WebClawer: Exxon Valdez oil may take centuries to disappear; controversy at Barnyard Zoo; kangaroo breaks into Australian house

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From Alaska to Australia, animal news is all over the Web. Some stories of note today:

-- Nearly 20 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, a new report from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council says oil along the beaches of Prince William Sound is in some places ‘nearly as toxic as it was the first few weeks after the spill.’ Wildlife such as orcas, harlequin ducks, herring and salmon are believed to still be suffering the effects of the spill. ‘At this rate, the remaining oil will take decades and possibly centuries to disappear entirely,’ the report says. Greenspace

-- The Idaho cat who survived being shot through the head with an arrow has been recovering at a Boise shelter called Simply Cats. The cat, a female now called Valentine, is nearly ready to go to a new home and the shelter says it’ll hold a lottery to determine her adopter. Valentine lost an eye in the ordeal and was rendered partially deaf. The 12-year-old boy who admitted shooting the cat said it was an accident and that he’d been attempting to scare her away from nearby quail. Associated Press

-- Rolando Wolovich, the proprietor of the Montebello Barnyard Zoo, has been a recent target of animal cruelty complaints from visitors to the petting zoo. Complaints have included reports of a goat with a broken leg and a rabbit with an injured eye. Wolovich says he often takes in animals who’ve been abandoned, some of which have existing medical problems at the time of their rescue. Local animal control organization SEAACA has investigated all complaints and, says SEAACA director Capt. Aaron Reyes, has never found any violations at the Barnyard Zoo. ‘We did not find any signs of animal cruelty or neglect. It’s people’s perception. Sometimes the animals aren’t in the best of shape (weight wise) or appearance wise they could use a good haircut,’ said Reyes. San Gabriel Valley Tribune

-- North America’s biggest horse-racing-track owner, Magna Entertainment Corp., filed for bankruptcy protection last week. Now Washington Post sports columnist Andrew Beyer is saying the filing ‘was not another case of a company ruined by executive greed. On the contrary. Magna’s all-powerful chairman, Frank Stronach, loves horses and racing. ... He genuinely thought he could make horse racing more enjoyable and more popular. Yet the man who loves racing has plunged the sport into a crisis.’ Among Magna’s holdings are Southern California’s own Santa Anita racetrack and Maryland’s Pimlico track (where one leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, is run every year). Money & Co.

-- A suburban Canberra, Australia, family awoke to an animal crashing through a bedroom window and jumping repeatedly on the bed in which they were sleeping. ‘My initial thought when I was half awake was, ‘It’s a lunatic ninja coming through the window.’ It seems about as likely as a kangaroo breaking in,’ Beat Ettlin said of the bizarre event. Things went from bad to worse when the kangaroo fled into his 10-year-old son’s bedroom. Ettlin -- clad only in his underwear -- wrestled the kangaroo, which he estimated to be about 5 foot 9, to the front door and shoved it outside, after which it disappeared into the forest. ‘I think he’s a hero: a hero in Bonds undies,’ Ettlin’s wife Verity Beman said. Associated Press

-- Lindsay Barnett