March 30, 2015 - FLORIDA, UNITED STATES - A dark intersection. A church van full of parishioners. And tragedy.
That's about all police in Glades County, Florida, had to work with early Monday, hours after a van with 18 people inside ran a stop sign, crossed a four-lane highway and plunged into a shallow water-filled ditch. Eight people died. Ten others, including a 4-year-old child, were injured, according to police.
Investigators don't know why it happened, Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Greg Bueno told CNN affiliate WPBF. The driver died, and police haven't been able to interview passengers yet.
"Our hearts go out to the families of the victims," Bueno said. "It breaks your heart to see something like this happen."
Some relatives of the crash victims, all of whom were from the Independent Haitian Assembly of God in Fort Pierce, gathered at the rural intersection Monday morning. Others went to the church.
"We've lost a lot of family members, church family," Phillipe Dorce, who said he lost his father, told WPBF. "All we can do is pray (to) God to help us out. Pray for us. It's very sad for us."
Linda Dolce told the news site TCPalm.com that her grandmother died in the crash. She'd arrived from Haiti six years ago.
"She loved singing and helping people," TCPalm.com quoted her as saying. "She was exciting; she was the best lady to us."
Laura Lochard told the site that her uncle died in the crash, leaving behind four children, the youngest of which is 16, whom he brought to the United States from Haiti. He was like a father to her, too, she said.
"It's never easy to lose a person, but I have to be strong," she told the site. "I'll never forget his smile."
A pastor at the church, Sereste Doresma told CNN that parishioners had attended a revival in Fort Myers and had left Sunday afternoon.
"This is a very difficult day for us today," he said.
The van apparently was traveling east on State Road 78 when it ran a stop sign at U.S. Highway 27 early Monday, authorities said. It then crossed all four lanes of U.S. 27 and stopped in a ditch that was partially filled with water.
No one saw the accident on the rural stretch of roadway that's frequented mostly by commercial traffic, Bueno said. One of the passengers flagged down a passing vehicle, whose driver called police, the trooper said.
Police had to remove the seats of the van to remove passengers, Bueno said. Among other things, investigators are looking into the capacity of the van. It appeared to be rated for 16 passengers, Bueno said.
Of the passengers, all were adults except for the 4-year-old, who was in stable condition at a hospital, Bueno said. Two of the adult passengers were in critical condition, he said.
Passengers were being treated at four hospitals. - CNN.
Active lava lobe and incandescent rockfalls at Sinabung in March 2015 (Photo: Bastien Poux)
March 30, 2015 - INDONESIA - The volcano continues to effuse a viscous lava lobe from its summit crater.
Frequent rockfalls and pyroclastic flows occur due to partial collapses of the sticky lava masses on the steep upper slope.
Our friend Bastien Poux who has been observing the volcano during the past weeks sent us the following report:
"I
have been watching the Sinabung volcano for the last two weeks, there
is a big lava lobe hanging at the summit, you can see it glow at night.
Debris
flows are getting bigger and more frequent, usually the rocks come form
the side of the lobe, where it is contact with the walls made of older
formations (sign the the lobe moves forward), between 10 and 25 times a
day, going down the flank to distances between 500 and 2000m in general,
couple of them went to 3000m yesterday when a big piece of the frontal
part of the lobe collapsed.
There is still a 5km forbidden
perimeter, more or less respected by the people who want to go back in
their houses after being refugees for 18 months." - Volcano Discovery.
Airborne particulate
matter wafting off American cattle yards contains antibiotics, bacteria,
and antibiotic-resistant DNA.
Reuters
March 30, 2015 - TEXAS, UNITED STATES
- Airborne particulate matter wafting off American cattle yards
contains antibiotics, bacteria, and antibiotic-resistant DNA, a new study
finds. Environmental tests on the spread of antibiotics have been
performed in the past, but this is the first time researchers have
examined aerial dispersion. The work suggests airborne transmission may
be contributing to an emerging global health problem, where doctors find
it increasingly difficult to treat life-threatening infections.
For
some time now, scientists have worried that we may be entering a
"post-antibiotic era," when the drugs that once defeated potentially
fatal infections are no longer effective. Simply put, the bacteria
causing infections in many cases are now immune to (or "resisting") the
drugs. Since antibiotic-resistant bacterial DNA, if imbibed in water or
consumed in meat, can be transferred to humans, many researchers say
misuse and overuse of veterinary pharmaceuticals may be responsible, in
part, for this global health threat. Large, commercial food operations
rely on veterinary drugs, including antibiotics, to promote bigger
growth of the animals. However, after the animals excrete the drugs,
these antibiotics enter the environment via runoff, leaching, and the
spread of manure.
For this new study, then, environmental
toxicology researchers at Texas Tech University decided to look at
whether these drugs become airborne. Over a period of six months, they
gathered airborne particulate matter from 10 commercial cattle yards
each with a capacity of 20,000 to 50,000 head of cattle, within 200
miles of Lubbock, Texas.
“Mass of [particulate matter] collected
immediately downwind of feedyards was significantly different than that
collected immediately upwind of each feedyard,” the authors wrote in the
study.
Analyzing the downwind air and comparing it to the upwind
air, the researchers found it contained antibiotics, bacteria, and a
much greater number of microbial communities containing
antibiotic-resistant genes. Specifically, the researchers detected
tetracycline, chlortetracycline, and oxytetracycline in 60 percent of
particulate matter samples downwind of feedyards, while oxytetracycline
was the most frequently detected of these three — all downwind samples contained this one antibiotic, yet so did 30 percent of the upwind samples.
Based
on these measurements, the authors noted “there is significant
potential for widespread distribution of antibiotics, bacteria, and
genetic material that encodes antibiotic resistance via airborne
[particulate matter] as a result of the large mass of fine particles
released daily from beef cattle feedyards in the Central Plains of the
United States.” They added that cattle yard-derived microbes, including
those possessing antibiotic resistance, are likely transported to new,
possibly unexpected locations as well. - Medical Daily.
March 30, 2015 - MOSCOW, RUSSIA - A
strong chilling wind has struck the Russian capital over the weekend,
upturning trees, damaging rooftops and toppling billboards across the
city. The hurricane-like winds will swirl over Russia for a few more
days, forecasters say.
Moscow emergency services have estimated
that at least 76 buildings have been damaged and 32 trees uprooted by
wind gusts that reached up to 17 meters per second.
Public transportation was partly halted in some areas of southern Moscow after upturned trees damaged overhead lines.
"Due
to the strong wind, car owners are not recommended to park near trees
and loosely-fastened constructions," the Moscow city government's
transportation department said in a statement.
At least three
people suffered minor injuries in the city. A 53-year-old man received a
minor injury due to a fallen tree. A 21-year-old woman was taken to
hospital in a similar incident. Her condition is now considered
satisfactory by doctors.
A gusty wind also tore away roof tiles and slightly injured a 27-year-old woman.
Over the weekend, witnesses shared pictures of destruction from the affected locations on Instagram and other social media.
A
specialist from Phobos meteorological center told RIA Novosti that the
strong winds may last until Thursday. Weather forecasts have also
predicted snow and rain, warning that it may result in icy roads. The
local weather services forecast winds reaching up to 25 mps Monday.
WATCH: Extreme weather hits Moscow.
Heavy
wind also affected other cities in the European part of Russia. At
least five people were injured in the southern Rostov Region after two
passenger buses were blown off the road. About 37,000 people were left
without electricity in the region.
At least 24 trees were broken
in the city of Voronezh, southwest Russia, where the gusts of wind
reached at least 18 meters per second. On Monday the local
meteorologists forecast the strength of the malicious weather phenomena
will reach 23 meter per second. - RT.
All workers are given a radiation scan after visiting the power plant Kimmasa Mayama/EPA
March 30, 2015 - JAPAN - Japan faces 200-year wait for Fukushima clean-up — The
chief of the Fukushima nuclear power station has admitted that the
technology needed to decommission three melted-down reactors does not
exist, and he has no idea how it will be developed.
In a stark reminder of the challenge facing the Japanese authorities, Akira Ono conceded that the stated goal of decommissioning the plant by 2051 may be impossiblewithout a giant technological leap.
“There are so many uncertainties involved. We need to develop many, many technologies,” Mr Ono said. “For removal of the debris, we don’t have accurate information (about the state of the reactors) or any viable methodology… [The rest of the article is only available to Times' subscribers] - Mar. 27, 2015 (emphasis added) - The Times of London.
An image of a hot spot that has been identified and mapped inside one of the reactors
Japan
may be obsessed with robots, but it is a British company that has
solved the “impossible” problem of visualising the radiation leaks
inside the crippled reactor buildings at Fukushima — State-of-the-art British imaging technology has been deployed at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to overcome problems that Japanese engineers declared to be insurmountable…
[The]
system is able to create a real-time, three-dimensional image of the
area being surveyed and identify “hot-spots” of radioactivity. More than
four years after… radiation levels within the structures remain too
high for humans to enter.
That has severely hampered efforts to…
clean up the site. Experts have already estimated that process will take
three decades but progress to date has been slow. [TEPCO] was only able
to confirm on Thursday previous suspicions that nearly all the fuel
from the No. 1 reactor at the plant has melted and fallen into the
containment vessel. Two more reactors appear to have experienced similar
fates…
“One of their guys said it was like finding a Picasso in the loft because their experts had told them that what we do was impossible“,
[said Dr Matt Mellor, director of Createc]… Createc engineers first
visited the Fukushima plant in 2013. “It was a shocking sight… so it was
clear this was going to be a major challenge from the outset”, he
added. - Mar 26, 2015 - The Telegraph.
March 30, 2015 - GLOBAL VOLCANISM - Eric Worrall writes: The Guardian has published an unusually interesting article about the danger to our civilisation, of a new Tambora scale volcanic eruption.
According to Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL:
"In
April 1815, the biggest known eruption of the historical period blew
apart the Tambora volcano, on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, 12,000km
from the UK. What happened next testifies to the enormous reach of the
biggest volcanic blasts.
The Tambora volcano had shown no signs of life for 1,000 years; a
single eruption in the previous five millennia provided the only
indication that magma was still churning far beneath. It is very likely
that the residents of the island considered the volcano extinct, and
possible even that they did not know the impressive 4,300m (14,107ft)
mountain - at the time, probably the highest in the East Indies - was a
volcano at all. This all changed, however, with the rumblings and
earthquakes of 1812, a full three years before the climactic blast. Over
time, the seismic shocks were superseded by steam blasts and small ash
explosions, engendering increasing trepidation on the island and
signalling that something bigger might be imminent. It was. On 5 April
1815, a titanic explosion hurled a cloud of ash to a height of more than
30km." ...
The consequences for the developed societies of the northern hemisphere
were dire. A dry, sulphurous, fog draped itself across the landscape of
eastern North America, causing temperatures to plunge and bringing
unprecedented summer cold. In New York State, snow fell in June, while
the bitter cold and killing frosts wiped out crops and halved the length
of the growing season across much of the region. On the other side of
the Atlantic, Europe saw summer temperatures down by 2C compared to the
average for the decade; the unseasonal cold accompanied by incessant
rains and - into the following winter - by unusually powerful storms.
Analysis of climate records reveals that 1816, the so-called "year
without a summer", was the second coldest in the northern hemisphere of
the past six centuries."
McGuire adds a minor obligatory genuflection towards climate change, this is after all The Guardian
- but unusually for a Guardian story about the environment, the focus
of the article is not on the alleged dangers of our industrial output of
CO2. And what McGuire says is entirely pertinent - a Tambora style
eruption could kill millions of people from starvation, as massive crop
failures caused food prices to skyrocket.
And Tambora is not the worst which could happen - The Toba eruption,
which occurred 74,000 years ago, blackened the sky, causing massive die
backs across the world - and may even have almost ended the human race.
McGuire then goes on to list a few of the world's most dangerous volcanoes - though interestingly the Indonesian volcano Merapi, an unstable giant slumbering adjacent to a city of 3 million people, doesn't make his list.
These
colossal global catastrophes of the past, and the certainty that
similar catastrophes will occur again in the future, maybe even in our
lifetime, really puts the feeble temperature wobbles which are ascribed
to humans into perspective. - WUWT.
AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD First responders carry a victim to a Life Flight helicopter. The patient was brought by ambulance to where the helicopter sat in a clearing in DeSoto National Forest. A helicopter working on a controlled burn crashed Monday afternoon.
March 30, 2015 - MISSISSIPPI, UNITED STATES
- Two people are dead and one is severely injured after a U.S. Forest
Service helicopter crashed Monday near the intersection of Airey Tower
and Martha Redmond roads.
Harrison County Fire Chief Pat Sullivan confirmed two of the helicopter's occupants died in the crash, and authorities are still working to remove their bodies from the wreckage.
"We received a call at 2:57, I believe," Harrison County Fire Chief Pat Sullivan said. "And the call that we received of course was that a helicopter was down."
The crash site is roughly a mile southwest of Airey Tower and Martha Redmond roads.
Sullivan said he believes the aircraft was a contract helicopter being used by forestry personnel to monitor a control burn in the area.
AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD Life Flight personnel load a patient into the helicopter to be airlifted out of DeSoto National Forest after a helicopter working on a controlled burn crashed Monday afternoon.
AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD A haze hangs over DeSoto National Forest after a helicopter working on a controlled burn crashed Monday afternoon. The smoke from the controlled burn made working in the area difficult.
"There were crews on the scene immediately," he said. "These guys who work forestry are professionals. They train in first aid, they train for eventualities like this, so from that standpoint, that's an asset to the person that was injured."
He said the sole survivor of the crash suffered severe trauma and was taken by helicopter to the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile.
Eddie Baggett, prescribed fire specialist for the Forest Service, said the three on the helicopter were contract workers.
"We lost radio contact and somebody called me on the radio and said we may have an incident," Baggett said. "Usually, I'm talking to them all the time. We've got an ambulance on the way."
Baggett lost contact with the crew shortly before 3 p.m.
A LifeFlight medevac helicopter arrived near the scene about 4 p.m. and landed in a clearing just off Martha Redmond Road. EMT units with American Medical Response were seen transporting one of the victims into the helicopter.
The National Transportation Safety Board will be leading the investigation, Sullivan said.
The controlled burn today involved 800 acres right at the Harrison and Stone county lines.
A reporter and photographer are on the scene. SunHerald.com will update this story as more information becomes available. - Sun Herald.
March 30, 2015 - EARTH - Here are several of the latest reports of sinkholes across the globe as monumental planetary transformations continue.
Burundi landslides 'kill 10' near Bujumbura
This bridge was destroyed
At least 10 people are missing, feared dead, in Burundi after landslides which have destroyed hundreds of homes, officials say.
Some 3,000 people have been left homeless, according to a BBC reporter who has been to the scene.
Their houses were destroyed after mud and rocks, dislodged by the rain, plunged down the hillside.
Rivers full of rocks swept into Lake Tanganyika
Reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo say there have been similar problems across the border.
UN-backed Radio Okapi says 14 people have been killed on the Congolese side of Lake Tanganyika.
Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has visited the scene of the landslides, 35km (20 miles) south of the capital Bujumbura.
The governor of Bujumbura district, Jacques Minani, described it as "a disaster", reports the AFP news agency.He said that the emergency services were now searching the area for survivors. - BBC.
Sinkhole Swallows Midtown Tulsa Street, Oklahoma, United States
A sinkhole opened up in a midtown Tulsa neighborhood. Traffic is being diverted from 18th Street, just east of Peoria.
Michelle Allen of the City of Tulsa said a storm sewer failed from the heavy rain last week.
A sinkhole opend up on 18th Street just east of Peoria.
Drivers are encouraged to find another route.
"The area is barricaded, and nobody was hurt," she said. "Storm water crews will be working on the repairs."
Firefighters
went door to door to warn residents that a sinkhole had swallowed part
of the street. Neighbors say police told them their homes are in no
danger.
WATCH: Hole swallows Midtown Tulsa Street.
No word yet on how soon the sinkhole can be repaired. Drivers are encouraged to find another route. - News On 6.
Landslide buries part of village in Java after heavy rains
A landslide killed six in Java, an official said on Sunday.
A landslide killed six in Java, an official said on Sunday.
Twelve
people were killed and 11 houses buried after a landslide triggered by
heavy rain in Indonesia's main island of Java, an official said Sunday.
The landslide hit Tegal Panjang village in Sukabumi district in west
Java late Saturday after a particularly heavy downpour, according to
national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
"We found all 12 bodies," he said in an update, revising the earlier death toll of 10 and two missing.
He said heavy rain caused a cliff to collapse and hit the village, burying 11 houses.
Landslides triggered by heavy rain and floods are common in tropical Indonesia during the rainy season.
The national disaster agency estimates around half the country's 250 million population lives in areas prone to landslides.
The vast Indonesian archipelago, one of the world's most disaster-prone
nations, is also frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. - The Star.
Heavy unseasonal rains trigger landslide in Himalayan region of Kashmir
A
landslide in the Himalayan region of Kashmir buried at least 10 people
while they were sleeping, police said on Monday, as unseasonal rains
swept India, damaging crops and raising fears of flash floods in the
mountainous north.
Hundreds
of people fled their homes as Kashmir's main rivers began to swell and
weather forecasters predicted further downpours in the region that was
struck by devastating floods seven months ago.
A
hillside collapsed onto a house in a village about 40 kms (25 miles)
from the capital Srinagar, where three families were sleeping on Monday
morning, according to Mushtaq Ahmad, a neighbor. Army and police used
diggers and shovels to locate any survivors."It was a huge landslide,
the entire house is covered in earth," Ahmad said. "The chance of
finding everyone alive is unlikely."
Local police
superintendent Fayaz Ahmad Lone said 10 people were buried in the house
in the village of Ledhan. Locals said the number could be higher.
India is experiencing more extreme rainfall events as the global
climate warms, a study of 50 years of data by the Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorology concluded.
This year, March has been the
wettest month in more than a century, wrecking millions of hectares of
winter crops. The crop damage has been blamed for a spate of rural
suicides in recent weeks.
In September, the Kashmir valley suffered the worst flooding in more than a century, killing more than 200 people and displacing almost a million for weeks.
The misery has added to problems in a Muslim-majority state where a
revolt against Indian rule has simmered for a quarter of a century.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, and claimed in full by
both countries. Weather officials said heavy showers would occur in
isolated places in Kashmir over the next couple days although the
intensity of rain is likely to diminish. The state has received surplus
rainfall in two-thirds of its districts this month. On Monday, the
Kashmiri government declared a flood alert and asked people living near
the river Jhelum, which flowsthrough Srinagar, to leave their homes. The
government has established relief camps for those forced to flee.Mujeeb
Ahmad, a doctor, left with his family on Sunday evening. "Last year my
family was caught in floods and we were only rescued after four days,"
Ahmad said. "We don't want to take any chances." - Reuters
Man rescued from sinkhole in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, United States after he calls 911
Rescuers pulled a man from a sinkhole that opened up on the Mansfield Bridgein McKeesport on Saturday night.
West
Fifth Avenue below the bridge was closed, McKeesport Deputy Fire Chief
Don Sabol said. Authorities also stopped train traffic during the
rescue, he said. The cause of the sinkhole was not immediately known,
Sabol said. WATCH: Man pulled from sinkhole in McKeesport.
According to a tweet sent out by Western PA Fire News, confined space rescue was needed andthe man was about ten feet down into the hole.
The man was carried off on a stretcher and flown to an area hospital
after firefighters rescued him. The incident was reported by emergency
dispatchers around 7:30 p.m., when the man called 911 himself, after falling in the hole.
The man is in his forties and was walking to meet a friend at the
Marathon gas station in McKeesport, when he fell. Officials are still
investigating, what caused the sinkhole. - WPXI.
March 30, 2015 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and the appearance of rare creatures.
Cow in northeast Texas, United States defies 1 in 11.2 million odds and gives birth to 4 calves
This photo provided by Jimmy Barling shows his
wife, Dora Rumsey-Barling among four newborn calves on March 16, 2015,
near DelKalb, Texas
A
cow in Northeast Texas has apparently defied great odds and given birth
to four calves that have been named Eeny, Meeny, Miny and Moo.
Jimmy Barling said Monday that DNA tests will be done on tissue samples
from the three bull calves and the one heifer calf to satisfy those who
may question the births from one mother.
"We knew she was
pregnant, but we didn't know she was going to do this," the 76-year-old
Barling said. "This was a shock. This blew our minds."
WATCH: Holy cow! Rare quadruplet calves born in Texas.
Barling's wife, Dora Rumsey-Barling, owns the couple's 20 or so cattle
outside of DeKalb, near the Arkansas and Oklahoma borders.
Rumsey-Barling's granddaughter named the four black calves Eeny, Meeny,
Miny and Moo, Barling said.
Local veterinarian Mike Baird
called the March 16 births "extremely rare." He said the odds of four
live births from one cow are 1 in 11.2 million. Baird knows the couple
well and is nearly certain the four came from one mother, rather than a
nearby cow perhaps birthing one or two and then moving along so that it
appeared the four came from the Barling's cow.
"In the interest
of science and the animal world, it's one of those things that need to
be verified beyond a shadow of a doubt," he said.
The couple watched the birth of the fourth calf after going to check on her when they saw buzzards circling above a field.
Because the mother cow is unable to nurse all four calves, the couple
are relying on neighbors to help. Moo has stayed with her mother, while
Eeny, Meeny and Miny are with two different caretakers. Meeny is the
smallest of the calves, weighing in at about 25 pounds.
A typical healthy birth weight for a calf is 75 pounds. Standing has also been difficult for some of the quadruplets. - Yahoo.
A
61-year-old woman was killed and eight others were injured on Monday
when a wild rhinoceros attacked people at a busy market in central
Nepal. The woman is a resident of Hetauda town, Hetauda's Superintendent
of Police Prakashjung Karki said.
She was critically injured in the attack, died in course of treatment at Hetauda Hospital, Karki was quoted as saying by the Himalyan Times. A cow was also injured in the attack in Hetauda market.
The animal entered the human settlement from Chitwan National Park early on Monday.
WATCH: Rhino Chases Motorcycle Down The Street.
The rhino is hiding in a bush near the Rapti River and the personnel
from Armed Police Force and Nepal Police are trying to take it under
control, Karki said.
It's uncommon of rhinos to kill people in Nepal even
as deforestation often forces them to enter nearby villages. The number
of one-horned rhinos that dominated the plains of Nepal in the past has
gone down owing to poaching and human encroachment of their habitat. - DNA India.
Lynx attacks goat, mad brawl inside living room ensues in Dinorwic, Canada
John
Cox of Dinorwic was cleaning up in the basement, getting ready for a
day of ice fishing, when he got a call from his daughter.
He's in the house, already, so he picks up the call, and he talks with his daughter.
"Dad, where are you?," she asks. "There's a cat attached to our goat!"
He goes upstairs to see what's the matter.
"Sure enough. There's Stella. That's our biggest goat. The mother of the three.
She's got this wildcat attached to her neck. Absolutely. The claws are
dug into her shoulders. The back claws are dug into her haunches. The
mouth was wrapped around her neck, and she was hemorrhaging," Cox remembers.
The goat was screaming, as it tried to use its horns to dislodge the
lynx. Cox went back downstairs to get his rifle. It was a British .303
Second World War model, and it came with a bayonet and an extra
magazine. Then he went back upstairs, so he could get a shot at the
lynx.
"I open the door, and Stella sees me at the door," he recalled. "Just as I open to take the shot, she bursts the door open, and now both animals are inside the living room."
Stella's still trying to still take the wildcat off her back, and she's
knocking over furniture. Both animals are still bleeding, as they
wrestle inside the house.
"At this point, I'm not sure what to do, except put the rifle back on safe," he recalled.
Cox decides to pistol-whip the lynx. After three strikes, the cat
finally lets go of the goat, and a full-out brawl between the two animal
ensues.
Stella the goat shows her wounds, after a battle with a Lynx in Dinorwic earlier this month.
Scene of the fight.
Dead lynx.
My daughter's watching the whole thing, but she can't
get back into the room. The cat goes into the far side of the house,
past the girl.
"It took two leaps. One on top of the sofa, and the other one was directly towards the window," he recalls.
As the wildcat lay stunned on the floor, Cox is considering his
options. However, shooting the rifle in the house isn't a good idea. So,
he tells his daughter to get back to her room, and he takes a swing at
the lynx, knocking it unconscious.
"I'm now kind of bent over catching my breath. Right then, Stella pushes past me, and takes the cat with her horns and throws the cat into the TV stand," he remembered.
"Now, I have an ensuing bar brawl in my other living room. She's
bleeding. The cat's bleeding and smashing glass. So, I had to grab
Stella and pull Stella off of her. While I'm pulling Stella off, she
continues to hoof the cat. She just wouldn't stop," he continued.
It's still a wild animal. So, Cox takes out the bayonet and prods the wildcat towards the front door.
"As it made its way into the door frame, I stepped into the living room
and placed a shot. So ended the confusion, the chaos and the ensuing
bar brawl in my house," he said.
Cox said he didn't have a
choice. The lynx had a taste of blood, and it would be back to attack
more of his livestock. Since he's already lost animals to cats
previously, he didn't want a repeat.
"I do see them from time to time around the yard," he said."But I'd never seen anything like it, let alone inside my house."
- Kenora Online.
Coyote attacks dog in Ansonia, Connecticut, United States
Coyote.
A dog was attacked by a coyote in Ansonia Saturday morning and part of the attack was caught on camera.
Its not uncommon to see wild life if you live in the wooded hills of Ansonia, what is unusual seeing the animals attack beloved pets.
"They
have been around here for quite a few years actually but this is the
first time that I've heard of one coming down on this street" said resident, James Karpiuk.
Karpiuk lives on Park Place and Sunday he told us the talk of the
neighborhood is an incident that happened outside the home next door.
That is where a dog named Lexus lives with his owners and on Saturday
the pooch was attacked by a coyote.
WATCH: Dog attacked by coyote in Ansonia.
Lexus was lucky as his injuries were minimal, having received only a few scratches according to one of his owners.
"The dog is okay," said Kapiuk. "He had a shot."
The news of an aggressive coyote still isn't sitting well with those
who frequent the community, some even tell us they'll be looking twice
before heading out side.
The good news say experts there are
things every pet owner can do when taking them outside. Experts advise
keeping your animals on a leash, going out with them, and when its dark
turning lights on and making noise before going out. It is also
important to keep your animals up to date on their rabies vaccines and
any other shots to keep their animals safe.
If anyone see's any coyotes in the area they are asked to contact their local animal control or police. - WTNH.
Deer attacks man near his home on Guam
Toto resident recounts attack by deer.
"If you see a deer, it's not Bambi. Don't go near it."
Those were the words of advice yesterday from a bandaged-up Toto
resident who was attacked by a binadu early yesterday morning.
Mike Cepeda, 51, sported fresh bandages and a smile as he visited the
Guam Police Department Hagåtña precinct following the incident. Officers
needed his information for a report, he said.
Cepeda said he went outside of his Toto home after his aunt called him about a deer in the yard.
WATCH: Deer attacks man near his home on Guam.
"I was just watching the deer calmly come towards me, and before I knew it, it took the stance to attack," he said.
The deer, about 3 to 4 feet in height, with 2-foot antlers, charged at him, he said. "He jabbed at me (in the chest), threw me down, and dragged me about 20 feet," he said.
His wife and aunt came to help, trying to pull the deer off with a rope that was tied to the animal, he said.
The deer overpowered them, and kept tossing and slamming Cepeda on the ground, he said.
"I am over 200 pounds and he was able to lift me," he said. The struggle went on for about 15 to 20 minutes, he said.
"At first, I thought, 'Why isn't anyone filming this?' But then reality hit, and I thought, 'I'm going to die,'" Cepeda said.
Finally, a female cousin rushed to get a kitchen knife and stabbed the
buck in the back, he said. The animal let go of Cepeda and ran off, he
said.
But the deer tried to attack other relatives living nearby.Police were called, and an officer shot the animal to death, Cepeda said.
Cepeda was treated at a clinic for a broken left pinkie, scraped knees,
and a head contusion, he said. The antlers left a shallow puncture on
his chest, and his back and arms were bruised and bloody, he said.
"It's Friday the 13th, attacked by a deer, story of my life," Cepeda
said. "It's a freak day. Go figure: Get up, see Bambi, and get attacked
by Bambi." - Pacific Daily News.
Over 4000 hens have died due to avian flu in Agra, India
Villagers allege that bird farm owners have not buried the dead chickens properly, leaving scope for infection.
The
death of thousands of poultry birds in some districts have put the
administration on high alert in Uttar Pradesh, a state still reeling
under the deadly H1N1 virus.
An advisory was issued to the
district heads last week to take necessary measures to prevent any
instance of bird flu. However, no case has been reported so far.
The
deaths were reported earlier this month from the Saari Ka Purwa village
of Shukulbazar block in Amethi district. "No human cases have been
reported so far and the district administration, led by the chief
veterinary officer, has conducted tests . We are taking all necessary
precautions," Amethi's chief medical officer Ashok Kumar told MAIL
TODAY.
Fresh poultry bird deaths were also reported from Agra,
where over 4,000 hens have reportedly died in the past few days. Tests
are yet to confirm any instance of bird flu at the farms in Basauri
village of Agra, where the dead birds are still to be properly disposed
of.
"The growers are not burying the birds properly, which
enables stray dogs to dig them out and leave the rotten bodies around.
We demand the administration to take affective steps," Siddharth Kumar, a
student living in the village, said.
"We have come to know about
the outbreak and a team of experts will be sent to the village on
Monday," Agra's deputy veterinary officer Dr Vikas Sathe said. - India Today.
Pacific seabirds dying in record numbers - 100,000 auklets
Massive Cassins Auklet and Murre die off from Vancouver to California
Seabirds in the northwest of US and Canada are dying in their thousands, but no-one knows why.
Scientists are trying to halt one of the worst recorded catastrophies in marine bird history.
Volunteers scour the shores of Washington state for dead birds-something they do every month. November was a bad month.
"We had almost 130 of them out on our beach within about a mile
stretch, plus 10 other species. It was a long day," said Kathy Freitas,
volunteer bird surveyor.
So far, volunteers have found around
eight-thousand carcasses of the blue-footed seabird called the Cassin's
Auklet along the coast from British Columbia down into northern
California.
Scientists estimate as many as 100,000 auklets - most of them young - have died. The question is why.
WATCH:Pacific seabirds dying in record numbers.
 
Researchers believe that the Cassin's Auklets flew closer to the shore
than they normally do during their annual migration south.When they could not find the amount of food they're used to, they ended
up dying of starvation and washed up along shores of beaches like this.
"They're probably not finding food there, or enough food. And that's
probably causing some of the population to come closer to shore. And
they're not finding food there because they're dying and washing
ashore," seabird ecologist Julia Parrish said. Tests
confirmed the auklets likely died of starvation. Scientists say they
didn't find any traces of other potential killers like oil, viruses or
bacteria.They now suspect warm water is to blame.
The birds feed on tiny shrimp-like creatures called krill, which grow
in cold water. U.S. scientists say an expanse of "exceptionally warm
water" has spread across the Pacific-from the Gulf of Alaska to Japan.
The
auklet deaths are the latest in a series of marine life "mortality
events" in the world's oceans. Fish, birds and sea urchins have been
dying off in record numbers.
In January, U.S.
scientists published a study blaming disease for just over a quarter of
the mass die-offs. Human actions, like pollution, caused 19%-and
climate-related events factored into another 25%.
"There is a
seasonal cycle in the ocean. It's warmer at the end of summer, colder at
the end of winter. And last winter, it didn't cool off as much as
usual," said Nick Bond, Research Meteorologist.
Some U.S. scientists predict the auklet die-off could spread to other marine life after this year. - CNTV.
Photo Credit: Orchards in the San Joaquin Valley (Lindsey Hoshaw/KQED)
March 30, 2015 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- California farmers are making more money selling water than planting
their fields in some cases. The rice industry in the Sacramento Valley
has really been struggling with this year's drought. Some farmers are
choosing not to plant this year and are cashing in on their water rights
instead. This controversial move on the part of the farmers is not a
cut and "dry" deal. "In the long term, if we don't make it available
we're afraid they'll just take it," said Charlie Mathews, a
fourth-generation rice farmer with senior rights to Yuba River water.
Matthews
and other local farmers "have agreed to sell 20 percent of their
allotment to Los Angeles's Metropolitan Water District as it desperately
searches to add to its dwindling supply," reported CBS San Francisco.
This
kind of arrangement is gaining in popularity especially as water prices
continue to climb, making the water more valuable than the returns from
crops.
Legal Challenge
"California
has neglected its groundwater," said Barbara Vlamis, director of the
non-profit AquAlliance. Her group is suing to stop the water transfer
because of the mounting groundwater concerns. "You're putting an added
stress on the groundwater basin," Vlamis said. "In the last year alone,
there have been wells in Glenn County that have dropped 32 feet.
Nineteen feet in Butte County."
Vlamis believes the problems stem
from the fact that groundwater is not regulated in California, so state
and federal agencies don't understand the impact that transfers can
have. "It's shoddy," she said. "The agencies that are so casual about
moving water out of here need to truly analyze what they're doing to this region."
As
the lawsuit moves forward, all parties involved become increasing
nervous about how this will be resolved. Those that have cut huge water
deals and are ecstatic to be able to profit in spite of the terrible drought
are not excited about the prospect of losing that sale. There doesn't
seem to be a win-win solution regardless of the outcome of the legal
battle.
California water regulators have approved additional
restrictions on lawn watering and are adding new limits on water use by
businesses as the drought continues. The average Californian used 72.6
gallons of water per day in January, according to the Water Resources
Control Board. The State Water Resources Control Board voted unanimously
Tuesday to extend and expand its emergency drought regulations. This
will also include much stricter reinforcement of these restrictions and
higher fines accessed to those who don't follow the guidelines.
State Water Board Chair Felicia Marcus reported,
We
are in an extremely serious situation. We can and must do better
conserving our water during 2015 because there's just no guarantee this
horrendous drought will end [any time] soon. If 2015, and
then 2016 continue to be dry, we will look back on today, and this
month, let alone the last year, wishing we'd saved more water now. This
board is prepared to make some tough decisions in the coming months,
including adopting permanent, rather than emergency water conservation
measures, going forward. It is that serious. - Natural News.
March 30, 2015 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports on wildfires across the planet.
Massive wildfires threaten ancient forests in Chile
Chile
has declared a red alert for three national parks and reserves where
massive wildfires are threatening forests that are thousands of years
old, officials said Tuesday.
The fires have
been raging for more than a week in the southern region of La Araucania,
which has been hit by a severe drought.
The National Emergency Office (ONEMI) warned they would likely spread and intensify.
"It's going to be difficult to contain this fire
today and tomorrow, but we hope that by Thursday we can effectively
have it under control," said the vice minister of the interior, Madmuh
Aleuy.
Aerial view of smoke columns are seen over mountains on the Conguillo National Park in Chile on March 22, 2015
The head of national forest service CONAF, Aaron
Cavieres, said firefighters were battling to keep the blaze away from
populated areas.
"High temperatures and strong winds of more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) an hour are complicating our work to contain the fires," he said.
The fires are burning in three protected areas: China Muerta National
Reserve, Nalca Lolco National Reserve and Conguillio National Park.
They
have burned more than 5,700 hectares (14,000 acres) of parkland so far,
including more than 300 hectares in Conguillio, an Andes mountain park
popular with tourists because of its volcanos and centuries-old monkey
puzzle trees.
The trees (Araucaria araucana),
members of the pine family, can live for more than 1,000 years and grow
as tall as 50 meters (165 feet). They are considered sacred by
indigenous Mapuche people, and Chile has declared them part of its
unique natural heritage.
Aerial view of smoke columns are seen over mountains on the Conguillo National Park, Chile, on March 22, 2015
Environmentalists have warned that the fires are threatening hundreds of plant species and animal life.
The head of environmental group Accion Ecologica, Luis Mariano Rendon
said at the weekend it was a "massive environmental catastrophe."
CONAF said firefighters would begin spraying some areas with a chemical flame retardant to create firebreaks.
Three planes and four helicopters are backing up 200 firefighters in
the area, some 700 kilometers (450 miles) south of the capital Santiago.
But strong winds prevented the planes from taking off Tuesday.
Map of Chile locating where wildfires are threatening ancient forests
Thirty Argentine firefighters joined the effort in the neighboring country. Chile has also reached out to Brazil and Uruguay for help, Aleuy said.
In all, 99 forest fires are raging in five Chilean regions. They have burned nearly 20,000 hectares, CONAF said.
Chilean authorities say climate change is causing more forest fires in
the South American country, which has seen a decline in precipitation
and an increase in temperatures. - PHYS.
An unseasonable wildfire threatens Montana ski area, forcing evacuation
A wildfire near the Red Lodge Mountain Resort ski
area in southern Montana had grown to 700 acres after being reported at
200 acres earlier on Saturday
An unseasonable wildfire driven by strong winds prompted an evacuation of a ski lodge in southern Montana.
The blaze a few miles west of the community of Red Lodge had grown to
700 acres by Saturday night, US Forest Service spokesman Jeff Gildehaus
said.
The fire was first reported on open private land around
12.30pm, but it was driven by winds gusting 35 to 50 mph into the Custer
National Forest, where the Red Lodge Mountain Resort ski area is
located.
It was zero per cent contained as of early Saturday night.
Thirteen engines and two fire attack crews had been deployed, according to KTVQ.
'There's snow between the ski area and the fire and the timber. But
it's also a solid run of timber from where the fire is to the ski area,'
Gildehaus said.
'So it gets up in the trees and starts running the crowns of the trees and it starts advancing toward the ski area.'
He said that the decision to evacuate the Red Lodge ski area was made
about 2:30 p.m. Saturday as a precautionary move and because there was
just one road for firefighters and skiers to use.
The evacuations have since been lifted, and Gildehaus said people were free to return to the ski area.
He said the winds had eased somewhat and were expected to continue that course through the night.
Gildehaus wasn't sure how many people had been evacuated, but he estimated about 500.
The resort posted on its Facebook page that guests were safe and being escorted down the mountain by law enforcement.
It plans on being open Sunday.
The fire burned around rural homes, but no structures were damaged, Gildehaus said.
With still no containment by Saturday night, the blaze had more than tripled from the 200 acres reported earlier in the day.
Wildfires in the area at this time of year are unusual, he said.
'But down in the low elevation, there isn't any snow and things are pretty dry,' Gildehaus said.
'We haven't really had any green-up yet where grasses turn green. We
got all the dry grass from last year, and things are pretty dry.'
The fire actually started on Wednesday after a subdivision's controlled burn, according to the Billings Gazette.
Red Lodge Fire Chief Tom Kuntz said that the blaze 'would have been a major fire in the summer,'
A rain shower helped firefighters, but Kuntz said that several days would be required to deal with the fire.
Traffic on state highways was diverted on Saturday. Other wildfires were reported elsewhere Saturday in Montana and northern Wyoming, leading to the evacuation of a subdivision.
The southwestern portion of Montana and northern part of Wyoming are
filled by a forest that stretches south to Shoshone and Yellowstone
national parks. - Daily Mail.
Wildfire burns 10 square miles of grassland and forest in Harding County, South Dakota
Wildfire.
A wildfire that started over the weekend scorched more than 10 square miles of forest and grasslands in Harding County.
Sheriff Wyatt Sabo says no evacuations have been ordered, no injuries
have been reported and no homes have been damaged in the Sheep Draw
Fire. Hundreds of firefighters battled the flames, along with two South
Dakota National Guard helicopters.
Cindy Hansen with the Great Plains Fire Information office says it might be several days before the fire is fully contained.The cause wasn't immediately determined.
A separate grass fire near Hot Springson
Saturday burned two garages, a camper and an abandoned house before
firefighters brought it under control. No occupied structures - KDLT.
Strong winds sweep wild fire in North Korea across South Korean border
Strong
winds swept a wild fire in North Korea across the heavily armed border
with South Korea, prompting a suspension of cross-border movements into a
jointly-run factory park in the North.
About 50 firefighters
and three helicopters were battling the fire on the south side of the
Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) border, according to an official at the South
Korean border town of Paju, adding that there were no reports of
casualties.
Access to the area is normally restricted.
An official at the South's Unification Ministry, which handles
inter-Korean affairs, said that due to the fire South Korean workers
were restricted from going in and out of Kaesong factory park, which
lies in the North just over the border.
In the latest spat over
the Kaesong complex, a group of South Korean businessmen last week
visited the complex to protest North Korea's decision to increase wages
paid to workers there.
The cause of the blaze was not known,and damage estimates were not immediately available. - Times Live.
