Santa Cruz Island

An animal rights group that fought unsuccessfully to block the slaughter of thousands of feral pigs on Santa Cruz Island has sued the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy this week, hoping to block further killing of wild turkeys on the island off the Ventura County coast. "We filed suit because we have to break this cycle of slaughter, slaughter, slaughter without looking at the long-term ramifications," said Elliot M.

National Park Service biologists said two bald eagles have an egg in their nest on Santa Cruz Island, their second in as many years. More significant is that the egg might mean bald eagles can reproduce naturally in the Channel Islands. The number of eagles on the islands declined in the 1960s because of over-hunting and the heavy use of the chemical DDT.

Fishermen sometimes travel a long way to get skunked. In my case last Saturday, it was 75 miles by car to Ventura, 20 miles by boat to Scorpion Anchorage, and 3.7 miles by foot to Smuggler's Cove. I invited my brother for good luck and he caught all the fish -- a few scrappy perch, not much bigger than his palm. But a trip here isn't about the fishing. Casting lures at one end of a tiring hike is merely a carefree way to pass time and rest for the return journey.

The latest bald eagle chick born on Santa Cruz Island without human assistance hatched early Friday, officials announced. In the last two weeks, four other eaglets hatched on Santa Catalina Island, another in the chain of eight islands off the coast of Southern California. The recent births are part of an effort to restore eagle habitat on the Channel Islands.

Not a twitch, not a swallow, not a stretch goes unnoticed. Around the country, eagle fanciers stay glued to their computer screens as the reintroduced bald eagles of Santa Cruz Island go about their daily lives before the unblinking eye of the EagleCam. From a law office in Franklin Square, N.Y., Deb Hansen -- Harpo516 to her peers -- gazes 3,000 miles to the west, with the eagles' Santa Cruz nest occupying at least a corner of her screen all day.

Efforts to restore the ecosystem on Santa Cruz Island to its native state reached a milestone this week as scientists said that a two-year program to eliminate feral pigs had been a success. Although the last confirmed pig death was last year, the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy, which owns 75% of the island, have been monitoring the results of the $5-million eradication effort since then to gauge the program's effects. They say the island's endangered species are rebounding.

Ten Santa Cruz Island fox pups have been released into the wild, the last of a group reared in captivity as part of an effort to restore the endangered species. The pups scurried into wooded canyons Monday in the middle of the 96-square-mile island off the Ventura County coast, said Tim Coonan, a biologist with the National Park Service. There were once 1,500 foxes, but their numbers dwindled to as few as 80 because of pigs and turkeys brought to the island by ranchers.

Rescuers say a lone 70-year-old sailor lost all electricity on his 50-foot yacht near Santa Cruz Island and was airlifted to safety by a U.S. Coast Guard crew before his vessel ran aground and was destroyed early Friday. A Coast Guard official said that without electricity the man could not start his auxiliary engine to avoid being blown toward the island.

The National Park Service has lifted a temporary ban on camping on Santa Cruz Island, imposed in November to ensure public safety while hunters taking aim at the island's feral pigs focused their efforts near camping areas. The park service said the $5-million pig hunt was necessary to protect the endangered Santa Cruz Island fox.

A federal judge has ruled that the National Park Service did not violate environmental laws in its slaughter of wild pigs on Santa Cruz Island. U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian Jr. on Monday dismissed a lawsuit trying to stop the killings, the third time he has handed animal rights activists a defeat. Tevrizian has denied requests for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to stop the pig-eradication program.