It wasn’t all bad
■ A team from the Chadian government and the Wildlife Conservation Society spotted the first lion in Chad’s Sena Oura National Park since 2004. Lions were believed extinct in the protected area, and only between 23,000 and 39,000 of them are left in their natural habitat globally. In West and Central Africa, they are critically endangered. The big cat, a lioness, was captured on camera in February. Most lions, especially females, live in prides, so it’s likely this one is not alone. “Our team,” the WCS said, “believes there are more lions out there.”
■ Nanuq, a 1-year-old Australian shepherd, got lost on a family trip to Savoogna on Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island. A month later, citizens of Wales, a tiny village located 150 miles northeast, started posting photos of what they thought was a lost dog on Facebook. Alerted by her dad in Alaska, Mandy Iworrigan, Nanuq’s owner, got online to find Nanuq alive and safe except for bite marks on his leg. After organizing his return through a charter flight, Iworrigan and her daughter Brooklyn reunited in Savoogna with their beloved pet, whose name means “polar bear” in Siberian Yupik. “I’m pretty sure he ate leftovers of seal or caught a seal. Probably birds, too. He eats our Native foods. He’s smart,” said Iworrigan.
■ A small cadre of amateur goldseekers have struck a jackpot in the Sierra Nevada mountains, thanks to California’s epic winter storms. Fire eroded the soil and rain made mountain rivers surge with water, transporting the yellow metal downstream. For lucky ones like Albert Fausel, who looks for gold by lying on a creek bed and breathing through a snorkel tube, just 20 minutes of searching in Placerville can yield $100 worth of gold. The Gold Country Treasure Seekers club, says one regular, has “had more gold in the last two monthly meetings than I’ve seen in the last two years.”