Click cover above to open
AUDIO: A discussion of coyotes, eagles, bats and owl banding on The Valley Today.
Publisher Dan McDermott was guest hosting a talk show today. Dan and WZRV afternoon DJ Lonnie Hill discussed the Friends of Shenandoah River State Park and some critters that populate our favorite river destination.
Here is the Audio. (Left-click to play or right-click to Save-As and play from your computer.)
More about Friends of Shenandoah River State Park.
American bald eagle flies over Shenandoah River State Park
This eagle was flying over the Shenandoah River near the low water bridge south of the park at 2:11 pm today. After it flew up the river deeper into Shenandoah River State Park I drove to the three bends overlook and waited for about half an hour but didn’t see it return. – Dan McDermott
Endangered Virginia big-eared bats to be housed in Front Royal
Little brown bat at Greeley Mine, Vermont, with white-nose syndrome, March 26, 2009. Photo: Marvin Moriarty/USFWS.
USFWS announces grant to to capture healthy bats threatened by deadly fungus
By Dan McDermott
Warren County Report
Front Royal, VA–Oct. 26, 2009–The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced today a $322,000 grant to the Smithsonian Institute’s National Zoo to fund the creation of a permanent secure colony of endangered Virginia big-eared bats at the zoo’s Front Royal, VA-based Conservation and Research Center.
The goal is to establish a healthy population of the bats while scientists work to stop a deadly fungus that threatens the entire species.
According to the USFWS, White-Nose syndrome was first documented near Albany, NY in Feb. 2006 when a caver photographed hibernating bats behaving erratically, many with a strange white substance on their muzzles. Some of the bats had died.
Dr. Jeremy Coleman, endangered species biologist and the USFWS National White-Nose Syndrome Coordinator, said that while it is common for mammals to develop fungal infections, it is very unusual for them to be fatal to a species. Coleman said that some bat species can live for up to 20 years in the wild and reproduce slowly so diseases can have a devastating effect on an already threatened species.
Indirect mortality
CRC staff veterinarian Luis Padilla said that scientists are still trying to determine if the fungus is indeed the pathogen that is causing the deaths of colonies of bats from New England to Virginia and West Virginia. “The fungus leads to their deaths indirectly. The problem is that the fungus irritates them and they are more active during times of normal hibernation. Since it is the winter, there are not the usual food sources available to them and they actually die of starvation,” he said. Padilla said that bats who survive the winter often awake in the spring with wings that have been partially eaten away by the fungus, effecting their flight and further impacting their chances of survival.
Padilla said that the captured bats will be screened for several diseases and healthy specimens will be housed in a building at the CRC that will allow them to be totally secure from other bats to prevent their becoming infected. He said that the goal is to protect a colony and their unique genes in the event the species is wiped out in the wild before a cause and cure for the fungus is found. Padilla also plans to establish protocols and capture techniques through the effort.
USFWS West VA Lead Biologist for VA Big-Eared Bats Barb Douglas said there are about 15,000 big-eared bats remaining in four segments in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. The largest segment is in West VA where the CRC bats will be captured. Other species are threatened by the fungus, including the little brown bat which numbers in the millions and is not considered endangered.
Bat infections have been reported in NH, VT, NY, MA, CT, NJ, PA, WV and VA.
The CRC award was one of 6 grants announced today totalling $800,000 from the service’s “Preventing Extinction” fund.
More information: http://www.fws.gov/northeast/white_nose.html
Video: http://www.fws.gov/northeast/wnsaudiovideo.html#publicdomain
Dan McDermott: editor@warrencountyreport.com
Area woman may be featured on national reality show
By Dan McDermott
Warren County Report
Rumors abound that former model Michaele Salahi, wife of Tareq Salai of Oasis Winery, is being taped for the upcoming Bravo show Real Housewives of D.C., the latest installment of the network’s hit reality TV franchise.
Michaele has a Facebook fan page and tweets but was mum about the Real Housewives speculation in a recent Digital City interview. She did however offer some fashion tips last year to Washingtonian Magazine.
This newspaper and local officials were contacted today by Access Hollywood. Production is currently underway according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Oasis Winery’s home page is announcing a grand re-opening in 2010 following a feud involving Tareq Salahi, his parents and basketball star Shaquille O’Neal.
According to the couple’s Youtube page, their 2002 wedding required 186 Catering Food Servers, 50 Bartenders, 46 Chefs, 30 Fauquier County Police Officers, 4 Virginia State Police Units, 198 Cases of Champagne, the Oasis Yacht, US Marshalls & State Dept. Security, 15 Official photographers, 8 Video crews, One Camera Man standing on a Construction Crane 300 feet above the Cathedral, One Helicopter, 2 US Park Police Mounted Officers and a 6 Horse White Cinderella Chariot
186 Catering Food Servers
36,000 square feet of Tenting including tented hallways to/from every conceivable point at Oasis
50 Bar tenders serving wine from multiple wine bar locations
46 Chefs including sous chefs
30 Fauquier County Police Officers
4 Virginia State Police Units at various points
198 Cases of Champagne Consumed ( including during rehearsal dinner)
Oasis Yacht used to transport guests to the Mt. Vernon Inn ( Home of George Washington) for rehearsal dinner on Mt. Vernon Estates
US Marshalls & State Dept. Security throughout for special guests in attendance not named
15 Official photographers to capture all various moments
8 Video cameras with full film crew/sound team
Two Camera Booms
One Camera Jib on 30 foot crane
One Camera Man standing on a Construction Crane 300 feet above the Cathedral
One Helicopter for pre-filming at Oasis
2 US Park Police Mounted Officers on horseback to control Street flow traffic and stop traffic.
6 Horse White Cinderella Chariot
36,000 square feet of Tenting including tented hallways to/from every conceivable point at Oasis
50 Bar tenders serving wine from multiple wine bar locations
46 Chefs including sous chefs
30 Fauquier County Police Officers
4 Virginia State Police Units at various points
198 Cases of Champagne Consumed ( including during rehearsal dinner)
Oasis Yacht used to transport guests to the Mt. Vernon Inn ( Home of George Washington) for rehearsal dinner on Mt. Vernon Estates
US Marshalls & State Dept. Security throughout for special guests in attendance not named
15 Official photographers to capture all various moments
8 Video cameras with full film crew/sound team
Two Camera Booms
One Camera Jib on 30 foot crane
One Camera Man standing on a Construction Crane 300 feet above the Cathedral
One Helicopter for pre-filming at Oasis
2 US Park Police Mounted Officers on horseback to control Street flow traffic and stop traffic.
6 Horse White Cinderella Chariot
PICTURES: Warren County Fair Demolition Derby 8/4/2009
Feel free to download the pictures and send them to your favorite printer.
To get the best quality pictures for printing:
1) Find the picture you want
2) Click on the picture
3) Above the picture, click on “All Sizes”
4) Select “Large” for printing on your computer or select “Original” for a really big version for professional printing or large prints
5) Right-click on the picture and Save-As to your computer.
To enter the set of pictures, click on the photo above.
AUDIO & PICTURES: Oak Ridge Boys shout-out for Bunky Woods
The Oak Ridge Boys ran into local Iraq war veteran and local hero Bunky Woods backstage before their Aug 2, 2009 concert at the Warren County Fair. The band hit it off with Bunky and chatted so long they were actually a few minutes late for their show! The legendary country performers asked Bunky to let them know if he ever came near one of their shows so they could bring him in as their guest.
After their first song, Oak Ridge Boys tenor Joseph Bonsall mentioned meeting Bunky to a happy crowd and then the group sang “American Made,” one of their biggest hits.
AUDIO: Listen to the Oak Ridge Boys tribute to Bunky Woods
PICTURES: The Oak Ridge Boys at the Warren County Fair
COMPLETE FAIR INFO: warrencountyfair.com
2009 Fireman’s Parade pictures
Feel free to download the pictures and send them to your favorite printer.
To get the best quality pictures for printing:
1) Find the picture you want
2) Click on the picture
3) Above the picture, click on “All Sizes”
4) Select “Large” for printing on your computer or select “Original” for a really big version for professional printing or large prints
5) Right-click on the picture and Save-As to your computer.
To enter the set of pictures, click on the photo of the dogs above.
URGENT: PLEASE take TEN SECONDS to support a great local school!
Just Ten seconds: Please vote BEFORE MIDNIGHT FRIDAY for Mountain Laurel Montessori school in Front Royal http://tinyurl.com/lv7as9
Voting has begun! Please go to: http://www.earthdayeverydaychallenge.com/ and click on Mountain Laurel’s video (sign of Mountain Laurel Montessori – 4th school listed) to view our 5-minute video. There is also a link to read our essay. Follow the directions to register your vote and don’t forget to confirm your vote when they send you the confirmation email. We think you’ll be very excited to see all that Mountain Laurel Montessori does to help our little corner of the world. Please vote for us and and urge all your friends to vote, too. Just imagine what our tiny school with a big heart can do with the $20,000 grant!
Video: One-day-old clouded leopard cubs at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo Conservation and Research Center
One-day-old clouded leopard cubs at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo Conservation and Research Center, originally uploaded by Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
An endangered clouded leopard at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center (CRC) in Front Royal, Va., gave birth to a genetically valuable litter of two cubs on Tuesday, March 24. Staff had been on pregnancy watch of the two-and-a-half year-old clouded leopard “Jao Chu” (JOW-chew) for five days. She gave birth to the litter early Tuesday morning.
This is Jao Chu’s first litter. She and the cubs’ father, two-and-a-half year-old “Hannibal,” were born in Thailand in a collaborative research program with the Zoological Park Organization of Thailand. The cubs’ sex will not be known until the first veterinary exam.
Due to deforestation and hunting, clouded leopards are vulnerable to extinction. National Zoo scientist Dr. JoGayle Howard and colleagues are aggressively working toward saving this species from decline. The Zoo has been working with clouded leopards at the Conservation & Research Center since 1978, with the goal of creating a genetically diverse population. In the past 30 years, more than 70 clouded leopards have been born at the Zoo’s research facility in Virginia, with the last litter born in 1993.
Breeding clouded leopards in captivity has been a challenge, primarily due to male aggression, decreased breeding activity between paired animals, and high cub mortality. In 2002, the National Zoo in collaboration with the Nashville Zoo and the Clouded Leopard Species Survival Plan (SSP) created the Thailand Clouded Leopard Consortium—the largest population of confiscated clouded leopards in Southeast Asia. The Clouded Leopard SSP oversees clouded leopard populations in zoos worldwide, and makes breeding recommendations for potential pairs based on the genetics of each cat. Since Thailand’s captive cubs are only one or two generations removed from the wild, their genes are especially valuable.
To date, the Thailand Clouded Leopard Consortium has produced 32 surviving cubs. The National Zoo’s program at the Front Royal facility is the only one of its kind combining breeding with scientific research. For example, scientists still do not know why male clouded leopards attack their possible mates, but several graduate students at the National Zoo are studying the males’ behavior—one student plans to test anti-anxiety drugs used in humans and domestic cats in an attempt to suppress male aggression.
Howard and colleagues have learned how to reduce the risk of fatal attacks by hand-rearing cubs for socialization and also introducing males to their mates when they are six months old, allowing the pair to grow up together. Hannibal and Jao Chu, the only compatible pair of clouded leopards at CRC, are proof that these techniques work. The new cubs also will be handreared by experienced CRC staff.
Following mating, the gestation period for clouded leopards is about 86 to 93 days. The average litter size for clouded leopards is two to five cubs. Clouded leopard cubs weigh about a half of a pound when born.
Little is known about clouded leopards. They are cats native to Southeast Asia and parts of China in a habitat that ranges from dense tropical evergreen forests to drier forests if there is suitable prey.
They are the smallest of the big cats, weighing 30 to 50 pounds and measuring about five feet long. Their short legs, large paws, and long tail (accounts for half their length) help them balance on small branches, and their flexible ankles allow them to run down trees headfirst.
The newborn cubs will not be on exhibit at CRC. However, visitors may get an up-close treetop view of two clouded leopards—a male named Tai and a female named Mook—at Asia Trail at the National Zoo’s campus in Washington, D.C.
For more photos, visit the Zoo’s Flickr site: tinyurl.com/dem9uu
