Firefighter Rescues Golden Retriever, Returns To Onlooking Owner

Dog Swept Away By Rough Waters Of Merrimack River - New Hampshire News

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- A man and his dog were reunited Friday night after Sam the golden retriever jumped in for a swim in the Merrimack River and was swept away.

While Sam struggled, his owner, Steve Soba, said he worried and onlookers called for the dog to stay afloat.

Soba said he took his dog off the leash for a moment at Arms Park, and Sam ran down some steps and got swept away by the strong, cold current.

People watched helplessly from above the river as the 6-year-old golden retriever could only tread water. He had no way out because of the steep walls that surround the park.

Link to full news coverage: http://ow.ly/aROrp

Some people leaned over the railing to shout words of encouragement, and Soba, of Hooksett, guided Sam from above. Manchester firefighters arrived to help, trying to lead Sam to a small patch of land. Sam followed the voices of Soba and other rescuers, doggy paddling down river.

Firefighter Joel Monroe rappelled down the wall and dove in to get the dog. A rescue boat arrived to carry Sam back to shore and return him to the arms of his owner.

(Sam) was excited. He started barking," Monroe said. "He was glad to be back on land. So, yeah, it went well."  .......


Read more: http://www.wmur.com/news/31051889/detail.html#ixzz1uf9tptwg

HABITAT WORK UNDERWAY TO CONSERVE RARE NEW ENGLAND COTTONTAILS

CONCORD, N.H. -- For the New England cottontail, mild winter conditions were a stroke of luck – a lack of snow made it easier for them to hide and find food. For the biologists who are surveying cottontails, the same conditions made it maddeningly difficult to find evidence of their presence. The challenges have not slowed the efforts of biologists from New Hampshire Fish and Game's Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program, along with partners across the Northeast, to ensure the survival of this state-endangered native rabbit.

Over the past few years, Fish and Game has worked with University of New Hampshire researchers, who developed protocols for detecting New England cottontails and creating population estimates from survey results. Fish and Game staff helped collect data and are continuing to look for any rabbits that may not have been identified during the previous years' work and to confirm the persistence of individual rabbits at the occupied patches.

To find out how many New England cottontails are left and just where they are found, biologists usually look for evidence of the rabbits' presence in the snow. Needless to say, last winter there wasn't much snow in which to track rabbits in New Hampshire!

Monitoring for New England cottontails provides information about the location of remaining individuals, but the road to recovery for the species lies in the management efforts that are being done to increase the amount of available habitat on the landscape and number of rabbits that occupy these patches.

Many habitat management tools are used to create the “thickets” that New England cottontails need for survival -- the same type of brambly patch that saved Br'er Rabbit many a time. Timber harvesting, invasive species removal, and planting of native shrubs and forbs for cover and food are three techniques that Fish and Game has been using to turn historic cottontail habitat to its shrubby, scrubby ideal. These management actions are based on a scientific species recovery plan that will benefit New England cottontails as well as dozens of other species, such as chestnut-sided warbler, smooth green snake and American woodcock, which require healthy young forests and shrublands. To date, more than 300 acres of new habitat have been created on both public and private lands since 2009. An additional 1,700 acres is needed to meet the goal for available habitat in New Hampshire by 2030.
After we build it, New England cottontails will come; we need to be patient, however, because it may take up to 5 years of growth for the new thicket to be suitable for rabbits to live in.In the meantime, working with partners at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, biologists have established a pilot program for captive-breeding the cottontails. The goal is to breed New England cottontails in a controlled setting, using best practices to ensure genetic diversity and health in the animals, and then release the rabbits into the wild. This pilot program may be expanded to include other facilities across the Northeast – to augment declining populations across the region and reintroduce rabbits to their historic range.

While the warm, dry winter made things difficult for biologists, the weather was quite advantageous for the cottontails.The lack of snow provided better concealment for the rabbits, whose fur remains brown in the winter. It also improved conditions for the rabbits to forage on twigs, bark and buds of woody shrubs that can be difficult to access in soft, deep snow. In addition, the early spring brought green-up during the first part of the breeding season, providing high-quality nutrition for new litters of the year.

New Hampshire Fish and Game is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Natural Resource Conservation Service and other conservation partners across six states in the Northeast to recover the New England cottontail. Once common in our state, the population of this rabbit has dwindled over the last 50 years, so that today this unique native mammal faces possible extinction. Learn more at http://newenglandcottontail.org.

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BOSTON RED SOX POSTGAME ALERT May 10, 2012

BOSTON RED SOX POSTGAME ALERT May 10, 2012 Cleveland 8, Boston 3 at Fenway Park Cleveland Record: (18-13) Boston Record: (12-19) Winning pitcher - Derek Lowe (5-1) Losing pitcher - Josh Beckett (2-4) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E CLE 0 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 12 0 BOS 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 3 10 0 GAME LINKS: Recap | Full Box Score | Photo Gallery | Highlights  Visit redsox.com for more information » Standings » Game Notes » 2012 All-Star Game MLB.com Ballot Who will shine at the All-Star Game? Get your favorite players to the Midsummer Classic. Vote now.  More

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Fenway Park." - Carl Beane

The Front Office Insider: Remembering our friend, Carl Beane. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Fenway Park." It gave me chills every time. Tell me something (anything) that can be so expected and yet elicit such a powerfully surprising response every single time. Every. Single. Time. Carl Beane was perfectly suited forFenway Park, and not just for his voice. He was one of the "Fenway Characters" - a loving term for those folks you know just belong here and make this place what it is. The man was about as funny as they come - one of those guys that you'd just see roaming the halls of the ballpark and you'd chuckle and find yourself... Read More from The Insider •  Silence tonight at Fenway to honor Beane  •  Red Sox look to turn things around at home Rest in Peace, you were the voice of Fenway!

Man Charged in Beagle Cruelty Case

Dave has shared the following article from Salem Patch:
	Man Charged in Beagle Cruelty Case Police confirm John Kalamaras was arrested this week for numerous counts of animal cruelty.... By Jake O'Donnell I thought you might be interested in this article from the Salem Patch. Read more »

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