Dead Animals

Nearly 300 birds, otters, muskrats and snakes have been found dead in the area of an oil spill April 7 at a Prince George's County power plant that sent 111,000 gallons of fuel oil into the Patuxent River and some of its tributaries. Officials at the headquarters of the federal, state and private forces involved in the cleanup said yesterday not all the animals were killed as a result of the spill, but they could not say how many died of other causes. Carolyn V. Watson, assistant secretary of Maryland's Department of Natural Resources, said yesterday there were some 280 dead animals and another 116 were in rehabilitation facilities where their feathers and coats are being cleaned before they are returned to the wild.

If you're going to collect garbage for a living, this is the place to do it -- out here where the gulls cry, and the brown Inner Harbor water laps against the bulkheads like a lullaby. In fact, when a summer morning blows in blue and soft across the masts and the condos, such a task can seem more like pleasure than work. At least for a while.That's true even when you're piloting one of the city's six slow and ungainly garbage skimmers, a noisy contraption that looks like a cross between a tractor and a Zamboni ice groomer.

With his long ponytail, passion for Harley-Davidson motorcycles and a business that sounds like a '70s punk-rock band -- Dead Pet Pickup -- Tom Greenbank could easily be mistaken for a man rebelling against convention. Far from it. "I'm proud of the work I do," the Maryland State Police motorcycle mechanic said shortly after pulling a dead 100-pound deer from a ditch along Hall Shop Road near his Highland home in southern Howard County. He quickly slid the frozen carcass into his low wooden trailer and tied the right hind leg to the trailer's side for the long ride to a rendering plant in Curtis Bay, at the southern tip of Baltimore.

The troubled Rosa Bonheur pet cemetery in Elkridge has been left adrift -- with no one taking care of the property and dead pets thawing in a freezer without electric power.In the wake of an unsuccessful effort by the cemetery's owner to give the property back to a bank -- which the bank has not accepted -- it remains unclear who is in charge of the 22,000-plot site off U.S. 1 near Route 176.The cemetery's caretaker quit Friday. And after Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. cut off the power at the cemetery, the Howard County Health Department found two dogs -- a Yorkshire terrier and a white, medium-sized dog -- and a pot-bellied pig thawing in a 6-foot by 4-foot freezer yesterday in the cemetery's "preparing room."

PHILADELPHIA -- He's a proven stud, winner of a Best of Cincinnati award for siring five western-lowland gorillas this year alone.And in the words of his current curator, he is in that "punk" stage -- constantly charging the bars, smacking a female on the side as he passes her, saying: "Hey, I'm running this group."Chaka, an 11-year-old, 250-pound gorilla whose saddle is just starting to gray, left Philadelphia two years ago on a breeding loan. His parents were Samantha and John, two of the 23 animals who perished in the Dec. 24 electrical fire at the Philadelphia Zoo's World of Primates.

A 34-year-old Elkridge man has been charged with the illegal dumping of hundreds of animal carcasses on county-owned land, police said.William Alvin Sparrow, 34, of the 6400 block of Meadow Ridge Road was charged Friday with one count of littering by dumping more than 500 pounds of debris, said Lt. Tim Branning, a Howard County police spokesman.Conviction on the charge carries a penalty of five years in prison and/or a $25,000 fine, Lieutenant Branning said.Mr. Sparrow, who could not be reached for comment, is a private contractor hired by area animal hospitals and veterinary clinics to transport the animals to a rendering plant in Baltimore.

A 34-year-old Elkridge man will face undetermined criminal charges stemming from the illegal dumping of hundreds of animal carcasses on Howard County-owned land, county police said yesterday.The man, whose identity is being withheld until charges are formally filed next week, is a private contractor who was hired by area animal hospitals and veterinary clinics to transport the animals to a rendering plant in Baltimore.The carcasses were dumped in shallow graves in a wooded area several hundred yards south of the 7700 block of Mayfield Ave. in Elkridge.

In a shallow pit on a wooded Elkridge lot, swarms of maggots devour dozens of carcasses of dogs, cats and deer. The powerful stench of rotten flesh hangs in the air.Flies circle above a German shepherd decomposing in a begging position. The blackened skull of what looks like a cat peaks out of a small white trash bag. The body of a deer rests face down atop about 50 other animals in the uncovered pit.The animals' bodies were dumped in the uncovered grave -- and perhaps in at least six other nearby covered pits -- in a wooded area several hundred yards from the 7700 block of Mayfield Ave., off Route 108.The grisly animal dump is also several hundred yards from a large county public works facility that includes a police-car repair shop.

Carroll farmers may be able to take some of the yard waste burden off county landfills if a proposed zoning amendment is adopted by the county commissioners.In response to a request from the county zoning administrator, the Carroll County Agricultural Commission yesterday favorably recommended the amendment, which would allow farmers to operate commercial composting facilities.Under the proposal, as amended by the Agricultural Commission, farmers could accept yard waste and mix it with their own plant debris, animal manure and livestock waste at their private compost plant.

A proposed Carroll County animal composting site could require up to 2 acres of space and cost between $300,000 and $600,000 to build, according to recent information from the University of Maryland's agricultural engineering department.Members of the Carroll County Agricultural Commission said last week they expect construction costs for the site to be borne by a federal grant.William Powel, coordinator of the county's Agricultural Land Preservation program, said it will be unnecessary for Carroll to seek a preliminary grant for a feasibility study because the county will use research and plans developed by the University of Maryland.