Animals
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills 50 sheep in Doda, India

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At least 50 sheep were killed while several sustained injuries by a lightning strike in Doda of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

According to Kashmir Media Service, Nitu Singh of Kahal Jagesar, the owner of the livestock, reported that approximately 50 sheep were killed and ten others injured after lightning struck the area.

He has also appealed to the district administration of Doda to send a team from the department concerned to assess the situation and treat the injured animals.

Doberman

Woman killed in dog attack in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

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A Tuscaloosa County woman was killed in a dog attack Thursday night.

According to the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office, deputies received a call of a dog attack around 9:20 p.m. on Highway 69 North close to the Berry community.

The person who called in the attack was a family member of the victim who was checking on her at the request of the victim's husband.

When the caller arrived he found the woman inside the pen and attempted to check on her. However, when he entered the pen the dog also attacked him. The sheriff's office stated the caller was then forced to put the dog down.


Attention

77 whales dead after mass stranding in Orkney, Scotland

Seventy-seven whales were stranded on
© British Divers Marine Life RescueSeventy-seven whales were stranded on Sanday, Orkney.
A pod of 77 pilot whales has died after a mass stranding on a beach in Orkney.

The British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) rushed to Tresness beach on the Isle of Sanday just before 11am on Thursday to reports of a mass stranding of whales.

They found 77 whales, including several males up to 22ft (7m) long, as well as calves and juveniles.

Only 12 survived what is believed to be the largest mass stranding in Scotland since 1975.


Biohazard

'World-first' experimental mRNA herpes vaccine to be trialed on Asian elephants

asian elephant
© Mogens Trolle / Shutterstock.comThe vaccine's development and funding got a helping hand from the company trying to de-extinct mammoths.
A deadly disease for baby Asian elephants is the target for an mRNA vaccine that has been administered to an elephant for the first time. Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) is the number one killer for Asian elephant calves living under managed care in North America and Europe, and is a significant threat for free-ranging populations. It has also been connected to a number of African elephant deaths in the United States.

EEHV is so deadly because it can cause hemorrhagic disease characterized by damaged blood vessels, bleeding, and organ failure. To prevent this, the EEHV mRNA vaccine exposes elephants to the viral proteins that enable the virus to enter the host's cells, effectively preparing them so that they can launch an immune attack should the same viral proteins come knocking again. This means their bodies can fight off EEHV before it's had a chance to take hold.

The world-first vaccine was developed by Dr Paul Ling of the Baylor College of Medicine in partnership with Houston Zoo, with a helping hand from a few unexpected places. There's Colossal Biosciences, the de-extinction giants trying to bring back mammoths and save a few endangered species along the way, and the COVID-19 vaccine.

Comment: Let's see how the animal recipients of the (non-mRNA) covid jab are doing:
Famous gorilla "Little Joe" has died suddenly from a heart attack in the Saint Louis Zoo. In September 2021, the Director of Animal Health, Sathya Chinnadurai, bragged about how all the zoo animals had been conditioned into 'voluntarily' accepting the experimental Zoetis COVID-19 shot without resistance, even though no animals contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic. Zoetis got its start as a subsidiary of Pfizer
And the mRNA jabs have been shown to be much worse than the non-mRNA.

It's perhaps not too much of a stretch to be concerned as to how this experiment will turn out. More so when one considers the 'success' that is being had with bird flu: EU orders 40 million bird flu vaccines for 15 countries, Finland to start injecting 'select groups'


Doberman

71-year-old woman dies after being attacked by dog in Florence, South Carolina

PIT BULL ATTACK
A 71-year-old woman has died after being attacked by a pit bull in the area of 1800 Brigadoone Lane in Florence, according to Captain Stephen Starling with the Florence Police Department.

Officials were dispatched to the area about an injured bicyclist.

Fire department members were on the scene and discovered the 71-year-old female who was riding a bike in the area when a dog got loose and attacked her, knocking her from her bike.

The dog bit the woman, causing traumatic injuries according to officials.

The victim was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead, according to officials.

He said Animal Control intends to get the dog and take it into custody for the time being.

The incident remains under investigation by Florence Police and the Florence County Coroners Office.

Doberman

Dog mauls five-year-old girl to death in Nigeria

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A five-year-old identified as Moriana Maruf died after a dog attacked her in Adagbada, Apete, Ibadan, Oyo State.

The canine, owned by one Mrs Eunice Kolade, mauled the girl around 7:40 am on Sunday. She was initially taken to a local hospital and later referred to University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, where she passed away.

Mr Sunday, a resident, euthanised the dog after the incident.

An anonymous source revealed the gravity of the attack, saying that the deceased was mauled beyond recognition.

"The dog attacked the little girl beyond recognition. She was taken to a private hospital and was later referred to UCH. She did not survive it."

When contacted on Wednesday, Adewale Osifeso, the Public Relations Officer of the state police command, said that the investigation was ongoing.

Attention

Signs and Portents: Snakes (or eels) break free from aircraft at Vancouver Airport

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Vancouver Airport's creepy snake incident

While details of this incident are fairly limited, we do know that it took place on Monday, July 8, 2024, at Vancouver International Airport (YVR). In a video shared on social media, you can see cargo either being loaded onto or off an aircraft (it's not entirely clear in which direction it's headed).

However, the operation stops, as some of the "live cargo" escapes from a box. Specifically, a huge number of snakes are suddenly seen on the apron, with more escaping from the box. It's unknown how exactly the snakes got loose from the box. For that matter, one wonders if the ground handlers knew what the cargo even was, or if it was a surprise (I would assume the latter, since I can't imagine snakes can be transported in such a box).


Doberman

Dogs maul boy to death in Pakistan

dog attack
In a tragic incident in Tando Allahyar, a pack of pet dogs attacked and killed a 13-year-old boy named Zahid Ali.

The attack took place at a poultry farm owned by Jado Leghari village, where Zahid and his father were cutting firewood.

Despite efforts, Zahid succumbed to multiple dog bites on the spot.

The news of his death spread through the village, causing an atmosphere of mourning among its residents who are now demanding action against the owner of the pet dogs.

Attention

Woman swallowed whole by a python in Indonesia, second such killing in a month

A reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus) wriggles over a tree trunk at Hagenbeck Zoo in December 2021.
© Axel HeimkenA reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus) wriggles over a tree trunk at Hagenbeck Zoo in December 2021.
A woman was found dead inside the belly of a snake after it swallowed her whole in central Indonesia last week, police said, the second python killing in the province in a month.

Siriati, 36, had gone missing after she left her house Tuesday morning to buy medicine for her sick child, police said Wednesday, prompting relatives to launch a search.

Her husband Adiansa, 30, found her slippers and pants on the ground about 500 meters from their house in Siteba village, South Sulawesi province.

"Shortly after that, he spotted a snake, about 10 meters from the path. The snake was still alive," local police chief Idul, who like many Indonesians has one name, told AFP.

Blue Planet

Starlings' migratory behavior found to be inherited, not learned

starling migration
© Biology Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0217To find out how migrating birds find their way, sparrows were relocated from autumn stopovers along the Dutch North Sea coast to Switzerland (red, 1948–1957) and Spain (blue, 1959–1962).
Young, naïve starlings are looking for their wintering grounds independently of experienced conspecifics. Starlings are highly social birds throughout the year, but this does not mean that they copy the migration route from each other.

By revisiting a classic "displacement" experiment and by adding new data, a team of researchers at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and the Swiss Ornithological Institute (Vogelwarte Sempach) have settled a long-standing debate. Their findings are now published in the journal Biology Letters.

The question of how migratory birds locate their migration routes has intrigued mankind for centuries. Biologist Albert Perdeck from the Netherlands aimed to find answers when he displaced thousands of migrating starlings by plane from the Netherlands to Switzerland and Spain in the 1950s and 1960s.

Comment: For more on migration and how animals navigate the world, see: See also: Orangutan observed treating its own wound with medicinal plant for the first time