Animals
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Attention

Man attacked by bear at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington

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A man was attacked by a bear at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord, suffering minor injuries.

KOMO-TV reports the attack happened around 8:30 a.m. on Saturday on the base near Tacoma, Washington. Officials said the man, a civilian, was attacked while walking in a restricted area. He sustained only some scratches.

Officials are now looking into why the man was there. They're also looking for the animal that attacked him.

Bears are common in the area. In April, Washington state wildlife agents shot and killed a black bear at the base, a week after a bear attacked a civilian base employee. That employee, who was attacked while he was running with his dog on the base, was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Source: The Associated Press

Comment: It seems that the local bears just don't take kindly to humans in the vicinity of this military installation, see also: Man survives second bear attack in 4 years at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington: 'I just had this deja vu'


Attention

Dead whale found on beach in Pacifica, California: 3rd since mid-April

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© KGO-TVA whale washed up on Esplanade Beach in Pacifica, Calif. on Sunday, August 2, 2015.
Another dead whale has washed up on a beach in Pacifica. Biologists have not yet identified what species of whale it is.

Biologist says dead whale that washed ashore has shark bites, but likely not the cause of death. #Pacifica #mapit pic.twitter.com/s55Lxiww5I
โ€” Lilian Kim (@liliankim7) August 3, 2015

A dog walker discovered the large marine mammal on the beach along Esplanade Avenue around 6 a.m. Sunday.

Comment: See also: Dead sperm whale found on beach in Pacifica, California

Second dead whale found at Pacifica, California within 3 weeks


Attention

Wrong time, wrong place: Rare Arctic Beluga whale seen off the Irish coast

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© Gordon WatsonThe rare arctic whale was spotted off the coast of Antrim.
The beluga whale was seen surfacing near Dunseverick, Co Antrim on Thursday.

It is believed to be the first ever sighting in Northern Ireland.

The beluga whale is normally found over 3,000km away around the Barents sea, eastwards of the the Svalbard Archipelago.

This sighting marks what is believed to be the 17th time in 100 years that this type of whale has been seen in Britain and Ireland.


There have been just two recorded sightings of the whale in the Republic of Ireland - one off Clare Island, Co Mayo in 1948 and another at Cobh, Co Cork in 1988.


Comment: This is the second such report in 2015 for this species which is normally resident in Arctic waters at this time of year, see in addition: Wrong place, wrong time: Trio of Arctic Beluga Whales seen off coasts of New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut

This unusual southward migration was also recorded in June of last year -

Wrong time, wrong place: Rare Arctic Beluga whale seen in Massachusetts

Wrong place, wrong time: Dead Arctic beluga whale washes up on a Scottish beach


Question

Has Bishopville's 'lizard man' returned? Video apparently shows fabled South Carolina creature

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The circled area shows a humanoid figure as it turned toward the man recording it.
The fabled Bishopville swamp creature known as Lizard Man appears to have surfaced again Sunday afternoon.

Sarah, a Sumter woman who says she went to church with a friend Sunday morning, stepped out of the sanctuary to see the Lizard Man running along the tree line.

So she did what anyone else would do -- took a picture with her phone.

"My hand to God, I am not making this up," she wrote in an email to the ABC News 4 newsroom. "So excited!"

She says they were just a mile or so from Scape Ore Swamp, the site of a similar spotting of what may also be the Lizard Man in May.

A man who asked not to be identified submitted a short video of what he thought was the Lizard Man Monday morning. He said he took the video in May while coon hunting but kept its existence quiet -- until he saw the reports of Lizard Man outside a church.


Comment:
Dead cow and coyote found near site of "Lizard Man" mystery

Lyle Blackburn on 'Lizard Man: The True Story of the Bishopville Monster'

US:"Lizard Man" returns?

Bigfoot vs. Lizard Man in South Carolina

Window Faller? South Carolina, US: Lizard Man Returns to Lee County?


Sheeple

Thousands of mysterious sheep deaths probed in Iceland

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Farmers would normally expect to no more than 2% of their sheep to die, but this spring some lost up to a third
Farmers in Iceland are baffled by the unexplained deaths of thousands of the country's sheep.

About 5,000 sheep died this spring, with the northern and western regions worst affected, and so far experts haven't been able to work out why, Morgunbladid's Iceland Monitor website reports. One theory is that sulphur emitted during a recent volcanic eruption might be to blame, as it could have contaminated vegetation and caused malnutrition in the sheep. The huge eruption at the Holuhraun lava field lasted for six months, and released millions of tonnes of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere.

"When the ash cloud moves over the country from the east, it is often accompanied by rain," Prof Jonas Eliasson, from the University of Iceland, tells the site. "The rain cleans the sulphur out of the air and snow does the job even better. When the snow melts in the spring, the sulphur remains on vegetation and in the soil."

Comment: See in addition this earlier report from June: Hundreds of sheep mysteriously die across Iceland


Bug

Locust swarm destroys agriculture of village in Southern Russia

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© Wikimedia
Swarms of locusts have plagued humans since the advent of agriculture.

Pesticides and other methods have controlled their spread and ability to swarm and destroy crops in the last hundred years or so. That said, if left unchecked, they still can cause biblical havoc on crops - just ask farmers in southern Russia.

This week tens of thousands of locusts swarmed the Russian village Achikulak in Stavropol krai and destroyed local agriculture. The swarm was caught on video (see below).


Black Cat 2

Domesticated cat plays with and feeds adopted baby lynx after its own mother rejected it

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Motherly love! The cat had recently given birth to kittens and adopted the little lynx as a part of her own brood
A domesticated cat has adopted a baby lynx after its own mother refused to feed it.

A worker at the Novosibirsk Zoo in the city of Novosibirsk, Russia, noticed that the young lynx Nika was not being correctly cared for by its mother.

The lynx had refused to feed the cub because it was the runt of the litter and the zoo needed to find an innovative solution for the problem.

An employee at the zoo then decided that she would bring her cat into work with her to act as a surrogate mother.

Her cat had recently given birth to kittens and it was hoped that the feline would adopt the little lynx as a part of her own brood.


Attention

Odd animal migration: Manatees from Florida turn up in North Carolina

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© Ocala Star-Banner /Landov / Barc Manatees swim near the sanctuary at the entrance to Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, Florida.
Researchers say manatees have again been spotted in the marinas and waters in south-eastern North Carolina - far from their natural Florida habitat.

The StarNews of Wilmington reported that local researchers have found that the manatees have travelled north to Georgia, the Carolinas and even Virginia.

Erin Cummings with the University of North Carolina Wilmington has charted the "sea cows" in North Carolina waters since the 1990s. Cummings says manatees have been reported in North Carolina dating to the 1930s.

She says manatees swim through open ocean, the Atlantic intracoastal waterway, sounds, bays, rivers and creeks searching for sea grass.

Cummings says there have been nine manatee sightings in North Carolina this year. She thinks there could be a couple of dozen in North Carolina waters.

Comment: See also these reports of unusual migrations for manatees: Manatee from Florida makes rare visit to Texas waters

Manatees moving out of Florida waters west along Gulf coast


Black Cat

CIA uses "man's best friends" for spying

stealth cat
© www.nextgov.com
The activities of American intelligence services have received a somewhat extensive coverage from both the written media and different movie makers, and not just from Hollywood alone, which is explainable if one is to consider the staggering amount of funds that are being allocated by the US Congress on the secret operations of such institutions.

Therefore, recent revelations about the activities of US intelligence services that have been published by WikiLeaks and other alternative sources of information can hardly surprise anyone. In fact, what is surprising is the casual approach of German, French, and British politicians towards the fact that on top of being financially and militarily dependent on Washington, they are being constantly spied on.

The electronic surveillance means that are being used by the CIA and the NSA, elaborate software like PRISM and Xkeyscore, which allows the United States to control more than 75% of the global Internet traffic, and the 24/7 wire tapping is just the tip of the iceberg. However, Washington's desire to establish total control over the world is not limited by electronic means alone.

Even man's best friends are being used as an effective and completely unremarkable source of information about almost any target. Pets enjoy a somewhat universal affection, therefore they are able to freely infiltrate the most guarded secret facilities and high-ranking meetings alike. Throughout the world pets are being treated with sympathy and respect, especially when they belong to the most influential people in the world.

Comment: Acoustic Kitty is only one in a long-line of military cyborg creations, one that's been unrestrained by moral considerations. "We can make tiny flying cyborgs--and a whole lot more. Engineers, geneticists, and neuroscientists are controlling animal minds in different ways and for different reasons, and their tools and techniques are becoming cheaper and easier for even us nonexperts to use. Before long, we may all be able to hijack animal bodies. The only question is whether we'll want to." - Emily Anthes, author Operation Acoustic Kitty

Thanks to the CIA, we should be PETrified.


Horse

Ponies swim channel from Assateague to Chincoteague Island, 90th annual event

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© Alex Wong/ Getty Images
Hundreds of spectators gathered yesterday to watch the 90th annual Chincoteague pony swim. For those of you who haven't read Misty of Chincoteague in a while, here's a refresher on why the ponies swim the channel from Assateague to Chincoteague Island off the coast of Virginia every year.