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What's Killing The Animals? The Mysteries Of Mass Deaths

An "angular roughshark" sounds like something a carpenter would use. As in, "Kevin! Put that mug of coffee down and pass me the angular roughshark. Somebody's made a right bodge of this corner."
 
China fishes 900 dead pigs out of Shanghai river
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21732457

The pigs have washed ashore along the river

An inquiry has been launched in China after more than 900 dead pigs were found floating in a river near the eastern city of Shanghai.

No evidence has been found that the animals in the Huangpu river were dumped there or died of any animal epidemic, officials say.

But measures are being taken to monitor the quality of the water.

The authorities are trying to establish where the animals came from, after they appeared in the river on Friday.

Shanghai residents use the river as source of drinking water, the China Daily news website reports.
 
Up to 2,000 pigs now. Still don't know whats going on. Seems like a good idea to blame farmers though.

China fishes over 2,000 dead pigs from Shanghai river
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21732457

The BBC's Martin Patience: “Local reports suggest that the animals were dumped by farms lying upstream”

Workers in China are continuing to collect dead pigs from a river near Shanghai, with more than 2,000 carcasses reportedly recovered so far.

Officials say they have to act quickly to remove the pigs, as the Huangpu River is a major source of drinking water for the city.

They are investigating the cause of the deaths and suspect the pigs were dumped by farms upriver.

Bloggers have criticised what some see as a slow government response.

Workers aboard boats are using long-handled rakes to pull out the bloated carcasses, which started appearing in the river on Thursday, according to reports.


The pigs have washed ashore along the river
"We have to act quickly to remove them all for fear of causing water pollution," Xu Rong, an environmental official, told state-run Global Times newspaper.

He added that the cause of the pigs' deaths may be determined in a few days.

It is still not clear why the animals were dumped in the river in the first place or who was behind it, says the BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing.

It is suspected that the pigs may have come from farms in neighbouring Zhejiang province, local reports say.

Officials say water supplies have not been affected so far and they are closely testing samples from the river, but the public remain wary.

"Is this water still drinkable after dead pigs were found floating in it?" 60-year-old Liu Wanqing was quoted by state-run China Daily newspaper as saying.

"The government has a responsibility to conduct a thorough investigation and provide safe water to residents."

The incident has also generated much discussion online.

"Well, since there supposedly is no problem in drinking this water, please forward this message, if you agree, to ask Shanghai's party secretary, mayor and water authority leaders if they will be the first ones to drink this meat soup?" lawyer Gan Yuanchun said on his microblog.

Another blogger by the name of Ting Tao was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying: "Related government departments should seriously investigate this and get to the bottom of it... The government should really pay attention to people's lives."
 
Don't want to boar you but the toll keeps rising.

China pulls nearly 6,000 dead pigs from Shanghai river
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21766377

John Sudworth reports from Shanghai on the rising number of dead pigs

Officials say the number of pig carcasses found in Shanghai's Huangpu River has risen to nearly 6,000.

In a statement, Shanghai authorities said that 5,916 dead pigs had been removed from the river by Tuesday.

But they said water from the river was safe, with water quality meeting government-set standards.

It is believed that the pigs may have come from Jiaxing in the neighbouring Zhejiang province, although the cause of their deaths is still not clear.

In a statement, the Shanghai municipal government said that the water in Huangpu River, which is a major source of drinking water for Shanghai, was safe. It also said that no diseased pork had been detected in markets.

However, the news has been met with scepticism by some users on weibo, China's Twitter equivalent, where the hashtag "Huangpu River dead pigs" has emerged.

"Cadres and officials, we are willing to provide for you, but please don't let us die from poisoning. Otherwise who will serve you? Please think twice," said netizen Shi Liqin.

"This river's colour is about the same as excrement, even if there weren't dead pigs you couldn't drink it," said another, with the username Yuzhou Duelist.

The general mood is of concern, rather than outrage or panic, reports the BBC's John Sudworth in Shanghai, as the Chinese public are well used to food scandals, such as the use of oil scraped from sewers for cooking, and plasticiser found in baby formula.

'Timely data'
The government statement said that the number of pigs being salvaged from the river appeared to be decreasing.

Laboratory tests have identified that some of the pigs had porcine circovirus, a common disease that affects pigs but does not affect humans.

Reports suggest the dead pigs may have been dumped from pig farms in Jiaxing, upstream of Shanghai.


The scandal comes amid growing concerns about China's environment
"We don't exclude the possibility that the dead pigs found in Shanghai were from Jiaxing. But we are not absolutely sure," Jiaxing local government spokesman Wang Dengfeng told a news conference.

Whilst tags on the pigs' ears indicated that they were from Jiaxing, this only showed the pigs' place of birth.

"It is unclear where the dead pigs were raised," he said.

Jiaxing officials have also said that the pigs may have been killed by cold weather.

In an opinion piece, the state-run Global Times said that the pig scandal comes amid growing concerns about China's environment, including recent record smog levels in Beijing, and water and air pollution affecting villages.

"The country's citizens, including both ordinary people and officials, should bear in mind the necessity of protecting the environment," it said.

It called on officials to publish "timely data regarding the quality of drinking water to reassure the public".
 
Ten lambs killed at Cockington Country Park in Torbay

Ten lambs have been killed in three months in a country park in Torbay, managers said.
Dogs are believed to be responsible for the deaths at Cockington Country Park and visitors have been asked to keep a lookout for any animals not under control.
Other lambs have been moved away from a field where the attacks took place.

Managers said visitors should keep to paths and ensure dogs were under strict control and on a lead near livestock.
The area is popular with walkers and dogs, and park managers said they would continue to encourage them.

Justin Cox, of the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust, which manages the park, said dogs were thought to be responsible, as opposed to foxes, because foxes usually dragged the carcasses away for food.
"It may have been a stray dog," he said. "We don't know.
"Whatever it is has not taken the bodies. They've been found mauled, with puncture wounds and not dragged away, making us think it is a dog.
"All we do know is that we are suffering these fatalities, which, from an animal welfare point of view, is completely unacceptable; and from a farming point of view, we want to stop."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-21821996
 
I had no idea this thread was here.

I was keeping a file with all of the strange mass-deaths of animals in it, but honestly, I just stopped because it became such a regular thing....
 
Wave of prawn deaths baffles Chile city of Coronel
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21872210

Authorities are still collecting evidence to find an explanation for the red tide

Thousands of dead prawns have washed up on a beach in Chile, sparking an investigation.

Hundreds of dead crabs were also washed ashore in Coronel city, about 530km (330 miles) from the capital, Santiago.

Fishermen suggested the deaths may have been caused by local power stations that use seawater as a cooling agent. The power firms have not commented.

Experts are looking into water temperature and oxygen levels and other details to explain the deaths.

"We're investigating the Coronel Bay to establish the physical parameters of temperature, electric conductivity and, above all, the oxygen," said local environment official Victor Casanova.


Hundreds of dead crabs were washed ashore on the weekend
Local fishermen blamed nearby power generation plants Bocamina 1 and 2 and Colbun.

"I'm 69 years old and started fishing when I was nine, but as a fisherman, I never saw a disaster of this magnitude,'' Gregorio Ortega told local Radio Bio Bio.

While some blame pollution, others say the death of the crustaceans could be a consequence of the El Nino phenomenon, which warms the waters of the Pacific.

Marisol Ortega, a spokeswoman for the fishermen, said she feared the deaths would affect the livelihood of their community.

"The way everything is being destroyed here, come the high season in November, we're already thinking we won't have anything to take from the sea," she said.
 
Now the ducks are turning up.

China pulls 1,000 dead ducks from Sichuan river
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21921145

The news comes amid concerns over the 16,000 dead pigs found in Shanghai's Huangpu river

en pulled from a river in southwest China, local officials say.

Residents found the dead ducks in Nanhe river in Pengshan county, Sichuan province, and alerted the environmental department, they said.

Local residents and livestock were not at risk as the river was not used for drinking water, officials added.

The news comes as the toll of dead pigs pulled from Shanghai's Huangpu river passed 16,000.

Speaking in an interview with China National Radio on Sunday, Liang Weidong, a deputy director in Pengshan's publicity department, said that the authorities were first made aware of the ducks on Tuesday.

Officials discovered over 50 woven bags which contained the carcasses of around 1,000 ducks in the river.

They were unable to determine the cause of death as some of the ducks were already decomposed, Mr Liang said, adding that the bodies had been disinfected and buried.

An initial investigation suggested that the duck corpses had originated from upstream and were not dumped by local Pengshan farmers, he said.

'Thick soup'
The news has prompted concern and criticism from some users on weibo, China's version of Twitter, with many expressing incredulity at the government's assurance that the water is safe.

"Dead pigs, dead ducks... this soup is getting thicker and thicker," wrote one person with the username Baby Lucky.

"The dead pigs haven't even disappeared yet, and now the dead ducks emerge - does this society enjoy being competitive?" wrote netizen sugarandsweet.

"The dead ducks in Pengshan river present us with a very practical problem, and show how society's bottom line is getting lower and lower," weibo user If So said.

The news came as Shanghai's municipal government confirmed that over 16,000 pigs corpses had been pulled from Huangpu river, which supplies drinking water to Shanghai.

The work of fishing out the dead pigs in the river was "basically finished", the government said in a statement released on Sunday.

Workers have been pulling dead pigs from Huangpu river for the past two weeks, sparking concern amongst residents and on China's microblogs. It is still not clear where the dead pigs came from.
 
Next up: dead donkeys!
 
China pig and dog deaths prompt probe into factories
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-22195960

Dead pigs were also found in China's Huangpu river last month

A Chinese village has closed nearby chemical plants after hundreds of pigs and dogs died mysteriously, sparking fears among local residents.

A total of 410 pigs and 122 dogs were found dead in Dongtun village in Yanshi city, Henan province, officials said.

The deaths were not caused by an epidemic or the new H7N9 bird flu strain, and nearby chemical factories were being investigated, they added.

More than 16,000 dead pigs were pulled from Shanghai's main river last month.

"Dead animals were found in nearly half of the village. The animals just suddenly died without any warning," a local resident, who only identified herself as Ms Kou, told China's Global Times.

Police are investigating the incident, which many local residents blame on fumes from a nearby chemical plant, Chinese media reported.

Local villagers said that there had been an "extremely strong odour" on Monday morning, state-run news agency Xinhua said.

Public health concerns have been high in China in recent months.

Last month, more than 16,000 dead pigs were pulled from Huangpu river, which supplies Shanghai with drinking water, and around 1,000 dead ducks were found in a river in Sichuan.

A new strain of bird flu has also raised concerns. The H7N9 virus has infected a total of 83 people, killing 17, state media said on Thursday.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Next up: dead donkeys!

http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside- ... ystery.ece

Newborn foals are disappearing from the wild burro herds that roam the rocky hills above ranches and rural homes near Moreno Valley.
Residents in the area have noticed the occasional disappearance of foals over the years, but in the past few months as many as five have vanished from one band in the Pigeon Pass area. Some people familiar with the burro families are trying to solve the mystery of what’s happening to the little ones.
Amber-LeVonne Koko, 38, who runs a Moreno Valley burro rescue operation called DonkeyLand, said several young foals, only days old, have vanished suddenly. Koko and some other residents said they suspect that people are taking the young animals.
“Some of the residents have said they believe somebody is doing it for a business,” Koko said. If that is the case, she said, she’s unsure whether the animals might be sold as pets or for food.
Animal experts say it’s more likely that large predators are responsible of the disappearing burros.
John Welsh, spokesman for Riverside County animal control, said the county’s field services commander is pretty sure that nature is the culprit.
“She summed it up as predation,” Welsh said, “either a mountain lion or a pack of coyotes. A momma will protect her baby but not if a mountain lion comes through.”
Koko said she hopes that is the case.
“If it is, it’s part of the wildlife,” she said, “we accept that.”
 
Closer to home. More sticky dead birds round the coast of Devon and Cornwall.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/17/seabirds-second-wave-sticky-pollution-number

Seabirds affected by second wave of sticky pollution 'could number thousands'

Wildlife agencies warn that the numbers of birds affected could be far greater than those harmed earlier this year

guardian.co.uk, Jessica Aldred. 17 April 2013

The numbers of seabirds affected by a sticky substance in the sea off south-west England over the past week could be far greater than those harmed by a similar – or possibly the same – spill earlier this year.

Wildlife agencies in Devon and Cornwall said numbers of birds killed or rendered helpless could reach "thousands" and that "a whole generation of seabirds" may have been wiped out in a single pollution incident.

Dead and distressed birds have been washing up along beaches in Devon and Cornwall since the middle of last week, covered in a sticky substance that has been confirmed as polyisobutylene, also known as PIB or polyisobutene, an oil additive often used to improve the performance of lubricating oil and in products ranging from adhesives to sealants and chewing gum. Affected species include razorbill, puffin and gannets, but predominantly guillemots.

The Cornwall Wildlife Trust (CWT) said that more than 400 seabirds have already washed ashore on Cornish beaches, from Whitsand Bay to Falmouth. Abby Crosby, marine conservation officer for the trust, which also coordinates the Marine Stranding Network, said: "Over a 24-hour period yesterday, the public reported 130 birds in one stretch small of the south-east coast, plus 140 on just one other beach itself. That's 270 birds in 24 hours in one tiny stretch of coast between Portwrinkle and Seaton. It's tragic, it's horrific."

Richard White, senior marine officer for the Devon Wildlife Trust, said the trust was still trying to get a full picture of the numbers and was asking volunteers to count the dead birds they found.

"The numbers we do know about are quite concerning. We had reports of 50 dead birds along one relatively short stretch of beach near Wembury but we could be looking at thousands along the whole south Devon and Cornwall coast. This seems bigger to us than the January-February spill in terms of birds coming ashore – there are very few live birds coming ashore now."

Pollution. :(
 
32 swans found dead at County Donegal lake
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22472677

The carcasses of 32 swans have been found at a lake in County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.

They were discovered by conservation rangers at New Lake in Dunfanaghy over the weekend.

The cause of the swans' deaths is not yet known but tests are under way to determine why so many were found dead at one location.

The Republic's state broadcaster, RTE, said it understood that some of the swans had been dead for some time.

It added that one swan was recovered alive from the lake and was brought to a vet but had to be put down.

A spokesman for the Irish Department of Agriculture said samples of the carcasses were sent to its veterinary testing facility in County Sligo earlier this week but the results of the tests would not be known for about 10 days.

He said the authorities had not ruled anything in or out in respect of possible causes of death.
 
Hundreds of dead stingrays found on Mexico beach
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23341316

Dead stingrays on a beach near the Mexican town of Ursulo Galvan on 16 July 2013

Hundreds of dead stingrays have been found on a beach in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz.

The stingrays - more than 250 in total - were spotted on Chachalacas beach near the town of Ursulo Galvan on Tuesday.

Some locals reported seeing fishermen dumping the rays on the beach.

Veracruz's Environment Minister Victor Alvarado Martinez has asked federal authorities for help investigating the incident.

Local mayor Jose Martin Verdero said it was "possible that the rays had got caught in nets" used by Chachalacas fishermen trying to catch other fish.

But residents said they had been dumped after the fishermen did not get the price they wanted for them.

Chachalacas fisherman Jaime Vazquez said that in his more than three decades in the job he had ever seen any of his colleagues dump dead fish on the beach.

He told local media that any unwanted fish would have been returned to the sea while still alive.
 
US investigates mass death of dolphins
http://rt.com/usa/bottlenose-dolphin-mo ... event-302/

A baby bottlenose dolphin swims with its mother (Reuters / Albert Gea)A baby bottlenose dolphin swims with its mother (Reuters / Albert Gea)

Stranded dolphins are washing up along the East Coast from New Jersey to Virginia, with 124 deaths reported since July. With an alarming death rate seven times higher than usual, federal investigators have declared it an “unusual mortality event.”

When dolphins are stranded on beaches, they are unable to swim back into the ocean. Helpless, the creatures often die within a few hours. Dolphins occasionally find themselves stranded if they are old, sick, injured or disoriented. But an unusually high number of bottlenose dolphin carcasses have been found along the East Coast this past month, and federal scientists are investigating the mysterious deaths, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service announced.

During August alone, 28 bottlenose dolphins died along the shores of the East Coast, and the other 96 carcasses were found in July. All but seven of the dolphins were already dead when they were discovered, but the survivors died shortly thereafter or were beyond saving and had to be euthanized. Most of the strandings occurred at heavily populated beaches at the Chesapeake Bay.

“All age classes of bottlenose dolphins are involved and the strandings range from a few live animals to mostly dead animals with many very decomposed,” the agency announced on its website.

The federal agency says that harmful algal blooms, infectious viruses, pollutants, human-made runoff, and injuries from ship strikes can all instigate dolphin strandings, but the NOAA not yet determined a cause. By declaring an “unusual mortality event”, federal scientists will receive additional funding for their research into the die-offs.

Previous die-offs of dolphins and seals were sometimes linked to morbillivirus infections, a highly infectious disease that causes symptoms resembling measles. One of this summer’s stranded dolphins appeared to be suffering from morbillivirus, but investigators have not drawn any conclusions.

Since 1991, federal scientists have declared 60 unusual mortality events, but this summer’s die-off is significantly larger in scale – and scientists suspect that many more dolphins may have died, but never washed up on shore.

“This is the highest number that we have had for this time of year since 1987,” Susan Barco, research coordinator for the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, told USA TODAY. During the 1987-88 strandings, more than 740 bottlenose dolphins died of morbillivirus and algae toxins from New Jersey to Florida, and a number of humpback whales carcasses were also found. But of the 60 unusual mortality events declared in the past two decades, scientists have only been able to determine causes for 29 of them.

But Teri Rowles, National Marine Mammal Stranding Coordinator at the NOAA, told reporters to avoid drawing any premature conclusions regarding the cause of the strandings.

“We’re not saying that this is a morbillivirus outbreak,” she said. “But because of the size of it right now, everybody’s making that link at this point. But that is not a confirmed diagnosis or cause of this event at this point.”
 
Measles-like virus blamed for Atlantic dolphin deaths (Update)
August 27th, 2013 in Biology / Ecology

A virus that is similar to measles is suspected of causing the deaths of hundreds of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins

A dolphin on December 19, 2012 in Antibes, southeastern France. A dolphin virus that is similar to measles in humans is suspected of causing the deaths of hundreds of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins since July.

A dolphin on December 19, 2012 in Antibes, southeastern France. A dolphin virus that is similar to measles in humans is suspected of causing the deaths of hundreds of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins since July.

A virus that is similar to measles in humans is suspected of killing hundreds of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins since July, US officials said Tuesday.

Morbillivirus infects the lungs and the brain, causing pneumonia and abnormal behavior, and is often fatal, experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

The outbreak has killed 333 bottlenose dolphins in the mid-Atlantic region since July, and may endure for a year, possibly topping the last major outbreak 25 years ago, which killed over 740 animals.

"We are now calling this a morbillivirus outbreak," said Teri Rowles of the NOAA Fisheries Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program.
Thirty-two of 33 dolphins tested have been confirmed positive or are suspected of dying from morbillivirus, which can cause lesions on the skin, mouth, joints and lungs.

Rowles said the death count may end up higher than the 1987-1988 morbillivirus outbreak from New York to Florida, which was the last major event of its kind along the US East Coast.

"We are expecting that if indeed this plays out the way that die-off occurred, that we are looking at mortality being higher and morbillivirus spreading southward and likely continuing until spring of 2014," she told reporters.
Nine times the average number of dolphins have washed up along the shores of the East Coast this summer, in what NOAA has described as an "unusual mortality event," or UME.

Most of the dolphins have been found already dead on the beaches.
Viruses in the same family can cause measles in humans, canine distemper in dogs and wolves and rinderpest in cattle, the NOAA said.

The virus typically spreads among animals in close contact.

While it is unclear what sparked the latest outbreak, scientists think that some sea creatures have natural immunity to morbillivirus, but others do not. When the two populations come in contact, mass illness and death can occur in the weaker animals.

"There is a tipping point in populations," said Stephanie Venn-Watson of the National Marine Mammal Foundation.

"The primary hypothesis is that East Coast dolphins simply don't have the immune response to effectively fight off this virus."

Lance Garrison of the NOAA's Southeast Fisheries Science Center described the 1987-88 die-off of dolphins due to morbillivirus as "very significant."
There are four distinct populations of bottlenose dolphins off the Atlantic coast, including about 22,000 living near the shore and nearly 82,000 in deeper waters.

"One of the real challenges... is determining which actual populations of bottlenose dolphins are affected," added Garrison.

Experts say there is no way to stop the spread of the virus in wild dolphins.
However, the illness is not likely to spread to humans.

"All morbilliviruses known to date infect a small number of closely related species," said Jerry Saliki, a virologist with the University of Georgia.
"So there is no indication that this virus could jump into humans given the species gap between marine mammals and humans."

A total of 488 bottlenose dolphins have been stranded so far this year along the coast from New York to North Carolina, compared to 167 last year, the NOAA said
.
© 2013 AFP

"Measles-like virus blamed for Atlantic dolphin deaths (Update)." August 27th, 2013. http://phys.org/news/2013-08-measles-li ... lphin.html
 
What's killing the animals? A little old lady, that's who.

Who is strangling the pigeons in historic Cambridge city centre street?

Written by RAYMOND BROWN

A serial “pigeon strangler” has been prowling a historic street in Cambridge to rid it of the messy birds.

Traders in Rose Crescent have told how the elderly woman, a resident of the street, is so sick of flocks of the feathered feral creatures making a mess she has started her own one-woman cull.

Cambridge City Council this year set up a £100,000 “rapid response” cleaning team to target pigeon mess as well as chewing gum removal and to carry out extra litter-picking - but it is still awaiting a vehicle.

But it seems the team are not fast enough for the city’s “phantom pigeon strangler” who has taken the ‘by-law’ into her own hands - literally - and has been snapping the birds’ necks.

The street is home to a cluster of fast-food outlets which attract the scavenging birds looking for scraps.

Robin Aveling, manager of Campkins Camera Centre in Rose Crescent, said the pensioner has called on the council to cull the creatures but have refused.

He said: “We have a terrible problem with the pigeons in the street because of the fast food being thrown about in the road. “But we have one elderly lady who has had enough and goes around strangling the pigeons.

“You see a lot of things in the city but that is really odd. She told me she has asked the council to cull the pigeons but they won’t do it. I suppose she decided to take the matter into her own hands. When I saw her with a dead pigeon she just said,“I strangled it”. You just learn to say OK to something like that.”

Frank Harrison, the city council’s safety operations manager, said: “Anyone who goes about strangling pigeons we would report to enforcement authorities. It is illegal in that it is harmful to wildlife. We would never condone such actions.”

A spokesman for the RSPB said: “It is illegal for an individual to kill pigeons just because they don’t like them. A local athority can do it if the pigeons are causing a health hazard.”

Cllr Jean Swanson, the city council’s executive member for environmental services, said the council had no plans to cull the birds.

She said: “I know that they are pests but I have never heard this issue raised.”

Royston town councillors considered shooting or poisoning the birds.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Se ... 022903.htm
 
Wiping away a tear, I feel a musical coming on:

Early each day to the Crescent of Rose
The little old bird woman brings
In her own special way to the people she goes
"Come, see my bags full of strings
Come kill the little birds,
Show them you care
And you'll be glad if you do
Their young ones die hungry
Their nests stay so bare
All it takes is tuppence from you
Kill the birds, tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag
Kill the birds, Kill them like that!"
While overhead, pigeons, they shit on her hat.

All around Cambridge, the students and dons
Look down as she sells her wares
Although you can't see it,
You know they are smiling
Each time someone shows that he snares.

Though her words are simple and few
Listen, listen, she's calling to you
"Kill the birds, tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag"

:nonplus:
 
How on Earth does Mrs Pigeon Deathbringer catch the little guys in the first place? I've seen David Blaine and Teller do it as a trick, was she making notes and taking tips?
 
I watched a pigeon taken down mid-flight today, right outside my office window. Taken down by a peregrine falcon though, not by an old lady.
 
gncxx said:
How on Earth does Mrs Pigeon Deathbringer catch the little guys in the first place? I've seen David Blaine and Teller do it as a trick, was she making notes and taking tips?
Most these flying rats have become so fat on fast food leftovers they're only able to waddle. In the city centre, I keep having to swerve my bike to avoid running the winged vermin over and I'm not going fast at all.
 
What's killing the animals? This tw*t.

Hereford man jailed for trying to hang neighbours' cat

A 53-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 weeks in prison for attempting to hang his neighbours' cat.

Karl Dyke, of Escley Drive, Hereford, admitted the attack on the Siamese in July.

Hereford Magistrates' Court was told Michael and Tracey Lawrence, who live next door to Dyke, heard their cat Coralie in distress and saw the defendant carrying the animal away.

The cat escaped and survived after its owners intervened.

The Lawrences said the attack had left their family "shocked and nervous."
'Smirking'

Speaking from their home, Michael said: "My wife came downstairs and said the neighbour had taken the cat from the fence.

"I ran outside to the back of the garden, and I could hear our cat's bell ringing around its neck.
Karl Dyke Dyke, pictured here arriving at court, was jailed for 20 weeks

"The sound was coming from the shed.

"I opened the shed door and Mr Dyke was standing there smirking, with a rope in one hand and our cat dangling from the other.

"I grabbed the cat and she ran off."

A visit to the vets the next day showed the cat was suffering from a swollen neck.

After resting at home, Coralie is almost back to normal, the couple said.
'Justice'

Tracey Lawrence said: "She's a bit more nervous now, and avoids groups of people.

"It is shocking to know that somebody could do that to an animal.

"We also find ourselves checking that doors and windows are locked more often now, and we don't like to let her out of our sights.

"A jail sentence is justice as far as we are concerned."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-he ... r-24899550
 
Signs warn dog owners of killer disease
[Video: Vets say it is similar to a disease called Alabama rot, which was first reported in the US in the 1980s]

Signs are to be put up in the New Forest warning dog owners about a little-known disease that has killed 17 dogs across Britain in recent months.
The Forestry Commission notices tell owners to take their pet to a vet should it develop lesions on its legs, paws and face.

Vets say the disease - which leads to kidney failure - is most likely "Alabama Rot", which was first seen in the US in the 1980s.
The source of the disease is unknown.
However, the Environment Agency has ruled out chemical contamination in water supplies.

The majority of the dogs that died in the past year were in the New Forest, but there were also others in Surrey, Cornwall, Worcestershire and County Durham.

The notices say owners should take their dog to a vet even if the lesions appear a week after a walk.
Alabama Rot had been associated with greyhounds, but the deaths in Britain in the past year have affected a variety of breeds.

David Walker, from Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists in Hursley, near Winchester, said: "What I would say is that if you see a skin wound on your dog then don't just leave it.
"Ordinarily you might say I'll leave that for 24, 48 hours - I would say don't do that, get down to your local vet."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25820926
 
Mexico probes mass fish death in Lake Cajititlan

Hundreds of thousands of fish have been washed up on the shores of Lake Cajititlan in the Mexican state of Jalisco over the past week.

Almost 50 tonnes of dead popoche chub freshwater fish have been removed from the lake.

The local authorities said it was part of a "natural cycle" but state officials said it was due to the lake's "poor management".

More fish are expected to wash up over the next days.

Local remove dead fish from Cajititlan lake on 31 August 2014
Locals and environmental officials have been removing fish by the lorryload
Jalisco's secretary for the environment, Maria Magdalena Ruiz Mejia, denied "categorically that this is a natural and cyclical phenomenon".

"We have no evidence to support that it is natural and cyclical, to the contrary, we have a series of variables which lead us to believe this phenomenon is not only recurrent and becoming more frequent and severe, but also that it is caused by the poor management of the body of water," she said.

Ms Ruiz Mejia said mud from local wastewater treatment plants could be to blame for the mortality.

Map of Mexico
When questioned by local journalists whether her office had evidence to support her allegation she said state authorities had been denied access to the plants and could therefore not yet carry out an investigation of the premises. ...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29011056
 
5,000 Bats Fall Dead From The Trees In Australia

A suburb in New South Wales has been littered with the bodies of thousands of dead bats.

Up to 5,000 of the animals dropped from the trees in Casino, around 600km north east of Sydney on Saturday.

Temperatures had hit record highs of 44.1C, as a heatwave swept the region Byron News reported.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/11 ... 77194.html
 
Peru investigates deaths of 500 sea lions on north coast

Peru is investigating the deaths of some 500 sea lions found on a beach on its northern coastline.
The local governor has accused fishermen of poisoning the mammals, which usually come close to the shore looking for food.
But Peruvian environmental police are looking into other possible causes for the deaths, including disease and the accidental ingestion of plastic.

The rotting corpses were found on Anconcillo beach in the Ancash region.
Agents said the bodies were of young as well as old animals, the official Andina news agency reported.
They were considered a health hazard and quickly removed from the beach, which lies some 400km (250 miles) north of the capital, Lima.

Earlier this month, a similar incident happened further north, in the Piura region, where the bodies of nearly 200 sea lions, dolphins, turtles and pelicans washed ashore.
Officials are still investigating the causes of those deaths.

In 2012, hundreds of dolphins were found dead along a stretch of Peruvian coastline.
Environmental group Orca blamed the deaths on the noise and pressure waves caused by explosions it linked to oil exploration in the area.
But a government report by the Maritime Institute (Imarpe) ruled out oil exploration, or infection by a virus or bacteria, as triggers for the deaths of the dolphins.
The report said natural causes were to blame.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-30172690
 
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