Animals

Patricia Eikenberg Veterinary technician Advanced Veterinary Complex, Reisterstown Salary --$23,000 Age --48 Years on the job --10 How she got started --Immediately out of high school, Eikenberg went to work as a secretary. Looking for a job change, she decided in 1998 to go back to school to become a veterinary technician. She graduated from the Community College of Baltimore County's Essex campus. As part of the process to become registered by the state, Eikenberg passed the Veterinary Technician National Examination in 2004.

Dinosaur hunters working in Inner Mongolia announced yesterday that they have found the fossil of an enormous birdlike dinosaur 300 times heavier than its closest relatives. Dubbed Gigantoraptor erlianensis, the species lived 75 million to 95 million years ago, late in the dinosaur era. The relatively complete fossil specimen was about 25 feet long, 11.5 feet high at the shoulder and would have weighed more than 3,000 pounds, yet exhibited birdlike characteristics that included a beak, hollow bones and, very likely, ornamental feathers.

The Baltimore institution of vendors hawking produce from colorful horse-drawn wagons is about to receive a major makeover, but some involved with the city's 19th-century tradition are unhappy with the proposed changes. In August, officials condemned a West Baltimore stable housing 51 horses and ponies but pledged to help the quaint practice endure. A team of city officials began working with the street peddlers, known as arabbers, to find a suitable place to board their animals. Now officials are overhauling the loosely regulated practice of arabbing, enforcing permit requirements for vendors and their animals, and replacing the ramshackle stable with a new facility to be built near the B&O Railroad Museum in Southwest Baltimore.

John Woestendiek has been a features reporter at The Sun for six years. Previously he worked as a reporter, columnist, national correspondent and editor at four other newspapers -- the Arizona Daily Star, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer and The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he received a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 1987 for his reporting on prisons and mental institutions. Woestendiek, 53, lives in South Baltimore with his dog, Ace. Work on the series began in February, when reports came out about a new DNA test that identifies what breeds are in dogs.

The polar bear Magnet was floating on his back in his pool at the Maryland Zoo yesterday, flipping over at each end like a swimmer doing laps. Several winding paths over, the tropical flamingos, atop impossibly thin legs, waded in their own pool. A cherry tree had blossomed. Everyone - from flora to fauna to human - seemed to be basking in another spring-like January day. "Gorgeous," a woman said as she headed to one of the zoo's golf carts. "Scary gorgeous," an employee responded. "I know," the woman said, "global warming."

Helen Turner Quick, an avid golfer and friend to bats and mice, died of complications from a stroke at her Towson home on Wednesday. She had just turned 86. Helen Turner was born in Baltimore and attended Seton High School, where she was the president of her class. After graduating in 1939, she went to work at Bendix on Joppa Road, her family said. At age 20, she married Walter S. Quick Jr., and the couple moved to a house on Bayonne Avenue in Hamilton. As her children became older, Mrs. Quick learned to play golf at the Sparrows Point Country Club, a sport that became a lifelong passion.

In addition to exercising extremely poor judgment and brutal callousness, Michael Vick also happened to be guilty of exceptionally poor timing. When Virginia authorities raided his property last spring, a law just had kicked in that gave federal investigators latitude in pursuing dogfighting cases. For anyone who cares about animals, this was a welcome departure from how the law previously had looked at animal cruelty. Years ago, I wrote an article about how show horses - jumpers - had been killed by their owners to collect insurance money.

Baltimore officials yesterday condemned the stable housing more than 50 ponies the city's a-rabs use to sell produce because of code violations and unsafe conditions that threatened the safety of the animals. City officials will meet with the a-rabs at 1 p.m. today to inform them that the ponies must be moved and to discuss possible short- and long-term solutions. A-rabs are produce vendors who sell their wares along city streets from horse-drawn carts - often announcing their presence with shouts.

WITH MORE positive publicity than a president could hope for, Bill Clinton recently welcomed to the South Lawn of the White House a 10-year-old bald eagle named Challenger.Stately, behaved and, for sure, eagle-eyed, the national symbol perched itself a few yards from the president and the press corps, as Clinton celebrated the removal of the once-imperiled fowl from the list of endangered species. One prominent newspaper headlined its story, "Marking a Victory for Eagle Rights."Other species, too, have had their rights to existence legally protected by federal law. Since 1978, more than 20 categories of fish, fowl and mammals have made comebacks from near-extinction.

Faced with mounting evidence that the routine use of antibiotics in livestock may diminish the drugs' power to cure infections in people, the Food and Drug Administration has begun a major revision of its guidelines for approving new antibiotics for animals and for monitoring the effects of old ones.The goal of the revision is to minimize the emergence of bacterial strains that are resistant to antibiotics. Such resistance makes them difficult or impossible to kill.Drug-resistant infections, some fatal, have been increasing in people in the United States, and many scientists attribute the problem to the misuse of antibiotics in people and animals.

R. Celeste Corame Michael A Memorial Service will be held on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 2:00 PM in Linthicum Heights United Methodist Church, 200 School Lane, Linthicum, MD. Mrs. Michael had a deep love for animals and therefore, donations in her name are requested to the Baltimore Humane Society, 1601 Nicodemus Road, Reisterstown, MD 21136.

SALARY: $40,000 AGE: 34 TIME ON THE JOB: Seven months HOW SHE GOT STARTED: Heather Hart graduated with a bachelor's degree in Spanish from the University of South Carolina. She said she was always interested in photography and opened her own business to take on freelance assignments and portrait photography. At the time, she also volunteered with a nonprofit known as Project Pet. In 2005, she went to the New Orleans area on a magazine photo assignment after Hurricane Katrina. "I didn't spend any time taking photographs and spent all my time rescuing animals," Hart said.

Roscoe, a tan puggle, yelps plaintively from inside a crate, doing his best impersonation of a dog in need. He yips alongside a blue-eyed husky, a schnauzer named Scoobie and, across the room, a guinea pig and a ferret - all supposedly just rescued from a disaster. For the first time ever in the state, if there would be a flood or a tornado or something that caused a mass evacuation in Baltimore County, people and their pets have a shelter where they can stay together: Eastern Technical High School in Essex.

Almost everyone likes animals at least a little, but there's that handful who are born "animal people." So says Jennifer Keats Curtis. They pull over for wounded pigeons. They take in orphaned cats. They're the ones the neighbors stop by to visit if a stray mutt comes calling. It doesn't mean they know what they're doing. "So many people want to help animals, but honestly, a good heart isn't enough," says Curtis, a veteran journalist and children's author whose fourth illustrated book, "Baby Owl's Rescue," debuts under the Sylvan Dell insignia next month.

Almost everyone likes animals at least a little, but there's that handful who are born "animal people." So says Jennifer Keats Curtis. They pull over for wounded pigeons. They take in orphaned cats. They're the ones the neighbors stop by to visit if a stray mutt comes calling. It doesn't mean they know what they're doing. "So many people want to help animals, but honestly, a good heart isn't enough," says Curtis, a veteran journalist and children's author whose fourth illustrated book, "Baby Owl's Rescue," debuts under the Sylvan Dell insignia next month.

An isolated Harford County farm will remain under quarantine through the end of this month after a horse stabled there tested positive for the rabies virus and was euthanized, officials said. The county health department will observe all animals at the Churchville farm before lifting the 45-day quarantine on Aug. 31. The horse, which arrived at the farm in May, manifested striking changes in behavior in mid-July. On the recommendation of the health department, the animal was taken to the University of Pennsylvania veterinary facility in New Bolton, which diagnosed the rabies infection.

It was birthday time for Bayley, a 1-year-old Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, but the birds, dogs and cats were getting all the presents Saturday at the National Aquarium. Bayley has come a long way from the helpless calf with a large head and tiny body born at the Baltimore aquarium last year. Now she's a growing and inquisitive dolphin that has joined the aquarium's popular show ahead of some of her older peers, learning new tricks and trying her best to duplicate her mother's jumps. That's in part because animal care staff keep her busy with what they call enrichment activities, organized play designed to encourage natural behaviors and stimulate development, said Sue Hunter, director of animal programs.

N ews item: The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has ranked Oriole Park ninth on its top-10 list of vegetarian-friendly major league ballparks and the Frederick Keys' Harry Grove Stadium fourth on its corresponding list of minor league parks that cater to vegetarian fans. My take: That's nice, but I still subscribe to the simple philosophy that if God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat. News item: Mine That Bird, who went off at 50-1 odds in the Kentucky Derby, was posted as the early favorite for Saturday's 141st running of the Belmont Stakes.

Providing for pets after we're gone What a touching story about Kenneth Munzert, who made provisions in his will for his dog ("Bequest for man's best friend," March 11). Some people may think it is frivolous or silly to provide for animals in an estate. I think it is wise that the Maryland legislature is considering a bill allowing owners to establish trust funds for their pets so their wishes are met ("Trust-fund Fidos," editorial, March 3). Pets become like family to many people, and can be the most devoted companions.

'Small Miracles' a big blessing Thank you for the excellent article on the shelter where I got my cat ("Small Miracles," Jan. 25, Howard County section). I knew Moira Liskovec, operator of the Small Miracles Cat Rescue, from my vet's office and remember her as a warm and compassionate person. What a surprise it was to me to find out the kitten I adopted in June 2007 from the Columbia Petco came from Small Miracles, which is run by this awesome lady. Trey (whom Liskovec had called Cheeto)