A runner filmed a face-off with a large bear that pursued him for several minutes in Grand Teton national park in Wyoming, producing a three-minute video that went viral. Evan Matthews said he often saw bears on his runs, but none had dared to come so close. ‘This one was interested in me, so I had to change its mind,’ he wrote. Rather than use his bear spray, Matthews opted to reason with his ursine inquisitor.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Animals
Montana guide mauled to death in grizzly bear attack outside Yellowstone
Charles Mock, 40, died of scalp and facial wounds after managing to call 911 for help
A Montana backcountry guide has died after he was mauled by a large grizzly bear that was probably defending a nearby moose carcass just outside Yellowstone national park, officials said Monday.
Charles “Carl” Mock, 40, who lived in the park gateway community of West Yellowstone, died Saturday, two days after he was attacked while fishing alone in a forested area along the Madison River several miles north of West Yellowstone, said a Gallatin county sheriff’s office spokesperson, Christine Koosman.
Continue reading...Press play for Petflix: boom in gadgets for pandemic puppies as owners return to work
The realities of ownership are dawning as the UK’s lockdown eases and the dogs left at home need to be looked after
Pet cameras and activity trackers are flying off the shelves. Demand for anti-chew sprays, automatic feeders and water fountains for pets has rocketed, and dog walkers and sitters are being inundated with inquiries.
As lockdown restrictions ease, dog owners are snapping up products and services that will enable them to monitor and care for their pets while they are out at work.
Continue reading...Eyewitnesses urged to come forward after dingo mauls toddler on Fraser Island
Two-year-old boy who was attacked after he wandered away from family ‘lucky not to sustain more injuries’, paramedics say
Rangers investigating the savage mauling of a toddler by a dingo on Fraser Island have called for eyewitnesses to the attack to come forward.
The two-year-old boy has wounds all over his body but will recover after a lone dingo repeatedly bit him early on Saturday.
Continue reading...Australia dingo attack: toddler airlifted to hospital after being bitten on Fraser Island
Boy, 2, suffers bites to leg, arm, neck and shoulder and lacerations on back of head
A two-year-old has been airlifted to hospital after a dingo attacked him on Queensland’s Fraser Island.
The boy suffered deep puncture wounds and lacerations but his injuries are not life-threatening.
Continue reading...Conservation legend Roy Dennis: ‘We’re facing an ecological crisis, but it’s exciting too’
Eighty-year-old Dennis has devoted his life to returning eagles, osprey, red kites and red squirrels to Britain. But, he says, there is still plenty to do. And he is thrilled by the can-do attitude he gets from young people today
As he strolls beside Loch Garten in his fleece, binoculars around his neck, Roy Dennis looks every inch the spry, bird-loving grandad that he is. With his soft Hampshire burr and genial demeanour, it seems like he wouldn’t say boo to a goose. First impressions are deceptive, however. Dennis is the most significant conservationist you’ve probably never heard of, and possessed of a radicalism that would startle the most outspoken young environmentalist.
The first hint emerges when Dennis, who is 80 and still climbs trees, remarks that no one over 60 should vote. He explains that older people are making decisions over the climate crisis and wildlife loss that they won’t be around to be accountable for; he recently decided voting should start at 12, the age of his youngest child, Phoebe, but she told him it should be 14. It is easy to say radical things, but Dennis’s vision of how to halt the extinction crisis and restore lost habitats and species in Britain deserves attention because it is rooted in 60 years of pioneering conservation action.
Continue reading...Spain’s Endesa power firm sued over electrocution of birds
Landmark case says thousands of birds including endangered eagles die needlessly each year
In Leonard Cohen’s famous song, a bird on a wire is a symbol of freedom, but for thousands of birds it is the equivalent of being sent to the electric chair.
Now, in a landmark case, a Spanish electricity company is being prosecuted over the deaths of hundreds of birds electrocuted on pylons and overhead cables and for failing to comply with regulations designed to protect wildlife.
Continue reading...Human cells grown in monkey embryos reignite ethics debate
Scientists confirm they have produced ‘chimera’ embryos from long-tailed macaques and humans
Monkey embryos containing human cells have been produced in a laboratory, a study has confirmed, spurring fresh debate into the ethics of such experiments.
The embryos are known as chimeras, organisms whose cells come from two or more “individuals”, and in this case, different species: a long-tailed macaque and a human.
Continue reading...The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming
Between accidents, disease and bad weather, farm animals are prey to so many disasters that dedicated professionals are called out to dispose of the casualties. It’s a grim task, and one that’s only getting more difficult
One bright morning in the middle of May, Ian Carswell’s tipper lorry came sliding to a halt in a Tenbury car park. It was a smallish thing with raw grey sides and nothing distinctive about it, the sort of truck that carries topsoil or aggregate all over the country.
“Jump in,” said Carswell, leaning over and prodding open the passenger door. The cab smelled of lemon air-freshener and self-consciousness. He wouldn’t normally allow a passenger, and almost certainly wouldn’t be taking one now if the boss hadn’t told him to.
Continue reading...‘World’s biggest rabbit’ stolen from home in Worcestershire
Owner Annette Edwards offers £1,000 reward for return of Guinness World Record-holding giant rabbit
A rabbit proclaimed the biggest in the world has been stolen from its home in Worcestershire, police have said.
West Mercia police believe the 129cm-long continental giant rabbit, named Darius, was taken from its enclosure in the garden of the property in Stoulton overnight on Saturday.
Continue reading...Animal testing suspended at Spanish lab after ‘gratuitous cruelty’ footage
Madrid regional government says it has suspended all activity at Vivotecnia after inspection found ‘signs of animal mistreatment’
Regional officials in Spain have temporarily halted all activity at an animal testing facility after the publication of undercover footage that appears to show animals being taunted, smacked, tossed around and cut into with no or inadequate anaesthesia.
Since 2000, Madrid-based contract research organisation Vivotecnia has carried out experiments on animals ranging from monkeys to mini pigs and rabbits for the biopharmaceutical, chemical, cosmetic, tobacco and food industries. The facility has in the past secured funding from the EU and Spanish authorities for its projects.
Continue reading...‘Aphrodisiac’ of the ocean: how sea cucumbers became gold for organised crime
Overfishing and smuggling of this crucial animal are affecting biodiversity and the livelihood of local fishers in Sri Lanka
It’s after sunset in Jaffna when Anthony Vigrado dives into the waters of Palk Bay, scanning the seafloor to collect what seems to be prized treasure. What he comes back with are sea cucumbers – long, leathery-skinned creatures that are increasingly valuable and the source of his income for the past 12 years.
But after a 10-hour search, his harvest is only a fraction of what it used to be, as the shores of northern Sri Lanka and southern India have become a prime spot for exploitation.
Continue reading...Rare European vultures being poisoned by livestock drug
Diclofenac was approved in Spain and Italy despite being banned in Asia after it had wiped out millions of birds
A recently approved veterinary drug has been confirmed as the cause of death of a vulture in Spain. Conservationists say the incident could be the tip of an iceberg, and warn that the drug could wipe out many of Europe’s vultures as well as harming related species, including golden eagles.
The anti-inflammatory agent diclofenac has already been banned in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh after it was found to kill vultures that ate the carcasses of cattle treated with the drug. Tens of millions of vultures are believed to have died in this way with some species declining by a staggering 99.9% in parts of south Asia.
Continue reading...Bees bounce back after Australia’s black summer: ‘Any life is good life’
Australia’s bushfires were devastating for bee populations. But steady rain and community efforts are seeing the return of the pollinators
You could say that Adrian Iodice is something of a stickybeak neighbour. On Iodice’s once-lush bushland property, nestled within the Bega Valley of New South Wales, there stands a majestic rough-barked apple tree that the beekeeper used to, every now and then, jam his head into.
In the hollow of the trunk lived a flourishing wild colony of European honeybees that Iodice had been keeping an eye on for years. “I’d have a chat with them,” he laughs. “Stick my head in and see how they’re getting on in life. They were very gentle bees; they never had a go at me.”
Continue reading...Giant lizard climbs shelves of Thai supermarket in search of food – video
A giant monitor lizard climbs up a fully-stacked wall unit at a supermarket on the outskirts of Bangkok, unperturbed by the falling cartons and packages it dislodges as it searches for footholds, then appears to rest on the top shelf, watched by staff and customers. According to reports the 6ft-long reptile emerged from a nearby canal and ran into the 7-Eleven store. Police arrived with reptile handlers to snare the creature, which is believed to have struggled to find food outside, following months of dry weather, which has led to canals and lakes drying up
Continue reading...Monkeys thought to have escaped private collection on loose in Cincinnati
- Alarmed residents spotted monkeys late on Wednesday night
- Monkeys were seen swinging from trees in city graveyard
At least five monkeys are on the loose in Cincinnati after being spotted swinging from the trees in a graveyard in the Ohio city’s West Side neighborhood.
Local media reported that residents called the police in alarm after spotting the escaped monkeys late on Wednesday night. Video of the creatures also circulated on social media.
Continue reading...Snared: catching poachers to save Italy’s songbirds
With five million birds a year illegally caught in Italy, activists in Brescia are teaming up with local police to trap the hunters
After two hours of scouring the mountains of Brescia, Stefania Travaglia finally finds what she is looking for. Among the remote farmhouses of an alpine hamlet, a spring-net trap is partially hidden behind a grassy embankment and a few trees. Tangled in the wire mesh, an exhausted fieldfare thrush sits silent and unmoving.
Travaglia sets to work quickly and quietly, hiding two motion-sensor cameras next to the trap. Clear evidence of wrongdoing is needed to catch a poacher. “You have to see everything: you have to see the trap; you have to see the person; and if there is a bird in it,” she says.
Continue reading...The dogs keeping office workers company through lockdown
Owners say taking four-legged friends to work helps tackle loneliness and livens up Zoom calls
“Dogs are just like ‘play, eat, sleep’ – they bring me back into the moment. I think we can all learn something from that,” says Carole Henderson, who has been taking her “furry backup” to the office for the last few months.
They are not so good at making the tea and things get a bit rowdy when the delivery man comes round, but Henderson’s labradors Barney and Rusty, and labradoodle Lily, have been her sidekicks for the last decade. As well as being excellent foot-warmers, they have helped her emotionally with getting through solo months in the office.
Continue reading...Dog interrupts live weather report from Moscow – video
A correspondent's live weather report was interrupted by a dog who snatched her microphone and ran off with it. Nadezhda Serezhkina, who works for the Russian-language broadcaster Mir TV, could then be seen running after the dog who still had the colourful microphone in its mouth. The dog, and the damaged microphone, later joined Serezhkina for the end of her live broadcast
Continue reading...If you like salmon, don’t read this: the art duo exposing a booming £1bn market
Farmed salmon can end up deformed, blind, riddled with sea lice and driven to eat each other. Eco art activists Cooking Sections are highlighting their plight – and getting Tate to change its menus
A few months back, a book arrived in the post – tiny, not much larger than a bank card. Though the cover was grey, its pages were a riot of pinks, from deepest persimmon to pale rose. Printed on them were dense, technical essays referencing everything from fish farming to Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. The title was Salmon: A Red Herring.
Fish is an unexpected topic for an art book – but then the duo who created this little volume, Daniel Fernández Pascual and Alon Schwabe, aren’t really going for the coffee-table market. Operating under the name Cooking Sections, the pair have a thing for food. Their art is about what we eat and its impact on the Earth.
Continue reading...