The wife and daughter of a Park Ridge man fatally mauled by a grizzly bear in Wyoming voiced anger today at a research team that snared and collared the bear involved in last week’s attack.

Countering authorities’ account of the mauling, the family of Erwin Evert says he knew little about what the research team was doing and did not go looking for the team’s trap site during the hike that ended with his death.

“He just knew they were doing some sort of research. He had no idea they were going to be baiting, trapping and collaring bears in our backyard,” said his daughter, Mara Evert Domingue of Louisiana.

“If he had known that, he never would have walked up that trail.”

The danger should have been more clearly marked, his family said.

For weeks before the attack, a yellow ribbon warned about a dangerous bear along the trail Evert walked, his family said. But there were no other warning signs, and Evert and his neighbors were never told specifically about the activities of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, a group of state and federal agencies that monitor the local bears, his family said.

Evert did not go past the warning ribbon before the day of the attack, said his widow, Yolanda Evert. She said she isn’t sure where her husband encountered the bear, but she said she doesn’t think he would have disregarded the warning and walked past the tape.

“He was curious about it, but he wouldn’t go beyond that. He stayed on the trail,” she said.

Authorities have said the research team collared a 430-pound male bear and left the area near Yellowstone National Park about two miles from Evert’s cabin around 1 p.m. June 17. Evert went for a walk just before 1 p.m. and was found dead hours later. A sharpshooter later killed the bear from a helicopter.

Scott Steward, the sheriff of Park County, Wyo., said Evert questioned the bear research team and was “very inquisitive about their work.” Evert told a friend he planned to look for the trap site, Steward said.

“We’re not dealing with a case where someone didn’t know (the trap site) was there,” the sheriff said Wednesday. “The victim definitely knew it was there.”

via Family: Botanist killed by bear not aware of full danger – Chicago Breaking News.

A tornado has killed at least five people in Ohio after touching down in Wood County overnight.

Among the dead is a 4-year-old child in Millbury, Ohio, as well as a man who was found dead in the street there, CNN reports. Two adults in a van were also killed in Lake Township.

The deaths were caused by a severe storm system that also injured at least 11 people in Michigan, where storms also shut down a nuclear power plant, according to CNN. The storm also ripped through Illinois and other parts of the Midwest.

Tornadoes have already killed several people across the country this year. This past spring, tornadoes tore through Mississippi and Louisiana, killing at least 10 people. Read more here on Indyposted.

via Ohio Tornado Death Toll Reaches 5 – IndyPosted.

This is a story from 2005.

DESTIN, FL – A 14-year-old Louisiana girl was killed Saturday in a shark attack in Destin near a Walton County campground on the Gulf of Mexico. The girl's identity was not released. But Walton County Sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Shank says the girl was from Gonzales, Louisiana.

Shank says two 14-year-old girls were swimming about 100 yards offshore when they noticed a dark shadow in the water. Shank says, “One of the swimmers was bitten. It was lower portions of her body.” Both girls swam to the shore where the girl that was attacked was treated. Shank says the girl was transported to the Sacred Heart Hospital in South Walton where she was pronounced dead.

About 21 miles of area beaches were closed to swimmers immediately afterward. They will be closed for the rest of the day.The attack happened near Camping on the Gulf Holiday Travel Park in Walton County. Patrick O'Neill, the campground's general manager, refused to comment. Mike McKee, front desk supervisor at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Resort and Spa, said this is the time of year when area hotels are booked to capacity.

Florida had the largest number of documented shark attacks worldwide in 2003 with 31.

via Destin Shark Attack Kills 14-Year-Old Girl.

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LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) - A charred hull is all that is left of a boat after it was struck by lightning, a day of fishing gone bad.

Winnfield Nagle was nearby at Fred’s Lounge when it happened, but he said, at first, it just looked like an old boat.

“I thought it was an old fishing boat near the channel. I did not realize anything was wrong. When I got here and began talking to a guy about all of the police lights I realized something was wrong. He said there had been a fishing boat that was struck by lightning,” said Winnfield Nagle.

Richard Bergeron and Joseph Landry, both of Lake Charles, were fishing when it happened. Richard Bergeron suffered minor injuries, but Joseph Landry was not so lucky. Officials said he was dead upon arrival.

“People really need to watch the weather when they are out this time of year. We have many lightning storms come up real quick, and they underestimate them. They can do a lot of damage in a short amount of time,” said Remy Broussard with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

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Be sure to check the link for video of the rescue.

The Coast Guard released video of 56-year-old Chris Haynes Junior being rescued after he was bitten by the shark. His family said he had more surgery Monday and is resting well tonight at UMC. Haynes was in the water fishing with his son and friends when he was attacked off the Louisiana Coast. The Jackson businessman was a passenger on a boat called the Predator, which was 65 miles Southeast of New Orleans near Brenton Island when it happened.

It was a terrifying scene for Chip Haynes, who watched his father being attacked by sharks. “There were two. One ran into him and left a bruise and then the other came and bit him.“ Once the shock of what was happening wore off, Haynes and the other fisherman rushed to his dad’s side. “I saw my dad jumping around splashing in the water, and then he like fell and me and some of the guys just tried to move the boat closer.“ They wrapped a towel around the shark bite, trying to stop the bleeding. He said his father has had two surgeries since Saturday and another one is scheduled for later this week. Doctors said he has five torn tendons. “It’s the four (tendons) that help him move his foot and the one that helps him move his big toe,“ said Haynes. He and his dad have fished near Brenton Island many times, but that will be their last. “We definitely shouldn’t have been there obviously,“ he said.

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Shocker! It was probably a Bull Shark.

We are learning more about the Mississippi man bitten by a shark over the weekend off the Louisiana, as he undergoes surgery today.
“It actually bit him on his ankle. So, he has severed just about all of his ligaments… it took off about half of his foot.” Coast Guard Lt. John Egan told WWL First News. He was on the crew that went to rescue 62-year old Chris Haynes who was bitten as he waded in the water, fishing at Breton Sound.

“Thankfully he’s doing okay. He’s going under surgery today to help fix up his foot and his leg. He said it looked like he was bitten by a bull shark,” Egan said. “Luckily he was with a lot of people that were able to quickly pull him back on board his boat… our crew got there pretty quick, in about ten minutes.”

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A Jackson businessman remains hospitalized after surviving a shark attack over the weekend near Breton Island off the Louisiana coast.

Chris Haynes Jr., 56, was bitten Saturday on the foot as he and others fished in Breton Sound, a bay near the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent to the Mississippi River, said U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Tom Atkeson.

Haynes is the owner of Chris Haynes Electric Supply Inc in Jackson.

“Around 10 a.m. Saturday, we picked up a radio transmission from a vessel named the ‘Predator’ who reported someone on board was bitten by a shark,” Atkeson said.

A Coast Guard boat stationed in Venice, La., and a rescue helicopter were dispatched to the boat.

A rescue crewman lowered to the boat brought Haynes up to the helicopter, which took him to New Orleans. An ambulance met the helicopter and took him to a hospital.

Atkeson said he does not know how the shark was able to attack the man. The shark did not damage the 30-foot recreational fishing boat Haynes was aboard.

The type of shark has not been identified, although lemon, bull and nurse sharks “are the most common sharks in the Gulf,” Atkeson said.

Sophia Owen, a neighbor of Haynes, said he was fishing with his son at the time. She said Haynes was transported to University of Mississippi Medical Center on Sunday.

“They said they’re going to be able to save the foot, but he has to have some extensive surgeries,” Owen said.

According to National Geographic, there are 50 to 70 confirmed shark attacks each year around the world and up to 15 of those attacks are fatal.

Atkeson said one important lesson in this attack, which may have saved the man’s life, was the marine radio device on board the boat.

“A lot of times, boaters will be in the Gulf or a remote waterway, and their cell phone doesn’t get reception. A marine band radio is much more reliable and is likely to get picked up by rescuers,” he said.

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St. Amant man missing off Grand Isle

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) – The U.S. Coast guard says it has located a body near the spot where an Ascension Parish man disappeared early Tuesday morning.  

They are now working to identify the body and determine if it is that of the missing St. Amant man.

Robbie Savoy, Jr., 32, of St. Amant was among a group of seven men who were surf fishing along Caminada Pass, near Grand Isle, when they got caught in a rip current Tuesday morning, the Coast Guard reports.

Six of the men made it back to shore but Savoy has not been seen since, the Coast Guard reported.

Savoy is the operations manager at Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales.

The Coast Guard received a call for help at 6:52am and dispatched a 33-foot response boat and a helicopter to the scene.

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

Woman sues Wal-Mart over ‘Norman the nutria’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Snake season approaches
Posted: May 6, 2009 04:03 PM

Updated: May 6, 2009 04:52 PM

 

By Adam Hooper - bio | email

LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) – It is beginning to feel more and more like summer every day. But with the warmer weather comes the start of snake season. More often than not people try and avoid those slithering serpents, but it is important to note snakes are a vital part of our ecosystem. They feed off of rodents and insects.

But it is never a bad idea to be safe by steering clear of venomous snakes. In Louisiana there are six, the Diamond Back Rattle snake, found in eastern Louisiana, the Coral snake, the Canebreak snake, the Cotton Mouth snake, the Pigmy Rattler, and the Copper Head.

“All poisonous snakes have slits for eyes, cat eyes. They also have vents in the front of their head, where the venom is stored,” said John Robinette, with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

An old tire is a perfect example of where you might find a snake looking for food, like rodents and bugs, but snakes are not limited to these areas. You can find them anywhere, from your front yard, to the inside of your home.

“They like dense areas. Pretty much where you think a snake would be. High grass, firewood, trashy areas,” said Robinette.

But, if one does find its way into your home, Calcasieu Parish Animal Services says not to remove it yourself.

“If a snake does get into your home or on your porch just call us. We will come out and remove the snake,” said Rita Cavenaugh, with Calcasieu Parish Animal Services.

But snakes are not mean like you may think. They are just as scared of us as many of us are of them.

“Snakes do not want to bite. They would rather get away. They will not usually bite unless you put them in a position to bite,” said Robinette.