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Thu, 30 Sep 2021
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Disgusting: Idaho wildlife official who killed 'whole family of baboons' faces backlash, calls for resignation

baboons
An Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner who shared graphic images of animals he killed in Africa, including a "family of baboons," is facing calls to resign.

Blake Fischer shared photos of his guided hunting trip in Namibia in an email sent to over 100 recipients, prompting a number of former gaming commissioners to respond in disgust and with calls for his resignation.

Fischer and his wife killed at least 14 animals on the trip, including giraffe, leopard, impala, antelope, warthog and an oryx, according to the images shared in the email which was obtained by the Idaho Statesman through a public records request to the governor's office.

The photo causing the most outrage is the one showing Fischer posing with what he described as a "whole family of baboons" killed with a bow and arrow. A baby baboon is shown with blood coming out of its abdomen.

Attention

Three injured after kangaroo attacks family in Queensland

Kangaroo
A woman is seriously injured after trying to protect her husband from a six-foot kangaroo in Australia.

Linda Smith, 64, suffered a collapsed lung, broken ribs, cuts and other internal injuries after the male kangaroo attacked her husband Jim on Saturday evening.

The couple have been feeding kangaroos and wallabies from their home in Millmerran, about 125 miles west of Brisbane, Queensland, to help them survive the region's drought.

Mrs Smith grabbed a broom to fight the six-foot kangaroo off her husband - who suffered cuts and bruises - but the animal knocked the broom out of her hand and turned on her.

She said: "Jim was on the ground and the kangaroo just kept at him.

Doberman

2-year-old mauled to death by family's dog in Alvin, Texas

canine attack
© Angela Antunes / CC by 2.0
A 2-year-old Alvin girl was killed Friday evening by the dog a relative said her family planned to have taken away because it was aggressive.

Brazoria County deputies said the child was left alone in the front yard with the dog, when the family took some bags inside from their shopping trip.

She died at the scene following attempts to revive her. The mixed-breed dog was euthanized, and will be tested for rabies, which is protocol.

No charges have been filed against the parents, with the sheriff's office calling it a tragedy. The family and the toddler have not been identified.


Ladybug

STD-riddled, invasive ladybirds infest British homes, threaten local population

ladybird invasion uk
Swarms of STD-riddled ladybirds are invading homes across Britain.

The bugs, known as Harlequin Ladybirds, are flying in from Asia and North America on mild Autumn winds and seeking cosy hibernation spots in people's homes.

The harlequin ladybird, which have black instead of red wings, was introduced to North America in 1988 and arrived in Britain in summer 2004.

The first sightings were in the southeast of England but since then the bug has spread rapidly up to north of England and west into Wales.

Experts say the foreign invaders actually pose a threat to the domestic species because they carry a sexually-transmitted disease called Laboulbeniales fungal disease.

Residents have reported large clusters of the bugs in their living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms this week.

The creepy-crawlies have been seen clustering around boilers, window frames and smoke detectors as they bed down for winter.

Comment: Invasive ladybirds aren't the only sign that our wildlife is undergoing a drastic shift:


Question

Migrating birds in Minnesota keep crashing into things

Cedar Waxwings
© Minette Layna
Cedar Waxwings
Robins, cedar waxwings and other birds in Gilbert, Minnesota, are flying into windshields, bumping into trees and looking mighty disoriented.

Police there say there's no need to worry -- the birds are just a little drunk.

"It appears some birds are getting a little more 'tipsy' than normal," Gilbert Police Chief Ty Techar wrote this week in a Facebook post.

No, the town's birds aren't downing worm-flavored margaritas. Techar believes their confused state is the result of eating berries that have fermented earlier than usual due to an early frost.


Fish

Thousands of dead fish found floating in Naples, Florida

dead fish in Naples
© Scripps Media, Inc.
Dead fish in Naples
Collier County has deployed a contractor to clean up the large numbers of dead fish that are appearing in the Moorings Bay area, but this fish kill may not be the work of red tide.

City of Naples officials say that the current fish kill could be the result of a bloom of the Cylindrotheca diatom, which can cause fish to die due to low dissolved oxygen waters.


Bug

Supersized mosquitoes besiege North Carolina in wake of Hurricane Florence floods

Psorophora ciliata, gallinippers, hurricane Florence
© Getty
While not known to transmit human disease, the supersize skeeters are quick to mob any mammal they can find, any time, day or night, and deliver a fearsome bite.

Two weeks ago, Hurricane Florence slammed into the Carolinas, unleashing six months of rain in a matter of hours. In inland Cumberland County, the Cape Fear River rose 40 feet1, inundating Fayetteville with the worst flooding the city has seen since 1945. But as the waters receded and citizens returned to their ruined homes, a new plague was just beginning to descend.

Drive through Fayetteville today and you'll pass house after house emptied of belongings, the mud-stained detritus piled high on curbs across the county. But you'll have a hard time seeing the storm's aftermath through the clouds of monstrous, hyperaggressive mosquitoes spattering across your windshield. Twenty-seven counties in North Carolina, including Cumberland, are in the midst of a mega-mosquito outbreak. On September 26, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper ordered $4 million in relief funds to combat invading swarms of the nickel-sized bloodsuckers, known to scientists as Psorophora ciliata and to everyone else as gallinippers.

Fish

Thousands more fish washed up in Cornwall, UK for the fifth time in two weeks

The fish were strewn across the St Ives beach on Sunday, October 7

The fish were strewn across the St Ives beach on Sunday, October 7
Just a day after hundreds of fish were stranded on Gwithian beach, near Hayle, thousands more were washed up on Porthgwidden beach, St Ives, on Sunday night.

This is the fifth time shoals of fish have ended up on West Cornwall shores in recent weeks.

In late September hundreds of mackerel were found stranded on St Ives Harbour Beach and just around the corner on Carbis Bay beach.

A few days later, small fish - believed to be whitebait - were discovered washed up on shore behind the Asda store in Hayle.

Doberman

Las Vegas woman mauled to death by family dog

A Las Vegas woman was mauled to death by her family dog

A Las Vegas woman was mauled to death by her family dog late Monday, Oct. 1, 2018. Her husband posted this picture on Sept. 27 on Facebook. (Facebook)
A Las Vegas man came home from work Monday night to find his wife of 26 years mauled to death by the family's newly adopted dog.

What happened moments before the attack remained unknown Friday. Susan Sweeney, 58, was home alone when their 3-year-old rescue dog attacked her on the 5000 block of River Splash Avenue, said city of Las Vegas spokesman David Riggleman.

The woman's husband, Patrick, arrived home from work shortly before 11:40 p.m. Monday and found her dead in their living room, according to the Metropolitan Police Department and the Clark County coroner's office.

She was declared dead about 1:05 a.m. Tuesday in the home. The coroner's office ruled her death an accident by mauling.

"This is really a mystery because she was home alone," Riggleman said Friday. "I can't even imagine what that poor man thought when he walked in that house."


Doberman

7-month-old baby girl killed by dog in Clearwater, Florida

a pit bull mix named

A pit bull mix named "Lynnie" attacked the baby.
A 7-month-old baby girl is dead, the victim of a vicious dog bite at her grandparent's house.

It happened at a home on Fairwood Avenue in Clearwater.

The family pet, a pit bull mix named "Lynnie" attacked the baby.

Judging by its size, Lynnie doesn't look like a dangerous animal.

But the dog delivered a fatal bite to a 7-month-old girl.

Clearwater Fire Rescue came to the house, shortly after 2 p.m. Friday.

Neighbor Joshua Scott saw the fire trucks and ambulance rush to the scene.