Animals
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Attention

Dead whale on Dickwella beach, Sri Lanka

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Dead whale floated to the beach of Dickwella, Sri Lanka. Video shows you people trying to remove the animal from the beach to a grave yard.


Question

Flock of dead starlings falls out of sky in Bolton, England after 'loud bang' heard overhead

mass death birds
The dead starlings in Beaumont Road, Ladybridge
The mystery appearance of a flock of dead birds in the middle of a busy road has left Ladybridge residents baffled.

Between 20 and 30 dead starlings appeared in Beaumont Road, near the Britannia Hotel, on Sunday afternoon.

Eyewitnesses reported hearing a loud bang before finding the birds in an "X-Files-like" experience, as if they had "fallen from the sky".

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has said it is unlikely they flew into a poisonous air trail as their injuries would be less uniform.

A spokesman said the low-flying birds, which tend to travel in a tight flock, could have been hit by a vehicle or been confused or dazzled and flown into one.

Craig Clarkson, aged 39, who was in Beaumont Road shortly after the birds first appeared, said there were nearly 100 of them, with some lying still alive in the road.

The RSPB spokesman said: "I have heard of a previous discovery of a group of dead starlings, and it was never really established how they got there.

Comment: This was probably the result of another overhead meteor explosion, where the shockwave killed the birds through blunt force trauma. Incidentally, this was photographed in England on the same day:

'Photos of spectacular trail left by meteor fireball over Gloucester England, 9 March 2014'


Info

Beached Sperm Whale found in February now buried, Ballycroy, Ireland

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© Michael McLaughlinLocals organised to have this whale, which was beach at Dooriel in Ballycroy in February, buried last week.

A giant sperm whale beached in Ballycroy during January's storms has been buried because of the concerns of locals, it has emerged. The Mayo News reported last month that the county council, in consultation with the NPWS (National Parks and Wildlife), would not bury the mammoth mammal, which was almost 50-foot (14.6 metres) long, with a four-metre wide tail fluke.

Speaking on behalf of the council in mid-February, Mr Martin Keating said the local authority had no plans to bury this whale, as there was a significant logistical exercise involved in this instance.

"It is stranded on a very rocky beach which is over a kilometre from a public road and is also away from local houses," Mr Keating said.

The dead whale, which had a deep gash on its back possibly caused by a passing ship, was dead when it was washed ashore and discovered by a local boatman at Dooriel Beach on Sunday, February 9.

However, Erris Sinn Fรฉin Cllr Rose Conway-Walsh told The Mayo News yesterday: "With the high tide last Sunday week, we were presented with an opportunity as the whale had moved from the stony part of the beach onto sandy ground, and we got a local contractor to dig a hole as it was easier to bury it."

Snowflake Cold

Mass duck deaths in western New York state due to cold harsh winter

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"This duck die-off has been unprecedented. Biologists who've been here for 35 years have never seen anything like this," says Wildlife Biologist Connie Adams of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

The Western New York region is bearing witness to a quiet but devastating ecological disaster. The harsh and seemingly endless winter has been the root cause of death for thousands of ducks, from Rochester to the Niagara River.

Adams says, "This has never been documented in the past. ... As cold as people believe the winter has been, it has in fact been that cold because it's verified by the fact that this abundant wildlife population cannot survive... this winter."
The massive die-off first was noticed by local birders in mid-January. Adams tells 2 The Outdoors that when the NYDEC went out to investigate the situation had already reached a serious stage.

Black Cat 2

Vicious pet cat traps Oregon couple, who call 911

Himalayan Cat
© AP Photo/Lee PalmerThis photo provided by Lee Palmer shows Lux, a 22-pound Himalayan cat that attacked a seven-month old baby. Portland police had to be called in to subdue the 22-pound house cat that trapped its owners inside their bedroom after attacking their baby. The baby was not injured in the Sunday, March 9, 2014, incident.
Portland - Portland police had to be called in to subdue a 22-pound house cat that trapped its owners inside their bedroom after attacking their baby. The baby was not injured in the Sunday incident.

Sgt. Pete Simpson, a Portland Police Bureau spokesman, said officers responded to a 911 call that evening from a couple who had locked themselves in their bedroom with the baby and their dog after the cat attacked the child.

Simpson said the 911 operator could hear the cat screeching in the background as the couple awaited help. Officers used a dog snare to capture the cat and placed it in a crate.

Simpson said the owners told the dispatcher the cat has a history of violence. He said the cat remained with its owners.

Source: Associated Press

Bizarro Earth

Mass bird deaths in New South Wales

Mass Bird Deaths
© Anna FeltonWIRES volunteers horrified at mass bird deaths.
The Dubbo community have been asked to help solve a mystery that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of native birds, including galahs, correllas and cockatoos.

While there were indications the birds died from ingesting a pesticide, a spokeswoman from the NSW Environment Protection Authority said they were still waiting on final test results to confirm the cause of the deaths.

"The early indication is that pesticide was involved...(and) hopefully we will have the test results soon," she said.

In the meantime, the spokeswoman asked for any members of the community with information to call the EPA's EnviroLine on 131 555 to help investigators.

The NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) also called for people with information to step forward, as the number of dead birds continued to rise.

Attention

10-metre whale caught in fisherman's net, Tunisia

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Tunisian fishermen pull onto the dock a whale they found caught in their nets at Sidi Boussaid.
A 10-metre whale died on Sunday after becoming tangled in a Tunisian fisherman's nets off the coast of Sidi Bou Said town north of the capital Tunis.

"At first, I thought it was a car bumper. Then I saw the whale's tail," the 24-year-old Bilel Jerbi told AFP.

He said the whale, whose species has yet to be identified, was already dying when he found it in his nets, although it was unclear what had killed it.

Jerbi then towed the carcass to port in Sidi Bou Said.

The marine mammal was around 10 metres in length and weighed "seven or eight tons", according to an official from the Tunisian coastguard.

"We have seen three- or four-metre-long whales before. But it's the first time for one of this size or weight," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Bug

Californian woman attacked by 75,000 killer bees in Palm Desert

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A worker from Killer Bee Inc and the swarm of bees that attacked in Palm Desert
Five firefighters were also hurt as they rushed to the aid of the 71-year-old in Palm Desert, California, where she is now recovering in hospital


A woman was stung more than 1,000 times after being attacked by a swarm of 75,000 killer bees.

Reports say the 71-year-old woman was sat in her car when she was completely covered by Africanized honey bees.

Five firefighters were also hurt as they cleared the swarm in a gated community in Palm Desert, California.

The 75,000 hybrid bees - who are known to attack when they feel threatened - are believed to have been living in a buried cable box.

Local TV station KCBS-TV reported the woman was taken to a local hospital where she was recovering from serious injuries.

Three firefighters were also taken to hospital to be treated for more minor injuries.

Camcorder

Mass stampeding of dolphins off Dana Point, California, filmed by drone

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This incredible footage of a mega-pod dolphin stampede was captured off the Californian coast by drone

Drone footage has captured some breathtaking footage of stampeding dolphins and a baby humpback whale.

Captain Dave Anderson of Capt Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari in Dana Point, California, recently filmed a five-minute video with a drone of a huge mega-pod of thousands of common dolphins stampeding off Dana Point, three gray whales migrating together down the coast off San Clemente, California, and heartwarming close-ups hovering over a newborn humpback whale calf snuggling with its mum as an escort whale stands guard nearby, in Maui.

According to the information uploaded by Dolphin Safari with the video on YouTube, Southern California has the greatest density of dolphins in the world. It has pods up to 10,000 strong "stretched out for miles like the wildebeests of Africa". There are over 400,000 common dolphin alone, and it's also home to the largest concentration of blue whales on earth.

Galaxy

Heaven and Earth: Unusual natural events and strange phenomena from around the world in February/March 2014

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© Martin Rietze/National
This video compiles footages of strange phenomena of all kinds, including awesome natural events or beautiful phenomena from around the world in the last few weeks. Just a small sample of what we've seen already this year!

In the past month or so we have seen: Unusual solar activity including an X class flare - Aurora Borealis much further south than usual, including southern UK - Huge waves off coast of California, Brazil, UK - England battered by record storms, floods and sinkholes - Severe drought in California, followed by extreme storms and floods - US cities in the East frozen still - Strange skies over Europe - Ecuador Tungurahua volcano erupts - Strange 'hailstone' falls over Nevada - Weird pulsating orange Earth phenomena melts ice and boils water - Amazing sinkhole in the Corvette Museum - New York sinkhole swallows car - Popocatelpetl Volcano, Mexico eruptions - Sakurajima, Japan spectacular volcanic eruption - Large fireball over Maine, USA - Huge eruption from Volcano Pacaya in Guatemala