(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil on Sunday continued cleanup of a pipeline spill that loosed thousands of barrels of heavy Canadian crude in Arkansas as opponents of oil sands development latched on to the incident to attack plans to build the Keystone XL line.

Exxon's Pegasus pipeline, which can carry more than 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Pakota, Illinois to Nederland, Texas, was shut after the leak was discovered late Friday afternoon in a subdivision near the town of Mayflower. The leak forced the evacuation of 22 homes.

The company did not have an estimate for the restarting of the pipeline, which was carrying Canadian Wabasca Heavy crude at the time of the leak. An oil spill of more than 1,000 barrels into a Wisconsin field from an Enbridge pipeline last summer kept that line shuttered for around 11 days.

The Arkansas spill drew fast reaction from opponents of the 800,000 bpd Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry heavy crude from Canada's tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast refining center.

Environmentalists have expressed concerns about the impact of developing the oil sands and say the crude is more corrosive to pipelines than conventional oil. On Wednesday, a train carrying Canadian crude derailed in Minnesota, spilling 15,000 gallons of oil.

"Whether it's the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, or ... (the) mess in Arkansas, Americans are realizing that transporting large amounts of this corrosive and polluting fuel is a bad deal for American taxpayers and for our environment," said Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat.


Supporters of Keystone XL and oil sands development say the vast Canadian reserves can help drive down fuel costs in the United States. A report from the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, put together by oil and gas consultancy Penspen, argued diluted bitumen is no more corrosive than other heavy crude.

CLEANUP

Exxon said that by 3 a.m. Saturday there was no additional oil spilling from the pipeline and that trucks had been brought in to assist with the cleanup. Images from local media showed crude oil snaking along a suburban street.


Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration were deployed to the scene.

"Cleanup efforts are progressing 24 hours a day," said Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers, who added the oil had not leaked into nearby Lake Conway.

"We were very fortunate that the local responders made sure the oil did not enter the water."
Source

The rabbit never goes far from its burrow as it timidly searches for vegetable foods to supply its growing family. There are over twenty four species of rabbits in America and many more around the world. Rabbits serve as a perfect example of nature's balance as nearly all predatory animals eat rabbits, but because they multiply so fast, their numbers are kept fairly constant. Quick reflexes and keen observation skills are its two most important traits.

Little Sister Rabbit teaches us through its timidity, to be gentle with ourselves and others at all times.

The rabbit is a fearful animal and expends much of its energy nervously twitching its large ears from side to side listening for potential threats, quickly hopping from place to place and then suddenly running away at lightening speed. The rabbit spirit begs us to study its movements so we may learn to move in concert and harmony with our environment and the Creator.

Little Sister Rabbit has excellent observation skills and sensitive reflexes to help it survive in a world surrounded by danger. They are fast, agile and instinctive. They disappear in an instant. These traits of rabbit will help us to learn skills related to natural and unprompted movement so can always know which direction to go in an instant. As humans we too are in constant danger and need to be alert and ready to move quickly. Or conversely, we may need to take advantage of some passing opportunity before it is gone.

Fear is a dominant feature of the rabbit and this reminds us to examine our own fears to determine if they are hindering our progress, either spiritually or physically. Are your fears preventing you from accepting a new challenge? If so, Little Sister Rabbit may make herself known to you.


Rabbits lives are short and they take advantage of every waking moment to fulfill their destiny.

The times rabbits are most often seen is during early dawn hours or at evening dusk. These are times when the visible becomes invisible and the invisible becomes visible. In this teaching we are reminded that things are not always as they appear and to study patterns of movement in relation to time to discern reality from fantasy.(Source)


RABBIT DANCE

The Rabbit Dance and the Fishing Dance are the only dances where a man can choose a female partner. This usually causes giggling among the girls and broad smiles from everyone else.

The lead singer with a water drum and his helpers with cow horn rattles sit in the centre of the dance floor on two benches or two rows of chairs, facing each other. The dancers begin with the man on the woman’s left. He holds her hands in a cross-over pattern. His left hand holds her left hand and his right hand holds her right hand. They face forward and dance two steps forward and one step back. Over the years, the men and women have learned to add a rocking swing to their gripped hands and a slight dip to the body.


Halfway through each song the tempo changes. This is the signal for the dancers to do a circling motion. Two variations exist. At Six Nations the men and women usually keep holding hands. While still dancing forward, they also turn one revolution to the left. They use their clasped hands as the axis of their turn. In New York State, however, the dancers release their hands and turn in opposite directions. On completing the turn they rejoin hands and continue going forward. Like some other social dances, the Rabbit Dance
Source

You have heard of the Easter Bunny but these rare white lion cubs are giving an African twist on the spring bank holiday.

Just four days old, the sleepy eyed cubs are seen rolling around these colourful Easter eggs with handler, Kirsty Trusler, at the Lion Park in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ms Trusler, 24, from Lancaster, is responsible for caring for the rare white lion cubs who are two of just 50 in their native country of South Africa.

White Lions are not albinos, but a genetic rarity unique to the Timbavati region. Like blue eyes in humans, the animals' white colour is caused by a recessive gene shared by both parents.

The earliest recorded sighting of white lions in the Timbavati region was in 1938. However, the oral records of African elders indicate that these unique animals survived in this region for many centuries.


Since their discovery white lions have been hunted, and forcibly removed from their natural endemic habitat.

The last white lion was seen in the wild in 1994, after which time they were technically extinct in the wild.

The survival of white lions has been attributed by some to their very whiteness meaning they lack the camouflage of the tawny lions.


The Johannesburg Lion Park has specialised in breeding programmes designed to discourage the inter-breeding of the white lion and have agreements with other white lion breeders to ensure genetic integrity.

White lions are native to only the Greater Timbavati region of South Africa, an area characterised by white sandy riverbeds and long grass scorched pale by the sun.

They are regarded as sacred animals by the people of that region, but after Europeans 'discovered' them in the 1970s, many were taken from the wild to captive breeding and hunting operations.


These removals, along with lion culling and trophy hunting of male lions, depleted the gene pool and the animals have been technically extinct in the wild for the past 19 years.

In their natural habitat, white lions are regarded as 'apex predators', able to hunt successfully in day and night and take down prey as large as giraffes.

Despite their rarity, white lions are not yet classified as endangered because biologists still regard them as ultimately the same as their tawny equivalents.


The Global White Lion Protection Trust is campaigning for white lions to be recognised as a subspecies of lions, so that they can be protected under international law.

However, the genetic marker that makes white lions unique has not yet been identified by scientists and research into the animals is ongoing.

The trust estimates that there are no more than 300 white lions in existence. In recent years it has reintroduced the animals to a nature reserve within Greater Timbavati in an effort to eventually reintroduce the gene to wild lions.
Source

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Oklahoma took a step toward allowing livestock owners to slaughter horses for food on Friday when the governor signed a bill that permits the practice, but processing plants must first be authorized by the federal government.

Governor Mary Fallin's action legalized the slaughter of horses so that their meat may be prepared and packaged for export. But slaughterhouses must get U.S. Department of Agriculture authorization, Fallin said.

The slaughter of horses for food had been illegal in Oklahoma since 1963 and was carried out only in Texas and Illinois until Congress stopped it in 2006. The congressional ban was lifted in 2011.

Fallin said horse slaughterhouses in Oklahoma would use more humane practices than those in Mexico because they would be inspected by federal authorities.

Horsemeat was at the center of a scandal that erupted in Europe in January, when testing in Ireland revealed that some beef products also contained equine DNA.

The United States Humane Society and animal rights activists opposed the new law in Oklahoma, while livestock interests said the change preserves their private property rights and will benefit horse owners.
Source

Dolphins are one of the most highly intelligent of all mammals and share with humans a complex set of emotions. Recently a touching and beautiful display of compassion from a bereaved mother dolphin was witnessed by an experienced captain of a tourist boat off the coast of Dana Point, California. He was stunned by what he saw.

Captain Dave Anderson was overwhelmed by the compassion he witnessed from a bereaved mother dolphin while he was taking his paying customers on a sight-seeing trip on Tuesday. Never in his 20-years at sea had he witnessed anything like this.

Instead of showing his passengers a dolphin stampede of an up-close encounter with a whale, Captain Dave Anderson encountered a dolphin carrying her dead calf on her dorsal fin through the waves. He and his customers observed the sad funeral procession from the grieving mother and surrounding dolphins.

What they saw was the deceased baby dolphin wrapped around the dorsal fin of it's mother as it was carried along in the sea off the coast of California. The captain wrote on his YouTube channel, "In my nearly twenty years on the water whale watching I have never seen this behavior. Nor have I ever seen anything quite as moving as this mother who refuses to let go of her poor calf."

'Did mom start off helping her weak, sick offspring swim to the surface to breathe for days till the tiny dolphin died? When will she give up on her calf? Will she continue carrying her deceased on her back until the carcass begins to disintegrate?"


One of the passengers named Tony Green, shared similar thoughts that day. "The last thing I expected to see today was a funeral procession. It was pretty profound for me to think about ... emotions that animals feel."

Watch the video below to see what they saw that day.

With March being Women’s History Month, it’s a good time to remember an important Cherokee woman: Mary Golda Ross.

Born on August 9, 1908 in Oklahoma, Ross was the first female and the only Native American engineer at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in Burbank, California during the Space Race.

Early in her education, she was interested in math and science and was often the only girl in the class.

“Math was more fun than anything else. It was always a game to me,” Ross explained in Laurel M. Sheppard’s profile “Aerospace Pioneer Returns to her Native American Roots.” “I was the only female in my class. I sat on one side of the room and the guys on the other side of the room. I guess they didn’t want to associate with me. But I could hold my own with them and sometimes did better.”

She graduated from Northeastern State Teacher’s College—now Northeastern State University—in Tahlequah, Oklahoma in 1928. She then taught math and science in public schools.

Her journey then took her to Washington, D.C. where she worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which then sent her to Santa Fe, New Mexico to serve as an advisor at a Native American school, which later became the Institute of American Indian Arts.


In 1938, she earned her master’s degree from the Colorado State Teachers College in Greeley. When World War II broke out her father encouraged her to look for work in California. That’s how she ended up at Lockheed as one of its first 40 employees.

Her work centered on the performance of ballistic missiles and other defense systems, reports Amsterdam News.

“Often at night, there were four of us working until 11 p.m.,” Ross recalled in a 1994 San Jose Mercury News article about her work there. “I was the pencil pusher, doing a lot of research. My state-of-the-art tools were a slide rule and a Frieden computer.”


Her retirement from Lockheed in 1973 didn’t slow her down. She became an advocate for education in math and engineering, especially for women and Native Americans. She became involved with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and the Council of Energy Resource Tribes.

“To function efficiently, you need math,” she said. “The world is so technical; if you plan to work in it, a math background will let you go farther and faster.”

In 1992, she was named to the Silicon Valley Engineering Council’s Hall of Fame. In 2004, at age 96, she was in D.C. for the opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

“The accomplishments of Mary Golda Ross epitomize the Cherokee spirit,” said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, in a press release when Ross walked on in 2008. “This exceptional woman was and will continue to be a great example to each of us. Her ambition and successes exemplify the importance of education and are evidence of the doors that can be opened through higher learning.”

“She was a strong-willed, independent woman who was ahead of her time," said her Oneida friend Norbert Hill in 2008, “and a proud woman who never forgot where she was from.”
SOURCE

There is a revolution under way to bring renewable resources to Native American people. Led by modern-day warrior Henry Red Cloud, a direct fifth generation descendent of Red Cloud, the famous Lakota war chief, and Trees, Water & People (TWP), inroads are being made one home and one business at a time.

Count among its most recent advances a two-kilowatt photovoltaic array installed in October at KILI Radio, a public radio station serving the Lakota people of the Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River and Rosebud reservations. The solar-power system was donated by Namasté Solar, while the manpower was provided by Red Cloud’s company, Lakota Solar Enterprises (LSE) and his Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center (RCREC). Count among the ranks of volunteers on site for the installation seven students from the Shoshone Bannock, Oglala Lakota, Cheyenne River Sioux, and Northern Cheyenne tribes—solar warriors in training at the RCREC.

Ground zero for this revolution is the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, home to more than 28,000 Oglala Sioux. Here, where housing is scarce and jobs scarcer—and where more than 90 percent of the people live below the federal poverty level—winters are long and almost always brutally frigid. Those fortunate enough to keep warm typically use propane, and they pay dearly for it, with bills often running to more than $400 a month. Red Cloud sees green power not only as a way to reduce home heating costs, but as a way to lead his people out of economic despair. “Last year, more than copy million was spent on propane and electricity to keep our members warm. We can take that money and turn it around, start some businesses,” he says.


Born in 1960 and raised by his grandparents, Red Cloud spent 16 years off the reservation. He returned to Pine Ridge in 1992 with the hope of finding a job and housing. He found neither. Although he could have turned around and gone back to what he was doing, which was structural steel at construction sites around the country, he decided to stay and work toward fulfilling a dream. While working in construction, he had been exposed to natural (sustainable) building and renewable energy methods and technologies. Always attuned to the connection between his people and nature, he was drawn to them. In fact, he had such a strong desire to learn everything he could that he frequently volunteered at natural building and renewable energy project sites throughout the Southwest. He says this led to a vision of a renewable-energy training facility in Indian country.


In 2002, Fort Collins, Colorado–based TWP, an organization devoted to helping communities around the world protect, conserve, and manage their natural resources, came to the Pine Ridge reservation to offer tribal members solar heating systems. Around the same time, Red Cloud was constructing homemade solar heating systems and wind turbines using anything he could find, including auto parts and soda cans. TWP and Red Cloud came together in 2003. TWP was delivering a solar energy workshop on the reservation, and Red Cloud, of course, stopped by to volunteer. Richard Fox, executive director of TWP, says Red Cloud was probably the only person on the reservation who actually knew what a solar air heater was. “I am certain he is the only one that had actually built one before we arrived.” The volunteer arrangement evolved into a job for Red Cloud, running the TWP program on Pine Ridge for a couple of years.


In 2006, Red Cloud started his own business, LSE, to make and sell small-scale solar heating systems that TWP agreed to distribute. In developing the system, which took about two years, Fox says TWP contracted with a Colorado company to work with Red Cloud to redesign the panels it had been offering on the reservation, which were based on a model created in the 1970s. (The first 70 panels were produced in the Colorado plant to work out manufacturing bugs.) The new system, priced at about $2,000 (including installation), consists of a four-foot-by-eight-foot solar collector panel and a 60-watt electric blower that pulls cool air from the home, heat it, and then blows the warm air back in.


Red Cloud’s dream—Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center—opened in 2008. The center has six to eight training sessions per year, all taking place from spring to mid-fall. Class sizes range from three to 40, and sessions last from one to three weeks. Fox and Red Cloud call the more than 150 Native Americans, the majority right out of high school, who have been trained at the facility “green teams.” Many of them become certified solar technicians and then go to their reservations to work for their tribes. A couple of trainees have even established their own renewable energy businesses. Fox says, “We want these green teams to get more and more training in renewable energy. They will be able to get training in solar electric, in wind turbines, ground source heat, making houses out of straw bale.”


Located between the towns of Pine Ridge and Oglala—on 1001 Solar Warrior Road, to be exact—the LSE and RCREC complex employs nine full-time workers and several part-timers during the busy season. The compound’s main building is a Quonset hut, measuring 30 feet by 70 feet. On the lower floor, there are workshops where the solar air heaters are built and students are trained. A loft area contains two rooms with seven bunk beds each, a bathroom and a kitchen to accommodate trainees. There are also three straw bale homes on the property, where Red Cloud and his family live, a sweat lodge, a camping space and a greenhouse that will, soon, be a nursery for tree seedlings. Another building currently being constructed will be for training and housing more students. Called the Red Cloud Training Annex, the 40-foot-by-60-foot steel Quonset hut will sleep 24 people.


The campus is a lesson on how to tap into nature for clean power. A two-kilowatt photovoltaic array and a wind turbine supply electricity to the main building. The array was donated and installed in 2009 by Namasté Solar as part of solar electricity workshop that was attended by local residents and Rosebud Sioux tribal members. Red Cloud says the systems offset the electric bill by about 40 percent. The straw bale homes were built in stages, with the first one erected in 2010, the second in 2011 and the third in August. The circular, 450-square-foot home that went up this summer was made with approximately 100 bales of hay, clay and dirt—and the hands of many volunteers. With a sunken floor two feet deep to take advantage of the Earth’s natural insulation and thick straw bales within the walls, these structures are more energy-efficient than conventional homes.


As a partner of LSE and RCREC, TWP raises money to get the solar heaters that are made in Red Cloud’s workshops donated to people on the reservations, says Lacey Gaechter, TWP’s national director. It also coordinates the training, which it either co-hosts or contracts with tribes to host, and does fund-raising to get equipment for students to train on and cover tuition costs for trainees. Sometimes TWP works with tribes to provide the heaters as well as the training. For example, Fox says the Eastern Shoshone of the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming has committed to buy 25 heaters and pay for the training of tribal members to install and maintain them.

“My biggest dream is for First Nations communities to be energy independent before mainstream America. I think we can do it doing small-scale, residential-scale—put the power of the sun and the wind back into the peoples’ hands,” Red Cloud says.

“A lot of tribes dove into big solar arrays or big wind farms. It costs millions and takes 10 years and all kinds of people make money off of it,” Fox adds. LSE’s systems are affordable and deliver immediate results and savings, as they generate 20 percent to 30 percent of a home’s or business’s heat. More than 1,400 of these units are currently installed on Pine Ridge and other reservations in the Great Plains states and beyond. Fox recalls installing a heater for a woman living on Standing Rock. He says it was close to 30 degree below zero when it went up; when they were done, she turned the heater on and it blew 110-degree heat into her house. Fox says, “Our concept is this family- and facility-scale renewable energy. If people and tribes would do more of that, they would get the people behind it. Just because it is small-scale does not mean it does not make a big impact.”


Red Cloud and TWP have plans to expand into other areas of Indian country. Right now, Gaechter says they are focusing on the Navajo reservation mainly because it is so far away from its complex, making it more costly to bring people up for training and to ship equipment there. “It really would not be a replica of what we are doing with Henry, but another way of distributing renewable energy in another part of the country,” she says.

The efforts of Red Cloud and TWP have not gone unnoticed. In 2010, Red Cloud was the recipient of the Nuclear-Free Future Award, presented by the Franz Moll Foundation. More recently, in September he traveled to Vienna, to accept two awards: the 2012 World Energy Globe Award, awarded to LSE, and the Energy Globe Award in the Youth category.

“Receiving the first award was stunning. Receiving the overall global award, my knees were shaking,” Red Cloud says. “I found that working with youth—they really understand renewable energy in a real deep sense due to their culture, language, songs, way of life, ceremony. The students are the ones who made this happen.”
SOURCE

Christmas Island is a sparsely populated island in the Indian ocean that is a territory of Australia. Every year, one of the planet's most breathtaking migrations, the Christmas Island red crab exodus is a natural phenomenon that continues to astonish. This is when the beautiful crustaceans make their yearly journey toward the sea.

Described as an amazing time for photographers, nature lovers and travel enthusiasts alike, the Christmas Island migration involves the movement of millions of vividly colored crabs as they leave their homes on land to breed and release eggs into the sea. The synchronized migration resembles a crimson-colored river moving across the island for up to 18 days.

This migration usually begins at the start of the wet season in October or November, although sometimes unfavorable weather conditions can lead to a delay in the crab exodus. The red crab migration becomes a huge event for everyone on Christmas Island. The staff of the federal park agency go through great lengths to help the crustaceans on their journey. This involves setting up an elaborate network of fences and other infrastructure to ensure the animals reach their destination without encountering any harm.

Still, despite all the efforts of humans, there is an increasing number of red crabs that are dying during their annual migration.

According to the Island's website, "As well as there being a greater risk of crabs dehydrating when forced to cross areas cleared of forest cover, thousands of adults and young are crushed by vehicles while crossing roads. Some have to negotiate up to three or four such hazards on their descent and ascent each year. Conservation measures have been implemented to help reduce this high death toll."




The Christmas Island red crab -

The Christmas Island red crab, Gecarcoidea natalis, is a species of land crab that is endemic to Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean. Although restricted to a relatively small area, it has been estimated that 43.7 million adult red crabs lived on Christmas Island alone, but the accidental introduction of the yellow crazy ant is believed to have killed about 10–15 million of these in recent years. Christmas Island red crabs eat mostly fallen leaves and flowers, but will occasionally eat other animals, including other red crabs if the opportunity arises.


The carapace is up to 116 millimetres (4.6 in) wide, rounded, and encloses the gills. The claws are usually of equal size, unless one becomes injured or detached, in which case the limb will regenerate. The male crabs are generally larger than the females, while adult females have a much broader abdomen (only apparent above 3 years of age) and usually have smaller claws.


Christmas red crabs live in burrows for shelter from the sun. Since they breathe through gills, the possibility of drying out is dangerous. They are famous for their annual migration to the sea to lay their eggs in the ocean. - Wikipedia


Behind the scenes of the red crab migration – Christmas Island 2012 from Parks Australia on Vimeo.

The birds are thought to get into their inebriated state by eating a particular plant that makes them exhibit all the tendencies of having overdone it on the sauce.

According to Ark Animal Hospital vet Dr Stephen Cutter, the birds act in a drunken manner and then fall over: ‘It’s probably a plant with alcohol, or toxins in a plant making it worse’.

The birds typically start out by making a lot of racket on a Friday night at the Palmerston Markets, followed by more loud drunken behaviour before they eventually fall over.

The morning after is said to be very bad for the seriously hungover parrots, who can be sick for up to three days.

Dr Cutter added that the birds’ drunken behaviour has made them very unpopular with locals.

It’s not the first time that this phenomenon has occurred , with the birds noted for engaging in their drunken antics around early May.

The Ark Animal Hospital has been feeding the birds sweet porridge and fresh fruit to nurse them back to health before releasing them.
Source

 United States President Barack Obama has signed a bill into law that was written in part by the very billion-dollar corporation that will benefit directly from the legislation.

There's no love lost between Washington and the American public, it seems, five days after Congress for the first time in years managed to handle a budget-related issue without reaching the brink of crisis.

Protesters have descended on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House this week, enraged at a potentially health-hazardous provision they allege lawmakers inserted surreptitiously into a continuing resolution (CR) that will fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year. The bill sailed through the Capitol on Friday; President Obama signed it into law on Tuesday.

Opponents have termed the language in question the "Monsanto Protection Act," a nod to the major agricultural biotech corporation and other like firms geared at producing genetically modified organisms (GMO) and genetically engineered (GE) seeds and crops. The provision protects genetically modified seeds from litigation suits over health risks posed by the crops' consumption.

Food safety advocacy groups like Food Democracy Now, which collected more than 250,000 signatures on a petition calling for the president to veto the CR, argue not enough studies have been conducted into the possible health risks of GMO and GE seeds. Eliminating judicial power to halt the selling or planting of them essentially cuts off their course to ensuring consumer safety should health risks emerge.


Seeking a "balance" to the newly minted law, Food Democracy Now has shifted its tactics to encouraging supporters to sign and send letters to Mr. Obama, chiding him for signing the legislation despite that refusal to do so would have expired the federal budget and triggered a government-wide shutdown this week.

Part of the template for the letter reads: "In an effort to balance this violation of our basic rights, I am urging you as President to issue an Executive Order to require the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods, something that you promised farmers while on the campaign trail in 2007. It is urgent that the U.S. government rectify the 20 year old politically engineered loophole and allow for open and transparent labeling of genetically engineered foods," the letter continues, "a basic right that citizens in 62 others countries already enjoy."


Other groups have aimed their ire toward the more worthy target, criticizing Congress for slipping the language into a must-pass bill without review by the Agricultural or Judiciary Committees. The International Business Times reports that the Center for Food Safety is putting in the hot seat Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman for the Senate Appropriations Committee, for not giving the amendment a proper hearing. According to Salon, many members of Congress who voted to approve the bill were unaware the language existed.


"In this hidden backroom deal, Sen. Mikulski turned her back on consumer, environmental and farmer protection in favor of corporate welfare for biotech companies such as Monsanto," Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, said in a statement, according to IBT. "This abuse of power is not the kind of leadership the public has come to expect from Sen. Mikulski or the Democrat Majority in the Senate."
Source

Visitors to the Wolf Creek Habitat in Brookville, Indiana, recorded a video of about 30 animals harmonizing, joining their voices in a single heart-chilling howl.

The lupine recital begins with a single soft ah-oooo, but not before long, more and more animals join in, turning a solo into a chorus of haunting notes.

The wolves, held in separate enclosure areas, seem to call out to one another by emitting piercing, primal wails. In one of the pens, a quintet of white and grey animals jump onto a wooden platform as if they are singers ascending the stage.

In the video, the wolves are captured raising their heads in unison to the sky and yowling ever louder, reaching a deafening crescendo both terrifying and beautiful.

As soon as the lupine symphony appears to come to a conclusion, one of the animals would pick up again, with the others falling in with the chorus.

YouTube user thesadistnationx uploaded the 1 minute 34 second footage on Monday after returning from a weekend trip to the wolf sanctuary that allow visitors to interact with the animals.


'It was insane, and we were in one of the pack's cages right in the middle of it all,' the used described the experience.

Since being uploaded onto YouTube Monday, the video has been video nearly 600,000 times.

Howls play a key role in a wolf pack. Some experts have suggested that the vocalization strengthens the bonds of the group, and chorus howls can end feuds between wolves, according to the PBS show Nova.


The act of howling also allows members of the pack spread over a great distance while searching for food to stay in touch because the sound's low pitch and long duration travel well in a forest or across tundra.

Although to the untrained human ear all the howls may sound alike, each wolf has its own individual sound which allows pack mates identify one another.
Source

Since starting the walk – called “The Journey of Nishiyuu”-- in mid-January, the seven-person group has picked up hundreds of supporters, many of whom marched into the capital with them Monday. Organizers say around 270 walkers finished the journey to Ottawa.

As the group embarked on their final march to Parliament Hill Monday afternoon, hundreds of supporters filled the steps beneath the Peace Tower to greet and cheer them on.

The walk began when David Kawapit Jr., 17, decided to trek to Ottawa to rally for better conditions for Canada’s First Nations.

After arriving, an exhausted Kawapit said the completed journey shows that youth can have a voice.

“This is to show the youth have a voice. It’s time for them to be shown the way to lead. Let them lead the way,” he said.

The group – now known as the Nishiyuu Walkers – met Canada's Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt. They invited him to visit them in their northern Quebec community.


The minister accepted and said he plans to visit in the summer.

Earlier on Monday, Valcourt said he wanted to talk to them, listen to their concerns and explain what the government is doing to improve First Nations’ living conditions.

"I'm going to be listening," he said. "This is about informing myself about their concerns."


Inside the House of Commons, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May lead a standing ovation for the walkers.

May called the walkers’ journey “awe-inspiring.” She also noted that Prime Minister Stephen Harper was not there to meet the group, greeting a pair of pandas that had arrived in Toronto from China instead.

“It says a lot that Stephen Harper isn't here, that he's greeting the pandas," she said. "It says a lot that we need to move heaven and earth to meet First Nations on a nation-to-nation basis with respect."


Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo told CTV News Channel that the walk was an example of the sentiment that exists among First Nations youth.

“We’re in an incredible moment where young people are pushing for change,” he said. “It feels like we’re indeed in a moment of reckoning and it’s being led by the young people.”

Atleo said that while this year’s budget saw “unprecedented” recognition of First Nations issues, the “investments just were not there.”


“It feels like we’re beginning to be heard and the words are being spoken, but they need to be followed up with real action, with First Nations leading the way,” he said.

Atleo said that the walkers’ “epic” journey will serve as an inspiration to First Nations leaders moving forward.

“My optimism and hope particularly springs from the energy of the young people who are leading the way forward.”


The walk began in the remote village of Whapmagoostui, Que., located on the shores of the Hudson Bay. The walk’s name means “The Journey of the People” in the Cree language.

The original group, comprised of Kawapit, five other supporters and one guide, set out on Jan. 16 on snowshoes, towing their supplies along the way.


Initially inspired by Chief Theresa Spence's Idle No More hunger strike, the journey is also meant to send a strong message to Ottawa about unity among the Cree and other First Nations people, participant Jordan Masty said.

Masty, 20, joined the original seven walkers in Wemindji, Que., on Feb. 3.

"If we are going to speak as the official voice of the Earth, then we have to work together in harmony," he said.


The group also aims to show other First Nations and Ottawa the dedication the Cree Nation of Quebec has to preserving their language, culture, traditions and the sacred laws of their ancestors, according to a website dedicated to The Journey of Nishiyuu walk.

The long trek proved difficult for many of the participants. Last week when the walkers arrived on the Kitigan Zibi First Nation reserve, nearly two dozen were treated for foot injuries.

Three walkers were later sent to a hospital in Maniwaki, Que., for treatment.

Members of the group range between 17 and 21 years of age.
SOURCE

Although the bald eagle was once hunted and poisoned almost to extinction, it has made a remarkable recovery since 1972, when it was classified as Endangered. Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has upgraded the bird's status from Endangered to Threatened. The banning of the pesticide DDT has also helped to improve the bald eagle's chance of survival which had caused the shell of the eagle's eggs to become too thin.

Currently on California's Catalina Island, a bald eagle live cam is streaming live footage of two majestic eagles keeping watch over three precious eggs expected to hatch around March 31. The live stream features two eagles, a female named Wray and a male nicknamed "Superman". These two eagles have made their home in a nest high up on the Catalina cliffs. The female, Wray, laid her three eggs at the end of February and then in early March.

Dr. Peter Sharpe has been studying bald eagles on the island for years. In 2007, he witnessed the so-called "Easter Miracle" of four bald eagles hatching without human assistance. It was the first time that had happened in more than half a century, according to the Catalina Island Conservancy. As for the new eggs, “We expect the first egg to hatch around Easter, give or take a day," said Dr. Peter Sharpe of the Institute for Wildlife Studies in a press release.

The camera, is being operated by The Pet Collective in conjunction with the Institute for Wildlife Studies and began streaming footage in February. It will continue to do so through April 24. Although the Institute for Wildlife Studies has filmed Wray and Superman before, "the collaboration with The Pet Collective brings an even wider audience to the work they do and the live cams," according to John Singh from The Pet Collective.

Indigenous groups in the Pastaza River basin near the Ecuador border have been complaining for years about the pollution and the failure of successive governments to address it.

Authorities say one reason the pollution was never addressed is that until now Peru lacked the requisite environmental quality standards.

In declaring the emergency, Peru's Environment Ministry on Monday said the contamination included high levels of lead, barium and chromium as well as petroleum-related compounds.

The region is inhabited mostly by the Quechua and Ashuar, who are primarily hunter-gatherers.

The fields have been operated for roughly 12 years by Argentina-based Pluspetrol, the country's biggest oil and natural gas producer, which will be obliged to clean up the contamination, Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal said.


But the government also made clear that the field's previous operator, Occidental Petroleum, had not adequately remediated contamination either.

It began drilling there in 1971. Pluspetrol took over in 2001.

The 90-day emergency orders immediate action to reduce the risk of contamination to the local population. It follows an $US11 million ($A10.56 million) fine against Pluspetrol in January.


"We know that there has been bad environmental behaviour by the company," Pulgar-Vidal said.

Pluspetrol did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Pulgar-Vidal did not describe the extent of the contamination or estimate what it would cost to clean up.

The Peruvian TV news program Panorama showed crude-permeated rivers and ponds in the area as well as the deteriorating oil pipeline that pumps crude to the Pacific coast.

The investigative weekly Hildebrand en sus Trece reported in 2010 that Pluspetrol had 78 oil spills in the region from 2006-2010, blamed for ailments including birth defects.
Source