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Out Of Place Animals

Good eating, I suspect, so lets become their predator
 
Too good a thread title to lose it to merging :D

Slightly less impressive (and nicer), but there's a rare species of pied wagtails in this part of deepest darkest Oxfordshire that some eccentric ornithologist released into the wild a century or so ago. They've made their home here without eating their way through the rest of the wildlife and have now gained protected status, along with their habitat... which is the only reason that I can walk to the top of the road and gaze upon rolling cotswold scenery instead of another unlet office block and expensive commuter houses.

Jane.
 
This is my absolute favourite thread title! :yeay:
 
mmmm.....full of crunchy crabness.......

Catch the bloody things and sell em for a profit.

I would, unless they caught me first that is.
3 foot claw span? eek. :eek!!!!:
 
Thank you!

lemonpie said:
This is my absolute favourite thread title! :yeay:
Click to expand...

I am a big fan of the "Weekly World News" with its outrageous headlines. Many of the stories are lifted from the "Fortean Times". It is fun to see what they do with them.

Eddie Clontz, who is responsible for the discovery that Elvis is alive and the invention of Bat Boy died recently. Think of this: "The Economist" ran an obituary on February 21, 2004!

Now that is a successful career in journalism.

Here are some recent headlines quoted by "The Economist":

ARCHEOLOGISTS FIND MIDDLE EARTH IN NEW JERSEY SWAMP!;
SEVEN CONGRESSMEN ARE ZOMBIES!;
TINY TERRORISTS DISGUISED AS GARDEN GNOMES!

I can vouch for these, as I read that issue. And they aren't by any means the wildest things the WWN ever published.

There is a book about the American tabloids with a title based on the famous Dingoes ate my baby! trial from Australia, but I don't recall it at the moment.

As for eating those giant crabs, I imagine that was the point of introducing them all right enough. I have had King Alaska Crab. Yummy! Legs six feet long with as much meat in each of them as a couple of large lobsters.
 
Slightly different but I once saw a dead squirrel hanging by its teeth from electricity wire.

it was there for ages until one day it had gone.

I miss that little bugger...
 
More wolverine reports

Wolverine sightings spread in Michigan

March 4, 2004


BY ERIC SHARP
FREE PRESS OUTDOORS WRITER


The confirmed sighting of a wolverine near Bad Axe last week has been followed by several other sightings of what apparently is the same animal.

And it also has elicited a half-dozen other recent sightings by people in other parts of the state, most of whom never mentioned their experiences for fear of being ridiculed. This raises the possibility that a few of these rare predators might occasionally wander into Michigan from their home territory in northern Ontario.

"My wife, Eileen, and I were walking in the woods near Tahquamenon Falls a couple of years ago when I heard something coming toward us," said Alan Monaco, who lives in Flint.

"I thought it might be a bear, so we sat down on a log and were real quiet, hoping we could get a look at it.

"It came out of the trees about 30, 40 feet away. At first, I thought it was a badger. But the nose was too short and the color was wrong. It saw us and ran off, and I told Eileen, 'Maybe I'm crazy, but I think that was a wolverine.' When we got home, I looked it up on the Internet."

On the Internet, the Monacos saw a picture that confirmed the animal was a wolverine. But the Web site also made it clear that if there had ever been any wolverines in Michigan, they disappeared 200 years before.

"I told Eileen, 'Just forget it. If you tell people we saw a wolverine, they'll treat us like idiots and say we saw a fisher, or maybe a wolf,' " Monaco said. "We didn't need people thinking we were a couple of kooks."

The animal treed and photographed last week in Huron County in the Michigan Thumb was first spotted by brothers Albert and Ervin Depcinski of Cass City, who were hunting coyotes with dogs.

"We were positive what it was, even though none of us had ever seen one," Albert Depcinski said. "A guy from Bad Axe had put his dogs on it, but they didn't want any part of it."

The Depcinskis put two dogs on the animal's tracks and chased it toward where Harold Grifka of Ubly was driving around with his dogs, looking for coyote signs.

The Depcinskis called Grifka on their radio, and he spotted the animal as it came out of the woods and crossed a snowy field.

"I thought it was a gray fox," Grifka said. "Then I put the binoculars on it and thought, 'What the hell is that?' The Depcinskis drove up and told me, 'It's a wolverine.' I thought they were (bleeping) me."

Grifka put two dogs on the animal and let them give chase.

"I was afraid to put more dogs on it," he said. "I knew about the wolverine's reputation, and I was afraid it would turn around and kill them."

A 50-pound wolverine can kill animals five times its size and is considered one of the fiercest animals in North America.

Grifka said: "It was quite an experience. Sure surprised the heck out of me. I guess there are a lot of things out there we don't know about. Like, where did that wolverine come from?"
Click to expand...

http://www.freep.com/news/mich/wolver4_20040304.htm

And on into Minnesota (I think):

Possible Wolverine Sighting in Zumbrota





A possible wolverine sighting in southeastern Minnesota may be the first in the state in over 80 years.

A business in Zumbrota caught the animal on surveillance tape recently.

The DNR says the animal which ran through a car dealership is too big to be a skunk, badger, fisher or a martin.

Wildlife officials say based on the way the animal runs, it's most likely a wolverine.

The car dealer says the animal left large footprints with an imprint of both claws and hair, and did some minor damage to the cars in the lot.

Wolverines are most commonly found in northern Canada and parts of Colorado.
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http://www.kare11.com/news/news-article.asp?NEWS_ID=60380
 
Woman Finds Crocodile on Her Front Porch

Fri Mar 5, 6:07 PM ET

Add Strange News - AP to My Yahoo!

TARENTUM, Pa. - A 3-foot long crocodile was left on a woman's porch with a note saying "please feed me."


The crocodile was discovered Thursday night in a container on the woman's porch and was large enough to seriously hurt a child, said Derron Patterson, an animal control officer for Triangle Pet Animal Control Services of McKees Rocks.

Patterson's group plans to call zoos and rescue groups to try and find a home for the crocodile.

It's the second time in less than a year that his group has had to pick up a large reptile. A 4-foot alligator was found last year in Wilkinsburg.

Patterson said many people will buy reptiles when they're really small, not realizing they will grow to be very large and dangerous.
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040305/ap_on_fe_st/crocodile_find&e=4

Perhaps he hadn't eaten the bit of the note which continued "....small children"?

Emps

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Nazi Raccoons versus Stalinist Crabs: It's WW III!

Here's the http://www.ananova.com version of this story. I liked the title:

Nazi raccoons conquer Europe

Raccoons released by Hermann Goering in Germany in 1934 to "enrich the Reich's fauna" are threatening to succeed where their Nazi benefactors failed by conquering Europe.

They have become so successful that German authorities revealed this week that raccoon numbers are now at record levels - with more than a million in Germany alone.



In neighbouring Austria the first raccoons have also been spotted and info leaflets have been dispatched warning people against feeding or encouraging the North American natives.

Plans are being discussed to employ "raccoon hunters" to try and reduce the scale of the problem and put a bounty on raccoon pelts.

The first pair of raccoons were released at Kassel, in the wooded hill country north of Frankfurt, where there are now 100 raccoons per square kilometre - the same density as North America.

Residential homes in Kassel resemble fortresses with mesh wire covering all openings and spikes defending drainpipes and gutters. Rubbish bins are secured with bungee cords or padlocks.

Kassel has hired an animal control officer whose sole duty is to patrol the streets in search of raccoons and answer residents' appeals for help.

The city has even paid zoologists from a nearby university to tag and study raccoons in a bid to determine the scope of the problem.

"Kassel is definitely the raccoon capital of Europe," says Ulf Hohmann, head of the raccoon study project. "I'd say 50% of the residents here have had close encounters with raccoons, some of them on a repeated or even regular basis.

"Our job is to educate the public about these marvellous animals as we study their true impact on the European environment."
 
Giant Alien Stalinist Crabs Invade Norway

In fact, the title reminds me of the one I created in another thread for the story about Red King Crabs released by Stalin in the 1930's.

I guess social-engineering doesn't stop with house monkeys.

On a more serious note, the Chunnel skeptics seem to have been right. The British Isles should close their borders immediately before they are overwhelmed with Nazi raccoons and Stalinist crabs.

Given the damage that raccoons can do, simply by getting into things, they may be a greater threat than terrorists. And they carry rabies, too.

Other than being an utter nuisance, raccoons are intelligent and winsome little marauders--imagine if you dog had deft little hands, and can be taught to do all the tricks that dogs and cats do, such as open doors, telephone for emergency assistance, and turn your house upside-down.

And don't think you are safe just because you live in an urban tower. I have seen raccoons walking down the street in the urban core as blythe and carefree as pigeons. Unlike pigeons they can reach the lower buttons to operate elevators, and once they get into the stairwells they are has hard to eradicate as crack whores.

They are way up my list of animals likely to survive to replace Homo sapiens. I just wish they weren't such little Nazi bandits.
 
More wolverine sighitngs

Local woman may have spotted wolverine

By Roland Stoy-The Reporter

BUTLER TOWNSHIP -- "Picture a weasel, and most of us can do that, for we have met that little demon of destruction, that small atom of insensate courage, that symbol of slaughter . . . picture that scrap of demonic fury, multiply that mite some fifty times, and you have the likeness of a wolverine," wrote naturalist Ernest Seton in the early 19th century.

Sandra O'Dell, who lives on Annin Road in Butler Township, thought she pictured one Sunday and called The Daily Reporter.

"I was looking out my kitchen window and it came through the yard," said O'Dell. "It was going real fast."

O'Dell said she was not positive it was a wolverine, but said she had never seen anything like it before.

Daughter Ferron Quiggle of Coldwater had been visiting and shortly after the sighting by her mother headed home and encountered the creature on Burbank Road.

"It happened so fast," said Quiggle. "It ran in front of of me and I hit the brakes and it was gone. It was a wolverine or some animal like it."

Wolverines are described as bulky quadrupeds with bushy tails. They have thick dark brown fur with cream to yellow markings on the face, sides and tail, ranging from 26 to 34 inches long, plus a seven- to 10-inch tail and weighing up to 40 pounds.

"It looked like a big rodent," said O'Dell. "It was as big as a dog."

That it was running fast might indicate, according to information on the Internet, it was not a wolverine, since they are described as slow runners.

On Feb. 24, near the small town of Ubly in Michigan's Huron County, near the Detroit area, a wolverine was observed and photographed.

According to the Wolverine Foundation, this was a "rare and historic documentation" of the presence of a wolverine in the state. They also say there is evidence of increasing numbers of wolverines in the Canadian province of Ontario.

Scott Robey of Branch County animal control said Tuesday they have had no reports of wolverines and described the animal as having white stripes and looking similar to a "large skunk."

Neither O'Dell or Quiggle were able to describe the animal they saw in detail.

Robey did speak to the vicious nature of the beast.

"You don't want to mess with it," he said.
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http://www.thedailyreporter.com/articles/2004/03/10/news/news2.txt
 
March 18, 2004


THE WORLD

Crocodile Leads the Hong Kong Government Around by Its Tail

The leadership has been embarrassed by its inability to catch the nonnative reptile.



By Tyler Marshall, Times Staff Writer


HONG KONG — It's been a tough 12 months for the government of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

Hong Kong's leadership has fought disease, faced mass protests and watched its popularity tumble. And then there is the great crocodile caper.

As warm spring weather raises hopes among health officials that the territory may have escaped another outbreak of the pneumonia-like SARS virus, those climbing temperatures are stoking stress levels at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation: The wily Yuen Long crocodile is out there somewhere, and this year, officials had better have more luck catching it.

The stalking has already started.

"We've deployed staff to the site," departmental spokeswoman Susanna Ho said. "Every day, they plot the exact time and place of the sightings. We are preparing."

The crocodile's movements, she said, are passed to a reptile expert named Ho Chin-chiu. He led the latest in a series of sometimes bizarre attempts to capture the animal, first spotted in early November, in a foul-smelling creek running through the Yuen Long industrial enclave in northern Hong Kong.

He gave up in December, vowing to try again once warmer weather lures the creature into the open.

"He'll decide when it's the right time to come back," spokeswoman Ho said.

Just how the elusive croc made it into the heavily polluted waterway remains a mystery. Because crocodiles are not normally found in Hong Kong waters, some speculate that it was dumped there by someone who had bought it, only to find it was getting too big to keep at home.

The smuggling of exotic creatures is a lucrative business in the area. Three men were caught last month in Yuen Long after trying to sell 27 baby crocodiles and some turtle shells to government undercover agents for the equivalent of ,500.

However the croc found its new home, it became an instant celebrity once discovered.

Saturation media coverage of efforts to snare the croc captivated Hong Kongers through late fall and even drew international attention as nightly TV footage showed the beast swimming lazily up and down the tidal creek, oblivious to its growing fame. Local tour operators made the creek a must stop — despite its stench — and families lined the banks on weekends to watch the action.

The hunt has been hard work. First, there was the government's own attempt — a wire cage lowered into the water, baited with a dead chicken and pig entrails. The crocodile swam into the cage — and back out.

Authorities then called in Australian crocodile hunter John Lever, who thrashed around the creek for more than two weeks before he came up empty-handed. Ho was the next to get the official call, but he too abandoned his mission, claiming that cooler weather had turned the croc into a recluse.

Before efforts broke off for the year, even a member of Hong Kong's Legislative Council had volunteered to go after the reptile with local fishermen. The offer was declined, and six weeks after it was first spotted, the Yuen Long crocodile withdrew for the winter.

Tung's critics joked that the spectacle symbolized his government's inability to get anything done, while those close to the chief executive seemed grateful for a lighthearted diversion from the drumbeat of accusations of more serious shortcomings.

Others saw the reptile as a positive omen for the territory. One reader from the territory's leading English-language daily, the South China Morning Post, noted in a letter to the editor that since the beast appeared, the local stock market had jumped and property values had rebounded.

Superstition aside, the government remains determined to catch the croc, mainly because they see it as a public hazard. For locals who live nearby, that capture can't come soon enough.

Chou Mei-ying, a young woman who lives with her family in a shanty only a few hundred yards from the creek, accused the government of not doing enough to resolve the matter.

"Whenever I think of the crocodile growing bigger and bigger, I get frightened," Chou said. "And when it gets bigger, it gets faster."

Chou also complained that tour buses and curiosity seekers had destroyed the area's relative tranquillity, turning the narrow lane leading to the creek into a traffic hazard.

Still, all signs indicate that capturing the crocodile won't be any easier this year. Accounts of those who have seen the animal since it first reappeared last month indicate that it has grown substantially — to more than 6 feet — over the winter. Last year's efforts are likely to have made it more wary of humans and thus harder to approach.

Light from nearby apartment high-rise buildings and the commotion of an expected media circus aren't likely to help.

"I originally thought it was going to be an easy catch, but it proved very hard," Lever said in a telephone interview from his farm in central Queensland, Australia. He said he'd "love to have another go" at capturing the Yuen Long crocodile.

"Every crocodile is catchable," he said. "It's just a question of patience, persistence and technique."
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...mar18,1,7785304.story?coll=la-headlines-world

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It's still evadeing capture and 'crocodie dundee' has given up and gone home in a huff too.

Hunter gives up on HK croc
Hong Kong's fugitive crocodile appears to have won the first round of a long drawn-out attempt to catch it in the marshes close to the border with mainland China.
An Australia hunter, called in to track down the reptile, is heading home after his failure over two weeks to snare the beast.

"I am extremely frustrated and disappointed by the whole thing," John Lever, 61, told the BBC's World Today programme.

"The crocodile's outwitted us all," he said.

A team of Chinese experts is now being recruited to take on the challenge.

The 1.5 metre long animal was first sighted in the territory on 2 November, the first ever crocodile seen there in the wild.

It is believed to be on the run from a mainland crocodile farm, or a home where it was kept as a pet.

Obstacles

Mr Lever was called in after local officials were humiliated by the crocodile calmly evading their traps.

He has fared little better.

"If they do catch the croc, I'll see that I've played a part in that ... and I'll be very happy"
John Lever
Crocodile hunter

The presence of some 600 spectators and 200 journalists had helped thwart his efforts, according to Mr Lever.
"We damn near had it on the first night... I was just about to grab it and the spotlights turned on... the croc took one look at me, and hid," Mr Lever told the BBC's World Today.

( :rofl: )

He said that the marshy terrain had also proved an obstacle, with soupy mud that is impossible to walk through, but an easy swim for the crocodile.

Mr Lever has been training local officials in the art of trapping so that they can take over the hunt.

They will also be joined by two experts from the Chinese mainland.

But Mr Lever was sceptical about their chances.

"They've got no experience in hunting, they're handlers," he said.

But he wished them well.

"If they do catch the croc, I'll see that I've played a part in that .... and I'll be very happy," he said.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3242432.stm

Published: 2003/11/27 09:34:34 GMT

© BBC MMIV
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Traps set for HK croc

A team of Chinese experts are setting net traps in the latest bid to catch Hong Kong's elusive crocodile.

An 11-man team hope to confine the reptile to an area of marshland close to the border with mainland China.

The 1.5 metre-long crocodile has so far managed to elude attempts by Hong Kong officials and an Australian hunter to capture it.

It was first sighted in the territory on 2 November, the first crocodile seen there in the wild.

Team leader He Zhanzhao and a colleague spent two days searching for the crocodile in the swampy suburban creek earlier in the week, but failed to catch sight of it.

They and the rest of the team returned on Sunday to set net traps after the crocodile was briefly spotted in the morning, said co-ordinator Chan Siu-keung.

The wily reptile's continuing escape act has made headlines around the world.

Frustration

Australian hunter John Lever headed home at the end of November after two weeks of failing to snare the beast.


He said the presence of some 600 spectators and 200 journalists had not helped his efforts.

Mr Lever was sceptical about the Chinese team's chances of success. "They've got no experience in hunting, they're handlers," he told the BBC's World Today programme.

The crocodile is believed to be on the run from a mainland crocodile farm, or a home where it was kept as a pet.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3298043.stm

Published: 2003/12/07 10:49:10 GMT

© BBC MMIV
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Piranha let loose in Berlin aquarium petting pool: press

Wed Apr 7, 4:31 AM ET


BERLIN (AFP) - Berlin aquarium staff were startled to find that a carnivorous piranha fish was recently released in the facility's petting pool for children, Germany's most widely read newspaper, Bild, reported.

The piranha, whose teeth can grow up to two centimetres (three quarters of an inch) long, had already begun taking bites out of other fish when it was found and transferred to another aquarium, curator Rainer Kaiser told Bild.

He said the fish was so rapid that staff had to empty the pool, where children can stroke the fish swimming there, to catch it.

Kaiser was puzzled about how the fish came to be there, but said tortoises and other exotic marine life had been found in the past left "by people wanting to get rid of them but who didn't dare flush them down the toilet."

The razor-toothed piranha can grow to up to 60 centimetres (two feet) long and normally lives in the rivers and lakes of South America. It can be freely bought in specialist pet shops in Germany.
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1517&e=9&u=/afp/germany_animals_offbeat

So our expert is saying that someone wanted to get rid of a notororiously aggresive flesh-eating creature so they sneaked it into a kiddy's swimming pool? I would have thought a more likely explanation might be some kind of anti-social loon at work or are we going to be looking for that hyothetical seagull with a taste for piranha.

[edit: Then again would you flush it down the lav if you thought it was going to somehwo come swimming up the U bend, fly out of the water and start chewing on your privates??]

Emps

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Emperor said:
March 18, 2004


THE WORLD

Crocodile Leads the Hong Kong Government Around by Its Tail

The leadership has been embarrassed by its inability to catch the nonnative reptile.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...mar18,1,7785304.story?coll=la-headlines-world
Click to expand...

Cagey croc eludes media glare in Hongkong

http://www.chinaview.cn

2004-04-09 13:41:48


BEIJING, April 9, (Xinhuanet) -- Hong Kong's elusive crocodile has appeared again and, for a brief moment Wednesday, government catchers thought they had snared the reptile, the South China Morning Post reported.

The Yuen Long crocodile, on the run since November, was seen on top of one trap for several minutes. Then a boat full of photographers showed up and scared the creature away. Earlier, it had been seen approaching another trap on the riverbank.

“We were really very upset about the incident,” an Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department official said.

The department called on the media to keep their distance from the crocodile along the banks of the Shan Pui River in Lut Chau, near Fairview Park.

Intense interest in the creature has plagued those trying to catch it since it was first reported in waters just behind the center of Yuen Long in November. Australian crocodile expert John Lever attributed some of the blame for his failure to catch it to a sea of camera flashes and spotlights that erupted from the riverbanks whenever he neared the reptile.

The agriculture department official said there were no plans to try to force the media to comply with the request as this would probably only create more trouble. Instead, he said the department hoped the media would exercise restraint and common sense.
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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-04/09/content_1410492.htm

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Kanzilla

News

Alligators caught by teens

By JOHN RICHMEIER, Times Staff Writer

It's not quite the story of an alligator being flushed down the toilet, but police say a 32-inch alligator found Wednesday in Leavenworth is likely a released pet.

Or at least police believe it's an alligator.

"I can't say if it's an alligator, a caiman or a crocodile or what," said Leavenworth Police Chief Lee Doehring.

Local authorities don't have much experience dealing with alligators.

In his 8 years with Leavenworth Animal Control, kennel attendant Larry Smith said he's seen some pet iguanas but has never dealt with an alligator.

"This is kind of a rarity," he said.

The creature, dubbed "Kanzilla" by officers on the scene, was found by two local teens at about 8 p.m. Wednesday along the Missouri River at Riverfront Park.

Russell Kerns, Lansing, and Richard Chevalier, Leavenworth, were reportedly collecting drift wood along the river bank. Kerns thought he had heard something that sounded similar to a rattlesnake.

He stepped onto a log and something snapped at him. He then saw the alligator, Doehring said.

The two teens captured the creature and used a shoestring to tie its mouth shut. They reported the captured alligator to police. Doehring said police initially wondered if the call was from a crackpot.

After arriving on the scene, police replaced the shoestring with tape.

The creature was placed in a plastic container and transported to Animal Control.

Kept in a plastic tub with water, the alligator was expected to be picked up this morning by the state conservation officer for Leavenworth County.

The tape was removed from around the creature's mouth because Animal Control was told this could help the alligator survive longer.

Doehring said he assumes a local person had obtained the alligator when it was much smaller in size. The creature grew and started to become viscous and unmanageable, so it was turned loose.

The chief said he is unsure how long the cold-blooded alligator would be able to survive in the area this time of year. He said the last few days probably have been warm enough for the creature, but there's a chance low temperatures this time of year could cause problems.
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http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/articles/2004/04/08/news/news02.txt
 
Well this story clearly shows that such animals can get out (with some help) - I love the gator's name but I'm not sure i'd be in a team trying to hunt down a gator called Mr Cranky Pants:

Last Update: Monday, April 12, 2004. 7:25pm (AEST)

Cranky reptile recovered in creek

An alligator stolen from the Australian Reptile Park on the New South Wales central coast over the weekend has been found.

The park's management says they found the 1.2 metre, four-year-old alligator, known as Mr Cranky Pants, in a creek near Umina after receiving a tip-off.

Mr Cranky Pants is the third alligator stolen from the Somersby Park in two years.

It is understood the thieves scaled two barbed wire security fences and climbed into a pit with six alligators before stealing the reptile.

The alligators are worth about ,000 each and are sold on the exotic pet black-market.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1085823.htm

Does that not seem a bit odd? They have climbed two security fences, got into a pool full of gators, grabbed one, presumably climbed back over the two security fences with the gator and then leave the animal in a creek? I suspect its just lack of information in the report but..........

Emps
 
As Adam Spencer said on breakfast this morning, what kind of personality does an alligator have that it gets called "Mr Cranky Pants" as opposed to all the other alligators in the park.
 
anome: It could be ironic and he could be the happiest little gator in town ;)

----------
Anyway stroy which has overtones of those reports of deadly spiders in banana crates, etc. (touched on in Arachnophobia) as it was probably brought in with the plants:

Lowe's Customer Bitten by Rattlesnake

Wed Apr 14, 7:50 PM ET

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. - The large trees section at a Lowe's store looks a lot like a forest, but customers don't expect to see dangerous fauna living in the flora. A customer rummaging through the trees at a Lowe's store here was bitten on the hand by an 18-inch eastern diamondback rattlesnake, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday.

"The gentleman thought he had hit his hand on a thorn but they discovered it was a snakebite," said Chris Ahearn, a spokeswoman for the Mooresville, N.C.-based hardware chain.

A relative shopping with the man Sunday killed the snake, and they brought it with them when the customer was taken to a hospital to ensure proper treatment for the poison, Ahearn said.

A hospital official would not provide information without the man's name. Ahearn would not identify the customer.

The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is not one of the five rattlesnake species native to Oklahoma, said David Walker, naturalist supervisor at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Its natural range is in the Southeast.

The rattler can grow as long as 7 feet and often gives warning bites that deliver no venom.

The snake probably made its way to Broken Arrow with the trees, which were shipped in from Tennessee. Ahearn said she knows of no other similar instances at Lowe's.

Store employees immediately scoured the trees for other animals after the snakebite and found none, Ahearn said.

"We feel like this is an isolated incident, but we are taking it very seriously," she said. "We continue to watch our garden centers for uninvited guests."
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...&u=/ap/20040414/ap_on_fe_st/shopper_snakebite

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Re: Kanzilla

Emperor said:
Alligators caught by teens

By JOHN RICHMEIER, Times Staff Writer

It's not quite the story of an alligator being flushed down the toilet, but police say a 32-inch alligator found Wednesday in Leavenworth is likely a released pet.

Or at least police believe it's an alligator.

"I can't say if it's an alligator, a caiman or a crocodile or what," said Leavenworth Police Chief Lee Doehring.

Local authorities don't have much experience dealing with alligators

http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/articles/2004/04/08/news/news02.txt
Click to expand...

and a followup:

Fate of alligator still unknown

The fate of a 32-inch alligator caught near the boat launch on the banks of the Missouri River April 7 is unknown.

The creature, considered a rarity in the local area, was dubbed "Kanzilla" by police officers at the scene shortly after it was caught by two teens. Fish and Game officials had hoped the young alligator would survive long enough to be properly cared for.

Glenn Cannizzaro, conservation officer with Kansas Wildlife and Parks, was on special assigment this morning and could not be reached for an update.
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http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/articles/2004/04/21/news/news04.txt

Emps
 
Snakehead fish found in Maryland lake

Friday, April 30, 2004 Posted: 0011 GMT (0811 HKT)



WHEATON, Maryland (AP) -- Authorities plan to drain a Maryland lake after an angler caught a Northern snakehead, the same voracious nonnative fish that infested a pond only miles away in 2002.

State officials said the 19-inch fish, an Asian species that can wriggle on land for short distances and eats so many smaller fish it can destroy an ecosystem, was pulled out of Pine Lake in Wheaton Regional Park Monday afternoon.

The lake north of Washington, D.C., feeds a tributary of the Anacostia River, which empties into the Potomac River.

State biologists used electric shocks Tuesday to try to get a rise out of any other snakeheads, but none appeared. Wire mesh was placed over a pipe that leads out of the lake to prevent any others from escaping. Draining of the lake could begin as early as Thursday, officials said.

The caught fish is believed to be about 4 years old, but how long it was in the lake, how it got there and whether it is male or female is not known, said Steve Early, assistant fisheries director for the Department of Natural Resources.

Early said the state does not foresee a serious environmental threat, because only one snakehead was found and it's not spawning season for the fish.

The snakehead was most likely dumped into the lake by its owner, Early said.

In the summer of 2002, snakeheads were found breeding in a private pond in Crofton, about 20 miles east of Wheaton. More than 1,000 juvenile snakeheads and six adults were recovered when state officials poisoned the pond and two others to keep the fish from spreading.

All the Crofton fish were traced to a Maryland man who discarded two fish after buying them live in a New York market.

That episode prompted the state to pass a law allowing the state to inspect private properties for invasive species and take action to contain them.

In 2002, the Department of the Interior banned the import of 28 species of snakehead, including the Northern variety, according to a spokesman.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/04/29/alien.fish.ap/index.html
 
Web posted Thursday, May 6, 2004


Kenai man discovers crawfish in unlikely place

By MATT TUNSETH
Peninsula Clarion

On Wednesday afternoon, a group of Alaska Department of Fish and Game employees waded into a swamp between Fourth and Fifth avenues in Kenai. Armed with fine mesh nets and chest waders, the four state workers scoured the area in search of crawfish, a lobster-like crustacean most people associate more with gumbo than tundra.

You could almost hear zydeco music playing the the background.

The state workers ended up in the swamp after a neighborhood resident reported Tuesday that he'd come across a live crawfish hiding there. Bob Pugh, who lives near the swamp, said Wednesday that he was out walking his dog when he noticed the unusual creature.

"We were just messing around, me and my dog, and that's when we found him," Pugh said.

After grabbing the somewhat lethargic ‹ but very alive ‹ crawfish, Pugh took the animal home and immediately reported his find to Fish and Game. Since crawfish are not native to Alaska, the department was a big skeptical at first.

"At first they didn't believe me," he said.

Once Pugh stopped by Fish and Game's offices between Kenai and Soldotna with his new pet, the biologists' skepticism turned to concern.

According to Tim McKinley, a sportfish biologist with the department, the state is very concerned with the chance that there could be more crawfish crawling around town.

"It's our mission to help preserve, maintain and enhance the fisheries around here, and this definitely doesn't fit with that," he said.

McKinley said after Pugh brought the critter in, biologists immediately went to work trying to figure out what they had on their hands.

"We sent a picture of it to experts in Louisiana and Florida to try and identify it for us," McKinley said.

Pugh, who is originally from Texas, said he's seen plenty of crawfish in his day. But the one he found is not only alive and well, it's also obviously well-fed.

"It looks like a miniature lobster," Pugh said of the 6- to 7-inch crawfish, which Pugh is keeping in an aquarium at his home.

McKinley said he's certain the animal is a crawfish, and the department is now trying to figure out how it got there, and more importantly, if there's more.

"What we're trying to do is see if there's more and kill the ones we find," he said.

If there are more, he said, it could be a potentially serious situation. Since crawfish would have few natural predators in Alaska and are adaptable to a number of environments, it's possible they could establish a foothold in the area.

"Crawfish are really tough critters," McKinley said.

Bob Piorkowski heads the state's invasive species program in Juneau. He said Wednesday that the danger of crawfish moving into Kenai is that they're known to eat just about anything, and could pose a major threat to native wildlife in the area.

"They're incredible vacuum cleaners," Piorkowski said. "They eat everything."

Although crawfish are normally found far south of Alaska, Piorkowski said it's entirely possible that certain types of the animal easily could find the peninsula a comfortable home.

"Some of them can live fairly far north," he said, pointing out that crawfish are known to live as far north as Vermont and Ontario ‹ places with climates similar to the Kenai Peninsula's.

Once crawfish do establish themselves in a system, Piorkowski said they can essentially take over the entire area.

"The biomass of a system can get to as high as 70 to 90 percent (crawfish)," he said.

This is not the first instance of invasive species coming to the peninsula. Fish and Game already maintains an extensive northern pike eradication program to curb the spread of the nonnative predators. So the area is no stranger to unwanted visitors, and in an area like Kenai ‹ which depends on its native salmon populations for tourism, commercial fishing and subsistence ‹ that could mean big trouble.

"It won't be the Kenai we know and love anymore," Piorkowski said.

He said this is not the first time crawfish have been reported in Alaska. Dead crawfish have been spotted in both Kodiak and Anchorage, but this is the first time a live specimen has been captured and brought to the state's attention. Until more are located, however, no one has any idea how widespread the problem is.

Piorkowski said he'd like anyone with any information on crawfish ‹ or any other invasive species in Alaska ‹ to call his toll-free hot line at (877) INVASIVE, or 468-2748.

McKinley said there is a chance that someone simply released a single crawfish into the swamp. If that's the case, he said he hopes whoever is responsible will come forward. Although it's illegal to bring nonnative species into Alaska waters, he said the department isn't so concerned about prosecuting any possible offenders.

"We're way more concerned with finding out what the deal is here," he said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the four Fish and Game employees who scoured the swamp had yet to find any signs of additional crawfish. Although the area is home to a beaver, some sticklebacks and even a few salmon smolt, no crawfish were found during the hunt ‹ which is exactly what everyone was hoping for.

As for the little guy who caused all the commotion, Bob Pugh's pet crawfish is getting comfortable in his new home: an aquarium Pugh set up in his classroom at Kenai Montessori School, where he teaches kids ages 2 to 12.

He's using the new find as a learning opportunity and is having his students do research as part of a class project.

Although Fish and Game would prefer to see any Alaska crawfish killed as soon as possible, this particular crawfish won't end up on anyone's dinner plate. In fact, Pugh said his students already have given the critter a name.

It's Crusty.
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http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/050604/new_050604new001001.shtml
 
Emperor said:
Snakehead fish found in Maryland lake

Friday, April 30, 2004 Posted: 0011 GMT (0811 HKT)



WHEATON, Maryland (AP) -- Authorities plan to drain a Maryland lake after an angler caught a Northern snakehead, the same voracious nonnative fish that infested a pond only miles away in 2002.

...............
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http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/04/29/alien.fish.ap/index.html
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And another:

First Snakehead Caught in Virginia

Updated: Tuesday, May. 11, 2004 - 6:36 AM

MOUNT VERNON -- Another snakefish has been reeled in -- this time in Virginia.

State officials say an angler reeled in that state's first 'frankenfish,' an Asian species known for its voracious appetite and for its ability to wriggle on land.

Robert Hinds Jr. caught the 12-inch fish on Friday in a Potomac River tributary near Mount Vernon.

The snakehead has worried environmental and marine officials in Maryland. Just last week, a pond in Montgomery County was drained after a fisherman snagged a 19-inch snakehead in Wheaton Regional Park.

Virginia fisheries biologist John Odenkirk says his crew spent Monday surveying the area. He says they came up with 25 fish species, but no other northern snakeheads were found.

Odenkirk believes the fish was dumped by someone who no longer wanted to care for it.
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http://www.wtop.com/index.php?sid=203338&nid=25

Odenkirk is also a great name - Odin's Church?

Emps
 
I do hope they are going to punish it when they find it:

Posted on Fri, May. 14, 2004


Something squirrelly just might be monkey

By Susan Schrock

Star-Telegram Staff Writer



ARLINGTON - There's something in the trees in southwest Arlington.

It could be a South American squirrel monkey -- or just a North Texas squirrel.

Animal Services officers scanned the trees on Bonneville Drive near Little Road on Thursday after a boy said he saw a small monkey run across a yard.

Ruthie Lewis, who lives nearby, said the boy pointed out the mystery mammal. "I couldn't believe it. I looked up and I could see the tail and the shape," Lewis said.

Lewis said her daughter heard monkeylike sounds when Animal Services officers shook the tree to get it down.

Animal Services officer Lynn Trotter said she isn't sure what she saw -- the animal was up too high. She said officers will return if there's another sighting.

Squirrel monkeys, which grow up to 14 inches long and weigh about 2 pounds, eat bugs, fruit and nuts.

According to animal services, no one has reported a lost monkey.
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http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/8665906.htm?1c
 
Emperor said:
Web posted Thursday, May 6, 2004


Kenai man discovers crawfish in unlikely place

By MATT TUNSETH
Peninsula Clarion

On Wednesday afternoon, a group of Alaska Department of Fish and Game employees waded into a swamp between Fourth and Fifth avenues in Kenai. Armed with fine mesh nets and chest waders, the four state workers scoured the area in search of crawfish, a lobster-like crustacean most people associate more with gumbo than tundra.
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http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/050604/new_050604new001001.shtml
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Follow up:

Web posted Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Out of the frying pan, into the mire

Well-meaning youth released crawfish into Kenai swamp


By MATT TUNSETH
Peninsula Clarion

The mystery of the Kenai crawfish has been solved ‹ sort of.

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, a crawfish discovered in a Kenai swamp May 4 by a Kenai resident walking his dog was released by a well-intentioned Anchorage girl who wanted to save a couple crustaceans from certain death.

"They let four go in the creek," Fish and Game biologist Tim McKinley said Monday.

The four crawfish were released following a crawfish feed in Kenai earlier this spring. Apparently, a schoolgirl visiting from Anchorage decided it would be better for the crawfish to live in the Kenai swamp than to find its way into a pot of gumbo.

"She wanted to make it have a better life," said Fish and Game assistant area management biologist Larry Marsh.

The department is fairly certain that only four of the animals were released in Kenai. Since only one has been located, McKinley said he's planning to go crawfishing again once the department gets some specialized traps used specifically for crawfish.

"When we get these traps we'll go back out there," he said.

McKinley said he's unsure whether the department will be able to locate the animals. However, he said he's happy to have located the source of the unfamiliar critters.

"It was a real good step for these folks to call us," he said.

As for the little girl believed to be responsible for all the fuss, McKinley said he doubts the state will take any legal action.

"That's more a question for enforcement," he said. "But I doubt anyone would cite a little kid."

As for the original crawfish who started the whole commotion, Bob Pugh ‹ the Kenai man who found it and brought it home earlier this month ‹ said his new pet is doing just fine.

"He's alive and well," Pugh said Monday.

Pugh said he's placed the crawfish in a heated tank and has seen an improvement in its condition.

"I think he's a lot healthier now," he said.

Pugh said "Crusty" seems to be happy and has become more of a bright red color since he was found. His new diet consists of carrots and something he must have gotten a taste for while roaming the wilds of Alaska.

"He likes raw moose meat," Pugh said. "It's about all I can get him to eat."

Now that the crawfish riddle has been solved, it appears as if another unusual creature has popped up in town.

According to Marsh, while the department was trying to figure out how many crawfish invaded Kenai, another invasive species was discovered.

"There's Alaska blackfish in that little tributary stream that goes by the ball field and Pizza Hut (in Kenai)," Marsh said.

Though blackfish are native to the state, Marsh said they are not supposed to be swimming this far south.

"They're not indigenous to Alaska south of the Brooks Range," he said.

Marsh said department employees discovered approximately 20 of the blackfish, which grow to roughly 10 inches in length. Having the new visitors to the area could be a problem if the blackfish spread to other parts of the Kenai.

"They eat (fish) eggs and they eat juvenile fish," Marsh said.

For now, he said the department will monitor the situation and try to determine if the fish pose any kind of threat to native species.
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http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/051804/new_051804new002001.shtml
 
They certainly are moving quickly on the snakehead front:

Virginia Creates Task Force To Deal With Nasty Fish

Tuesday May 18, 2004 2:55pm


Richmond, Va. (AP) - The discovery of four voracious snakehead fish in or near the Potomac River in recent weeks has prompted the state to take action.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has set up what it calls a Snakehead Fish Incident Management Team to deal with issues related to the recent findings.

The snakehead - imported from China - can destroy an ecosystem and live out of water.

The panel includes people from fisheries, wildlife diversity, law enforcement and public information.

Fisheries Division Director Gary Martel has contacted his counterparts in Maryland and D.C., requesting a meeting to coordinate efforts in addressing concerns about snakehead fish.

The latest incident was Saturday, when a fisherman in a bass tournament off the Mason Neck Refuge caught a northern snakehead in the Potomac. It was the third in the Potomac River watershed in little more than a week, and the fourth in less than a month.
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http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0504/147604.html

Montgomery County Bans Live Snakeheads

Tuesday May 18, 2004 7:35pm

Rockville (AP) - Montgomery County (website - news) Executive Douglas Duncan Tuesday signed a temporary ban on the possession, sale and release of live northern snakehead fish in the County.

The regulation is effective for 90 days. It's up to the county council to make the ban permanent. Duncan says the ban fills in gaps in current state law and regulation.

The regulation gives anyone with a northern snakehead a 90-day amnesty period to turn in the fish without penalty to the Montgomery County Humane Society.

But violators will be charged with a Class A violation - that could mean a five hundred dollar fine.

The law doesn't apply to the possession or sale of dead snakeheads meant to be eaten at licensed restaurants.

Four fish have been caught since May 7th - three of them in Virginia and one across the Potomac in Maryland.
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http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0504/147678.html
 
coati of many colours

South Lakeland is being plagued by coatis, a South American carnivorous mammal (according to the dictionary, they're related to raccoons, but are larger).
Last week, the Westmorland Gazette reported that an Alsatian had been attacked and bitten by one of these creatures. No-one knows where they've arrived from, but some fingers are pointing to the Dalton Wildlife Park, which has a dozen or so resident coatis, but apparently they're all accounted for.
I visited the zoo last month, and it did seem like the agile little beggars wouldn't have too much trouble escaping if they put their minds to it...
Bearing in mind that a few years ago a rhino escaped and was ploughing up and down a dual-carriageway before anyone noted its absence, it doesn't take too much to imagine a few coatis going over the wire.
South Lakeland has also had it's fair share of ABC sightings (I should perhaps have checked that thread first...soz). I'll post the link to the Westmorland Gazette which has devoted not a few column inches to these topics. They have to. Nothing else ever happens...:eek:
 
As a kid once I was playing in some sanddunes at Great Yarmouth, when I found a small snake curled up, which quickly went away. At the time I was a bit of a keen naturalist and could readily identify the three kinds of snakes native to the united kingdom (adder, grass snake and smooth snake) and this was none of these.
 
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