National Wildlife Humane Society

NWHS National Headquarters Moves To Arkansas

NWHS Feature News

National Wildlife Humane Society's National Headquarters has moved from Nashville, TN. to Witts Springs, AR.

Patrick "Catman" Webb was elected as the new President and Chairman of NWHS, after the resignation of the former Chairman. Along with the move of headquarters, was a move of the NWHS financial account and registration of NWHS as a non-profit in Arkansas.

NWHS now has it's own separate office, U.S.postal address and telephone number. Utilities have been ordered up, and soon there will be a electrical pole, meter, and a security light for the office (currently a trailer). It is humble beginnings for an exciting concept in sanctuary coalition. There are currently five wildlife sanctuaries in the coalition, with more under consideration. Please visit our website to explore links of the affiliate sanctuaries.

NWHS started out as Cougar Hill Sanctuary Association (now Cougarhill Web) which was primarily an educational organization. Top of the Rock Animal Sanctuary merged with CHSA several years ago adding an actual physical sanctuary facility to the organization. As time passed, it became apparent that there was a need for an organization that similar type organizations could share knowledge, ideas, and other resources.

About a year ago, CHSA evolved into National Wildlife Humane Society, and began adding Conservation Links in a spirit of similar mission, for the sustainable survival of threatened and endangered species. In the course of the move to Arkansas, all names have been retained within the organization because of long histories involved in these legal names. CHSA and Top Of The Rock are now names held by NWHS.

NWHS is also developing conservation programs to provide resources and assistance to non-captive wildlife as well as captive wildlife facilities.

Please help spread the word by forwarding this newsletter, and/or emailing our NWHS website address to those who care about wildlife.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Launches On-Line Image Library

May 19, 2006 — By Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

FALMOUTH, Mass. — The saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" is increasingly true in today's world as images are used throughout society to entertain, inform and educate. Locating just the right image can be difficult, but thanks to new technology, that job has gotten easier at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), which has millions of surface and underwater images from projects around the world during more than 75 years of ocean exploration.

The Institution has created WHOI ImageSource, a database of images and illustrations collected since the founding of the Institution in 1930. Combining a number of visual libraries and collections at the Institution, WHOI ImageSource was created to provide the interested public and the scientific community with a convenient source for their oceanographic visual needs.

ImageSource currently has more than 36,000 images accessible to the public, with more images added every week. Among the growing collection are current photographs of people, places, technology, events and projects; underwater photography from Alvin, Jason II and other exploration vehicles; illustrations and animations from WHOI publications and presentations; and historical photographs of the Institution and the Woods Hole area.

"WHOI receives a lot of requests for images to use in everything from books and textbooks to exhibits, presentations and the media," Visual Resources Manager Melissa Lamont said. "We also have many staff members looking for images for their presentations, proposals, publications and projects. It has often been very hard or time consuming to find images people want because they have been kept in different collections around the Institution, and sometimes information about the particular image is lacking."

"WHOI ImageSource is a new undertaking and we are in the early stages of development, still working out the bugs," Lamont said. "But it has already proven to be a timesaver for Institution staff who use images daily in their work because they are finding things faster and generally have more information about the image itself. The interested public now has an opportunity to search for images as well, and we hope the database will be just as useful to them."

The Woods Hole Image Source system was supplied by the U.K. based company, iBase Media Services. Since the early 1990s, iBase has been creating and supplying systems to academic, scientific, commercial and heritage organizations for the management of, and access to, images and other digital media such as sound and video clips.

iBase has provided similar systems for a variety of cultural groups, public and corporate organizations and educational institutions including the British Library, the Royal Shakespeare Company, St Andrews University Library, the City of London Guildhall Libraries and Art Gallery, British Waterways, Lloyds Register Fairplay, Glasgow City Libraries, Harrow School, and the Shetland Islands Museum.

WHOI looked at a number of systems before choosing iBase about two years ago. More than 100,000 images have been digitized, described and added to the system. Given the size of the Institution's collections, adding images will be an ongoing task for years to come, Lamont said. Plans call for eventually adding films and video to the database.

"iBase is very proud to be associated with one of the world's leading scientific institutions," iBase Managing Director Malcolm Secrett said. "We are very pleased to be working closely with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in customizing their standard iBase Image Manager system to Woods Hole's particular needs. Having a system like this is unprecedented at a research organization."

The public can log in to WHOI ImageSource as a guest and view the public collections. Instructions are provided on how to log in and browse the collections, save images and seek permission for use of photographs or illustrations. The system can be accessed via the Internet at www.whoi.edu/ims

The site is still in beta form and feedback is appreciated; comments or questions can be sent to images@whoi.edu.

About Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - WHOI is a private, independent marine research and engineering, and higher education organization located in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Its primary mission is to understand the oceans and their interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean's role in the changing global environment. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Institution is organized into five departments, interdisciplinary institutes and a marine policy center, and conducts a joint graduate education program with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Contact Info:

Shelley Dawicki
Media Relations Office
Tel : 508-289-2270 or 3340
E-mail : sdawicki@whoi.edu

Website : Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Penguins, Otters Returning to New Orleans

May 23, 2006 — By Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. — Nineteen African blackfooted penguins and two sea otters that were rescued from a New Orleans aquarium after Hurricane Katrina returned home Monday on a cargo flight donated by FedEx Corp.

The creatures, which had been living at the Monterey Bay Aquarium since September, departed Oakland International Airport in a FedEx plane at 8 a.m., said aquarium spokeswoman Karen Jeffries.

The 21 animals were evacuated when Katrina forced the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas to shut down. The New Orleans aquarium was expected to reopen over Memorial Day weekend.

The evacuees arrived early Monday afternoon at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, where they were welcomed on a purple carpet by a brass band, before returning to the aquarium, said spokesman Ryan Furby for Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx, which donated the chartered flight and $100,000 to the aquarium.

"They are in their exhibit now and they seem very happy to be home," Furby said. "They're swimming around. They seem to be feeling well."

The displaced penguins joined the Monterey aquarium's 18 own penguins, most of which originally came from New Orleans.

"It was a family reunion when we helped rescue them and brought them out here," Jeffries said, adding that the crowded exhibit was one of its most popular. "Penguins do like living in large colonies. They feel more secure with more penguins around."