Animals
S


Question

Dozens of dead birds found on street in Elmira, New York

Dead starling
"It was really bizarre I mean you wonder what could've caused that."

A strange scene on the street of an Elmira neighborhood has some searching for an explanation.

On Saturday March 19, Ryan Keilman observed one dead bird on his lawn between the curb and the road on Davis Street in Elmira and thought nothing of it until he got a phone call from his mom who sounded concerned with the scene she saw while leaving his residence. Upon observing an unsettling scene of dozens of deceased animals just outside of his home, Keilman contacted multiple agencies to get answers.

"My mother, she stopped by when she was leaving she called me and said hey you need to come outside and I went out and she's like did you see all of these and originally I counted 21 but then I ended up double counting it was 25 dead birds," said Keilman.

Fish

Mysterious death of over 17,000 fish, turtles and other rare sea life along 60km of coast near Broome, Australia

An estimated 17,500 fish have died (pictured) in what is believed to be a naturally occurring fish kill in the Kimberly region, in Western Australia’s far north
An estimated 17,500 fish have died (pictured) in what is believed to be a naturally occurring fish kill in the Kimberly region, in Western Australia’s far north
An estimated 17,500 fish have died in what is believed to be a naturally occurring fish kill in the Kimberly region, in Western Australia's far north.

The discovery of the dead fish may be linked to a culmination of environmental factors.

More than 37 different species of fish began washing up dead on beaches near Broome last Monday.

Higher than normal water temperatures coupled with warm weather and sustained onshore winds have been floated by the department as contributing factors.

Experts predict the deaths were contained to a localised area before the fish carcases were spread by strong tides.

Fish, turtles (pictured) and other rare sea life have been found washed up dead on beaches around Broome
Fish, turtles (pictured) and other rare sea life have been found washed up dead on beaches around Broome
A Department of Fisheries spokesman said the fish kill had affected mainly small fish (pictured), with less than three per cent recorded at more than 30cm long
A Department of Fisheries spokesman said the fish kill had affected mainly small fish (pictured), with less than three per cent recorded at more than 30cm long

Snowflake Cold

350,000 farm animals die due to extreme cold in Mongolia

A pile of animal carcasses in Uvs province, Mongolia
A pile of animal carcasses in Uvs province, Mongolia
Hundreds of thousands of farm animals have perished in a slow-moving natural disaster in Mongolia and the international aid response has been insufficient, the Red Cross said Friday.

Mongolia has been hit by a devastating natural phenomenon known as a "dzud", said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) -- a hot summer drought followed by a severe winter.

The combination spells doom for livestock in a country where IFRC said a third of the thinly-spread population rely on animal husbandry for their livelihoods.

Goats, sheep and cows die en masse, unable to graze sufficiently in the warmer months to build up the reserves necessary to withstand later temperatures that regularly drop to -50 degrees Celsius.

More than 350,000 animals have already died, but more than a million deaths are expected, according to the latest available data from the UN mission in the country, IFRC said.

Attention

The elephant of surprise: Rampaging tusker throws Indian man in the air and tramples him to death

Video shows Mr Boyra being trampled by the elephant on his land near Baghasole village, West Bengal
Video shows Mr Boyra being trampled by the elephant on his land near Baghasole village, West Bengal
This is the shocking moment when an elephant kills a man by throwing him in the air and trampling him to death in east India.

It is the latest deadly attack by the wild elephant herd in the rural West Bengal area in the past few days.

The wild herd has been causing havoc in the Bardhaman and Bankura districts, where it has killed four villagers and injured two others this weekend.


Prakash Boyra, 40, died after one of the elephants threw him into the air with its trunk and then trampled him.

Images filmed by fellow villages show the man being flung into the air like a rag doll by the huge animal, who slams him back onto the floor as people look on horrified and helpless.


Info

Bear bone found in 1903 pushes back the history of Ireland

Ancient Bear Bone
© itsligovideosThe brown bear bone.
A butchered bear bone found in an Irish cave has revealed humans were active in Ireland 2,500 years earlier than thought, in a breakthrough described as "a new chapter to the human history of Ireland".

Since the 1970s, the oldest evidence of human occupation in Ireland dated back to 8,000 BC - the Mesolithic period - indicating humans had occupied the island for some 10,000 years.

However, radiocarbon dating of a brown bear's knee bone suggested it had been killed by a human some 12,500 years ago, in the preceding Paleolithic period, at 10,500 BC.

The adult bear bone, marked by seven cuts from a long blade, was originally discovered in 1903 by a team of early scientists in a County Clare cave and had been stored in a card board box at the National Museum of Ireland for almost 100 years.

In 2010 and 2011 Dr Ruth Carden, a research associate with the National Museum of Ireland, and Dr Marion Dowd, a lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology at the School of science in IT Sligo, re-analysed the bear bone, which was one of thousands discovered at the turn of the century.

The pair then applied for funding to have the bone carbon dated.

"When a Palaeolithic date was returned, it came as quite a shock," said Dr Dowd. "Here we had evidence of someone butchering a brown bear carcass and cutting through the knee probably to extract the tendons."

Attention

Dead humpback whale washes up on Block Island, Rhode Island

Young humpback whale washes up dead on Block Island
© Michael ChapmanYoung humpback whale washes up dead on Block Island
A young humpback was found washed up dead on a Block Island beach Wednesday. It is believed the animal died while still at sea.

The whale was found belly-up on Crescent Beach by a resident.

Executive Director of Block Island Conservancy Michael Chapman documented the whale on Facebook. Chapman tells NBC 10 News the age of whale has yet to be determined, but it is quite young.

"[A] new born calf is about 20ft. This Humpback looks to be about 25ft. It may have lost its mother as they migrated North this time of year," he said.

Mystic Aquarium has already been contacted to document the incident.

Chapman said it is not uncommon for deceased whales to wash up on Block Island.

In the past, a deceased whale was exploded with dynamite on Crescent Beach to remove it from the area.

Attention

Killer whale strands and drowns leaving calf as an orphan in New Zealand

Dr Visser examines the dead orca that washed up on Mangawhai Beach.
© ORCA RESEARCH TRUSTDr Visser examines the dead orca that washed up on Mangawhai Beach.
An orca that died on Mangawhai Beach may have drowned and Northland orca expert Ingrid Visser is concerned for the lactating whale's orphaned calf.

Dr Visser is hoping results of a necropsy will determine exactly how the orca died, but, with no obvious signs of damage to the whale, which was in "pristine condition", she believes it may have drowned.

An orca can drown if its blowhole is covered and she said, as orca don't have much flexibility in their neck, she would not have been able to lift the blowhole out of the water, as she was found on her side.

"It's a real tragedy when any orca dies like this, but she was lactating - we could see the milk coming out while she was lying there and it was really sad - and she has a wee baby out there somewhere," Dr Visser said.

Attention

Rorqual whale found dead on Mexico beach

Image
Marine experts are dwarfed by the whale
A specimen of the tropical rorqual whale (Balaenoptera edeni) was found dead on Puertecito Beach in the municipality of Maria Colotepec, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, the Profepa environmental protection agency said.

Profepa said in a bulletin that it has taken over the case and has applied the measures laid down in the protocol for dealing with stranded marine mammals.

The large whale, measuring 10.8 meters (35 feet) long and weighing approximately 8 tons, was observed by personnel of the federal delegation of Profepa in the agency, in coordination with the University of the Sea, or UMAR.

Attention

Thousands of dead seabirds turn up on Alaskan freshwater lake

Dead common murres
© Mark ThiessenDead common murres
Lake Iliamna in Alaska is North America's eighth-largest lake, but nobody would mistake it for the Pacific Ocean. Not even a seabird.

So when thousands of common murres were found dead at the southwest Alaska lake, as part of a massive die-off of a species whose preferred winter habitat is at sea,” seabird experts were puzzled.

"We've talked about unprecedented things about this die off. That's another one," said John Piatt, research wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey.

Murres occasionally land in fresh water, Piatt said.

"You figure it's a misguided individual. To have 6,000, 8,000 birds in the lake is pretty mind-blowing, really," he said. "I've never heard of any such a thing anywhere in the world."

Black Cat 2

Cat burglar has a strong penchant for socks and men's underwear

Cat Burglar
© FacebookThe tonkinese burglar has very specific taste.
A 6-year-old cat burglar with a taste for men's underwear is terrorising the streets of Hamilton.Like many cats, Brigit the tonkinese is a nocturnal hunter - but her prey is specifically socks and boxer briefs. The cat, who lives on George St in Hamilton East, has brought home 11 pairs of underpants and more than 50 socks in the last two months.

And those are just the ones her owner Sarah Nathan has kept.

"It's all men's. It's really, really weird. She's got really specific taste."

Nathan suspects they all belong to the same unlucky neighbour. She said Brigit has been collecting menswear for about two of the six months they've lived at the current property. At their previous home she was thieveing as well - but was less specific.

"In our last house she'd bring home a bit of everything - she'd bring home men's undies, women's undies, togs, she even brought home a hockey shin pad and a jumper.

"She was much less discerning - now she's decided menswear is the thing - and it's a very specific kind of underpants that she likes," Nathan said.

"She stopped when we moved to George St, but she's obviously got herself acclimatised, because now she's rampant again.