Animals
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Fish

Shinnecock Bay bluefish mysteriously washing up dead in droves, NY

Lyn Mccabe
longisland.com
Sat, 06 Jul 2013 09:18 UTC
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1,000 to 1,200 pounds of dead bluefish have been hauled in from the Shinnecock Bay, but not other fish species is showing signs of a ...

Shinnecock Bay fishermen have been scratching their heads as to what is happening to the bluefish, which have been washing up dead on the shores since last weekend. Now, the Marine Animal Disease Laboratory at Stony Brook University is stepping in to investigate the unusual die-off of this particular species.

According to Southampton Town trustee Ed Warner, the dead bluefish started turning up last Sunday, June 30. They first were found floating in the center of the bay east of the Shinnecock Reservation in small numbers, but the number of dead fish found rose exponentially. By midway through this week, town trustees had removed 1,000 to 1,200 pounds of dead cocktail bluefish, each weighing between 2 and 4 pounds, Warner said to Newsday.
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Question

Third killer whale found dead off Queensland coast, Australia


ninemsn.com.au
Sat, 06 Jul 2013 08:46 UTC

A third killer whale carcass has been found by wildlife rangers at Fraser Island, off the southern Queensland coast.

The whale was discovered late on Friday in a creek north of Kingfisher Bay on the island by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service staff.

The discovery comes two days after two whales, believed to be a mother and calf, died on Wednesday when their pod became stranded on a sandbar in the Great Sandy Strait which separates the island from the mainland.

It's believed the whale discovered on Friday, which measures seven metres, had been dead for at least 24 hours before its discovery.
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Black Cat

Indonesia: Five men trapped up trees by tigers rescued by animal tamers after five-day ordeal

Adam Withall
The Independent, UK
Mon, 08 Jul 2013 11:50 UTC
Seven Sumatran tigers were angered when the foragers
accidentally trapped a cub, and mauled one man to death
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An animal taming rescue team has saved a group of men who were trapped up trees for five days by an angry family of Sumatran tigers.

Five men were helped down from branches where they had survived on rain water as the endangered animals circled beneath them.

A sixth man was mauled to death. The 28-year-old sought refuge with his companions but, police said, "the branch broke, causing him to fall to the ground".

The group was out on Thursday in the remote, protected Mount Leuser National Park in Indonesia, searching for rare agar wood that can be sold to make incense and perfumes.

While using a trap to catch deer for food, they unwittingly caught a tiger cub instead. This enraged its mother, and caused five more of the animals to join in an attack on the foragers.

From the relative safety of the trees, the men used text messages to ask villagers for help.
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Fish

Record mass fish kill on Gulf Coast

Ashley Rodrigue
wwltv.com
Tue, 02 Jul 2013 10:10 UTC

Biloxi, Miss -- Stingrays, fish, shrimp, eels and crabs, all dead, were spread along beaches on the Mississippi Gulf Coast Tuesday. Officials say it's the second day of a fish kill for the record books.

"According to people at the MDMR, that have been working there for a long time, this extent, stretching as far as it did from the Beau Rivage all the way down to long beach, so from Biloxi to Long Beach, was a large area, and they just haven't seen that large of an area in the past," said Kelly Lucas, chief scientific officer for the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.

A family from Texas, with Mississippi family ties, described the scene yesterday as biblical.

"Last night, we went out at low tide and there was just massive amounts of dead fish and stingrays and shrimp, shrimp 7 to 8 inches long. Never seen anything like that before," said Alicia Aldridge.

"It was a lot. Disturbing," said 18-year-old Kendalyn Aldridge,
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Cow Skull

30-40 sheep found dead in Marion Co. field, Oregon

Carla Castano
koin.com
Mon, 01 Jul 2013 09:56 UTC
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© Marion County Sheriff's OfficeAs many as 40 sheep were found dead at a field in Turner. A cause of death has not been determined, July 1, 2013
Turner, Ore. (KOIN) - Since the 1950s, Eztel Farms has been raising sheep on a 200-acre property near Turner but over the weekend as many as 40 sheep died in their field.

Neighbor Floyd Noel said the dead sheep brought in pests like buzzards and flies, but the stench was the worst part, he said.

His wife called the sheriff's deputies to the farm when she said she heard strange noises and saw some sheep stumbling around and falling at the property on Little Road SE.

The deputies found between 30 and 40 dead sheep on about 80 acres of land, but also noticed more than 200 sheep grazing in the field.

The temperature at the time was in the mid-90s and one deputy noticed a protein-based soy supplement in the field, officials said.

Neighbors said they have long been concerned about the care of the sheep and conditions turned fatal as temperatures climbed into the 90s.
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Attention

Insecticide alters honey bee genes

Larry O'Hanlon
discovery.com
Wed, 03 Jul 2013 11:16 UTC

Honey bees have genes specific to combating toxins that are altered with insecticides.
Steve Ausmus, USDA

Once upon a time all honey bees had to worry about were silly old bears. Now there may be some hard evidence that a new kind of insecticides called neonicotinoids could be weakening and killing bees. And since bees are critical to the production of more than a quarter of our food, new evidence of a danger is

The study, led by Reinhard Stöger of Nottingham University, demonstrated that just 2 parts per billion of the neonicotinoid called imidacloprid had an effect on the workings of some honey bee genes. Genes involved in combating toxins and other functions were affected so that cells basically had to work a lot harder. These kinds of changes are known to shorten the lifespan of fruit flies (the most studied insect in the work) and to reduce the numbers reaching adulthood.
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Binoculars

Birds indicate a planet in peril, but investing in conservation makes economic sense


wildlifeextra.com
Thu, 04 Jul 2013 07:45 UTC
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© IUCN/Greg Davies.Sidamo lark, edging towards extinction.
July 2013. Declines in birds across the globe are providing evidence of a rapid deterioration in the global environment that is affecting all life on earth - including people. However, birds also tell us that saving the planet comes at a relatively small price - an investment that's vital to secure our own future.

These are some of the messages in a new report State of the World's Birds: indicators for our changing world by BirdLife International, an IUCN Red List partner, who gathered last week in Ottawa, Canada to launch the report and unveil their vision for a world rich in biodiversity, where people and nature live in harmony.

Many species slipping towards extinction

The status of the world's birds continues to get worse with many species slipping towards extinction and others in steep decline. Birds are facing threats on many fronts but habitat destruction and degradation, owing to changes in agriculture, as well as direct impacts from invasive species are the major causes. However, birds also provide a lens through which we can view all nature.

"Birds provide an accurate and easy to read environmental barometer that allows us to see clearly the pressures our current way of life are putting on the world's biodiversity", said Dr Leon Bennun, BirdLife's Director of Science, Information and Policy.
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Question

Rare dolphin found stranded in New Zealand


radionz.co.nz
Wed, 26 Jun 2013 07:33 UTC
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© Mike Baird, Wikimedia CommonsRisso's Dolphin
A rare dolphin - the same species as the legendary Pelorus Jack - has been discovered off the remote north-west Nelson coast.

The Risso's dolphin was discovered stranded by five trampers last weekend at Kahurangi Point.

The trampers managed to move the struggling dolphin to a nearby stream but a Department of Conservation ranger who went to inspect it found it dead. The ranger identified it as a Risso's dolphin.

Pelorus Jack became famous more than 100 years ago for accompanying ships in the Cook Strait area.

He met vessels bound for Nelson at Pelorus Sound in the Marlborough Sounds and escorted them as far as the entrance to the treacherous waters of French Pass.

He did this for 24 years and was the first dolphin in the world to be protected by law.

Only 17 Risso's dolphins are recorded to have been found stranded on the New Zealand coast since 1846.
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Bizarro Earth

Whales escape to freedom after stranding


Sky News, Australia
Wed, 03 Jul 2013 20:00 UTC
Stranded Whales
© Sky News, Australia
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) rangers have conducted an aerial survery after seven killer whales became stranded off Queensland's Fraser Island on Wednesday.

The survery showed no signs of any whales being re-stranded. Two of the whales died, reportedly a mother and her calf, around 9am (AEST) on Wednesday.

Rescuers managed to free the surviving five, including two around 5pm (AEST) on the rising tide.

The PWS Acting Regional Director Peter Wright said rangers will continue to monitor a pod of whales that remain deep near Deep Creek.
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Question

Seagulls terrorize British town

Alyssa Danigelis
Discovery News
Wed, 03 Jul 2013 13:23 UTC
Seagull Attacks
© South West News ServiceA resident in Cornwall fends off a seagull. .
The Hitchcock classic The Birds became a little too real in a British seaside town this week. Seagulls there are attacking residents and dive-bombing mail carriers.

Perranporth, a small town on Cornwall's northern coast, has seen its share of angry gulls, but attacks on residents seem to be worse than ever. Seagulls are currently nesting and actively protecting their chicks. Apparently bright colors aggravate the birds, causing them to swoop down and target people's heads.

"In the past five years the seagulls have become more aggressive," 67-year-old resident Eric Hardinge told the South West News Service. "The birds need to be culled."

However, most gulls are protected and require special permitting to target.
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