Animals
S


Attention

Shark knocks teen girl off kayak near Normanville, South Australia

Lizx Walsh and Jill Pengelley
The Advertiser
Sun, 22 Oct 2017 13:20 UTC
Girl knocked off kayak by shark
Girl knocked off kayak by shark
A courageous father has saved his teenage daughter from a rampaging four-metre great white shark off Normanville, declaring that if he'd taken 10 seconds longer, "I'd have one less child".

Chris Williams, 56, said his family was kayaking and squidding in the pristine waters of Lady Bay on Sunday.

But the perfect afternoon quickly turned into a nightmare when Sarah, 15, alone in a double kayak, was suddenly flung into the air.

Sarah said she had been messing around with her brother and singing songs when the attack began.

"The next thing I know, a shark was hitting my kayak from below," she said. "It flipped my kayak ... as soon as I hit the water, I saw the fin and the tail and I thought: 'This is like the Jaws movie'."

Sarah said her feet touched the shark's body as she scrambled back into her kayak. "I basically used the body weight of the shark to get back up," she said.

The ferocious attack left teeth marks on the underside of the kayak. Watching it unfold only metres away in a small aluminium tinny were Mr Williams, his son Mitchell, 22, and daughter Misty, 33.
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Wolf

Boy killed by 2 pit bull terriers in Lowell, Massachusetts

Aaron Curtis
The Lowell Sun
Sat, 21 Oct 2017 11:40 UTC
PIT BULL ATTACK
A 7-year-old boy was killed after a dog attack in The Acre section of the city on Saturday night.

A preliminary investigation suggests the attack took place when the unidentified child entered a fenced-in area on Clare Street that housed two pit bulls, according to a press release from the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.

Authorities received a call about the attack at around 6 p.m. and arrived on scene to discover the deceased child, the release states.

Following the attack, one of the pit bulls escaped the enclosed area. The animal has been located and euthanized. The other pit bull is in custody of Lowell Animal Control.


Comment: A sample of other serious dog attacks on people in October (and not previously reported on Sott) include the following:-

Pit bulls who mauled 10-year-old Aurora boy euthanized

Man Attacked By Pit Bull In Middletown

Dog attack man flown to Perth

Pit Bull Euthanized After Biting Off Chunk of 6-Year-Old Girl's Arm

Loose dog reportedly attacks multiple people near Hanscom Park

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Attention

Over 80 seabirds found dead on beaches in Albany, Western Australia


The West Australian
Fri, 20 Oct 2017 20:48 UTC
A CCWA volunteer with dead seabirds near Albany.
A CCWA volunteer with dead seabirds near Albany.
More than 80 sea birds have washed up dead on Albany beaches, according to the Conservation Council of WA.

The flesh-footed shearwaters were found washed up dead on Goode and Fisheries Beach on the western side of King George Sound, south of Albany.

Conservation Council of WA Nic Dunlop said the kills may be caused by purse-seine fishing.

"The timing of this Shearwater kill is unusually early, but in every other respect fitted the now familiar pattern of these seabirds being drowned in the purse-seine nets used by the Albany-based South Coast Purse-seine Fishery," Dr Dunlop said.

"The Flesh-footed Shearwater is a species that has recently shown a dramatic decline in all three of its populations. The species is known to be particularly susceptible as bycatch in a variety of commercial fisheries, to the ingestion of plastics, and to changes in marine climate.
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Eye 2

Deadly vine snake eating green snake alive photographed in South Africa


The Expresss
Wed, 18 Oct 2017 20:15 UTC
Shocking sight as deadly poisonous vine snake eats green snake alive
© Richard MckibbinShocking sight as deadly poisonous vine snake eats green snake alive
The impressively camouflaged vine snake, at times barely visible due to its tree-like markings, gorged on a harmless Eastern natal green snake for a whole half hour.

At first, the green snake coils its thin body around its attacker in a vain attempt to escape.

But as the little serpent succumbs to the vine snake's deadly poison, the predator is shown wrapping its girth around its prey to gobble it down - head first.

The awesome sighting was captured by photographer Richard Mckibbin while he was out with a butterfly walk group on October 15 at the Zimbali Coastal Resort, South Africa.

Mr Mckibbin, 37, from Umhlanga Rocks, South Africa, said: "It was incredibly exciting to see. I see these vine snakes often, but I have never seen anything like this.
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Attention

Polar bears have invaded a Russian village forcing locals to take shelter indoors

Will Stewart and Rod Ardehali
Daily Mail
Thu, 19 Oct 2017 13:27 UTC
Polar Bear
Aggressive polar bears are holding locals from the Russian village of Ryrkaypiy hostage after forcing hundreds of frightened local walruses to jump off 125ft cliffs to their deaths
Aggressive polar bears are holding locals in a Russian village hostage after being drawn to a nearby walrus rookery, leaving residents unable to venture outdoors.

The one tonne predators are thought to have forced hundreds of frightened walruses to jump off 125ft cliffs to their deaths before feasting on the carcasses.

Around 20 of the fearsome bears have surrounded the coastal area of Ryrkaypiy, population of 601, with one cub even trying to enter a house through the window.

The polar bears were attracted by a walrus rookery in a special protection zone in the Russian far eastern region of Chukotka.
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Attention

Rampaging wild boars attack people in Heide, Germany


Deutsche Welle
Fri, 20 Oct 2017 14:20 UTC
Four people have reportedly been left injured in Germany after two wild boars went on the rampage
Four people have reportedly been left injured in Germany after two wild boars went on the rampage
Four people were injured after squealing boars descended on the small city of Heide in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein on Friday morning.

Two fully-grown, "aggressive" wild boars - a male and a female - stormed into the city center shortly after 9 a.m. according to local police statements.

The male then entered the building of a local bank and began attacking people inside before a local hunter was able to shoot and kill the animal. The second boar managed to escape amid the commotion.

Before the shot was fired, emergency services had used ladders to evacuate people from the building's upper-story windows.

Earlier in the day, the male boar had injured a woman after entering an optician's. Christina Norden, a local journalist, shared on Twitter a video of the boar roaming the shop.

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Attention

25ft whale washes up on beach in East Yorkshire, UK

James Campbell
Hull Daily Mail
Fri, 20 Oct 2017 13:39 UTC
The whale was washed up on a beach close to Flamborough on October 20, 2017
The whale was washed up on a beach close to Flamborough on October 20, 2017
Walkers were left shocked after discovering a whale washed up on a beach close to Flamborough.

The carcass of 25-foot animal, possibly a minke whale, was discovered by a member of the public who alerted the Flamborough RNLI who, in turn, notified Bridlington Coastguard.

The marine creature was discovered at Truckway, between South Landing and the lighthouse, shortly after noon on Friday.

While still intact, the animal was already dead prior to washing up on the beach and is already in a state of decomposition.
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Cloud Lightning

Elephant killed by lightning bolt in Kruger National Park, South Africa

Ian Dickinson
Earth Touch News Network
Fri, 20 Oct 2017 19:36 UTC
The carcass of the elephant quickly attracted a crowd.
© LowvelderThe carcass of the elephant quickly attracted a crowd.
South Africa has been hit by some unusually violent weather of late. Recent storms surged through the country claiming at least 16 lives and leaving in their wake a trail of flooded homes and damaged infrastructure. But while Durban residents battled the deluge, further north, in the Kruger National Park, the stormy weather proved fatal for one of the reserve's tusked inhabitants.

Tourists out on a morning game drive earlier this month were met with the grim sight of a mutilated elephant carcass lumped in the middle of the road near Satara rest camp. While many speculated that the animal had been killed by poachers, evidence suggested otherwise. "It is suspected that the animal was hit by lighting," Reynold Thakuli, general manager for media, public relations and stakeholder relations of South African National Parks (SANParks) told us via email. "On inspection nothing more was picked up suggesting another cause of death. This follows a violent storm the previous night."

Wildlife officials were quick to arrive on the scene and the massive carcass was hoisted onto a truck and hauled away for further investigation. "The tusks were removed, registered and stored according to the SANParks Standard Operating Procedure," explained Thakhuli.

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Attention

103 whales have died on Brazilian beaches in 2017


The Big Wobble
Fri, 20 Oct 2017 19:07 UTC
dead whale
Why have so many whales stranded in Brazil in 2017?

Whale Institute Jubarte explains that the increase of the population of the species generates more deaths by natural causes, but the influence of human action is also an ongoing factor.

The Jubarte whale season on the Brazilian coast - between July and October - is coming to an end this year with a sad record: never before have so many animals of this species died stranded on Brazilian beaches this year.

There were 103 strandings across the country - 41 in Bahia alone - and a disturbing question: what is behind this number?
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Attention

14 dolphins strand in Wellfleet, Massachusetts; 2 die


CapeCod.com
Wed, 18 Oct 2017 12:28 UTC
Rescuers work to save a dozen dolphins stranded in Wellfleet
Rescuers work to save a dozen dolphins stranded in Wellfleet
The International Fund for Animal Welfare responded to a major dolphin stranding Wednesday in Wellfleet, rushing to aid 14 of the mammals in the Herring River Gut area.

A spokesperson for IFAW said two of the dolphins died before they could be rescued. The other 12 were transported to Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown for possible release.

Late Wednesday night, four had been guided back into the water and eight others were undergoing health assessments before release.

This is the biggest cetacean stranding year in the history of IFAW.

As of this week, the Yarmouth Port-based organization has responded to 113 live whale and dolphin strandings.

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