Animals
S


Binoculars

'Blown off course': Eurasian crane seen in Churchill, Canada

Bryce Hoye
cbc.ca
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 16:34 UTC
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© Jenafor AzureChristian Artuso with Bird Studies Canada said the sighting represents a first for Manitoba. The Eurasian crane, standing right of a sandhill crane, was first spotted in North America in 1957 and has only been seen a handful of times in the U.S. and Canada since then.
Jenafor Azure was out for a drive with her husband in Churchill, Man., over the weekend when she spotted some unusual wildlife.

June in Churchill presents excellent wildlife-viewing opportunities for bird watchers at the height of migration season. Droves of ecotourists head up north at this time of year to do just that.

But one thing most Churchill tourists will never see — certainly something Azure never expected to see — is a slender, prehistoric-looking bird commonly found in the Eurasian boreal forests of Russia and Asia that can grow to be over four feet tall.

"I've never seen anything like it. It's a really magnificent bird," Azure said Sunday after the sighting. "At first I thought the zoo had lost a bird or something!"

What Azure said she spotted, and what many people in Churchill have since ventured out in search of, was a Eurasian crane.
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Attention

Dead whale stranded on Kapiti coast, New Zealand

Karoline Tuckey and Randall Walker
stuff.co.nz
Tue, 09 Jun 2015 14:09 UTC
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© Karolne Tuckey/Fairfax NZA whale is stranded at Waikawa Beach, north of Otaki.
A whale found washed up at Waikawa Beach, north of Otaki on the Kapiti Coast, has died, DOC rangers say.

The whale was found by dog walkers this morning, and reported at about 11am, when it was believed to still be alive.

DOC senior ranger Clint Purches visited the site early on Tuesday to examine the whale and find out if it could be rescued, but found it was dead.

Measured at 7.4 metres and rolling in chest deep waves, the baleen whale could not be fully examined until scientists could get to the flippers and blowhole and take more measurements.

However, its size and white baleen - its filter feeding mechanism - indicated it could be a Minke.
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Attention

Dead minke whale found on Coney Island beach

Laura Bult, Lisa L.Colangelo, Joseph Stepansky
New York Daily News
Tue, 09 Jun 2015 14:01 UTC
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© Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily NewsA dead Minke whale was found on Coney Island beachin Brooklyn on Monday afternoon.
A partly decapitated Minke whale that washed up Monday on the Coney Island beachfront likely died after an unfortunate encounter with a ship's propeller, officials said.

The approximately 18-foot-long leviathan was found on the beach near the Boardwalk at Ocean Parkway around 2p.m., authorities said.

Kim Durham of the Riverhead Foundation, a group that studies and rescues marine mammals, performed a necropsy.

The adult female whale's body had been battered by propeller strikes.
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Attention

Bear attacks teenager in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park


knoxnews.com
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 16:08 UTC
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Black bear
Officials with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park have closed several trails and backcountry campsites in the Hazel Creek section of the park because of a bear attack Saturday night.

According to the park, a 16-year-old Athens, Ohio, boy was pulled from his hammock at about 10:30 p.m. by a bear and injured at backcountry campsite 84, which is 4.5 miles from the Fontana Lake shoreline near Hazel Creek in North Carolina. The father was able to drive the bear off from the area, officials said.

Immediately following the incident, the boy and his father hiked to the lakeshore where they were transported across the lake to Cable Cove boat dock by campers at backcountry campsite 86 who had a boat. Graham County Rescue EMS transported them to a landing zone where the injured party was flown by Mountain Area Medical Airlift to Mission Hospital in Asheville at approximately 3 a.m. Sunday.
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Fish

Massive fish kill at Stanley, Hong Kong


ejinsight.com
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 15:56 UTC
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© Google Map, Apple DailyThousands of fish stuggle in the water off Stanley. Many washed ashore dead or dying (inset).
Tens of thousands of dead white fish have washed ashore in Hong Kong's Stanley district but authorities don't know what killed them.

The massive fish kill covered a big swath of St. Stephen's Bay in a silvery hue, Apple Daily reported Monday.

Most were sardines, thousands of which were spotted struggling in the water.

A man, surnamed Chui, described the scene as "breathtaking", with the water covered in a film of silver from dead or dying fish for about 30 minutes on Sunday.

He said he tried to push some of the fish back out to the water but there were just too many of them.

Most had died, he said.
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Attention

Humpback whale dies off Scotland's north-east coast

Chris Foote
news.stv.tv
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 15:46 UTC
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© STVHumpback: Whale died after becoming tangled in rope.
A humpback whale has died after becoming tangled in rope off Scotland's north-east coast.

A rescue was launched after a fisherman spotted the whale near the village of Helmsdale on Thursday.

A British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) team was scrambled, but choppy seas and stormy weather hampered the search.

The whale is believed to have drowned on Saturday and its body was recovered by the BDMLR on Sunday.

A BDMLR spokeswoman said: "The body was retrieved yesterday and it was confirmed dead on Saturday.

"It was brought back and pathologists from the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) will perform a post-mortem.

"It was entangled in rope which could have made the whale weak and unable to feed and drown."
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Attention

Wild elephant kills 4 more people in Bhagalpur, India

Kumar Rajesh
The Times of India
Sun, 07 Jun 2015 12:06 UTC
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Wild (bloody livid?) elephant
Four more persons, including two women, a man and a teenager, were trampled and killed by a wild elephant running amok on Saturday morning at Sabour-Goradih area in Bhagalpur district. The elephant killed two persons on Thursday. A few others were also injured while running away from the tusker.

The four deceased were identified as 70-year old Makri Devi (Rajpur village), 15-year-old Mohd Ehshan (Banshi Tekar village), 80-year-old Parsadi Tanti (Jhurkhuria village) and 75-year-old Shrista Devi (Fatehpur village). The place where the incidents occurred on Saturday is 5-8km away from Bhagalpur city.

Several houses were also destroyed in fresh attack on the houses of villagers despite the forest department officials and employees sweating out to either capture or facilitate the escape of the tusker towards adjoining Godda district in Jharkhand via Sanhaula block in Bhagalpur district.

Comment: See also: Wild elephant kills two in Bhagalpur, India

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Attention

Wild elephant kills two in Bhagalpur, India

Kumar Rajesh
The Times of India
Sat, 06 Jun 2015 18:57 UTC
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Wild elephant
In two separate incidents, two persons were trampled to death by a wild elephant. The deceased includes a 65-year-old woman and a 60 year old man. Crops in the agriculture field besides thatched houses of some of the villagers were also damaged by the wild elephant.

The incidents occurred at remote Dayalpur and Taufir villages under Kahalgaon sub-division in Bhagalpur district late Thursday evening. According to local sources, the wild elephant strayed into Dayalpur village under Antichak police station under Kahalgaon sub-division on Thursday evening. The villagers, on sudden appearance of wild elephant into their village, started raising an alarm. Out of panic, they started hooting to scare away the wild elephant.

Sources said someone from the crowd also fired some shots in the air to scare the elephant away. It all resulted in angering the wild elephant making it ran berserk through the village areas.
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Attention

Pit bull terrier viciously attacks four year old in Lithia, Florida

Cameron Polom
abcactionnews.com
Sat, 06 Jun 2015 18:05 UTC
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4 year old Hunter Edwards
A four year old Lithia boy is facing a long road to recovery after being viciously attacked by a pit bull.

It happened earlier this week at the boys home.

"He was down on his stomach and his legs were curled up in a ball and the dog was on the back of his head," said Andrew Edwards, Hunters Father.

A Horrifying site for any parent, on Tuesday 4 year old Hunter Edwards was rushed to the hospital bleeding from the head.

"He never really got me that good, I was just trying to fight him off," said Edwards, pointing to his bandaged arm.

Disabled Army veteran Andrew Edwards says on that day his son hunter followed him to the back yard. Edwards was looking for a tool in his shed and hunter decided to pay the family dog Abe a visit. Thats when the dog got a little excited and jumped on the little boy.
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Wolf

Woman forced to kill her own pit bull terrier during attack in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Samantha Morgan
kplctv.com
Fri, 05 Jun 2015 17:13 UTC
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Pit bull terier
A 48-year-old woman was forced to kill her own dog after it attacked her as it was fighting with another dog.

According to the East Baton Rouge Animal Shelter, the incident happened Thursday at a home located on Confederate Avenue, which is located near Tiger Bend. It happened shortly before 5 p.m.

"The woman owned two pit bulls," said Hilton Cole, Director for the EBR Shelter. "The two dogs began fighting each other and she had to defend herself from her own dog when she tried to break up the fight."

Cole says the woman stabbed the dog after it latched on to her left arm. The woman was transported to the hospital by EMS for treatment of her injury."

"It was self-defense," Cole said. "Unfortunately, we see cases like this where a dog just explodes and loses control of its self and attacks its owner.

"We always emphasis that dogs are predators and even though they've been domesticated, you have to be careful around them," Cole added, "especially the bigger, stronger breeds."

The dog that attacked the woman was dead when officers arrived. The second dog was seized by the shelter with the permission of the owner.

Both dogs were males.
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