Outdoor Life Newswire

John Turney, a Del Tura, Fla. resident, no longer enters his garage without first looking through a small window. Why? Because he had to use a broom to ward off the alligator that attacked him in his garage.

This incident came two days after a 7-foot 7-inch alligator trashed against another front door in Bonita Springs. Encounters such as these are not uncommon in Southwest Florida at this time of year. Springtime means mating season for male alligators. The warmer weather makes the cold-blooded reptiles more active looking for new territories and potential mates.

I’m writing this in a commuter plane, flying from my home in Cody, Wyoming to a Sportsmen’s Show on the west coast. As I look out the window to the north, I can see the vast Absoraka Wilderness below, as well as Yellowstone Park. Seeing this remote backcountry from 25,000 feet is an awesome sight. I can identify some of the more distinct ridges and peaks, and gaze at some of the country I’ve hunted in the past.

There are many wilderness areas in the US, but this one is unique. No other wilderness area in the States is more removed from civilization. A geographical survey done a while back confirmed that a spot just outside the southeast corner of Yellowstone Park is the most remote in the lower 48, requiring a 35 mile horseback ride to get there. I can’t pick out the spot from the airplane, but I have an idea where it lies. And as I look, I’m reminded of my first Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep hunt there many years ago. I killed the ram within mere yards of this remote location, and finally was able to experience first-hand the taste of sheep ribs cooked over a campfire. Jack O’Connor claimed this was the best wild meat in the world. He was right.  --Jim Zumbo

During a sunset cruise off the coast of California, a group of friends had their party crashed by a large gray whale. The beast did a belly flop onto the bow before coming around and hitting the stern with its tail. Only one passenger was injured.

Judges watching the event gave the whale an average of 7s for the dive, but deducted heavily for excessive splashing.

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We’ve been inundated with images of Katrina’s wrath. Flooded streets with floating bodies drifting through poor New Orleans neighborhoods, burning buildings and the bald spot on the Superdome’s roof. Yet, the wetlands that buffer New Orleans from the Gulf have been missing from photo spreads. But the damage is immense. That one storm is estimated to have caused 50 years worth of erosion, according to a new report. And the waterways have been widened by a third...And the Gulf coast has moved inland up to a quarter mile in places...Surprisingly, though, the fishing has been great. Many locals that still have a house and a boat are reporting some of the best runs of red drum in years. This could be because the new underwater topography is better suited for holding bait and thus game fish. Large sloughs and deep channels were cut by Katrina's storm surge.

And feline owners wonder why the stereotype of a “cat lady” is negative. Well, a woman from a DC suburb found her pet cat, Cody, dead under a tree in her yard, the carcass covered in another animal’s saliva. Tragic, I know. In my family we would get a shoebox, find a decent spot on the property, dig the hole and then head inside for dinner.

Not this woman. Oh no, she’s using the best ‘Law and Order’ crime-fighting tools available to determine what killed her beloved Cody. When animal control refused to aid her quest by declaring a local German Shepherd dangerous on lack of evidence, she called up a California DNA lab.

For a fee of $500, DNA experts compared samples of the dog’s saliva and fur with those found on Cody. The odds that it wasn’t this particular dog were 1 in 67 million. Still, without an eyewitness, local officials couldn’t list the dog as a menace. The cat lady is considering a private lawsuit as a last resort.

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Apparently, pollutants called polybrominated diphenyls, or PBDEs, are wreaking havoc on the nervous systems of polar bears. The compound is a flame retardant found in carpets, clothes and furniture coverings. It has also been discovered in the bears' fat. Researchers assume the pollutants were carried by ocean currents to the Arctic. The worst part? Uh, the bears with high exposure levels can become hermaphrodites. In fact, 1 in 50 females in Svalbard, Norway also happens to be a dude.

Wolves are running free and wild in the west, and the grizzly has been a recovery success along the Rocky Mountains. And yet, fewer than 1 percent of animals on the Endangered Species list have made it off. Devout environmentalists are telling D.C. politicians to keep their editing pencils away from the ESA, arguing that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And to their credit, the current incarnation of the act has preserved many critters that would have otherwise gone the way of the dodo.

My rebuttal to the enviros, though, is would you buy a car that ain't broke yet struggles to get 8 miles to the gallon, or a new hybrid that pushes 50 mpg? Both work, right, but one works better and more efficiently. Clearly the ESA needs revamping so the success rate isn't comparable to the graduation rate of a college football team. First step, ignore the politics and let the biologists make decisions. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the direction Congress is going. Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton has implied that changes could include giving political appointees more control over future decisions. Read some of her opinions and tell me what you think.