Animals
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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
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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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Attention

Beached pygmy sperm whale dies at Point Reyes, California

Hamed Aleaziz and Kurtis Alexander
San Francisco Chronicle
Fri, 09 Jan 2015 20:31 UTC
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© Ramin Rahimian / The ChronicleCara Field, a staff vet, with The Marine Mammal Center takes a blood sample from a dead male pygmy sperm whale
A beached whale, believed to be a pygmy sperm whale, ran ashore in Point Reyes National Seashore this week.

When Emily Klion and her three friends came upon the large, dying animal tossing in the surf at Point Reyes, they weren't sure what it was.

"People we saw said it was a dolphin. I thought it was a shark, though, because of the teeth," said Klion of Berkeley, who visited the isolated beach near Abbots Lagoon on Thursday while hiking at Point Reyes National Seashore.

"When we looked at it closer, it had a blowhole, so then we figured out it was a whale."

Scientists at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito confirmed Friday, after waiting for daybreak to hike to the beach, that the ailing critter was indeed a young, rarely sighted pygmy sperm whale.

It's a species of toothed whale that doesn't often show itself to humans, preferring to hunt octopus, shrimp and small fish in the very deep sea.
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Eye 2

Dog rescued from pool filled with snakes in South Africa

Erin Hanekom
Southlands Sun
Fri, 09 Jan 2015 20:29 UTC
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© Southlands Sun. A picture of the trapped dog in a pool with snakes.
A local snake wrangler rescued a dog from a pool with bush snakes in it.

Trapped in a pool with snakes, a frightened dog was rescued on the Bluff Friday, morning, 9 January by local snake wrangler, Shaun Venter.

Venter, whose main focus is the retrieval of snakes, was alerted to a dog in distress in Brighton Road. The dog was trapped in a pool, with shallow water and bush snakes.

With the assistance of a neighbour and friend, Debbie Andre, Venter approached the stricken animal. "We could see she was very aggressive, but that was all due to being frightened because of her ordeal. With snakes swimming around in the pool and the neighbour trying to keep them away from this girl, only one thing was important - getting her out," said Venter.
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Phoenix

'Hundreds' of animals dead in South Australia fires

Wendy Frew
BBC
Wed, 07 Jan 2015 17:05 UTC
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Hundreds of animals could not be saved
Hundreds of animals are believed to have been killed in South Australia since bushfires began burning out of control in the Adelaide Hills last Friday.

Vets and animal rescue teams have gained access to parts of the devastated areas to treat pets, livestock and native animals.

However, many animals have not survived or have been put down, according to animal welfare groups.

The fires have been raging across some 12,500 hectares (30,888 acres) of land about 30 minutes drive south east of Adelaide.

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Eye 2

Deadly eastern brown snake emerges from the surf on Australian beach

Oliver Milman
The Guardian
Wed, 07 Jan 2015 10:14 UTC
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Unexpected arrival of the snake, from between the lifesaving flags at Forster beach, causes visitors to flee and lifeguards to warn people away

Visitors to a beach on the mid-north coast of New South Wales made a hasty retreat on Tuesday after spotting an eastern brown snake, one of the most venomous snakes in the world, emerge from the surf and glide along the sand.

The unusual incident occurred at One Mile beach at Forster. The unexpected arrival of the snake, which emerged right between the lifesaving flags, caused visitors to flee as lifeguards warned people away.

Beachgoer Olivia Moffatt said that visitors were initially afraid it was a shark when lifeguards blew their whistles.

"The snake travelled out of the water and remained on the shore for a while until waves washed up against it," she told the Great Lakes Advocate.

"Raising its head, it headed for shade towards the lifeguard trailer and happily sat there until again moving up along the beach to the bush."
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Wolf

Are wolves on the loose in Stockholm, Sweden?


thelocal.se
Thu, 08 Jan 2015 21:01 UTC
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© LänsstylrelsenThe tracks discovered this week.
Officials in Stockholm say they have found evidence that a wolf pack has formed in the south of the city, including tracks, droppings and urine spotted when snow fell earlier this week.

Animal experts believe that two wolves have made the Swedish capital their home and are currently analysing what are believed to be their droppings.

The County Administrative Board of Stockholm (Länsstylrelsen), which is responsible for monitoring the movement of animals in the city, is investigating.

"The collected droppings will be DNA tested and this will hopefully provide answers on whether the two wolves have been marking their territory," said Arne Söderberg, a spokesperson for Länsstylrelsen in a statement.
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