Animals
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Hundreds of leopard sharks washing up dead on San Francisco beaches


Sputnik
Sat, 06 May 2017 11:59 UTC
leopard shark
© Matthew Field
For seven weeks now, hundreds upon hundreds of leopard shark corpses have been washing up on the beaches of San Francisco Bay, turning the City by the Bay into the "Dead Shark Capital of California."

A similar incident occurred in 2011, when the beautiful beaches of San Francisco Bay were choked with the fetid corpses of leopard sharks. Similar die-offs have been reported going back to 1967.

"I look at it as a 50-year-old shark murder mystery, and we are hopefully closing in on the killer," said California Department of Fish and Wildlife senior fish pathologist Mark Okihiro to Bay Nature, a California conservation group.
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Wolf

Investigation into woman's death after dog attack in Buncombe County, North Carolina

Abigail Margulis
Citizen-Times
Fri, 05 May 2017 08:53 UTC
Dog attack
The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office was investigating after a woman was found dead in her home Monday along with an aggressive dog, according to an agency spokeswoman.

The Sheriff's Office identified the woman as 59-year-old Jane Marie Egle, who lived in a home near the Bent Creek Forest.

Egle had visible cuts on her body that are consistent with an animal attack, but her exact cause of death had not been determined by Friday, said Natalie Bailey, spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office.

The county's Animal Services Division responded to the residence around 5:20 p.m. Monday after receiving a call for assistance.

When deputies arrived, Egle was lying on the floor unresponsive inside her home, Bailey said. An aggressive dog, a South African Boerboel, was also in the home and would not allow anyone inside.
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Attention

Raccoon attack leaves elderly woman in bandages in Niagara, Ontario

Karena Walter
St. Catharines Standard
Thu, 04 May 2017 13:57 UTC
Wilma Hagt, 81, was seriously injured when she was attacked by a raccoon outside of her St. Catharines home.
© Julie JocsakWilma Hagt, 81, was seriously injured when she was attacked by a raccoon outside of her St. Catharines home.
An 81-year-old woman is recovering from bites and scratches after being attacked by a raccoon at her St. Catharines home in what officials say is a rare event.

Paramedics took Wilma Hagt to hospital with injuries to her legs and hands while animal services trapped the raccoon Sunday.

"I was bleeding all over," Hagt said Wednesday from her Carlton Street home. "It was just unbelievable. Half of my finger was off, the top of my finger was dangling.

"You tell people, they've never heard of it that vicious."

Hagt said she was leaving her home on Sunday at about 8 a.m. to go to the store and from the window noticed a raccoon walk very quietly from the backyard. It passed her house and went to the left towards her neighbour's property.

She went outside towards her car and suddenly felt her right leg being bitten. She said she didn't see the raccoon coming.

"I ran into the house. We have a small entrance and I thought I'd get away from him, but the door closes slowly because we have little kids here coming in and out, and he snuck in with me," she said. "That's when he attacked me quite a bit."
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Cow

Man attacked by stray cow for 20 minutes in Gujarat, India


The Times of India
Fri, 05 May 2017 13:47 UTC
The cow pushes Dinesh Prajapati against a wall
The cow pushes Dinesh Prajapati against a wall
A stray cow went berserk and seriously injured a motorcycle-borne diamond polisher at Rukshmani Nagar society near Bapasitaram Chowk in Katargam on late Wednesday evening. The incident occurred when Dinesh Prajapati, 38, was returning home from work.

The angry cow came in front of Prajapati, a resident of adjoining Nandanvan Society, and he lost control on the vehicle. The cow continued to attack the youth for more than 20 minutes, before the youth gathered courage to escape when other residents were trying to rescue him.

According to eyewitnesses, the stray cow suddenly attacked Prajapati, who was passing from the society.

"The cow first attacked his motorcycle and the youth fell on the ground. It started hitting him with its horns. The youth was lucky that he skidded towards the big wall in the society and the cow had got tired of hitting him with horns. The man remained at the wall for a long time, when we pelted stones and attacked the cow with sticks," they said.
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Wolf

Denmark gets its first wild wolf pack in over 200 years

Patrick Barkham
The Guardian
Thu, 04 May 2017 12:03 UTC
Wolves are returning to well-peopled landscapes after centuries of persecution.
© Fred van WijkWolves are returning to well-peopled landscapes after centuries of persecution.
A wolf pack is roaming wild in Denmark for the first time in more than 200 years after a young female wolf journeyed 500km from Germany.

Male wolves have been seen in Denmark since 2012 and the new female could produce cubs this spring in farmland in west Jutland after two wolves were filmed together last autumn.

It is further evidence that the wolf is returning to well-peopled landscapes after centuries of persecution, with wolf packs also re-establishing themselves in France and Germany and individuals sighted in Holland and even Luxembourg. Before the new population, Denmark's last wolf was killed in 1813.

"We expect that they will have cubs this year or the next," said Peter Sunde, a senior researcher at Aarhus University.
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Attention

Hundreds of migratory birds found dead in Galveston, Texas

Tim Wetzel
khou.com
Thu, 04 May 2017 11:52 UTC
More than 300 migratory birds were found dead in Galveston
© Josh HendersonMore than 300 migratory birds were found dead in Galveston
Hundreds of migratory birds were found dead after an entire flock crashed into the American National Insurance building at One Moody Plaza.

Officer workers found the dead birds when they arrived to work early Thursday morning, according to Josh Henderson of the Galveston Police Department's Animal Services Unit.

Henderson says they collected 395 deceased birds, mostly warblers and orioles, that were found outside the building.

The Houston Audubon Society says the bird kill was likely caused by a combination of bad weather and bright lights.

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Attention

Dead humpback whale found at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; fifth in 10 months

Katie Peikes
Delaware Public Media
Thu, 04 May 2017 09:27 UTC
The humpback whale, the fifth to wash ashore in Delaware in 10 months.
© Suzanne ThurmanThe humpback whale, the fifth to wash ashore in Delaware in 10 months.
A dead whale washed ashore in Rehoboth Beach Thursday and is the fifth humpback whale to wash up in Delaware in less than a year.

Suzanne Thurman, the executive director of the Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation Institute, said the whale was first reported Thursday morning heading north of Rehoboth Beach. It started to reach land near Deauville Beach located off of Henlopen Avenue, but continued to North Shores, just north of Rehoboth Beach.

Responders arrived at the scene to secure ropes around the whale's tail. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control officials pulled the whale out and towed it to Gordons Pond, where it will decompose.

Thurman said the whale is 37 feet and 11 inches long and 1500 pounds per foot - weighing nearly 29 tons total. MERR could not perform a full necropsy during the stranding response because the sun had almost set, but Thurman said after evaluating the carcass, she determined it is a young male humpback whale.

"There may be some preliminary evidence suggesting that there was some blunt force trauma involved, such as a large ship strike that impacted the lower jaw," Thurman said.
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Attention

Elephant kills a mahout at Dubare Elephant Camp in India


City Today
Thu, 04 May 2017 08:39 UTC
elephant camp
A mahout was killed by Forest department elephant on Thursday in Dubare elephant camp.

Sources said that elephant Karthik (7) trampled Mani (47), a mahout to death while he was providing fodder.

The incident occurred at five o clock in the evening. Last month on April 17 the same elephant had killed a mahout Annu (45).

The autopsy of the deceased was conducted at Siddapur government hospital and the police officers have registered a case.

Speaking to reporters DCF Surya sen said that after attacking mahout last month, the forest officials had alerted all the mahouts and Kavadis to be careful while handling the elephant .

"The elephant is particularly allergic of alcohol and if anyone goes near to it by consuming alcohol it attacks" he added.

Comment: Since April there has been a spate of attacks by domesticated elephants on their handlers in Asia:

Domesticated elephant kills tour owner in Indonesia

Elephant runs amok, kills mahout in Parassala, India

Domesticated elephant kills mahout and injures another in Karnataka, India

Elephant kills mahout in Tamil Nadu, India

Elephant tramples its owner to death in Cambodia

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Bizarro Earth

Tourist attacked by Komodo Dragon in Indonesia while taking photographs


Heat Street
Thu, 04 May 2017 06:22 UTC
tourist bitten by komodo dragon indonesia
“This is the first incident of a human being bitten by a Komodo dragon in the past five years"
A tourist is being treated for serious leg injuries after being attacked by a Komodo dragon in Indonesia.

Local media reported that Lon Lee Alle, 50, who is from Singapore, was savaged in West Manggarai on Wednesday morning after ignoring warnings that he should not get too close to the vast reptiles.

According to the head of the nearby Komodo National Park, known only as Mr Sudiyono, Mr Alle had been watching several Komodo dragons devouring pigs and goats which belonged to villagers in the area when he decided to venture closer to them in order to take some pictures.

Mr Sudiyono told The Jakarta Post: "He must have been too close. A Komodo doesn't like to be disturbed when eating."

Komodo dragons can grow up to a maximum of 10ft in length and can weigh as much as 150lb. They have a keen sense of smell and are immensely strong.
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Bizarro Earth

Study finds wild dolphins immune systems 'chronically activated' due to industrial pollution in sea water

Charlotte England
The Independent
Thu, 04 May 2017 15:34 UTC
Dolphins
Dolphins
Wild dolphins have weaker immune systems than captive dolphins because of polluted sea water, a study has found.

Researcher's compared the immune health of four groups of bottlenose dolphins living in aquariums and off the coast of America.

Pollutants in the oceans around Florida and South Carolina were found to be putting a strain on the wild dolphins' immune systems, making it more difficult for the animals to fight off bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites.

Wild dolphins' immune systems appeared to be "chronically activated" as a result of the unhealthy environments they were living in, said the study's lead author Patricia Fair, a research professor at the Medical University of South Carolina.
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