A 67-year-old woman whose husband died after they were attacked by a bull in a Nottinghamshire field is “critical but stable” in hospital.

Roger Freeman, 63, and his wife, Lucy Glenis Freeman – known to family and friends as Glenis – were attacked by the animal as they walked along a public footpath through a livestock field in Stanford-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire, on Friday.

Mr Freeman was pronounced dead at the scene, in Leake Road, and a post mortem carried out on Tuesday found he died of multiple injuries, a spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said.

His wife managed to get to the nearby road, where she flagged down a passing woman motorist who contacted emergency services.

She was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, where she remains in a critical but stable condition, the force spokesman added.

The couple, from Glen Parva, Leicestershire, had been married for 42 years and were keen walkers who were “always careful around livestock”, a family statement released by police said.

They had visited Nottingham the evening before the incident to go to the theatre and were walking from a hotel in the city, where they stayed overnight, to Loughborough when the bull attacked. A statement released by their family paid tribute to the couple and added: “Roger and Glenis’ sons, Roger’s mother, father and brother, and the rest of the family are absolutely devastated.

“Roger and Glenis were on a public footpath at the time of the incident and were always careful around livestock.

“We welcome the Health and Safety Executive investigation into the incident and hope for recommendations that prevent an incident like this occurring again.”

The family said the couple celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary by completing an 84-mile walk of Hadrian’s Wall. It is not clear why the bull attacked the couple. After being contained in a shed just after the attack, the animal was put down. A joint investigation by Nottinghamshire Police and the Health and Safety Executive is under way into the circumstances surrounding the attack.

via Woman ‘critical’ after bull attack kills husband – News – Goole Courier.

The mother of a young Perth woman who was attacked by a shark says her daughter will not want the animal to be destroyed.

Elyse Frankcom, 19, was attacked on Saturday by the unidentified, three-metre shark as she led an underwater dolphin tour in waters off Garden Island, about 50 kilometres south of Perth.

Linda Frankcom says her daughter underwent several hours of surgery in which fragments of the shark’s teeth were removed from Elyse’s lower body.

She says her daughter plans to return to the water once she has recovered and that Elyse would not want the shark harmed.

“There’s no way she would want that shark hunted down – she had entered into their territory and she knew she was at risk entering into there,” she said.

Linda Frankcom also says Elyse has been in good spirits throughout the ordeal.

“She was conscious through the whole thing and she was in pretty good spirits, so she’s a bit of a joker sometimes so she was joking around and laughing but obviously in a bit of pain as well,” she said.

Department of Fisheries spokesman Tony Cappelluti said the shark was reportedly a great white or a whaler shark, but he was yet to confirm the species.

Elyse was saved from the jaws of the shark by a man on the dive who grabbed the shark by the tail as it attacked her.

Skipper of Fremantle Sea Rescue, Frank Pisani, said as the shark bit Ms Frankcom, it brushed past a “fairly large” man on the tour who grabbed it by the tail.

“She started to sink to the bottom but he grabbed hold of her and brought her to the surface and got her back on board the boat,” he said.

Ms Frankcom, who is deeply passionate about dolphins, declared on Facebook earlier this month that she “wouldn’t give in my job for the world”.

In another posting Ms Frankcom said she was aware of the risk sharks posed but was not worried about an attack.

“Hasn’t stopped hearing bout these 3 great whites … if I get attacked or die, at least I die happy and doin the thing I love,” she wrote.

“Time 2 use our shark shields soon maybe.”

Ms Frankcom was reportedly wearing a shark shield at the time, which sends out electronic impulses to deter the creatures.

The site of the attack is just kilometres from where 51-year-old Brian Guest was taken by a large great white when he was diving in December 2008.

In August this year, Busselton man Nick Edwards, 31, was killed by a shark when he was surfing at Gracetown beach, south of Perth.

via Shark attack victim in good spirits – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

MAN MAULED TO DEATH BY JAGUAR

October 26, 2010

Richard Foster; CEO, Research Centre

“We had a horrendous hurricane come through here on Sunday night. Winds of excess of a hundred miles an hour.”

The chain of events that has apparently led to the death of Bruce Cullerton started on Sunday night, during the passage of Hurricane Richard.  A four year old jaguar being rehabilitated by Richard and Carol Foster escaped and is believed to have mauled Cullerton on Monday night.

Richard Foster

“This cat I know from experience. I have worked with him a lot and he originally come from Backa Bush where he exhibit. Tourists decided they didn’t want him there so he was brought over to us. Now it took about six days or a little less to catch that cat in a trap. He was originally caught from the wild in a trap, so I understand so he had a healthy dislike for traps. It was pointless really setting it the first night when he was not hungry.”

And that belief that hunger will keep the animal close to familiar surroundings is what the Fosters and officials of the Forestry Department are hoping will help them to recapture the animal.

Patrick Jones; Stand Up

This is the cage where the Jaguar named Max escaped on Sunday night during the passage or Hurricane Richard. Indications are that a tree fell on top of the structure damaging it and allowing the animal to break free. In the ensuing twenty four hours it is believed that was when the jaguar attacked and killed Cullerton.

There is evidence at the scene that indicates that the jaguar attempted to drag Cullerton into the nearby bush. His body was found about a hundred feet from behind a vehicle parked under the house. Exactly what happened on Monday night never be known; but veterinarian Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand says this was a tragic incident that was not normal behaviour for a jaguar.

Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand

“In general jaguars, wild jaguars, will only seek proximity to humans when they are really sick and old like these problem jaguars of which some we have had here but normally they would not attack a human. This has never happened before; the only time that fatalities too have occurred with jaguars has been in zoos when people have not observed the rules and gone into an enclosure with a jaguar. Tame jaguars are dangerous, wild jaguars are never do this.”

This is Cullerton’s dog, and today the vet was tending its wounds, apparently from the same attack that killed its owner. The Fosters, with help from the Forestry Department and Belize Zoo are working feverishly to recapture the animal. According to Wildlife Officer Rasheda Garcia the intention is to trap the animal not kill it, just so random killings of other animals does not happen.

Rasheda Garcia

“We heard about the report this morning. Since we heard about it we came here and we have been investigating to find out exactly what happened. The jaguar escaped from the Fosters during the hurricane so now what we are doing we are working along with Omar Figaroa who is an expert on Jaguars in Belize. We are also working with some keepers from the Belize Zoo who have had a lot of experience capturing jaguars. Tonight we will be out trying to capture this jaguar.”

And the fate of the animal once recaptured is not certain.  What is known however is that the Fosters intended to use it in an upcoming National Geography documentary.

Richard Foster

“We were hoping to use it in a National Geographic film but so far this particular cat hadn’t had any expose in the media.”

Patrick Jones, Reporter

In terms of the safety of people in this area, should they be concerned until you capture this animal?

Richard Foster

“I would say just stay away from this general area. I don’t think it will do to Democracia; the cat, that’s why I wanted to establish food here the first night after it escaped, stayed in this area. This is his come and I am sure he probably within a couple hundred yards of us right now sleeping in the bushes. It is very timid during the day; they get bolder at night.”

And hopefully that trait will help the search team to locate and trap the jaguar before another incident takes place.

via LoveFM News and Music Power – Belize News Source and Radio Station.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.  — The victim of a fatal shark attack at a beach northwest of Los Angeles cried out to his friend for help as the shark flashed out of the water with no warning, bit into his leg and pulled him under in a tide of red blood, the friend said Friday.

Matthew Garcia was two feet away from his friend, 19-year-old Lucas Ransom, when the shark attacked with no warning, he said. The whole attack lasted seconds while the pair were bodyboarding about 100 yards from the shore.

“When the shark hit him, he just said, ‘Help me, dude!’ He knew what was going on,” Garcia told the AP. “It was really fast. You just saw a red wave and this water is blue — as blue as it could ever be — and it was just red, the whole wave. Even the barrel was red.”

Lucas Ransom, shown in a 2007 photo from Murrieta, Calif., was killed in a shark attack Friday while boogie-boarding at a Vanderberg Air Force Base beach near Lompoc Calif.

As huge waves broke over his head, Garcia tried to find his friend in the surf but couldn’t. He decided to get help, but turned around once more as he was swimming to shore and saw Ransom’s red body board pop up. Garcia swam to his friend and did chest compressions as he brought him to shore.

Ransom already appeared dead and his leg was mauled, he said.

“He was just floating in the water. I flipped him over on his back and underhooked his arms. I was pressing on his chest and doing rescue breathing in the water,” Garcia said. “He was just kind of lifeless, just dead weight.”

The University of California, Santa Barbara, junior had a severe wound to his left leg and died a short time later at Surf Beach, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. The beach, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles, is on the property of Vandenberg Air Force Base but is open to the public.

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Sheriff’s deputies patrolled the coastline to search for Ransom’s missing leg but were only able to recover the boogie board, which had a 1-foot segment on the side bitten off.

Ransom was from Romoland in Riverside County, in southern California.

Federal and state Fish and Game officials were working to identify the type of shark that attacked Ransom. -

Officials closed three beaches after the shark attack.

Airman 1st Class Daniel Clark, left, and Staff Sgt. Keri Embry, post a sign warning surfers of a recent shark attack Friday at Vandenburg Air Force Base, Calif.

The victim was a University of California, Santa Barbara student studying chemical engineering.

Federal and state Fish and Game officials were working to identify the type of shark that attacked. It was described by witnesses as being 14 to 20 feet in length.

Officials at Vandenberg closed Surf, Wall and Minuteman beaches for at least 72 hours, Lt. Ann Blodzinski told the Santa Barbara Independent.

In September 2008, base officials issued a 48-hour warning to beach users after a shark bit a surfer’s board at Surf Beach, according to the Santa Maria Times.

Base officials said at the time that they believed it was the first shark incident off Vandenberg, the newspaper reported.

Fatal shark attacks are rare in the area. A great white shark killed a woman in 2003 at Avila Beach, about 30 miles north of Vandenberg.

Great whites also killed two men in 2004 and 2008 at beaches in Mendocino and San Diego counties.

via Shark attack: Friend describes fatal scene – U.S. news – Life – msnbc.com.

Orion Township — An Orion Township man bitten by an eastern massasauga rattlesnake, Michigan’s only venomous snake, is recovering after being treated with anti-venom at a local hospital and released Friday evening.

The unidentified man was walking with his beagle in the woods behind his home around 6:45 p.m. when he was bitten, according to Sgt. Mark Buffa of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

Beaumont Hospital spokeswoman Karen LeDuc said the man was brought in shortly after the bite.

“He was treated by an anti-venom we received from the Detroit Zoo, and released,” she said.

Buffa said the man’s dog was bit first. When he “came up to investigate, he got bit,” Buffa said.

The dog’s condition was unclear late Friday.

The eastern massasauga rattlesnake is found in a variety of wetlands and woods throughout the lower peninsula.

It is the only Michigan snake with segmented rattles on the end of its tail and elliptical (“cat like”) vertical pupils in the eyes. The neck is narrow, contrasting with the wide head and body, and the head appears triangular in shape. It usually feeds on small rodents and frogs, and adults can grow to 2

to 3

feet long.

Friday’s incident marks the third snake bite involving an eastern massasauga rattlesnake in a month.

A dog was bitten by one in late September and also treated with anti-venom from the Detroit Zoo.

via Man recovering after rattlesnake bite | detnews.com | The Detroit News.

ST. GEORGE, Utah – Two St. George students remain in critical condition in a Las Vegas hospital after being struck by lightning Tuesday afternoon. One of the teens has apparently improved slightly, having regained consciousness briefly Tuesday evening, while the other young man is said to still be in a medically induced coma. The lightning strike happened at about 2:55 p.m. Tuesday while the St. George area was rocked by a series of powerful thunderstorms.

Alex Lambson’s parents say their son has been through a lot in the past 24 hours. They held a news conference in Las Vegas Wednesday outside the University Medical Center’s burn unit.

“He’s made some eye contact last night, so he’s aware that we’re here but at the moment he’s not awake,” said Lambson’s mother, Kaleen Talley.

Dane Zdunich and Alex Lambson, both 17, were standing under a tree outside Snow Canyon High School when the lightning struck. Resource officers rushed to the teens and performed CPR until paramedics arrived.

The teens were first taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center, but were then airlifted to University Medical Center in Las Vegas to receive care at the hospital’s burn unit.

The teens’ exact injuries are still unclear, but doctors say in cases like these cardiac arrest is a major concern.

“So the heart would stop, the breathing would stop or both. That is the most life-threatening cause and the leading cause of death in lightning strikes,” said Intermountain Medical Center Dr. Colin K. Grissom, MD.

Friends and fellow schoolmates were shocked by the news. Friends of the boys say they witnessed the lightning strike incident.

“We were seriously 10 or 15 feet away from the tree and we saw Dane and Alex,” said their friend, Megan Funk.

“We saw them lying on the ground, they looked dead, they looked dead to me,” said another friend, Stacy Benton. “We walked out over towards the tree and we just saw both of them laying on the ground and Alex had smoke rising from his stomach and we’re like holy crap, so we ran towards the school and said ‘call 911.’”

The teens had 2nd to 3rd degree burns over their bodies. They were put in medically induced comas, paralyzed with medicine so they do not get hurt moving around.

The Washington County School District spokesperson says the teen’s parents are asking the community for prayers.

via LIGHTNING STRIKE: Mother says teen struck by lightning briefly regained consciousness – KSTU.

SEATTLE — A man mauled by a black bear near his vacation cabin in central Washington says he felt he had to stand and fight the animal to survive the attack.

Wearing a hospital gown and bandages, Bellevue City Councilman John Chelminiak (CHEHL’-mihn-ak), 57, talked to reporters Wednesday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle where he has had five surgeries since the Sept. 17 mauling at Lake Wenatchee.

Chelminiak says he wouldn’t let the bear keep him on the ground and he kept forcing his way back up as the bear bit and clawed him.

“I vividly remember being bitten on the head and the sound that makes as her teeth were going into my head and running along the skull,” he said. “It was just a horrendous fight.”

He made it back to his driveway where his wife found him and their daughter called 911.

When Chelminiak was flown to the hospital in Seattle UW Medicine plastic surgeon Matthew Klein said parts of his face and scalp were hanging off. Doctors had to remove his left eye.

Wildlife agents tracked and killed the black bear a few hours after the attack. They said it was an older female, thin at 148 pounds and in poor condition.

“I do remember her hitting me in my left eye and how that felt. There was just a bright flash of light,” Chelminiak said.

Except for the loss of vision, Dr. Klein said Chelminiak should make a full recovery after two or three more surgeries. He praised Chelminiak for his spirit, will and determination to recover.

Chelminiak, his wife, Lynn Semler, and 11-year-old daughter had gone to their vacation cabin that Friday. Chelminiak says he had taken their dogs for a walk when he heard a rustle in the brush and the sound of the bear rushing him.

They wrestled for a time with the bear clawing him. During a break, he was able to reach his driveway where the bear pounced again on the dogs. He was able to pull them free and they went back to the cabin.

The bruin attacked again, and at one point, when the bear bit Chelminiak in the abdomen, he was able to deliver his best blow with a knee.

At some point the bear stopped. “I had no idea why,” Chelminiak said.

Soaked in blood he tried to move up the driveway and kept yelling, “Bear! Bear! Call 911!”

Chelminiak says he contemplated whether he would make it or not and decided to keep yelling.

His wife didn’t recognized her husband’s voice at first and thought it was a neighbor. When she went outside and found Chelminiak, “I was pretty frightened because he didn’t look like himself,” Semler said at the news conference.

Chelminiak thanked everyone who helped him, especially the medical staff at Harborview.

“With the extent of the injury, it’s a miracle I made it through,” he said.

Chelminiak was elected to the Bellevue City Council in 2003. He previously worked for both the King and Snohomish county councils and once worked as a reporter and manager at KIRO radio in Seattle.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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via The Associated Press: Wash. state bear-mauling victim describes attack.

A toddler from the Austin area has died after being bitten by a rattlesnake while visiting Possum Kingdom Lake with her family.

Peyton Hood of Pflugerville died early Wednesday, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office. She would have turned 2 next month.

The Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s department says deputies received a call Tuesday night from a woman saying her granddaughter had suffered a snake bite on the south side of the lake, which is about 70 miles west of Fort Worth.

The girl was taken to a Fort Worth hospital, where she died.

Two or three people die of snakebites each year in Texas, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

By comparison, five to seven people die each year from reaction to insect bites and about eight die each year from lightning strikes, according to the agency.

“This is something we come across every once in a while,” said Capt. Neal Bieler of the game wardens’ Fort Worth office. “Cottonmouths, copperheads and diamondbacks are all over the state, so you just need to be aware of your surroundings.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest keeping the victim still and calm to slow the spread of the venom and calling 911 immediately.

via Toddler dies from snake bite at Possum Kingdom Lake | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Breaking News for Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas Morning News.

LAS VEGAS — Video of a lion attacking a trainer at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas has been posted on the YouTube website.

MGM Resorts International spokeswoman Yvette Monet on Tuesday confirmed the video was from the Sept. 1 incident, when a lion lunged at a trainer in full view of casino patrons.

The video shows the trainer attempting to hold the lion down and a second trainer stepping in between the two. The lion is eventually pushed away, but continues to walk around the habitat as if in pursuit of the trainer.

Monet had previously said the trainer, who received stitches in his leg, was not an MGM employee.

It’s unknown what prompted the lion to attack the man and the video camera is focused elsewhere when the animal first charges at him.

Las Vegas Zoo Director Pat Dingle suggested something irritated the lion, but that it didn’t mean to do serious harm.

“If this cat was serious, the damage to the animal care gentleman would be a lot more,” she told FOX5.

“The cat had no intentions of doing permanent damage,” she added. “It wasn’t hungry. It wasn’t anything like that. It was just a quick signal.”

The incident is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency also investigated Las Vegas’ most famous animal attack, when magician Roy Horn was mauled by a tiger during a performance at the Mirage resort in 2003.

via Vegas Lion Attack Caught On Tape – Las Vegas News Story – KVVU Las Vegas.

According WVEC 13 News the species that bit a teen surfer off the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach has still not been identified. Paramedics believe it was a species of shark that bit Caleb Kauchak on the knee and ankle. However, it seems that confirmation of the attacking species based on bite marks has yet to be made.

Dr. Chip Cotton of the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences was interviewed by 13 News and speculated that the attacking species could have been a spinner shark chasing bait fish. However, it seems that Dr. Cotton was merely being interviewed as a shark expert for the report, as he later states that “whoever is doing the investigation” will be able to distinguish species bites based on the upper and lower bite patterns.

via Species still unidentified in Virginia Beach suspected shark attack – The Dorsal Fin.