Animals
S


Frog

Mass die off of frogs in the Curragh, Ireland


Leinster Leader
Thu, 27 Feb 2014 08:47 UTC
Image
Dead Frogs found at a lake in the Curragh
Hundreds of dead frogs have been reportedly found in a lake in the Curragh.

Water samples were collected yesterday after an estimated 250 to 300 dead or dying frogs were found in the area writes Paula Campbell.

An overnight analysis of the water sampled by the Herpetological Society of Ireland returned results that are within the normal range for a healthy habitat however.

The primary symptoms of the frogs discovered were dry, crackly skin around the neck area. There was also red discolouration in the skin of some of the frogs, known as common frogs, in what has been described as a 'mass die off' of the frogs in the lake.

There are a number of possible causes of this huge frog die-off including being a target for rats during the spawning seasons as they become an easy target because the are worn out after all the frog reproduction.
Read More...
Info

800 turtles found dead on Nellore beach, India

P. Oppili
The Hindu
Wed, 26 Feb 2014 08:31 UTC
Image
More than 800 Olive Ridley turtles, which came to lay eggs on the beaches of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, have died, it was reported on Tuesday.

N.V. Sivarama Prasad, District Forest Officer, Nellore, said such large-scale deaths of Olive Ridley turtles had not been reported from the Andhra Pradesh coast in the recent past. The deaths were caused mainly by the use of trawl nets by fishermen. Local fishermen used only gill nets, which did not pose a threat to the turtles.

The area from where the deaths were reported is rich in biodiversity, which attracts large number of Olive Ridley turtles to lay eggs, he said. The forest department had created awareness among fishermen through the State Institute of Fisheries, Kakinada.

Fishermen had been advised to use the turtle-excluding device to reduce the death of Olive Ridleys.
Read More...
Eye 2

Surfing 4 metre crocodile closes Broome's Cable Beach, Australia


perthnow.com.au
Tue, 25 Feb 2014 12:46 UTC
Image
© Sharon ScobleBroome’s surfing croc takes to the gentle waves at Cable Beach, but he had it all to himself.
A giant four-metre surfing croc has closed Broome's iconic Cable Beach for a day before moving on.

While Perth beachgoers were enthralled with a 2000kg sub-adult southern elephant seal which had "hauled out'' on a city beach, Broome locals and visitors were captivated by the 4m croc which took to Cable Beach's gentle swell.

The croc hung around for most of Saturday but had moved on by Sunday.

Broome woman Sharon Scoble, who took these amazing photographs, said: "He was a big boy - his head was huge.''
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

UK: Jersey seabird death toll 'at least 600 and growing'


BBC
Mon, 24 Feb 2014 15:23 UTC
Image
Cris Sellares said there were a total of 136 birds found on Sunday
More than 600 dead seabirds have now been found on Jersey's beaches, wildlife experts have confirmed.

The National Trust for Jersey organised a second count on Sunday to track the impact of recent storms.

For the second week about 130 birds were discovered dead. Experts put this down to them struggling for food in heavy wind and rain.

Wildlife experts are calling for the Channel Island governments to work to assess the scale of bird loss.

Dozens of volunteers answered a call to scour the island's coast on Sunday to collect some of the hundreds of dead birds which have washed up during the extreme weather early in February.

Cris Sellares, from the National Trust, said there were a total of 136 birds found and some specimens, such as local shags, an oiled razorbill, a kittiwake and some puffins were saved for post-mortem analysis.

She said: "It is one storm after another, after another, they can't feed in this weather, they get weak.
Read More...
Black Cat

Leopard on the loose in Indian city sparks terror as it runs wild in a hospital, cinema and apartment block

Ted Thornhill
Dialy Mail, UK
Mon, 24 Feb 2014 12:07 UTC
Image
On the loose: A shocked man watches a leopard leap past him in Meerut
A leopard was discovered prowling the streets of Meerut, near Delhi

The animal evaded capture and authorities closed schools and colleges

The efforts of officials to capture it were hampered by crowds of onlookers

A leopard sparked panic in a north Indian city when it strayed inside a hospital, a cinema and an apartment block while evading captors and injured at least two people.

Authorities closed schools and colleges in Meerut, 60 kilometres (37 miles) northeast of the Indian capital, after the leopard was discovered prowling the city's streets on Sunday, a senior city official said.

'Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to track the leopard down. We have launched a massive hunt for the beast,' said additional district magistrate S.K. Dubey.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Thousands of puffins wiped out in storms: Record numbers wash up dead on coasts of Spain and France


Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 19 Feb 2014 11:30 UTC
Image
Normal winters would have brought 3 or 4 puffins to the Bay of Biscay, but this winter saw 35, with countless more thought to have drowned in the ocean
* Record numbers of puffins have been washed up on Bay of Biscay

* A few die each year, but recently many more have died due to storm weather

* Drowning is common cause of death for the puffins

* They are often swept away in strong storms while hunting at sea

Thousands of puffins are feared to have been killed in the recent storms that have hammered the UK for the last month.

The British Trust for Ornithology said today it's received a record number of reports of puffins, wearing uniquely-numbered metal rings showing they are from the UK, being washed up dead on the coasts of France and Spain.

It's feared they have been wiped out in their thousands while hunting far out to sea in the storm-lashed Bay of Biscay for their favourite food, sand eels.

BTO spokesman Paul Stancliffe said: 'Sadly, the sight of a puffin, beak full of sand eels, might be a little harder to come by this summer as they struggle to survive the recent storms that have rocked the Bay of Biscay.'

In a normal winter, the BTO would expect two or three ringed puffins to be found in the Bay, which covers western France and northern Spain, but during the last few weeks, more than 35 have been reported and countless more are feared to have been drowned and lost forever far out at sea.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Number of dead seabirds found on the French coast increases to 15,000

Christine Hinckel
poitou-charentes.france3
Mon, 24 Feb 2014 09:32 UTC
Image
© Maxppp A puffin found dead on a beach.
Numerous birds storm victims: the slaughter continues on the beaches of Charente-Maritime

For the third consecutive weekend, the LPO Charente-Maritime asks its volunteers to identify bird flood victims, some may still be saved if they are caught early.

Since the early storms in January, 15,000 dead birds or more were found all along the coast of the Atlantic. They number in the thousands in Charente-Maritime for over a fortnight. They were mostly guillemots and puffins, birds of the high seas who found no food in the sea due to bad weather .

At Charente-Maritime, those who are found alive on the beach are supported, warmed and fed, the Centre for the Protection Departmental Dolus-D'Oléron the only department. Since January 29, 275 birds are often very weak were housed, only a third survived.
Read More...
Wolf

The urban hyenas that attack rough sleepers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Martin Fletcher
BBC
Sun, 23 Feb 2014 09:19 UTC
Image
Urban hyenas are becoming a dangerous problem in the Ethiopian capital, where they attack rough sleepers.

It is late evening in Addis Ababa. Stephen Brend, a zoologist with the Born Free Foundation, is driving me to the airport to catch a flight back to London.

"Have you got time for a ten-minute detour?" he asks, as we passed the British embassy. "Of course," I reply.

So he turns off the road and up a dirt track between some rough shacks and a collection of battered old jalopies that passes for a taxi rank in Ethiopia's capital.

"There! Look there!" Stephen exclaims. In the beams of his headlights I see several pairs of eyes glinting in the darkness like tiny mirrors. As we drive closer I begin to make out the shapes of the animals behind those eyes. They are hideous beasts, as large as the largest dogs, with coarse spotted brown fur, elongated necks and front legs much longer than their back ones so their backs taper away from their powerful shoulders.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Tide of dead seabirds keeps rolling in on Southern England beach

Joanna Davis
Dorset Echo, UK
Sun, 23 Feb 2014 14:42 UTC
Dead Seabird
© Dorset EchoOne of the dead seabirds.
Dead seabirds are continuing to be washed up on Chesil Beach.

A combination of storms and pollution are thought to be to blame because some of the birds are covered in oil.

The weekend saw an overnight tide wash up more dead seabirds on Portland including razorbills, guillemots and gannets and lumps of what is thought to be palm or vegetable oil.

Concerned Wyke Regis resident Peter Minter said: "On Saturday morning people visiting Chesil Cove discovered that a lot of dead seabirds had been washed up.

"There were huge amounts of an oily, sticky white substance which after tests may be confirmed as palm oil also washed ashore early this month.

"The substance emits a pungent, overpowering odour."

The Echo reported last week that Dorset Wildlife Trust officers rescued distressed sea birds that washed up on Chesil Beach following a spell of storms and wild weather. Most birds washed up dead.
Read More...
Attention

Officials probe death of 30-foot whale in Chesapeake Bay

Ted Shockley
The Daily Times
Sun, 23 Feb 2014 12:23 UTC
Officials are investigating the death of a 30-foot-long whale found in shallow water near a Chesapeake Bay island at the Maryland-Virginia line.

Joan Barnes, a spokeswoman with the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response team, said Sunday morning that experts conducted a rare on-boat necropsy, or animal autopsy, of the animal as its body rested in shallow water.

The whale was unable to be towed to land or taken ashore.

Investigators got as close to the animal "to conduct a necropsy as best they could," Barnes said.

Officials with the Smithsonian Institution and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries also are involved in the investigation.

Part of the challenge, Barnes said, was the inaccessibility of the whale. It could only be approached by a shallow-draft boat and is on a remote island.
Read More...