Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe THINGS WE DON'T UNDERSTAND Lubbock, Texas, known as Prairie Dog Town because it's home to so many of the little critters, is considering a plan to kill 1 million of them living in a 5,000-acre wastewater disposal site. Advertisement Lynn Cuny, executive director of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation in Boerne, Texas, told United Press International, "Now the city officials have decided to destroy these endearing creatures citing no more than some anecdotal concerns that the resident cows, who also share this land, might catch a hoof in one of the dogs dens." Cuny says poisoning the prairie dogs will kill other living creatures and put the Burrowing Owl, which is on the threatened species list, at great risk. The prairie dogs have been allowed to live on the site for years. City officials also have said wastewater is getting into the prairie dog holes, creating a potential ground water contamination problem. Advertisement NEWS OF OTHER LIFE FORMS The Lake Champlain Sea Grant Extension Project and New York Sea Grant are asking anglers to help collect sea lampreys from Lake Champlain in 2002 and 2003. The non-native fish feed on large fishes important to the sportfishing industry and researchers want to study them to try to find the most effective way to control the parasites that have had a devastating impact on native fish populations in Lake Champlain and in the Great Lakes. "By bringing the lamprey in, anglers can make a significant contribution to research that will improve our understanding about sea lamprey ecology and how managers can best exploit any weak spots in the sea lamprey life cycle," said Mark Malchoff, of the Sea Grant project in Plattsburgh, N.Y. Malchoff's job is to develop an outreach program to enlist the cooperation of the angling community in the return of tagged lamprey. He says Lake Champlain is perfect for a mark and recapture study of sea lamprey because of its small size and the lamprey population build up since the late 1990s. Lamprey swim up stream to spawn and die in the spring. The hatched larvae stay in stream sediments from four to seven years before migrating to the lake where they become parasitic on other fishes. Since 1957 a lampricide has been applied to tributary streams to reduce lamprey populations throughout the Great Lakes. Advertisement TODAY'S SIGN THE WORLD IS ENDING Avon High School wrestling coach Aron Bright, of Cloverdale, Ind., is resigning as coach but will keep his teaching position following an incident where he bit the head off a bird in front of his team. The local school board, reports the Indianapolis Star newspaper, accepted Bright's resignation without public discussion. Bright, 31, was suspended without pay for two weeks and charged with animal cruelty but the charges were dismissed after he completed two days of community service. "I think we will miss him as a coach, and I am sorry to see him resign," board member Steve Pearl told the newspaper. "But I respect his wishes." He said Bright made a mistake and paid a heavy price. AND FINALLY, TODAY'S UPLIFTING STORY Millionaire balloon adventurer Steve Fossett, 58, hopes to reach the west coast of Chile Wednesday and pass high over the snow-capped Andes Mountains about 1,050 miles south of Santiago. Tuesday, he descended to 16,500 feet -- where he could sleep comfortably without an oxygen mask -- after icing forced his helium hot-air balloon down to warmer temperatures. The former Chicago securities trader remained at that low altitude until the ice melted and fell off into the ocean, then ascended to 16,500 feet, where the air temperature is 13 degrees. Advertisement At that altitude a person normally would feel short of breath, but Mission Control at Washington University in St. Louis said Fossett is so acclimated to high altitudes he could nap in the closet-sized gondola without supplemental oxygen. Fossett is making his sixth attempt at flying around the world solo in a balloon, one of aviation's most difficult journeys. (Thanks to Marcy Kreiter, UPI-Chicago)
