Connect to share and comment

Winnipeg resident finds python in Dumpster; police corral it with recycling bin

The Canadian PressMay 8, 2013 14:41
WINNIPEG - Winnipeg police faced a slithery situation when a citizen came across a live python in a Dumpster. Police say the city resident was surprised to find the snake on Tuesday night in a garbage bin behind an apartment complex. An officer used a small recycling box to contain the serpent until animal control workers arrived. Leland Gordon of the city's animal services department says the ball python was in good shape, but charges may be laid against whomever abandoned it.

U.S. commits to protecting loggerhead sea turtle habitat by 2014

May 8, 2013 14:36
By David Adams (Reuters) - The Obama administration has agreed by July 1 to map out areas to protect nesting beaches for endangered loggerhead sea turtles as part of a legal settlement with conservation groups. The U.S. Department of Commerce agreed to the deadline for a preliminary proposal on the critical habitat of loggerheads in the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific oceans and in the Gulf of Mexico, under an agreement filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court in California.

Frenchman fights off crocodile in Australia

Agence France-PresseApril 22, 2013 00:15
A French deckhand Monday admitted he was lucky to be alive after escaping with bite wounds when a crocodile latched onto his head in northern Australia. Yoann Galeran, 29, had swum out from shore to retrieve a moored dinghy after dark at Nhulunbuy on Sunday when the two-metre (6.5 feet) saltwater croc attacked, grabbing him by the head and rolling him in the water. "I just feel that I've been lucky and I just think if it was a bigger crocodile, I maybe wouldn't have any head," he told ABC radio.

Frenchman fights off crocodile in Australia

Agence France-PresseApril 21, 2013 21:30
A French deckhand survived after a crocodile latched onto his head in northern Australia by punching the reptile repeatedly until it let go, a report said on Monday. Yoann Galeran, 29, had swum out to retrieve a moored dinghy at Nhulunbuy on Sunday evening when the two-metre (6.5 feet) saltwater croc attacked, grabbing him by the head and rolling him in the water. His employer, Lisa Heathcote, told the Northern Territory News that Galeran was able to fight off the beast before scrambling to safety aboard the dinghy and making it back to shore.

Indonesian, 83, faced 'fight for survival' in Komodo attack

April 11, 2013 04:00
An 83-year-old Indonesian woman told Thursday how she faced a "fight for survival" when a Komodo dragon pounced and sunk its teeth into her, in the latest attack this year by one of the giant lizards. Haisah was sitting on the ground outside her house on Rinca island, one of several Komodo-inhabited islands frequently visited by tourists, making a broom from a coconut tree, when the two-metre (6.6-foot) reptile sprang at her.

Asian gecko threatened by medicine trade

April 11, 2013 00:15
Activists warned Thursday that wild populations of Southeast Asia's striking Tokay Gecko were in danger of being over-hunted for use in traditional medicine in China and other countries. Calling the trade "colossal", wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC called on authorities in the region to implement tougher regulations and limits on commerce involving the lizard, the second-largest gecko species. "The majority of Tokay Geckos consumed as part of this trade are harvested from the wild," said a new TRAFFIC study.

Indonesian woman, 83, fights off Komodo attack

April 10, 2013 14:01
An 83-year-old Indonesian woman has used a broom to fight off an attack from a Komodo dragon. Komodo National Park official Heru Rudiharto says the 2-meter (6.5-foot) -long giant lizard bit the left hand of Haifha on Tuesday while she was near her house on Rinca island. Haifha, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, hit the giant lizard's nose several times with a broom until it left go of her hand. Her neighbors heard her scream and drove the animal away. It took 20 stiches to repair Haifa's hand. Endangered Komodo dragons are found in the wild in eastern Indonesia.

Turtle species not extinct: it never existed, study

April 4, 2013 09:15
A Seychelles freshwater turtle species declared extinct after decades of futile searches, in fact never existed, scientists said Thursday. While Man has the extinction of several turtle and tortoise species on his conscience, DNA evidence has now cleared him of exterminating Pelusios seychellensis, a team from Germany and Austria wrote in the journal PloS One. "It never existed," the researchers said.

Study maps accidental killings of sea turtles

April 1, 2013 13:45
Sea turtles can get accidentally caught and killed in fishing operations, and new research out Monday seeks to map this phenomenon for the first time in a bid to save the endangered creatures. The study in the journal Ecosphere said sea turtles in the East Pacific, North Atlantic, Southwest Atlantic and Mediterranean face the highest bycatch mortality rates.

Remains of huge fossilized flying reptile displayed in Rio

March 20, 2013 21:01
The fossilized remains of a huge prehistoric flying reptile was unveiled Wednesday at the Rio de Janeiro National Museum where an international congress on the extinct species is to be held in May. "What makes it particularly special is that it is the most complete fossil ever found, with virtually the entire skeleton and even the skull preserved," said Alexander Kellner, a paleontologist of the Rio Federal University as he presented a life-size mock-up of the pterosaur or "winged lizard." The creature has a wingspan of 8.2 meters (27 feet).
Syndicate content