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Sat, 24 Jun 2017
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"Something must be attracting them": Thousands of harp seals surround Russian drilling rig in Arctic Circle


RT
Fri, 23 Jun 2017 22:45 UTC
© Sergey Dolya / YouTube
An enormous herd of harp seals has occupied every free ice floe as far as the eye can see around Russia's Prirazlomnaya offshore oil drilling rig located in the Pechora Sea, inside the Arctic Circle.

"I've never seen anything like this. There are thousands of them!" says an astonished oil rig worker, who did not wish to identify himself, during a minute-long video that was sent to the Russian explorer and travel writer Sergey Dolya, who posted it on his blog.

Harp seals migrate annually between their birthing and feeding grounds and the Arctic, where they spend the summer, often traveling in excess of 4,000 km in large colonies.

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Wolf

Dangerous dog attacks rocket across Lancashire, UK; 70% increase in 2 years


2RB
Fri, 23 Jun 2017 19:28 UTC
© Angela Antunes / CC by 2.0
2BR has got hold of figures showing dangerous dog attacks have increased by 70% in two years.

We asked Lancashire Police to tell us how many of these incidents they investigated.

In 2014, they recorded 162 dangerous dog attacks.

But the year after, that had shot up to 499.

Last year, they had to investigate 545 incidents involving dangerously out of control dogs.
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Attention

Angry elephant flips car and goes on a rampage at festival in Kerala, India

Liz Dunphy
Daily Mail
Fri, 23 Jun 2017 15:48 UTC

The angry animal flipped a car across the grounds and mowed over motorcycles in rage
Incredible footage has emerged of an angry elephant flipping over a car with its trunk.

The elephant was appearing at a local festival called Ambalapura in Thrissur, Kerela in Southern India when it went on the rampage.

The video shows the angry elephant toppling a car, sending it tumbling across the ground, and flipping over motor cycles.

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Attention

Dead pilot whale found on beach in Sarasota County, Florida


wfla.com
Fri, 23 Jun 2017 14:06 UTC
© Sarasota County Sheriff's Office
Dead pilot whale
Crews with Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium are removing a dead pilot whale that was discovered on a Sarasota County beach on Friday morning.

Sarasota County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to Point of Rocks Beach around 3 a.m. after receiving reports about a 12-foot-long whale that had washed ashore.

Crews with Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium were called to help remove the sub-adult, pilot whale from the beach.

Marine biologists will likely try to determine what the whale died from.
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Wolf

Woman loses fingers due to attack by hyena in Kenya

Steve Njuguna
All Africa
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 17:45 UTC

Hyena
An 80-year-old woman was admitted to hospital in Nyahururu after she was attacked by a hyena.

Dorothy Wangecii, a resident of Karaba village, Muhotetu division, in Laikipia West lost part of her left hand and three fingers in her right hand in the Wednesday attack.

She was also injured in the face and neck.

Ms Wangecii said the beast attacked her when she was driving away a neighbour's cow that had strayed on her farm.

"I was returning to my house when the hyena attacked me," she said.

She told journalists from her hospital bed that had it not been for her neighbours, who responded to her screams, the hyena would have killed her.
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Attention

Boy and woman attacked by angry beaver in Schaffhausen, Switzerland

Chris Pleasance
Daily Mail
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 17:29 UTC
© Per Harald Olsen
A European Beaver
A terrified father has told of how his eight-year-old son was attacked by a vicious 'beast' while swimming in a river.

The boy was left with several nasty marks after being bitten on the shoulder and backside while swimming in the Rhine, in Switzerland, his father said.

And the culprit? A particularly aggressive beaver, the father told local news.

Speaking to 20 Minutes, he said: 'My son swam with his sister between the shore and some wooden boats shortly after 7pm when they began to scream like crazy.

'The beast bit twice - once into the shoulder and once into the buttocks.

'He was tall, about 80 centimeters long, and I could well see his distinctly broad tail.'
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Attention

Woman still recovering after vicious black bear attack in Graham County, Arizona

Rachel Lucas
wsls.com
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 17:07 UTC

Black bear
A Roanoke native now living in Tucson, Arizona, is recovering after a horrific bear attack.

It happened while Dawn Martin and her husband were camping. The couple dozed off in their chairs around a camp fire, and that's when the attack happened.

"Just as fast as he could he was coming at me. He came up behind my chair and slammed me down, and pinned me down the ground. I felt his head rip my scalp. His claws were in my arms," Martin explained.

It was a more than 300 pound black bear that stood more than 6 feet tall.

"By the time my brother-in-law got up, he was on my sister," explained Dawns sister Deborah who lives in Franklin County.


Comment: See also: Second fatal mauling by black bear in just 2 days for Alaska

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Attention

Signs and Portents: Superstitious villagers living in fear after sheep gives birth to 'half-human half-beast' creature that was 'sent by the devil' in South Africa

Jamie Pyatt
Daily Mail
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 13:52 UTC

Superstitious villagers have been living in fear since a sheep gave birth to this creature (pictured) that was said by elders to be half-human half-beast and 'sent by the devil'
Superstitious villagers have been living in fear since a sheep gave birth to this creature that was said by elders to be half-human half-beast and 'sent by the devil'.

Many of the 4,000 residents and farmers of Lady Frere in Eastern Province, South Africa, were convinced that bestiality and witchcraft had led to the birth of the creature.

The panic got so great that the Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development sent out experts to carry out tests after pictures of it spread like wildfire through the community.

Chief Director of Veterinary Services Dr Lubabalo Mrwebi admitted that at first glance the lamb which was born dead did resemble a human being but was not part human.

Dr Mrwebi said: 'We can confirm this not a hoax photo but that the severely deformed lamb was born by a sheep in Lady Frere this week which at a glance resembles a human form.
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Attention

2 humpback whales die near Chatham, Massachusetts

Doug Fraser
Cape Cod Times
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 10:33 UTC
© Ocean Aerials
One of the dead whales found recently
A team from the International Fund for Animal Welfare was on Monomoy on Wednesday investigating the death of two humpback whales.

A young humpback was reported to have washed up Tuesday on the beach on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge, said IFAW spokeswoman Melanie Mahoney.

The team went out Wednesday hoping to visually evaluate the whale or conduct a necropsy, an animal autopsy, depending on the condition of the body, Mahoney said.

"While out examining the stranded humpback whale, our team received a report of another stranded dead whale on Monomoy," Mahoney wrote in an email. "The team was able to hike out and assess the animal. It was found to be alive and in poor condition."
      Read More...
Butterfly

Siberia experiences butterfly invasion


Sputnik
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 09:09 UTC

Black-veined Whites
Since the beginning of June, the Russian cities Tomsk and Novosibirsk have been experiencing a 'butterflypocalipce:' a phenomenal amount of Black-veined White butterflies have 'attacked' Siberian regions. There are so many of them that the ground is almost shaking!

The Black-veined White is a large butterfly which often goes by the more scientific name Aporia crataegus. It has rounded white wings with clear black veins and usually feeds on fruits of the wild bird cherry and apples. The species is common in Europe, Asia and North America, but is extinct in Great Britain and northern Scandinavia, migratory in the Netherlands and retreating from France.

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