Escape from the LA Zoo

Bruno, a 29-year-old orangutan at the Los Angeles Zoo, tried to escape from his enclosure Saturday but was stopped in his tracks — after about 3,000 visitors were herded toward the exit.

Environmental Toxins

California’s peregrine falcons, once driven to the edge of extinction by the pesticide DDT, now are contaminated with record-high levels of other toxic chemicals that may threaten them again.

State scientists have found that peregrines in Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Francisco contain the highest levels of flame retardants found in any living organism worldwide.

The findings parallel studies that have detected high concentrations of the chemicals, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, in human breast milk, particularly in California women.

The compounds, which mimic thyroid hormones and can damage developing nervous systems, have spread to wildlife and people worldwide, working their way up food webs.

The concentrations found in California’s urban peregrines are similar to those that cause neurological damage in lab mice and rats, resulting in reduced motor skills and altered behavior.

Scientists said the peregrines, the fastest and most agile birds, are being contaminated with the industrial chemicals from eating urban pigeons that scavenge on city streets.