Sweden’s declaration that it will build a network of animal crossings has been the latest example of international attempts to assist animals navigating busy roads.

Sweden’s key highway draws to a complete halt each April. Dozens of reindeer led by indigenous Sami shepherds scramble all across E4 when they make their way west to the hills after a winter spent munching on lichen near Ume.

The crossings are becoming increasingly fractious as Sweden’s city’s main highway has become extremely busy, particularly if officials do not reach in time to close the route.

When drivers attempt to pass the reindeer as they cross the road, they spook the animals, causing lengthy gridlock as their Sami caregivers struggle to regain control.

According to Per Sandström, a land ecologist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences who acts as a mediator between the Sami and municipalities to develop the crossings, these lichen lands can be precious for the reindeer during difficult climate conditions.

Swedish authorities announced this week that they would construct up to twelve viaducts for the reindeers, also known as “renoducts,” to help with the crossings and make it easier for reindeer herds to access grazing.

The climate crisis has hit the country’s 4,500 Sami herders and 250,000 reindeer hard, with forest fires in the summer and freezing rain in the winter hiding lichen under impenetrable sheets of ice.

Long-range mammals that aren’t meant to live in these tiny, isolated pockets would profit most from this scheme, according to Sandström, who began his career in the United States, helping to establish grizzly bear ecological pathways in Montana.

The renoducts form part of a broader network of ecological bridges and crosswalks that seek to link fragmented ecosystems across the world.

Underpasses were also used to protect jaguars against traffic on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula.

Porcupines, apes, and kinkajous have used organic foliage crossings in the Peruvian Amazon to cross natural gas pipelines.

Bridges have been constructed over streets on Christmas Island to allow hundreds of thousands of red crabs to migrate from the jungle to the coasts on their annual cycle.

The wildlife bridges prevent several of the millions of wildlife fatalities each year on the world’s roads and mitigate human infrastructure’s unintended effects.

Since the bustling motorways around Los Angeles have fragmented habitats with low genetic variation, there are already indications of inbreeding amongst lions in the Santa Monica Mountains in southern California. An $87 million (£63 million) wild animals bridge is being built north of Los Angeles to help save the local mountain lion community from destruction. It will be the world’s largest.

Animals may be harmed if their ecosystem is separated, as they may be unable to obtain food and water.

According to Mark Benson, a representative of Parks Canada’s human-wildlife convergence group for Lake Louise, Yoho, and Kootenay, they might also have an effect on population genetic diversity.

In the United Kingdom, wildlife bridges are projected to be included in the government’s wildlife recovery network, which seeks to link biodiverse areas as part of a 25-year environmental plan.

Natural England noted the environmental benefits in a 2015 study, citing the Netherlands as an example, and is creating a network of “ecoducts” to help animals travel across the world.

Highways England is progressively constructing wildlife bridges as a component of infrastructure projects around the region, with more expected for the future. However, some conservationists believe that not enough is being achieved in the United Kingdom.

Although significant demonstrations against the project failed to halt construction, De Retuerto believes they signaled a change of attitude toward environmental concerns in the UK.

He claims that a sustainable walkway at Twyford Down will be built solely for this purpose to invigorate the wildlife recovery network.

It was in 2017 that Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was launched, and since then, it has sent out over 200,000 books to Flint children.

The initiative, which sends a book to a child from delivery up to their fifth birthday on a monthly basis, achieved its target at the end of February.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who is the Director of the Pediatric Public Health Initiative, stated in March that “for a year when things were awry, the monthly book allocation to households to young Flint children has been a reliable area of enrichment.” She added that with books being a vital formula for active and prosperous children, she’s ecstatic that they have reached the tremendously 200,000 book milestone!

Residents can benefit from the program by signing up, the Flint Public Library Director said, as part of the commemoration of the 200,000th book sent off to Flint children.

Every month, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library sends a free age-appropriate book to the household of every registered child who is eligible.

“The Little Engine That Could” is the first book mailed to the child, and “Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!” is the last book mailed before the child turns five.

Essence Wilson, a mom, said, “Every month, my daughter Cadence enjoys being delighted with another exploration from the Imagination Library.” “We receive a wide range of novelists, lengths, topics, and varieties of books.

They peek her curiosity and are engaging, says the mom. She enjoys the suggestions in a number of the books about using them to teach various concepts and foster creativity. She’s also happy that the Dolly Parton Imagination Library is attainable to Flint families.

The Foundation’s grant for the community enabled the Flint program development in reaction to the water catastrophe.

About 9,500 qualifying small kids have benefited since the program started, with almost five thousand still enrolled and receiving books on a regular basis. Another 4,700 have since finished the program.

The Foundation is funded by individuals across the United States and fifteen countries worldwide to assist the city of Flint and its residents in recovering from the Flint water crisis.

The foundation’s strategic emphasis on raising literacy rates aligns with the fund’s nearly 700 thousand dollar undertaking in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

The community’s transition from disaster to recuperation is aided by keeping young children at the forefront of required solutions.”

Head of the Genesee Intermediate School District, Lisa Hagel, said they continue to be an enthusiastic collaborator in linking children and families to literacy through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

The program also promotes family reading by offering early literacy packages to new mothers at the medical center, providing information about how to participate in the Dolly Parton Imagination program in partnership with community partners.

Children are required to be under the age of 5 and live in zip codes 48501 up to 48507 as well as 48532 to be eligible for the program.

More than forty percent of all children living in the designated areas are signed up.

You can register online at FlintKidsRead.org or collect a registration form at the Flint Public Library in Burton.

If a family has more than one qualified child, each child may be enrolled separately and obtain a book appropriate for their age group. The initial book takes about 8-10 weeks to arrive.

Those interested in participating in the program can get more details by calling the Flint Public Library at 810-249-2569.

Nestled in the heart of Ouachita County is a small city in Arkansas by the name of Camden. Just 100 miles to the south of Little Rock, Camden was first settled in 1782 when the Spanish military established a trading post in the region. Since then, Camden has become well known for its proximity to several historic Civil War sites as well as the work of officer L.C. ‘Buckshot’ Smith. Smith recently made headlines around the nation for celebrating his 91st birthday on the job — and he has no plans to retire!

Meet L.C. ‘Buckshot’ Smith – Camden’s Veteran Officer

If you grew up in or around Camden then the odds were pretty good that you ran into L.C. Smith at some point in your life. As the oldest police officer in the state at 91-years-old, Smith has been walking the beat for more than a couple of generations. With that being said, Smith has no plans on leaving any time soon despite a recent retirement that lasted for, get this, five months.

Smith had begun working with the Ouachita County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy nearly 46 years ago. While the world may have been a vastly different place, Smith was as committed to the work then as he is today. Smith said, “You got to respect people.”

Despite his love for the job and his warm reception around town, Smith gave retirement his best shot. After five months at home, the retired L.C. Smith was ready to get back into action even though he may walk a little slower than he used to. Asked why he gave up on retirement Smith provided a simple answer, “I don’t hunt. I don’t even fish.”

After leaving retirement behind, Smith would return to policing as a rookie cop in the Camden Police Force. Smith returned the workforce in his 80s and has been going on steadily ever since. While Smith does carry a firearm on his hip, he is proud of never having to use it, instead relying on his place in the community.

The Mayor of Camden, one Julian Lott, said that Smith’s most effective weapon is his familiarity with the community. Lott said, “He knows your mama and your grandmother.” This tracks with what other folks have said of L.C. Smith as many have pointed out that Smith prefers to take people home safe rather than sending them to jail.

L.C. Smith’s continued work in the field comes at a time when police operations are growing increasingly scrutinized at a national and, at times, global level. This global scrutiny coincides with difficulties hiring new officers as the career path experiences a marked downturn. Officers like L.C. Smith who have a history of working and embracing their community set the standard by which other officers should follow.

While L.C. Smith doesn’t have any immediate plans to retire, he also doesn’t ever plan on walking away from the career. According to Camden Police Chief Boyd Woody, “He’ll retire when the good Lord tells him to.”

No one gets rich being a grade school or high school teacher. It’s a job one does because he or she believes in education, not to achieve a lucrative career. However, 2020 pounded many in the education field as classes were shuttered, online learning became the norm, and substitute teachers were laid off completely without anything likely to come back for months and now even a year later.

As a result of COVID, substitute teachers like Jose Villarruel were practically made destitute. The typical substitute teacher is paid by the hour. The more hours worked covering the classes for other teachers, the larger the paycheck for the month. Even at the best of times a substitute teacher is not making much, typically an income that eeks out maybe just above minimum wage. So when schools in his district shifted to online learning due to social distancing restrictions, Villarruel literally found himself out of a job. He resigned in May, pretty much accepting the fact that there would be no work for him going forward for the year in a classroom.

By the time Villarruel finally got his pension check, a retirement account payout after years of work as a teacher, the 77-year-old was already deep in debt just trying to make it day to day. The bills ate up whatever livable income he could get from the pension payout, and Villarruel was essentially reduced to living out of his car and losing his apartment. The teacher made his situation work. He got used to sleeping in his car, even with all the cramped space and bumps. He was still trying to find work, but his wheels were literally Villarruel’s only shelter as well. Every morning the teacher would rearrange some belongings in his trunk, move things around inside, change his clothes, and trying to find a better solution during the day. At night, Villarruel would find a safe place to park and hunker down for another sleep in a parking lot.

It was one of those mornings at the beginning of the day that a former student of Villarruel saw his past teacher and began to wonder what was going on. It became evident within a few observations that the teacher was homeless. Nava, the student, was furious at the situation. No one talked about what the pandemic was doing to teachers, and Villarruel was a living example of the quiet disaster occurring across the educational system thanks to COVID-19.

Nava took $300 out of his own pocket and gave the money to Villarruel the first chance he could, but then the former student went a step further. Organizing a GoFundMe page, Nava was able to generate enough online chatter and awareness that help for Villarruel became a real, viral movement. Nava hoped the account would generate at least $5,000 to help Villarruel out. Surprisingly, it did far more. Nava was ultimately able to give Villarruel a check for a whopping $27,000 to help the former teacher in a time of need. The city mayor and other students of Villarruel got together to present the check to Villarruel as a thank you for all the work he had done for the community and to help.

Dubbed Mr. V for all his years of teach, Villarruel was moved by his former students’ concern. Putting it into a few words, he was still trying to grasp what happened when interviewed about the gift by the local news. For teacher of meager means, the $27,000 was going to go a long ways for him.

Kindness knows no bounds, even when it’s a total stranger or maybe even a stray dog. This was proven recently when a dog who was suffering wandered into the offices of a veterinary clinic and received a red carpet welcome.

Situations like these are unheard of these days, but the operators of the clinic proved that they are in the right business when they welcomed and treated the ailing canine.

It all began when the video camera inside the clinic’s lobby area caught footage of the stray animal as he walked into the building.

It was obvious that the dog is a stray because no one came in behind him, and he appeared rather unkempt.

Just like a sick human would do, the injured dog had walked into the Instituto Luisa Mell veterinary clinic seeking medical help, and that he got.

It so happens that the clinic’s veterinarian, Dr. Dayse Silva was at the front office area manning the desk at the time that the stray strolled in.

Some may call it a coincidence, others fate, but whatever it is, the dog could not have chosen a better time and opportunity when it wouldn’t be shooed back outside by a random person.

The doctor welcomed the dog, who handed her his paw. It was at that point when she first noticed that something wasn’t right.

At the onset, Dr. Silva observed that the dog was in pain because it had an ingrown nail. This she saw after holding on to the paw that the dog presented to her upon entering the animal clinic.

However, further testing showed that the dog had a malignant lump, necessitating chemotherapy, according to the Daily Mail.

Without delay, Dr. Silva and her team did all the necessary steps and initial assessments to prepare the dog for therapy.

Since then, the canine has already undergone his first chemotherapy treatment, to which he has reacted favorably. This has left the entire staff and people familiar with the case excited.

There is no longer any bleeding, and it seems to be pain-free, said Dr. Silva. She added that the very first chemotherapy session went well, so we’ll evaluate each new treatment to see just how many sessions it would need.

Dr. Silva has grown quite fond of the dog, and as her new friend recovers, she has decided to open her home to him.

In the meantime, the veterinarian has organized a fundraiser to help pay for the dog’s costly care. The clinic set a target they considered reasonable, of $700.

However, people following the story are happy to assist in any way possible, and so the 700 dollar mark has already been surpassed.

Residents haven’t stopped there, as many of them have also contacted the clinic to express their intention to adopt him.

All in all, the dog chose the right moment on the right day and the right clinic to walk into. Things should continue looking up for this canine as he recovers and prepare to enter his new home and family.