Animals
S


Ice Cube

Ice Age Cometh: Unprecedented influx of Arctic Ivory Gulls into UK

Lee G R Evans
uk400clubrarebirdalert.blogspot.co.uk
Mon, 16 Dec 2013 13:01 UTC
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On par with a mammoth influx of juvenile Snowy Owls in North America (involving at least 750 so far), the UK has experienced its largest-ever influx of first-year Ivory Gulls from the Arctic ice-shelf.


Following the first off Seaburn (County Durham) on 30th November, an unprecedented five more have been discovered since......

Comment: See also: Ice Age Cometh: Snowy Owl invasion coming in North America?

Maine experiencing a Canadian owl invasion

Incredible Hawk Owl invasion in Estonia!

Huge Snowy Owl invasion becomes official in Canada and U.S.

Thousands of Hawk Owls descend on Finland as food in northern Russia runs out

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Cow Skull

50 head of cattle die from mysterious disease in one week in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe.


bulawayo24.com
Sun, 15 Dec 2013 13:26 UTC
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UP to eight families in BH3, Jambezi in Hwange, lost more than 50 head of cattle last week to a yet-to-be identified disease in the latest mass animal deaths in Matabeleland North.

Chief Shana of Jambezi confirmed the mass cattle deaths and said about eight households had been affected.

"At the moment we don't know what is killing the cattle; we are waiting for the veterinary people to come back to us. So far they have not identified the disease because they are still conducting tests. What I can tell you is that a lot of families, about eight of them, lost their cattle to the disease," said Chief Shana.

Villagers said veterinary officials, who came and took samples which they sent to veterinary laboratories in Hwange for tests, fear that the cattle were wiped out by an infectious disease whose exact cause remains unknown.
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Eagle

Eagle influx doubles this year at Goldstream Park, BC, Canada

Christine van Reeuwyk
Victoria News
Thu, 12 Dec 2013 12:40 UTC
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Eagles abound in Goldstream park now through, hopefully, the new year
The eagles have landed in droves at Goldstream Provincial Park.

"Every year we have the eagles that come after the salmon run but this year there seems to be more than previous years," said park naturalist Bre Robinson.

The flock has more than doubled from the 65 last year to 158 counted today (Dec. 12).

They scan the park with binoculars as a head count, but figure there's even more.
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Question

Mystery illness kills four bald eagles in Utah

Brett Prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune
Fri, 13 Dec 2013 22:01 UTC
Bald Eagle
© Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern UtahUtah wildlife officials are scrambling to determine what led to the death of four bald eagles in northern Utah in the last week. The eagles all appeared healthy, with the exception of head tremors, but eventually died. Three were delivered to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah in Ogden and another to Great Basin Wildlife Rescue in Mapleton.
Utah wildlife officials are scrambling to determine what led to the deaths of four bald eagles in northern Utah in the last week.

The eagles all appeared healthy, with the exception of head tremors. The raptors also displayed evidence of paralysis and digestive issues.

The birds were delivered to or picked up by officials from the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah in Ogden and the Great Basin Wildlife Rescue in Mapleton.

The deaths are particularly troubling and mysterious because the birds were found in different locations - Corinne, Grantsville, Lehi and Weber County.

"It just rips your guts out. They are obviously suffering and you are helpless. It is so hard to watch," said DaLyn Erickson with the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah. "Never in my career have I heard of four bald eagles in such a widespread area dying at the same time like this."

The first bald eagle arrived at the Ogden facility Dec. 1 from Weber County. Another eagle landed at the Mapleton rehabilitation center on Dec. 8. The last two arrived in Ogden this week.

All four displayed head tremors - uncontrolled shaking of the head; something that made Erickson suspicious of possible lead poisoning. But preliminary results from testing at the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Logan, a cooperative lab with Utah State University and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, came back with unexpected results.
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Question

Hundreds of birds fall dead from the sky on Aden Road in Nokesville, Virginia


insidenova.com
Thu, 12 Dec 2013 11:10 UTC
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© Katty Bell
Witnesses say hundreds of black birds fell dead from the sky in Nokesville on Thursday afternoon, littering Aden Road with their feathery remains.

Prince William County police spokesman Jonathan Perok said it happened about 2 p.m., near Aden Grocery.

Police, animal control and crews from the Virginia Department of Transportation were called to the area, where witnesses said they were shoveling dead birds off the road.

It was unclear Thursday night what type of birds they were, and what caused them to die.

Several people reported seeing large numbers of birds gathered on power lines in the area earlier in the day.

Kevin Rose, a wildlife biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, said mass bird die-offs are usually the result of lightning or some sort of trauma. That trauma often includes birds in flight striking power lines.

"Without a few samples we can't really tell," Rose said in an email. "Unless it starts happening more, we are not concerned."

Comment: Radar Doppler images confirm overhead 'turbulence' cause of 2011 mass bird death case in Beebe, Arkansas Meteoric Deja-vu: Exactly one year later, dead blackbirds fall again in Beebe, Arkansas

A Sign for the New Year: 1,000 Birds Fall From the Sky in Beebe, Arkansas

Reign of Fire: Meteorites, Wildfires, Planetary Chaos and the Sixth Extinction

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Wolf

Coyote shot dead after 3 attack a British Columbia woman, Canada

Belle Puri and Brady Strachan
cbc.ca
Fri, 13 Dec 2013 09:11 UTC
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Three coyotes attack B.C. woman
A conservation officer has destroyed a coyote that he believes was one of three that attacked a woman and a dog in B.C.'s Okanagan region this week.

The woman, Sarah James, was walking a friend's small Labrador Retriever on Wednesday on the Summerland Centennial Trail, a popular hiking trail in Summerland, when she was approached by three coyotes.

The coyotes went after the dog, and James crouched over it to protect it from the attack.
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Attention

Animal attacks on the rise in Kashmir valley India, 700 casualties in a decade

Ashraf Wani
India Today
Wed, 11 Dec 2013 15:16 UTC
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Latif Ahmad was working in his agriculture field when two black bears attacked him. Though, he lost an eye and got his face completely damaged, he was lucky to be alive. The attack was a grim reminder of the deteriorating relationship between humans and animals in Jammu and Kashmir that has resulted in fatal consequences.

The number of animal attacks on humans has increased in recent years. In last 10 years, 200 people have got killed and more than 500 got injured in human animal conflict in different parts of the Valley.

The reason for the rapid rise of tension between humans and animals is the paucity of living space. According to the World Conservation Union (World Park Congress 2003), conflict occurs when wildlife's requirements overlap with those of human population. The destruction of their habitat due to human activities compels the wild animals to enter human settlements in search of food and water leading to conflict.

Wild life warden of Dachigam National Park, Mohamed Sadiq says killing the animal is not the ultimate solution.

"Human population is increasing rapidly. Forest cover has either decreased or declined in quality due to habitat degradation and people in Kashmir have changed their agriculture fields in to apple orchards, which attract black bear.
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Black Cat

Rabid bobcat attacks woman in Putnam, Connecticut

Don Lehman
Glens Falls Post-Star
Tue, 10 Dec 2013 10:41 UTC
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© Calibas, Wikimedia CommonsBobcat (Lynx rufus), taken at Sunol Park near Livermore CA, USA
Cindy Bowman didn't know what hit her.

She was letting her dog into her county Route 2 home around noon Thursday when a large animal pounced on her, latching onto her face and biting and scratching her.

She was able to fight it off by choking it, but not before it bit and/or scratched her head, shoulder, arms and thigh.

"I turned around and it was leaping right for my neck," Bowman recalled. "It went for my throat."

Bowman was mauled by a large bobcat, a cat that minutes later went after her daughter's boyfriend, Nate Nadeau, and tried to attack him as well.

Nadeau shot and killed it, but state tests later found the cat had rabies, so both Bowman and Nadeau - who was not hurt but did have contact with the cat - had to get two weeks of rabies shots.

The incident has left Bowman shaken and afraid to go out of her house, and concerned that rabies is going to affect other bobcats in the area and make them aggressive as well.

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© Cindy BowmanCindy Bowman's arm after a bobcat attacked her
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Nuke

What is happening to Alaska? Is Fukushima responsible for the mass animal deaths?

Michael T. Snyder
The Truth
Tue, 10 Dec 2013 20:37 UTC
Dead Animals
© The Truth
Why are huge numbers of dead birds dropping dead and washing up along the coastlines of Alaska? It is being reported that many of the carcases of the dead birds are "broken open and bleeding". The photo of some of these dead birds at the top of this article was originally posted by Alaska native David Akeya on Facebook. You can find more photos of these dead birds right here. And of course it isn't just birds that are dying. As you will see below, something is causing mass death events among various populations of fish as well. In addition, it has been reported that large numbers of polar bears, seals and walruses in Alaska are being affected by hair loss and "oozing sores". So precisely what is causing all of this? Could Fukushima be responsible? Authorities are claiming that all of this is being caused by "disease" or "harsh weather", but are they actually telling us the truth? Evaluate the evidence that I have shared below and decide for yourself...

#1 Something is causing large numbers of dead birds to wash up on shores all over Alaska. The following is a report from Alaska Public Media about just one of these incidents...
Hundreds of dead birds washed up on the shores of St. Lawrence Island towards the end of November. And though the cause of the die off isn't yet known, the quick response demonstrates a mounting capacity for dealing with unexpected environmental events in the region.
Scientists do not know why this is happening. Some of them are blaming "harsh weather".

Comment: A key suspect was left off the list... the Pacific Ring of Fire is super-active these days.

Volcanic eruptions rage in Alaska: Geologist, "for some reason we can't explain, activity picked up"

Volcanic eruptions, rising CO2, boiling oceans, and why man-made global warming is not even wrong

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Heart - Black

Shocking: Snowy Owls are being shot dead at JFK Airport as a matter of policy

Pei-Sze Cheng
nbcnewyork.com
Tue, 10 Dec 2013 13:24 UTC

The agency that oversees New York's airports has added snowy owls to its no-fly list, shooting down at least two at Kennedy Airport and issuing an alert to kill any more that are spotted there, an airport source told NBC 4 New York. Marc Santia reports.

The agency that oversees New York's airports shot down at least two snowy owls at Kennedy Airport, but now promises an effort to trap and relocate them.

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey issued the shoot-to-kill order for the birds after one flew into a jet's engine while the plane was on a tarmac at Kennedy last week, an airport source told NBC 4 New York.

After media reports on the hunted owls Monday, the Port Authority said it would implement a program to trap and relocate the birds, which have been migrating to the region this year in unusually high numbers.

"The Port Authority's goal is to strike a balance in humanely controlling bird populations at and around the agency's airports to safeguard passengers on thousands of aircrafts each day," the agency said in a statement.

A total of five planes were hit by snowy owls at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports in recent weeks, the Port Authority told the Associated Press.
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