WebClawer: School uses bubble gum to banish vultures; missing cat found after 2 years

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From the California coast to small-town Florida a Scottish isle, animals are making news all over the world:

-- The Año Nuevo State Park and Animal Reserve has installed a high-definition video camera on Año Nuevo Island, allowing ‘Sealcam’ viewers to get an up-close look at the island’s elephant seal population (from the warmth and safety of home). ‘This new ‘Sealcam’ will provide our visitors with a unique and extremely clear, close-up window into the world of these magnificent sea creatures...I am excited that HD technology and solar energy enables our visitors to get the kind of view you would only get otherwise if you were actually sitting next to these animals,’ said State Parks Director Ruth Coleman. (Outposts)

-- A cat named Ozzie who went missing from his home in mainland Scotland two years ago has been reunited with his owners after being found, mysteriously, on the island of Cumbrae. He was identified by a microchip. ‘When we found out it was Ozzie we were delighted,’ said owner Karen Ratcliffe. ‘My daughter Hannah was weeping with happiness, she was absolutely delirious...Now we have him back; he’s exactly the same. He’s really affectionate and he’s very big. He’s obviously been fed by people who have looked after him.’ (BBC)

-- A Manatee County, Florida middle school that found itself inundated with vultures who were attracted by a nearby landfill (and took to pecking at pigs kept by agriculture students at the school) took an unorthodox course of action. Their plan? Grape bubble gum (or at least the smell of grape bubble gum). ‘Methyl anthranilate in a vapor affects a nerve in the bird located in the beak, eyes and throat,’ said Jeff Norris of Nuisance Wildlife Removal Inc., who the school district hired to help with the vulture problem. ‘It’s like a dentist hitting a nerve in your tooth...It’s temporary, goes away almost immediately, and has no effect on people or pets.’ Vultures hate the scent and quickly took up residence elsewhere. (Bradenton Herald)

-- The San Francisco Zoo welcomed a baby reticulated giraffe earlier this week; keepers don’t yet know if the calf is a male or a female. Bititi (pronounced Bah-Tē-Tē), the calf’s mother, has one older offspring, a male named Bulldozer who was born in 2007. ‘A healthy and successful birth that focuses on the conservation of a species is an incredibly positive experience for everyone at the zoo,’ said Tanya Peterson, the zoo’s acting executive director and president. (NBC Bay Area)

--Lindsay Barnett