Animals
S


Black Cat 2

Tiger kills 5 over five months in just 2 sq km of forest in Maharashtra, India

Vivek Deshpande
The Indian Express
Tue, 19 Jun 2018 14:23 UTC
The frequent incidents of tiger attacks in Sindewahi had caused concern at the highest level with Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar directing the officials to provide relief to the people as early as possible.
© Representational imageThe frequent incidents of tiger attacks in Sindewahi had caused concern at the highest level with Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar directing the officials to provide relief to the people as early as possible.
The Forest Department has thrown a security ring around a problem area in the Sindewahi range of Chandrapur following five human deaths in tiger attacks in five months in a patch of just two sq km. Of these, one death each happened in January, February and March while two happened in June, the latest happening on June 17. According to Deputy Conservator of Forest (Brahmapuri) Kulraj Singh, the problem animal, a two-year old male tiger, has been identified and a committee is discussing measures about what to do with the tiger.

"We have trap camera pictures of the animal, where he is clearly seen at the spot, where the dead bodies were lying. In the second and third cases, the tiger was captured from about 200 metres away. But in the fourth and fifth cases, it has been clearly identified," Singh told The Indian Express. "A committee had been formed as per the protocol of the National Tiger Conservation Authority to mull the mitigation and we will soon submit the report to Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) suggesting the mitigation, which could be capturing the animal," he added.
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Black Cat 2

Woman attacked by bobcat strangles it to death with bare hands in Georgia, US


The Guardian
Sun, 17 Jun 2018 19:17 UTC
bobcat
© Alamy Stock PhotoA wild bobcat in the Florida wetlands. DeDe Phillips of Hart county, survived an attack by a bobcat in Georgia by strangling the animal.
A 46-year-old grandmother strangled a rabid bobcat to death after the animal attacked her in her front yard in north-eastern Georgia.

The Athens-Banner Herald reported that DeDe Phillips of Hart county had gone outside on 7 June to take a picture when the bobcat lunged at her.

"My neighbor's dog was barking and it drew my attention," she said. "I saw the cat and I took a picture. The cat took two steps and was on top of me ... It came for my face."

Phillips said she grew up in the country, where her father-in-law was once a trapper of bobcats. As a result, she knew something about the animal's behavior and how to fight back.

Comment: The incidence of animals attacking humans appear to have been on the rise in recent years:

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Attention

Sperm whale carcass found on beach in Aceh, Indonesia


The Straits Times
Tue, 19 Jun 2018 09:22 UTC
DEAD WHALE
© AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A man taking a closer look at the decomposing carcass of a beached sperm whale, estimated to weigh about 10 tonnes, on a Nurussalam beach in Indonesia's Aceh province yesterday.

"The dead whale... is decomposing," local resident Yunus told Aceh's serambinews.com news site yesterday.

Pictures sent by residents showed that part of the skin of the decomposing whale had peeled off.

In November last year, 10 whales were beached in the same province.

Aceh is Indonesia's northernmost province on Sumatra island, with its western flank facing the Indian Ocean and with the Bay of Bengal to the north.
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Attention

Blue whale carcass washes ashore in Point Reyes, California

Alix Martichoux
SFGATE
Mon, 18 Jun 2018 09:13 UTC
The blue whale carcass was first spotted on Saturday, June 16, 2018 near the Farallon Islands, before it washed ashore Monday afternoon in Point Reyes National Seashore.
© The Marine Mammal CenterThe blue whale carcass was first spotted on Saturday, June 16, 2018 near the Farallon Islands, before it washed ashore Monday afternoon in Point Reyes National Seashore.
The Marine Mammal Center confirmed the blue whale washed ashore Monday afternoon south of Limantour Beach in Point Reyes Nation Seashore. The organization will work with the California Academy of Sciences to perform a necropsy and determine a cause of death.

A whale watching group out on the water near the Farallon Islands came across an unpleasant sight Saturday. Instead of breaching humpbacks or playful dolphins, tourists on board got an up-close view of a blue whale carcass, floating on the water as it decayed.

Blue whales, the largest animal on the planet, are classified as an endangered species. About 2,800 live off the coast of California, according to the Marine Mammal Center.

According to a naturalist on board the San Francisco Whale Tours boat, the carcass was spotted a few miles southeast of the islands. Pictures show the blue whale stomach's extremely bloated as seagulls scavenge the remains.
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Fish

Mystery as hundreds of thousands of dead herring wash up on Sakhalin Island, Russia

Siba Jackson
The Star (UK)
Sat, 16 Jun 2018 14:35 UTC
Experts have no explanation for why so many fish perished on the beach
© CEN / ecosakh.ruExperts have no explanation for why so many fish perished on the beach
Almost 100 tonnes of dead fish washed up on a deserted Pacific island leaving experts scratching their heads.

Incredible pictures show hundreds of thousands of herring covering a 440-metre stretch of Piltun Bay, on Russia's Sakhalin Island, north of Japan.

And baffled ecologists so far have no answers as to what could have triggered the so-called "herring genocide".
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Fish

Thousands of dead fish wash up on beaches in Trinidad

Radhica Sookraj
Trinidad & Tobago Guardian
Thu, 14 Jun 2018 17:22 UTC
dead fish
© Kristian De Silva
Thousands of dead fishes are continuing to wash ashore on the beaches of La Brea, prompting speculation that the fishes are being dumped as a ploy to bring down fish sales.

The fishes were first spotted on Monday at Carat Shed Beach but as the week progressed they began washing up at Point Sable beach.

President of the La Brea Fisherfolk Association Alvin La Borde said most of the fishes were herrings, sardines, and mullet. He said the fishes appear to have been dumped as most of them were already past the point of decay.

"The heads and bellies are rotten and while we have one or two fresh fishes coming in, the majority appears to be in a state of decomposition," La Borde said.
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Attention

Increase in dead dolphins noted on Delaware beaches with 13 so far in 2018

Lissette Nunez
wmdt.com
Wed, 06 Jun 2018 17:02 UTC
dead dolphin
With summer just days away, more folks will be heading out to the beach. However, it hasn't been smooth sailing for everyone on the coast.

This year 13 dead dolphins have washed on to Delaware beaches. Marine officials say they usually see an average of 18 dolphins a year come on to the shore, but believe they are seeing a slight uptick this year with the current total.

Officials from the MERR Institute say they are having a hard time pinpointing what is causing their death because of the conditions the carcasses are in when they wash up.

"We need to get to it within 12 hours of death, that is really rare because often they die out at sea and takes time to wash in to shore. Even a moderately decomposed animal can possibly yield good results but most of what we're seeing are animals in advances states of decomposition... and there is very little left for us to sample," says Suzanne Thurman, the Executive Director for the MERR Institue.

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Attention

15 reports of dead dolphins in a month at Varna, Bulgaria


Focus Information Agency
Wed, 13 Jun 2018 15:12 UTC
Dead dolphin
Dead dolphin
About 15 reports of dead dolphins found on the coast of Varna were received in May alone at the Green Hotline of the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water (RIEW), Focus Radio reported. The following on-the-spot checks of environmental inspectors found that four of the tips were unfounded. The most reports referred to dead dolphins washing ashore the Kabakum beach.

One caller reported a dead baby dolphin on the beach in Asparuhovo district. Article 39 of the Biodiversity Act stipulates that dead specimens should be left in the places where they have been found, the RIEW states in its monthly report.
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Doberman

Pack of 4 stray dogs maul toddler to death in Chandigarh, India


Hindustan Times
Mon, 18 Jun 2018 09:34 UTC
canine attack
© Angela Antunes / CC by 2.0
A pack of four stray dogs attacked and mauled to death an 18-month-old boy at a park in Sector 18 on Sunday.

The toddler, identified as Aayush, was playing in the park with his three elder siblings while their mother, who is a domestic help, had gone to work at a nearby house, said police. The family lives in Palsora.

The victim's maternal uncle, Popat Lal, said Aayush was at the lower end of a swing when the dogs started barking aggressively at him and then attacked him around 11:30am.

"The whole incident lasted for nearly eight minutes. The dogs dragged the boy into a puddle of water that had accumulated in the park after the overnight rain and mauled him," said the uncle. "The other siblings ran away in fear."
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Ladybug

A rare hermaphrodite beetle born in Japan


Sputnik
Sun, 17 Jun 2018 20:59 UTC
Hermaphrodite beetle
© YouTube/NHK WORLD-JAPAN
The rhinoceros beetle was found in Okayama Prefecture in June. The left side of its body is male and the right side is female. The females of this species do not have horns and their legs are shorter. This following video was broadcast by the NHK channel.

The insect is half female, half male.
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