Unsexy Beast: Australia drums up support for Tasmanian Devil, facing extinction from rare cancer

Greg Irons, director of the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, is a passionate advocate for Tasmanian devils. He's raising 16 devils in quarantine that are free of the fatal Devil facial tumor disease. (Julie Cart, Los Angeles Times)

It would appear to be one heck of a public relations challenge: Persuade the Australian public to care about a seldom-seen animal the size of a cocker spaniel, beady-eyed, standoffish and fond of displaying a mouthful of pointy teeth. Picture a skunk, with the jaws of an alligator and the charm of a weasel.

From a marketing standpoint, the Tasmanian devil is no koala.

But the pugnacious carnivore needs help. Scientists across Australia are working to untangle the genetic puzzle behind a fatal disease decimating the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial. The affliction is straight out of a sci-fi movie: Tumors sprout around the devil’s mouth, quickly morphing into bulbous red pustules that eventually take over the animal’s entire face, leaving it unable to eat or drink.

Alarmed by the threat to a species already on the brink of extinction, wildlife biologists here began tracking the disease 15 years ago. Early on, they identified how it spread: through facial bites when devils fight or mate. The disease had all the characteristics of a virus. But last year geneticists made a sobering discovery. Devil facial tumor disease, or DFTD, was no virus, but a highly infectious cancer — one of only three communicable cancers known to medicine.

That breakthrough piqued the interest of scientists. Though researchers say it is unlikely that humans could become infected with DFTD, the knowledge gleaned in research across Australia could prove invaluable should an infectious cancer appear among people.

Now,  in ways that surprise even themselves, Australians are rallying around this nasty, screeching beast that once was the most reviled animal in the country.

Even if relatively few Australians have taken the time to see a devil at a zoo, and even fewer have spied one in the bush, they are getting the message: It may be a devil, but it’s our devil. They’re “a little Aussie fighter,” suggested Kathy Belov, a molecular geneticist at the University of Sydney working to save the marsupial.

“There’s something really adorable about little devils,” she said.

Read the full LA Times article here.

Forgotten Ship: A Lifesaving Mission As Saigon Fell

This three-part NPR series on the untold stories of Saigon’s fall and the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is, in a word, outstanding.

These stories were largely forgotten or ignored in the wake of an unpopular war. Now, they are capturing their rightful place in history.

I caught the first part in the car while driving home this weekend, and listened to the entire story long after I’d pulled into my driveway. Listen for yourself — you’ll be riveted.

Part one

Forgotten Ship: A Daring Rescue As Saigon Fell

Part two

35 Years On, Vietnam Heroes Reunited, Decorated

Part three

At War’s End, U.S. Ship Rescued South Vietnam’s Navy

And finally, an interactive timeline and video interviews with the Navy Fleet’s crew and Vietnamese refugees.

Picturing “The Troubles”

If the gun has been largely removed from Irish politics, Bobbie Hanvey’s camera never was.

As part of its ambitious effort to chronicle The Troubles in Northern Ireland, Boston College has acquired Hanvey’s expansive collection of work. The John J. Burns Library of Rare Books and Special Collections at BC is in the process of digitizing Hanvey’s collection. It has put 5,000 of Hanvey’s photos online and hopes to digitize a total of 30,000 photos.

“The images that are most compelling are those of life in general, of people living life the best they could under what often were difficult circumstances,” said Bob O’Neill, director of the Burns Library.

All of Hanvey’s work on The Troubles is in black and white. It was deliberate.

“Color doesn’t do anything for people. I think you can get the character of people in black and white,” he says. “A killer doesn’t look like a killer in color. He does in black and white.”

The public can access the collection, free of charge, at www.bc.edu/bobbiehanvey, and selected images have been posted to Flickr at www.flickr.com/bc-burnslibrary.

Surge in rhino poaching devastates African populations

Organized gangs decimate Zimbabwe herds and may wipe out South Africa’s endangered black rhinos within a decade. Ranchers trying to save the animals find heartbreak amid carcasses shorn of horns.

The baby rhino, an orphan, had barely been weaned. Her horn was only a few inches long. But that didn’t stop the poachers from hacking it off.

David Uys, 33, had helped raise the rhino after her mother was killed by lightning. He called her Weerkind — “orphan” in Afrikaans. He won’t forget the sight of the bodies of the baby and two other rhinos, shot dead, their horns removed.

“I’m not a one for talking about emotions,” Uys said quietly. “But it was like seeing one of your family members dead, the brutality of it.”

The slain bull rhino, dubbed Longhorn, was about 35 and had a magnificent horn more than 2 1/2 feet long. The third rhino, Sister, had adopted Weerkind after her mother was killed. The three died together in November on this Limpopo province game ranch that is for tourists, not hunters, north of Pretoria.

“You’re angry. You’re furious. You’re sad. You’re crying,” said Uys, the ranch manager. “Just a bundle of emotions, bursting inside.”

A sharp surge in poaching in South Africa and Zimbabwe by organized gangs has devastated Zimbabwe’s rhino population and threatens to wipe out South Africa’s critically endangered black rhinos within a decade.

South African rancher Pelham Jones warns that the more common white rhino won’t be far behind unless something is done.

A report last year by the World Wildlife Fund, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and wildlife-trade monitoring network TRAFFIC said poaching had reached a 15-year high, pushing the animals close to extinction.

Rhino ranchers, some of whom keep the animals to attract tourists while others rely on limited trophy hunting, are so wary about the involvement of organized crime in rhino killings that few are willing to talk publicly for fear of endangering animals on their properties. Interviews are given on condition that properties, even nearby towns, are not identified.

China’s recent thrust into Africa in a rush for resources is a major factor in the illegal rhino horn and ivory trade, analysts believe, because China remains the largest market. Rhino horn, made of keratin, the same substance that forms fingernails, hooves, feathers and hair, has long been used in Chinese medicinal tonics.

Zimbabwe’s collapse added to the problem, with corrupt government, army and wildlife officials reportedly involved in poaching and smuggling rhino horn and ivory. The airport in that country’s capital, Harare, is reportedly a key transit hub.

Many fear that the Asian market is so ancient and entrenched, there’s not much a small group of farmers can do to save the species. Some support the idea of rhino farming — regularly pruning horns, which grow back — to meet the demand and drive down prices. Others argue that legalizing the trade would only fuel demand, putting the creatures at even more risk.

How to help: The Endangered Wildlife Trust ( www.ewt.org.za) is working to improve the protection of rhinos in southern Africa.

Northern Ireland lawmakers want own Justice Department

BELFAST – Northern Ireland lawmakers voted overwhelmingly yesterday to create a new Justice Department, the next key step in making their Catholic-Protestant government work.

Three of the four parties in Northern Ireland’s cross-community government backed the motion to take control of the territory’s police and courts from Britain next month. The long-debated move would put law and order back into local hands for the first time since Northern Ireland’s descent into civil war four decades ago.

The British, Irish, and American governments have pressed for former Belfast foes to take this step and cement their partnership as the US-brokered Good Friday peace accord of 1998 intended.

The two key coalition parties, the British Protestants of the Democratic Unionists and the Irish Catholics of Sinn Fein, negotiated the pact last month during nearly two weeks of day-and-night negotiations. But it required majority approval from both sides of the Assembly to become law.

While 88 lawmakers voted in favor of the Justice Department plans, including all Catholics on the Irish-nationalist side of the house, only 17 lawmakers from the Ulster Unionists – a minority on the Protestant side of the house – voted against.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain lauded the vote as confirming the wisdom of “devolving’’ powers from Britain to local politicians.

“The courage and leadership of the parties who voted to complete devolution at Stormont will be noted around the world.’’

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the vote “an important step in ensuring a peaceful and prosperous future for all of the people of Northern Ireland for generations to come.’’

Clinton, who last visited Belfast in October when she urged agreement on taking control of law-and-order powers, said she looked forward to meeting the power-sharing leaders again when they visit the US capital for Saint Patrick’s Day next week.

But Ulster Unionist leader Reg Empey said that his party had no choice but to vote “no’’ despite diplomatic pressure from British and Irish officials and former president George W. Bush.

Haiti Earthquake: Boston Resources

Thanks to the Boston Globe for compiling this list online:

Relief and Development Organizations

Partners in Health, Boston-based non-profit that has worked in Haiti for 23 years and has set up a field hospital there to treat the wounded. PIH is seeking donations and other support.

Oxfam America, which is based in Boston, has created an emergency relief fund.

The United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, is responding to the disaster with an initial $500,000 donation and support in the field. UNICEF has worked in Haiti since the 1940s.
Information about donations is available at the US Fund for UNICEF and the Boston office is reachable at 617.266.7534,

A group called Partners in Development, based in Ipswich, Mass., has a medical clinic in Port-au-prince and is organizing to send a medical team there. Phone: 978-471-9922.

Local Haitian organizations

The Boston Haitian Reporter says the Haitian community will gather tonight at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End at 7 p.m., according to State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry.

BIG CITY 101.3FM is said to be hosting a benefit fundraiser for Haitian Earthquake victims on Friday,  Jan 15 at 994 Blue Hill Ave.

The Center for Community Health, Education and Research has compiled a useful list of Haitian organizations in Greater Boston.

The Association of Haitian Women in Boston works to empower low-income women in Haiti.

Local Media

Jean Filias hosts a Haitian radio program on Radio Energy (1620-AM) out of Dorchester.

The Boston Haitian Reporter has an impressive live blog on developments in Haiti and updates on available resources.

The Boston Haitian Reporter also has a list of Haitian community resources and organizations.

Governmental Organizations

Haitian Consulate in Boston: Marie Andrine, Consul Général

Tel:617-266-3660, Fax: (617)266-4060

Haitian Embassy in Washington, hotline: 202-332-4090.

The US State Department hotline in Washington for information about relatives in Haiti is 1-888-407-4747.

Various National Resources

The Center for International Disaster Information has created a web site with links to organizations that are accepting donations and other resources related to the earthquake.
The CIDI, funded by the US Agency for International Development, has guidelines on how to contribute appropriately to disaster relief. The key point is that the best contribution is money, not clothes and food, because money can be directed more quickly and efficiently to meet hte needs of victims.

The United Nations World Food Program is quickly mobilizing aid resources for victims, and is accepting donations.

The State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747

Red Cross: Simply text “HAITI” to “90999″ and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

Reuters Haiti help page

Haitian Education & Leadership Program

International Committee of the Red Cross

Direct Relief International is a non-profit based in California that has a range of health partners in Haiti and has pledged a $1 million emergency donation.