Animals
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Wolf

Jackals attack 5 people in India


The Tribune (India)
Sun, 11 Jan 2015 17:32 UTC
Image
© Wikimedia Commons, Steve GarvieAn adult male golden jackal.
The increasing number of jackals in Kulangam and a few adjoining villages in frontier Kupwara district has created fear among the residents.

Five persons, including three women, have been injured in attacks by jackals in the past three days. The injured have been identified as Hajra Begum, Abdul Hamid, Fahmeeda, Razia Akther and Bashir Ahmad. They are undergoing treatment at District Hospital, Handwara.

"I had come out of my house to attend the nature's call when a jackal attacked me. Thankfully, I received injuries in my legs and not on any vital organ," said Abdul Hamid, a resident of Kulangam.

Locals said after the sunset, jackals enter residential areas and pose a threat to humans and livestock.

Comment: See also: 8 people attacked by jackal in Iran

Demented jackal attacks devotees inside temple severely injuring 3 in India

Pack of jackals injure 17 villagers in Nepal

Jackal attacks 2 children outside their house in Goa, India

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Wolf

8 people attacked by jackal in Iran


irna.ir
Sun, 28 Dec 2014 17:12 UTC
Image
© Wikimedia Commons, Steve GarvieAn adult male golden jackal.
A wild jackal attached eight people mostly children in the city of Bajestan, Khorasan Razavi, on Sunday.

The hungry jackal attack eight people in the city most of them children and injured them, the police said.

They received outpatient medical treatment, but, five of them stayed at the hospital.

Commander of Police in Bajestan Colonel Mohammad Ali Sadeqian said police arrived at the scene immediately and took the injured people to nearby hospital.

Every year, in the winter season wild animals come to residential areas in foray into food.
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Binoculars

White-rumped sandpiper from Arctic North America ends up in Australia

Jessica Long
South Coast Register
Sun, 11 Jan 2015 15:28 UTC
Image
© Narelle WrighThe white-rumped sandpiper has been spotted at Lake Wollumboola, which is a rarity as the bird’s usual migration pattern takes it to the shores of South America.
A rare sighting has twitchers flocking from around Australia to Lake Wollumboola.

The last time a white-rumped sandpiper (calidris fuscicollis) was spotted in NSW was in November 1977 near Pitt Town.

Ornithologist Joy Pegler said the bird has been caught up in the wrong migratory fly way ending up on the Australian coastline from Alaska.

"All the twitchers are rushing to see it," she said.

"It's only a little thing and it has flown such a long way. It's really very amazing.

"The bird is very rarely seen in Australia at all, so this has a lot of enthusiasts very excited."

Comment: Other similar recent reports of birds completely losing their way across the Northern Hemisphere: Rare goose from northern Asia turns up in Suffolk, UK

Rare Eurasian kestrel appears in Nova Scotia, Canada

Another completely lost avian species: Couch's Kingbird flies from southern Texas to New York

Warbler that should be wintering in western Mexico turns up in Louisiana

Bean goose from Eurasia takes a wrong turn and winds up on the Oregon Coast

Four lost flamingos fly NORTH for the winter and turn up in Siberia

Wrong place, wrong time: European robin turns up thousands of miles away in China

Rare bird from Mongolia turns up in Wakefield, UK

Wrong time, wrong place: Rare bird found in Barrie, Canada

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Attention

Elephant gores vet to death in India


mathrubhumi.com
Mon, 12 Jan 2015 17:04 UTC
Image
A veterinarian was today killed by a tusker while he was attempting to tackle the pachyderm after it ran amok at Vaypur in Pathanamthitta district, police said.

The victim identified as Dr Gopakumar (52) was a veterinarian and a member of the Elephant Squad which is specialised in containing elephants that turn violent, police said.

The tusker kicked the vet and then gored him while he was trying to administer a tranquilizer shot in its rear. The elephant created panic in the area by running amok for several hours.

Police and local people rushed the doctor to a hospital in Tiruvalla but he died soon after reaching there, police said, adding, the elephant was later brought under control.

The animal had started showing signs of uneasiness in the morning and later managed to slip free from its chains and ran amok. The elephant squad at nearby Konni was alerted as efforts of the mahout with local people failed to contain it.

Source: Press Trust of India
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Attention

Elephant runs amok in Thailand, attacks cars and shops


rte.ie
Mon, 12 Jan 2015 16:22 UTC
Image
The elephant put its front feet on the car, causing a dent on the car hood and fractures on the windscreen
A shop and restaurant at Khao Yai National Park in Thailand were damaged in an elephant attack today; two days after another elephant rammed a car.

A wild elephant stomped the grocery shop and shattered window glasses with its trunk, park officials say.

Image
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Attention

Fin whale found dead on beach in Cornwall, UK

Rose Troup Buchanan
The Independent, UK
Mon, 12 Jan 2015 15:35 UTC
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Surfer and dog walker stumbled across what is believed to be a Fin Whale on Saturday
A local walker was left stunned after he discovered the carcass of a huge 60ft whale washed up on a beach in Cornwall.

Beach cleaner and surfer Ado Shorland stumbled across the massive mammal on Wanson Beach near Bude on Saturday.

Marine biologists are now examining the carcass, which is believed to be an endangered fin whale - although the state of decay means that this has not yet been confirmed.

"I found it yesterday morning. It measures around 20m and the lower jaw has been detached and alone it is about 5m. It is a very large whale," he told the Western Morning News.
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Bacon

Wild boar population soars in Britain, causing motorway collisions

Ollie Gillman
Daily Mail
Sun, 11 Jan 2015 23:00 UTC
wild boar
Ministers are considering bringing out a 'beware of boar' road sign to warn drivers of the animals straying on to the road
Ministers are considering bringing out a 'beware of boar' road sign following a fatal motorway collision involving one of the wild animals last week.

The new sign could be erected along stretches of roads near 'infested' areas, along with barriers to keep out the 20 stone animals.

The plans, to be discussed by transport officials, follow the death of Raymond Green, who died when his car collided with a boar that had strayed onto the M4 in Wiltshire.

The animal was then struck by an articulated lorry and led to the busy stretch of motorway closing for eight hours.

Boars have caused crashes in the past, with France and Germany already using signs to warn drivers of the animals.

Comment: Not only are they are menace on the highways, but have recently been on the attack around the globe:

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Attention

Camel tramples 2 people to death at Texas farm


wtvr.com
Sun, 11 Jan 2015 19:06 UTC
Image
A camel trampled two people to death over the weekend at a farm in Texas, authorities said.

Peggye McNair, 72, the owner of the farm and a well-known camel breeder, was one of the victims of the attack Saturday, police told CNN affiliate KFDX.

The incident at Camel Kisses Farm in Wichita Falls happened after Mark Mere, 53, got into a pen with three camels - one male and two females.

Mere apparently went into the holding pen because the animals' water trough had frozen over.

The male camel was in rut and became very aggressive, Wichita County Sheriff David Duke said. Rut is a male animal's peak period of fertility and sexual excitement.


Comment: See also: Camel escapes from cage and kills owner of wildlife sanctuary

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Attention

Manatees moving out of Florida waters west along Gulf coast

Janet McConnaughey
news.yahoo.com
Sun, 11 Jan 2015 18:20 UTC
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© AP/ Wilfredo LeeIn this May 15, 2014 photo. a manatee sticks its head out of the water at Miami Seaquarium in Miami. As manatees recover in Florida, their U.S. home base, more and more seem to be showing up farther west along the Gulf of Mexico.
As manatees recover in Florida, their U.S. home base, more and more seem to be showing up farther west along the Gulf of Mexico.

A total of seven stranded manatees had been reported along the Alabama coast before 2007, when a network to report strandings and sightings was created. Since then, "we've responded to dozens" of strandings, said Ruth Carmichael, head of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab's Manatee Sighting Network for Alabama and Mississippi.

"I think things are changing, in the manatee population and in the environment," she said Tuesday. She said scientists know there are more of the big, gentle marine mammals than there used to be. "But habitat is stable or declining. Animals are being forced to do something. The natural thing would be to spread out."

In hope of gathering enough data to learn whether her impression is accurate, she's now working with people in Louisiana and Texas to expand the network - "as far as I know, the only manatee sighting network in the country" - to those states.

Comment: See also: Manatee from Florida makes rare visit to Texas waters

Second manatee found dead in a month, South Mississippi

Florida: Number of annual manatee deaths top 800 for first time on record

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Arrow Down

Banned in 160 nations, why is this growth hormone in U.S. meat?

Barbara Minton
Natural Society
Sun, 11 Jan 2015 17:23 UTC
Pork
© Natural Society
The fabulous taste of bacon is more popular than ever. But if you are eating conventionally-produced bacon or other pork products, chances are great that you are consuming ractopamine, a livestock growth altering drug so dangerous that 160 countries around the world have banned its use.

Not the U.S. though, where this chemical additive has been given the green light by the FDA, in spite of the fact that it endangers livestock and farm workers as well as consumers.

Although the EU and Asia have banned ractopamine, estimates are that 80% of hogs produced in the U.S. and a lesser number of beef cattle are treated with the drug. In fact since 2013, Smithfield Foods a former U.S. company and the world's largest producer of pork products, is now working for China and Russia producing ractopamine-free pork.

Of course some of Smithfield's remaining U.S. plants still spit out ractopamine-laced products for American consumption. Smithfield refers to these as delivering "differentiated products to meet customer specifications."
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