Animals
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Wolf

Boy killed by 3 dogs in Cherokee County, South Carolina

canine attack
© Angela Antunes / CC by 2.0
An 8-year-old boy is dead after being attacked by dogs in Cherokee County near Cowpens National Battlefield.

Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said in an email Korbin Michael Williams of 253 Daniel Morgan School Road, Gaffney, was mauled to death by multiple dogs near his home.

Cherokee County Sheriff's Office Maj. Richard Turner said in a phone interview that Korbin was walking from his house to another when he was attacked by three dogs.

Korbin was bitten by the dog multiple times, Fowler said in an email.

Attention

Tourist dead after shark attack off Cocos Island, Costa Rica; second person injured

A tiger shark mauled a woman to death in Costa Rica
© GettyA tiger shark mauled a woman to death in Costa Rica
A tourist has died after being attacked by a shark in an underwater rampage that also left a dive master seriously injured.

The American woman was diving with a group of tourists off the Costa Rican island of Isla Del Coco when the tiger shark mauled her to death.

The Costa Rican environment ministry says the attack took place around 330 metres from the country's Pacific coast on Thursday.

She was rescued from the water but the bites to her limbs were so severe she could not be saved.

Attention

Dead sperm whale found on beach in Domburg, Netherlands

whale
A dead 13.5 metre long sperm whale has washed up on a beach in the south of the country.

The whale, a male, has some injuries to its tail but is otherwise in good condition and experts are on hand to try to determine the cause of death.

'It certainly got lost,'Jaap van der Hiele of the Dutch sea mammal rescue association said. 'It should be in the northern Arctic sea.'

Binoculars

Wrong place, wrong time: Rare bird seen for only the second time in Bermuda

map range
An unusual feathered visitor has been spotted for only the second time in Bermuda.

Birdwatcher Ian Fisher snapped a picture of a western tanager, first sighted in 2006 by David Wingate, in Ferry Point Park, the same location as the American songbird was spotted 11 years ago.

The birds range through the west coast of North America and spend their winters in Central America.

Attention

IFAW probes latest right whale death on Nantucket, Massachusetts

The remains of a North Atlantic right whale found this week on Nantucket, Mass.
The remains of a North Atlantic right whale found this week on Nantucket, Mass.
Scientists say they cannot determine what may have killed the right whale that washed up on Nantucket over the weekend.

A whale carcass was discovered on a Medaket beach on Sunday. Research teams from the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution arrived on Monday but were unable to gather much information.

The animal had decomposed to the point where scientists could not determine its gender or what may have led to its death. The length of the whale was somewhere between 13 and 14 meters.

Comment: See also: North Atlantic right whales close to extinction again


Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 3 horses in South Australia

DEVASTATING LOSS: Ryan Ferguson and Lynn Brierley mourn the loss of three horses
© Brittany DentonDEVASTATING LOSS: Ryan Ferguson and Lynn Brierley mourn the loss of three horses, killed instantly when they were struck by lightning during Wednesday night’s thunderstorm. They are pictured with surviving two-month-old foal Kelly and Clydesdale horse Sylvie.
"It was the most horrific thing I've ever witnessed - a big ball of white light hit and all three of them were dead before they hit the ground."

Lynne Brierley fought back tears as she relived the devastating loss of her three beloved horses, killed instantly when they were struck by lightning on Wednesday night.

"I was only four feet away - it sounded like someone had fired a gun right next to my ear."

Binoculars

Extremely rare visitor: Black vulture seen in Newfoundland, Canada

This Black Vulture was first spotted in Burgeo on Nov.18.
© Ken KnowlesThis Black Vulture was first spotted in Burgeo on Nov.18.
When Ken Knowles saw a photo of a Black Vulture turn up in the Newfoundland Birdwatching Group on Facebook, he thought it must have been posted by someone from outside the province.

Then he read the text.

"I immediately went into a panic," said Knowles, who has been an avid birdwatcher for the past 45 years. "Then I started scheming about how I was going to get to see this bird."

The photo had been taken on Nov. 18 by Burgeo resident Mitchell Billard, who was looking for help identifying the strange-looking bird that was sitting on his roof.

Wolf

Pack of 4 pit bull terriers kill woman in Guntersville, Alabama; seriously injure another

PIT BULL ATTACK
In a neighborhood just off of of Highway 79 Marshall County investigators are trying to piece together what exactly happened at around 8 AM Wednesday.

We have learned Tracey Cornelius, 46, and her friend were attacked by four dogs belonging to a relative of Cornelius.

It happened at the home of Cornelius' relative, two doors down from Cornelius' home on Jason Road, which is located just south of Guntersville.

Both women were rushed to the hospital, where Cornelius later died and the other victim is clinging on.

At the dog owner's home, they are trying to process.

Comment: The following are reports from just the last 4 months with details of the fatalities caused by this type of dog: Man dies following attack by 4 pit bull terriers in Philadelphia

Six-month-old boy killed by pit bull terrier in South Africa

Woman killed by her own pit bull terrier in Canberra, Australia

Boy killed by 2 pit bull terriers in Lowell, Massachusetts

61-year-old woman killed by pit bull terrier in Gilmer County, Georgia

1-month-old baby killed by 2 pit bull terriers in Knox County, Ohio

Woman dies from injuries sustained in pit bull terrier attack in Neshoba County, Mississippi

Woman dies following pit bull terrier attack in Calhoun County, Florida

Girl dies following attack by pit bull terrier in Durban, South Africa


Recycle

Lobster with Pepsi trash 'tattoo' found in deep waters off New Brunswick coast, Canada

Lobster found off New Brunswick coast with image of Pepsi can on claw
© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Karissa LindstrandKarissa Lindstrand was banding lobster claws on the boat Honour Bound off Grand Manan on Nov 21, 2017 when she came across one with the image of a Pepsi can on it (shown).
Fisherman Karissa Lindstrand drinks a lot of Pepsi every day -- so imagine her surprise as she was banding lobster claws and came across a lobster with the image of a Pepsi can on it.

"It looked like the image was tattooed on the lobster claw," she said Wednesday.

Lindstrand has been banding lobster on the boat Honour Bound off Grand Manan, N.B., for four years, and while she has seen some odd looking lobster, this was the first with an image on it.

Binoculars

Wrong place, wrong time: Nazca Booby from the Galapagos Islands turns up at Dana Point, Califorina

In this Monday, Nov. 27, 2017 photo provided by Mark Girardeau and Dana Wharf Whale Watching, a rare Nazca Booby is seen at the harbor in Dana Point, Calif
In this Monday, Nov. 27, 2017 photo provided by Mark Girardeau and Dana Wharf Whale Watching, a rare Nazca Booby is seen at the harbor in Dana Point, Calif
At Dana Point on Monday, Robin Lowe was on a mission — to get a glimpse of a rare bird said to be hanging out near local waters far from its home on the Galapagos Islands.

"I'm still smiling ear to ear," she said after seeing the Nazca Booby casually hanging out with pelicans on a jetty. "To be able to see it today, it's hard to grasp the words. I'm just so thrilled to be able to see this. It's once in a lifetime. Here it was in our backyard, in the Dana Point harbor."

Bird-watching enthusiasts flocked to the Orange County harbor clutching binoculars and long lenses hoping to see the Nazca Booby.

The bird was spotted in Newport Beach two weeks ago, then by a deckhand on the fishing boat Sum Fun on Sunday, and again Monday on the rock jetty where boaters enter and exit the harbor, said Donna Kalez, manager of Dana Wharf Whale Watching.