Animals
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Attention

Diver looking for shark teeth is attacked by alligator in Florida river and survives: 'I was thanking God'

Linda Hasco
Pennlive.com
Tue, 08 Jun 2021 12:40 UTC
A diver looking for shark teeth is attacked by an alligator in a Florida river and survives.
© Clément Bardot via Wikimedia CommonsA diver looking for shark teeth is attacked by an alligator in a Florida river and survives.
A Florida diver was searching for prehistoric shark teeth but found himself on the receiving end of an alligator's teeth instead.

CNN reported that 25-year-old Jeffrey Heim sustained a skull fracture from an alligator attack last Sunday on Florida's Myakka River, in Sarasota County. The wound to the back of his head required 34 staples to close, and Heim also had puncture wounds on his hand from the alligator's bite.

Initially, the Tampa man thought he'd been hit by a boat propeller, the report said, but then saw the alligator looking at him.

Heim described the attack to CNN, saying, "It felt very heavy and it really felt like it was moving very fast." He added, "It felt blunt. It felt like a blunt force. I didn't feel the cutting, I felt a pulling."

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Attention

Sperm whale's death under investigation after stranding on Shell Island, Florida

Tony Reese
wjhg.com
Mon, 07 Jun 2021 12:05 UTC
A sub-adult Sperm whale washed up on the shore of a popular local hotspot, Shell Island.
© Charles Levert/Panhandle HelicopterA sub-adult Sperm whale washed up on the shore of a popular local hotspot, Shell Island.
You don't see this in the Florida panhandle often.

NOAA officials are looking into the death of a sub-adult sperm whale found at a popular local hotspot, Shell Island.

According to officials with NOAA, this species of whale is considered endangered. It's primarily found in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

They say this is one of three sperm whale strandings along the Gulf over the last 10 years.

Officials are unsure what caused the whale's death. They do say the whale was very thin when it beached itself.

A necropsy will be conducted Tuesday morning to determine the cause of death.

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Bug

Mysterious black substance on Wells Beach, Maine turns out to be millions of dead bugs

ERIC RUSSELL
Portland Press Herald
Tue, 08 Jun 2021 11:46 UTC
Linda Stathoplos, a retired NOAA researcher
© Ben McCannaLinda Stathoplos, a retired NOAA researcher and oceanographer, searches the base of the jetty for remnants of bugs that washed ashore on Wells Beach on Tuesday. Stathoplos used a microscope to determine that the remains of small black flies likely stained the feet of beachgoers.
Ed Smith has walked Wells Beach for years but has never seen anything like it: A mysterious black substance that settles on the sand near the shoreline and stains the feet of anyone who ventures too close.

He first noticed it Sunday night. When he went back out Monday, it was there again. He talked to about a dozen beachgoers who all said they noticed it too.

"I sat on the edge of my tub with blue Dawn (dishwashing soap) and a scrub pad, and I still couldn't remove the stain from my feet," Smith said.

It took a few inquiries to local and state officials, and some help from a retired scientist who lives nearby, but Smith got his answer Tuesday. It only raised more questions.

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Attention

Two dead minke whales washed up days apart in North East England

Max ChannonJack Evan
Wales on Line
Sat, 05 Jun 2021 17:45 UTC
A second dead minke whale has washed up on a
© Howick Coastguard Rescue Team SWNSA second dead minke whale has washed up on a beach up the coast from where another 40ft mammal was found days earlier.
A dead minke whale has been washed up on a beach up the coast from where another 40ft mammal was found days earlier.

Coastguards have urged holidaymakers and onlookers to stay away after the 27ft-long whale was found on Boulmer Beach in Northumberland.

Dead whales have been known to explode due to a build up of gasses as they decompose.

Howick Coastguard Rescue Team were called after a walker spotted the whale on the rocks on Friday (4/6) lunchtime.

A spokesperson said: "Sadly an 8.1 metre whale was found deceased on the rocks.

"It appeared to have been dead for some time.

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Doberman

Woman dies after being attacked by 3 pit bull terriers in Maryborough, Australia


ABC News (Australia)
Tue, 08 Jun 2021 09:49 UTC
PIT BULL ATTACK
A woman has died after being attacked by three pit bull terriers in Maryborough on Queensland's Fraser Coast this morning.

Emergency services were called to a Milton Road property just after 9:00am following reports of dogs attacking a person.

Acting Inspector Wade Lee said the woman sustained serious injuries to her head, chest and left arm.

The 41-year-old woman was visiting the house when she was mauled by the pit bulls.

She died at the scene.

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Doberman

Dog kills three-month-old baby in County Waterford, Ireland

CIARÁN SUNDERLAND AND OLIVIA KELLEHER
Irish Examiner
Mon, 07 Jun 2021 13:08 UTC
dog attack
A baby girl has died in the early hours of this morning after a dog attack in Co Waterford.

It is understood the baby was attacked by the dog in her bedroom in the terraced house in Clashmore, near the Co Cork border.

Parademics and gardaí treated the baby at the scene before rushing the infant to Cork University Hospital (CUH).

The three-month-old baby was later pronounced dead at the hospital at around 3.00 am.

Gardaí from Dungarvan, Co Waterford have begun an investigation into the incident and the scene at the house has been preserved for examination.
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Health

Unexplained blindness and death of birds in Washington DC puzzles experts

Gustaf Kilander
Independent
Thu, 27 May 2021 12:00 UTC
bird washington DC blind
© Blue Ridge Wildlife CenterExperts are perplexed by an illness afflicting local birds where their eyes crust over and cause other neurological symptoms
An unusual number of birds are suddenly going blind and dying in the area around Washington DC, puzzling wildlife experts.

DC resident Alexandra Dimsdale found a young grackle stumbling around outside her home on Saturday.

After taking it to City Wildlife, a rehabilitation centre in the northwest part of the capital, she told The Washington Post that a member of staff said there was nothing they could do. She learned that the bird probably had some kind of neurological illness, causing it to go blind.

Comment: It remains to be seen what is afflicting the young birds but that it seems to be confined within a particular locality and to certain species and age is notable. In recent years there have been numerous reports of birds suffering due to starvation, illness, as well as mysteriously dying en masse:

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Question

Wild elephant herd in China making a mysterious, cross-country march

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
cnet.com
Thu, 03 Jun 2021 13:06 UTC
elephants
Not all who wander are lost, J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote. A herd of wild Asian elephants in China might agree with that sentiment. The 15 elephants have been slowly making their way across China for over a year, delighting social media, eating and trampling crops, and causing more than a million dollars worth of damage.

It's not unusual for elephants to ramble outside their habitats, but this wandering herd stands out. Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz, a principal investigator at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, who specializes in elephants, told The New York Times he has "no idea" why these elephants won't settle in one spot.

The elephants started off last March, leaving a nature reserve in Xishuangbanna, and have traveled more than 300 miles (500 kilometers) so far. There were 16 in the group then, but some have turned around, and others have given birth, making the group now down to 15, the Times reports.

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Attention

Dead whale shark found on Great Barrier Island - first stranding recorded in New Zealand

Vaimoana Tapaleao
New Zealand Herald
Fri, 04 Jun 2021 08:06 UTC
A whale shark found at Great Barrier Island.
© Zane BroadbeltA whale shark found at Great Barrier Island.
A morning stroll on the beach turned into a bit of a spectacle when Zane Broadbelt suddenly spotted what looked to be a stranded whale.

He and his partner, Laura, were walking along the beach at Harataonga, on Great Barrier Island, when they made the discovery on Sunday.

"I just saw a lump in the sand," he told the Herald.

On closer inspection, they realised it was a dead whale shark.

"It was about 6m long and looked like it had been there for about a week.

"I've never seen a whale shark before. It's not something you expect to see around here, especially at this time."

The Department of Conservation confirmed their staff responded to a public sighting of the dead whale shark last Thursday.

It was a significant find as although whale sharks migrate annually to New Zealand waters, this was the first recorded stranding in New Zealand, a DoC spokeswoman said.
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Attention

Nearly a tenth of all Florida manatees have already died this year

Richard Luscombe
The Guardian
Mon, 31 May 2021 12:03 UTC
A manatee swims in a recovery pool in Tampa, Florida.
© Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP/Getty ImagesA manatee swims in a recovery pool in Tampa, Florida.
Environmental groups in Florida are warning that unusually high numbers of manatee deaths in the first five months of the year, blamed in part on resurgent algal blooms contaminating and destroying food sources, could threaten the long-term future of the species.

The 749 fatalities recorded by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to 21 May surpassed 637 from the whole of 2020, the agency said. The total is on course to exceed the high of 804, set in 2018.

The dying off of substantial areas of seagrass, the favoured food source for the slow-moving aquatic mammals, has caused starvation. The situation has been exacerbated by the recurrence of inland blue-green algal blooms and phytoplankton blooms in Florida waterways.

Offshore, the recent leak and discharge of toxic wastewater into Tampa Bay from the abandoned Piney Point fertilizer plant and the return of the red tide algal menace has poisoned waters. FWC says 12 manatee deaths so far this year were from confirmed or suspected red tide blooms, but the real figure could be far higher because not every dead manatee is necropsied.
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