Animals
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Escaped snake found in Walthamstow, London temple

Amelia Burr
thisislocallondon.co.uk
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:57 UTC

The snake is being looked after at a specialist centre

The hunt is on for the owner of a snake discovered in a temple.

Master Wang, master of the I-Kuan Tao temple in Orford Road, Walthamstow, spotted the brightly-coloured red corn snake slithering down the stairs on Wednesday.

The red corn snake can grow up to six feet in length and swallow prey such as rats and birds whole.

Master Wang, whose wife suffers from a snake phobia, managed to entice the animal into a plastic bottle, which he pierced with air holes and filled with food before calling the RSPCA.

Mrs Wang has a phobia of snakes, forcing her to stay upstairs all day.

The snake was then taken to a specialist reptile centre where it will live until the owner or a new home is found.

Jasmin Ong, 35, was attending a feng shui class at the temple on Wednesday and identified the snake before putting posters up around the area appealing for information.

"It was a bit of a shock. The temple master's wife is terrified of snakes so she had to stay upstairs all day," she said.

I-Kuan Tao is a non-religious temple which shares teaching from Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, as well as running classes on yoga and feng shui.

If you have any information, call the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.

At least 12 eagles amongst birds killed by hunters in Malta

wildlifeextra.com
Wed, 23 Oct 2013 08:46 UTC

Death toll mounts as eagle massacre continues

Short-toed Eagle in Buskett on Malta

The confirmed body count of eagles shot down by hunters in Malta and Gozo reached 12 in the last few days, after two more of these rare and highly protected birds of prey were killed in front of watching BirdLife Malta volunteers.

Despite the presence of six BirdLife Malta teams and as many ALE (Maltese Environment Police) units in the Buskett area this morning at least one Booted eagle was shot down inside Buskett Gardens as it left its roost this morning. Several others, including Short-toed and Booted eagles, were shot at and many more were seen carrying injuries after last night's shooting spree by hunters in Dingli, Buskett, Girgenti, Siġġiewi and Zebbuġ.

This morning's second confirmed victim was a Short-toed eagle shot down in Gozo.

Researchers alarmed by 'puzzling' changes in resident orcas

The Canadian Press
Thu, 24 Oct 2013 15:27 UTC

© The Canadian PressResearchers from the Vancouver Aquarium say they are puzzled over observed changes in a pod of resident Orcas in the Salish Sea, such the unusual death of seven matriarchs in the past two years and a lack of vocalizations between whales.

A Vancouver Aquarium whale researcher is sounding the alarm over "puzzling" changes observed in the resident killer whale pods that live off the northern coast of B.C. and Alaska.

Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, a senior marine mammal scientist with the aquarium, says he fears changes in the ocean environment are prompting odd behaviour and an unusually high mortality rate, after spending the summer observing the whales aboard a research vessel.

Barrett-Lennard says one resident pod has lost seven matriarchs over the past two years, an unusually high death rate, and he's also noticed a lack of vocalizations from the normally chatty mammals.

Bobcat attacks hunters near Prescott Valley, Arizona, tests positive for rabies

Heidi Dahms Foster
bigbugnews.com
Thu, 24 Oct 2013 13:47 UTC

A bobcat that attacked two quail hunters Thursday afternoon near Prescott Valley has tested positive for rabies, Yavapai County Health officials said Friday afternoon.

Arizona Game and Fish Public Information Officer Zen Mocarski reported that the two hunters suffered multiple injuries when an adult male bobcat attacked them after they stopped to open a gate while hunting near Coyote Springs subdivision.

The men spotted the bobcat under some bushes, and saw it run under their truck. When one of them looked underneath the truck, the bobcat attacked, causing deep lacerations, punctures, and scratches to the man's back, shoulders, arms, and chest, Mocarski said. The man's hunting companion tried to rescue him, and the animal also attacked him, causing less severe injuries. One of the men then shot and killed the bobcat.

The two drove to Yavapai Regional Medical Center with the bobcat. Mocarski said hospital personnel immediately treated both men for exposure to rabies. A Game and Fish wildlife manager picked up the bobcat and took it to the Arizona State Public Health Laboratory for testing. Results released about 4:30 p.m. Friday showed the animal was rabid.

Waiting for the big one: giant oarfish start shock waves in LA

Steve Connor, Tim Walker
The Independent, UK
Thu, 24 Oct 2013 08:46 UTC

'Messenger from the sea god's palace' washed up more than 10 times in year before Japanese tsunami - now two have been found off California

An oarfish washed up on a California beach

Long, slender and snake-like, the giant oarfish is rarely found fewer than 200 metres from the surface of the ocean. Yet in the year leading up to the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, between 10 and 20 of the deep sea creatures washed up dead along the coast of Japan. Ancient Japanese fishermen's lore suggests the oarfish - known as the "messenger from the sea god's palace" - rises to the surface to warn of impending earthquakes.

Which is why people in Southern California are a little nervous at the news that, this month alone, at least two oarfish have been sighted on their beaches without any visible signs of injury or disease, leading to speculation that they were affected by some deep underwater disturbance.

Rachel Grant, a lecturer in animal biology at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, said there might be some truth to the Japanese legend, and she has begun a study to test the idea. "It's theoretically possible because when an earthquake occurs there can be a build-up of pressure in the rocks which can lead to electrostatic charges that cause electrically-charged ions to be released into the water," Dr Grant said. "This can lead to the formation of hydrogen peroxide, which is a toxic compound. The charged ions can also oxidise organic matter which could either kill the fish or force them to leave the deep ocean and rise to the surface."

The disease that killed a million piglets in China has spread to the US, and no one knows why

Heather Timmons
Quartz
Wed, 23 Oct 2013 21:03 UTC

America's pork industry has been gripped by an outbreak of porcine diarrhea since mid-May, the first appearance of the condition in North America. US farmers have reported 768 cases of the disease, known as porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), through the first week of October, which implies that many more thousands of animals could be affected.

Although the disease is not transferable to humans, it has been devastating for the US pork industry. It causes severe "watery diarrhea and vomiting in nursing pigs," according to information from the US's National Pork Board. Almost all the piglets who get the disease die because of it, and farmers are reportedly filling "wheelbarrows of dead piglets."

Now researchers at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech say they've traced the virus back to eastern China's Anhui province. Anhui is one of China's major pig-farming areas, home to companies like the fast-growing Anhui Antai Agricultural Industry Group, which slaughtered 500,000 pigs last year.

Pinpointing the origin of the virus isn't going to provide much reassurance to US farmers. Years after it spread in China, it still hasn't been controlled.

Mass bird die-off: Dozens of dead birds are washing up in Georgian Bay, Canada

youtube
Tue, 22 Oct 2013 13:18 UTC

Scientists are trying to figure out why dozens of dead birds have been washing up on the Georgian Bay shoreline again in recent days. Local residents are concerned over what it might say about the health of the lake.

The waterfront there is a popular place to walk but residents are finding numerous dead birds on the beach. It's something that has happened before.

Faye Ego takes daily walks along the Georgian Bay shoreline at Allenwood Beach. Ego enjoys watching the wildlife, but sometimes she sees more dead birds than live ones. She's concerned about the bay's health.

"To us and to our neighbours and friends it's about what's going on," she says. "Like why are they dying? There has to be a reason for wash ups. And some years you see hundreds and hundreds. But every year you do see some. You look at them they are young you wonder why did it die?"

Over the long weekend dozens of dead ducks and loons washed in along Wasaga Beach. Wardens with the provincial park collected them. The Ministry of Natural Resources has sent some birds away for testing, but botulism poisoning is suspected because of another massive die off of ducks here in the fall two years ago. It was confirmed then that botulism was the culprit.

New flu virus found in Peruvian bats

Rachael Rettner
LiveScience
Wed, 23 Oct 2013 10:02 UTC

A brand new flu virus has been found in Peruvian bats, according to a new study from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The virus, called A/bat/Peru/10, belongs to a family of flu viruses known as influenza A, which mainly infect birds, but can also infect other animals, including people.

Influenza A viruses are named for two proteins on the virus' surface, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N), such as H1N1. Previously, there were 17 known types of H proteins and 10 known types of N proteins.

But the proteins on the surface of A/bat/Peru/10 are so distinct, that the researchers designated it a new virus: H18N11.

Last year, the same group of researchers identified a distinct influenza A virus, H17N10, in fruit bats living in Guatemala.

Undercover video shows 'shocking' cruelty at Alberta chicken farm

Brett Wilkins
Digital Journal
Mon, 21 Oct 2013 17:23 UTC

A leading Canadian animal rights group has released secretly-shot video footage of cruelty and abuse of chickens at two Alberta farms.

Canadian Press reports Mercy For Animals Canada recorded the undercover video footage at Creekside Grove Farms in Spruce Grove and Ku-Ku Farms near Edmonton. The video, which was aired on CTV's W5 program last week, shows hens cruelly crowded into battery cages, where they spend their entire lives, as well as chicks having their heads smashed before being thrown into garbage bags to suffocate to death, often while still conscious. The footage also shows dead hens rotting in cages and chicks covered in feces.

The battery cages shown in the video are considered so inhumane that they have been banned in the entire European Union, New Zealand and the US states of California and Michigan, Mercy For Animals Canada said.

Yachtsman describes horror at 'dead', rubbish strewn Pacific Ocean

Oliver Milman
The Guardian
Mon, 21 Oct 2013 12:32 UTC

Ivan MacFadyen says he was shocked by absence of sea life during his 37,000km voyage between Australia and Japan

An Australian sailor has described parts of the Pacific Ocean as "dead" because of severe overfishing, with his vessel having to repeatedly swerve debris for thousands of kilometres on a journey from Australia to Japan.

Ivan MacFadyen told of his horror at the severe lack of marine life and copious amounts of rubbish witnessed on a yacht race between Melbourne and Osaka. He recently returned from the trip, which he previously completed 10 years ago.

"In 2003, I caught a fish every day," he told Guardian Australia. "Ten years later to the day, sailing almost exactly the same course, I caught nothing. It started to strike me the closer we got to Japan that the ocean was dead.

"Normally when you are sailing a yacht, there are one or two pods of dolphins playing by the boat, or sharks, or turtles or whales. There are usually birds feeding by the boat. But there was none of that. I've been sailing for 35 years and it's only when these things aren't there that you notice them.

MacFadyen said that the lack of ocean life started at the edge of the Great Barrier Reef, describing Queensland waters as "barren" and "unquestionably overfished".

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Good Optics

Animals
S

Escaped snake found in Walthamstow, London temple

At least 12 eagles amongst birds killed by hunters in Malta

Researchers alarmed by 'puzzling' changes in resident orcas

Bobcat attacks hunters near Prescott Valley, Arizona, tests positive for rabies

Waiting for the big one: giant oarfish start shock waves in LA

The disease that killed a million piglets in China has spread to the US, and no one knows why

Mass bird die-off: Dozens of dead birds are washing up in Georgian Bay, Canada

New flu virus found in Peruvian bats

Undercover video shows 'shocking' cruelty at Alberta chicken farm

Yachtsman describes horror at 'dead', rubbish strewn Pacific Ocean

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