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How (and why) Bird Flu is about to enter the 'Mass Testing' phase

Kit Knightly
Off-Guardian
Tue, 18 Jun 2024 16:27 UTC
Bird Flu
© Off-Guardian
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest edition of Bird Flu Digest, formerly known as OffGuardian.

The wall-to-wall coverage of Bird Flu is getting wallier-to-wallier with each passing week, to the point it's almost hard to keep up with the waves of hot takes and chilling insights. But if you're going to try, the best place to do it is right here, where I spend a good portion of my time reading very similar articles in very similar papers all about the danger of a pandemic they're about to pretend is happening.

Not a dream of mine growing up, but life's like that.

Anyway...bird flu.

In our last bird flu update, we pointed out that the "bird flu death" in Mexico was very likely no such thing, and that reporting it as such was right out of the Covid playbook.

Since then the head of Mexico's Health Ministry has criticized the WHO for calling it a bird flu death at all.

But the big bird flu news is that former head of the US CDC Robert Redfield has gone hysterical, telling NewsNation:
I really do think it's very likely that we will, at some time, it's not a question of if, it's more of a question of when we will have a bird flu pandemic."
This story was naturally picked up and spread everywhere, but Redfield is hardly alone in this hysterical panic-fueling nonsense.

Last week, The Conversation headlined:
An ounce of prevention: Now is the time to take action on H5N1 avian flu, because the stakes are enormous
USA Today echoes the tone:
Concerns grow as 'gigantic' bird flu outbreak runs rampant in US dairy herds
Apparently a new study has found something scary - Americans "have little to no pre-existing immunity to the H5N1 avian flu". Frightening stuff.
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Doberman

Woman attacked by dogs in west Baltimore dies from injuries

Tori Yorgey and Gary Sheridan
wbal.com
Sat, 15 Jun 2024 11:07 UTC
PIT BULL ATTACK
A woman attacked by stray dogs Friday night in west Baltimore has died and two others are injured, police said.

City police said officers were called around 9 p.m. to the 2000 block of North Pulaski Street, blocks away from Mondawmin Mall, for a dog bite.

Police said officers were told that two dogs attacked a 50-year-old woman, who died from her injuries.

Two other people were also bitten and suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Police said two officers discharged their firearms, striking one of the dogs. Both dogs were recovered by officers and Animal Control.

An investigation continues.

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Cloud Lightning

Lighting strike kills shepherd, 200 head of sheep and goats in eastern Tajikistan


Asia-Plus
Sat, 15 Jun 2024 10:51 UTC
mmmmmmm
© Emergencies Committee
Lightning struck a herd of small cattle in eastern Tajikistan, killing a shepherd and 200 head of sheep and goats, the Emergencies Committee under the Government of Tajikistan said on June 14.

The tragedy reportedly took place at 02:46 am on June 13 in Sangvor district (Rasht Valley in eastern Tajikistan) in the summer pasture located in Karashura area bordering Lakhsh district, where three shepherds from Dousti district of Khatlon province were herding small cattle.

The shepherds pitched a tent and installed a solar photovoltaic panel above it. They reportedly didn't remove it during the storm and it was the panel that became the "conductor" during the thunderstorm and lightning, according to the Emergencies Committee.

One shepherd was reportedly killed and two others sustained various injuries from a lightning strike.
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Doberman

Baby 'torn apart' by family dog dies in Brazil

Tim Hanlon
Mirror
Thu, 13 Jun 2024 10:05 UTC
Isis da Silva Sobrinho was attacked by the family dog
Isis da Silva Sobrinho was attacked by the family dog
A five-month-old baby had body parts "torn apart" as she was killed by a family dog while her parents were out shopping.

Isis da Silva Sobrinho was at a house in Cidade Ocidental, south of Brasilia, Brazil, when she was savaged on June 4 and taken to hospital after the mixed-breed pet attacked her, before tragically dying from her injuries. The medics who saw her said she had head injuries and that parts of her body had been "torn apart."

Her parents told the police they had left her at her paternal grandmother's house while they went to the shops to buy lighter fluid for a barbecue. But the baby's grandparents were also out when she was left sleeping on the sofa and the only adult around was her paternal uncle, who was in the garden. He told police he had only noticed his brother leaving the house and he had assumed, therefore, that the five-month-old's mum was still inside.
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Fish

Anglers discover rare, deep-water oarfish under attack by sharks off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on May 28

Pete Thomas
Yahoo! News
Wed, 05 Jun 2024 09:38 UTC
Three fishermen in Mexico told of the moment they caught a massive fish known as as the
Three fishermen in Mexico told of the moment they caught a massive fish known as as the "harbinger of doom"
Part of the allure of deep-sea fishing is that you never know what you might encounter at sea.

But one can be reasonably certain that nobody would expect to encounter a 10-foot oarfish under attack by sharks.

The oarfish in question, a serpent-like denizen with crimson fins, was spotted floundering near the surface on May 28 off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Local angler Tony Frasconi and friends, Ken and Gary, were fishing offshore when they saw the oarfish with its tail-fin missing while being circled by sharks.

Pisces Sportfishing Fleet interviewed the anglers after they returned to port.

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Fish

Odd-looking fish, largest of its kind, washes up on beach in Gearhart, Oregon, stumps experts: 'Remarkable'

Andrea Vacchiano
Fox News
Sun, 09 Jun 2024 13:57 UTC
The stunning fish measured more than 7 feet long, aquatic experts say.
© Tiffany Boothe/Seaside AquariumThe stunning fish measured more than 7 feet long, aquatic experts say.
A stunning fish recently washed ashore in the Pacific Northwest, and experts say it belongs to a newly discovered species.

In a June 6 Facebook post, the Seaside Aquarium in Seaside, Oregon, announced that the unusual aquatic creature was found at a beach in Gearhart on June 3. Experts say that the fish - a hoodwinker sunfish - measured 7.3 feet long.

The hoodwinker sunfish has only been identified as a unique species in the past 10 years. Its sighting is so unusual that Seaside Aquarium said locals flocked to see the fish themselves.

"Initially, this large, strange looking fish was creating quite a stir on social media and, though it was stormy, folks were flocking to the beach to see this unusual fish," the aquarium wrote. "It wasn't long before news of this fish reached Marianne Nyegaard, a researcher based in New Zealand."

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Doberman

Six-year-old boy dies in dog attack in Telangana, India


Nnewstap.in
Sun, 09 Jun 2024 13:03 UTC
nnnnn
A six-year-old boy, Gugulot Sivaram, lost his life in a dog attack in Nunavut Tanda of Chilpur Mandal in Jangaon district.

Sivaram, the son of Gugulot Madhu and Sarita, was alone at home while his parents were working in the field. Upon returning, they found their son missing. Following the sound of barking dogs, the parents discovered Sivaram's lifeless body in the bushes.

The grieving parents and family members were inconsolable as they mourned the loss of their young son.
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Attention

2 Florida shark attacks in 90 minutes critically injure woman, teen girl; 3rd in stable condition

Warren Kulo
AL.com
Sat, 08 Jun 2024 12:08 UTC
Great white shark
Two shark attacks on swimmers in the Florida Panhandle -- both in Walton County -- on Friday left a woman and teenage girl in critical condition and a third teen injured.

The two attacks were about four miles apart in a span of about 90 minutes. It was not clear what type of shark attacked the three victims.

The first, according to the Walton County Sheriff's Office, involved a woman near Watersound, a private beach. Officials were notified of the attack just after 1:20 p.m.

South Walton Fire District Fire Chief Ryan Crawford said a 45-year-old woman was swimming with her husband when she lost her left hand in the attack and suffered "significant trauma" to her midsection and pelvis. She is in critical condition.

The sheriff's office said deputies and firefighters responded to the scene and the woman was transported to an area hospital by the fire department.


Comment: On the same day a woman was seriously injured in another shark attack off Hawaii.

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Attention

Woman dead in California was victim of state's first known fatal black bear attack

Phil Helsel
NBC News
Fri, 07 Jun 2024 10:02 UTC
nnnnnnn
A 71-year-old woman found dead in her small mountain community in the Sierra Nevada was the victim of California's first-ever known fatal black bear attack, wildlife officials said this week.

When Patrice Miller was found dead in Downieville in November, the Sierra County Sheriff's Office said it believed a bear went into the woman's home after she died. But an autopsy recently confirmed the bear killed her, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.

"This incident is the first known, documented fatal attack by a black bear in California history," the department said in a statement.

Miller was found Nov. 8 in Downieville, which has a population of around 290 and is about 50 miles northwest of Lake Tahoe, after sheriff's deputies conducted a welfare check.

A preliminary investigation indicated she died before the bear went to the home, the sheriff's office said at the time.
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Attention

Young dead whale found in exclusive Argentine beach resort


MercoPress
Mon, 03 Jun 2024 11:11 UTC
The causes of death are yet to be determined. In the meantime, people were advised not to get close to stranded animals given the risk of catching contagious illnesses
The causes of death are yet to be determined. In the meantime, people were advised not to get close to stranded animals given the risk of catching contagious illnesses
A dead humpback whale was found by a group of bypassers on the beach shores of the exclusive Argentine resort of Pinamar The causes of the death of the young mammal weighing approximately 15 tons are yet to be determined by experts in the Province of Buenos Aires, it was reported.

Pinamar Ecological Foundation Vice President Cecilia Prieto told local media that the specimen was first spotted on Wednesday night. "We were notified that the whale was in the area of La Pérgola; the whale was dead" already, explained the licensed biologist.

The finding triggered a joint deployment with the San Clemente-based Mundo Marino Foundation with which the Pinamar organization has a standing cooperation agreement to rescue and study marine animals. A team from the Marine Mammals Department of the University of Mar del Plata also went to Pinamar to participate in the investigation.

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