WILDLIFE NEWS OF THE DAY - 100809

Raptor lovers are in their glory as hawks soar over Marin County, California, in our first wildlife story today; but a crippled bald eagle that had been a favorite in Indiana for many years died during surgery at the ripe old age of 22 years. Residents of Yankton, South Dakota, lost power after a wayward raccoon shorted out high power lines in town; and a school bus driver swerved to avoid a raccoon in the road in Chelan, Washington, ending up in a ditch. A Topeka, Kansas, woman has asked trappers to try to rid her area of a raccoon; while an elderly resident of Florida who was viciously attacked by a pack of raccoons a few days ago has returned home for a long recovery. A pregnant resident of New York state needs to go through a painful series of rabies shots after being exposed to a rabid raccoon her dogs had attacked. A black bear has been rummaging through trash bins in Ashland, Oregon; while a Colorado man will have to serve probation and has been fined in the death of a black bear which he shot in July; and a resident of Virginia has been fined $2,000 for illegally killing a black bear in a park there. An exotic Barasingha deer from India gored a man to death in Texas; but officials in a Virginia community are considering a deer hunt after a fatal auto-deer collision on a local road. Using silencers on their rifles, sharpshooters will begin culling the deer herd in a Kansas Park, perhaps as soon as tomorrow; however, a resident of British Columbia, Canada, who is feeding deer in her front yard may be popular with the deer, but her neighbors have quite a different opinion on the issue; and an apparent prank in which a dead deer was dressed up in a clown suit in Sioux City, Iowa, left officials nonplussed. A public official in an Ontario, Canada, township has no patience with people who defend coyotes in the area which he perceives as a threat to children and livestock; while another article from that province counsels to keep your pets safe from coyotes. As coyote trapping begins in Michigan later this month, wildlife officials are informing trappers about what to do if they trap a wolf instead; while a conservationist in Idaho discusses the lawsuit brought by an environmentalist group to stop wolf hunting in that state. A science center in New Hampshire is showing off an orphaned pair of cougars to familiarize residents with these impressive cats; but a bobcat seen prowling around the University of California, Irvine, campus was mistakenly identified as a cougar. A Canadian town on Prince Edward Island is undeterred in trapping skunks after learning that they were being shot by the trapper. Sea otters in Alaska, suffering from dwindling numbers, have been given a substantial area stretching from the Alaskan coast through the Aleutian Islands as a protected habitat. And finally, a small drama played out between a hawk and its intended prey, an industrious squirrel in Wisconsin!

Hawks, hawks and more hawks in Marin

Bald eagle popular around Ind. dies during surgery

Raccoon Causes Power Outage

Bus swerves to miss raccoon, hits power pole

GASPORT: Dog fight with rabid raccoon leads to painful injections for woman

Woman Afraid Of Raccoon Near Her Topeka Home

Long recovery ahead for woman attacked by raccoons

Residents spot bear near Ashland's Lithia Park

Steamboat Springs man sentenced in bear death

Man fined $2,000 for baiting, killing bear at SW Va. park

Exotic deer gores man to death

Harrisonburg Addresses Deer Population

Shawnee Mission Park deer killing may begin Friday

Feeding Nanaimo deer causes debate

Dead deer in clown suit left on Iowa porch

Coyote Kill Proposed For McNab Braeside

Keeping your pets safe from coyotes

Look out for wolves in coyote traps

Mike Medberry: Let's work together to ensure the future of Idaho's wolves

Mountain lions up close and personal

AV Bobcat Mistaken for Mountain Lion

Skunks remain under the gun in Charlottetown

Feds give sea otters habitat protection in Alaska

Hawk-squirrel drama unfolds in the ’burbs