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.

GOLDEN GATE ESTATES — An 18-year-old Golden Gate Estates man, who lost his hand after an alligator attack in the Estates on Sunday night, may be getting back what he lost.

Timothy J. Delano, 18, was swimming in a drainage canal called “The Chrystal” near the intersection of Everglades Boulevard and 42nd Avenue when a 10-foot alligator bit his left hand off, said FWC spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro.

Delano and two companions fled the canal and went to a gas station at Wilson and Golden Gate boulevards to call 911 at approximately 9:30 p.m., said Collier Emergency Medical Services spokeswoman Cherie Wilson-Watson.

Delano was airlifted to the Lee Memorial Hospital trauma center in Fort Myers by Collier EMS, officials said.

Ferraro said a trapper was able to find the attacking alligator last night. The gator was “harvested” and the victim’s hand was found in its stomach.

Attempts could be made to reattach the Delano’s hand, Ferraro said.

“Our goal is always to make a person whole again,” she said.

Delano is in good condition, reported Lee Memorial spokeswoman Pat Dolce.

Ferraro said people should recognize that any fresh water body in Florida could have alligators. She said those animals are most active at dawn and dusk.

via Alligator bites 18-year-old’s hand off; gator caught and hand recovered » Naples Daily News.

The National Park Service has announced that three mountain lion kittens were born in the Santa Monica Mountains and a new male lion was fitted with a tracking collar in the Santa Susana Mountains Area. The only other documented litter of mountain lion kittens was born in the summer of 2004.

The kittens were found on May 26 by researchers just south of Peter Strauss Ranch near Mulholland Highway. Kittens P17 and P19 are females, and P18 is a male (P stands for Puma, another name for mountain lion, which is also the species’ genus – Puma concolor).

Wildlife researchers intensively monitored P13, the kittens’ mother, throughout the spring after GPS tracking revealed that she and P12, a collared male mountain lion, spent several days in close proximity in late January. Adult mountain lions rarely interact with each other except to mate and during conflicts over territory.

Each of the kittens has been implanted with a tracking device that will allow researchers to follow their movement. This is the first urban mountain lion study that has had the opportunity to track mountain lion kittens from such a young age.

National Park Service researchers will study the new litter to see if the male mountain lion kitten will attempt to disperse to more expansive habitat when he matures, and if the females will have litters of their own in the future.

The litter of kittens is significant in other ways as well. P12, the unconfirmed father of the kittens, is genetically different from the other mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains. He made the only documented successful mountain lion crossing across Highway 101 in spring of 2009 to enter the mountains, and it is possible he came from another region, bringing new genetic material with him.

The kittens will face many challenges as they mature. The habitat in the Santa Monica Mountains is robust, and suitable for hunting and reproduction. However, the limited amount of open space, and lack of wildlife crossings that allow for safe passage to other wild areas to the north and west can create conflicts over territory and result in inbreeding within the confined mountain lion population.

In another important development in the mountain lion study, P16 was also added to the research study in May. P16 lives in the Santa Susana Mountains off of I-5. The study hasn’t followed any mountain lions in the Santa Susana Mountains in six years. P16′s movements will be studied to see if he stays in his current location, or attempts to cross a number of the major and minor highways to move north into national forest land, or south into the Santa Monica Mountains.

Researchers will be particularly interested in a potential crossing of the Santa Clara river valley and Highway 126, potentially less of a barrier to wildlife than freeways like 101 and 118. This connection across Highway 126 is a critical step between the Santa Monica Mountains to the south, and large, healthy mountain lion populations to the north in Los Padres National Forest.

Research in the Santa Monica Mountains reveals that the male mountain lions frequently travel the entire length and breadth of the Santa Monica Mountains from I-405 at the east end of the park, to the agricultural areas in Camarillo to the west, and from the Pacific Ocean and Malibu to the south to the 101 freeway to the north, which acts as a barrier to further travel.

From these borders created by roads or development, they often turn around and head back into the mountains, unwilling to attempt a crossing to other wildlands in the Simi Hills, Santa Susana Mountains, and ultimately in Angeles and Los Padres National Forests.

The National Park Service mountain lion study started eight years ago in July, 2002 with the initial collaring of P1. Since then, researchers have tracked 19 mountain lions. Currently, the study monitors six working GPS collars on adult mountain lions, as well as the three new kittens that are monitored by vehicle or on foot using VHF transmitters.

This is the largest number of mountain lions ever followed at one point in time during the study. The study data has also informed project proposals, currently in progress, to establish a safe and effective wildlife crossing point under Highway 101 in the wildlife corridor near Liberty Canyon road in Agoura Hills.

The study has received a variety of federal, state, grant and donation funding over the past eight years. It last received funding in 2008 and the National Park Service and its partners are actively working to secure additional funding to keep the project going past 2010.

via Good News for Mountain Lions – Topanga Messenger Newspaper.

Red River Gorge, closed since Sunday after a black bear attacked a hiker along the Pinch-Em Tight Trail, will reopen Friday morning, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The Natural Bridge State Resort Park also will reopen its hiking trails Friday morning. The lodge, sky lift and bridge there had remained open.

Frank R. Beum, supervisor of the Daniel Boone National Forest, also has issued an order prohibiting any open food storage by visitors to the gorge area.

The order is similar to one already in place in the forest’s Stearns District at the southern end, he said. It applies to all forest lands north of Natural Bridge State Resort Park to U.S. Highway 460 in Powell, Menifee and Wolfe counties.

Beum said he decided to re-open the gorge after officials with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, who are still searching for the bear, said it was last seen Thursday south of Beattyville in Lee County, at least 17 miles from the attack site and outside of Red River Gorge.

“We want our visitors to be aware that black bears have returned to Kentucky, and we want them to know what to do in case they happen upon a bear,” he said. “Forest visitors can help prevent bears from becoming a nuisance by not feeding them or allowing them access to food or garbage.”

Red River Gorge campers must store food, including pet food, in a bear-resistant container, inside their vehicle or in an enclosed hard-body trailer, officials said. Backcountry campers must suspend food and garbage at least 10 feet off the ground and four feet away from any tree or pole.

All leftover food and trash must be placed in bear-resistant trash receptacles provided by the Forest Service. Burning or burying food trash also is banned.

via Red River Gorge to reopen after bear attack; new food rules instituted | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal.

VENTURA, Calif.—Federal wildlife officials are warning swimmers to enter the water at their own risk after great white sharks were spotted feasting on sea lions around the Channel Islands.

The National Park Service says there have been three attacks on California sea lions in the past few months near Santa Barbara Island.

There have been no attacks on humans but because of the potential risk a warning was instituted Wednesday and will remain in effect until further notice.

Officials say great white sightings in Southern California are rare. Migrating sharks usually pass through without stopping for meals.

via Swimmers warned of sharks off SoCal coast – San Jose Mercury News.

A Chihuahua died Sunday afternoon in the jaws of two pit bulls after they entered its south Richmond home and approached its owner’s newborn child, police say.

“The pit bulls apparently entered the residence through an open front door and approached a 22-day-old infant, whom the mom had been feeding,” said Dan Barrett, deputy director of the Contra Costa Animal Services department. “The family has a Chihuahua that confronted them. Of course, they focused their attention on the small dog.”

The larger animals seized the Chihuahua in their jaws and carried it out of the house, on the 300 block of South 7th Street. Authorities later found it dead nearby.

Richmond police officers responding to several 911 calls about the attack beginning at 4:35 p.m., and tracked the pit bulls to a home on the 300 block of South 4th Street, Sgt. Bisa French said. No people were hurt.

The owner did not surrender the dogs for euthanization, meaning Animal Services will conduct an investigation and may hold a hearing in a future to decide what to do with them.

County ordinance allows owners of animals accused of violent behavior an administrative hearing before the agency imposes fines, monitoring requirement or euthanization.

The family of the Chihuahua could not be reached for comment.

via Chihuahua died defending newborn from pit bulls in Richmond – San Jose Mercury News.

The Santa Monica Mountains are home to some great local hiking, but we also share this territory with some of the most urban mountain lions in the country. Since 2002, researchers have been tracking and monitoring 19 mountain lions in the mountains, and over the past month they were witness to the birth of three new mountain lion kittens – the first documented births in the Santa Monica Mountains since 2004.

I know mountain lions tend to scare the bejeezus out of hikers, but attacks on humans are exceedingly rare. Here in L.A., you’re in much more danger driving to the trailhead than you are on the trail, generally speaking … and also, LOOK HOW CUTE THIS KITTEN IS:

The three kittens – two females and a male – will provide Park Service biologists an unprecedented opportunity to study the movement and range of the litter. And the kittens are also unique in that their father, a collared lion named P12, was the first recorded mountain lion to successfully cross the 101 freeway to enter the area, potentially bringing new genetic material into the isolated and slightly inbred lions in the Santa Monica Mountains.

the ranges of known lions in the Santa Monicas

The study has also located and tracked a lion known as P16, the first tracked lion in the Santa Susana Mountains since 2004.

P16 – the only tracked lion in the Santa Susana Mountains

The movement of all of the lions will be monitored to provide data for future preservation efforts, including proposed wilderness corridors to help the lions cross the area’s freeways. If you’re interested in more info, the full NPS press release can be read here(PDF). Otherwise, here are some more pictures of the kittens. Check out those claws!

All images courtesy of the National Park Service.

via New Mountain Lion Kittens in the Santa Monicas | Modern Hiker.

Click through on the link to see the picture of one of the cubs. Absolutely adorable.

Three new mountain lion kittens are being tracked in the Santa Monica Mountains west of Malibu Canyon. The National Park Service found the cats — 2 females and one male — on May 26th off Mulholland Highway just south of the Peter Strauss Ranch. They were implanted with tracking devices and now are part of the first urban mountain lion study to follow kittens from such a young age. The father is believed to be the lion that crossed the Ventura Freeway a couple of years ago.

via Three new mountain lion kittens in Santa Monicas – LA Observed.

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) – Montana wildlife officials say a Washington man was injured by a black bear that bit through his tent at a primitive campsite in the Lolo National Forest in western Montana.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks wardens say Rob Holmes of Ellensburg, Wash., was awakened at about 4:30 a.m. Monday when he felt an animal bite his ear lobe. It took 21 stitches to close the wound.

Warden Capt. Jeff Darrah says it appears the bear was drawn into the area by food and other attractants that were left at a nearby camp site.

The U.S. Forest Service campground southwest of St. Regis will be closed while officials try to capture the bear. FWP Regional Supervisor Mack Long says if they can find the bear they’ll euthanize it because it has become habituated to human food.

via Daily Record-News – Ellensburg man survives bear attack in Montana.

Food and garbage abandoned at a campsite in Mineral County likely attracted a black bear that bit a Washington man on the head early Monday, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Rob Holmes, of Ellensburg, Wash., required 21 stitches on his earlobe after the bear bit him through his tent around 4:30 a.m., as he and a friend slept up Little Joe Road just southwest of St. Regis.

Holmes’ injuries were not life-threatening, and he and his friend had left for home by Monday afternoon.

After the bear bit Holmes, the man screamed. He then grabbed a flashlight and tried to follow it before driving to a Missoula hospital.

“It reacted to people, which is good,” said Mack Long, FWP regional supervisor. “But the downside is that once it is habituated, it’s almost impossible to change.”

Holmes kept a clean camp, Long said, but other campers left behind food and other attractants at the U.S. Forest Service campground, which is “primitive” and not a sanctioned campground.

“He did everything right,” said Jeff Darrah, FWP warden captain in Missoula.

The FWP is currently attempting to track down the bear, which will be euthanized once it’s found. In the meantime, the camping area is closed until further notice.

FWP officials said the radius and patterns of the bite marks on Holmes and in his tent were identical to those found on cans of food and other items at the nearby abandoned campsite.

It is unknown how long that campsite had been abandoned, but the bear likely had visited the site for at least a couple of nights, said Long. It likely was a temporary campsite for transients, he said.

Long put all blame on the campers who abandoned their site and left food and other items behind. He said “attack” is not the correct word for the incident, which will unfortunately lead to a dead bear.

Long said he believes it is the only reported case of a human injury caused by a bear in western Montana this year.

The message is clear, he stressed: Don’t leave food and other attractants open at a campsite, and never leave food behind.

via Black bear bites through tent, into sleeping man’s ear near St. Regis.