborigines in Trinity Inlet. In 1973, they began a research program to conserve the crocs; three years later they began selling the skins. Vic Onion, project manager of the Edward River Crocodile Farm said, "Like most isolated aboriginal communities, Edward River had 100 percent unemployment. Now they have jobs and a future." With 12,000 crocodiles, the farm is the largest of those in Australia and is now housed in two locations, one just south of Cairns, Queensland. Trinity Inlet is a tourist attraction and has daily tours led by aborigines as well as a small shop which retails locally produced crocodile souvenirs. Cairns restaurants also serve crocodile meat. The farm exported $340,000 worth of skins in the June 1991 - June 1992 year. [Chicago Tribune, September 13, 1993 from M.A. Dloogatch]
The third annual Gator Cookoff at Alligator Island in Fannet, Port Arthur, TX was held on Labor Day. Recipes included specialties from volumes one and two of Lynn Hoffpauir's "Alligator Island Swamp Kitchen Cookbook" including gator balls, gator spaghetti, alligator etoufee, alligator piquante, and Rockefeller fried gator. The Island is home to "Big Al, the largest living gator in captivity," according to a report in the Port Arthur News [September 3, 1993 from Gary R. Durkovitz].
A man swimming in the remote Jardine River on Cape York Peninsula, Australia was killed by two crocodiles as his wife and daughter watched from shore, according to police spokesman Gary Burkin. "Witnesses saw two separate swells of water each side of the man, before seeing a large crocodile come up," he said. National Parks and Wildlife Service in Queensland noted that in crocodile mating season, the animals are more likely to attack. [Orlando, FL Sentinel, December 25, 1993 from Bill Burnett] Two days later, the same paper noted that officials plant to relocate the two animals implicated in the death since killing the animals which are believed to be a mating pair would be against the law.
An unknown thief stole a baby caiman from a pet store in West Whiteland, PA two days before Christmas. The suspect was described as a white male, black hair, 6'3" tall and 200 pounds [Daily Local News, West Chester, PA, December 28, 1993] Contributor Mark Witwer wrote: "Remember the articles las summer about crocodilians turning up loose in our area? I wonder when the responsible soul who would do this will tire of it and release it? For the caiman's sake, let's hope it is recovered."
China Daily [November 2, 1993 from P.L. Beltz] reports: "The world's largest crocodile farm will be built in South China's Hainan Province. Involving an investment of 160 million yuan ($28 million), the farm is being funded by several Chinese companies and a Hong Kong company. Covering 200 hectares, the farm is located in Li'an Bay. The farm will combine crocodile raising, crocodile product processing and tourism. It will be able to raise 40,000 crocodiles a year when it is completed in 1996."
Latest reports from Florida in the bizarre story of the gator who was fatally shot by a homeowner after the gator plunged through a screen door credit the family parrot with giving the residents warning. The couple was awakened at 2:30 a.m. when Louis the parrot "was making noise, flopping around in his cage, ringing his bell," according to the husband. As the wife called 911, the husband shot the gator three times with a .357 Magnum revolver. Police arrived about 15 minutes later. [November 20, 1993: Austin- American Statesman, from Gary R. Durkovitz; New Orleans, LA Times-Picayune, from Ernie Liner; and Orlando, FL Sentinel from Bill Burnett]
Visitors to the Blue Hole, an abandoned quarry in the National Key Deer Refuge will no longer be able to see "Grandpa" a well-known 10-foot alligator. The animal was moved to a pen in Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park by state workers because of fears that Grandpa would continue to indulge his appetite for Rottweilers, endangered Key Deer and other large mammals. [Leesburg, FL Daily Commercial and Orlando Sentinel, December 23, 1993 both from Bill Burnett]
The Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) was downgraded from endangered to
threatened status under the U.S. Endangered Species Act on October 25, 1993. The ranched population of Zimbabwe crocodiles will continue to be listed as threatened. The Nile crocodile is found in upstream waters of the Nile, tropical and southern Africa, the islands of Madagascar, the Comoros, and the Seychelles. [AAZPA Communique, December 1993 from Karen Furnweger]
How many reptiles do you have?
A Norfolk, VA man was convicted on a single misdemeanor count of failing to properly
maintain reptiles in his home after a plea bargain arrangement resulted in the state dropping a charge of cruelty to animals. Mr. Robert A. Parks is reported to be a frail, soft-spoken retired telephone worker who plans to transport his reptiles to a temporary home in Florida. His dream has faltered, however since the city raided his home, confiscated his animals, trashed his belongings and billed him for $21,500 for removing his creatures. He said, "The thing of it is, I never have figured out what I did wrong. I don't see where I broke any laws. The city has turned my whole life upside down, when a simple knock on my door would have taken care of it." Authorities had obtained a search warrant and entered the house on September 17 where they reportedly found more than 100 snakes. About two-thirds were venomous including cobras and gaboon vipers. Crocodiles and alligators were housed in the back yard. Three gators over eight feet long were housed in concrete-based pools. By the time Parks found out what was going on, police had barred him from the house. It took three days for the authorities to remove the animals and apparently "took the house apart" hunting for more creatures. According to a report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch [October 24, 1993 from Mr. Laverne A. Copeland], "When Parks finally was allowed back in after eight days he said he looked at the damage and threw up." Parks had lived in Norfolk for almost 25 years and had one previous brush with the law which resulted in his construction of larger containers for his alligators. Parks said he hoped to resolve the legal issues, sell his house and get out of town as quickly as possible adding, "I've had it up to my neck with Norfolk." The city's $21,000 bill is composed of charges including $3,829 for snake cages, as well as hourly rates for the workers involved.
Do Geckos Dream of Electric Sheep?
Moko, the newsletter of the New Zealand Herpetological Society [Summer 1993 from Joan Moore] reports that geckos (Naultinus elegans punctatus) were found in sheep fleece by sheep shearers and workers in a wool store. It is speculated that the geckos were using the warm environment provided by the woolly sheep to keep warm in a particularly wet and cool winter. Is it possible that at shearing time some geckos became bladerunners? Colubrid protected The giant garter snake (Thamnophis gigas) was listed as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service effective November 19, 1993 under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The snake joins other species in California's Central Valley which have not adapted well to human changes in their habitat including urbanization, flooding, contaminants, agricultural activities, and introduced predators. Only 13 populations are known from the fringes of agricultural areas in the Valley. [Sacramento, CA Bee, October 20 and 21, 1993 from Bruce Hannem, and AAZPA Communique from Karen Furnweger]
CHS Member News
Holiday greetings were received from Esther Lewis in retirement with husband and tortoises in Florida.
Marty Marcus sent his 1994 Reptile Round-up Calendar which features herp art by sixth-grade students. You can ask if he has any left by writing P.O. Box 760, Lakebay, WA 98349-0760. I don't know if he charges for it, but it sure is the cutest herp calendar I've ever seen.
Bernard Bechtel wrote: "...thank you for placing the slide request in the CHS Bulletin. I have not counted the responses, but it has drawn some very useful slides and prints... I am taking the slides to the publisher next week so that they can begin to collate them. I feel that the book cannot have too many illustrations, so I am hoping to ... add more if more arrive." Dr. Bechtel is doing a book on aberrant color patterns in snakes.
John Levell survived a timber rattlesnake bite this summer.
Joseph Jannsen sent in copies of the "snake bites hand that bathes it" from New York state papers with a note: "A 7-foot snake in a 20 gallon tank? I'd bite him too."
Quote of the Year, 1993
Mark Twain, wrote almost one hundred years ago in his classic Life on the Mississippi: "One who knows the Mississippi will promptly aver - not aloud but to himself - that ten thousand River Commissions, with the mines of the world at their back, cannot tame that lawless stream, cannot curb it or confine it, cannot say to it, `Go here,' or `Go there,' and make it obey; cannot save a shore which it has sentenced; cannot bar its path with an obstruction which it will not tear down, dance over, and laugh at." [St. Louis, MO Post-Dispatch, July 25, 1993 from K.S. Mierzwa] Save this for the next time somebody tells you technology can save the world.
Thanks to everyone who contributed this month and to those whose articles were duplicates, interesting but not herpetological, previously used in this column and Herp-93, and so on including: Brett DePoister, Ernie Liner, P.L. Beltz, John Adamek, and Jim Zimmerman. You can become a contributor, too! Send clippings with the publication name/date slug and your name firmly attached (tape is best, photocopying the whole bit sublime) to me.
March 1994
I know what toads want...
A United States Department of Agriculture Farmers' Bulletin (No. 196, 1904) by A.H. Kirkland, M.S. titled "Usefulness of the American Toad," provides a table of bulk percent food elements recovered from the stomachs of 149 toads (Bufo americanus): Ants, 19 percent; Cutworms, 16 percent; Thousand-legged worms, 10 percent; Tent caterpillars, 9 percent; Ground beetles and allies, 8 percent; May beetles and allies, 6 percent; Wireworm beetles and allies, 5 percent; Weevils, 5 percent; Miscellaneous caterpillars, 3 percent; Grasshoppers, crickets, 3 percent; Spiders, 2 percent; Sowbugs, 2 percent; Potato beetles and allies, 1 percent; Carrion beetles, 1 percent; Miscellaneous beetles, 1 percent; Snails, 1 percent; Angleworms, 1 percent; Vegetable detritus, 1 percent; Gravel, 1 percent; and unidentified animal matter, 5 percent. What this shows toad keepers is the phenomenal variety expected by the average American toad and that the most common captive food items (crickets and angleworms) account for less than 5 percent of the "free- ranging" toad diet. It also suggests that this varied diet was eaten more or less constantly, all day every day, otherwise these items would not have been recognizable to the researcher. The implication for captive care is that we probably do not feed our toads enough variety often enough. The author also noted, "From studying toads in confinement, it appears that (angle) worms are not preferred by that animal as an article of diet, but may be eaten... The small roach or water bug was often found in stomachs of toads taken on city streets. The toad is entitled to unstinted praise for its work in destroying these insects." Incidentally, lest a more sensitive type be upset at the method of data collection implied by this study, please consider that none of us could have applied our version of political correctness ninety-two years ago. Also, the author stated that toads were apparently extremely abundant everywhere on farms and even on city streets in those pre-chemical and pre-automotive days. Would that they were still so common!
A long walk for tiny legs
Bob Madej, an endangered wildlife technician, has found a population of green salamanders (Aneides aeneus) along the Ohio River in southern Indiana. The nearest previously known population of these amphibians was over 100 miles away in the Blue Ridge Provinces of the Appalachian Plateau. [Focus, Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife, undated, from Garrett Kazmierski]
New "green" fees
The Bastrop State Park golf course near Austin, TX will expand to 18 holes even though the park is a refuge for the endangered Houston toad (Bufo houstonensis). The parks department has proposed that golfers to pay a new "toad fee" which would be used to fund conservation programs. So far, the Fish and Wildlife Service has not approved the proposal. [Newsweek, October 4, 1993 from Debi Hatchett.] On January 19, 1994, the various parties to the solution of the Houston toad dilemma of Bastrop County met and discussed the toad's impact on future development in the area. More public meetings are scheduled [Elgin, TX Courier, January 26, 1994, from William B. Montgomery]
Did he get toad-ally high?
Two residents of Angels Camp, CA have been arrested on charges of smoking venom milked from captive toads which were confiscated and incarcerated in a terrarium at the office of a narcotics unit. The couple who live at a camp which teaches elementary school students about the wonders of nature have also been accused of possessing five mescaline-bearing cacti. Two of the cacti were supposedly purchased at a local discount chain store's nursery department. A narcotics agent said that the toad-venom smoking case is "the first prosecution of its type in the world." The report in the January 31, 1994 Austin, TX American-Statesman said, "according to law enforcement sources... drug agents are just beginning to catch on to the small underground culture smitten by the intense psychedelic high produced by smoking toad venom." Bufotenine, the presumed psychoactive agent in toad venom is listed as a controlled substance by the California Department of Justice. A veteran narcotics agent said, "I suspect that it [toad-venom smoking] might be increasing a bit, but I don't think we're going to see people selling kilos of toad slime." On March 1, 1994, California Fish and Game regulations will make the possession of Colorado River toads (Bufo alvarius) a misdemeanor in that state, may further strengthen the state's ability to prosecute "toad heads." The change in rules, however, was made because the toads are declining in numbers in California. [William B. Montgomery; January 30, 1994: Leesburg, FL Daily Commercial, from Bill Burnett and Herald-News from Marty Wnek]
Frogs maximal leapers
Biologists at the University of Pennsylvania trained high-speed cameras on frogs wearing electrodes and monitored the frog's muscle movements and activity. They found that muscles wait about 26 milliseconds after receiving the contraction signal before they react. During the delay, chemical reactions begin to prepare the force-generating units (sarcomeres) inside the muscle fiber for shortening. If the sarcomeres shorten too much or too little, the muscle fails to achieve maximum potential. Frogs apparently control the shortening just right. In addition, their muscles are attached in all the right places to get the most bang for their bounce. [Science, January 21, 1994 from Eloise Beltz-Decker and Science News, January 22, 1994 from Mark Witwer]
Arizona tightens herp laws
The Arizona Game and Fish Commission approved new amphibian and reptile regulations
limiting the take of certain species. "Herpetologic hobbyists" argued against some of the
changes, but there was no widespread opposition to the changes according to an article in the Arizona Republic [October 24, 1993 from Tom Taylor?]. The laws were tightened in an effort to reduce the illegal trafficking of reptiles from the state.
A tale of two tuataras
The Toledo Zoo has acquired two female tuataras for their "Dino ROAR!" exhibit from the Wellington Zoo in New Zealand. Tuataras are the only surviving rhynchocephalians, an order believed to have appeared on earth more than 240 million years ago. The two tuataras will be housed in a special temperature-controlled exhibit. They eat insects and small reptiles. Only 13 tuataras are known to live in captivity in the U.S., with an estimated 200 in zoos worldwide. [The Akron, OH Beacon Journal, December 27, 1993 from Jim Zimmerman]
Barf of the month club
Regular contributor Bob Pierson send a copy of Michael Paskevich's column from the Las Vegas, NV Review-Journal [January 28, 1994] which describes the new "Splash" review at the Riviera Hotel. Herpetologists might wish to skip it since the show includes an act of wanton cruelty described by Paskevich: "Then there's alligator wrasslin' and hasslin' with `Tahar the Beastmaster' in a dreadful act that could be the worst to ever desecrate a Vegas stage. Tahar, who looks like talk show host Montel Williams on steroids, first hauls out a quartet of smaller gators that, say backstage sources, spend their lives in a dry box and are given a pre-show bath as a wake-up call. Gators usually spend their winters hibernating in warmer underwater dens, and Tahar's first gang was semi-comatose, prompting him to kick and prod the dumb beasts to force movement. He hoisted them in the air, rubbed their bellies to `hypnotize' them and held their snouts shut, the latter a simple feat compared to unlocking the jaws when they latch onto something tasty... Half the audience was laughing aloud when, for his finale, Tahar and his helpers hauled out a huge coffin-like box containing an even bigger alligator that refused to play along... Patrons who might be `faint of heart' were warned to leave the showroom and a few did, offended but not afraid. The gator was noosed around the neck and dragged about the stage, occasionally snapping its jaws when goosed. This pitiful exploitation belongs in a circus sideshow." Where are the animal rights people for something like this? The only ones I've seen this winter have been screaming obscenities at fur-coat wearers in the shopping district, while dudes in snakeskin boots walk by unmolested.
Eric Thiss sent a clipping from the Minneapolis Star Tribune [January 22, 1994] about what happened when a resident of New Hope, Hennepin County tried to rescue some pet-store rats from "becoming snake food." Authorities finally moved in after neighbors became alarmed by the sight of "rats - lots and lots of `em - crawling up the curtains and peering out the windows." Animal control workers removed 450 sickly rats from the home and planned to exterminate an estimated 500 more that remained hidden in the the walls, the attic and the basement of the home which has since been condemned. The captured rats had to be destroyed because they were infected with pneumonia and other respiratory diseases, lice, fleas, and other parasites. The homeowner may be charged with building code violations or cruelty to animals and will have to pay for the removal, extermination, and demolition of the home.
Ma Junren, the trainer of Wang Junxia, the record-setting Chinese women's distance runner, often serves the runner a blood cocktail prepared by beheading a turtle with a cleaver. [USA Today, February 1, 1994 from Bill Burnett] All that slithers is not cold Residents in Santa Rosa, CA are still nervous following the escape of a 6-foot Burmese python which may be in the city's sewers. "Tiny" disappeared after having been placed in a bathtub of warm water to aid shedding. The caretaker left for 15 to 20 minutes. When she returned (can anyone guess), the snake was gone! After the neighbors were warned, one said, "I'd be afraid to sit down on the toilet in case that thing decided to hop up and bite me." [San Francisco Chronicle, January 21, 1994 from Kathy Bricker]
A Texas driver experienced what was described as "squeals on wheels" after a snake slithered out of the dash of her 1988 Thunderbird and sat on her lap while she was driving. It is reportedly not easy to stop a vehicle if the driver has climbed atop the driver's seat and therefore has no feet near the brakes. The woman said, "My daughter was screaming, and I finally got the car stopped by putting it into a lower gear and letting it coast to a stop." [Dallas Morning News, September 10, 1993 from Gary R. Durkovitz]
A 12-foot python was captured in West Palm Beach because neighbors noticed it was chasing a neighborhood cat around. The snake was taken to Lion County Safari where it can play with the big cats. [Orlando Sentinel, December 4, 1993 from Bill Burnett]
A 9-foot python offered by a husband to wife as a Christmas present in Daytona Beach, FL was quickly returned after wreaking havoc in its prospective home. The $250 python was boxed and gift wrapped like a present and placed under the tree. During the night, the snake escaped from the box and knocked over the Christmas tree. The proprietor of the pet shop from whence it was purchased arrived on Christmas to find eight messages on his answering machine all pleading with him to take the snake back. [Tampa Tribune, December 30, 1993 from Robert Wallen]
A proposal by Mark Bell to build a commercial snake farm in the Golden Gate Estates neighborhood of Naples, FL has fellow neighbors up in arms protesting his plans. The land is currently zoned agricultural and although a snake-farm is not a specifically permitted use, it is not a prohibited use, either. [Naples Daily News, November 29, 1993 from Lennie Jones] If anybody knows how this turned out, would they please let me know?
A tabloid reports that a 46-year old South African policeman provides law and order in a tough Johannesburg neighborhood with the help of three 15-foot pythons and a little black magic. The man said, "Dirty Harry wouldn't last a day here. There are more .44 and .357 Magnum handguns [here] than there are hookers and drug pushers... I'll have no mugging on my beat. I sling Lily over my shoulder and march to the trouble spot. The crooks take one look at me and decide they'd rather be somewhere else. He is also a certified witch doctor. [The Sun, December 21, 1993 from Steve Franz]
Eleven cute McGregor's pit vipers (Trimeresurus f. mcgregori) were hatched at the Fort Worth Zoological Park. The father has a dark brown color phase and bred with a silver-grey female. The babies are solid yellow and yellow with a dark brown spotted pattern. It is not known if their colors will change with time since this is the first captive breeding of this species. [AAZPA Communique, December 1993 from Karen Furnweger]
A 9-foot Burmese python was found in St. Cloud, FL and is being kept by the Osceola County Animal Control Department as a part of the pet awareness program. An officer said, "He just lays around the computer, in the chair, up on the desk. He's an absolutely lazy creature, but he's very friendly." [Orlando Sentinel, November 11, 1993 from Bill Burnett]
Seven snakes were stolen in late December from an exhibit designed to enhance positive reptile awareness at the Louisiana Nature and Science Center, New Orleans. One of the snakes was an amphiuma-eating mud snake (Farancia abacura). Snake-handling equipment and a field guide were also taken. About a week later, the director of the center received a message on the center's answering machine which said that the snakes would be placed in a bag behind a public library. Five of the seven burgled snakes were returned along with a note saying that the other two had died. The mud snake was reportedly thin but alive. The identity of the criminal or the reason for the theft remain unknown. [New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 30, 1993 and January 3, 1994 as well as the Houma, LA Courier, January 4, 1994 all from Ernie Liner]
Publication resumes
Lisa Koester is to be congratulated on the re-emergence of The Chicago Turtle Club Newsletter. Lisa was one of the founders of The CTC and has been an active CHS member, most recently serving as Librarian. You can join the CTC for a $5.00 annual contribution. They also meet monthly. See the inside back cover of the CHS Bulletin for details.
Thanks to this month's contributors and to Rick Dowling, Garrett Kazmierski, Stuart Haw, Mark Witwer, Tonya Halog, Ernie Liner, Jack Schoenfelder who sent articles previously used, cartoons, and items of interest which weren't used above. You can become an acknowledged contributor, too! Send clippings with name of publication and date slug (look in the upper
corner of newspapers, and lower corner of magazines) and your name firmly attached (tape preferred) to me.
April 1994
CHS member's snakes stolen!
Thomas Moxley, the Bartlett Animal Control Officer, was burglarized of 26 snakes in the early hours of February 25 according to a report in the Bartlett, TN Express [March 10, 1994 from Bill Burnett]. Moxley said, "These were 'snake people' all right, they knew exactly which ones to take." Stolen animals include tri-color bullsnakes and several albinos. The total financial loss to Moxley could be more than $1,800 not counting lost offspring since the snakes stolen were his breeders.
What they meant was...
CHS member Gordon Rodda who has worked long and hard on the Boiga irregularis problem
on Guam writes: "I couldn't help noticing the paragraph on Brown Tree Snakes in the February Bulletin. It is my understanding that the point being made about snake-sniffing dogs by [Vice President Albert] Gore's reinventing government committee was not that snake-sniffing dogs are a bad idea, but that it was unnecessary and undesirable for Congress to specify that exactly $100,000 was to be spent on this task. Gore's group would prefer that Congress dictate goals (such as the protection of Hawaii's wildlife) and the Department of the Interior be given authority to decide whether snake-sniffing dogs deserve more or less than $100,000. The controversy is over the relative power and specificity of the executive and legislative branches of government, rather than being a herpetological policy question. Gore's group did not argue that the dogs are a bad idea. Unfortunately, the issue was simplified in some of the media coverage."
Alleged toad smokers to fight charges
A man and wife, former residents of Angels Camp, CA, and alleged toad venom smokers have engaged an attorney from Sonora to defend them. He said, "If they (police) thought we could all get high on banana peels I guess we could all be arrested on that these days." Webster said he would ask the judge to dismiss the toad charge as legally defective since the toads produced the hallucinogen - not the defendants. The lawyer also pointed out that the cactus which allegedly produce mescaline are the kind of cactus, "you can buy at Pay Less Drug Store." Webster said that he would like some of the charges to be dismissed and the remainder reduced to misdemeanors. The Tuolumne County judge postponed the hearing until March 21, at which time th lawyer said his clients would plead not guilty. Police claim that in addition to the toads, they found LSD, mescaline-producing cacti, morphine, and Cannabis sativa. "He's not just on this toad kick," one officer was quoted as saying. Until the arrest the 41-year-old man taught at a nature camp outside Sonora run by the local school district. His wife worked in a child-care center. Since their arrest, he has taken to working at manual labor and she is unemployed. They have also moved from the area. The toads will shortly be moved to Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco. [Sacramento, CA Bee, March 2, 1994 from Bruce Hannem]
An opinion piece in the Phoenix, AZ Gazette from Tom Taylor of Tempe suggests that the drive for legalization of toad venom may be lead by CROAK (Committee Reacting to Our Amphibian Kinships), GROSS (Group Recommending Organized Slime Sucking) and BARF (Biting Amphibians is Really Fun).
Few media circuses have as many "legs" as this story has as it hopped around the world. I think the number of clippings I have received is probably the most I have ever gotten for any amphibian story. Recent contributions in date order are: February 7, Phoenix, AZ Gazette from Tom Taylor; Feb. 17, Albuquerque, NM Journal from James N. Stuart, Leesburg, FL Daily Commercial from Bill Burnett, New Orleans, LA Times-Picayune, Baton Rouge, LA The Advocate both from Ernie Liner; Feb. 20, Chicago Tribune from Rob Carmichael and Claus Sutor, New York Times from P.L. Beltz; Feb. 22, Sandusky, OH Register from Matt Meade; and March 7 The Wall Street Journal, from Mike Zelenski.
More amphibians in the news
After several years of reporting amphibian decline, the press really went overboard on the recent announcement that one study had linked disappearing frogs and an increase in ultraviolet- B rays striking the Earth's surface due to a thinning ozone layer. Andrew Blaustein and John Hays of Oregon State University, in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (March 1, 1994) report that ultraviolet radiation is killing the eggs of frogs in the Cascade mountains of the Pacific Northwest. In addition, they found that species in decline have a limited ability to repair damage from the ultraviolet radiation which causes change in their DNA or genetic coding molecule due to the absence of a protective enzyme. Blaustein was quoted, "Showing damage to an animal means there probably will be an effect on humans. So I think that it's very important that people listen to this warning signal." One frog species studied, Pseudacris regilla, the Pacific Chorus Frog was found to have six times as much of the enzyme as the other two species. The Western toad (Bufo boreas) and the Cascades frog (Rana cascadae) had far less of the enzyme and are both in decline. [March 1, 1994 South Bend, IN Tribune from Garrett Kazmierski, Memphis, TN Commercial Appeal from Bill Burnett, Chicago Tribune from Claus Sutor, Phoenix, AZ Gazette from Tom Taylor, and March 2 Orlando, FL Sentinel from Bill Burnett, March 6 Editorial Chicago Tribune from P.L. Beltz]
In the continuing story of the conflict over the Houston toad (Bufo houstonensis) in Bastrop County, Texas, the most recent report [Elgin Courier, February 16, 1994 from Bill Montgomery] reports that a task force has been appointed to study the toads' impact on the county. A member of the commissioners' court said, "There are approximately 7,000 acres of public land available for the toad and I feel that is sufficient. This would eliminate the need for buying private land." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed that the California red-legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii) be considered for inclusion on the federal list of endangered species. The species has disappeared from 75 percent of its historic range as the result of the introduction of non-native competitive species - especially the bullfrog - as well as more familiar threats including agriculture, urbanization, water diversion and irrigation projects, livestock grazing and logging. The last red-legged frogs in the Sierra Nevada vanished after the 1987-1992 drought. [Sacramento, CA Bee, February 4, 1994 from Bruce Hannem]
According to an Associate Press report picked up by the Hammond, IN Times [March 12, 1994 from Philip Drajeske] 300,000 toads get squashed every year on British roads. However, hundreds of volunteers at 500 sites around England are dedicated to helping the toads achieve their breeding ponds without significant flattening along the way. Mick Durant, co-founder of the Surrey Wildlife Protection Group said, "You just need a bucket, a strong torch and to be very fast and dodge the traffic. You can get some very irate drivers." He's been toad-ally involved with the project for 11 years. He said, "I just went down the lane one day when it was wet and warm... and I saw all these poor little animals on the ground just splattered everywhere. I mean, I'm a builder, and builders are supposed to be strong. But driving home one night and seeing all the dead toads, I just sat in my car and cried."
A salamander in the George Washington National Park is the first species to be protected under a new federal plan to keep species from becoming endangered. The Cow Knob salamander (Plethodon shenandoah) lives only on Shenandoah Mountain along the Virginia-West Virginia line. The new approach is an attempt to stabilize rare species and avoid controversies such as the spotted-owl debacle of the Bush-Clinton campaign. The new agreement limits logging and certain other human activities as well as seeking more research into the elusive animal's habits. CHS member and University of Richmond ecologist Joseph C. Mitchell said that the agreement is "the first of its kind and is likely to become the model for the rest of the country." [Richmond, VA Times-Dispatch, January 26, 1994 from Mr. Laverne A. Copeland]
I want one too
A new auto ornament from the U.S. Southwest is apparently exciting a lot of comment. Shaped like the ubiquitous fish symbol found on the back of fundamental Christian vehicles, but with legs and the word "Darwin" inside, it is intended as a tongue-in-cheek reminder that not everyone is a Creationist these days. They're manufactured by Evolution Design, a one-woman Austin, TX company that does not advertise. The designer, Chris Gilman, had the idea about a decade ago, but only made the prototype in 1989. He said that the effect was immediate: "People would honk their horn and I'd think, uh-oh. But they'd be yelling, 'That fish! Where did you get it?'" [The Wall Street Journal, February 2, 1994 from J.H. Schoenfelder] For a big laugh, type "Creationist" and see what your spell-checking program offers as a replacement!
Yucky stuff
Burhop's Seafood at Plaza Del Lago, 1515 Sheridan Road, Wilmette, IL presented a cooking demonstration for alligator balls, turtle gumbo, and frog legs Provencale March 19. This lovely item was reported by Lezli Bitterman in the Bits and Pieces column of the Chicago Sun-Times [March 3, 1994 from Steve Spitzer]. A Hanover, Ontario man has been jailed for 90 days for one count of cruelty to animals after fire fighters found a two-day-old piglet in the corner of a tank in which an alligator was regularly kept. The man had rescued the gator when the fire started, but left the food item behind. The mammal was later destroyed and the alligator has since died. [Hamilton, Ontario Canada Spectator, February 10, 1994] Contributor Brian Bankowski wrote: "There's no reason generally for use of live foods and this article just proves it! What we don't need is this kind of negative publicity making herpers look like a gang of sadistic perverts."
See you later, alligator?
Yolo County Animal Control confiscated a 5-foot caiman from a Phi Delta Theta fraternity house at University of California, Davis. The brothers reportedly had two caimans, but had let the other one go at an undetermined location when it got too big. Keeping caimans is illegal in the state, whether in an "animal house" or not. [Sacramento, CA Bee, January 1, 1994 from Bruce Hannem]
Alice, the alligator who was removed from her loving family after a 42-year uneventful residence in a house, was "pardoned" by Illinois Governor Jim Edgar after massive radio publicity embarrassed the Department of Agriculture. The "ag-guys" decided that under the law Alice was a dangerous reptile, so as Pearl and Mel ("Swede") Pedersen looked on helplessly they scooped her into a bag and carried her away. The governor said it shouldn't have happened, "Those people should be allowed to keep their pet. Forty-two years is a good track record of not being dangerous." Ever since they got her as a 10-inch baby, the alligator had been part of the family. Alice took bubble baths with the four Pedersen children, then joined them in the shower as they grew. She took long naps by the water heater and snuggled into bed with Mrs. Pedersen. Alice begged table scraps by sitting up on her tail and was housebroken, doing her duty in a bathtub partially filled with water. The Pedersens have decided that Alice should go to a zoo and are working on plans to send her to a facility run by John Mellyn near San Antonio, TX. Meanwhile, Alice is on display in a Wauconda pet shop. It's not that the Pedersens don't want her back, but as 77-year-old Swede said, "Alice was going to outlive us. We needed to find a good home for her." [Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1994 from K.S. Mierzwa]
An alligator briefly occupied the East Room of the White House during the Presidency of John Quincy Adam's term. [National Enquirer, February 15, 1994 name withheld by request] Winston, the three-legged alligator, was freed from a St. Petersburg, FL drain pipe in which he had been stuck for more than a week. City workers removed a grate and a trapper moved the 7-foot 3-inch critter to Alligator Lake near Safety Harbor. Residents of a condo complex had petitioned the mayor of the town to free the gator: "[he] has committed no crime other than making a critical wrong turn on his journey through life." [December 31, 1993 Leesburg, FL Daily Commercial and Orlando Sentinel from Bill Burnett]
Snake stories
Two Maryland mechanics turned snake charmer to coax a python from a car after a high school student lost it while returning from his girlfriend's house the night before. Monty the Python (oh, how original!) had escaped from a knotted pillowcase the worked his way into a heating vent and wrapped himself around the steering column. It cost the student $125 to have his dashboard in and out to get the snake free. [Havre de Grace, MD The Record, February 25,
1994 from Mark Witwer]
A three-foot boa escaped into the auto of its owner, an Associated Press writer relocating from New York to New Orleans. The writer had put the snake in a zippered duffel bag in the front seat. After one rest stop in Georgia, she noticed that the bag was unzipped about a half inch and "Emmeline" was gone. A mechanic opened and closed the instrument panel after finding that the snake had broken both the speedometer and odometer. The writer was later able to extricate Emmeline somewhere in Mississippi. Incidentally, Triple A Auto Club does not send out mechanics to get snakes out of dashboards. [Pittsburgh, PA Tribune Review, March 6, 1994, no name but greatly appreciated!]
NASA will use snakes in a study of how blood circulatory systems work. It is not a frivolous question for a space agency; blood circulation problems are a plague for astronauts. Without gravity, bodies seem to be unable to prevent blood from spilling downward. Returning astronauts faint when they try to stand up. Thirty tree climbing yellow rat snakes in long skinny tubes will be spun on a centrifuge to simulate gravity loading at the California space laboratory. In addition, researchers are writing a proposal to fly the snakes on a shuttle mission and monitor their blood flow in microgravity. [Sacramento, CA Bee, February 28, 1994 from Bruce Hannem]
A Chesterfield County, VA man was bitten by his pet cobra (yes, another one) and will now face charges of violating the county's wild and exotic animal ordinance. The snake was destroyed. [Richmond, VA Times-Dispatch, January 25, 1994 from Mr. Laverne A. Copeland]
Neighbors of Mark Bell's proposed snake farm in the Golden Gate Estates in Collier County, FL have begun a legal suit against the land owners and the county to try to stop the project. The lawsuit seeks to have the building permits granted to Bell revoked contending that county zoning laws do not permit a snake farm in that particular neighborhood. According to the January 4, 1994 Bonita News-Press [from Alan Rigerman] Bell expressed bewilderment about his neighbors attitudes during a public hearing. He said, "I don't know what all the fuss is about."
Tortoise issues
Gopher tortoises have stopped a 52-unit farm labor housing development in Sebring, FL. Well, actually it was a law that stopped the development until the tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) are either relocated or a $28,000 mitigation fee is paid into the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission Trust Fund. [Leesburg, FL Daily Commercial, December 23, 1993 from Bill Burnett]
The federal government announced that it plans to designate 6.4 million acres of desert as critical habitat for the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Included in the area is a proposed nuclear dump site in Ward Valley. The move is opposed by (is anyone surprised?) the California Cattlemen's Association, mining groups, off-road vehicle users, and real estate developers. The whole process had been a tightrope walk between special interest groups, the government, and the tortoises. Certain areas were placed in, then out of the protected zone. In the end, even the Fish and Wildlife Service knew the compromise was less than perfect. David Klinger a press liaison officer with FWS said, "Critical habitat doesn't prohibit anything... [but] it could have the effect of limiting a certain project... Since 1979 there have been 118,000 consultations regarding proposed activities within areas designated as critical habitat. Only 33 projects were halted." [Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 8, 1994 from Bob Pierson, The Wall Street Journal February 9 and Chicago Sun-Times February 10 from M.A. Dloogatch]
Meanwhile, a plan being considered by the Steering Committee of Clark County, NV would permit land developers to kill desert tortoises by grading property, and permit authorities to kill them by lethal injection "if all relocation options are exhausted." If this plan is approved, it will still require the approval of FWS. Chris Brown the Southern Nevada director of Citizen Alert said at a public meeting that the 30-year plan being considered by the county's Desert Tortoise Steering Committee leans more toward satisfying developers than it does toward preserving the wild environment of tortoises. [Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 10, 12 and 15 from Bob Pierson]
A rather snotty British opinion piece by A. A. Gill [Sunday London Times, February 13 from R.J. Olsen] makes fun of the acreage set aside in a feeble attempt to protect the desert tortoise: "The tortoise sanctuary, stretching across CA, UT and NV is 6.5 million acres. That's the same size as Great Britain. Land's End to John o' Groats with nothing in it but tortoises. Imagine taking the kids to see the nature reserve." "America is down to its last 2 million [tortoises]. No you and I might well think that 2m tortoises was an embarrassment, a veritable plethora, a plague, even." In my opinion, Gill is just jealous that we colonials can set aside an area as big as his whole country for anything, let alone tortoises.
The taxman cometh
Herpetologists of Illinois can make a positive contribution to the fauna of the state by putting a donation on line 15a of their IL-1040 state income tax form. Your gift will support the Illinois Wildlife Preservation Fund. Last year, $170,000 was raised and the fund has provided more than $2 million for conservation since 1984. In addition, the fund is the primary source of money for the Division of Natural Heritage, Illinois Department of Conservation. Your accountant can advise you on the tax-deductible nature of this contribution. [WaterShedd, March 1994 from Karen Furnweger]
Next month - lots of turtles! Due to the overwhelming volume of contributions this month, I ran over my usual length and have many nifty turtle tales to share. Do not stop sending clippings just because we have a one month surplus! Contribute by sending clippings with the date and publication slug firmly attached with your name to me. Letters, cards and photos are appreciated and will be acknowledged. Additional contributors this month are: J.H. Schoenfelder, Ernie Liner, Mark Witwer, J.N. Stuart, P.L. Beltz, and Bob Pierson. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
May 1994
Welcome!
The National Zoo in Washington has successfully bred Komodo dragon chicks; the first time they have been bred in captivity outside their native Indonesia. Dr. Dale Marcellini, chief herpetologist at the National Zoo, said that previous attempts had generally failed because it is nearly impossible to sex adult Varanus komodoensis and breeding pairs must be young and like each other enough to start a family. [The New York Times, March 1, 1994 from Mark Witwer]
Iguana new home
The first pure-bred Caymanian iguana (Cyclura nubila lewisii) was released by that island's National Trust into a 625-acre reserve on the east end of the island. Regular readers will remember that last year several captive bred but not pure bred iguanas were released in an effort to see how they would cope with humans, dogs, and other non-native species. Only one of the three radio implanted iguanas wandered away from the study area and into a dog pen. The Programme Manager, Fred Burton, told the Caymanian Compass [January 17, 1994 from L.W. Reed] that his sorrow at losing a hybrid animal was somewhat mitigated by the knowledge gained about the species. He said that the Trust now knew that the "iguanas don't have the danger signals where dogs are concerned." He also said that the only baby iguana released at the study site remained there. The Blue iguana is native and indigenous to the island, where it persists in small pockets. The total number of animals remaining is considered to be less than 200. The National Trust began breeding them in 1990 in an attempt to repopulate the species. An iguana enclosure has been built at their Botanic Park and further releases are planned.
That skinking feeling
The state of Florida plans to purchase 40,000 acres of sand scrubland in an effort to protect two species, the sand skink (Neoseps reynoldsi) and the blue-tailed mole skink (Eumeces egregius lividus). The government has targeted about a dozen properties that it estimates will cost $31 million to buy from developers, corporations, and individuals. Biologists estimate that up to 90 percent of Florida's original scrub has been lost to agriculture, citrus groves, and residential development. A research biologist at the Archbold Biological Station in Lake Placid said, "These scrub areas are one of the highest and driest points of old dune systems and they're good for housing because they don't flood, and for citrus because there's no standing water." The proposed Lake Wales refuge will protect an entire ecosystem which includes about a dozen endangered scrub plants, the habitat of four threatened species including the two skink species, the Eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon corais couperi) and the Florida scrub jay. [Leesburg, FL Daily Commercial, January 3, 1994 and the Orlando, FL Sentinel, January 2, 1994 from Bill Burnett]
It's frog and toad time
English toads get great press (from cars and newspapers). The newest piece is from Wisley, England [via the Memphis, TN Commercial Appeal, March 13, 1994 from Bill Burnett] which interviews Mike Durant, co-founder of the Surrey Wildlife Protection Group, who helps toads cross roads: "You just need a bucket, a strong torch (flashlight to us Yanks) and to be very fast and dodge the traffic. You can get some very irate drivers. A toad will only come back to where it's born. A toad will not go anywhere else to spawn." As croaking toads inside his bucket try to climb atop one another, Durant continues: "These noises... males are trying to mate with males and they tend to dislike it. I think it's a noise to say `I'm not a female, I'm a male.'" Durant measures his crew's success in squashed toads. They have collected squished toads every year from Surrey County, southwest of London. Two years ago they got 111, last year 58, and this year 25. Durant has been helping toads for eleven years. He concluded, "... at night, the cars are squashing them. It's a terrible life, isn't it?"
In the U.S. it's citizens versus toads in St. Mary's County Maryland. The citizens want a wider road; I think the eastern narrowmouth toads would prefer none. Gastrophryne carolinensis is listed as an endangered species in that state, but a Democratic delegate said that he feels the county's goal of widening and straightening nearly four miles of road outweighs the importance of the toad. In addition, no one's seen the species in that part of the county since 1986. [The Baltimore, MD Evening Sun, March 16, 1994 from Mark T. Witwer] CHS member Alan Resetar was quoted in an article in the Hammond, IN Post-Tribune [March 31, 1994 from Jack Schoenfelder] about frogs: "Their throat and calling muscles are 10 times stronger than an Olympic athlete's leg muscles. Male peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) peep up to a quarter of a million times without resting or stopping to eat. Resetar added that some Hoosiers used to believe that only brown-eyed people could see western chorus frogs (Pseudacris triseriata); a belief perhaps prompted by that species crypic coloration. Resetar added: "These frogs are part of our natural heritage. They were part of the original fauna of the area and were here before the first settlers arrived. They hang on in spite of pollution and the draining of wetlands."
Recent reports that ozone is the prime cause in amphibian declines are being disputed by some biologists, who contend that more than one factor is likely at work in the disappearances. Andrew R. Blaustein of Oregon State University said, "We know that it can't be as simple as ultraviolet radiation because some of the species that are declining lay their eggs in shaded waters. There's gotta be other causes." Worldwide amphibian decline was noted at the First World Congress of Herpetology at Canterbury in 1989. Since then researchers have been trying to determine the mechanism of the declines. Blaustein recently published an article which implicates the fungus, Saprolegnia, that commonly infects hatchery raised fish in the decline of a species of toad. Blaustein pointed out that the fungus has turned up worldwide and that a banned fungicide was previously used to control it. [Las Vegas Review-Journal/Sun, April 10, 1994 from Bob Pierson]
An emerald smile
Writer Bert Emke wrote a nifty piece published by the Louisville Courier Journal [March 17, 1994 from E.A. Zorn]. Titled "The Land of Poets, Pints, and Newts," it reads: "Last year, on a trip to Ireland, my wife, Jane, and I stopped at the Convent of the Good Shepherd in Limerick to see its famous lacemakers. There were four or five elderly women in a big room, listening to the radio and chatting softly as they stitched. Jane sat with them and admired their work, and they asked her about the needlework project she had brought with her... featuring a stylized turtle. They said it was lovely, then woman shyly asked what it was. Jane said it was a turtle, but that didn't seem to help. The old woman had never seen a turtle. Neither had her fellow lacemakers, though they all said they were sure that turtles must be lovely animals. Evidently, when St. Patrick was driving reptiles out of Ireland 15 centuries ago, he got carried away and didn't stop with serpents. There are also no turtles or tortoises in Ireland, at least none that are native there. In fact... the only reptile found in the wild is the newt." The last `tis newts to me, I always thought they were amphibians.
What price conservation?
The long standing land use controversy between land developers and the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) in and around Las Vegas has heated up to just about the boiling point as witnessed by the following articles all from the Las Vegas Review-Journal sent by regular contributor Bob Pierson.
Headline March 30 "Killing of desert tortoises called cheaper than captivity." "The last-resort euthanasia option, while allowable under a Fish and Wildlife Service permit, has been characterized by Commissioner Don Schlesinger, as an unacceptable scheme concocted by bureaucrats. A cost-analysis of the options, by Regional Environmental Consultants of San Diego, CA shows euthanasia the cheapest at $44 per tortoise. Maintaining them in pens at a conservation center would cost $854 per tortoise, or possibly more than $11 million over 20 years. Relocating them in Southern Nevada would cost about $750 per tortoise... The euthanasia option, which could involve killing many of some 14,000 displaced tortoises over the next 20 years, was backed by developers and a state wildlife biologist, who said he fears relocating urban-area tortoises inflicted with a respiratory disease could hasten the infection among wild populations... Betty Burge, a wildlife biologist who is chairwoman of the nonprofit Tortoise Group organization, said her group's policy is to view displaced tortoises as `a special resource that should be used for conservation-related purposes such as translocation and research that increases our understanding of the species.' Jim Moore, representing The Nature Conservancy... said ... `We believe euthanasia will undermine the plan. Requirement for adoption should be relaxed to promote adoption.' Keith Rogers, Staff Writer" April 5 "The government has not `come up' with the Desert Tortoise Habitat Conservation Plan. A committee of citizens who represent all segments of the community interested in the tortoise and the use of its habitat, has volunteered hundreds and hundreds of hours of time developing a plan that considers all viable alternatives. Ann Schreiber." [Letters to the editor, April 8]
"Five hundred dollars. That's what I paid to Clark County so they could come to my construction site and do a tortoise study and remove any tortoises to a safe location. Never mind the fact that someone with even a one-digit IQ could handle the job. Never mind the fact that if I had started construction and without paying the fee, and accidentally killed a tortoise, I would be on the receiving end of some pretty unpleasant legal ramifications. Never mind the fact that millions of dollars have already been embezzled by county government under the guise of protecting tortoises. I spent $500 to protect tortoises, and when I read that the people I gave the money to are killing tortoises, you'll have to pardon me if I want to screw off the tops of their heads and take out their brains and put them all together and see if it makes one. Edward J. Finley." [Letters to the editor, April 8]
"... I am the last one to defend that law [the Endangered Species Act]. I have said in public many times that I do not believe the tortoise is threatened and I disagree completely with what the federal government is forcing us to do... What people do not realize is that, in fact, the community is asking for a federal permit to `take' (which means to harm, harass or potentially kill) desert tortoises so that progress on projects like regional and neighborhood parks, schools, flood control, roads, sewer lines, and water lines can continue... We could just tell them [the tortoises] to `run for their lives,' but that is not an acceptable solution under the federal law. In exchange for this permit, we have to provide for their preservation on land that is not planned for development and is more likely to remain in its natural state forever. That is what the federal law says. People might remember the chaos in 1989 when the desert tortoise was first listed under the ESA. Home building, school construction, and public works projects all came to a screeching halt... and infrastructure development was slowed such that critically needed services were put on hold. The state of Nevada, the city of Las Vegas, and the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association sued the federal government... [and lost]... Everyone involved in the lawsuit agreed that Clark County should facilitate a solution allowed by the law... A committee of citizens crafted the Habitat Conservation Plan we are living with now. The steering committee is open to any member of the public and includes environmentalist, recreationists, off-road vehicle enthusiasts, pet owners, home builders, biologists, ranchers and miners. The government approved that plan. It is important for people to know that no taxpayer dollars have been spent preserving the desert tortoise. The costs of this plan are paid by those who benefit from it - developers pay a fee of $550 per acre in exchange for the ability to remove desert tortoises from the property. In a sense, it's a true impact fee because it's a real example of growth paying for growth... There is a lot of irony involved in this issue. There are no easy answers and it will take courage and leadership to support a solution that is based in fact and our understanding of all the intertwined issues. Paul J. Christensen. Clark County Commissioner. [Letters to the editor, April 19]
"So a few hundred will have to go if the rest are to be saved. Now, let's see if I have this right: We kill them with earth-movers and the like, then decide there aren't enough of them in the region and fret over their existence, then devote millions in the name of preservation, then kill them when the cost is too great. I wonder if the desert tortoise is confused yet. I know I am... No developer has yet embraced the idea of giving one free tortoise to each new homebuyer... John L. Smith, columnist" April 1
"I have worked at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center, building pens and taking care of tortoises. The center was never intended to be a permanent solution; it is a storehouse and a place to conduct research in an effort to save the Vegas Valley's growing dislocated population of tortoises. The center is not filled to capacity, as only about a quarter of the land already acquired is being used for the pens, and it has been estimated there are no more than a couple thousand wild tortoises left in the valley. As for funding the facility, the money should already be in the bank for this purpose; that is why developers pay fees to build on tortoise habitat. There should be millions available by now (I have heard between $8 and $10 million). I have heard that the county no longer wishes to be responsible for operating the center and wants out. Just what does the county intend to do with the millions of dollars already raised from development fees, if it does not intend to fund the conservation center as the money was intended to do? Randall D. Watkins." [Letters to the editor, April 8]
Personally, I wonder... Has any of these people, agencies, governments, etc. ever considered just selling desert tortoises? I bet they could get $200-300 a pop from pet keepers or collectors. Glue on a permit like they already do and make money on the deal. Couldn't be any worse than killing them, could it?
For people unclear on the concept
Last month's Letters to the Editor of the Bulletin had a contribution from Jill Horwich who made an issue of my use of the phrase "Yucky stuff" as a headline for a piece about Burhop's running a cooking school for alligator balls, turtle soup, and frog legs. Ms. Horwich stated that this type of meat is no different than beef or pork and that wild animals are probably killed in a more humane manner than are domestic animals. Let me be perfectly clear for those who misunderstand why I feel that the consumption of the specific articles in my piece is "yucky." First, I object to the taking of wild animals for food. The turtles and the frogs prepared by the chef were most definitely wild caught since there are no captive breeding for food programs for aquatic turtles, sea turtles, or frogs to my knowledge anywhere in the world. The alligators whose balls were being fried may have been hunted from the wild, captive bred or farmed. The article didn't say. Second, wild animals are not killed more humanely than domestically raised cows, steers, pigs, chickens, and so forth. Wild animals are often killed by the collector who is under no legal restraints or U.S. Department of Agriculture rules as to the killing of said animals. Turtles are routinely killed by decapitation. I have seen several, including one lovely Graptemys nigrinoda, beheaded at grocery stores in Chinatown. Frogs can be pithed or decapitated. I have seen frogs pithed and it is also not a pleasant sight. Biology students know that frogs are routinely used in school laboratories to study the effects of various drugs on the heart - which beats for a long time after pithing. Are they really dead when their chests are sliced open and their still beating hearts are offered to the god of biology education? Are we Aztecs? The point is that consuming an animal which was pillaged from the wild, whose offspring will never be born to replenish wild populations, is quite a different thing from buying a piece of dead, domestic cow.
Thanks to everyone who contributed this month, and a special thanks to a group of people including Jim Harding, Kathy Bricker, Bill Burnett and probably others who mailed stuff to me in the past and never saw their articles or acknowledgements. Some of you may have heard of the postal problems in Chicago that were so severe that the Chief of the U.S. Snail actually came out and visited (gasp!) our post offices. Well, about a week after his visit, I got a bunch of mail which I opened and found some older articles I'd already used. Since people like Jim, Kathy, and Bill are usually so timely with their contributions, I looked at the envelopes. The mail was from August, 1993!!!! So, if you've sent something before and I haven't seemed to use it or thank you, perhaps your letters are still on their way! In fairness to all the fine workers at the post office, I have occasionally received overseas letters addressed to: Ellin Beltz, CHS, Chicago USA. This is not the right address. Please send contributions to me (see the bottom of this page for the most recent email). I use or acknowledge everything I receive and your contributions are read and enjoyed by at least 1900 other people worldwide. So, confuse the snail, send your clippings today!
June 1994
Shell-ular communications
H.E.A.R.T. (Held Endangered Animals - Ridley Turtles, Lepidochelys kempii) sent a letter this month which reads: "The sea turtles and especially the endangered Kemp's ridleys are losing out again...the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) both charged with protection of sea turtles did nothing but follow up and count carcasses while over 200 sea turtles including over 100 Kemp's ridley sea turtles were washing up on Texas beaches! ... NMFS has reduced the penalty for not having a TED (turtle excluder device) or disabling a TED to merely a civil fine instead of arrest and a criminal charge. This is a tragedy for the sea turtles and especially for the Kemp's ridleys. 204 dead turtles this year, most of them in April and May. Over 100 Kemp's ridleys dead! Thirteen percent of them were headstarted! Of course, the government stopped the headstarting experiment at Galveston, TX that was adding tough little 10 month old ridleys to the wild population. The government contends headstarting isn't successful although research shows it is. ... We want to know what is killing the turtles no matter what it is so it can be stopped!. Is there some other type of fishing going on that drowns sea turtles? A Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) biologist reported that on May 11 he saw "15 shrimp and two menhaden poagie boats" between Galveston and Calcasieu, Louisiana. And TPWD "received several complaints of dead fish around shrimp boats and poagie boats." ... Public comments to legislators are needed to question a combination of factors:
- Why doesn't the government get ready for shrimping season and why didn't they respond immediately to dead turtle strandings?
- Why was the TED violation penalty reduced?
- Why can't we get specific numbers on how NMFS arrived at their 95 percent TED compliance rate?
- Why was the sea turtle stranding network drastically cut back when it provides important information about strandings and fishing activity?
- Why has funding been reduced for the Kemp's ridley turtle nesting beach operation at Rancho Nuevo, Mexico?
- Why not restart the headstart experiment for Kemp's ridleys stopped by USFWS last summer?..."
Suggested recipients of letters include: a.) NOAA, NMFS, 1335 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910; b.) Secretary of the Department of the Interior, 7800 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240; c.) your congressional representative (call 312-939-INFO if you don't know who that is) at the U.S. House of Representative, Washington, D.C. 20515; and your senator at the U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20210. Please send photocopies of your letters to HEART Box 681231, Houston, TX 77268-1231.
A report from Scripps Howard News Service sent by alert reader Larry Valentine of Grand Junction, CO from the local Daily Sentinel [March 2, 1994] reports on hearings conducted by the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries subcommittee as part of their evaluation of the Endangered Species Act. Gary Matlock, a deputy regional director of NMFS said that organization supports captive propagation programs "only as a last resort." Unnamed Clinton administration officials stated "that specialized breeding strategies alone will not solve the problem of endangered species." Specifically cited was the Galveston, TX headstarting facility. The article says (with no further sourcing): "Scientists now concede there is little evidence of success." For readers new to the issue, or for others who may not have seen it the first time, there is apparently a political stress between a particular scientist at NMFS and the Galveston headstarting facility. Tempers between the two rose when the scientist suggested performing (and may indeed have performed parts of) an experiment in which turtles would be strapped to detonating chunks of oil platforms to evaluate their response to the demolition of oceanic structures. The headstarters described this experiment as "barbaric" and bad blood has existed ever since. The latest shot in the war is the closing of the Galveston facility based in part on "scientific testimony" showing that there is a null result from headstarting. However, much knowledge has been gained by headstarting facilities around the world including as one example the temperature-dependent sex ratio - at different temperatures, different sexes hatch. Since turtles take such a long time to reach scientific maturity, it is not yet possible to know if headstarted hatchlings will return to their nesting beaches, or to their release beaches off Padre Island, TX. It is a shame that one researcher has apparently put his ego in front of the survival of the species for which so many have worked so hard. Your letters to all concerned will truly be appreciated.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine (March, 1994 from Mark Witwer) reports that sea turtles have been found living around offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Researchers with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service (MMS) report finding loggerhead sea turtles around the lest of oil drilling rigs offshore from Galveston, TX. Dr. Ann Bull, a marine biologist at MMS "speculated that the turtles were feeding on crabs, flying fish and shrimp that were attracted to the platform lights." She said, "We don't know how many loggerheads might be living in that part of the Gulf ... but there is no doubt that some of them take up residence, at least briefly or seasonally, around offshore platforms that offer shelter, overhead protection, and a spectacular menu at night."
Turtles forced to leave their habitat by bulldozers in Guangzhou, China have been returned to a slightly different location in the province after a two-year absence. Local officials punished the construction company responsible for the destruction of habitat and have gone all out to restore the area. More than 60 hatchlings have been released. The province is home to more than 30 kinds of protected marine animals and this year, over 900 cases of wildlife poaching or fishing have been prosecuted. The Huidong green turtle conservation area is the only protected zone for these animals along China's entire coastline. It has been recognized by the United Nations for its efforts on behalf of an estimated 1,000 turtles [China Daily, December 14, 1993 from P.L. Beltz] A later story from the same publication [January 8, 1994] details the results of this years "head start efforts" for green sea turtles at the preserve. It reads: "Since 1985 [when the preserve was set aside] more than 570 female turtles have climbed onshore and given birth to more than 28,900 turtle babies. Most of them have been released into the sea."
The February, 1994 issue of National Geographic had a cover story on sea turtles by Anne and Jack Rudloe. It's good reading in general with an excellent description of how a TED works, however, it was apparently written before the Galveston head starting facility was closed since it mentions a Texas hatching facility. [from P.L. Beltz]
Large numbers of loggerhead sea turtles have been counted nesting on the east and west coasts of Florida. The Orlando, FL Sentinel reports that "Today, the main killer of turtles is pollution. Turtles think plastic grocery bags are jellyfish and try to eat them. Netting also has depleted turtle populations, even though TEDs are required by law on commercial netters in Florida." [May 6, 1994 from Bill Burnett]
Turtles choosing to nest on Daytona Beach and other Volusia, FL County beaches will receive more protection this year after the county received warnings from the USFWS. The service had cited a number of eggs and baby turtles smashed or run over by cars, trapped in tire ruts, or disoriented by headlights from cars and trucks driving on beaches last summer and stated these to be violations of the federal Endangered Species Act. This year, vehicles will be banned from beaches at night, and completely from some heavy nesting areas. In addition, the county will be looking for beach lighting violations. [Orlando, FL Sentinel, April 30, 1994 from Bill Burnett]
The Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, NJ reports a large number of sea turtle strandings for the last half of 1993: two female leatherbacks, dead on beach, another with rear flippers amputated and healed over with rope marks on carapace, another with chafing of both front flippers at base, the last two possibly killed by entanglement; a loggerhead of unknown sex found dead with a fractured carapace, probably killed by a boat hit; a male leatherback killed by entanglement with black polyfilament line around mouth, shell and rear flipper; another possibly killed by a boat hit; a female leatherback found missing its head and right front flipper, another killed by entanglement by mono line around its neck and right rear flipper; also 13 other turtles found dead but too decomposed for necropsy; two green turtles were found alive, one was sent to the North Carolina Aquarium for release, the other died of a stomach wall infection four days after it was recovered. The center is supported by public donations and the sale of cups, shirts, and other goodies. Even though the name doesn't say "reptiles," Bob Schoelkopf and Sheila Dean retrieve, record, and recover all reported sea turtles, box turtles, and snakes suggested to their facility. I strongly urge CHS members to support their work. Contact the center at P.O. Box 773, Brigantine, NJ 08203 or call 609-266-0538 for more information.
Science [Volume 263, March 4, 1994] reports that Indian sea turtles are imperiled by shrimp trawlers due to the Indian government's construction of a major shrimp fishing port within 10 kilometers of the best Olive Ridley nesting beach on the subcontinent. The Madras Crocodile Bank (a CHS exchange member) plans to sue the Indian government to try to stop the opening of the port. Send letters of support to them by writing: Post Bag Number 4, Mahabalipuram 603 104 Tamil Nadu, South India.
Canadian broadcasters plan to reduce violence on television and the first casualty was "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." The ban includes shows with "gratuitous violence" and limits shows with contents "suitable for adults only" to the hours after 9 p.m. The code also demands that "violence will not be the central theme" of children's cartoons. The mutants apparently failed on all counts. [The New York Times, January 11, 1994 from P.L. Beltz]
Crab trappers in New Jersey apparently kill diamondback terrapins (Malaclemmys terrapin) along with their target species. This has caused a hue and cry among residents who are proposing a no-trapping zone around the Sedge Islands Wildlife Management Area in Barnegat Bay, Ocean County. Other threats to diamondbacks include predation by raccoons and foxes. [Asbury Park Press, February 20, 1994 from Bruce T. Henderson, DVM] It is interesting to note the comeback made by terrapins; at the beginning of this century, they had been all but eliminated due to market trapping. "Diamond Jim" and other great gastronomes of the Gilded Age snarfed down soups and stews of terrapin along with the last of the passenger pigeons and other tasteful delights. The terrapins, fortunately, were able to recover. The subspecies of terrapin, unfortunately, have been so mixed by releases and "turtle farming" as to have become quite indistinct in some areas. I had a terrapin which I rescued from a Chinese grocery. It was a very pleasant animal, but nearly died from what I presume to have been "captivity depression." It must be hard for an animal accustomed to an entire salt marsh to exist in a small tub in a small apartment. I gave it to someone with more space and it perked right up.
On April 20, 1994 the Chicago Tribune [from sharp-eyed Claus Sutor] reported: "Raging fire endangers Galapagos turtles. Quito, Ecuador - A fire roared Tuesday across the largest of the Galapagos Islands, burning 2,500 acres and threatening a treasured environment. The fire on Isabela island, home of mammoth Galapagos turtles and scores of other wholly unique varieties of plants and reptiles, was out of control..." Bill Burnett sent a clipping dated May 1 from the Orlando, FL Sentinel which stated: "If worse comes to worst, if the firebreaks fail and the huge wildfire rages onward through the largest of the Galapagos Islands, scientists say they will take the rescue of giant tortoises into their own hands. They will lift the endangered tortoises, one by one, and haul them to safety... A two-week-old wildfire has seared 21,000 acres on Isabela Island, but it is still five miles from the nearest nesting area of tortoises. And firefighters say the blaze is now under control. ...Isabela has been wracked by fires from volcanic eruptions for millennia, but probably never before has it endured two major fires within a decade. It has now - a devastating one in 1985 and the present fire, both caused by humans.
Dumb human tricks
An Argentine man was sentenced to 15 months in prison for trying to smuggle 417 reptiles in one suitcase into the U.S. including: 76 Podocnemis expansa, 107 Geochelone chilensis, 102 Geochelone carbonaria, 20 Tupinambis rufescens, 5 Boa constrictor occidentalis, and 7 Epicrates cenchris and another 100 specimens not protected by CITES. Unfortunately, 92 percent of the Podocnemis turtles died while in the suitcase. The remaining animals were shipped back to Argentina and were to be released in the wild. The man claimed he was going to give the animals to the Bronx Zoo in NY, but USFWS agents concluded he planned to sell the animals to exotic animal dealers. [World Wildlife Fund Traffic USA, January 1994 - from Karen Furnweger]
Some people never learn... One of the two Taiwanese men busted by the USFWS and U.S. Customs for smuggling 18 snakes in sacks tied around his arms and legs (not to mention 34 more in their luggage) has been busted previously on similar charges! Apparently Customs agents discovered a lizard in his pocket, more reptiles wrapped around his body, inside his clothing and in his carry-on bag. USFWS confiscated one emerald tree boa, eight savanna monitors, three tegus, an albino red-eared slider, two African fat-tail geckos, three California king snakes, two Mexican milk snakes and one whipsnake. [WWF Traffic USA, January 1994 from Karen Furnweger]
But what killed the snake?
The owner of an exotic pet shop from Bay Shore, Long Island, NY was found dead by authorities in a field. Nearby lay the corpse of his pet Mojave rattlesnake. Newspapers around the country reported details: he'd had a fight with his girlfriend, he'd threatened this type of suicide before, he was fascinated by venomous snakes, etc. Puncture wounds were found on the body which are believed to be consistent with snakebite, but an autopsy remained to be performed [Newsday, March 14 and 15, 1994] Contributor Joseph Jannsen wrote: "As of March 29, there has not been a follow up." Does anybody know how this story ends?
Slithery, slender tales
Five players for the Arkansas Razorbacks have pet snakes including Corliss Williamson who said, "They are just neat to be around. I used to have a fear of snakes but I started playing with [teammate] Cory Beck's snake and became fascinated with them. [The Washington Times, April 4, 1994 from Kathy Bricker]
A Deland, FL man's scheme to protect his car backfired when his 7-foot python which was supposed to "watch the car" was stolen along with the Oldsmobile Delta 88 in which it had been sleeping. The car was found the next day by Volusia, FL sheriff's deputies who took the snake to the Humane Society. The animal was later taken to the Central Florida Zoological Park after its owner claimed he didn't have enough money to go and get her. The zoo planned to take care of the snake until the 19-year old college student can get back for her - but cautioned they can't care for it forever. [Orlando, FL Sentinel, April 20, 1994 from Bill Burnett] By April 27, the same paper was reporting that the animal would be offered for adoption by the zoo.
Pictures of snakes have been banned from publications of the Alameda Newspaper Group "until a snake actually holds up a bank, is nominated for a Cabinet post or wins the Super Lotto." Seems as though the boss of the ANG doesn't like snakes. In contrast, the inventer of the Nautilus workout machine Arthur Jones loved snakes and kept cobras and rattlesnakes in his home. [Orlando, FL Sentinel April 28, 1994 from Bill Burnett]
A thief stole the corpse of a 12-foot Burmese python from a Pasco, WA woman's freezer. She had adopted the snake three years ago from the Benton-Franklin Humane Society. Tired of feeding the snake three 7-pound rabbits every two weeks, she froze the snake in an effort to humanely kill it with plans to have the corpse skinned and sold for snakeskin goods. [Leesburg, FL Daily Commercial, April 27, 1994 from Bill Burnett]
A dead 11-foot python was found in a residential driveway by sewer workers in Lorain, OH who visited the house to check on the sewers. The residents of the house didn't know the snake was there. An animal keeper at the Tropical Rain Forest at the Cleveland Metro-parks Zoo was quoted as saying, "There have been incidences where pet snakes have attacked and killed babies or small kids in their homes. If he was healthy and he decided to wrap around someone, there would be a real threat. We worry about that with our pythons because they're very, very strong. They're also capable of eating small dogs and cats." [The Morning Journal, May 5, 1994 from Matthew B. Meade]
An Associated Press report picked up by the Cleveland, OH Plain Dealer [May 13, 1994 contributed by Jim Zimmerman] reads: "Twentynine Palms, CA - A bird dropped a snake over a power station, short circuiting a line and causing a two-hour blackout in the desert. More than 4,000 homes ... were without power Wednesday while ... crews removed what was left of the rosy boa and restored the circuit."
Thanks to all columnar contributors including Larry Valentine, Lisa Koester, Karen Furnweger, Bob Pierson, Kathy Bricker, and Donna-Marie Gazdziak who sent clippings that were very interesting, but couldn't be included this month. You can become a contributor, too. Send clippings with the publication name/date slug and your name firmly attached to me.
July 1994
Congratulations!
Dr. Michael W. Klemens has joined the staff of the Wildlife Conservation Society (New York Zoological Society) as Director for Program Development. Michael will continue heading the Turtle Recovery Program which was formerly at the American Museum of Natural History. CHS member Dee Fick has started the Florida Keys Herpetological Society. Their first meeting was July 7. She writes, "Wish us luck... [our society will be] for people of all ages who have an interest in reptiles and amphibians.
But did he swallow?
While jogging, President Bill Clinton wore a shirt which showed a toad and the inscription "Toad Suck Arkansas." When questioned by the ever-alert Washington press corps, he explained the shirt publicizes an annual fair in Conway, Ark. where toads compete on a 50-yard course. He said, "You've got to keep the toad both going and within your lane, and if the toad gets out of the lane, you get disqualified." Toad Suck Daze is one of the state's largest festivals and includes toad-related games, jumping frog contests, and offers toad-related bric-a-brac for sale.
[The Times-Picayune, March 14, 1994 from Ernie Liner]
Toad Smoke Daze, Phase Two
The couple arrested in California for "smoking toad," which was reported in newspapers from coast to coast have had their day in court. The judge ordered them to take a drug-abuse course, which if they complete it and remain drug-free, will enable them to avoid jail. A writer for the New York Times Magazine [June 5, 1994 from P.L. Beltz] tried smoking toad juice. Anyone interested in his descriptions of the experience is referred to a library to read it for themselves. This writer feels that it would be a highly unpleasant experience and wishes to give the matter no further publicity.
Speaking of highly unpleasant experiences...
A 42-year-old Florida resident was bitten by an alligator while hunting for golf balls in a water hazard on a West Palm Beach golf course. The man was treated and released. The gator was destroyed. [The Times-Picayune, April 16, 1994 from Ernie Liner]
A visitor to Arizona was bitten by rattlesnake while hiking. He did the right thing and went to a hospital immediately. Forty-eight hours later he was discharged. His three-page bill totalled $16,161.40. The man has no medical insurance. [The Tucson Weekly, March 30 - April 5, 1994 from David L. Hardy, Sr.]
A 9-foot alligator attacked a police car removing a 10-inch chunk of plastic from the front bumper. The alligator was destroyed. [The Gainesville Sun, May 3, 1994 from Dan Pearson] A Nile crocodile attacked an American woman while she was washing her hair in the Epulu River in Zaire. After a protracted struggle, the crocodile was forced to let go, but the woman lost her arm. The 28-year old Missouri woman plans to return to her job in Africa later this year. She said, "I have to [go] - that crocodile still has my watch." She does have a sense of humor about it. She tried to get "HOOK" and "LEFTY" license plates for her car, but had to settle for "BITN" as the other words were already in use. [The Las Vegas Review-Journal/Sun, May 7, 1994 from Bob Pierson] The story is told in "chilling detail" in this month's Readers' Digest for those who like that sort of thing.
A Myrtle Beach, SC woman received a ticket with a $60 fine for stopping in the middle of a highway to help a turtle cross the road. She plans to appeal. [The Concord, NH Monitor, May 18, 1994 from Brian Carter]
The Deja Vu on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago is holding biweekly turtle races. The club owner says he got the idea from turtle races held on the Ray Raynor children's television show. [The Chicago Sun-Times, April 8, 1994 from Debi Hatchett]
China Daily reports that "The Cantonese have a reputation for eating anything and everything... They eat everything that flies except airplanes, and everything in the ocean except boats... And among the exotic fare served up... the snake dish is the most renowned... Autumn is thought to be the best time... since snake meat is the most tender at that time of year... hundreds of thousands of snakes are consumed in [the provincial capital] Guangzhou... You need to have a strong stomach to enter a Guangzhou snake restaurant. The snakes are kept alive in glass tanks. Waitresses invite the customers to select one... The creature is killed and skinned in front of the diners... " [May, 1994 from P.L. Beltz]
A Eustis, FL man said he wasn't sorry for hacking an alligator to death with a machete. A police dog tracked a trail of blood from a local lake to the house where the man's wife had hidden the meat in a child's room when she saw the officers approaching. The remainder of the animal was buried in the back yard. The man claimed the gator had eaten his bait and bobber every time he'd cast into the lake. [The Leesburg, FL Daily Commercial and Orlando, FL Sentinel, April 2, 1994 from Bill Burnett's mom]
An alligator which sunned itself on an island in Lake Alice on the University of Florida campus was removed after several complaints. However, some of the children in the neighborhood were "upset and outraged" when the creature was taken. The animal was destroyed. [The Gainesville, FL Sun, April 20, 1994 from Dan Pearson]
Poetic justice
During a WWF wrestling match in Zapopan, Mexico, Jake (the Snake) Roberts was doing his usual bit with a "gigantic snake," chasing people, making faces, attempting to scare people, and putting the critter around his neck. Wrestling Observer Newsletter [May 26, 1994 from Bill Burnett] reports that the snake "suddenly started constricting around Roberts' neck and had him nearly choked out and he collapsed backstage and they had to pull the snake off him and try to revive him." My personal three cheers for the snake; perhaps it should have won the match!
Deputy gators?
A 34-year old Mississippi woman was heading home, stopped at a McDonald's's and looked up to see a man pointing a gun at her. He demanded money, she tried to drive away, the man fired at the car. Two Slidell police officers chased the suspects along an interstate. One officer said, "They bailed out of the automobile... and jumped into a canal. It was a bit of a surprise for them, though. They were sharing that part of the canal with a 10-foot alligator and some of its offspring." The gator family was given partial credit for the arrest by the officers who booked two teens for attempted armed robbery and attempted murder. [The Baton Rouge, LA Sunday Advocate, March 20, 1994 from Ernie Liner]
Snake smuggler pleads guilty
A Parma, OH man pleaded guilty to charges of smuggling 226 snakes and 64 lizards into the U.S. by carrying them past customs in suitcases. The man and friends went to Papua, New Guinea and collected wild pythons. Customs seized 73 animals in March 1987. Eighteen were Boelen's pythons [MIKE Morelia boelensi? please check spelling] which authorities said were worth $3,000 each. The man was also caught in December 1987 with 20 pythons in his luggage and again in May 1989 with 61 reptiles. His companion was charged with bringing 81 ring pythons from New Guinea in August 1991. The Beacon-Journal [May 27, 1994 from Jim Zimmerman] states, "some of the snakes... were so rare that zoo curators had never seen live ones before." All of the animals listed in the indictment were designated as protected animals under CITES. The man may spend as much as 15 months in prison and has agreed to cooperate with wildlife officials in their investigation of international reptile smuggling. [Jim also sent an article about this from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 24, 1994 which had the value of Boelen's pythons at $10,000 each.] Incidentally, WWF Traffic USA [January, 1994 from Karen Furnweger] reported that the management authority of wildlife on Papua New Guinea has notified the CITES Secretariat that it has been tagging saltwater and New Guinea crocodiles with various color/number tags to permit identification of legally collected skins.
Updating previous stories
A Chicago-area man who took baby loggerhead turtles from their hatching beach in Venice, FL, decided he couldn't care for them, and dropped them off at the Shedd Aquarium was sentenced to 70 days in federal prison and ordered to pay $14,455 restitution. The judge said, "The only reason I'm not giving you more time is because you did bring the turtles into the Shedd when they became ill. The history I see before me is of a person who totally disregards the law. Apparently you don't believe the rules of society apply to you." The turtles will be returned to the Gulf of Mexico in August. CHS member and Shedd staff member Karen Furnweger was quoted, "These federal laws protecting them are so important, and that's why so many people wanted to see them applied in force in [this man's] case. We want people to be aware that they should never disturb these animals under any circumstances." [The Chicago Tribune, June 10, 1994 from K.S. Mierzwa]
Galapagos tortoises having been having a rough year. First there was a massive wildfire, and now individual tortoises are being killed and eaten. Workers found the remains of at least 42 giant tortoises on the island of Isabela which had been butchered. About 1,000 humans live on that island, and more live on nearby islands. Only about 6,000 tortoises live on the island; 400 are being moved to special reserves to protect them from hunters. [Science, April 29, 1994; The Orlando, FL Sentinel, May 12, 1994 from Bill Burnett; The Times-Picayune, April 23, 1994 and The Houma, LA Courier, April 27, 1994 from Ernie Liner]
The Streamwood, IL Reptile Swap held monthly on the farm of long-time member Lee Watson was featured in a front page Chicago Tribune article on June 22, 1994. After detailing the hot market for exotic animals, the article stated that law-enforcement agents say that swaps are "the next phase of our investigation." They feel that there is an underground network of illicit animal traders. Last year 22 reptile vendors were charged with more than 40 violations, although most were misdemeanors. Fines ranged from $50 to $900 and one case remains to be settled. Watson was quoted "I though it was all a lot of bunk. That was the biggest travesty of justice I've ever seen." Enforcement agents felt they "could only scratch the surface in the six or seven months [they] were there." In addition a Department of Conservation official said that reptile trading in Streamwood is not currently being conducted because they were forced to turn to other cases. (Note: The Streamwood Swap Meet is not sponsored by or connected with the CHS in any way except that a lot of our members attend. EB)
"I was interested to see in your April [column] that someone in Austin is producing those plastic stick-on Darwin fishes. Evidently through convergent evolution, a similar or identical decoration is being produced by a group... in L.A. [The Darwinners, 6671 Sunset Blvd. #1525, Los Angeles, CA] ... By the way, I used my WordPerfect spell-checker on the word `creationist' as you suggested and learned a new verb in the process. Keep up the good work! James N. Stuart"
Mark Bell, a CHS member who moved from Michigan to Golden Gate Estates, will be permitted to build a snake breeding facility under a case against him was dismissed. Bell said that the ruling was what "we were looking for. The whole thing was blown out of proportion." He said he did not understand why people were concerned about his snakes getting loose, since the area already has a substantial native snake population, including venomous snakes. [The Naples Daily News, May 13, 1994 from Alan W. Rigerman]
"I enjoy your column... I really look forward to reading, and yes, re-reading. I sincerely hope that the Beltz that had the surgery is doing very well... Please let us know. E.A. Zorn." Finally (I hope) we can say that P.L. Beltz is recovering from cancer surgeries and will be continuing as a regular contributor!
The biggest toad in the world [Guiness Book of Records] has died at the age of 12 in the southern Swedish town of Karlstad. [The Memphis, TN Commercial Appeal, March 21, 1994 from Bill Burnett]
Dear Abby received a letter concerning the iguana in the fast-food "restaurant" from a member of the Georgia Herp Society. "If you take an iguana out in public, you should never force your presence on anyone - let them come to you... I think it was tacky and stupid of that writer to take his reptile into an eating establishment." [Many sources: first received from Ernie Liner, The Houma, LA Courier, June 7, 1994]
Some Nevada old-timers have suggested an alternate reason for what they consider to be an apparent decline in the desert tortoise. They agree that the tortoises were more common in the 1920s through the 1950s, but suggest that the government poisoning of coyotes and ravens may have led to an artificial increase of population. Coyotes and ravens prey upon the relatively vulnerable juveniles; the more young that survived - they reason - the more adult tortoises there would have been. In addition, one rancher claims that cattle are actually beneficial since they crop the grasses down, providing the tender shoots favored by the tortoises. [The Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 24, 1994 from Bob Pierson]
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD found that a substance extracted from the skin of a frog, Epipedobates tricolor, shows promise as a nonaddicting pain blocker. Low doses of epibatidine are more potent that morphine, but act differently from opiate painkillers. [Albuquerque Journal, May 15, 1994 from James N. Stuart]
Turtles, turtles, turtles
A Kemp's ridley turtle was taken to Jack Rudloe's Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratories in the Florida panhandle town of Panacea with a fishhook imbedded in its gullet. Rudloe said that sea turtles are threatened by monofilament fish line, hooks and electronic detection gear in addition to commercial fishing operations. "It's time to put the fairness back into fishing... Stainless steel hooks and monofilament line and monofilament nets should be banned, and fishing gear should be biodegradable," he said. The turtle may not survive the surgery necessary to remove the hook. [The Orlando, FL Sentinel, May 13, 1994 from Bill Burnett]
A suit was filed in U.S. Customs Court in New York asking the federal government to ban imports of shrimp from countries that have not reduced sea turtle deaths in nets. At stake is a $1.8 billion trade in shrimp conducted by 80 nations. The U.S. is the world's largest shrimp- consuming nation. [The Houma, LA Courier, June 8, 1994 from Ernie Liner]
Field work on the transmission of a virus which debilitates sea turtles is being conducted at The Turtle Hospital of Marathon, FL. Green turtles are at risk of the disease which is characterized by fibrous tumors. Researchers estimate that 75 percent of the green turtles in Earth's oceans may have been exposed or affected by the disease, up from about 7 percent in the early 1980s. Necropsies have revealed that the tumors affect internal organs as well as growing on the turtles' heads. If the tumors cover the animals' eyes, they stop feeding and starve. [The Florida Keys Keynoter, May 18, 1994 from Dee Fick]
Some figures being circulated sourced to the National Wilderness Institute are being used in an effort to claim that the Endangered Species Act as currently structured spends too much money to save species. The top four most expensive species on this list are the Atlantic green turtle $88,236,000, the loggerhead sea turtle $85,947,000, the blunt-nosed leopard lizard $70,252,000, and the Kemp's ridley sea turtle $63,600,000. These numbers are from 1973 to the present. [The Wall Street Journal, June 3, 1994 from P.L. Beltz]
Science [April 29, 1994] reports a marine biologist at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill has found that loggerhead sea turtles seem to have a magnetic compass in their heads which lets them use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate. The compass is so sophisticated that they can tell longitude as well as latitude. This feat was first accomplished by human mariners in the early 1800s and required the use of timepieces in addition to compasses. Nowadays we use Global Positioning Satellites, but the turtles just "follow their nose." The experiment used hatchling turtles attached to harnesses tethered to a swivel arm in the center of an upended satellite dish filled with water. The hatchlings could them swim in any direction while the swivel arm, and its attached computer, created a record of their movements. A magnetic coil system surrounded the dish. The coils produced variable fields and the results were recorded. When the north/south direction was reversed, the turtles turned too. If the field was merely rotated, the turtles turned to compensate. The initial alignment of the turtle's compass depends on the first light they see and if light was provided from the west, the hatchlings would always swim west. On beaches without human influence, the first light seen by hatchlings is a sky-glow over the ocean. Where people build houses and roads, baby turtles often go the wrong way and die. [Contributed by Bill Burnett]
A golfer in Rice, MN found a two-headed baby turtle while he was setting up to putt. The turtle has two front and two back legs, one tail and two heads. The golfer took the turtle home. His wife said, "It likes flies. Both heads eat. Sometimes, they even fight for food. When it tips over, one turtle fights to flip itself up one way and the other fights to flip itself up the other way." [June 11, 1994: The Montgomery, AL Advertiser from Rick Dowling, The Times-Picayune from Ernie Liner]
An Indiana man found a 40-pound snapping turtle wedged inside a truck tire in Hudson Lake. He first thought the turtle was alive, but said, "Then I saw that the poor devil was trapped in there and was dead. That's the biggest one I ever saw, and I've lived here for 40 years. Somebody didn't realize the consequences what could happen when they threw the tire into the water." [The South Bend Tribune, June 7, 1994 from Garrett Kazmie | |