Swiss reject paid maternity leave
GENEVA (AP) - Turning their backs on a promise made to women more than 50
years ago, Swiss voters threw out government plans Sunday to introduce paid
maternity leave. In a separate vote, they also endorsed state distribution
of heroin to hardened addicts by the unexpectedly small majority of 54%.
Mothers with infants wept as results of the maternity benefit vote filtered
through. The final tally was just 39% in favor and 61% against. The concept
of maternity leave was introduced in the Swiss constitution in 1945, but
there were no concrete provisions on the level of pay. The resounding
rejection was a surprise as polls had predicted a close call. See full
story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559917601-913>
Health-care coverage grows for pets
CHICAGO (AP) - Being diagnosed with a serious disease once meant an instant
death sentence for Fido or Fluffy. Not anymore. Not only do people pamper
pets, a growing number are paying up to $6,000 for kidney transplants and
chemotherapy. "And why not?" said Michael Garvey, who chairs the Animal
Medical Center of New York's emergency department. "After a long hard day
at work, your pet is always happy to see you. You can't always say that
about all the people in your home." Garvey is one of about 2,600 animal
doctors in Chicago for a weekend conference on pet treatments unheard of a
few years ago and still largely unknown to many pet owners. The vets are
specialists in internal medicine, cardiology, neurology and oncology. See
full story
<http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559899523-b6b>
Lynx reintroduced To Colo.
CREEDE, Colo. (AP) - After an hour of skimming the 14,000-foot peaks of the
San Juan Mountains, pilot Whitey Wannemacher wondered aloud in his small
plane, "Where is everybody today?" On this six-hour mission to track the 37
lynx transplanted here from Canada and Alaska, research assistant Chris
Parmeter heard only four telltale tracking beeps, grabbing his clipboard
each time to note an animal's location and number. In ways, the silence can
be heartening, telling the state Division of Wildlife workers that the
reintroduction of the lynx to the mountain wilderness could be paying off
with the elusive cats dispersing and adapting to their new homes. Faster
beeps would signal a cat had succumbed. See full story
<http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559895787-1e4>
Intersex mice found at Calif. refuge
LOS BANOS, Calif. (AP) - Something strange is happening to rodents at a
Northern California wildlife area where thousands of birds were poisoned by
toxic runoff from farms in the 1980s. Both male and female reproductive
organs were found in a third of the 87 field mice, house mice, harvest mice
and California voles trapped last year on land that once collected toxic
runoff at the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge. Just 3% of rodents
trapped there showed such characteristics in 1995. Technically, the rodents
seem to be pseudo-hermaphroditic, according to biologist Gary Santolo, who
led the investigation. They appear to be males from the outside, and lack a
vagina, but have a fully developed set of female organs internally. See
full story
<http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559894797-895>
