January 17, 2015 - EARTH
- The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic
animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and
the appearance of rare creatures.
14 whales and 16 turtles washed up dead in Baja California, Mexico
 |
| Gray whales are 14 and 16 dead sea turtles in BCS.Add caption |
The Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection detected the stranding of 14 gray whales (13 calves and an adult) and 16 sea turtles "prietas" after two separate tours surveillance on the shores of Laguna Scammon, Black Warrior, town of Mulege, Baja California Sur.
Specialists from the Federal Office for the agency and the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas in Baja California Sur, estimated that the death of the whales, which have an advanced state of decomposition, could be due to natural causes.
This, because in this area foster that kind of marine mammal, the calves are commonly lost or are abandoned by the mother, so do not receive adequate nutrition and tend to die, since they consume on average total of 200 liters of breast milk per day.
It should be noted that cetaceans found no rips or injury caused by ships or entanglements that might have caused his death. Also, most of the bodies of these cetaceans are intact and have only two shark bites.
In a second action taken in the area of marshes Scammon Lagoon, Profepa inspectors detected 16 copies of "brown" turtle (Chelonia midas agassizii) in an advanced state of decomposition. The turtles found no rips or wounds on their bodies, although some of these were dismembered by scavengers (mainly coyotes).
- Azteca Noticias. [Translated]
100 cows die after falling through lake ice in South Dakota
 |
Fell through: Mike Carlow (left) and Bob Pille
(right) use a shovel and a prying tool to free a dead cow from the ice
on White Clay Reservoir south of Pine Ridge,
South Dakota on Tuesday.
Last week an estimated 100 of Carlow and his brother Pat's cows wandered
onto the ice, broke through and died |
These
images of drowned cattle are enough to make meat eaters and vegetarians
alike shed a tear over the mistake that caused their mass death.
Last week, about 100 cattle wandered onto a South Dakota reservoir covered in six-inch-thick ice while seeking shelter in a severe windstorm.
Their hunt for rest turned tragic when the ice collapsed under their enormous weight of more than 1,000 pounds.
 |
Loss: Mike Carlow looks over the scene at White
Clay Reservoir. He estimates that he lost $300,000 worth of cattle and
is uncertain how his business is going to recover |
Loss:
Mike Carlow looks over the scene at White Clay Reservoir. He estimates
that he lost $300,000 worth of cattle and is uncertain how his business
is going to recover Most of the cows that fell
through drowned, leaving their owners out hundreds of thousands of
dollars and also heartbroken at the gruesome accident.
Brothers
Mike and Pat Carlow own the herd on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,
and discovered the horrific scene on January 8th during the morning
feeding time.
Pat had a hard time finding the cattle at first,
but then eventually found a group feeding near the reservoir where there
were several floating masses of dark brown.
He was sickened when he realized the masses were his cows, drowned.
Breaking
through: Oglala Sioux Tribe solid waste director Bob Pille uses a
prying tool to break ice on White Clay Reservoir on Tuesday. It's rare
for cows to stray onto frozen over bodies of water
'I've been ranching over 40 years,' Mike told the Casper Star-Tribune, 'and I don't ever remember cattle walking out on ice or falling through.'
The Carlows say that most of the cows that wandered out onto the ice
were prized 2-year-old bred heifers. The older ones apparently knew
better than to walk out onto the ice.
 |
Breaking through: Oglala Sioux Tribe solid waste
director Bob Pille uses a prying tool to break ice on White Clay
Reservoir on Tuesday.
It's rare for cows to stray onto frozen over
bodies of water |
They say the ice was about as thick as a slice of bread, collapsing easily when forced down with 1,100 pounds of cattle.
The Carlows, who are members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, estimate that
the incident cost them $300,000 and they don't know how that's going to
impact their business yet.
'I don't know what the hell is going
to happen,' Mike said, adding that the ranching business 'was starting
to really pay off. Hopefully we can stay in business.
This week the Carlows have been working to extract their dead cows from the body of water, which has been a complicated job. -
Daily Mail.
Pack of Dhol wild dogs kill 7-yr-old girl in India
 |
| Dhol - Indian wild dog. © Tarique Sani |
A seven-year-old girl was mauled and killed by a pack of feral dogs in Bhidiya Rasoolpulpur village on Thursday afternoon.
According to reports, the minor, daughter of a brick kiln worker, was
attacked by the pack while she was on her way home after giving lunch to
her father.
Hearing her cries, villagers and passersby rushed to the spot and tried shooing the pack away but to no avail. The girl, after some time, started bleeding profusely and fell unconscious on the spot.
The
dogs did not leave the spot despite many attempts by the locals. It was
only when some villagers armed with sticks rushed to the place, that
the dogs left.
By then, the girl had already
died due to extensive bleeding and deep injuries, said inspector Bachchu
Singh of Sheshgarh police station.
"This is the first time that such an incident has been reported. Though
the pack inhabits the forest area, it rarely ventures into the village
to attack the locals," said Singh. The girl's body was taken away by her
parents who refused to allow the police to conduct a postmortem and
instead cremated her body quietly.
According to Dr Abhijit
Pawde, veterinary scientist at Indian Veterinary Research Institute
(IVRI) the wild dogs, also known as 'Dhols', start feeding on carcasses
of dead animals lying on the outskirts of villages and usually develop
killer instincts. They are classified as feral dogs. They possess a
strong sense of smell and
can sense whether the person or animal in front of them can withstand the attack. They move in packs and attack.
"In this particular case, it can be assumed that the girl was walking
alone. She was not mentally and physically strong enough to ward off the
group.
These
dogs cannot be categorized with the stray dogs moving around in urban
areas as their behavioural pattern is quite different from them," said Pawde.
However, Mohammad Ehsan, former chief wildlife warden (Uttar Pradesh)
said, "Presence of 'Dhols' - during the last few years - has been
reported mainly from jungles in South India. They have not been sighted
in Bareilly region from a long time.
The incident which has occurred is difficult to understand."
"As per my experience, the group of dogs who attacked and killed the
girl was presumably a group residing on the outskirts of the village and
one or two among them were rabid or rabies affected dogs," Ehsan added.
-
The Times of India.
Woman finds python in her bathroom in Sharon, Pennsylvania
 |
Patrolman Troy Widmyer holds the ball python that
Sharon
police removed from the bathroom of a city resident
early Tuesday
morning. |
Movie
fans might think a snake in an apartment wouldn't have the shock value
of the thriller "Snakes on a Plane." Just don't expect Debbie LaMotte to
agree.
The Sharon woman said she had just answered the call of
nature at about 4 a.m. Tuesday when "something on the floor" she hadn't
noticed on the way into the bathroom caught her attention.
"At
first I thought it was a scarf because it had such a beautiful
pattern," the resident of Riverview Manor said. "I use a cane, so I
reached out to touch it and that's when I saw its head move."
At that point, the 62-year old said, she found she could still move pretty fast and close the door in a hurry if she had to.
"It started poking its nose under the door while I was calling 911,"
LaMotte said, describing the snake she saw as "at least 4 feet long, and
probably longer."
"They (dispatcher) told me to try to keep it
contained until the police got here so I used my cane to do that," said
the retiree who formerly worked in a medical billing office.
Three responding police weren't eager to use their hands to pick up the
snake. One of them told LaMotte it was a constrictor. Police later
identified it as a ball python, a snake that constricts, or squeezes,
prey to kill it before swallowing its meal.
"I gave them my old
lady grabber that I use to reach things in the closet and they used it
to put the snake into a bag," LaMotte said.
She
said she was startled at first but that her heart "really started
racing" because of the shock of seeing a snake that shouldn't have been
on the fifth floor of an apartment. -
The Sharon Herald.
Otters across the world are threatened with extinction says new report
The
International Otter Survival Fund (IOSF) has become increasingly
concerned about the decline of many species of otter in different
countries with many little or no government conservation support.
As
recently as 2012, the Japanese Otter was officially declared extinct,
and of the 13 species across the world, nine are declining in numbers.
In the IUCN Red List, five species are classed as Endangered and two as
Vulnerable, meaning that they are facing a high or very high risk of
extinction in the wild.
The Eurasian otter, the only species
which we have in the UK, is overall classed as Near Threatened, despite
recent rises in UK populations, but in Asia it is believed to be
critically endangered.
Asia forms about 80 per cent of the geographical range of the Eurasian otter.
In
parts of China it is almost extinct and in the Changbaishan Mountain
Reserve numbers went down from 1.2 million in 1975 to just 4 in 2012 - a
decline of over 99 per cent.
There
have been no sightings of the species since the early 1990s in
Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam and most of India. Even in Europe it is declining in some areas.
Conservation of otters depends on creating a greater awareness of their
importance in the ecosystem and demonstrating how vital they are in
wetland habitats, says IOSF. They are the ideal environmental indicator
species - they use both the land and water habitats and so it is
essential that both are in pristine condition.
This is important not just for otters but for all wetland species.
The IOSF is holding a series of training workshop for students, park
rangers and government officials to encourage the next generation of
otter workers to gather reliable data, encourage enforcement of legal
protection and develop effective education/public awareness programmes
within local communities.
The most recent workshop was held in
Bangladesh in December 2014, where there is an urgent need for
conservation as a result of an oil spill in the Sundarbans, home to
Asian small-clawed otters.
In
that region, 350,000 litres of oil were emptied into this pristine
environment killing the small crabs and mudskippers that are prey for
the otters.
Dr Paul Yoxon of IOSF says: "The
Sundabans is a truly wonderful environment with tiger, crocodile, the
rare Ganges and Irrawaddy river dolphins, eagles, kites and egrets.
"The need for conservation has clearly increased with the oil spill and
the increasing human pressure, but until now no-one had been looking at
the otters.
"Now this will change and with the care of the
Bangladeshi people the three species of otter that inhabit this truly
remarkable place will continue to survive.
"There is now a
Bangladesh Otter Network to take things further and encourage more
students to study otters and work on their conservation."
For more information go to
www.otter.org
-
Wild Life Extra.
Coyote conflicts with pets, police and people increase in Westchester, NY
 |
| Officials in New Castle and Greenburgh have issued
warnings about coyotes, and are starting to develop plans and policies
to curtail them. |
Police
and wildlife experts in Westchester and Putnam counties say sightings
of coyotes -- and increasingly aggressive conflicts -- are on the rise.
Dean Renzi, a bow hunter from Yonkers, said, "The population has
definitely grown. I've seen them in just about every location I've
hunted. Both Westchester and Putnam counties have large populations."
Renzi, who hunts deer for food in the area, said, "I've heard (coyote)
packs howling while on (deer) stand, which is a strong indicator that
numbers are flourishing. I think the population has grown, because not
many people hunt, or trap for them."
A
6-year-old Rye girl was attacked in her front yard by a pair of coyotes
in June 2010. She got bites on her shoulder, thigh and ear as well as
scratches on her back. Her mother scared the coyotes off. The girl was
treated and released from a local hospital. Two months earlier, a
10-year-old toy poodle was attacked and killed by coyotes in Rye.
In March 2014, a Rockland County woman had to be vaccinated against
rabies after a coyote stalked and then attacked her dog and her.
Orangetown police killed the coyote which tested positive for rabies.
In November 2014,
Village of Mamaroneck police shot and killed a coyote because it was acting aggressive. No one was attacked or injured, however.
Most recently, officials in New Castle and Greenburgh have issued
warnings about coyotes, and are starting to develop plans and policies
to curtail them.
Residents
of the Crest neighborhood in the town of Greenburgh have complained
about many more cats disappearing in recent months.
Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner said, "Some residents have contacted
me recently to express concern about coyotes on or near their property.
... In recent years there have been more coyote sightings in our town."
The coyote population has been rising 5 to 10 percent annually,
according to state wildlife experts. The most specific solution they
offer is to eliminate a coyote's food source. Don't place dog or cat
food outside. Keep all trash in sealed containers and make it
inaccessible to all wild animals. Finally, clean up any fallen fruit and
bird seed.
"They tend to move more when it's cold, because
they need the calories,'' Renzi said. "They say the best temperature to
hunt them is 20 to 50 degrees." -
The New Rochelle Daily Voice.
Spate of rare deep sea tropical fish found on Norfolk beaches, UK
 |
| The ocean sunfish on Blakeney Point, spotted by Ajay Tegala, coastal ranger for the National Trust on the north Norfolk coast. © Ajay Tegala |
Nature lovers are surprised at a spate of tropical fish sightings on the north Norfolk coast over the New Year period.
Washed up dead ocean sunfish, known as mola mola, have been spotted on
Blakeney Point, Cley and Holkham and Sheringham beaches.
Identified by its distinctive fins, Mola Mola prefer water over 13C - the water around Blakeney Point is around 7C.
The last time this particular fish was spotted on Cley beach and Blakeney Point was two and three years ago, respectively.
A giant sunfish was washed up on Overstrand beach in 2012 and another mola mola was spotted on Sea Palling beach in 2010.
Ajay Tegala, coastal ranger for the National Trust on the north Norfolk
coast, saw the rare fish which was just under one metre long by the
lifeboat house on Blakeney Point this month.
He said: "It was a bit of a surprise because it was the first time I have seen one. It is not something you commonly see.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we see more fish like this because we are getting more species in our waters."
A sunfish was spotted on Sheringham beach before Christmas and another was seen on Cley beach on December 21.
At the start of this year there were sightings on Holkham beach on
January 3, Blakeney beach on January 4 and the Blakeney Point lifeboat
house on January 8.
Christine Pitcher, display supervisor at
Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre, said the fish off north Norfolk could
have been blown off course from warmer waters.
She said: "It
could be down to strong currents or wind. We could have more sightings
of this kind of fish if the waters warm up or currents change.
Mola mola are fairly rare around the UK and especially rare around
north Norfolk because the sea is not warm at this time of year."
Sunfish facts
■ The ocean sunfish is the heaviest known bony fish in the world and has an average adult weight of 1,000kg.
■ The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the world and prefer swimming in open water.
■ Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.
■ They live on a diet consisting mainly of jellyfish.
■ Adult sunfish range from brown to silvery-grey or white, with a
variety of mottled skin patterns. Some of these patterns may be
region-specific.
■ Records show that some sunfish can swim 26km in a day, at a top speed of 3.2km/h. They also swim with ocean currents.
■
Sunfish swim at depths of up to 2,000ft and adults spend a large portion of their lives submerged at depths greater than 660ft.
■ When sunfish spend a long time in water at temperatures of 12C or lower it can lead to disorientation and death.
-
Eastern Daily Press.
 |
The coast of Newcastle, Australia has been the home to a group of sharks over the past seven days, including the
'biggest' shark ever seen off that part of the country. PETER HARRISON/Getty Image |
Several
large sharks, including the "biggest" ever spotted off the Australian
coast have forced the closure of beaches north of Sydney for seven days
in a row.
The huge shark is thought to be more than 16 feet long and weight over 3,700 pounds,
reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
Several sharks have been caught on film chasing dolphins close to the town of Newcastle.
The massive shark has also been spotted in the same area as well.
Peter Withers, Newcastle council's aquatic service coordinator, said: "We've consistently seen the big one every day. Certainly it's the biggest shark we've ever had and it's hung around longer than any other shark."
Last year, five people were killed in shark attacks in Australia, one of the worst years for attacks on record.Authorities,
reported the Times of London, would wait for a 24-hour period without a shark sighting before reopening the beaches. -
NY Daily News.
10,000 fish have died 'due to algae' in Lake Mission Viejo, California, United States
 |
It's a wonderful day for sailing ... and flying, on Lake Mission Viejo, where the Yacht Club opens its season with regatta. Not for fishing, however, as an
outbreak of toxic algae has killed almost all fish at the lake. An estimated 10,000-plus bass, catfish, sunfish and blue gill have died in the past
few months at the man-made recreational lake FILE: MINDY SCHAUER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER |
An outbreak of toxic algae has killed almost all fish at Lake Mission Viejo, a world-class bass fishery.
An
estimated 10,000-plus bass, catfish, sunfish and blue gill have died in
the past few months at the man-made recreational lake, said Kevin
Frabotta, general manager of the Lake Mission Viejo Association, the
homeowners association that owns the lake.
Lake staff discovered
dead fish in early November and lab tests showed they were dying as a
result of a toxin produced by prymnesium parvum, also known as the
golden algae, the HOA website stated. HOA employees have been treating
the lake with algae suppressor and testing water samples twice a week
since then, Frabotta said.
“Our golden algae counts are going down,” Frabotta said last week. “That’s a good thing, but it’s not gone yet.”
Staff
stock Lake Mission Viejo with trout every winter, but the association
has been delaying restocking until the lake condition recovers. They’ve
released about 15 sample trout to test the water, but all died within
two hours, Frabotta said.
The next water sample test result was expected this week, he said. Until then, the association can’t decide its next step.
Surrounded
by homes and condominiums, the 124-acre Lake Mission Viejo opened in
1976. The lake is currently open for all recreational activities,
including fishing, Frabotta said, though there may not be any fish in
the lake. Golden algae toxins have little effect on wildlife and humans,
researchers say, but dead or dying fish should not be eaten.
The
lake became known among bass anglers in 2006 when George Coniglio
caught a 19.7-pound largemouth bass, the 13th largest of all time,
according to the Bassmaster Magazine website.
“I think it’s possible for the bass fishery to come back, but it will take multiple years,” Frabotta said.
Golden
algae were discovered in the United States for the first time in Texas
in 1985. They are primitive plants that produce toxins lethal to fish,
the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department website states.
Golden
algae tend to explode in population during the winter months when the
water is cold, which gives them a competitive edge over the normal green
algae, the website states.
“Usually, when summer comes and the
temperature warms up, they go away,” said Richard Chamberlin, a chemical
biology professor at UC Irvine.
Frabotta said he’s not sure what
brought golden algae to Lake Mission Viejo. The algae may be
transmitted by migratory waterfowl, boats and trailers, researchers say.
-
OC Register.
Thousands (8 TONS) of fish wash up dead along beaches in Sao Paulo, Brazil
Thousands of dead fish are taking the Long Island beaches, tourist town on the southern coast of São Paulo. The carnage occurring since last week, spans 18 kilometers of sand.
The city has collected eight tons of fish only on the beaches of the central region, as informed the press office. The stench bothers tourists seeking the quiet beaches.
The dead fish are examples of corvina, hake, swordfish and even shark pups. The presence of dogs and vultures attracted by the carnage bother residents.
Environmentalists relate the death of the fish to the heavy traffic of fishing boats near the coast. In trawling for catching shrimp, boats rule the fish of little commercial interest that are caught in the net.
Many specimens die and end up being taken to the beach by the tide. The Environmental Police said it would intensify fiscalizaão the fishing activity in the region. -
Diario de Pernambuco. [Translated]
200,000 chickens killed due to avian flu in Okayama, Japan
Public
health workers began a cull of roughly 200,000 chickens Friday morning
at a farm in Okayama Prefecture, western Japan, where an outbreak of
highly pathogenic H5 bird flu was confirmed.
The prefectural government said the cull would take four days, with roughly 50,000 birds killed each day. The dead hens will be incinerated.
Self-Defense Forces personnel and local government staff are taking part in the work.
Authorities have banned farmers moving chickens and eggs at six farms within 3 km of the farm in Kasaoka, and 15 other farms within 10 km have been ordered not to ship their products.
The 21 farms account for nearly 1 million birds in all.
It is the fourth case of avian influenza detected at a poultry operation in Japan this winter.
The previous three cases this winter have resulted in the killing of thousands of chickens, ranging from 4,000 to 42,000 in each case.
Late Thursday night, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered the agricultural ministry and other offices to implement epidemic prevention measures without delay.
The farm ministry said senior vice minister Toshiko Abe will travel to the prefecture to oversee the response.
The hatchery in Kasaoka filed a report to the local livestock health center Thursday morning after it found 28 birds dead from Wednesday.
A preliminary check confirmed infection in four of the dead birds and one live chicken. A further genetic test confirmed that it was the feared virus.
Okayama is the fourth-largest chicken egg producing prefecture nationwide. Its farms have around 10 million birds, figures from last February show.
The latest case comes after bird flu cases at two farms in Miyazaki Prefecture and another in Yamaguchi Prefecture in December.In 2007, Okayama Prefecture culled around 10,000 chickens after a highly pathogenic virus was detected in the city of Takahashi. -
Japan Times.
