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Rare New Zealand bumblebee coming back to UK

A bumblebee which is extinct in the UK is to be reintroduced from New Zealand under plans being announced.

The short-haired bumblebee was exported from the UK to New Zealand on the first refrigerated lamb boats in the late 19th Century to pollinate clover crops.

It was last seen in the UK in 1988, but populations on the other side of the world have survived.

Now Natural England and several other conservation groups have launched a scheme to bring the species home.

International rescue

Poul Christensen, Natural England's acting chairman, said; "Bumblebees are suffering unprecedented international declines and drastic action is required to aid their recovery.

"Bumblebees play a key role in maintaining food supplies - we rely on their ability to pollinate crops and we have to do all we can to provide suitable habitat and to sustain the diversity of bee species.

"This international rescue mission has two aims - to restore habitat in England, thereby giving existing bees a boost; and to bring the short-haired bumblebee home where it can be protected."

As many as 100 of the bees will initially be collected in New Zealand and a captive breeding plan established, with the aim of eventually releasing them at Dungeness, Kent, where they were last seen.

They will be flown back on planes in cool boxes, and will not be disturbed, according to Natural England, as they will be in hibernation during transit.

The scheme's project officer Nikki Gammans, of the Stirling-based Bumblebee Conservation Trust, said the bee was a "keystone species" which was key to pollinating around 80% of important crops.

"By creating the right habitat for these bumblebees, we are recreating wildflower habitat that has been lost, which will be good for butterflies, water voles and nesting birds."

The partnership project is being run by Natural England, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust the RSPB and Hymettus.

Inner City, CBD View, Auckland, New Zealand, May 2009. David Lim

Some view of Auckland CDB, I used my Fujifilm digital camera to take these shot, all pictures were untouch (except for reducing the size).

Sodomizing a Sheep Doesn’t Put Perp on Michigan Sex Offender List

September 25, 2008--Despite a trend toward recognizing limited animal rights on the estate planning front, a Michigan appeals court has taken a traditional view of the law concerning a man convicted of sodomizing a sheep.

Jeffrey Scott Haynes, 45, a habitual offender who is serving a 2½- to 20-year prison term for sodomy will not have to register as a sex offender once he is released. That's because the victim of what a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals described as his "abominable and detestable crime against nature" doesn't qualify as a "individual" under state law, reports the Detroit Free Press. The court said the sheep was the "object" of Haynes' crime, but held that he would have had to commit a crime against a human being to qualify for the sex offender registry, according to the newspaper.

The prosecution had persuaded the trial court that Haynes should be required to register, and John Hallacy, the Calhoun County prosecutor, said yesterday that the "the activity involved exemplifies a dangerous and deviant behavior that ought to fall under the registry requirements."

Although Haynes has previously been convicted of home invasion, forgery and uttering and publishing, he apparently doesn't have any prior sex convictions. He was reportedly convicted of sodomizing the sheep based on DNA evidence after a Bedford Township farmer found him trespassing several years ago and noticed an injured sheep.