Wildlife

Score one for \o7 Mustela putorius furo, \f7 the outlaw with the sharp teeth, bristly hair and weasel look. Amnesty is still a ways off, but the state Fish and Game Commission took a major step Thursday toward lifting the state's controversial and widely defied ban on the importation and ownership of ferrets.

The clandestine dumping of used motor oil into a storm drain has tainted part of Upper Newport Bay, threatening bird life and triggering a cleanup effort by the state Department of Fish and Game. The oil entered the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve, where salt marshes are home to hundreds of birds, including some rare species. While state officials cannot yet say what damage the spill might cause, they estimate that as many as 200 to 300 birds might come into contact with the oil.

They live in wooded areas of the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary. They subsist on a diet consisting largely of manzanita, toyon seeds and coffee berry. Shy and secretive by nature, they appear to be terrified by the onslaught of development crashing in around them.

Wildlife artists and the creatures that inspire them, including endangered wildcats and birds of prey, have transformed the Anaheim Convention Center into a combination menagerie and art gallery. Nearly 90 painters, sculptors and photographers have set up booths at the October-West Wildlife and Western Art Show, which runs through Sunday.

Sunday. 9 a.m. Sixty-five international shipments of 2,428 boxes containing 878,394 tropical fish swimming in sealed sandwich bags await inspection by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Los Angeles International Airport. Smuggling of dangerous or endangered species is the government's concern. In a perfect world, every box should be cut open, each bag checked. But, as usual, there is just one inspector. This Sunday, it is Mike Osborn, supervisor for Southern California.

An engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge was walking across a bridge to work about 8:45 a.m. Jan. 16 when he spotted something moving in the creek below. At first he thought it was a coyote, but as he got closer he could make out the low build, hulking forequarters and tawny fur. Mountain lion. The engineer, Matthew Dickie, moved to grab his camera, and the animal crouched and froze. Other people walking to work noticed and peered over the bridge too. I'll be damned.

California's peregrine falcons, once driven to the edge of extinction by the pesticide DDT, now are contaminated with record-high levels of other toxic chemicals that may threaten them again. State scientists have found that peregrines in Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Francisco contain the highest levels of flame retardants found in any living organism worldwide.

An agreement to protect wildlife was announced Friday between the toll road agency and a state agency on the proposed extension of an Orange County toll road, a controversial link that would cut through a popular state park and famed surf spot. Proponents said the agreement helps breathe new life into the proposed toll road extension, which has divided politicians, environmentalists and transportation planners for years. Opponents dismissed it as insignificant.

A wildfire that has charred nearly 31,000 acres in eastern North Carolina may smolder for months as it burns decayed vegetation that makes up the soil in the area, officials said. The fire, which authorities say is about 40% contained, continues to burn in the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, about 70 miles south of Norfolk, Va. The spread of the fire across more than 48 square miles slowed over the last few days.

Nature has filled the larders for the black bears of the Sierra, making a repeat of last year's surge in conflicts with people unlikely, experts said. A report into the precedent-setting summer of 2007 shows a combination of conditions that had bears raiding trash containers and breaking into homes in dramatic numbers and wildlife officials scrambling to respond. "It was incredible," said Carl Lackey, a biologist and bear expert for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. The numbers show that since the late 1980s, there has been a "remarkable and steady increase" in bear complaints in Nevada, according to a recent report Lackey prepared on bear activity.