Monterey Bay Forum

Put all your kitty’s cat litter in a securely tied bag. Make sure it goes to a land fill and not into Monterey Bay for otters to feed on.

There’s a new Santa Cruz, CA website dedicated to Otter-ly information. Check out seaotters.com based in Santa Cruz, CA.

To get off the Endangered Species List, sea otters must grow from 2,700 to 3,090. Their numbers have stayed steady instead of growing in recent years. Scientists wonder why. Various pollutants may contribute.

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“Southern sea otters have been listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act since 1977. While California sea otters have made a substantial recovery, decades of protection haven’t helped their population bounce back as dramatically as hoped. Annual surveys currently peg the California sea otter population at about 2,700 individuals, short of the minimum of 3,090 for 3 years running needed for delisting from the Endangered Species Act. Their numbers have hovered at 2,800 otters in recent years, and the current estimate represents a population dip instead of growth.

“What is behind this population plateau? Scientists have pinned the cause on too many deaths of mature adults, especially females who should be producing pups. However, understanding why otters are dying is far from straightforward. No single factor jumps out as the most important cause of California sea otter deaths. Rather, scientists have discovered that otters encounter a complex and deadly cocktail in contaminated waters, and many are dying from the combined onslaught of diseases, parasites, and toxic compounds.

Snake eats frog near S.F. airport and government referees? And taxpayers pay? The dog walkers, teens and transients who gallivant around in the greenery near San Francisco International Airport are going to be cited for trespassing if they venture out again into the protected grassland, San Francisco police and airport security announced Monday.

The fenced-off piece of land, owned by the city of San Francisco and squeezed between Highway 101, the Caltrain tracks and Interstate 380 in San Mateo County, is sensitive habitat for the San Francisco gartersnake and the California red-legged frog, both listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Airport spokesman Michael McCarron said homeowners whose property abuts the wetland were recently sent a letter warning them that trespassers would be subject to arrest and an unspecified fine.

The 200-or-so-acre strip – which is crisscrossed with power lines, meters, and power and pumping stations – has been trod upon for decades by the locals. Except for a few small city parks, the wetland is the only open space in the mostly working-class area of San Bruno and Millbrae, west of Bayshore Boulevard.

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Well, it seems the snake’s favorite snack is frog so who referees that match?

JAJ48@aol.com http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/109312

In Oxford, Ohio a woman is saved by a deer. While a man was attacking a woman – choking her with her purse straps and punching her in the forehead – a deer darted in the darkness, startling the attacker and scaring him away, police said Monday.

“The deer jumped up and ran…and so did he,” said police spokesman Sgt. Jon Varley.

Varley thinks the deer was asleep for the night when the woman was leaving a party early Sunday and the commotion of the attack stirred the animal awake.

No description of the attacker – or the heroic deer – was available. Information from www.enquirer.com
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Good thing the deer escaped. He’d be cited for no license if found.
JAJ48@aol.com

Can whales sue for their legal rights in our courts? Maybe. The animal rights group PETA filed their official complaint against SeaWorld Inc. on Oct. 6, 2011, for allegedly violating the 13th Amendment rights of killer whales, or orcas.

Monday, a federal judge heard the case. The judge did not dismiss the case — instead, he took it under submission. It is not yet known when he will send PETA his decision.

Though SeaWorld has filed a motion to have case dismissed, the hearing Monday addressed the issue of whether or not the orcas even had standing to be heard.

Still, the fact that the case even made it into a courtroom was a victory for PETA, according to the attorney who represents PETA, Jeff Kerr.

“This is the first time a court has ever considered whether the 13th Amendment applies to the [orcas],” Kerr said outside the courtroom Monday.
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Beware! You could be Simon Legree for bossing your cat around.

For more Firenze Sage, go to: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/109312

Publisher comment: [For those who wonder, Simon Legree is the slave master in the book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin]

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