Animals
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Bizarro Earth

Wolves kill 176 sheep near Victor, greatest loss recorded in Idaho


KTVB
Wed, 21 Aug 2013 10:48 UTC
Dead Sheep
© Idaho Wildlife Services
Idaho Falls -- A southeastern Idaho ranch lost 176 sheep as the animals ran in fear from two wolves that chased through a herd of about 2,400 animals south of Victor.

Sheepherders for the Siddoway Sheep Co. heard the wolves at about 1 a.m. Saturday, but didn't know the extent of the damage until they saw the sheep piled up on each other at daybreak.

J.C. Siddoway of Terreton says almost all of the sheep died from asphyxiation. About 10 died of bite wounds and one was partially consumed.

Idaho Wildlife Services State Director Todd Grimm says it's the greatest loss by wolves ever recorded in one instance in the state. About nine years ago, wolves killed 105 sheep on one night.

Grimm says a dozen wolves have been removed from the Pine Creek area this year.

Source: Associated Press
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Fish

Thousands of dead fish floating in Pascagoula

Michelle Lady
wlox.com
Tue, 20 Aug 2013 11:26 UTC

Thousands of fish are dead in Bayou Casotte forcing the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to close the bayou and part of the Mississippi Sound. MDEQ is also advising people to not eat any seafood from the area until further notice.

Mississippi Phosphates said a release of water from the plant led to the fish kill.

Owner of CC's Bait Shop Charles Williamson Jr. said, "If I continue taking hits like that, I can't stay in business."

He said every time the water is contaminated, his business suffers. This time Williamson lost 65 pounds of shrimp.

"It will take me about a week to get my stock back up because we haven't been catching a lot of shrimp," Williamson said. "So all that shrimp I had was four days worth of work. That's four days of burning diesel, four days paying help."

Five months ago another fish kill forced MDEQ to again close the boat ramps, causing him to lose about $5,000 in bait and business.

"It has just been a hard, uphill battle," Williamson said.
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Question

Flocks of birds found dead in public water reservoirs in Baligubadle, Somalia.

Geeska
The Horn, Somalia
Mon, 19 Aug 2013 03:41 UTC
The District Officials of Baligubadle of Hawd Region, issued a public awareness message to district-residents to refrain from drinking water from the public water reservoirs were flocks of birds have been discovered dead

These birds, which are a kind new to Somaliland, are believed to have been on their migration-and, somehow resulted in this unfortunate circumstance. The Somali-State of Ethiopia also issued a similar message to residents of Harshin, where a similar occurrence took place.
Image

In an exclusive interview with the Mayor of Baligubadle, he spoke on the flock of birds found dead in the water reservoirs.
"We contacted the Ministry of Health as well as The Ministry of Livestock, there have also been public awareness messages on Radio Hargeisa urging citizens to refrain from drinking from those specific locations".
The Mayor of Baligubadle also added that the number of birds found in the reservoir were of tremendous numbers.
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Bizarro Earth

Unprecedented: Sockeye salmon at dire historic low on Canada's Pacific coast - "We think something happened in the ocean" - "The elders have never seen anything like this at all"


ENE News
Mon, 12 Aug 2013 08:56 UTC
Sockeye Range
© NMFS Office of Protected Resources
Aboriginal people in British Columbia who rely on Skeena River sockeye are facing some extremely difficult decisions as sockeye salmon returns plunge to historic lows.

Lake Babine Chief Wilf Adam was on his way to Smithers, B.C., on Monday for a discussion about whether to entirely shut down the food fishery on Lake Babine, something he said would be drastic and unprecedented [...]

Last month, the department noted returns for the Skeena River sockeye run were dire. [...]

[Mel Kotyk, North Coast area director for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans] said department scientists don't know why the return numbers are so low. "[...] we think something happened in the ocean."

"[...] We've never seen anything like this in all these years I've done this. I've asked the elders and they have never seen anything like this at all." [said Chief Wilf Adam]

Source: Associated Press
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Fish

Pacific herring in Canada bleeding from eyeballs, faces, fins, tails, baffle biologist: 'I've never seen fish looking this bad'


ENENews
Mon, 19 Aug 2013 16:33 UTC
herring
© Alexandra Morton via Vancouver 24 hrs
The Globe and Mail, Aug 13, 2013 Independent fisheries scientist Alexandra Morton is raising concerns about a disease she says is spreading through Pacific herring causing fish to hemorrhage. [...] "Two days ago I did a beach seine on Malcolm Island [near Port McNeill on northern Vancouver Island] and I got approximately 100 of these little herring and they were not only bleeding from their fins, but their bellies, their chins, their eyeballs. [...] "It was 100 per cent ... I couldn't find any that weren't bleeding to some degree. And they were schooling with young sockeye [salmon]"
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Bug

More than one million more bees die off near Hanover, Canada

Roger Klein
ctvnews.ca
Wed, 14 Aug 2013 08:04 UTC

There is more troubling news for beekeepers.

Another die-off has a local producer sounding the alarm, and provincial inspectors have stepped in to get to the bottom of the issue.

Beekeeper Dave Schuit estimates that 1.3 million bees have died in his yard north of Hanover in the past 24 hours. Schuit says he has seen this before, and it looks like the bees have been poisoned

"I believe it's in the soil, the neonicotinoids," says Schuit of Saugeen Country Honey. "I believe it's in the water and it's in the pollen."

Neonicotinoids are extremely toxic to bees, even in tiny amounts. They are now widely used to protect corn, soy and wheat seed. The pesticide is water-soluble and persists in the environment for several years. Neonicotinoids were recently banned in Europe while more research is being done.

According to the Ontario Bee Keepers Association, the number of acute poisonings like this is mounting this summer and the total number of incidents is expected to surpass last year when 240 were reported. Laboratory testing confirmed the presence of neonicotinoids in 80 per cent of those cases.
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Bizarro Earth

Rare ragfish washes up on Alaskan Beach

Katie Moritz
Juneau Empire
Fri, 16 Aug 2013 00:00 UTC
Ragfish
© Michael HaysThis ragfish washed up on the shore of Lena Beach early in the month of August. According to Mary Willson, a retired professor of ecology, ragfish are very distantly related to perch and bass, but they are characterized by a skeleton that is mostly cartilage and flabby flesh. Juveniles look quite different from adults in body shape and fin shape, and adults have no body scales.
Although this gnarly fish isn't uncommon in Alaska waters, it's rare that one of them makes an appearance on shore, especially in Juneau. A dead ragfish, scientific name Icosteus aenigmaticus, washed up on Lena Beach early this month, Juneau resident Michael Hays told us.

It was longer than a shovel, battered and looking less than appealing. However, this particular specimen is small for its size - ragfish can reach an astounding 7 feet in length, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration biologist Dave Csepp said.

The fish are widespread throughout Alaska waters off the Bering Sea slope, hanging out deep, around 1,420 meters. However, they're not as common near Juneau - NOAA's Auke Bay Laboratories usually only get a few sightings of the fish each year, Csepp said in an email. They're most commonly caught in trawl nets or while trolling, and not very often found on beaches.
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Attention

12-year-old girl attacked by black bear near Cadillac, Michigan

John Agar
mlive.com
Fri, 16 Aug 2013 20:41 UTC
Image
A black bear, like this one shown in a file photo, attacked a 12-year-old girl near Cadillac.
Abby Wetherell, the 12-year-old girl attacked by a black bear, is in stable condition after she underwent surgery for a deep lacerations on her thigh, the state Department of Natural Resources said.

Abby, the daughter of Chris and Elizabeth Wetherell, underwent surgery this morning and is doing well, a family member told The Grand Rapids Press and MLive.com.

The girl was attacked Thursday, Aug. 15, while returning from a cabin down a two-track road in Haring Township, north of Cadillac.
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Health

River otter attacks woman swimmer in British Columbia lake


cbc.ca
Tue, 13 Aug 2013 10:03 UTC
Image
© Theresa Weltzin'I think the first bite was down here on my left calf because it's the biggest chunk,' says Theresa Weltzin.
A B.C. woman says she was viciously attacked by a river otter while swimming in one of the province's lakes earlier this month.

Theresa Weltzin was on a family vacation at a cabin on Greeny Lake, in B.C.'s South Cariboo region, more than 200 kilometres northwest of Kamloops, when she encountered the otter.

During a swim on Aug.1, Weltzin made it halfway across the lake when she spotted an otter coming her way.

"I stop and watch and wonder, and then it goes below surface probably about 10 feet away, and then it bites me and I scream," Weltzin told CBC News.

"I think the first bite was down here on my left calf, because it's the biggest chunk."

The otter bit Weltzin a total of nine times.
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Hardhat

Aggressive seagull attacks are at highest for a decade in UK


The Cornishman
Mon, 12 Aug 2013 10:30 UTC
Image
RSPB says seagull complaints are at highest for a decade
Aggressive seagull attacks are on the rise all over the duchy and people are taking extreme approaches to deal with them.

Seagull attacks are at their highest in a decade, according to the RSPB, the charity which helps provide a healthy environment for birds.

From tales of shocking horror as seagulls are lured to their deaths under the wheels of passing cars, to fed up postmen abandoning their delivery rounds for fear of being dive-bombed, it seems seagulls are causing quite a stir across Cornwall.

The RSPB could not say why there are more complaints coming out of Cornwall this year than previously. But it says seagulls generally become more aggressive when nesting.
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