Animals
S


Bizarro Earth

500 dead penguins wash up on beaches in Brazil


BBC News
Sat, 14 Jul 2012 10:51 UTC
Brazilian biologists are investigating the deaths of more than 500 penguins found washed up on the beaches of Rio Grande do Sul state.

Autopsies are being conducted on some of the birds to determine the cause of death.

Researchers said the penguins appeared to have been well-fed, with no apparent injuries and no oil on their bodies.

Similar incidents in the past have been blamed on shifting ocean currents and colder temperatures.

Magellanic Penguins migrate to southern Brazil from Patagonia every year during the southern winter.

Last week dozens of young penguins were rescued from beaches in Rio de Janeiro after straying far beyond their normal range.

The birds delighted beach-goers, but scientists said their health was suffering in the tropical waters.
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Question

Raccoon Attack Sends Woman to Hospital

Molly Maddock
ABC News
Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:48 UTC
Michaela Lee
© ABCNews.go

A Washington state woman suffered 16 puncture wounds and over 100 lacerations after being attacked by a pack of raccoons.

Twenty-eight-year-old Michaela Lee was jogging on a trail near her Lakewood home when her dog spotted two raccoons and chased them up a tree.

"I went over to pick up the leash and head home when three other raccoons just charged out of the grass straight for me. I decided to run, but they were chasing me and clawing at the back of my legs," Lee said.

She had just gotten to her neighbor's yard when she tripped over them. As soon as she fell, the raccoons began to viciously attack, biting her arms and legs as she lay trapped under them. Seconds later, Lee's dog ran up and began biting and growling at them, scaring several of them off and giving Lee enough time to get on her feet.

"I'm so thankful that my dog is so loyal," said Lee, who believes it was the actions of her dog, Madison, that saved her from further injury.
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Stop

Animal Deaths: Welsh Government To Investigate Unexplained Swan Deaths


The Huffington Post
Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:50 UTC
Image
© Press AssociationCardiff is home to around 200 swans
An investigation is under way after the mysterious deaths of 30 swans in Cardiff.

Officials say the animals died within a three-week period and the cause is unknown.

The Welsh capital has a population of around 200 of the birds, which are often seen in Roath Park and Cardiff Bay.

Cardiff Council has confirmed these two locations, both popular with families, were predominantly affected.

Although bird flu has not been diagnosed, as a precautionary measure, people finding dead swans are advised not to touch them.

The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) said the Welsh Government was looking into the matter.

A statement by the AHVLA said: "Reports of increased levels of mortality amongst wild swans in the Cardiff area are being investigated.
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Fish

Heat Wave or Outgassing? Thousands of Dead Fish in Minnesota Lakes


Associated Press
Tue, 10 Jul 2012 20:54 UTC
Image

Albert Lea, Minn. - The recent heat wave is blamed for killing thousands of fish in several southern Minnesota lakes.

Most of the lakes are shallow, and thus more susceptible to summer fish kills, and most of the fish were northern pike, which prefer cold water.

Affected waters include Geneva Lake north of Albert Lea, where Department of Natural Resources officials say several thousand northerns probably died, and Fountain Lake in Albert Lea, where hundreds of northerns floated up last weekend.

Jack Lauer, the regional fisheries manager in New Ulm, says he's heard of about 10 to 15 affected lakes. He says populations will recover.

Henry Drewes, the regional fisheries manager for northwestern Minnesota, says some waters around Alexandria have also seen fish kills, including Lake Christina and the Pomme de Terre (pom-duh-TAIR') River.

Comment: Is it the heat, or outgassing from the destabilized planet?

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Bug

Rasberry crazy ants starting to appear in Williamson and Travis counties, Texas

Claire Osborn
Statesman.com
Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:35 UTC
Image
© David J. Phillip/APExterminator Tom Rasberry lets his namesake crazy ants crawl on his arm in 2008. The ants don't bite, but they can cause more trouble than fire ants.

There's a new ant in town, and wherever it goes, fire ants start disappearing. It also doesn't sting or bite. But don't get excited yet. The Rasberry crazy ant which showed up in Travis County and Round Rock this fall swarms into homes by the hundreds of thousands in search of food.

In the Houston area, where the ants are much more prevalent, they have already made some homeowners miserable, said Roger Gold, professor of entomology at Texas A&M University.

"People that have them said they wish they had the fire ants back," he said. "We have pictures of families sweeping them up with brooms where there are piles of ants. ... They can get into AC systems and short them out."

When the ants get electrocuted they produce a pheromone that causes other ants to rush in, Gold said, leading to so many ants in the electrical system that it shorts out. An infestation of the ants temporarily shut down a Pasadena chemical plant, causing a $1 million loss, he said.

"They have huge populations made up of hundreds of thousands to multiple millions," Gold said.
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Bizarro Earth

Close Shark Encounters On U.S. Coasts

Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News
Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:37 UTC
Shar Attack
© YouTubeA great white shark follows a kayaker near Nauset beach in Orleans, Mass.
Great white sharks are making their presence known on both U.S. coasts now, with recent attacks reported in Massachusets, Florida and California.

One of the most dramatic encounters happened Saturday afternoon, when a 12 to 14-foot-long great white was seen following a kayaker. The image, featured in the video below, has since gone viral on the net.

For visitors at Nauset Beach in MA, it was like a scene out of the movie Jaws.

"All of a sudden, we saw this person in a kayak, and we saw a fin 10 feet from it," Lizzy Jenkins told WHDH in Boston. She and others ran onto the beach to get away from the toothy shark.

As they watched in horror, the kayaker kept moving along in a relaxed manner, unaware of what was seemingly stalking him.

"There were hundreds of people on the beach, and they were all at the edge, yelling paddle paddle, paddle!" said Dave Alexander.

Another beachgoer, Haley O'Brien, said, "Everyone was screaming."
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Fish

Great white shark attacks kayak near Santa Cruz, California

Shanna McCord
The Herald - Monterey County
Sat, 07 Jul 2012 21:01 UTC
shark bite marks on kayak
© UnknownA kayak shows the bite marks of a great white shark.
Man knocked into water, uninjured

(US) Pleasure Point - A great white shark, estimated to be up to 18 feet long, sheared through the front end of a kayak floating about a quarter-mile from the popular Eastside surf spot known as Pleasure Point, authorities said.

The attack, which happened about 8:30 a.m. Saturday, is a rare occurrence for the area. No one has reported a shark bite in several decades in the waters around Santa Cruz County, said Sean Van Sommeran of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation.

On Saturday, a 52-year-old Fremont man was fishing from his 13.5-foot kayak when he felt the shark bump up against the back of the boat.

Within seconds, the shark lifted up the kayak and attacked the front, Santa Cruz County sheriff's deputies said.

The man, thrown from the kayak, was unharmed.

He was plucked from the ocean by a boater nearby who had witnessed the incident.

The man was fishing with two friends in about 40 feet of water just outside a kelp bed when the attack happened. The man's friends, in separate kayaks, were not injured.
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Fish

Another sign of the times: Thousands of fish dead in multiple incidents across US

Miguel Llanos
MSNBC
Sat, 07 Jul 2012 14:30 UTC
Image
© J. Miles Cary/Knoxville News Sentinel/APCrews using rakes and an industrial vacuum remove dead fish from Butterfly Lake in Knoxville, Tenn., on Monday. Some 10,000 bluegills died.
In lakes and rivers across parched areas of the U.S., heat and lower water levels are reducing oxygen levels -- and killing fish populations by the thousands.

At one lake in Delaware, up to 6,000 dead gizzard shad and 600 perch were found floating this week.

"Aggravating this summertime problem, increased temperatures lead to warmer water, which holds less dissolved oxygen," state natural resources spokesman John Clark told NBCPhiladelphia.com.

In South Carolina, some 500 fish died at Lake Hartwell.

"It started Sunday afternoon," local resident Brandi Pierce told NBC affiliate WYFF-TV. "We started seeing ten fish popping up out of the water. Then Monday, it was full."

Across South Dakota, fishermen have reported thousands of fish kills in multiple lakes and rivers.

Comment: They're blamed on heat, blamed on cold, yet often these fish kills remain a real mystery...

More dead fish found in Arkansas River
Unprecedented fish kill in St. Johns: Fish kill isn't related to annual cycle
Glen Ellyn resident fears 'fish kill' not natural
Australia: Fish kill remains a mystery
Mysterious fish kill under investigation in Kuwait
Ireland: Big Fish-Kill on Bandon

...Sott.net investigates:

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

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Attention

Meteoric Deja-vu: Exactly one year later, dead blackbirds fall again in Beebe, Arkansas


Boston.com
Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:43 UTC
Blackbirds have fallen dead from the sky in a central Arkansas town for the second New Year's Eve in a row.

KATV showed a radar image that it said showed a large mass over Beebe a few hours before midnight Saturday. The Little Rock television station reported that hundreds of birds had died.

Beebe animal control worker Hearst Taylor told KATV the reason for the bird deaths isn't yet known.

Last year, fireworks were blamed for the deaths of thousands of birds. It wasn't immediately clear if year-end celebrations are again to blame.

Beebe police imposed an impromptu fireworks ban Saturday night.

Biologists said last year's kill was caused by the birds being rousted from their roosts and flying into homes, cars, telephone poles and each other.

Source: Associated Press

Comment: How totally weird is that?!

Sott.net investigates:

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

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Cow Skull

Over 2,000 Dead Birds Wash Ashore on Chilean Beaches

Max Eddy
GeekoSystem
Sat, 12 May 2012 17:31 UTC
Image
© Héctor de Pereda
Several news outlets are reporting that some 2,300 dead sea birds have been found along four miles of beach in Chile. The mass avian die-off has left corpses from Cartagena to Playa de Santo Domingo, and is a no doubt unnerving sight. We really need to stop these mass animal die-offs, they're creeping me out.

According to reports, most of the birds were gray petrels, with some pelicans, gannets and Guanay cormorants as well. Many of the birds were found with broken wings and bruising, suggesting that the birds were caught in fisherman's nets and drowned before being dumped back into the water.

Though fishing nets do kill a certain number of birds per year, it is usually much lower. Jose Luis Britos, the director of the Museum of Natural History of San Antonio, Chile, is quoted as putting the number at around 15 to 20 annually.

While the cause of death seems understood, how so many birds came to die in this manner is still a mystery. One theory blames nearby oil exploration. However, recent bird and dolphin die-offs in Peru have suggested that warming ocean waters could have played a role. Unseasonably warm waters along the Peruvian coast seem to be causing schools of anchovy to seek out the cooler, deeper waters around Chile.

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

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