Animals
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Cow Skull

US forces drop dead drug-poison killer mice from helicopters

Lewis Page
The Register
Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:01 UTC
Gloves come off in Pacific jungle conflict

The United States military is waging war in the Pacific on invading jungle snakes - by dropping dead mice stuffed with household headache remedies on them from helicopters.
deadmicehelicopter
© The RegisterIn you go, Fluffy

Stars and Stripes reports on the airborne murine drug-zombie campaign being waged around US bases on the tropical island of Guam. Guam has been plagued since World War II by an invasion of brown tree snakes, which have swarmed through the local jungles eating everything they can catch and wiping out several kinds of bird.

The snakes are thought to have reached Guam aboard military transports, and the US authorities there are concerned that they might travel on by similar means to invade other Pacific islands and devastate more exotic ecosystems. Island life typically has no defence against predators introduced by human activity.
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Attention

Speeding Train Kills Seven Elephants in Eastern India

Manik Banerjee
The Associated Press
Thu, 23 Sep 2010 10:00 UTC
A speeding freight train struck a herd of elephants in a densely forested region in eastern India, killing seven, an official said Thursday.

The herd was crossing the tracks in Banarhat forest in West Bengal state at around midnight Wednesday when the train plowed into it, said Sumita Ghatak, a district forest officer.

"This is the first incident in the state when so many elephants have been killed in a single accident. It is really shocking," Ghatak said.

Outraged wildlife activists said they had complained to railroad authorities many times, asking them to divert trains to other routes or avoid running trains through forests at night.

Animesh Basu, who runs the Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation, said conservationists have been urging railways to instruct drivers to slow down while traveling in forest areas.
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Arrow Down

Peru: Vampire Bats Kill Five Children


The Telegraph, UK
Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:42 UTC
Image
© PhotoLibraryRabid vampire bats have attacked more than 500 people in Peru's Amazon, killing five children
At least five children living in Peru's northern Amazon jungle region have died after being bitten by rabid vampire bats, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

At least five children living in Peru's northern Amazon jungle region have died after being bitten by rabid vampire bats, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

The victims, all aged between five and 10, were members of the Awajun and Wampis communities living in the province of Condorcanqui, 620 miles north of Lima on the border with Ecuador.

Fernando Borjas, a medical doctor with the health directorate in the regional capital Chachapoyas, said that the rabies outbreak has been going on for several months.

Health authorities have sent teams with vaccines to the remote jungle villages, but after a 15 hour river trip they often arrive too late.
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Frog

Three Species of "Extinct" Frogs Rediscovered


Mother Nature Network
Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:06 UTC
Image
© Jos Keilgast/Conservation InternationalHyperolius sankuruensis: Last seen in 1979, a redfrog was rediscovered 186 miles west of where it was first found, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Worldwide search to find 100 frogs that haven't been seen in decades yields results.

A global quest to find several "lost" species of amphibians has rediscovered three species that have not been seen for decades, conservation groups announced.

The so-called Search for the Lost Frogs is attempting to find 100 species of amphibians that had been thought extinct, but that scientists believe may be surviving in small populations.

The three animals that have been rediscovered so far include a Mexican salamander not seen since it was discovered in 1941, a frog from the Ivory Coast (the Mount Nimba Reed Frog) missing since 1967 and another frog from the Democratic Republic of Congo (the Omaniundu Reed Frog) lost since 1979.

"It's pretty extraordinary to think about just how long it has been since these animals were last seen," said search organizer Robin Moore, of Conservation International. "The last time that the Mexican Salamander was seen Glen Miller was one of the world's biggest stars, while the Mount Nimba Reed Frog hasn't been seen since the year the Beatles released Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band and the Omaniundu Reed Frog disappeared the year that Sony sold its first-ever Walkman."
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Bizarro Earth

56 Pilot Whales Die After Stranding on New Zealand Beach


The New York Times
Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:00 UTC
Image
© Getty Images58 pilot whales stranded at nearby Karikari Beach in August.
Wellington, New Zealand -- Only 24 of several dozen pilot whales stranded on a remote northern New Zealand beach survived a stormy first night ashore despite rescuers' desperate efforts to save them, officials said Thursday.

Large waves and strong winds lashed Spirits Bay as rescuers struggled to move survivors above the tide-line. It was the second mass beaching in the region in a month.

''As of this morning, there have been 24 live animals moved out of the tide up onto the beach out of harms' way,'' Department of Conservation spokeswoman Caroline Smith said. ''The weather is terrible up there. We have 20 knot winds and 1.5 to 2 meter (5 to 7 foot) swells, so it is not possible to refloat them at Spirits Bay.''

The 80 animals were spread out over a three-mile (five-kilometer) stretch, Smith said. Officials were planning to use big nets to lift the creatures onto the back of trucks, and move them to more sheltered Rarawa Beach, about an hour south, where they will be refloated.
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Arrow Down

Kuwait loses 90% of coral reefs in the Arab Gulf

Yousef Al-Tatan
Global Arab Network
Sun, 19 Sep 2010 23:22 UTC
Image
© Kuwait Dive Team
Head of the Kuwait Diving Team Walid Al-Fadhel said in a statement to KUNA, "this requires quick action by the competent authorities to find out the real causes, as well as solutions." He also called on frequent goers to these marine natural sites to refrain from any action that may inflict damage in the reefs or kill the creatures co-existing with them.

The comprehensive survey, conducted by the team, included the major locations of coral reefs 50 miles along the shores and 70 km from the southern coast borders, with depths ranging from 1-13 meters.

The combing covered Um Al-Maradim, Kheiran, Ras Al-Zor, Garouh, Um Diera, Teyler, Kubbar and Oraifjan with the result of 90 percent of "bleaching" of the coral reef.

At the begining of noticing this phenomenon, he added, dead fish were found floating on the water surface, or laying between the corals, yet not anymore.

Al-Fadhel said that the team does not know the causes for this disaster, but it is either a natural or human, which requires the competent authorities, whether global or local, to examine and prepare accurate studies. He noted that the diving team proceeded to contact several local and international companies (interested in this matter) and send the necessary reports with some samples of sites affected for study.
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Binoculars

Six Foot Long Snake Discovered in Toilet in Poland


The Telegraph, UK
Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:23 UTC
Image
© Grzegorz Hawalej/Agence France-PresseThe anaconda in quarantine at the zoo
A 73-year-old Polish pensioner was shocked to find a 6.5-foot-long anaconda peering up out of her toilet bowl on Monday in her flat in Wroclaw, south-west Poland, local police said.

"After she raised the lid of the toilet seat, the lady saw a huge snake that wanted to slither out of the toilet bowl.

"She immediately slammed down the toilet lid and called us," Pawel Petrykowski, a Wroclaw police spokesman, told AFP.

"She was certainly very frightened but managed to keep her wits about her," he said.
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USA

Ignorant Woman Shoots, Stabs Half Ton Alligator


The Daily Mail
Sun, 19 Sep 2010 11:44 UTC
Image
© Dan BrownMary Ellen Mara-Christian with the 1,025lb, 13 foot alligator she hooked in Lake Moultrie, South Carolina
She is just 5ft5in tall and weighs a little over 115 pounds.

But when Mary Ellen Mara-Christian spotted a 1,025 pound, 13-feet alligator, she wasn't going to let a little matter like size get in the way.

The 48-year-old embarked on a two-hour, titanic battle with the gigantic creature after sighting it in Lake Moultrie, South Carolina.

She was eventually able to reel it in on a heavy duty fishing pole before shooting it.

But the .22-calibre gun wasn't enough to finish off the monster and she eventually delivered the coup de grace by severing the beast's spinal column with a knife.

Comment: SOTT is speechless.

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Fish

Missing Sailor's Remains Found Inside Giant Shark Caught and Killed Off "Jaws Beach"


The Daily Mail
Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:24 UTC
Image
© The Daily MailThe 12ft tiger shark which was found to contain the body of Judson Newton, 43, who had tried to swim to Jaws Beach in The Bahamas after his boat's engine failed
A boater who disappeared off Jaws Beach - on an island where one of the Jaws movies was filmed - is likely the person whose remains were found in the belly of a shark, police say.

Authorities used fingerprints to identify Judson Newton, although they are still waiting for DNA test results, Assistant Police Commissioner Hulan Hanna said late Tuesday.

It is unclear if the 43-year-old Newton was alive when he was eaten.

Newton went on a boating trip with friends off Jaws Beach on New Providence Island on Aug. 29 and encountered engine trouble. Rescuers who responded to a call for help found three men aboard who said that Newton and a friend jumped into the water to try to swim back to shore. Officials launched a search for them, but neither was found.

On Sept. 4, a local investment banker caught the 12-foot (3.6-meter) tiger shark while on a deep-sea fishing trip and he said a left leg popped out of its mouth as they hauled it in.

When officers with the island's defense force cut the shark open, they found the right leg, two severed arms and a severed torso.
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Bizarro Earth

California's Dolphins Suffer Mystery Skin Lesions


New Scientist
Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:48 UTC
Dolphin Skin Disease
© Mark P. CoterSore skin.
Dolphins in California aren't happy. Some 90 per cent of bottlenose dolphins in Monterey Bay are suffering from an outbreak of skin lesions - and nobody knows why.

Between 2006 and 2008, a team led by Daniela Maldini of Californian research organisation Okeanis found that of 147 identifiable adult dolphins and 42 calves living in the area, 133 adults and 30 calves had skin lesions (AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, DOI: 10.1007/s13280-010-0066-8).

Five different conditions were identified, with the most common being lesions similar to those caused by poxvirus, which affected 142 dolphins. But the cause is not clear. "Our first suspicion immediately falls on contaminants such as pesticides, heavy metals, organochlorines and fire retardants," says Maldini. These pollutants can weaken animals' immune systems and make them more vulnerable to viruses. Maldini was aided by volunteers from international environmental charity Earthwatch.
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