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Dig

Sinkhole at Florida fertilizer plant 152 ft. wide, overall depth unknown

Melissa Marino
WFLA
Mon, 17 Oct 2016 19:44 UTC
Mosaic sinkhole
© WFLA
Mosaic officials say they still don't know the depth of a sinkhole that opened up at the Mosaic plant near Mulberry last month.

The hole opened up in August, but the public did not know about it until WFLA News Channel 8 broke the story.

On Monday, Mosaic officials released details about the size of the sinkhole, which ranges between 40 feet, and 150 feet in diameter at its widest point, and approximately 220 feet deep from the top of the gypstack. Mosaic recently used LIDAR/sonar equipment to measure the sinkhole. LiDAR is a remote sensing technology that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to provide three-dimensional mapping. This technology expedites the remediation process.

"Based on the survey results, the company now has a better understanding of the sinkhole dimensions - which is a critical step in remediating the sinkhole," Mosaic said in a release. "We continue to work with closely with FDEP and continue to keep Polk County and Hillsborough County apprised of our efforts to remediate the sinkhole."


Comment: To find out more about how sinkholes are formed and the dramatic increase we've observed recently, see: Sinkholes: The groundbreaking truth.

See also: 215M gallons of 'slightly radioactive' water drained into Florida aquifer

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Seismograph

Shallow magnitude 3.8 earthquake strikes in central California


SFGate
Tue, 18 Oct 2016 15:53 UTC
Ridgemark quake map
© USGS
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.8 struck near Ridgemark Tuesday afternoon, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The earthquake struck at 2:09 p.m. The quake struck 6 miles south-southeast from Ridgemark and 10 miles outside of Hollister, and at a depth of 4.7 miles.

Locals in the Salinas and Hollister area reported weak shaking to the USGS site and there were no immediate reports of damage.

Tuesday's earthquake is the latest in a series of small tremors in the area. The USGS also reported four other quakes in October that centered in Ridgemark. The earthquakes have ranged from the smallest quake measuring at a magnitude-1.7 on Oct. 10, to an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.2 that struck the area on Monday.
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Black Cat

Leopard kills 4-year-old girl in Gujarat, India


The Times of India
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 20:05 UTC
Leopard
A four-year-old girl was mauled to death by a leopard in Rabarika village on Savarkundla-Jesar Road in Amreli district on Wednesday.

The leopard took away the girl Daya Parmar who was sleeping outside her hut near a lake early in the morning.

Her parents and elder sister, all farm labourers, had gone to the near-by field for work.

The locals immediately informed the forest department and a team of range forest officer RJ Mor rushed to the spot.

Some people also claimed to have seen the leopard moveing around in the area.

"We have placed three cages to nab the leopard," said Mor.
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Black Cat

Leopard kills 12-year-old boy outside his house in Reasi, India


NDTV
Thu, 13 Oct 2016 19:57 UTC
The leopard attacked and killed the boy in the compound of his house in Mohara Bagla village.
The leopard attacked and killed the boy in the compound of his house in Mohara Bagla village.
A 12-year-old boy was killed by a leopard in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said today.

Noor Hussain was in the compound of his house in Mohara Bagla village in Chasana tehsil last night when a leopard attacked and killed him, a police officer said.

As the people came out of their houses, the leopard left behind the victim.

The body was recovered, he added.
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Wolf

Woman in serious condition after grandson's dog attacks her in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania


Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Mon, 17 Oct 2016 19:41 UTC
Dog attack
A 75-year-old woman is in serious condition at a Pittsburgh hospital after a dog attacked her in West Oakland, biting her multiple times. The canine then attacked a Pittsburgh police officer.

Police were called to the 2500 block of Allequippa Street shortly before 12:30 a.m. today for a report that the woman was bitten by her grandson's dog.

The grandson had later put the dog in the backyard, but as paramedics were tending to the woman, the dog got out of the back yard and ran to the front porch. The grandson tried to grab the dog but it got into the home and bit the woman again.

The woman was taken to UPMC Presbyterian in serious condition.

The dog also bit an officer who tried to corral the pet. She was treated at UPMC Mercy.

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Wolf

Coyote attacks of 6-year-old boy in Irvine, California; spate of 3 attacks locally over the past few months

Tomoya Shimura
The Orange County Register
Thu, 13 Oct 2016 14:09 UTC
Coyote
Haseena Habibi and her sister rushed out of their cousin's apartment when they heard a scream.

They saw a man trying to pull his young son away from a coyote at Springbrook Park, next to the apartment complex. The coyote let go of the boy, but stayed at the sand playground, said Habibi, who then spotted the man's other son, a toddler, walking toward the coyote.

Habibi ran to the coyote, yelled, took off her shoe and threw it at the coyote. When that didn't work, she began throwing sand at the animal, which was about the size of a large dog, Habibi said. The coyote finally took off after her husband arrived and chased it away.

"I wasn't expecting coyotes to attack kids," said Waleed Qazi, Habibi's husband. "I thought they were after foxes and rabbits and they don't bother with humans."


Comment: See also these other reports from the last 2 years:

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Windsock

Philippines braced for Typhoon Haimi

Katie Hunt
CNN
Tue, 18 Oct 2016 02:43 UTC
typhoon Haima
© The Weather ChannelThe highest cloud tops, corresponding to the most vigorous convection, are shown in the dark red and purple colors.
Typhoon Haimi bore down on the Philippines Tuesday, with the country's northern island of Luzon bracing for strong winds and heavy rainfall that could trigger landslides in the mountainous region, forecasts say.

The storm is expected to become a super typhoon -- with winds over 150 mph (240 kph) -- in the next 12 to 24 hours and make landfall Wednesday night.

It's currently the equivalent of Category 4 hurricane -- the second-most powerful in the ranking. "Since this storm is very strong where, or if, it makes landfall in the Philippines will be very important.

The area around the center will have extreme damage from the winds as well as a significant storm surge," said CNN Meteorologist Taylor Ward. Haimi is then expected to veer northwest and hit the Chinese coast by Friday evening.

"Current projections take the storm into eastern Guangdong Province, to the east of Hong Kong, but we will keep a close eye on Hong Kong in the coming days as some models take the storm fairly close," said Ward.

Comment: Typhoon Sarika leaves two dead, thousands stranded in Philippines

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Attention

A total of 12 whales die on the coast of Taiwan in 16 days

Amy Huang and Lilian Wu
Focus Taiwan
Sat, 15 Oct 2016 21:05 UTC
Blainville's beaked whale
Blainville's beaked whale
A total of 12 whales have died over the past 16 days in Taiwan and the outlying island of Kinmen, the Taiwan Cetacean Society said Saturday.

Kuo Hsiang-sha said the society has tentatively ruled that the latest death -- a 800-kilogram whale in Kinmen -- was due to decompression sickness, caused by a sudden change in water pressure.

Kuo noted that there have been 12 cases of whales dying after being grounded in Yilan, Hualien, New Taipei, Pingtung, Taoyuan and Kinmen between Sept. 28 and Oct. 13.

He said that whales often surge upwards because of earthquakes, explosions or due to panic caused by such events.

This many deaths in such a short period could be because of the recent spate of typhoons, he speculated.
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Attention

Kangaroo attacks man and kills family dog in Melbourne, Australia


9news.com.au
Mon, 17 Oct 2016 18:34 UTC
Grey kangaroo
Eastern grey kangaroo
A man has been injured and a beloved family dog killed after a kangaroo jumped over a fence into the backyard of a Melbourne home.

Gloria Lewis and her family woke on Saturday morning to the sound of her Husky crying in the backyard of her Keilor residence.

After rushing downstairs, Ms Lewis found a two-metre tall eastern grey kangaroo attacking her other dog, a Pomeranian named Monty.

In an attempt to save her dog, Ms Lewis called police and Wildlife Victoria for advice.

"Wildlife Victoria recommended we make loud noises with objects to distract the animal and send a photo to rangers," Ms Lewis told 9NEWS.

"Even after an hour, no-one came."

Comment: See also these reports from the recent past:

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Wolf

Dog attacks soar by 50% in 10 years for Scotland

Connor Gillies
Heart
Mon, 17 Oct 2016 17:37 UTC
Dog attack
Heart can reveal the number of Scottish people needing hospital treatment for dog attacks has soared by 50% in the past 10 years - with children the most likely to be mauled.

Figures we have exclusively obtained show Glasgow was the area with the highest rate of attacks, and Orkney the least.

More than 55,093 people attended Scottish accident and emergency departments for bites and strikes from dogs between 2006 and 2015.

6,061 victims visited medical staff in 2015 - up from 4,053 in the corresponding period ten years ago, according Freedom of Information data from all health boards in Scotland.

Of the total injured, 5,899 were children under nine.

Hundreds of bites were to the face but most injuries were to the hands, arms, legs or feet.
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