Did contractors harm the Escatawpa River?

Jimmy Rayburn, a fisheries biologist with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, said that while some of the things he saw on the Escatawpa River were questionable, he could not say for certain that contractors went further than their permits.

Daisy the Curly Cat is raising her paw for a good cause and we are too!

Daisy the Curly Cat: I am raising my paw for a good cause!

Daisy is raising her paw for a very good cause, having your cats (we think you should have your dogs spayed & neutered too for the same reasons) spayed and neutered. She list some excellent reasons to do so.

• To help control cat overpopulation: There are many, many, many cats around the country without a home. This makes me very sad. (It makes us sad too. Our cat Mommy was a feral/stray cat, we can only imagine what a hard life she had. When a mean person poisoned her we were lucky that some people with the Spay & Neuter Alliance came found us. And Mrs. Sherry called our Mommy and she came got us and gave us our forever home. We were only 4 weeks old)
• Health benefits: A spayed female cat has lower risk of developing certain conditions like mammary cancer and uterine diseases. Neutering a male cat can reduce the risk of prostate and testicular cancer.
• Reduce unwanted behaviors: Cats that have not been spayed or neutered are more likely to mark their territory by spraying urine. This seems a little bit rude! Also, having your cat spayed or neutered will remove their "urges" and make them happier
  

We want to raise our paws for some good causes too.

Some of us (like Sockie~Pooh) are very lazy about raising our paws. Sockie~Pooh wants to remind everyone about the importance of pet (and people) food safety. We never want another pet to die, like Whiskers, because of contaminated pet food.

Scylla is an energetic paw raiser, especially when she is on the wrong side of a door.

Since we like to play outside so much the environment is very important to us. So we (Scylla & Charybdis) want to champion an environmental cause. We just have to pick one, there are a lot to choose from. We are going to each champion our own cause. Scylla is going to champion endangered plants & wildlife and Charybdis is championing clean water.
Charybdis is another lazy paw raiser (I guess it is the thought that counts).

Click here to go to a website that tells how you can help endangered plants and animals. Here are a few ideas, we got from the website.

Make Space For Our Wildlife (Our Butterfly Garden does this)

• Make a Butterfly Garden, directions are here.

• Build a birdfeeder and establish a birdbath for the neighborhood birds.
• Plant a tree and build a birdhouse in your backyard.
• Start composting in your backyard garden or on your balcony. It eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers which are harmful to animals and humans, and it benefits your plants!
• Ask your parents not to use harmful chemicals in your garden or home.
• If you can, plant native plants instead of non-native or introduced ones in your garden. You don’t want seeds from introduced plants escaping into the bush. Native grasses, flowers, shrubs and trees are more likely to attract native birds, butterflies and other insects, and maybe even some threatened species.

This website tells you How to Clean Up Our Water, you can also learn more about wildlife and wildlands at this site.

Bad news for the Pascagoula River

The U.S. Department of Energy plans to draw 50 million gallons of water a day from Mississippi's Pascagoula River for five years to hollow out a massive salt dome that will become part of the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Local biologists said the massive project raises concerns about impacts to both the river system and the waters off the Mississippi Coast, where millions of gallons of super-salty water are to be disposed of each day.

Proposal to take wolves off the endangered species list

Of all the protected and endangered species in the United States, none has provoked stronger feelings than the wolf, reviled or revered, depending on the person. And few have been as visible a success. The proposed delisting, as it is called, comes because the population of wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains is surging.

Should they be delisted? Read the article in the New York Times here. Lesson Plans can be found here.

Polar Bears & Global Warming

Pregnant polar bears in Alaska, which spend most of their lives on sea ice, are increasingly giving birth on land, according to researchers who say global warming is probably to blame.