White Shark Sightings On The Rise On East Coast : NPR.

From NPR, I’m Ira Flatow.

Over the last few years, there have been more and more confirmed shark sightings at beaches on the East Coast, and this summer is no exception. Just last week, lifeguards closed part of Rockaway Beach, that’s here in Brooklyn, after surfers spotted a shark.

Further north, officials closed a remote beach in Cape Cod when a spotter of planes saw not one, not two but at least three great white sharks lurking near the shore a couple weeks ago. No one’s been allowed in the water since then.

And then just yesterday, Cape Cod’s Chatham Harbor was closed to swimming due to the sighting of a 14-foot great white shark. Scary, huh?

But before you call in Quint and his too-small shark boat in “Jaws,” to put this in perspective, there hasn’t been a fatal shark attack in New England since way back in 1936. So why are we spotting so many more great whites today?

Is their population growing, or are we just more paranoid and getting better at spotting them? Here to sort out some of the facts from fiction is my guest. Greg Skomal is a senior biologist at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He joins us by phone. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY, Dr. Skomal.

Dr. GREG SKOMAL (Senior Biologist Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries): Thank you, Ira. It’s good to be here.

FLATOW: Good, thank you. Are there more sharks these days, or are we seeing more of them?

Dr. SKOMAL: I think it’s a function, it’s a number of variables we’re dealing with here, and it’s hard for us to really tell if there’s more sharks or just simply more effort.

Certainly, a lot of the sightings along the East Coast of the United States have to do with more people utilizing the shoreline, utilizing the water for various recreational activities and otherwise.

But in think in some areas, specifically off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts and Monomoy Island, we are indeed seeing more white sharks. And I think what we’re seeing is a shift in distribution of the white shark in that particular area.

FLATOW: And what is attracting them to that area?

Dr. SKOMAL: Over the course of the last couple of decades, we’ve been seeing a steady increase in the number of gray seals and a growing gray seal, resident gray seal population in that area. I believe it’s drawing these sharks closer to shore.

FLATOW: And why would we be seeing more gray seals now?

Dr. SKOMAL: Well, back in the early ’70s, we passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and it’s taken the last few decades for this population to actually recover to levels that pre-existed before we eradicated the species over the course of the last several decades. So we’ve got a growing population in response to protection by the U.S. and state governments.

FLATOW: So I guess what you’re saying is that we’re seeing a restoration of this coastal ecosystem to the way it used to be.

Dr. SKOMAL: Exactly, at least that’s the way we perceive it at this time. You know, we could be going back to what existed several hundred years ago, with a robust seal population being preyed upon by a robust white shark population.

FLATOW: 1-800-989-8255. We’re talking to Greg Skomal about the sightings of great white sharks along the East Coast. Maybe if you’ve seen one, you’d like to call in and talk about it. You can also Twitter us, send us a tweet @scifri, @-S-C-I-F-R-I. Or join the discussion on our website, on sciencefriday.com.

You, what do we you know, aside from watching “Jaws” and all the scary movies about sharks and Shark Week on cable channels everywhere, how much do we really know about white shark populations?

Dr. SKOMAL: Well, there are certain parts of the world where you can predictably find white sharks. And these areas, which include, you know, the Pacific Coast, California, parts of South Africa and South Australia – these are areas where scientists have had the luxury, if you will, of going out and studying these animals at great levels.

And we’ve been able to garner quite a bit about their biology in those areas, I think. One of the spots that we know very little about the white shark is the Atlantic Ocean. And perhaps, this change in ecosystem that we’re going through up here in New England, may begin to provide us some access to these animals so we can start to tease away some aspects of their biology.

FLATOW: And you are involved in tagging sharks, are you not?

Dr. SKOMAL: Correct, correct. Yeah, last year we had a chance, for the first time, to put satellite-based technology tags on white sharks in this area, and we are already getting insights into their biology from those tags.

And already this year, we’ve placed four tags out, and we hope to be able to continue to do that over the course of the next month.

FLATOW: How do you get, you know, how do you know when it is time to reopen these beaches that have been closed?

Dr. SKOMAL: Well, you know, the local municipalities are in charge of those beaches, and all we can do at the Division of Marine Fisheries is provide information to those folks who are making these decisions.

You know, we’d like to provide real-time information on the presence of sharks as acquired through our research activities so they can make well-founded decisions on opening and closing beaches.

FLATOW: What are the odds of getting bitten by a shark?

Dr. SKOMAL: Well, you yourself indicated that the last fatal attack in Massachusetts was back in the 1930s. So that gives you a sense of what the probability is. That being said, I think it’s important to realize when you place people in close proximity to the prey of sharks, namely gray seals, you could potentially increase the risk modestly.

So I think it’s important for people to make wise decisions when getting in the water and choose areas that may be free of white shark prey.

FLATOW: Henry(ph) in Aurora, Illinois. Hi, welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.

HENRY (Caller): Hello there. Being landlocked, I just have an idea that possibly, there’s less fish out there for the sharks to feed on because you could ask any fishermen why are they still in port. And the sharks will wander farther around, looking for food. That’s my idea. Thank you.

FLATOW: You’re welcome.

Dr. SKOMAL: Well, I’ll tell you, that’s an interesting point, and it points to fisheries management and population management and the importance of looking at bait species and to find relationships between sharks and their prey and whether or not we’re, you know, overexploiting their prey and forcing sharks to other areas to exploit other resources.

That being said, I think it’s well-defined, the behavior of the white shark, when it comes to feeding, these animals are clearly going through, clearly prefer larger prey, namely marine mammals and specifically seals and sea lions.

So I think what we have going on off the coast of New England is actually just a national predator-prey relationship and not anything exacerbated, perhaps, by humans.

FLATOW: Let’s go to Roy(ph) in Sumter, South Carolina. Hi, Roy.

ROY (Caller): Hi, thank you so much for taking the call and specifically on this topic. It’s always been an interest. I’ve been recreational fishing in the Atlantic for 30 years. And over the last three or four years, we’ve noticed a tremendous increase in the number of small sharks that we’re catching.

It used to be something, we may catch one shark every two or three trips, and now we probably catch 10 sharks every trip. These we refer to them as bonnetheads. I dont know if that’s an accurate terminology, about a three, three-and-a-half-foot long shark, always catch them on the bottom, never catch them trawling. And I’ll take my answer off the air, but again, thank you so much for this topic.

FLATOW: All right. Could there be many big sharks because there are a lot more little sharks now?

Dr. SKOMAL: Well, you know, the bonnethead is indeed a species. It’s considered to be a healthy population off the Southeastern U.S., according to the fisheries’ statisticians. It’s not a fish that’s heavily exploited commercially, although it is sold in some numbers, and recreational fishermen like to catch it, as well.

You know, there are some folks who believe – some scientists who believe that with the removal of very, very large sharks that consume these smaller sharks, we’re seeing more species, you know, more smaller sharks out there. That may be the case, although it hasn’t been clearly demonstrated by scientists.

So it’s an area where there is quite a bit of work, but we have no real conclusions yet.

FLATOW: Have sharks been over hunted?

Dr. SKOMAL: In certain parts of the world with certain populations, absolutely. We have enough information on, for example, the dusky shark to indicate that that population off the Eastern U.S. has been overexploited and reduced dramatically.

The same is true for the sandbar shark. For other populations of sharks, they continue to be robust, and I think the bonnethead falls into that.

FLATOW: All right, let me go to Mark(ph) in New Britain, Connecticut. Hi, Mark.

MARK (Caller): Hi, thanks for taking my call. As you said, I’m in Connecticut, and I’ve noticed changes in the water temperature of Long Island Sound. It’s been creeping up, year over year, and I’m wondering if the climatic changes, increases in ocean temperature, are a possible source of increased activity.

FLATOW: Good question.

Dr. SKOMAL: Yes, an excellent question, one we anticipate a lot of research trying to answer over the course of the next decade. We know that with climate change and global warming, we’re going to see changes in the structure of fish populations in terms of the diversity of species, with a shift north of tropical species.

And it has been demonstrated for some, already. I imagine with warming water temperatures in Long Island Sound, you’re going to see a change in the fish diversity in that body of water, as well.

So, you know, it’s an area that we’re going into. We anticipate changes, and some of them have been documented. In terms of sharks, we haven’t seen any kind of dramatic shift as of yet, but some of the species that typically occur south of Cape Cod and not north, have indeed been starting to creep around the Cape. So we’re starting to see some indications that the fish populations, including sharks, are changing.

FLATOW: Steve(ph) in Cambridge, Mass. Hi, Steve.

STEVE (Caller): Hey, how are you doing? Thanks for taking the call. Great show. I think the shark thing is just a bunch of media hype, frankly. I mean, it just, you know, it makes people tune into the news shows, and I’m not sure there’s any more or less. I just think the sightings are more – maybe because there’s more fishermen out there.

But I was wondering if you might know why there’s a lot more jellyfish in the bay this year.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Dr. SKOMAL: Well, you bring up a couple of excellent points, and a lot of the shark phenomenon, or shark frenzy, if you will, is driven by the media – and it’s something we have to deal with all the time.

I can tell you that some of the shark sightings data absolutely indicate a shift that’s going on over with white sharks, and some of it’s just generated by a media frenzy. Somebody sees a fin, it may not be a shark fin, but it gets reported as such, and that just compounds upon itself.

I wish I could be of more help with you with jellyfish. I’ve been hearing a lot of folks complain about jellyfish in the bay over the last several weeks, but unfortunately, I study things a lot bigger.

FLATOW: All right, we’ll have to take a look at that, with some jellyfish folks, on a future program. But I want to thank you for taking time to be with us today.

Dr. SKOMAL: Oh, my pleasure. It’s great to be here.

FLATOW: Have a good weekend.

Dr. SKOMAL: Yes, you, too.

FLATOW: Greg Skomal is a senior biologist in the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries in New Bedford, Mass., and he was joining us by phone from there.

When we come back, we’re going to switch to electric cars, plug-ins. Do you want a plug-in? How about a Chevy Volt or a Nissan Leaf? We’re going to compare the two. Maybe you could talk to us about what you’d like to see the perfect plug-in to be. What would you are these two cars the kind you might purchase? If not, what do you want to have?

Our number, 1-800-989-8255. You can tweet us @scifri, @-S-C-I-F-R-I, or go to our website at sciencefriday.com, where you can chat around with some folks that way.

So stay with us. We’ll be right back after the break.

(Soundbite of music)

FLATOW: I’m Ira Flatow. This is SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR.

Solvang officials are urging the public to be aware of their surroundings after a mountain lion was seen in and around Hans Christian Anderson Park on Sunday and Monday, according to Parks and Recreation Director Fred Lageman.

“We have three permanent signs in the park warning of mountain lions, however we put two more in the road to make sure the public sees them and knows what to do if they spot one,” Lageman said.

State Fish and Game officials were called to the park Monday but weren’t able to find the animal, which was reported to be about the size of a Labrador retriever, Lageman said.

Lt. Julie McCammon of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department said the easiest way to report a wild animal sighting is to call 9-1-1 so deputies can contact Fish and Game or county Animal Control if necessary.

Although wild animals are Fish and Game’s responsibility, it’s possible that deputies “can corner him and keep him calm until they get there,” McCammon said.

According to Fish and Game, more than half of California is mountain lion habitat, and they generally live wherever deer are found. They are solitary and elusive, and their nature is to avoid humans.

Mountain lions prefer to eat deer but sometimes they also eat pets and livestock. Mountain lions that threaten people are killed immediately. Those that prey on pets or livestock can be killed by a property owner after the owner gets the required depredation permit from Fish and Game.

Mountain lion attacks on humans are extremely rare, the agency says, but conflicts are increasing as California’s human population expands into mountain lion habitat.

Fish and Game advises anyone who encounters a mountain lion not to run, but instead to face the animal, make noise and try to look bigger by waving arms, and even throwing rocks or other objects. If attacked, people are encouraged to fight back.

For more information on mountain lions and other wild animals, visit www.dfg.ca.gov.

via Mountain lion seen in Solvang park.

Is it just me or has there been an awful lot of shark news lately? Hint: it’s not just me.

Not one, but two attacks took place last Friday when a shark bit a 6-year-old girl in South Carolina and another shark bit a 13-year-old from North Carolina. And in early June a shark bit an 18-year-old girl in Georgia. Fortunately, no limbs (or lives!) were lost.

But there have also been several shark sightings in the Hamptons near New York City, and recently and a great white shark was caught and then released in Massachusetts.

Now the U.S. National Park Service has announced that they are issuing an “enter waters at your own risk” warning for the area around Santa Barbara Island in Southern California. The Wednesday warning was due to three great white shark attacks on sea lions in the area and is in effect until further notice.

Holiday weekend, beautiful locations, and great white sharks. This sounds either like a movie plot or one of my worst nightmares.

And in a crazy coincidence, this summer marks the 35th anniversary of the release of Jaws. Which, if you didn’t already know, features one of the creepiest movie scenes ever, where the old fisherman, Quint, recounts the story of the USS Indianapolis. Terrifying!

via Shark Attack 2010: Feds Warn Southern California About Great Whites – TIME NewsFeed.

What they thought was a fatal spider bite was just a pimple.

In Pomona California this past weekend, a 13 year old teen was believed to have died a week after being bitten by a poisonous spider. There are only two known species of spider in the US that have an adequate quantity of venom that is potent enough to kill a human. Thus, making spider bite fatalities very low and an uncommon occurance.

Los Angeles county coroner’s officials have stated Tuesday that a spider bite did not kill the 13 year old Pomona teen who died on Sunday. The boy’s name has not yet been released to the public.

The boy died in a nearby hospital after going into cardiac arrest. There was a mysterious inflamed welp found on the boy’s body, which was thought to be a venomous spider bite. The bump was believed to be the cause of death and had been noticed a week or more before the incident.

Coroner Lt. Cheryl Macwillie said on Tuesday that there was no evidience of a spider bite and that the “bite” did not kill the boy. She continued to say that the alleged bite was actually a pimple.

An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday morning to determine the actual cause of death.

via OverTheLimit » Spider Bite Not Responsible for Pomona Teen’s Death.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Shark attacks are most likely to occur on Sunday, in less than 6 feet of water, during a new moon and involve surfers wearing black and white bathing suits, a first of its kind study from the University of Floridasuggests.

Researchers analyzed statistics from shark attacks that occurred in Florida’s Volusia County, dubbed the “Shark Attack Capital of the World,” between 1956 and 2008. They also spent a year observing people between Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at UF.

“It’s basically an analysis of why, where and when in an area that traditionally has had more shark-human interactions than any other stretch of coastline in the world,” he said. “One of our students, Brittany Garner, essentially camped out there, counted the number of heads on the beach and took photographs.”

While this 47-mile-long section of Central Florida’s Atlantic coast leads in human-shark skirmishes, making up 21 percent of all global attacks between 1999 and 2008, most are “hit and run” incidents that seldom cause serious injury and no fatalities occurred, he said.

“Calling them attacks is probably a misnomer because the consequences are usually no more severe than a dog bite,” he said. “They’re not the same kind of bites made by 10- to 20-foot-long white sharks that you have off the coast of California. Here we see a different style of attack, primarily perpetrated by smaller fish-eating sharks such as spinners and blacktips that are less than 6 to 7 feet long, which because of their size normally seek smaller prey.”

There have been 231 shark attacks between the first one reported in 1956 in Volusia County and 2008, said Burgess, who works at UF’s Florida Museum of Natural History. The study, part of which was published recently in the edited volume “Sharks and Their Relatives II,” uses statistics from 220 of those cases for which detailed information is available.

Human, shark and environmental factors combine to create a perfect storm of favorable conditions in Volusia County for attacks, particularly near Ponce Inlet between Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach, he said.

The more people in the water the greater the chances they will encounter a shark, and New Smyrna Beach south of the inlet is a “hot spot” for surfers with its well developed sand bars and good waves, Burgess said. Hand splashing and feet kicking provoke sharks, which bite and release what they mistake for normal prey items in the turbid waters, he said.

Also, the strong tidal flow in the inlet makes it “an aquatic smorgasbord of food items for sharks, barracudas, mackerel and other large predators,” boosting shark numbers, he said.

Young white males were attacked most because they spend the most time in the water, Burgess said. Ninety percent of victims were male, 77 percent of 196 victims were between 11 and 30 years old and in the 171 cases where race was known, 98 percent were white, he said.

Well over half of the 220 victims were bit on the leg — 158 — more than five times the number bit on the arms — 34 — the second highest body part to be injured, he said.

Surfers were the most frequent victims, making up 61 percent of the total, Burgess said. They tended to be bitten more in the early morning and late afternoon when waves were highest and they spend more time surfing, he said.

“At the time of the attack, most of the surfers were sitting or holding onto the board waiting for a wave, which explains why most surf victims were bitten on the legs,” he said.

Sharks are not weekend warriors. Rather it is human leisure that leads to the fewest number of human encounters on Wednesdays and the highest on Sundays, followed by Saturdays, Burgess said. “There are a fair number of attacks on Fridays as well, reflective of people skipping work and taking three-day weekends,” he said.

The greatest number of attacks occurred during new moons, followed by full moons, the edges of the lunar extreme when the moon has its biggest pull on the tidal phase, Burgess said. Probably the moon’s phases influence the movements and reproductive patterns of fish, the shark’s food source, just as they affect human behavior, he said.

Not surprisingly, attacks were highest during the swimming season, from May through October, peaking in August, Burgess said. They spiked in April as sharks began their seasonal northern migration up the eastern coast of the United States, he said.

Most incidents involved one bite, occurred in turbid, murky or muddy waters and were at the water’s surface, Burgess said. Only one attack was on a diver, he said.

More victims wore swimsuits that were black and white than any other color combination, followed by black and yellow, attesting to sharks’ abilities to see contrast, he said.

Between 1999 and 2008, shark attacks worldwide numbered 639, of which there were 428 reports in the United States, 275 in Florida and 135 in Volusia County. Burgess said.

Link

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.

On Sunday morning, Doug McCard, a 35-year-old sales associate for A-1 Septic in Kissimmee, Florida was attacked by an alligator just as he was beginning a swim training session for a planned Half Ironman in June. He is now looking to compete in a duathlon, where no swimming is involved.

“It was a real hard hit and I felt the teeth,” McCard told a news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center about the incident in Lake Mary Jane in Moss Park. “I started thinking to myself ‘…I can’t believe a gator is biting me.”

“I was shocked,” he said to the news conference. “[Before starting swimming] I always stand and take a look to see if the gators are there. There are gators in every lake, but I saw nothing [Sunday] so I swam like I always do.

“It hit me like a Mack truck.”

As he recalled in the news conference, McCard stood up in the shallow brackish waters and started to swing with his elbows, not unlike an NBA tough guy trying to clear out a rebound. “I got in a pretty good elbow to the head and he released me,” he said of the gator he estimated to be between 8 and 10 feet in length. “I started yelling to try to scare him and backed off until I could run out of the water.”

Witnesses said they heard McCard screaming and yelling and running out of the water bleeding from the chest.

The gator landed five puncture wounds to McCard’s right shoulder, one to his hip, and a few more to his back. Doctors kept him overnight in case of infection.

McCard, described as an “alligator aware” Florida native who had been swimming in Florida lakes “thousands of times,” said thinks he startled the alligator and it reacted by chomping him.

“If it was after me, it would have probably taken me under and rolled because that is what Gators do,” he told the Orlando Sentinel.

McCard said he hopes to begin training again soon, but will likely avoid Lake Mary Jane.

A Wikipedia entry notes that at least 20 persons have been killed by alligators in Florida in the last quarter century. That number far exceeds the number of persons killed by sharks throughout the United States.

A man hired by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission set traps trying to catch the alligator, but so far has not caught the reptile.

Prior to this attack, sharks have been the primary predators threatening triathletes training in open water. In April 2008, a great white shark killed retired veterinarian Dave Martin who was taking an early morning swim in Solana Beach, California with fellow members of the San Diego Triathlon Club.

In June of 2000, 44-year-old triathlete Chuck Anderson was taking an early morning training swim in Gulf Shores, Alabama when a bull shark grabbed his arm and dragged him down to the bottom in about eight feet of water and tore off his arm.

In a related incident in 2001 in Pensacola, Florida, triathlete Vance Flosenzier of Mentone Alabama, who finished 40 seconds ahead of Chuck Anderson in Anderson’s return to triathlon after the 2000 shark attack, wrestled off a shark attacking an 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast and saved the boy’s life.

Most Florida triathletes are aware that alligators lurk in nearly every inland lake pond and river. But many, like McCard and age group star Joe Bonness of Naples Florida, continue to fearlessly utilize Florida’s lakes, ponds and streams for open water swimming. Bonness, in fact, has achieved triathlon’s equivalent of John Wayne status among foreign rivals for his tales of choosing to swimming in alligator-inhabited waters near his Gulf Coast home in Naples.

Now, McCard and some fellow residents of Kissimmee – not far from the artificial thrills of Disney World – say they won’t surrender the pleasures of lake swimming to the occasional objections of the natural residents of Florida’s inland waters.

Link

The shark attack was horrific. A great white had mauled surfer Todd Endris’ right leg and removed the skin off his back like a banana peel.

Just then, a pod of bottlenose dolphins came to Endris’ aid. They circled the surfer and blocked the shark’s access to him, making it possible for Endris to catch a wave back to shore on his board and get medical help.

The attack happened in August 2007 at Marina State Park off Monterey, California. The dolphins had been playing and frolicking in the area that morning while Endris and his friends surfed. Endris has no doubt that their intervention at just the right moment saved his life. “Truly a miracle,” he said.

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Three of seven attacks were on surfers

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 17 March, 2010 : – - There were 7 unprovoked shark attacks authenticated from the Pacific Coast of North America during 2009. All 7 of the reported attacks occurred in California and were distributed in the following months; April (1), July (1), August (2), October (1) and November (2), with 5 of the 7 attacks occurring South of the Santa Barbara/Ventura County line.

Activities of the victims were; 3 Surfing, 1 Paddle-Boarding, 1 Diving, 1Surf- Fishing, and 1 Swimming. The Great White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias, was positively identified or highly suspect as the causal species in 5 of the attacks with 1 attack attributable to the Thresher Shark, Alopias sp., and 1 unknown species.

The publication “Shark Attacks of the Twentieth Century” authenticated 108 unprovoked shark attacks from the Pacific Coast between 1900 and 1999. The Great White Shark was implicated in 94 (87%) of the attacks with an annual average of slightly more than one shark attack per year. The 7 cases reported for 2009 brings the total number of unprovoked shark attacks occurring along the West Coast during the first 9 years of the 21st Century to 49.

This is ‘more than five times’ the Twentieth Century annual average and represents 45% of the total number of attacks reported for the entire Twentieth Century, and all in less than a decade. The Great White Shark has been implicated in 41 (80%) of the 49 attacks reported during this Century. Of the 157 unprovoked shark attacks reported from the Pacific Coast since 1900, the Great White Shark has been positively identified or highly suspect in 133 (85%).

Victim activity for the 49 unprovoked shark attacks reported from the Pacific Coast since 20000 are distributed in the following groups; surfers 35 (71%) of the documented attacks with 5 (10%) swimmers, 3 (6%) kayakers, 3 (6%) divers, 2 (4%) paddle boarders, and 1 (2%) surf fishing. The number of adult, sub-adult, and juvenile Great White Sharks observed in Southern California during 2009 suggests a possible change in their population dynamics and seasonal site preferences.

The number of stranded marine mammal carcasses reported, specifically their location and time of year, would seem to support this observation. The Shark Research Committee will continue to closely monitor this activity in the coming year.

Additional information regarding the Shark Research Committee’s conservation, education, and research programs are available at:  sharkresearchcommittee.com. ‘Save the Sharks – Save the Oceans’

www.sharkresearchcommittee.com

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SAN BERNARDINO, Calif., Jan. 25 (UPI) — California prosecutors say they are seeking the death penalty against a man charged with starting a deadly 2003 wildfire.

Rickie Lee Fowler, 28, imprisoned for burglary since that year, was charged in October with murder and arson in connection with a firestorm that swept through San Bernardino County. Prosecutors now say they will seek the death penalty against Fowler, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

“A decision to seek the death penalty in a case is never an easy one. In fact, it’s the most difficult one we make as prosecutors,” San Bernardino District Attorney Michael Ramos said.

Six men died of heart attacks during the fire, five of which were deemed directly related to the stress of the 91,000-acre wildfire, which forced the evacuations of more than 30 communities and 80,000 people in the San Bernardino area.

Officials also say damage from the fire contributed to a Christmas Day 2003 mudslide that killed 14 people in a church camp.

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NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — A surfer has been killed on a day of big waves and fierce rip currents off Newport Beach.

The Orange County coroner says lifeguards pulled 38-year-old Gregory Gladstone from the water Saturday morning, and he was later declared dead at Hoag Memorial Hospital.

Supervising Deputy Coroner Larry Esslinger says the cause of death has yet to be determined, and an autopsy will be conducted Sunday.

Lifeguards and other surfers first spotted Gladstone’s upside-down surfboard, then saw him floating nearby soon after amid 6-to-10 foot waves, choppy conditions and rip currents.

Lifeguards put Gladstone on a patrol boat and took him to the pier, where Newport Beach firefighters and paramedics met them and took him to the hospital, where he was declared dead at 11 a.m.

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SurfPulse just received a report from the Shark Research Committee of a shark attack in Santa Cruz on Thurs., Nov. 5:

On November 5, 2009 Eric Geiselman was surfing at Lagunas, just north of Santa Cruz. The following report was posted on the websiteSuper Spectacular Adventures by Geiselman:

“I don’t even know how to describe it. Everything happened so quickly! I was surfing with my brother Evan and Taylor Brothers at this wave called Lagoonas. The waves were sh..ty and it was raining. I wasn’t even that motivated to go out. Evan and Taylor were in typical ‘grom’ mode and wanted to have a paddle. Jay Thompson and a couple other guys were out surfing too. Right before it was getting dark everyone went in except us. I was sitting out the back just waiting for a wave. I had my back towards the ocean looking straight towards the beach to line up when it happened. Out of nowhere I got attacked from underneath. My board broke instantly right underneath me from the crazy force and I pretty much fell through my board but somehow managed to keep the front end under me. I knew right away I was being attacked and sort of just went into panic mode. I actually kicked it to when I was scrambling to get away. I was screaming to my brother who was about 30 yards away from me. My leash was still attached to the back end of my board when I was scratching to get away but, I was too scared to even reach back and undo it! What was so crazy is we weren’t even that far off the beach. Luckily I made it in to the shore. My buddy Mike Lopez and Taylor’s brother Cavin filmed me scratching once they heard me screaming. All that you can see on footage. Somehow my board didn’t get a bite in it?? Luckily it hit me by my fins so I think that might have spooked it. It was definitely the scariest thing that has ever happen to me. It’s crazy because it felt like a really bad nightmare. So scary to know how helpless you are in the water when something like that goes down! Thank God that’s all that happened!”

Please report any shark sighting, encounter, or attack to the Shark Research Committee.

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SIERRA COUNTY, Calif. — An elderly hunter from Oroville was apparently attacked and seriously mauled by a black bear in Sierra County, the state Department of Fish and Game said.
Mark Lucero of Fish and Game said someone shot the animal near Camptonville, causing the bear to come down from a tree and charge Orval Sanders, 83, of Oroville.

Lucero said the bear grabbed the Sanders while the man tried to protect himself. He suffered lacerations and his left wrist was broken from a bite.

After the bear attacked Sanders, he went after another hunter. That hunter shot the bear in the head and killed it.

Sanders was taken to Sutter Roseville Medical Center, where Fish and Game officials were interviewing him.

The six-person hunting party was using dogs at the time of the attack.

Fish and Game officials plan to retrieve the head the bear to test it for rabies. Officials said when there’s an interaction between a human and a wild animal, wardens investigate the case.

Bear hunting season begins in early October and lasts until the allotted number of bears is killed, Lucero said.

The hunting was legal, officials said.

Fish and Game said bear-hunting season is Sept. 26 through Nov. 1, or until the bear tags are used up. Officials said there are 1,700 issued for California, and 303 bears have been killed so far.

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This is kind of scary for me. I swim in these waters regularly. I still can’t believe it. This is something you only see in Shark Week!

Related links

• Shark Spotted off Sunset BeachPhotos
• Great White May Have Been Spotted Off Local Beach Video

LOS ANGELES — Shark sightings are up along Southern California’s coast and experts believe at least two great white sharks are lurking in the water near some of the area’s most popular beaches.

According to the Shark Research Committee, an organization dedicated to shark research based in Los Angeles, there have been more than 20 confirmed sightings of a shark breaching at Sunset Beach over the last five months.

The latest sighting took place on Saturday, October 3, 2009 when Randy Wright, who was kayaking 320 yards off the coast, spotted what appeared to be a great white shark jump completely out of the water.

Wright was able to capture several photographs of the incident.

Wright says he had been in the water for about an hour and a half and had spotted several dolphins in the area. But, it’s what happened next that caught his attention.

“I heard a large swooshing noise just east of my position in the direction of the Bel Air Bay Club. I grabbed my camera… I fired off four shots of something. I wasn’t sure — it was airborne and then splashing,” Wright wrote of his experience.

He was shocked when he saw what he caught with his camera.

The photographs show a great white shark, believed to be 8-10 feet long, in mid-air, experts say.

Another shark was spotted the day before in the same area by a local surfer.

Brian Moore says “I saw a fairly large shark breach completely out of the water and land on its back. It was grey with a white belly and 8-10 feet in length. It’s unclear if what Moore saw was the same shark that Wright saw, experts say.

Ralph Collier, who heads research for the Shark Research Committee, says experts believe at least two great white sharks are frequenting the waters off Sunset Beach.

One was tagged by shark experts. The shark spotted on Saturday and caught on camera was not tagged.

Similar sightings were reported in the waters along Will Rogers State Beach, San Onofre State Beach, Huntington Beach and Terramar Beach in Carlsbad as well as near Santa Cruz island near Santa Barbara.

Sightings were also reported in the waters along the Central Coast and Northern California as far north as Oregon.

Collier says there have only been three great white shark attacks in the waters off Southern California this year, none of them fatal. Humans “didn’t appear to be the intended target” of the sharks.

He says the number of shark sightings shows that these amazing creatures really “don’t want to attack humans.”

Collier says the number of sightings are up in the area, but more humans are also frequenting the area. He wants to raise awareness and says the report is not intended to frighten anyone.

The last fatal great white shark attack involved a swimmer who was killed on April 25, 2008 near Solana Beach.

Collier also says funding for shark research has dropped off due, in part, to the recession and he is asking for donations to help buy more tagging devices.

Anyone who would like to donate can go to shark research committee for more information.

Great white sharks are known to live in almost all coastal and offshore waters with the greatest concentrations off the southern coasts of Australia, South Africa, California and Mexico.

The great white is the world’s largest known predatory fish which preys on smaller fish, dolphins, seals and sea lions.

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SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. — Two confirmed great white sightings near Santa Cruz are causing a bit of excitement in the area after a witness captured one of the animals on video.

A great white seen very close to shore at Seacliff State Beach was caught on video by Ryan Dunlap of Capitola as it swam beneath the Seacliffe pier Thursday. His find was confirmed by with a shark researcher who viewed the footage.

Another, larger shark was spotted just to the south near Watsonville.

Sean Van Sommeran of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation said he was surprised someone got pictures of what appears to be a juvenile shark, although he’s not surprised it was there.

“It’s common to see the sharks in the inshore environment, especially in the late summer, early winter, summer, fall,” said Van Sommeran. “[That's] the period when the big sharks are hitting the coast from open ocean.”

On Friday, Van Sommeran flew in a helicopter just to the south of Thursday’s sighting and he said it didn’t take long to spot a 16 foot-long adult female great white shark. He took pictures, too.

The only warning sign posted on Seacliff Beach Friday night was for the riptide.

People seemed to be taking the shark sightings in stride. Several beach-goers told KTVU they weren’t surprised by the news, and not concerned about the possibility of great whites lurking nearby.

“It’s nature,” said Iaesha Bonnit of Santa Cruz. “I guess they’re allowed to go wherever they want to.”

“I’m sure there’s always great whites out there or whatever,” said Ryan Kirckeberg of Aptos. “I mean you can die from riptide out there if you want to worry about it. I guess you can.”

Others were a little more concerned about the prospect of the massive sharks swimming close to shore.

“I don’t go into the water this time of year,” said Mindy Solis of Aptos. “Now that I know he’s out there swimming and having fun, I won’t let my child go in.”

Authorities are more concerned this weekend with keeping an eye on the thousands of people expected to gather on Seacliffe State Beach this weekend for a concert and fireworks show.

But some people said they will keep an eye on the waters also hoping to catch a sight that not that many people get to see.

“Sharks are latter day dinosaurs,” said Van Sommeran. “We don’t have dinosaurs around. Sharks kind of fill that gap in the pure imaginations of people…”

The experts advise like any wild animal, if you see a shark keep your distance and notify authorities.

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HAYFORK – A bowhunter was mauled Saturday by the 400-pound black bear he thought he’d killed.

Eric Huff, 35, of Hayfork had shot the bear with an arrow after spotting it while deer hunting on opening day of deer and bear season, said DeWayne Little, a state Department of Fish and Game warden. Huff had tags for both animals and a hunting license.

Having missed the bear’s heart, Little said Huff let the animal walk down a creek near Hayfork, hoping it would die from its wound.

Huff and some friends tracked the bear, found it and Huff shot at it twice more with arrows, Little said. He missed both shots and they followed the bear farther down the creek.

Huff again shot at the bear, this time hitting it with his last arrow at the base of the animal’s neck, Little said. The bear then pulled the arrow out with a paw and ran off. Huff and his friends again tracked the bear and found its big, cinnamon-colored body lying paws up on its back.

“They thought it was dead, but as they approached, it sprang up,” Little said.

The bear went after Huff, who jumped behind a bush, Little said. The bear went for Huff’s neck but sunk its teeth into his left bicep as he put his arm up to block the bite.

Huff pushed the weakened bear off him with his feet, Little said. While Huff was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Redding, DFG Warden Paul Cardova and one of his friends found the bear dead near where the attack occurred.

Little interviewed Huff at the hospital. He was released from the hospital Sunday. Little said the investigation into the attack is still ongoing.

The bear has been sent to a butcher shop to be processed into meat, but its head and paws have been kept as evidence, Little said.

DFG Lt. Scott Willems said the incident is a reminder that wounded animals can be dangerous. He said a similar bear mauling occurred in Igo three years ago.

William Pinole, then 61, shot a bear three times with a shotgun as it raided his chicken coop. The bear charged Pinole and clawed the man’s face and left arm and punctured his bladder with a bite to the abdomen. Pinole survived the attack.

“It’s the same type of situation, where the bear was shot but only wounded,” Willems said.

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On August 25, 2009 Bethany Edmund was swimming 250 – 300 feet from shore at Terramar Beach, Carlsbad. It was 4:30 PM and she had been in the water about 10 minutes. The sky was clear with estimated air and water temperatures of 80 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively. The water was 8 – 10 feet deep with visibility of 5 – 10 feet and a rocky reef-like bottom. Edmund reported the following;

“I was swimming in the surf line-up trying to take pictures with a new INTOVA 6.0 mega pixel underwater camera I purchased earlier in the day. I noticed a large, approximately 14 inches in length, Sea Bass jump in front of me. I tried to snap a picture with my camera. Two other swimmers were next to me and saw the same fish jump. About a minute after the fish, I felt a sharp pain in my right foot. Thinking I might have kicked the reef, I shrugged it off and continued taking photographs. About 30 seconds later I felt the same sharp pain and, this time, I began to swim away from the area. I thought I was over a reef and was kicking a sharp portion of it.

“About a minute later while I was swimming from the area I was hit on the upper right thigh and propelled about 1 foot out of the water. This is when I realized what was happening and began to body surf toward shore. The first wave I caught I felt something in the area of my calf pulling me back and down under water. I thought it might be one of the two swimmers near me, however when I surfaced they were about 10 feet from my location. I ignored what had just occurred and caught another wave to the beach. This time I felt the same sharp pain in my left calf, but this time I was dragged under water and shaken for 4 – 5 seconds. During this struggle I accidently kicked the shark and it released me. The shark was about 6 feet in length with a dark blue/black top and a white belly. I then proceeded to stand up and run out of the water. When I exited the water there was no obvious blood, just swollen areas where I had been hit.

“The next day I notified James Bilz, Supervisor II Lifeguard, Carlsbad and Encinitas lifeguards Captain Larry Giles and Paul Chapman Lieutenant at Moonlight Headquarters .”

‘Interspace Measurements’ and the configuration of the individual tooth punctures to the foot and calf is representative of a juvenile White Shark 5 – 6 feet in length. Please report any shark sighting, encounter, or attack to the Shark Research Committee.

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A mother and her five year old daughter drowned at Montara State Beach late this afternoon, reports KTVU. Emergency crews responded at 4:20pm.

A San Mateo County Fire spokesman said a five-year-old girl was swept a few hundred yards out in a rip current that runs along the south end of the beach.

The girl’s mother was also overcome by the heavy surf trying to save the child. …

“We had a total of seven victims on the shore,” said Ari Delay of the Half Moon Bay Fire Department. “Five of them were not transported. Two were taken by helicopter to Stanford Medical Center, both with CPR in progress in route to the hospital.” …

“The family at some point was swept out on the south end of Montara State Beach. There’s a rip [current] that goes along the south end,” explained Delay. “It’s unknown the exact circumstances. It’s a precarious surf out here. The surf line is very dangerous.”

The daughter was found after a 30 minute search by the Harbormaster’s boat.

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A 12-year-old Northern California girl has died after swimming in the ocean near Pismo Beach.

Megan McDonough was vacationing with her family on June 19 when she and two friends got caught in a rip current just south of city limits, confirmed Lieutenant Robert Tolin, who is a supervising ranger at Oceano State Park.

Lieutenant Tolin said lifeguards rescued McDonough’s two friends, but had not realized there was a third drowning victim in the water.

A surfer found McDonough’s lifeless body and began to pull her to shore. A lifeguard who assisted the surfer began giving McDonough mouth-to-mouth in the water.

Tolin said rescuers then administered CPR on shore where McDonough started breathing again. She was taken to a local hospital and then flown to an Oakland hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries three days later.

The seventh grader was from the Brentwood area.

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Brown Widow Spiders found in popular tourist spots.

SAN DIEGO — San Diego County is no stranger to venomous spiders. The Black Widow and Brown Recluse have long called San Diego home.

But a new species, the Brown Widow, has now been spotted in some of the popular tourist spots in San Diego.
10News found the black widow’s cousin, the brown widow, in Balboa Park where unsuspecting visitors could be walking or sitting inches away from a potentially deadly spider.

Visitors at Balboa park may come to sit and relax not knowing a potentially deadly insect could be sitting inches away.
“This is definitely a characteristic of a brown widow spider,” said Entomologist, Michael Wall.

“I had never head of a brown widow spider. Before, I had heard of a black widow,” said Torrie Cable of La Mesa. That is, until three weeks ago, when Cable got bit one morning while getting ready for work.

“I felt a little tickle on my shoulder then I felt something on my back,” Cable told 10News.

Cable says she had a near death experience.

“The pain in my lower back. I had never experienced in my entire life,” Cable said.
She was hospitalized three days with all the symptoms.
“Primary symptoms severe pain, difficulty breathing, muscle spasms? Had that,” Cable recalled.
Wall, an Entomologist at the Natural History Museum, said the spiders most likely traveled to California from Florida.
“The idea is, someone moved here from Florida. They had some patio furniture that moved with them and along came some egg masses from brown widows and they established themselves,” Wall told 10News.

“It does have more venom than the black widow but the brown version injects less venom when they bite,” Wall said.

“In either case you’re probably not going to kick the bucket unless you have a compromised immune system,” Wall said.

Since getting bit, Cable said she found a second brown widow at her home.

“I found egg sacks in there. The spider was here,” Cable said, as she pointed to a garbage can.

She kept it, and like the widow population spreading, she wants to spread the word about the latest creepy crawler in San Diego County.

Experts agree the brown widow population is growing in San Diego County.

The number of reported sightings is up to about 100.

The first reported sighting was back in 2001.

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NorCal Woman Hit By Lightning Dies

A Northern California woman who was hit by lightning during thunderstorms earlier this month has died, according to the UC Davis Medical Center.

The Plumas County woman was carrying an umbrella when she was struck by the lightning in Portola near Highway 70 on June 3rd.

The Plumas County Sheriff’s department says the woman was treated at Plumas District Hospital but then flown to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento where she later died on June 11th.

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This is just fascinating to me, since I live within the range on the map – and frequently hike in this area. To think there are only 7 mountain lions in this whole vast area… no wonder I’ve never seen one.

Map: Where the Mountain Lions Live in the Santa Monica Mountains

View a high resolution version of this map here | Courtesy of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, National Park Service

Since 2002, the National Park Service has been tracking Mountain Lions in the Santa Monica Mountains, studying their movements, pinpointing their ranges and observing how human development impacts their population. Twelve have been tracked in that time with some remarkable finds.

In March, one tagged and collared in the Simi Hills last December made his way across the 101 freeway in the Liberty Canyon area, causing excitement through the Park Service. This was big news for Wildlife Ecologist Seth Riley, who is in charge of tracking them because it was the first time since the program began that one had crossed the 101 Freeway. Unlike the 118 Freeway between the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, where they can cross with ease via a tunnel for hikers, the 101 provides no such linkage.

“This is an area we’ve been concerned about for a long time,” explained Riley of LIberty Canyon. “It is the last place along the 101 where there’s natural habibat on both sides of the freeway, the last place with effective wildlife activity.”

Basically, if strip malls and housing tracts were to come to the area, it could be devastating to the ecosystem. Broadscale connectivity is important for species and habitat, especially in light of climate change, which can prompt ranges for animals and plants to shift. If they can’t shift, there’s a potential for extinction at the local level and sometimes across the board as with the threat to Joshua Trees.

Even with the development now, the Santa Monica Mountains, Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains are not big enough for the estimated seven lions–some tracked by collars, some not–living among them. Depending on their sex, ranges should be 150 to 400 square kilometers, mostly independent of each other, but in the Santa Monicas it is not surprising to see them overlapping, which has its own effects including fights to the death over territories and a potentially lower food supply.

The technology used to track the lions is improving fast. Today, the collars send GPS signals to a satellite that are downloaded at park headquarters in Thousand Oaks. They get a handful of locations every 24 hours, one during the day and one every two hours at night, when they are most active. But the more pings they get, the faster the batteries die.

“Getting animals and changing collars is not a simple task,” said Ray Sauvajot, Chief of Planning, Science and Resource Management for the Recreation Area. If a collar change is needed, rangers try to use a back up VHF signal on the collar and traps set in remote locations are checked daily.

The tracking of each cat tells a different story, although their lives are all intertwined. Here’s a break down of each:

P1: For all purposes, he’s the king of the mountain and happened to be the first tagged Mountain Lion in the mountains. He mated with P2, who gave birth to four cubs (P5, 6, 7 and back in 2004. He was thought to be dead back in March of this year after a bloody fight with an non-collared lion, but scientists a couple weeks later matched fresh scat to him through DNA, proving he survived the fight. They say he is likely to be still living.

P2: Although she gave birth to P1′s four children, he killed her in August of 2005. Biologist Jeff Sikich actually aurally witnessed this, unsure if it was fighting or mating. He knew one thing was for sure at the moment, the cubs were present for it and he even saw one run away as it crossed the road where his truck was parked. “That’s pretty unusual actually,” explained Riley. “Mountain lions kill each other pretty regularly and occasionally males kill females, but no one has ever heard of males killing females that they had previosly mated with.” Riley guesses that she may have been defending the children as it is commonplace for a father and son to fight over their territory. The fight lasted around 45 minutes.

P3: He lived north of the 101 freeway roaming the Simi Hills and crossing the 118 freeway to the Santa Susana Mountains. But anticoagulants got the best of him. It is not known exactly under what conditions the compounds built up in the system, but Riley has his theories. While mountains lions’ main food source are anticoagulant-free deer, rodents and coyotes are known to carry the compounds in their systems. Rodents get it directly through poisons and coyotes eat those rodents, building up a storage of the chemicals in their liver over time. Now, if a mountain lion comes by and eats the coyote, taking in the liver full of anticoagulants, that high one-time dose could be fatal. Both the coyotes and lions seem to live with smaller doses building up in their liver. 85% of coyotes and all but one of the mountain lions studied after death in the Santa Monica Mountains have evidence of the chemicals in their system, but only two have died because of it, including P3.

P4: Like P3, she lived in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains and died of anticoagulants. The National Park Service is collaborating across the state with other agencies on this issue because there is very little research about the affect of these chemicals on the animals, but they are finding that exposure is extremely widespread.

P5: One of four children of P1 and P2, he grew up, staying with his mother until her death. On his own, he claimed a territory on the west end of the mountains, some of it slightly outside of his father’s area. Unfortunately, in September of 2006, he saw his territorial father again with fatal results.

P6: She also lives in the west end of the mountains within her brother’s territory. Like the rest of her siblings, tracking collars were put on when they were young, but her collar died prematurely. It was until last April that a remote wildlife motion sensor camera snapped a shot of her alive and well (photo above).

P7: Like her brother, P5, she was also killed by the father, P1, in June of 2006. It is believed it may have been over food and was actually witnessed by a rock climber in Malibu Creek State Park.

P8: The last of the siblings, this male claimed his territory on the east of the mountains before the 405 freeway. In September of 2006, he was also killed at the claws of a mountain lion, but not P1, his father, but one that was not being tracked. Then photos of this untracked lion popped up on the wildlife cameras and he was eventually captured and named P9 in May of 2007. DNA evidence proved he killed P8.

P9: the collar malfunctioned quickly, only 6 weeks worth of data. malfunctioned in an interesting way, collected data every minute, but that data is really interesting, really detailed movement data, where he’s using trails, crossing roads. turns out he killed a young 5 or 6 month old (P-B) in malibu creek in winter of 07 before capture. lost signal, got hit in late summer 2007 on malibu canyon road during rush hour and died. P-A was also hit on malibu canyon road, not far from where P9 was killed. other lions have cross a ton of times. P-C killed on 118 in rocky peak area last october. P-D killed on the 5 at calgrove, P-E killed on 405 on may 26th, driving southbound to UCLA, saw this thing on the road, looked like it was run over a few times.

P10: Caught in February of 2008, this guy has taken full range of the mountains and is still alive. It is likely he’s a sibling of P11, but it is unknown who their mother is, meaning another female lion lived or is living in the mountains untracked.

P11: Also caught in a trap in February of 2008, the collar signal died prematurely and his status is currently unknown. Genetic similarities between P11 and P10 indicate they may be siblings, but it’s not as easy with these mountain lions. “The genetic similarity of all of our lions makes these things harder to determine than they might otherwise be,” Riley said pointing to, once again, P1, as the potential father with an unknown mother.

P12: Just caught last December in the Simi Hills, he was the one who had Riley and others excited when he crossed the 101 freeway last March. Currently, he remains in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Still counting? By all counts, it appears there could be up to seven mountain lions living in the mountains. P1, 6, 10 and 12 are being tracked or leaving evidence and P11 is suspected to be out there. And then there are at least two without collars found on cameras.

What about the non-collared? As recently as just a couple weeks ago, a dead mountain lion was found off the 405 freeway’s southbound lanes. And a few weeks prior to that, another was killed on the 5 freeway in the Newhall Pass. They were named P-D and P-E, respectively. In the past years, two other untracked lions were killed on Malibu Canyon Road.

The future? The National Park Service will continue to track and study the mountain lions. As for humans, there have been no significant interactions. “In my 18 years as a National Park Ranger in the Santa Monica Mountains, I have yet to see one in the wild,” wrote Woody Smeck, the Superintendent of National Recreation Area, in a comment on LAist.

Mountain lions tend to stay away from humans, but there is fear that the continuing human development into and around the mountains in Los Angeles and Ventura counties will leave lions with less livable space and less deer–their main source of food–which means more mountain lion interactions with humans and the eventual demise of them in the area. Kari Kiser, Sr. Program Coordinator with the National Parks Conservation Association, couldn’t agree more. “Because of the amount of land needed to survive, we need to protect that and provide connectivity.”

P6 | Courtesy of the National Park Service

A young lion found dead on the 5 Freeway | Photo courtesy of the Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority

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Landscaper In Coma After Being Hit By Lightning In San Marcos

A landscaper struck by lightning during a thunderstorm in San Marcos was hospitalized in critical condition today.

The man was struck around 2 p.m. Wednesday as he stood under a palm tree at a home on Camden Place, according to the San Marcos Fire Department.

He was taken to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido in critical condition.

His brother told a local news station the man was in a coma.

Thunderstorms broke out across San Diego County Wednesday, sparking some minor brush fires that were quickly contained, said Cal Fire Capt. Nick Schuler.

The National Weather Service is predicting a 20 percent chance of more showers and thunderstorms overnight in coastal, valley and mountain areas.

The unstable weather is the result of a slow-moving, low-pressure system that was moving rapidly toward the northeast, said Weather Service forecaster Stan Wasowski.

The conditions are “very typical for June gloom,” he said.

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Lake Isabella boy struck by lightning, lives to talk about it

Tyler Simmons loves to do favors for his neighbors in Lake Isabella. One of his favorites is mowing lawns. Tyler had just completed mowing
a lawn and was riding his bike home.

But about half a block away from his home, Tyler felt a jolt and the next thing he knew he was on the ground in pain.

“It shook me, it shook me all the way off my bike I was up in the air,” said the 13-year-old.

Two neighbors who happened to be outside were watching the cloudy skies and the lightning produced by those dark clouds. They saw one of those bolts strike either Tyler’s bike or the ground very close to him.
Marcy Bushling called 911 and ran to help Tyler.

“We sat him down and the 911 operator told us if he was burning to pour cold water on him, so we went and got cold water and put it on his knees,” said Bushling.

Tyler narrowly escaped taking a direct hit by the lightning. He says he felt his body tingling, hot and being in pain.

“I remember screaming, screaming!” said Tyler.

Tyler was rushed to Kern Valley Hospital where tests came back as normal says his mother. No burns, no broken bones except for a banged up knee that left Tyler with a limp. He was released from the hospital a few hours later. But older brother Stephen Corcoran was plenty worried.

“I was panicked. Even though he’s my little brother and I like picking on him and all that, but I was still scared because I thought he was going to die,” said Stephen.

By late afternoon, Tyler was back at home telling arriving relatives and friends about his electrifying experience almost as if nothing had ever happened.

“I’m still here today! I could still go mow yards,” said Tyler.

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Lightning fatality in Fontana a sad but rare occurrence in California

Last weekend, Tina Bond watched one of her daughters graduate from high school, a proud moment shared by thousands of Inland parents this time of year.

On Wednesday, Bond, 40, walked under a tree and was killed by lightning, a rare victim of a violent electrical storm in Southern California.

The mother of four had left work at a Fontana employment office and was walking down the street to catch a bus home, just as she had done nearly every day.

Experts say Bond’s location — outside, under a tree — is among the worst places to be in a lightning storm. However, the phenomenon is rare enough in Southern California that residents may not know what do to when storms occur.

At least four other Inland residents were injured by lightning Wednesday.

The storm also killed Elena Martinez, 31, when a tree blew onto her car in the Big Bear area.

More thunderstorms are possible through the weekend, forecasters said Thursday.

About 600 people are believed to be struck by lightning each year in the United States, 60 to 70 of them fatally.

It’s very unusual in California, though. Bond’s death was only the eighth lightning-strike fatality in California in the past 10 years, according to the National Weather Service.

Southern California sees about four to six thunderstorms per year, compared to about 75 lightning storms annually in Denver and 110 in Orlando, said Richard Kithil Jr., president of the National Lightning Safety Institute in Louisville, Colo.

“Because it doesn’t occur as often here, people don’t see it as much of a threat as something like a wildfire,” said Tina Stall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego.

EVERYONE HORRIFIED

On the spot where Bond died, under a tree that bears a blackened scar, a mass of flowers and lighted candles grew Thursday as friends, family members and strangers stopped to pay their respects.

Bond’s friends and family said they could hardly believe what happened.

San Bernardino County firefighters said a lightning bolt struck a 50-foot tree next to Bond and traveled into her body.

The jolt scattered her belongings across the grass nearby, and her clothing was burned away. Charred bits of fabric remained near the sidewalk memorial Thursday.

“How could this happen to a person? It’s horrifying,” said Debra Coburn, who said her 20-year-old son is dating one of Bond’s daughters.

A mother raising four children on her own, Bond was wholly devoted to her family, said friends and relatives. She had three daughters — Amber, 21; Jodi, 17; and Taylor, 16 — and a son, 9-year-old Earl James, called “E.J.,” said Gloria Graeber, Bond’s sister.

The family saw Jodi graduate from Fontana High School last weekend, and Bond “was so excited she cried,” Graeber said.

Graeber’s husband, Steve, said his sister-in-law went out of her way to help others and was always trying to better herself. She worked for CalWorks Fontana Employment Services and had recently interviewed for a promotion, he said.

Gloria said she and Tina grew up in La Puente in Los Angeles County. Tina followed her to Fontana and was living with her.

“She’s my best friend, my sister — I’m going to be lost without her,” Graeber said.

SAFETY ADVICE

In San Bernardino, four people were treated for minor injuries Wednesday evening after lightning struck close to a metal fence near where they were standing, according to the San Bernardino Fire Department. No other information about them was available.

Meteorologists and experts say there is no protection from lightning while outdoors — and even in Southern California, people need to be aware of what to do.

Once lightning or thunder starts, anyone who is outside is urged to get inside immediately.

“There’s no safe place outside, period,” said Stephen Hodanish, senior meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Lightning Resource Center.

The second safest location is inside an enclosed metal vehicle. If that is not possible, as a last resort a person may seek refuge in a low area, such as under a bridge or overpass.

Experts say never take shelter under a tree, since lightning tends to strike the tallest object on a horizon.

Graeber expressed gratitude for the support from friends and strangers who have left flowers and offered condolences.

One woman who didn’t know Bond and spoke only Spanish enfolded E.J. in a hug when he stopped by the memorial with his father.

The family has set up the Tina Marie Bond Memorial Fund, account number 5560590902 at Wells Fargo Bank, to help with funeral expenses.

Reach Alicia Robinson at 951-368-9461 or arobinson@PE.com

Reach John Asbury at 951-763-3451 or jasbury@PE.com

By the numbers

Over the past 30 years, the U.S. has averaged 62 reported lightning fatalities per year. About 10 percent of people struck by lightning are killed.

Estimated number of people injured annually by lightning in the U.S.: 540

Number of people killed in California in 2008: 1

Number of people injured in California in 2008: 10

Odds of being hit by lightning in the U.S. based on estimated deaths and injuries: 1 in 400,000

Odds of being hit in an 80-year lifetime: 1 in 5,000

Most likely time and place to be hit: About 4 p.m. Sunday while golfing in Florida.

Sources: Storm Data, Science@NASA

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Lightning strikes cause 2 SoCal deaths

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

INLAND EMPIRE, Calif. (KABC) –Lightning strikes in Fontana and Big Bear caused the death of two people Tuesday.

In Fontana, a woman believed to be 40 years old was killed when lightning struck a tree she was standing beneath – and then struck her.

The blast was so powerful it apparently blew the woman’s clothes off her body. A char mark was visible on the trunk of the tree.

Meanwhile, another woman was killed in the Big Bear area of the San Bernardino Mountains when a lightning bolt struck a tree, which then toppled onto her truck as she was driving underneath.

The vehicle was a total loss, as the tree crashed through the roof of the truck.

Neither woman has been identified.

Lightning blasts also started six fires in the San Bernardino Mountains and Riverside County. While none of the fires has so far turned into anything major, firefighters have been battling them as fast as they are reported.

One fire burning in the foothills above San Dimas burned about 11 acres and was being fought mostly by aircraft.

The aircraft were delayed for a while as they waited for lightning activity in the region to ease.

Link

Former Sutter coach recovering from snakebite

Comments 2 | Recommend 4

June 01, 2009 02:32:00 PM

Appeal-Democrat

Former Sutter High School football coach Scott Turner is on the mend after being bitten by a rattlesnake at his home last week, a high school official said.

Superintendent-Principal Ryan Robison said Turner was bit Thursday and has been recovering since, but his prognosis is good.

“It’s just an unfortunate situation, but he should be OK,” Robison said.

A school official said Turner would come home today from Rideout Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for the bite.

Turner’s family and hospital officials would not comment or release any information Monday.

Turner stepped down as football coach after last season, capping a career that included five Northern Section championships and 10 Butte View League titles at Sutter.

Link

Hikers rescued from wildfire in Joshua Tree National Park

10:14 PM | May 24, 2009

Twelve hikers trapped at Joshua Tree National Park were airlifted to safety today as a 100-acre wildfire burned in rugged terrain near the park’s historic Lost Horse Mine.

The fire, which began around 4 p.m., trapped the hiking party, according to park ranger Pam Tripp. The hikers were rescued by helicopter. The fire, burning in Joshua trees, pinyon pines and junipers, as well as fast-burning desert grasses, was fanned by late afternoon winds.

The Lost Horse fire is burning in a remote area of rugged hills between the park’s Geology Tour Road and the Keys View Road. Both have been closed to the public.

All other areas of the park remain open, including campgrounds. Officials said minor traffic delays may be encountered.

The terrain hampered efforts of fire crews to get engines near the blaze and hand crews began walking in Sunday evening, Tripp said. The fire is being fought by personnel from the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and San Bernardino County Fire Department.

Link

Family Finds Mtn Lion in
Backyard

Updated: Friday, 22 May 2009, 7:59 AM PDT
Published : Friday, 22 May 2009, 6:12 AM PDT

• Posted by: Dennis Lovelace

Los Angeles (myFOXla.com) – A family in San Bernardino gets a big scare when a mountain lion is found lurking in their back yard. While working in the back yard they found a mountain lion trapped in a tree. Rick Lozano has the video report.

Department of Fish and Game responded within 30 minutes and they found the mountain lion in a far corner of the yard. Officers tranquilized the cat and took it back up into the mountains.

Link

Great site with very useful information about wild animals in California. Here’s an excerpt about Mountain Lions.

You may be attracting mountain lions to your property without knowing it!

More than half of California is mountain lion habitat. Mountain lions generally exist wherever deer are found. They are solitary and elusive, and their nature is to avoid humans.

Mountain lions prefer deer but, if allowed, they also eat pets and livestock. In extremely rare cases, even people have fallen prey to mountain lions.

Mountain lions that threaten people are immediately killed. Those that prey on pets or livestock can be killed by a property owner after the required depredation permit is secured. Moving problem mountain lions is not an option. It causes deadly conflicts with other mountain lions already there. Or the relocated mountain lion returns.

Help prevent deadly conflicts with these beautiful wild animals.

Living in Mountain Lion Country

• Don’t feed deer; it is illegal in California and it will attract mountain lions.
• Deer-proof your landscaping by avoiding plants that deer like to eat. For tips, request A Gardener’s Guide to Preventing Deer Damage from DFG offices.
• Trim brush to reduce hiding places for mountain lions.
• Don’t leave small children or pets outside unattended.
• Install motion-sensitive lighting around the house.
• Provide sturdy, covered shelters for sheep, goats, and other vulnerable animals.
• Don’t allow pets outside when mountain lions are most active—dawn, dusk, and at night.
• Bring pet food inside to avoid attracting raccoons, opossums and other potential mountain lion prey.

Identifying Mountain Lion Tracks The mountain lion track on the left can be distinguished from the dog track on the right by the absence of toenail prints and by the “M” shaped pad

Staying Safe in Mountain Lion Country

Mountain lions are quiet, solitary and elusive, and typically avoid people.

Mountain lion attacks on humans are extremely rare. However, conflicts are increasing as California’s human population expands into mountain lion habitat.

• Do not hike, bike, or jog alone.
• Avoid hiking or jogging when mountain lions are most active—dawn, dusk, and at night.
• Keep a close watch on small children.
• Do not approach a mountain lion.
• If you encounter a mountain lion, do not run; instead, face the animal, make noise and try to look bigger by waving your arms; throw rocks or other objects. Pick up small children.
• If attacked, fight back.
• If a mountain lion attacks a person, 
  immediately call 911.

click to enlarge 
 Mountain lions can be found wherever deer, their primary prey, are found. They are a Specially Protected Mammal in California and cannot be hunted.

Link

Rattlesnake turns up in middle of downtown

Taft, Calif. -

Police and animal control officers are used to dealing with gopher snakes and other nonpoisonous reptiles from time to time.

Poisonous snakes are rare, at least in the populated areas.

But on Sunday a Taft Police officer had to deal with a rattlesnake right downtown.

The 20-inch snake was curled up next a tree right in front of Alpha House on the 200 block of Seventh St.

It was also right across the street from two churches and just a half a block away from a third.

Officer Kevin Altenhofel was sent to handle the problem.

He had no choice but the kill the snake because there was no way to safely handle it or transport it and it couldn’t be left in a populated and area right on a heavily traveled sidewalk.
 

Link

LIVE VIDEO: NASA Hubble spacewalk

Officer Nearly Loses Thumb in Pit Bull Attack

KTLA News

May 15, 2009

Pit Bull (KTLA-TV)

 

BELL GARDENS – An animal control officer had half her thumb severed in an attack by two pit bulls in Bell Gardens.

Officer Martha Muro was conducting a follow-up visit on a sanitation complaint at a home on Live Oak Street Thursday when the attack occurred, according to Captain Aaron Reyes of the Southeast Area Animal ControlAuthority.

As the 26-year-old officer spoke to the homeowner, two pitt bulls escaped through a hole in a chain-link gate and went after her.

Muro tried to escape but one of the dogs, a male, latched onto her baton and wrestled her to the ground.

The dog went after Muro’s face and neck and bit her, Reyes said. When the owner approached, Muro was able to break free and a neighbor called for help.

About half of the officer’s thumb was torn off.

The male pit bull was later euthanized, Reyes said.

The other dog, a female, was under observation.

Muro was hospitalized and doctors were trying to determine whether a recovered portion of her thumb could be re-attached, Reyes said.

The attack is under investigation.

Link

NORTH AMERICA’S TOP SHARK-ATTACK BEACHES

Stephen RegenoldMay 13, 2009
 

 LAUNCH SLIDESHOW

Where to swim at your own risk in North America

 

The year was 1916, and a hot July had delivered thousands of beachgoers to the Jersey Shore. Waves shrugged on the sand, and swimmers bobbed in their bloomers and caps, escaping the heat in the surf and swells of tepid Atlantic waters.

See our slideshow of North America’s Shark-Attack Beaches.

 What happened next—beginning with a death on Long Beach Island—would forever alter America’s collective consciousness toward swimming in the sea: In an unprecedented 11 days, five major shark attacks took place along the Jersey Shore, four of which were fatal.

Reports cited blood turning the water red and sharks following victims toward the beach. Dorsal fins spiked from placid water. Appropriately, a media frenzy ensued. Patrol boats were deployed to kill sharks offshore. Some beaches installed wire mesh to sequester swimmers from anything big and toothy out beyond the break.

 America has never recovered. Indeed, the Jersey Shore attacks of 1916—though an anomaly never seen before or since—branded an image of sharks as monsters that has trickled now through several generations.

“The common public perception today of a shark is that of a man-eater,” said George Burgess, an ichthyologist at the University of Florida who maintains a database called the International Shark Attack File. “We have an innate fear for big predators and natural forces we can’t control.” But as Burgess and others point out, death by shark bite is extremely rare. Shark experts cite statistics to show you can swim and surf with nary a worry at almost any beach on the planet. You are not a seal. Sharks do not want to eat you.

Or do they?

The International Shark Attack File (ISAF), which relies on decades of data, cites more than 2,000 fatal encounters. At beaches like New Smyrna, the cold statistics can become frighteningly real. To date, 210 attacks have been reported there, and in 2007, three swimmers were bitten by sharks and hospitalized.

See our slideshow of North America’s Shark-Attack Beaches.

 Despite the paranoia, millions of people each year surf and swim—literally—with the sharks.

 A top example is New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County, Fla., where Burgess said tiger and black-tip sharks thrive. “Most people who have swum in and around New Smyrna have been within 10 feet of a shark in their lifetime,” he said.

 In Northern California—where deep waters and seal populations draw great white sharks—surfers suit up at places like Stinson Beach to catch waves in a potentially deadly habitat. Patric Douglas, owner of Shark Diver, an ocean guiding outfit in San Francisco, calls Stinson “the granddaddy of all shark beaches.” He said, “It’s common to see 18-footers buzz by surfers bobbing in the waves.”

North America is home to dozens of beaches like New Smyrna where swimmers and sharks intermix, even though the humans may never know it. When the rare attack happens, Burgess said, it’s usually a predatory mistake. “In the surf zone, where many attacks happen, sharks need to make quick decisions,” he said. “Humans on surfboards—hands splashing, feet kicking—can trigger a shark to think there’s trouble or a wounded animal, and it looks like an easy meal.”

 With its thousands of miles of coastlines and millions of beachgoers, the United States sees more shark-human interaction than any other country. Search the ISAF database and you’ll find incidents at beaches from South Carolina to Oregon. There are so many reports, in fact, that California, Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina and Texas each have dedicated sections in the ISAF.

See our slideshow of North America’s Shark-Attack Beaches.

On the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, tiger and hammerhead sharks mix with dolphins and humpback whales. There are dozens of popular surf beaches there, including Velzyland Beach and the Leftovers Break to name two. Though untold thousands surf and swim there each year without incident, attacks do occur.

But according to Laleh Mohajerani, executive director of the shark conservation organization Iemanya Oceanica, sharks are not looking to interfere with humans in the water. Our shark-attack fears are irrational, she said. “You are more likely to be hit by lightning.”

 Indeed, there’s no arguing the numbers. Of the millions of people who enter the ocean each year, almost none are touched.

 But for most people, fiery emotions override even the coldest numbers. A single scary story—be it on the news or in an effects-heavy Hollywood production—will destroy the efforts of hundreds of scientists trying to communicate on research and logic.

From Hawaii to the Caribbean, there are 10 beaches among the most infamous for sharks on the planet. Take a dip if you dare.

See our slideshow of North America’s Shark-Attack Beaches.

Link

Girl recovering after pit bull attack

By Kurt Schauppner
For the Hi-Desert Star

Published: Saturday, May 9, 2009 1:32 AM CDT

TWENTYNINE PALMS — A 9-year-old Twentynine Palms girl is recovering after she wast bitten in the face by a pit bull shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday evening. The girl, whose name has not been released, was flown by helicopter to Loma Linda University Medical Center for treatment for lacerations to the face. She was attacked by the dog in the Turtle Rock housing development here.

City Animal Control Officer Rick Boyd said Friday that the pit bull was being held in quarantine at Palms-n-Paws Animal Shelter while officials conduct an investigation into the incident.

A Morongo Basin Ambulance crew gave the injured child a teddy bear during the ride from the housing development to Tom Nicoll Memorial Stadium at Twentynine Palms Junior High School, where she was transferred to the helicopter.

Link

Watch Your Step, It’s Rattlesnake Season

Things are warming up and that means rattlesnakes are coming out of hibernation, and these creatures will bite if provoked. But San Diegans can take precautions if bitten.

Rattlesnakes love to play hide and seek in bushes. However, they can’t hear you coming, but you can hear them and that’s why you need to be careful.

You’ve got to watch your step, especially when you’re hiking near bushes and rocks, because rattlesnakes are ready to strike. This is a warning from the Senior Reptile Keeper at the San Diego Zoo, Brandon Scott.

Here are some fascinating facts about rattlesnake season.

Most bites occur between April and October and the greatest number of bites happen in May.

The California Poison Control System says there were 41 rattlesnake bites in San Diego County in 2008.

To prevent snakebites, herpetologists say to keep your children and pets close to you on walks and hikes. 
Wear boots or other closed toed shoes and don’t under any circumstances pick up a snake – even if it looks like its dead.

A couple of other snake bite don’ts:

Do not apply a tourniquet, do not try to put heat or ice on the wound and do not give the victim alcohol, coffee or any medication.

Link

Never mess with the snake. Just move out of the area. This man should not have been trying to shoo it away. Especially with his hand.

Man Bitten by Rattlesnake at SoCal Cemetery

KTLA News

12:36 PM PDT, May 8, 2009

ALDWIN PARK — A 40 year old man is hospitalized in serious condition after being bitten by a rattlesnake at a Southland cemetery, according to officials.

Dean Maddox was visiting a gravesite at Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary in Whittier Thursday afternoon when he and his family noticed a snake in the grass.

Maddox tried to protect his family from the snake by scaring the creature away. But, that’s when the snake bit him on the hand.

Maddox immediately began to experience symptoms of a snake bite.

His wife called 911 and he was rushed to near-by Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital.

From there, Maddox was transferred to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Baldwin Park for treatment.

Doctors say Maddox is being treated with anti-venom. His wife, Patty, says her husband is in a “fight for his life”.

The couple has a son in Iraq. Doctors told her to find a way to get him home so he could be with his father.

She says she had no idea a snake bite could be so serious.

Experts say rattlesnake sightings rise dramatically in the hot weather and warn everyone to stay far away if you see one.

Link

Santa Barbara wildfires force thousands to evacuate; mansions, humble homes destroyed

By Catherine Saillant and Steve Chawkins 

Los Angeles Times 

SANTA BARBARA — Afternoon winds stoked a day-old brush fire into an out-of-control blaze Wednesday, sending it hopscotching across exclusive canyon neighborhoods and leaving firefighters nearly powerless before its advance.

The airborne embers ignited multimillion-dollar homes on the ridgetops. Firefighters did not offer an exact count, but photographers in helicopters in the smoky skies estimated that at least 20 homes had been incinerated.

By night, the fire had torched 500 acres and driven 8,000 people from their homes in Santa Barbara.

The job of about 900 firefighters, air tankers and helicopters was hampered by poor access to the mountainous terrain, officials said, as well as winds of up to 50 mph and dense brush that hadn’t burned in half a century.

“We are in a state of extreme emergency,” said David Sadecki, Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman. “We’re running very, very thin.”

By evening, winds had begun to die down and firefighters gained some control, though they remained wary that winds could kick up again today and fuel the blaze.

The Jesusita fire, named for a nearby trail, is the city’s third major wildfire in nine months.

The fire broke out Tuesday in wildlands and spread through brush north of the city. For most of Tuesday and early Wednesday, the fire seemed relatively tame.

Early Wednesday, firefighters even recalculated the burned acreage to be smaller than first estimated.

 

Then, about 3 p.m., winds known as “sundowners,” typical for Santa Barbara this time of year, whipped down through passes and canyons above the city.

The fire leaped into nearby residential areas in Mission Canyon, a community of mansions tucked along narrow, winding roads amid thick brush and tall trees — and resembling the Oakland hills, which burned to the ground in 1991.

As the fire escalated, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Santa Barbara County, freeing federal emergency funds. Three firefighters were injured, including two Ventura County firefighters who suffered moderate burns. A third firefighter was also treated for a minor injury.

James Massie, 52, was at the Earl Warren Showgrounds, the command post for fire crews, where he had driven Wednesday night to find out whether his three-bedroom home at the top of Mission Canyon had survived.

Massie, an inventor who lived in the home with his wife, a graphic artist, had planned to defend their home. But mid-afternoon, he said, they watched flames as high as 100-feet march across the canyon toward them.

“The air was thick with smoke. You could barely breathe,” he said, still dressed in the jeans, workshirt and flip-flops he had worn to battle the fire. “When the winds changed, all bets were off. The energy changed completely. Everything was moving very quickly and there was no guarantee we would live.”

Massie said he and his wife left with artwork, two cats and important documents.

They did not learn whether their house was still standing.

The upper part of the neighborhood now “looks like a moonscape,” said Tim Steele, president of the Mission Canyon Association in a phone interview from a nearby golf course where he was watching the fire.

“I thought we had this one under control,” he said. “I underestimated Mother Nature.”

The association has made brush clearance and fire prevention a top priority, Steele said, even bringing in 250 goats Tuesday to eat away vegetation. The goats were evacuated unharmed after the fire ignited.

But north Santa Barbara is where the city meets the wildlands.

“It doesn’t matter what you do,” Santa Barbara Mayor Pro Tem Dale Francisco told a TV reporter. “When these winds are blowing hard enough, nothing can stop it.”

The Santa Barbara Fire Department’s Sadecki said that the afternoon winds were so fierce that some firefighters were pulled back from the brush and assigned to protect homes. Some later returned to the front lines.

Helicopters and aircraft also were temporarily grounded.

Link

Did Hoagie start the fight with mountain lion?

The dog’s owner says it defended him from a cougar’s attack and got mauled for his heroism. But wildlife specialists say evidence suggests Hoagie might have attacked the lion first.

By David Kelly 
10:00 PM PDT, May 6, 2009

Is Hoagie a hero or a hapless mutt who happened to pick on the wrong cat?

That depends on who’s telling the story.

William Morse said the black shepherd mix he rescued from the pound saved his life Tuesday by intercepting a charging mountain lion in the Cleveland National Forest — and got badly mauled.

“I went toward the bathroom and a mountain lion came out and attacked us,” he told reporters on the day of the incident. “It got to my dog first and chewed him up. He’s a hero, man, I love him to death. Man’s best friend prevailed.”

But state wildlife officials threw cold water on that account Wednesday, saying further investigation indicates that the inspiring story of canine derring-do may have been overblown.

Two game wardens searched the Bluejay Campground in the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County and interviewed Morse. Based on the evidence, they say, Hoagie attacked the mountain lion, not vice versa.

“The report we got was that the dog went up to a mountain lion and the mountain lion ran away and the dog chased it and was mauled,” said Harry Morse, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game.

“We went out there and didn’t find any evidence of a mountain lion. They didn’t find any tracks or hair,” he said. “That’s not to say it wasn’t there.”

Wildlife officials normally hand down death sentences for dangerous mountain lions, but this one was acquitted for lack of evidence.

“If a mountain lion attacks a human being or attempts to attack a human being, we treat that as a public safety incident and we have to destroy the animal,” said Kevin Brennan, a Fish and Game wildlife biologist. “That’s not what happened here. We are not actively searching for the mountain lion in question.”

And because Morse was with his wife at the time of the incident and lions usually attack solitary individuals, Brennan doesn’t think that the dog’s owner was ever in danger.

Morse, of Wildomar, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The Cleveland National Forest closed the Blue Jay and Falcon campgrounds until Friday to put up signs warning people to watch out for cougars.

Despite his injuries, officials believe that Hoagie actually may have gotten off lightly.

Clashes between mountain lions and dogs often end much worse. The cougar might well have had a Hoagie for lunch.

In this case, none of the mountain lion’s behavior struck experts as out of character or dangerous.

“The dog chased it and was mauled,” said Fish and Game’s Morse. “This was just a lion being a lion.”

Link

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.

Link

1,200 homes evacuated as S. Calif. wildfire grows

20 hours ago

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Helicopters soaked hillsides in the darkness early Wednesday in an attempt to hold off a wildfire looming in the foothills above the city.

Some 2,000 homes were threatened by the 400-acre fire that portended an early start to California’s annual wildfire siege. About 1,200 homes were evacuated.

The area’s “sundowner” winds were not especially harsh as night fell Tuesday, leaving the fire’s growth slow.

“It was very unexpected and a very pleasant surprise,” Santa Barbara County fire Capt. David Sadecki told KNBC-TV. “Last night the winds blew very hard all night long. If this had happened last night we’d be in a world of hurt.”

No structures had been lost, but flames pulled within a half-mile of some neighborhoods and there was zero containment, said county spokeswoman Pat Wheatley.

The blaze was pushed by 20-30 mph winds that calmed slightly after midnight, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jamie Meier. Gusts of up to 50 mph were felt earlier Tuesday. Winds were blowing out of the north-northwest and a wind advisory was in effect for the area until 9 a.m. Wednesday.

“There are a number of areas burning pretty vigorously in the upper Mission Canyon area. Those are the areas that are a concern right now,” said Santa Barbara City Fire spokesman John Ahlman.

The fire began Tuesday afternoon in the foothills above San Roque Canyon and quickly grew. The cause is not known, Sadecki said.

Fourteen strike teams, including 70 engines and three helicopters, battled the blaze. The helicopters, often grounded after dark, were expected to fly through the night, Sadecki said.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered for neighborhoods spanning an area about 2 1/2 miles wide, officials said.

In rural southeastern Arizona, about 20 firefighters were battling a wildfire that had burned four or five homes and injured one person. The fire had scorched about 2,000 acres of rolling grassland, dry brush and scattered trees near Fort Huachuca.

Link

Okay. It’s official. You’ll remember I pointed out a discrepancy in the two accounts of how the mountain lion attacked the dog. Well, turns out, the big cat was likely acting in self defense. The dog charged the lion, which turned and ran. The dog chased it and finally the lion stopped and fought. So the dog isn’t really a hero. But the good news is it looks like it’ll survive. And the lion won’t be euthanized, either.

Hunt for mountain lion that injured dog called off

Fish and Game officials are causing the incident frightening but not a threat to public safety.

By ERIKA I. RITCHIE

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Comments 68 | Recommend 8

CLEVELAND NATIONAL FOREST – State Fish and Game authorities called off the hunt for a mountain lion Tuesday night after a Wildomar man whose dog was injured by the lion revealed that the cat likely acted in self-defense. 

“It doesn’t look like the lion was interested in the dog as a meal,” said Fish and Game Lt. Dan Sforza. “It was just defending itself. We have a policy to determine if this is a public safety threat and I am not classifying it as that.” 

The incident happened around noon Tuesday. William and Candy Morse had been camping at El Cariso Campground. They went for a hike on a trail at Falcon Campground, next to Blue Jay Campground north of Ortega Highway. The campground was closed, but the couple hopped the chain. They were walking near the restroom area with their 5-year-old Queensland Heeler/Labrador mix Hoggie.

Morse, 41, was ahead of his wife when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a mountain lion crouching near the restroom, about 40 feet ahead.

Hoggie jumped between Morse and the mountain lion, which Morse estimated at double the dog’s size. 

According to Sforza’s interpretation of Morse’s account, both animals seem to have spotted each other at the same time. The lion started to run off and Hoggie ran after it. Then, Sforza said, it appears the lion turned back and attacked the dog, grabbing him by his underbelly and ripping him open. 

Morse raised his hands in the air, trying to make himself appear larger, and ran to Hoggie’s side. The mountain lion ran off. 

Morse picked up his dog, carried him to the couple’s Chevrolet convertible, and drove to a nearby Cal Fire station to report the attack. Then he and his wife raced to Clinton Keith Veterinary Hospital in Wildomar. 

Hoggie was in surgery for more than four hours Tuesday afternoon. Dr. Julia Schoellenbach operated on the dog and said she expects him to recover. He was released to a tearful Candy Tuesday night. 

“He saved our lives,” Candy said, crying. “I just want to take him home and put him to bed.”

The couple lives in an RV, and Hoggie “usually sleeps in the shotgun seat, but tonight I’m going to make up the other bed in the back.” 

William Morse missed the reunion because he had gone to Falcon Campground to show Sforza and other officials from the U.S. Forest Service where and how the incident happened. 

Morse hopes his experience will serve as a warning to other hikers. 

“I’ve been going out to Blue Jay for 21 years, and this is the first encounter I’ve ever had,” he said.

Falcon Campground will remain closed and Blue Jay Campground will be closed for a few days as a precaution, Sforza said.

The two campgrounds are “smack dab in the middle of lion country,” Sforza said. “It might be different if we were tracking a lion a mile outside of Mission Viejo.”