For years, The HSUS warned Ohio policy makers about the madness of allowing private citizens to keep dangerous wild animals as pets. They ignored the issue, or what to me is more incriminating, they bowed to the influence and pressure of the rowdy band of exotic animal owners who claimed it was their right to have any animals they wanted.

Pretty much every sane person got clarity on the issue in 2011 after Terry Thompsonin Zanesville, just before taking his own life. Law enforcement personnel dramatically hunted the creatures down as dusk enveloped the eastern Ohio town, in an attempt to protect the community from the, grizzly bears and cougars that were on the loose.

The question is, why risk the lives of people and animals just so someone can claim bragging rights by having a big, powerful animal in his control? Hey, I get the human-animal bond as well as anyone, but that can be satisfied with. Getting your animal fix need not require a chimp or a tiger or a boa constrictor. The risks far exceed the rewards for society. And yes, we are members of a society, with a collective set of rules. It's not a free-for-all, where we do anything we wish, regardless of the consequences.

So this brings me to last Monday's incident, where a 100-pound African rock python escaped into a New Brunswick apartment above a pet store, found its way into a bedroom and killed two little boys by asphyxiating them.

Even though it occurred over the national border in Canada, will this be our wake-up moment in the United States on the reckless trade in? Do we have to witness a mass release of pythons or anacondas in a community, a colonization of a fragile ecosystem and destruction of the native wildlife, the death or injury of more innocent people and the demise of thousands of more large, constricting snakes through the exotic-animal trade in order to get clarity on this situation?

Eighteen months ago, the Obama administration took a half-step on the issue, banning trade in just four of nine large constricting snakes that the U.S. Geological Survey had recommended for listing under the Lacey Act. Amazingly enough, it was the hollering of reptile breeders and snake owners and their false claims about an outrageously large economic impact that prevented the White House from taking stronger action.

With the election now in the rear-view mirror, it's time for the Obama administration to complete the job. One of Vermont's largest papers, , weighed-in on the issue recently with authority and clarity. The paper has it just right, and it's my hope that the new secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the White House will act with all deliberate speed to get a new policy in place. There's no compelling rationale for inaction. We should not wait until crises happen before we enact sensible policies. We should prevent problems before they occur.

Pacelle's most recent Op-Ed was . This article was adapted from, which first appeared as on the HSUS blog . The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This article was originally published on

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Public schools in Duncan, Oklahoma, were on alert on Wednesday after police received threats against Duncan High School following the arrest of three teenagers in connection with the killing of a university student from Australia.

The school, in a town of 24,000 about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City, was told of the anonymous threats on Tuesday night by police, schools superintendent Sherry Labyer said in a message on the Duncan Public Schools' website. The nature of the threats was not known.

Christopher Lane, 23, of Melbourne, was killed by a gunshot in the back on Friday as he was jogging in Duncan.

Duncan public schools were requiring students to stay on campus until a parent or guardian checked them out, Labyer said. She said children whose parents preferred to keep them home on Wednesday would be excused, Labyer said.

"Please know that we are committed to taking all reasonable action to protect the well-being of our students," said Labyer.

A representative for Duncan High School declined to say if the suspects attended that school, and referred questions to police, who did not immediately return calls for comment.

Chancey Allen Luna, 16, and James Francis Edwards Jr., 15, have been charged with first degree murder, according to the Stephens County District Attorney's office. Michael Dewayne Jones, 17, has been charged with use of a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon and accessory to murder after the fact, the District Attorney's office said.

All three have been charged as adults, though Jones is considered a youthful offender.

District Attorney Jason Hicks said he intended to pursue adult sentences for all three. In Jones' case that would be 5 years to 45 years for being an accessory after the fact, and 2 years to life for use of a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon.

"I will be shocked if he is not found to be eligible to be sentenced as an adult," Hicks said of Jones.

Terrell Cox, 16, a student at Duncan High School, told Reuters the three suspects were a "stand-off group that didn't seem to care that much."

Cox said the atmosphere "pretty hectic" at his school on Wednesday. "People are either very scared or just not bothered," Cox said. "This is not normal for Duncan ... It's like culture shock."

Lane was jogging during a visit with his girlfriend and her family in Duncan when he was shot, police said. He attended East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, where he was on a baseball scholarship.

According to police, Jones said the teens decided to kill someone "for the fun of it."

Police said Jones told them on Sunday that the three teenagers saw Lane jogging and decided he would be their target, followed him in their vehicle and then shot him in the back.

If convicted, Luna and Edwards face a possible sentence of life in prison without parole, according to court documents. Under a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, they could not receive the death penalty because of their ages.

The next court hearing for Jones has been scheduled for October 2, and a preliminary hearing for Edwards and Luna has been set for October 16.

(Reporting by Heide Brandes in Oklahoma City; Additional reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Andre Grenon)

Researchers at the University of New South Wales discovered the site near the , an UNESCO World Heritage site, in northwest Queensland last year, and have since collected nearly 4,000 lbs. (1,800 kilograms) of rock for analysis, according to a statement from the university.

Preliminary analyses suggest that theabout 13 million to 5 million years ago a period marking Australia'sto the arid climate that persists today and an epoch largely missing from the known fossil record.

"This was a critical time during which the widespread, lush, ancient rainforests of Australia rapidly gave way to increasingly drier conditions," paleontologist Mike Archer, a leader of the excavation, said in a statement. "At least some of these new deposits may help to fill out that critical 13-[million]-to-5-million-year-old gap."

The team used a combination of geologic maps and satellite imagery to locate the field. They first examined satellite data and geologic maps of the Riversleigh World Heritage fossil field to identify physical characteristics that distinguish that site from surrounding rocks without . They then searched through satellite imagery of nearby regions, looking for similar features, and found a region containing comparable rocks just 9 miles (15 kilometers) west of the World Heritage site.

The team traveled to that remote site now named New Riversleigh to confirm these findings, and found a fossil field densely packed with previously undocumented species of marsupials (pouched mammals like kangaroos and wallabies), as well as new species of bats. []

The researchers have begun treating the samples with acid to wash away hardened silt, but are still in the preliminary stages of piecing the fossils together. Still, some of the samples have already provided a peek into the ancient landscape of Australia. For example, the teeth of plant-eating species appear worn-down, suggesting that the animals lived during a time when vegetation on the continent had begun to transition from lush rainforests to the tougher flora of modern Australia.

"This region is an amazing place at the heart of the story of the origins of the Australian continent and its bizarre biota," Archer said in a statement. "We anticipate that the new finds will soon be followed by many more, adding significantly to our understanding about how Australia transformed from an Amazon-like world to the dry continent we see today."

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Blatter told The Associated Press on Sunday that he asked "by letter and by personal contacts" up to Russian President Vladimir Putin for details about legislation that has provoked an international outcry leading to the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

"The office of Mr. Putin has promised to me that they will send all these documents in the first days of September," Blatter said. "And I have also asked the Swiss embassy to look and to help us to obtain the correct versions of that."

Russia's law prohibiting promotion of "nontraditional" sexual relations has been denounced by activists and criticized by President Barack Obama.

Soccer's governing body joined the IOC in asking Russia how the law would apply during their events, and if athletes and fans face discrimination.

"For the time being we have received only protests and demands from our football, sports or Olympics people. I have received nothing officially from the Russians," said Blatter, who is also an International Olympic Committee member.

FIFA legal statutes state that discrimination is "punishable by suspension or expulsion" for individuals in football or member federations.

"When you speak with the Russians, they don't speak about discrimination, they speak about protection (of minors). That is different. I said, 'So please give me the evidence that you are protecting somebody and not discriminating,'" Blatter told the AP on the sidelines of his annual charity soccer tournament in his family's home village.

Blatter intends to table the issue at an Oct. 3-4 meeting of the 27-member FIFA executive committee, which includes Russia's sports minister, Vitaly Mutko.

Blatter said he expects to meet with Mutko on 2018 World Cup business before the board meeting in Zurich.

He also offered to help the IOC deal with Russian authorities, and support the Olympic body's new president who will be elected in a Sept. 10 vote that Blatter will attend in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Last Thursday, the IOC announced it had a reply from Russia to clarify how the law would operate around the Feb. 7-23 Winter Games.

"We have today received strong written reassurances from the Russian government that everyone will be welcome at the games in Sochi regardless of their sexual orientation," outgoing IOC President Jacques Rogge said in a statement.

Still, the letter did not address directly what would happen to Olympic athletes or fans if they make statements or gestures that Russian authorities consider propaganda.

The new research shows that the , which emerged in China in March, likely originated in migratory birds, was passed to domestic ducks, and made the jump to chickens at least twice.

As the researchers studied the H7N9 flu, they found a previously unknown virus, called H7N7. In laboratory tests, this H7N7 virus infected ferrets, which are often used a model for . H7N7 viruses have appeared in other parts of the world, but the one the researchers found differed from those. It isn't deadly, but it is still a potential problem for humans, the researchers said.

Flu viruses are named for their proteins the "H" in the name comes from hemagglutinin, and the "N" from neuraminidase. Both the H7N9 virus and the H7H7 virus belong to the H7 family of viruses. []

There are probably other viruses like H7N7 that are circulating in the poultry populations in China, said study researcher Yi Guan, of the Joint Influenza Research Centre in Hong Kong. China has about 65 percent of the world's domestic ducks, and many live poultry markets, where contact between people and chickens is common.

Many , Guan noted, don't cause people any problems. They spread through poultry populations and "burn out" in a year or two. But H7-type flu viruses persist and evolve into new forms.

Vincent Racaniello, professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University in New York, said this kind of surveillance study is important in finding new viruses and understanding them better.

If scientists saw changes in the H7N7's proteins, for instance, they could see becoming more dangerous to humans, said Racaniello, who was not involved in the new study.

To track the origins of H7N9, the researchers collected thousands of samples from six. They sequenced the virus's genomes, and the results are published Thursday (Aug. 22) in the journal Nature.

The H7N9 virus has infected 130 people in China and caused 40 deaths. It seems to spread easily from chickens to people, though there's no evidence of sustained .

Guan said the most surprising thing the team found was just how widespread flu viruses are. "If the virus continues to circulate in poultry, further adaptation may occur, possibly leading to easier transmission to humans," he said.

Influenza viruses often change as they are transmitted between individuals and species; as H7N9 made its way from migratory to domestic birds, it exchanged genes with other types of flu. That's what gave it the ability infect people, the researchers said.

A key development for the virus was altering its proteins so it could bind to the cells in the upper respiratory tracts of chickens. Many varieties of flu live in the birds' intestines, but they aren't spread through the air. However, once the virus infects the chickens' upper respiratory tract, people in close contact with the animals are more likely to be infected.

The simplest way to deal with outbreaks, Guan said, is to cull the chickens and ban the overnight storage of live poultry. The Chinese government instituted such a ban in 2008, and a 2012 study found reduced the spread of influenza.

Racaniello emphasized that while the number of deaths due to H7N9 may make the virus seem particularly worrisome, it's important to remember that not all cases of infection are reported. In other words, there might be many people infected who never show symptoms or aren't sick enough to go to a hospital.

"The people who died might have other health problems," he said.

Guan said his team plans to study how H7N9 kills and transmits to people. It's also important to keep sending research teams out to watch the birds. "Surveillance in birds is essential to let us know what is happening to viruses in the field, and what threats may be emerging," Guan said.

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In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama promotes his plan to make college more affordable. He wants the government to rate colleges based on opportunity so students can pick schools with the best value.

Obama says not everyone will agree. But he says the current path of skyrocketing tuition is unsustainable for students and for the economy.

In the Republican address, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana says businesses and workers are in "survival mode" because of Obama's health care law. He says Republican governors have solutions to improve health care without weighing down the economy.

___

Online:

Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress

The Eurocopter Super Puma helicopter operated by CHC, a company that serves offshore oil and gas platforms ditched into the sea about two miles (3 kms) from Sumburgh airport in Shetland on Friday night. It was carrying 16 passengers and two crew members.

CHC said the aircraft was approaching the airport when it lost contact with air traffic control. The coastguard agency said it sent helicopters and lifeboats to the scene after receiving a distress signal.

"There appears to have been a catastrophic loss of power which meant the helicopter suddenly dropped into the sea without any opportunity to make a controlled landing," said Jim Nicholson, a rescue coordinator.

CHC would not speculate on what caused the crash, saying it would cooperate fully with an investigation by police and the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

Police in Scotland said three bodies had been recovered, and they were searching for the fourth victim.

The 14 survivors were taken to a hospital, but their injuries were not serious. Oil company Total UK said one of them was its employee, while the others worked for separate contractor groups.

Friday's crash was the latest in a string of incidents involving Super Puma helicopters in Scotland in recent years. Two such helicopters ditched in the North Sea last year, with all the passengers rescued. One crashed while returning from a BP platform in 2009, killing 16 people.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the offshore workers' union RMT, said the Super Puma fleet should be grounded until the causes of Friday's crash were established.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country singer Luke Bryan's latest record stormed straight to the top of the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, while pop singer Katy Perry scored her biggest digital song debut to date with new single "Roar."

"Crash My Party," the fourth studio album from Bryan, sold more than 527,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan, making it his best debut.

It is also the third-biggest opening for an album this year, behind Jay Z's "Magna Carta ... Holy Grail," which sold 528,000 in its first week in July, and Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience," which debuted with 968,000 in March.

Hip-hop artist K. Michelle was the only other new album to enter the top 10 of the Billboard 200 this week, landing at No. 2 with her debut album "Rebellious Soul," selling 71,000 copies.

Pop singer Perry, who released her first single "Roar" from upcoming album "Prism" last week, scored her best sales week as the song sold more than 557,000 downloads and topped the Billboard Digital Songs chart.

The song also notched No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, which measures radio airplay, online streaming and sales, but it was unable to knock off Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" featuring T.I. and Pharrell, which clocked its 11th non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the chart.

"Roar" beat out stiff competition from Lady Gaga, who released her new single "Applause" from upcoming album "ARTPOP," which reached No. 3 on the digital songs chart with 218,000 downloads and No. 6 on the Hot 100 chart.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Eric Kelsey and Cynthia Osterman)

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Mauritius has for the second time this year cut its 2013 arrival forecast after tourist numbers grew marginally in the first half and earnings fell, the statistics office said on Thursday.

Amid a festering debt crisis and stagnant economic growth, Europeans have cut down on the number of long-haul holidays taken to sun-drenched destinations like Mauritius.

Wary of its reliance on Europe, Mauritius and regional rivals like the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean are increasingly looking to new markets in Asia to drive growth in tourism, but this has so far failed to reverse the tide.

Mauritius, best known for its azure waters, white beaches and luxury spas, said it expects 980,000 tourists this year from its previous forecast of a 2.5 percent rise to 990,000.

The Port Louis government had initially expected tourist numbers to hit the one million mark this year, but revised this downwards in June. Last year, tourist arrivals rose just 0.1 percent to 965,441.

Tourism accounts for about 8 percent of gross domestic product for Mauritius' $10 billion economy.

Statistics Mauritius said tourist arrivals to the palm-fringed Indian Ocean island rose only slightly by 1 percent to 471,664 in the first six months of 2013.

Tourism revenue for the first half was estimated at 22.05 billion rupees, a 6.3 percent decline compared to the same period in last year, the central bank said.

Tourism revenue for the whole year is forecast to be flat at 44.60 billion rupees compared to 44.37 billion a year ago.

Statistics Mauritius said the average room occupancy rate for all hotels during the first half of 2013 was 60 percent, compared to 62 percent in the same period last year.

Earlier this month, Mauritius leading hotel group New Mauritius Hotels posted a sharp decline of 30 percent in pretax profit.

Mueller sees terrorism as a shifting landscape, evolving from Osama bin Laden's global brand in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks to the splintering threats arising in the fallout from the Arab Spring across the Middle East.

"Every one of these countries now has cadres of individuals who you would put in the category of extremists, violent extremists, and that will present threats down the road," Mueller said.

Mueller, the architect of the bureau's transformation into a terrorism-fighting agency, spoke to reporters at FBI headquarters this week.

The director's last day on the job is Sept. 4. His successor, former Justice Department official James Comey, will be on hand next week for the transition.

During Mueller's tenure, terrorists were thwarted in their efforts to bring down a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001, a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas in 2009 and U.S.-bound cargo planes carrying printer cartridge bombs. But the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured hundreds in April and the 2009 shooting that killed 13 and injured more than 30 at Fort Hood, Texas, are powerful reminders that the protective net against terrorism is not infallible.

"I always say my biggest worry is ... an attack on a plane," Mueller said. "And secondly, it's a weapon of mass destruction in the hands of a terrorist and that includes a cyber-capability that trumps the defenses that we have."

He also sees the risk of a cyberattack on a financial institution or on a sector such as energy "where we do not have sufficient barricades or preventive capabilities."

Mueller's initial foray into the world of counter-terrorism came more than two decades ago with the attack on Pan Am Flight 103, which was blown up over Scotland in 1988.

"I spent lot of time on that investigation over at the Department of Justice" and "still spend time with the survivors of that horrible, horrible disaster," said the director.

As he has in recent congressional testimony, Mueller defended the National Security Agency's classified surveillance programs.

"I am fairly comfortable and confident that we are doing things the way the American public would expect us to," said Mueller. He said the NSA programs are "tremendously important to the protection, not only from terrorist attacks, but from other threats to the United States."

Regarding the disclosures of classified information by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden, Mueller said "they have impacted" criminal investigations and are "in the process of impacting capabilities around the world." He declined to give any details.

Mueller made the comments the same day that a new round of revelations about the surveillance showed that the NSA scooped up as many as 56,000 emails and other communications annually over three years by Americans not connected to terrorism. He spoke to reporters before those details were made public.

In the interview, he declined to comment on prospects that Congress might restrict the surveillance programs or require greater disclosure about the details of the programs.

Looking back, Mueller says he didn't expect to be focused on terrorism when he took the job that has consumed the past 12 years of his life in law enforcement.

Mueller says he thought he would be overseeing the kinds of cases he had worked on as a federal prosecutor organized crime, narcotics, public corruption and white-collar crime.

"I had in my own mind some ideas about where the bureau needed to go and then a week later we had Sept. 11," Mueller said. "I did not expect I would be spending my time preventing terrorist attacks." For the FBI, "it's not what we want to do, or like doing, it's what the American public expects us to do."

The FBI often succeeded in that goal but not always.

"I would say you feel the most pain from what happened at some place like Fort Hood or what happened up in Boston," Mueller said. "That's not to say that you could have prevented it, that's speculation. But the fact of the matter is, you sit down with victims' families, you see the pain they go through and you always wonder whether there isn't something more" that could have been done.