Animals
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Doberman

Toddler mauled to death in another pit bull attack in South Africa - 3rd such fatality in 10 days

PIT BULL ATTACK
A 15-month-old boy has been mauled to death in a pit bull attack in Gonubie Farm, East London on Wednesday, November 23.

Police say the toddler was playing in a neighbour's yard when the dog attacked him.

"According to police reports, the boy was playing with the neighbor's dog on the farm when the pit bull spotted a passer-by walking his dog. After failing to leave the yard, the pit bull is alleged to have returned to the child and bit him in the upper body," said Eastern Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana.

He added that after the incident, the paramedics were called to transport the child to a nearby hospital, where he was reported to have succumbed to injuries sustained.

Comment: Details of the other attacks:


Attention

Dead fin whale found on Monterey State Beach, California

mmmmmmmmmmm
Monterey Bay State Parks said they received word of a dead whale at Monterey State Beach on Saturday.

Marine Biologist with Monterey Bay Whale Watch, Colleen Talty, believes the whale was hit by a large ship based on the whale's body.

"My theory based on the curve in the body is most likely it was hit by a large ship, so possibly a cargo ship, unfortunately, and then it ended up washing up," said Talty. "It was actually out in the bay right next to Monterey harbor for about a day and a half, and then it washed up on the beach. This guy was mostly struck out in the shipping lanes."

Talty also said the whale is a fin whale, the second largest whale species. The young whale was estimated to be 40-50 feet long, adults can get up to around 80 feet.

Talty added that shark bites were visible on the whale's carcass, likely from a great white, but she isn't sure.


Arrow Down

Meat for me, bugs for thee - Climate summit boasts opulent beef, seafood menu despite spearheading anti-meat initiatives

VIP Menu
© COP Gourmet/Screenshot
World leaders and officials attending the United Nations COP27 climate conference can spend up to $100 per entree to eat red meat, seafood and other gourmet menu items. However, the UN has previously discouraged red meat consumption due to the carbon emissions that beef farming creates.

Delegates who arrive at Egypt's beachside resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh to discuss ways to mitigate the "climate crisis" are able to enjoy COPGourmet's $100 Angus beef medallion which is served with mushroom sauce and sauteed potatoes, according to screenshots obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. However, the UN aims to "minimize emissions per calorie" and to reduce meat consumption in order to prevent the planet from overheating, according to a COP27 food security document.

"The menu on offer is yet another example of the staggering disconnect between so-called leaders and the people they represent," Nathan McGovern, a spokesperson for the animal and climate activist group Animal Rebellion, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. "It is hypocritical for delegates at COP27 to be dining on the destruction of our natural world, whilst simultaneously claiming to be trying to protect it."

Although many Egyptian dishes, including its national dish Koshary, are vegan, not one main dish on the VIP menu is vegan, and the $20 pesto and cheese ravioli represent the sole vegetarian entree on offer. A plant-based diet is healthy and can help reduce individuals' environmental impact as meat farming produces significant amounts of carbon emissions, according to the UN.

"It was amusing to hear about how Angus beef and sea bass was being served to certain officials, while at the same time, side events at COP27 were championing the idea of going vegan and eliminating red meat," Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow President Craig Rucker told the DCNF.

Doberman

Another child attacked and killed by a pit bull in the Free State, South Africa

PIT BULL ATTACK
Another child was attacked and killed by a pit bull on Sunday 20 November 2022 in the Free State.

Police spokesperson, Mahlomola Kareli, confirmed to OFM News that a pit bull attacked a child in Hennenman, but says they are still gathering facts about the circumstances.

The attack comes a few days after Roseview Primary School pupil, 8-year-old Olebogeng Mosime, was attacked by their neighbour's pit bull in Vista Park in Bloemfontein on Saturday 12 November 2022.


This pit bull attack has since caused an uproar across the country and in the Mangaung metro.

Deputy Mayor, Mapaseka-Nkoane-Mothibi, has since revealed that strict measures lie ahead for pet owners in the Mangaung municipality as the metro moves to implement certain municipal by-laws for dog owners.

Nkoane-Mothibi, who spoke at length during the funeral of Mosime on Friday 18 November 2022, said as of January 2023, the city would require dog owners to have a licence and also to have some form of training to be the owners of any type of dog.

Binoculars

Scientists rediscover lost bird that hadn't been seen in 140 years in Papua New Guinea

The bird hadn't been sighted since 1882
The bird hadn't been sighted since 1882
Scientists have rediscovered the black-naped pheasant pigeon, a rare bird that was last sighted almost 140 years ago in Papua New Guinea.

The discovery was made in Fergusson Island, off the east coast of Papua New Guinea in September.

Researchers' cameras caught sight of the rare bird, a species that hasn't been documented by scientists since it was first described in 1882, reported Audubon Magazine.

John C Mittermeier, director of the lost birds programme at the American Bird Conservancy and a co-leader of the eight-member expedition, said: "To find something that's been gone for that long, that you're thinking is almost extinct, and then to figure out that it's not extinct, it feels like finding a unicorn or a Bigfoot."

"It's extraordinarily unusual."


Comment: See also: Bird believed extinct for 170 years spotted in Borneo - researchers were looking in the wrong place


Cowboy Hat

Sheep walk around in a circle 'for TWELVE DAYS without stopping' on Chinese farm

sheep circle
A flock of sheep has been caught walking round in a circle for a whole twelve days without stopping in northern China
A flock of sheep has been caught walking round in a circle for a whole twelve days without stopping.

The sheep can be seen ambling around in a continuous clockwise motion inside their pen in northern China in the footage taken in early November.

The perplexing spectacle has left people shocked and confused as they try to make sense of the behaviour in the viral clip.

Comment: See also: 'Wormnado': Herd of hundreds of worms captured moving in spiral baffles scientists


Attention

Wrong place, wrong time: Costa's Hummingbird from the far southwest turns up in Saskatchewan

Costa’s Hummingbird
© Krista TrinderCosta’s Hummingbird
An unexpected visitor to Saskatchewan is making waves in the birding and wildlife rescue communities.

Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation posted on their Facebook group that they have received a significant number of birds in recent days and one of them was a hummingbird. But not just any hummingbird. It is a first for Saskatchewan - a "Costa's Hummingbird" which is from the southwest portion of North America.

They are trying to find a way to get him back to the southwest as soon as possible.

The bird was caught in a garage where it had been sheltering from the elements for over a week.

range

Fish

15-foot oarfish from the ocean depths washes up on beach in Chile

A 15-foot oarfish — thought to be a harbinger of impending earthquakes — washed ashore in Chile.
© Jam PressA 15-foot oarfish — thought to be a harbinger of impending earthquakes — washed ashore in Chile.
It's a deep-sea harbinger of doom.

Locals were flabbergasted after a 15-foot oarfish — which is rumored to be a sign of impending earthquakes — drifted ashore on a beach in Chile. A video of the alleged oceanic bad omen is currently making waves online as viewers worry about a possible seismic event, Jam Press reported.

The massive oarfish — which is the world's largest bony fish, capable of growing to 56 feet long — washed up on the coast of Isla Talcán in Chile's Desertores Islands. Footage captured the tremor-predicting denizen of the deep, which has silver scales, a fiery orange head tassel and a dorsal fin traversing its body from head to tail.

This sighting was particularly rare given that the species generally reside at depths between 656 and 3,200 feet below the ocean's surface. In fact, many people believe that oarfish strandings are signs that an earthquake is around the corner.


Comment: For the record, 4 days after the discovery and about 400 miles to the north: Shallow magnitude 6.2 earthquake strikes near coast of Chile


Doberman

Eight-year-old boy mauled to death by neighbour's pit bull in Bloemfontein, South Africa

PIT BULL ATTACK
Free State police on Sunday said a pit bull had to be shot dead after it mauled to death an eight-year-old boy at his home in Vista Park, Bloemfontein.

It is alleged the dog escaped from its enclosure and jumped over the fence into the neighbour's premises at around 2pm on Saturday.

Police spokesperson Lt-Col Thabo Covane said the dog attacked the child, who was playing alone. It bit him severely on the neck and chest.

"The police and paramedics were summoned to the scene and the boy was declared dead on the scene. The beast was put to death," said Covane.

An inquest docket has since been opened at the Mangaung police station.

Attention

More than 150 sea turtles found dead on Panama's beaches in September and October

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At least 151 sea turtles, most of them endangered green or Kemp's Ridleys, were found dead on the beaches of Panama's Pacific coast in September and October for reasons that are still unknown, authorities said Tuesday.

The acting director of the Panamanian Environment Ministry's Coasts and Seas Division, Marino Abrego, told Efe that a report issued Monday by that portfolio gave a breakdown by province: "61 turtles (dead) in Los Santos, 70 in Veraguas, two in Panama Oeste and 18 in Chiriqui."

It said green sea turtles and Kemp's Ridleys accounted for most of the deaths and that many of the reptiles were male.

The green turtle is a large species that lives in tropical and subtropical waters worldwide and is regarded as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).