Two baby sisters are seriously ill in hospital after an apparent fox attack at their home.

Police said the nine-month-old twins were in a “serious but stable” condition after being hurt while sleeping in their cots on Saturday night.

Officers and paramedics were called to a house in Homerton, east London, to reports that the animal had attacked the pair.

The little girls are being treated at the Royal London Hospital.

They both reportedly suffered arm wounds and one of the girls was believed to have facial injuries.

The fox was believed to have been in an upstairs room.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “The incident is not being treated as suspicious.

“We were called to reports of a fox attack. Officers and the ambulance found two girls with injuries.”

In 2002, mother Sue Eastwood claimed her baby boy, Louis, was left injured after a fox crept into their house while she slept.

The fourteen-week-old suffered bite marks on his head after the animal darted into the sitting room of the house in Dartford, Kent.

via The Press Association: Baby twins injured in ‘fox attack’.

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Rabid animals are a serious threat because they lack the part of the brain functioning that tells animals to relent, so they will literally attack until you are dead or until they are dead or subdued… This poor man.

By Kim Hackett

Call it an utter otter horror.

A 96-year-old man was ambushed and mauled by a rabid otter early Friday morning as he walked past brush near a lake in the Venice East neighborhood.

Morrell Denton was midway through his two-mile daily walk when the otter confronted him on the sidewalk. Denton said he thought it was someone’s pet.

But the otter “grabbed me by the foot and pulled on my leg and I went down,” said Denton in his living room, shortly after returning from the Venice Regional Medical Center’s emergency room about seven hours after the attack.

Covered in white bandages on both hands, and with nine stitches on his badly bruised forehead, Denton said he pulled the otter off with one hand before the animal started biting him on the other. The animal bit him to the bone on several fingers.

“I kept trying to get him off me,” Denton said. “It’s like nothing I’ve heard of.”

Two men saw the attack and raced to Denton’s aid, one striking at the otter with a shovel as the other called 911.

Christopher Janssen, 36, was bitten by the otter but the other rescuer, 53-year-old Raymond Duval was not injured.

An ambulance arrived minutes later, taking Denton and Duval to the hospital.

Both men were treated and released. Sarasota County’s health department issued a rabies alert Friday afternoon after the animal tested positive for the disease. Another otter tested positive for rabies in mid-February after attacking two horses in Sarasota County.

A biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said otters are not typically aggressive.

“They are skittish for the most part,” said biologist Jeff Gore.

Sheriff’s deputies shot the animal dead.

EARLIER REPORT

An otter attacked and wounded a 96-year-old man out for a stroll in Venice early today, and then turned on two men who came to his rescue, injuring another.

Morrell Denton, 96, and Christopher Janssen, 36, suffered unspecified injuries during the attack on Venice East Boulevard, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. The men were treated at nearby Venice Medical Center and released.

The otter was killed.

According to reports, Denton was walking along the 300 block of the roadway near an area of thick brush, sometime around 4:30 a.m. Friday, when the otter charged out and attacked him. The attack sent Denton sprawling to the ground.

Janssen and another man, Raymond Duval, 53, saw the attack and raced to Denton’s aid, striking at the otter with gardening tools as one of the pair called 911. Jensen was wounded during the scrap; Duval avoided injury.

The otter was killed.

Almost.

After a time, the animal roused again and began to head back into the brush. But after one attack on a human, there was concern the animal may be a danger to the public.

The otter was killed.

Definitely.

It was not immediately clear whether the rescuers or responding deputies put down the otter. Sarasota County animal service crews responded and took the otter to examine it.

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Not sure why they had to euthanize the bear… couldn’t they return it to a wild area? Or if that wouldn’t work out, a zoo?

TARIQ ZEHAWI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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The N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife Bear Response team tranquilized a black bear that was tracked to the back porch of a home on Fox Hill Drive.

In recent days, he’d become almost a familiar sight, trudging the street, checking trash cans for easy snacks.

“He’s been around here for a long time,’’ said resident John Rondi. “He hasn’t been aggressive. He’s been curious. He’s been taking garbage.’’

Until Wednesday, the bear hadn’t caused any harm in the suburban neighborhood he’d made his home.

But that changed fatally after nightfall, when he wandered into a fenced yard a few blocks away on Lyle Avenue after 11 p.m. and killed the 16–year border collie-Corgi mix — coincidentally named “Bear.” The attack prompted a police hunt through neighborhoods off Preakness Avenue the next day, put residents on alert and kept the township’s elementary school children inside for recess.

The search ended after police officers Robert Franco and Jack Belanger traced bear tracks through the snow from Lyle Avenue to 4 Fox Hill Drive, where residents had reported seeing the animal the night before. They found the bear asleep under the deck, Capt. Paul Ireland said.

Authorities notified members of the state Division of Fish and Wildlife Bear Response team who were in town looking for the bear. The wildlife staff tranquilized the bear as police stood guard with shotguns. Wildlife staff member Chuck Sliker said the bear was awake when he approached, but was not alarmed by people. Sliker shot the tranquilizer dart at the bear, which then fell asleep.

Six officers helped state staff carry the bear from the yard around 2 p.m. and load it into a pickup to be taken to a state facility. It was euthanized soon after.

Nirmeen Ibrahim, who lives at the home where the bear had been sleeping, said she had seen it walking through the neighborhood recently but had no idea it was living under her backyard deck.

“I feel bad for the bear, but it could have been dangerous,” said Ibrahim, who was home with her infant daughter. “I’m glad it’s taken care of. I’m worried about the kids here. … It’s kind of scary.”

The incident occurred as the state’s Fish and Game Council is to unveil the new Black Bear Management Policy. The Council will meet Tuesday and is expected to introduce the policy, a first step before the state can consider holding another bear hunt after a moratorium of several years.

The policy will contained an updated population estimate based on a DNA study by East Stroudsberg State University. It also will explain the state’s strategies for dealing with bears, including public education, garbage can maintenance, and hunting.

The dog’s owner, Marian Szal, said she was relieved to learn that the bear had been caught and would cause no further harm.

Szal said she had let the dog out one last time before bedtime. When Bear did not bark to come back in, Szal looked out a glass door and saw what seemed like the back of the bruin on all fours.

She rushed upstairs, and she and her husband shone flashlights through the door. When officers arrived, the couple went outside and called for the dog, in vain. Police followed bear tracks and found the dog dead on a hill near Szal’s property.

“You hear about bear sightings, but not in your own yard,” Szal said. “It’s a tremendous loss. He [Bear] had a beautiful disposition, and he was great with everyone.”

Szal said her family is devastated by the loss of the gentle dog they adopted as a puppy from the Wayne animal shelter 16 years ago. He was named Bear because the fuzzy, black puppy looked just like a cub.

“He made our day every day,” Szal said. “He was a gentle, gentle soul, very smart, very well mannered, very affectionate.”

State officials said the black bear was killed because, in killing the dog, it was involved in a so-called Category 1 incident, exhibiting aggressive behavior.

The dog apparently died of a broken neck, which suggests the bear either took a swipe at it, or clenched it with his jaws, said Larry Herrighty, assistant director for the Division of Fish and Wildlife. He called the incident “an unprovoked attack.”

But bird feeders in the yard might have attracted the bear, he said.

And the recent mild weather might have stirred this bear to activity. Because of the state’s mild winters, bears in New Jersey don’t hibernate. They enter a winter dormancy called torpor and can rouse to forage for food.

“In another month, bears will be up and become very active,” Herrighty said.

Residents of Wayne, which have had numerous bear sightings in the past, should take heed and maintain trash correctly, he said.

Precautions

The Fish and Wildlife Divi¬sion of the New Jersey Depart¬ment of Environmental Protec¬tion offers the following tips to avoid attracting bears:

• Use certified bear-resist¬ant garbage containers, and store them outdoors. Those not using certified containers should place their refuse in containers with tight-fitting lids and store them in a secure lo¬cation – a basement, for ex¬ample – until the morning or evening of garbage collection.
• Wash trash containers with a disinfectant at least once a week to eliminate odors. Carefully rinse recy¬clables to rid them of food residue that can attract bears.
• Pet owners should avoid feeding their animals outside.
• The use of birdfeeders is discouraged in areas frequent¬ed by black bears. Those who insist on feeding birds should do so only in daylight hours between Dec. 1 and April 1, when bears are least active. Store feeders indoors at night, and clean up any spilled seeds daily.
• Thoroughly clean outdoor grills after use. Never dump grill grease on the ground. Store grills in a shed or garage after use.

Source: The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

– William Lamb

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Who in the world keeps a 1 ton bull as a pet?

[+] Enlarge. Reading Eagle: Tim Leedy The 1-ton bull that officials believe killed his owner at the South Heidelberg Township farm Sunday where the attack occurred.

A Reinholds man found dead Sunday at a South Heidelberg Township farm was killed by a 1-ton bull he kept as a pet, officials in the Berks County coroner’s office said.

Ricky D. Weinhold, 52, died of multiple injuries Saturday – a day before his 53rd birthday – at the farm at 370 Mill Road near the Lancaster County line, officials said.

The coroner’s office ruled the death an accident.

All of Weinhold’s injuries apparently were inflicted by the hooves and head of a bull, Chief Deputy Coroner Charles E. Sweitzer Jr. said.

Sweitzer said it was the first bull-related death he could recall in his 28 years working in the coroner’s office.

Dale A. Zimmerman, whose father, David, owns the property, said he discovered Weinhold’s body in an outdoor pen late Sunday morning after he returned from a trip.

Sweitzer said tests indicated Weinhold died late Saturday afternoon.

Weinhold kept about 10 head of cattle at the 55-acre farm under a lease with David Zimmerman.

The Zimmermans and coroner’s officials believe the biggest of the animals killed Weinhold. The same bull cracked Weinhold’s ribs last year, prompting friends to urge Weinhold to get rid of the animal, Deputy Coroner Terri L. Straka said.

“He loved his pet,” she said.

Straka pronounced Weinhold dead Sunday at 2:04 p.m. No autopsy is planned.

Officials believe the attack began inside the barn’s stables, where a newborn calf was kept. They don’t know what Weinhold was doing when he was attacked.

The cattle were moved out of the stables and corralled behind the barn Sunday while officials investigated.

Dale Zimmerman said he and his father were waiting to hear what Weinhold’s family wanted them to do with the animals. Weinhold’s family could not be reached.

Township police continued to investigate.

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The term “Killer Whale” isn’t a cute nickname. This is terrifying. I don’t understand how this particular whale has continued to participate in shows – this is the third human it has killed. And, don’t I remember children sometimes standing poolside as these whales swim below? How is that ever safe? I understand that the whale may have had no predatory intent – but rather playfulness – but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous, or the trainer any less dead.

Whale kills trainer as horrified spectators watch
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 24, 2010; 9:46 PM

ORLANDO, Fla. — A SeaWorld killer whale snatched a trainer off a poolside platform in its jaws Wednesday and thrashed the woman around underwater, killing her in front of a horrified audience. It marked the third time the animal had been involved in a human death.

Distraught audience members were hustled out of the stadium immediately, and the park was closed.

Trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, was one of the park’s most experienced. Her sister said Brancheau wouldn’t want anything done to the whale that killed her because she loved the animals like children.

Brancheau was rubbing Tilikum after a noontime show when the 12,000-pound whale grabbed her and pulled her in, said Chuck Tompkins, head of animal training at all SeaWorld parks. It was not clear if she drowned or died from the thrashing.

Because of his size and the previous deaths, trainers were not supposed to get into the water with Tilikum, and only about a dozen of the park’s 29 trainers worked with him. Brancheau had more experience with the 30-year-old whale than most.

“We recognized he was different,” Tompkins said. He said no decision has been made yet about what will happen to Tilikum, such as transfering him to another facility.

A retired couple from Michigan told The Associated Press that they were some stragglers in the audience who had stayed to watch the animals and trainers.

Eldon Skaggs, 72, saw Brancheau on platform massaging the whale. He said the interaction appeared leisurely and informal. Skaggs that the whale “pulled her under and started swimming around with her.”

Skaggs said an alarm sounded and staff rushed the audience out of the stadium as workers scrambled around with nets.

Skaggs said he heard that during an earlier show the whale was not responding to directions. Others who attended the earlier show said the whale was behaving like an ornery child.

The couple left and didn’t find out until later that the trainer had died.

“We were just a little bit stunned,” said Skaggs’ wife, Sue Nichols, 67.

Another audience member, Victoria Biniak, told WKMG-TV the whale “took off really fast in the tank, and then he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing around, and one of her shoes flew off.”

Two other witnesses told the Orlando Sentinel that the whale grabbed the woman by the upper arm and tossed her around in its mouth while swimming rapidly around the tank. Brazilian tourist Joao Lucio DeCosta Sobrinho and his girlfriend were at an underwater viewing area when they suddenly saw a whale with a person in its mouth.

The couple said they watched the whale show at the park two days earlier and came back to take pictures. But on Wednesday the whales appeared agitated.

“It was terrible. It’s very difficult to see the image,” Sobrinho said.

A SeaWorld spokesman said Tilikum was one of three orcas blamed for killing a trainer in 1991 after the woman lost her balance and fell in the pool at Sealand of the Pacific near Victoria, British Columbia.

Steve Huxter, who was head of Sealand’s animal care and training department then, said Wednesday he’s surprised it happened again. He says Tilikum was a well-behaved, balanced animal.

Tilikum was also involved in a 1999 death, when the body of a man who had sneaked by SeaWorld security was found draped over him. The man either jumped, fell or was pulled into the frigid water and died of hypothermia, though he was also bruised and scratched by Tilikum.

At the stadium, what appeared to be a body covered with a black shroud could be seen lying on the concrete near the water as the animals swam just a few feet away.

Later Wednesday, SeaWorld in San Diego also suspended its killer whale show. It was not clear if the killer whale show has been suspended at SeaWorld’s San Antonio location, which is closed until the weekend.

According to a profile of Brancheau in the Sentinel in 2006, she was one of SeaWorld Orlando’s leading trainers. It was apparently a trip to SeaWorld at age 9 that made her want to follow that career path.

“I remember walking down the aisle (of Shamu Stadium) and telling my mom, ‘This is what I want to do,’” she said in the article.

Brancheau worked her way into a leadership role at Shamu Stadium during her career with SeaWorld, starting at the Sea Lion & Otter Stadium before spending 10 years working with killer whales, the newspaper said.

She also addressed the dangers of the job.

“You can’t put yourself in the water unless you trust them and they trust you,” Brancheau said.

Steve McCulloch, founder and program manager at the Marine Mammal Research and Conservation Program at Harbor Branch/Florida Atlantic University, said the whale may have been playing, but it is too early to tell.

“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions,” he said. “These are very large powerful marine mammals. They exhibit this type of behavior in the wild.

“Nobody cares more about the animal than the trainer. It’s just hard to fathom that this has happened.”

Brancheau’s older sister Diane Gross, of Indiana, said the trainer “would not want anything done to that whale.” Gross said her sister loved working at the park and thought of the animals like she would her own children.

Gross tells the Associated Press that news of her sister’s death “hasn’t sunk in yet.”

Mike Wald, a spokesman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration office in Atlanta, said his agency had dispatched an investigator from Tampa.

Wednesday’s death was not the first attack on whale trainers at SeaWorld parks.

In November 2006, a trainer was bitten and held underwater several times by a killer whale during a show at SeaWorld’s San Diego park.

The trainer, Kenneth Peters, escaped with a broken foot. The 17-foot orca that attacked him was the dominant female of SeaWorld San Diego’s seven killer whales. She had attacked Peters two other times, in 1993 and 1999.

In 2004, another whale at the company’s San Antonio park tried to hit one of the trainers and attempted to bite him. He also escaped.

Wednesday’s attack was the second time in two months that an orca trainer was killed at a marine park. On Dec. 24, 29-year-old Alexis Martinez Hernandez fell from a whale and crushed his ribcage at Loro Parque on the Spanish island of Tenerife. Park officials said the whale, a 14-year-old named Keto, made an unusual move as the two practiced a trick in which the whale lifts the trainer and leaps into the air.

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Columbia County, N.Y.–Columbia County Health Officials put out a warning after a fox attacked and bit a boy in Stockport on January the 23rd.

According to Columbia County Public Health Sanitarian Ed Coons, two eight-year-olds were playing in the woods when they came across a fox den. When the boys saw a fox they turned around and ran. The boy in the rear fell and the fox bit him in the leg deep enough to warrant post exposure rabies treatment; a series of 4 shots given over a 14 day period intra-muscularly in the upper arm. The shots used to be administered every day for a 21 day period into the abdominal muscles. The fox was not caught so officials could not be sure if it was rabid.

“Though you should not live your life in fear, be aware of your surroundings,” warns Coons. “Most of the wild terrestrial animals are nocturnal; feed at night, and the attack occurred at 9:00 a.m., so seeing them out in the day is cause for alarm at this time of the year.”

On January 25th, a dog was attacked by a raccoon in a residential neighborhood in Elizaville. The dog owner responded by trying to pull the raccoon off of the dog and was scratched during the scuffle. Another neighbor grabbed a rake and hit the raccoon killing it. The raccoon tested positive for rabies.  Without knowing if the man was scratched by the raccoon or the dog, the man needed to receive post rabies treatment, according to Coons. The dog was not up to date on it’s shots so it needed treatment and to be quarantined for 6 months.

“Having two incidents within a three day period is very rare,” says Coons, “this is breeding season.”

Coons describes another incident involving a rabid skunk: “There was an incident that occurred a few years back where a dog in kennel was attacked by a rabid skunk that actually climbed the 6 foot tall chain link fence to go after the dog.” News10 asked, “Was the skunk going after the dog?” “Yes…the animal was shedding the virus and seeking to bite to keep the virus going…once they become clinical they no longer eat or drink and just look to bite,” says Coons.

The 2010 Rabies Clinics are beginning in March and they are free to Columbia County residents, according to Coons, who offers this advice, “Keep you pet’s vaccinations current, especially since there free.”

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A woman from Long Island was trampled by a wild elephant in Kenya as she held her 1-year-old daughter in her arms. The child was also killed in the incident, which happened on Monday afternoon during a nature walk near the Castle Forest Lodge, where they were vacationing. Sharon Brown, 39, originally from Miller Place, Long Island, and her daughter, Margaux, were killed; Brown’s husband and three other tourists survived. The Browns were in an area where hikers are advised to travel with an armed guard to defend them against stampeding elephants, but they were with an unarmed hotel guide.

“The elephant emerged from the bush at full speed without any warning,” lodge owner Melia van Laarvan Laar told the AP. “Everybody ran away, but the lady, burdened by the weight of the baby, perhaps, or in panic, was not able to run fast enough.” Brown, a former Peace Corps volunteer, worked as the librarian at the International School of Kenya in Nairobi, where her husband is a teacher. “She was an excellent student and beautiful person,” said her father John Laurie. “She was loved by everybody and loved to travel extensively.”

Witnesses say the elephant came upon the hikers from behind, and a spokeswoman for the Kenya Wildlife Service, Kentice Tikolo, told the AP, “It was a lone elephant and lone elephants can be quite dangerous. It probably felt quite threatened.” Tikolo also says that deaths by charging elephants are rare in Kenya, and happen about once a year. However, the Daily News reports that more than 15 people (typically Kenyans, not foreign tourists) are killed by wild animals each year, three-quarters of them by elephants. In fact, humans are killed by wildlife so routinely that the Kenyan Wildlife Service has a set rate for compensation: $389 per death.

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The Oklahoma State Health Department is preparing to test a beaver for rabies after it bit a small boy near Durant.

The incident happened on Saturday outside an apartment complex in Durant.

Tammy Lane said her 5-year-old son went outside to get the family cat. Instead of finding a feline, however, he was attacked by a beaver.

“I heard screaming. I went to see what was happening. His leg was pretty bad,” she said.

Lane said when her son tried to pet the beaver, it bit him. She rushed him to a local hospital and called police.

“They didn’t believe it was a beaver. They thought it was a raccoon,” Lane said.

However, Lane’s boyfriend took a photo of the beaver after he beat it with a crowbar.

A Durant Police Department spokeswoman said this was the department’s first report of a beaver attack.

“We get our share of dog bites, cat bites. This is our first one for beavers,” said Lt. Carrie Wyrick.

Lane said the 60-pound beaver was bigger than her 42-pound son and could have easily carried him away. The animal bit a chunk out of the boy’s calf.

“My biggest worry is that he has rabies, and I don’t know. Nobody knows,” Lane said.

Health department officials said rabies in beavers is rare. Workers will test the beaver on Wednesday.

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PALM SPRINGS — Now swimming in a pond near you: ferocious, razor-toothed predators direct from the Amazon River basin.

A boy fishing last month in a pond near his condo complex, at Arabian Road and Lake Arbor Drive, pulled from the water not the bass or catfish he was used to — but a writhing, red-bellied piranha.

Ten days later, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials combed the same pond and discovered a second piranha lurking beneath the surface.

In response, wildlife officers on Tuesday morning plied the roughly 4-acre pond with rotenone fish poison, an “extreme measure” meant to kill off any piranha still hiding there, said wildlife commission spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro.

As of Tuesday evening, a third piranha, killed by the poison, had floated to the surface. Wildlife officials scooped the adult-sized fish up for measurement, Ferraro said. The fish poison is designed to kill fish, then break down into nontoxic substances in three or four days.

Investigators said the toothy predators probably were kept as pets, a crime punishable by a $1,000 fine in Florida, before their owners turned them loose in the pond. Officials still were sorting through dead fish Tuesday night, in search of still more piranha.

It was no small task, because, as a side effect, the poison also killed every other fish living in the pond.

That ruined Darrin Duchene’s day. The Palm Springs man said his 14-year-old son, Jake, who angled the piranha on Oct. 13, grew up fishing the pond.

“He’s come back with every strange fish there is,” said Duchene, remembering times Jake turned up with peacock bass and a jaguar guapote, a fish native to Central America.

He recalled the day a month ago Jake caught the piranha.

“I was sitting in my chair and he came running in. He said he saw a bunch of minnows getting torn up.

“He cast his line in there and, boom, kind of snagged it in the top of the head,” Duchene said. “He ran over and said, ‘Dad! Dad! I caught a piranha!’”

“I said, ‘No way.’ “

But, peering down at the fish, Duchene had to admit it looked exactly like the ones he had seen on the Discovery Channel.

“We had him in a Zip-loc bag, and he was flipping around for probably 20 minutes. He was a big, tough one,” Duchene said.

They called the wildlife commission, and an officer came and “seized the piranha for further investigation,” the officer’s report said.

The Duchenes gave up the fish reluctantly.

“I wanted to keep it so I could get it mounted for him because nobody has a piranha,” Duchene said. “He said they might give it back to us.”

As wildlife officers poisoned his pond Tuesday, Duchene said he regretted ever calling them.

“All the years of enjoyment, for them to come wipe out that place, that’s freakin’ tragedy,” he said. “That is terrible. That’ll break my son’s heart.”

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SEATTLE – A Seattle woman says she’s too traumatized to stay in her own home after a raccoon attack sent her and her dog to the ER.

Kelly Gilliam says she was taking her dog Winky out for a walk in Queen Anne at about 10 p.m. Monday when it happened.

“We got right about around here. All of a sudden, the raccoon, jumped out of this bush here,” she said. “It had kind of cornered me, and it jumped on me one more time really hard and I fell back and I just tumbled.”

Gilliam said she, the raccoon and the dog tumbled down the hill.

“It would not get off of me, I could not get away from it. I could not get away from it,” she said.

Gilliam was hospitalized for four days with 12 gashes on her body.

She had to get more than a dozen rabies shots because doctors assumed the raccoon was infected.

Winky, now sporting a cone, got five staples near his tail.

And Gilliam’s attacker got away.

“The police officer had the raccoon trapped in this tree right here, and was shining a light on it. I was bleeding and pretty much in hysterics and I was like, ‘can you just shoot it?’ and he said ‘there’s nothing I can do,’” she said.

State law says you cannot hunt or trap a raccoon without a permit unless it’s attacking crops or domestic animals.

And even then, each city has its own wildlife restrictions.

Gilliam says she’s just worried for the rest of her neighborhood.

“With all of the people, the kids, the elderly people, I’m just concerned someone was going to get way more hurt than I did,” she said.

Wildlife experts say about your only option in an urban setting is to get a pest professional to catch the raccoon for you.

Washington Fish and Wildlife also warns residents to keep pet food inside, as raccoons are opportunistic scavengers.

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ALEXANDRIA, MINN. - Jason Raasch was driving home from a trip to Missouri when he looked down and saw a rattlesnake in his car.

“I was pretty scared, because I’d never even seen a rattlesnake except for at the zoo, so for it to be in the car and to bite me to top it off was pretty scary,” Raasch said.

It happened at the intersection of I-94 and Highway 27 in Alexandria. Raasch said he didn’t know the snake was there until it bit him. Raasch’s friend rushed him to Douglas County Hospital where an ambulance took him to HCMC.  A few days later, Raasch developed pancreatitis, which was the start of his insurance problems.

“My health insurance would only cover so many days of my stay, and it just so happens that on that amount of days I was discharged,” Raasch explained.

The CT scans of Raasch’s stomach show a large mass by his pancreas.  Dr. Shawn Lanman with Alexandria Clinic found the mass and send Raasch to the University of Minnesota; however, they told him there was no mass.  Even though Raasch has proof there is in fact a mass in his stomach, the UofM won’t help him.

Raasch experiences intense stomach pain on a daily basis.  The pain is so great; his doctor isn’t allowing him to work at all.  Now Raasch can’t pay his bills.

“I’ve got bills.  I’ve got rent.  I mean I have all kinds of bills that need to be paid, and I can’t pay any of them,” Raasch said.

Those bills include his health insurance.  His insurance doesn’t cover most of his medical care, or some of his prescriptions.  The insurance won’t cover the 12 hour surgery Raasch needs to remove the mass.  He thinks that’s the reason Mayo and the UofM won’t help him.

“My insurance won’t cover it, and they won’t even see me without health insurance,” Raasch explained.

If he doesn’t pay his bills, Raasch might lose his insurance altogether.

“If they drop my health insurance, I’m like a fish out of water,” Raasch said.

He hopes the health care reform bill working its way through WashingtonD.C. will help his situation.  Until then, he’ll have to wait.

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Bob Schenck waded through the leech-filled swamp, creeping closer to the alligator.

“It was waiting, aggressive and ready to attack,” Schenck said today. When the moment was right, he pounced, maneuvering around the 5-foot reptile’s open jaws as he subdued it on Sunday.

Schenck with alligator

Schenk wasn’t in Africa, or even Florida. He was tangling with the stray 50-pound reptile in a dirty drainage ditch behind a Fall River mall.The gator was spotted several times Sunday near Route 24 in Fall River, according to authorities. Animal control officers and Schenck, who owns a pet store in the city, responded about 4:30 p.m. after a police officer reported a sighting, said Cynthia Berard, Fall River’s animal control supervisor.

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FLORISSANT – A woman called a deer and tried to pet it, but the deer lowered its head and charged her instead, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

The 63-year-old woman was at her sister’s house Monday evening when the attack happened. The sister’s family had seen the deer at their home several times.

The attacked happened at the home on Colorado Road 31 near Florissant on Monday. A driver on the road saw the attack and tried to stop the deer. The person was able to scare the animal away.

The Teller County Sheriff‘s Office responded and while medical workers were helping the woman the animal kept coming back to the area.

One of them said, “We had to constantly harass it away from us.”

The woman, Joan Nutt, was transported to Pikes Peak Regional Medical Center in Woodland Park where she was treated for cuts and bruises.

Nutt says she had grabbed hold of an antler of the animal and tried to fend it off, but it knocked her down.

Wildlife Officer Aarno Flohrs says the animal walked right up to him when he arrived at the scene. The animal was tranquilized and later euthanized because it was “deemed a threat to human safety.”

“There was no direct evidence Nutt was feeding the animal, but this deer’s behavior was a clear indication that someone in the area had tried to domesticate a wild deer and treat it as a pet,” Flohrs said.

Nutt’s brother-in-law, Ervin Stohl, told the DOW this particular buck came to their house every afternoon. He says there is usually a bunch of females nearby.

Stohl said, “There were no does today and the buck was angry.”

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More Images »

A family photo of Caleigh Cunning, 5, who survived an attack by a seal.

Photograph by: Handout, …

METRO VANCOUVER — Minutes after she escaped from a harbour seal that had pulled her into the water off West Vancouver’s Thunderbird Marina, Caleigh Cunning had a few questions for her father.

“She said, ‘Daddy, why did the seal drag me in the water?’” her father, North Vancouver resident Mike Cunning, said Wednesday.

“I said, ‘I think the seal wanted you to go for a swim.’

“She said, ‘Well, the seal wasn’t very nice.’”

At about 6 p.m. Tuesday, Cunning, Caleigh and some friends were standing at a dockside fish-cleaning table, washing the day’s catch.

Cunning turned from his daughter for a moment and heard a splash.

“I looked over and couldn’t see my daughter anywhere.”

Caleigh, who’d been wearing a life jacket, popped up about two metres away.

“I said, ‘Caleigh, swim to me, swim to me Caleigh!’”

Cunning said his friend, who had seen the incident, told him the seal had jumped four feet out of the water, took Caleigh by the arm and dragged her into the water.

The incident — from the moment the seal grabbed Caleigh to her recovery back on the dock — took about 10 to 15 seconds, he said.

“It just happened so quickly. It was instantaneous.”

Caleigh treaded water back to the dock. When Cunning pulled his crying, shocked daughter out of the water, he saw her hand was swollen and covered in blood.

Caleigh was treated at Lions Gate Hospital for five puncture wounds to her wrist and placed on antibiotics to ward off infection.

Conflicts between humans and harbour seals are rare, said Paul Cottrell, marine mammal coordinator for the federal department of fisheries and oceans’ Pacific region.

Seals are most likely to appear where they have easy access to food, and that includes marinas, he said.

He said Caleigh had been throwing fish guts and bits to seals earlier that evening, a common but discouraged practice, which may have left fish slime on her hands.

The slime’s scent most likely attracted the seal because it was accustomed to eating thrown fish scraps.

“This is a case of a harbour seal misinterpreting this girl’s hand, thinking that it was a piece of fish.”

Cottrell said the DFO encourages marinas to supply containers for fish remnants near cleaning tables.

Though the incident was a harrowing one, it could have been worse, Cunning said.

Caleigh is taking swimming lessons and she’s confident around the water, said Cunning, an avid fisherman.

“She loves fishing and reeling in fish. She’s been around the ocean all her life.”

Many years ago, a member of Cunning’s extended family drowned when she was five years old, so he is very sensitive and safety-conscious around water, he said.

“Her life jacket gets on in the parking lot, and it doesn’t come off until we get back to the car.”

Thunderbird Marina manager Fred McDonald said though seals are a common sight at the marina, this is the first incident he’s heard of involving an aggressive seal.

Cunning said he was concerned low fish stocks have resulted in an abundance of seals gathering around marinas, which could pose a threat to humans.

But Cottrell said the seal population “has flattened out and stabilized. It’s hit a natural balance.”

About 40,000 seals populate the Strait of Georgia, and about 110,000 seals live along the B.C. coast, Cottrell said.

He said interaction with seals could be pursued as a violation of the Fisheries Act. The regulations apply to people who initiate feeding, touching or swimming with a marine mammal.

Cottrell knew of one similar incident: a B.C. sport fisherman was bitten by a harbour seal as he tried to release a juvenile salmon into the water.

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ST. AUGUSTINE, FL — A local Walmart had an unwelcome guest Tuesday, and it left a customer in the hospital.

According to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, a man was looking at some plants in the garden center Tuesday afternoon, and dropped a baby bottle.

The bottle rolled under the plastic shelves that were holding the plants.

When he reached under the shelf to get the bottle, he felt a bite.

He pulled his hand out, and a baby pigmy rattlesnake was holding on to his finger.

He knocked the snake off and a Walmart associate killed the snake.

Rescue personnel took the man to Flagler Hospital for treatment. He was in critical condition, but was stabilized. He was then taken to Shands in Jacksonville, where he is in serious condition as of Wednesday afternoon.

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Officials advise caution in wake of rattlesnake bites

Health authorities in the sun-baked Interior are advising caution after three incidents of rattlesnake bites near Penticton in the last month.

Last week an Okanagan man was bitten on the ankle after stepping on a rattler in his backyard. After four days in intensive care and 40 vials of anti-venom, costing $1,000 each, his condition has stabilized.

Another person was bitten on the hand while out on a trail, and the other was bitten on the finger in a backyard.

On average there are five rattlesnake bites a year in B.C., and there have been two deaths in the province’s recorded history.

Rattlers reside on grassy hillsides in territory ranging from the southern Okanagan to the northern outskirts of Kamloops, and have come into increasing contact with humans owing to residential development.

Here are some tips from Interior doctors familiar with rattlesnake bites:

Keep in mind that the striking distance of a snake is about two-thirds its length. Do not pick up or handle snakes. Even a dead snake can bite and release venom through reflexes for 90 minutes after it dies.

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Bear attacks Sudbury woman

Posted By The Canadian Press

Posted 2 days ago

SUDBURY — Police in the Sudbury, Ont., area are warning about the possibility of bear attacks.

A 30-year-old woman was on her driveway in the community of Conniston Wednesday just before 2 a.m. when she was attacked.

She didn’t actually see the animal, but the lacerations on the back of her left leg look like a single swipe from a bear.

The animal was scared off by the woman’s dog.

The woman was taken to hospital, treated for her injuries and released.

Police have gone door to door in the area warning residents to be on the look out for bears and passing on tips that could help keep the animals out of the area.

The Ministry of Natural Resources is also trying to track down the bear.

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Girl bitten by rattler on school playground

By BECKY SHAY – Billings Gazette – 05/31/09

BILLINGS — A student at Eagle Cliffs Elementary was hospitalized Friday after being bitten by a rattlesnake.

Billings School District 2 Superintendent Jack Copps said the unidentified girl is in the lower grades. She was on the playground shortly before 11 a.m. and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Steve Wilson, a captain with the Billings Fire Department, was one of the first emergency responders on the scene, along with engineer Bret Thormahlen and firefighter Craig Riske. He said the girl, who is 6 or 7 years old, told the firefighters she was running on the playground when “she ran into what felt like a couple of sharp sticks” on her foot, which turned out to be the snakebite

“She was a little scared but still in good spirits,” Wilson said.

The snake was caught and killed by somebody at the school before emergency crews arrived. It was a small rattlesnake, about a foot long, with just one rattle on its tail.

At about 6 p.m., Copps said he was told the girl would stay overnight at the hospital for treatment and evaluation, but did not know her condition. 

Children are being advised not to pick up snakes and to report seeing snakes immediately to adults. School officials will inspect the playground and aren’t sure yet whether they will close the area to students.

“It may have been a small snake, and that means there may be a den up there we need to look for,” said Copps.

Two Billings health care providers said snakes like to avoid people and people should try to avoid them, including not reaching under rocks or into other places where snakes may hide to avoid the heat.

“It’s a dangerous time for snakes,” said Dr. Peter Light at Billings Clinic. “They are usually very active at this time of year.”

Someone bitten by a snake should go to the nearest emergency department. It is important to avoid significant activity and exertion, Light said. Venom starts in the soft tissue and will eventually go into the bloodstream and circulate, he said.

“Then it causes problems,” Light said. “If it’s not systemic, it’s better for the patient.”

Dean Angell is a registered nurse at St. Vincent Healthcare emergency department who has an interest in rattlesnakes. The most common variety in this part of Montana are prairie rattlers. Research suggests about 40 percent of their bites are “dry” and do not release significant amounts of venom, he said, but people should not make assumptions.

“Things are drying out and the snakes are starting to come out,” Wilson said. He has been a firefighter for 25 years and said this is the first rattlesnake bite to which he’s responded, but that the possibility of a bite is always there.

If enough venom is injected, there will be immediate swelling and pain. But, it can also take hours for other venom complications, such as neurological or clotting abnormalities, to become obvious.

“We want anyone who has been bitten by a snake, whether they think it is a rattlesnake or not, to come in,” he said.

Antivenin counteracts the effects of the venom. Both Billings hospitals have adequate supplies of the drug, which is called Cro-Fab. Antivenin is expensive, Angell said, and how much is needed depends on the bite and the reaction. He’s seen people who require two to three doses and those who require more than 20 vials.

Both Angell and Light also said snakes have their place in the world, including helping to control rodent populations.

“They are part of the food chain,” Angell said. “If you see a rattlesnake, they don’t want to bother you if you don’t bother them.”

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Venomous Snakes Dumped In Lawrence?

Nonnative Snakes Spotted Near Haskell Indian Nations University

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Officials at Haskell Indian Nations University are asking people to be on the lookout for poisonous snakes.

 

Bev Chapman/KMBC Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence is warning walkers about venomous snakes. This after reports that someone might have dumped a non-native snake known as a South American bushmaster.

Haskell biologist Chuck Haines said a snake that was seen near the school is a nonnative venomous viper, possibly a South American bushmaster, which can grow to 8 feet in length. Haines said, “Just use caution, especially with your animals.” 

He said he has removed two smaller venomous snakes from the same area, and received an anonymous tip that the snakes had been dumped there. Signs have been posted throughout Haskell’s campus warning people that a snake might be lurking nearby. 

“There’s a tremendous world market, particularly for the attractive ones and the very dangerous ones,” herpetologist Joe Collins said. 

Collins said while the odds of anyone finding this type of snake in the grass are not good, the odds of surviving its bite in this country are worse. 

“They can go to the hospital for antivenom and find we don’t have it because that kind of snake isn’t found in this area,” Collins told KMBC’s Bev Chapman. “On the off chance someone turns one loose, you need to know the local snakes to know it’s not one of them.”

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I know it seems hard to believe, but they can be dangerous. 

Deer attacks 2 men, 7-year-old in Pulaski County

By LINDSEY WARD

Published: May 20, 2009

UPDATED: 9:23 
Monday morning Jimmy Yopp was walking across his hill top property.
    
What started out as a peaceful walk turned into a nightmare, when he realized he wasn’t alone and was being followed by a deer.
    
Yopp turned to face his stalker when, “he just give me an evil look like and he just charged me,” explained Yopp.
    
It knocked the grown man to the ground, repeatedly pounding his back.
    
Before he could get to his car the deer knocked him down two more times.

“It’d raise up and just hit me with his front hooves,” Yopp said.

“I ran and jumped up on top of my vehicle here and I thought he was going to come up on top of my hood.”

Yopp wasn’t the only one running from a deer. 

According to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries a man and his child were attacked in this same area on Saturday morning. 

When a conservation officer came searching for the aggressive suspect on Wednesday morning he too was approached by the attacker.
    
Yopp says people may laugh when they hear he was attacked by a deer, but there’s nothing funny about fearing for your life.

“I was thinking gosh this thing’s going to kill me,” said Yopp 
    
Luckily it didn’t and Yopp will have a story of survival like none other.

I’m talking with the second man attacked by the deer.  Watch what he has to say tonight on WSLS at 11:00 p.m.

A deer attack on a man and his 7-year-old son in Pulaski County, is being investigated by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF).

The VDGIF says the attack happened this past Saturday, May 16th, in the Delton section of the county.  The man called the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, who call a conservation police officer.

The officer foudn the man had a broken left arm and bruises, while the boy had a cut on his face.  The man and his son told the officer that the deer came at them in their frontyard, just after they had driven home and gotten out of the car.

The officer searched for the deer, but could not find it.

Then this past Tuesday, the Pulaski Co. Sheriff’s Office called the VDGIF about a second attack that happened on Monday.  In that case, a man told a conservation officer that he had been kicked and bitten by a deer while clearing brush on his property Monday morning.  The man did not go to a doctor until Tuesday, when he heard about the other attack.

The conservation officer spotted three deer when he interviewed the second attack victim.  Two of the deer ran off, but one circled and showed aggressive behavior toward the officer.  Then the deer approached the officer, at which point the officer shot and killed the deer.

The conservation officer called to have the deer taken to a Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services lab in Wytheville.  Tissue samples have since been sent off to the Virginia Department of Health for rabies testing.  VDIGF investigators hope to have test results by Friday.

Conservation police officers are asking people in Pulaski County if they’ve seen any unusual deer behavior, experienced a deer encounter, or are aware of deer being fed or held in captivity illegally in the area.  The VDGIF says, “Wildlife biologists in other states have observed aggressive behavior by deer in captive situations. When deer lose their natural fear of humans, they can become extremely aggressive.“

 

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Admittedly, not a lethal situation by any stretch, but still a story worth telling. And, at the very least, more proof that snakes and other animals can show up in the most unusual places – not just in the “wild.”

Snake Bites Man Sitting
on Toilet

Updated: Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 1:49 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 1:43 PM EDT

• By ANTHONY BARTKEWICZ

(MYFOX NATIONAL) – “Toilet snake” has one meaningfor plumbers and a very different meaning for a Taiwanese man who was bitten on the genitals by a snake as he sat on his toilet. The Taipei Times reportsthat the man now suffers from a phobia of toilets.

According to the Daily Telegraph , the 51-year-old man, who has only been identified by the last name Lin, “suddenly felt a knife-like pain and reacted instinctively by standing up” as soon as he sat down. When he looked down, he saw a snake sitting in his toilet. The yellow and black snake is believed to be a species of rat snake, which is not poisonous. “If it were a poisonous snake, Lin would be lucky to be alive,” his doctor was quoted as saying in the Taipei Times.

It is believed that the snake entered Lin’s toilet through a crack in the lid of his septic tank. Considering the nature of his injury, Lin is being surprisingly gracious to the snake, which was released into the wild. “It was the snake’s signal for help when it bit me,” he said. “If it hadn’t, maybe it would have been stuck in the septic tank and either suffocated or starved to death. It looked like an accident but it was actually fate.” 

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Venomous South American spider found in Manitoba grocery store

This venemous Brazilian wandering spider was a stowaway in a bundle of South American bananas that arrived at an IGA store in Manitoba. (Photo courtesy the Russell Banner)Staff at the IGA grocery store in Russell, Man., got a big shock this week when a live venomous spider was discovered in a shipment of bananas from South America.

The large arachnid was captured in a jar and passed on to the local high school biology teacher, Bonnie Morris, at Major Pratt School.

Her students have used the opportunity to research on the internet about the hairy, fanged spider, which is about the size of softball. The class discovered the critter was a Brazilian wandering spider.

Also known as the banana spider, it is considered lethal and aggressive. The Guinness World Records book of 2007 lists it as the world’s most venomous spider, stating they are considered to be responsible for the most human deaths due to spider bite envenomation.

They can grow to have a leg span of up to 13 cm and their body length ranges from 17 to 48 millimetres, according to Wikipedia.

They are called a wandering spider because they roam the jungle floor at night, rather than residing in a lair or web. During the day they hide in dark and moist places in or near human dwellings.

Manitoba Conservation has since taken the spider from the school.

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Kind of a funny story. But the woman does have a case.

Woman sues Wal-Mart over ‘Norman the nutria’

BY JANET MCCONNAUGHEY • ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER • MAY 7, 2009

NEW ORLEANS — A south Louisiana woman claims in a lawsuit that a nutria known as Norman ran at her in her local Wal-Mart, scaring her into a panic attack and a foot injury that required surgery.

Employees at the Wal-Mart in Abbeville not only knew a wild animal was at large in the store, but had given it a pet name and negligently failed to warn people about it, Rebecca T. White and her husband, Randal, allege in a state court lawsuit. 

Nutria are rodents with bright orange buck teeth. Weighing up to 18 pounds, they look like small beavers with rat-like tails. Would-be fur farmers in 22 states imported large numbers in the 1930s and ’40s, then let them go when they proved unprofitable. They proliferated in south Louisiana, where many residents call them nutria-rats or neutral-rats. 

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had little comment about the lawsuit filed April 22 in state district court in Abbeville, about 130 miles west of New Orleans. 

“A safe, clean and friendly shopping environment for customers is always our goal. We haven’t been served with a lawsuit but we are looking into the matter,” spokeswoman Michelle Bradford said Thursday. 

It isn’t clear what happened to the animal. The parish nuisance animal control officer, Duane Riebel, said he has never been called on to get rid of nutria. 

According to the lawsuit, Rebecca White had a full shopping cart when “suddenly and without warning a large wild nutria came from behind the Coke rack and ran straight towards” her on Oct. 11. 

Fearing for her safety, she “pulled her shopping cart towards her to protect her from the large vicious looking rat,” the suit continued. 

The cart ran over her left foot, breaking two bones, the Whites’ lawyer, Anthony Fontana, said Thursday. He said she underwent surgery in late February for broken bones and damaged nerves. 

Wal-Mart workers “came running” in October but made light of the incident, “telling petitioner that they could see that she had an encounter with ’Norman,’ a name the employees had given to the rat,” the lawsuit alleged. 
Fontana said Thursday that White suffers from panic attacks. 

“She got to the checkout counter,” Fontana said. “That’s the last thing she remembers. She passed out and they had to take her to the hospital in an ambulance.” 

She had had prior surgery on her back, which was re-injured when she fell, Fontana said. “They’re monitoring that as to whether she’ll need any type of treatment.” 

She is asking for compensation for pain, suffering, mental anguish, fear, disabling injuries, and medical expenses. The surgery bills aren’t yet in, Fontana said, but other medical bills totaled $1,945.93.

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Bear wanders into Camarillo [Updated]

8:36 AM | May 6, 2009

Residents of a Camarillo apartment complex received an unexpected visitor this morning: a bear.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department received a report at about 5 a.m. that a large brown bear had been spotted wandering through a densely populated part of town, said Capt. Bill Ayub.

Sheriff’s deputies followed the bear into the Avalon Camarillo Apartment complex in the 1500 block of Flynn Road, where they corralled the animal until shortly before 8 a.m. when wardens from the California Department of Fish and Game shot it with a tranquilizer dart, Ayub said.

Residents were advised to remain in their apartments until the animal had been taken away. [Updated at 8:50 a.m.: The 300-pound male was being trucked to a wilderness area in the hills to be released, Ayub said.]

It was not immediately clear where the bear had come from, but Ayub said it probably emerged from a creek bed about half a mile away and wandered into Camarillo in search of food.

“It was pretty far into town, though,” he said.

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5-foot patio visitor startles Hampton man

By MATTHEW STURDEVANT

Daily Press

May 4, 2009

HAMPTON, Va.

Last August, Rick Schumann was about to relax on his apartment patio near Sandy Bottom Nature Park when he saw it: a 5-foot canebrake rattlesnake. 

“It was as big around as my forearm,” Schumann said. 

He’s got a photo to prove it. 

Schumann lives at Meridian Parkside, a new apartment complex that opened last year on Hampton Roads Center Parkway just west of Sandy Bottom. Not long after he saw the snake on his patio, Schumann said a woman and her toddler who lived in an apartment across from his saw a canebrake curled up on Schumann’s welcome mat. The woman has since moved, and Schumann has been very careful before walking outside. 

“Every morning, I crack the door (open) and look down,” Schumann said. 

It’s that time of year again when snakes are on the move, including the venomous canebrakes. The snakes, which are officially designated by the commonwealth as endangered in Virginia, come out of hibernation about mid-May–when the weather warms up–and start looking for a mate. The first canebrake seen this year at Sandy Bottom was on a trail April 28 and was relocated within the park, said Hampton parks department spokesman Ed Novi. 

Last year, an official at Sandy Bottom Nature Park was called on three separate occasions to remove a canebrake rattlesnake from Meridian Parkside apartments. 

Before approaching the snake, the biologist or park ranger puts on snake chaps to cover his/her legs, said Arthur W. Mertz, chief park ranger at Sandy Bottom. A rod with a golf-club-like handle is used to hoist the snake into a breathable, rip-stop nylon bag. The bag is put in a plastic, 5-gallon bucket specifically designated for canebrake retrieval, Mertz said. The snakes are then taken back to the park and released. 

Management at Meridian Parkside declined to talk about the snakes. Last year the apartment managers put up fliers instructing people on what to do if they saw a canebrake. 

Canebrakes have a distinctive black tail and rattle, are usually pinkish, gray, yellow or light brown with brown-to-black chevron patterns down the spine. They can grow up to 5 feet long. They feed on rodents, mainly gray squirrels, and eat once or twice a year. Occasionally, they eat birds and frogs. Canebrakes are an important part of the ecosystem, and they help control the rodent population, Mertz, the Sandy Bottom chief ranger said. 

Canebrakes are in Hampton, Newport News, York County, Isle of Wight, Suffolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, according to Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries. On the Peninsula, the bulk of the population is believed to be around the nature park at Sandy Bottom. Despite being a scary encounter for people who might see one sunning on a patio, it is a misdemeanor to harm or move the snakes. 

Residents are asked to call state Game and Inland Fisheries Biologist J.D. Kleopfer at 804-829-6703, or local animal control authorities. 

The biggest challenge facing the reptiles is loss of habitat, according to researchers at Old Dominion University and state game officials. 

In 2000, researchers tracked canebrakes by placing small radio transmitters underneath the scales. They found canebrakes in the Oyster Point area, around Big Bethel Road, in the Michael Woods area and in Kiln Creek–all areas that underwent rapid development. 

Last year, canebrake habitat was cited as one of the reasons Hampton had to wait years to get state and federal permits to extend Commander Shepard Boulevard. The new road will cut a 200-foot-wide path through the woods, about 1.8 miles long. 

Canebrakes need a large area to roam for food, and have been tracked wandering as much as 757 acres in a year, according to the ODU researchers. 

For people interested in seeing a canebrake behind the safety of Plexiglas, Sandy Bottom Nature Center has one in a terrarium as part of an educational display. 

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It would be so crazy to have a mountain lion circling your house as described in this story.

San Benancio resident recounts close call with mountain lion

PHOTO BY JOEL ERICKSON

A mountain lion perches on the wall of Joel Erickson’s patio about three years ago. 

“It started when the mountain lion tried to get my house cat,” Erickson writes. “I knew that the [mountain lion] was in the area because I had seen his tracks in the mud.

“One evening when I was working in the garage, my cat was sitting outside the door enjoying the evening. I heard a loud bang and thought the cat had knocked something down. Later I was able to reconstruct what happened: The mountain lion had come around the corner of the house and caught my cat sitting outside. Seeing a snack there, he jumped at the cat, missing it and hitting the garage door, which was the bang I heard.”My cat must have used up a couple of its lives that evening, because she was able to get away and climb to the top of a tree, where she stayed all night. I thought she was gone because of the cat fur I saw and the lion’s tracks. I found her the next day in my shed, unhurt but scared.

“It was about a month later when I was having coffee about 4 in the afternoon that I saw the mountain lion come past my house.

“He was probably looking for another snack because he went all the way around the house and looked in the French doors to see what was inside.

“My cat got one look and went under the bed. I got my camera and went to another window to get a picture. When the mountain lion heard the noise he came across the top of the retaining wall to see what was inside. He came right up to the window, so I was only 3-4 feet from him when I took the one picture. It wasn’t a telephoto lens.

“I have seen him, or one like him, cross San Benancio Road early in the morning and have seen one at a small pond I have late in the evening, but this was the only time I got a good look in the day.”

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It’s almost like an animal revolution is going on.

Possible rabid animal attacks reported in Winchester area

WINCHESTER – At least three incidents of possible rabid animal attacks have been reported to Animal Control this month, according to a press release issued today by Winchester police.

On Wednesday, a woman reported that she and a child had been attacked by a red fox on Battery Drive.

“The female reported that after leaving a business on Battery Drive with a male child that she was caring for, a red fox came out from underneath a vehicle and bit the child’s shoe. When the female intervened, the fox bit the female several times. The female then drove to seek treatment at the Winchester Medical Center, ” the release states.

“The parent of the child decided she would seek treatment the following day at the child’s pediatrician, since the fox bite did not penetrate the child’s skin. The female described the fox as having a mangy coat, wet and bloody mouth.”

Animal Control has set traps in the Battery Drive area where the incident occurred. Area neighbors reported seeing the fox under cars througout the day. 

On Sunday, a homeowner in the 100 block of Linden Drive reported her dog had been attacked by a groundhog, and that when she tried to scare the animal away, it charged at her.

“The homeowner, who was not bitten, went back into her residence and called the dog inside. The groundhog was not on the property when Animal Control arrived. Several traps have been set in the area in an attempt to catch the groundhog. The homeowner’s dog was up to date on his rabies vaccination; however, the 45-day hold was placed on the dog. It cannot be confirmed that the groundhog is rabid until the groundhog has been caught,” the release states.

On April 15, a homeowner in the 700 block of Merriman’s Lane reported that his dog was attacked by a raccoon.

“During the attack, the homeowner was able to kill the raccoon. The Virginia Department of Health confirmed the raccoon was infected with rabies. The homeowner’s dog was up to date on his rabies vaccination; however, the Virginia Department of Health requires a 45-day hold on the dog, which is monitored by the Department of Health,” the release states.

Winchester police are asking area residents to report any wildlife or animals that exhibit signs of rabies, or if a bat enters a residence. Call police at 540-662-4131.

Signs of rabies include dingy or mangy coat, wounded appearance, bleeding or wet mouth, and/or aggressive or confused actions.

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It’s not really clear whether if the bear was even chasing the woman, but it got put to sleep. Why couldn’t they just relocate it?

Pregnant Woman Hit By Car Running From Bear

Posted: 1:46 PM Apr 23, 2009 Last Updated: 8:29 PM Apr 23, 2009 Reporter: McKenzie Martin  PLAY VIDEO: Pregnant Woman Chased By Bear RAW VIDEO: DOW Tranquilizes Bear

Police say the woman was walking when she saw a bear and she thought the bear was coming after her. The woman reportedly screamed and ran into the street. “I heard a rustle behind me and a bear came out of the creek, I was about 2 feet away from the bear,” Ashley Swendsen said. She says when the bear started following her she screamed and ran away. “I went up a gravel hill and you have to cross a bridge, there’s no pedestrian walk and I was trying to cross the bridge and this lady hit me.” Police say Swendsen, ran into the street near 6700 Vincent Drive, three blocks away from Dublin and Vincent. The driver of the car reportedly took off. Swendsen was taken to Memorial Hospital, where she was treated for a bruised leg. She is 5 months along in her pregnancy and the baby was unharmed. Police say they found a bear a while later in the area, at 1443 Rock Ridge, near Rock Ridge and Turret. The Division of Wildlife euthanized the bear after Swendsen identified her in a picture. The DOW says the bear had become a danger to the area, becoming too comfortable around humans.

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Crazy. Ohio!! It lunged at him. And 4 feet long is not a small gator.

Teen catches what appears to be alligator in Summit LakeBy Linda Golz
Beacon Journal staff writer

POSTED: 07:16 p.m. EDT, Apr 21, 2009

 

14-year-old Anthony Greer sits on a stairway at his home Tuesday next to what he thinks is an alligator that he caught while fishing at Summit Lake last Sunday in Akron. The reptile, which is tagged, was alive when he caught it. (Ed Suba Jr./Akron Beacon Journal)

View more photos>>

Anthony Greer has a fish tale of a lifetime.

The Akron teen had planned a leisurely day of fishing at Summit Lake on Sunday in hopes of luring a few bass.

Instead, at 9 a.m. the 14-year-old caught what authorities believe is an alligator.

Anthony said the gator rose from the water and then lunged at him.

The Innes Middle School eighth-grader admitted it scared him at first. ”His mouth opened up. He would have bit me,” Anthony said. ”I had to hit him [on the head] with a brick.”

Anthony said he carried the dead gator the four to five blocks from the lake to his Leroy Street home by his tail.

”Everybody was stopping me” along the way, he said.

Anthony’s 18-year-old brother, Reggie Scott, measured the gator at 4 feet, 2 inches long.

”We noticed it was tagged,” Scott said. The silver colored band on its right back foot reads ”483.”

Akron Zoo’s Manager of Living Collections, Pete Mohan, examined photos of the gator.

”I’m pretty sure, based on the picture,” it is an alligator and not a caiman. He estimated that the alligator appears to be about 4 years old.

”My suspicion is that this was a poached animal, or stolen,” Mohan said. Otherwise it wouldn’t have had the tag on, he said.

”It’s possible it could have come from an alligator farm or a pet store,” he added.

Alligators are prohibited under Akron’s exotic animal ordinance, unless the owner has a permit from the director of health. A violation is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by six months in jail.

This is the second alligator found in Summit Lake in two years. Sandy the Alligator, caught by a teenager in July 2007, was adopted by an animal rescue group.

”I want to get this thing stuffed,” Anthony said. ”I didn’t plan on catching an alligator.”

Link

Another example of the truth that as long as you’re in an animal’s range, you could be attacked even in a non-wilderness area.

Hawk Attacks Miami College Student

Though Uncommon, Hawk Attacks Pose a Danger to People and Pets

April 9, 2009—

Hannah King, a sophomore at the University of Miami, was walking across a field on campus to her part-time job as an elementary school tutor last week when she felt a sudden knock to the back of her head.

King said she assumed she had been hit “with a log or something really hard and heavy.”

It wasn’t until she heard a swoosh by her ear that King saw the culprit, a hawk nesting in a nearby tree.

The attack left King, 19, with a concussion, she said. When she told the student health center what happened, “at first, no one believed me.”

But for the past three years, hawks nesting in the area have attacked a few students a year in what Campus Police Deputy Chief Russell Clusman calls “one of the unique safety issues we have to deal with.” Last year, there were crocodiles on campus, too, he said.

University spokeswoman Margot Winnick said, “It’s the tropics. It’s part of living in Miami.”

Because hawks are protected under federal law, campus police have now set up a security escort armed with an umbrella to walk students across the field: the “hawk walk,” as Lt. William Gerlach calls it.

Lynne Flannery of the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland, Fla., said umbrellas appear less threatening to hawks and dissuade them from attacking.

Flannery said the group gets a handful of calls a year about hawk attacks, during nesting season, usually around March and April.

Hawks ‘Very Territorial’ During Nesting Season

“During nesting season, they’re very territorial,” Flannery said. “They’re basically trying to defend their nest and their young.”

Hawk attacks are relatively rare; it’s much more common to hear of mockingbirds harassing passersby, according to Alicia King of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Division of Migratory Bird Management in Arlington, Va.

Last year, three Federal Emergency Management Agency employees in Lake Mary, Fla., were attacked by hawks, sending all three to the hospital with minor injuries, said Josh Wilson, an agency spokesman.

As a precaution, FEMA closed the portion of the parking lot near where the bird was thought to be nesting and has been hawk-incident free so far this year, Wilson said.

The birds also have been known to attack small animals, which can be mistaken for squirrels or rodents.

Hawks Can Attack Small Pets

Tyler Tornello said a hawk attacked his two Chihuahuas, Paco and Vinny, which weigh 3 pounds and 10 pounds, respectively.

The dogs survived with deep claw marks to their necks after Vinny came to Paco’s rescue, Tornello said.

“He was at the front door covered in blood and mud,” he said of the larger dog. “You could tell he was in a very intense battle.”

King, who plans to major in political science at the University of Miami, said the attack left her dizzy and nauseated for several days.

But she’s satisfied that the school was taking steps to protect other students, she said.

Link

This attack certainly seems unprovoked.

Control of Hong Kong boar population urged after man savaged

Hong Kong – A 77-year-old Hong Kong man was savaged by a wild boar that pinned him to the ground and bit his groin, police said Wednesday.

The 70-kilogram animal went on a rampage, knocking the man down and sinking its teeth into him, after it strayed into a village in Hong Kong’s New Territories.

Witnesses said the boar attacked Tuesday after it jumped a fence and charged at the man who was playing cards with friends outside.

The animal then ran off. The man was taken to hospital bleeding and was in stable condition Wednesday.

The attack is the latest in a series involving wild boars, which have lead to calls on the government to control the population, which is believed to have grown in recent years in Hong Kong’s rural areas, which cover more than 70 per cent of the territory’s 1,078 square kilometres.

Wild boars are common in rural parts of Hong Kong near its border with mainland China but are rarely seen in built-up urban parts of the city. But in February, police shot dead a wild boar when it strayed into a high-rise housing estate in the city’s built-up Tuen Mun district.

In September, a 120-kilogram boar was also shot dead by police after it fought with pet dogs and bit two residents in a rural village near the Hong Kong-China border. (dpa)

Highlighting the point that even fairly urban areas can still provide wildlife encounters:

This story of a bobcat and a drinking establishment.