Out Of Place Animals

[Mal_Adjusted]

A new killer to rule the skies

Greets

A new killer to rule the skies

ANGIE BROWN

EXOTIC owls so large they can catch and kill a dog or small deer are being deliberately released into the wild by people who believe they should be introduced into Scotland.

Eagle owls, which grow to almost three feet tall, have been spotted across the country in areas including Edinburgh, Fife, the Borders, Stirling, Argyll, Morayshire and the Black Isle.

Some enthusiasts - those responsible for releasing them - believe the birds used to live in Scotland until they were wiped out by gamekeepers in the 19th Century. Experts say there is no evidence of this. Now ornithologists are concerned the "super-predators" will wipe out many native birds if they continue to be released in Scotland.

David Kelly, the Lothian recorder for the Scottish Ornithology Club, said people were able to release eagle owls because they are easy to breed in captivity and cheap to buy at around £80 each.

"There are people that feel quite strongly that the eagle owl was wiped out from Scotland at the same time the osprey and goshawk were exterminated," he said. "They may have lived here before the ice age more than 15,000 years ago, but the environment was different then.

"I am concerned they think it is a good idea to deliberately release them and am saddened when I see them or receive reports of sightings of them, for example in Balerno in Edinburgh just a few weeks ago.

"These people are misguided and don’t seem to realise that if they spread and increase then they will be very dangerous to our native birds. They even eat other owls.

"You should never take captive birds and release them into the wild as not only is it illegal, but it upsets the native population of birds and animals."

He added that anyone sighting one of the large owls should report it to the authorities.

The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has warned that anyone caught setting the owls free faces a fine of up to £20,000.

Mike Flynn, SSPCA superintendent, said: "I heard an escaped eagle owl some years ago plucked a Yorkshire terrier from a street in Perth, so they can quite easily eat dogs.

"It is a clear offence to intentionally introduce any non-indigenous species into the wild under section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

"The International Union for Conservation and Nature decides whether to give a permit to release birds into the wild. They gave permission for ospreys to be re-introduced because they did use to live here before the gamekeepers wiped them out but I can’t see them giving out a permit to do this with eagle owls, considering the damage they do."

Several varieties of eagle owl have been seen in Scotland including the Central Asian and Eurasian eagle owl - the largest of the owl species. Females can weigh as much as ten pounds and have a 5ft wing span.

Eurasian eagle owls are native to countries such as Russia. The Central Asian eagle owl is native to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and India.

Eagle owls hunt mostly at night. They can catch prey up to the size of foxes and young deer whilst hunting in the wild, but they also feed on rabbits, smaller mammals and birds in captivity. Experts say adult birds can be aggressive.

Keith Morton, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds’ species protection officer, said: "These birds are cheap to buy and easy to get hold of and there are quite a few now living wild in Scotland.

"They can easily grab a cat without too much trouble and are known to predate on peregrines at night on the nest.

"They don’t belong here and there is no evidence of them living here in the post-glacial period. However, there is still this debate going, that they did live here, among some people. I would urge anyone who knows of anyone releasing eagle owls to contact me."

Duncan Orr-Ewing, RSPB head of policy, said: "They are very adaptable when released into the wild because they have quite a cosmopolitan diet, feeding on small deer or dogs and their favourite prey being hedgehogs.

"They shouldn’t be released here."

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=91772005

mal

 

[Leaferne]

From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Mon, January 24, 2005

Snake in the snow
Boa was alive on roof, says man who found it
By DAVID SCHMEICHEL, STAFF REPORTER

Everyone's heard about snakes in the grass, but how about one in the snow? Or on the roof?

Fort Rouge resident Jason Works encountered just that Friday afternoon, while clearing snow off the roof of his Lorette Avenue home.

There, after turning over a deep drift, Works found himself face-to-scaly-face with a six-foot red-tailed boa constrictor.

COILED UP

"I just about s--- my pants," Works said of his reaction to the roof-bound reptile. "I'm a good Canadian, and we just don't have this kind of (stuff) here. I mean, I've seen garter snakes before, but they were three inches long, not six feet."

Works' first instinct was to knock the snake off his roof into a snow bank below, then call his wife to check out the find.

The snake was coiled up when he first uncovered it, but began uncoiling itself after being knocked down, leading Works to believe it was still alive.

He and his wife quickly called the Winnipeg Humane Society, which sent someone to retrieve the animal. Works said he was later informed the snake had died from exposure, although it's still unclear whether that happened before or after the animal was taken from his yard.

Humane society officials didn't return calls for comment yesterday, and Works himself said he's at a loss to figure out how the snake reached his roof.

"The only thing I can think of is we used to have a lot of squirrels up there," he said. "I don't know if it went up there after a meal or what."

Local snake expert Vern Ruml said he recognized the snake as a boa constrictor right away, but was also unable to explain how it made it on to Works' roof.

"All I can do with the information I have is speculate," said Ruml, of Ruml's Reptiles. "Maybe it got to the roof itself, maybe someone tossed it up there dead or alive."

Whatever the case, Ruml said yesterday he'd be very surprised to learn the snake was still alive when Works found it, despite the "uncoiling" witnessed when it was knocked from the roof to the ground.

"Mobility for a boa constrictor in freezing winter weather is next to nil, if at all," he said. "Death would occur in a matter of minutes and exposure of a dead animal to warm or hot weather would eventually lead to a decay process."

Works' discovery marks the second time in recent months that an exotic snake has made an unexpected -- and unexplained -- appearance in Manitoba.

Late last October, residents of Thompson discovered a 15-foot python at the side of a highway in the southern-most end of town.

Thompson's animal control officers originally believed the snake was a boa constrictor, a species typically found in Central and South America. It's their theory the animal was probably an exotic pet owned by someone who didn't properly dispose of it once it had died.

Source

Minor whine: can someone fix the wide links on this page?
Minor unwhine: I seem to have found something which Emps didn't post first!
(boy, if that's not a set-up...)

 

[pooka14]

Possible big cat sightihg in northwest Ohio. Story here- www.wtol.com

 

[pooka14]

I should have noted in my previous post that there are acouple of licensed exotic animal owners in Wood County, however nobody has admitted to any lost pets.

 

[boynamedsue]

Maybe not an escapee.

Could be recolonization by wild mountain lions...

Personally I hope so. I like the idea of nature fighting back without human intervention.

 

[RainyOcean]

Me too. There used to be mountain lions around here but there arn't anymore. It makes me sad.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Last Updated : Feb 23, 2005

Driver puzzled by monkey on loose


A Bridgnorth motorist was stopped in her tracks when she came across a small monkey crossing a country lane on the outskirts of the town.

Police are are appealing for anyone who may have lost the creature to come forward amid fears that it may not be able to survive the snowy weather.

The woman saw the monkey at 4pm yesterday on Bromley Lane, near the turning to Burcote.

Police spokesman Richard Ewels said: "The woman has described the monkey as having a dark body, light face and long tail with a small tuft of hair on its head."

Derek Grove, a senior curator at Dudley Zoo, said the monkey was not from the zoo and said it would be a matter of luck whether it survived. Anyone with information can call Bridgnorth police on 08457 444888.

Any connections with the Shropshire UFO sightings??
www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 226#489226

Perhaps the UFOs are being flown by mutant monkeys from the future?

 

[FelixAntonius]

It seems that L.A. now has urban tigers:-

Tiger gunned down in suburbs.

From correspondents in Los Angeles
February 24, 2005
From: Agence France-Presse

WILDLIFE authorities have shot and killed an elusive tiger that had stalked homes and alarmed the residents of a Los Angeles suburb for more than a week.

The tiger, which weighed between 181 and 272kg, was tracked and hunted down near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, after a local resident spotted the beast.
"It was a large exotic animal and it was shot ... after a resident called and said they had seen it in their yard," Ventura County Sheriff's Department Captain Bob LeMay said today.

The beast had last sparked a major alert when its large paw prints were spotted on February 8 around suburban neighbourhoods of the second largest US city.

The animal however had not been seen until yesterday (AEDT).

Officials of the California Department of Fish and Game said they were trying to solve the mystery of where the big cat had come from and were questioning residents with exotic-pet permits

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12 ... 98,00.html

Also:- http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/20 ... 309706.htm

 

[elffriend]

Last Updated : Feb 23, 2005

Driver puzzled by monkey on loose


A Bridgnorth motorist was stopped in her tracks when she came across a small monkey crossing a country lane on the outskirts of the town.

Police are are appealing for anyone who may have lost the creature to come forward amid fears that it may not be able to survive the snowy weather.

The woman saw the monkey at 4pm yesterday on Bromley Lane, near the turning to Burcote.

Police spokesman Richard Ewels said: "The woman has described the monkey as having a dark body, light face and long tail with a small tuft of hair on its head."

Derek Grove, a senior curator at Dudley Zoo, said the monkey was not from the zoo and said it would be a matter of luck whether it survived. Anyone with information can call Bridgnorth police on 08457 444888.

Any connections with the Shropshire UFO sightings??
www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 226#489226

Perhaps the UFOs are being flown by mutant monkeys from the future?

Yes Emps, I am sure they are, now go and have a lie down

 

[Anonymous]

Fla. Man Finds 6-Foot African Rock Python In Toilet

POSTED: 7:22 am EST February 24, 2005
UPDATED: 11:20 am EST February 24, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A St. Petersburg man received a rude awakening Tuesday when he lifted the lid on his toilet and found a snake curled inside, with its head sticking out of the bowl.

With the help of his wife, Shannon Scavotto caught the snake using an improvised noose and put it in a pillowcase.

The reptile was confirmed to be a 6-foot African rock python. Experts said the serpent is just a baby, as African rock pythons get as big as 20 feet long or longer.

Scavotto called his boss to tell him he'd be late because he'd had to wrestle a snake out of his toilet. His boss joked he would need a better excuse than that.

Scavotto told the boss he'd bring it in so he could see it. So he did.

One of Scavotto's co-workers called a friend who raises snakes. The friend said she would come and get it and try to rehabilitate it.

The Scavottos are placing an ad in the paper for anyone who may have lost the snake.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source

 

[oll_lewis]

Talking of snakes (it's not so much the rareity of the snake but it's not a native snake and seams to have mostly survived the extremly cold weather until it joined the choir invisible)

Girl finds snake in club jukebox
A two-and-a-half feet long boa constrictor has been found by a teenage girl in a south Wales club jukebox.
RSPCA officers were called to the Premier Club in Cwm, near Ebbw Vale, after the discovery by the 13-year-old daughter of the bar manager.

Stacey Caldwell screamed when she put her hand into the return coin slot and touched the dead reptile.

The RSPCA said it was unclear if the snake had died in the juke box or if it had died and then been left as a joke.


She touched something and screamed - we looked and there was a snake lying there
Jane Caldwell

The snake was found on Thursday night, and Stacey's mother Jane Caldwell said on Friday: "She was looking to see if there was any money in the coin tray.

"She touched something and screamed - we looked and there was a snake lying there.

"She was very shaken and went white. She was really frightened.

"We called the police and they put a table up against the jukebox, but the customers wouldn't go anywhere near it all night.

"The snake was left there overnight until the RSPCA could come and get it this morning.

"We didn't know if it was dead but it wasn't moving.

"Someone must have put it there as a joke, but this was a cruel and stupid joke."


They are not venomous, but they are constrictors and I wouldn't have liked to have put my hand in the juke box and found it
RSPCA officer Keith Hogben

The snake was pronounced dead by a vet on Friday.

RSPCA animal collection officer Keith Hogben, who was called out, said: "We've identified the snake as a common boa constrictor.

"It was in good condition with no external injuries, so we aren't sure how it died.

"We don't know if it escaped and crawled into the jukebox or it has died and someone's put it there as a joke, which isn't funny."

Boa constrictors of this type are native to the rivers and forests of south and central America.

They kill their prey through asphyxiation and a fully-grown adult can be more than 9ft long.

This snake was about two or three years old. Mr Hogben said they were commonly imported to the UK as pets, but took a lot of care to keep at home.

He said: "They are not venomous, but they are constrictors and I wouldn't have liked to have put my hand in the juke box and found it.

"It must have been a shock to the girl.

"The snakes are quite cheap to buy, but you find that they take special care and equipment - we advise people to look into it properly before taking one on."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/w ... 318349.stm

Published: 2005/03/04 12:56:47 GMT

© BBC MMV

 

[Timble2]

I wonder if this was accidental or whether they did it on porpoise...

Porpoises make river appearance
Two porpoises have swum several miles inland up the River Dee in north Wales.
Spectators including children from two nearby schools turned up to see the mammals at Queensferry.

Experts believe the porpoises chased a shoal of fish up the Dee and will later return to their natural habitat in the open sea.

Porpoises are commonly found off the north Wales coast and in the Irish Sea, but it is unusual for the creatures to swim inland or into fresh water.

RSPCA officer William Galvin said that one of the porpoises was female and around four to five feet long, while the second was juvenile and two to three feet long.

He said they were feeding in the Dee and that it was unusual for them to be so far up the estuary.

He added they are more commonly seen in open sea off the north Wales coast.

John Goold, of the University of Wales Bangor's School of Biological Sciences and an expert in marine mammals, said there would be concern if the porpoise stayed away from the ocean for too long.

He added: "It's unusual for us to see them up the estuary although they are a coastal species.

"Why they are there is the 64,000 dollar question.

"It's possible they shot up there chasing a shoal of fish, but it's also possible they are sick.

"They are not designed for fresh water, so if they stay there, there is something wrong."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/wales/4354563.stm

Published: 2005/03/16 14:08:29 GMT

© BBC MMV

 

[Anonymous]

:cry:

Wolf found dead at Chain O'Lakes State Park
March 1, 2005 — State biologists are trying to figure out how a young male timber wolf ended up dead at Chain O' Lakes State Park in far northern Illinois.
Biologist Richard Semel says the wolf ended up as roadkill. But he's preserving the carcass so D-N-A tests can be done to positively identify the species. Semel says tests also should show what wolf pack it came from, although he says he's pretty sure it came down from Wisconsin.

The 89-pound animal was found dead on February 17th. It's only the second wolf confirmed to have been in Illinois since the 1900s.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


Link:http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/030105_ap_ns_wolf.html

 

[river_styx]

Werewolf?

 

[Anonymous]

Werewolf?

Couldn't be, they always change back to their human form when they die.

This poor guy was hit by a truck they figure. Someone reported it to the rangers, possibly the person who accidently hit it.

 

[river_styx]

Ahhh....Good point.

 

[Bullseye]

I wonder if this was accidental or whether they did it on porpoise...

Porpoises make river appearance
Two porpoises have swum several miles inland up the River Dee in north Wales.
Spectators including children from two nearby schools turned up to see the mammals at Queensferry.

Experts believe the porpoises chased a shoal of fish up the Dee and will later return to their natural habitat in the open sea.

Porpoises are commonly found off the north Wales coast and in the Irish Sea, but it is unusual for the creatures to swim inland or into fresh water.

RSPCA officer William Galvin said that one of the porpoises was female and around four to five feet long, while the second was juvenile and two to three feet long.

He said they were feeding in the Dee and that it was unusual for them to be so far up the estuary.

He added they are more commonly seen in open sea off the north Wales coast.

John Goold, of the University of Wales Bangor's School of Biological Sciences and an expert in marine mammals, said there would be concern if the porpoise stayed away from the ocean for too long.

He added: "It's unusual for us to see them up the estuary although they are a coastal species.

"Why they are there is the 64,000 dollar question.

"It's possible they shot up there chasing a shoal of fish, but it's also possible they are sick.

"They are not designed for fresh water, so if they stay there, there is something wrong."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/wales/4354563.stm

Published: 2005/03/16 14:08:29 GMT

© BBC MMV

Vey odd as this time of year there would only be eels and flounders in an estuary,no real shoaling fish like mullet or bass that are summer fish.

 

[lopaka]

I think this sort-of fits here. There's a new documentary film here in the sates called The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill that doesn't seem to be too much about alien species, per se, but might be of interest to some of you. It's gotten generally favorable reviews.

In her warm, welcoming, and eminently watchable film, Judy Irving follows a wild flock of cherry-headed conures through San Francisco. Her guide is Mark Bittner, a carefree musician who has made it his job to look after the startling parrots when he’s not reading Beat poetry. Bittner gives the birds names and a place to recuperate when they’re sick; he keeps journals about their personalities and idiosyncrasies. In any other city, Bittner would be considered a work-shy eccentric, but in San Francisco, he has a home and a passion.

Like Bittner, the movie quietly convinces us that these birds are worth paying attention to. With a natural storyteller’s ease, Irving teases several narrative strands out of her material: Bittner’s landlords are planning changes, the city and the press take an interest in the flock, and hawks fly overhead, threatening the parrots. Bittner tells (and shows) the stories of individual birds: the tragic love story of Sophie and Picasso, Mingus, who prefers the indoors, and his favorite Connor, the temperamental blue-headed outsider.

Bittner’s charm, Irving’s good humor, and the endlessly fascinating and beautiful birds make sure that “Wild Parrots” amply repays our attention. It is a loving portrait of a displaced flock of birds, a fascinating city, and a unique man.

http://worldfilm.about.com/od/documenta ... arrots.htm

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Bizarre Species Sightings Leave Floridians Perplexed

POSTED: 6:15 am EST March 31, 2005

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Something strange is stirring in and around local waters.

In the last few months, fish and bird species have been popping up in places they're not normally found. These transients aren't arriving in huge numbers, just an oddity here and there -- an Arctic bird off St. Augustine Beach, an armored catfish normally in South America found in the Indian River Lagoon, spiny dogfish normally farther north found in Ponce de Leon Inlet.

"Something's going on in the North Atlantic," said Chuck Hunter, an Atlanta-based refuge biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

But there isn't one explanation to account for the unusual sightings, bird and fish experts say. Some attribute them to the hurricanes while others point the finger at a cold-water phenomenon that started in 2003.

For the last few weeks at the Flagler Beach Pier, small hake fish have been jumping onto people's hooks. Identified as southern hake, the coldwater fish are common in Floridian estuaries, although not usually close to the shoreline, said Ed Matheson of the state's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg.

Bill Allgire, who works at Ocean Pier Bait & Tackle, says the fish, about 3 inches long, have been coming in mostly after dark. Some days, he'll see one small school of them; other days, they can be seen throughout the full length of the pier, he said.

"Nobody really wants them," he said. "They're just there."

Rich Paperno, research administrator with the Fish and Wildlife Institute, says it's still too early to tell how the hurricanes impacted wildlife.

"We've seen a lot of unusual things after the hurricanes, where the fresh water that was running off brought a lot of species that were running into the lagoons," Paperno said from the Indian River field laboratory.

Soon after last year's hurricanes, Paperno said, armored catfish normally found in South America were found in the Indian River lagoon.

Some have caught spiny dogfish -- a type of shark that's usually found north of Cape Cod in the winter -- swimming in Ponce Inlet and the Jacksonville area, said Eric Sander, who does recreational fishing surveys for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Of Sander's 16 years of shark fishing, he said he has never caught a single spiny dogfish. Sander connects their arrival with cold-water temperatures reaching the low 50s. The chilly waters can be prompted by upwellings, a situation when persistent winds out of the south and southeast blow warm surface water out to sea.

But whatever caused these out-of-towners to visit, it's left some fishermen scratching their heads.

As for the one Arctic bird found in St. Augustine and the others reported in South Carolina, researchers are dumbfounded.

In December, a puffin was found off St. Augustine Beach and stayed alive for only 24 hours at a local wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center. It was the second puffin ever to be reported in Florida, said Andy Kratter, collections manager at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

"He was very thin, emaciated really," said Karen Lynch, president of Noah's Ark Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation in St. Augustine.

Kratter, who examined the remains of the puffin, said neither the hurricanes nor the cold water had anything to do with the puffin's unusual pilgrimage.

"Probably it just kept going, instead of stopping where it should have," Kratter said. "It went too far south. It could have been a storm. Its orientation was screwed up for some reason."

And while experts agree rare bird sightings are not uncommon in Florida, Kratter said, "it's still pretty much a mystery why birds get off tracking," although food or weather can be common factors.

Sometimes, butterfly fish, who live in Florida, find their way to New Jersey estuaries, Matheson said.

"These are babies that get caught in the Gulf Stream and go up there," Matheson said.

He speculated that the southern hake spotted at the Flagler Beach Pier were probably the scattered young also. When a coldwater upwelling occurs, the water brings in cooler water fish, Matheson said.

And if last summer's hurricanes have anything to do with the bizarre sightings, researchers say it'll take time to figure that out.

"Many of the effects are going to be long-term effects," Paperno said. "We won't (understand) this for several years down the road."


----------------------
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press.

Source

 

[lopaka]

What's with the escaping kangaroos?

Wis. Officials Capture Wandering Kangaroo

DODGEVILLE, Wis. - A kangaroo that went on a walkabout in frigid Wisconsin was captured Wednesday. But where the marsupial came from remained a mystery. Sheriff's deputies cornered the 150-pound kangaroo in a barn after receiving calls for days from shocked residents who had seen it.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050106/ap_on_re_us/brf_escaped_kangaroo

Just as a small follow-up to that story from January, they never did end up finding the owner, which maybe isn't so strange, but I love that (apparently) either there are these other, different, missing kangaroos running around or there are people who falsely confess to marsupial-related mysteries.

ANIMAL NEWS
Wisconsin's Mystery Kangaroo
February 28

Wisconsin's Mystery Kangaroo

Authorities in southern Wisconsin have discovered that capturing a kangaroo in a snowstorm isn't the hard part. It's finding out where the animal came from.

Authorities recently gave up their hunt for the owner of a red 130-pound marsupial, saying its origin will remain a mystery.

The Iowa County Sheriff's Office has given the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison permission to keep the kangaroo, nicknamed Roo. The animal has been in quarantine at the zoo since its capture early January.

Sheriff's deputies corralled the male kangaroo in a barn after receiving calls from shocked residents who had seen it hopping through rural parts of Dodgeville for two days.

"We're almost two months out since the incident occurred. I would imagine that the owner is not coming forward," Iowa County Sheriff Steve Michek said.

Michek said deputies ruled out several claims of ownership, including one from a Connecticut woman who said her kangaroo was missing. An Appleton, Wis., man also claimed he had lost a kangaroo in September, but his description did not match that of the animal.

Zoo officials plan to introduce the marsupial, which has been deemed healthy, to their other five kangaroos this spring when the weather warms up.

(AP)

http://koit.com/new_fall/animal_news.cfm?id=9168

 

[lopaka]

.
New Jersey has whale of a time with an unusual visitor
Hundreds gather to see beluga

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 Posted: 12:58 PM EDT (1658 GMT)


TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- A young beluga whale that apparently took a wrong turn and wound up in the Delaware River, 80 miles from the open sea, appeared to be making its way back downstream on Wednesday.

State officials said the 10- to 12-foot white whale was spotted near Beverly, about eight miles south of the point where it was first spotted around noon Tuesday at Trenton, where it drew hundreds of camera-toting spectators.

State police and environmental officials said they hoped the whale would find its own way back south to open water, and were keeping boaters away.

"Our enemy here is too much attention," said state police Trooper Stephen Jones. "We want the whale to get his bearings and continue south without interference from too many curious onlookers."

The whale was spotted Tuesday downstream from the city's "Trenton Makes The World Takes" bridge, which spans the river at the upper end of its tidal pool. Upstream from that point, the river is too shallow for an animal that big.

It spent much of Tuesday swimming in a loop between the bridge and a marina about a mile downstream.

"Four news helicopters are hovering overhead. The train is stopping on the train trestle, people are lining up along the river. It's like the city has gone mad," said Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office who watched the scene from his office.

Bob Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, said the whale might be a juvenile that couldn't fend for itself in the open ocean or an adult that chased a school of herring up the river past Philadelphia. Typically, beluga whales travel in large groups but spread out when feeding.

A right whale -- named Waldo the Wrong-Way Right Whale by Philadelphians -- straggled into the Delaware River in 1995. The whale beached itself at an oil terminal in Pennsauken, New Jersey, but disappeared after about 10 days. It was found two years later swimming near Canada.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/13/nj.whale.ap/index.html

 

[rynner2]

A young beluga whale that apparently took a wrong turn and wound up in the Delaware River, 80 miles from the open sea, appeared to be making its way back downstream on Wednesday.

Further south than belugas are supposed to be, I think (but the Labrador Current may have something to do with it...)

For my White Whale sighting, see here.

(That was an isolated thread, now subsumed into Albino Animals - but, if it was a beluga I saw, wrongly subsumed, as belugas are white, but not albinos!)

 

[lopaka]

Where the buffalo roam -- a tennis court?

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 Posted: 12:15 PM EDT (1615 GMT)

PIKESVILLE, Maryland (AP) -- A herd of buffalo somehow got loose and wandered around an upscale neighborhood Tuesday, disrupting traffic and alarming homeowners before officers managed to corral them in a tennis court.

More than a dozen police cars and a police helicopter were used to herd the roughly 10 beasts, authorities said.

"Somehow they figured it out; I've got to give a lot of credit to the creativity of our officers," police spokesman Shawn Vinson said.

Authorities have identified the owner of the buffalo but did not release the person's name immediately.

Residents in the Baltimore suburb first reported that buffalo were meandering along the road about 7 a.m.

Police shut down several major traffic arteries, including a section of the Baltimore Beltway, while they tried to anticipate which way the buffalo would roam.

Officers eventually managed to maneuver the buffalo onto the tennis court about a mile from where they first were spotted. After that, they began herding them aboard a livestock truck.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/26/roamin ... index.html[/quote]

 

[Leaferne]

Sea Lion Trapped in Power Plant Intake Tank

The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 27, 2005; 12:07 AM

LOS ANGELES -- A 300-pound sea lion has been living in a water intake tank at a power plant, dodging rescue attempts since last week, officials said Tuesday.

The male sea lion squeezed through an opening of the tank at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's plant in Playa del Rey and became trapped April 18, said spokeswoman Darlene Battle.

"He's pretty comfortable" and able to feed on shrimp and fish in the tank, she said. "I was talking to the plant manager who says he's ... not anxious to leave."

Water in the 60-foot by 30-foot tank is used to cool the plant's generators.

Battle said DWP enlisted the help of the Whale Rescue Team, a nonprofit marine animal group. Team members lowered a boat containing a cargo net into the tank, but the sea lion has avoided the net that crews hoped to use to lift the animal.

Television images from KABC-TV showed the mammal lying peacefully on the boat -- just inches from the net.

"He's on the boat but he won't get on the net. What we're waiting for now is for him to roll on the cargo net so we can get him out to sea," Battle said.

DWP provides water and electricity to about 3.8 million residents and businesses in Los Angeles.

Source

Saw him on the news this morning--he looked pretty content.

 

[Anonymous]

Wolverines in the UK??

http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/sund ... _page.html


New suspect in savage Killings Apr 17 2005

By Phil Doherty

One of the most ferocious animals in the world could be at large in the North, a wildlife expert has warned.

Eddie Bell, an animal liaison officer with Durham police, believes a wolverine could be responsible for a spate of savage attacks on lambs.

Farmer Andrew Spence, of Iverston in County Durham, has lost a dozen lambs in as many days to a mystery predator.

The lambs were all savaged and some had their heads ripped off.

At first Mr Spence thought they could have been victims of the so- called Durham Puma said to roam the region.

feared

Mr Bell, however, reckons the killing method used suggests it was not a big cat that was responsible but a wolverine, a creature feared by hunters the world over.

The police sergeant said: "We have had big cat sightings at Iverston, but cats never kill two prey at the same time and pumas certainly don't leave their prey just lying there. They always carry them off.

"We have evidence that wolverines are loose in this country. A few years ago the National Farmers' Union was advising farmers in Wales that there were at least two wolverines in the area and about five years ago Northumbria Police came to me about some dead lambs with big bitemarks on top of their heads.

"We reckon it could have been a wolverine.

"Wolverines are fearless and ferocious and will drive a grizzly bear off a kill. I'd advise anyone coming across one of these creatures to back off and get away as soon as possible."

Wolverines, a member of the stoat family, are native to North America.

They grow to about 3ft or 4ft long and are stocky and powerfully built.They are so ferocious that animals such as bears, pumas and wolves avoid fighting them.

Other animals Mr Bell believes could have been responsible for the attacks on Mr Spence's lambs include a large rogue dog or even a boar. Mr Spence said: "We have been putting our lambs out to grass for the last 10 days and three of those we've lost have been found with their heads torn off.

"These were big strong lambs, so it's not a fox or badger doing this. Whatever did it was powerful enough to crack their rib cages as if they were twigs. Also, the bite-marks are much bigger than you find with badger or fox attacks.

"My stockman, who has many years' experience, is completely baffled at the way these lambs have been killed. He says he hasn't seen anything like it.

"My children usually play around the farmbut I've told them not to go too far because I'm worried."

 

[Jerry_B]

Apparently two were spotted in Somerset about 10 years ago, IIRC.

 

[Anonymous]

Also one was shot in wales, and the Welsh National Farmers union apparently released a report stating at least two Wolverines were living wild in the country.

 

[CygnusRex]

IS IT A MONSTER? NO IT'S A MYSTERY MARSUPIAL
15:00 - 03 May 2005

Residents in Sundridge and Brasted are concerned that an escaped wallaby on the loose in the villages could cause a road accident.

Jane Belle, of Church Road, which runs between the two villages, was startled to discover the exotic animal in her garden on the morning of April 22.

She said: "It was jumping up and down and it looked at me through the kitchen window.

"It had quite round ears like a kangaroo and before we could take a photo, it jumped up and ran away at a great lick.

"It could have caused a horrible accident in the road."

There have been numerous sightings of the mystery marsupial in villagers' gardens.

It has been confirmed that the wallaby is owned privately by Phil Dobbington of Safari Gardens and Pets, at Main Road, Sundridge.

Mr Dobbington stated on the day of the sighting that the animal would be caught, but days later, staff members from the pet shop revealed that the wallaby was still on the loose.

RSPCA spokesman Klare Kennett confirmed the charity had received reports of the runaway wallaby.

She added that she had contacted Mr Dobbington to inform him of its whereabouts.

>Source<

 

[lopaka]

Monkey Escapes From S.C. Island Labratory

The Associated Press
Friday, May 6, 2005; 6:14 PM

BEAUFORT, S.C. -- An escapee from Morgan Island has been captured in a tree in the backyard of a home on Lady's Island _ about 7 miles away from where he was supposed to be.

The 10-year-old, 20-pound male rhesus monkey was first noticed as missing from the island April 30, the same time residents of Coosaw and Lady's islands reported seeing him. Some residents were concerned the animal might carry an infectious disease because Morgan Island houses primates used in government research.

Alpha Genesis officials said they can't explain how the monkey managed to leave the island laboratory and make its way across Parrot Creek.

"I have been here eight years and this is the first (escape) I can remember in the area," said Greg Westergaard, president and chief executive officer of Alpha Genesis. "I'm at a loss at how it got over there. They probably can swim a little bit, but it really is a long way over there."

The monkeys have been on the island since 1979 and are the property of the Food and Drug Administration. They are used in defense and vaccine development studies.

The escaped monkey was caught Tuesday, Westergaard said. "I'm sure he wanted to get back but couldn't figure out how," he said.

But the escapee won't be going back to the 400-acres colony on Morgan Island. Instead, he'll probably be taken to one of two breeding facilities in Yemassee or Early Branch, Westergaard said.

Westergaard said it was unlikely the monkey would have a disease because the research performed on the animals isn't done at the island. The monkeys also go through physical examinations four times a year to make sure they are healthy and carry no diseases, he said.

"This monkey's in great shape," he said.

He said there are no artificial barriers keeping the monkeys on the island other than the water surrounding it, as they tend to be social creatures and stay with other monkeys.

"I don't know what happened to this guy," Westergaard said.

___

Information from: The Beaufort Gazette, http://www.beaufortgazette.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01148.html

 

[oll_lewis]

(100m deap not 100m from the cornish coast as the headline says)

Deep-sea crab found 100m offshore

A rare crab, usually found in depths of up to 9,840ft (3,000m), has been caught in the nets of a Cornish fisherman.
The giant box crab was brought to the surface by skipper John Walsh as he fished 75 miles (121km) west of Padstow at a depth of just 328ft (100m).

Staff at Blue Reef Aquarium, where the deep-sea crab is on display, believe it is Britain's largest crab species reaching lengths of up to 6ft (2m).

It is thought to be only the seventh recorded specimen in the UK since 1900.

'From another planet'

Few have survived the huge changes in pressure as they are hauled to the surface and a spokeswoman for the aquarium said they fear this crab may not live for long.

But she said at the moment it appears to be in good health and is recovering in a specially chilled tank at the aquarium in Newquay.

The crab, which has a claw span of 120cm, was kept alive on the boat for three days before arriving back at Padstow.

Aquarist Matt Slater said: "It looks like something from another planet and has caused quite a stir among all the staff here.

"It's one of the oddest crabs I've ever seen. It has weird eyes on stalks which look like bicycle handlebars and a strange pair of backwards facing pincers."

The crab has now been formally identified with the help of a local zoologist, Dr Paul Gainey.

Mr Slater said: "Apparently it is normally found very deep on the edge of the continental shelf which runs from Morocco to Ireland at depths of 3,000 metres."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/e ... 536255.stm

Published: 2005/05/11 11:47:31 GMT

© BBC MMV