Animals
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Attention

Dead baby whale found near Maui beach, Hawaii


Star-Advertiser
Wed, 25 Mar 2015 14:00 UTC
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© Maui County ocean safety divisionMaui County Ocean Safety officials are warning beachgoers Tuesday about sharks feeding on a whale carcass off Kite Beach near the Kahului airport in Kanaha.
The carcass of a baby whale near Kanaha Beach Park on Maui was towed offshore, but the waters will remain closed after several large sharks were spotted in the area.

Maui ocean safety officials closed the beach and warned the public about the decomposing whale after a 10-foot-long tiger shark was seen feeding on the carcass Tuesday morning. The 10-foot-long whale had been about 100 yards offshore of Kaa Point, which is also known as Kite Beach near Kahului Airport.

Around noon, state Department of Land and Natural Resources enforcement officers and lifeguards patrolled the shoreline while an aerial survey by helicopter was conducted to look for sharks in the area .

According to county officials, several large sharks could be seen, prompting Ocean Safety officials to keep the waters 1 mile either side of Kaa Point closed until an assessment of the waters by air can be made Wednesday morning.

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Wolf

Woman aged 64 dies after being savaged by dog at home in Cardiff, Wales

Philip Dewey
Daily Mirror
Mon, 23 Mar 2015 22:23 UTC
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Tragic: Tributes have been left at the home where the woman was attacked in Cardiff
Police were called to a house at around 10pm on Friday night - despite efforts to save the woman, she later died from her injuries in hospital

A grandmother has died after being mauled at her home by a bullmastiff-type dog, police have said.

The victim, named locally as mum-of-four Rhona Greve, 64, died in hospital after suffering neck and face ­injuries in the terrifying attack

Police were called to a house in Crossways Road, Ely, shortly after 10pm on Friday to reports a woman had been attacked by a dog.
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Binoculars

50% decline in songbirds across Canada in the last 50 years

Mat Higgs
Peterborough Examiner
Wed, 25 Mar 2015 13:35 UTC
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Songbirds, like this tree swallow, are in serious decline across North America.
It's a sure sign of spring when the chorus of songbirds once again returns to our region. Recent mornings, I've awoken to the sounds of robins chirping, the tune of a white-throated sparrow and the gentle cooing of morning doves. The silence of the winter has broken.

Imagine for moment if that winter silence continued into spring and summer. Unfortunately, it's a scenario that could very well unfold as we've seen sharp declines in the number of songbirds over the past few decades.

Birdsong that has graced the Earth for millions of years, and for all of human history, could soon be stilled in a human-made perfect-storm of negligence and unintended consequences.

A film that was shown on CBC-TV last week, Song Bird SOS, shines light on the ever-growing decline of songbirds, and outlines some of the potential causes. You can view the documentary at cbc.ca.

Directed by Su Rynard, the film is the artfully shot story of the mass depletion of songbirds in the Americas, an alarming thinning of populations that has seen declines of many species since the 1960s. According to international birding expert Dr. Bridget Stutchbury, who is featured in the documentary, we may have lost almost half the songbirds that filled the skies 50 years ago.
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Bizarro Earth

Rainbow lorikeets eating meat leaves bird experts astonished

Matt Watson
ABC News, Australia
Tue, 24 Mar 2015 15:16 UTC
Lorikeets Eating Meat_5
© Matt WatsonTwo rainbow lorikeets tuck into pets mince in a backyard feeder in Elimbah.
The behaviour of a population of rainbow lorikeets who frequent a backyard feeding station on a property north of Brisbane has left bird experts baffled. The lorikeets are eating meat and Griffith University's Professor Darryl Jones is shocked.

Professor Jones, who is researching the impact of backyard feeding on bird populations, said lorikeets usually eat nectar and pollen which they obtain from native plants and shrubs.

"I have researched what birds feed on all around the world," Professor Jones said.

"I'm up to date with all the kinds of crazy things that birds are eating all over Australia.

"To see a lorikeet eating meat astonishes me completely. I have never heard of such a thing before."

For years, Bill, who owns the Elimbah property, has put out pets mince for magpies, currawongs and kookaburras. He also puts out seed for vegetarian birds like galahs, king parrots and the lorikeets.

He feeds about a dozen birds each day and knows they are spoilt for choice when it comes to food. Bill's property is home to native trees and shrubs, and there is untouched forest nearby. He is happy to offer a few scoops of mince and seed to the birds that come in for a free feed.

It was about seven years ago when Bill first noticed the lorikeets eating meat, and they have been eating it ever since.

"At first they went for the seed but then they started chasing the other birds away from the meat, which surprised me," he said.
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Attention

Second mahout to be killed by elephant within 5 days in Kerala, India

Sarath Babu George
The Hindu
Tue, 24 Mar 2015 22:08 UTC
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© Yathin S KrishnappaAsian elephant.
The district authorities have resolved to strictly enforce the prescribed norms for management of captive elephants in the wake of second incident within five days in which a man was killed by an elephant in Karuvatta, near Haripad.

In the latest-such case, a 52-year-old mahout was crushed to death by an elephant, named Chirakkadavu Thiruneelakandan, which was brought from Ponkunnam during a procession that was taken out in connection with a festival at the Thiruvilanjal Devi Temple on Sunday by around 10 p.m. The mahout, Unnikrishnan Nair, who hailed from Padeethathil house in Karuvatta, was knocked down and was trampled by the elephant. The animal could be brought under control only within two hours.

The incident came close on the heels of another in which a 72-year-old ex-serviceman was killed by an elephant. Which ran amok when being readied for the festival at the same temple at Karuvatta. The victim, who was reading a newspaper on his courtyard, was hit by the elephant's trunk and was killed on the spot. The pachyderm was brought under control, but not before it damaged several vehicles and other properties along the busy Karuvatta-Haripad stretch.
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Snowflake Cold

Birds in Rhode Island found dead due to severe winter

Karen Lee Ziner
Providence Journal
Fri, 20 Mar 2015 10:08 UTC
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© Robert Langham Dead Canada goose.
Rhode Island's severe winter has proven deadly for waterfowl — primarily Canada geese — whose carcasses are being found across Rhode Island as the snow and ice start to melt, according to the Department of Environmental Management. Tides have also pushed them in along the shoreline.

The birds have died from malnutrition and starvation, said wildlife biologist Joshua Beuth, with the DEM Division of Fish and Wildlife. The die-off is atypical, attributable to this winter's persistent ice and snow cover; similar die-offs have occurred in Massachusetts and Connecticut, Beuth said.

"I went to several of the sites and took a look at the birds to confirm our belief of malnutrition and starvation," Beuth said. "There's very little muscle tissue; [they're] very emaciated and there are no other signs of trauma that would indicate any other cause of death."
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Wolf

Man stabs his pit pull terrier after it attacks him, wife in Hamden, Connecticut

Vincent Salzo
patch.com
Tue, 24 Mar 2015 09:09 UTC
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A family dog or a fighting breed?
The pit bull turned on the owners when they tried to separate it from a family puppy.

A Hamden resident stabbed his adult male pit bull after the dog attacked him and his wife on Friday afternoon.

Both Ford Street residents were taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Sgt. Anthony Diaz said in a press release.

Diaz said that the pit bull attacked the woman after she tried to separate it from one of the puppies at the home. The pit bull had been biting the puppy, according to Diaz.

The woman's husband then coaxed the dog into a backroom of the residence at which time the pit bull attacked him as well.
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Attention

Rare deep sea beaked whale dies on Guam shore

Manny Cruz
Guam Pacific Daily News
Tue, 24 Mar 2015 08:45 UTC
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© Brent Tibbatts Bile Bay: A rare 15-foot beaked whale died in Bile Bay in Merizo yesterday, March 23. Guam Department of Agriculture authorities are expected to conduct a necropsy today.
A very rare whale washed up on the Merizo reef yesterday.

The 15-foot beaked whale was still alive when it washed up in Bile Bay in Merizo.

Residents reported it to authorities at 10:30 a.m. When authorities arrived an hour later it was dead, said to Brent Tibbatts, Guam Department of Agriculture fisheries biologist.

Tibbatts said Guam Department of Agriculture authorities planned to haul it away yesterday evening at high tide to perform a necropsy at a Guam Department of Agriculture facility.
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Attention

12 pilot whales dead in Bunbury harbour, Australia

Steve Holland
watoday.com.au
Mon, 23 Mar 2015 22:36 UTC
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© Bunbury MailPilot whales stranded in Bunbury harbour
The fight to save members of a whale pod stranded at a beach in WA's south continues after a dozen long-finned pilot whales were confirmed dead.

The pod of whales became stranded along the breakwater wall and adjacent beach in Bunbury harbour early Monday and Department of Parks and Wildlife nature conservation leader Kim Williams said 12 whales had died in the stranding, while six were earlier herded out to sea.
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Cloud Precipitation

Large hailstones kill horses, birds and ravage cotton crops in northern New South Wales, Australia

Emma Brown
abc.net.au
Mon, 23 Mar 2015 22:02 UTC
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A woman holds a huge piece of hail at Narrabri from a super cell storm.
Just weeks before picking, severe storms have wreaked havoc on north-western New South Wales cotton crops.

Large hailstones pounded the Narrabri region and winds close to 100 kilometres an hour ripped at crops and pulled at tiled rooves.

The cotton crop of the Narrabri Community Education Trust farm has suffered extensive damage, but farmer Rob Eveleigh, who helps manage the crop, said other growers around it may have lost everything.

He said the 60 hectares of cotton was being grown as a fundraiser for local schools.

"It's probably in the order of 25 to 30 per cent damage which is a big loss obviously. That's the profits," he said.

"I know not too far away from there there's growers who lost whole crops.

"It's just one of those thing. If you're in farming, you just have to take it on the chin and move on."
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