Animals
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Bacon

Bird of prey seen tucking into donner kebab in Manchester city centre

Pete Bainbridge
Manchester Evening News
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 10:33 UTC
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The bird of prey was pictured by a GMP officer
A bird of prey has been spotted eating a donner kebab in Manchester city centre.

The hungry hawk-like animal was photographed on a brick ledge in the Gay Village tucking into a sliver of grilled lamb on Friday lunchtime.

GMP City Centre tweeted an image of the bird and added: "An eagle-eyed cop saw a bird of prey in the Village. Bird was enjoying a lunch of donner meat. Yum!"
An eagle-eyed cop saw a bird of prey in the Village. Bird was enjoying a lunch of donner meat. Yum! pic.twitter.com/AlLALTK9SJ
— GMP City Centre (@GMPCityCentre) March 13, 2015
If you saw the bird and have more photographs, contact us on 0161 2112323 or email website@men-news.co.uk.

It comes in the same week a kestrel was spotted eating a pie at Shudehill bus station.

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Kestrel eating a pie
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Arrow Down

200 reindeer killed by avalanche in Trollheimen, Norway

Jan Arve Ødegård
www.tk.no
Fri, 13 Feb 2015 20:03 UTC
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Reindeer killed by avalanche
An animal tragedy in the Oppdals part of Trollheimen, specifically in the area south of Storhornet, was discovered Wednesday afternoon.

Two local residents, Day Jørund Vik and John Bjorndal, wanted to see the extent of the landslide and took a trip inland to the area the same day.

We had heard about it being exceptional and wondered how big it was. We discovered that the animals had been taken and notified the reindeer owner, says Vik Adresseavisen.

The animal tragedy was also featured by a number of other media including local newspapers Opdalingen, Up and NRK Sor-Trondelag.
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Wolf

Wolves attack dogs in Pacific Rim Park, Canada


cbc.ca
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 19:24 UTC
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Parks Canada is warning people to keep their dogs on a leash while walking in Pacific Rim National Park near Ucluelet, B.C. because of attacks by wolves.
Two dogs are injured and another is missing after a series of wolf attacks near Ucluelet, B.C.

On Tuesday morning, a pair of wolves attacked two dogs being walked off leash on Wickaninnish Beach. While the larger dog escaped, the smaller one — a Jack Russell Terrier — was taken by the pair.

Todd Windle, a human-wildlife conflict expert with Parks Canada, says the dogs' owner was only 200 metres away when the attack happened.

"She saw both wolves come up and they started attacking her larger dog first," says Windle.

The second, smaller dog then came in to defend the larger one. The wolves left the bigger one alone and made off with the smaller one instead.
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Snowflake Cold

Winter has been tough on waterfowl across America

Chris Bosak
The Hour
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 17:24 UTC
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© Chris BosakA male Hooded Merganser swims in a half-frozen Mill Pond in Norwalk.
What would you do if your refrigerator and kitchen cupboards were locked and you didn't have a key? The grocery stores were all boarded up, and it's the dead of winter so your garden has long stopped being productive. Oh, and you can't drive anywhere because of a natural instinct telling you to stay put.

That is what the last six weeks have been like for many birds, especially waterfowl. And it's been a deadly scenario.

I heard the other day that upwards of 70 ducks and geese were found dead at the Norwalk Wastewater Treatment Plant, most likely because of malnutrition. I also received a call from a Westport resident who had five dead Canada geese in her yard one morning. The number swelled to eight as the week went on. Mute Swans have been stranded on frozen water, too, although some of those birds have been saved.

"It's been the most severe winter we've had in 30 years," said Min Huang, a waterfowl specialist with Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). "We've seen a lot of mortality over the last three weeks up and down the coast, mostly geese and puddle ducks."
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Attention

1,450 sea lions have washed up on California beaches this year

Jack Healy
New York Times
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 15:40 UTC
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© SeaWorldSea lion pups brought to SeaWorld.
By the time Wendy Leeds reached him, the sea lion pup had little hope of surviving.

Like more than 1,450 other sea lions that have washed up on California beaches this year, in what animal experts call a growing crisis for the animal, this 8-month-old pup was starving, stranded and hundreds of miles from a mother who still needed to nurse him and teach him to hunt and feed. Ribs jutted from his velveteen coat.

The pup had lain on the beach for hours, becoming the target of an aggressive dog before managing to wriggle onto the deck of a million-dollar oceanfront home, where the owner shielded him with an umbrella and called animal control. In came Ms. Leeds, an animal-care expert at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, which like other California rescue centers is being inundated with calls about lost, emaciated sea lions.

"It's getting crazy," she said.

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Question

19 Green turtles carcasses found on Pulau Tiga, Malaysia

Fatma Wati Munir
New Strait Times
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:20 UTC
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State Wildlife department with rangers from Sabah Parks, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and Marine police found 19 dead turtles on Pulau Tiga, within the proposed Tun Mustapha Marine Park in Kudat.
Mystery surrounds the discovery of 19 dead turtles on an island within the proposed Tun Mustapha Marine Park in Kudat.

Acting on public information, officers from the State Wildlife department together with rangers from Sabah Parks, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and Marine police recovered the carcasses on Pulau Tiga on March 5.

Post mortem will be carried out by the State wildlife department here to determine how the endangered Green turtles ended up dead on the island which is located about three hours by speed boat from Kudat town.
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Wolf

Family dog mauls 2-year-old boy in Kauai, Hawaii


kikiradio.com
Wed, 11 Mar 2015 18:32 UTC
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Pit bull terrier
A two-year-old boy is in serious condition after being attacked by a family dog Tuesday on Kauai.

Officers responded to Wena Street in Puhi at about 11 a.m. on a dangerous dog complaint.

The boy was bitten by a pitbull on the face, neck and back.

He was transported to Wilcox Memorial Hospital in serious condition, then medevaced to Queen's Medical Center on Oahu. Kauai Humane Society Executive Director Penny Cistaro confirmed the dog was euthanized.
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Attention

Woman dies and 2 injured after whale crashes into tourist boat off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Jo Tuckman
The Guardian
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 17:31 UTC
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© Wikimedia Commons.Grey whale
A Canadian woman died from injuries sustained when a grey whale crashed into a tourist boat as it returned from a short excursion out of the resort city of Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.

Two other passengers were injured in the accident, which took place close to the beach around 11am on Wednesday, according to a statement released by tour company Cabo Adventures.

"The captain had to make a movement to avoid a whale that surfaced just in front of the boat," the statement said. "The whale hit one side of the boat, leaving two people injured and another passenger hurt who, unfortunately, later died in hospital."

Port director Vicente Martínez said the woman was 45 years old. Some reports said she was 10 years younger. The collision happened on the Pacific coast side of the Baja California Peninsula. One reported version said the whale jumped out of the water and landed on the boat filled with 24 people, including the crew.
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Wolf

Woman severely injured by her pit bull terrier in Placentia, California

Louis Casiano
Orange County Register
Tue, 10 Mar 2015 19:56 UTC
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Pit bull terrier
A Placentia woman was injured Monday afternoon, when one of her two pit bulls attacked and dragged her around her home, police said.

The Placentia Police Department, Orange County Fire Authority and OC Animal Care got a call at 1:30 p.m. to a home at the 700 block of East Yorba Linda Boulevard, where they found the woman with bite marks on her face, head, arms and hands, OCFA Capt. Steve Concialdi said.

The attack happened when the woman, suspected to be in her mid-40s, was bringing her male and a female pit bulls inside from the backyard.

The woman's adult daughter, who was inside the home, ran outside and yelled to two tree trimmers for help.
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Question

Strange animal behaviour? Weasel attacks heron in Kent, UK

Oliver Wheaton
Metro (UK)
Mon, 09 Mar 2015 13:34 UTC
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© SWNS/Jonathan Forgham'Excuse me sir, please let go of my beak’
Warning: This article contains content animals lovers may find upsetting

The world went crazy for a weasel riding a woodpecker last week, but it seems not all weasel/bird relationships are as harmonious as that one.

One weasel received a much colder reception when he tried to jump on and attack the beak of a heron, which ended up eating the furry little rodent for dinner.

First the understandably annoyed heron grabbed the angry weasel in it's beak before dunking him in the water several times, drowning him.

After making sure his nemesis was dead the bird swallowed him in one mouthful.

Bird watcher Jonathan Forgham captured the horrifying moment in the Elmley Mature Reserve in Kent.

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© SWNS/Jonathan Forgham‘OK. Now I’m getting angry.’
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