Good News About Animals: Jan-Feb 2009 Archive
See Spot read: unique program helps young kids to love books
(CBC) Dogs have long been considered a human's best friend, and now they're helping kids learn to read better. A program unique in Canada is pairing elementary school kids with therapy dogs from St. John's Ambulance and bringing them all together at the Winnipeg Humane Society. It's called See Spot Read.
In the hands of babes: Thai elephants’ future
(Tibor Krausz, Christian Science Monitor) Dok Mak is old enough to be Goh's great-grandma and her head alone dwarfs the boy. She eats his weight for breakfast and can easily lift a tree trunk many times his size. Right now, though, on the pint-size boy's command, the matronly pachyderm obediently lifts a leg - with Goh standing on it. Goh grabs Dok Mak's droopy ear and hoists himself astride her bulky neck. He rides the elephant down a well-trodden dirt path to the nearby river for her afternoon bath.
Dog turns up 9 years later, hundreds of miles away
(TC Palm) A lot has happened to the Geary family since their German shepherd, Astro, became missing from their Port St. Lucie home nine years ago. They moved three times and ended up in Louisville, Ky. The family members were shocked when they got a call from an animal control officer about three weeks ago in Tennessee telling them they’d found Astro.
Canadians free dolphins trapped by ice
(AP) Fishermen and a teenage boy rescued three exhausted dolphins that had been trapped behind drifting pack ice for nearly a week near a town in Newfoundland, the wife of the town's mayor said Friday. Sadie May said the men cut a path through the sludgy ice in Seal Cove harbor with their 18-foot trawler Thursday night, freeing the dolphins from an oval-shaped hole in the ice they had been swimming in for days.
Whistling Orangutan Impresses Zoo Researchers
(Ari Shapiro, NPR) At the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., Bonnie the orangutan has been amazing researchers with her special talent: Bonnie knows how to whistle. Those notes are a symphony to the ears of primate researchers who believe her musical abilities could lead to a greater understanding of how human speech evolved.
Dog who says 'Mama' takes Germany by storm
(Telegraph) A miniature bull terrier called Armani has become a cult dog in Germany – because he can say the word 'Mama.' The two-year-old dog has been spending half the week stamping photos of himself with his paw as owner Zouleykha Kogan becomes swamped with fan mail at her apartment in Berlin.
You otter be in pictures
(Stephanie Pappas, Santa Cruz Sentinel) Wildlife photographer Enrique Aguirre makes a point of visiting the Monterey Bay once a month to capture images of herons, seals and sea otters. But on Feb. 3, the San Francisco-based freelancer found himself on the other end of the lens -- with an otter at the viewfinder. Aguirre was on Capt. Yohn Gideon's Elkhorn Slough Safari boat with several other professional photographers when the group spotted an otter in the distance. Gideon steered closer as Aguirre framed the shot. Then, Aguirre noticed something odd.
On Elephant Sanctuary, Unlikely Friends
(Steve Hartman, CBS) When elephants retire, many head for the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn. They arrive one by one, but they tend to live out their lives two-by-two. "Every elephant that comes here searches out someone that she then spends most all of her time with," says sanctuary co-founder Carol Buckley.