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Day Of The Animals: Tales Of Man Vs Beast (And Man Suffers)

Mystery over duck deaths on the canal:(

A spate of duck deaths on the Lancaster Canal around Garstang is causing concern among the boating and walking community.

It is thought avian botul-ism (sic) could be the cause.

Andrew Willacy, who works at Bridgehouse Marina? in Garstang, said that in the last few weeks staff had seen a high number of dead or dying ducks locally.

He added: “Many people walk along the canal and will have noticed the dead birds. We have learned from talking to customers along the Lancaster Canal that this has been happening, it seems, from around Forton to down to as far as Catforth.”

There are reports that the Lancaster Canal and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal have been particularly hit.

Local vet Alan Pearson,?of Lanes Vets, said his practice had not had any calls about the problem.

However, he added: ?“Avian botulism is more or less a death sentence. It’s an organism related to the tetanus family – clostridium botulinum – and gets into the body and produces poisons or toxins. It gets into the mud at the bottom of canals and rivers.”

The prolonged dry spell means that ducks have probably been foraging for food in such mud and therefore been exposed to infection.

Mr Pearson added that there was not a risk to ?humans unless you ingest or get a cut infected, in which case you should seek prompt medical advice.
http://www.garstangcourier.co.uk/news/m ... -1-6876634
 
CARGO CRABS

US: If passengers on a delayed flight from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina, got a bit crabby, no one could really say they were being too shellfish.

Their flight left LaGuardia Airport half an hour late on Thursday because live crabs got loose in the cargo hold.

US Airways spokeswoman Liz Landau said it’s unclear how the small crustaceans escaped their container or what species they were. She said there were “more than a few” of them.

It’s unknown who was shipping them. The airline carries various cargo shipments, along with passengers’ luggage. Staff swept the crabs out of the hold, and the flight took off.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 90079.html
 
Crabs! On A Plane!!!!!

doesn';t really work :( but then neither did the snakes when stretched from a meme to a film....
 
Frideswide said:
Crabs! On A Plane!!!!!

doesn';t really work :( but then neither did the snakes when stretched from a meme to a film....

Watched Plane Dead last night, great Zombies on a plane.
 
An eager beaver indeed. Reminds me of Homer Simpsons war with the beavers.

USA: A road crew in Washington state has had it with a beaver that persists in building a dam under a bridge.

Crews have removed a beaver dam three times since August. Each time the beaver rebuilds it near Port Orchard, on the west side of Puget Sound, across from Seattle. One was as large as 40ft long and 3ft high.

Kitsap County Roads Superintendent Jacques Dean said he appreciates how industrious the animals are, but the water threatens to undermine bridge abutments.

The county decided to spend $15,000 (€11,917) to hire a beaver trapper.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 90186.html
 
Department of Hysterical Cruelty:

Spanish officials have obtained a court order to kill the dog of a nurse who contracted Ebola.

Despite a total lack of any evidence that dogs can transit the Ebola virus, the usual pattern of half-baked ignorance by public officials continues.

(Remember my post about the gas mask panic? Ebola is NOT transmitted by air. That doesn't stop the troglodytes from proceeding with foolishness.)

Better to kill monkeys(I hate monkeys, anyhow, any excuse to kill 'em is a good one. sez I!!!)

There has been a petition raised on line to save this poor dog. Let us hope it will be heeded.

Bad enough the nurse is sick with this dreadful disease, but then to kill her dog? Infamous! Really, insult added to injury.

I've always known that the world is mostly ruled by half-wits and boobs, and recent developments are bearing me out!

The cheese eating madman of North Korea, a case in point. Perhaps Korea should follow the example of England, when confronted with a dingy king(Edward II) stuck a red hot iron up his fundament and that was that.

They could do a pay-per-view and get the country back on a paying basis.
 
krakenten said:
Department of Hysterical Cruelty:

Spanish officials have obtained a court order to kill the dog of a nurse who contracted Ebola.

Despite a total lack of any evidence that dogs can transit the Ebola virus, the usual pattern of half-baked ignorance by public officials continues.

(Remember my post about the gas mask panic? Ebola is NOT transmitted by air. That doesn't stop the troglodytes from proceeding with foolishness.)

Better to kill monkeys(I hate monkeys, anyhow, any excuse to kill 'em is a good one. sez I!!!)

There has been a petition raised on line to save this poor dog. Let us hope it will be heeded.

Bad enough the nurse is sick with this dreadful disease, but then to kill her dog? Infamous! Really, insult added to injury.

I've always known that the world is mostly ruled by half-wits and boobs, and recent developments are bearing me out!

The cheese eating madman of North Korea, a case in point. Perhaps Korea should follow the example of England, when confronted with a dingy king(Edward II) stuck a red hot iron up his fundament and that was that.

They could do a pay-per-view and get the country back on a paying basis.

Contact your local Spanish Embassy:

London [email protected]

Dublin [email protected].

Washington [email protected]/[email protected]

Canberra [email protected].

Tell them its stupid to kill the dog. Threaten to picket the embassy unless they spare the dog. Tell them you'll organise a tourism boycott.

No time to be diplomatic.
 
The proper thing to do is to observe the dog, and see what happens.

Dogs don't get sick from Ebola, now we should see if they can be vectors.

A dead dog will tell us nothing, a live one can answer questions.

Epidemics bring out the worst in humanity-I've made a casual study of such things. Read Hans Zissner's "Rats, Lice and History" for some backround, and the pure pleasure of a truly wonderful book.

And speaking of, has there been any study on rats carrying the virus? One way for an animall to get the virus is by eating corpses of victims, and rats do love to snack upon the dead.

That could be very bad.

There have been protests about the dog,the poor creature may be spared. With humans dying, it seems foolish to worry about one dog, but our humanity demands no less of us.
 
A dead dog will tell us nothing, a live one can answer questions.

It would indeed be a valuable dog, might even get its own shock-jock show. Couldn't be as barking mad as Rush Limbaugh.
 
Limbaugh is indeed a squirrel.

And a dog can indeed answer questions-such as if the dog can be a carrier or vector. Africa is full of stray and feral dogs, if they can spread Ebola, then they must be put down, sad as it is.

If they cannot, then let them be, and see if there is an effective countermeasure-the problem with hysterical reactions is two fold.

First it wastes time and resources, and time is paramount.

Second, it gives the false impression that the problem is solved. This is even worse, often causing a lapse in vigilance and effective countermeasures.

Ebola has flared before, then gone away. Bubonic plague did the same, there were several plague outbreaks before the Black Death. "The pestilence was mild this year, a minor scourge...."

Conditions are right for a bad one, war and refugees are favorable to pestilence.

Might be a good time for prayer-it may not help, but it can comfort.

We shall see.
 
Runaway pony caught after walking into Cheshire Police station
CCTV captured the unusual moment an adventurous pony walked into a police station before being escorted off the premises
By Mark Molloy
2:49PM BST 09 Oct 2014

A runaway pony is back in its paddock after wandering into a police station.
Officers at Cheshire Police station received a surprise visitor on Monday morning when the animal strolled into reception.
CCTV captured an officer attempting to get the pony off the premises, but the small horse appeared determined to hand itself in.

A force spokesman revealed the pony had escaped from a nearby field and into their headquarters in Winsford before being escorted back.
“We like to ensure a warm welcome to all our guests at HQ and at neigh point did the horse pose a risk to security!" they joked.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... ation.html

A pretty clever pony to find a police station that is manned, these days!
 
Could mean war if the Chinese shoot it.

PUTIN TIGER STRAYS

RUSSIA: A rare Siberian tiger released into the wild by Russian president Vladimir Putin has strayed into China and may be in danger.

Russia has told Chinese forestry officials that the tiger, tagged with a tracking device, was observed in a nature preserve in north-eastern China’s Heilongjiang province, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said.

It said that officials were notifying local farmers and were setting up more than 60 cameras in the hopes of locating the tiger.

The Russian president was photographed in May releasing the 19-month-old cub, named Kuzya, and two other Siberian tigers in a remote part of the Amur region.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 90654.html
 
Yay!

Bird v machine: hawk attacks drone cam – video

A drone equipped with a camera captures its own demise as a hawk attacks the device in mid-air. Drone operator Chris Schmidt was flying his machine at a park in Massachusetts on Wednesday when the red-tailed hawk swooped in for the kill. The bird was not injured (and the machine was unharmed) in the ordeal

http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/ ... rone-video
 
The Spanish have killed that poor dog.\

Imagine how puzzled and betrayed the dog felt? Imagine how sad the poor woman will be-if she lives.

There are dog haters in our world-often when I walk my dog I get grief from people who think that a person with a dog is ripe to be bullied-in my case that's not true, old and feeble as I am, I'll die before someone will hurt my dog, and I don't retaliate. And I will NOT be bullied by anyone.


the ones I get really agitated by are the gazoonies who will become all enraged over somebody else's lawn I reasonably point out that it is none of their damn business, as I call 911 to report harassment.


I can't say I like doing it, but these dips just get bolder if they are not challenged. And violence is not beyond them.

One of the reasons I support camera monitoring of the streets .
 
QUIRKY WORLD ... Yogi never went this far

USA: A hungry black bear thought it had found an easy meal inside an unlocked car in suburban Denver, but after getting the doggie bag left inside, the bear could not get out again and ripped apart the car’s interior.

A photo showed the trapped bear looking frantic in the car in Castle Pines. Wildlife officers eventually freed it.

Bears are common in the area, drawn to berries that are plentiful after a wet year. They need to eat 20,000 calories a day — the equivalent of 38 Big Macs — as they prepare for hibernation. State Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said human food left outside offers a much easier way to get them.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 90861.html
 
Quagga mussel: 'Dangerous' mollusc found near Heathrow Airport

A species of mussel which is threatening to block water supplies to a US city has been found in the UK.
Quagga mussels have been discovered at Wraysbury reservoir, near Heathrow Airport, the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust (WWT) said.
The molluscs form large colonies on hard surfaces and can block pipes and cause flooding, the trust said.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it would take action to tackle the threat.
Some scientists say the mussel poses the maximum risk to the UK environment of any non-native species.

The 4cm (1.5in) bivalves originated in Ukraine and spread across Europe as new canals opened, a WWT spokesman said. They were introduced to the US by ships discharging their ballast in the Great Lakes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Quagga mussels

The species originates from an area around the Black and Caspian seas
Quagga mussels feed on different varieties of algae
There is no effective eradication method once it has been established in a reservoir
The quagga mussel can be hard to distinguish from the zebra mussel, which is already widespread in England and Wales
Quagga and zebra mussels have spread to 29 states in the USA
They are found in the Great Lakes and the Mississippi river basin as well as in artificial channels including in the Chicago area

Sources: Environment Agency and the National Wildlife Federation
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The species is flourishing in Lake Mead, formed by the Hoover dam, and engineers are working to stop them colonising the dam's turbines and blocking the pipes which supply water to Las Vegas, the spokesman said.

Earlier this year a group of scientists at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) identified the quagga mussel as the single greatest threat to the UK's wildlife of any alien species.

Dr Helen Roy, one of the scientists involved in the research, said that, after looking at hundreds of species from all over the world, the quagga mussel was the most likely to arrive and establish itself in the UK and pose a danger to biodversity there.

Sarah Chare, from the Environment Agency, said the quagga mussel affected water quality as well as clogging up pipes.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it would be working to reduce the risks of the quagga mussels spreading any further.
A spokesman said: "It is important that we take action to address the threats posed by invasive non-native species.
"Users of our waterways can help with this by checking their equipment and keeping it clean and dry."

A Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust spokesman said the trusts's London Wetland Centre, downstream from Wraysbury "is the sort of place [where] they'll wreak havoc with the wildlife, if left unchecked".
Jeff Knott, from the WWT, said: "These tiny mussels can be devastating but look so innocuous.
"Quagga mussels are likely to indirectly cause suffering and death for hundreds of thousands of native animals, fish and plants and cost millions of pounds in tax and water bills to protect drinking water supplies."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-29581949

Well, they can't have come from ships' ballast in a reservoir, so I reckon the cheeky buggers stow away in the wheel-wells of airliners, and drop out as the planes come in to land! :twisted:
 
Or they hitch a ride on migrating birds.
 
Wikipedia has the answer to the question which formed, hungrily, on my lips:

"Although quaggas are edible for humans, eating them is not recommended due to the accumulation of toxins, pollutants, and microorganisms within the mussels' bodies."

They would be a bit fiddly to prepare anyway at only 1.5 inches.

As a celebrated murderer of mussels, I am most disappointed. :(
 
Just the headline made me laugh!

British parrot missing for four years returns speaking Spanish
British owner reunited with lost bird only to find he doesn't speak English any more
AP 2:47AM BST 14 Oct 2014

A pet parrot that spoke with a British accent when it disappeared from its home four years ago has been reunited with its owner - and the bird now speaks Spanish.

The reunion was brought about by a Southern California veterinarian who mistook Nigel, an African gray parrot, for her own missing bird.
Teresa Micco tracked Nigel's microchip to Darren Chick, a Briton who lives in Torrance.
"I introduced myself and said, 'Have you lost a bird?'" Micco told the newspaper. "He initially said, 'No.' But he thought I meant recently."

When she verified Chick's name and said she had his African grey parrot, "He looked at me like I was crazy."
He said his bird went missing four years earlier. :shock:

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... anish.html
 
SCOTLAND: A troop of 30 monkeys from Gibraltar have been flown more than 1,000 miles (1,609km) to set up home in Scotland.

The wild Barbary macaques arrived at Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling following a deal with the Gibraltar government to reduce the territory’s monkey population.

Ministers said exporting the macaques was preferred to culling the animals, whose rise in numbers has been causing problems for local residents.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 91566.html
 
A man in a Siberian village was suddenly confronted by a bear apparently looking for food. The man, however, kept his cool and repelled the attack by throwing a computer component at the animal.

The incident happened in a village near the city of Tomsk in Western Siberia, Russia. A local man decided to walk to a dump apparently in search of non-ferrous metals when he suddenly saw a bear, the district’s regional game commissioner told RT.

A medium-sized bear rushed, or maybe just moved, towards the man. But the man kept his head and shouted at the bear, furiously. He picked what was near at hand at the dump – a computer part - and threw it right at the predator. The move evidently confused the bear.

“The bear rushed to one side, the man to the other,” added Sergey Yelnikov who arrived at the scene to investigate the incident and later tracked the animal. ...

http://rt.com/news/197400-russia-siberia-bear-computer/
 
Yeah. That's what I'd do - throw part of a computer at a bear.
 
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