Animals
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Roses

6-year-old boy killed by dog in Hendersonville, North Carolina

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A 6-year-old boy died after being attacked by a dog Tuesday at a North Carolina home, deputies said.

The incident was reported around 4:15 p.m. near Hendersonville, sister station WYFF reported. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

Henderson County deputies said the dog, which they identified as a pit bull, was so aggressive that they had to shoot and kill the animal before getting to the child.

Emergency officials also had to push down a fence to get to the child, deputies said.


Attention

3 dead sea mammals wash ashore at San Francsico's Ocean Beach

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One man came across a dead sea lion pup, an elephant seal and a dolphin that washed ashore Ocean Beach Monday afternoon.
There was a disturbing sight at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Monday three large marine mammals washed up dead on the beach.

Joey Deruy took his usual walk along Ocean Beach near the Golden Gate Park windmills. At 3 p.m. he came upon a dead sea lion pup but kept walking. A few minutes later, he tripped upon the carcass of what appeared to be a huge elephant seal.

"So many dead animals, it felt really tragic," Deruy said.

Then a bit further down the beach he found a dead dolphin.

"Just so many, a variety of exotic animals dead like that I think is just very peculiar. Where the dolphin was, there was actually more dolphins... still swimming by the one that had died and beached," he said.



Question

Tens of thousands of nesting birds desert colony on Seahorse Key, Florida

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© John RaouxIn this Friday, June 19, 2015 photo, Vic Doig, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist observes empty bird nests in Seahorse Key, off Florida’s Gulf Coast
The din created by thousands of nesting birds is usually the first thing you notice about Seahorse Key, a 150-acre mangrove-covered dune off Florida's Gulf Coast.

But in May, the key fell eerily quiet all at once.

Thousands of little blue herons, roseate spoonbills, snowy egrets, pelicans and other chattering birds were gone. Nests sat empty in trees; eggs broken and scattered on the muddy ground.

"It's a dead zone now," said Vic Doig, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist. "This is where the largest bird colony on the Gulf Coast of Florida used to be."

For decades, Seahorse Key has been a protected way station for myriad bird species. It's part of the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge, which was established in 1929 as a sanctuary for birds devastated by decades of hunting for their colorful plumage. Accessible only by boat, today it's a rare island off Florida not dominated by human activity and development.
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© John RaouxIn this Friday, June 19, 2015 photo, a broken bird egg shell is seen in Seahorse Key, off Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Wolf

Teenage fisherman fights off coyote in Spotswood, New Jersey

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A teen fisherman reported a run-in with a coyote in Spotswood.
A 17-year-old fisherman reported a run-in with a coyote Sunday evening in the borough.

Anthony Bonsante, of South River, was fishing for catfish in a stream of DeVoe Lake, between Domino's Pizza and Immaculate Conception, an area that came highly recommended by his dad, who fished there in his youth.

"As it started to get dark, I lit my lantern," Bonsante said Monday afternoon. "As soon as it really got dark all around me, I heard something walking around. I thought it was something small like a rabbit or something."

But the noise kept coming closer. Bonsante said he picked up his lantern and started to look around.

"I saw two big yellow eyes in the small patch of woods nearby," he said. "I held my lantern up and it started walking towards me. It bowed its head and started to growl at me. It started to circle up on me. I was panicked for a second. I thought, "What do I have to defend myself?' "

He saw a big stick a few feet away and, without turning his back on the animal, he grabbed the stick.

Attention

Bottlenose dolphins seen near Aarhus, Denmark for the first time in 7 decades

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© Gregory Smith/FlickrBottlenose dolphins, shown here near the Galapagos, are rare near Denmark.
The Bay of Aarhus has some new playful and curious inhabitants in the form of a breed of dolphin that hasn't been spotted in more than seven decades.

Bottlenose dolphins are usually a rare sight in the waters surrounding Denmark but in the past week there have been several spotted swimming near the nation's second-largest city, Aarhus.

Rowers and boaters in the Bay of Aarhus have had unusual company over the past week or so. Several Danes have reported that they have seen dolphins swimming in the bay and a handful of videos are starting to circulate around the internet.

Marine biologist Carl Christian Kinze told TV2 Østjylland that the recent sightings of bottlenose dolphins are incredibly rare.

"They haven't been seen in the Bay of Aarhus with certainty for more than 20 years," he said.


Attention

Humpback whale washes up on Danish shore for first time in over 100 years

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© Asger Ladefoged/ScanpixThe whale's remains were brought to the Natural History Museum on Monday.
For the first time in over a century, a humpback whale has washed up on Danish shores. Making the discovery even more interesting is the fact that its cranium had "fallen out".

Something seems to be happening in the waters around Denmark.

Not only are bottlenose dolphins now being found frolicking in the Bay of Aarhus, but now humpback whales seem to have arrived off Danish shores as well.


A five-metre long humpback washed up on a beach near Thy last week, creating a bit of a mystery because the corpse lacked a cranium and the whale's tail had been wrapped in rope.

Researchers from the Natural History Museum of Denmark spent Monday cutting the corpse into manageable-sized chunks for further examination in hopes of clearing up the strange find.

"This is huge. Humpback whales aren't normally seen in Denmark. There are only a few times per year that we need to cut a whale up and last summer it was a couple of sperm whales," the museum's Morten Tange Olsen told BT.

Sheeple

Hay bale-jumping sheep show off woolly acrobatics

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Sheep jumping from bale to bale
A YouTube user shared footage of a talented flock of sheep showing off their acrobatic skills by leaping from hay bale to hay bale.

Karen McKovuson posted a YouTube video showing a trio of sheep on a farm jumping between hay bales in a display of woolly athleticism.

The video is believed to have been filmed in Ireland.


Attention

8th recent shark attack reported along North Carolina coast

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Shark
According to reports a Marine was injured over the weekend in the eighth shark attack along the North Carolina coast so far this season.

WITN-TV says a spokesman for the Naval Hospital at Camp Lejeune said the victim was brought into the hospital Saturday.

The bite happened in Surf City and the victim was treated and released.

WWAY reported that Pender County Emergency Management and Surf City Police received no calls of shark bites in the area, so the location of the incident is unknown.

Seven other people have been attacked by sharks along the North Carolina coast in the past three weeks. The most recent was Wednesday when a 68-year-old man was injured off Ocracoke Island.

Attention

Hippo kills woman in Botswana

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Hippo
Maun police are investigating an incident in which a 56 year old woman was attacked and killed by a hippo at Khwae village on Sunday (July 5).

In an interview with BOPA, Superintendent John Kelebeng of Botswana Police said the woman together with her 32 year-old daughter went to the river to fetch a traditional vegetable, Tswii when she met her fate.

He said the deceased sustained serious injuries on the waist, head and thighs. He said they received a report from a police officer in Khwae who heard someone screaming from the river as he met the daughter running for her life while the mother was attacked.

Superintendent Kelebeng said the deceased was rushed to Letsholathebe Memorial hospital and was certified dead upon arrival. He said the hippo had been killed by wildlife officials.

Source: Botswana Daily News

Red Flag

Skinnydippers in Scotland are caught out when red kites steal their underpants and socks to build their nests

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Surprise!: Baffled skinnydippers were stunned to discover their missing underwear in the nest of a pair of local birds of prey
Skinnydippers at a Scottish beauty spot were left completely stumped when their underwear vanished while they were swimming.

But a gamekeeper at the popular bathing spot near Glen Esk in Angus, Scotland, solved the mystery when he chanced upon the nest of a local pair of red kites.

The birds of prey had stolen the swimmers' underpants and socks to help make their nest .

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Comfy home: Two red kites were discovered in the nest at the Scottish beauty spot, Gannochy Estate
The gamekeeper took photographs of the nest, which had been built with a selection of socks and a pair of navy underpants.

'Our trainee gamekeeper discovered the nest and we rang the RSPB to have them ringed and tagged,' said Dave Clement, head keeper at the Gannochy Estate.

'What was really interesting was to see socks and underwear from a popular swimming spot actually in the nest and the surrounding trees.