Animals
S


Bizarro Earth

New lethal virus causing mass mortality in amphibian species in Portugal

Eva Rodríguez Nieto
Phys.org
Mon, 13 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
virus infecting toads portugal
© Goncalo M. RosaCommon midwife toad metamorphic forms and larvae in the Serra de Estrela, infected simultaneously by chytrid fungi and ranavirus.

A new strain of ranavirus is currently causing mass mortality in several species of amphibian in the Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain range in continental Portugal. This infectious agent is hypervirulent and also affects fish and reptiles, which complicates the situation, according to a study boasting the collaboration of the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid.

An emerging virus is affecting amphibian populations in Portugal, but this is not the first time amphibians have been a source of worry in the country. In 2009, hundreds of midwife toads (Alytes obstetricans) were found dead in Serra da Estrela Natural Park.

A research study published in the journal Scientific Reports raises a new alert on this genus of virus, which has also been discovered in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. As Jaime Bosch, a researcher at the National Museum of Natural Sciences and co-author of the study, tells SINC: "Ranaviruses have been known about for a long time, although in recent years globalisation is setting off mass mortalities throughout the world, and new strains also keep appearing, probably from Asia."
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Attention

Killer whale found dead on beach in West Auckland, New Zealand


New Zealand Herald
Tue, 14 Mar 2017 09:33 UTC
orca
A dead orca has washed up on a West Auckland beach.

Orca are considered nationally critical in New Zealand, and known threats include interactions with fisheries and boat strikes. The death is being investigated.

The orca was discovered on Whatipu Beach, 40km west of downtown Auckland, and reported to the Department of Conservation (DoC). Photos taken by rangers show possible blunt force trauma to the head.

A team from Massey University will today do a necropsy to establish cause of death, and also take biological sampling to assess diet and pollutant loads in the adult male whale.
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Attention

Hundreds of black-billed gulls believed to have died of starvation at Waikaia, New Zealand

Dave Nicoll
Stuff
Sun, 12 Mar 2017 21:19 UTC
It is believed that the black-billed gulls starved to death.
It is believed that the black-billed gulls starved to death.
An investigation into the death of a large number of black-billed gulls in Southland has revealed a potential cause.

An estimated 150-200 fledgling birds were found dead near the Waikaia gold mine and Waikaia River at the beginning of the year, where they had been nesting within the wider area of their colony.

Department of Conservation senior ranger Rosalind Cole said testing carried out by staff at Massey University revealed the probable cause of death as starvation.

Autopsies of the birds revealed they were in poor condition and their stomachs were empty, Cole said.

There just happened to be no food at the particular time that the birds fledged, she said.

Fledglings were leaving mum and dad and going out on their own to survive, she said
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Heart - Black

Poachers kill 45 rare snow leopards in India every year

Balshall Adak
Daily Mail
Sat, 11 Mar 2017 20:54 UTC
The snow leopard's remote habitat becomes a challenge in detecting its killers and in law enforcement
The snow leopard's remote habitat becomes a challenge in detecting its killers and in law enforcement
Poachers are killing 45 snow leopards in India every year - meaning the beautiful animal could soon face extinction.

The revelation was made in a report compiled by TRAFFIC, an arm of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The large cat which is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia has been listed as endangered on the IUCN red list of threatened species since 2003, when the size of its global wild population was estimated at 4,080 - 6,590 adults.

In India its estimated population varies from 200 to 600 animals, which are scattered over 90,000 sq km in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

Snow leopards sometimes attack livestock animals like cows and goats, leading farmers in Uttarakhand and Himachal to resort to retaliatory killing.

'But 60 per cent of non-targeted poaching incidents result in an attempt to sell their body parts in the black market,' the reports states.
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Wolf

10-month-old baby girl killed by family dog in Japan


Japan Today
Mon, 13 Mar 2017 10:12 UTC
Dog attack
J-Cast News (March 10) reported that death of a 10-month-old baby girl after having been bitten by a golden retriever in Hachioji City last week spurred a surprisingly large number of comments on news sites and bulletin boards.

On March 9, the victim was at her grandparents' home, four kilometers from her parents' residence. Earlier in the day, the child had been left at a nursery, but she developed a fever. Her mother was at work, so she called her parents, who agreed to look after the child at their home, as was the family's occasional practice.

That evening, the child was crawling around the living room on the ground floor when the grandparents' pet golden retriever snapped at the base of her neck. Her grandmother had been watching the child from close by, but had not been able to protect her from the animal. The grandfather quickly telephoned for an ambulance and the child was taken to a nearby hospital, but about two hours later she was pronounced dead.

The dog was a four-year-old male golden retriever weighing 40 kilograms. According to the grandparents, the animal was gentle and seldom even barked at strangers. There was a cage in the house for keeping the animal, but it was allowed to roam freely inside the house. The grandparents also own three other dogs, including an Akita and two smaller breeds. Next to their front entrance they had posted a "Beware of Dog" warning.
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Attention

Elephant kills her trainer at a zoo in Japan

Charlie Moore
Daily Mail
Sun, 12 Mar 2017 09:41 UTC
An elephant killed its trainer with a swish of its trunk at a Japanese zoo today. Indian elephants can grow to 6.4 metres in length and 3.5 metres in height (stock image)
An elephant killed its trainer with a swish of its trunk at a Japanese zoo today. Indian elephants can grow to 6.4 metres in length and 3.5 metres in height (stock image)
An elephant killed its trainer with a swish of its trunk at a Japanese zoo today.

Wichai Madee from Thailand was washing an Indian elephant with a colleague at Adventure World in Wakayama when the female became angered and swung its trunk.

The trainer, 37, smashed into the iron bars of the elephant's cage and was rushed to hospital where he later died.

Police said: 'The animal might have somehow become angry. It swung its trunk and the trunk hit the person who was working in front of the elephant.'

'The person apparently was pushed hard and hit either the cage or the ground and hit his head.'
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Binoculars

Ivory Gull from the Arctic found in Flint, Michigan


abc12.com
Sat, 11 Mar 2017 20:28 UTC
Ivory Gull
Ivory Gull
It's a bird watchers dream.

A rare bird made a special appearance in Flint.

Bird watchers spotted the Ivory Gull near the University of Michigan-Flint and called ABC12.

The bird is a long way from its natural habitat.

The Ivory Gull rarely comes south of the Bering Sea.

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Cloud Lightning

Girl and 2 cows killed by lightning bolt in Kenya

Ruth Mbula
Daily Nation
Sun, 12 Mar 2017 12:13 UTC
A girl died after being struck by lightning in Kisii County on March 10, 2017.
© YASUYOSHI CHIBA girl died after being struck by lightning in Kisii County on March 10, 2017
A 12 year old girl died while her older sister sustained injuries after they were struck by lightning in Omorendi village, in Kisii County.

Also a cow and a calf were killed in the Friday incident.

The deceased was identified as Patroba Maturi and her sister Linet Nyanchama.

Nyamache sub-county police boss Japheth Mwirichia said the incident was reported by the area's community policing chairman Alfanus Nyabuto Mosiori.
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Biohazard

Radioactive wild boars running rampant in Fukushima after people evacuated

Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura
NY Times
Thu, 09 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
Wild Boars
Radioactive boars have settled into where people have evacuated. Can you blame them?
They descend on towns and villages, plundering crops and rampaging through homes. They occasionally attack humans. But perhaps most dangerous of all, the marauders carry with them highly radioactive material.

Hundreds of toxic wild boars have been roaming across northern Japan, where the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant six years ago forced thousands of residents to desert their homes, pets and livestock. Some animals, like cattle, were left to rot in their pens.

As Japan prepares to lift some evacuation orders on four towns within the more than 12-mile exclusion zone around the Fukushima plant later this month, officials are struggling to clear out the contaminated boars.

Comment: The Japanese government has tried to keep under wraps, the true extent of the damage that the Fukushima Nuclear Plant fallout has caused. And with these boars showing signs of being irradiated 300 times what's considered the safety limit, is it any wonder most people don't want to move back to the area?

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Hearts

Grief-stricken baby monkey grieves after mother is run over by car

Senthil Kumaran
The Times of India
Sat, 11 Mar 2017 10:51 UTC
grieving baby monkey
A baby monkey that lost its mother in a road accident made all those witnessed the scene cry. The young monkey wept sitting near the carcass of its mother that was knocked down by a speeding vehicle near Elanthur on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka National highway on Friday.

"Losing a loved one will be painful for not just human beings. Animals too mourn. We saw the young monkey weeping over the carcass of its mother," said K Saravanan, who witnessed the scene.

The baby monkey saw its mother being knocked down by a vehicle while she was crossing the road. It rushed to its mother that lay on the road. The baby monkey tried to wake its mother and hugged her. It kept its ears on her chest as if checking her heartbeat. Soon it realized that the mother had died, and it started to weep.
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