Earth Changes
The number of animal attacks on humans has increased in recent years. In last 10 years, 200 people have got killed and more than 500 got injured in human animal conflict in different parts of the Valley.
The reason for the rapid rise of tension between humans and animals is the paucity of living space. According to the World Conservation Union (World Park Congress 2003), conflict occurs when wildlife's requirements overlap with those of human population. The destruction of their habitat due to human activities compels the wild animals to enter human settlements in search of food and water leading to conflict.
Wild life warden of Dachigam National Park, Mohamed Sadiq says killing the animal is not the ultimate solution.
"Human population is increasing rapidly. Forest cover has either decreased or declined in quality due to habitat degradation and people in Kashmir have changed their agriculture fields in to apple orchards, which attract black bear.
They say the measures of the past proved futile this time after the water level rose more than 1m higher than the massive floods in 1971.
"When it started to rain on Dec 3, we went to sleep at my sister's house nearby because it had never flooded there," said 59-year-old Kamariah Othman.
"But at 4am the next day, we were woken by her neighbour when water started flowing into their house.
"Before we knew it, we were up to our waists in water."
The family moved to a cousin's house on a hill and have been staying there for the past few days.
He said the Government and other parties should not be blamed for the disasters as they were facing a phenomenon which was out of their abilities to tackle effectively.
"Floods are not something unusual in Malaysia as well as other advanced countries like the United Kingdom and the United States.
"One factor is generally the monsoon season which brings heavy rain and strong winds and another factor is global warming and climate change.
"The effects of this phenomenon is difficult to determine but weather experts are certain that there will be heavier rains than usual," Najib said at a flood relief special payment ceremony here Saturday.
He said high moisture content in the air would cause the heavy rains.
She was letting her dog into her county Route 2 home around noon Thursday when a large animal pounced on her, latching onto her face and biting and scratching her.
She was able to fight it off by choking it, but not before it bit and/or scratched her head, shoulder, arms and thigh.
"I turned around and it was leaping right for my neck," Bowman recalled. "It went for my throat."
Bowman was mauled by a large bobcat, a cat that minutes later went after her daughter's boyfriend, Nate Nadeau, and tried to attack him as well.
Nadeau shot and killed it, but state tests later found the cat had rabies, so both Bowman and Nadeau - who was not hurt but did have contact with the cat - had to get two weeks of rabies shots.
The incident has left Bowman shaken and afraid to go out of her house, and concerned that rabies is going to affect other bobcats in the area and make them aggressive as well.
Authorities closed streets as maintenance crews worked to push the ice from buildings to prevent any accidents
The ice storm that hit the area this week left over 250,000 residents and businesses without power and caused over 1000 flight delays
Shocked bystanders watched aghast as huge sheets of ice slipped off the top of a building in Texas and onto cars below, completely crushing them.
Plano, in north Texas, has been hit hard with snow and ice since the weekend, but thawing temperatures have started to melt the large quantities of snow and ice that have built up.
The affect has caused major damage to vehicles parked in the streets.
In one case, which was caught on video, a Jaguar was crushed in Plano, after its roof collapsed and windows smashed under the weight of the falling freeze.
The sheets also damaged a Corvette and several other vehicles.
#1 Something is causing large numbers of dead birds to wash up on shores all over Alaska. The following is a report from Alaska Public Media about just one of these incidents...
Scientists do not know why this is happening. Some of them are blaming "harsh weather".Hundreds of dead birds washed up on the shores of St. Lawrence Island towards the end of November. And though the cause of the die off isn't yet known, the quick response demonstrates a mounting capacity for dealing with unexpected environmental events in the region.
"Because Lebanon is subject to the harsh snowstorm, 'Alexa,' which has already caused a sharp decline in temperatures, and rainwater is expected to increase and block traffic, to avoid the risks caused by the storm and its impact on school students ... public and private schools will be closed and classes will not be held Wednesday," the statement from the Education Ministry said.
A major winter storm was expected to hit the region Tuesday evening and to last throughout the weekend, bringing rain, high winds and high-altitude snow. Emergency services across the country were put on high alert ahead of the storm's arrival.
Tuesday started clear or partly cloudy and unseasonably cold, but high winds and rain were set to begin along the coast in the evening, followed by showers, thunderstorms, high winds and snow on Mount Hermon, the Israel Meteorological Service reported Tuesday morning.

Snow began falling on Istanbul’s outskirts in the afternoon and intensified in the late hours of the evening in the center of the city.
Snow began falling on Istanbul's outskirts in the afternoon and intensified in the late hours of the evening in the center of the city. The snowy weather is expected to affect Istanbul until Dec. 12, meteorological officials said.
The agency that oversees New York's airports has added snowy owls to its no-fly list, shooting down at least two at Kennedy Airport and issuing an alert to kill any more that are spotted there, an airport source told NBC 4 New York. Marc Santia reports.
The agency that oversees New York's airports shot down at least two snowy owls at Kennedy Airport, but now promises an effort to trap and relocate them.
The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey issued the shoot-to-kill order for the birds after one flew into a jet's engine while the plane was on a tarmac at Kennedy last week, an airport source told NBC 4 New York.
After media reports on the hunted owls Monday, the Port Authority said it would implement a program to trap and relocate the birds, which have been migrating to the region this year in unusually high numbers.
"The Port Authority's goal is to strike a balance in humanely controlling bird populations at and around the agency's airports to safeguard passengers on thousands of aircrafts each day," the agency said in a statement.
A total of five planes were hit by snowy owls at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports in recent weeks, the Port Authority told the Associated Press.













Comment: A key suspect was left off the list... the Pacific Ring of Fire is super-active these days.
Volcanic eruptions rage in Alaska: Geologist, "for some reason we can't explain, activity picked up"
Volcanic eruptions, rising CO2, boiling oceans, and why man-made global warming is not even wrong