In a rare and gruesome attack, an angry mountain goat mauled a hiker to death this weekend in Olympic National Park.

Robert Boardman, 63, had stopped for lunch during a day hike with his wife, Susan Chadd, and their friend, Pat Willits, when an aggressive mountain goat approached the group, ABC News reports.

According to Jessica Baccus, a hiker and longtime friend of Willits who arrived on the scene shortly after the attack, Boardman had instructed the two women to get away from the goat while he tried to wave it off.

But when Boardman himself tried to escape, the animal attacked, goring him in the thigh.

“Nobody saw what actually happened. They heard Bob yell,” Baccus told KOMO-TV.

The angry goat then stood guard over Boardman as he lay bleeding on the ground.

Jessica’s husband Bill Baccus, an off-duty park ranger, tried to scare the goat away by throwing rocks and waving a blanket, and was finally able to get the animal to move a short distance, though it remained nearby.

Jessica attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation as the group waited for the Coast Guard, which arrived by helicopter and first tried administering electric shock to Boardman to revive him.

He had no pulse.

Boardman was taken to a local hospital by helicopter, but his injuries proved fatal.

“I am deeply saddened by this tragedy,” Karen Gustin, Olympic National Park superintendent, told KOMO-TV. “My thoughts are with his family and friends.”

Rangers have found and killed the animal, which will be studied by a veterinary pathologist.

This is the only known fatal attack by a mountain goat in the park’s history, according to officials.

Approximately 3000 goats live in the park.

Barb Maynes, a spokeswoman for the park, said the goat was known by rangers for acting aggressive, and had been monitored by park staff for “the last several years.”

Family and friends told KOMO-TV that Boardman was an experienced hiker, nurse and musician who loved the mountains.

via Hiker gored to death by angry mountain goat: Robert Boardman, 63, was attacked while eating lunch.

BURR OAK, Mich. – A southern Michigan man who encountered a 34-inch alligator while picking corn said he clubbed it to death because he feared it could attack someone if left alone.

But St. Joseph County’s animal control officer said Jeff Adamski’s reaction was a “little extreme.”

“Hopefully, this guy doesn’t think he’s a hero,” Tom Miller said Friday.

Responding to the screams of two women, Adamski said he grabbed a bar from his truck and killed the alligator last week in a field near the Michigan-Indiana border.

“I backed away and he darted at me,” Adamski told the Sturgis Journal, describing what led up to the killing. “I backed up faster and he darted faster.”

Adamski, 45, of Burr Oak, said he has four children and he killed the alligator to prevent it from attacking someone.

“What if you took a 5-year-old kid in to pick corn and it latched on?” he said.

Miller, however, was upset to hear about the death.

“Thirty-four inches long – that’s easy to handle. That’s a one-hand grab. … They could have put a barrel on top of it and it wouldn’t be going anywhere,” he said.

Miller, who is president of the Michigan Association of Animal Control Officers, said the alligator could have been taken to a private alligator sanctuary in Athens, 30 miles north.

The alligator was probably someone’s pet that had been released or had escaped, said Steve Chadwick, a biologist at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment. He doubts it would have survived the winter outdoors.

Adamski said he asked his brother-in-law to come get the alligator and put it in a freezer.

“I wasn’t done picking corn yet,” he told the newspaper. “And no one would have believed me. They’d say ‘What time did you start drinking?”‘

via Mich. man kills 34-inch gator while picking corn | jconline.com | Journal and Courier.

The family of a surfer fatally mauled on Tuesday by a shark off the coast of Western Australia spoke out after learning of his death.

Nick Edwards, 31, bled to death after being attacked about 8:15 a.m. local time at South Point in Gracetown, about 160 miles south of Perth.

Emergency services workers rushed to the scene, and paramedics transported him to Margaret River Hospital, where he later died.

His wife asked for privacy as the family — including the couple’s children, aged seven and two — struggled to come to terms with the tragedy.

Edwards’ mother Helen said news of the attack had devastated the family.

“It’s a very hard time … We’re just trying to deal with it, and come to terms with it,” she said.

It was believed a pod of seals attracted the shark to the area.

Edwards was enjoying flawless six-foot waves on a day off before he was due to return to the Goldfields on Wednesday, where he worked fly-in fly-out in the mining industry.

Fellow beachgoers said six people dragged the critically injured man from the sea and administered CPR for 20 minutes until an ambulance arrived.

Eddie Kilgallon, 42, who was surfing nearby, said he ran along the shore to where the victim had been dragged out of the water. “I was holding what was left of his leg together. The bottom half of his thigh was exposed and ripped open. Half of his calf muscle was also torn to shreds,” Kilgallon said. “I saw he had a wedding ring and was telling him that his wife wanted to see him again.”

Local rangers also retrieved the man’s surfboard, which was snapped in half.

via FOXNews.com – Surfer Bleeds to Death After Grisly Shark Attack Off Australian Coast.

The pain is unbearable. He does not much feel like talking, but Darian Baehler knows he is lucky to have his left foot. A rattlesnake bit his leg not once, but twice. He has had two surgeries, so far, to relieve pressure from the swelling. He was moved from intensive care to intermediate care at University Medical Center Brackenridge Tuesday afternoon.

Darian’s father, Todd Baehler, said, “It’s just unbelievable. I could not believe a snake bite could do this much damage. He’s going to be in the hospital another week or so. He’s going to have physical therapy, he’s going to have plastic surgery, he’s going to have a lot of problems.”

It happened Friday, when Baehler and a group of kids were headed home down a wooded path near Southwest Regional Park in Williamson County. His sister Nicole says it got dark all of the sudden. One of their friends unknowingly stepped over a rattlesnake. Soon they all knew.

“It was really loud,” Nicole Baehler said. “Like, you know, like moraccas or whatever, that’s what it sounded like.

Game warden Turk Jones says dusk and dark in the summer are prime time for snakes.

“They’re gonna be out in the evening, 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock, the time those kids were walking through here,” Jones said.

Six-year-old Carson Perreault was also in the group. “I wouldn’t have survived it,” Perrault said

Doctors agree, which strikes a chord with Todd Baehler.

“That was scary to me because people walk their dogs back there. People ride their bikes back there,” Baehler said.

Doctors at UMC Brackenridge say they see 40-50 snake bites a year, mostly during the summer months. They say rattlesnake anti-venom runs about $2,000 a vial. Baehler had to have 33 vials. Doctors say that the anti-venom can mean the difference between keeping and losing a limb, and in some cases, life and death. That is why they say anyone who is the victim of a snake bite, no matter how minor, should seek emergency medical treatment.

via Teenager fighting to keep his foot after rattlesnake bites | kvue.com | KVUE News | Austin, TX | Breaking News.

A teenaged girl was attacked by a coyote while sleeping at a campground in Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Highlands National Park early Monday, Parks Canada says.

Cape Breton RCMP said a 911 call was received around 4:30 a.m. and was attended to by Parks Canada.

The girl suffered two bite wounds to her scalp. She was treated at a nearby hospital and released later in the morning.

“It’s difficult for us to say exactly what happened. It doesn’t appear that the bite was provoked by anything the person did,” said Derek Quann, resource conservation manager with Parks Canada. “It’s important to mention that she was in a sleeping bag outside of her tent, close to the tent, when this occurred.”

Parks Canada considers this a “serious incident,” Quann said.

The agency is working to increase awareness among visitors about coyote behaviour and how to stay safe in the event of an attack. Efforts are also being made to attract the animals into an area where they can be safely and humanely trapped, Quann said.

The Department of Natural Resources said it has received a record number of calls from the public about coyotes since last fall, when Taylor Mitchell, a 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto, died after being attacked in the national park by two of the animals.

Mitchell’s death triggered warnings about coyote safety in the park. Parks Canada organized open houses to inform hikers about coyote behaviour to try to prevent future attacks.

This spring, the province announced that it would keep 15 trappers on call to deal with complaints about aggressive animals. Coyotes found near communities would be captured and killed, the province said.

The government also announced in May it would start paying trappers $20 per coyote pelt when the trapping season begins on Oct. 15.

There are an estimated 8,000 coyotes in Nova Scotia. Provincial officials say as many as 4,000 could be killed by next spring.

via CBC News – Nova Scotia – Coyote attacks girl in N.S. national park.

A teenaged girl was attacked by a coyote while sleeping at a campground in Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Highlands National Park early Monday, Parks Canada says.

Cape Breton RCMP said a 911 call was received around 4:30 a.m. and was attended to by Parks Canada.

The girl suffered two bite wounds to her scalp. She was treated at a nearby hospital and released later in the morning.

“It’s difficult for us to say exactly what happened. It doesn’t appear that the bite was provoked by anything the person did,” said Derek Quann, resource conservation manager with Parks Canada. “It’s important to mention that she was in a sleeping bag outside of her tent, close to the tent, when this occurred.”

Parks Canada considers this a “serious incident,” Quann said.

The agency is working to increase awareness among visitors about coyote behaviour and how to stay safe in the event of an attack. Efforts are also being made to attract the animals into an area where they can be safely and humanely trapped, Quann said.

The Department of Natural Resources said it has received a record number of calls from the public about coyotes since last fall, when Taylor Mitchell, a 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto, died after being attacked in the national park by two of the animals.

Mitchell’s death triggered warnings about coyote safety in the park. Parks Canada organized open houses to inform hikers about coyote behaviour to try to prevent future attacks.

This spring, the province announced that it would keep 15 trappers on call to deal with complaints about aggressive animals. Coyotes found near communities would be captured and killed, the province said.

The government also announced in May it would start paying trappers $20 per coyote pelt when the trapping season begins on Oct. 15.

There are an estimated 8,000 coyotes in Nova Scotia. Provincial officials say as many as 4,000 could be killed by next spring.

via CBC News – Nova Scotia – Coyote attacks girl in N.S. national park.

A teenaged girl was attacked by a coyote while sleeping at a campground in Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Highlands National Park early Monday, Parks Canada says.

Cape Breton RCMP said a 911 call was received around 4:30 a.m. and was attended to by Parks Canada.

The girl suffered two bite wounds to her scalp. She was treated at a nearby hospital and released later in the morning.

“It’s difficult for us to say exactly what happened. It doesn’t appear that the bite was provoked by anything the person did,” said Derek Quann, resource conservation manager with Parks Canada. “It’s important to mention that she was in a sleeping bag outside of her tent, close to the tent, when this occurred.”

Parks Canada considers this a “serious incident,” Quann said.

The agency is working to increase awareness among visitors about coyote behaviour and how to stay safe in the event of an attack. Efforts are also being made to attract the animals into an area where they can be safely and humanely trapped, Quann said.

The Department of Natural Resources said it has received a record number of calls from the public about coyotes since last fall, when Taylor Mitchell, a 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto, died after being attacked in the national park by two of the animals.

Mitchell’s death triggered warnings about coyote safety in the park. Parks Canada organized open houses to inform hikers about coyote behaviour to try to prevent future attacks.

This spring, the province announced that it would keep 15 trappers on call to deal with complaints about aggressive animals. Coyotes found near communities would be captured and killed, the province said.

The government also announced in May it would start paying trappers $20 per coyote pelt when the trapping season begins on Oct. 15.

There are an estimated 8,000 coyotes in Nova Scotia. Provincial officials say as many as 4,000 could be killed by next spring.

via CBC News – Nova Scotia – Coyote attacks girl in N.S. national park.

Wardens in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park were setting traps for coyotes Monday after one of the animals repeatedly bit a young woman in the head as she slept outdoors.

The attack occurred at a campground about 30 kilometres from the site where two coyotes mauled 19-year-old Toronto singer Taylor Mitchell last fall – causing wounds that led to her death in a Halifax hospital.

In the latest attack, a 16-year-old girl from Nova Scotia was fast asleep in her sleeping bag outdoors when she awoke at 4 a.m. with a searing pain at the top of her head.

Derek Quann, the park’s resource conservation manager, said that her screaming and swinging arms drove the coyote off after the animal had bitten her twice in the head.

“She was awakened by a sharp pain and something odd going on. She realized she was being bitten by a wild animal,” he said. “All the indications are that it was a single coyote. One coyote was seen by other people leaving the area.”

The girl’s parents were sleeping in a tent about three metres away in the popular camping area on the park’s eastern coast.

The teenager was sent to a nearby medical clinic where her head wounds were stitched and she received rabies shots. She was released early in the morning, and she and her parents departed the campground, said Mr. Quann.

“We’ve had incidents since last fall’s attack that involve coyotes chasing joggers and cyclists,” he said, estimating there were between six to 10 incidents since Ms. Mitchell’s death. He said there’s little indication the animals are starving or deprived of prey. Rather, said Mr. Quann, some animals appeared to have learned not to fear humans.

Park wardens are setting traps in an attempt to kill the coyote involved in the campground attack. It’s part of a strategy to trap and kill coyotes considered aggressive to humans. Mr. Quann estimated about eight to 10 animals have been killed since Ms. Mitchell’s death.

“Coyotes are intelligent animals. They lean and they pass on that learning, and we have to be careful that there isn’t an unacceptable level of aggression … towards humans,” Mr. Quann said.

via Park staff hunt for coyote that bit sleeping teen on head – The Globe and Mail.

BUDAPEST — Authorities said a 35-year-old man was fatally bitten by a hog on Sunday in Zala County in southwestern Hungary. The hog, which the man had been raising, weighs 140-150 kg and belongs to a Hungarian breed called a mangalitsa, sometimes called as a curly-coated pig. According to the local wire service MTI, the hog broke out of its pen and as the man tried to force it back inside, it bit him on the thigh, severing a major artery. The victim, a father of three, bled to death before the ambulance chopper dispatched to help could reach him. He was also tried to be resuscitated for two hours but the effort failed. Veterinarian Laszlo Belso, the victim’s employer, said the man had always shown a high level of expertise when working with animals. Belso added that the hog had broken out of its pen several times in the past. Police are investigating the incident.

via Man Fatally Bitten by Hog in Hungary – Animal attack – ubAlert.

July is the deadliest month for lightning strikes historically and July 2010 is proving no different.

A total of 21 people have been killed so far this year with 10 of those deaths this month alone.

Five people have been killed since Sunday, including a man struck down while riding a bike on Wednesday in Livingston County, Illinois.

All 21 lightning deaths have come since May 1st with 16 states recording at least 1 death including Georgia, Alabama, Connecticut, Louisiana, Missouri, Wyoming, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, North Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland, Colorado, Texas and Arizona.

Georgia unfortunately, leads the nation with 3 recorded fatalities and all 3 deaths occurred in the Atlanta metro area.

While July is the deadliest month for lightning with an average of around 17 deaths per year, the summer months of June and August are considered to be just as deadly with both months averaging around 12 deaths per year, which brings us to lightning safety.

The lightning campaign that is being promoted is when thunder roars, go indoors and or if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

After reviewing the lightning fatalities thus far this year, that campaign while good, for the most part does not apply to typical summer thunderstorms.

Thunderstorms during the summer months are typically random in nature and can pop-up with little notice, meaning you may not even hear thunder before the first lightning strike occurs, which may happen right over your head.

This combined with the fact that more people spend time outdoors (sporting events, boating, swimming, mowing grass, etc), has contributed to most of the lightning deaths and injuries so far.

Some of the deaths reported from sudden thunderstorms include a 53 year old golfer in Tucson, Arizona, a 15 year old swimmer in Huntsville, Alabama, a 53 year old motorcyclist in Chaffee County, Colorado and a 40 year old man walking on St. Joe Beach, Florida.

These are all people who didn’t just ignore approaching lightning storms, but were caught off guard by pop-up random thunderstorms that developed near or over their area.

In the case of the recent Florida lightning death on Sunday, the man and his family saw signs of darkening clouds and began leaving the beach, when he was struck and killed.   There was no thunder before the deadly lightning strike occurred.

While recognizing the signs of developing thunderstorms are considered one of the tips for lightning safety, it should be the main safety tip, especially this time of year and it should be included into a new lightning campaign!!

Some signs of sudden developing thunderstorms include darkening and building cumulus clouds and a sudden shift or increase in winds.

Whether you want to or not, you must literally become a weather observer when there is a threat for thunderstorms on a day you have outdoor plans.

(NOTE: The United States averages around 57 lightning deaths per year)

via US lightning deaths rise to 21; lightning campaign does not fit most summer thunderstorms.