After watching a dolphin in the shallows of the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve get bullied by dolphins in the Huntington Harbour Saturday, wildlife experts were monintoring the animal Monday and not trying to prod it into the ocean unless its health deteriorates.
View high resolution
via Washington Post, click through for awesome slide show on Pythons in the Everglades. Warning, some photos are graphic
A Burmese python wraps around an American alligator in Everglades National Park, Fla. A National Academy of Science report indicates that the proliferation of pythons coincides with a sharp decrease of mammals in the park. “Pythons are wreaking havoc on one of America’s most beautiful, treasured and naturally bountiful ecosystems,” Marcia McNutt, director the U.S. Geological Survey, said in a statement
http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2012/01/five-poisonous.html
Make sure you read the comment from the mother.
http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2012/01/police-shot-2-e.html
I just love the beginning of this story. The tone makes it sound like the guy was taking his pets for a visit to a butcher shop instead of the one way trip it really was.
Animal rights advocates have criticized the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Department for killing so many of the exotic animals, but Sheriff Matt Lutz took pains on Wednesday to illustrate the danger of employing nonlethal force in such circumstances.
He said a veterinarian had tried to shoot a fleeing Bengal tiger with a tranquilizer dart, but that it either missed or only enraged the 300-pound animal. “It just went crazy,” Sheriff Lutz said. “We had to put it down.”
The sheriff described some of the animals that had been killed as “mature, very big, aggressive” with “high potential” for being dangerous to humans. “We could not have animals running loose in this county,” he said. “We could not have that.”
i don’t see why they had to kill all the animals. it’s just awful they weren’t able to call in the appropriate professionals to tranquilize the animals.
“if it was in your front yard it would look a lot longer.”
this is video is compliments of my younger sister and is filed under one of my favorite tags, grrrranimals.
speaking of grrrranimals. gina has seen a bobcat on 3 different occasions at the garden which is 3 blocks from where i live. what would i do if i came across a bobcat whilst hiking alone? besides put my arms in the air to make myself seem taller and therefore more threatening.
***update*** here’s what to do if you come across a bobcat
yesterday after our thankstaking feast aaron told us about this hbo documentary. this shit is right up my alley. i love my grrrranimals posts the most. speaking of which i’m not sure i posted this. i mean, this is where i learned tigers can leap 25 feet and are capable of jumping over a regulation professional basketball hoop no problem.
in my garden last night had to be one of the grossest things i’ve ever done or seen. i took this gnarly photo which i’m not going to share because it’s horrible and it got even worse. the photo i took is about 1/4 of the way into the masacre. i almost barfed a few times because even grosser than the snails was the snail shit. dry heave writing that. so no photos because i regret having to go to war with the snails.
i pruned everything in my garden and swept all the stoops to get the energy flowing. audrey III was trimmed to the point that she is no longer threatening to take over all the other plants on my stoop. there is now a severe dent in the ever growing population of snails that can apparently asexually multiply once a month!!! they were hiding anywhere and everywhere all over my front porch. i even found another black widow and i prefer not to delve into the symbolism of that. i introduced it to a brick just in case it was preggars.
with that i feel renewed, refreshed and optimistic that the flow of my life will continue to be wonderful and awesome.
when ash and i went to see the poppies on friday we were admonished by the park ranger almost immediately after we got out of the car. we were taking close up poppy pictures and the ranger called out to us, “ladies, i’d stick to the trail because we have mojave greens.” at first i thought she meant a plant my friend marina told me about that can pierce your foot right through your shoes and then we both surmised the ranger meant snakes. we were right. we didn’t see any on friday, but i saw a snake today while i was up on the mountain with thairin and sandra. they both walked right past it and didn’t even notice. i let out a little squeal even though i wasn’t scared. it’s been awhile since i’ve seen a snake up there. the last interesting animal i saw was a tarantula. i hardly ever see those.
“It was a well thought-out, double-gated, secure, zoo-quality enclosure,” said neighbour David Rawson, “as long as it was closed.”
But too often, the animals were outside their enclosures and allowed to stroll the unfenced property, Rawson said.
do you see how scary and vicious the tiger looks?
oh, and kills him too.
