Animals
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Attention

Endangered saiga antelope death toll nears 20,000 in Kazakhstan


rferl.org
Wed, 20 May 2015 14:00 UTC
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The total saiga population was thought to have fallen as low as around 21,000 in 2003, when the species was declared critically endangered.
The death toll in a sudden die-off of critically endangered saiga antelope is nearing 20,000, according to authorities in northern Kazakhstan who are still unsure of the cause.

The Kazakh Department for Emergency Situations said that 19,231 carcasses had been buried in the Qostanai region by late on May 19.

Officials in the adjoining Aqtobe region also reported on May 20 that they had found 68 dead saigas in the Irgiz-Torghai natural reserve.

The cause of death is unclear, but authorities suspect the culprit is a bacterial infection carried in the mouth and breathing passage known as pasteurellosis.
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Attention

Rarely-seen Cuvier's beaked whale washes up near Ahousaht, Canada

Lisa Johnson
cbc.ca
Tue, 19 May 2015 18:45 UTC
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© Marcie CallewaertA rare beaked whale has washed up on the beach in Ahousaht, B.C., on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
The decomposing whale was spotted by a hiker on the Wild Side trail, who thought it might have been a killer whale.

Marcie Callewaert, a photographer and Grade 6 teacher who reported the whale to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, took a boat to get a closer look and was relieved the hiker was wrong.

"I was really concerned considering all the recent strandings and the status of our orca population around here. So I was really happy it wasn't an orca," said Callewaert.

No officials have visited the remote location, but Callewaert said it appears to be a Cuvier's beaked whale.

"It's just so exciting to see one in person, although it's tragic that it's dead ... just the opportunity to see it in person, I know I won't get that chance again," she said.
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Attention

3rd dead whale found in San Francisco Bay area in just over a month


news.yahoo.com
Wed, 20 May 2015 18:04 UTC
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© KGO-TVA whale washed up on shore near Kelly Beach in Half Moon Bay, Calif. on Tuesday, May 19, 2015.
A dead whale was found on a beach south of San Francisco on Tuesday, the same day two other dead whales that washed up weeks apart were being buried nearby after neighbors complained of their rotting smell.

The cetacean appears to be an adult gray whale, about 40 feet long, California Academy of Sciences spokeswoman Haley Bowling said.

The whale could be the same one spotted floating offshore within the last two days, Bowling said.

Scientists from the academy were en route to the scene, but the whale could easily be carried out by the tide before researchers get a chance to examine it, she said.

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Smiley

Busy canal towpaths now have duck lanes to protect birds using them


Daily Mirror, UK
Wed, 20 May 2015 17:42 UTC
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© GettyOne duck overtakes three others
Don't deny right of way to these mallards or they might end up calling the old bill.

The Canal and Rivers Trust has put temporary duck lanes on busy towpaths in London, Birmingham and Manchester to remind people to respect other users - including the wildlife.

It comes after the organisation warned people against feeding birds and ducks bread .

People were urged to feed our feathered friends "healthier snacks", such as oats, corn or defrosted frozen peas.
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Binoculars

Eurasian tree sparrow turns up in Regina, Canada

Amanda Marcotte
cbc.ca
Tue, 19 May 2015 13:57 UTC
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© Nick SelingerThis Eurasian Tree Sparrow is far from home, spotted in Regina this May. The bird is rarely seen in cooler climates.
Nick Selinger thought it was a day like any other when he went to check on the sparrows at his bird feeder.

But when the 12-year-old took a closer look, one of the sparrows didn't look like the others.

"I saw one of the birds had a black spot on its cheek," Selinger told CBC Saskatchewan's Blue Sky.

He was quite sure it was a Eurasian Tree Sparrow. His birding book confirmed that. Selinger's sighting is the first official sighting ever recorded in the province. The bird has been spotted only a handful of times in Canada.

"[I was] excited. When I went to bed that night, I thought did that bird really come here?"

But it turned out it wasn't just his imagination. The bird has been visiting his bird feeder every day since.
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Wolf

Dog attacks across South Wales almost doubles in a year

Philip Dewey
Western Mail
Mon, 18 May 2015 17:38 UTC
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The number of dog attacks in South Wales have risen by almost 50% in the last year
The number of dog attacks reported in South Wales has almost doubled over the last year, according to police figures.

Statistics released by South Wales Police showed 39 dogs were seized in 2014-15 after allegedly being responsible for an attack injuring at least one person.

This is compared to 20 dogs confiscated for an aggravated offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act in 2013-14 and 10 dogs seized in 2012-13.

An aggravated offence is defined as an attack causing an injury to one or more person.
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Wolf

10-month-old baby attacked by family dog in Hidalgo County, Texas


krgv.com
Mon, 18 May 2015 17:12 UTC
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A border collie
A 10-month-old baby is in the hospital after being attacked by a family dog, according to Linn-San Manuel Volunteer Fire Department Chief Elia Vicencio.

The Hidalgo County Sheriff's Department is investigating the case to determine what happened and if it could have been prevented.

The incident happened before noon, at the family trailer home at Valley Gateway RV Park. The park is 17 miles north of Edinburg.

Authorities said the dog was a border collie; the dog is one of three the family owns.

Vicencio was among those who responded to the incident. She told CHANNEL 5 NEWS, the mother and child met up with an ambulance from Valley EMS on Expressway 281. "They were actually already on the highway heading to the hospital when, I guess, the EMS people took the baby," she said.

The baby was taken to Doctor's Hospital at Renaissance.
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Attention

Dead pgymy sperm whale found near Melbourne Beach, Florida

Jim Waymer
Florida Today
Tue, 19 May 2015 13:16 UTC
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© Tim Shortt/Florida TodayA pgymy sperm whale beached Monday morning at Spessard Holland Park.
Biologists suspect severe heart disease, coupled with 10 feet of rope and piece of a plastic bag in its stomach, caused a 10-foot pygmy sperm whale to beach itself Monday at Spessard Holland Park.

"It's really, really sick," Megan Stolen, a research scientist with the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, said shortly before the whale was euthanized. "It's very, very skinny."

The whale showed signs of severe heart disease, Stolen said.

But biologists plan to examine the whale's remains to test for the so-called morbillivirus. They'll test whether that measles-like virus, which killed more than 1,600 dolphins since July 2013, also contributed to the pygmy sperm whale's death.

The virus has been killing bottlenose dolphins along the Atlantic Coast for more than two years in the worst outbreak of the virus in almost three decades.

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Bug

Millions of tiny spiders fall from the sky in Australia


Independent.ie
Fri, 15 May 2015 09:48 UTC
spider rain australia
Paddocks in Albury show the extent of the 'spider rain'.
Millions of tiny spiders recently fell from the sky in Australia, alarming residents of a small town who suddenly found themselves covered in the creepy critters.

Such a scene might seem the stuff of nightmares, however, there is a perfectly natural explanation to strange phenomenon.

This month's eight-legged downpour in the country's Southern Tablelands region is just the most recent example of an event commonly known as 'spider rain'.

The phenomenon, dubbed 'angel hair' by some, sees spiders climb to the top of plants and trees and leap off, using a streamer of silk to catch the breeze and carry themselves into the air.

The event can sometimes lead to entire fields and towns covered in a thin blanket of the silk.

Scientists believe the technique - known as ballooning - is what has allowed arachnids to colonise virtually every continent on Earth.

Comment: The phenomenon has also been reported in Brazil and Argentina:

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Attention

Herd of elephants trample man to death in Bengal, India


indileak.com
Mon, 11 May 2015 13:34 UTC
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Soren was gored to death by the elephants
With shrinking forests owing to increasing human pressure, the man-animal conflict is on the rise. The latest in this regards is the killing of a man by a wild elephant in the forests of Bankura district of West Bengal on Monday.

This unfortunate incident occurred in Gokul Mathura village under Barjora Forest Range in the district when a herd of elephants gored a man to death in Bankura district, said a forest official.

He said that an old man whose name was Biswanath Soren and was around 65 years old, was sleeping under bamboo thickets on the edge of forest when a herd of at least a dozen elephants while passing through the area attacked him.
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