Animals
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Wolf

Young girl killed by dog in Miami-Dade, Florida

Willard Shepard
nbcmiami.com
Tue, 22 Dec 2015 17:18 UTC
BULL DOG CROSS
Attacker: Animal Services described the dog as a male American Bulldog mix that weighs 95 pounds and is 5-years-old. The dog remains with Animal Services while an investigation is pending
A South Florida family is coping with a terrible tragedy after a young girl was the victim of a dog attack just days before her second birthday.

Nyjah Espinosa, who would have celebrated her birthday on Christmas, was visiting at her father's Miami-Dade home when his dog attacked her on Sunday.

Espinosa's family was too distraught to speak with NBC 6 Tuesday afternoon.

NBC 6 exclusively obtained a photo of the dog authorities indicated was involved in the attack. Animal Services described the dog as a male American Bulldog mix that is 5 years old and weighs 95 pounds.

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Fish

Thousands of dead fish continue to wash up on Florida beaches

Jim Waymer
USA Today
Mon, 21 Dec 2015 13:46 UTC
Dead fish
© Chuck CokerDead fish
Thousands of dead herring provided an odious distraction Monday from otherwise hospitable beach conditions, dotting the shoreline from south of Patrick Air Force Base through Melbourne Beach.

They appear to be the same species of fish — thread herring — found washed up along other beaches along the Space Coast last week. Countless thread herring washed up dead Thursday along beaches in Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach.

"There was nothing out here yesterday," said Ron Van Kempen, a seasonal resident from Minnesota, fishing just south of Patrick AFB Monday. He cast his fishing line among floating herring corpses, which also speckled the beach where he stood.

The cause of the fish kill remains unknown.


Comment: See also: Thousands of dead fish found on Brevard County beaches, Florida

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Attention

Beached whale dies following stranding along Galveston Isle, Texas

Dale Lezon and Harvey Rice
Houston Chronicle
Tue, 22 Dec 2015 19:27 UTC
Stranded whale
© J. Patric SchneiderA whale kicks its tail after it got stranded in the shallow water near West Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015, in Galveston.
A whale died early Tuesday afternoon after drifting in and floundering helplessly in the surf on West Galveston Island as dozens of onlookers watched.

The whale died at about 12:30 p.m., according to a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, about five hours after it was spotted. Volunteers had been planning to euthanize the ailing marine mammal once the tide moved it closer to shore.

Officials plan to observe the whale overnight before performing a necropsy on Wednesday.

The whale likely drifted onto the beach in front of the Terramar Beach subdivision because it was ill, said Heidi Whitehead, operations coordinator for the nonprofit Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

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Attention

Sailor attacked by shark as he clung to the side of rescue buoy in Caribbean Sea

Corey Charlton
Daily Mail, UK
Mon, 21 Dec 2015 19:34 UTC
Shark attacks
A sailor whose boat capsized has been mauled to death by a shark just moments before a rescuer hanging from a helicopter overhead was able to pull him from the water.

The man was found clinging to a buoy near Aruba, an island off the coast of Venezuela, when the shark attacked him.

He was one of seven Venezuelan men on board the boat that capsized, two of whom died when they sank with the vessel.

Roderick Gouverneur, a spokesman for the Dutch Carribean Coast Guard, said the attack victim died while being transported to hospital.
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Attention

Boy Scout leader attacked by black bear at Split Rock Reservoir, New Jersey

Zoe Szathmary
Daily Mail, UK
Mon, 21 Dec 2015 17:20 UTC
emergency personnel
A bear dragged 50-year-old Christopher Petronino (pictured on the stretcher) into a cave at Splitrock Reservoir on Sunday afternoon. Above emergency personnel place him into an ambulance
A 50-year-old Boy Scout leader used a rock hammer to fight a bear off during an encounter with the animal in northern New Jersey.

On Sunday afternoon, the bear grabbed Christopher Petronino's foot and dragged him into a cave at Splitrock Reservoir on Sunday afternoon, NJ.com reported.

Authorities have said the Scout leader was hurt - but the three Scouts with him were unharmed.

State wildlife officials think the bear was guarding its hibernation spot.

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Black Cat

African lions to join the endangered species list

Sarah Griffiths
Daily Mail, UK
Mon, 21 Dec 2015 17:03 UTC
Lion
The order states the Fish and Wildlife Service will deny a permit to import a sport-hunted lion to anyone who has been convicted or pleaded guilty to violating federal or state wildlife laws
African lions are to be placed under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, just five months after a famous lion named Cecil was killed in Zimbabwe by an American dentist.

It is hoped the move will better regulate hunting and make it trickier for hunters to bring lion trophies into the US.

Lions in central and west Africa will be listed as endangered, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, while a second subspecies found across southern and eastern Africa will be listed as threatened.

Both changes will make it harder for hunters to import lion parts.

In particular, importing skins and trophies from countries where the animals are endangered will be 'generally prohibited,' the agency told The New York Times.

The order states the Fish and Wildlife Service will deny a permit to import a sport-hunted lion to anyone who has been convicted or pleaded guilty to violating federal or state wildlife laws.
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Attention

120 cold-stunned sea turtles found stranded on Cape Cod beaches

Reenat Sinay
The Boston Globe
Mon, 21 Dec 2015 16:41 UTC
Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys kempii)
Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys kempii)
Massachusetts Audubon Society volunteers recovered about 120 "cold-stunned" sea turtles during the weekend after strong winds caused them to wash up on the shores of Cape Cod Bay.

The majority of the reptiles found on the beaches of Wellfleet, Truro, Eastham, and Brewster were Kemp's ridley sea turtles, a critically endangered species and the rarest type of sea turtle.

It was an unusually large late-season stranding for the turtles, who most often get stuck on Cape Cod shores around Thanksgiving as they try to make their way south to warmer waters for the winter.

Young sea turtles often feed in Cape Cod Bay during the summer but can get trapped in the "hook" of the Cape and become hypothermic as temperatures drop, according to Mass Audubon.
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Eye 2

Second rare yellow bellied sea snake washes up on California beach in 2 months

Regina F. Graham and Evan Bleier
Daily Mail, UK
Sun, 20 Dec 2015 11:40 UTC
male yellow bellied sea snake
Deadly: A dead 27-inch-long male yellow bellied sea snake (above) was discovered last week during a coastal cleanup campaign by the Surfrider Foundation
For the second time in two months, a rare deadly sea snake has washed ashore at one of southern California's most popular beaches.

A dead 27-inch-long male yellow bellied sea snake was discovered last week during a coastal cleanup campaign by volunteers for the Surfrider Foundation in Huntington Beach, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In October, a two-foot-long yellow bellied sea snake was discovered slithering onto Silver Strand State Beach in Ventura County, but it died shortly after being taken to a US Fish and Wildlife Service office nearby.

The venomous sea serpent, known to scientists as Pelamis platura, was first spotted in 1972 during an El Niño in San Clemente.

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Binoculars

Rare Quetzal bird from Southern Mexico & Central America facing extinction?

Colleen Anne
LatinOne
Sun, 20 Dec 2015 19:25 UTC
Quetzal
© Donna J. ProvancherQuetzal
The rare quetzal bird, long seen as the national bird of Guatemala, is now on the verge of extinction. Reports say that the beautiful bird's numbers are dwindling at an alarming rate. There are a range of threats that pose a danger to the rare bird, including poaching and habitat loss.

In a report with Fox News Latino, the endemic bird of southern Mexico and Central America, is now on the verge of extinction due to habitat loss and poaching.

Sofia Solorzano Lujano, researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said that the resplendent quetzal faces a range of existential threats, such as illegal trafficking and habitat loss and forest destruction.

The researcher from the institution also said that the birds have fallen prey to predators such as the green toucan, squirrels, as well as other nocturnal mammals. These predators normally attack quetzal eggs or young chicks. The researcher also added that bigger prey, like falcons and eagles, prey on the adult quetzals.

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Attention

Dead whale found off Maldives atoll

Ahmed Adhshan and Ali Naafiz
Haveeru Online
Sat, 19 Dec 2015 15:38 UTC
dead whale Maldives
The dead whale that had drifted off to the surf break of Meedhoo late Friday evening.

Residents of Meedhoo in the southernmost atoll of Addu are working on salvaging a dead whale that had drifted in Saturday morning.

Ali Mohamed, a member of the council in Hulhu-Meedhoo ward of the city, told Haveeru that residents had come to notice the dead whale at around 7.30am. It measures about 50 feet in length, he added.

The councillor stressed that soldiers, policemen and employees of the port in the city are helping the residents salvage the dead whale.

"If they don't succeed in doing so, we'll have to bring the body ashore and dump it," he said.

A resident from Meedhoo said the head of the whale is mostly visible from the surface. Rest of its body is believed to have been decomposed, he added.

According to the resident, the dead whale had drifted in to the surf break of Meedhoo late Friday evening.
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