Wildlife

The bald eagle was lying on its back in a pool of blood in, of all places, a Broomall parking lot. Joe Simmonds, the maintenance man at Congregation Beth El-Ner Tamid, spotted its dark form as he emptied trash into a Dumpster. He put a traffic cone by the huge bird so no one would run over it, and he called 911. The bird was breathing. It was alive, just barely. Wildlife officials trying to coax it back to health now think the male eagle was beset by a triple dose of misfortune.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - For wildlife enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of wolves, grizzly bears, and bison at Yellowstone National Park, the best place to be on the lookout may soon be a cellphone. New smartphone apps enable people to pinpoint where they have recently seen critters in Yellowstone. People who drive to those locations can - at least in theory - improve their odds of seeing wildlife compared with the typical tourist's dumb luck. An app called Where's a Bear promises "up to the second" animal sightings in Yellowstone.

HANOI, Vietnam - Nguyen Huong Giang loves to party but loathes hangovers, so she ends her whiskey benders by tossing back shots of rhino horn ground with water on a special ceramic plate. Her father gave her the 4-inch brown horn as a gift, claiming it cures everything from headaches to cancer. Vietnam has become so obsessed with the fingernail-like substance that it now sells for more than cocaine. "I don't know how much it costs," said Giang, 24, after showing off the horn in her high-rise apartment overlooking the capital, Hanoi.

  A wildlife camera helped to capture a serial burglar whose three-month crime spree victimized 13 homeowners in three Chester County townships, District Attorney Tom Hogan said Tuesday. Larry Samuel, also known as Elijah Samuel, 32, of Coatesville, is accused of committing the crimes in East Fallowfield, Valley, and Sadsbury Townships from Oct. 27 through Feb. 1, Hogan said. The stolen items were electronics, jewelry, and 10 firearms, including semiautomatic weapons. "He targeted homes around where he lived," Hogan said.

A 4.4-acre meadow wedged among elegant stone homes in tony Wynnewood is all that is left of the Toland family farm, which once sprawled across 300 acres from the Main Line railroad tracks almost to Montgomery Avenue. Over the last century, the farm was whittled away piece by piece to create a new residential development, though as recently as the 1970s, cows grazed in an open pasture, and chickens scurried around a barnyard just blocks from Wynnewood Shopping Center. Then last year, the matriarch of the family, Polly Toland, decided to sell her own home, adjacent to the meadow, and move to a retirement home.

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. - A burgeoning population of huge pythons - many of them pets that were turned loose by their owners when they got too big - appears to be wiping out large numbers of raccoons, opossums, bobcats and other mammals in the Everglades, a study says. The study, published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , found that sightings of medium-size mammals are down dramatically - as much as 99 percent, in some cases - in areas where pythons and other large, non-native constrictor snakes are known to lurk.

AVALON, N.J. - New Jersey environmental regulators say this Jersey Shore town may be doing something stinky in its effort to control skunks. Avalon officials have been capturing and moving skunks - about 80 of them in the last year - and the state Division of Fish and Wildlife wants to know where they are being taken. A permit is needed to move wildlife to another town because the animals could cause problems in their new homes, an agency spokesman told the Press of Atlantic City.

This, you know: Cross-country skiers will choose a secluded forest trail over a popular black diamond run every time. But, shhhh, don't tell: Backcountry ski trails don't come much better than those on many national wildlife refuges. That's still largely a secret. Scenic wildlife refuges ideal for winter exploration by ski and snowshoe hide in many Northern states. The terrain and difficulty level vary widely. Some refuges lend ski equipment free or rent it at low cost. Wildlife sightings are a bonus.

BRIGANTINE, N.J. - Federal wildlife officials are looking for whoever shot a whale at sea, leaving it to wander the ocean in agony - unable to eat - for a month or more before it beached itself in New Jersey and died. The culprit could get a year in prison and a hefty fine. Scott Doyle, an agent in charge of the National Marine Fisheries Service's New Jersey shore office, said his agency was hoping someone would come forward to report the shooter. "Sometimes what we find is months down the road, you get a disgruntled crew member on a boat, or someone who had an argument with someone else, and then you get a phone call," Doyle said.

HALIFAX, Pa. - A woman suffered a deep arm wound when she stuck her arm inside a fenced-in area at a Central Pennsylvania wildlife park Thursday and was apparently bitten or scratched by a Bengal tiger, state police said. The woman was not immediately identified. Police say they believe she worked as a driver at Lake Tobias Wildlife Park. - AP