[NOTD] News Of The Day - 06/07/2007

Barn owls receive assistance in return to the wild

By Kyle Marksteiner

Article Launched: 07/05/2007 09:05:16 PM MDT

CARLSBAD — Hedwig the barn owl, of Harry Potter fame, will be back in the spotlight later this month when a new Harry Potter book and movie come out. In the meantime, several of Hedwig's buddies had a pretty eventful Thursday afternoon. Five barn owls were returned to the wild by staff of Carlsbad's Center of Excellence for Hazardous Materials Management. The owls were assisted by staff members and interns with St. Cloud State University, who are working with the Center on a project tracking bird flu and other diseases in migratory birds. The barn owls, said Center interim director Doug Lynn, were originally displaced from different regions in Eddy County. "Mainly from structures in the oilfields and from a barn that was being torn down locally," Lynn said. The nestling owls were brought to local wildlife rehabilitator Ann Rayroux. Rayroux sent them to The Wildlife Center in Espanola, where they were placed under the care of center operator Kathleen Ramsay. Ramsay and her staff essentially taught the animals how to be wild.

"The birds are placed in large pens where they are taught how to reintegrate," Lynn said. "They are given live prey to kill. Once they learn how to kill on their own, they are transferred back to us for release into their home range."

Some other owls at The Wildlife Center serve as surrogate parents for the nestlings, Lynn said, so Ramsay and her staff will essentially "plant" the babies with the mother owl. "She (Ramsay) is so great for this type of work," he said. "She does this as a nonprofit entity on donations." Under the care of their new mother and Wildlife Center staff, the owls are taught everything their biological mother would have taught them. Mesa Airlines previously provided free transport of injured animals in Eddy County to The Wildlife Center, Rayroux said, but the new air provider does not provide that service. But the owls did ultimately make it back to Eddy County, and they were picked up Thursday at the office of local vet Sammie Uhrig, Rayroux's daughter. Greg Donney and Morgan Davies, biologists with St. Cloud, assisted Lynn with returning the owls to the wild, as did interns Erin Lynn and Justin Frye. Lynn and Frye are assisting the biologists this summer with collecting research on the Chihuahuan raven. The research will ultimately be used to see if the raven, a scavenger bird, could be used as a method of tracking bird flu and other diseases. "They have collected 76 samples for analysis," Lynn said, noting that the researchers were qualified to help release the owls. "They can be aggressive and will grab you. You want people who are trained in doing the handling." The owls rested in cardboard boxes while they were transported by vehicle from Uhrig's office to their new home, an abandoned structure northeast of Carlsbad.

Lynn and his assistants faced the boxes toward the structure and opened them to allow the owls to fly to freedom. Two owls seemed a little angry by the entire experience and attempted to claw at Lynn before taking off. Two took off instantly, while an especially pokey owl seemed interested in cautiously observing the entire situation before taking flight. Three of the owls flew straight to the structure, while the other two took off in the opposite direction. Lynn said other barn owls likely lived in the area, but the newcomers would certainly find suitable lodging and ample dining nearby.

Source: Current Argus, NM

Potter star chills with his ice-cream van off set

Rupert Grint says his one big indulgence is also an investment -- in case the acting gig doesn't work out

Jamie Portman, CanWest News Service

Published: Friday, July 06, 2007

Harry Potter star, Emma Watson, has just launched her own official website. The website is a way for Emma Watson to communicate directly with her fans and includes tons of interesting news about what the star is up to, answers to fans questions, facts about her life and even photographs taken personally by her dad. When fans first arrive on the site they are treated to a welcome message from Emma herself. She says, "Hey Guys, I am really excited to be launching an official website. I hope it is fun, informative and different." To help fun her website Emma Watson has assigned the webmistress position to Jo. Jo is a woman who has been working closely with Emma ever since her life changed at the age of nine when she won the role of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films.

The website itself is simple and beautifully designed. It incorporates pretty girly colours, including Emma's favourite, pink along with blue fluttering butterflies. On the right hand side of the website there is an intricate and interesting drawing which fans will be interested to know was hand drawn by Emma herself.

In the Emma and Biography sections of Emma Watson's official website, fans will find that art is one of Emma's favourite subjects. The star is about to enter her final year in school where she will spend time preparing for her A-Level exams. She will be taking exams in Art, English and Geography in hopes of earning a university place. After finishing her A-Levels Emma plans to take a year off from school before heading off to college where she will study for a yet undecided degree and continue her acting career.

Through the official Emma Watson website fans will be able to find out where Emma will next be appearing. She is currently busy with the premiers and pre release promotions of the fifth Harry Potter film, 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'

With the launch of the new Emma Watson fan site came some special photographs of Emma attending the London premier of 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'. The London premier took place in Leicester Square on July 3. These photos are special because Emma's dad took them and include photographs of Emma all ready to go in her beautiful Chanel dress in the hotel room before setting off to the premier. The next new posting is due and should give the details and fun photos of Emma's appearance at the Paris premier of the film, which took place on July 4.

Fans will particularly enjoy the e.m.s section of the website. E.m.s stands for Emma's messaging services. In this section of the site Emma will write directly to her fans, talking about whatever news she wants to share about her career and life. Fans that register will be able to make their own comments on this site.

>>> CONTINUEs

Monday

My publisher calls, sounding worried. "So," she says. "I've read the new ending for the last book."

"Oh yes?" I say. I have the phone clamped under my chin, because I'm using a plastic Quidditch stick to jam twelve hundred copies of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and a collection of Weasley figurines down the waste-disposal.

"Yes," says the publisher. "And I'm not sure I like it."

I switch off the waste disposal. "Really?" I say. "You don't like the way Harry and all his friends get decapitated with an enormous axe?" "Not so much," says the publisher.

I put a hand to my hip. "Or the way Voldemort disintegrates the body parts into a fine magic dust, which he sprinkles across time and space, thus eradicating Harry Potter et al from existence for ever?"

"Again," says my publisher, "no." I frown. "But I thought that was what everybody wanted," I say. "Not everybody," says my publisher.

Tuesday

I spend much of the morning trapped in my attic, under a landslide of Ron and Hermione pencil cases, Death Eater playing cards and polystyrene imitations of the Tri-Wizard cup. I shout, but nobody can hear. I clear a space with the wing of a papier-mch Hedwig, and start a small beacon fire with a selection of latex Harry masks.

Perhaps it is wrong to change the ending of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It's just that when I planned it, I rather liked Harry Potter; now I'm not so sure.

With a sigh, I settle back and watch my hero's face burn and dribble into puddles on the floor.

Eventually, somebody will see the flames and set me free.

Wednesday

To Leicester Square this evening, for the film premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I've developed this weird tic whenever I pick up a pen. I sort of stop concentrating and start assuming it is a wand. The actress who plays Hermione Granger hands me a fountain pen and asks me to sign her copy of The Chamber of Secrets. I do, but it's a close thing. I very nearly flick ink in her face and scream "Avada Kedavra!"

I suppose there is always crucifixion, I muse, staring at the back of Daniel Radcliffe's head. That could work. I should rather like to see Harry crucified. Radcliffe sees me staring and goes quite pale.

Thursday

Have been worrying, hugely, about Voldemort. I mean, it wasn't really him who killed Harry's parents, was it? It was me. It's all my fault. The poor man. A decade spent banished in a magical nether region, unable to flourish truly in his own right.

Everywhere he goes, Harry Potter goes too. Thwarting him. Stealing his thunder. I sort of know how he feels.

Friday

"No," says my publisher. "Absolutely not. It has been ten years. We have well over 12 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ready to roll off the presses, just as soon as you come up with this bloody last chapter. It is definitely too late to decide that Voldemort has been the hero all along." "Really?" I say.

Boxes have been chained shut, barbed wire has been uncoiled and satellite tracking systems for delivery vans have been double-checked. There is a fortnight to go before the publication of the final Harry Potter book.

The release of J. K. Rowling's last outing with her creation at one minute past midnight on Saturday, July 21, will be the culmination of the most fraught operation in publishing history.

Precautions taken at the Harry Potter film premieres — such as men wearing infra-red goggles to detect anyone who has smuggled in a camera — are as nothing compared with the security surrounding the book.

Bloomsbury, its British publisher, is using padlocks and confidentiality contracts to ensure that the plot twists remain a secret. In the words of Scholastic, the American publisher, it is all about the "magic moment" when readers open Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the first time. Only a few people have been allowed to read the book.

Scholastic has shown it to a continuity editor, who ensures that spells are spelt the same way as in the six previous volumes. Cheryl Klein said that it was a tough job because Harry Potter fans can be obsessive about details. "I keep track of all the various proper nouns that appear in the series," she told Time magazine. "For instance, with Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, I make sure it is always B-O-T-Tapostrophe-S."

Bloomsbury refused to send the manuscript to Scholastic electronically because it feared that it would be intercepted. Instead, Mark Seidenfeld, the American publisher's lawyer, travelled to Britain to pick it up and, on his return journey, protected it from prying eyes by sitting on it.

After revisions the manuscript was delivered to Clays, a printer in Bungay, Suffolk, which installed extra barbed wire and hired guards to search print workers as they left work.

Printed books are now kept in locked boxes in warehouses across Britain ready for transport to bookshops. The delivery vans are fitted with global positioning system technology to ensure that they arrive at their destinations.

Neil Blair, Rowling's lawyer, ensures that leaks are kept to a minimum by obtaining injunctions preventing anyone from reading the books before the embargo. In 2005 he obtained a "John Doe" order from the supreme court of British Columbia banning anyone from reading the 14 copies sold in error by a Canadian supermarket.

Donald Parfitt, a forklift driver from Clays printers, was sacked and sentenced to 180 hours' community service after he admitted stealing pages of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Children have been invited by bookshops to midnight openings. Waterstone's will have 279 branches taking part — nearly double the number for the previous volume.