I do not want to run into one of these big guys on the road, of course, but I would love to spot one elsewhere!  In any case, this is news you should know about, from the state DEP:

In the wake of recent moose sightings in the vicinity of roadways, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection urges drivers to use extra caution.

 DEP wildlife and law enforcement officials said motorists on the Merrit Parkway and Interstate 84 in western Connecticut should be extra vigilant as moose have been reported in these areas. 

On Monday, May 30 DEP Environmental Conservation Police responded to a moose sighting at 46 Porter Hill Road in Trumbull near the Route 25 and the Merritt Parkway and moose have been reported near I-84 near Waterbury and Bethel in the last week. 

The DEP encourages residents to report moose sightings to the DEP's 24-hour dispatch line at (860) 424-3333.

Connecticut's moose population continues to grow steadily and the DEP estimates that more than 100 currently reside in the state, primarily in the northern towns where most of the moose-related accidents have occurred.  However, individual moose can travel long distances, which means they will continue to expand southward into populated areas where vehicle traffic density is much higher.  As a consequence, the likelihood of hitting a moose on Connecticut roadways is expected to increase in southern portions of the state.

Tips for Driving in Areas Where Moose Are Spotted:

1. Stay alert, especially around dawn, dusk and after dark when moose are most active.  Because moose are 6 feet tall at the shoulders, your headlights typically will not show any "eye shine" from a moose,
2. Use caution during spring (May-July) and fall (September-November).  During these months, moose are most active,
3. Drive within the posted speed limit,
4. Use high beams whenever possible to improve visibility, and,
5. Wear your seat belt.

 Editor's note: All information in this post was contributed. It is unedited here.

Loved this release from the Peabody!

Andy Brand, manager of Broken Arrow Nursery and past president of the Connecticut Butterfly Association, and Peabody educator Jim Sirch team up to help students learn the common groups of butterflies found in Connecticut as well as how to attract them to the yard with plants that are truly "butterfly magnets." The event is 6 to 8 p.m. June 8 at Yale Peabody Museum, 170 Whitney Ave, New Haven.

Fee: $20 members, $24 nonmembers; Registration required at 203.432.3775 or peabody.education@yale.edu<mailto:peabody.education@yale.edu>.


Also:

WILDFLOWERS OF NEW ENGLAND, Thursdays, June 9, 16, 23, 5:30-7pm; Saturday field trips, June 11 & 18, 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Botanist Lauren Brown teaches this course in plant identification with a focus on the family characteristics, growth patterns, habitats and pollination mechanisms of native wild flowers. This is a core course in the New England Wild Flower Society's Certificate in Native Plant Studies Program. Fee:  $142 members, $150 nonmembers. Registration required at 203.432.3775 or peabody.education@yale.edu<mailto:peabody.education@yale.edu>.

This is a press release and it does mention meat - but hey it also includes vegetables!

 

The Connecticut Department of Agriculture announced today that this year's Farm-to-Chef Week will run September 18-24, 2011.  Open to all restaurants and food service businesses in the state, participants are invited to create and offer their own special Farm-to-Chef menu that showcases Connecticut Grown ingredients and wines.

The seven-day promotion is an initiative of the department's Farm-to-Chef Program, which connects Connecticut farmers and distributors of Connecticut Grown products with chefs and other culinary professionals.  Last year's Farm-to-Chef week attracted over 80 restaurants, caterers, institutions, schools, farms, wineries, and various dining venues.  Participants created unique, diverse menus that were offered at multi-course farm dinners, food-trucks, white-tablecloth restaurants, coffee and breakfast shops, school cafeterias, and ice cream parlors.  Featured Connecticut Grown ingredients included fruits, vegetables, herbs, meats, seafood, dairy, maple, honey, and more.

"Many Farm-to-Chef members already serve locally grown and raised ingredients," said Agriculture Commissioner Steven K. Reviczky. "What's special about this week is that it inspires even greater creativity, brings attention to the cause on a state-wide level, and encourages businesses that are new to the program to give local products a try.  It also gives the public a chance to sample and savor our state's many local flavors and support restaurants and businesses that they may not have ever visited before," he explained.

Restaurants and other food venues who are interested in participating can download the guidelines and registration forms from the Department of Agriculture's website, www.CTGrown.gov (look under featured links).  The deadline to register is June 30, 2011.

For more information, please contact Linda Piotrowicz at Linda.Piotrowicz@ct.gov or 860-713-2558.

The CT Farm-to-Chef Program helps connect Connecticut chefs and food service professionals with growers, producers, and distributors of CT grown products.  It also helps the public to discover restaurants, institutions, and other dining facilities that serve foods prepared with CT grown ingredients.  Please visit www.CTGrown.gov and click on "Programs and Services" for more information.

This sounds like such a great event! I'm totally tone deaf so would likely not be able to pick a warbler from a wren as far as their calls, but what a lovely day it would be to spend in the very lovely Sharon.

Audubon Sharon will present "Backyard Birding by Ear" at 8 a.m. June 4 at the Miles Wildlife Sanctuary in Sharon, Conn. 

"Northwest Connecticut has the highest diversity of breeding birds in the country and they rely on our forests and backyards to raise their young," the agency said in a statement.

"One of the best ways to know the birds in your backyard is to learn their songs. There is nothing more satisfying than associating a familiar song with a particular bird as you sit on your deck or work in the garden." 

After participating in the program, participants will be able to identify the "Top 20" backyard birds with their ears just by tuning into their songs, the statement said.

The program will be led by Scott Heth and Laurie Fortin and held at the beautiful Miles Wildlife Sanctuary, 99 West Cornwall Road, Sharon.

Cost is $10 per person.  Refreshments will be served and reservations are required as seating is limited.  To reserve a spot, contact the Center at (860) 364-0520.

I vaguely recall my mother telling us stories about her mother – my dear Grammie, (she was uber cool and a pic of her is below) who would have turned 107 this year on June 24 and I still miss her – making her kids take shots of cod liver oil.

Yuck. But it seems like Grammie was probably right, as fatty acids are all the rage – try Googling omega-3s and see what happens.

But what’s a vegetarian to do? There is no fish Friday in the calendar of a veggie – (yes, Grammie had that too) or any fish day for that matter.

While not every health expert agrees that taking supplements is necessarily the right thing to do, I have chosen to take some. One of them is flax oil.

But if you look at the label of most flax oil ‘pill’ supplements, they contain gelatin. This is not a vegetarian substance as it is made from parts of animals.

So what is the answer?

Various stores have flax oil in a bottle. No pills, no gelatin, no animals.

Just a shot and a chaser.

I really liked Joan Casanova's column on Veggin' Out by panting a garden. so here is another one by her on tomatoes. And yes, it promotes a certain bran of tomatoes, (and I left those parts in) as I thought it was interesting to learn about these different types.

I also loved learning about tomatoes because my friend Val gave me - verbaly a recipe for roasted tomatoes that I tried and everyone liked. (slice and roast fresh tomatoes, drop a couple drops of olive oil on them and a blob of pesto, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and reroast briefly until cheese melts. You're done)

 

Heirloom or Hybrid? 

Yes, you really can have the best of both worlds—when you grow both heirloom and hybrid tomatoes. Choose hybrid tomatoes for their improved productivity and performance. Add a few heirloom plants for variety and flavorful additions to family mealtime.

Hybrids

What are they? Plant breeders intentionally cross-pollinate two different varieties or species of tomatoes, aiming to produce an offspring (a hybrid) containing the best traits of the two parents. Cross-pollination is a natural process of crosses within the same plant species. All Bonnie hybrids are non-GMO (genetically modified organisms).

Hybrid tomatoes were originally developed by crossing two different varieties of tomatoes together to create a plant with the best qualities of both parent varieties. Over time those traits were carefully bred into the plants, resulting in plants that are healthy, vigorous and resistant to common tomato illnesses, fungus infections and garden pests. This selective breeding is still continuing, and growers are constantly striving for plants that are able to grow well even in poor conditions. There are many different hybrid varieties of tomatoes on the market, and it is important for gardeners to choose the type that will work best in their own garden.

Why should I grow them? In general, hybrids offer some combination of these favorable traits: dependability, lower care, early maturity, better yield, improved flavor, specific plant size, or disease resistance. A classic example is the Bonnie Original tomato developed in 1967, offering great taste and productivity along with improved disease resistance.

 Heirlooms: Heirloom vegetable varieties are really gaining in popularity. A lot of passionate gardeners swear by the flavor of these old varieties. But it's not just diehard heirloom lovers who are growing heirlooms. According to the National Gardening Association, one in five American households with a yard or garden report an interest in heirloom fruits, berries, and vegetables. Bonnie Plants has carried several heirloom varieties for many years, and this year they've added a few more to their list of heirloom tomatoes, including Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, and Chocolate Cherry (shown at left).

 What are they? Heirlooms come from seed that has been handed down for generations in a particular region or area, hand-selected by gardeners for a special trait. Heirloom vegetables are open-pollinated, which means they're non-hybrid and pollinated by insects or wind without human intervention.

Heirlooms have wonderful flavor, firm texture and exhibit unique colors and shapes. Unlike hybrid varieties, where the seeds cannot be used over and over again, gardeners can save the seeds from their heirloom tomatoes and plant them again the next year. These delicious heirloom tomatoes were developed over a long period of time, grown in isolated gardens to keep them from mixing with hybrid seeds. As a result heirloom tomatoes have developed a number of unique characteristics, including their unique meaty appearance and rich taste.

In order to grow heirloom tomatoes successfully gardeners will need to pay careful attention to the needs of each plant and choose a variety that is well suited to their environment. There are many varieties of heirloom tomatoes on the market, so it should be possible to find a great tomato that is perfect for your needs.

It is also important to keep in mind that heirloom tomatoes require a little bit of extra care and vigilance from the gardener. While many hybrid varieties have been specially bred to resist disease and thrive in poor growing conditions, heirloom tomatoes have not.

 Why should I grow them? Heirlooms boast interesting flavor. Bonnie's Heirloom Tomatoes are clearly marked on plant tags and trays. Heirlooms typically bear a tale that's as tasty as the produce. Arkansas Traveler is a Southern favorite, originating in Northwest Arkansas prior to 1900 and finding its way across the South. This beauty yields delicious tomatoes under Southern summer conditions.

Black Tomatoes: Dark mahogany tones, delicate blend of sugar and acid, rich complexity—sounds like descriptions from a wine tasting, right? Maybe, but these phrases are also being used to characterize a subset of heirloom tomatoes—the Black Tomatoes. Varieties like Black Prince, have dark skin, from burgundy red to deep blackish-purple. They also have rich taste that often win top prizes in tomato taste tests.

 Choosing between Heirloom or Hybrid Tomatoes for the Home Garden: Bonnie Plants recommends planting both heirlooms and hybrids in your garden. While heirlooms have unique flavor, color and interesting histories, many of them won't match the high yield of fruit and disease resistance of hybrids and some may be susceptible to disease.

 

This is a press release. But I thought it was interesting and cool that Conn. folks are being lauded for caring about the environment. So here it is and it's not edited.

BOSTON - Three Connecticut citizens and two environmental groups from the Nutmeg State will be honored tomorrow in Boston's Faneuil Hall as EPA presented its annual Environmental Merit Awards for 2011.

The merit awards, recognizing valuable contributions to environmental awareness and problem solving, are a unique way that EPA can recognize individuals and groups that are making significant impacts on environmental quality in distinct ways.

Awarded by EPA since 1970, the merit awards honor individuals and groups who have shown particular ingenuity and commitment in their efforts to preserve the region's environment. This year's competition drew 56 nominations from across New England.

Awards were given in the following categories: individual; business (including professional organizations); local, state or federal government; and environmental, community, academia or nonprofit organization. Each year, EPA also may present lifetime achievement awards for individuals.

More information on all Environmental Merit Award Winners from this year and past years is available at: http://www.epa.gov/region1/ra/ema/index.html

The Environmental Merit Award Winners from Connecticut are:

Lifetime Achievement Environmental Merit Award:

Richard Harris and Peter Fraboni
Richard Harris, Director, and Peter Fraboni, Associate Director, have dedicated their careers to the environment. They established Harbor Watch/River Watch (HW/RW) in 1986 as a citizen's monitoring program that gathered data on hypoxia in local harbors. In 1993, the organization became part of Earthplace, a nature and science museum with a mission to educate the community about the environment. Founded in 1958 and accredited by The American Association of Museums, Earthplace maintains a 62-acre wildlife sanctuary with exhibits, trails and an interactive natural history museum, complete with wildlife dioramas and live wildlife for public viewing. It also hosts public nature programs and events.

Harbor Watch/River Watch connects science and action, identifying problems in watersheds and interacting with experts equipped to remediate them. There have been many successes over the past 23 years, and the program has expanded to include dozens of volunteers, mentors and interns. Each year several students spend time learning and conducting important monitoring and sample collection. During 2009 and 2010, HW/RW hosted more than 40 students, giving them a base of education for their continued learning.

Some of the organization's annual activities and achievements include cleanups of local tributaries; monitoring tributaries for various chemical, physical and microbial parameters; organizing a local Earth Day event by inviting many vendors and developing educational displays; hosting kayak trips educating the public about the local tributaries and their resources; and conducting resource studies and population surveys for fisheries, lobster, freshwater invertebrates as well as including water quality testing for dissolved oxygen (DO), nutrients, and phosphorus. Recent achievements include establishing a water quality laboratory that was certified by the State of Connecticut and the EPA along Norwalk Harbor to monitor water quality from the Norwalk River to the harbor and identified pipes. Results were used to monitor pollution to the nearby bathing beaches and shell fishing areas of Long Island Sound.

Leslie J. Mehrhoff (posthumous)
The late Leslie J. Mehrhoff of Willington, Conn. was an outstanding botanist who was well known in Connecticut, New England and the nation. He was an accomplished and enthusiastic naturalist and received his graduate training at the University of Connecticut. He worked for many years with Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection before becoming the manager of the Torrey Herbarium at the University of Connecticut. During his career, Les inspired, encouraged, mentored and educated many people, influencing botanists, biologists, legislators, students and gardeners young and old. His innumerable presentations on biodiversity and the importance of protecting species and their natural communities included his renowned high-quality photographs. He worked tirelessly to protect endangered species and to prevent the negative impacts from invasive species. In recent years, he traveled to China to promote control of invasive species. He had a spirited sense of humor, and his sense of wonder about the natural world gave him a childlike innocence. Les' life work made incalculable contributions to the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems throughout Connecticut and New England. He was instrumental in gaining passage of Connecticut's Endangered Species statutes, in  publishing The Connecticut Butterfly Atlas and in development of The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Connecticut, and The Atlas of Ground Beetles of Connecticut (Coleoptera: Carabidae, excluding Cicindelini). He retired in 2009 and passed away in 2010.

Mark Mitchell, M.D., MPH
Founder and President of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, with local chapters in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport, Dr. Mitchell has worked in the environmental and public health sector for over 20 years, providing assistance to low-income and communities of color. He has dedicated his life to teaching these impacted communities ways to reduce and/or prevent disproportionately higher rates of disease. Through grassroots organizing and leadership development in low-income urban communities, Dr. Mitchell has demonstrated a sustained commitment to improving the environment and public health.

During his four years as Director of the City of Hartford's Health Department, Dr. Mitchell became increasingly aware that many diseases on the rise were linked to the environment and took steps to address this. He lobbied the Connecticut General Assembly for creation of a statewide asthma data collection system and persuaded the City of Hartford to declare an Asthma Emergency, which funded projects to address the high rates of asthma in Hartford. One is the Asthma Speakers Bureau, which educates communities on environmental contributors to asthma and how to best manage the disease. In addition, Dr. Mitchell leveraged the ordinance with a recycling facility permit application that prompted the Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority to retrofit their heavy duty diesel equipment at all their solid waste treatment and storage facilities and to fund the installation of diesel retrofits on 27 municipal solid waste trucks which now run 90% cleaner.

In 2008, Dr. Mitchell collaborated with approximately 30 organizations to enact the state's first environmental justice law that defines environmental justice communities, specifies major pollution facilities and requires enhanced public outreach prior to any permit decision by the state DEP and the Connecticut Siting Council. It encourages industry, the local chief elected official and the environmental justice community to negotiate an environmental benefit agreement to offset potential additional pollution emissions or burdens associated with the proposed permit. Working with the Coalition for a Safe & Healthy CT, his efforts helped pass legislation to reduce lead and asbestos in children's toys sold in the state that same year.

Dr. Mitchell has served on the U.S. EPA's National Environmental Justice Advisory Board and is currently a member of the U.S. EPA's National Advisory Council on Environmental Policy and Technology, as well as Chair of the Community Advocacy, Leadership and Research Group of the US CDC/ATSDR National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures. He is the founding member of the City of Hartford's Commission on the Environment and a member of the Capital Region Council of Government's Transportation Committee.

Environmental, Community, Academia, & Non-profit Organizations Environmental Merit Award:

Green Village Initiative
Dan Levinson, Westport, Conn.

The Town of Westport, Conn., and its neighbors are impressed by the work of Dan Levinson with the Green Village Initiative. In three years, he engaged an enthusiastic group of volunteers to work to protect the environment, including scientists, academics, business leaders, activists, media professionals, artists, government representatives and students. The Green Village Initiative focuses on projects with the best chance of success, including development of an historic town farm and creation of a sustainability center; promotion of community supported agriculture; creation of an edible garden at Westport High School and supervised construction of community and school gardens in Bridgeport. The group also helped Westport Public Library transform its café into a model of healthy local food and rehabilitated Westport's Sherwood Mill Pond preserve. None of this would have happened without Dan, who got it going and keeps it moving forward.

North Haven Citizens' Advisory Panel
North Haven, Conn.

Annette Gattilia, Rico Gattilia, Miriam Brody, David Monz, Hugh Davis, Tom Roberts
In 1979, Annette and Rico Gattilia of North Haven first raised concerns about site contamination at the Pharmacia & Upjohn Company at 41 Stiles Lane in North Haven. Manufacturing areas, lagoons and waste piles had become contaminated during the 150 years of industrial operations; operations ended in 1993. Work by the Gattilias to educate the public about this site ultimately led to an EPA cleanup. Over the next three decades, the Gattilias remained committed to keeping the community informed and finding a remedy. In 1995, the North Haven Citizens' Advisory Panel was formed by the town as a conduit between the community and the company. Annette and Rico were founding members of the panel, along with Miriam Brody, David Monz, Hugh Davis, Tom Roberts and several other residents. Since then, the panel has met repeatedly with corporate representatives and state and federal regulators. The panel worked closely with Pfizer, the current site owner, to make sure the community took part in cleanup decisions. As a result, about 17 acres have been set aside for commercial or light industrial use, more than 60 acres are being restored for an ecological preserve, and an interpretive trail and new open space will be created on the banks of the Quinnipiac River. The North Haven Citizens' Advisory Panel provided the resolve needed to redevelop this site.
 

Follow EPA New England on Twitter: http://twitter.com/epanewengland

This is a press release and I did not edit it - but posted it here because I think it is really interesting.

NEW HAVEN  - Children exposed to advertisements for high-calorie and nutrient-poor foods consume more unhealthy foods overall, regardless of the specific product and brand being marketed, finds a new study from the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University. The study, published in Economics and Human Biology, shows a relationship between children's exposure to food advertising on television and the consumption of unhealthy food, particularly sugar-sweetened beverages and fast food.

Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), a nationally representative dataset, the study tracked food consumption patterns and Body Mass Index (BMI) among nearly 10,000 children in the fifth grade. The children's BMI were obtained through height and weight measurements, and food consumption patterns were reported by the children themselves. Nielsen, a media research company, provided data on spot television advertising of cereals, fast food restaurants, and soft drinks to children aged 6-11. Once all data were garnered, researchers examined the associations between exposure to television advertising across the top 55 designated markets and children's food consumption and BMI.
The findings reveal that television advertising of sugar-sweetened beverages and fast food is associated with increased overall consumption of these products among elementary school children. Exposure to 100 television ads for sugar-sweetened soft drinks was associated with a 9.4% rise in the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. The same increase in exposure to fast food advertising was associated with a 1.1% rise in children's consumption of fast food. While there was no detectable impact of advertising exposure on children of average body weight, fast food advertising was significantly associated with higher BMI for those children who were overweight and obese.  

"Unhealthy foods are most commonly advertised to children. Since exposure to this type of advertising is associated with increased consumption, children's diets are directly impacted with potential long-term effects on BMI and health, especially among the heaviest children," said lead author Tatiana Andreyeva, Ph.D., the Rudd Center's director of economic initiatives.  
 
"This study provides direct evidence that food marketing to children influences much more than their preferences for one brand over another," noted co-author Jennifer L. Harris, Ph.D., M.B.A., the Rudd Center's director of marketing initiatives. "It also contributes to greater consumption of fast food and sugary beverages, two of the least nutritious product categories commonly advertised to children."
 
The study was funded by grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Rudd Foundation.

By Joan Casanova

Vegetable and herb gardening is in and studies indicate it will continue to grow in popularity. If you're not growing your own yet it's time to start. Why? The reasons are as varied as the people who garden.

Some do it to save money. Others want to ensure their food is chemical-free, and as safe as possible. Still others grow their own vegetables because fresher is just better. Many do it because gardening is good for you and some because it's still fun to play in the dirt.

Whatever your reason for opting to join the 7 million Americans who grabbed their gardening gear and grew their own vegetables and herbs last year, your road to success is basically the same as everyone else's - planting at the right time, making sure your soil's in shape, weeding and watering responsibly, and feeding and nurturing your plants. This season, you won't have to buy your fresh herbs and vegetables from a farmer's market; you can grow them on your own, and you don't need a farm-sized backyard - or pocketbook - to do it.

Avid gardener Stan Cope, president of Bonnie Plants, the largest producer of vegetable and herb plants http://www.bonnieplants.com/  in North America, growing locally in 75 locations nationwide, offers some time-saving tips to make the growing easy:

* Survey your soil - Your first step is to decide where you'll put your vegetable and herb garden. Good soil is key. The best soil is loam, a soft, dark, crumbly dirt. Loamy soil holds water, allows for drainage and is easy to dig. If you encounter clay or sandy soil, add peat moss and bone meal so that these soils can also be productive gardening bases.
* Size up your space - When plotting out the size of your garden, you'll want to be sure it's big enough to yield a good harvest to make your efforts worthwhile. But if you're limited on yard space - or have none at all - you can grow vegetables and herbs in containers on a deck, terrace, balcony or even on the windowsill.
* Let the sunshine in - Your plants need plenty of sun - at least six hours a day. A sunny and open location is your best bet for producing a plentiful harvest.
* Pick your plants for your plot - Grow vegetables that are expensive to buy in the grocery store or at the farmer's market, such as tomatoes and peppers.
A tried-and-true prolific producer, the Bonnie Original Tomato, was developed exclusively for Bonnie Plants in 1967. They come in environmentally friendly, biodegradable pots that you plant right into the soil. Recent trials, planting five of these tomato plants in 25-gallon containers, averaged 100 tomatoes each at an average of 37 pounds per plant. Another tomato that will tip the scales is Bonnie's Sun Sugar tomato, a yellow cherry type. Trial garden plants averaged 1,228 tomatoes each.
If peppers are your passion, the Yummy Bell Pepper, ripening from green to apricot orange, is a best bet. Trial garden testing of five plants averaged 248 peppers per plant during the summer growing season.
* Time-saving transplants - When you're ready to begin planting, opt for transplants - seedlings that have already been started - rather than starting from seed. Transplants will buy you lots of time because plants are six weeks or older when you put them in the ground, and you'll begin harvesting much sooner.

* Feed your food - Your vegetable plants will need food and water to survive and grow. When feeding plants, try to avoid chemical fertilizers that could potentially seep into groundwater. Bonnie Plant Food is a unique, organically based, soybean oilseed extract formula that has demonstrated superior results in the health and vigor of plants.

Give your garden a good watering once or twice a week, although some crops may need more water, especially if your climate is very hot. A thorough soaking, allowing the water to penetrate 4 to 6 inches into the soil, is better for plants than frequent shallow watering.

Gardening is rewarding. It will bring great pleasure as you bring your produce from plot to plate so you can literally enjoy the fruits of your labor. For more information on varieties and gardening advice, visit http://www.bonnieplants.com/.

On May 3 Humane Society Urban Wildlife Field Director Laura Simon will kick-off AARFs speaker series with "Help! There's a Raccoon in my Chimney!".... and Other Unexpected Wildlife Problems.

This discussion will take place from 7 to 8 p.m.
This informative presentation will focus on typical wildlife problems encountered by area residents  and provide solutions, organizers.

The presentation is based on Simon's 20 years of experience running a wildlife hotline for the Humane Society of the United States, organizers said.

During Spring and Summer, the hotline is kept busy with calls from panicked residents who find themselves face to face with a raccoon in the kitchen, a skunk under the deck, baby birds fallen from a nest, or a woodpecker tapping loudly on the house at 5 a.m., organizers said.

 The solution to these problems can be simple, often requiring nothing more than a few common household tools and a basic understanding of the animal's motivation and behavioral ecology. Bring your questions!
On May 16 Dr. Tracy Johnson, Country Companion Veterinary Services, will discuss dog bites and how to prevent them from happening. This talk is geared toward protecting children and will take place from 6 to 7 p.m.
On May 31 Dr. Elisa Ermilio, Country Companions Veterinary Services will discuss "Basic First Aid for Small Animals." The talk will take place from 7 to 8 p.m.

AARF and Country Companions also will sponsor a Rabies Clinic from 1 to 3 p.m. May 14 at High Plains Community Center. Rabies shots are $12 and micro chips are $15.