Animals
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Attention

Dead humpback whale found in same area of coast where scores of fish are mysteriously dying in Nova Scotia, Canada


National Post
Fri, 30 Dec 2016 11:27 UTC
Jennifer Hope Thibodeau (pictured) and her husband Charles took photos of the whale, and posted them on Facebook.
© Jennifer Hope Thibodeau and Charles Thibodeau Jennifer Hope Thibodeau (pictured) and her husband Charles took photos of the whale, and posted them on Facebook.
A dead whale has washed up in the same area of western Nova Scotia that has seen scores of dead herring, starfish, clams and lobster litter the shoreline — but fisheries officials say it's too early to say whether the deaths are related.

Jennifer Thibodeau and her husband were driving past the beach on Whale Cove on Tuesday when they spotted what appeared to be a young whale, perhaps nine metres long, near the high water mark.

She said the humpback whale did not appear to have any external injuries that could easily explain its death.

"It's really sad. I was crying about it this morning," said Thibodeau, whose home is about 150 metres from the beach.

"From our house we can look out and watch them jump out of the water in the summertime. You can hear them blow and ... you can see them breach and it's sad to think that's one of those whales that we watched."

Dead whale

Comment: See also: Thousands of dead lobsters, crabs and herring washing up along St. Mary's Bay, Nova Scotia

Thousands of dead herrings wash ashore in St. Marys Bay, Nova Scotia

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Bizarro Earth

Christmas storm blamed for hundreds of starfish washed up on Dutch beaches

Janene Pieters
NLTimes
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 13:30 UTC
Dead Starfishes
© @ikduszelfsoms/TwitterHundreds of starfish wash up on Dutch shores, 27 Dec 2016.
Hundreds of starfish washed up on Dutch beaches on Tuesday. Conservationists from Ecomare believe a storm was behind the animals being washed ashore, NU.nl reports.

Starfish were found on beaches in Callantsoog, Groote Keten, Egmond aan Zee and Wijk aan Zee.

According to Ecomare, a combination of strong winds and low temperatures at sea resulted in the starfish not having enough strength to cling to the ground. They were therefore taken by the tide and washed ashore.

Comment: In 2016, dead starfish have also been found on beaches in the UK, US, Turkey, and Western Australia:

7 Jan 2016: Tens of thousands of dead jellyfish and starfish found on beaches of West Sussex and Hampshire, UK
25 Jan 2016: Thousands of starfish wash ashore at Port St. Joe, Florida
28 Jun 2016: Hundreds of starfish wash up on the shores of the Marmara Sea, Turkey
3 Aug 2016: Up to 1000 dead starfish found on beaches near Fremantle, Western Australia
22 Nov 2016: Thousands of starfish wash up on beach in Southsea, UK

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Pistol

U.S. Federal court rules dogs can be shot if they bark, move when officer enters home

Brian Lisi
New York Daily News
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 18:16 UTC
Three Michigan police officers, who shot two dogs for lunging and barking at them during a drug raid, were once again justified in their actions — this time by a federal appeals court. Mark and Cheryl Brown of Battle Creek, Mich., filed suits over unreasonable seizure of their property and a violation of their constitutional rights for the deaths of their pets.
gavel
© BrianAJackson, Thinkstock
According to the Battle Creek Enquirer, officers shot and killed the Browns' pit bull terriers during an April 2013 operation, with Emergency Response Team members claiming one lunged at them and that the other barked as they executed a search warrant for drugs.

"The standard we set out today is that a police officer's use of deadly force against a dog while executing a search warrant to search a home for illegal drug activity is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment when ... the dog poses an imminent threat to the officer's safety," wrote Judge Eric Clay in the decision that saw the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati side with the U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids' dismissal.
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Black Cat

Mountain lion attacks 2 dogs, kills 1 near Ketchum, Idaho

Greg Moore
Idaho Mountain Express
Wed, 28 Dec 2016 14:34 UTC
A mountain lion.
© National Park ServiceA mountain lion.
Two dogs were apparently attacked by a mountain lion Thursday in Gimlet subdivision, south of Ketchum.

One of the dogs, a female Australian shepherd, died from its wounds. The other, a male yellow Labrador retriever, was treated at the Sun Valley Animal Center and is recuperating. The lion was trapped and released in a remote spot.

The Lab's owners, Wall Street residents Jan and Ed Cummins, said the 9-year-old, 80-pound dog, whose name is Barkley, went outside as usual after breakfast about 9 a.m. They said that when Barkley hadn't returned after about 20 minutes, Ed Cummins blew a high-pitched whistle and he came running, but didn't stop as usual, instead bolting straight into the house. They said Barkley was bleeding profusely from puncture wounds on his face and neck, and he immediately ran upstairs and hid.

The couple said Barkley's wounds had to be drained and partly stitched, and he spent one night at the Sun Valley Animal Center, but came home Friday. They said Barkley was returned to the vet Saturday to have an IV removed, and was put on a regimen of antibiotics and pain pills. Barkley also lost four teeth in the encounter.
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Health

Teenage surfer bitten by shark off Avalon State Park, Florida

Lamaur Stancil
TC Palm
Wed, 28 Dec 2016 11:15 UTC
Shark attacks
A surfing teenager bitten on his right forearm by a shark Tuesday was released from a hospital Wednesday.

"He came into the house with blood spilling out of his arm and told me, 'Don't freak out, Mom'," Sherry Davis said about learning her son, Zack Davis, 16, had suffered the bite. "It was more shock than anything else."

Paramedics responded and took the teen, who attends Vero Beach High School, to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce. Sherry Davis said doctors stitched up the wound Tuesday and released him Wednesday. It took 42 stitches to seal it up.

The shark bite happened about 5 p.m. Tuesday at Avalon State Park beach, not far from the Davis home in the 100 block of Ocean Estate Drive.

Zack Davis describes his shark bite ordeal that occurred at about 5 p.m. Tuesday while at Avalon State Park beach
© Eric Hasert/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERSZack Davis describes his shark bite ordeal that occurred at about 5 p.m. Tuesday while at Avalon State Park beach
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Attention

Shark bites woman snorkelling off the coast at Ningaloo, Western Australia

Belinda Cleary
Daily Mail
Wed, 28 Dec 2016 11:09 UTC
Shark attacks
A woman has been bitten on the bottom by a shark while snorkeling off the Western Australian coast on Christmas Eve.

The woman did not see the predator which took a bite of her as she glided through the water but did feel it nudge her in the shallow waters.

The shark attack occurred a kilometre from the coast in the famous Ningaloo marine park which is known for its shark dives.

The woman was swimming in five-metre deep water in the Bundegi Sanctuary Zone when she was bitten but didn't report it immediately.

The woman took herself to Exmouth Hospital where she was treated.

The Department of Fisheries are aware of the attack.
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Fish

Thousands of dead lobsters, crabs and herring washing up along St. Mary's Bay, Nova Scotia

Adina Bresge
The Canadian Press
Wed, 28 Dec 2016 21:03 UTC
Dead Starfishes
© Eric HeweyAmong the things Eric Hewey discovered washed up on the beach near Savary Park in Digby County were these starfish.
Massive numbers of dead starfish, clams, lobsters and mussels have washed up on a western Nova Scotia beach, compounding the mysterious deaths of tens of thousands of herring in the area.

Ted Leighton, an adjunct biology professor at Nova Scotia's University of Sainte-Anne, said social media photos showing bottom-dwellers strewn in the sand near Plympton, N.S., could be an indication that the phenomenon that has killed schools of herring in St. Marys Bay is possibly spreading to new species.

The retired veterinary pathologist has compiled more than 40 sightings of dead herring since late November, to shed light on an ecological puzzle that has stumped the scientific community.

The herring deaths were cause enough for concern, Leighton said, but now that new species have surfaced dead on a beach in Digby County, it's time to figure out "what's really going on."

"We're kind of in the dark, not from lack of trying, but from the complexity of the case," he said. "(There's) no firm data to rule anything in or out."

In mid-December, federal scientists said they had yet to determine what is causing the herring die-off, despite a battery of tests. Negative results have been reported for physical damage and several types of bacterial infections and viruses.

Comment:
Thousands of dead herrings wash ashore in St. Marys Bay, Nova Scotia

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Attention

Attack by elephant herd leaves 1 dead and 2 seriously injured in Nepal


Online Khabar
Wed, 28 Dec 2016 17:44 UTC
elephants
One person died and two sustained serious injuries when wild elephants attacked them at Praseni Bazaar, Bardiya district, on Wednesday morning.

At around 7 am, elephants entered the bazaar from Bardiya National Park and trampled on Bimal Pariyar.

Ram Prasad Lamichhane and Dinesh Singh Thakuri were seriously injured in the attack.

Terrified local people ran for their dear life when the elephants entered the bazaar.

Nepal Army personnel and local people drove them back to the forest later.
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Fish

Unprecedented jellyfish blooms off the shores of Pakistan

M. Waqar Bhatti
The International News
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 12:13 UTC
Unusual jellyfish blooms affecting fishing activities in coastal areas
Unusual jellyfish blooms affecting fishing activities in coastal areas
Local fishermen have reported unprecedented jellyfish blooms in the offshore waters of Pakistan which are affecting fishing activities.

During the past fortnight, blooms of the mauve stinger (scientifically known as Pelagia noctiluca) have been observed in the continental shelf along the Sindh and Balochistan coasts.

Large aggregations of this stinging jellyfish, which are mauve to magenta in colour, have been reported in offshore waters of Karachi to the Indus Swatch (some 140km south of Karachi) and Ormara.

WWF-Pakistan studies revealed a population of more than 150 individuals per cubic metre, which is clogging the fishermen's nets. Its eight tentacles carry stinging cells known as cnidocytes.
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Attention

Weeks old dead whale found on beach in South Taranak, New Zealand

Jeremy Wilkinson and Brittany Baker
Stuff
Wed, 28 Dec 2016 11:12 UTC
Carl Linnell walked up on a washed-up whale near New Plymouth.
© Carl LinnellCarl Linnell walked up on a washed-up whale near New Plymouth.
A 14 metre whale has washed up on a South Taranaki beach.

Department of Conservation duty ranger Nathan Jones said he was called to a remote beach near Rahotu on Monday evening and said he suspected the dead mammal was a blue pygmy whale.

"The cause of death is unknown at this stage but it has probably been dead several weeks judging by the state of decay," he said.

"If it was on a more public beach we might have to cut it into pieces and get a digger involved, but because it's quite isolated we can just let nature take its course."

The whale was still at the beach on Wednesday evening and Jones asked the public to stay away from it if they saw it.

Carl Linnell said it looked like the whale had been on the beach for a few days.
© Carl Linnell Carl Linnell said it looked like the whale had been on the beach for a few days.
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