Animals
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Attention

Man trampled to death as he attempts to take selfie with rescued elephant in Karnataka, India

Julian Robinson
Daily Mail
Thu, 27 Jul 2017 16:46 UTC
A man has been trampled to death in India after breaking into a safari park so he could take a selfie with a rescued elephant called Sunder, which rose to fame after its mistreatment at the hands of cruel keepers.
Sunder the rescued elephant trampled a man to death in India
A man has been trampled to death in India after breaking into a safari park so he could take a selfie with a rescued elephant.

The 27-year-old victim, named as Abhilash, had entered an enclosure at the Bannerghatta Biological Park in Bangalore to take a photograph.

But the sales representative was crushed to death after being attacked by a bull elephant named Sunder.

The animal had previously hit the headlines after being rescued from his cruel former keepers following a campaign backed by Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson and Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney.
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Cloud Lightning

'Just looked like a war zone': 10 cattle killed by lightning on Prince Edward Island, Canada

Brian Higgins
CBC News
Wed, 26 Jul 2017 13:02 UTC
One of 10 Simmental cross-bred cattle, found dead on Blair Henry's farm Saturday.
© Blair HenryOne of 10 Simmental cross-bred cattle, found dead on Blair Henry's farm Saturday.
A farmer in Vernon Bridge, P.E.I., said last weekend's stormy weather is to blame for the deaths of 10 of his beef cattle.

"It didn't feel too good ... just looked like a war zone," Blair Henry said. "Not a mark on them."

'We could see something was wrong'

Henry said about 40 cows and 30 to 35 calves were in his field during the storm. Those killed appeared to have taken shelter under a row of tall spruce trees along a fence line, where his field slopes down to the shore of Vernon River.

He says two electrical storms swept through the area — one around 9 p.m. Friday — and another in the early hours of Saturday.

"A lot of thunder and lightning. It was very close by times," Henry said. "It was quite loud."
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Attention

Thousands of tiny red crabs wash up on Catalina Island, California

Laylan Connelly
The Orange County Register
Tue, 11 Jul 2017 12:36 UTC
Thousands of tiny red crabs wash ashore on Catalina Island
© Cindy YamanakaThousands of tiny red crabs wash ashore on Catalina Island
A trip to Catalina Island this week became a lesson in marine biology, with tiny red crabs washing ashore in the thousands and dozens of kids working tirelessly to try to save them by returning them to the sea.

Micah Stovall, of Huntington Beach, took a quick vacation to Catalina with family in town from Tennessee when they noticed the small creatures along the shore and in the shallow waters at the main beach in Avalon.

Stovall knew right away what they were: small crabs that look like tiny lobsters or crawfish. He had ventured with his family two years ago to Balboa Island in Newport Beach when hundreds of thousands of them blanketed the shore.

The Pleuroncodes planipes, also known as pelagic red crabs or tuna crabs, are about one to three inches long. They are usually found off Baja, but warm water in the past few years has pushed them up to Southern California in large numbers, especially along the Orange County coastline. Before then, the crabs hadn't been seen in the area for decades.
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Attention

400-pound pig attacks 3-year-old girl in Lauderdale County, Alabama

Lauren Scharf
wtvm.com
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 18:31 UTC
Booger the pig attacked a 3-year-old girl in Rogersville.
© WAFFBooger the pig attacked a 3-year-old girl in Rogersville.
A 3-year-old in Rogersville is recovering after a massive pig bit off a chunk of her arm. The little girl had to be airlifted to Huntsville Hospital.

"When I came out, the pig had her arm in its mouth and was on top of her," said her mother, Amber White.

White and her 3-year-old daughter, Bella, pointed to where the attack happened outside their home Monday morning off County Road 26 in Lauderdale County. The family said at the time, Bella and her two older brothers were playing in the yard when the neighbor's pet pig named Booger came over.

"I was telling 911 dispatchers that...a 400-pound pig was on my daughter," White said.

A bandage now covers the large wound.

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Attention

Man attacked by alligator at retention pond in Charlotte, Florida; 5th attack for the area in 3 weeks

Michael Braun
news-press.com
Mon, 24 Jul 2017 17:34 UTC
alligator
© AP
A man was attacked by an alligator Monday morning at a retention pond at 23970 Suncoast Boulevard near Kings Highway, Charlotte County Fire and EMS said.

The county's EMS office said the 60-plus-year-old man, identified as Frederic Iman, suffered multiple, serious bites, none life-threatening, and was airlifted to Lee Memorial Hospital as a trauma alert.

The incident happened shortly before 10:30 a.m.

Iman was listed in fair condition at Lee Memorial. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and is investigating.

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Attention

Elephant 'impaled his handler on the stick he used to control the animal' in Zimbabwe

Jamie Pyatt
Daily Mail
Wed, 26 Jul 2017 17:23 UTC
Happier times: Enock Kafandada, centre, was killed by Mbanje the elephant, left, at Victoria Falls
Happier times: Enock Kafandada, centre, was killed by Mbanje the elephant, left, at Victoria Falls
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

A elephant is thought to have impaled his handler on the stick he used to control the animal as a safari boss warned it may have harboured a grudge.

Enock Kufandada, 50, was charged, trampled and torn apart by a bull elephant called Mbanje in Zimbabwe before colleagues could come to his aid. They shot the animal dead.

Graphic pictures of his dismembered body seen by MailOnline show an open stab wound in his chest which may have been caused by the stick he was carrying, according to those at the scene.

Clement Mukwasi of the Employers Association of Tourism and Safari Operators hinted elephants can 'keep grudges' for many years against a handler if it has ever been mistreated during the process of training it for tourist rides.
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Attention

Strange animal behaviour: Killer whale rams boat several times, grabs anchor line and moves vessel around near Sitka, Alaska

Brielle Schaeffer
Daily Stika Setinel
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 13:22 UTC
This Sun., July 23, 2017, photo provided by Victor Littlefield and taken by his son Hunter Littlefield, shows an orca taking off with the anchor line of their fishing boat near Sitka, Alaska.
© Hunter LittlefieldThis Sun., July 23, 2017, photo provided by Victor Littlefield and taken by his son Hunter Littlefield, shows an orca taking off with the anchor line of their fishing boat near Sitka, Alaska.
Victor Littlefield, his 14-year-old son and two of his son's friends were on his 33-foot aluminum boat Sunday as it lay anchored near Little Biorka Island when the boat suddenly lurched violently to one side.

Littlefield's first thought was that he was being attacked by a great white shark.

"I had just watched 'Jaws' the day before," he said.

But it wasn't a shark. It was a killer whale, which had just rammed the side of the boat.

The orca hit the boat several times before it grabbed the anchor line and yanked on it, moving the boat around and then swimming toward the boat and slapping the bow with its tail.

"I was pretty much in shock," Littlefield said. "I couldn't believe it was actually happening."

Littlefield was out fishing with his son Hunter and his two friends when the incident occurred. They had just anchored up and had landed a rockfish.

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Attention

Dead minke whale washes ashore in Newington, New Hampshire

Jennifer Crompton
wmur.com
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 10:23 UTC
A dead minke whale was found washed up along Great Bay in Newington Tuesday morning.
© Jason SchreiberA dead minke whale was found washed up along Great Bay in Newington Tuesday morning.
A dead minke whale was found Tuesday in mud near a home in Newington.

The 12- to 15-foot-long whale was found near a home on Fox Point Road.

The Seacoast Science Center will determine the whale's cause of death.

New Hampshire Fish and Game officials will then tow the whale to a non-public spot.

Officials believe it's the same dead whale seen over the weekend at the mouth of the Piscataqua River.

Live whales in the mouth of the river aren't that uncommon because menhaden fish, a big attraction for hungry whales, are plentiful there. A live whale was spotted at the mouth the past week, officials said.
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Attention

Boy killed by lone hyena in Kenya; third attack in less than 3 weeks


RSOE EDIS
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 18:54 UTC
hyena
Hyena
A 14-year-old boy on Saturday night was killed when a lone hyena attacked a village in Boka, Tana River county. Seven others, all relatives, were injured. One was seriously hurt. Four of the injured have been identified as Salatho Bishar, 34, Zainab Omar, 26, Mohamud Abdi, 26, and Mude Gedi, 32.

The deceased, Jirr Abdi, was son of Salatho. The survivors suffered serious head injuries, fractured bones and some lost fingers. The injured were taken to Garissa Nursing Home.

Addressing the press at the hospital yesterday, relatives Mohamud Haji and Ali Ibrahim said the hyena strayed into a goat pen and attacked them. Ibrahim said the commotion and bleating from the goats attracted the attention of one of the victims and when she went to check, the hyena attacked her. She raised the alarm and relatives who came to her rescue were also attacked. Ibrahim said the hyena mauled the victims one by one as they went to the woman's rescue. "Abdi was not lucky. The hyena grabbed him in the confusion and dragged him into a nearby thicket. Everybody was scared and they ran back to their manyattas," he said. "When we went to check on the injured, we realised the boy was missing. No one was ready to risk going outside to look for him.
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Attention

Bear injures man near Trento in Italy

Alvise Armellini
IOL
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 14:08 UTC
Bear attack
Authorities in northern Italy issued a capture order on Monday for a wild bear that attacked a man on the weekend, amid protests from environmentalists and concerns about human and wildlife conflict in the region.

The president of the Trento province, Ugo Rossi, adopted a decree for the "monitoring, identification and removal" of the animal, meaning that it should be sedated, subjected to DNA testing, and moved to a safe area.

Trento is an Alpine town just south of the German-speaking Italian province of South Tyrol. Its park rangers were authorized to kill the bear only if their lives were put in "serious and grave danger" during operations.

The order was issued after Angelo Metlicovez was attacked late on Saturday while walking in wooded areas near lakes Lamar and Terlago. The 69-year-old plumber suffered non-lethal leg and arm injuries.

Comment: See also this other recent report from Europe: Two shepherds mauled by bear in Romania; 7th attack for the country this year

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