Animals
S


Attention

Great white shark bites boat in New Zealand waters


6abc.com
Thu, 11 Jun 2015 16:02 UTC
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© nzuploader03/YouTubeShark attack
A great white shark took a bite at a fishing boat's engine in an encounter that left three fishermen in awe.

Three boat mates Jack Lucas, Chris Pom and Adam Ellington were jigging for kingfish in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf when a small great white approached their boat. The shark began circling their boat and then attempted to take a bite out of their boat engine.

"You could feel it was going to take the motor off the boat or try to jump in," said Lucas.

The fisherman believe the shark was probably interested in the kingfish on board the boat. After biting the engine, the shark stayed close to the boat for another half hour before finally swimming away.

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Attention

Thousands of tuna crabs invade San Diego beaches

Abby Benn
abcnews.go.com
Fri, 12 Jun 2015 11:35 UTC
Image
© KGTV
Thousands of tuna crabs washed up on a California beach.
Thousands of tuna crabs have invaded the beaches of San Diego Bay.

The thumb-sized crustaceans started washing ashore further up the California coast earlier this year, but turned up this week in San Diego in unusually larger numbers, officials said.

They've washed ashore periodically over the years because of any number of natural effects, but research scientist Michael Shane of the Hubbs SeaWorld Research Institute in San Diego cited El Nino as the phenomenon that might have pushed the crabs up from their normal habitat far offshore.

The result is certain death and nothing can be done to save the crabs.
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Black Cat

One dog recovering, another dead following two cougar attacks in Maple Ridge, Canada

Eric Zimmer
Maple Ridge Times
Thu, 11 Jun 2015 17:30 UTC
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© Troy Landreville Tula cuddled with her owner Andrew Dodge while at the same time showing the puncture marks on her shaved neck, the result of a bite from a cougar that nearly took the Maple Ridge dog’s life.
One dog is injured and another dead after two separate cougar attacks in Maple Ridge this week.

The first incident happened at a popular Maple Ridge hiking area Sunday evening.

According to Andrew Dodge, he was hiking with his dog Tula - a three-year-old shepherd-husky-cross - in the Malcolm Knapp UBC Research Forest reserve, between Mike Lake and the Incline Trail, next to Golden Ears Provincial Park, when Tula ran ahead of him. All of a sudden, Dodge "heard a big fight and lots of yelping."

Running as quickly as he could in the direction of the sound, and shouting Tula's name, Dodge managed to find her coming out of the trees "very distressed" and hurt.

"She took off back down the trail and I ran after her until we reached the car park at Mike Lake," he said.

It was there that Dodge noticed Tula "had been bleeding in the neck area."

"She was very weak but made it back to the car where I took her to the emergency animal hospital in Langley."
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Magic Wand

Hippos give trapped duckling a helping snout at Netherlands zoo

Ben Hooper
upi.com
Fri, 12 Jun 2015 15:52 UTC
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Hippo to the rescue
A duckling trapped on the embankment of a pond at a Netherlands Zoo escaped with a little help from its friends -- a pair of hippopotamuses.

A visitor to the Rotterdam Zoo -- locally known as the Diergaarde Blijdorp -- filmed the small duck repeatedly attempting to jump from the embankment to the shore, but falling short of making it over a short barrier.

The footage, posted to YouTube, shows the duckling is soon joined by a pair of hippos, which appear to startle the bird as it attempts to avoid the much larger animals.

However, rather than make a meal out of the duckling, the hippos use their snouts to the give the baby duck a boost and help it to reach the shore and reunite with its mother.

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Question

'Dolphin frenzy' - Super pod surround South African fishing boat

Ben Hooper
upi.com
Fri, 12 Jun 2015 15:40 UTC
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Super pod of dolphins off Cape Town
A South African man boating off the coast of Cape Town captured footage of hundreds of dolphins chasing bait fish around his vessel.

Robbie Ragless, who shared the video on YouTube, said he was on a fishing trip with a group of people Friday when their boat was surrounded by the "dolphin frenzy."

"An incredible experience getting so close to dolphins chasing bait fish just off Robben Island, Cape Town," Ragless said in the video's description.

Ragless told Eyewitness News the dolphins showed up around midday.

"We just saw the frenzy on the horizon and didn't know it was coming straight for us and caught ourselves right in the middle of it, which was quite cool," he said.

He said it was difficult to count the dolphins.

"I didn't even know -- we thought there were maybe a thousand, but there could have been more of them," he said.

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Binoculars

Birdspotters in frenzy after extremely rare Hudsonian Whimbrel seen in Britain


Daily Express, UK
Fri, 12 Jun 2015 14:52 UTC
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© Jake Gearty/Solent NewsAn extremely rare bird which has only been seen a handful of times in the UK
More than 1,000 bird watchers have travelled to Pagham Harbour near Chichester, West Sussex, in the last four days to catch a glimpse of the Hudsonian Whimbrel.

It is thought to be the only bird of its kind in the UK and only 10 others have been seen in this country since 1950.

The bird is so rare because it is native of North America and is hardly ever seen in Britain.

Tim Webb, communications officer for the RSBP said: "It is definitely confirmed that it is here and is still here.

"On these shores this is about the eleventh one in our recorded history, which goes back to about the 1950s.

"This Hudsonian Whimbrel is the only one in the UK right now to our knowledge.
"It is incredibly unusual and rare for this species to be seen in this country.
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Binoculars

Snowy egret from the Americas turns up in South Africa

Melanie Gosling
iol.co.za
Fri, 12 Jun 2015 14:09 UTC
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© Trevor HardakerOFF COURSE: This snowy egret has migrated from North America.
The average birdwatcher would be forgiven for calling it a little egret.

Serious birders know better: the white bird that has been quietly wading among the shallows of the Black River along the M3, Cape Town, this week is a snowy egret, native to North and South America, and way off course to end up at the tip of Africa.

Word went out on Monday, and watchers and "twitchers" started converging on the river banks. Five of them flew down from Gauteng on Thursday on the 6am flight to see the bird and to tick it off their lists.

"Twitchers" will go to great lengths to see a rare bird. For many, the snowy egret was a "lifer" - a first-ever sighting of a bird. And it is quite special. This is only the second time a snowy egret (Egretta thula) has been seen in Africa.

Trevor Hardaker, chairperson of Birdlife South Africa's National Rarities Committee, said the only other recorded sighting of a snowy egret in Africa had been in Cape Town in 2002. "Everyone's very excited."
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Bizarro Earth

Dozens of dead penguins have shown up on the coast of Uruguay


Phys.org
Thu, 11 Jun 2015 00:00 UTC
penguins
Rescued penguins wait to be fed on July 28, 2007, in the department Maldonado, Uruguay
Dozens of penguins have shown up dead over the past three days on the coast of Uruguay, a government official said Thursday.

One group of young specimens was found in the Rocha area 210 km (125 miles) east of Montevideo, and then another at a beach in the resort town of Punta del Este, said Graciela Fabiano of the National Directorate of Water Resources.

The agency has no penguin monitoring program but at this time of year penguins do tend to show up on the coast, sometimes dead, and the movement is associated with migratory patterns, she said.
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Wolf

Canine craziness: Dozens injured after stray dogs' attack in Turkey


national.bgnnews.com
Thu, 11 Jun 2015 17:08 UTC
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Treatment for dog bite
At least 55 people, many of them children, have been attacked by stray dogs in Turkey's eastern Van province within the last 24 hours.

Seven dogs have been put down on suspicion, and samples were sent to the Veterinary Control Institute in eastern Elazığ province, Van Provincial Directorate of Food, Agriculture and Livestock said.

The directorate said that 30 people were treated at various hospitals for dog bites Wednesday.

An additional 25 were attacked later, bringing the total to 55 since Wednesday noon, officials said.

The directorate said that victims were given rabies vaccines and discharged after being kept under observation.

The attacks were reported in Bostaniçi, Esenler, Yenimahalle and Şerefiye streets of the province, which has a center population of less than 500,000.
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Fish

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigating fish kill on Panhandle beaches

Katie Tammen
newsherald.com
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 14:33 UTC
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© Nick Tomecek | GateHouse Media ServicesLauren Denny of Springfield, Mo., moves dead fish out of her way as she wades into the Gulf of Mexico on Monday near a public beach access on Okaloosa Island.
Multiple agencies, including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), are looking into why hundreds of fish are washing up on some Panhandle beaches.

Reports began rolling in over the weekend from people on beaches across Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties, according to Catalina Brown, the Fish Kill Hotline coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

"It's too early for us to know what it could be," Brown said.

Katy Krueger was out walking on Navarre Beach on Monday morning when she encountered the dead fish.
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