Swan

Rupert is a swan, right? Because the way he's living, he seems a bit more like a cat with nine lives. That poor swan has endured -- and thrived on -- the filthy, polluted waters of Newport Harbor. Each heavy rain brings another load of urban runoff into his domain. Last week, a Newport Beach animal control officer found Rupert wandering, weak and disoriented, along Bayside Drive. He had been drinking again -- from Newport Harbor. Big mistake. He was taken to the All Creatures Care Cottage in Costa Mesa for some blood work and is recovering at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach.

June Casagrande A diesel fuel spill one year ago was probably the reason Pearl the swan could not recover from an infection and died earlier this month, animal experts have determined. A necropsy showed that the black swan had suffered extensive liver damage, probably from the spill in Newport Harbor that she survived last year. The damage left her immune system too weak to recover from an infection on her leg last month. "We had found her on the beach.

June Casagrande Just when the peninsula community thought everything was fine with Pearl the black swan, she's back in the hospital -- this time for about two months. What's worse: Some work going on at the Wetlands Wildlife Care Center will make it hard for her human caregivers to make good on a promise to keep her mate Rupert by her side. Pearl, a local celebrity of sorts, landed in the hospital early this month after what appeared to be a dog bite to her leg became severely infected.

June Casagrande Gay Wassall-Kelly knew something was amiss the minute she noticed that Pearl the black swan seemed wet -- her normally impervious-to-water self dripping and hobbling on the sand. But when Pearl couldn't carry herself close enough to Kelly's house on Saturday night to get to some food, the adoptive mother of Balboa Peninsula's two black swans knew it was serious. "She was laying on the sand, and she was all wet," Kelly said. "I knew something was wrong.

Deepa Bharath Life for Max was all about frolicking in the water and waddling along the green grass -- until a month ago. The swan, with a jet black body and bright red beak, was a resident at the Mesa Verde Country Club lake. But on June 10, Max's life changed. A longtime patron of the golf club spotted the swan limping along on the grass. It didn't take Maxine Grefe long to realize the bird was hurt. She called Animal Control officers right away and had them take the swan to All Creatures Care Cottage in Costa Mesa.

Somewhere "up there" Hans Christian Andersen probably is looking down at South Coast Repertory's latest Theater for Young Audiences production and musing, "This seems vaguely familiar. " The show in question is "Lucky Duck," a satirical treatise on Andersen's classic "The Ugly Duckling," by Bill Russell and Jeffrey Hatcher. It's presented in 21st-century terminology and set to a terrific musical score by Russell and Henry Krieger. And it's not just for the kids. Parents will appreciate the show's takeoff on "American Idol" and the various movie references ("Gone With the Wind," "Oklahoma!"

An Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol boat racing to the scene of a body in the water at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club apparently struck and killed a swan known affectionately around Newport Harbor as Rupert. Newport Beach police are investigating the discovery of a woman's body wrapped in a blanket. Investigators are considering it a homicide. Police pulled bloodstained material out of a trash bin in front of about 30 spectators at the scene Wednesday evening. Some snapped pictures of it with their cell phones.

Newport Harbor Patrol officials on Thursday defended their response to an emergency call, after a patrol boat racing across the harbor accidentally killed a swan beloved in the community. On Wednesday afternoon Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol deputies were rushing to the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, where a body was reported in the water, when Rupert the swan crossed the boat's path. The accident reignited general concerns about the speed and other operations of patrol boats in Newport Harbor.

Woman's life worth more than swan's I was wondering if anyone noticed that a woman was found dead the same day that Rupert died?   I was amazed that the two stories were even boxed together on the cover of last Thursday's Daily Pilot; and the article in the Los Angeles Times' California section is headlined "Newport's Black Swan Is Killed" without a reference to the real loss of human life. Are we saying that Rupert and this slain woman have equal value? I am sad that Rupert is gone and acknowledge that he put a smile on many faces, my family's included.

Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra's feted "Swan Lake" will open the 2012 - 13 International Dance Series at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa. The company will make its seventh appearance at the Center from Tuesday to Oct. 7, during an exclusive Southern California engagement. "The audience in Costa Mesa is very warm and very understanding of the art," Interim Ballet Director Yuri Fateev said in a phone interview. Mariinsky's 2012 U.S. tour will also make one-week stops in Berkeley and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. through Oct. 21, Fateev said.

One of the world's top ballet companies will stop at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts next week. But they're not Russian; they're not even European. They hail from Havana, Cuba. The Cuban National Ballet's production of "The Magic of Dance" will feature the most beloved excerpts from 19th century ballets like "Swan Lake," "Don Quixote," "The Sleeping Beauty," "Coppélia" and "Giselle. " Following its engagement in Orange County, the company will move to Los Angeles to perform "Don Quixote" in its entirety from June 23 to 26. The company was founded in 1948 by renowned ballerina and choreographer Alicia Alonso, and has quickly risen to global prominence.

Somewhere "up there" Hans Christian Andersen probably is looking down at South Coast Repertory's latest Theater for Young Audiences production and musing, "This seems vaguely familiar. " The show in question is "Lucky Duck," a satirical treatise on Andersen's classic "The Ugly Duckling," by Bill Russell and Jeffrey Hatcher. It's presented in 21st-century terminology and set to a terrific musical score by Russell and Henry Krieger. And it's not just for the kids. Parents will appreciate the show's takeoff on "American Idol" and the various movie references ("Gone With the Wind," "Oklahoma!"

Orange County’s only professional opera company, Opera Pacific, announced that it has canceled the rest of its shows for the season, laid off its staff and will be closing its doors after 23 years performing in Costa Mesa. The company’s first opera of the season — “The Barber of Seville,” which ended Saturday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center — will be its last. Some big private donors, who generally provide about 60% of the company’s $9-million operating budget, stopped giving and Opera Pacific couldn’t afford to put on the remaining two productions of the year, said Director of Resource Development Susan Totten.

The large, black swan appeared out of nowhere, Bill Spitalnick said, casting a shadow over the spot in Newport Harbor where he and his family had just scattered his father’s ashes. Spitalnick didn’t realize the swan was Rupert until four days later, when he saw a newspaper report detailing the swan’s death. Rupert was well known in the waters around Newport Beach. The swan was accidentally struck by a speeding Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol boat on its way to retrieve a human body found in the water in 2006.

It seems nowadays everyone and everything has a MySpace page: films, people, bands, even birds. One of the newest members to join the popular networking website cannot type — doesn't even have fingers — and, in fact, is no longer alive. Still, Rupert the black swan has managed to transcend even death to join the ranks of Web posters this week. A page on the website created by Phoebe Shackeroff, director of a documentary on Newport Beach's enduring mascot, features photos, paintings and Rupert trivia.

Everyone in Newport Beach has their own theory on how Rupert the black swan arrived in the harbor waters all those years ago. Dariela Wilson is one of them — only she has a vivid way of expressing it. Wilson, who has lived on the Balboa Peninsula since childhood, chose to commemorate the late Rupert's history the only way she knew how — through painting. Her work captures Rupert and his mate Pearl, who died in 2001 from an infection, lovingly cruising the waters of the harbor together.

Did anyone else notice that nearly the entire front page of Sunday's Pilot was devoted to the last rites of Rupert, the black swan who got done in by a Harbor Patrol boat? According to our reporter, dozens of locals in kayaks, boats and gondolas watched while Rupert 's ashes were sprinkled in the ocean and he was canonized in services seldom bestowed on humans. All of this reminded me of an essay I wrote for a national magazine some years ago called "The Ultimate Therapy." My thesis was that the best way to keep from going batty in a world apparently dedicated to battiness is to care deeply about some terribly unimportant thing.

NEWPORT BEACH $2 million raised in 15th Race for a Cure More than 24,000 men and women gathered at Fashion Island last Sunday for the 15th annual Race for the Cure, which raises money to combat breast cancer. The event started at 7:30 a.m. and lasted all morning. Organizers said they were confident they surpassed their goal of raising $2 million. Release of swan to replace Rupert is blocked The California Department of Fish and Game has banned the release into the Upper Newport Bay of an Australian black swan, bought by an anonymous donor to replace the one killed last month.