Patra Caesar
10-04-2005, 15:58
Fluff: The theme for these two light-hearted stories is: Animal adventures!
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12802589-13762,00.html)
Feathers fly in DC
From correspondents in Washington
April 10, 2005
SECURITY is tight in front of the White House for a new resident - a duck sitting on nine eggs she laid at the foot of a sapling last week.
The mallard hen chose for her nest a heap of fresh mulch on the footpath outside the heavily guarded entrance of the Treasury Department, next door to the presidential residence.
Secret service officers have put up metal stanchions around the tree to shield the incubating bird from passers-by.
The fowl's reputation has grown, and it was featured on a national morning television show on Friday.
Treasury staff have dubbed the bird "T-bill", "Duck Cheney" and "Quacks Reform", Treasury spokesman Rob Nichols said.
The duck has been provided with a water bowl and seems oblivious to all the attention.
The eggs are expected to hatch the last week of April, at which time the duck will be moved nearer water.
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12800718-13762,00.html)
Hippo just one of the family
April 10, 2005
AROUND the world, many people rescue small creatures like hedghogs and injured birds. But never before has this goodwill extended to one of the most dangerous animals on earth.
When a baby hippopotamus was washed up on the bank of a river on their farm, Elsa and Tony Joubert decided they couldn't leave her to her fate.
The 16kg youngster, who had been orphaned after floods had separated her from her mother, was at dire risk of being eaten by crocodiles or starving to death.
So Ms Joubert, a primary school teacher, carried the helpless creature up to the couple's South African farmhouse and bottle-fed her.
But not even 20 years as a game ranger could have prepared Mr Joubert for the amazing bond that has developed as the couple have raised the hippo, which they named Jessica.
Hippos are one of Africa's most formidable creatures: they kill more people than lions, rhinos and crocodiles.
Yet despite the beast's ferocious reputation, the Jouberts have thrown caution to the wind and spent the past three years raising Jessica, the world's only tame hippo.
Jessica, who now weighs 600kg, spends her days grazing the front lawn at the Jouberts' 400ha farm.
She is free to swim off and rejoin wild hippos who regularly pay her visits, but she remains faithful to the Jouberts. She sleeps on the couple's verandah on a mattress at night, and wakes up at 6am for her dog biscuits, bowl of wheat bran and coffee.
She never leaves the Jouberts' side - even turning a key in a locked door to get into the house, where she watches television with them at night.
And when Jessica fancies a swim in the river, Mrs Joubert accompanies her down to the bank and swims on Jessica's back, arms around her neck.
Mrs Joubert, 49, says: "Jessica is an amazing creature. She never leaves our side and is so tame.
"She's not dangerous at all.
"When I swim with her in the river, she's so gentle she lets me ride on her back and we swim together."
Jessica's best friends are the Jouberts' three dogs, who fight for a share of the biscuits.
Mr Joubert, 54, says: "Jessica loves the three dogs.
"She plays in the garden with them, and they keep the birds from bothering her: every time one flies near her, the dogs snap it away with their jaws."
Jessica drinks up to 20 litres of weak coffee each day.
If she's swimming in the river and Mr Joubert calls her, she heaves herself up the bank and follows him.
Mr Joubert used to work as a game ranger in the Luanga National Park, then began working in the anti-poaching Department for Nature Conservation in 1976.
He is now in semi-retirement, which means he has plenty of time to spend with Jessica.
He says: "No one has ever tamed a hippo before.
"She is amazingly gentle. Our friends' eight-year-old daughter slipped in the water recently and Jessica immediately swam over to her and nudged her back on to the bank.
"We never realised just how intelligent hippos are."
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12802589-13762,00.html)
Feathers fly in DC
From correspondents in Washington
April 10, 2005
SECURITY is tight in front of the White House for a new resident - a duck sitting on nine eggs she laid at the foot of a sapling last week.
The mallard hen chose for her nest a heap of fresh mulch on the footpath outside the heavily guarded entrance of the Treasury Department, next door to the presidential residence.
Secret service officers have put up metal stanchions around the tree to shield the incubating bird from passers-by.
The fowl's reputation has grown, and it was featured on a national morning television show on Friday.
Treasury staff have dubbed the bird "T-bill", "Duck Cheney" and "Quacks Reform", Treasury spokesman Rob Nichols said.
The duck has been provided with a water bowl and seems oblivious to all the attention.
The eggs are expected to hatch the last week of April, at which time the duck will be moved nearer water.
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12800718-13762,00.html)
Hippo just one of the family
April 10, 2005
AROUND the world, many people rescue small creatures like hedghogs and injured birds. But never before has this goodwill extended to one of the most dangerous animals on earth.
When a baby hippopotamus was washed up on the bank of a river on their farm, Elsa and Tony Joubert decided they couldn't leave her to her fate.
The 16kg youngster, who had been orphaned after floods had separated her from her mother, was at dire risk of being eaten by crocodiles or starving to death.
So Ms Joubert, a primary school teacher, carried the helpless creature up to the couple's South African farmhouse and bottle-fed her.
But not even 20 years as a game ranger could have prepared Mr Joubert for the amazing bond that has developed as the couple have raised the hippo, which they named Jessica.
Hippos are one of Africa's most formidable creatures: they kill more people than lions, rhinos and crocodiles.
Yet despite the beast's ferocious reputation, the Jouberts have thrown caution to the wind and spent the past three years raising Jessica, the world's only tame hippo.
Jessica, who now weighs 600kg, spends her days grazing the front lawn at the Jouberts' 400ha farm.
She is free to swim off and rejoin wild hippos who regularly pay her visits, but she remains faithful to the Jouberts. She sleeps on the couple's verandah on a mattress at night, and wakes up at 6am for her dog biscuits, bowl of wheat bran and coffee.
She never leaves the Jouberts' side - even turning a key in a locked door to get into the house, where she watches television with them at night.
And when Jessica fancies a swim in the river, Mrs Joubert accompanies her down to the bank and swims on Jessica's back, arms around her neck.
Mrs Joubert, 49, says: "Jessica is an amazing creature. She never leaves our side and is so tame.
"She's not dangerous at all.
"When I swim with her in the river, she's so gentle she lets me ride on her back and we swim together."
Jessica's best friends are the Jouberts' three dogs, who fight for a share of the biscuits.
Mr Joubert, 54, says: "Jessica loves the three dogs.
"She plays in the garden with them, and they keep the birds from bothering her: every time one flies near her, the dogs snap it away with their jaws."
Jessica drinks up to 20 litres of weak coffee each day.
If she's swimming in the river and Mr Joubert calls her, she heaves herself up the bank and follows him.
Mr Joubert used to work as a game ranger in the Luanga National Park, then began working in the anti-poaching Department for Nature Conservation in 1976.
He is now in semi-retirement, which means he has plenty of time to spend with Jessica.
He says: "No one has ever tamed a hippo before.
"She is amazingly gentle. Our friends' eight-year-old daughter slipped in the water recently and Jessica immediately swam over to her and nudged her back on to the bank.
"We never realised just how intelligent hippos are."