When animals go bad

[robman]

There are probably a few hundred Somalis in Mt Roskill who would love a bit of bush meat..

[nitpicker1]

...The latest attack comes just two weeks after a seven-year-old girl was feared killed by a crocodile at a waterhole at an outstation about 340 kilometers (210 miles) east of the city of Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory. ...


http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/316239/fears-boy-taken-by-crocodile-in-australia

[Lovelee]

Call it adrenaline, call it maternal instinct.

But Tess Guthrie could not say where she found the strength to pry a two-metre python from the arm of her young daughter in the middle of the night.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, Guthrie, from Lismore in northern New South Wales, was woken by the hissing of her cat, which had been behaving unusually in the days before the python's appearance. In the darkness she could make out a strange figure in the bed next to her.

Reaching for the light on her mobile phone, she found a snake coiled around the arm of her sleeping two-year-old daughter Zara.

"Automatically, I jumped," she said.

"I don't know if my movement startled the snake, but that's when it started to constrict around her arm and then it just started to strike at her, and it got her three times.

"And on the third time [it was biting down on her] I grabbed the snake on the head I pulled her and the snake apart from each other.

"In my head I was just going through this unbelievable terror, and my thought was that it was going to actually kill her at first, because it was wrapped so tight."

Guthrie flung the snake across the room and made a mad dash from her detached granny flat to her father's house.

"Her little arm was bleeding really bad from the bites, and all I could feel was blood and Zara was screaming by that stage, and I was in hysterics because it was such a shocking thing to wake up to," she said.

"It was just terrifying.

"I don't know how ... I was able to pull it off."

She and Zara were taken by ambulance to Lismore Base Hospital, where Guthrie works as a receptionist, and stayed the night.

She was still in disbelief and reluctant to return to the granny flat this morning, but she and Zara were otherwise safe and well.

Tex's Snake Removals' Tex Tillis, who removed the reptile, said the coastal python or carpet snake was not looking for a meal, just a "group hug".

"Pythons, underneath their bottom lip have a row of sensors which evolution has equipped them with to see the world in infrared. In the dark, baby and mother sleeping in the bed would look like a lump of heat," Tillis said.

Once the python felt under attack, Tillis said, it started to constrict.
"That snake, if it was bigger, could have crushed the baby. It could have tried to eat the baby, yes," he said.

"And when mum went to save [the child] it could have wrapped her hands like the best police manacles around ... and then thrown a loop around her neck and killed her. It's all in self-defence."

This python was a junior, between five and 10 years old and 1.85 metres long, Tillis said.

Tillis said other parents unfortunate enough to find themselves in a similar situation would be best served immediately turning on the light.

"And then what you really have to do is grab the snake ... just below his head so it immobilises his jaw," he said.

Guthrie insisted that the reptile be released back into the wild.

"The other remarkable thing about this woman is that she had no malice towards the snake," Tillis said.

- Brisbane Times

http://xtranewscommunity2.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,647.0.html

[Lovelee]

Some 15,000 crocodiles have escaped from a South African reptile farm in flood waters and are on the loose in and around one of southern Africa's biggest rivers, a newspaper has reported.

"There used to be only a few crocodiles in the Limpopo River. Now there are a lot," Zane Langman, whose in-laws own the farm in the northern part of the country told Beeld newspaper.

Langman said only half the escaped crocodiles from the Rakwena Crocodile Farm close to the Botswana border had been recaptured, the report said.

Langman added that farm gates were opened out of fear the rushing flood water would crush the crocodiles.

Officials from the farm were not immediately available for comment.

One crocodile apparently from the farm was captured about 120 km away at a school rugby field, it said.

Heavy rains and flooding have claimed at least 20 lives in Mozambique and South Africa and led to the evacuations of thousands.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/africa/8222141/Floods-free-thousands-of-crocodiles

[Lovelee]

An eight-year-old boy is in a coma after catching the bat Lyssavirus - only the third ever confirmed case in Australia.

The boy was bitten or scratched by a bat in north Queensland about two and half months ago but his parents did not know about it at the time, according to Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young.

The boy began having fits about three weeks ago and was diagnosed with the virus, which is similar to rabies.

The boy is in a coma in a Brisbane hospital, with Dr Young calling the case "very sad".

It is only the third confirmed case of bat Lyssavirus in Australia so far, with the other two diagnosed in Queensland in the 1990s.

In the earlier cases, both patients died.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/8310397/Boy-bitten-by-bat-in-coma

[Lovelee]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/8394382/Man-v-Fish



A monster northern bluefin tuna was winched onto dry land last night in front of hundreds of onlookers at Whitianga and it could signal a equally sizeable paycheque for the trio who hauled it aboard.

Skipper, and owner of commercial longliner Karina B, Wayne MacFarlane was fishing off Gisborne on Tuesday afternoon when the prized 415kg animal was dragged up on a longline hook.

Mr MacFarlane said the vibe on board was buzzing at the time.

They processed it and put it on ice immediately and it's now en route to Tokyo, Japan, where it will be auctioned to the highest bidder.

The price could push $80,000, as similar fish have in the past, but it depends on market conditions and the exchange rate isn't in their favour currently.

Mr MacFarlane's hoping to get $40,000 for it. The rest of the sale proceeds go to the many hands the fish passes through before reaching a buyer.

[Lovelee]

A seven metre-long wasp nest, found in Spain, could see New Zealand lose its Guinness World record as home of the world's largest wasp nest.

The standing record was set in 1963, at a farm in Waimauku, near Auckland.

According to Guinness World Records,  it measured 3.7m long, and was 1.75m in diameter and about 5.5m in circumference.

But the Daily Mail has reported the discovery of one on the Spanish island of Tenerife, which left an empty house full of millions of the stinging insects.

Experts believe that the nest was built by an African species of wasp which had migrated to Tenerife - some 100km away.

Officials had blocked the house off, and were still figuring out how to measure and then get rid of it.

The New Zealand one was thought to be made by German wasps.

That nest was so heavy it fell off the tree it was hanging from and broke in two.

Nests are typically made of a paper-like pulp.

They are composed of wood-scrapings which the wasps chew with their saliva to create a papier-mache-like substance.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/8546816/Massive-wasp-nest-could-knock-NZ-out-of-records

[nitpicker1]

Six people mauled by bears in the US in one day    
 
Last updated 15:35 18/08/2013

A 12-year-old girl played dead to ward off a black bear when it attacked her in a US forest, leaving her with cuts, bruises and puncture wounds.

Abigail Wetherell was one of six people attacked by bears in the US on Thursday, with hikers and rangers mauled in Yellowstone National Park and nearby forests.

A hunter was also mauled by a brown bear in northern Alaska and rescued by a helicopter crew using night vision goggles.

The girl, known as Abby, was attacked while running on a dirt road near a cabin on her grandfather's property in Wexford County, in Michigan's north west, Detroit Free Press reported.

Her grandfather, Dave Wetherell, said Abby saw the bear and tried to run away, but it knocked her to the ground and mauled her.

Mr Wetherell said when she tried to get up, the bear knocked her down again before she played dead.

A neighbour heard Abby's screams and was able to scare the bear off.

Mr Wetherell said bears were often spotted in the area, but this was the first attack.

"Typically, the bear will run from you," he told the newspaper.

"It's very scary to think that you're just walking in the woods, and all of a sudden you're attacked by a bear."

The attack shredded the girl's clothes and left her with injuries that required surgery.

Mr Wetherell said Abby was a brave girl who loved the outdoors, and she had vowed to return to the property.

Officials said it was unlikely the bear was trying to protect cubs, as there was no sign of baby bears in the area. The attack appeared to be unprovoked.

In Alaska, a hunter waited more than 36 hours to be rescued after being mauled by a brown bear in a remote mountain range.

The man, who was part of a guided hunting party about 50 kilometres north of the tiny village of Anaktuvuk Pass, was initially treated by a doctor who was part of another group hunting nearby.

Rescue efforts by local search teams and Alaska State Troopers were turned back on Thursday because of dense fog.

The Alaska Air National Guard launched a search-and-rescue plane and helicopter from an Air Force base near Fairbanks after midnight on Friday.

The plane's crew launched flares to guide the helicopter through a pass and the helicopter reached the man in the very early hours of Friday, using night vision goggles to find him.

Four other people - two hikers and two rangers - were attacked in Yellowstone National Park and a nearby forest in Idaho late last week.

The first attack occurred on Thursday when a group of four hikers came face-to-face with a young bear cub on a trail in Yellowstone.
   
The mother of the cub appeared almost immediately and charged the hikers.

"One person was treated at the scene, while the second injured hiker was transported by ambulance to an area hospital with bite and claw wounds," Yellowstone Park authorities said in a statement.

The confrontation lasted about a minute, before the hikers sprayed bear repellent to stop the attack.

In a separate incident, two employees of the Bureau of Land Management in Idaho were attacked while performing a forest health assessment, The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.

One of the two men needed treatment for bite wounds on his thigh and buttocks while the second man was bitten on the hand as he attempted to use bear spray.

A spokesman for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said the bear had probably been disturbed by the men while resting.

AP, Fairfax
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/9057277/Six-people-mauled-by-bears-in-the-US-in-one-day

meanwhile, in a somewhat lighter vein:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2395594/Hilarious-moment-300lb-POLAR-BEAR-tries-hitch-lift-pick-truck-Alaska.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

[nitpicker1]

Chch zoo locked down as gibbons escape

By Dave Williams, NZ Newswire
 Updated September 7, 2013, 4:09 pm

Hundreds of visitors to Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park were forced to take cover indoors for about two hours when three gibbons escaped from their enclosure. ...

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/18821119/chch-zoo-locked-down-as-gibbons-escape/

[nitpicker1]

Camel escapes, attacks man in US   

Last updated 13:00 15/02/2014

A camel escaped from an enclosure in a Southern California high desert community on Friday, stomped a 72-year-old man who tried to capture it, and chased other people before it calmed down and was corralled.

The camel escaped in the unincorporated community of Acton and was reported chasing cars shortly after 8.30am, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.

"My dad ... tried to catch it and it must have cornered him or something, and it took off after him, bit him on the head and knocked him down and stomped on him," Skylar Dossenbach told KCBS-TV. "He crawled under something and the camel tried to pull him out from under it."

Her father was hospitalised and needed stitches for a gash to his head, she said. His name wasn't immediately released.

"A neighbour came out and saw the commotion and got the camel away from him," Dossenbach told KABC-TV. "And the camel actually started chasing them, and they had to jump in a car, and the camel was running around after everybody."

Dossenbach said she finally ended up capturing the camel.

"I just put a halter on him, fed him a treat and he calmly walked down to my round pen and I corralled him," she said.

The camel was seized by animal control officials because the owner does not have a permit and because of the injury, agency spokeswoman Betsy Webster said.

The owner could be cited for endangering residents, sheriff's officials said.

Dossenbach said the camel and other animals, including a buffalo and an ostrich, previously escaped from the owner's property, which she described as a zoo. There have been as many as five escapes this year, she said.

Dossenbach said she believed no one lives on the property but a caretaker cames by daily to feed and water the animals.
 
 
 - AP

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/9726588/Camel-escapes-attacks-man-in-US

[nitpicker1]

Cat attacks baby, traps family in bedroom

Home » News » World


Tue, 11 Mar 2014
News: World

A rampaging, 10kg Oregon house cat with a "history of violence" attacked a baby and trapped a family and their dog in a bedroom at their Portland home before being captured by police, authorities say. ...

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/294713/cat-attacks-baby-traps-family-bedroom

[nitpicker1]

Tiger kills keeper at Hamilton Zoo

By Lane Nichols, Belinda Feek, Lauren Priestley, Bernard Orsman

Updated 24 min ago 11:19 AM Sunday Sep 20, 2015

A woman has died in a tiger attack at Hamilton Zoo this morning. It has been confirmed the woman was a zoo keeper. The victim's name would not be released today, Waikato Police Senior Sergeant Juliet Burgess said.

Police were advising the next-of-kin but would require significant time to do so, she said. Emergency services were called to the Hamilton Zoo just after 11am this morning, after reports a zookeeper had been attacked. "Sadly the staff member who was attacked by the tiger has died at the scene.


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11515997

 

[nitpicker1]

A man viciously attacked by a bull in Northland drove himself to his neighbour's to get help.
The man in his 60s suffered chest and abdominal injuries after being charged by a bull on his farm in Paparoa on Saturday.
He was flown by Westpac Rescue Helicopter to Auckland Hospital and was in a stable condition on Sunday morning.
Maungaturoto senior firefighter Trevor Pilbrow said the farmer was "knocked around a little bit" by the bull.
He was in pain but managed to drive himself on a quad bike to his neighbour's house following the attack, Pilbrow said.
The neighbour, who was good friends with the farmer, called emergency services.
It was also the second known bull attack this week.
A man was attacked by a bull in rural South Canterbury on Tuesday.
He had been standing in the back of a stock truck when the bull charged him.
The man suffered serious chest injuries and was flown to Christchurch Hospital in a serious condition.

Saturday's victim was not the first Northland farmer to drive himself to get help after a rural accident.


Read the rest ?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news

🐂

[nitpicker1]

Saturday 26th December 2015


A woman has been airlifted to hospital with head injuries after a run-in with a bull on a south Waikato farm.
The 35-year-old was charged by the bull on a Mangakino farm this morning.
She was stabilised by paramedics before being airlifted to Waikato Hospital where she is in a stable condition.
It was one of two animal attacks today.
A 14-year-old girl was taken to hospital after being attacked in Kaikohe, according to St John ambulance.
The Herald on Sunday said that attack was by a dog.


http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/2-animal-attacks-in-the-north-island-2015122611#axzz3vPOW3dJ7