AFPMon, 18 Dec 2006 12:00 UTC
Tens of thousands of iconic Australian creatures including koalas and kangaroos may have died in fires that swept through vast tracts of southern Australia this week, environmentalists say.
The blazes have devastated thousands of hectares, razed clusters of homes and claimed one life since they began earlier this month.
But they will also leave a significant environmental legacy because of their impact on flora and fauna, according to Wildlife Victoria spokeswoman Sandy Fernee.
Lightning on Sunday night struck and killed two buffalo cows and three buffalo calves, including a white buffalo-Miracle's Second Chance-on the Heider farm south of Janesville, Dave Heider said this morning.
Heider discovered the five dead buffalo when he went to check on the animals this morning before going to work.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Oil refinery workers helped rescue 40 beached pilot whales in northern New Zealand Friday - but another 37 of the whale pod died on the sandy beach, a Department of Conservation spokeswoman said.
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands - Large species of coral that form underwater reefs and create rich habitat for marine life are disappearing from around the U.S. Virgin Islands, Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean, a leading researcher said Tuesday.
The larger species are being replaced by smaller varieties, which don't grow high enough to protect the fish, lobster and other sea life that rely on the underwater reefs, said Peter Edmunds, a biology professor at California State University, Northridge.
UPI
UPIFri, 27 Oct 2006 12:00 UTC
U.S. scientists say species are becoming extinct thousands of times faster than they have historically, and that is posing problems for humanity.
LONG BEACH - State parks officials have hired a contractor to bury a 50-foot humpback whale that washed up on the Long Beach Peninsula.
Cape Disappointment State Park says a crew will bury it on the beach Friday after it's examined by scientists from Cascadia Research.
Long Beach residents have been stopping at the beach to look at the carcass since it washed ashore Wednesday about a half mile south of Klipsan beach.
Humpbacks usually swim 10 to 20 miles off the coast.
PARIS - An ape found near Paris might have died of rabies and anyone who has recently been bitten or scratched by a monkey in the region should seek medical care, health authorities said on Friday.
The sick Barbary ape was abandoned near a vet's clinic in the southeastern suburbs of Paris earlier this week. It died shortly afterwards and initial tests suggested it had been suffering from rabies or Simian herpes.
Further tests are underway, but as a precautionary measure the health ministry issued a statement warning of the risks.
Although it is illegal to own Barbary apes as pets, authorities believe that many of the animals are illegally smuggled into France from Morocco and Algeria and are seen as the ultimate furry status symbol in the tough Paris suburbs.
Cuddly as babies, Barbary apes rapidly grow into strong, aggressive adults with powerful teeth and claws.
VIENNA, Austria -- An eight-legged invasion is giving some Austrians the creeps. The venomous yellow sack spider, whose painful bite can cause headache and nausea, has become the talk of the town since several people were bitten earlier this summer.
Reports of spider sightings have dominated local media, triggering hundreds of calls to a Vienna poison hotline and prompting the government to issue a plea for calm.
NORFOLK, Va. - Fire ants are showing up in greater numbers in coastal Virginia, much to the alarm of gardeners and farmers who dare disturb their nests.
"The way they bite, you would think they were the size of an alligator ... " said Carl Lohafer, a Virginia Beach resident who discovered colonies in his yard two years ago. "It was like a hot poker jabbing you."
In Virginia and elsewhere, the ants appear to thrive in the favorable climate of the coastal region.
Infestations of the ants have been reported in greater numbers since 2000 than in all of the 1990s, according to Virginia's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Plant and Pest Services.
GOLDEN, British Columbia - A freedom-loving grizzly bear named Boo smashed a heavy steel door and barreled through two electric fences to escape a second time from a resort near this south-central British Columbia town.
Boo was recaptured Friday, two weeks after breaking out of an artificial den at the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, but escaped from tighter confinement within a day, resort spokesman Michael Dalzell said Tuesday.
"It's unbelievable," Dalzell said. "We thought there was no way, it was absolutely impossible, but he found a way. It was basically like breaking out of Fort Knox."
