Animals
S


Attention

Hunter gored to death by Cape buffalo he was stalking in South Africa

Jamie Pyatt
Daily Mail
Wed, 06 Aug 2025 11:22 UTC
Cape buffalo, known as the Black Death, kill some 200 people in Africa a year. They are known to kill more game hunters than any other animal
Cape buffalo, known as the Black Death, kill some 200 people in Africa a year. They are known to kill more game hunters than any other animal
An American game hunter was gored to death by a buffalo he was stalking after it ambushed him in South Africa.

Millionaire ranch trader Asher Watkins, 52, was out on safari with a professional hunter and an animal tracker on the trail of a prized 1.3-ton specimen bull last Sunday.

The huge beast charged him at , slamming into him and killing him almost instantly.

It is not known if the team from Coenraad Vermaak Safaris, guiding their client on the estimated £7,500 hunt, shot the buffalo dead or if it escaped back to its nearby herd.

The keen conservationist believed hunting was a vital part of preserving wildlife. He had photos on his social media with a dead mountain lion, many deer and hundreds of wildfowl.

He also boasts of killing thousands of doves in just three days with seven friends in Argentina.
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Info

1.5 million-year-old stone tools from mystery human relative discovered in Indonesia

Kristina Killgrove
Live Science
Wed, 06 Aug 2025 14:55 UTC
A handful of stone tools found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has pushed back the date that human relatives arrived in the region.
Ancient Fossil
© M.W. MooreOne of the stone tools discovered on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia dates back at least 1 million years.
Stone tools discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi are rewriting what experts thought they knew about human evolution in this region. The tools date to about 1 million to 1.5 million years ago, which suggests that Sulawesi was occupied by an unknown human relative long before our species evolved.

"These are simple, sharp-edged flakes of stone that would have been useful as general-purpose cutting and scraping implements," study co-author Adam Brumm, professor of archaeology at Griffith University in Australia, told Live Science in an email.

In a study published Wednesday (Aug. 6) in the journal Nature, researchers analyzed a set of stone tools that represent the oldest evidence of human relatives in Wallacea, a vast expanse of islands that lie between the Asian and Australian continental shelves.
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Binoculars

Common North America birds are declining the fastest, and habitat loss is to blame, a new study finds

Carrie Klein
Audubon magazine
Tue, 05 Aug 2025 11:42 UTC
The Rufous Hummingbird, a familiar backyard visitor, has seen its numbers drop in recent decades.
© Brendan MurphyThe Rufous Hummingbird, a familiar backyard visitor, has seen its numbers drop in recent decades.
It's no secret that birds are struggling. North America has lost billions of them since the 1970s and today more than one-third of bird species are considered under threat. While efforts to stem the tide tend to target endangered and rare species, new research shows that the bulk of losses are coming from the most common birds, such as Rufous Hummingbirds that flit around home feeders and Barn Swallows that swoop over farm fields.

"We think of them as such staple species, like they'll always be there," says Gates Dupont, an ecologist at Princeton University. But when Dupont and biologist Andy Dobson looked at nearly six decades of data on 244 bird species, they found that abundant species saw the steepest drops in their numbers.

Their findings, published July 30 in Science Advances, show that just 5 percent of species make up 80 percent of the total declines in avian abundance, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey's North American Breeding Bird Survey. At the same time, some rare species have been increasing their populations.
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Lightning

Lightning strike kills 47-year-old man and 20 cattle in Albania


cna.al
Tue, 05 Aug 2025 12:47 UTC
mmmmmmm
This morning, a 47-year-old man was struck by lightning in the village of Velçan, Pogradec.

The victim was guarding livestock when he was struck by lightning.

Also, about 20 small livestock died from the lightning strike.

Police notification
Pogradec/Preliminary information

At around 10:00, it is suspected that as a result of a lightning strike, while he was guarding livestock in the village of Velçan, citizen L. Ç., 47 years old (shepherd), lost his life. Also, about 20 heads of small livestock died as a result.

The investigation team is at the scene and is working to document the circumstances of the incident.
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Attention

Sea lion bites 9-year-old girl at surf camp in Asilomar State Beach, California: 'I was screaming'


ksnblocal4.com
Mon, 04 Aug 2025 10:45 UTC
Corale Olsen, 9, suffered puncture wounds and bruising on her leg when she was bitten by a sea lion during surf camp.
© Richard OlsenCorale Olsen, 9, suffered puncture wounds and bruising on her leg when she was bitten by a sea lion during surf camp.
A 9-year-old California girl was at surf camp with her siblings when a sea lion bit her, but she says the incident won't keep her away from the water.

Corale Olsen, 9, was out in the water at Asilomar State Beach during surf camp with her brother and sister when they saw a sea lion. Moments later, the animal lunged at Corale.

"It was right next to me, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, something really bad is going to happen.' Then, it just bit me," the 9-year-old said. "It was pain, and I was screaming."

Corale's surf instructor, Alex De Marignac, says he had no reason to believe the sea lion was going to attack.

"I have surfed in these waters since I was about 6 years old. Never, ever seen something like that," he said.

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Star of David

Time to De-Zionize the Israeli Mind

W.O.Munce
The Postil Magazine
Fri, 01 Aug 2025 20:15 UTC
Israel Airstrike on Gaza
© The Postil Magazine
Israel is a deeply sick country which become monstrous. How is it that the descendants of the victims of Nazi atrocities feel that they can proudly film themselves carrying out similar atrocities? This is bitter fruit of cultivating the "Holocaust industry," in which Jewish victimhood has been made so sacrosanct that it has created an entire generation that feels that it can do whatever it wants, that crimes can never be committed by Israelis.

Genocides do not happen in a vacuum. At least, when the Nazis were carrying out their murderous plans, they had the "decency" of trying to hide all their crimes, so the world would never know. But such is not the case with Israelis when it comes to the genocide in Gaza. Rather, it is now commonplace for ordinary Israelis to film their enthusiasm for genocide, and post it all on social media — because (a) they do not see killing Palestinians as a crime, and (b) they wear genocide as a badge of honor, because they see it as yet another expression of their exalted victimhood.

For example, videos and images have circulated showing Israelis, including soldiers and settlers, holding barbecue parties near the Gaza border, while — obviously — Palestinians inside Gaza starve. Multiple sources confirm footage of these barbecues near Gaza, while those deemed to be "less human" face famine and widespread starvation.

What kind of satisfaction do these Israelis derive from such behavior? What has the Israeli mindset become that it can imagine that this kind of criminality will meet with approval of the world?
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Attention

In Japan, bear attack fears rise after woman mauled outside disabled home


South China Morning Post
Fri, 01 Aug 2025 10:56 UTC
mmmmm
A woman in Japan was sent to hospital unconscious after an apparent bear attack outside a facility for people with disabilities, police said on Friday.

More wild bears have been spotted in residential areas in Japan in recent years, resulting in a rising number of attacks and deaths.

"A 73-year-old woman was found lying down with head injuries at the facility entrance on Thursday night," a local police spokesman in the northern Akita region said.

Emergency doctors told police they believed it was a bear attack based on the injuries the woman suffered, the spokesman said.

Security camera footage outside the facility showed a bearlike animal attacking the woman when she was walking with what appeared to be a rubbish bag, he added. "She was unable to talk due to injuries and was unconscious when sent to hospital."

According to government data, bears attacked 85 people in the year ending in March, with three people killed. In the previous year, there were 219 attacks and six deaths.

Comment: Recent related reports:

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Doberman

1 dead, 1 injured in pit bull attack at park in San Bernardino, California

Elizabeth Chavolla
nbclosangeles.com
Fri, 01 Aug 2025 10:46 UTC
PIT BULL ATTACK
A woman was killed and another person was injured after being mauled by two dogs at a park in San Bernardino, police said.

Officers responded to reports of a dog attack around 5 p.m. Thursday at Perris Hill Park in the 1100 block of East Highland Avenue, according to Capt. Nelson Carrington of the San Bernardino Police Department.

When officers arrived, they began rendering aid to one of the victims. The officer fired his weapon and killed a pit bull after the two dogs charged at the officer and the victim, police said.

A woman with severe injuries, believed to be caused by the dog mauling, was discovered nearly 30 yards away.

The woman was transported to a hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. The other victim was also hospitalized; their condition is unclear.

Authorities have not released the identities of either person.

San Bernardino Animal Control responded to the incident to help with the animals.

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Doberman

5-month-old boy mauled to death by 130-pound dog in Ormond Beach, Florida


mynews13.com
Thu, 31 Jul 2025 10:30 UTC
MMMMMMMM
The Volusia County Sheriff's Office is investigating a dog attack that fatally injured a 5-month-old boy in Ormond Beach on Wednesday.

The sheriff's office reported that the infant, who was in the care of family members while his parents were out, was found injured in a bedroom with the dog next to him.

Officials said the infant's parents returned during the call and rushed the baby to the hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Volusia County Animal Services responded to the scene and took possession of the dog, described as a Great Dane and Husky mix weighing 130 pounds.

"Sheriff Chitwood and the entire Sheriff's Office send sincere condolences to the family of the young victim who lost his life in these tragic circumstances," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

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Attention

4 whales wash up dead on east Japan beach on July 31

Toshiya Nakamura
The Mainichi
Fri, 01 Aug 2025 10:16 UTC
Dead whales that had washed up on a beach in the city of Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture.
Dead whales that had washed up on a beach in the city of Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture.
Officials in east Japan's Chiba Prefecture revealed July 31 that all four whales which had washed up on a beach in the city of Tateyama were dead.

The Chiba Prefectural Government's Awa civil engineering office stated that heavy machinery will be used to bury the sea creatures at shore. The whales had washed up on the city's Heisaura Beach.

The office held an on-site survey on the morning of the same day. However, by this point a tsunami warning had been issued due to a magnitude-8.8 earthquake near the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, so the staff did not touch the whales directly, and instead checked their condition visually and by drone photography. None of the four beached whales were moving or spouting, so they were deemed to be dead.

According to experts, all four of the animals are sperm whales.

(Japanese original by Toshiya Nakamura, Chiba Bureau)

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