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New details emerging into disturbing dead animals case in Nevada County


New information is emerging into the bizarre case involving dead animals found in a vacant Pahrump home.

Investigators are now saying the dogs were carefully wrapped up and placed in an unplugged refrigerator outside.

Whoever is responsible for the disturbing act is still on the loose.

The behavior really worries animal control. If that suspect is capable of doing that to pets, what could they do to the human population?

Action News finally got some paperwork from animal control on Wednesday, showing they have been called out the home half a dozen times before this all blew up last Friday when the dogs were found in the fridge.

Fish

Scientists puzzled by odd creature found on South African beach

Freaky Fish
© Leandra Vissr, FacebookA freaky fish found by Leandra Visser on De Kelder beach near Cape Town, South Africa.
Leandra Visser posted the above photo on Facebook during her holiday at De Kelder near Cape Town, South Africa. Her caption read, "Can someone please tell me what the hell this is? We picked it up on the beach at De Kelder. It's the real thing!!"

The weird looking creature is fish-like but with huge teeth and its head appears far too big for its tiny body.

According to the Afrikaans daily Die Burger, Visser denies that the image is a joke and the newspaper took it on themselves to send the photo to the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) in Grahamstown for verification.

The paper quotes Alan Whitfield, chief SAIAB scientist as saying that just because the creature was found on a beach, does not necessarily mean it is a fish. Whitfield drew attention to the fact that the creature in the image has no fins.

Attention

Dead sperm whale rotting on Cape St. George shoreline, Newfoundland

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People living in Cape St. George, N.L., aren't sure what to do with a dead whale that's settled along their shoreline.

But the mayor of the west coast hamlet says letting the 12-metre sperm whale simply decompose is out of the question.

"We have people with houses reasonably close to it and the smell is the first thing you will encounter," Peter Fenwick said Tuesday. "Rotting marine fat is probably the most lousiest smell you've ever smelled in your life.

"It makes cod liver oil smell like perfume in comparison."

And then there are the clouds of flies it could attract.

"That's just intolerable for people, so it has to go," he said. "There's just no other way around it."

Question

Unusual new penguin flu virus discovered in Antarctica

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© Wikimedia, Reinhard JahnAdelie penguin
A new kind of bird flu has been detected for the first time in Adelie penguins in Antarctica, though the virus does not seem to make them sick, researchers said Tuesday.

The virus is unlike any other avian flu known to science, said the report in mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

"It raises a lot of unanswered questions," said study author Aeron Hurt, senior research scientist at the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne, Australia.

The findings show that "avian influenza viruses can get down to Antarctica and be maintained in penguin populations," he said.

The study is the first to report on live avian influenza virus in penguins, though previous research has found evidence of influenza antibodies in penguin blood.

Fish

Fish rain down on Sri Lanka village

Fish Rain_1
© BBC NewsVillagers collected the contents of the "fish shower" into buckets and enjoyed an unusual free meal.
The edible fish fell during a storm and are believed to have been lifted out of a river during a strong wind.

Villagers in the district of Chilaw said they heard something heavy falling and found scores of fish with a total weight of 50kg (110lbs).

It is not the first such incident in Sri Lanka - in 2012, a case of "prawn rain" was recorded in the south.

Scientists say that "fish rain" usually occurs when swirling whirlwinds over relatively shallow water develops into waterspouts and sucks in almost anything in the water including fish, eels and even frogs.

The marine life can be carried long distances by buffeting clouds even when the waterspout stops spinning.

Info

Over a million birds died during Deepwater Horizon disaster

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© Rebecca Field A Brown Pelican.
The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon well blowout vomited more than 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and onto its shores--the largest accidental, offshore oil spill in history. It killed wildlife, tainted fisheries, and damaged coastal ecosystems from marshes in Louisiana to beaches in Florida. But due to a paucity of data, the true extent of the damage is still not yet known, especially where bird mortality is concerned. What research does exist is confidential property of the U.S. government, and will not see the light of day until the lawsuit against BP has run its course, the next phase of which begins in 2015.

Into this vacuum step J. Christopher Haney, Harold Geiger, and Jeffrey Short, three researchers with extensive experience in environmental monitoring and post-spill mortality assessments. In their recent study, which has been accepted for publication in Marine Ecology Progress Series, the authors estimate that up to 800,000 coastal birds died as a direct result of the Deepwater Horizon spill. That number, as large as it is, is on the conservative side, says Audubon Director of Bird Conservation for the Gulf Coast and Mississippi Flyway, Melanie Driscoll. Once further studies are conducted, says Driscoll, the number will certainly exceed one million. In comparison, a quarter of a million birds are estimated to have died as a direct result of the Exxon Valdez, a spill that was much smaller than that of Deepwater Horizon.

Attention

Dead whale drifts into Port of Felixstowe, UK

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This picture of the whale was taken by a passer-by on his mobile phone
A dead whale has washed into Felixstowe port.

The whale, which is badly decomposed, washed into the River Orwell in the harbour yesterday and is currently in the process of being removed.

It is not yet known what species of whale it is.

More to follow.

Eye 2

Invasion of albino king snakes threatens Gran Canaria wildlife

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© GK Hart/Vikki Hart/Getty ImagesOriginally brought to the island as pets, the albino California king snakes were set loose or escaped decades ago
Soaring numbers of albino California king snakes prompts warning that they could take over 70% of Spanish island

Invasive species experts will gather in Gran Canaria this week to offer their advice on how best to control an albino variety of a popular pet snake whose population has exploded across the island in recent years, decimating local bird and lizard species.

Originally brought to the island as pets, the albino California king snakes were set loose or escaped decades ago, said Ramón Gallo, a biologist who is spearheading the effort to control the population through a project called LIFE+Lampropeltis.

In the absence of natural predators and in mild temperatures and a coastal climate similar to its native California, the king snakes have multiplied. In the past eight years, more than 2,000 of the snakes have been captured, and thousands more are thought to be living underground, said Gallo. "The word plague comes to mind."

The snakes pose little danger to humans, but are avid predators, feeding on birds, rodents and even young rabbits, said Gallo. Particularly concerning for researchers is the snake's taste for the Gran Canaria giant lizard, a species found only on the island. A recent comparison of the lizard population in areas with snakes and areas without showed a ratio of 1:10, he said. "It's an outrage. This could push the lizard to extinction."

So far their growth has been contained to two areas, of about 25 miles square, in the east and north-western part of the island.

Heart - Black

26,000 birds killed by trigger happy contractors over 5 years at JFK airport

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© Wikimedia Commons/Dick DanielsThe Great Egret was among more than 1,600 protected birds shot to death by the Port Authority in the past five years, internal records show.
Wildlife control contractors have shot almost 26,000 birds at John F. Kennedy International Airport over the past five years to stop them interfering with passenger flights - including more than 1,600 protected birds the airport did not have express permission to kill, internal records show.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, was granted limited permission to shoot "problem" species - mainly seagulls, geese and mourning doves - named on a special kill permit issued each year by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

But the authority's own records show that between 2009 and 2013, they killed 1,628 birds from 18 different species that are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and are not named on the permits.

That list includes snowy egrets, red-winged blackbirds and American kestrels.

Binoculars

Rare nonmigratory Arctic bird seen on Point Peninsula, New York

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© Jeff Bolsinger.A Willow Ptarmigan along eastern Lake Ontario. The sighting this week is a first for New York State.
Carloads of birders from across the region have visited the shore of Lake Ontario, near Watertown, over the last few days hoping to glimpse a rare avian visitor from the Arctic tundra.

Late last week, Eugene Nichols was birding near Point Peninsula and found an all white bird that didn't belong in northern New York. Nichols contacted Jeff Bolsinger, a bird biologist at Fort Drum, who confirmed that it's a Willow Ptarmigan. Bolsinger says the bird normally lives only in northern Canada and Alaska. He says the sighting this week is the first documented sighting of a Willow Ptarmigan in New York State, and the second recorded in the lower 48 states in a century.

Bolsinger told Todd Moe he's not sure how the bird ended up this far south, but it's become an instant celebrity in the birding community.