In short, Boulder rocks at being green.

Yep. There are groups out there protecting little rat things like this. Photo by Jeff Mitton.

And so I have a proposal for all of you environmentally savvy individuals: Enter yourself or tell someone you admire to enter him/herself to be a winner in the Green Awards before March 6.

Mr. or Ms. first place winner gets $25,000 and a trip to Los Angeles for the Green Awards celebration (although why they’re hosting the bash in such a smog-filled city is beyond me).

So here’s the place to sign up: https://www.thegreenawards.com.

And please, get in touch with Courtney, Laura or Dave at the Daily Camera when you win. It’ll make a sweet story.

“This was probably the biggest bull in the Estes Valley,” said Rick Spowart, district wildlife manager for Estes Park. “For about a month, I saw him every day on the golf course with a big harem, bugling and doing the whole rut thing. Whoever did this stole a great watchable wildlife opportunity from all of us.”

Have you seen this desert tortoise?

EARLIER: Lucy the desert tortoise usually goes out for a spin during the day and comes home. A stranger thought he’d help her out by getting her across a highway but, well, let’s let the Denver Post take it from here:

A good samaritan rescued her and lifted her across the highway so she wouldn’t be hit by a car.

Then, said Rockley, Lucy — who is extremely friendly, follows people, and answers to her name — followed her scent back to her Westminster home near 144th Avenue and Huron Street.

The 7-year-old reptile, who usually suns herself during the day and then knocks on the back door when the sun sets so she can sleep inside the house, actually got to the home last Thursday, said Rockley.

Because no one was home, Rockley said that Lucy saw some movers at the house next door and started following them, much like a family dog, perhaps hoping they could help her into the home.

Rockley said one of the movers picked up the tortoise and took her to his home but the mover’s wife didn’t want to keep Lucy.

On Saturday, Rockley was able to contact the mover who said he had taken Lucy to a pond located near East Emma Street and South Burlington Avenue in Lafayette.

Keep reading about Lucy the desert tortoise… I wish she knew about public transportation, like this great English dog or these Russsian ones!

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep | flickr user ingridtaylar

Sounds like the worst of it is outside Colorado, but it’s still sad.

Via the AP:

Pneumonia outbreaks that have killed hundreds of bighorn sheep this winter in several Western states have wildlife officials grappling with how to minimize the impact.Wildlife officials say the disease shows up sporadically in wild herds, but its unusual to have so many outbreaks in so many states. More than 400 bighorn sheep in Nevada, Montana, Utah and Washington have died – or been killed by wildlife officials – this winter, and the death toll is expected to rise in coming weeks.

Take, for example, this note posted on the door of Boulder creative pillar Alex Bogusky:

This was left on his door.

Read the rest — and the full story over at Alex’s posterous site.

Ric O’Barry of the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition — and more famously, part of the crew of the film “The Cove” and trainer of the original “Flipper” dolphin-actors — blogs that although Sept. 1 is the usual start of the dolphin slaughter in Taiji, there’s nothing going on today.

Yes, today was a good day for dolphins. Tomorrow, I will take journalists with me around town to show them Taiji. Tomorrow, too, I predict will be a good day for dolphins. Every day that we are here and the fishermen KNOW we are here, will likely mean no boats going out to round up dolphins for the killing Cove.

But it wouldn’t be hard to wait out journalists whose editors are unimpressed with two days’ worth of video of an empty cove. Has anybody read that there’s any actual policy change? Or even a hint that such a thing could happen?

Via Wend Magazine on Twitter.

A bald eagle. | Flickr user law_keven

In June, a hiker discovered a beheaded bald eagle corpse on the north slope of Legion Park Hill in Boulder. The gory find spurred countywide concern and even a $2,500 Humane Society reward for tips on the source of the mutilated eagle. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that the eagle mutilation was part of a growing trend fueled by the black market value of eagle feathers and talons:

Special agent Ken Dulik, who works for Oberholtzer, has investigated the killing of eagles for 20 years and knows the prices eagle parts can bring on the black market.

A whole eagle carcass – whether golden or bald – can bring a minimum of $1,000, with the going rate closer to $1,500, he said. Individual tail feathers of immature golden eagles, which are highly prized, bring about $100. A tail fan of a golden eagle brings between $500 and $800, he said.

Bald-eagle tail fans can bring $500.

After nearly a month, the Department of Wildlife announced that it had received an anonymous tip saying that the eagle was beheaded as part of a Native American ceremony (for which a permit had been granted). A Native American group also held a press conference to dispel some of the misconceptions about the ceremony, concerned that they were being portrayed negatively — and that the investigation had ruined the ritual:

“We need certain parts of this bird to cleanse our system,” said House. “The eagle soars the highest and carries our prayers to the creator.”

Now, the Denver Post has taken a long look at the National Eagle Repository, which was apparently the source of the bird found in Boulder — the Repository collects dead eagles with the goal of filling orders placed by Native Americans for just such ceremonies. Among the fascinating details:

They make 100 to 150 shipments of loose feathers a week. They might ship 30 whole eagles a week.

“It’s piece work, really,” Atencio said. “Some just want the tails. Some just want the wings. A lot of people are holding out for the perfect whole bird. Perfect is hard to come by.”

And:

No one — not even American Indians — can sell or barter any part or anything made from eagle parts. They can make a gift of it, or bequeath it upon death, but only to other American Indians.

Violations of the act can result in a $100,000 fine and up to a year in prison, yet there is a thriving black market. If you find a dead bald or golden eagle, do not touch it; report it to a federal or state game official.

We don’t have descriptive language about the ceremony, so if anyone would like to enlighten us about the particulars of the ceremony, we’d love to know — leave us something in the comments. Here’s something from a NativeBiz story about the eagle ceremony:

Darryll Pino had waited for four years to receive a deceased eagle from the National Eagle Repository. And when it arrived at his home he says he treated it with respect, burning sage and sweet grass as the eagle was carried into his doorway.

Check out the National Eagle Repository story over at the Post for more.

Bonus video: