Category Archives: Animals

Dog likely saved Maine woman from freezing to death in woods, officials say

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Labrador Lucy laid down on owner Pamela Helmstadter, 72, to protect her from cold after husband John, 82, fell and died

A dog may have saved a woman from dying alongside her husband after the couple – the animal’s owners – became lost for four frigid nights while on a walk in the woods in Maine, according to authorities.

John Helmstadter, 82, and Pamela Helmstadter, 72, of Alexander, Maine, left their home on Sunday 13 October, to go for a walk with their one-year-old black labrador, Lucy, officials said.

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Monty Don’s first Chelsea garden will be dog-friendly

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Gardeners’ World presenter is bucking the trend to make the event more inclusive

Some gardeners at the Chelsea Flower Show may balk at the idea of a dog scrabbling around near their prize roses.

But Monty Don is designing his first Chelsea garden for next year’s event – and making it dog-friendly.

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Cotswold wildlife park successfully breeds endangered Madagascan lemur

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Greater bamboo lemur births in captivity are extremely rare and park is only UK collection to have bred it this year

Cotswold wildlife park has successfully bred one of Madagascar’s most endangered lemurs.

The as yet unnamed youngster was born to a breeding male, Raphael, and female, Bijou, at the wildlife park.

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Snakes and batters: reptile slithers into LA Dodgers’ dugout during MLB game

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Snake appears in top of fifth inning of Dodger v New York Mets game before being wrapped in towel and removed

A snake slithered through the Los Angeles Dodgers’ dugout during game two of the National League Championship Series on Monday.

The reptile appeared in the top of the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ 7-3 loss to the New York Mets. It wasn’t big enough to put a scare into anyone.

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Woman pleads guilty over attempt to smuggle turtles by kayak into Canada

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Wan Yee Ng was arrested in June with a bag of 29 turtles as she prepared to paddle across Lake Wallace, affidavit says

A woman who wanted to smuggle turtles across a lake and into Canada by hiding the creatures using socks in a duffle bag has pleaded guilty to a smuggling charge.

Wan Yee Ng was arrested in June in Vermont as she was about to enter an inflatable kayak with the bag of 29 eastern box turtles and paddle across Lake Wallace to the border with Canada, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.

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‘I felt like a bird god’: why comedian Geraldine Hickey is excited for this year’s Aussie Bird Count

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The keen birdwatcher encourages others to take 20 minutes out of their day, describing the experience as ‘meditative’

In early October the comedian Geraldine Hickey went looking for tawny frogmouths, a charismatic bird with a frog-like beak and mottled feathers.

“They’re a good-looking bird,” Hickey says, though it hasn’t yet appeared in her annual bird calendar, a project she started as a “lockdown thing” that has gained its own dedicated audience.

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More than fat bears: Alaska trail cams show peeks of animals from lynx to moose

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A popular Facebook group posts videos of animals seen a half-mile from a well-populated Anchorage neighborhood

Millions of people worldwide tuned in for a remote Alaska national park’s “Fat Bear Week” celebration this month, as captivating livestream camera footage caught the chubby predators chomping on salmon and fattening up for the winter.

But in the vast state known for its abundant wildlife, the magical and sometimes violent world of wild animals can be found close to home.

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Woman’s arm severed in dog attack in north Queensland

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Police euthanise the animal after being called to an incident at a property in Townsville

A woman has been taken to hospital after her arm was severed in a vicious dog attack in north Queensland.

Emergency services were called to reports of a dog mauling at a Lonerganne Street property in Garbutt, a suburb of Townsville, just after 7am on Friday.

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Brown bear in Kent recovering well after UK-first brain surgery

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Conservation trust says Boki ‘not out of the woods’ yet but doing well after operation to drain buildup of fluid

A brown bear that underwent brain surgery in the first operation of its kind in the UK is doing well but is “not out of the woods” yet, a charity has said.

Boki went under the knife on Wednesday after an MRI scan revealed he had hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain.

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Missing emu Irwin found dead in Wiltshire river after weeklong search

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Malmesbury sanctuary pays tribute to ‘jolly’ bird, which is thought to have drowned after falling into swollen river at night

The tale of Irwin the missing emu has ended sadly, with the “jolly” big bird’s body found in a river close to the sanctuary where he was last seen alive a week ago.

Staff at the Malmesbury animal sanctuary in Wiltshire believe Irwin slipped into the swollen river while playing with other emus and drowned.

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Rescued elephants drown as heavy flooding hits Thai tourist hub Chiang Mai

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Northern Thailand has been hit by severe floods over recent weeks, with Typhoon Yagi worsening the seasonal monsoon rains

Two elephants have drowned, while power was cut and hotels were forced to evacuate guests after the Thai tourist hotspot Chiang Mai was hit by its worst flooding in decades over the weekend.

Across Thailand, 20 provinces are flooded, including nine in the northern region, where 8,625 households are affected according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

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Black bear with three cubs attacks man after breaking into Colorado home

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Animals crash through glass door of 74-year-old man’s home and claw at him when he tried to get them to leave

A 74-year-old Colorado man was injured after a black bear with three cubs crashed in through his sliding glass door and he was unable to get them to leave, the Colorado parks and wildlife department said.

Residents of the home were startled by a loud crash at about 8.30pm Thursday night and saw the bears coming in through the sliding door which had been left ajar.

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‘Good girl and true hero’: dog saves owner by leading US officer to her home

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Gita, 13, sat down in middle of road in Washington state after owner hurt his leg, fell and couldn’t get up

A dog saved her owner – who hurt his leg at home in rural Washington state, fell and couldn’t get up for hours – by walking to a road, sitting in the middle of it until a local sheriff’s deputy stopped, and leading the officer to him, according to authorities.

Gita’s ability to be “a good girl and true hero” in her 84-year-old owner’s moment of need after his injury at their cabin on 25 September led to her “saving his life that day”, the Stevens county sheriff’s office said in a statement.

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Europe’s exhausted oyster reefs ‘once covered area size of Northern Ireland’

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Study uncovers vivid and poignant accounts of reefs as high as houses off countries including UK, France and Ireland

Only a handful of natural oyster reefs measuring at most a few square metres cling on precariously along European coasts after being wiped out by overfishing, dredging and pollution.

A study led by British scientists has discovered how extensive they once were, with reefs as high as a house covering at least 1.7m hectares (4.2m acres) from Norway to the Mediterranean, an area larger than Northern Ireland.

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Good eggs: fans delighted as new peregrine falcon chicks hatch on Melbourne skyscraper

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Social media stars of 367 Collins Street welcome baby birds to the nest

Joy can be hatched in the most unexpected places. On Thursday, it was nestled into the ledge of a skyscraper in Melbourne’s CBD, where two peregrine falcon chicks entered the world for the first time.

The newest members of Melbourne’s favourite family hatched in the morning on top of 367 Collins Street, witnessed by more than 1,000 viewers on the building’s rolling live feed.

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Bird flu outbreak kills dozens of tigers in Vietnam zoos

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The H5N1 virus killed 47 tigers, three lions and a panther at the My Quynh safari park and the Vuon Xoai zoo, according to state media

Forty-seven tigers, three lions and a panther have died in zoos in south Vietnam due to the H5N1 bird flu virus, state media reported.

The deaths occurred in August and September at the private My Quynh safari park in Long An province and the Vuon Xoai zoo in Dong Nai, near the capital Ho Chi Minh City, the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported on Wednesday.

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Nibi the beaver sees dam of unwavering support as rescuers try to stop her release into wild

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Massachusetts court to decide whether internet-famous ‘diva’ beaver will stay with rescuers or be released into wild

Whether a two-year-old beaver named Nibi gets to stay with the rescuers she has known since she was a baby or must be released into the wild as winter approaches in Massachusetts has ended up in court – and caused such an uproar that even the governor has weighed in.

“To literally see people from around the world come together to protect this beaver is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life,” said Adam Teper, an attorney representing Nibi’s rescuers.

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Alpine dingoes at risk of extinction after Victorian government extends right to cull

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At least 468 shot by government controllers last year out of an estimated population of as few as 2,640 in the state’s east, advocates say

Traditional owners and dingo advocates say a Victorian government decision extending the right to kill dingoes on private and public land until 2028 could threaten local populations with extinction.

A government order, which took effect on Tuesday, declared dingoes were “unprotected wildlife” under the state’s Wildlife Act. The ruling means dingoes can be killed by trapping, poisoning or shooting across large parts of eastern Victoria, despite being listed as threatened under the state’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act.

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US man, 81, sentenced to six months for creating giant hybrid sheep for hunting

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Arthur Schubarth of Montana used tissue and testicles from Marco Polo sheep to clone animal and create hybrid

An 81-year-old Montana man was sentenced on Monday to six months in federal prison for illegally using tissue and testicles from large sheep hunted in central Asia and the US to create hybrid sheep for captive trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota.

The US district court judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence for Arthur “Jack” Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana. He said he weighed Schubarth’s age and lack of a criminal record with a sentence that would deter anyone else from trying to “change the genetic makeup of the creatures” on the Earth.

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Firefly species may blink out as US seeks to list it as endangered for first time

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Bethany Beach firefly, found in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, faces dangers to habitat because of climate change

The US government is seeking to consider a firefly species as endangered for the first time, according to a proposal from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Bethany Beach firefly, found in coastal Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, is facing increasing dangers to its natural habitat because of climate change-related events. They include sea level rise, which is predicted to affect all sites within the known distribution by the end of the century, and the lowering of groundwater aquifers.

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