Video of capture of Burmese python measured at 19ft – as long as an adult giraffe is tall – was posted on Instagram
A snake believed to be the longest invasive Burmese python ever recorded was captured by two Florida hunters after a mighty struggle.
Stephen Gauta and Jake Waleri caught the humungous reptile in Big Cypress national preserve near the Everglades in southern Florida earlier this week after it lunged at Waleri, 22, who then wrestled it back to the ground.
Continue reading...Animal fatally attacked Andrea Papi, 26, who was first person to be killed in Italy by a bear in modern times
An Italian court has suspended a ruling that a brown bear should be put down for mauling to death a jogger in the Alps.
The animal, a 17-year-old female identified as JJ4, was captured after the fatal attack on Andrea Papi, 26, near his village of Caldes on 5 April. He was the first person in Italy to be killed in a bear attack in modern times.
Continue reading...There is no clear explanation for the sea mammal’s behavior, say authorities, who has been seen riding and gnawing surfboards
A California otter is making headlines for her unique, and worrying, interactions with surfers.
In recent weeks, Mark Woodward, a photographer who goes by Native Santa Cruz on Twitter and Instagram has been sharing photos and videos of southern sea otters riding on surfboards they’ve commandeered. Authorities are particularly concerned about one sea otter, known as 841, who was involved in multiple incidents and can be seen in a video relentlessly gnawing on a board that the aquatic mammal scared a rider off of.
Continue reading...Dutch study identifies several examples of corvids’ ‘amazing’ ability to adapt to the urban environment
Birds have never shied away from turning human rubbish into nesting materials, but even experts in the field have raised an eyebrow at the latest handiwork to emerge from urban crows and magpies.
Nests recovered from trees in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Antwerp in Belgium were found to be constructed almost entirely from strips of long metal spikes that are often attached to buildings to deter birds from setting up home on the structures.
Continue reading...Shy broad-toothed rat found after a detection dog tracked down its bright green poo
A detection dog has unexpectedly discovered a new population of rare native rodents in Melbourne’s outer east.
The previously unrecorded broad-toothed rat population was found by a four-year-old labrador called Moss who was searching the Coranderrk bushland near Healesville sanctuary.
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Continue reading...Drones and personal watercraft among measures to protect beachgoers but expert calls for perspective over shark attack data
New York lifeguards are being trained to use drones and personal watercraft after recent shark bites off local beaches – but one shark expert believes such solutions lack specialist input.
Officials in New York’s Long Island say they are upgrading training after five people were reportedly bitten by sharks since Monday, including two minors.
Continue reading...In a ‘message of hope’ the animals have been brought in from Namibia to establish a group in their historical homeland
After an epic 36-hour journey, the first native giraffes to be returned to an Angolan national park arrived from Namibia this week, in what many hope to be the first of multiple translocations to return the animals to their historical homeland.
The giraffes, seven males and seven females, travelled more than 800 miles (1,300km) from a private game farm near Otjiwarongo in the Otjozondjupa region of central Namibia to Iona national park in the south-west corner of Angola.
Continue reading...The judge rejected Serge Paincahud’s ‘scared’ defense to fire at a black bear while illegally carrying a shotgun on a trail
A Canadian man, who had pleaded guilty to shooting a black bear in a national park, will pay a fine of C$7,500 after the judge rejected his “fear” of the predator as justification for bringing a loaded firearm on a popular hiking trail.
Serge Painchaud, 42, was this week fined for violating a hunting restriction under the National Parks Act.
Continue reading...Gabriel Barajas and Malea Tribble thought ‘it was all over for us’ – but marine expert suggests shark was merely being ‘inquisitive’
A pair of paddleboarders raising money for charity had a frightening encounter with a hammerhead shark that circled them near Florida’s coast – and the entire incident was caught on video.
Gabriel Barajas and Malea Tribble were paddling from Florida to the Bahamas, an 80-mile journey, to raise money for cystic fibrosis awareness, WJZY reported.
Continue reading...Captain of tourist boat from Baja California, Mexico, says grey whales return repeatedly for ‘grooming’
Grey whales have learned to approach whale-watching boats to have parasites removed by human beings, it has been claimed.
Video footage documenting the behaviour in the Ojo de Liebre lagoon, off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, shows a grey whale having whale lice picked off its head by the captain of a small boat. “I have done it repeatedly with the same whale and others,” Paco Jimenez Franco told a US news site. “It is very exciting for me.”
Continue reading...West Lindsey council votes down proposal to relocate dog, named after a racial slur, to Norfolk airbase
Councillors have rejected proposals to exhume and relocate a dog buried at the former base of the Dambusters put forward amid concerns about the suitability of the grave’s location once the site is repurposed as accommodation for asylum seekers.
During an extraordinary planning meeting on Wednesday evening, West Lindsey district councillors unanimously voted down an application by RAF Heritage to relocate the dog to an airbase in Norfolk.
Continue reading...The 69-year-old was found dead on Hilton Head Island with the reptile appearing to guard her body and hampering rescue efforts
A South Carolina woman died on Tuesday after she was attacked by an alligator while walking her dog near a golf course, authorities said.
The 69-year-old woman, who has not been named, was found dead in the Spanish Wells community of Hilton Head Island, the Beaufort county sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Continue reading...The annual contest celebrates pets’ imperfections, such as Scooter’s backwards-facing hind legs and sparse hair
Linda Elmquist, of Tucson, Arizona, smiled broadly as she held her little dog aloft. Finally, Scooter was being recognized for his best qualities on Friday as he was given the title of the world’s ugliest dog.
The competition, held as part of the Sonoma-Marin fair in Petaluma, California, for the past 50 years, is a world-renowned event that promotes dog adoption and showcases extraordinary canines that have defied adversity – and celebrates their imperfections.
Continue reading...Nearly 50% of US bee colonies died off last year, although efforts have helped the overall bee population remain ‘relatively stable’
The US’s honeybee hives just staggered through the second highest death rate on record, with beekeepers losing nearly half of their managed colonies, an annual bee survey found.
But by using costly and herculean measures to create new colonies, beekeepers are somehow keeping afloat. Thursday’s University of Maryland and Auburn University survey found that even though 48% of colonies were lost in the year that ended 1 April, the number of US honeybee colonies “remained relatively stable”.
Continue reading...Motion to bring back legislation on puppy smuggling and live exports that was part of Tory manifesto rejected in Commons
MPs have voted down an attempt by Labour to revive the government’s animal welfare bill.
Last month ministers announced they were dropping the kept animals bill, which was part of the Tories’ 2019 manifesto. The legislation aimed to clamp down on puppy smuggling and dog theft, as well as banning the live exports of farm animals.
Continue reading...Conservative backbenchers plan to speak in favour of opposition motion to force government’s hand
Rishi Sunak is facing a potential headache as backbench Conservative MPs prepare to support a Labour plan to bring back ditched animal welfare policies.
Last month, ministers announced they were dropping the kept animals bill, which was part of the Tories’ 2019 manifesto. The legislation was intended to ban live exports of farm animals as well as clamp down on puppy smuggling and dog theft.
Continue reading...Animal Justice party will put forward an amendment to the government’s bill that further strengthens laws allowing renters to own pets
The New South Wales government is being pushed to make rentals animal-friendly sooner as pet owners find it increasingly hard to find a home and pounds see an influx of renters giving up their pets.
Labor promised in the lead-up to the election that it would make it easier for renters to own pets, with plans to give landlords 21 days to respond to a renter’s request to own a pet. If the landlord refuses within the timeframe, they must put their reason to the yet to be established rental commissioner for a final decision.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Ecologists say there are early signs that the population is recovering in remote forests
It is a discotheque for Britain’s biggest type of grouse. Before dawn, male capercaillie will begin their courtship rituals, their black tail feathers erect and fanning out, chests puffed out, their heads thrust high into the cold spring air.
Their dancefloors are forest clearings in the Highlands which echo the males’ wheezing, popping and clattering mating calls. Often perched in surrounding pine trees, hens will carefully watch as their potential mates compete to win their affection.
Continue reading...Public notice issued to watch out for the flippered creatures as they start to leave their breeding colonies and venture out into New Zealand
Sunbathing on roads, breaking through catflaps, visiting film sets, invading homes and taking in the heat of backyard spa bath covers – New Zealand’s “seal silly season” has officially begun and the country is bracing for an influx of adolescent marine mammals exploring the country’s highways, patios and golf courses.
This week, the government issued a formal public notice that “seal season” had begun – and New Zealanders could expect to encounter higher numbers of the flippered young creatures out and about, exploring human-dominated spaces. From May until December, adult males and freshly weaned pups from New Zealand’s growing fur seal population will leave their breeding colonies and head out into the wider world – many for the first time. They’re young, inexperienced and prone to adolescent misbehaviour and mishaps, hitting the wider world en masse like a cohort of fresh-minted spring breakers.
Continue reading...European birds nest in Norfolk much to the delight of twitchers – but environmentalists warn it’s a clear sign of climate change
With plumage cherry red, ultramarine, turquoise and yellow, usually found streaking like multicoloured darts across the skies of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Spain, they present as an epitome of tropical glamour.
British birdwatchers are aflutter to have found European bee-eaters swooping and burrowing in a disused quarry in Norfolk for the second summer in a row.
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