There's nothing like really bad science and equally bad reality TV to make problems for reptile rescuers.

Discovery Channel, in their brilliant glory, ran a farce of a documentary last weekend where a man got into a snake proof suit, slathered himself in pigs blood and then pretended like he was going to be "Eaten Alive" to boost their ratings. Unfortunately, it's created a big headache for reptile resue groups like mine.

My first call was to find out if anacondas are able to live in Wisconsin. The answer is no. Despite the fact that we have a lot of rivers and swamps, as the caller pointed out to me, the temperatures are far too cold for an anaconda to survive. I mean seriously, it is 22 degrees outside right now.

Three emails followed that asking about anacondas. All three inquired as to if anacondas could really eat people and if they do all the time. It was about this time my head started to hurt and that is when I logged onto Facebook and realized that "Eaten Alive" had aired the previous night.

Several emails followed, all asking a variety of questions about large species of snakes and their deadliness to humans. By the end of Monday night, I had a pre-typed email as a response and was several beers into my 12-pack.

A call this morning also induced severe head pain (no, it wasn't a hangover!), but thankfully I was able to talk the person down and into keeping their pet. The caller had a ball python and wanted to surrender it because they ate meat. Not the snake, mind you, but the pet owner!

They were concerned because the "scientist" who appeared on the show used pig's blood, and since they eat meat, their snake would become dangerous. Thankfully, I was able to explain the reality of snake ownership and also touch on cleanliness issues relating to owning any pet. Monty still has a home tonight and the owner no longer fears her pet.

While the show claimed it was aimed at educating about conservation, it merely introduced a new level of fear for those who live among reptiles. It is time that the media on all levels let go of the hype and stick to the facts.

Photo provided with permission by Mike Pingleton

Is the albino cobra recently captured in Los Angeles a domesticated animal?

According to the dictionary, "domestication: means:

to adapt (an animal or plant) to life in intimate association with and to the advantage of humans

According to Wikepedia:

Domestication (from Latin domesticus: "of the home") is the process whereby a population of living organisms is changed at thegenetic level, through generations of selective breeding, to accentuate traits that ultimately benefit the interests of humans.

By all above descriptions the albino cobra is indeed domesticated. This animal, with its inability to blend properly and camoflauge itself is unable to thrive in the wild, and was bred in captivity to specifically as a pet.

Reptile keepers universally agree that secure caging is part of responsible ownership. Does this mean escapes will never happen?

Of course not. Dogs and cats escape daily by the thousands. Stray pets end up at shelters from incidents as simple as a cat sneaking out of the door while groceries are being brought in or dogs accidentally getting out of a fenced yard due to human error. These incidents are far more common than a reptile escape.

While stray animals of all types happen, the fact is for the number of reptiles owned in the U.S., the percentage of escaped pets is exceptionally low.

Yes, it's dangerous when a venomous snake escapes. However, a snake such as the albino cobra would have been easily preyed upon due to its inability to hide properly. This is a big reason the snake was easily captured.

In losing Carl Koch, the herp world has lost a friend. And so have I.

Back many years ago, when I had but one lone iguana, I, like many of us, began frequenting my local reptile friendly pet store. At the time for me, it was Pets N Things in Cudahy, Wisc. Every Friday I would find myself at the store at the same time as a local reptile guy named Carl. He saw that I actually wanted to learn more and introduced me to herp societies, books and, importantly to my future, kingsnake.com.

Carl was an avid field herper and educator in Wisconsin. He worked with the State of Wisconsin on a variety of field studiesm including most recently Butler's gartersnake population surveys. Carl spent as much time as he could field herping.

Over the years, Carl and I became friends. I still went to him for advice on captive care, called him when I knew an animal that hit my rescue might interest him, and invited him to help me at my many educational events. I relied on him as a friend and as a mentor. When I finally started field herping, I reached out to Carl to show me the way. He graciously opened his schedule to take me and a friend looking for timber rattlesnakes, even though the weather was all wrong. We were skunked that day reptile-wise, but we all became better friends.



Last year, when I wanted to actively start herping, I reached out to Carl. I asked for advice, locations, even more advice. Carl had a magic in the field. It is where his passion thrived and where he found great peace. For Carl, who suffered from anxiety and severe depression, that peace was greatly needed. Carl's widow would like everyone suffering to know that if you are suffering, please reach out to friends and family.

Carl leaves behind his wife Stacy and their two daughters. I will be honoring his memory and all he did for me over the years by ensuring that his reptile pets are taken care of. His friends have already lined up to help.

This weekend as you head out to herp, take a moment to think of a man who helped turn this deli cupper into a full fledged herper.

After years of problems from weather to oil spills, it appears that the Florida Loggerhead nesting numbers are booming!

Loggerhead nesting statewide was almost the highest since monitoring began in 1989, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Friday. In total, surveyors counted 58,172 loggerhead nests on the state's “index” beaches, second only to the peak seen in 1998.

Just five years ago, nesting on those same beaches hit a low of 28,074 and prompted widespread concerns about the status of the turtle.

“We're pleased to see this increase, but we recognize that loggerheads, and other sea turtle species, still face many challenges,” Blair Witherington, a commission research scientist, said Friday.

The majority of loggerhead nesting in the United States — 90% — occurs in Florida, especially along the east coast.

The even better news is that nesting season is still going until mid-November. To read the full article, click here.

A group of juvenile Desert Tortoises has been released in Nevada in efforts to track their movements to make relocations more successful in the future.

"Habitat destruction is one of the biggest threats facing desert tortoises in the wild," said Jennifer Germano Ph.D., post-doctoral researcher at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center. "Currently we are using translocations as an experimental tool to help minimize some of the impacts to tortoise populations. Tracking this group of young tortoises will allow us to better understand how these animals respond to translocation, which will help us improve recovery efforts for this species in the future."

A transmitter has been placed on each of the tortoises to allow researchers to track the movements and health of the juvenile reptiles (ranging in age from 3 to 8 years). Translocations have recently been recommended for tortoises impacted by regional habitat disturbances due to energy project development and as a tool to augment depleted populations. Through this effort, researchers hope to better understand what factors improve long-term survival for individuals and how they can improve the tools they use for the conservation management of this species.

To read the full article, click here.

And last, the grillnet industry is on a course to continue killing sea turtles despite the Leatherback's listing as state marine reptile in California.

Longlining along California’s coast has been banned due its high bycatch of non-target animals, including federally protected marine mammals and endangered species.

The California drift gillnet fishery targets swordfish and thresher shark using nets that stretch a mile in length. But obviously this fishing method collects life indiscriminately from the ocean, resulting in the death or injury (a death sentence in the wild) of more than 130 protected whales, dolphins, seal and sea lions and thousands of other sharks and marine mammals, according to the Sea Turtle Restoration Project.

Anything taken aboard other than a swordfish or shark is dumped back into the ocean – dead, alive or dying.

“Curtains of death, in the form of the California driftnet fishery, should be abolished in California waters and need to be phased out as soon as possible,” biologist and executive director of SeaTurtles.org, Todd Steiner said. “Sea turtles, sharks and whales are all being hammered by this fishery that targets high-mercury seafood species that are largely unfit to eat.”

To read the full article, click here.

Sometimes we think government regulators are out to get our hobby. But the more I talk with them as individuals, the more I realize some of them simply don't understand how we feel about our pets.

That word -- "pets" -- pretty much sums up the issue, in fact. While I was at the National Reptile and Amphibian Legal Symposium, I had a conversation with one of the US Fish and Wildlife representatives, who had listened to my impassioned comments on general pet owner issues relating to the addition of species onto the Lacey Act. It turns out she was flabbergasted to hear that we reptile people see these animals as our pets, and not as a commodity.

As government regulation and a bad economy combined to threaten the reptile community, we as hobbyists, breeders, and keepers did a pretty good job of talking to our legislators about the financial impact of bans and restrictions. That was a pretty smart thing to do, particularly with more conservative lawmakers who are very attuned to the plight of small businesses.

But we've done a terrible job of talking about how we feel about our animals, and that's hurt us.

Most people who own reptiles keep them as pets, not as a business. It's their beauty and personality, not any prospect of financial gain, that make them important to us.

In my conversation with the regulator, I could see she was really struggling to understand. So I changed "Burmese python" to "cat," and gave her the same scenario. She instantly realized where our passion and anger over the rule change came in. Just in an instant, the realization of leaving behind a beloved pet made all the world of sense.

Reptiles may not be dogs and cats, but to those of us that love and keep them, they are as dear to our hearts. That's something we need to keep talking about.

Lonesome George died the very last of his kind, alone and unable to leave a legacy. With that in mind, scientists are working to prevent any other species going away like the Pinta Island tortoise has.

Sadly, George’s story is not unique. The armored shells of turtles and tortoises represent one of the most uniquely adapted vertebrate body plans and have served to protect these animals since prehistoric times. But evolution’s best defense mechanisms provide little protection against humankind’s willful determination to slaughter these incredible creatures. In our modern globally-integrated economy, turtle hunting will never be a sustainable industry. Turtles neither mature fast enough nor produce enough offspring to withstand even moderate levels of continual harvesting.

For decades, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists like the late John Behler and Brian Horne have crisscrossed the globe to study rare turtles and tortoises and prevent their demise. Dr. Horne, like other experts in the field, believes that the international trade of wild-caught turtles is the main factor in driving more than half of the 330 species of turtles close to extinction. On a percentage basis, turtles as a group are now more at risk of extinction than birds, mammals, or amphibians.

To read the full article, click here.

In an era where children are more likely to play X-box, Avalon Theisen has always preferred to play outside. Now, this young girl has organized a "Save The Frogs Day," and sells handmade crafts to raise money to donate to conservation programs.

While most girls her age might shy away from the sticky amphibians, she embraces them, sometimes quite literally.

"Frogs are really cool," she said. "They are very cute and they have always kind of interested me."

She's gone to frog-listening classes and can identify them by their calls. She knows that frogs help tell the health of the environment and that they are an important part of the food web. They also help to keep the insect population down.

George Heinrich, a St. Petersburg wildlife biologist who has taught the home-schooled Avalon for the last four years, loves what he sees in her.

"She's a very bright child," he said. "She's like a sponge. She takes what you teach her and runs with it."

The two have paddled their way down the Hillsborough River and taken nature hikes at Brooker Creek Preserve and Boyd Hill Nature Park. They've even gone to Florida's east coast to watch sea turtles hatch.

Congrats, Avalon! You make us proud! To read the full article, click here.

After a milestone at the Queen Elizabeth Botanical Gardens on Grand Cayman, where Blue Iguanas were moved from "critically endangered" to just "endangered" status, a developer is looking to move in and destroy some of the amazing habitat that harbors the Blues as well as many other species of animal:

According to the DoE’s technical review committee, which is persistently ignored by the CPA, the accumulative applications by the developer equate to the potential development of around 535 acres of land and that a Planned Area Development (PAD) application should have been submitted to planning along with a comprehensive environmental impact assessment.

In a memo at the beginning of October relating to the latest application to the CPA by the developer, which is for a golf course backing onto the Botanic Park and still under consideration, the DoE said it was concerned about the cumulative impact of the development and a lack of consideration within the context of the other Eagle Asset development parcels.

The DoE pointed to the encirclement of the Botanic Park through the series of development applications, which have been strongly resisted by the department due to the significant adverse impact on the blue iguanas. Nevertheless, all of the applications, modifications and changes considered by the CPA to date have been granted, posing a significant threat to the future of the important conservation and tourist facility.

“The current application parcel is land occupied by individuals from the free-roaming population of blue iguanas which originates from the Park,” the DoE warned in its comments to the CPA on the latest application for a golf course. “Removal of this habitat would directly impact this population. The potential introduction of roadways and associated cars would make this area significantly less inhabitable for the iguanas.”

To read the full article, click here.

Venomous snakes can kill, but they can also cure.
From CNN.com:

The venom of the black mamba snake, one of the world's deadliest poisons administered by one of the world's deadliest reptiles, can kill you within half an hour. Untreated bites have a mortality rate of 100%.

Hidden in the grim cocktail the snake carries, though, are a couple of proteins with a remarkably different effect. Research published this week in Nature has revealed two molecules in mamba venom that can eliminate pain with as much potency as morphine, suggesting an unusual new source for painkillers.

To read the full article, click here.

A ban on all exotic pets, tabled earlier this year in Dane County, Wisc., is not just alive again -- it's being voted on tomorrow, Tuesday, Oct. 9.

From the PIJAC Action Alert:

The proposed ordinance amendment defines an “exotic animal” as “any animal that is not normally domesticated in the United States, including any such animal’s hybrid with domestic species, or an animal that is wild by nature, regardless of whether it was bred in the wild or captivity”. The Board plans to ban any person in Dane County from possessing or selling these animals.
[...]

Anyone found in violation of this ordinance is subject to fines ranging from $100 to $500.

The PIJAC report offers the contact information for all the supervisors. Please take a moment to write a polite letter to the councilmembers. To read the full action alert and compose a message to legislators in Dane County, click here.

The Southwestern California herp community has a big hole in it today. Jarron Lucas passed away quietly in his sleep, surrounded by friends, on his way back from the Hopi Mesa on Sunday, September 23.

To many Jarron was a mentor, but to me he was a friend. I remember meeting him last summer for the first time at the Chiricahua Lodge between the Biology of the Rattlesnake symposium and the International Herpetological Symposium. Returning late to the lodge with a group of herpers, he was overjoyed at the find of a wee baby Mojave Rattlesnake. "It isn't how much you find, but that you are out there looking." I had just gotten into field herping and that thought rang true.

Each time I posted photos this summer of even the most ugly bullfrogs, an email of encouragement would come through telling me all that mattered was that I was out there and I kept looking.

Thank you for the inspiration Jarron. I will keep looking.

Jarron Lucas, Mark O'Shea, and a friend check out the Mojave found at sunrise by Mark as I watched.

In an effort to create a safe place for the native Diamondback terrapins, two organizations are working together to reduce road kill problems on the Jekyll Island Causeway.

Diamondback terrapins, which grow up to 7 inches long, thrive in the marshes off the Georgia island. But during nesting season, female terrapins seek to lay their eggs on high and dry ground - often the causeway that motorists travel between the island and Brunswick on the mainland.

The Jekyll Island Foundation is asking for donors for help raising $50,000 to fund a conservation research and education project focused on the terrapins. The study is a joint effort between the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and the University of Georgia.

To read the full article, click here.

Kemp's ridleys turtles are on their way to becoming a more stable species if word out of South Padre is correct. A record 6000 babies were born and released this year.

A group that cares for and releases endangered sea turtle hatchlings into the Gulf of Mexico says it had a record 6,000 babies born this year.

Supporters say the total indicates the Kemp's ridley species is on the road to recovery.

Sea Turtle Inc. executive director Jeff George told the Valley Morning Star (http://bit.ly/QhOSpC) that the turtles hatched from 69 nests recovered by the organization.

To read the full article, click here.
Last, California is moving to make the Pacific Leatherback its newest state symbol.

The legislation will declare October 15 every year as Leatherback Conservation Day in California, urge conservation of this ancient marine species and encourage schools to teach about the native sea turtle. The bill is intended to recognize the importance of California state waters to the survival and recovery of the Pacific leatherback. Naming this species as the state marine reptile will add it to other state icons including the California gray whale, golden trout, poppy, and the redwood.

“Designating the Pacific leatherback sea turtle as our state marine reptile is part of a coordinated worldwide conservation effort to save a species whose population has declined more than 95 percent,” said Assemblymember Fong, who authored the bill. “Naming the leatherback sea turtle as our official state marine reptile will demonstrate California’s commitment to protecting leatherback sea turtles, our ocean’s ecosystem, and recognize the education and awareness this official designation bestows for this revered creature whose migratory pattern includes California’s coast.”

To read the full article, click here.
Photo courtesy of Limey from Royal Reptilia

BP promised that all the oil was cleaned up and gone from the Gulf after the disastrous 2012 Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill. But as Hurricane Issac hit land and stirred the water, oil is resurfacing. From WSBradio.com:

Since Isaac made landfall more than a week ago, the water the storm has receded and tar balls and oil have been reported on shores in Alabama and Louisiana, where officials closed a 13-mile stretch of beach Tuesday.

BP said Wednesday some of that oil was from the spill, but said some of the crude may be from other sources, too.

"If there's something good about this storm it made it visible where we can clean it up," BP spokesman Ray Melick said.

BP still has hundreds of cleanup workers on the Gulf Coast after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 workers and leading to the nation's largest offshore spill.

Melick said the company was working with the Coast Guard, state officials and land managers to clean up the oil on the Fourchon beach in Louisiana. He said crews would be there Thursday.

Isaac made landfall near Fourchon on Aug. 28 as a Category 1 storm, pummeling the coast with waves, wind and rain. Seven people were killed in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Ed Overton, a chemist and oil spill expert at Louisiana State University, said the exposed oil was weathered and less toxic, though it could still harm animals — such as crabs, crawfish and bait fish.

However this gets spun, the questions remain. How many fish and other animals will this harm? And how will it impact the still-struggling local economy?

The use of cobra venom to help reduce pain and increase the performance of race horses has been on regulators' rador, and now it looks like "Frog Juice" is getting in on the action.

The Nebraska Racing Commission is investigating the use of a product called "Frog Juice" as an illegal enhancement for racing horses.

Insiders at horse-racing tracks call it frog juice, and concerns about its use as a performance-enhancing drug in Louisiana, Oklahoma and other states have spread to Nebraska.

The Nebraska Racing Commission is investigating a case in which a urine sample drawn from a horse in the July 15 field at Horsemen’s Park in Omaha tested positive for a drug known scientifically as dermorphin.

The drug is extracted from a South American tree frog and acts as both a painkiller and a stimulant. And, as of Aug. 4, Adams horse trainer Kim Veerhusen has been suspended and ordered to pay a fine of $1,500 pending review of the incident by the commission.

According to the formal complaint, a horse named Cheatin’ Cowboy may have had dermorphin in its system when it finished second in the first race of the day in Omaha last month.

Cheatin' Cowboy since has been disqualified as a source of purse money, and Veerhusen has been suspended through Sept. 19 while drug allegations are investigated. Along with that, entry of any horses he owns or trains will be denied for the rest of the race season as it continues in Columbus.

To read the full article, click here.

Alligator hunting may be legal in Florida, but that doesn't mean it's legal to shoot at one from a truck, or disfugure a wild animal. From WPTV.com:

Deputies on Sunday charged Robert Lee Chason, 22, of the 2600 block of Southwest Martin Avenue, Palm City, and James Hataway, 38, of the 800 block of Southwest 34th Terrace in Palm City, with armed trespassing, possession of American alligator. Joe Chason, 24, of the same address, and a teenage girl, who was not identified in the report, were both charged with trespassing. Hataway faces additional charges of tampering with evidence, illegal method of taking an alligator and other charges.

About 5:11 p.m. Sunday, deputies stopped a pickup on Southwest Citrus Boulevard after receiving reports that occupants in a pickup were trespassing on private property. Before stopping the truck, deputies saw a recently cut alligator in the middle of the road.

While questioning the men, Robert Chason admitted to shooting an alligator and said Hataway threw the tail out of the window. Deputies noticed blood was on Robert Chason's legs, the truck's bed and passenger side, the report states.

To read the full story, click here. We can only hope animal abuse is tied into those additional charges.

Inset photo: Mugshot of one of the accused animal abusers, courtesy of Martin County Sheriff's Office.

Every year, India has the same problem. Monsoon season rolls in, bringing an increase in snake bites and a short of antivenom. From The Times of India:

Sources said that most of the CHCs do not have anti-venom vaccine. As a result, doctors have to refer patients to district hospital. "If the course is not started timely, the patient dies a painful death within three hours of the bite," added.

In the last 24 hours, around four cases of snake-bite were reported from Akbarpur, Derapur and Rura areas. Soni, wife of Kallu of Nariha village, was admitted to the district hospital on Tuesday. The incident occurred while she had gone to fetch something inside her room on Tuesday evening. The doctors stated her condition to be critical.

[...]

A doctor at the CHC said that there is shortage of anti-venom vaccines and that they have been facing hardships while treating patients. "If not treated timely, the snake bite can be fatal" he said. The market price of an anti-snake venom is around Rs 1,000, it is given free of cost at the hospital to urban as well as rural patients.

On an average, two to three patients of snake-bite visit Kanpur Dehat district hospital daily. Since July, the doctors at most of the CHC's have been referring patients to district hospital.

Inset photo courtesy of John Light

To know what needs saving, first you need to count what you have. That is exactly what Lea Randall is doing for the next several weeks in Alberta.

The ecologist will carry tools including a stopwatch and oxygen meter as she seeks frog habitats, collects water samples and records the abundance of northern leopard frogs across a 90,000-square-kilometre area south of Drumheller.

Randall recently embarked on six weeks of summer field research as part of a study launched in 2009 by the Calgary Zoo’s Centre for Conservation Research.

Through intensive fieldwork and mathematical modelling, the six-year project aims to gain a better understanding of northern leopard frog population dynamics.

The handsome and charismatic spotted amphibian, which can grow to the size of a human fist, is considered a threatened species in Alberta and an endangered species in B.C., said Randall.

[...]

“People have advocated that amphibians act a bit like the canary in the coal mine. Whatever is affecting them now, as those changes become more drastic and abundant, they will affect other things,” Russell said.

Kris Kendell, a senior biologist with the Alberta Conservation Association, is the co-ordinator of the Alberta Volunteer Amphibian Monitoring Program, which encourages “an army of citizen scientists” to submit their observations.

Citizen scientist is merely a fancy name for field herper. Remember to always note what and where you find it when you are out! To read the full article, click here.

When she made a deal with a man on some snakes, the last thing Charlotte Felner expected was for him to come back and help himself to some of her beloved pets. But that is exactly what he did.

Nicholas Hillier, 23, was arrested Saturday afternoon on charges of burglary of a residence and grand theft, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Art Forgey said.

Hillier and victim Charlotte Felner previously had met when they traded a pair of snakes. Felner said Hillier showed an “unusual amount of interest” in her blue iguana, deputies said, and told her he sold iguanas to vendors because they are easy money.

At around 9 a.m. on Friday, Felner called the Sheriff’s Office to report that her reptiles, estimated to be worth a total of $1,100, had gone missing overnight.

“I woke up that morning, and one of my roommates said, ‘Didn’t you have more cages out on the porch?’” Felner told The Sun. “I ran outside and saw my cage wasn’t out there.

The animals are now back with Felner and safe. To read the full article, click here.

As the worldwide amphibian decline continues, it's good to know that new species are still being discovered.

In the past 20 years, frogs and other amphibians have been dying in alarming numbers. More than 40 percent of amphibian species are threatened with extinction, according to the most recent IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The main causes are habitat destruction, climate change, and a sinister new fungal disease called chytridiomycosis. But despite this, or perhaps because of it, there’s been a surge in discoveries of new species in recent years.

“Once it became apparent that amphibians were declining, there was a great interest in amphibians,” said biologist David Wake of the University of California, Berkeley, who founded Amphibiaweb, a database to catalog new amphibian species. ”When we started it in 2000, we thought that the age of amphibian discovery was pretty well done,” said Wake. But now, about 2.5 new species are added every week.

Click here to read the full article and see the ten newest discoveries.

The venom of funnel-web spiders and tarantulas may hold the key to curing breast cancer in humans.

Researchers at James Cook University in Cairns are to study the medicinal properties of funnel-web spider and tarantula venom, in particular its influence on breast cancer cells.

Queensland Science Minister Ros Bates said the research was on the back of international studies that suggested certain toxins in spider venom could block cancer-causing enzymes. This information first came to light with the publication of a paper in 2007 in the journal DNA and Cell Biology.

"They are looking at ways in which the venom may be able to block or kill breast cancer cells - so it could actually lead to a cure," Bates told reporters on Friday. "It's very early days, but it's fairly ground-breaking research."

The research is being jointly funded by the Queensland state government, the National Health and Medical Research Council and funding from a Novel Concept Award from the Breast Cancer Foundation. It is expected to cost $200,000 AUD ($209,000 USD) over two years.

One of my good friends was just diagnosed, so this hits so very close to home. To read the full article, click here.

Box turtles aren't meant to climb trees or to fly -- and definitely are not meant to be taped to balloons and released into what would almost certainly have ended in death if not for the sharp eyes of an animal lover.

Chanelle Wright of Oceanside, Calif., discovered the turtle taped to the green and blue balloons Sunday, and immediately called the Humane Society.

“We look up and there are green and blue balloons up there,” Wright told ABC News affiliate 10 News. “He was just swinging his arms trying to get out of it. Somebody had taped him to the balloons.”

Wright rang up the Humane Society, who sent the fire department an hour later to try to free the turtle. But just as the fire officials were about to cut the turtle loose, a gust of wind blew it safely down to earth.

A Humane Society employee on the scene said it was a box turtle.

Joel Rabago, another Oceanside resident, said his mother began to film the turtle’s plight. “When something like this happens, she always takes the video camera, no matter what it is,” Rabago told 10 News.

Rabago said that although the turtle escaped unscathed from its misadventure, he’s still outraged.

“What were you thinking? I mean, a turtle is still life. There’s no reason to be putting him up in a balloon and sending him off,” Rabago said.

Whatever happened to keeping them as pets or observing them in the wild? Charges are waiting for the people who taped the balloons to the animal, and when the investigation is complete, he will have a happy and safe home. To read the full story, click here.

Perth has recently re-introduced a group of 30 Western Swamp tortoises into the wild, in hope of re-establishing the existing populations.

More than 30 juvenile western swamp tortoises were released into Twin Swamps Nature Reserve in Perth’s northern suburbs in a conservation milestone.

Environment Minister Bill Marmion said the release of 34 tortoises was part of the State’s recovery plan to increase the chance of survival for Australia’s most endangered reptile.

“The plan has exceeded all expectations with more than 570 captive-bred tortoises released since the recovery program commenced in 1990,” he said.

To read the full article, visit Perthnow.com.

Even a hint of Inclusion Body Disease (IBD) makes the skin of any boid keeper crawl. It is a certain death for not only the diagnosed snake but the rest of the animals in your home, because of the inability to properly diagnose and treat the condition. But thanks to Larry, a boa constrictor, that may change.

When a California woman named Taryn Hook brought Larry — all 7 feet (2 meters) of him — to the vet a few years ago, she never imagined that the trip would one day lead to such a remarkable discovery, which was announced today (Aug. 14) in the journal mBio.

IBD afflicts pythons and boa constrictors, causing a host of strange symptoms. The snakes tie themselves in knots, they projectile vomit and engage in an eerie behavior called stargazing; the snakes raise their heads over and over, stare into thin air, and sway drunkenly from side to side.

Biopsies from animals with the disease show their cells filled up with globules of proteins called inclusions, which may be responsible for the odd behaviors.

There's no cure for the disease. It moves swiftly in pythons, and can progress slowly in boa constrictors, but it is always fatal. And it's infectious, moving from snake to snake, though the mechanism of transmission isn't entirely clear. If one animal in a collection gets IBD, typically all the animals are euthanized.

Blood tests had suggested Larry, a Dumeril's boa constrictor, might have IBD. Wanting to know what could be done to save the beloved snake, Hook contacted Joseph DeRisi at the University of California, San Francisco, a virologist known for his work deciphering another mysterious virus, this one affecting macaws and parrots.

Her plea for help led DeRisi's lab to take on IBD. The scientists put out a call for samples of diseased and nondiseased snakes. Perhaps luckily, the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences, just a few miles away, had a sudden outbreak of IBD.

To read the full article, click here.

The question of where exactly snakes evolved has been debated for years. Was it land? Was it sea? Scientists recently determined that snakes did, in fact, evolve on a plane plain.

The new study, published in Wednesday’s online edition of Nature, focuses on remains of the snake species Coniophis precedens, which lived roughly 70 million years ago during the late cretaceous period. While the snake had been described in the scientific literature and remains had previously been collected, those studies had only looked at vertebrae.

In the new report, researchers from Yale and Harvard analyzed the upper and lower jawbones of the snake as well as its vertebrae, and came to the conclusion that the snake was transitional because its head was more similar to a lizard’s than a snake. In particular, this snake lacks the ability to open its jaw wide and swallow prey whole, one of the hallmarks of modern snakes. The ancient snake likely ate small vertebrate animals.

Because the snake’s fossils are from the plains of Montana, the scientists argue that the remains provide strong evidence that modern snakes evolved on land. They suggest that the lizard-like head and long body indicate that early snakes evolved as burrowers.

To read the full article, click here.

Despite being dubbed the "rarest snake in the world," the recently re-discovered St. Lucia Racer doesn'thave extinction currently in its plans.

In antiquity snakes were revered for their ability to rejuvenate themselves by shedding their skin. One serpent seems to have done just that and returned from extinction on a tiny island near Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.

The Saint Lucia racer was declared extinct in 1936 but was sighted again in 1973. Non-native mongoose, introduced to the Santa Lucia islands by humans, were believed to have driven the snake back into oblivion after that.

The harmless snake recently slithered back from the abyss of extinction when a team of conservationists identified 11 individuals on a small mongoose-free island near the main island of Saint Lucia, reported Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and Miami Herald.

To read the full article, click here.

Humans who feed wild alligators are courting disaster. That's something airboat tour guide Wallace Weatherholt has learned the hard way:

In June Captain Wallace Weatherholt, 63, who works at Captain Doug's Small Airport Tours, was out with six tourists when the attack occurred.

The Indiana family onboard said that Weatherholt held a fish out above the water's surface just before a gator leapt up and bit off his hand.

Weatherholt was able to drive himself back to the docks. Meanwhile wildlife officers tracked down the gator and killed it before retrieving the captain's hand from its stomach.

However doctors were unable to reattach Weatherholt's lost limb.

Feeding gators is a second-degree misdemeanor in Florida. Weatherholt was held in Collier County Jail on $1,000 bond but has since posted out.

Israel DuPont of http://www.crocodopolis.net offers some safety tips for folks encountering alligators in the wild, but the reality of the matter is, leave the wild animals alone!

Smuggle an iguana, go to jail? That's a lesson being learned behind bars by Dirk Bender, who attempted to steal four protected Galapagos iguanas. From Fox news Latino:

Ecuadoran authorities arrested a German man on Sunday for allegedly attempting to pilfer four land-dwelling iguanas from the Galapagos Islands, according to the director of park services.

A judge sent Dirk Bender to jail to prevent him from leaving the country while he awaits trial, EFE reports. If convicted of “environmental crime,” Bender could face a prison sentence of up to three years.

Bender was arrested in the airport on the island of Baltra when guards detected something unusual in his luggage after passing it through an X-ray machine. When they opened it, they found two iguanas wrapped in cloth.

Last year, Bender attempted to steal the very protected Fiji Crested iguanas.

In other news, 150 animals originally smuggled from the Philippines have now been returned from Hong Kong after confiscation in June. From 7thspace:

The reptiles were illegally imported to Hong Kong and intercepted at the arrival hall at the Hong Kong International Airport on June 14, 2012. They were found in a passenger's luggage. A 22-year-old man was prosecuted by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) and sentenced to imprisonment for six weeks.

All the seized species are listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which protects endangered species from over-exploitation through international trade restrictions.

At present, 175 countries are parties to CITES.

The Philippine pond turtles and the Mindanao water monitor lizards are endemic species that can only be found in the Philippines.

Numerous reptiles were also recently stolen from the Moorten Botanical Garden.

The thieves struck sometime between 6 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday, taking 14 tortoises and one turtle, Moorten Botanical Garden owner Clark Moorten told the Desert Sun.

"I came out and looked at the little water pond and wow, there were no turtles in there," Moorten told the newspaper. "It's sad, maddening and disappointing."

The list of missing reptiles includes four babies and a 10-year-old, 35-pound African sulcata, Moorten said. The oldest tortoise taken is 40 years old; the largest measures about 16 inches in diameter.

Two baby tortoises were likely in burrows when the thieves struck and were overlooked, Moorten said.

To read the full article, click here.

Australian scientiests aren't sure what the animal it was from, but a recently discovered fossilized claw may be from a large goanna species.

The claw is about seven centimetres long and was found at the Alcoota Scientific Reserve, about 160 kilometres north east of Alice Springs.

The reserve is home to the largest and most concentrated fossil deposit of its kind in Australia and scientists say bones at the site could be millions of years old.

Dr Adam Yates from the Museum of Central Australia has told the ABC's Country Hour the claw may belong to a reptile.
"We don't know what animal this comes from," he said.

"Similar claws have been found in the past and they've been suggested to have come from a large goanna.
"That's a pretty big goanna.

"We're looking at something much bigger than a modern komodo dragon, so a really giant goanna.

"But we haven't found any other bones that we can attribute to a goanna of that size, so really we're scratching our heads."

To see the slideshow and read the full article, click here.

It looks like troubles at the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana project at Queen Elizabeth Botanical Gardens aren't over.

Several years ago, the organization suffered a major loss of their founder stock after an attack that appeared to be the result of both humans and dogs, leaving six adult breeding animals dead.

Samantha Hicks, one of the distraught volunteers at the Blue Iguana Recovery Program (BIRP), spoke with Cayman Net News about the incident. “We’ve never seen anything like this before, it was a sustained and brutal attack,” she said, adding: “We are heartbroken and devastated; just absolutely furious.”

The six killed ranged from 18 to 23 years old and were among the friendliest iguanas at the facility, making them easy targets, Mrs Hicks said, but added that they would not have gone down without a fight.
“The big ones would have fought back with every ounce invested in them; the people who did this are more than likely covered with very deep scratches,” she said.

Mrs Hicks, who assists BIRP Director Fred Burton on a volunteer basis, said that police have launched a forensic investigation into the slaughter, recovering evidence that might lead them to the perpetrators.

Now, despite increased security measures, they are looking at another small setback as what appears to be dogs have destroyed a release nesting box on the facility grounds.

A group of recently released Blue Iguanas are missing and presumed dead after an attack by a pack of stray dogs.
The reptiles were placed in special wooded boxes and left out in the eastern side of the reserve to integrate into the wild. However when workers at the recovery program returned they discovered the boxes shattered and covered with bite marks.

To see the full video story from Cayman 27, click here.

Inset photo by John Binns, take from www.blueiguana.ky

A new virus, dubbed "the sunshine virus," has emerged as the probable cause of a disease outbreak in Australian snakes. From Phys.org:

The quest to identify the new virus started as an investigation of the cause of a 2008 disease outbreak in a privately owned Australian collection of 70 pythons. As more and more animals became sick, showing signs of pneumonia, depression, lethargy and abnormal behavior such as “star gazing” — staring up at things — they were all eventually euthanized. The researchers had great difficulty detecting the elusive virus and struggled to identify the category in which it belonged. “We screened more than 450 samples, including swabs, tissues and blood for snake viruses,” said lead author Timothy Hyndman, a lecturer and graduate student at Murdoch University in Australia. “It was very frustrating. After two and a half years, we finally isolated something. A year later, we figured out what it was.”

[...]

“This virus was invisible to prior technologies,” said Eric Delwart, director of molecular virology at the Blood Systems Research Institute and an adjunct professor of laboratory medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the study. “Besides providing assays to help track and control outbreaks of this new snake virus, the study highlights the enhanced ability of scientists to rapidly identify novel pathogens.”

While it is not totally conclusive that this was the outbreak in the private collection, all signs point towards that direction. To read the full article, click here.