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Out Of Place Animals

Trevor the lonely duck



Trevor in his puddle.

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Sad news. RIP Trevor.

Trevor, world's loneliest duck, dies on Pacific island of Niue

Trevor the duck, whose tale of loneliness on the tiny Pacific island nation of Niue made him a local celebrity and captured headlines last year, has died.

He was found dead in the bush after being attacked by dogs, according to a social media page dedicated to the drake.

The mallard is thought to have been blown on to the island during a storm about a year ago. He came to global prominence after an article by the New Zealand Herald that chronicled his life in a roadside puddle due to an absence of wetlands or ponds across Niue.

He was named Trevor, after New Zealand’s parliamentary speaker, Trevor Mallard. “Deepest sympathy to the people of Niue from the parliament of New Zealand,” Mallard posted on social media on Monday.

Rae Findlay, Niue’s chamber of commerce chief, said Trevor’s death would be a loss for the nation. “He captured many hearts and even the rooster, the chicken and the weka were looking a little forlorn today wandering around near the dry puddle,” Findlay told ABC.

The remote Pacific atoll of Niue, a three-and-a-half hour flight from Auckland, has a population of 1,600. Nicknamed the rock of the Pacific, it has no suitable habitats for ducks. Local firefighters topped up Trevor’s puddle after New Zealand’s former high commissioner began feeding him.

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That cage is far too small for the tiger.
 
That is crazy.
Crazy? Hah! The USA has not yet even begun to crazy! The crazy is when someone decides that the situation is unreasonable and tries to get the laws regarding tiger importation and ownership tightened to stop this sort of abuse. My countrymen take their freedom to behave like unspeakable douchebags very seriously. I sometimes think that we need a Statue of License to go with the Statue of Liberty, so the great American people finally get the idea that liberty isn't license.
 
A hoodwinker sunfish in sunny California.

A rare fish thought to live in the southern hemisphere has washed up in Santa Barbara, California.

The appearance of the seven-foot (2.1m) hoodwinker sunfish has baffled scientists, who question how the fish made it so far from its home waters. An intern at the University of California spotted the animal at the Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve. It took researchers several days to properly identify the creature, which was only discovered in 2014. Photos of the giant fish first appeared on the Coal Oil Point Facebook page, and experts from around the world weighed in to help identify the creature.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47424072?ocid=socialflow_twitter

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Passed a dead Wallaby on the Fylde Coast today was going to stop on the way home and take a pic
but it had gone crows were picking at the large amount of blood n snot that was left,99% sure thats
what it was.
 
A hoodwinker sunfish in sunny California.

A rare fish thought to live in the southern hemisphere has washed up in Santa Barbara, California.

The appearance of the seven-foot (2.1m) hoodwinker sunfish has baffled scientists, who question how the fish made it so far from its home waters. An intern at the University of California spotted the animal at the Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve. It took researchers several days to properly identify the creature, which was only discovered in 2014. Photos of the giant fish first appeared on the Coal Oil Point Facebook page, and experts from around the world weighed in to help identify the creature.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47424072?ocid=socialflow_twitter

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Mola Tecta was only 'discovered' (presumably as in discovered to be distinct from the regular ocean sunfish) in 2014. Therefore its distribution might not be fully understood yet.

Actually, it has visited the northern hemisphere before: this big guy was found in the Netherlands in the late 19th century and preserved. After the new species was declared, the museum who keep it re-examined the body and discovered it was actually a Mola Tecta.

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I was wondering if Benny the Beluga was still in the Thames at Gravesend where it's been since July. The closest I've been able to find is this from the Standard, Jan 2019.

Whale still thought to be living in Thames, expert says

The expert turns out to be a man from the Port of London Authority. The last actual sighting seems to be Dec 14.
 
'Not what you expect in Doncaster': suspected piranhas found in UK lake

Gill Gillies, the assistant director of environment at Doncaster council, said given the natural habitat of piranhas, it was “highly unlikely” that either of the fish were alive at any time in the lake.
Gillies added: “We assume that these were pets that were placed in the lake, something that we would strongly discourage people from doing. The presence of a piranha is somewhat of a novelty so they have since been taken away by the Environment Agency for testing.


https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...doncaster-suspected-piranhas-found-in-uk-lake

(Given piranhas like nice warm water... would they survive a chilly Yorkshire lake? Was it, as the person quoted implies, dumped and died soon after?)
 
A father has spoken of his shock after his children found a seven-foot boa constrictor in their garden.

Bruce Baker thought the youngsters were playing a prank when they told him to come and see the 2.1m-long snake. He and a neighbour had to coax the boa constrictor into a plastic box until the Scottish SPCA arrived at his home in the Scottish Borders. Efforts are continuing to try and trace the owner of the stray snake, which was captured in Innerleithen on Sunday. The boa constrictor, which is thought to be an escaped pet, has been taken to the Scottish SPCA rehoming centre in Edinburgh.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-48024280
 
Need for regulation, registration and prosecution of offenders.

The RSPCA rescued more than 4,000 exotic animals from across England and Wales in 2018, it has revealed.

The animal welfare charity said this included 500 snakes, 300 turtles, 145 bearded dragons, five raccoon dogs, four marmosets and a wallaby. Some owners were not properly researching how to keep such species, resulting in animals escaping or being abandoned or neglected, it said. It also said general calls to its 24-hour hotline rose by 13% to 1,175,193.

In one incident, a dead marmoset monkey was found in a street in Edmonton, London in December 2018. And in January 2018, a royal python was found dead in Cwmbran, Wales, with bruising around its mouth. RSPCA inspectors suspected the snake had been beaten before it was abandoned.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48050788
 
Cyprus begins lionfish cull to tackle threat to Mediterranean ecosystem

Normally an Indo-Pacific species, they're spreading & have reached the Med.

“They’re actually very placid,” said Prof Jason Hall-Spencer, a marine biologist, after spearing 16 of the exotic specimens in the space of 40 minutes in the inaugural “lionfish removal derby” off the island’s southern coast. “The problem is they are not part of the natural ecosystem and we are seeing them in plague proportions.”

“I can’t overstate how serious a problem this is for the whole of the Mediterranean,” he said, emphasising the risk of habitat destruction and species extinction. “Lionfish are the most damaging invasive fish we have ever seen. If action isn’t taken there will be lasting environmental and economic damage.”

Lionfish, he said, not only had no natural enemies, laboratory dissections had proved they were also furnished with ferocious appetites. “They eat everything. Culling this invasive species is the only effective way to reduce their numbers and ensure marine-protected areas continue to regenerate.”

scientists believe expansion works to the Suez Canal have also played a role, by enabling the toxic fish to migrate from native habitats in the Red Sea. The canal, which is one of the world’s most important waterways, was widened and deepened to cater for ever-bigger container ships only three years ago.

“That may have saved time and money but to do it without any biosecurity measures in place was mad,” Hall-Spencer said. “The oceans are bleeding invasive and damaging species into the Mediterranean like a cut artery.”

“In all of this there is a silver lining,” he joked. “As firm-fleshed fish they taste absolutely wonderful. There’s definitely a niche market to be had putting lionfish on dinner tables.”
 
Wild boars collide with modern rapid transit systems in Hong Kong

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