European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 13, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wildlife and los Angelino an uneasy coexistence by Robert Reinhold new York times the question is almost zen in it ambiguity Are the animals invading Losangeles or Are we invading them the Sun sinks into the Pacific Ocean Anda blood curdling howl rises Over Mulholand drive in the Hollywood Hills. Residents quickly Call in their cats and dogs before the coyotes make supper of them. Racoons clean out a Pool full of expensive goldfish and set up House in the attic. Coyotes opossums skunks and other Urban wildlife seem to know which Day the garbage is put out. Parents warn their children about rattlesnakes. A fully grown Buck Deer strolls up Dan and Barbara Mccarthy s driveway above Beverly Hills. Can this really be the second largest Urban area in America world capital of the film Industry financial Hub of the Pacific rim Home of Rolls royces and ferraris and trendy restaurants serving caviar tacos can this also be the place that needs a new county Law effective Jan. 7, 1989, forbidding the feeding of coyotes and other predators the los Angeles county sheriff and the los Angeles City department of animal regulation have issued their annual summer warnings about rattlesnakes. Recently the police in suburban Pasadena shot and killed a 110-Pound Mountain lion that had wandered into a Yard where three children were playing. A few weeks before that the police killed a 120-Pound Cougar crouching behind a hedge in Yorba Linda. The incidents speak volumes about the modern los Angeles area a Region that is metastasizing into the Hills and deserts that once defined the boundaries Between civilization and nature. Human and animal habitats Are merging into one and territorial conflict is perhaps inevitable. If we would Stop encroaching into their territory they would Stop coming into ours said Steve Mcnall aiding the Mountain Gorilla not wild animals that roam into los Angeles can find Refuge at the wildlife Way station. Executive director of the humane society in Pasadena near where new developments in such communities As Flintridge la Canada Monrovia Altadena and Arcadia Are putting human nests amid wild ones. Mcnall considers it a privilege that they come into our  the los Angeles department of animal regulation regularly gets Calls from irate residents whose cats have become Coyote food. It regularly sets traps and airlifts a menagerie of wildlife into the Remote Countryside for release. We re the Only municipality in the world that relocates wildlife said Dyer Huston a department spokesman. The department tries to educate Angelino about the furry facts of life in the big City that the Best Way to deter nocturnal visits by wildlife is to take a few simple precautions such As putting lids on garbage cans. They would rather not run after food and get All tired if then can get fast food Huston said. The real culprit is the people said Lila Brooks a determined Hollywood woman who is the director of California wildlife defenders and is the author of the new county anti feeding Law. She complains that Well meaning but misguided people have enticed the creatures out of the Hills. By feeding coyotes we have conditioned them to lose their fear of humans she said. Their fear needs to reinstalled and they need to be sent Back to the Hills where they  Brooks asserts that Many of the misdeeds attributed to coyotes Are committed by packs of feral dogs turned Loose by their owners sometimes to interbreed with coyotes into hybrids called  she offers a pamphlet to residents with such advice As Don t try to tame coyotes or treat them As your own pets even if they resemble German  she has also persuaded the los Angeles department of water and Power to put water holes in the Hollywood Hills away from housing so that the wildlife will not try to drink in residential areas. Wayward beasts can find Refuge in los Angeles with Martine Colette. She is president and founder of the wildlife Way station a 160-acre private preserve in the Angeles National Forest above the san Fernando Valley. There on any Given Day a staff consisting of two veterinarians and 20 ranch hands take care of 600 to 1,000 Birds racoons coyotes opossums and Deer. Racoons in your attic Call us and we will treat them and release them into the wild said Judy Williams Way station s executive vice president. The real scary thing is that without coyotes we d be overrun by rats she added. The coyotes assimilate beautifully into the Urban environment. It is our responsibility to cohabit ate with native  the hazards of a Rattlesnake Roundup by Arthur Olsen associated press a so a Rattlesnake Hunter if a snakebites harmful and he s Apt to reply that victim will be All right with Quick  course by a Rattlesnake Hunter s Standard All right Means alive. That does t count excruciating pain permanent muscle damage and paralysis. Enthusiasts gathered recently for the 33rd annual reptile Roundup in Morris pa., a sleepy Tioga county town about 30 Miles Northwest of Williamsport. The area is prime Rattlesnake country lots of sunny Brush covered clearings filled with Large rocks suitable for Snake Dens. The Hunters came from new York new Jersey Delaware North Carolina and Mississippi according to Amos Osborn chairman of the Hunt which benefits the local fire company. Most snakes Are returned to the wild generally in the area where they were taken said Ken Sutton who came up from North Carolina for the event. Why just take it out and kill it he asked. Like his fellow campers the tall weathered millwright is a hard drinking hard talking Man with a penchant for telling stories. Men who play this game generally follow the rules safety pays when you re dealing with rattles and fangs. A Rattlesnake Hunter wears protective leggings and carries a Hook and a Tong or pincers each mounted on a pole about the size of a Golf club. The Hook is used to lift Small rocks and to control the Snake on the ground often to tire it out before picking it up with tongs and placing it in a bag. Great care is taken not to kill the Snake. Large ones Are sometimes killed later for their skin and meat but the trick is to get the catch Back to Camp for the fun part playing with the snakes. Not Rattlesnake Hunters enjoy the Challenge and danger involved in handling their prey. In free handling the Snake s head is pressed against the ground with a Hook and the Hunter picks it up using a specific three fingered grip at the base of the head. If held properly the Snake is immobilized. Grab it half an Inch too Low and the Snake can swivel its head and sink its Teeth into your thumb. Sutton said he knows of Hunters who pick up snakes by the Middle of their bodies. That Ain t too smart he said. Of course a lot of people say Hunting rattlesnakes Ain t too  Kurt Masurat a 50-year-old chemist from Charlotte n.c., offered to demonstrate the technique and milk the venom from one of the snakes the group had caught. Masurat is a Good natured sort Quick to share a joke. But the kidding stopped when the Snake came out of the Box. A Small crowd from other campsites joined Masurat s fellow Hunters and watched in tense silence. The Only sound was the Low steady Buzz of the Snake s Tail. His face set in concentration Masurat pressed the Snake s head to the ground and worked to get the Correct grip trying to get past the moment when the risk of being struck is greatest. Finally Masurat had the Snake in hand and lifted it in the air rattle still shaking. The tension eased As the onlookers saw he was in control. To milk the Snake he opened the Rattler s Mouth and hooked the fangs Over the Side of a drinking Glass causing a thick Clear venom to ooze out. It was Only after this demonstration that Masurat mentioned he had t free handled a Snake in at least 15 years. Sutton and Glenn Hicks later pulled out one Snake each and played with them before an admiring if apprehensive crowd. I think that s my favorite part of it said Hicks a Williamsport resident. You want to take them Back and show people. The ego thing plays a part in  so does the danger. The word Rattlesnake Hunters use most often to explain their interest is  i could get bit. I could get Hurt Hicks said. That s Why i do it i guess the  Rattlesnake venom destroys muscle tissue sometimes to the Point where the muscle will never heal leaving scars that look like dents in the affected area. Rattlesnake venom is not a defense mechanism Sutton said. It s How they kill their prey it s digestive. It can Start digesting your muscle  the venom affects everyone differently Hicks said. The same size Snake can bite one Man and give him a swollen Finger while another s Arm might swell until it splits. Still the Hunters play Down the danger of their activity. If you re careful they argue you re not Likely to get bitten. And Rattlesnake venom in t All it s cracked up to be. I think there s a lot of fiction about it Hicks said. I would t even Call it dangerous. Not by my definition of dangerous. If you can get to a Hospital within three hours you re in pretty Good shape he said. Well you re not going to lose your life said Bill Kadlack a Williamsport attorney who often Hunts rattlers with Hicks. But you May be  byjoe Wheelan associated press the head of a fund that carries on primate researcher Dian Fossey s work after he murder in Africa expects a movie Abou Fossey s life to pique Public interest in the plight of the endangered Mountain Gorilla. Claude Ramsey head of the digit fund which continues Fossey s work today through the Englewood based Morris animal foundation Hopes the film this fall will keep pressure on Gorilla poachers and heighten awareness of one of the closest primate relatives of Man. Fewer than 400 of the huge gentle apes remain in the world today none of them in Captivity. Most live in Rwanda s pare National Des Volcano in Central Africa s Vir Unga mountains where Fossey conducted her studies. The gorillas come across As very Friendly in the movie. It s going to make the world a lot More conscious of the gorillas and the problem of poaching Ramsey said. Since Dian Fossey s death poaching has diminished. There s a  gorillas in the Mist also the title of the Book Fossey wrote about her research will feature actress Sigourney Weaver As the american researcher. Fossey went to Rwanda in Early 1967 at the urging of anthropologist or. Louis Leakey and stayed on until her murder when she was 53, at Kar Soke research Center on mount Visoke. The Morris animal foundation Hopes the movie wiil Spur Public donations to the digit fund. Ramsey said that Kar Soke research Center needs $65,000 in maintenance funds and $100,000 Worth of capital improvements. Fossey founded the digit fund in 1978, naming it after a male Gorilla she had befriended and studied closely for 10 years before it was killed by poachers on 12,000-foot mount Visoke. His head and hands were Cut off to be sold As souvenirs. I am anxious to establish a digit fund to attempt to raise Money to maintain students to train rwandans in the patrol of the Park and for additional census work on the rwandan Side of the Viruegas. So that stronger efforts May be made to protect them and to actively secure their survival Fossey wrote in 1978. Here at Camp we Wake up each morning wondering who will be  Ramsey who has headed the Morris animal foundation for 20 of its 40 years says Fossey talked to him in 1985 about the the possibility of the foundation and the digit fund working together. About a year after Fossey s murder Stacey Coil a Friend of Fossey s who had become president of the digit fund suggested that the Morris animal foundation administer the fund. Ramsey s foundation now oversees the fund and the two entities will officially merge next year. The digit fund has about 2,000 donors he says. The purpose of the whole fund is to continue fogey s work at Kar Soke research Center Ramsey says three researchers and the Center director  on both Locsey s studies of the Mountain Gorilla at Kar Soke and her conservation efforts. The digit fund also opened a veterinary Laboured y at mount Visoke in january to provide the gorillas with medical care and to investigate their health problems. David Kenny of the Denver zoo ran the lab for two months and was succeeded by Barkley Hastings of the London zoo Ramsey says veterinarians will be rotated every few months it s a Plum Job says Ramsey providing veterinarians with a unique Opportunity to observe and care for gorillas in their native habitat. The digit fund also plans to build a Dian Fossey museum at the foot of the Vir Unga mountains some Day. The movie to be released this fall will Deal with Fossey s skirmishes with poachers legendary in Rwanda where she was known As the Lone woman of the  Fossey began regular patrols of mount Isoko s slopes to protect the gorillas and was known to fire shots to frighten intruders. In at least one Case f Ossey who had emphysema helped Chase and capture a poacher thought to be involved in digit s death. Poachers initially were suspected of killing Fossey but Rwanda government officials and others have ruled out that theory because of the Way she was killed. Fossey was found dead on dec. 28, 1985, on the floor of her Kar Soke Cabin her Skull split by a Large knife that she owned. Beside her on the floor were a pistol and a clip of ammunition. The rwandan government charged Wayne Mcguire a student researcher at Kar Soke with Fossey s murder but no credible motive Ever was established. Mcguire fled to the United states which has no extradition agreement with Rwanda. A native tracker fired months earlier by Fossey also was charged. He died in a rwandan jail. Some observers think Fossey s vigorous conservation efforts May have led parties who wanted economic development of Rwanda s volcanic Region to plot her death. Fossey advocated minimal human Contact with the gorillas which put her at Odds with those who wanted to use the gorillas to lure tourists to the Vir Unga mountains. Fossey was concerned that the gorillas would contract human diseases against which they have no immunity. She linked some Gorilla deaths on mount Visoke to human Contact. I suspect he the killer was hired or sub orned by influential people who increasingly viewed Dian As a dangerous impediment to the exploitation of the pare National Des Volcano and especially to the exploitation of the gorillas Farley Mowat wrote in his biography of Fossey woman in the mists. Ramsey says Fossey s message has been taken to heart by natives of mount Visoke. During dedication ceremonies for the veterinary Laboratory this year the natives Sang and performed skits promoting the preservation of the Mountain Gorilla. I had always suspected that they were not too concerned about the poaching Ramsey says. But now i saw these villagers had made up their own songs and skits and that poaching truly had become unpopular there. Two years ago i m not really sure it  an upcoming movie depicts the life of primate researcher Dian Fossey murdered in Africa in 1985. Page 14 the stars and stripes saturday August 13, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 15