Animals
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Attention

Humpback whale washes up on Danish shore for first time in over 100 years


thelocal.dk
Tue, 07 Jul 2015 17:44 UTC
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© Asger Ladefoged/ScanpixThe whale's remains were brought to the Natural History Museum on Monday.
For the first time in over a century, a humpback whale has washed up on Danish shores. Making the discovery even more interesting is the fact that its cranium had "fallen out".

Something seems to be happening in the waters around Denmark.

Not only are bottlenose dolphins now being found frolicking in the Bay of Aarhus, but now humpback whales seem to have arrived off Danish shores as well.

A five-metre long humpback washed up on a beach near Thy last week, creating a bit of a mystery because the corpse lacked a cranium and the whale's tail had been wrapped in rope.

Researchers from the Natural History Museum of Denmark spent Monday cutting the corpse into manageable-sized chunks for further examination in hopes of clearing up the strange find.

"This is huge. Humpback whales aren't normally seen in Denmark. There are only a few times per year that we need to cut a whale up and last summer it was a couple of sperm whales," the museum's Morten Tange Olsen told BT.
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Sheeple

Hay bale-jumping sheep show off woolly acrobatics

Ben Hooper
upi.com
Tue, 07 Jul 2015 16:44 UTC
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Sheep jumping from bale to bale
A YouTube user shared footage of a talented flock of sheep showing off their acrobatic skills by leaping from hay bale to hay bale.

Karen McKovuson posted a YouTube video showing a trio of sheep on a farm jumping between hay bales in a display of woolly athleticism.

The video is believed to have been filmed in Ireland.

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Attention

8th recent shark attack reported along North Carolina coast


abc11.com
Mon, 06 Jul 2015 18:30 UTC
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Shark
According to reports a Marine was injured over the weekend in the eighth shark attack along the North Carolina coast so far this season.

WITN-TV says a spokesman for the Naval Hospital at Camp Lejeune said the victim was brought into the hospital Saturday.

The bite happened in Surf City and the victim was treated and released.

WWAY reported that Pender County Emergency Management and Surf City Police received no calls of shark bites in the area, so the location of the incident is unknown.

Seven other people have been attacked by sharks along the North Carolina coast in the past three weeks. The most recent was Wednesday when a 68-year-old man was injured off Ocracoke Island.
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Attention

Hippo kills woman in Botswana

Esther Mmolai
allafrica.com
Mon, 06 Jul 2015 17:40 UTC
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Hippo
Maun police are investigating an incident in which a 56 year old woman was attacked and killed by a hippo at Khwae village on Sunday (July 5).

In an interview with BOPA, Superintendent John Kelebeng of Botswana Police said the woman together with her 32 year-old daughter went to the river to fetch a traditional vegetable, Tswii when she met her fate.

He said the deceased sustained serious injuries on the waist, head and thighs. He said they received a report from a police officer in Khwae who heard someone screaming from the river as he met the daughter running for her life while the mother was attacked.

Superintendent Kelebeng said the deceased was rushed to Letsholathebe Memorial hospital and was certified dead upon arrival. He said the hippo had been killed by wildlife officials.

Source: Botswana Daily News
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Red Flag

Skinnydippers in Scotland are caught out when red kites steal their underpants and socks to build their nests

Imogen Calderwood
Daily Mail, UK
Sun, 05 Jul 2015 13:25 UTC
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Surprise!: Baffled skinnydippers were stunned to discover their missing underwear in the nest of a pair of local birds of prey
Skinnydippers at a Scottish beauty spot were left completely stumped when their underwear vanished while they were swimming.

But a gamekeeper at the popular bathing spot near Glen Esk in Angus, Scotland, solved the mystery when he chanced upon the nest of a local pair of red kites.

The birds of prey had stolen the swimmers' underpants and socks to help make their nest .

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Comfy home: Two red kites were discovered in the nest at the Scottish beauty spot, Gannochy Estate
The gamekeeper took photographs of the nest, which had been built with a selection of socks and a pair of navy underpants.

'Our trainee gamekeeper discovered the nest and we rang the RSPB to have them ringed and tagged,' said Dave Clement, head keeper at the Gannochy Estate.

'What was really interesting was to see socks and underwear from a popular swimming spot actually in the nest and the surrounding trees.
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Attention

Elephant kills researcher in Zambia


Zambia Daily Mail
Sun, 05 Jul 2015 12:03 UTC
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Elephant looking slightly annoyed
A 29- year-old researcher from the USA has been killed by an elephant in the Kafue National Park in Mumbwa, the police have said.

Margarita Metallinou was in the company of two male American researchers when the animal attacked them and killed her.

Central Province police commissioner Lombe Kamukoshi said in an interview yesterday that the elephant killed Ms Metallinou near Hook Bridge on Tuesday around 13:30 hours when the trio ventured in the park without game rangers.

Ms Kamukoshi said when Ms Metallinou saw the animal, she screamed and it charged at her while her colleagues managed to run away.

She said Jeffrey Weinell, 24, one of the male researchers, gave a statement to the police in Mumbwa about the incident and the death of Ms Metallinou.
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Attention

Sick pygmy whale dies following stranding on Surfside Beach, Texas


khou.com
Fri, 03 Jul 2015 16:37 UTC
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A sick Pygmy whale washed ashore on Surfside Beach Friday morning.
A sick Pygmy whale washed ashore on Surfside Beach Friday morning, much to the surprise of nearby beachgoers.

People rushed to save the whale, but responders determined the whale was too sick to be transported and had to be put down.

Officials with the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network said that if you encounter a beached whale or dolphin, call 1-800-9-Mammal and follow the instructions of the staff until a rescue team can arrive on scene.
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Butterfly

Monarch butterfly population drops to dangerously low levels

Steve Parren
vtdigger.org
Fri, 26 Jun 2015 13:26 UTC
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Monarch butterfly
Monarch butterflies are in decline nationwide, and may be approaching dangerously low levels.

Monarchs have declined nearly 80% in the 21 years researchers have been monitoring their wintering populations, from a high of up to one billion butterflies in the 1990s to roughly 56 million today, according to a recent report from the Xerces Society.

But according to Mark Ferguson, a biologist for the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, Vermont may play an important role in the continued efforts at monarch conservation.

"Vermont's meadows and old fields provide habitat for milkweed, which is a critical food source for monarchs," said Ferguson. "In contrast, increasing levels of herbicide use in large-scale agriculture in the Midwest appear to have greatly reduced the abundance of milkweed in that part of the country, which historically produced half of the monarchs in eastern North America."

Monarchs lay eggs on milkweed and feed on milkweed as caterpillars. Most eastern monarchs overwinter at a single site in the mountains of central Mexico. According to Ferguson, monarchs need to reproduce several times during their north-bound migration, and require milkweed at each of these sites.
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Horse

Horse rescued from sinkhole in Washington County, Pennsylvania

Katherine Schaeffer
triblive.com
Fri, 03 Jul 2015 12:55 UTC
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Crews in Washington County rescued a horse from a sinkhole on a Scenery Hill farm Friday morning. The retired racehorse, named Chautauqua Worms, was uninjured except for a few cuts, rescuers said.
The Washington County Animal Response Team rescued a horse Friday morning from a 6-foot sinkhole at a Scenery Hill farm.

Responders lifted the 1,000-pound horse, named Chautauqua Worms, from the hole with an A-frame hoist borrowed from the county, said Ed Childers, a firefighter at the North Strabane fire department, which runs the rescue team known as CART.

The response team arrived at the Amos Road property about 6 a.m., pulling the horse from the pit at 9:30 a.m., Childers said.

"All in all, everything went pretty well," Childers said. "No injuries, no damaged equipment."

Neighbors identified the horse as belonging to horse farm owner Lisa Beinhauer. She could not be reached for comment.
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Attention

Suspected poacher killed by wild boar in India

Mazhar Ali
The Times of India
Sun, 14 Jun 2015 18:57 UTC
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© David J SlaterWild boar
A suspected poacher was killed in wild boar attack in the fields of Sonegaon-Shirumpur in Chimur tehsil on Saturday afternoon. Forest officers are investigating the motive behind the deceased, Chagansingh Bhond (56), visiting remote fields away from forest with his accomplices.

As per reports, Bhond, along with a couple of accomplices, was moving through the fields when a wild boar charged at them. Though his aides escaped, Bhond suffered serious injuries and died on-the-spot. His friends rushed him to Chimur rural hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

Forest officials were informed about the incident. A team led by RFO, Chimur range KR Akkewar visited the spot. He said post mortem report would confirm the exact cause of death. He, however, claimed that footprints of many people along with those of dogs and wild boars were found on the spot. He raised suspicion about motive of Bhond's visit to the remote area.
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