Archive for the ‘animal occurrences’ category

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To Be Young, Elusive, and Serpentine…

April 1, 2011

– – She’s young, beautiful, quite deadly, and on the lam; the Bronx Zoo Egyptian cobra, that is!  A mere 3 ounces and just twenty inches long, the missing adolescent cobra has more than 135,000 followers on Twitter, some of whom suggest possible hideouts for her or relate supposed communications.

Staffers at the zoo believe that the elusive snake is still holed up in some warm spot at the Reptile House such as a heating duct or under a large appliance.  Unless discovered, the missing reptile could spend months in hiding before eventually emerging for water or something to nosh.

The snake’s toxins can cause respiratory failure, and is probably the type of asp that Cleopatra used to commit suicide; the venom is lethal to humans in 15 minutes.   Snakes tend to seek out confined spaces where they feel safe, where I rather imagine that she’s listening to some White Snake…

Addendum:   The Egyptian cobra has now been located by zoo staff coiled in a dark corner of the Reptile House during a sweep of the premises.  She is in good condition, but her Twittering days may be over…

Categories: animal behavior, animal occurrences, animals, scalies
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Squirrel Goes Nuts!

March 18, 2011

– – It’s never pretty when a squirrel runs amuck and goes on the rampage in a neighborhood…and so, things must have gotten ugly indeed when a squirrel terrorized a Vermont neighborhood, attacking at least three residents and eluding wildlife control experts for more than a week!

The rascal rodent has bitten and scratched neighbors in Bennington, Vermont without apparent provocation.  One victim was shoveling snow outside his home when the sneak attack began.  “He was holding on.  He wouldn’t let go.  I was finally able to get him off, and as soon as I got him off, he just jumped right at me again,” said one man, who suffered several nasty scratches last week;  the horror, the horror…

A veterinarian has hypothesized that the gray squirrel might have been raised as a pet, and lost its fear of humans.  Wildlife authorities say its unlikely that the squirrel has rabies, as the incidence of rabid rodent cases is reportedly very low in Vermont…

…maybe the poor thing’s having an existential crisis.  At any rate, you who are traveling in Vermont have been warned, and we may at least be grateful that this squirrel doesn’t talk, wear aviator glasses, and keep company with a moose…

Categories: animal behavior, animal occurrences, animals, furry, unexplained
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Outfoxed!

February 28, 2011

– – Sadly, fox hunting is popular in the farming region of Belarus that borders Poland.  It came to pass there in January that a hunter shot a poor fox from a distance, and then approached planning to bludgeon the fox to death with the butt of his rifle…swell “sport,” huh?

The fox, however, fiercely resisted these plans, scuffling although wounded with the mighty hunter and managing to pull the trigger on the hunter’s gun with his paw, shooting the 40-year-old man in the leg!   The fox then made good his escape, and the hunter wound up in the hospital.

Now that’s wily, and what I call poetic justice!




Categories: animal occurrences, furry, furry heroes, furry stories
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Scotland Invaded!

February 26, 2011

– – Scotland has been overrun by vicious invaders, and their goal is to kill them all!  Once the invaders are driven out of Scotland, plans are to drive them out of the whole of Britain.

Now this isn’t a William Wallace thing and Mel Gibson is nowhere to be seen,  but it’s rather a campaign against American minks brought to Britain in the 1950’s to be farmed for fur coats.  Now running wild by the tens of thousands, the minks are wrecking havoc on other native species, including birds, fish, frogs, and the beloved water vole!   About 95% of the water voles are gone, thanks in large measure to the minks.   Scottish novelist Kenneth Grahame used a water vole named Ratty as a main character in his children’s book, The Wind in the Willows.

Considered an invasive species, the minks are usually trapped and then shot.  While this sounds cruel, the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says the process is humane and necessary in order to protect Scotland’s ecosystem.  To quote Ratty the water vole, “It’s my world.  I don’t want any other.”



Categories: animal occurrences, animals, environmental, furry
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Mysterious Goat Slaughter!

January 5, 2011

– – Over the past two months, more than 300 goats owned by shepherds in Mexico’s Puebla state have been decapitated by someone…or something! As there was reportedly very little blood in the area where the goat bodies have been found, suspicions are again afoot about the chupacabra or some other unidentified animal being the culprit.

Chupacabra sightings often emanate from the Southwest U.S., Puerto Rico, Latin America, and Mexico.  Researchers have speculated that the reported chupacabras of Mexico and Texas may actually be coyote hybrids, although in Mexico groups of peasants have formed watch groups to monitor any possible chupacabra activity in their communities.  With so many incidents, 2010 has been termed by some “the year of the goat sucker.“

Now that’s something I could sink my teeth into…ahahahahaha!

Categories: animal occurrences, creature features, cryptozoology, strange happenings, unexplained, weird
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Birds Rain from the Skies!

January 3, 2011

– – Yes, I live to write headlines like that!- -And in the Arkansas town of Beebe, more than 1,000 blackbirds fell from the sky in a one-mile area Friday night about 30 minutes before the arrival of the new year.

A wildlife officer on the scene reported that the birds “showed physical trauma,” and said the flock might have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail.   Another theory was that fireworks launched skyward by new year’s revelers might have stressed the birds.

And with 1,000 dead birds on the ground in Beebe,  they then obviously wanted to get the flock out of there…

(…What?– -You didn’t think I’d pass up a gift like that, did ‘ya?)   😉

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(Addendum: The number of dead birds has been upped to possibly as high as 5,000!  Preliminary autopsies have determined that the birds died of traumatic injuries inflicted not on the ground but in the air, which lends support to theories of death by impact.)

Categories: animal occurrences, animal oddities, feathered friends, unexplained, weird
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Dog Attack Signals

December 16, 2010

– – Scientists believe that thousands of young children are being bitten by dogs because they can’t tell when the animals are giving aggressive warnings.  Surveys have shown that 43% of school children in England have been bitten, often at home by a familiar dog.   Some suffer serious injuries.

Tests by psychologists show that children as old as six believe that a dog baring its teeth is smiling, and may think that such a dog is happy and receptive to being given a hug and kiss!   Eye-tracking studies at Lincoln University show that children tend to look only only at a dog’s mouth, ignoring other signs of aggression that adults key into, such as pointed ears.

A computer game called The Blue Dog has been created by psychologists to help teach children when it is best to leave dogs alone…

 

Categories: animal behavior, animal occurrences, animals, psychology, science
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Die Hard Steer!

December 12, 2010

– – Every now and then, I like to salute  valiant bovines who refuse to go quietly when sent to the slaughterhouses.  One such hero with hooves, Super Red by name, escaped from a farm in Stroud Township in northeastern Pennsylvania as he was about to go to slaughter.

The owner of the steer then contacted police, who caught up with Super Red and shot him with a rifle.  The round hit the animal in the head, but he survived and ran off! I’m pleased to say that Super Red remains on the loose!- –Run, Red, run!

If Super Red were here, I’m sure he’d tell us that it was only a flesh wound…and that it’s important to keep fighting and never give up…

The blood of the aurochs runs in this one…and in my fantasies, terrible indeed will be the revenge of Super Red!


Categories: animal occurrences, animals, furry, furry heroes
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Bad Kitty!

November 20, 2010

– -I, for one, would not care to run afoul of this cat…he looks like an evil feline mastermind, or something that a Harry Potter villain might morph into!

…appearing like something out of a Stephen King novel, the cat, appropriately named Tiger, has reportedly inflicted “nasty injuries” upon postal delivery personnel in a small town called Farsley in Northern England.   Royal Mail has announced that they will no longer deliver mail to the home of Tiger’s owner…they apparently are not adept at dealing with cases of feline demonic possession.

By the way, the cat is 19-years-old, which is 92 in human years…but I still don’t recommend disrespecting him!   Do so at your own peril…total global domination is this feline’s goal!

(…Upcoming:  our last best hope!)

Categories: animal occurrences, animal oddities, furry, furry heroes
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Wild On The Streets!

November 10, 2010

– – More than one million Americans annually will hit a deer with their car, and the odds of doing so have gone up 21% in the past five years as the deer population has increased.

Nationally, your odds of striking a deer with your vehicle are 1 in 183, with West Virginia the most likely state for such a mishap with odds of 1 in 42.  Hawaii is the state where you are least likely to strike a deer, with the odds being only 1 in 13,000.

About three in four collisions between cars and animals involve deer, and the annual human death toll from such accidents is about 140.  Such deaths aren’t usually a direct result of hitting the animal, but rather it’s the secondary impact with another vehicle or going off the road that proves fatal. It’s usually curtains for the deer as well.

While deer are the biggest problem, they aren’t the only road hazard, with feral hogs proving a growing problem and lending new meaning to the term, “road hog!”

Categories: animal occurrences, animals
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