World's top Latest wild Animal Attack News around the world

ANIMAL ATTACKS NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD: THIS LINK FOR RESENT AND OLDER ANIMAL ATTACKS NEWS 

Apr 20, 2012.  Debbie Emery.  Escaped Bears From Animal Park Maul Two Women To Death

A mass bear escape from a Japanese animal park ended in tragedy when two female employees were mauled to death by the marauding animals.

At least half a dozen bears were on the loose from the Hachimantai Bear Farm in Kazuno City in northern Japan on Friday for five hours before they were hunted down and killed by a local group that was aiding the police and firefighters, reported ABCNews.com.

There was no chance to tranquilize the huge animals, explained the authorities, so killing them was the only option. “We could not get anywhere near the animals, but could not afford to let them escape,” explained Akita Prefectural Police spokesman Haruki Itou.

Sadly the six escapees had already claimed two victims by the time they were stopped. The body of a 76-year-old woman was found near one cage, and police later discovered the body of another woman, 69, nearby.

The grisly attacks sparked a total shutdown of the area, with nearby roads closed as the police went door to door calling on residents to stay indoors, while schools located 10 miles from the park were placed in lockdown, according to a city official.

It is not known exactly how the animals escaped, but Japanese public broadcast network NHK reported that there had been so much snowfall overnight that the drifts were high enough near the iron bars to allow the them to climb out.

  

April  19th, 2012. Andrew Adams . Attacks against guide dogs have owners offering warnings

BOUNTIFUL -- Two recent dog-on-dog attacks against guide dogs in Utah are prompting the dogs' owners to caution people to be careful. The attacks left dogs in Weber County and Davis County unnerved and with injuries.

"You need to be really careful with them because you don't ever know when it could be a guide dog, it could be someone else's dog, it could be a small child," said Brad Badger of Bountiful.

Badger was walking along 200 West near 1200 North Saturday morning with Sanborn, his guide dog of 7 years, when two dogs got loose from a nearby property. Sanborn said one of the dogs, a pit bull, attacked Sanborn.

The pit bull's owner, according to Badger, quickly rushed to the scuffle and pried his dog away. Sanborn suffered three puncture wounds to his ear.

"That's the concern, is after an occurrence like this they could be psychologically rattled," Badger said. "But he seems to be doing fine."

He is urging other dog owners to stay on top of their pets, particularly when the animals are aggressive.

Patti Ehle of Ogden is offering additional advice regarding keeping pets at a significant distance from service animals when they are in sight.

On Mar. 25, Ehle was on 29th Street near the east bench when a couple passing dogs bit into her guide dog, Sonoma. The golden retriever subsequently started secreting from the neck and has suffered infections and a rash. Ehle said Thursday her dog has only been well enough to guide her on four occasions since the attack.

"This is really impactful on many levels," Ehle said.

Patty Mueller is a long-time guide dog owner based in Riverton and is now an advocate who has started "Greatest Paws on Earth"--what she describes as an "alumni" chapter of guide dog owners in the state. Mueller said many times guide dogs suffer severe enough physical and psychological damage and they have to be retired.

Fully training a new guide dog is costly both in terms of time and money. Mueller said the two years of training runs in the $50,000-$80,000 range. Costs are often offset to varying degrees by charitable donations. Even so, the toll on the guide dog user is often significant.

"When the dog gets taken out by a dog attack - if they get hurt or injured - then it takes them time to heal, so that puts the person, the user, out of commission for a while."

Badger said Sanborn assists him as he walks his son to school, or as he walks to the gym, or goes for a bagel, or completes countless other tasks.

"He's pretty much my vehicle to get where I need to go once I leave the house," Badger said. "Without him I'm not as easily able to go and function."

In Sanborn's case, Davis County Animal Services director Clint Thacker confirmed the pit bull's owner was handed a notice of violation for no license and no rabies shot. The owner, according to investigators, was not cited for the dog-on-service dog attack because of his actions following the ordeal.

Badger said he was very pleased with how the owner reacted. He said he expressed remorse for his dog's attack and has offered to pay for all medical expenses for Sanborn.

Ehle said she filed a police report related to her dog's attack. She said she did not get the owner's name and does not know where he went.

There are laws designed specifically to protect service animals. To be covered under the law, a service animal must be trained or be in training to assist a person with disabilities. A person who or whose pet chases or harasses a service animal can be charged with a class B misdemeanor.

That charge is moved to a class A misdemeanor if you or your pet knowingly, intentionally or recklessly cause injury or death to a service animal.If convicted, the penalty is up to a year in jail and restitution - which could include replacing the animal and vet costs.

An attack by a rabid bear was ended by an Albemarle County farm worker’s point-blank shotgun blast, fired from the roof of a Gator utility vehicle, police said.

The bear killed Tuesday is the first-ever recorded case of a rabid bear in Virginia and only the second case on the East Coast that state officials are aware of, said Jaime Sajecki, bear project leader with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

“It’s almost unheard of,” she said.

Police believe the bear was drawn by the movement of two men, who were using the vehicle to move stones on a large farm northeast of Rockfish Gap, said county police Sgt. Darrell Byers.

The roughly 120-pound female bear first attacked the vehicle itself, biting one of the tires, before pursuing the men, Byers said.

One of the men climbed into the bed of the Gator, then onto its roof, taking a shotgun loaded with birdshot with him, Byers said.

The other man left the cab, but when the vehicle started to roll downhill, he leaned back into the cab to set the parking brake, according to Byers.

The bear had come into the cab and was climbing into the bed when the man atop the Gator put his shotgun to her head and pulled the trigger, Byers said.

No one was injured in the attack or directly exposed to the rabies virus, Byers said.

The bear was decapitated, and its head sent to a state lab, where it tested positive for rabies, according to police.

But authorities doubt there are any more rabid bears out there.

“Just to have one is really unusual, and it would be, I think, near impossible for another bear to have it,” Sajecki said.

Rabies is transmitted through contact with saliva, brain matter or spinal fluid of infected animals. The infected tissue must contact an open wound or mucous membranes to infect a new host.

The virus alters the behavior of afflicted creatures, making them more likely to bite, Sajecki said.

The most likely way for a bear to get rabies is, just as for a human, a bite from some other animal that’s already infected, said the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ wildlife veterinarian, Dr. Megan Kirchgessner.

There’s a vanishingly slim chance that the bear could have contracted the disease eating an infected carcass if she had a cut on her paw or in her mouth, Kirchgessner said.

Health officials will try to type the rabies in question in the hopes of figuring out what sort of animal it came from, but the test isn’t sure to work, Sajecki said.

Bears are solitary most of the time, Sajecki explained, so they aren’t likely to transmit rabies to one another. The bear killed Tuesday wasn’t lactating, which indicates she probably didn’t have cubs that could have contracted the disease, she said, and breeding season won’t really get under way until summer.

The state of the bear’s teeth leads authorities to believe she was an older animal, Byers said.

“It’s really unlikely that she was around any other bears,” Sajecki said.

Officials will send the bear’s body to Harrisonburg, where it will be incinerated at the state veterinarian’s office.

The other East Coast case of rabies in a black bear was reported in 2007 in Maryland, Sajecki said.

People encountering a bear should keep a respectful distance and enjoy watching it from afar, according to the department.

The wild animals most often found with rabies include raccoons, skunks, foxes and coyotes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Signs that an animal may be rabid can include excess drooling and odd behaviors (either overly aggressive or overly easy to approach among them), though there’s no sure way to tell without a medical test, according to the CDC.

There was one tested and confirmed case of rabies in Albemarle County and Charlottesville last year, but five the year before that, according to officials at the Thomas Jefferson Health District. The testing is only done in cases where there’s an exposure to a person or a domestic animal, so the actual number of cases could be much higher. So far this year there have been three confirmed cases, according to officials.

Sajecki added that, when possible, it’s best to shoot a suspected rabid animal somewhere other than the head, to avoid spreading contaminated tissue.

April  19, 2012. TED STRONG . Rabid bear attacks in Albemarle; shot dead by victim

Sajecki cautioned that bears out in the middle of the day should not be assumed rabid. Given that they’re bears, they are vastly more likely not to be rabid.

“We want to make sure that it’s not going to cause a lot of unnecessary concern,” she said.

She said people should instead only become alarmed if the bears exhibit highly unusual behavior, as the one in Albemarle County did.

The area where the attack occurred, near the Blue Ridge Mountains, has long held bears, Sajecki said.

“We’ve had a pretty healthy bear population in that area for a long time,” she said.

Attempts to contact those involved in the shooting were unsuccessful.

April  10 ,2012 | Sapa-AFP. Jellyfish put the bite on Nicaragua

It was a bad week for plenty of beachgoers in Nicaragua and a slightly better week for jellyfish, who stung at least 855 bathers who hit the beach on Holy Week break, authorities said.

       

MANAGUA - It was a bad week for plenty of beachgoers in Nicaragua and a slightly better week for jellyfish, who stung at least 855 bathers who hit the beach on Holy Week break, authorities said.

The vacationers were treated for jellyfish stings on Nicaragua’s Pacific coast, most of them at the crowded beaches of Jiquilillo, Masachapa and Pochomil, the local Red Cross said.

Authorities chalked up the high number of bites to the large crowd of Easter  holiday beachgoers

APRIL 2, 2012. The Detroit News: Briefs: Rescued pit bull attacks, injures girl, 6

Rochester Hills — A 6-year-old girl is recovering from severe bites to the face and thigh Saturday evening from the family pet, a rescued pit bull.

She was taken to Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital shortly after it happened Saturday night.

"We found that a 6-year-old girl had been bitten in the face and thigh by a pit bull adopted by her family. She was found to be in a lot of pain and heavily bleeding," said Sgt. Chad Allan of the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

The office did not have an update on her condition Sunday.

Allan said the family asked that the dog be taken to the Oakland County Animal Control.

APRIL 2, 2012. The Detroit News: Biologists probe deaths of two moose in U.P.

Marquette— Michigan wildlife biologists are looking into the deaths of two moose found along roads in western Marquette County but said foul play isn't suspected.

The cow and yearling were spotted Wednesday near the community of Republic. They didn't appear to have been shot or struck by vehicles.

Brian Roell of the state Department of Natural Resources said both moose had heavy tick infestations, which can be fatal.

Roell said the moose were X-rayed for gunshots and examined for internal and external injuries. Tissue samples were sent to a laboratory in Lansing for analysis.

April 02, 2012. Dana Hertneky. Family Concerned Over Pit Bull Attacks In SE OKC Neighborhood

OKLAHOMA CITY - Residents in a southeast Oklahoma City neighborhood are complaining of a major Pit Bull problem. This after a family's dog was almost killed yesterday.

According to the family, the dogs broke though a fence into their back yard, the yard where their children play. They say this is the latest in a five-year ordeal.

Boudrow, a two-year-old English bulldog, was recovering from surgery Monday afternoon.

"He didn't know where he was, he was hurt so bad," said Billy Shahan, the dog's owner.

"I yelled at my grandmother 'three big pit bulls in the yard'," said Shahan's six-year-granddaughter as she explained how she walked into her back yard and saw the dogs fighting.

The dogs have been picked up by animal control. But the family says that likely won't solve the problem. Because it's all happened before. Dogs who belonged to the same owner bit Shahan's ex-wife last year.

"They've attacked her, they've tried to attack my friend in his garage three houses up the street," said Shahan.

Oklahoma City Animal Control says they have been called to the house at least three times on vicious dog calls and have confiscated and destroyed some animals. But Shahan says his neighbors just go and get more dogs.

"The process is the same for each incident, so there's nothing in the ordinance that we can do to require they don't get another dog," said Jon Gray, with the Oklahoma City Animal Control.

By this afternoon, there was a new dog in Shahan's neighbor's yard,

Boudrow will be okay, but Shahan has a $2,000 vet bill. And a fear that there will be a next time and it will be worse.

" We can't live in fear everyday that one of these dogs is going to hurt one of our children," said Shahan.

News 9 did try to contact the Shahan's neighbors but we were told the dogs' owners were not home.

Animal control tells us since the pit bulls were involved in attacking another animal, they will a probably be destroyed.

Mar 26, 2012. Todd Leskanic.  Robeson County Animal Shelter reopens following distemper outbreak. ST. PAULS - The Robeson County Animal Shelter reopened March 19 following a distemper outbreak that began last month.

The shelter, on Landfill Road, was closed for 19 days beginning Feb. 29 after an outbreak of the deadly virus resulted in the deaths of more than 60 dogs, adoption coordinator Sara Hatchell said.

The county veterinarian recommended euthanizing any dog running a fever above 102 degrees or showing distemper symptoms, which include runny nose, discharge from the eyes, coughing, fever, vomiting and diarrhea.

The disease attacks a dog's respiratory, gastrointestinal and central nervous systems and can be prevented with a vaccine. But vaccinated dogs still can carry and shed the disease for up to three months.

Shelter officials believe the dog that started the outbreak was adopted Feb. 2.

Because symptoms of the disease can take up to two weeks to manifest themselves, any dog that had been in the shelter since late January could have been exposed, including the 218 dogs that were adopted during February. Many dogs that had been adopted had to be euthanized.

Last year, the shelter had a similar outbreak after a dog entered the shelter with the disease. Only nine dogs out of 70 survived the quarantine, which lasted about three weeks.

Shelter officials have said they believe warmer temperatures and wind caused the disease to re-emerge.

March 25, 2012. Scott Smith. Dangerous-dog ordinance gets council hearing

Board will consider the measure Monday evening.

After months of discussion, the Kokomo Common Council is ready to move ahead on a new animal control ordinance.

Council members received a copy of the draft ordinance this week, in advance of Monday’s council meeting, 7 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall.

The measure largely concentrates on potentially dangerous dogs, and would replace the current ordinance, which has been in place since 1982.

Under the new ordinance, decisions on impounding and destroying dangerous dogs would be left to the discretion of whoever the city contracts to perform animal control services. Currently, the city contracts with the Kokomo Humane Society.

Council attorney Corbin King said the new ordinance doesn’t directly address the issue, but said there shouldn’t be any lingering confusion over which agency is in charge of dangerous animals.

As the debate over changes to the city’s animal control practices started last year, council members received mixed messages as to whether the humane society or the Howard County Health Department had final say in impounding or destroying animals.

“That was a total miscommunication of [the health department’s] role. All they had to do was check for rabies, and there hasn’t been a case of rabies in something like 50 years,” King said. “I think it was clear, once [the roles] were explained.”

The measure would make it illegal to harbor a “dangerous dog,” defined as a dog that has “aggressively bitten, attacked or endangered” a human, or which has been bred for dog fighting.

The new law would also place restrictions on the owners of “potentially dangerous dogs.”

A dog could be deemed potentially dangerous if it engages in any unprovoked behavior that causes a person to perform a defensive action, assuming the animal is off his or her owner’s property.

Any dog that bites a human, unprovoked, could be deemed potentially dangerous, even if the bite doesn’t cause serious injury. A dog that shows aggression toward a person could be considered potentially dangerous, even if it doesn’t bite.

A dog that attacks and injures another domestic animal, or runs loose, or chases or menaces a person, could also be considered potentially dangerous.

Such dogs would have to be kept inside a secure enclosure on the owner’s property, marked with “Beware of Dog” signs. If a potentially dangerous dog would be taken off the owner’s property, it would have to be muzzled, and the owner would have to submit to having the animal microchipped and photographed, to make it easier for the Department of Animal Services to identify.

Finally, the measure would place restrictions on tethering animals, requiring that the leash or tether be less than a certain weight, and at least 10 feet long, and that the animal could access shelter, food, water and shade while on the tether.

Violations could be punished by civil fines starting at $250 and rising to between $500 and $1,500 for a third offense.

The new ordinance would also eliminate the city’s current dog licensing requirements.

King said council members felt the public was largely ignoring licensing, and didn’t feel licensing was an effective way of encouraging responsible pet ownership.

“If you weren’t going to enforce it, and you were hoping to get people to register in good faith, well, those are the good pet owners,” King said. “If you’re trying to make people responsible dog owners, registration wasn’t something that was going to help you reach that goal.”

• Scott Smith is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He may be reached at             765-454-8569 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            765-454-8569      end_of_the_skype_highlighting       or via email at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com

March 24, 2012. William C. Wadsack. Area shelters clear of parvo

A reported case of canine parvovirus infection — commonly referred to as parvo — in Fannin County hasn’t affected the Bonham Animal Shelter, according to Animal Control Officer Jimmy Gilbert.

A recently adopted puppy was found to have the virus following an examination by a veterinarian.

“Every dog we get comes in unvaccinated, and we tell people they need to take them to the vet to get checked out,” Gilbert said. “We have no idea what they have.”

Parvo is a highly contagious viral illness that can infect dogs, with the most common victims being puppies between the ages of six weeks and six months old. The common form of the virus sees an infection in the intestine and exhibits symptoms such as bloody diarrhea, vomiting and lack of appetite.

“Parvo is the scourge of publicly owned and private shelters,” Grayson County Health Department Director John Teel said. “What often happens is a young dog that’s healthy in every aspect can be brought home, and if it’s not checked by a veterinarian, either through a stool test or blood test, that virus can infect the dog and it can result in death.”

A second form of the virus can also manifest in a cardiac form that attacks the heart muscles of very young puppies and can often lead to death.

“When it first came out in the late 70s, there was no dog that had any protection to the virus,” Dr. Leldon Locke, of the Animal Health Clinic in Sherman, explained. “As the disease has evolved, most middle-aged dogs are vaccinated, or they’ve been naturally exposed, so they have protection. Puppies haven’t had a chance to be vaccinated or they have a less developed immune system, so they have less ability to fight off the infection.”

Following regularly scheduled vaccination guidelines for puppies is the best prevention for parvo. Vaccination in young puppies has greatly reduced the number of cases.

“It’s like anything,” Dr. Locke continued, “if you do your preventative care, which is vaccinating on time, we don’t see much of it then.”

While vaccination is the best method of prevention, there’s still a chance the infection could spread.

“Parvo is a part of life at an animal shelter,” Teel said. “You could go a year without a case, but if you bring one in — even with an intense effort to prevent infection — the disease can spread through the population of the shelter very swiftly.”

That doesn’t seem to be the case in Bonham, as Gilbert said the infection hasn’t spread amongst the other animals in the shelter.

“It was fine when it came in, but we had it for a very short time,” Gilbert said of the puppy found to be infected. “It was an owner surrender and had no shots at all. The people that surrender the animals, they usually don’t know how to take care of them.”

Generally, the virus is transmitted by contact with a previously infected dog or ingestion of an infected dog’s stool. Researchers have found that the virus can live in ground soil for a year and be resistant to weather changes and most cleaning products. Household bleach is the only disinfectant known to kill the virus.

“If the area isn’t treated with a strong disinfectant, the virus can survive for days or weeks,” Teel said. “Veterinarian bills to hydrate young dogs at an animal shelter could run in excess of $1,000 per animal. I’ve heard stories of a shelter having to euthanize all the dogs under a year old because city government shelters just don’t have the funds to pay for the vet bills.”

Gilbert said his animal shelter gets a dog with parvo “every now and again,” but they haven’t seen one in a while. The Bonham Animal Shelter is presently open and has animals available for adoption.

Dr. Locke explained that there are rigid protocols that come into effect if an infected dog is brought into his clinic.

“We have an isolation ward and we’re real strict on isolation,” Dr. Locke said. “Because it’s a communicable disease, we have to take special steps.”

Parvo can be diagnosed with a physical examination by a veterinarian with tests including urine analysis, abdominal ultrasounds and biochemical tests. A sample of the dog’s vomit or stool is usually helpful in making a diagnosis.

“Occasionally some dogs, (such as) Dobermans seem to have a little less than that robust immune system,” Dr. Locke said.

There are several dog breeds which are especially vulnerable to parvo, those include rottweilers, pit bulls, Labrador retrievers, Doberman pinschers, German shepherds, Alaskan sled dogs and English springer spaniels.

Once an animal contracts parvo, there is no cure for it as it’s a viral infection. Treatment usually includes intravenous fluid and nutrition therapy to help battle dehydration and diarrhea.

“We see it more in younger dogs and older dogs,” Dr. Locke said. “But it can affect dogs of all ages.”

Following recovery from parvo, an infected dog will still have a weakened immune system and could easily catch other illnesses. Dogs that survive parvo will also be a contagion risk to other dogs for at least two months. Dogs that recover usually develop a long-term immunity against the virus, but future infection is still possible.

“We see parvo regularly in this area,” Dr. Locke said. “It’s here. It’s pretty much an endemic disease now.”

March 23, 2012. Pit Bull Attacks, Bites 11-Year-Old Girl Riding Bicycle In Street

BROWNWOOD, Texas -- An 11-year-old girl riding her bicycle on a street in Brownwood was bitten several times in an attack by a pit bull.

The girl was treated for at least three bites on her arm and leg. The dog was put down by its owner and was to be tested for rabies.

The incident occurred Monday evening at 6:12 p.m. near Ash and Main streets.

The dog, which was on a chain, was captured and taken to the animal shelter where it was quarantined.

The father of the girl said the dog was on a chain when it bit his daughter while she was riding her bicycle in the street.

According to Brownwood police, the dog bit the 11-year-old girl on her left forearm and when she tried to kick the dog, it bit her two to three more times on the left leg.

The girl’s injuries included a one-hal inch cut behind her left knee, a 2-inch cut on the outside left knee, and a one-quarter inch cut next to the larger cut along with puncture wounds on her arm. The leg wounds required nine stitches, and the puncture wounds were glued.

A man came to the animal center the next day looking for his pit bull. The owner lives next to where the dog bite took place, police said. He was issued a citation for animal at large and given his options regarding the dog, to quarantine it or to have the dog put down and tested for rabies at the city of Brownwood’s expense, according to the police report.

The owner chose to have the animal put down and tested, police said.

March 21, 2012. Jana Barnello. Pitbull Attacks 7-Year-Old, Family Wants Answers. A  7-year-old Ringgold boy is recovering from a pit bull attack. His parents say it could've been prevented, if animal control dealt with the dog earlier.

  

7-year-old Tanner Eaves will be OK, but he has some pretty serious injuries from a dog attack on Monday.  According to his parents, this dog has attacked before, and even after Tanner's attack, the owner got to keep his pet until we started asking questions.

Tanner says he and a friend were playing fetch with the dog at a house on Sparks Street in Ringgold. Tanner chased down the ball, and says the dog wasn't far behind.

"I got there first and then the dog head butted me," Tanner told us.

The dog knocked him over, and bit Tanner's face, side, and groin. He had to have surgery, and spent the night in the hospital. The dog, got to stay at home, under a 10 day quarantine.

"With this serious of an injury, I feel like the dog should've been picked up at the pound and held at the pound," said Tanner's dad, Gerald Eaves.

Eaves said this dog has attacked before, and has spoken to the owner.  We tried to, as well, but no one answered the door.

When we went to Catoosa County Animal Control on Wednesday afternoon at 3:45 for a copy of the incident report as well as why the dog wasn't taken into custody, they told us to file an open records request. The Eaves family received a phone call at 4:09 p.m. from animal control telling them the dog is now at the shelter.

Eaves said if that's what happened in the first place, he wouldn't be angry.

"I felt like my son didn't matter. That, that dog is more important. That dog attacked a kid. Not one kid, but several kids," said Eaves.

We filed an open records request with Catoosa County to get the incident report and any previous records on the dog. They told us the woman who normally handles those requests is out of of the office, so we'll have to wait to get the records until the proper personnel returns to work.

February  14, 2012. BBC. Lioness attack kills South Africa zoo keeper

A lioness has attacked and killed a 65-year-old South African zoo keeper at a farm owned by Johannesburg Zoo.

 

Joe Ramanata, who had worked for the zoo for more than 40 years, was taken to hospital but was declared dead on arrival, the zoo said.

"He was either feeding or cleaning an enclosure when he was attacked by a lioness," zoo spokeswoman, Letta Madlala, told the AFP news agency.

The 11-year-old lioness was tranquilised after the incident.

Ms Madlala said zoo managers planned to meet and decide on the fate of the lioness, AP news agency report.

She said Mr Ramanata was an experienced animal handler.

The incident happened on Parys Zoo Farm, a breeding farm in the Free State Province, about 120km (75 miles) south-west of Johannesburg.

Another spokeswoman for the zoo, Louise Gordon, said the incident may have been down to human error as it appeared that one of the enclosures was not locked at the time of the attack, reports South Africa's Pretoria News newspaper.

Police are have opened an investigation into the death.

FEBRUARY 7, 2012. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE. Tigers attack tourist bus in China

BEIJING - A group of tourists visiting a wildlife park in eastern China had a narrow escape after Bengal tigers attacked their bus, puncturing its tires and destroying the windscreen, state media said Tuesday.

A worker in charge of the enclosure at Jinan Wildlife World in Shandong province was at lunch when the incident happened last Saturday and it took officials 10 minutes to open a gate so the tourists could escape, reports said.

None of the 27 tourists on the bus were injured, but the driver's hand was hurt when the tigers jumped on the vehicle and broke the windscreen, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Terrified visitors hid under their seats as a group of up to eight tigers bit the vehicle's tires, destroyed its windshield wipers and broke windows, the Global Times reported.

Attempts to call police failed because there was no mobile phone reception, it added.

"We are deeply sorry for the accident," Wu Yanfei, deputy manager of Jinan Wildlife World, was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

The park has launched an investigation into the attack and compensated the tourists, Xinhua said.

China says it has nearly 6,000 endangered tigers in captivity, but just 50 to 60 living in the wild in its northeast.

In the 1980s, China set up tiger farms to try to preserve the big cats, intending to release some into the wild.

But the farms have come under the international spotlight, with some conservation groups saying they use the cats for their body parts, while media reports have exposed poor conditions at zoos and animal parks.

A number of attacks on humans by captive tigers have been reported in recent years.

Last year, a tour bus driver was mauled to death by a Siberian tiger at a breeding centre in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang after he got out of his vehicle to check on a mechanical problem.

In 2010, a zookeeper was killed by a Bengal tiger at Shanghai Zoo after apparently forgetting to lock the animal's cage.

January 2, 2012. Las Vegas: PETA, owner at odds on fate of retiring MGM lions

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The owner of 40 lions losing their jobs at a Las Vegas Strip casino dismissed a call by an animal rights group to send them to a sanctuary instead of a Nevada ranch.

The reaction from owner Keith Evans came after the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wrote a letter commending the MGM Grand for announcing it would close its lion habitat attraction on Jan. 31.

The glass-enclosed exhibit, which is free to the public, is being phased out as part of a $160 million renovation.

Evans is solely responsible for the care of the animals, according to MGM Grand officials. Evans told the Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/vb2moA ) he has held a U.S. Department of Agriculture license for keeping the lions for 40 years.

PETA officials criticized Evans for a plan to take the animals back to his eight-acre ranch, where he has said he wants to develop an attraction called “The Cat House.”

The officials said the animals wouldn’t have enough space to roam as freely as they do in the wild, and cited two lion attacks as reasons the animals shouldn’t be in direct contact with human trainers.

“In their natural habitats, lions roam many miles of territory, hunt, raise their young, and avoid contact with people,” wrote Delcianna Winders, PETA’s director of captive animal law enforcement. “It is detrimental to the mental and physical health of these animals to be confined to tiny, barren, artificial environments without any opportunity for privacy.”

Winders told the newspaper she recommended a sanctuary operated by the Galt, Calif.-based Performing Animal Welfare Society.

Evans countered that PETA has a bad track record for trying to put lions in sanctuaries. The newspaper did not provide further details.

The $9 million, 5,000-square-foot habitat opened in 1999 at the MGM. Visitors can watch the animals at play through glass on the perimeter, or from inside a glass tube that runs through the enclosure.

MGM officials said they are always looking for fresh attractions for visitors, and the attraction wasn’t the critical element of the casino’s appeal.

“It isn’t carrying the brand of the MGM Grand,” Alan Feldman, MGM Resorts International senior vice president, told the Las Vegas Sun. “The brand rests on many other attributes.”

January 2, 2012.FOX31 DenverAurora Police: dogs involved in attack at least part pit bull

AURORA, Colo. -- Animal Care officers in Aurora now believe two dogs responsible for a vicious attack on another dog and three people last Friday were at least part pit bull and perhaps purebred, according to police.

The dogs were found dead along E-470 near E. 64th Ave. Saturday morning after apparently being hit by car, said Aurora Police Sgt. Cassidee Carlson.

Authorities are still trying to locate the owner, or owners, who could face prosecution. Pit bulls are banned in Aurora except in cases where they are used as service animals.

Carlson said the necropsy reports would not be available until after the holiday weekend.

On Friday, the dogs attacked a smaller dog in the 19200 block of E. Gunnison Circle and then wounded three people, including the owner of the smaller dog, who tried to intervene.

Two of the victims were hospitalized and the smaller dog was being treated at a local veterinary clinic.

In passing the 2005 pit bull ban, the City Council of Aurora declared that “Pit Bulls tend to be stronger than other dogs, often give no warning signals before attacking, and are less willing than other dogs to retreat from an attack.”

“The Council finds Pit Bull attacks, more often than other types of dogs, result in multiple bites and attacks of greater severity,” the city ordinance states. (Read the ordinance)

December 31, 2011. Alejandro Dominguez,State requiring rabies vaccine for dogs, cats and ferretsNew law order all dogs, cats and ferrets to get the vaccinationMost pets must have rabies vaccination under a new state rule that goes into effect Jan. 1.

The vaccinations already are required in some cities and counties. This is the first time there's a rule at the state level that mandates that all dogs, cats and ferrets receive the vaccine.

The rule makes the rabies vaccine mandatory, but it will be up to local agencies to decide how it will be enforced.

The idea is to protect pets and their owners from the rabies virus, which is still found in the wild.

"It's one of the most fatal disease for humans," said Ron Wohrle, a veterinarian for the Washington state Department of Health. "The best measure to protect ourselves and our pets is to have them vaccinated."

The issue left to resolve is how the vaccination rule should be enforced, including whether violators will face a penalty. Those decisions are being left to each jurisdiction, Wohrle said.

It is likely proof of vaccination would be asked after a pet attacks or when an owner applies for pet licenses, he said.

Vaccinations can be administered by any veterinarian. Cost varies. Pets can get their first shot when they are 12 weeks old. A booster shot should be administered one year after the first vaccination and then three years after that, Wohrle said.

Cases of rabies in animals have been rare in Washington, but the risk of exposure has increased. Pets are now more mobile than ever, traveling with their owners to other counties -- and even other countries -- where rabies may be more common.

The last known case of rabies in a domestic animal in the state was a cat in 2002, but the disease is still found primarily in bats. Over the past eight years, Snohomish County typically has seen about two bats each year reported with rabies, Wohrle said.

Bats can transmit the disease to pets and livestock, including horses and llamas.

The Everett Animal Shelter already is complying with the new rule, but discussion is ongoing over enforcement, spokeswoman Kate Reardon said.

All animals adopted from the shelter receive the vaccines, she said. The shelter does not provide vaccinations to pets brought in by members of the public.

December 29, 2011. Stephanie Loder. After attacks, official calls for muzzles for pit bulls in Plumsted

PLUMSTED — Residents who own pit bulls and let them outside would be forced to muzzle their dogs if the township animal control officer has his way.

A 3-year-old girl was attacked Wednesday by a pit bull as she played in her yard at 412 E. Millstream Road, and a 34-year-old woman on Park Avenue was bitten by a pit bull that was ordered to attack her on Dec. 2, police said.

“There have been too many bites,” said John Klink, who provides animal-control services for the township.

He said he was going to ask a judge for a court order mandating that residents with pit bulls muzzle the animals when they are outside.

The township has no ordinance regarding the restraining of pit bulls, he said.

He said other township residents have pit bulls and some of them live in the area where the attacks happened.

“There have been other bites this year,” he said.

He identified the dog involved in the Dec. 2 attack as Bam Bam, a 60-pound pit bull that was older than seven years, and the dog involved in the Wednesday attack as Hemi, an 80-pound pit bull that was younger than five years.

The 3-year-old girl was airlifted to a trauma center after being attacked in her yard and severely bitten on the back and head by a pit bull, authorities said.

The child was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. Her condition was not available.

She was bitten by the same pit bull police say was involved in a another attack Dec. 2 on a 34-year-old township woman.

Hemi, the pit bull that bit the 3-year-old girl, was captured by Klink on Wednesday and taken to the Ocean County Animal Shelter in Jackson. The dog will be euthanized after 10 days at the shelter, he said.

Bam Bam, the pit bull that attacked the 34-year-old woman on Dec. 2, will be euthanized at a later date, Klink said.

Shaun Hunt, 40, and Andrew Dockery Jr., 26, were charged with second-degree aggravated assault in connection with the Dec. 2 attack, police said.

No criminal charges have been filed in the Wednesday attack, and Patrolman Vince Doell is investigating.

December 28, 2011. DAVE ITZKOFF. Associated Press. Cheetah, Chimpanzee in ‘Tarzan’ Movies, Has Died.

Cheetah, a chimpanzee who was one of the most famous animal stars of the 1930s and appeared with Johnny Weissmuller in such Depression-era adventure films as “Tarzan the Ape Man” and “Tarzan and His Mate,” has died, The Tampa Tribune reported. Debbie Cobb, the outreach director at the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, Fla., where Cheetah lived, told The Tribune that Cheetah was about 80 years old and died of kidney failure on Saturday.

In the Tarzan film series, whose golden age spanned 1932 to 1948, Cheetah was said to have appeared in the films made between 1932 and 1934, as a comic and sympathetic animal sidekick whose intelligence sometimes seemed to rival that of his human co-stars, Weissmuller (who played the titular jungle lord) and Maureen O’Sullivan (who portrayed his civilized love interest, Jane).

Ms. Cobb told The Tribune that the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary received Cheetah from Weissmuller’s Ocala estate around 1960. Of the 15 chimpanzees kept at the sanctuary, Cheetah, she said, was the most famous and an outgoing ape with a gentle personality, who had long outlived the 35 to 45 years that chimpanzees typically survive in captivity.

“He was very compassionate,” Ms. Cobb said. “He could tell if I was having a good day or a bad day. He was always trying to get me to laugh if he thought I was having a bad day. He was very in tune to human feelings.”

She said Cheetah was soothed by Christian music and also enjoyed fingerpainting and football, though she was unsure if the chimpanzee had any favorite teams.

“I couldn’t ask him that,” Ms. Cobb told The Tribune. “I’m not a chimp psychic.”

Agence France-Presse reported a previous instance in which the owners of a chimpanzee named Cheeta believed that their ape had appeared in the classic “Tarzan” films, but later learned that Cheeta was younger than they thought. “It is also difficult to determine which movies, if any, our Cheeta may have been in,” these owners wrote on their Web site.

Eve Golden, an archivist at the Everett Collection, which owns images from many films including the “Tarzan” movies, said it was difficult if not impossible to identify a chimpanzee as Cheetah from his old movie stills. “All chimps basically look like George Burns to me,” she said.

In a post on her Twitter account Mia Farrow, who is O’Sullivan’s daughter, wrote: “Cheetah the chimp in Tarzan movies died this week at 80. My mom, who played Jane, invariably referred to Cheetah as ‘that bastard.’ ” In a later post she added that “he bit her at every opportunity.”

December 5, 2011. Cumberland animal shelter considers 'bully breed' adoption ban

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Cumberland County officials are considering halting adoptions of so-called "bully breeds" of dogs that are linked with frequent attacks on people and other animals.

The county's Animal Control Advisory Board discussed the issue Monday night. Any policy change would have to be approved by the county Board of Commissioners.

The idea has created a backlash among animal rescue groups, and even Cumberland County Animal Control Director Dr. John Lauby said he considers it ill-advised.

"I have never said I wanted to ban a breed or any specific breed, and the reason is I know from statistics (that) banning breeds doesn't work," Lauby said.

He said he would prefer to do more screening of people upfront to ensure breeds like rottweilers, pit bulls and chows are going to people who know how to care for them and won't use them for breeding or allow them to roam freely.

But Cristóbal Berry-Cabán, chairman of the animal control board, said the animal shelter doesn't have the resources to check up on all potential adopters. He said the shelter would try to send such breeds to rescue groups, but if no group can be found to take the dogs, the shelter would have to kill them.

The Cumberland County Animal Shelter kills about 1,000 animals a month.

Lauby said he has gotten death threats since word of the adoption ban surfaced, even though he doesn't support it.

"I have 15,000 emails waiting for me," he said.

"I think it's the craziest thing I've ever heard," Shelby Townsend, director of advocacy group Unchain Cumberland County, said of the proposed ban. "It's not going to happen. People aren't going to stand for that. It's not the bully breeds that are the problem; it's the people who own them."

County Commissioner Charles Evans said he won't support a breed-specific kill policy at the shelter if the idea comes to the Board of Commissioners for approval.

"I don't think that's sensible, to simply euthanize all these animals," Evans said. "No, we can't do that. We can't do that."

DANGEROUS ANIMAL ATTACKS NEWS
December 5, 2011. Smith. Henry official: Wild animal attacks low ‘Bat bites new rabies concern’

Rabid foxes, raccoons, and other wild animals, have not attacked local residents, or their pets, with as much frequency as in previous years, according to recently released figures from Henry County animal-control workers.

#However, the same animal control officials said they are concerned about the rabies threat bats are posing, if they bite.

#“It’s not a common thing, but we’ve probably answered five or six calls this year, where bats had gotten into somebody’s house,” said Vince Farah, supervisor and rabies control officer for the Henry County Animal Care and Control Department. One resident was “bitten on the foot,” after getting out of bed.

#Farah’s remarks came as he spoke to members of the Henry County Board of Commissioners, Monday, on animal-bite cases from December of last year, to the present.

#Farah said his department responded to 276 animal bites, a total which is 20 more than last year. Dogs produced the most bites, 213 of them; followed by cats, 60, and three involved wild-animal attacks. Not all of the incidents involved bites that led to rabies.

#During rabies threats, Animal-control officers, this year, quarantined three one-mile areas of the county. Those quarantines took place in the Martin’s Creek subdivision, off

Fairview Road

, in the northern portion of the county; the Crown Corners subdivision, near Price Quarters Road, in McDonough; and the Willow Hill subdivision off Eagle’s

Landing Parkway

, in Stockbridge.

#The number of rabies cases in the county, as a whole, was down from previous years. In 2009, there were 11 rabies cases, followed by six cases in 2010, and four cases this year, said Farah.

#“We submitted 32 animals for testing, 16 of which were domesticated,” said Farah. “Sixteen were wild animals. Only four of these animals tested positive for rabies — two less than last year. The ones that tested positive were one fox, two raccoons and one bat. Three of the animals were killed by the victims. One of them was able to capture it, and we put it down,” said the rabies control officer.

#“We executed 123, ten-day, animal shelter quarantines, and 122 home quarantines,” said Farah. “We had 38 animals that were unavailable for testing. In those cases, we directed victims to seek medical advice from a physician for the possibility of rabies treatments.”

#There were no reports this year of domesticated animals with rabies locally. Farah said in rabies cases, animals are tested for the virus at the animal shelter, in McDonough, and the tests are sent off to the Georgia Public Health Laboratory’s Department of Community Health.

December 4, 2011 200. Justin Graeber .Pit bull defenders: blame the owners, not the dogs

Bridgewater attack renews debate over breed with dangerous reputation

BRIDGEWATER — It’s a familiar story: The family dog suddenly and viciously attacks a child.

Except in this case, it wasn’t a pit bull but a Labrador Retriever, a breed normally thought of as docile and safe for families with small children.

Whitman Animal Control officer Bob Hammond recalls this story every time a pit bull makes news like the one in Bridgewater that bit off part of a woman’s face.

The incident rekindled the debate on online comment sections and elsewhere over whether pit bulls are particularly dangerous dogs.

Hammond believes it’s not the breed that makes a bad dog, but rather a lack of training, a bad owner or poor breeding.

“There are other dogs that do it,” Hammond said. He’s been working in animal control since 1972. “The people are more dangerous than the dog is.”

News of the attack inside a Bridgewater home on Thursday quickly spread across the country. A pit bull named Rex bit 71-year-old Normanda Torres in the face, tearing off half her nose and part of her mouth and chin.

The dog was destroyed at New England Animal Medical Center in West Bridgewater so that the body parts could be retrieved from the animal’s stomach. The tissue was cleaned, packed in ice and rushed to Brigham and Women’s Hospital where Torres underwent facial reconstructive surgery.

The Boston hospital earlier this year performed the first face transplant in the U.S. and has performed two others since.

As of Friday, Torres was listed in critical condition. The family has since requested that the hospital not release her condition.

Bridgewater police have not yet filed any charges in the case. Torres relatives told police that the dog had bitten two people prior to attacking her. The previous bites were not reported to police before Thursday.

Merry Young, who runs a pit bull rescue organization called Brave Heart Rescue in Lakeville, is a defender of the breed.

“Every breed of dog has some dogs that are aggressive and some that aren’t,” she said.

She blamed media reports of other pit bull attacks on humans as the reason the breed gets a bad rap.

But reports describing horrific, sometimes fatal attacks by the dogs known for their muscularity, unsurpassed jaw strength and biting ability are not uncommon. Neither is the stereotyping that extends to pit bull owners as people seeking to be thought of as tough guys, or worse.

Diane Chimbur, a volunteer at Brockton Blue Dog shelter said pit bulls have an undeserved bad reputation. “They’re just big babies, most of them,” she said.

Yet studies show that pit bulls attack people more than other breeds. A 2000 study, that looked at fatal human attacks, found that pit bull-types and Rottweilers were involved in more than half of dog-bite related deaths between 1979 and 1998.

The study also noted, however, the difficulty in determining a dog’s breed, and concluded that breed-specific ordinances may not be the most effective way to prevent attacks on humans.

“Fatal attacks represent a small proportion of dog bite injuries to humans and therefore, should not be the primary factor driving public policy concerning dangerous dogs,” the study’s authors wrote in the Journal Of The American Veterinary Medical Association.

Pit bulls are an increasingly popular breed, despite their reputation. An officer at Brockton Animal Control said that pit bulls are the “dominant breed” his department deals with each day.

Technically, pit bull is not a breed. American Staffordshire terrier is just one of a number of breeds lumped into the pit bull category.

At the Blue Dog shelter, Chimbur said she sometimes sees the eyes of a potential adoptive family “go wide” when they learn a certain dog is a pit bull.

“If they met this nice dog, they might feel differently,” she said, noting the shelter does extensive training and education.

Young said she understands the seriousness of dog bites.

“Your heart goes out to their families,” she said. “But most of the time it was a dog that wasn’t raised properly.”

December 5, 2011. KREM.com.Woman tries to stop pit bull as it attacks, kills her dog

SPOKANE—A woman in northwest Spokane is recovering after wrestling with a pit bull that attacked and killed her dog.

The victim says she even bit the pit bull’s ear to try to get the dog to let go.

The victim says she was on her routine morning walk along I street with her neighbor and two dogs.  She says the pit bull came right at them.

Laurinda Snow’s 4-year-old Yorky named Beethoven was attacked by a pit bull that came out of an alley.  Snow says the pit bull grabbed Beethoven in his mouth and would not let go.

Surveillance video captured the entire attack.  Snow’s neighbor grabbed a hold of Snow’s other dog.  At the same time, she tried to hit the pit bull to try to get it to let go of Beethoven.  She even tried to bit the dog’s ear.

The pit bull finally took off after another neighbor ran to help, but it still had a hold of Snow’s small dog.  They say the pit bull eventually dropped Beethoven in a yard.  Snow says Beethoven was dead when they found him with a broken back.

Snow says she went to urgent care Monday afternoon to be treated for a dog bite to a finger.

The pit bull’s owner caught the dog and turned it over to SpokAnimal.  Officials say the pit bull’s owner has several options of what to do because of the attack.  Officials say the owner of the pit bull can have the dog euthanized, appeal the case, or take out dangerous dog insurance and other protective measures on the animal.

November 30, 2011. Mike Koozmin. Bloody vigilantism: Angry mob attacks alleged dog choker at Occupy SF

A man who bystanders say choked a dog at the Occupy SF encampment in Justin Herman Plaza was beat up by an angry mob Wednesday afternoon.

San Francisco police took the bloody man into custody while waiting for animal control to show up to determine if the injuries to the dog warranted a felony arrest.

Paramedics were called to attend to the man's injuries, which included bleeding from the left eye.

November 30, 2011. Angela Delli Santi Associated Press. Animal groups aim to halt N.J. black bear hunt

During an appeals court hearing, they argued that the rationale for the annual event was based on faulty data.

TRENTON - Animal protection groups seeking to stop New Jersey's black bear hunt from getting under way told an appeals court Tuesday that the hunt was based on faulty data - exaggerated numbers of bear-human incidents and unreliable population counts that put too many pregnant female bears at risk of being hunted.

Two animal-rights groups sued the state last year, challenging the bear management policy that allows an annual six-day hunt. The activists failed to stop last year's hunt, in which 592 black bears were killed, but the lawsuit was allowed to continue on its merits.

Last year's hunt was the first in five years. A similar legal challenge succeeded in 2007, and no hunt was held. An appeals panel found flaws with the management policy and ruled that the 2005 hunt should not have taken place.

Tuesday's oral arguments before a three-judge panel focused on the Division of Fish and Wildlife's 2010 comprehensive bear management policy, which includes a hunt. The state maintains that a hunt is needed to keep the black bear population of around 3,400 in check.

A ruling is expected before Monday, the hunt's scheduled start date. An appeal to the state Supreme Court is possible.

Bears have been spotted in 19 of 21 counties this year. The Department of Environmental Protection has recorded 2,667 reports of bear activity through October, a number that includes bear sightings, attacks on livestock, 46 home entries, and 516 reports of bears picking through garbage.

Doris Lin, a lawyer for the Animal Protection League of New Jersey and the Bear Education Resource Group, asked the appeals panel to cancel the hunt and invalidate the bear management policy. She maintains that the policy is based on skewed data and is therefore unreliable.

For example, the number of bear complaints reported by the state rose in the years from 2007 to 2009, but Lin says that's because data were being collected from 32 police departments in 2009 but just 17 departments two years earlier.

The state didn't dispute the discrepancy or the fact that pregnant bears don't enjoy absolute protection during a hunt. But Deputy Attorney General Dean Jablonski, who argued for the state, said the bear management policy was based on reasoned decision-making and the best data available at the time.

For example, he said, the state now recognizes that there are more female bears than males in New Jersey, which wasn't true a decade ago, and that about half are of breeding age, a smaller percentage than previously thought. Such changes in the local bear population help guide the policy, he said.

Anna Seidman, a lawyer for the New Jersey Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs and Safari Club International, told the panel that recreational hunting helps maintain a sustainable, genetically sound bear population. She also said the data collected from hunted bears helped wildlife officials better understand and manage the bear population.

The hunt is held concurrently with the firearm deer season. Bear hunting is allowed in the northwestern part of the state, north of I-78 and west of I-287.

Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the hunt could be halted early if enough bears were killed.

With about 900 bear cubs born in the last year and an estimated 80 percent of them surviving, last year's hunt essentially kept the black bear population stable, he said.

Besides a hunt, the Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy developed by the Division of Fish and Wildlife includes education, a bear feeding ban, and aversive conditioning.

November 27, 2011. Wolfgang's Kenya conservation news – 87 more tusks found in container destined for China
VIGILANT OFFICIALS SEIZE 87 ELEPHANT TUSKS

A Hong Kong bound container with 87 elephant tusks was seized over the weekend in Nairobi, when alert customs and security officials opened the container for a physical spot check, after various inconsistencies rang the alarm bells and raised suspicion of illicit contraband being hidden amongst the consignment of handicraft for importers in China. The entire container was subsequently scanned before being opened, at which stage the blood ivory was discovered hidden amongst other export items in the various crates.


Chinas reluctance in joining Africa to combat poaching with more draconian measures has been largely blamed for the rocketing rise in poaching across the continent, with rhino horn and ivory the main targets of poachers, costing South Africa alone over 300 rhinos this year, with one reportedly being killed ever 21 hours for the prized, but otherwise useless horn. Importers attribute healing properties to the ground horn, but experts say it would just be as good if the beneficiaries of such concoctions would bit off and eat their own finger nails, which is made of the very same substance as rhino horn.


African wildlife managers, conservationists and globally active NGOs have sharply critizised African governments too of dragging their feet in significantly raising the stakes in terms of fines and sentences for poachers and smugglers, and while making every effort within the resources available, seem to be fighting a losing battle against organized commercial poaching and smuggling operations.
Meanwhile though full kudos to the Kenyan officials who intercepted this latest shipment of blood ivory, while mourning the loss of at least another 44 elephant.

 Nov. 22, 2011Lindsey Morone Expert: Pit Bull attacks are quite rare

MILWAUKEE- There is a pit bull problem in Milwaukee. Cities across the country are banning pit bulls after numerous vicious attacks. It is a controversial issue. Some say pit bulls are misunderstood and get a bad rap. TODAY'S TMJ4 set out to find the truth about pit bulls.


In a Waukesha neighborhood, there is hope that good fences make good dogs, especially after what happened six months ago.


"I just remember yelling and screaming and jumping over the fence," says Chris Bartosz. 


Bartosz now has scars on his arms and legs. Though his wounds have healed, he has not forgotten the pain of being bit. He was attacked when he helped save his neighbor from two angry pit bulls. 


"There was blood all over the floor and all over her," remembers Bartosz. 


Sergeant Gerald Habanek with the Waukesha Police Department remembers the attack too. He remembers how a woman was almost killed by a family pet named Prince. 


"The dog nearly chewed apart a 52-year-old woman," says Sergeant Habanek. 


Police say Prince continued to be aggressive long after the woman was taken to the hospital. They say Prince lunged at the fence. They feared the fence would not hold. Newly released dash cam video shows an officer climbing up on top of his squad car, shooting, and killing Prince. 


"In this case, it was a threat from a vicious animal that had already mauled a human being. You absolutely have to put the dog down," explains Habanek.


Waukesha is not alone. In Sheboygan, a 9-year-old was attacked when walking his Chihuahua. There was another pit bull attack in Racine. Most recently, there was another attack in Sheboygan. A 2 year-old was attacked by the family pit bull. 


"They just get a lot of press, a lot of media attention," explains Officer John McDowell with Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control (MADAC).


There are a lot of opinions about pit bulls. TODAY'S TMJ4 looks at the facts. Since 2008, the top three breeds that bit the most, that were taken in to MADAC are as followed: Labs, with 40 bites, then, German Shephards with 68 bites, and coming out on top, Pit Bulls, with 302 bites. 


However, there are a lot of pit bulls at MADAC. In fact, there are more pit bulls than any other breed. They make up 40% of the population at MADAC. But of all the 302 pit bulls that were brought to MADAC, only 4% of them came to the facility because they hurt someone. What the numbers actually show is that pit bulls bite just about as often as any other dog. 3% of the Labs taken in were because they bit someone. German Shephards came out on top at 5%.


Via Skype, Colleen Lyn, who created Dogsbite.org, says a pit bull's bite is worse than other dogs." She was attacked by a pit bull 4 years-ago.


"They are born with a dangerous toolset," explains Lyn. "They have a very unique bite style: lock, and hold, and shake. That is what causes extreme damage to victims," says Lyn.


It is true. Pit bulls are terriers and terriers are known to be maulers.


"That means they grab a hold of someone or something and they don't let go. They start to shake," says Officer McDowell.


That was the case of the pit bull attack in Waukesha six months ago. 


"Officers when they responded said that they saw blood and muscles, fatty tissue on the ground in the kitchen after the attack," says Sergeant Habanek.


Without question, the attack in Waukesha was brutal. However, Officer McDowell says what happened was extremely rare.


"If we were to look at the records right now we would find out that the average pit bull bite is no better or no worse than the average German Shepherd bite or Rottweiler bite. In other words they bite and they let go like most other dogs," says McDowell.


The numbers do reveal that there is a pit bull problem in Milwaukee. Though, it is not because of how often the breeds bite. It is because they are so popular and owners are over-breeding them. Experts say when the over-breeding occurs at this magnitude, that is when you can really start to see problems with the breed.

November 21, 2011. Treatment of Traumatic Tiger Attack in a Child

Source: American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)

Newswise — Charlottesville, Va. (Nov. 18, 2011) – Exotic animals—wild animals unsuited to domestication—are increasingly housed in domestic settings. This sometimes leads to traumatic attacks suffered by owners or visitors. An example of a tiger attack on a child is described in the November issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.

In their article, “Traumatic tiger attack. Case report,” authors Marvin Chum and Wai Pui Ng (University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada) describe the neurosurgical, vascular, otolaryngological, and psychological injuries sustained by an 11-year-old boy who was attacked by a Siberian tiger housed at a private home. The boy, invited to view the animal, made a sudden unexpected movement, and the tiger responded by pouncing upon and mauling the child. Swift action by the trainer, who was holding the animal on a leash, saved the child from death.

The boy sustained multiple linear lacerations over his left posterior temporal scalp and puncture wounds in his left parietal, temporal, and neck regions. He had a comminuted depressed skull fracture of the left temporal lobe as well as a left occipital condyle fracture. Further investigations also revealed an underlying temporal lobe contusion and dissection of his left internal carotid artery. Not surprisingly, the child suffered greatly from anxiety over the event and its immediate physical consequences, including left facial weakness and swallowing difficulties.

The authors describe surgical procedures and medical therapies needed to treat the child. Special attention was made to avoid infection from the unique bacteria housed in the tiger’s mouth together with the potentially dangerous, normal flora of the patient’s lacerated skin. Chum and Ng provide a detailed description of the mode of injury in a traumatic tiger bite and the therapies required to respond to these bites.

The child recovered well, although the facial weakness, aspiration, and hoarseness persisted two years after the attack.

The authors emphasize that the most important lesson to be learned from this case is prevention, and they encourage that government policy—in their case, that of the Canadian government—be updated to “minimize inappropriate contact between animals and the public and ban private ownership of large cats.”

Chum M, Ng WP. Traumatic tiger attack. Case report. Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics 8:530–¬534, 2011; DOI: 10.3171/2011.8.PEDS10593.

November 11, 2011. Charli Engelhorn. Local residents raise concerns about illegal dumping of animal carcasses

Animal carcasses illegally dumped near two popular trails have raised the concerns by local residents living near those areas. In the last two weeks, four elk carcasses were dumped at the side of the Hidden Valley Trail and a number of cow hides and carcasses and a deer carcass were found off the road behind the Moab Rim RV Campground. Both areas are south of Moab off U.S. 191.

“Typically, illegal dumping issues go with the county,” said T.J. Robertson, conservation officer for the state Division of Wildlife Resources Southeastern Region. “If I get a call, then I will go out and look for evidence and take photos of footprints and tire tracks to find the person responsible. It’s not our policy to remove the carcasses, but we know it’s not a good thing for visitors and residents using the trails to see that.”

Dan Rusk, who has been living at the RV campground for two years, said that the carcass dumping is an eyesore for tourists coming to town but also poses a number of other concerns as well.

“When the wind is blowing the right way, the smell blows down into the campground and into town and stinks to high heaven,” Rusk said. “It has been amazing how many people say that Moab is a beautiful place, but there is a lot of garbage lying around. These are tourist dollars that support the community, and we want them to keep coming back.”

Rusk said the illegal dumping issue extends beyond cow and elk carcasses. Last year, in addition to three elk carcasses, a number of dead skunks were dumped behind the RV park, and members of the recycling center came and picked up three couches discarded behind the property and buckets of animal innards that had been left there, as well. Rusk said he believes local residents are responsible for the dumping, based on the items he has seen.

Grand County resident Marvin Day lives down the road from the beginning of the Hidden Valley Trail. He said his concerns regarding the carcasses go beyond the negative aesthetic aspects.

“It’s a little aggravating. Coyotes are coming down and feeding on the carcasses. And people have pets they are trying to walk here. Most people turn their dogs loose, and they go straight for the carcasses. A coyote probably wouldn’t think twice about leaving the carcass and going after a smaller dog,” said Day, who said that earlier on Monday morning he was told by a hiker that he had just seen a coyote chewing on one of the carcasses. “We don’t need that to happen. It was reported over two weeks ago, and I’m not sure why they’re not moving them. If they don’t move them soon, I’m just going to do it myself.”

Robertson said he and a Grand County Sheriff’s deputy went and investigated the Hidden Valley carcasses. He said the deputy told him he was going to follow up on the issue. The Grand County Sheriff’s Department said this week that the matter is still under investigation.

A number of motives may be behind the illegal disposal of animal carcasses, according to Robertson. Hunters may be avoiding paying the $5 fee to discard their animals at the Bob’s Sanitation transfer station, or they simply may not want to wait through the weekend to rid themselves of the carcass, as the transfer station is not open on Sundays. Robertson said hunters may also be using the animal incorrectly or may be poachers who are trying to avoid punishment.

“They are supposed to take every usable part and piece of meat so there is no wasting on the animal,” Robertson said. “If they took the animal illegally, then there are more charges they could face, some leading up to a felony.”

Rusk said he would like to see the hunters disposing of their game according to what they are required to do by law and be responsible and considerate of the community. Robertson agreed, saying he wished the hunters would consider taking the animals to a location where they will not be in view of the public or near trails.

“We don’t enforce illegal dumping, but we try to move the carcasses into another area,” Robertson said. “These hunters are giving law-abiding hunters a bad name.”

November 10, 2011. Clifford Ward. 2 arrested in animal hoarding of more than 40 cats and dogs in Elmwood Park. 


Charges are pending against two people in the hoarding of more than 40 cats and dogs in an Elmwood Park home, police said Thursday

Authorities were alerted to the situation when a small fire was reported around 7 p.m. Wednesday at the home in the 1600 block of

76th Avenue

, Elmwood Park Police Chief Frank Fagiano said Thursday.

Firefighters were able to put out the minor blaze quickly, and then alerted police to the many animals inside, he said, Elmwood Park police alerted the Cook County Animal Control department, which took possession of 22 dogs and 21 cats, some of which were in poor condition, the chief said.

The animals have been taken to a shelter, Fagiano said. 

The village ordinances allow a maximum of three cats or dogs, said the chief, who said the investigation is ongoing.

November 09, 2011. The Democrat. Dog attacks create fear

Following a recent rash of animal attacks in Senatobia, the city is looking at its options for acquiring an animal control officer.

According to Senatobia/Tate County Animal Shelter director Heidi Terrell, the shelter received call after call in October from people needing assistance with animals. The police department responds, but officers aren't trained to handle animal control situations, she said.

"It's not just in the county; it is in the city constantly. There's so many times when we have no one to respond. Then when we do have people responding, they're not trained animal control officers. Our police department is doing the best they can with vicious animals and other complaints," Terrell said.

Terrell told the Board of Aldermen that in the month of October alone, the police department captured and brought eight dogs in to the shelter, and some of the dogs were vicious.

"Of these eight dogs, two of them were deemed vicious. When I say they were deemed vicious, they were not very nice boys. They would absolutely bite you unprovoked," Terrell said. One Senatobia police officer was bitten by a pit bull last month, according to Terrell.

"There were actually two pit bulls that they were chasing, and we don't know what happened to the other one, but it was not captured. The first one was captured and had to be shot to keep it from further attacking the police officer," Terrell said.

Terrell made mention of two other incidents: one in which a vicious Rottweiler had three men pinned on public property inside the city. She said the dog had to be darted and brought in to the shelter. The other story was about a teenager being bitten by a neighbor's dog, which, unprovoked, had escaped a chain that was tied to a garage, which according to Terrell is against the city's animal ordinance code in the first place. The dog was deemed vicious and Terrell said the shelter is following up to assure that it is being kept properly according to the ordinance.

"I just recommend that the city start thinking about a trained animal control officer to enforce our ordinance. Right now, it's only partially being enforced. I feel like we could solve a lot of these animal problems if we had someone," Terrell said. The animal control officer would also be able to respond to calls for investigations into animal cruelty to determine whether there is neglect.

Senatobia Mayor Alan Callicott asked Terrell about the salary range for an animal control officer, and Terrell mentioned two separate approaches to acquiring one.

"We can approach it from different directions. We can hire someone and they can be a part of the shelter, or we can use somebody that's already working for the city, whether it's a police officer or maybe a utility department person," Terrell said.

In order to be trained for animal control, one would need to be sent to a National Animal Control Association (NACA) course. According to Terrell, the first level of training is one week long. 

"They're trained in how to capture these animals, to look at the body language of the animals. They know how to fill out reports and they'll know how to go to court when these people are fined for breaking the ordinance," Terrell said. "They can respond to these issues and they're trained to do so." Someone already employed by the city would have to attend the training and would be on call seven days per week, but the position would be a pay increase incentive.

The board tabled the matter in order to conduct salary research. 

The matter may be revisited at a later time. Terrell said she could look into animal control officer salaries in DeSoto County and Southaven as they each currently have about three animal control officers on staff.

"I just think that we need to think about being proactive before someone is not just bitten, but before they're mauled by an animal," Terrell said. "They're out there doing a job that they're not trained for."

November 1, 2011. Lauren Williams. Coyote badgers jogger, dogs near Back Bay

Animal Control recommends keeping dogs on leashes and securing pets' food to prevent interactions. An equestrian rescued a man and his dogs from a coyote Tuesday in Newport Beach.

Brian Clarkson, 37, said he was jogging on a trail near the Back Bay with his two Yorkie mixes when a man on a horse spotted a coyote running toward them.

About 8 a.m. near

University Drive

and

Irvine Avenue

, Clarkson met up with the coyote, which he said "seemed hungry and desperate." The rider yelled at the coyote, which was only momentarily deterred, according to Clarkson, who added that the animal continued to follow him and his dogs from bushes across the street.

Seeing this, the rider escorted Clarkson part of the way on the trail, until Clarkson could report the incident to park rangers. "I've never been chased by a coyote looking for a kill before," Clarkson said. Newport Beach Police Department Senior Animal Control Officer Valerie Schomburg said that the city typically sees an increase in coyotes in the fall stemming from the birth of pups in the spring.

Although the city doesn't trap the animals, if animal-control workers hear of erratic behavior from a coyote multiple times, they involve the state Department of Fish and Game.

There have been no known attacks on people in Newport Beach, Schomburg said. "Usually, they're startled, just like people are," she said. "Most wild animals are going to flee rather than fight you." Schomburg recommends not letting dogs off the leash, and keeping pet food secured at home.

October 31 2011. AP, Published: Wyoming hunter escapes Grand Teton National Park grizzly bear attack with minor injuries

MOOSE, Wyo. — A grizzly bear has attacked another person in the Yellowstone region, this time a Wyoming hunter who said the animal came at him with so little warning he had no time to use the pepper spray he was carrying for defense in just such a predicament.

This has been a dangerous year in grizzly country: The big bears that can weigh more than 450 pounds have attacked about 10 people in and around Yellowstone National Park, killing two hikers in separate attacks in Yellowstone.

Elk hunter Timothy Hix, 32, of Jackson, was listed in good condition after being attacked in nearby Grand Teton National Park on Sunday. Park officials expected him to be released Monday from St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson.

Hix told rangers he surprised what he believed was a grizzly bear about five to 10 yards away south of Glacier View overlook on Sunday. He said the bear ran at him but he wasn’t able to grab his pepper spray, so he dropped to the ground, covered his head and remained still.

“He reported that the bear bit him a couple times and might have swiped him,” park spokeswoman Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles said Monday.

Park officials said rangers believe the attack was a surprise encounter with a lone grizzly bear but noted that the investigation was still continuing. Authorities closed off an area measuring about a half-mile to a side after the attack.

Unlike most national parks, Grand Teton allows hunting during part of the year. The park’s annual elk hunting program began Oct. 8. Hix hadn’t killed any elk before encountering the bear.

The hunter responded appropriately to the attack, Anzelmo-Sarles said. “Sounds like he was doing everything right,” she said. “We want to commend him for doing the homework ahead of time.”  There have been six recorded bear attacks in the history of Grand Teton National Park. Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

October 27, 2011. John West, Special to CNN. Putting Australia's shark attacks in perspective 

John West is currently the Manager of Life Sciences Operations at Taronga and Taronga Western Plains Zoos. He is been the Curator of the Australian Shark Attack File supported by the Taronga Conservation Society Australia (TCSA) for the last 30 years.

(CNN) -- There is no doubt that the three recent fatal shark attacks in Western Australia involve great white sharks. This species is known to inhabit the shallow waters along this coast and are known to migrate south around this time of the year to the seal colonies on the southwest coast.

While they may stay around seal colonies -- their natural prey -- for months, they are not noted for sitting off a beach waiting for food to turn up. They are mostly individual, transient, inquisitive animals that will investigate objects in the water. Swimming, surfing or diving alone near aquatic animals (including seals and dolphins) far from the beach early in the morning or late in the evening may well attract a curious shark and increase the risk of encountering one. As the population increases and water-related activities become more popular, the number of people who go into the water every day also increases. But the chance of encountering a shark still remains very low. 

American killed in shark attack off Western Australia

Most Australians understand the risk when they enter the ocean.

Over the past 50 years, only one person has been killed by a shark each year in Australia on average, compared to the 87 people who drown at Australian beaches on average each year, according to Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA). Therefore, the hysteria in the media surrounding a shark attack seems disproportional to other fatal incidents.  Shark attack victim 'one of a kind' Historically human-shark interactions predominantly occurred in the summer months. But in recent decades, swimmers, surfers and divers are continuing to pursue these activities outside of the traditional summer season because of improvements in wetsuit technology.

This is reflected in the occurrence of shark attacks throughout the year since the 1950s; particularly for surfers, snorkelers and SCUBA divers who can enter the water at any time of the year and extend the time they spend in the water in areas that, in earlier decades, were likely to be too cold for recreational purposes. In the past 20 years, 49% of all shark-attack victims were wearing a wetsuit. There have been 26 attacks recorded in the cooler months (May-August) during the past two decades, resulting in six fatalities compared with 15 incidents -- resulting in four fatalities -- during the same months in the previous 20-year period. There is no suggestion that wetsuits in themselves are the cause of an attack, but rather that their use has allowed people to extend their time in the water, increasing the risk of encountering a shark.

The frequency of attacks also reflects the popularity of water-based activities in harbors, estuarine areas and rivers, with people more likely to encounter species such as bull sharks, which have a propensity to inhabit shallow nearshore coastal areas, bays, harbors and rivers in summer months.

In the vast majority of cases, sharks involved in an attack on humans do not stay around the area and can swim 80 to 100 km away by the next day. Unfortunately other sharks may later swim into the area and may be blamed for the attack. Hunting down and killing sharks on suspicion of being responsible is unjustifiable.

However, if the animal can be identified and has not left the area, it would be appropriate to remove it. But once the animal swims away it would be almost impossible to know which shark was responsible.

Shark attacks are a reality of entering the ocean, but it is worth emphasizing that they are very rare events.

Even If you do encounter a shark, the chances of being attacked are very small.

October 27, 2011. BRYAN WALSH | Time.com. Why Coke Is Going White for Polar Bears 

The 125-year-old Coca-Cola Company doesn't like to mess with its brand image. That's in part because it's so valuable — according to Interbrand Coke has the best brand in the world — but also because previous efforts to tweak its image haven't always worked out so well, and sometimes lead to things like this.

So perhaps it's a measure of the company's dedication to the environment that Coca-Cola has decided to change the color of its iconic cans for the holiday season — white, to draw attention to the plight of the polar bear. Coke and the environmental group World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have joined together to promote the Arctic Home project, which will involve turning 1.4 billion Coke cans white, emblazoned with the image of a mother polar bear and her cubs pawing through the Arctic. There will also be white bottle caps on other Coke branded drinks, all running from the beginning of November to February. "In 125 years we've never changed the color of the Coke can," says Katie Bayne, president and GM of Coca-Cola Sparking Beverages. "We really see this as a bold gesture." (See the top 10 bad beverage ideas.)

Bold gestures are exactly what the polar bears needs. There's a reason the planet's largest land carnivores have emerged as the symbols of climate change — perhaps no species is more directly impacted by warming temperatures than the polar bear. They depend on Arctic sea ice as a major habitat and hunting ground, but sea ice is vanishing rapidly, shrinking to its second-lowest level on record this past summer. As the ice melts, polar bears are forced to swim further and further for food — and some, especially young cubs, simply won't make it. "We're watching the ice shrink in front of our eyes, and if there is no ice, there are no bears," says Carter Roberts, the president and CEO of WWF. "The polar bears need our help."

One way to help them, of course, is to reduce carbon emissions and blunt the worst effects of global warming. That's ... not really happening all that quickly. So that leaves adaptation, which for polar bears means locating the areas of Arctic sea ice that might be less vulnerable to warming. 


That's exactly what WWF is trying to do, identifying the Last Ice area that may remain solid long after other areas of the Arctic have melted. The group is working with Canadian government and the local Inuit community to create a kind of climate refuge in the Last Ice capable of supporting polar bears for decades into the future. "We aren't creating the Last Ice area — climate change is," says Geoff York, the WWF's polar bear expert. "We just want to make sure that the conditions are there to support the polar bears and the people who will be living with them." (See pictures of Germany's Latest Polar Bear Celebrity.)

That's going to take a lot of research — York points out that the high Arctic area is "one of the least understood places on Earth" — and that research is going to cost money, potentially as much as $10 million. (It's not cheap operating in the remote ice.) That's where Coke comes in. The company — which has used polar bears in its holiday ads for decades — is donating $2 million to WWF, and will match consumer donations through March 15 up to $1 million. Individuals will be able to text donations at a dollar apiece to 357357, or donate online at Arctichome.com. "Coke has made a kind of foundational commitment that has never before been seen in our history," says Roberts. "They're taking their biggest promotional season and dedicating it to this cause."

It'll take a lot more than soda to save the polar bears, which are already listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. But a little highly carbonated holiday cheer won't hurt.

Oct 27, 2011. Anniston Star. Pit bull attacks man's farm animals west of Anniston, police say

A brown pit bull Tuesday attacked a llama and two goats and was found eating a third goat at a

Bagley Drive

residence, Anniston police said.

Investigators Wednesday were looking into the incident after the 56-year-old man who owns the residence and the livestock reported the animal attacks to police. The man told officers that he first noticed a problem when he went outside Tuesday morning around 5 to feed his llama. The animal was suffering from injuries and bite marks to its left leg, a police report shows.

Then the man noticed that two of his goats were missing. He reported that he saw a brown pit bull with a spiked collar running through his yard in the 600 block of Bagley Drive, a street west of Anniston but in the police jurisdiction near Bynum-Leatherwood Road. As he walked through his yard, the man found one goat with both of its ears torn off and another with severe throat injuries, police Capt. Richard Smith said.

Then, in another area of the property, the homeowner caught the pit bull as it ate the third goat, Smith said. The man told police he retrieved a rifle from his house and shot at the dog but doesn’t know whether he hit it. Investigators Wednesday were gathering information about whether the dog has owners and who they are. Smith said the owner could be prosecuted for letting the pit bull run loose, a misdemeanor crime whose perpetrators “shall be fined not less than double the damages sustained by the injured party or parties,” according to the Alabama criminal code.

Persons convicted of the crime can also be sentenced to jail or hard labor for up to six months.


October 25, 2011.  Group: Last Javan rhino in Vietnam killed for horn

By MIKE IVES, Associated

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam has lost its fight to save its rare Javan rhinoceros population after poachers apparently killed the country's last animal for its horn, pushing one of the world's most endangered species closer to extinction, a conservation group said Tuesday. Vietnam's Cat Tien National Park has had no sightings, footprints or dung from live rhinos since the last known animal living there was found dead last April, shot through the leg with its horn chopped off, the WWF said. Genetic analysis of rhino feces had confirmed in 2004 that at least two rhinos were living in the park, raising hopes that Vietnam's population might survive.

Only 40 to 60 Javan rhinos now remain in Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia. They are the last known living members of the species, with none in captivity. Vietnam's Javan rhino population had been shrinking for decades as land conversion and a rising local population threatened the animal's habitat, but poaching and a lack of effective park management and patrols hastened the decline, said Christy Williams, coordinator of WWF's Asian Elephant and Rhino Program. "It appears that protection is not being given a high priority by the Vietnamese government," he said.

Park director Tran Van Thanh said that while some of his rangers failed to fulfill their duties, it is impossible for them to stop all of the estimated 100,000 people living near the park from hunting exotic animals when the average farmer there earns around 150,000 dong ($7.50) per day. "We're not trying to avoid our responsibility in the death of the rhinos, but we've done our best to protect them," Thanh said. Demand for rhino horn has surged in recent years among 


Vietnamese and Chinese who believe it can cure an array of ailments. Horns can now fetch up to $50,000 per pound (about $100,000 per kilogram), the WWF report said Tuesday. A small amount of ground-up powder can bring hundreds of dollars on the black market. Global demand has also increased in the last four to five years as some people have begun to consider rhino horn a remedy for cancer, Williams said.

WWF, along with the International Rhino Foundation, confirmed that the last rhino had died in Vietnam by collecting and analyzing its feces. Twenty-two of the rhino's dung piles were found in Cat Tien from October 2009 to February 5, 2010, but no dung piles or fresh rhino footprints were seen in the subsequent nine weeks, the 44-page report said.

Before 1988, the Javan rhino was believed to be extinct from mainland Asia. A small population was then discovered in Vietnam's park, and for the past 20 years, a number of wildlife conservationists have worked closely with the government to try to prevent the species from dying out in Vietnam. But the rhino's habitat has been cut in half since 1988 to about 74,000 acres (30,000 hectares) today. South Africa is a prime source country for rhino horns. According to the South African government, a record 333 rhinos were poached in 2010 — a nearly threefold increase from 2009.

In September, Vietnamese officials traveled to South Africa to address the problem, three years after Hanoi recalled a diplomat from its embassy there after she was caught on tape receiving illegal rhino horns. Ha Cong Tuan, an environmental affairs official, called on Vietnamese medical researchers to study what he called the "rumor" that rhino horn cures cancer and then publicize their findings. The WWF report said Vietnam is on the verge of an "extinction crisis" with several other species — including the saola and the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey — threatened by deforestation, widespread poaching and a "largely uncontrolled" illegal wildlife trade.

Cat Tien was established in 1998 as a composite of three existing protected areas. From 1998 to 2004 WWF invested $6.3 million in the park, with up to $600,000 earmarked for rhino conservation work.  In Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, 100 grams (about 7 ounces) of crushed rhino horn retail for about 43 million dong ($2,150), with the average prescription costing 200,000 dong ($10), a rhino horn vendor in the city's bustling old quarter said Monday, requesting anonymity because the practice is illegal here.

October 25, 2011. Dogs Attacks - One Quarter of All Homeowners Claims

Tall dogs, fuzzy dogs, dogs that fit into purses; all of them are called man’s best friend. Fortunately, that is true of most house dogs, but sometimes we are sadly reminded that dogs are animals and are not rational. For this reason liability and casualty insurance companies are charging higher rates to cover dogs or just not covering some breeds.

Dog attacks account for about 25% of home owner claims. The cost of coverage has gone up about 6.4% more in 2009 than in the prior 12 months, with the average claim exceeding $24,000 for the third straight year, an industry group said. 

This is why many insurance carriers are not even covering certain breeds (rottweilers, dobermans, pit bulls, etc.) and dropping coverage on animals if they have any history of violence. One reason for the change in U.S. home insurance practices is the exposures presented by rising medical costs, plastic surgery for permanent dog bite scars and long-term emotional harm these animal attacks can cause, according to a Bloomberg Report.

The Herndon law firm ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. has recently been contacted by several victims of dog attacks in the Mid-Atlantic region. Doug Landau, an experienced attorney in canine attacks, notes “In some car accidents, the injured plaintiff never sees the defendant trucker or hit and run motorist. But in dog attack cases, the innocent victim feels the teeth, claws and grabbing; sees the dog, hears the sounds of the attack, and can even smell and sometimes taste the dog's saliva on her face. These are nightmarish experiences for anyone. The results the Landau Law Shop has had throughout the East Coast suggest that juries and judges take these harms and losses very seriously.”

Landau adds, “These are not ‘accidents,” they are usually intentional attacks and should be treated differently from an ‘accident case.” If you have questions regarding dog attacks or animal bite injuries, please e-mail or call us (703-796-9555 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            703-796-9555      end_of_the_skype_highlighting                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ) at The Herndon Law Shop, as there are legal time limits to bringing a claim for the losses caused by a dangerous dog's attack.

October 24, 2011 Australia Issues Kill Order After Shark Attacks

Baltimore Aquarium Director Hopes Australians Will Call Off Shark Hunt

BALTIMORE -- A series of shark attacks off the waters of Australia triggered a government kill order Monday, and local officials said they are hunting for the animal that killed an American over the weekend.

Great White Sharks are easily spotted from the air off the coast of Western Australia, but it's almost impossible to see them coming underwater.

Officials said that American Thomas Wainwright encountered a Great White while scuba diving Saturday and surfaced with fatal wounds, prompting the government to issue a kill order for the shark.

Some fear it could be the same predator that killed two other people in the same waters in recent weeks. Australian officials said they are baiting hooks throughout the area to catch the Great White that killed Wainwright, and the mission is alarming conservationists and marine biologists, including a shark expert from Baltimore. "Once the shark realizes it's not its intended prey, the shark swims away in 90 to 95 percent of attacks and bites. We're not really good food. We're not fatty. I would say in this case, we're not dealing with a rogue shark, we're dealing with a couple different sharks," Andy Dehart, the director of fisheries at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, said.

While Dehart doesn't agree with hunting great whites, he said he does understand why so many people seem to have a primal fear of the predators, because they can grow up to 20 feet long and have row upon row of teeth set into a massive jawbone. "My personal bet is that the shark is long gone -- moved a couple hundred miles up or down the shore tracking its normal prey items: seals and sea lions," Dehart said. Dehart pointed out that, despite the size advantage, sharks are more endangered by humans.

"Sharks are fished out of the ocean at a rate of 73 million per year. When you compare that to the 100 humans that are attacked every year with five to six fatalities, (it's almost nothing)," Dehart said.

Dehart said he hopes the Australians will call off the shark cull and rely more heavily on aerial surveillance to steer swimmers to safety.

While Dehart and other scientists see the shark attacks as accidents, many Australians in the tourism trade said they are pushing officials to take steps to make visitors feel safe enough to keep streaming into the waters Down Under.

October 24, 2011. Policies dictate handling of dangerous animals

BUCHANAN — Buchanan City commissioners took action Monday night in hopes of curbing animal attacks in the area.

The commission had been discussing the possibility of drafting a local dangerous animal ordinance after three residents were seriously injured in two pit bull attacks in September.

But the commissioners elected to keep the issue in the hands of the county, which already has an ordinance on the books.

Instead, the commission approved a series of policies to address the dangerous animal issue.

Four actions

The four policies are: to enhance the city’s police officers’ understanding of the county ordinance; have the county animal control agency provide additional animal control training to law enforcement; provide community education to animal owners; and request that the county commissioners consider changes to the county’s dangerous animal ordinance.

The commission had a work session last week to discuss the issue and City Manager Bill Marx recommended those policies based on the discussion.

Marx, who also serves as the city police chief, said officers have already had some additional training from animal control recently. The training included how to best approach and manage aggressive animals and how to streamline reports and citations to the prosecutor and court system regarding animal violations.

“It was very good training, a lot of good information,” Marx said.

Commissioner Pat Moore said the commission should contact the school board to encourage them to host training sessions from animal control for students as well.

The Buchanan commissioners also agreed to encourage the Berrien County board to consider stiffening the penalties for violations of the ordinance, although they won’t make any specific suggestions for changes.

Shades of gray

“The ordinance is very vague,” said commissioner Joe Scanlon. “There are a lot of gray areas in it. I’d like to see it tightened up a little bit. But it’s not the city of Buchanan’s place to tell the county what exact changes to make.”

Currently, violation of the ordinance is a 90-day misdemeanor with up to a $500 fine, according to Marx.

Oct 21, 2011,. BY MARA STINE. County animal control officials bait trap to catch alligator Creature reportedly seen on

Birdsdale Avenue

Gresham officials hope a heavily baited trap is enough to catch an alligator reported near a local stormwater collection pond on Friday, Oct. 21.

A business tenant near the pond in a wetland area in the 2200 block of

Northwest Birdsdale Avenue south

of

Burnside Road

, told Oregon Fish & Wildlife officials that he saw the 4- to 5-foot-long creature, said Laura Shepard, Gresham spokeswoman.

Multnomah County Animal Services responded by setting a trap in the stormwater pond, which acts as a basin to hold rainwater from the surrounding area.

City officials “haven’t positively identified it,” but suspect the creature is either an alligator or a Caiman, Shepard said. Caimans are a smaller, less-dangerous-to-human alligator native of Mexico and Central and South America.

Considering that neither one is native to the Northwest, “We suspect that someone has dumped a pet, and it could be hungry,” Shepard said.

Anyone experiencing a similar sighting is encouraged to call Multnomah County Animal Control, 503-988-7387 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            503-988-7387      end_of_the_skype_highlighting                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         (PETS).

October 20, 2011. Exotic Animal Zanesville Carcasses Hunted by Exploiters Seeking Trophies. 

By CHRISTINA CARON (@cdcaron) People hoping to profit from the death of nearly 50 exotic animals that escaped from a farm in Zanesville, Ohio, after the preserve owner shot and killed himself, have been contacting the sheriff's office, interested in taking the animals to a taxidermist.

"We've gotten calls and e-mails about what [is] going to happen to the animals ... could they be obtained for these types of things," said Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz. "There's a lot of people who would pay a lot of money to get these animals."

But Lutz is cracking down.

The location of the 49 animals buried on the property has not been disclosed, Lutz said, adding, "Anybody caught on that property looking for it will be charged with criminal trespassing." Earlier this week officers stopped a group of people from stealing the dead body of a lion.

"They were taken into custody," Lutz said.

Marion Thompson, the widow of farm owner Terry Thompson, who was found dead in the driveway after shooting himself and setting his animals free, is now manning the property, watching out for thieves. 

"Hopefully nobody would be that morbid that they will want to go to do that," said Lutz. "I can guarantee you one thing, if it does happen we will pursue them to the greatest length to charge them."

Thompson's wife, he said, is "very distraught" about the loss of her husband and animals, many of which "were like kids to her," Lutz said. "She probably spent more time with these animals than some parents do spend with their kids."

Farm Animals May Have Come from Auctions

Officers avoided a potentially catastrophic disaster, using pistols and high-powered rifles to take down nearly 50 of the dangerous animals. Only one animal remains unaccounted for -- a macaque monkey that Lutz says was probably eaten by a large cat.

It's unclear where preserve owner Terry Thompson found his menagerie of exotics.

"I've heard that some were rescues," Lutz said. "I've heard that some were bought at auction."  Officers didn't find any evidence that Thompson had been trying to breed them.