Given final chance, career thief takes it

"Kelly Christian Jr.'s rap sheet offered little reason for mercy. He was a gray-haired, $200-a-day heroin addict with a mile-long criminal record, and in April 2007 he was once again standing in a courtroom, his fate in the hands of a judge.

A DuPage County prosecutor wanted to put him away for seven years for stealing a laptop computer. But when Judge Kathryn Creswell looked over his file, she noted an astonishing fact: In all of Christian's trips to prison, he had never received drug treatment."

For more on this story of redemption, click here.

'Oil-spill ambassadors' may offer clues for future rescues

"Not long ago, five American white pelicans were 'sitting ducks.'

Now they have become 'ambassadors of the oil spill,' said Tim Snyder, bird and reptile curator for Illinois' Brookfield Zoo."


For more on these feathered representatives, click here.

Orphaned baby owls being placed with foster families

"Wildlife rehabilitation groups were placing two orphaned barn owl babies with wild foster parents Sunday in Santa Cruz so they could learn survival skills, WildRescue officials said.

Rescuers are hopeful the wild parents will accept the babies and raise them, since they lost their own, according to WildRescue, an organization based in Malibu dedicated to developing programs that promote care of sick, injured and orphaned native wildlife."

Click here for more information on these little orphans.