| A case of mistaken sex for zoo
Taipei - A Taiwan zoo has become the laughing stock for having mistaken a female elephant for a male for 28 years, a newspaper said on Sunday. The Shoushan Zoo in Kaohsiung, south Taiwan, received two baby African elephants from a US zoo in 1979, believing they were a male and a female, the Taipei Times reported. Since then, the Shoushan Zoo raised the two elephants, Ali and Annie, as a couple and even held a much-publicized wedding for them in 2002. Annie died in 2003. Although Annie never gave birth, zookeepers apparently never suspected both animals were females because Ali, now 33 and weighing five tons, was larger, stronger and more violent than Annie. The truth about Ali's sexual identity came out after a crocodile at the Shoushan Zoo bit off the arm of a vet who was giving the animal anaesthesia shots in order to treat its illness.
Joe Drape Wins Inaugural Castleton Lyons-THOROUGHBRED TIMES Book Award
Joe Drape, author of Black Maestro, The Epic Life of an American Legend, was named the winner of the first annual Castleton Lyons-Thoroughbred Times Book Award in a ceremony at Castleton Lyons in Lexington on April 14. Drape received a first-place prize of $10,000 plus a trophy.
The two runners-up, Dorothy Ours and Patrick Smithwick, received trophies. Ours wrote Man o' War, A Legend Like Lightning, and Smithwick wrote Racing My Father, about growing up the son of Racing Hall of Fame steeplechase jockey A. P. "Paddy" Smithwick. The award recognized work published in 2006.
Drape, a reporter for the New York Times, was presented the winning check by Dr. Tony Ryan, owner of Castleton Lyons, a Thoroughbred farm that stands seven stallions and is situated on some of the most historic lands in racing and breeding.
OUTDOORS: Youth recruitment rates stabilize for hunting, fishing
It's all about the kids. Preliminary data that's been released from the 2006 Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation Survey (as well as from previous surveys) indicates that recruitment rates of kids involved with hunting and fishing-related activities have finally stabilized. Statistics had shown a decline throughout the 1990s."These rates are critical to the future of fish and wildlife conservation," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall. "The North American model of wildlife conservation is funded in large part by hunters and anglers."While recruitment rates for children held its own, retention rates for fishing continued to decline from 2000 to 2005. In 1990, 65 percent of anglers surveyed had fished in the previous three years. Those numbers have steadily declined.
Eat Brunch. F$ck Cancer. Win Tickets To Coachella.
I go out on Friday night and I come home on Saturday morning. But what happens when I go out on Saturday night? Sunday brunch. And this Sunday, the Revlon Run/Walk For Women team, The MissFitz, are presenting a MUSICAL BRUNCH EVENT at Safari Sam's that will cure your hangover, and possibly cancer. Hosted by Rakaa of Dilated Peoples, “Brunch For A Cause" will feature performances by The Aggrolites, theSTART, Vonyse, The Stoats and DJ Ashknuckles. There is also a non-stuffy raffle with prizes you actually want (including tickets to Coachella, a Paul Frank bicycle, RVCA gear, iPods...), team merchandise, and that warm fuzzy feeling you get from knowing you did something good for your fellow human. All this, just for listening to bands and eating brunch. A portion of food and beverage sales, and all door money, raffle proceeds and merch sales go toward the team's goal of reaching $50,000.
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