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Humpback whale carcass washes up on Fire Island, New York

Michael O'Keeffe
Newsday
Sun, 27 May 2018 13:29 UTC
The body of a dead humpback whale washed up at Point O'Woods on Fire Island on Sunday, officials said.
© Fire Island National SeashoreThe body of a dead humpback whale washed up at Point O'Woods on Fire Island on Sunday, officials said
The body of a dead humpback whale washed up on Fire Island National Seashore, officials said Sunday.

The Atlantic Marine Conservation Society said the carcass, an estimated 35 to 40 feet long, was in an advanced state of decomposition when it washed up at Point O'Woods on Fire Island.

Society director Kimberly Durham will work with local officials to determine a plan to remove the remains, chief scientist Rob DiGiovanni said. Burial on the beach is often the most viable option, he said.

Durham will also take measurements and perform a necropsy to determine how the animal died, according to the conservation society.

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Man gored by bison in 'terrifying' attack at Elk Island National Park, Alberta


CTV News
Sun, 27 May 2018 12:13 UTC
Charging Bison
© Mark MesenkoCharging Bison
An Edmonton man who was gored by a wild bison says he's fortunate the animal only pierced his rear and not a vital organ.

"Although it was a bad situation, I feel pretty lucky," Craig Neilson told CTV Edmonton.

Neilson and his wife were camping over the Victoria Day long weekend in Elk Island National Park, a lake-dotted swath of prairie wilderness just 35 kilometers east of Edmonton that boasts a healthy population of once-threatened American bison.

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Attention

Whale death toll increases to 12 at South Taranaki, New Zealand


RNZ
Sun, 27 May 2018 11:40 UTC
The whales' teeth and jawbones will be used by iwi for carving.
© GRANT MATTHEW/STUFFThe whales' teeth and jawbones will be used by iwi for carving.
Twelve dead sperm whales have now been found on a South Taranaki beach in what the Department of Conservation is calling a rare event.

Eight of them were found on Kaupokonui Beach last Thursday, three additional ones yesterday, and another one today.

The Department of Conservation said all of them were male but it didn't know why they had been stranded.

Its biodiversity ranger Callum Liley said biopsies had been taken of the mammals which will give them more information regarding their genetics.

There could be more dead whales from the same pod washed up somewhere else, he said.

Comment: The earlier report: Eight sperm whales found dead on beach in South Taranaki, New Zealand

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Attention

Male sperm whale discovered dead off Zamboanga, Philippines

Teofilo Garcia, Jr
PTV NEWS
Sun, 27 May 2018 11:33 UTC
dead whale
© ABS-CBN News
A male giant sperm whale or "cachalot" was found dead floating near Sacol Island located east of this city, an official said Friday.

Dr. Arnedo Agbayani, Animal Health Division chief of the Office of the City Veterinarian (OCVet), said they were not able to conduct necropsy to determine the cause of the whale's death since it is already in the advance state of decomposition.

Agbayani said the coastguard pulled the dead animal to the shore of Barangay Sangali around 6 p.m. Thursday, where it was immediately buried.
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Unnoticed snake bite leads to the death of breastfeeding mother and her baby in Uttar Pradesh, India


Medical Xpress
Fri, 25 May 2018 14:51 UTC
hatched snake
India accounts for 46,000 of the 100,000 snakebite deaths around the world each year.
An Indian woman who was bitten by a snake in her sleep and unknowingly breastfed poisoned milk to her daughter has died along with the child, police said Friday.

The 35-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh state did not realise she had been bitten when she woke and breastfed her daughter.

The three-year-old girl and the mother fell ill on Thursday and both died before they could reach hospital, police inspector Vijay Singh told AFP.

The family spotted the snake in another room but the creature escaped.
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Wolf

Family pit bull terrier kills 6-year-old boy in Altoona, Pennsylvania

Shawn Annarelli
Center Daily Times
Fri, 25 May 2018 13:00 UTC
PIT BULL ATTACK
A 6-year-old boy is dead after a family dog attacked him, according to two reports.

Rick Vaughan, a friend of the boy's family, told the Altoona Mirror that the attack happened just before 6 p.m. when the child's father was cutting grass, heard the mother screaming and discovered "the dog on the boy." The deadly attack occurred in the family's home on Gesser Avenue in Lakemont, which is just south of Altoona.

Blair County Coroner Patricia Ross told WTAJ that the dog was a pit bull and that the boy died of blunt force trauma. News outlets are withholding the boy's name out of respect for the family's wishes.

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Bug

Ontario beekeepers report 'unsustainable losses' over the winter


Global News
Mon, 14 May 2018 18:27 UTC
A survey of almost 900 Ontario beekeepers indicated that 70 per cent suffered unsustainable losses
© AP/Yves LoggheA survey of almost 900 Ontario beekeepers indicated that 70 per cent suffered unsustainable losses
Beekeepers across the country are expressing concern about the effects of poor weather on their colonies.

In Ontario, which has the largest number of beekeepers in Canada, the situation is being described as serious.

A survey of almost 900 Ontario beekeepers indicated that 70 per cent suffered unsustainable losses.
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Whale carcass washed up at Bolinas Beach, California - latest in a series

Mark Prado
Marin Independent Journal
Thu, 24 May 2018 18:06 UTC
Scientists from the Marine Mammal Center and California Academy of Sciences performs a full necropsy of a dead 36-foot adult female gray whale washed ashore on Tennessee Valley Beach on Friday.
© Marin Mammal CenterScientists from the Marine Mammal Center and California Academy of Sciences performs a full necropsy of a dead 36-foot adult female gray whale washed ashore on Tennessee Valley Beach on Friday.
A dead whale was on Bolinas Beach Wednesday, the latest in a number of carcasses that have washed ashore in recent weeks.

The whale at the west end of Bolinas Beach is believed to be a female fin whale, but a necropsy has yet to be conducted. That will occur in the coming days, officials said.

A whale found Friday on Tennessee Valley Beach, and a second taken to Angel Island for a necropsy on the same day, both died because of human interactions, Marine Mammal Center officials said Wednesday.

Severe entanglement with fishing gear was confirmed as the cause of death for a 36-foot adult female gray whale that washed ashore on the Marin beach. The Angel Island necropsy results of a 45-foot juvenile female fin whale — found initially offshore of Alameda County and then towed to the island — showed it died due to a vessel collision.
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Attention

Eight sperm whales found dead on beach in South Taranaki, New Zealand

Catherine Groenestein
Stuff
Thu, 24 May 2018 13:12 UTC
The whales' teeth and jawbones will be used by iwi for carving.
© GRANT MATTHEW/STUFFThe whales' teeth and jawbones will be used by iwi for carving.
Eight sperm whales are dead after getting stranded on a remote South Taranaki beach.

Kaupokonui Beach Camp manager Laurence Mosen was out walking his dog Chum when he discovered the whales spread over several kilometres of shoreline about 7.30am on Thursday, his wife Sue Mosen said.

"They must have come in overnight," she said. "I went straight down and had a look. They were all dead."

The strandings were reported to the Department of Conservation (DOC) and staff reached the site, northeast of Hāwera, about midday.

There was no rescue attempt as the whales were dead when found, DOC spokesman Des Williams said in an email.

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Attention

Bear researcher mauled by grizzly, walked 2 miles with fractured skull in Montana

Katherine Lam
Fox News
Thu, 24 May 2018 12:20 UTC
A grizzly bear (not pictured) attacked Amber Kornak in northwestern Montana.
© ReutersA grizzly bear (not pictured) attacked Amber Kornak in northwestern Montana.
A woman working her "dream job" as a bear researcher walked two miles with a fractured skull after being mauled by a grizzly last Thursday in northwestern Montana, officials said.

Amber Kornak, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seasonal field assistant, is recovering after suffering two skull fractures and severe cuts to her head, neck and back. The 28-year-old was working alone near a stream in the Cabinet Mountains when a bear attacked her from behind, Kornak's friend Jenna Hemer wrote on a GoFundMe page.

Agency spokeswoman Jennifer Strickland said Kornak was able to grab her Mace-like bear spray while being mauled and blasted the grizzly, ending the attack. Kornak inadvertently sprayed herself in the process.
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