Animals
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Eye 2

Alligator attacks girl in Orange County, Florida

Alligator
Alligator
The 10-year-old attacked by an alligator at an Orange County park Saturday was able to get free after prying open the reptile's jaws, records show.

The girl was sitting down in 2-foot-deep water in a designated swimming area at Moss Park about 2:30 p.m. when the 8-foot, 9-inch gator attacked her, according to a report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The girl was in Lake Mary Jane with four family members, who were also in the water about 10 feet away, an accident report shows.

The gator bit the girl's calf and knee, but she was able to pry open its jaws to get her leg free, the report states.


Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills woman and her horse in Sedalia, Colorado

A lightning bolt struck this oak tree and killed a 37-year-old woman and her horse who were nearby. Police say the woman was 10 feet away from the tree when she died
A lightning bolt struck this oak tree and killed a 37-year-old woman and her horse who were nearby. Police say the woman was 10 feet away from the tree when she died
A 15-year-old girl was left fighting for her life after a lightning bolt struck a tree near her and killed a woman she was with in Colorado.

The two were riding horses on an equestrian trail between the community of Sedalia, Colorado and the Roxborough State Park on Sunday afternoon.

After a lightning bolt struck an oak tree, the 37-year-old woman and her horse died.

The girl was 'conscious and breathing' when paramedics found the pair and the girl was taken to the hospital where she was treated for electrocution, according to Denver7.

Cloud Precipitation

Flash floods sweep away 18,000 livestock in Samburu, Kenya

dead cattle
Livestock farmers in Samburu County are counting losses after an estimated 18,000 head of livestock were swept by flash floods following a heavy downpour in the county.

Livelihoods are now under threat in an area that has suffered the blunt of drought that has left hundreds of livestock dead due to starvation.

Speaking to Citizen Digital on phone, area Member of Parliament, Alois Lentoimanga said that the most affected areas by floods are Nyiro, Ndoto, Elbarta, Nachola, Angata and Baawaa wards where households have also been swept away by the floods.

Lentoimanga is now appealing to the government and the Kenya Red Cross to intervene, describing the situation as dire.

According to Joseph Lekaato, a resident of Bendera village in Samburu North Sub County, this is the worst loss that has never been experienced in the region.


Attention

Dead orca whale shows highest pollutant level ever seen by scientists in an animal

orca whales
© AP Photo/ NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Cente
A dead orca whale that washed up on the shore of a Scottish isle has been revealed to have the highest concentration of dangerous pollutants ever recorded.

Following the dead whale's discovery in January on a small island, researchers with the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS), a group that according to their website, "collates all data from stranded marine animals around Scotland," conducted an autopsy that revealed astonishingly high levels of dangerous pollutants, including highly toxic manmade polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Scientists conducting the autopsy said the PCB levels are the highest ever recorded in an animal, according to Ibtimes.

Info

Hundreds of leopard sharks washing up dead on San Francisco beaches

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.

Wolf

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

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.

Attention

Raccoon attack leaves elderly woman in bandages in Niagara, Ontario

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."

Cow

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

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.

Wolf

Denmark gets its first wild wolf pack in over 200 years

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.

Attention

Hundreds of migratory birds found dead in Galveston, Texas

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.