THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Several states including Arkansas are considering constitutional protections for hunting in a preemptive move to thwart efforts of advocacy groups to make shooting animals illegal.

Arkansas, Arizona, South Carolina and Tennessee have referendums for constitutional amendments on the ballot this year. Kentucky is poised to follow in 2012.

If successful, they would join 10 other states that already have constitutional protections to ensure that hunting could never be outlawed without a statewide vote of the people. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Washington County sheriff’s deputies say they’ve captured a snake that might have endangered small children or pets.

A telephone call from a resident near Farmington reported a large snake on the front porch of the caller’s home.

But the snake was not a rattlesnake, water moccasin or copperhead, all native to Arkansas. It was a 9.5-foot Burmese python, a constrictor that disables its prey by coiling around them and squeezing. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Who needs Capistrano when we have Lake Ouachita?

If you were planning a pilgrimage to California to see the swallows return to Capistrano, forget it. The swallows did not return this year.

The birds flew past the historic mission of San Juan Capistrano, 16 lanes of traffic and smog-filled horizons of Los Angeles to build homes on the eaves of a golf course clubhouse. There, greens keepers busy themselves by destroying the swallows’ nests. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MANILA, Ark. — The massive oil leak off Louisiana’s Gulf Coast has resulted in lower water levels at Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, hundreds of miles to the north.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials who run the 11,000-acre refuge between Blytheville and Paragould in northeast Arkansas have drawn down the water to offer migratory birds an enticing habitat that the officials hope will encourage the birds to stay longer.

A longer stay at Big Lake, wildlife officials say, could keep the birds from flying further south to the Gulf Coast, where they might be harmed by the oil contamination. (more…)

Courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Arkansas Field Office

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE

The American Burying Beetle was the muse for Kristen Parker’s work of art, which beat more than 1,600 other entrants for the grand prize in the Arkansas Endangered Species Day Art Contest.

The Little Rock Christian Academy student put the endangered beetle atop a gauzy background of green and fall-colored leaves to win her category, Grades 10-12, and the overall contest entered by students from 76 traditional schools and 11 home schools around the state.

Parker won a $100 Visa card for placing first in her category and a $500 card for capturing the grand prize. (more…)

Photo by Krisha Williams Turbeville

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

About 100 people stood sweaty and eager to see a streak of black fur leap out of a concrete building Saturday morning. When the small metal door finally rattled open – nothing happened.

Then, just as some in the crowd started to lose hope, a black 2-year-old leopard named Spyke strode out of his den, pausing to stretch and scratch on the deck of his new home at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.

Founded in 1991, the refuge is home to lions, tigers, leopards and bears, most of which would have otherwise been euthanized. Its staff travels the country rescuing exotic animals that were not meant to be pets, according to its website. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEXARKANA, Ark. — Two organizations have asked a federal judge to halt construction of a $1.7 billion coal-fired power plant initially designed to supply power to electric customers in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

Audubon Arkansas and the Sierra Club said Monday construction of the Southwestern Electric Power Co. plant is destroying wetlands. Owners of a hunting club near the plant site sued previously to stop construction — also on environmental grounds.

Audubon and the Sierra Club say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should not have issued water permits to the plant and an emergency court order is needed to prevent immediate danger. (more…)

PHOTOS BY SUSAN LOESCH

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE

RESCUE IN THE ROCK

What began with a phone call to Animal Planet ended in the rescue of 25 dogs, a raccoon, four cats and a horse when four central Arkansas rescue groups helped an overwhelmed El Paso woman.

Animal Planet Executive Producer Dan Jackson said the footage would premiere sometime in July on a new, as yet unnamed show.

“It will be about helping people who have too many animals,” Jackson said. (more…)

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Watching our little avian neighbors enjoy the backyard birdbath and feeder is one of life’s quiet pleasures. But when night falls, they too need a place to sleep.

Designers and craftsmen have turned their creative talents to the task; some of the results might make you wish you could downsize yourself and grow some wings.

First, some general tips about choosing and installing birdhouses: (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PEKIN, Ill. — Whether they’re stroking the wiry fur of a potbelly pig, marveling at the downy feathers of a 3-day-old chick or gazing at fish in an aquarium, nursing home residents love to connect with animals.

Liberty Village Nursing Home plays host to various animals throughout the year, according to activities director Tracy McCabe. Visiting family members or friends often bring along a dog or cat, McCabe said. And a favorite among residents, their families and friends is a visit by a traveling petting zoo.

“Animals bring back a lot of memories for the residents and give them a chance to reminisce,” McCabe said. “Anything that triggers good memories is a wonderful activity.” (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Witnesses say a reptile wrangler used his bare hands to capture a 4-foot alligator that an alert dog noticed outside an Ohio business.

Employee Jeff Colucy was with his Weimaraner in the parking lot of a Columbus company that makes office fixtures when the dog went on alert Wednesday morning, focused on the alligator hunkered down in a puddle.

Police brought in reptile wrangler Chris Law, who captured the gator by grabbing it at the tail with his bare hands. He says he didn’t have his usual reptile rescue gear because he was about to leave on vacation. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Savanah Ruff honed her hammering skills while constructing a cedar bat house Saturday, turning the rough sides of boards toward its interior to give future furry inhabitants something to cling to.

While some 12-year-old girls would be deterred by the notion of a dark-winged,beady-eyed creature flying through their yard at night, Ruff, building her family’s second bat house, perked at the chance to count the animals as they flew out of their new residence just after dusk.

Ruff warmed to the frequently misunderstood creatures when she saw one in person for the first time at Bat-O-Rama, an annual educational event held at Devil’s Den State Park outside of West Fork. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Mark Spitzer is a novelist, a poet, a book translator, an editor of a prestigious literary journal, a professor, and on a mission to defend and protect the much-maligned gar.

“I’m just a creative writer with an interest in fish – well, maybe an obsession,” said Spitzer, a former writer-in-residence at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris.

Spitzer, who teaches writing at the University of Central Arkansas, became interested in the homely fish as a boy when he read about them. He began gar fishing when he moved to Louisiana in 1997. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT JACKSON, La. — The bird bath to remove crude oil started with a canola oil rinse. The lighter oil helped break up the crude blackening the brown pelican from beak to tail, bird rescuer Rebecca Dunne explained to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Saturday.

The bird was still black as it went into the first of four deep sinks full of soapy water at pelican body heat of 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Even beak and pouch had to be soaped and rinsed, to keep the bird from swallowing more oil or getting oil back onto its feathers by post-bath preening.

It was a job for three people. At times, one held the beak, another held the body and a third held a wing outstretched for scrubbing or rinsing. All wore bright blue waterproof suits, yellow, shoulder-length waterproof gloves and rubber boots. Their shirts and pants were wet after the 35-minute bath and rinse — sweat, said Dunne, of Newark, Del.-based Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research, contracted by BP to lead the operation. (more…)

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DANIEL ISLAND, S.C. — On a quiet island that sits between the Cooper and Wando rivers in South Carolina, a growing problem is on the verge of becoming a nuisance.

An alligator has lived here at least since 2008, resident Angela Boscoe told The Post and Courier of Charleston. But at seven feet long, the gator is now a danger to neighborhood children and pets.

And that worries Boscoe, who thinks the gator is a part of the island and the environment and should be allowed to stay. But the gator’s fate could depend on how many close calls it has with the locals. A state wildlife official says it’s up to the neighborhood’s homeowners association to decide whether to call in a trapper to dispatch the creature. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RENO, Nevada — Activists say stress and trauma are to blame for most of the 86 wild horses who died in a government roundup of mustangs north of Reno.

A report issued by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign says 43 percent of the deaths are due to diet and metabolic failure induced by stress and trauma.

The report says 22 percent of deaths are due to the poor condition of the animals, and 19 percent are blamed on traumatic injury. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WILLIAMS, Ore. — The Howling Acres Wolf Sanctuary in the Southern Oregon community of Williams is closing.

Sherri and Charlie LaBat told the Mail Tribune newspaper in Medford they are out of money, time and energy to keep rescuing wolves and hybrids that were kept illegally as pets, for sale and for their fur.

Sherri LaBat says treating her leukemia has been expensive, the recession has cut into donations, and their house is in foreclosure. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBIA, S.C. — An Ohio-based watchdog group has called on the federal government to investigate a South Carolina company it says is abusing research monkeys.

Stop Animal Exploitation Now executive director Michael Budkie said on Monday internal records from the Alpha Genesis Inc. lab near Charleston show the company is breaking federal law.

Budkie says documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show at least 170 primates are missing body parts, from fingers to limbs. Budkie says at least one primate was cut across the abdomen and its internal organs were spilling out. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

J.R. Thompson, author of the novel From The Wilderness, will appear at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Faulkner County Library.

The novel is about a partdog, part-wolf that is raised by a family in the northern part of the United States.

During his appearance in Conway, Thompson will talk about his novel. He will also discuss how the timber wolf has been removed from the federal endangered species list. The wolf has been a source of contention between hunter-rancher groups and wolf-advocate groups in the Rocky Mountain states. (more…)

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOKYO — Dozens of right-wing activists protested Friday outside the office of a Japanese distributor of the Oscar-winning The Cove, demanding that the gory portrayal of dolphin hunting in Japan not be shown in the country.

The Cove won this year’s best documentary Oscar with its depiction of dolphin hunts in Taiji, a small fishing village in western Japan.

The protesters Friday accused the distributor of betraying Japanese national pride by supporting the film, which they see as insulting to traditional village culture of which dolphin hunting is part. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. LOUIS — Prosecutors say a man from rural Illinois possessed and sold DVDs of himself hitting, maiming and killing deer with his vehicle.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that 38-year-old Jarrod Lee Hayn of Kampsville, Ill., was arrested last week on two federal animal cruelty charges.

Although he had been indicted last month in federal court in St. Louis, the document remained sealed until he was taken into custody. (more…)