Earth Changes
Hundreds of thousands of dead fish washed ashore in the Tarsus district of the southern Mersin province on Sept. 19, reportedly due to contamination from a malfunctioning wastewater treatment plant in neighboring Adana.
Officials have warned residents not to consume or touch the fish.
"The scene that you see here is heartbreaking. It breaks the hearts of Mersin and Tarsus residents. Millions of dead mullets have filled the beach and when we ask about the issue to the villagers nearby, they say that it's been going on for four months now," Mersin lawmaker Aytuğ Atıcı said as he visited the area, according to Doğan News Agency.
"We won't stop pursuing these incidents and will prevent fish deaths. We know that the people of Mersin and Tarsus are with us in this struggle. We are calling on them to support us," he said.
"They believe it is the target gator, possibly because of it's characteristics," said Greg Workman, spokesman for the Florida Wildlife Commission, the state agency tasked with finding the alligator in the hours after the attack. "That is a big gator. But it is not that uncommon for them to get that big in remote areas," Workman said.
A second, 11 foot long alligator was also captured. Both alligators have already been harvested, Workman added.
The attack happened about 9 a.m. Monday when the man, known in the homeless community by his street name "Ron Jon," suffered a number of deep punctures along his shoulder as a result of a struggle with the alligator, Melbourne police said. The man remained in stable condition late Monday, police reported. The attack happened under a U.S. 1 overpass, in a fishing spot popular with the area homeless community.
"He was in the river and an alligator came up and grabbed him. It grabbed him by the shoulder," said Cmdr. Dan Lynch of the Melbourne Police Department.
The humpback whale was spotted floating in Sitka Sound Sept. 13.
A team from the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and the University of Alaska Southeast arrived last weekend to check out the carcass, which was beached.

Researchers collect samples from a beached humpback whale carcass Saturday on a Sitka Sound beach
"It had indications of hemorrhage where it had been struck and possibly carried by a ship. So there are areas of trauma that look convincing that it had had a major blunt impact," she said.
She says it was likely a large vessel, such as a tanker, cruise ship or ferry. But she's not positive.

Pictured is the four-metre blue marlin with Oliver Crimmen (right) and James Maclaine from the Natural History Museum.
The four-metre fish caused excitement locally when it was discovered at the South Pembrokeshire beach last week, with many people believing it to be a swordfish.
Since then, it has been identified as only the third blue marlin ever to be washed up in the UK, and the first full one to be recovered.
The fish was inspected in situ by representatives from Milford Haven Coastguard and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, before being collected from the beach by Pembrokeshire County Council.
Council staff stored it at the Templeton depot and reported it to Rod Penrose of the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme.
And within 24 hours of him contacting the Natural History Museum, two experts from the Department of Life Sciences were on their way to collect it.
"From a distance, I thought I had twins lying together," said Stan McCubbin. "I saw two noses. I thought it was twins and then when I saw her, I was just completely blown away."
"He was just like, 'I've got a two-headed calf, so I was in shock," said McCubbin's wife, Brandy.
Lucky -- as she's known -- really earned her name.
"She has two heads, but I'm okay with that," said the couple's five-year-old daughter Kenley.
"I said she was lucky to live, and our little five-year-old, Kenley, said 'That's her name -- Lucky'," said Brandy McCubbin. "She is lucky and we're blessed to have this happen on our farm."
While the family says the heifer calf is lucky to be alive, Lucky does have her share of problems.
Eighteen people have been killed after being struck by lightning in the Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh, India.
Uttar Pradesh has been hit by a number of severe thunderstorms over the past week and more are expected over the next few days.
The storms killed eight people on September 16, and 10 more just 48 hours later.
A number of other people are still in intensive care, fighting for their lives.
Monika Rani, district magistrate, said that the families of those who died will be given $5,968 (INR 400,000) in compensation.
Lightning kills a surprising number of people in India. In Uttar Pradesh alone, lightning caused 59 deaths in August, and it's estimated that it kills more than 2,000 people across the country every year.
A few days earlier, the elephant had become agitated and ran away. "The elephant herder victim was stabbed with the tusks in the ribs and groin," Meng said, adding that the elephant then used its trunk to pick up the man and toss him to the ground, causing instant death. After the fatal incident, the elephant charged at some vans along the road near Bousraa Waterfall, frightening tourists, he said.
Svay Sam Eang, Mondulkiri provincial governor, ordered armed forces to help maintain security and safety. He said Sreng's relatives told him to order his forces to shoot the elephant, but the request was denied.
The flash flood struck Bayongbong, Karangpawitan, in Garut regency, at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning after heavy rainfall covered the area from Tuesday evening. The rainfall caused the Cimanuk and Cikamuri rivers to overflow, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Wednesday.
The flashflood in Garut resulted in the deaths of eight people. Many others are injured and hundreds of people have had to leave their homes, Sutopo said, citing data from the Garut Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD).
The flood reached up to two meters in height after just three hours of rainfall.
The San Jose international airport was temporarily closed for safety reasons because the volcanic ash could cause problems for planes, the civil aviation authority said.
Airport sources said eight approaching flights were diverted as the order was given, some to the north of the country and others to El Salvador.
Turrialba erupted twice, first at dawn and again just before noon.
The second eruption sent an ash cloud 4,000 meters into the air.
The volcano is located 35 kilometres from the capital.

Satellite imagery shows the Bering Sea storm system forecast to cause high surf in the Kuskokwim Delta on Monday and high winds and flooding in Southcentral Alaska on Tuesday.
The Weather Service's Anchorage website showed areas affected by a series of high wind warnings, in effect from Tuesday evening into Wednesday, ranging from Seward and the eastern Kenai Peninsula to Prince William Sound. The area around Cordova remained under a wind watch. Most of those areas can expect winds of 40 to 55 mph, with gusts of 75 to 90 mph.
The warning also includes the lower Anchorage Hillside and Eagle River, with winds of 30 to 45 mph and gusts to 65 mph. Along Turnagain Arm and higher elevations, wind speeds of 50 to 65 mph are forecast, along with gusts from 85 to 100 mph.
"Confidence remains high for this storm to produce hurricane force winds along Turnagain Arm, much of the Anchorage area and Portage Valley," meteorologists wrote in an afternoon forecast discussion, though they noted that when and just how hard the winds would hit Anchorage was less certain.
Earlier in the day, forecasters said this week's storm appears to be stronger than the one that moved through Southcentral Alaska earlier this month, which took down trees and knocked out power for thousands of customers from Willow to Homer.













