TVEC is accepting donations for the Food Bank

Please join us in the fight against local hunger. During the month of February, please bring a couple of cans of food (or other non-perishable food items) to our office as part of Town Planner’s 4th Annual Food Drive. Local food agencies receive tons of food during the holidays that is usually gone by February! Thank you in advance for helping to fight hunger all year round!

Sumatran Tiger Video

Click here to see rare video footage of Sumatran tigers in the wild.

End of dog racing leaves greyhounds homeless 7 tracks closed in 2009, leaving hundreds of dogs needing to be adopted

updated 3:08 p.m. ET, Mon., Jan. 4, 2010

KENOSHA, Wis. - Greyhound advocates are scrambling to find homes for hundreds of dogs that will no longer be racing.

Tracks in Wisconsin, Arizona and Massachusetts ended dog racing just last week, bringing to seven the number that pulled the mechanical rabbit in 2009. Two tracks closed in Massachusetts, where voters have outlawed greyhound racing.

Michael McCann, president of The Greyhound Project Inc., is among those who fear that there will be more dogs available than prospective homes.

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Pet Frog Salmonella Spans 31 States

Pet Frog Salmonella Spans 31 States

CDC: Outbreak Sprang From California-Bred African Dwarf Frogs

By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Jan. 7, 2010 -- Pet African dwarf frogs from a single California breeder caused an 8-month salmonella outbreak in 31 states.

The outbreak extended from California to Massachusetts. Of the 85 cases, mostly in children, 16 were hospitalized, the CDC reports in its weekly MMWR publication. No deaths were reported.

Although reptiles -- turtles in particular -- have been responsible for previous nationwide salmonella outbreaks, this is the first known multistate outbreak spread by amphibians.

In this case, the amphibians were African dwarf frogs. The tiny creatures are less than 2 inches long from tip to tail. They live in water and are sold as aquarium pets.

The frogs are hard to handle -- they tend to rest at the bottom of aquariums -- so most of the infections likely came from contact with the water in which the frogs swam. Nearly a third of contaminated households cleaned the frog aquariums in the kitchen sink, "posing a risk for cross contamination with food preparation areas," the CDC notes.

Infections in Utah and Colorado came from frogs given away as carnival prizes. An infection in New Mexico came from a frog purchased in a pet store; one in Ohio came from a department store.

Many of those infected didn't know frogs or other amphibians could carry salmonella. Many patients' parents had bought their kids frogs in order to avoid salmonella-carrying turtles.

It took the CDC a long time to figure out that frogs were the source of the outbreak, as cheese-flavored crackers consumed by several early patients led disease detectives on a wild goose chase. Eventually, the frogs were traced to a single California breeder. DNA tests showed that salmonella in water tanks and gravel from frog habitats was the same strain that caused the outbreak.

The CDC notes that there's no law against selling small frogs. To prevent infections, the CDC advises pet owners to wash their hands thoroughly after touching animals or cleaning aquariums.

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The Cove

You may have heard about the filming of the movie on NPR. You may have seen the awards from the Sundance Film Festival. You may have heard that it's controversial. Want to see it yourself? This site will find the nearest showing.

Trailer

Got a pet tarantula? Better protect your eyes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Here's some advice stemming from the unusual case of a man who had spider hairs stuck in his cornea: Be sure to cover your eyes when hanging around with your pet tarantula.

Ophthalmologists at St. James's University Hospital in Leeds, England, used high magnification lenses to find out what made the man's eye red, watery and light-sensitive, according to a study reported in the British medical journal The Lancet on Thursday.

They discovered hair-like projections stuck in the man's cornea.

It was a light bulb moment for the patient, who remembered that three weeks earlier he had been cleaning a stubborn stain on the glass tank of his pet, a Chilean Rose tarantula.

"He sensed movement in the terrarium. He turned his head and found that the tarantula, which was in close proximity, had released 'a mist of hairs' which hit his eyes and face," the doctors wrote.

They said the man's condition was rare.

The authors noted that the Chilean Rose tarantula releases the barbed hair on the back of its body to defend against predators.

"We suggest that tarantula keepers be advised to routinely wear eye protection when handling these animals," the doctors said.

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Scientists find clue to killer of Tasmanian devils

WASHINGTON – Fierce as they are, Tasmanian devils can't beat a contagious cancer that threatens to wipe them out. Now scientists think they've found the disease's origin, a step in the race to save Australia's snarling marsupial.

The furry black animals spread a fast-killing cancer when they bite each other's faces. Since the disease's discovery in 1996, their numbers have plummeted by 70 percent. Last spring, Australia listed the devils — made famous by their Looney Tunes cartoon namesake Taz — as an endangered species.

There's no treatment, and little hope of finding one until scientists better understand what's fueling this bizarre "devil facial tumor disease." So an international research team picked apart the cancer's genes, and discovered that it apparently first arose in cells that protect the animals' nerves.

The surprise finding, reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science, has led to development of a test to help diagnose this tumor.

Next, scientists are hunting the mutations that turned these cells rogue, work they hope could one day lead to a vaccine to protect remaining Tasmanian devils, or perhaps treatments.

"The clock's ticking," lead researcher Elizabeth Murchison of the Australian National University said by phone from Tasmania. "It's awful to think there could be no devils here in 50 years because they're dying so quickly."

The devils, known for powerful jaws, fierce screeches and voracious consumption of prey, are the world's largest marsupial carnivores. They don't exist in the wild outside Tasmania, an island south of Australia.

What triggered this cancer, which causes tumors that grow so large on the face and neck that the animals eventually can't eat?

It didn't jump from another species, said Murchison. Tasmanian devils, for unknown reasons, are prone to various types of cancer. This tumor's genetic signature suggests that probably no more than 20 years ago, mutations built up in some animals' Schwann cells — cells that produce the insulation, called myelin, crucial for nerves — until the first devil fell ill with this new type.

Those mutations went far beyond a typical cancer. When one sick animal bites another, it transplants living cancer cells that form a copy of the first animal's tumor. Murchison's team tested 25 tumors gathered from devils in different parts of Tasmania, and found the tumors were essentially identical to one another.

It's one of only two forms of cancer known to spread this way, Murchison said; the other is a sexually transmitted cancer in dogs. (That's quite different than people's transmission of a few cancer-causing viruses, such as the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer.)

The researchers created a diagnostic test, based in part on a myelin-related protein called periaxin that was present in all the facial tumors but not in other cancers.

Also, the team compiled a catalog of Tasmanian devil genetic information. Among the next goals is to determine which of those genes most influence the spread and severity of this cancer.

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