Animals
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Bizarro Earth

Ireland: Big Fish-Kill on Bandon

Derek Evans
Irish Times
Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:54 UTC
A significant fish-kill was discovered in the River Bandon in Cork after a member of the public alerted staff of Inland Fisheries Ireland.

More than 350 salmon and trout were found dead over a one-mile stretch of the river. The fish kill included salmon of up to 2.7kg (6lb). Many of the fish were decomposing.

An extensive search revealed no source of pollution and it was concluded that the event that caused the kill had passed by the time investigations began.

Head of fishery operations Dr Greg Forde, said: "During the summer, rivers are particularly vulnerable and factories and farmers must be particularly careful. There have already been three fish kills in the Cork and Kerry area."

Inland Fisheries is calling on the public to be alert to the threat to waters by pollution and to report any instances immediately to local IFI offices or the 24-hour hotline 1890-347424.
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Queensland, Australia: Marine Animal Deaths "Explained"

David Sparkes
The Observer
Wed, 24 Aug 2011 05:00 UTC
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© UnknownDr Scott McAuley said the barra had opaque eyes, red spots and a ragged tail.
New statistics reveal the severity of this year's horrendous run of marine animal deaths.

The dead bodies of 119 turtles have been found in Gladstone Harbour this year.

The figures will do nothing to ease the sense of frustration gripping the region's coast-loving public.

The Observer has received a range of statistics on Gladstone's marine animal deaths from the office of Environment Minister Vicky Darling.

Eight dugongs and five dolphins have also been found dead.

There is still no sign of a list containing specific information, such as locations and dates.

This is despite calls from Gladstone Region Mayor Gail Sellers for every autopsy result to be made public.
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X

Another shark attack reported in Russia's Far East


American Sociological Association
Sat, 27 Aug 2011 10:19 UTC
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© RIA NovostiAnother shark attack reported in Russia's Far East
Rescuers in Russia's Far Eastern region of Primorye are checking a report of another shark attack a day after the swimming ban was lifted, a spokesman for the region's rescue service said on Saturday.

"We received information that a man was attacked by a shark near the town of Slavyanka. The report is currently being verified," the spokesman said.
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Cow

Yvonne the Cow Still on the Run in Germany, but Field of Clues is Found

Helen Pidd
Guardian.co.uk
Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:26 UTC
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© Marc Mueller/EPANot Yvonne. But a bit like her, apparently. And one of the sisterhood, spotted in Miesbach – which is also in Bavaria
Fugitive from slaughterhouse continues to outwit her would-be rescuers, who are battling to prevent hunters shooting the animal

Three months after Yvonne went on the run, the hunt for Germany's most famous fugitive is heating up after a search party discovered a sign of her wanderings - a field littered with cowpats.

Yvonne, a six-year-old dairy cow, escaped from a Bavarian farm in May days before she was due to be slaughtered.

When the local authorities in Mühldorf gave hunters permission to shoot her on sight, animal rights activists waded in.
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Arrow Down

50-Foot Sperm Whale Dies After Beaching in Northern Spain

Harold Heckle
The Associated Press
Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:40 UTC
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© AP Photo/AMBARA dead sperm whale is seen beached in Zarautz, Spain. A marine scientist says the 15 meter (50 feet) sperm whale beached and died on the sands of the northern seaside resort town.
A 50-foot (15-meter) sperm whale died Friday after washing up on a beach in a resort in northern Spain, and it was so big that a tug boat was unable to pull it back out to sea.

The whale was still alive when it was discovered early in the morning stranded on the sands of Zarautz town, but it soon died, said marine scientist Enrique Franco.

The cause of the whale's demise was not known, but Franco said: "It almost certainly came here to die. It's not uncommon for such animals to beach when they are very ill."

Despite its large size, the whale had not yet reached maturity, said Franco, vice president of the Society for the Study and Conservation of Marine Fauna in Spain's Bay of Biscay.
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Info

US: Zoo Animals Sensed DC Quake Minutes Before It Hit

Jeanna Bryner
Live Science
Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:49 UTC
Panda
© Georgia TechWhile many animals at the Smithsonian zoo made alarm calls or ran for cover during the quake, their giant pandas didn't seem to notice. Here, a female giant panda at Zoo Atlanta.
People along the East Coast weren't the only ones to feel the 5.8-magnitude earthquake Tuesday, as zoo animals in Washington, D.C., let it be known they felt the vibrations, zoo officials said.

Some of the animals at the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park even shouted alarm calls or ran up trees seconds before the rest of us felt the shaking.

About 5 to 10 seconds before Tuesday's quake, an orangutan named Kyle and a Western lowland gorilla named Kojo, abandoned their food and climbed to the top of the treelike structure in the Ape House exhibit.

The prequake jitters are not uncommon among animals, with stories and even some science to back them up, suggesting some animals can sense the seismic waves before they do any Earth-shaking.
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Bug

Entomologist Discovers New Wasp Species


PhysOrg
Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:00 UTC
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© Andrew Richards/Bohart Museum of EntomologySide view of wasp.
A warrior wasp? A wasp with jaws longer than its front legs? The new species of wasp that Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, has scientists abuzz.

The jaw-dropping, shiny black wasp appears to be the "Komodo dragon" of the wasp family.

"It's huge. The male measures about two-and-a-half-inches long," Kimsey said. "Its jaws are so large that they wrap up either side of the head when closed. When the jaws are open they are actually longer than the male's front legs. I don't know how it can walk. The females are smaller but still larger than other members of their subfamily, Larrinae."

Kimsey discovered the warrior wasp on the Mekongga Mountains in southeastern Sulawesi on a recent biodiversity expedition funded by a five-year grant from the International Cooperative Biodiversity Group Program.
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Stop

Man mauled to death by polar bear in Russia's Far East


RIA Novosti
Sat, 20 Aug 2011 15:05 UTC
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© WWFMan mauled to death by polar bear in Russia's Far East
A polar bear that mauled a man to death in Russia's Far Eastern region of Chukotka has been shot along with two other bears wandering near a village, a co-chairman of the Committee for Marine Mammals, Andrei Boltunov, said on Saturday.

The mauling occurred late Friday night at Cape Schmidt and police found and killed the three-year-old polar bear that attacked the man, as well as a female polar bear and her 18-month-old cub.

"Three young polar bears appeared near the village several days ago and holed up in an old pig barn. At around 11:00 p.m. local time on Friday, Stanislav Ettuvge (born 1979) was heading to work at a boiler and crossed through a coal storage site when he was attacked by a three-year-old polar bear," Boltunov said.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Dead dolphins, sea lions found on Oxnard beach

Christopher Stolz
Ventura County Star
Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:45 UTC
dead dolphin
© Karen Quincy Loberg/The StarEd Stevenson makes a notation on the findings of Ron Barrett as the two volunteers with Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute investigate the report Friday of several dead dolphins on the beach in Oxnard. Barrett said there were four dead male dolphins and an equal number of sea lions on the beach north of Fifth Street.


California -Teresa Camara and her husband, Keith Flanagan, were walking on the Oxnard beach Thursday evening north of Fifth Street when they came across a grisly scene.

"We were having a really good time, we were with our dog, the sun was setting and the weather was beautiful, and then we came up to the first dead dolphin," she said. "And then we found another one, and we looked up and we realized the beach was kind of scattered with dead dolphins."

On Friday morning, volunteers from the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute found four dead dolphins and four dead sea lions at a site not far from the power plant at Mandalay Beach.
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Stop

Mystery of five shark attacks in a week

Glenda Kwek
Peninsula Weekly
Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:10 UTC
Are humans to blame for attacks? Bo Derek backs bill banning shark-fin trade.

Five shark attacks in a week - all in places where the predators are unusual - have foxed experts.

Some marine scientists said the attacks - on a British honeymooner in the Seychelles and four others in Russia and Puerto Rico - could be a result of warmer waters caused by climate change.

Others believe overfishing or more people swimming may be to blame.

But they all agree science does not yet fully understand the behaviour and movement of sharks.
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