Animals

Woman dies after being attacked by 3 pit bull terriers in Maryborough, Australia

ABC News (Australia)
Tue, 08 Jun 2021 09:49 UTC

A woman has died after being attacked by three pit bull terriers in Maryborough on Queensland's Fraser Coast this morning.

Emergency services were called to a Milton Road property just after 9:00am following reports of dogs attacking a person.

Acting Inspector Wade Lee said the woman sustained serious injuries to her head, chest and left arm.

The 41-year-old woman was visiting the house when she was mauled by the pit bulls.

She died at the scene.

Dog kills three-month-old baby in County Waterford, Ireland

CIARÁN SUNDERLAND AND OLIVIA KELLEHER
Irish Examiner
Mon, 07 Jun 2021 13:08 UTC

A baby girl has died in the early hours of this morning after a dog attack in Co Waterford.

It is understood the baby was attacked by the dog in her bedroom in the terraced house in Clashmore, near the Co Cork border.

Parademics and gardaí treated the baby at the scene before rushing the infant to Cork University Hospital (CUH).

The three-month-old baby was later pronounced dead at the hospital at around 3.00 am.

Gardaí from Dungarvan, Co Waterford have begun an investigation into the incident and the scene at the house has been preserved for examination.

Unexplained blindness and death of birds in Washington DC puzzles experts

Gustaf Kilander
Independent
Thu, 27 May 2021 12:00 UTC

© Blue Ridge Wildlife Center
Experts are perplexed by an illness afflicting local birds where their eyes crust over and cause other neurological symptoms

An unusual number of birds are suddenly going blind and dying in the area around Washington DC, puzzling wildlife experts.

DC resident Alexandra Dimsdale found a young grackle stumbling around outside her home on Saturday.

After taking it to City Wildlife, a rehabilitation centre in the northwest part of the capital, she told The Washington Post that a member of staff said there was nothing they could do. She learned that the bird probably had some kind of neurological illness, causing it to go blind.

Comment: It remains to be seen what is afflicting the young birds but that it seems to be confined within a particular locality and to certain species and age is notable. In recent years there have been numerous reports of birds suffering due to starvation, illness, as well as mysteriously dying en masse:

Wild elephant herd in China making a mysterious, cross-country march

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
cnet.com
Thu, 03 Jun 2021 13:06 UTC

Not all who wander are lost, J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote. A herd of wild Asian elephants in China might agree with that sentiment. The 15 elephants have been slowly making their way across China for over a year, delighting social media, eating and trampling crops, and causing more than a million dollars worth of damage.

It's not unusual for elephants to ramble outside their habitats, but this wandering herd stands out. Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz, a principal investigator at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, who specializes in elephants, told The New York Times he has "no idea" why these elephants won't settle in one spot.

The elephants started off last March, leaving a nature reserve in Xishuangbanna, and have traveled more than 300 miles (500 kilometers) so far. There were 16 in the group then, but some have turned around, and others have given birth, making the group now down to 15, the Times reports.

Dead whale shark found on Great Barrier Island - first stranding recorded in New Zealand

Vaimoana Tapaleao
New Zealand Herald
Fri, 04 Jun 2021 08:06 UTC

A whale shark found at Great Barrier Island.

A morning stroll on the beach turned into a bit of a spectacle when Zane Broadbelt suddenly spotted what looked to be a stranded whale.

He and his partner, Laura, were walking along the beach at Harataonga, on Great Barrier Island, when they made the discovery on Sunday.

"I just saw a lump in the sand," he told the Herald.

On closer inspection, they realised it was a dead whale shark.

"It was about 6m long and looked like it had been there for about a week.

"I've never seen a whale shark before. It's not something you expect to see around here, especially at this time."

The Department of Conservation confirmed their staff responded to a public sighting of the dead whale shark last Thursday.

It was a significant find as although whale sharks migrate annually to New Zealand waters, this was the first recorded stranding in New Zealand, a DoC spokeswoman said.

Nearly a tenth of all Florida manatees have already died this year

Richard Luscombe
The Guardian
Mon, 31 May 2021 12:03 UTC

A manatee swims in a recovery pool in Tampa, Florida.

Environmental groups in Florida are warning that unusually high numbers of manatee deaths in the first five months of the year, blamed in part on resurgent algal blooms contaminating and destroying food sources, could threaten the long-term future of the species.

The 749 fatalities recorded by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to 21 May surpassed 637 from the whole of 2020, the agency said. The total is on course to exceed the high of 804, set in 2018.

The dying off of substantial areas of seagrass, the favoured food source for the slow-moving aquatic mammals, has caused starvation. The situation has been exacerbated by the recurrence of inland blue-green algal blooms and phytoplankton blooms in Florida waterways.

Offshore, the recent leak and discharge of toxic wastewater into Tampa Bay from the abandoned Piney Point fertilizer plant and the return of the red tide algal menace has poisoned waters. FWC says 12 manatee deaths so far this year were from confirmed or suspected red tide blooms, but the real figure could be far higher because not every dead manatee is necropsied.

Angry elephant rams truck off the road in Kruger National Park, South Africa

Tom Head
The South African
Thu, 03 Jun 2021 10:20 UTC

An elephant wants some living room.

The driver of a bakkie in the Klaserie area of Kruger National Park was stunned into silence earlier this week, after clashing with a furious elephant on a dirt road. Needless to say, the vehicle came off MUCH worse.

During the drive, the bakkie appeared to inadvertently get too close to one of the elephant calves, putting the family on high alert. The clip shows the adult ellie approaching the car and apparently backing away - but this was only to get a good charge lined up. The grey marvel then bounds down the road, ready to deliver a clear message to the motorist.

Woman mauled by bear in Asturias, Spain

Natalia Penza
The Sun (UK)
Tue, 01 Jun 2021 10:02 UTC

© AFP - Getty
Police have launched a search for the animal (which is strongly believed to bear a striking resemblance to the one shown above).

A WOMAN was attacked by a bear during an evening walk with her friends, suffering facial injuries and a broken pelvis.

The 75-year-old was rushed to hospital after the beast clawed her face and tried to drag her away in the Asturias region in northern Spain.

The pensioner, identified only as Carmen, was enjoying an evening stroll with some pals after dinner when the animal appeared suddenly at around 9pm on Sunday.

The bear struck her in the face with one of its front claws after rearing up on its back legs.

According to local reports, the animal tried to drag the woman away before her friends, who were a few feet a head of her, got the bear to desist by shouting at it.

US sees most shark attacks in the world in 2020 - beating Australia and South Africa

Cybele Mayes-Osterman
The Sun (UK)
Mon, 31 May 2021 09:52 UTC

The US had the most shark attacks last year

A RECENT study found that the US experienced the most shark attacks in the world last year, surprisingly beating out Australia and South Africa.

The study by Florida Panhandle found that the US had 46 attacks in 2020, far and away the greatest of any country, with Australia coming in second with 30 attacks and the Bahamas third with just four attacks.

However, the fatality rate of the attacks was just 6.5 percent in the US, while a whopping 30 percent of Australian attacks were fatal.

Additional insights provided by the study include that 95 percent of shark attacks are unprovoked, and are most likely in the afternoon and on a Sunday.

Surprisingly, although the Great White Shark - the iconic species of the Jaws movie series - had the most attacks, its fatality rate was lower than that of the Tiger Shark.

The Great White had 19 attacks with a 31.6 percent fatality rate, while the Tiger's had seven with a 57.1 percent fatality rate.