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Reindeer populations are on the decline worldwide

Kelly Dickerson
livescience.com
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 17:19 UTC
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Reindeer populations are in trouble around the world, and in China, the iconic animals are on the decline largely because of inbreeding, according to new research.

Some folklorists say Christmas tales of flying reindeer may have originated as a hallucination, with one theory claiming the inspiration for Santa Claus came from shamans who would give out bags of hallucinatory mushrooms in late December in the Siberian and Arctic regions. But, nonflying reindeer are very real and an important part of northern ecosystems.

Reindeer populations currently live in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Alaska, Russia, Mongolia and China, and populations across the board are declining. In the new study, researchers from Renmin University in Beijing focused on the reindeer population in China, which has declined about 28 percent since the 1970s.
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Beaker

Birds in central Michigan are dying due to decades-old DDT pollution

Mark Brush
michiganradio.org
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 22:21 UTC
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© Teri Kniffen's videoAmerican robin found in Kniffen's neighbor's yard in 2014. Volunteers collect the birds to have them tested for neurotoxicity.
All this week we're bringing you stories about the chemical company responsible for the PBB tragedy in Michigan. Michigan Chemical accidentally contaminated the state's food supply in the 1970s, but the legacy of that company is still very much with us today.

Michigan Chemical - which later became Velsicol Chemical - made more than just PBB, and it left these toxic chemicals behind in St. Louis, Michigan.

One woman insists something is wrong with the birds

Teri Kniffen and her family moved to St. Louis in 1994. She had heard about Velsicol Chemical and the PBB tragedy in Michigan, but when they bought their house, they didn't realize they were moving right next to where the old plant site was buried.

In 2001, she started noticing dying robins in her yard.

"When I'd go out in the backyard, and get near them, they wouldn't move," says Kniffen. "They just would stagger around the yard, and they'd end up dying."

Kniffen said she would find around 10 to 12 dead birds a year - mostly American robins. She said she tried to get officials from the MDEQ and the EPA to test the birds, but they mostly ignored her. An MDEQ official told her to collect the dead birds in her freezer, but she says by the time they came to collect them four years later, she was told the birds could not be tested.

So two years ago, Kniffen had the birds tested herself at MSU, and the birds tested positive for acute DDT and DDE poisoning.

Kniffen videotaped the birds as well. Here's what she and her neighbors would see (this video might be disturbing for some viewers):

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Question

Bird flu feared in mass deaths of 3,000 Swedish and Danish seals


thelocal.dk
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 21:05 UTC
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© Susanne Nilsson/Flickr
An outbreak of bird flu has likely killed about 3,000 seals off the coast of Sweden and Denmark this year, Swedish authorities announced Tuesday, raising the alarm a month after Germany.

"So far this year about 3,000 harbour seals have died in Swedish and Danish waters and were probably infected with the bird flu virus H10N7," the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management said in a statement.

The virus was first detected among sick and dead seals found in April off the coast of Gothenburg southwest of Sweden -- and the agency said the death toll was far higher than initially thought.

In October the numbers of seals killed by the virus was estimated at about 700 but researchers now say most of the dead animals had sunk, making estimates difficult.
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Attention

Elephants kill 3 people in Satkania, Bangladesh


Dhaka Tribune
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 20:19 UTC
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© Jagdeep Rajput
The incident took place near Cox's Bazar-Chittagong highway of the area on Wednesday

Three people have been killed in an attack by elephants in Nayakhal area of Kheochhiya union under Satkania upazila in Chittagong.

The deceased are Mahbubul Alam Talukdar, 35, son of late Abul Hossain Talukdar of the area, Shakil, 15, son of Md Forkan of Kaliaish area of the upazila and Shahadat Hossain, 30, son of Ameer Hossain.

Sub-inspector of Satkania police station Kazi Golam Kibria said: "The incident took place near Cox's Bazar-Chittagong highway of the area on Wednesday."

Some 14 elephants came down to crop field beside the highway around 5:30pm. As the people tried to stop them from destroying the crops, the elephants got furious and attacked the people, leaving one of them dead on the spot, the SI said.

Two injured were taken to a local clinic where the doctors declared them dead, he added.
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Wolf

Woman killed by fostered dogs in Flour Bluff, Texas


kiiitv.com
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 18:19 UTC
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Investigators revealed Tuesday that a Flour Bluff woman who was found dead in her home Monday night appears to have been attacked by dogs she was fostering, and that attack is what resulted in her death.

The Nueces County Medical Examiner determined that 64-year old Rita Woodard, known to many as Rita Ross, died from a heart attack after multiple dog bites. One of her dogs was put to sleep after being severely injured by the attacking dogs.

Ross, who spent much of her time rescuing stray dogs, was discovered around 6:30 p.m. Monday. Several dogs were found feeding on her remains.

The Medical Examiner released a report late Tuesday stating that Ross had died from coronary artery atherosclerosis following multiple dog bites. Corpus Christi Police Department Commander John Houston, who supervises Animal Care Services, said it appeared that five of the 17 dogs found at Ross's home were responsible for the attack.

Those five will likely be euthanized.

Many of the dogs were in cages at Ross's home, and four have already been turned over to the group For the Love of Strays for adoption. The remaining eight dogs will be turned over to Ross's son, who lives out of state.

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Attention

Deer enters store in Charlotte, North Carolina

Ben Hooper
upi.com
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 15:22 UTC
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A dust-up between the people of Walmart and a confused deer inside a North Carolina store was caught on camera by a customer.

The deer, apparently a doe, wandered into the store Monday afternoon in Charlotte's University City neighborhood and ended up being tackled and pinned to the ground by a group of Walmart workers and customers.

Witness Edmond Ratcliffe captured cellphone video of the incident.

"You never know when you have seen it all... I'm in Walmart today and a wildlife shopper decided that he needed to stop by Walmart for a celebrity appearance," Ratcliffe posted on Facebook.


Comment: See also these other recent reports: Deer crashes through window into furniture store in Cedar Falls, Iowa

Deer crashes through window into home in Strykersville, NY

Even more strange animal behavior: Deer crashes into restaurant in Iowa

More animal lunacy: White-tailed deer breaks through 2 doors at New Jersey home

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Info

Lobster stuns scientists by growing back four legs and both claws in a month

Izzy Ferris
Daily Mirror, UK
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 14:50 UTC
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© SWNSClawdia the lobster has stunned experts by re-growing her missing limbs in just one month
When Clawdia was found by fisherman crippled and pregnant, her outlook did not look good - but she has made a remarkable recovery

A lop-sided lobster that lost four legs and both claws has stunned experts by growing them all back in just one month.

Crippled Clawdia stood little chance of survival in the wild before she was found by fishermen.

She was missing all her legs missing on one side, was pregnant, and was also missing both claws.
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Horse

Domestication of horses might have had negative impacts

Sebastian Martinez
theindychannel.com
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 14:34 UTC
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Scientists tracing the horse's genome have found as humans domesticated the wild horse thousands of years ago, they affected the horse's DNA.

Scientists looked at two samples from the Taymyr Peninsula in Siberia, one of which dates back some 16,000 years and the other more than 40,000 years - well before humans domesticated horses.

In their research, two groups of genes covering social behavior, learning capabilities and muscular development, among other traits, could've been key in the domestication process.

They also found that wild subspecies of the domesticated horse, such as the Przewalski's horse, aren't actually ancestors of the domesticated horse, but a sister species that developed concurrently.
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Sheeple

Pneumonia outbreak kills 10 bighorns near Gardiner, Montana


Billings Gazette
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 21:59 UTC
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© Brett French/Gazette StaffTen bighorn sheep in the Gardiner area have died from an outbreak of pneumonia.
Ten bighorn sheep have died over the past two weeks following an outbreak of pneumonia in a herd that lives along the upper Yellowstone River near Gardiner.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks staff has collected a mix of dead rams, lambs and one adult ewe and taken them to the state wildlife lab in Bozeman, where all were determined to have died from pneumonia.

Historically, pneumonia affects bighorn sheep herds differently. According to FWP wildlife veterinarian Jennifer Ramsey, "Sometimes we'll see a large scale, all age die-off in which most of the population dies, and that population never really rebounds. Yet in other herds we seem to see a low-level mortality year after year."
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Attention

Sperm whale washes up dead at Kitty foreshore, Guyana


caribbeantrakker.com
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 21:40 UTC
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© Ruel Johnson/Guyana Mosquito A sperm whale beached on the Kitty shore.
Hundreds of persons turned out this morning to get a glimpse of a whale that washed up at the Kitty foreshore opposite Pere Street.

Speaking to TrakkerNews wildlife conservation specialist Annette Arjune-Martins said her organization along with members of the Guyana Defense Force were looking and trying to free the whale since Sunday after they were notified of the mammal being trapped in fishing net at Mahaicony Foreshore.

Their efforts proved futile and this morning they got word of the find at Georgetown seawall of the dead whale.

Martins said she will be working along with the Public Works Minister Robson Benn on the way forward as to what they will do with the remains.

The whale size is approximately 20 feet.
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