Earth ChangesS


Attention

Humpback whale washes up dead at Kalbarri beach, Western Australia

Elle Farcic
au.news.yahoo.com
Fri, 19 Sep 2014 19:55 UTC
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© Picture: Kerby BrownImogen Caldwell and the beached dead whale at Red Bluff, Kalbarri.
A 12m humpback whale washed up on a popular Kalbarri beach on Wednesday night, bringing with it a school of sharks and a steady stream of onlookers.

The whale was barely breathing and had horrific injuries, including shark bites, when it washed up on Red Bluff beach about 9pm.

It died soon after it reached the sand, leaving the Shire of Northampton with the mammoth task of trying to remove it.

Contractors, who were called in from Geraldton, yesterday spent hours trying to lift the whale on to a truck so it could be disposed of inland.
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Attention

Alaska man shoots 9-foot grizzly bear that tried to enter his home

Deborah Hastings
New York Daily News
Wed, 16 Jul 2014 18:36 UTC
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© Jim LandessJim Landess with the grizzly bear that he killed after it tried to enter his home in Sterling, Alaska
Jim Landess woke up to loud banging at his home in Sterling, Alaska in the middle of the night, only to find a giant grizzly bear outside the dining room window. He ran outside and fired a few shots to scare the animal away, but it returned three hours later. This time, Landess fired seven rounds into the animal, killing it.

A sleepy Alaskan man had to twice battle an angry bear that attacked his house.

On the second go-round, Jim Landess fired seven rounds from his .45-caliber handgun, killing the rampaging animal.

The ruckus started about 3:30 a.m. on July 7 when Landess was woken up by loud banging on a window and a wall at his Sterling home, the Alaska Dispatch News reported.

Downstairs, his 17-year-old son was looking at the face of a 9-foot grizzly bear peering at him outside the dining room window.
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Cloud Precipitation

Four die as flash flood sweeps through Southern French campsite

AFP
The Telegragh
Thu, 18 Sep 2014 09:38 UTC
flash flood in Lamalou-les-bains
© Photo: EPA
Rescue workers evacuate a man from his home after it was hit by heavy floods in Lamalou-les-bains

Storms turn peaceful river near camping site in southern France into a raging torrent with people swept away

Four people died when storms turned a peaceful river that bordered their camping site in southern France into a raging torrent that swept them away, local authorities said Thursday.

The site in Lamalou-les-Bains was devastated by the overnight flood as storms that had already killed an elderly lady in the nearby region of Aveyron also left a person missing in another neighbouring district.

Authorities in the Herault district where Lamalou-les-Bains is located had initially said five had perished in the tragedy, but later revised the toll down to four and said two other people were still missing.

In one incident, a man who was trying to save a woman from drowning saw his own wife and daughter swept away in their caravan, the town's mayor told AFP.

"The father, who was around 60, went out and saw a woman who was going to drown," Philippe Tailland said.

"He held her by the hand but unfortunately, he had to let go of this woman.

"When he turned around, he saw his caravan being swept away with his wife and 34-year-old daughter inside," he said.

The caravan was later found stuck under a bridge and the body of his wife discovered inside. His daughter is still missing.

He is "in a catastrophic state," Tailland said.
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Black Cat

Wildlife officers shoot and kill cougar in south Calgary, Canada


ca.news.yahoo.com
Thu, 18 Sep 2014 23:51 UTC
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© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Ridewood Calgary Police block the entrance to the South Calgary Health Campus as they search for cougars on Thursday, Sept 18, 2014 in Calgary. Police and wildlife officers are watching two cougars that have wandered into south Calgary. One of the cats is near a hospital and the other is at a nearby construction site.
Wildlife officers shot and killed a cougar Thursday that wandered near a hospital in south Calgary.

Brendan Cox, an Alberta government spokesman, said there were reports of another big cat in the area, but they turned out to be false.

"One cougar has been destroyed by officers," he said.

Cox said the wildlife officers had hoped to tranquilize and trap the cougar that was laying in tall grass.

He said after watching the animal they determined the adult male cat was too riled up.

Cox said cougars can become agitated when they get hit with a tranquilizer dart. He said the cat could have run off into a more populated area, putting people at risk.
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Attention

Bear attacks - fourth fatality this year in North America: Bear kills hunter near Norman Wells, Canada


ca.news.yahoo.com
Thu, 18 Sep 2014 23:38 UTC
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A hunter was killed by a bear near Norman Wells, N.W.T., Wednesday.

Norman Wells RCMP received a call around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday that a hunter had been attacked by a bear southwest of the community, near the Yukon border.

Efforts to reach the area were hampered by weather, said police.

Representatives of the RCMP, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Office of the Chief Coroner reached the scene Thursday morning and confirmed a hunter had died as a result of a bear attack.

There is no word yet on what type of bear attacked the hunter. Grizzly bears are found in the Mackenzie Mountains area near the Yukon/N.W.T. border, where the incident took place.

RCMP say the incident is not considered suspicious and the matter has been turned over to the N.W.T. coroner's office

Comment: The other deaths caused by bears in 2014 in north America -

Bear attacks and kills 31-year-old man in Wyoming

Rick Cross, missing Kananaskis hunter, killed in bear attack, Alberta

Woman killed by a black bear in Fort McMurray, Alberta

By way of comparison the number of deaths in the recent past (years 2000 - 2013) seem to average out to about just two a year, going by this wikipedia list -

List of fatal bear attacks in North America

A number of fatalities has also occurred recently in Russia -

Bear attacks kill at least three people with many others injured in Siberia and far-east Russia

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Wolf

Dozens of pets killed by coyotes in College Park, Florida

Greg Fox
wesh.com
Tue, 16 Sep 2014 22:26 UTC
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Residents in College Park have been dealing with wild coyotes terrorizing their neighborhood and killing their pets over the last few months.

Three to four dozen animals, mostly cats, have been attacked over that time and residents have been left to fend for themselves.

Some ask if it will take a person being attacked by a coyote before anything is done by officials.

"It was just horrible. I hardly even slept last night," said Marcia Kazmi, whose cat was killed by a coyote. "It would have been better for me if my cat had been run over by a car."

Kazmi was devastated by the death of her prized Blue Point Himalayan, named Max, who was found dead in a neighbor's backyard Monday afternoon.
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Attention

Fourth elephant attack within four weeks in Sri Lanka


Ceylon Today
Wed, 17 Sep 2014 18:31 UTC
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Elephant breaking a branch after a charge.
Journalist cum farmer, I. L. Siraj from Palamunai, in the Ampara District had a brush with death, when a lone elephant attacked him.

The journalist was heading to his paddy field on his motorcycle, early in the morning, when the elephant rushed out of the jungle at Palamunai and attacked him with his trunk.

He lay on the paddy field without movement as the elephant came closer to him. According to Siraj the elephant stood there for a couple of minutes and then moved slowly into the nearby jungle without causing him further harm.

It was after the elephant disappeared from the scene that the people from the surroundings approached and rushed the journalist to the hospital. Siraj suffered a fracture of his right arm.

Meanwhile, according to the paddy cultivators from the Palamunai area, the elephant involved in the attack has been roaming around the Palamunai area for the past several weeks.

Comment: See also these reports of recent attacks: Two killed in a wild elephant attack in Maankulam, Sri Lanka

One person killed in wild elephant attack in Sri Lanka

Three tourists escaped with only minor injuries after elephant overturns car in Kruger Park, South Africa

Eight elephants attack town; one person reported dead in Ghana

2 killed in separate wild elephant attacks in India

Wild elephant attacks kills two in Sri Lanka

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Attention

Rare Arctic muskox spotted in northern Manitoba


cbc.ca
Wed, 17 Sep 2014 17:19 UTC
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© Dan WettlauferManitoba hunters spotted a muskox, similar to the one pictured here, near Tadoule Lake recently and reported it to Manitoba Conservation. It's the first sighting in over a century in this province. This is a photograph of a muskox spotted at the Northwest Territories-Alberta border two years ago.
Conservationists are thrilled to hear hunters in northern Manitoba have spotted a muskox.

Hunters from Tadoule Lake told provincial officials last week they spotted a muskox from their canoe during a hunting trip.

Manitoba Conservation biologist Bill Watkins said the animal hasn't been seen in this province since the late 1800s.

While there are 75,000 muskox in the north, the Arctic animals named for the strong smell they give off during the rutting season, disappeared from this province during the fur trade.
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Attention

Dead fin whale found on beach in Warrnambool, Australia

Dan Conifer
whalesandmarinefauna.wordpress.com
Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:47 UTC
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© DEPIThe dead whale washed up on Levy’s Beach on Monday.

A 16-metre-long dead whale has washed up on an isolated beach near Warrnambool, in Victoria's south-west.

The young female fin whale (Balænoptera physalus), which is estimated to weigh 25 tonnes, was found on Levy's Beach on Monday and word leaked out about it amongst local residents on Tuesday.

The Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) said it did not inform the public sooner as it was planning its overall response, including managing the scene.

DEPI biodiversity officer Mandy Watson said at this stage the cause of the death was unknown.

"These whales are quite vulnerable to ship strike. They are a surface-feeding whale so they are vulnerable from that point of view, and that is one of the bigger threats to the species," she said.
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Cloud Grey

Noctilucent clouds captured by ISS astronauts

Scott Sutherland
The Weather Network
Wed, 17 Sep 2014 11:33 UTC
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The view of our planet from space is amazing, but from time to time, the astronauts on board the International Space Station are able to spot an elusive treat - wispy, shining 'polar mesospheric clouds' hanging far above the planet's surface, like these ones spotted above the Ukraine on August 1, 2014.

Polar mesospheric clouds are pretty much what they sound like. They're clouds that happen over the planet's north and south poles, at mesospheric heights, or about 80 to 100 kilometres above the ground. The thin, wispy layer of ice crystals that they're composed of is virtually invisible during the day, when the sunlight is shining down through it. However, as the Sun is setting, and the rays of light from it strike this layer of ice crystals edge-on, the effect is quite spectacular.

Comment:
Noctilucent cloud intensity is a precursor to changes in global weather patterns. And it should be no surprise that the climate is not at all what it used to be, say 10 years ago. In fact Noctilucent clouds have increasingly become a more ordinary sight at lower latitudes, with the increased fireball and meteor activity in our skies (loading the skies with dust), along with the severe cooling of our upper atmosphere from low solar activity.

Noctilucent outburst over Europe
More cometary dust in the atmosphere: Noctilucent clouds appear above Gateshead in the UK late at night

To get ahead on what our solar system is up to with its ominous weather, read:
Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection (The Secret History of the World Book 3)

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