Earth ChangesS


Wolf

Family pit bull euthanized after attack on toddler in Fayetteville, North Carolina

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A Fayetteville toddler is fighting for his life after a dog attack in his home.

Authorities say the attack happened just before 8 p.m. Tuesday at a house on Quimby Court in Fayetteville.

Katherine Rodgers told investigators that the family's 5-year-old pit bull mix, Kratos, attacked her 18-month-old son, Kenneth, in their home after he wandered away from her into another room.

"That was her original statement," said Cumberland County Animal Control Director Dr. John Lauby. "She's recanted that statement and says she was playing ball with the dog and the dog got excited and attacked the child is what I'm understanding now from other reports."

Authorities says the 90-pound dog bit the child in the face and neck causing severe facial trauma. A what report? Animal control? Police?report also says that the child's airway was obstructed.



Windsock

Twin waterspouts spotted near Cape Coral, Florida

Double waterspout near Florida
© FullGrd_FgtGear Twitter user
CAPE CORAL, Fla. - Severe weather in Southwest Florida on Thursday spawned an unusual weather phenomena: double waterspouts!

The moment was captured by Twitter user @FullGrd_FgtGear.

The picture was taken over the Caloosahatchee River off the coast of Cape Coral at about 10:45 a.m.

Cloud Lightning

Tropical Storm Erika dumps torrential rain on Caribbean islands, now heading for U.S. East Coast

flooding, dominica
© Machel Montano on Instagram
Tropical Storm Erika strengthened as it dumped torrential rain on islands in the Eastern Caribbean and appeared to be headed for the U.S. East Coast early next week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Thursday.

Erika could reach hurricane status near Florida's east coast by Monday morning, the Miami-based government forecaster said.

Heavy rains lashed the small, mountainous island of Dominica with almost 9 inches reported at Canefield airport near the capital, Roseau.

Dominica's Tourism Minister Robert Tonge posted photographs and video on Facebook showing widespread flooding in the capital and urged everyone to stay inside.

Attention

Lucky escape for Swedish hunters after 'dead' bear attacks

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© Per Løchen/NTB scanpixIt is legal to hunt bear in Sweden between August and October.
A Swedish man has spoken about his close brush with death when a bear he believed he had killed lunged up and launched a violent attack on himself and his hunting partner on the first day of Sweden's annual cull.

Roles were reversed at the start of Sweden's annual bear hunt on Friday when two Swedish hunters had to be taken to hospital after they were attacked by their own prey.

"I had had my eye on this bear for a week and a half, because it had been walking around eating oats in this area," Per-Anders Wärme from Bollnäs in northern Sweden told regional newspaper Hela Hälsingland after the incident.

He and his friend had fired two shots at a bear just after the hunt got under way early on Friday morning. But when they walked up to the prey it turned out it was still alive.

Keen to exert his revenge, the 270-kilo beast lunged at Wärme's colleague, who fell to the ground. And as the 49-year-old tried to get hold of his rifle and rescue the other man the bear came towards him instead.

Attention

Dead baby whale found in water at Alexandra Headland, Australia

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A dead whale, about 4m long, was found floating inside shark nets in front of Alexandra Headland Surf Life Saving Club this morning.
A dead whale has been found floating on the beach side of shark nets in front of the Alexandra Headland Surf Life Saving Club.

It was noticed about 11am by lifesavers and beach goers from the shore who then alerted authorities.

The beach was closed and surfers were cautioned for fears of possible nearby sharks.

Lifesavers believe the mammal, about 4m long, was a juvenile and it had puncture marks on its body.

The animal was towed out to deeper water.

Attention

Dead whale found in dock at Oakland Estuary

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© KGO-TV/Wayne FreedmanA dead whale was found beneath a dock at the Oakland Estuary on Wednesday, August 26, 2015.
A John Beery Yachts employee found a dead whale under a dock in Alameda Wednesday morning.

The dead whale is at least 36 feet long and was found floating in the Oakland Estuary.

The U.S. Coast Guard notified the fisheries service of a stranded whale floating in the waters between Alameda and Oakland at about 4:30 a.m., according to Justin Viezbicke, the fisheries service's California stranding network coordinator.

The whale has washed in and wedged into the pilings at Berth 46 in Alameda.

Researchers arrived Wednesday afternoon to take tissue and blood samples to determine what kind of whale it is. Right now, it is hard to tell because its head remains submerged.


Arrow Down

5 sinkholes discovered in Negros Oriental, Philippines

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© Philippine StarSinhole in Cebu. File photo
Mayor Ernesto Uy of Mabinay, Negros Oriental on Wednesday said he is awaiting the initial investigation report of the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 7 on the formation of sinkholes in the last barangay of that upland municipality.

He explained that the MGB-7's investigation report would be a basis for him to determine future actions of the Mabinay local government unit regarding the sinkholes, considering that the area where they are situated is close to the proposed site for the regional centers of the newly formed Negros Island Region (NIR).

As this developed, the mayor disclosed that as of late Wednesday, he ordered the Mabinay Rescue Group to proceed to the area and monitor the sinkholes following heavy rain earlier in the day.

Last week, at least four sinkholes were found at the Malaiba riverbed with a fifth one having formed over the weekend, spurred by continuous rains and widely perceived to have been caused by what residents believed to have been an earthquake or ground shaking nearby, said Uy.

At least two tension ground cracks were also monitored to have formed around the sinkholes, he added.

Attention

Bison attacks hiker on Santa Catalina Island, California

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© Jeff GritchenA man was hospitalized Wednesday morning after a bison attack on Catalina Island, officials said.
A man was hospitalized Wednesday morning after a bison attack on Santa Catalina Island, officials said.

Los Angeles County Fire Department officials helped Chris Baker, 43, around 8:40 a.m. after he was gored by a bison near Isthmus Pier, near the Two Harbors area.

He was airlifted by helicopter to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center about an hour after the attack, said Matt McClain, director of marketing and communications for the Catalina Island Conservancy.

Baker was on a hiking trail near Tower Peak on the isthmus side of an 8-foot fence, where two or three bison roam, McClain said.

"Every once and a while, they get through that gate," McClain said.

Cloud Precipitation

Flood waters filmed rushing into Caracas subway station in Venezuela

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A resident of the Venezuelan capital captured video of water rushing into a city subway station amid heavy rains in the region.

Diana Valbuena posted a video to YouTube showing water rushing down the escalators and into a Caracas metro station Tuesday amid heavy rains in the city.

Commuters can be seen in the video sitting atop escalator rails to stay dry while the water flows.

Caracas Redditor frank_13 said the rain waters caused a sewage-bearing river to overflow, leading to water flowing into the subway station and other locations around the city.

The Reddit poster blamed "poor maintenance of the city" for failing to prevent the flooding.


Attention

Elephant kills its mahout and runs off into the jungle with tourist family still sitting on its back in Thailand

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The elephant 'went berserk' during a guided tour in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and killed its handler before running off into the jungle with a family-of-three from China on its back (stock image)
Thailand's use of elephants as tourist attractions has come under fire yet again after an animal killed its keeper and ran off with a family still on its back during a jungle tour in Chiang Mai.

The elephant reportedly 'went berserk', during a group ride on Wednesday, attacking and killing its rider and taking off into the jungle with three terrified Chinese tourists, police said

The Chinese family, two parents and their young child, were rescued soon after as other elephant keepers came to the rescue.

'The mahout [elephant keeper] who was killed was not familiar with the elephant. They (the tourists) are safe now,' Colonel Thawatchai Thepboon, police commander of Mae Wang district in Chiang Mai province said.

Police said the incident took place at 9.30am local time as a Chinese family of three - a father, mother and a young child - took a ride on the back of a male elephant.

Comment: See also these reports from last year: Elephant kills mahout in India

Get off my back! Elephant tramples another mahout to death in India - third killing in less than a week

Elephant gores owner to death in Kerala, India - 4th mahout from the region to die in a fortnight

Second mahout to be killed by elephant within 5 days in Kerala, India