Animals
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Health

Malaysian woman rubber tapper survives bear attack


The Star (Malaysia)
Sat, 29 Mar 2014 23:30 UTC
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A bear pounced on a 60-year-old woman and dragged her into a jungle not far from where she was tapping rubber in Kampung Pasir Puteh in Marang, Terengganu.

Asmani Yahya's painful screams caught the attention of her husband, who threw a sickle at the beast and whacked it with a tree branch to force it to let go of its prey, Harian Metro reported.

Recalling the horrifying incident from her bed at the Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital in Kuala Terengganu, Asmani said she and husband Mamat Othman, 63, had gone on their usual routine to tap rubber at their smallholding on Thursday morning.
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Health

Elderly woman viciously attacked by a wild boar in Malaysia

R.s.n. Murali
The Star (Malaysia)
Sun, 05 Oct 2014 23:09 UTC
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Katijah showing her stitched-up hand after surviving the wild boar attack.
An octogenarian was attacked by a wild boar and lives to tell her tale.

Katijah Ibrahim, 81, left her home in Kampung Ulu, Batang Melaka at 6.15am for morning prayers at a surau on Wednesday.

The 81-year-old stuck to her usual route when all of a sudden, a boar appeared from seemingly nowhere, charged at her and gored her.

Her daughter Meriam Yunus, 58, said Katijah told her that the boar bit her on the neck too.

"My mother put up a fight but the animal was powerful and big.

"At first, she thought that she was being attacked by a large dog and began screaming anjing, anjing, catching the attention of nearby villagers," she said.

The villagers, Meriam said, then used sticks to scare away the boar which then fled into a secondary jungle.
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Wolf

Elderly woman killed by her pitbull terrier


kait8.com
Mon, 29 Sep 2014 18:58 UTC
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An elderly woman was attacked and killed by her own dog Friday afternoon in Cave City.

Sharp County Dispatch received a 911 call around 2:16 p.m. from a woman saying a dog was attacking her mother.

The Cave City Police Department, Cave City Fire Department, Sharp County Sheriff's Department and Spring River Ambulance Service responded to the house on North Melody Lane.

Cave City Police Sergeant Brian Barnett arrived first and found 75-year-old Alice Payne dead in her living room floor with apparent bite marks all over her face, neck, and arms.

The woman's daughter said she saw the dog, a pitbull belonging to her mother, attack her. The dog was put down by officers, and then turned over to a representative with the Arkansas Department of Health for disease testing.

The woman's body was sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for an autopsy.

The case is still being investigated by the Sharp County Sheriff's Department and Cave City Police Department.

Comment: A list of dog attacks on their owners or family members in 2014 -

Family dog seized after baby's death in Wales

Couple released on bail over death of 11-month-old girl following dog attack in Blackburn, UK

'Out of control' dog put down after attacking owner in Inverness, Scotland

Liverpool woman mauled to death by her pet dog, UK

Second pet dog attack on a woman owner in Liverpool house within 2 months, UK

Man gets arm 'ripped off' by his two American bulldogs in High Pittington, United Kingdom

13-year-old girl victim of second Waikato dog attack, New Zealand

Hunter viciously mauled by his own dog in Austria

Child killed by family pet dog in Rome

Detroit: Naked man loses hands, feet in dog pack attack

Woman in hospital after dog attacked owner in Brighton, United Kingdom

Baby girl dies after dog attack in Daventry, UK

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Target

800,000 swarm of killer bees kill Arizona gardener in unprovoked attack


RT
Thu, 09 Oct 2014 14:52 UTC
bees
© Reuters / Adrees Latif
A gardener in Arizona has died after being dive bombed by a swarm of killer bees and another man was taken to hospital with 100 stings.

The 32-year-old victim was working on a house in Douglas near the Mexican border with three colleagues who were preparing to cut the lawn of a 90-year-old man when the bees struck.

They were working for a charity that provides work for people with learning difficulties and assists needy or elderly people in the community.

As soon as they turned on their lawn mower they were dive bombed by a huge swarm of bees from a hive which was concealed in the back of the house.

Two of the other gardeners who were not badly stung ran to a neighbor's house to call the fire service but when the emergency services arrived on the scene one of the men had collapsed and was already in respiratory arrest.
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Question

More than 50 sperm whales seen off California coast


The Exponent Telegram
Tue, 07 Oct 2014 15:54 UTC
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© LASANTHI BENEDICTSperm whale pods with more than 50 whales were seen today off the coast of Laguna Beach. Whale experts say the sight is a rare one. Sperm whales are found in tropical or subtropical waters.

More than 50 sperm whales emerged off the Southern California coast in an extremely rare, hours-long sighting that had whale watchers and scientists giddy with excitement.

Pods of mothers and juveniles rolled and played with dolphins Monday a few miles off Laguna Beach, the Orange County Register reported.

They later were spotted off San Diego and were heading south, said Jay Barlow, a sperm whale expert with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

It's by far the largest group ever spotted so near to shore in Southern California, Barlow said Tuesday.

Others agreed.


Comment: There seems to have been a spate of unusual whale gatherings of late, some coupled with odd behaviour. See also: Killer whales of Puget Sound are acting strange with population declining fast

Unusual whale behaviour during migration in Cook Strait, New Zealand

Whales turn up in unusually high numbers in the seas around Ireland

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Attention

Rare, record-sized pygmy whale found dead on Victorian beach, Australia

Bridie Smith
The Sydney Morning Herald
Tue, 07 Oct 2014 11:48 UTC
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© Joe ArmaoMuseum Victoria preparators dissect a rare specimen of an adult Pygmy Right Whale.
A rare specimen of pygmy right whale's body found washed up on a remote Victorian beach has presented scientists worldwide with the unique opportunity to study the elusive species.

Museum Victoria marine mammal evolution expert Erich Fitzgerald said at 6.2 metres in length, it appeared the animal was the longest pygmy right whale recorded.

"This is pushing the envelope of what we know in terms of how large these animals get," he said, adding the specimen would be of interest to local and international researchers. "We have potentially the global record for total body length of the male of the species."

After washing up dead at Wilsons Promontory's Sealers Cove coast last week, the adult male was dissected at the nearby Port Anthony Marine Terminal on Tuesday.

Steven Sparrey was one of three Museum Victoria preparators who started working on the carcass at 9am on Tuesday. By lunchtime they were almost half way through the dissection.
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Nuke

Radioactive reindeer surprise Norwegian scientists

Ben Hooper
United Press International
Mon, 06 Oct 2014 11:39 UTC
The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority said researchers noticed a spike in the radioactivity of reindeer in a mountainous area this year.

Reindeers
© Arno van den TillaartReindeer cross the street in Mageroya, Norway.
Maybe one of them will sprout a bright red nose. Norwegian reindeer are more radioactive than they have been in recent years, possibly owing to their mushroom snacks, researchers said.

Lavrans Skuterud, a scientist at the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, said reindeer at Vaga reinlag AS, in the central Norwegian Jotunheimen mountainous area, were found in September to have nearly eight times the amount of radioactive substance Caesium-137 in their bodies as was measured around the same time in 2012.

"This year is extreme," Skuterud told The Local.
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Wolf

Dog attacks surging in Yarra Ranges, Australia

Therese Allaoui
Free Press Leader
Wed, 08 Oct 2014 21:39 UTC
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The Yarra Ranges has had 22 more dog attacks this year compared to last year.
Yarra Ranges Council is desperately trying to get dogs under control as the number of attacks continue to skyrocket.

But despite the surge in attacks, the council has only declared six dogs as dangerous in the municipality.

Early this year, Yarra Ranges Mayor Fiona McAllister said the council was "at a loss" to explain why so many dog attacks had occurred within the first few months of the year, with 51 attacks by the end of February.

But numbers have continued to climb, with 179 dog attacks reported by September.

This is up from 157 dog attacks at this time last year.
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Wolf

13-year-old girl victim of second Waikato dog attack, New Zealand


home.nzcity.co.nz
Wed, 01 Oct 2014 21:24 UTC
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A 13-year-old girl is in Middlemore Hospital and a woman is in Waikato Hospital following separate attacks by mastiff dogs.

A 13-year-old girl is in hospital after a second vicious attack by a mastiff dog in Waikato within hours.

Waikato District Council says animal control officers were called to a Waiuku property around midnight on Tuesday when the dog attacked the girl living there.

"As a result, the victim has sustained serious facial and cranial puncture wounds and was undergoing surgery this morning," the council said in a statement.

The girl was recovering in Middlemore Hospital in Auckland.

Only one of two dogs at the property attacked the girl, but both have been impounded pending further investigations by council staff.

Earlier on Tuesday a Hamilton woman was attacked by her own mastiff cross.
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Wolf

Woman in hospital after dog attacked owner in Brighton, United Kingdom

Flora Thompson
The Argus (Brighton)
Sat, 04 Oct 2014 21:09 UTC
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The incident happened at the junction of Lewes Road and Coombe Road in Brighton.
A woman is in hospital after being attacked by her dog which then choked on its lead and died.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "Shortly after 9am police were called to the junction of Coombe Road and Lewes Road, Brighton, where a dog apparently being trained by its owner to get used to traffic turned on her, bit her and caused her to suffer a suspected broken arm.

"She was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital for treatment.

"In the struggle to control the dog it unfortunately choked to death on its own lead and its body has been removed to a veterinary surgery.

"The incident caused traffic tailbacks on the A270 Lewes Road while police and ambulance personnel dealt with the situation."

There were unconfirmed reports on social media this morning that a woman was mauled by a dog.

Then reports claimed in fact a dog had been hit by a car and no one was injured.

But the police have now confirmed the sequence of events.
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