Scientist Tied to Global Warning Being Investigated for ‘Scientific Misconduct’

JUNEAU, Alaska (The Blaze/AP) — A federal wildlife biologist whose observation in 2004 of presumably drowned polar bears in the Arctic helped to galvanize the global warming movement has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated for scientific misconduct, possibly over the veracity of that article. Newser has more:

Charles Monnett is being investigated for unspecified “integrity issues” apparently linked to his report that polar bears could face an increased threat of death if they’re forced to swim farther as Arctic ice recedes.

Monnett, an Anchorage-based scientist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE, was told July 18 that he was being put on leave, pending results of an investigation into “integrity issues.” But he has not yet been informed by the inspector general’s office of specific charges or questions related to the scientific integrity of his work, said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

(Related: New study of NASA data may debunk global warming predictions)

On Thursday, Ruch‘s watchdog group plans to file a complaint with the agency on Monnett’s behalf, asserting that Obama administration officials have “actively persecuted” him in violation of policy intended to protect scientists from political interference.

Monnett, who has coordinated much of the agency’s research on Arctic wildlife and ecology, has duties that include managing about $50 million worth of studies, according to the complaint, a copy of which was provided to The Associated Press.

The complaint seeks Monnett’s reinstatement along with a public apology from the agency and inspector general. It also seeks to have the investigation dropped or to have the charges specified and the matter carried out in accordance with policy. The complaint also says that investigators took Monnett’s computer hard drive, notebooks and other unspecified items from him, which have not been returned.

A BOEMRE spokeswoman declined to comment on an “ongoing internal investigation.” Ruch said BOEMRE has barred Monnett from talking to reporters.

Documents provided by Ruch’s group indicate questioning by investigators has centered on observations that Monnett and fellow researcher Jeffrey Gleason made in 2004, while conducting an aerial survey of bowhead whales, of four dead polar bears floating in the water after a storm. They detailed their observations in an article published two years later in the journal Polar Biology; presentations also were given at scientific gatherings.

In the peer-reviewed article, the researchers said they were reporting, to the best of their knowledge, the first observations of polar bears floating dead offshore and presumed drowned while apparently swimming long distances in open water. Polar bears are considered strong swimmers, they wrote, but long-distance swims may exact a greater metabolic toll than standing or walking on ice in better weather.

They said their observations suggested the bears drowned in rough seas and high winds and “suggest that drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice and/or longer open water periods continues.”

The article and presentations drew national attention and helped make the polar bear something of a poster child for the global warming movement. Al Gore’s mention of the polar bear in his documentary on climate change, “An Inconvenient Truth,” came up during investigators’ questioning of Gleason in January.

In May 2008, the U.S. classified the polar bear as a threatened species, the first with its survival at risk due to global warming.

According to a transcript, investigator Eric May asked Gleason his thoughts on Gore referencing the dead polar bears. Gleason said none of the polar bear papers he has written or co-authored has said “anything really” about global warming.

“It’s something along the lines of the changing environment in the Arctic,” he said. Gleason said others put their own spin on research or observations.

The complaint alleges Gleason and Monnett were harassed by agency officials and received negative comments from them after the article was published. Gleason eventually took another Interior Department job; he didn‘t respond to an email and a BOEMRE spokeswoman said he wouldn’t be available for comment.

Ruch also claimed the investigation is being done by criminal investigators with no scientific background, even though the case is an administrative matter.

Source:  The Blaze

Imagine taking him for walkies! George the Great Dane is 7ft long, weighs 18stones and is the world’s biggest dog… but he’s terrified of Chihuahuas

By DAVE NASSER  -  Last updated at 12:37 AM on 23rd July 2011

• we saw George, our beloved Great Dane, he was no more than a tiny, cowering ball of fuzzy fur.

As my wife Christie opened the door of the crate he’d travelled in, he teetered to a standing position and looked out at us, moving his head slowly from side to side, taking in the wonder of it all.

Finally, as if weighing us up and deciding we were acceptable, he tentatively pushed his little nose forward and gave Christie her first lick.

Man’s biggest friend: Devoted owner Dave Nasser with George, the world’s biggest dog

Though it didn’t really register, George’s paws were comically large even then. But all we saw was this cute puppy.

We certainly never dreamed he would one day become the biggest dog in the world, standing nearly 4ft high at the shoulder, 7ft long and weighing nearly 18 stone. Right now, he just looked bewildered.

He came into our lives in January 2006, just a few months after we had married and set up home in Arizona. We both had busy jobs, Christie selling medical equipment while I was a property developer, but she had always planned that, once she had a house of her own, she would also have a dog.

A doggone miracle: George the Great Dane with the Nasser’s daughter Annabel at home in Arizona

Puppy love: A young George with Dave’s wife Christie. Even as a pup he had comically large paws

She wanted a Great Dane as they make great family pets, so we tracked down a litter of 13, born 1,000 miles away in Oregon. Their owner emailed us a photo showing a chaotic jumble of paws, snouts and tails.

Twelve were entangled with one another, but our eyes were drawn to one pup standing apart from the rest. He was clearly the runt, endearing him to Christie immediately.

George made the long journey from Oregon to Phoenix by plane and we picked him up from the freight area, tired but unshaken.

As soon as George settled into our home, we discovered our plans to be fair but firm parents were wishful thinking.

All the things that make Great Danes wonderful pets — their lack of aggression and their attachment to humans — make them more emotionally sensitive than other dogs.

They need to be with their ‘pack’ at all times and at night the cute pup with intensely blue eyes turned into a caterwauling banshee whenever we tried to leave him alone in the kitchen.

Magnificent: George measures more than 7ft from nose to tail and weighs 18st

No matter how much we reminded ourselves that he had every home comfort (warm dog bed, warm blanket, warm kitchen, squeaky bone), each whimper created a picture in our heads of a tragic, abandoned pup, desperate for his mother.

Eventually, we gave in and shunted George’s dog bed into our bedroom. In the coming months, Christie really threw herself into being a mum to George. As well as a photo album, he had a growth chart — we were soon reading it in awe.

At five months he still acted like a puppy, chasing his tail and playing games of fetch and tug-of-war with his favorite bit of rope. But he was already the size of a fully-grown Labrador.

He was putting on more than a pound a day and he bounded around like Bambi, skittering on our wooden floors and hurling himself at everything he fancied, including us humans. His displays of affection could leave you pinned temporarily against a wall or a piece of furniture.

More…

• Patches the dog on death row saves his own life by singing Happy Birthday

His size did not go unnoticed in the outside world. Our local park had a section for puppies but we were bullied out of it by other owners, who were scared George would hurt their pups, — but the opposite was true.

The smaller dogs ran around and under him, and he’d be constantly sidestepping them, obviously anxious and jittery. Slowly we realized that our enormous puppy was a big softie. Besides his terror of being left alone, he had a fear of water.

He’d growl anxiously at the side of our swimming pool, alarmed that his ‘pack’ members would so willingly place themselves in danger of drowning.

If the pool was his most-hated place, his favorite was our bedroom. Eventually he outgrew the single mattress we placed there for him and preferred instead the comfort of our king-sized bed — sprawling between us like some over-indulged prince while we spent half the night clinging onto the edges.

Paws for thought: George’s giant feet dwarf Dave’s hand

In the summer of 2006, we solved this problem by buying him his own queen-sized mattress, which he still sleeps on today at the bottom of our bed.

But soon we encountered another challenge as George reached doggie puberty. Once he had grabbed life by the lapels, now he was grabbing onto legs — table legs, chair legs, human legs, he wasn’t picky — and doing what all male dogs do with the vigour of a canine giant.

He calmed down in the furniture department after we had him neutered, but then he took up a new hobby, eating as if it were an Olympic sport.

A sausage on the barbecue was like a siren to a passing sailor. You couldn’t turn your back for a minute. And he was so tall that he actually had to bend down to pinch food off kitchen counters.

He could reach the high shelves as well, so we had to hide everything away in cupboards. Soon, he was getting through around 100lb of dry dog food every month.

As he approached his first birthday in November 2006, weighing about 14 stone, it was getting physically impossible to make him go anywhere he didn’t want to — including the vet’s surgery. He had not forgotten the time he went there in possession of his manhood — and came out less than whole.

As soon as he recognised the entrance, he  refused to move. So I had to take him around to the less familiar back door instead.

For all these troubles, George gave us plenty in return, not least the following year when Christie lost the baby she was carrying.

Evidently tuned in to her grief, George was a constant presence at her side. When she sat, he sat too. When she stood, he stood and padded alongside her to wherever she was going.

His personality grew more delightful the bigger he got. A male Great Dane typically weighs from nine to 11 stone, but by Christmas 2007 George weighed   15 stone — bigger than most men. At this point, he loved being chauffeured around in my golf cart and would sit in it, his haunches on the seat and front legs on the floor.

By Christmas 2008, our canine colossus weighed 18 stone. A friend suggested he might be a contender for the Guinness Book Of Records, but we had other things to think about: Christie had discovered that she was pregnant again.

With size comes problems: George the giant barely fits in the back of his owner’s SUV

The trouble was, when our daughter Annabel arrived that September George made it clear he wanted nothing to do with this interloper. He was used to spending nights in delightful oblivion at the foot of our bed. Annabel’s high-decibel presence simply wasn’t on.

When she cried, he’d wake, harrumph and then turn over in annoyance. Once it was clear the racket was going to continue, he’d exhale heavily again, till one of us finished that mysterious feeding thing we did with the noisy intruder.

But while he might not have cared much for Annabel, George loved her dolls, especially a stuffed green one that played a nursery rhyme when squeezed. Whenever he could, he placed it between his paws and pressed it so he could hear the tune.

It was like a security blanket. It was a period of such big adjustment for him that if it made him happy, then it was fine by us and our patience was rewarded.

Slowly, George understood that Annabel was our pack’s youngest member and in need of his affection and protection. And on Christmas morning, he ended his three-month sulk, acknowledging her presence with a lick of her hand. It was the best present we could have had — although the beginning of 2010 brought more good news.

Over the previous weeks, while Annabel slept, Christie had applied to the Guinness World Records people on George’s behalf. That February, one of their adjudicators came to watch George being measured in the presence of a vet. He was officially declared not just the world’s tallest living dog (43 inches from paw to shoulder) but the tallest dog ever.

The following week we flew to Chicago to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show and were put up in one of the city’s most luxurious hotels. We had a huge sitting room, dining area and even a bar — but there was just one problem. There was nowhere for George to sleep.

As we enjoyed a gourmet meal and a bottle of red wine that night, he struggled to settle on two roll-out divans provided for him. Infuriatingly, they wouldn’t stay together. So he had his head on one and back end on the other, but his stomach was sagging onto the carpet.

‘You know what we need to do,’ I joked. ‘Give George our bed to sleep on and have the divans in this room ourselves.’

Christie looked at me with a telltale gleam in her eye and I knew immediately my joke had been a fatal error. An hour later, our boy was sprawled in splendor in our huge, fluffy king-size bed.

‘Well,’ whispered Christie, ‘George is the star here, after all.’ She was right, of course, and since his appearance on TV, Giant George has built a following around the world, with his own fan club, website and 70,000 fans on Facebook.

None of this, of course, means anything to George. He still spends his days doing what he has always liked best: eating, playing and sleeping.

Our cherished pet may have become a global celebrity — but really, he’s just one of the family.

Extracted from Giant George by Dave Nasser, published by Simon & Schuster on August 4, £12.99,  © 2011 Dave Nasser.  To order a copy for £10.99 (incl p&p) call 0843 382 0000.

*a stone = 14 lbs, so George weighs 252 pounds

Source:  DailyMail.co.uk

Only In Montana

Only in Montana!

A family that lives on the outskirts of  Missoula , Montana decided to build a sturdy, colorful playground for their 3- and 4-year-old sons. They lined the bottom with smooth-stone gravel all around to avoid knee scrapes and other injuries.

They finished building it one Friday evening and were very pleased with the end product.

The following morning, the mom was about to wake the boys up and have them go out to play in their new play center.. This is what she saw from the upstairs window.

ASIAN SNAKEHEAD FISH FOUND IN MARYLAND RIVER, SCIENTISTS SAY IT’S AGGRESSIVE AND SPREADING

A mature, egg-bearing northern snakehead has been discovered by scientists in a river just south of Annapolis, MD. The toothy and aggressive fish is a native of Asia, and believed to be rapidly breeding. It was first discovered and quickly eradicated in a pond back in 2002, only to be found in Potomac River tributaries in Maryland and Virginia two years later. National Geographic on the ferocious species:

Video:  Invasion of the Snakeheads

When the 23-inch creature was found by biologists from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center surveying the Rhode River last Thursday, immediate concerns were raised on the possibility that low salinity in the Chesapeake Bay this year may has allowed the invasive fish to escape from the Potomac River. From the Baltimore Sun:

“Scientists have long believed that the salinity of the bay would keep snakeheads bottled up in the Potomac River. But last year, watermen found them in St. Jerome Creek, past Point Lookout on the bay side.

Finding this fish, said Havard, ‘was very disconcerting, especially when we found it was an egg-bearing female. I think there’s concern across the board.’”

The snakehead is a predator that can overwhelm the habitat and push out local fish.  Scientists believe that near-record levels of runoff into the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay this year may have given the fish a path to infest other bodies of water. Congress has already initiated “The Northern Snakehead Control and Management Plan,“ after members become alarmed by the ”potential impact on native fish populations,” that snakeheads found in Maryland and six different states across the country could have.

Not all locals have frowned on the new fish, as one chef experiments if the snakehead could find its way on menus next to crab cakes as a Maryland specialty.

Source:  The Blaze

Leopard Attacks Indian Villagers

 

Video:  Leopard attacks forest guard (Caught on camera)

KOLKATA, India (AP) — A leopard that mauled 11 people in a fierce showdown with Indian villagers has died of knife wounds after being captured.

The snarling adult, male leopard leapt at locals and forest officials as they tried to drive it into a wildlife sanctuary in West Bengal state.

Photo: AP

Forest official Dharma Dev Rai says villagers used knives, stones and batons to beat back the cat. It injured six villagers, a policeman and four forest guards before being hit with a tranquilizer gun Tuesday.

Photo: AP

The cat died within hours, and a post mortem is being conducted. It happened near Siliguri, about 373 miles (600 kilometers) from Kolkata.

Photo: AP

The people are recovering from their injuries, mostly swipes from the cat’s claws.

Leopards are protected in India though more are straying into villages for food.

Source:  The Blaze

Pint-Sized Chihuahua Successfully Thwarts Armed Robbers!

A ten pound Chihuahua named Paco proved to be more than just a cute face when he actually defended his owner’s tobacco shop from an armed robbery. The lovable pooch is seen in this great video chasing off the robbers while nipping at their heels. Clearly, Paco must think himself Doberman.

ABC brings us the heartwarming report and video:  Chihuahua Stops Armed Robber

Source:  The Blaze

Parahawking Over Nepal (HD)

Parahawking Over Nepal (HD)

Video: Parahawking Over Nepal (HD)

Love You Can’t Buy

Innocence


Respect


Friendship


Patience


Rescued


Best friends

Meet Jasmine… A True Story…

A True Story.

In 2003, police in Warwickshire , England , opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog.  The dog had been locked in the shed and abandoned.  It was dirty and malnourished, and had quite clearly been abused.

In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a female greyhound, to the Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, which is run by a man named Geoff Grewcock, and known as a haven for animals abandoned, orphaned, or otherwise in need.

Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims: to restore the dog to full health, and to win her trust.  It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved. They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.

Jasmine, however, had other ideas.  No one quite remembers how it came about, but Jasmine started welcoming all animal arrivals at the sanctuary.  It would not matter if it were a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or, any other lost or hurting animal.  Jasmine would just peer into the box or cage and, when and where possible, deliver a welcoming lick.

Geoff relates one of the early incidents.  "We had two puppies that had been abandoned by a nearby railway line.  One was a Lakeland Terrier cross and another was a Jack Russell Doberman cross.  They were tiny when they arrived at the centre, and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him on the settee.  Then she fetched the other one and sat down with them, cuddling them."

"But she is like that with all of our animals, even the rabbits.  She takes all the stress out of them, and it helps them to not only feel close to her, but to settle into their new surroundings.  She has done the same with the fox and badger cubs, she licks the rabbits and guinea pigs, and even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her nose."

Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became the animal sanctuary’s resident surrogate mother, a role for which she might have been born.  The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, fifteen chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and fifteen rabbits – and one roe deer fawn.  Tiny Bramble, eleven weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field.  Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster-mum role.  Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble the roe deer with affection, and makes sure nothing is matted.

"They are inseparable," says Geoff.  "Bramble walks between her legs, and they keep kissing each other.  They walk together round the sanctuary.  It’s a real treat to see them."

Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned to woodland life.  When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely.  She will be too busy showering love and affection on the next orphan or victim of abuse.

Pictured from the left are: "Toby", a stray Lakeland dog; "Bramble", orphaned roe deer; "Buster", a stray Jack Russell; a dumped rabbit; "Sky", an injured barn owl; and "Jasmine", with a mother’s heart doing best what a caring mother would do..and such is the order of God’s Creation.

And, just in case you wondered, Snopes.com (not that Snopes is always accurate or truthful… but is usually good with this type of story) has verified the truth of this wonderful story and the reality of these photographs which accompany the story – so share this story, and help make someone else’s day to be just a little brighter!

Two Saint Bernard Dogs, Brothers Available for Adoption Need a Forever Home

See them at Pet Finder  http://www.petfinder.com/  -  Available Saint Bernards

 

Two Saint Bernard Dogs  – Brothers Available for Adoption in Gillette Wyoming

Photo	Name	Features	Organization
	Cujo	Saint Bernard St. Bernard Adult, Male	City/County Animal Shelter Gillette, WY
	Rocky	Saint Bernard St. Bernard Adult, Male	City/County Animal Shelter Gillette, WY

 

They need a home… Two brothers 18-moths old…

 

Cujo and Rocky

Contact the City/County Animal Shelter
Gillette, WY
307-686-5249
actl@ci.gillette.wy.us