By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

Authorities have asked residents of Bellevue, Oregon, just east of Seattle, to secure their garbage and keep their pets and pet foot indoors, but they don’t need to tell anyone to keep a close eye on their young children.  No doubt, folks are already doing that since Jacob Town, 4, and Tristan Bec, 18 months, were nipped by a coyote in separate incidents. Authorities believe both cases involved the same animal, and they have set traps to catch it.
http://komonews.com/news/story.asp?ID=43142

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

New research at the University of California at San Diego suggests that 9 out of 11 starlings can learn grammar, which is incredible when you consider all the anecdotal evidence suggesting that less than half of American humans can. Nonetheless, after a month and some 15,000 training sessions, psychology researcher Tim Gentner has accomplished what countless elementary school teachers have not by teaching basic grammar to a bunch of birdbrains. The University could have saved a lot of time and money by simply asking us about the language of birds. We’ve been talking to ducks, geese, and turkeys for years.
http://channels.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1501&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20060426%2F1302271602.htm&sc=1501

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

While outdoors enjoying a nice boat ride, let’s say, or a spin through the countryside on an ATV, it’s easy to forget how important it is to watch out for jumping fish and wildlife. But the second you let your guard down you could be smashed in the face by a 3-foot-long Gulf sturgeon, like Florida woman Dawn Poirier recently was while cruising the Suwannee River. Or you may bushwhacked by a leaping deer, like Pennsylvania’s John Kowal was on Sunday while on a benefit ATV ride. As a witness to the sturgeon incident told reporters, “people. . . need to be aware . . . that these fish [and most wildlife] can and will jump.”   
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060425/LOCAL/204250344/1078/news
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/strange/news-article.aspx?storyid=56386
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/leadertimes/s_447206.html

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

Anyone can understand wanting to slaughter four mule deer bucks to vent pent-up rage. I mean, we’ve all been there, right, especially after a few drinks? So, it’s a little shocking that a judge has sentenced Montana’s Michael Benjamin Acuna to two to three years in prison. With such a sympathetic defense, you would think some sort of anger-management course focusing on psychopathic tendencies toward wonton wildlife murder would suffice.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/04/25/news/wyoming/50-poaching.txt