Headlines: Kirby, Elephants, Kenya

I suspect there are those among y'all who will have trouble understanding this, but the Puckett thing kind of knocked the wind out of me. The memorial last night--I watched it over an Internet feed--was pretty rough. I know Kirby's legacy is complicated by controversy. As far as that goes, I don't know what to believe. But last night I believed in the little guy who made those big catches, and smacked those big hits out of the park, and always had a big smile on his face.

Anyway, on to news.

Elephants:

I'm sure you've seen this one: Nessie an elephant?

The Agriculture Department is looking into zoo abuses of elephants. And the zoos are in the news. CBS looks at both sides (with some nice video). Along the same lines, an editorial.

NPR on growing pressure for the L.A. Zoo to retire its elephants. The zoo has proposed a 3.5 acre elephant exhibit; but thanks to a $300 million city budget shortfall, it ain't likely to happen. Also, California may set minimum enclosure requirements for zoos. "Also known as the Elephant Protection Act, Levine's bill would require outdoor elephant yards to include at least five acres for up to three pachyderms. The enclosures would have to provide an additional half acre for each elephant housed in the exhibit, under the bill."

In Defense of Animals has also put the Garden City (Kansas) Zoo on notice. In Tucson, fifth-graders consider the future of the Reid Park Zoo elephants. In Dallas, Jenny and Keke need a new home. Here in Chicago, elephants might be banned.

Britain's new circus animal ban includes elephants.

Dr. Daphne Sheldrick gets damed. And, an interview with Cynthia Moss.

In the get-a-clue department, a woman jumps the barriers at the Waco zoo and gets smacked by a trunk.

Trained elephants taming wild ones?

More on South Africa's culling dilemma. In Sri Lanka, a national elephant conservation policy. In Sumatra, elephants are being poisoned. Indonesians v. elephants. They should try using chilies. A look at the challenges of advocating for Asian elephants.

DNA detective work: mammoths appear to have been more closely related to Asian elephants than to African.

In Kerala, elephant races!

Kenya:

Malaria still kills 32,000 Kenyans every year.

The drought: the Turkana region is among the hardest hit. The drought from the perspective of a medical aid agency. The government claims they have enough food reserves to last until the middle of the year.

The big news, of course, are the raids on The Standard and the Kenya Television Network. Complete with damning photographic evidence. The country's security minister says the material seized contained "serious matters detrimental to the security of this country." It looks like a big step backwards for freedom of the press. In response, thousands protest. The country's police chief says he didn't know a thing about it. Since the raid, the World Bank has tightened its conditions for aid to Kenya. The IMF is delaying a decision on whether to lend more funds to Kenya.