Dumpster diving bears get new home at zoo

From KRQE-TV.com - ROSWELL, N.M. - There's new hope for a pair of dumpster diving bear cubs. They're the newest attraction at a southeastern New Mexico zoo after they were picked up off a Ruidoso street rummaging through trash bins with their mom.
     "Momma was a trash bear and the babies learned very quickly that the cafeteria was a trash can," said Roswell Spring River Park & Zoo Director Elaine Mayfield.
     But now these two cubs are the newest residents at the Spring River Park & Zoo in Roswell.
     It's a place where zookeepers say the animals will never have to scrounge for food again.
     "It's nice that we have them here," said Mayfield. It's a shame they can't be in the wild, but we will take them. They will be education ambassadors."
     Mayfield says the 7-month-old bears don't necessarily have the best record with the New Mexico Game and Fish Department and neither did their mom.
     "Several weeks ago, we had a female bear causing problems, breaking into cabins and things like that. She had lost all fear of humans and this was actually in downtown Ruidoso, so our officers responded, and of course this female bear had a couple cubs," said New Mexico Game and Fish public information officer Mark Madsen.
     Madsen says the mother bear had created so many problems he and his staff had to put her down.
      Luckily for the babies, now known as Sierra and Ursella, the Roswell zoo just happened to be looking for a new addition. Their bear, Otto, passed away last month.
     Zoo officials say the cubs are being housed in a temporary pin while they do some maintenance work on Otto's old home. They say they hope to have the bears moved into a permanent enclosure within the next month. More


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Navajo Nation reverses stance on horse slaughter

Bill Richardson and Robert Redford
The Navajo Nation, under fire by animal protection groups for its wild horse roundups and public support for a return to domestic horse slaughter, says it is reversing its stance following talks with former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. 
Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly says he met with Richardson over the weekend and the two have agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding to work together to find more long-term and humane solutions to the horse overpopulation problem. 
Tribal officials estimate the Navajo Nation has 75,000 feral horses drinking wells dry and causing ecological damage to the drought-stricken range.
 Richardson and actor Robert Redford this year created the Foundation to Protect New Mexico Wildlife, which is fighting efforts by a Roswell company to a horse slaughterhouse.


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Flooding causes nearly $20 million in damage

Photo:KRQE
New Mexico officials say recent flooding caused about $19.8 million in damage to roads. 
In a briefing for a legislative panel on Tuesday, state Department of Transportation estimated it will cost about $13 million to repair state Route 159 in southwestern New Mexico
Part of the road leading to the tiny community of Mogollon was destroyed last month after heavy rains caused flooding. A department spokeswoman said reconstruction of two miles of the road near Mogollon will cost about $3 million and it will take $10 million to realign other parts of the road and deal with extensive erosion. Bulldozers have created a temporary road only for local access by high clearance vehicles.
 Damages totaled about $3 million to state Route 1 in Socorro County.


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