A dangerous shrimp that could decimate British waterways has been found in the UK. The killer crustacean - branded a 'voracious predator' by the Environment Agency has been found in the Worcester and Birmingham canal following previous sighting in the River Severn. It arrived in the UK from Eastern Europe, and feeds on fish, sparking fears it could dramatically change the UK's delicate marine ecosystem.

A pensioner awoke from sunbathing to find a fox was gnawing at his hand, his daughter-in-law claimed today.

In a letter in Country Life magazine Carey Tesler told how her 83-year-old father-in-law had asleep in a chair in the back garden when he woke by a "searing pain" to see a "mangy-looking fox eating his hand".

When the father-in-law's neighbour was also troubled by the fox, the neighbour telephoned his local council and asked them to come and get rid of the animal.

But he was left baffled to be asked if he still had the fox with him.

When the neighbour said no, the council officer replied: "Well next time you see this fox, throw a blanket over him, carry him into your car and drive him to your nearest RSPCA."

It is not clear which council Ms Tesler is referring to, however she lives in London.

In Chukotka, a polar bear attacked employees of Valkarkay polar station. According to New Politics portal, the bear came right up to the house, where the meteorologists lived, killed a leashed dog and tried to break into the house. The bear broke one of the doors, but the second one stopped the beast.

To escape from the predator, the explorers climbed onto the roof and called for help. The nearest settlement - Pevek - was 70 kilometers away.

Armed policemen arrived on an offroad vehicle. One of them fired his rifle three times in an attempt to scare the bear away. The beast stubbornly refused to leave, and the policeman had to kill the animal.

Monterey, California, U.S. - Australia's iconic Great Barrier Reef is dying, and little will be left less than 10 years. More than half of the coral in the 2,300 km long reef has died over the past 27 years, according to a scientific survey released Monday.

Unless Australians act with urgency, only five to 10 percent of the 3,000 individual coral reefs off the eastern coast of Australia will remain, according to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We are losing an entire ecosystem in the best-managed coral reef system in the world," said Katharina Fabricius of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), and study co-author.

"This is the first thorough analysis of all the survey data on the GBR (Great Barrier Reef)," Fabricius told IPS.

In the past month, four runners have been attacked by owls in separate incidents, Runner's World magazine notes.

Two of the attacks occurred near Washington, D.C., one in England, and one in Vancouver. Two happened at dusk, and two in early morning, by different species of owls. No one was seriously injured, but the 17-year-old British boy was knocked off his feet.

Four attacks doesn't make a trend, or even a trendlet, but it puzzles Rob Bierregaard of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he studies suburban barred owls, nonetheless -- especially because such behavior would usually be associated with spring, when owls are nesting.

"Barred owls are so used to humans that they've pretty much lost all fear of them. But I can't stretch that to explain why an owl would pop a jogger on the back of the head," he told The Washington Post. "The only thing I can come up with is these are playful young."

If a runner accidentally disrupted a nest or came too close to a young owl, the attack would make more sense, said Bierregaard, who wears safety glasses and a lacrosse helmet when he works with owls.

An invading force is laying the groundwork for a coup in the United States this year, and it's going on right under our noses. The brown marmorated stink bug, an insect species from Asia that has been steadily expanding its range since it landed on the East Coast 15 years ago, will begin to sneak into the homes of unprepared Americans by the hundreds in the coming weeks, entomologists say.

And because of an unusual late-season surge in the invasive pest's numbers, scientists and crop specialists worry that the bug could make one of its strongest showings ever when it comes out of hiding in the spring.

"We've seen increases in populations over the last month or so," said Tracy Leskey, a research entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "This is something that's different than in 2011."

Behind the invasion

In early fall, the stink bugs start to look for shelter in warm, indoor crannies, and attics are among their favorite places to set up thousands-thick overwintering settlements. A late batch of stink bug nymphs was born last October, but the majority probably perished in the field before maturing, Leskey told Life's Little Mysteries.

This year, however, two full generations have already managed to reach maturity ― likely due in part to an early spring ― so more will be ready to weather the winter and start multiplying as soon as spring arrives, according to Leskey.

In the United States, brown marmorated stink bugs are most prevalent in the Mid-Atlantic states. A recent national survey conducted by Hometeam Pest Defense found that 59 percent of Washington, D.C., homeowners had had problems with the bugs, making the nation's capital their densest urban stronghold. But the invasive species has now spread to 38 states, including California and Oregon, according to USDA-funded research.

The first confirmed case of "zombie bees" in Washington state has been found by a Kent beekeeper. Discovered in California in 2008, the bees are infected by a parasitic fly that causes the bees to lurch around erratically before dropping dead.

Mark Hohn didn't pay much attention to the dead bees scattered outside his shop when he got home from vacation a few weeks ago. He just pulled out a leaf blower and blasted away the mess.

It took him a few days to realize he had an invasion of the living dead on his hands.

"I joke with my kids that the zombie apocalypse is starting at my house," said the novice beekeeper. The dead and dying honeybees from Hohn's 1.25-acre spread in Kent are the first in Washington confirmed to be infected by a parasitic fly that causes the bees to lurch around erratically before dropping dead.

The discovery expands the range of the so-called "zombie bees" first discovered in California in 2008 by San Francisco State University biologist John Hafernik. Through his website ZombeeWatch.org, Hafernik is recruiting a network of citizen scientists, like Hohn, to help determine how widespread the parasite is and whether it is contributing to the demise of bee colonies across the country.

"We really would like to get more samples from Washington and from all over," Hafernik said.

Unlike healthy bees, which spend the night tucked up in their hive, infected bees fly after dark and tend to congregate at lights. Hohn noticed bees buzzing around the light in his shop, flying in jerky patterns and finally flopping on the floor.

Authorities in Kashmir have launched a hunt for a 'large mysterious' lizard, which created panic in a village in the outskirts of the capital Lawaypora

People in Lawaypora locality are frightened for the past couple of days after an 'unusual lizard-like' creature appeared in the village. Nobody in the village knows exactly what the creature is.

Rumours were rife across the city that "a great African lizard" has appeared. Others talked about the giant carnivorous Komodo dragon walking through roads in the locality.

"Scared villagers informed us about a very big reptile, something which is unheard of in the valley," said Ghulam Mohiuddin, station house officer of the concerned police station. He said wildlife officials were informed on Friday and they had now set up a trap to nab the reptile.

"We have laid a snare at the mouth of a septic trench as the residents said the creature went inside it and had not appeared since then," said wildlife warden at the nearby Hokersar wetland, Abdul Rouf.

Missouri, US - People in a St. Louis neighborhood are trying to figure out what's happening to small animals in the area. About three weeks ago they noticed a string of small animal deaths.

"I found three underneath the clubhouse and two in the grass up near the siding," said neighbor Joe Dobbs.

Dobbs found eight dead rabbits in his yard alone. Now, neighbors are concerned about what's happening.

"It seems like it happened over night," said neighbor Chuck Hart.

The Department of National Resource says they can't figure out how the rabbits are dying. Neighbors are concerned that West Nile is killing off the rabbits. The Department of Natural Resources says that's an unlikely scenario.

A voracious new pest is gnawing its way through East County. The gold-spotted oak borer has already killed over 21,500 trees in San Diego's inland regions. Infestations have been found on federal, state, private and Native American lands across 1,893 square miles.

"Has anyone driven through Japatul into Julian lately? We did last weekend and it was a very SAD sight! Almost all of the Oaks are BARE SKELETONS or half brown and going fast," Jerry Williams of Deerhorn Valley wrote in an e-mail to ECM.

In California, San Diego is the only region impacted so far. The hardest hit area centers around Rancho Cuyamaca State Park and the Descanso Ranger District in Cleveland National Forest. County Parks are also infested, including Dos Picos in Ramona, William Heise at Julian and Louis Stelzer in Lakeside. Ramona Patch reports that officials also fear the beetle has reached Volcan Mountain Open Space Preserve near Julian.

The infestion reaches from Pine Valley north to Lake Henshaw. At least two city parks, Marian Bear and Kate Sessions, also have trees under attack.

Native to Guatemala, southern Mexico and southeast Arizona, the beetle was first discovered in San Diego County in 2004. Experts believe it most likely hitched a ride into the area on firewood, since the gold-spotted oak borer can survive for years in dead woods. It can attack and kill coast live oaks, California black oaks and canyon oaks. Engelmann oaks and other tree species are believed safe from the pest.

The University of California, Riverside has set up a webpage with lots of information on the gold-spotted oak borer.