FINS, FEATHERS, FUR

JEFFERSON CITY -- Of all Missouri's wildlife, three-toed box turtles probably are taken as pets more often than any other species. They're interesting, harmless and easy to please. Turn one loose in a fenced back yard, and it will find its own food. The "keeper" can concentrate on the fun of tracking the animal's movements and activities.

There comes a time, though, when a turtle needs to get on with more important business. When autumn weather turns chilly, turtles must find suitable places to winter if they are to survive the winter.

"It's very difficult for the average person to meet a captive turtle's dietary needs through the winter," said Tom Johnson, herpetologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation. "Another problem is temperature. Most homes are too cool for box turtles to remain active and keep eating during the winter, but too warm to allow them to become dormant for the winter. The result is slow starvation."

Johnson said it isn't too late to release box turtles now. It is very important to return them to the exact location where they were taken, since familiarity with their home area makes it easier to survive.

"Please don't release turtles far from where they were taken," Johnson said. "Turtles from southern Missouri don't belong in northern Missouri, and vice versa.

---

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is coordinating efforts with the Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology to determine the cause and extent of a recent fish kill in the Black River.

"Our staffs will fly over the river to better assess the situation," aid David Shorr, director of the department's Division of environmental Quality.

The fish kill was first reported to the Department of Natural Resources Monday.

---

ST. LOUIS The fourth annual St. Louis Sponsor-Banquet of the National Wild Turkey Federation will beheld at Busch's Grove, 9160 Clayton Road here Monday.

The banquet will feature several outstanding auction items include limited edition shotguns, wildlife art pieces and other outdoor items. Cost of the EVent is $250, which include a sponsor membership to the National Wild Turkey Association. The cost for current sponsor members is $75. Additional information is available by calling (314)-878-3800.

---

Goose hunters in the Southern Illinois Waterfowl Quota Zone Alexander, Union, Jackson and Williamson counties have some restrictions over the 1991 season:

The quota has been cut from 72,400 to 39,500 birds.

Hunters will be limited to two birds daily, instead of three.

The season will start Nov. 14 and run through Jan. 31. A year ago, the season started Nov. 9.

Council officials say the goose hatch was down in the northern breeding grounds, resulting in the cutbacks.

---

SWEET SPRINGS Missouri has 19,000 more pallid sturgeons today than it had six months ago. That is a significant step back from the brink of oblivion for one of the state's most endangered animals. But the pallid sturgeon must pass a test before it can take the next step.

The primitive fish's continued existence has been threatened by change in the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) responded by listing the pallid sturgeon as an endangered species and forming the national Pallid Sturgeon Recovery Team to rebuild the fish's dwindling numbers. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) took an active role in the recovery effort by gathering a handful of wild sturgeons and attempting to spawn them in captivity.

MDC's hatcheries staff successfully spawned two female pallid surgeons last April at Blind Pony Hatchery, near Marshall. As a result, MDC now has 19,000 young sturgeons ready for stocking. But MDC Fisheries Research Biologist Kim Graham said the 10- to 12-inch fish can't be stocked in Missouri waters yet. First, FWS must run genetic tests to be sure the fish spawned by MDC are full-blooded pallid sturgeons, not hybrids of the pallid sturgeon and its close relative, the shovelnose sturgeon.

The pallid sturgeon is one of the largest fish in Missouri, sometimes reaching 80 pounds. It exists in low numbers from the upper Missouri and lower Yellowstone rivers to the lower Mississippi River in Louisiana. Nearly all of its habitat has been modified by river channelization, construction of impoundments and related changes in water flow.