Animals
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Attention

Man attacked by shark in Satellite Beach, Florida


Tracking Sharks
Thu, 05 Jan 2017 14:06 UTC
Shark attacks
On January 5, a man was bitten by a shark in Satellite Beach, Florida.

The 47-year-old was surfing in waters off Patrick Air Force Base Blockhouse Beach around 12:30 p.m. when he was bitten on the foot.

Johannes Friess who was visiting from Munich, Germany, heard his girlfriend yell to him that the unidentified man needed help. Friess paddled out to the man and assisted him back to shore.

Once they were back on the beach, Friess assessed the wound and noted several holes in the bottom of the man's foot. Friess also saw the man had one deep hole that looked to be around a half-inch (1.27cm) deep and around 3 inches (7.62cm) long.
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Snowflake

Major Jammu-Srinagar highway in India shut for fourth consecutive day due to heavy snowfall


news18.com
Fri, 06 Jan 2017 15:05 UTC
Jammu-Srinagar highway closed due to heavy snowfall.
Jammu-Srinagar highway closed due to heavy snowfall.
In Kashmir Valley, snowfall continued for the fourth consecutive day and Met office predicted more wet weather over the next few days.

Most of the flights were cancelled at Srinagar International Airport due to poor visibility. The snowfall also hit operations on the runway, an airport official said.
Jammu and Kashmir: Kashmir valley receives snowfall pic.twitter.com/XAcTJgyBPA

— ANI (@ANI_news) January 6, 2017
The depth of snow in Gulmarg, a star attraction for tourists during the winter, was two feet. The health resort of Pahalgam, which serves as a base camp for the Amarnath Yatra, received 3.5 cm of snow and was chilling at minus 1.6C.


A shepherd at a snow-clad field during light snowfall on the outskirts of Srinagar on 5th January, 2016.
© PTIA shepherd at a snow-clad field during light snowfall on the outskirts of Srinagar on 5th January, 2016.
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Binoculars

Rare waxwing birds from abroad that signal harsh winter seen across Gloucestershire, UK as temperatures plummet

Janet Hughes
Gloucestershire Live
Thu, 05 Jan 2017 19:39 UTC
Waxwing
Waxwing
Delighted twitchers came out in force after groups of rare birds said to be a sign of a harsh winter descended on the county in search of berries this week.

Groups of waxwings have been spotted across the county in recent days.

Crowds or birdspotters have been gathering around sites where the feathered winter visitors have arrived from colder climes looking for food.

At the minute many are gathered at Lidl in Cinderford where around 16 Waxwings have been spotted feeding from the winter berries.

Two waxwings have been spotted feeding on berries outside the police station in Cirencester and a pair have been seen at the The Boars Head car park in Berkeley.

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Attention

Dolphin found dead on Isle of Palms, South Carolina

Sandra Ecklund
abcnews4.com
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 13:00 UTC
Dead dolphin
© Mary PringleDead dolphin on Isle of Palms
A young dolphin was found dead on the sands of IOP Tuesday near 21st Avenue.

According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials, a male bottle nose dolphin was found with mono-filament line wrapped around his lower jaw and had embedded into the bone.

Local author Mary Alice Monroe posted a photo of the find on her Facebook page, dedicated to conservation of marine wildlife.

After a necropsy, officials said the near six foot long dolphin died of septicemia from the wound.
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Attention

Fishing guide photographs dead sperm whale in Louisiana lake

Todd Masson
The Times-Picayune
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 18:17 UTC
Capt. Travis Lovell took pictures of a rotting whale carcass he ran across last week in southern Terrebonne Parish
© Capt. Travis LovellCapt. Travis Lovell took pictures of a rotting whale carcass he ran across last week in southern Terrebonne Parish
If Capt. Ahab really wanted to find the great white whale, maybe he should have spent some time along the Louisiana coast. For the second time in two months, a deceased sperm whale has washed up onto shore in the Bayou State.

In the latest encounter, Capt. Travis Lovell took pictures of a rotting whale carcass Dec. 28 in Terrebonne Parish's Sister Lake. Lovell said the whale had already been discovered by others, but when he got home, he posted the pictures to social media and they went viral.

"I had one client with me that day -- a guy from Minnesota -- and we were pretty much done," Lovell recounted. "Another guide that I network with passed by, and said, 'Man, the craziest thing happened earlier: I could swear I saw a whale this morning.' I said, 'No way. On a scale from 1-10, how sure are you it was a whale?' He said, '9.5.'"

The client and Lovell both wanted to verify the sighting, so they went where the other captain told them, and sure enough, there was a 23 1/2-foot sperm whale tied up to a bulkhead. The stench was borderline unbearable, so Lovell got upwind to snap a few photos with his phone.
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Eye 2

Eastern brown snake found consuming python in Ipswich, Australia

Daniel Uria
UPI
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 16:09 UTC
Snakes
© N&S Snake Catcher
Snake catchers in Australia responded to an unusual call, arriving on the scene to find one deadly snake eating another.

N&S Snake Catcher shared video of a deadly eastern brown snake devouring a carpet python inside a home in Queensland on Monday.

"We will be here for a little while," the snake catchers wrote alongside a photo of the strange scene.

Eastern brown snakes are known to eat other snakes, including other eastern browns, alongside their typical diet of mice, frogs and lizards, but Sally Hill. co-owner with her husband of N&S Snake Catcher, told ABC News this scene was unlike anything they'd ever seen.

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Attention

Rare whale found dead at Island Beach State Park, New Jersey

Carly Baldwin
Middletown Patch
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 10:45 UTC
A Blainville beaked whale
© NOAAA Blainville beaked whale
There have been two incidents of dead marine mammals washing ashore along the New Jersey Coast over the past week, Bob Schoelkopf of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine told Patch Tuesday. The first was a whale that washed ashore at Island Beach State Park before the New Year's weekend, and the second was a dead dolphin that washed ashore at Sandy Hook on Friday. The dolphin had a large shark bite in her, but it was healed and appeared to be from one to two years ago, he said.

On Friday, Dec. 30 a dead female dolphin washed up on the bay side of Sandy Hook. It was first spotted by some birders in the area. Marine Mammal Stranding Center volunteers picked the dolphin up Saturday, and she was taken to a state lab for testing. At first the dolphin appeared to be pregnant, but an exam revealed she was not, Schoelkopf said.
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Water

These seabirds are choking on a plastic ocean

Nick Paton Walsh
My Wabash Valley
Mon, 02 Jan 2017 18:49 UTC
Plastic
Shock, combined with a little wonder at the unnatural. That's how I feel as I watch the knife slice through the sternum of a dead Laysan albatross.

Inside its ribcage: a sickening array of plastic.

A red bottle top from a well-known soft drink brand. A cigarette lighter. Or two. Long thin items I couldn't begin to identify.

It looked like the bird had swallowed the contents of an entire trash can whole.

Yet this wasn't because it dined on a refuse site. I was on Midway Island, in the remote Pacific Ocean, at least 1,500 miles from the nearest one of those. This disgusting and otherworldly sight exists because we're throwing the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic into the oceans every minute. By 2050, a number of researchers expect the world's oceans to contain more plastic than fish, by weight.

Matt Brown, from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, used to live on the island and is now our guide.
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Attention

Dozens of birds fall from sky along Route 22 near Whitehall, Pennsylvania

Emily Opilo
The Morning Call
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 16:41 UTC
Dozens of blackbirds similar to this one apparently fell from the sky on the Route 22 median Friday afternoon, according to state police and multiple witnesses who drove through the area.
Dozens of blackbirds similar to this one apparently fell from the sky on the Route 22 median Friday afternoon, according to state police and multiple witnesses who drove through the area.
You don't have to look far for a sign of the coming apocalypse. Just check the median of Route 22.

That's where dozens of black birds apparently fell from the sky Friday afternoon, according to state police and multiple witnesses who drove through the area.

Terrence Haynes and his wife were driving east on Route 22 Friday when suddenly traffic slowed near the Route 512 exit. At first, it looked like shredded tires scattered all over the road, Haynes said. As they drove closer, it became clear that the black objects were birds. Haynes estimated that there were at least 20.

"I'm not kidding when I say it was one of the most terrible things I've ever seen," Haynes said Monday.

David Godiska of Whitehall came upon a similar scene around 1:45 p.m. while driving east near what he thought was the Fullerton Avenue exit. Traffic slowed suddenly, he said.
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Gift

The dangers of unwanted Christmas presents: Dog attacks 3 family members after owner tries to put festive sweater on it in Tampa, Florida

Cheyenne Roundtree
Daily Mail
Sun, 01 Jan 2017 16:02 UTC
Hillsborough County Animal Control currently has the dog. Eddy Durkin with Tampa Police said: 'When they Tasered the dog, it was still pulling away and was able to release the prongs from the Taser'
Hillsborough County Animal Control currently has the dog. Eddy Durkin with Tampa Police said: 'When they Tasered the dog, it was still pulling away and was able to release the prongs from the Taser'
A dog viciously attacked three members of a family after its owner tried to put a Christmas sweater on him.

Brenda Guerrero, 52, from Tampa, Florida, was in the backyard trying to put the pit bull mix, named Scarface, into a festive outfit when he attacked her, biting her on the arm.

Her husband Ismael Guerrero, 46, tried to pull the dog off his wife but then the animal started to attack him, reported WTSP.

After the couple's son Antoine Harris, 22, stabbed the dog in the neck and head, all three were able to escape back into the house.

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