April 28, 2015 - EARTH - The following constitutes the new activity, unrest and ongoing reports of volcanoes across the globe, courtesy of Volcano Discovery.
Karymsky (Kamchatka): An explosion occurred
this morning that was strong enough to produce an ash plume to approx.
10,000 ft (3 km) altitude (VAAC Tokyo).
Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan): Strong activity
continues from the volcano. This morning (14:24 local time), an
explosion at the Showa crater sent a plume to 15,000 ft (4.5 km)
altitude that drifted north.
Manam (Papua New Guinea): Eruptive activity is
taking place at the volcano. VAAC Darwin reported an ash plume to 8,000
ft from the volcano this morning. A pronounced SO2 plume can be seen on
satellite data as well.
Dukono (Halmahera): The volcano continues to
produce significant ash emissions - a plume extending 20 nautical miles E
was observed Saturday (Darwin VAAC).
Barren Island (Indian Ocean): A pilot reported
an ash plume rising to 10,000 ft from the volcano. Likely, eruptive
activity which had produced a new lava flow in March is still going on
or has resumed.
April 28, 2015 - EARTH - If it seems like earthquakes and erupting volcanoes are happening more
frequently, that's because they are. Looking at global magnitude six
(M6) or greater from 1980 to 1989 there was an average of 108.5
earthquakes per year, from 2000 to 2009 the planet averaged 160.9
earthquakes per year: that is a 38.9% increase of M6+ earthquakes in
recent years.
Unrest also seems to be growing among the world's
super-volcanoes. Iceland (which is home to some of the most dangerous
volcanoes on the planet), Santorini in Greece, Uturuncu in Bolivia, the
Yellowstone and Long Valley calderas in the U.S., Laguna del Maule in
Chile, Italy's Campi Flegrei - almost all of the world's active
super-volcanic systems are now exhibiting some signs of inflation, an
early indication that pressure is building in these volcanic systems.
When they will erupt is guess work, but in the meantime, activity is
growing in Central America's volcanoes such as Costa Rica's Turrialba
Volcano, Asia's volcanoes such as Kamchatka, Alaska and Indonesia are
also more active.
Magma chambers are growing as pressures
increase, the numbers of tremors are increasing as are related
'quake-clusters'. If any one of these major volcanic systems has a large
scale eruption, it would be a global event. Iceland is
considered by many scientists to be the next likely place for a global
level volcanic event. The last major event, actually relatively minor,
was in 2010 when an Icelandic volcano (Eyjafjallajökull volcano) made
headlines around the world by spewing mega-tons of ash into the
atmosphere, cancelling and re-routing thousands of flights and costing
airlines and passengers more than $7 billion+ in lost revenues.
The latest research connects the Sun to the Earth in fascinating new ways. A 1967 study published in the Earth andPlanetary Science
journal, stated: "Solar activity, as indicated by sunspots, radio noise
and geomagnetic indices, plays a significant but by no means exclusive
role in the triggering of earthquakes." A 1998 report by a scientist
from the Beijing Astronomical Observatory... "Earthquakes occur
frequently around the minimum years of solar activity."
As reported on NewScientist.com
and numerous other science sites, including Space.com, the sun has
recently entered into its lowest (minimum) actively levels in four
centuries, coinciding with an increase in global seismic activity.
"Solar activity is declining very fast at the moment," Mike Lockwood,
professor of space environmental physics at Reading University, UK, told
New Scientist. "We estimate faster than at any time in the last 9300 years.
"Current Solar science looks at Sunspots, Solar Flares (charged
particles), Solar Wind speed and density, Magnetic Field Shift, Shifting
Ocean and Jet Stream Currents, Extreme Weather (including earthquakes,
volcanoes, hurricanes or other extreme natural events), and have
concluded that the Earth and the Sun are far more connected than
previously thought. The most recent study by the USGS finds there were
more than twice as many big earthquakes in the first quarter of 2014 as compared with the average since 1979. "We have recently experienced a period that has had one of the highest rates of great earthquakes ever recorded,"
said lead study author Tom Parsons, a geophysicist with the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) in California. It seems that earthquakes and
volcanic activity is on the rise and according to many scientific
experts we can expect more in the near future.
- The Costa Rica News.
April 28, 2015 - MOUNT EVEREST, HIMALAYAS - It is hard enough to survive a massive earthquake in Nepal and for that
to be followed by a horrific avalanche at Mount Everest. However, some
climbers managed to capture the moment they were hit by a sea of ice and
snow crashing into them on camera.
A terrifying video posted on YouTube by German climber Jost Kobusch
shows people at the Everest Base Camp stumbling in confusion as powerful
the 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on Saturday.
[WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE]
WATCH: Mount Everest base camp hit by avalanche.
Kobusch can be heard saying "the ground is shaking," while
laughing nervously at the start of the clip. The visibility was so poor,
he was hardly able to see the slopes of the Himalayan Mountains.
Climbers nearby begin scrambling, yelling and trying to warn others of
the imminent avalanche. Caught off guard, people try to find some cover,
but the wall of snow was quick and brutal.
Cursing profoundly, the German hides in front of a tent with no proper
protection. Seconds later, the climbers are buried by a wave of snow.
One can hear Kobusch and another man trying to catch their breath, as
the climber goes into a state of shock.
In
this photograph taken on April 25, 2015, rescuers use a makeshift
stretcher to carry an injured person after an avalanche triggered by an
earthquake flattened parts of Everest Base Camp.
The
men in the video were lucky to survive, but the massive avalanche ended
up killing some 20 people at the camp and injuring dozens of others.
Rescue missions were launched, with the critically injured evacuated by
helicopters. However, other rescue operations were hampered by bad
weather, aftershocks and the fact that some 100 climbers were cut off
from the Base Camp due to the collapsed Icefall route.
A new 6.7-magnitude aftershock hit Nepal at 07:09 GMT on Sunday, which unleashed another series of avalanches in the Himalayas.
An avalanche came close to hitting the base camp at Mount Everest as well, but luckily, fell just short.
Kobusch was not the only climber who ended up filming the terrifying
passage that unfolded. RT's video agency Ruptly obtained the helmet
camera footage of Belgian climber Jelle Veyt, who also was at the Base
Camp, located at an altitude of 5,364 metres (17,598 ft), when the
avalanche smashed through it. AFP photographer Roberto Schmidt managed
to grab a photo of the enormous wall of snow headed towards the camp,
before running for his life
WATCH: Mount Everest climbers survey avalanche destruction at base camp.
Over 3,300 people have been killed following the earthquake on
Saturday, while more than 6,200 have been injured. Many hundreds are
still unaccounted for.
International organizations and countries have been sending aid to
Nepal. On Sunday, Russian, American and Canadian aircraft flew out with
rescue teams onboard. Sweden has pledged $1.5 million in aid, with
Canada vowing to send $5 million. - RT.
April 28, 2015 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - We occasionally hear stories of the Great Dustbowl in America's
grain-rich Midwest during the Great Depression of the 1930's when
prolonged drought became so extreme as strong winds, drought and clouds
of dust plagued nearly 75 percent of the United States. The Dust Bowl
lasted for eight years from 1931 to 1939. Yet we hear little, especially
in US national media of a new dust bowl which threatens to literally
dry up the nation's most populous state, California.
The origins of the 1930's Dust Bowl went back to the introduction of
large-scale mechanized agriculture across the Midwest prairie lands. In
the early 1920's the Federal Reserve interest rate policies triggered a
deep recession and to survive, farmers turned to mechanization and the
new Ford tractors and other equipment. Between 1925 and 1930 more than 5
million acres of previously unfarmed land were plowed. US farmers as a
result produced record crops during the 1931 season just in time to
coincide with the collapse of living standards of the Great Depression.
The result was severe overproduction of wheat that led to severely
reduced market prices. The wheat market was flooded, and people were too
poor to buy. In a desperate bid, farmers went into debt those who were
able and expanded their fields in an effort to turn a profit, much as is
taking place across the shale oilfields of North Dakota and Texas today
for oil. The result was that they covered the prairie with wheat in
place of the natural drought-resistant grasses and left unused fields bare.
Picture of a black blizzard of soil during the Midwest Dust Bowl in the 1930s
The new plow-based farming in the Midwest region caused loss of fertile
topsoil that literally blew away in the winds, leaving the land
vulnerable to drought. Then the rains stopped. By 1932, 14 dust storms,
known as black blizzards were reported, and in just one year, the number
increased to nearly 40, forcing millions of people to flee the region.
It wasn't until 1939 when the rain returned that relief came.
One year of water left
Now we return to California, America's most populous state. It has 38
million people, larger than most countries of the EU, and with a GDP in
2013 of $2.2 trillion which, were California a nation, would give her
the eighth largest GDP in the world behind only the USA, China, Japan,
Germany, France, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.In short, California matters not only to the future of the USA economy but of the world economy.
It is home of some of the planet's most concentrated centers of high
technology from the Silicon Valley to the great scientific labs and
universities such as Berkeley and California Institute of Technology.
For four consecutive years the state has been in a severe drought. Each
day that passes it depletes the ground water resources, reservoir lakes
and other sources more.
Jay Famiglietti, Senior Water Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion
Laboratory at California Institute of Technology and a professor of
Earth System Science at UC Irvine has sounded the gravity of the
situation for the first time in an OpEd in the Los Angeles Times.
According to Famiglietti, this past winter, California's usual 'wet
season', "paltry rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate
epic drought conditions. January was the driest in California since record-keeping began in 1895.
Groundwater and snowpack levels are at all-time lows. We're not just up
a creek without a paddle in California, we're losing the creek too."
Famiglietti is regarded by peers as one of the best water scientists in
the United States, if not the world. His warning is not the usual
climate scare propaganda of an Al Gore. It is based on measurable
scientific facts. He cites some:
Folsom Lake was only 35% of capacity as of September 30, 2014...More
than 600 empty docks sit on dry, cracked dirt at Folsom Lake Marina,
one of the largest inland marinas in California.
Data from NASA satellites show that the total amount of water stored
in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins — that is, all of the
snow, river and reservoir water, water in soils and groundwater combined
— was 34 million acre-feet below normal in 2014. That loss is nearly 1.5 times the capacity of Lake Mead, America's largest reservoir.
Statewide, we've been dropping more than 12 million acre-feet of
total water yearly since 2011. Roughly two-thirds of these losses are
attributable to groundwater pumping for agricultural irrigation in the
Central Valley. Farmers have little choice but to pump more groundwater
during droughts, especially when their surface water allocations have
been slashed 80% to 100%. But these pumping rates are excessive and
unsustainable. Wells are running dry. In some areas of the Central
Valley, the land is sinking by one foot or more per year.
California is running out of water — and the problem started before
our current drought. NASA data reveal that total water storage in
California has been in steady decline since at least 2002, when
satellite-based monitoring began.
Famiglietti concludes with the sobering warning that, "Right now
the state has only about one year of water supply left in its
reservoirs, and our strategic backup supply, groundwater, is rapidly
disappearing. California has no contingency plan for a
persistent drought like this one (let alone a 20-plus-year
mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in emergency mode and praying
for rain. In short, we have no paddle to navigate this crisis."
California running out of water means dry taps, no water in the
reservoirs, and no water for agriculture. California, despite its
high-tech image is one of America's most important agriculture producers
and its production is all water-intensive irrigated agribusiness large
farms producing much of the fruits, grapes for wines, and dairy products
of the United States.
Over the past several decades large agribusiness combines transformed
the vast Central Valley farm area as lakes and rivers were drained to
expand land for industrial farming. The effect on the ecology is perhaps
like that in Kansas and Oklahoma during the 1930's, a significant
factor causing the present drought or at least aggravating it. Yet for
all the high-tech modern agribusiness, quasi slave labor, done mostly by
illegal Mexican migrant farm workers desperate for dollars, is the
Valley's largest source of manual farm labor. According to a 2005 report
by the Congressional Research Service, the San Joaquin Valley was one
of the most economically depressed regions in the US, on par with the
region of Appalachia. Overall, California has a poverty rate of 23.5%,
the highest of any state in the country.
Eyewitness Chronicle
Joseph Reed, a graduate geologist working in the IT industry in
California, sent this author his own eyewitness chronicle of the
unfolding disaster he has witnessed during the past several years of
living in the West: "I have been to Lake Oroville. It was in early
Summer last year, and the level of the lake was already more than 200 feet below normal.
Area newspapers report that the level of the lake is now nearly 300
feet below the top of the lake. You have to see this to understand.
..One has to stand there and see this huge, tall wall of dry mud and a
puddle at the bottom of a gigantic lake to fully grasp the magnitude of
this problem. " Lake Oroville is the second largest water reservoir in
the State of California. Here and here are some striking photos of Lake Oroville taken last year.
He continues the tale of devastation: "I visited is Lake Shasta near
Redding, the heart of Northern California's agricultural region...a
year-and-a-half ago. At the time the lake was over 120 feet below
normal. According to California's "Bi-Weekly Drought Briefing,"
as of March 16 Lake Shasta is at just 58% capacity. Lake Shasta is the
largest water reservoir in the State of California as well as an
important hydroelectric source: " viii Here are some photos of Lake Shasta from last Summer.
Reed concludes, "I have also been to Lake Folsom, which is the water
reservoir for Sacramento. One of the people I work with has a house on
the lake there with a boat dock. Except that now the dock is on dry
ground and one needs binoculars to see what is left of the water. So
that's the lakes. The ground water is becoming exhausted, and it is
also increasingly polluted due to massive fracking as well as the
dumping of toxic waste underground(with permission from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)). "
Most alarming, the Sierra Nevada snowpack which is essential to maintain
water supplies across the State as the snow melts through the Summer
growing season has been measured across the Sierra's "at or below the
lowest on record" which includes data back to 1950. The Weekly Drought
Briefing states "Electronic snow sensors indicate the Northern
Sierra snowpack is at 14% of average to date, the Central Sierra is at
18% of average to date, and the Southern Sierra is at 19% of average to
date."
Even after a Winter that did see some significant precipitation,
reservoir levels as of March 15 are still low according to the Drought
Briefing. The largest water reservoirs in the state are:
Castaic Lake 29% of capacity
Don Pedro 43% of capacity
Exchequer 9% of capacity
Folsom Lake 59% of capacity
Lake Oroville 50% of capacity
Lake Perris 37% of capacity
Millerton Lake 39% of capacity
New Melones 25% of capacity
Pine Flat 17% of capacity
San Luis 68% of capacity
Lake Shasta 58% of capacity
Trinity Lake 48% of capacity
As he understands the crisis, Joseph Reed affirms the warnings of Jay
Famiglietti, adding that , "There is no question that Washington has
known about this crisis for a long time.That Washington, and
the government of the State of California have taken little action to
protect the water supply has very profound implications. And
no, I don't think this is due to stupidity, although certainly there is
an element of that. This is not just about water, this is also about
electricity. The hydroelectric dams are also almost out of water.No water, no electric generation.
Will Vegas Lose the Bet?
The drought is not only affecting California, but also a vast area of
the Western part of the United States. Lake Mead, which provides 90% of
the water for Las Vegas is 145 feet below normal levels. The lake is
expected to drop another 20 feet by June of 2016. It is close to the
point that the water intake pipes that carry water to Vegas will be
above the water and "sucking on air" as detailed in this Telegraph article.
A new 1.5 billion water intake pipe and pumping station will soon be
finished and in operation in case that happens. But even this is not
viewed as a long term solution. If the water levels keep dropping the
Hoover Dam, which holds back the Colorado River and formed Lake Mead,
would lose the ability to generate electricity. The Colorado River, the
only major river in the southwest part of the United States, is drying
up itself. Its basin supplies water to about 40 million people in seven
states, and irrigates roughly four million acres of farmland.
Maybe this explains the recent driving push of US agribusiness
interests to grab fertile agriculture land in Ukraine's soil rich
western regions. In the least it portends a crisis which no one
is yet discussing openly, neither in the USA or internationally. And it
raises the issue of why is Washington spending billions of dollars to
arm an Islamic army to overthrow the Assad Government and to prop up the
government of Ukraine, while ignoring a crisis that can lead to the
loss of perhaps 1/3 of the US food supply and threaten the very lives of
more than 40 million Americans. Are the lives of that many Americans
not a "National Security" Issue?
The irony may be that in order to save the lives of millions of
Americans living in coastal cities like San Diego and Los Angeles,
President Obama may have to ask Vladimir Putin for the use of floating
nuclear reactors to desalinate seawater for the use of those cities.
- New Eastern Outlook.
April 28, 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.
Rare ocean sunfish weighing 1.5 tons washes ashore at Palu, Indonesia
Monster: Indonesian fishermen try to help a rare
Ocean Sunfish after they found the sea creature had washed ashore in
Palu, Central Sulawesi
Fishermen often exaggerate when boasting just how big their latest catch was.
But there was no need for these Indonesians who have got the pictures to prove they really did capture a true whopper.
For this monstrous sea creature weighs an incredible 1.5 tons and measures more than six feet long.
They didn't strictly catch it, however.
Instead, they found the rare Ocean Sunfish in a critical condition after
it had washed ashore in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.
They tried to drag it back out to sea in the hope it might
recover. But the tide repeatedly pulled it back and the fish eventually
died.
Sunfish, or Mola Mola, are the heaviest bony fish in the world.
The largest specimens can reach 14ft vertically and 10ft horizontally, weighing nearly 5,000lb.
Sunfish develop their truncated, bullet-like shape because they are born
with a back fin that never grows. Instead, it folds into itself.
Mola in Latin means 'millstone' and describes the sunfish's somewhat
circular shape. They are a silvery color and have a rough skin texture.
They are found in temperate and tropical oceans around the world and are
often mistaken for sharks when their huge dorsal fins emerge above the
water.
Their teeth are fused into a beak-like structure and they are unable to fully close their relatively small mouths.
- Daily Mail.
Hoopoe causing a hoopla in Ireland as at least 50 exotic birds are seen
Birdwatchers believe a funnel of air caused them to overshoot France and land in Ireland
If you think you spotted an unusual pink bird with zebra-patterned wings in recent weeks, you are not alone.
The hoopoe, so called because of the sound it makes, has come to these shores in unexpectedly large numbers this year, with at least 50 being spotted,according to Birdwatch Ireland's head of operations, Oran O'Sullivan.It is 50 years since so many hoopoes have been spotted here.
Usually, fewer than 10 are recorded in early spring or late autumn when migrating birds stray off course.
WATCH: Hoopoe.
Mr O'Sullivan said the exotic birds, about the size of a starling or
thrush, were a Mediterranean species, typically nesting in trees and
olive groves.
"They have very big wings and when they take off you see a flash of
black and white. When they land they throw up this crest, like an Indian
chief's head dress. They are exotic all the way."
He said the birds wintered in Africa and could fly as far as northern
France. "Even a few breed in the very far south of England. They come up
in good weather and in spring they can overshoot France and hit
Wexford." - The Irish Times.
Research finds that bees actually want to eat the pesticides that hurt them
A pair of new studies published Wednesday in Nature are
disturbing when taken separately, but so much more chilling when laid
out next to each other: The first provides new evidence that
neonicotinoid insecticides can have a negative effect on bees, adding
weight to the theory that these chemicals could contribute to colony collapse disorder and endanger our food supply. In
the second study, another group of researchers found that bees don't
avoid these harmful pesticides. They may actually seek them out and get
addicted to them.
While the jury is far from out, some researchers point to
neonicotinoids, which have been banned in Britain for two years but are
still widely used in the United States, as a potential culprit. These nicotine-related insecticides are
favored for their relative safety to humans, because they target
specific nerve receptors in invertebrates. But while they're safe for
humans in the short term, some studies have argued that they're killing off bees on a scale so large that our food security is threatened.
In the first of the two latest studies,
researchers tried to determine whether or not the negative effects seen
in bees exposed to neonicotinoids in the lab can be replicated in the
real world. Led by Maj Rundlöf of Lund University, researchers used 16
fields planted with Canola -- eight with neonicotinoids and eight
without -- across Sweden. They studied colonies of honeybees and
bumblebees as well as several individuals from solitary bee species, and
they also monitored wild bees living in the area.
Honeybees didn't seem badly effected. But bumblebees had slower
colony growth rates in the treated fields, and there were fewer wild
bees, too. Additionally, none of the solitary females in the treated
fields were able to breed as expected, while six of the eight untreated
fields saw normal birthing habits.
What's especially troubling about this, the researchers pointed out, is
that honeybees -- who seemed relatively immune to any negative effects
-- are the species usually used to test chemicals.
While the study isn't universally damning for the pesticide,it indicates that researchers may not be able to predict how "bees" will react to neonicotinoids using just one species.
But maybe bees know to avoid neonicotinoids? Not so, according to Nature's second new study. According to researchers at Newcastle University and Trinity College Dublin, bees
are actually attracted to the poison. When presented with a choice
between sugar and sugar mixed with the pesticide -- which is bitter, a
taste scientists had hoped bees would avoid -- bees didn't show any
indication that they could taste a difference. They didn't avoid the
pesticide-laced food, and their taste neurons didn't show any difference
between the two options.
And bumblebees, who seem to have more to lose, were even more likely to
eat the pesticides than honeybees. They might even be addicted to the
stuff.
"Bees can't taste neonicotinoids in their food and therefore do not
avoid these pesticides. This is putting them at risk of poisoning when
they eat contaminated nectar," lead author Geraldine Wright said in a
statement. "Even worse, we now have evidence that bees prefer to
eat pesticide-contaminated food. Neonicotinoids target the same
mechanisms in the bee brain that are affected by nicotine in the human
brain. The fact that bees show a preference for food containing
neonicotinoids is concerning as it suggests that like nicotine,
neonicotinoids may act like a drug to make foods containing these
substances more rewarding. If foraging bees prefer to collect nectar
containing neonicotinoids, this could have a knock-on negative impact on
whole colonies and on bee populations."
And it could be a more common snack for bees than we'd previously thought.
In a statement for the Science Media Centre, Linda Field, Head of
Biological Chemistry and Crop Protection at Rothamsted Research (who
wasn't involved in the study) pointed out that more evidence would be
needed to show that neonicotinoids were doing to bees what nicotine does
to humans. And she argued that neonicotinoids might still be the lesser
of two evils.
"We also have to consider the reason why we use these compounds: can we
afford not to control pest insects? Is it acceptable that yields would
be reduced as a result? Are the alternative insecticides any safer to
bees? These are questions that a two-year moratorium on neonics is
unable to answer," Field said.
But as Britain's two-year moratorium comes up for review this year, the
country may be running out of time to come to a definitive answer. And
in the United States, the conversation hasn't even truly begun. - Washington Post.
Deer attacks labourer in Hassan, India
A 55-year-old labourer in a coffee plantation was seriously injured when
a deer attacked her in Hadya village of Alur taluk on Sunday morning.
Channamma who was working in the estate wasinjured in the face, stomach, shoulders and chest.
Fellow workers shifted her to the government hospital in Hassan.
The coffee estate belongs to Koloso of Kenchammannana Hoskote in the taluk, said officials.
Forest department officials visited the spot and the hospital and assured that they would pay compensation to the victim.
- The New Indian Express.
Boy in fair condition following attack by family dog in Lancaster, Ohio
Pit bull terrier
A 7-year-old boy was flown to Nationwide Children's Hospital after he
was viciously bitten in the face by a dog Sunday night, according to
Lancaster police.
"He's a strong little boy and he's going to be fine," said Ashley Robinson, the boy's mother, on Monday.
Police reported that the boy, identified as Cole Robinson,looked down at the dog and it bit him on his face around
7:15 p.m. Sunday. Police responded to an apartment in the 400 block of
O'Gara Avenue where the attack occurred, and a helicopter landed in
Miller Park to fly the boy to Columbus for treatment.
Robinson said her son has had two surgeries and is doing well. Hospital officials said Cole is in fair condition.
Robinson said Cole could be released in the next couple of days and he
is in better condition than people have rumored. One of the rumors,
Robinson said, is that Cole lost his eye from the attack, but that isn't
true. She said the surgeries were meant to fix the cuts he sustained on
his face.
As for the dog, the Fairfield County Humane Society responded to
the apartment to collect it. On Monday, humane society officials
declined to comment on the case, saying the investigation is ongoing and
they have yet to speak to the victim's mother. By looking at the
pictures, police said it appears to be an American pitbull terrier mix.
Robinson told the Eagle-Gazettethat the dog belongs to a family member and does not have a history of aggression.
"(The dog) was a puppy and he grew up with my little boy," she explained, adding that to her knowledge, her son did nothing to provoke the dog and she isn't sure why the dog attacked him.
Deer attacks and injures five people in Odisha, India
A wild deer has allegedly attacked and injured five people in Polasara block of Ganjam district in Odisha.
One of these injured Ramchandra Nahak of Kokabandha village had to be admitted in Polasara Community Health Centre (CHC). Four others of the area have also been injured by this wild deer.
Ramchandra was attacked when he had come out of his home early morning
to attend to nature's call. Inhabitants of Sana-Ichhapur have also
complained to the forest department about this stray wild deer which is
attacking humans.
According to forest officials, this deer may be injured and attacking
humans that come close to it. Forest officials have started tracking the
deer to capture it and release it in jungle away from human habitats. - The Hindu.
6 year old boy attacked by panther near Manawar, India
6 year old Arjun undergoing treatment at Manawar Community Health centre.
A six year old boy was attacked by a panther when he was sleeping
outside his house in Sadadiya Kua village of Manawar tehsil in Dhar
district on Thursday night. He was rushed to the community health centre
in Manawar where he was given medical treatment and his condition is
now out of danger.
Manawar SDO (Police) Dhiraj Babbar told that Arjun, a six year old boy, a resident of Sadadiya Kua villagewas sleeping outside his housewhen
the panther picked him up. When Arjun cried loudly, other members of
the family shouted on the animal and ran after him, on which it left the
child and fled into the jungle. Arjun received injuries in his neck and
cheeks as the panther had gripped its jaws on his neck while attacked
his face with its paws.
Dhar Divisional Forest Officer Gaurav Chowdhry reached Sadadiya Kua
village on Friday afternoon to take a stock of the situation and
discussed the issue with the local villagers. Later, on why the man-
animal conflicts have increased drastically in the last few years, he
said that the habitat of the wild animals has been widely destroyed due
to encroachment into forest land and large scale allotment of lease
certificates under Forest Rights Act. Due to these two aspects, along
with their habitat, fauna is also lost, due to which small animals are
not available for the carnivores and they enter into the human
settlements in search of cattle for food.
Sometimes, they try to take the human babies also.
- The Times of India.
Northern Minnesota sees a rise in wolves killing dogs
Gray wolf.
Six dogs have been killed by wolves in northern Minnesota in the
last five weeks, outpacing last year's total for the entire state.
Minnesota Public Radio News reports most incidents have happened near Duluth. Four other dogs have been seriously hurt.
Controls on gray wolves in Minnesota have been limited since a federal
judge put the animal back on the endangered species list in December.
Now, Minnesota residents can only kill wolves in defense of human life.
Minnesota also can't hold managed wolf hunts, but if an attack on pets
or wildlife is confirmed, federal officials can trap and kill wolves
within a half mile of where it happened.
There are about 2,400 wolves in Minnesota, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.
Residents in a rural area between Duluth and Two Harbors say they're seeing more wolves than usual.
Laurie Anderson, who lives in that area, saw her 12-pound poodle, Curly Moe, get taken away by a wolf earlier this month.
"The wolf grabbed Curly by the neck, and headed down toward what we call
the West Branch of the Knife River," Anderson said. "And I've never
seen my little dog again."
John Hart, supervisor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife
Services Program in Grand Rapids, said wolves aren't finding as much
food in areas where they normally search. He said they're going to where
deer are, which happens to be where people live.
Department of Natural Resources officials say residents near wolves
shouldn't panic, but should take precautions. Dan Stark, the agency's
specialist for large carnivores, said people should feed pets inside and
fence yards.
"Wolves live in a lot of different places in northern Minnesota, and
don't cause problems, and people rarely have interactions with them,"
Stark said. "It is just something to be aware of, and in some cases
cautious about it."
- LaCrosse Tribune.
April 28, 2015 - CANADA - A fireball was seen over Peterborough's north end early Wednesday morning.
The meteor was bright light green in colour and split into two parts as
it fell through the atmosphere, and could be seen for just a few
seconds, around 1:58 a.m. Wednesday.
The fireball was also spotted at that time from Montreal, according to the American Meteor Society.
Meteor sightings were also reported to the American Meteor Society at
1:51 a.m. Wednesday from Niagara Falls, N.Y. and at 2:03 a.m. Wednesday
from Ontario.
The Eta Aquariids is the current major meteor shower. It lasts until May 19 with a peak of May 6 and 7.
The April Rho Cygnids and the H Virginids showers were also active on Wednesday, according to the American Meteor Society. - The Peterborough Examiner.
