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A6 The World The Boston Globe MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009 Experiment seeks to house declining South Africa penguins Effort aimed at reversing drop in species' numbers By Clare Nullis ASSOCIATED PRESS BOULDERS BEACH, South Africa Nesting in the sparkling sand, preening on the rocks and darting through the waters, the penguins on the southern tip of Africa are the ultimate crowd-pleaser. But crisis looms. Short of food, exposed to predators and the sun, their numbers are plummeting. But salvation may rest in a simple man-made solution housing for penguins. Dotting the shore of this penguin colony near the Cape of Good Hope are 200 nesting boxes, each big enough to house a happy family of parents, eggs, and chicks.

The experiment has worked well on a more distant penguin island in South African waters, and wildlife rangers are eager to see whether the boxes recently installed on Boulders thorities had to build fences to prevent them from invading people's gardens. But the tourists poured in. About 600,000 a year now visit Boulders Beach, which boasts that it is the only place in the world where people can swim with penguins. The real life "Happy Feet" are unfazed by all the attention and, apart from a few who were killed while snoozing under visitors' cars, don't seem to have suffered from their contact with humans. There is a constant risk from pollution.

The last big oil spill was in 2000, when 20,000 penguins were trucked about 470 miles from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth to allow workers time to clean up oil from a wrecked tanker while the birds swam home. But even in years with no big accidents, the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds has to rescue and rehabilitate hundreds of birds whose feathers are covered in oil illegally dumped at sea and washed ashore. Beach, where tourists can watch the birds up close, will prove equally attractive. "You look at the penguins and think they have a lovely time in sunny South Africa, but it's a struggle," said Monique Ruthen-berg, a ranger with the Table Mountain National Park in Cape Town, where summer temperatures recently hit 104 degress. Park authorities installed the boxes made of a fiberglass mix, shaped like a burrow, and dug into the sand to mimic the real nests at Boulders Beach as part of desperate efforts to protect the dwindling populations of African penguins.

It has been a losing struggle. Numbers of the curious creatures have plummeted from about 3 million in the 1930s to 120,000 because of overfishing and pollution. Some specialists fear the species will die out in as little as a decade, and are particularly alarmed at the prospect of global warming increasing the number of scorching days, raising water temperatures and altering fish migration patterns. reticent on some US goals "I Melted Off 61 Lbs!" Children looked at penguins in Overfishing and pollution have The Boulders Beach colony has fallen 30 percent from a peak of 3,900 birds in 2005 to 2,600 and some of the island colonies have suffered calamitous declines of 50 percent. The African penguin, also called the jackass because of its bray, is the only one to inhabit the continent.

It has shorter Obama may Diplomatic style could get big test By Jennifer Loven ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON President Obama's first European trip could dampen his hopes that a new diplomatic style will convert once-reluctant allies into cooperative global partners. From taking in Guantanamo Bay prisoners to sending more troops into Afghanistan's most difficult regions and spending their way out of economic crisis, European nations remain reticent about some of the toughest US priorities. Obama jets across the Atlantic tomorrow on an eight-day five-country trip that will be dizzying even by the usual peripatetic standards of presidential foreign travel. The overseas tour will introduce him to the world stage. He will attend international summits on complex, urgent top "Losing weight with hypnosis was easier than I ever dreamed far easier than diets and pills! My dress size plunged from a tight 16 to a slender size 6.

I've kept my weight off for 3 effortless years! I consider myself living testimony that my hypnosis works." -Emily Brady SCHALK VAN ZUYD AMASSOCIATED PRESS Simons Town, South Africa. posed a big threat to penguins. feathers than the Antarctic birds because it doesn't face such cold and is just 20 inches tall. The Boulders Colony began in 1985 when a couple of penguins moved from a nearby island onto the beach in the naval base of Simon's Town, decided they liked it, and stayed. So many followed that au find Europe ics the global financial meltdown and the downward-spiral-ing fight against terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He plans individual meetings with leaders important to US strategic interests, from nations including Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and India. Obama also will make his first stop in a Muslim nation, Turkey. Wildly popular around the globe but relatively inexperienced in foreign affairs, Obama also will squeeze in a Buckingham Palace audience with Queen Elizabeth II, joined by his wife, Michelle; deliver a speech in France on the trans-Atlantic relationship and an address in Prague on weapons proliferation; and hold a round-table session with students in Turkey. The week before the president's departure was a whirlwind as well. His administration released long-awaited plans to restart Nation" in an interview broadcast yesterday.

The president also bemoaned the tenuous security situation in Afghanistan, saying, "Unless we get a handle on it now, we're gonna be in trouble." Obama taped the interview Friday, the same day he launched the fresh effort to defeat Al Qa-eda terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have praised the new US The population fall continues, especially on the more remote Dyer Island where numbers have plummeted from 23,000 breeding pairs in the early 1970s to 1,500 pairs. Penguins normally mate for life. "It's horrible," said Wilfred Chivell, chairman of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust, who blames bad fishing management for a dwindling supply of sardines and pilchards, the penguins' main food. Such is the competition for fish that Ruthenberg says young seals attack penguins to rip the fish from their bellies.

Gulls prey on the eggs and young chicks, often working as a team; the nesting penguins leave their eggs to chase away the invaders, while another gull sneaks in behind, she said. Eggs lie abandoned in the sand because the parents have taken to the water to escape the heat. Once a nesting pair abandons its eggs, other penguins often follow suit. asked differently. "It is important for us to understand that the way we are perceived in the world is going to make a difference, in terms of our capacity to get cooperation," Obama said in a presidential debate.

That sort of talk will meet reality this week. "This is a real test of his leadership," said Reginald Dale, a Europe scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Nile Gardiner, once a foreign policy researcher for former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and an analyst on Europe at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the divide between the United States and Europe on stimulus spending, for instance, threatens to be "as big as the trans-Atlantic divide over the Iraq war." He criticized the administration for poorly handling both trip preparations and its relations with traditional allies. Obama says our sights, after consulting with Pakistan, we're going after them. But our main thrust has to be to help Pakistan defeat these extremists." Asked if he meant he would put US troops on the ground in Pakistan, Obama said: "No." He noted that Pakistan is a sovereign nation and said: "We need to work with them and through them to deal with Al Qaeda.

But we have to hold them much more accountable." "So Good" T-shirt Two-sided. 100 cotton. Sizes: S-XXL. $24" Search: SOGOOD "What's not to love' T-shirt Women's long tunic style. 100 cotton.

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His welcome this time is expected to be no less enthusiastic. Since taking office, Obama has made down payments on several campaign promises that had endeared him to Europe, such as addressing global warming, ending the Iraq war, and closing the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Each had stoked acrimony toward former President George W. Bush. Obama also pledged to listen and consult rather than lecture and dictate.

The implication was that countries and their leaders would be more willing to help if accountable, strategy for dealing with growing violence in the region. But Obama has irked Pakistan since taking office in January by retaining a powerful but controversial weapon left over from the Bush administration: unmanned Predator drone missile strikes on Pakistan along its border with Afghanistan. Pakistan has urged Obama to halt the strikes. Without directly referring to the strikes, Obama said: "If we have a high-value target within Pakistan needs to be more Call OUR NO RISK GURANTEE session you are not satisfied for any reason, we will refund 100 of your money before you leave the mk Now For Your FREE Evaluation 1-877-POSITIVE 175 Highland Ave. Needham Yes, It Works.

Member of BBB Serving Eastern Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont are limited. Shipping not included. ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON As he carries out a retooled strategy in Afghanistan, President Obama says he will consult with Pakistan's leaders before pursuing terrorist hideouts in that country. Obama said US ally Pakistan needs to be more accountable, but ruled out deploying US troops there. "Our plan does not change the recognition of Pakistan as a sovereign government," the president told CBS' "Face the "Greatest Sports Town' T-shirt 100 cotton.

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