Katina Bergeron and Teddy Chaisson pose for a portait by the canal area where “Chip” the otter liked to play on the extensive property behind their home in Dulac.
Chip the otter used to spend his days on a multi-acre property in Dulac, roaming freely through the canal, yard and home of a Dulac couple who rescued him and nursed him back to health when he was a baby.
But when Chip fell ill last week and no local veterinarian would help, Grand Caillou resident Teddy Chaisson said he drove the otter to New Orleans and left him in the care of the Audubon Zoo in hopes staff there would save his life.
Now Audubon officials say they can’t return the otter to the couple or to his home in Terrebonne Parish because of strict Wildlife and Fisheries rules that bar people from keeping wild animals as pets. Chaisson and his wife, Katina Bergeron, are heartbroken and say they are fighting to get Chip back.
See a photo gallery of Chip at houmatoday.com
Another part of my Louisiana education: drought. I never considered that the land of lazy rivers, miles of marshland and seasonal hurricane deluges could ever suffer from drought. But this is a reality for many farmers and ranchers in this part of the country. While Mr. Neil claims that much of problems could be solved by redirecting parish-owned water resources to run through his land, it is apparent that the land he owns is changing due to rainfall levels severely below past averages.
The grass is lower or non-existant. The cows then gravitate towards open water, which causes them to lose protein in their diet. The rancher now has to feed them protein supplements separately. Then, the water that the cows gravitate towards is found in the open irrigation ditches, BUT these ditches have since dried up because of the lack of rainfall. This creates a mud that the cows becomes stuck in. Read more:
On Herdis Neil’s farm, the land is so dry that livestock consistently wander into the drainage ditch in search of water at the bottom and get stuck there.
Tuesday evening, Neil found a calf stuck up to its belly on the muddy banks. The cow was small enough that he could pull it out by its neck. Others have required a tractor to lift them out of the ditch. Neil has lost at least two dozen this year, including a 3-year-old bull worth $1,500.
The National Weather Service’s station in Galliano recorded 48.83 inches of rain last year. The annual average is 63.99 inches. On Dec. 27, the service classified the Houma-Thibodaux-Galliano area as being in a “severe drought.”
Article by Cara Bayles on houmatoday.com.
I visited Mechanicville, a neighborhood I’ve been warned about as “bad.” No coincidence, the event I was going to cover was a “Stop the Violence Rally,” at the local gym and community center.
The event consisted of motivational speakers, loud music and horses for the kids. I went in to the assignment happy that I wasn’t going to have to take pictures of cute kids doing things. Is that so wrong? But fate has different plans, and after shooting the opening pleasantries, it would be cute kids doing things once again.
Maybe I shouldn’t look at it as just, “cute kids doing things once again,” but rather, how our youngest generation reacts to something that was once common and familiar to life here in Louisiana.
Watermelon eating contest, Albany, California.
I did a story today about the adoption of a cocker spaniel who was eventually given the name “Spicy.” Because the majority of the dogs in the Cumberland County Animal Shelter are pit bulls, this dog stood out to me when I walked around the cages initially. Because I took a few shots of the dog before it was adopted, which was really great when a couple came by and picked it out of the bunch. A happy coincidence turned into a B-1 placing tomorrow! See the whole story here on my Flickr page.
