Louisiana: Chihuahua survives attack from hawk

LOUISIANA -- Animal Helper posted on Facebook February 4, 2018 ·

A chihuahua we had adopted out was attacked by a hawk today at 1 pm. Their camera caught the edge of the attack. Thankfully the parents were outside with the dogs & were able to save her life.

This happened in Mandeville, LA in St Tammany Parish. BUT this can happen anywhere. It’s more common than we realize. Please share to make others aware.

The dog is okay. She in shock & has cuts from the talons of the hawk.

Florida: Man sues woman claiming her Bobcat attacked him; wildlife officer shows up and finds just a regular housecat

FLORIDA -- Christine Lee wants the world to know she does not own a bobcat.

She spent much of Thursday fending off phone calls from friends and news reporters who had learned of a lawsuit alleging she does.

The civil complaint claims a bobcat attacked a contractor who entered her home on the 18th floor of the Skypoint Condominiums in downtown Tampa.

That man, Marcos Hernandez, is suing Lee and the Skypoint Condominium Association for unspecified damages he says he suffered as a result of a creature clawing his arms, according to court and police records.

But the feline in question is not a bobcat, Lee demonstrated Thursday. Rather, Calli is a domestic long-haired cat with a fluffy mane of black, brown, blond and gray.

"How he could even think this was a bobcat, I don’t know," Lee said as she cuddled Calli. "He must not know cats."

Calli was a kitten when Lee rescued her from a salvage yard in Georgia about four years ago. She lives with Lee, her husband, Rex, and a black cat named Max.

*  *  *  *  *  *

The incident at the center of Hernandez’s civil complaint happened May 16. Hernandez visited the apartment to conduct a scheduled fire safety inspection, Lee said. He arrived about noon, earlier than she expected.

"All I know is he was in here alone and he must have startled her," Lee said.

Upon entering, Hernandez was scratched, he reported. Tampa police records state that he was bleeding and was taken to Tampa General Hospital.

Lee arrived home at 12:40 p.m., after Hernandez had left, she said.

Calli was near the front door. Max, who also looks nothing like a bobcat, was in a bedroom.

Condo rules require owners to be present when an inspection is conducted or cage their animals, Lee said. But she said she didn’t expect the inspection to occur until late afternoon. She was surprised upon her return to learn that Calli had attacked the man.

The next day, an employee with Hillsborough County’s Pet Resource Center visited and photographed Calli. Lee was cited for not having Calli’s rabies certification readily available, but she later produced it.

That was the end of it. Until the lawsuit.

A flurry of media reports Thursday brought Lee to tears. Calli hissed at a reporter who came to visit.

"I’m agitated, and she’s agitated," Lee said.

Among her visitors Thursday were officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. A spokeswoman confirmed the agency was looking into the matter. Lee said they would put out a statement.

 

"They were like, ‘Really?’?" she said. "I said ‘You’re welcome to investigate the premises and see that I don’t have a bobcat.’"

Lee doesn’t know what to make of the lawsuit. She has yet to hire a lawyer.

"It’s not a wild animal," she said. "It’s just a cat."

She's lucky her cats didn't end up dead. This guy could've gotten mad, chased them around the condo, stomped them, beat them and killed them. 

If possible, never let anyone in your home when you're not home. And even when you're home, keep your pets closed off in a separate room until that person is gone. Of course, meter readers usually come during the day when everyone is at work so there's always a risk if your pets are where the meter is located... 



Texas: Homeowner calling for changes after Entergy worker pepper sprays her dogs



Iowa: Woman says repairman beat her small Poodle mix; prosecutors refuse to file animal cruelty charges




Texas: CenterPoint worker caught on tape taunting, then beating customers' dogs



North Carolina: Plumber is fired from PF Plumbing for viciously kicking client's dog in the face, but what about the coworker who saw it and never told his employer what this guy had done???



Texas: Entergy utilities employee caught on camera pepper spraying small dog


(Tampa Bay Times - January 4, 2018)

Ohio: At first it sounds as though dispatchers find the call amusing, but then you hear the terror in this poor woman's voice on the 911 call

OHIO -- Firefighters came to the rescue of an East Lake Road woman when they cut the head off her pet boa constrictor that had wrapped around her neck and was biting her face.

In a 911 call about 2 p.m. Thursday, the woman identifies herself as a 45-year-old who has 11 snakes — all ball pythons, except the two boa constrictors she had rescued Wednesday. She told the dispatcher that the other boa constrictor was in a cage.

Dispatcher: "911, what is the location of your emergency?"

Victim: "Please! I have a boa constrictor stuck to my face!"

Dispatcher: "Ma'am, you have a what??!"

“I’ve never heard of this before,” the dispatcher can be heard saying to emergency responders.

Neighbors on the street declined to comment, although some witnessed the scene after the woman ran outside to wait for EMS.

By that point the snake was wrapped around her waist and biting her face.

When firefighters arrived, the woman was lying in her driveway and the snake had moved from her waist and was now wrapped around her neck, authorities said.

“It was wrapped around her neck and biting her nose and wouldn’t let go,” Fire Chief Tim Card said. “They had to cut its head off with a knife to get it to let go of her face.”

Card said a pocket knife was used to kill the snake, which the woman told authorities was five feet long.

Card said firefighters disposed of the snake in a garbage bin near Sheffield Lake City Hall after it was dead.

Police Chief Tony Campo referred all questions about the incident to the Fire Department and said there would be no police report of the incident.

No one was home at the house about 2:30 p.m. Thursday, but a glass cage was empty on the sidewalk and there was a small puddle of blood in the driveway.

The Fire Department would not release the name of the woman but said she was taken to a hospital with injuries that weren’t life-threatening.

LISTEN TO THE 911 CALL:

(The Chronicle-Telegram - July 27, 2017)

Florida: Mama donkey and her baby attacked by unknown animal; baby donkey killed

FLORIDA -- Martin County Sheriff's Office‏ @MartinFLSheriff posted on Twitter June 16, 2017

Mother and baby donkey attacked by unknown animal. Baby donkey killed.

MCSO urges Palm City Farms animal/livestock owners to remain alert.

Alabama: Girl, 9, gets too close to kangaroo inside fence at safari park and is grabbed and bitten

ALABAMA -- A mother's phone captured the shocking moment a kangaroo grabbed her nine-year-old daughter by the hair and then bit her on her head and ear.

Jennifer White was recording her family's visit to the Harmony Park Safari in Madison County, Alabama, - one of the family's favorite places - when the animal suddenly reached through its enclosure and attacked her daughter Cheyenne.

The little girl was rushed to the hospital and had to receive 14 stitches in her head.

Speaking about the ordeal her daughter faced, White told WAFF: 'You blame yourself sometimes, like, you know, "why did I take her to the park that day?”, “Why did I take her to see the kangaroo?’”

Cheyenne's initial encounter with the kangaroo was harmless. She was playing with him, mimicking his actions as he did her's. The footage showed that her three-year-old sister had even reached out her hand to the animal.

Suddenly the park animal poked its clawed fingers through the park's fence - which was punctured with large holes - and bit her while she was bent over.

'I thought it was playing,' Cheyenne told WAFF. 'I’m just glad that it got me instead of my baby sister, because it would have hurt her even worse.'

Alabama law states that agri-tourism businesses like this park cannot be held responsible for visitors' injuries.

'You are assuming the risk of participating in this agri-tourism activity,' the law reads.

'An agri-tourism professional is not liable for injury, sickness, or damage to, or the death of, a participant in an agri-tourism activity at this location if the injury, sickness, damage, or death results from the inherent risks of the agri-tourism activity.

'Inherent risks of an agri-tourism activity include...the potential for you to act in a negligent manner that may contribute to your injury.'

The details from this law as well as plaques reading 'I bite' are posted on a sign at the entrance of the park and on the animal's fence, respectively, but White says this is not enough to keep visitors from danger.

She says the park owners can minimize risk by replacing their fences with more protective barriers.

“It’s real thin, it’s right here. You can clearly see it or pet it or it could touch you, which makes you feel more, like, safe,' she told WAFF.

'And I think children not being able to access the animal by reach or the animal to the children would help a whole lot.

'I don’t want it to happen to someone else’s kid, because they may not be as fortunate as my daughter was.'

The park owners have declined to comment about the attack.

I have been to several of these parks and there is always a danger of something happening. I saw a man scratching the neck of a camel once and suddenly the camel swung its neck and that big mouth opened and he tried to bite the man. Another guy was spit in the face by a llama. Sometimes the animals would be too grabby with the food; I can see all sorts of injuries occurring. That's why it says they're not responsible for anything on the tickets. 

I feel sorry for this little girl, but it was an accident.

(Daily Mail - May 8, 2017)

South Carolina: Stray cat tests positive for rabies after biting Florence County resident

SOUTH CAROLINA -- A Florence County resident may have been exposed to rabies after being bitten by a stray cat.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control says the person was bitten by the cat on their property on March 7. The incident happened at a home just north of the Florence Regional Airport.

The cat was placed under quarantine and died March 9, according to DHEC. Lab results released March 10 confirm the cat had rabies. The victim was referred to their personal doctor by DHEC to be tested for the disease and treated as needed.

“Rabies is transmitted when saliva or neural tissue of an infected animal is introduced into the body of a healthy person or animal. This usually occurs through a bite, however, saliva contact with open wounds or areas such as the eyes, nose or mouth, could also potentially transmit rabies,” said Craig.

DHEC also recommends keeping your pets up-to-date on their rabies vaccination.

The stray cat is the first animal in Florence County to test positive for rabies in 2017. There have been seven confirmed cases of animal rabies statewide this year. In 2016, one of the 94 rabies cases in South Carolina was in Florence County.

Contact your local DHEC Environmental Health Services office using DHEC’s interactive map. For more information on rabies: visit www.scdhec.gov/rabies. CDC’s rabies webpage can be found at: www.cdc.gov/rabies.

(WBTW - March 14, 2017)

Australia: Brave father saves children from wild kangaroo attack

AUSTRALIA -- Two little girls have their heroic father to thank for saving them from an attack by an aggressive kangaroo on Christmas Eve.

The family, from Elderslie, headed to Lake Conjola, near Ulladulla, to celebrate Christmas, but were faced with a situation which could have ruined their holiday.

Matthew Chenhall was walking about 30 seconds behind his daughters Holly, 11, and Amelia, 9, on a rural property when the girls were stopped in their tracks by a 2m (~5 foot tall) kangaroo who appeared to be acting aggressively.

Amelia threw the sausage which was in her hand to lure it away but after eating the food, it came back for more.

“It started to growl and got itself into an attacking position so I got myself between him and the girls straight away,” Mr Chenhall said.

“He got me into a head lock with one claw and tore my ear apart with the other. I managed to get one hand around and put one on his chin before he let me go.”

Substantially injured and dazed, Mr Chenhall told his daughters to head back to their mother Janyne at their camp site and he followed closely behind.

“I had some blood spluttering out of my ear so I wanted to clean that up a bit before the girls saw it because they were quite traumatized,” he said.

An ambulance was called which took Mr Chenhall to Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital. Luckily, a plastic surgeon was available who treated his torn ear with 12 stitches.

“The doctors told me it was really lucky that I managed to get in between him and the kids,” he said.

“They said if it did that to me, imagine what it could have done to them. It could have killed them.”

Mr Chenhall returned to the Lake Conjola site at 4am on Christmas Day to be with his family. After the incident, he said he spoke with wildlife experts who told him people feeding kangaroos made them more aggressive.

“They become desensitized to humans feeding them. And so when they don’t get any more food or the food runs out they can become aggressive,” he said.

Information on the Office of Environment and Heritage website instructs people not to feed kangaroos.

“Unnatural food sources often create unbalanced kangaroo numbers, and cause aggressive behavior and sickness,” it reads.

According to the information, Mr Chenhall’s incident was rare with only five people in NSW treated for kangaroo-related injuries each year.

People are also warned not to walk directly towards a kangaroo and completely avoid ones that are growling or clucking.

Mr Chenhall said he was unsure whether it was an eastern grey or red kangaroo.

(Daily Telegraph - January 6, 2017)

Virginia: “We never had a pet squirrel": Contractor sues Chesapeake couple for $90K over squirrel attack

VIRGINIA -- Daniel Felice was doing contract work in the suburbs this summer when – according to a lawsuit – a squirrel attacked him.

It bit and scratched. Left him “profusely bleeding.”

When the animal eventually jumped off, it darted into a house with young children inside. So Felice went in to chase the squirrel out.

Then the animal ran to a neighbor’s property, where, the lawsuit says, a couple was keeping the squirrel as a pet.

Felice has since sued the couple – Deborah and Paul Desjardin – seeking $90,000 in damages for injuries he says were caused by their “pet squirrel.”

But reached by phone recently, Paul Desjardin said they never kept the squirrel as a pet.

Desjardin said the squirrel lived outside in their Great Bridge neighborhood, but it never lived indoors with them. They fed the squirrel a “little bit,” and it became friendly, but Desjardin said they only saw the squirrel every couple of days and it “never was controlled by us.”

“We never had a pet squirrel,” he said.

The lawsuit claims the Desjardins’ dog brought the squirrel to their door this spring, and that Deborah Desjardin adopted the animal, fed it and provided medical care.

The squirrel began to peck her lips as if “giving her a kiss,” and the couple encouraged the animal to approach humans, the suit alleges.

SQUIRREL BIT A CHILD
On July 11, the squirrel attacked a child standing outside her home, according to the suit. Deborah Desjardin apologized to the girl’s parents and said she would “wring his neck” for the incident, the suit says.

Paul Desjardin said he was unaware of any conversation his wife may have had with the parents. He was out of town at the time.

The squirrel attacked Felice three days later, according to the suit. It bit and scratched his leg and hand.

Under city code, residents are not allowed to keep wild animals without a permit.

CHARGE FILED BY WILDLIFE OFFICER
An officer with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries charged Deborah Desjardin with misdemeanor unlawful possession of wildlife after the reported attack on Felice. Court records show a General District judge dismissed the case this fall.

Paul Desjardin said Felice’s lawsuit makes many assumptions, and that he and his wife already proved their innocence in court when the judge dismissed the charge.

He said their insurance company is handling the suit, which was filed last month in Circuit Court.

Felice’s lawyer could not be reached for comment last week.

“We’ve already proven the fact that this wasn’t our squirrel,” Desjardin said. “It’s not a pet.”

(Pilot Online - Dec 29, 2016)

Arizona: Hawk traps itself into birdcage after getting inside and killing family's parakeet

ARIZONA -- A hawk killed a Peoria boy’s parakeet and then got stuck in the pet’s cage.

Becky Griefer says she usually keeps her son’s parakeets named PD and Snowy inside but decided to leave their cage on a backyard patio table Monday morning because the weather was nice.

She ran outside to loud banging and realized a hawk had flown into the cage through a small, dime-sized opening.

“I’m telling you, how can a bird like that squeeze in there without popping the door open is just utterly amazing. The bird was flapping around upside down with its foot stuck probably wondering what he got himself into,” said Griefer.

He likely lifted the tiny door, got inside and the door closed behind him.

After finding PD’s body at the bottom of the cage, she quickly grabbed Snowy to safety.

“She got a little beat up,” said Griefer.

The mother then set the hawk free only for the predator to come back nearly 15 minutes later.

“Obviously looking for his easy meal,” she said.

The family who call Snowy “the mean bird that bites” believe she somehow managed to fight off the hawk and survive.

“She’s been through three mates now so she’s a survivor. She’s top dog in the bird world. She’s a pretty strong personality,” she said.

PD’s death has hit 9-year-old CJ Griefer, Becky's son, especially hard.

“I’m very sad. I just wish he could live a lot longer and now he’s in heaven,” said CJ.

The family plans to keep Snowy inside just in case the hawk comes back.

“This is why you keep them inside,” said CJ.

“You’re right, you’re right,” said Griefer.

The family is thinking about getting another parakeet but will first have a small memorial for PD Monday

(AZ Family - November 21, 2016)

You Probably Shouldn't Be Worried About This Colony of Herpes-Infected Monkeys in Florida. Still, there's a colony of herpes-infected monkeys in Florida.

FLORIDA -- Imagine picnicking in central Florida when, suddenly, you hear some leaves rattle, and, from the shade of the trees, the curious face of a rhesus macaque emerges.

The macaques, which were introduced to Florida decades ago by a boat operator, have taken up residence in the state with determination, expanding rapidly because they lack natural predators.

But they are mostly benign, and this one seems pretty benign too. So, what should you do? Offer it food? Try to pet it? Or just ignore it?

You can probably guess the right answer, even if, for decades now, other humans have been guessing wrong, leading to 31 attacks from 1977-1984, according to an official report.

And while most of those injuries turned out to be minor, nowadays you might not be so lucky, as officials warn the public about a more dangerous threat: a strand of herpes carried by the rhesus macaques that is mostly harmless to them but can be deadly to humans.

No such fatal case has yet occurred, but the panic has encouraged the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to declare the monkeys a public health threat, and recommend that humans avoid contact with them.

Which means that if you do see a monkey come upon your picnic, you’d be best served observing it from afar. Do you really want to die by way of monkey herpes? No. No, you do not.

What kind of herpes are we talking about?

The particular strand of herpes carried by the rhesus macaque is called Macacine herpesvirus 1, and is comparable to the human strain of herpes that causes cold sores, according to Dr. Jim Wellehan, an assistant professor at the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences at the University of Florida.

And while most primates carry some kind of herpes, a strand of herpes that’s benign in one species can prove deadly in another.

That’s because over millions of years of evolution, herpesviruses have diverged with their hosts, but not other species, meaning that while Macacine herpesvirus 1 might only give rhesus macaques a cold sore, a human is much, much more vulnerable, as over half of documented cases of human infection have ended in death.

Still, don’t blame the rhesus macaques.

The only reason they are in Florida, in fact, turns out to be perfectly Floridian.

HISTORY OF THE SILVER SPRINGS MONKEYS

Native to south and central Asia, six of the macaques were transported to the state in 1938 by an entrepreneur named Colonel Tooey (real first name) who put them on an island in Silver Springs State Park.

Tooey’s plan, such as it was, was for a type of amusement park, selling tourists tickets to his Jungle Cruise Ride, which promised to pass by the incredible “monkey island,” where he’d introduced the macaques.

The plan, for a time, worked, but while an influx of tourists rushed in to see the monkeys in action, the animals themselves began their escape.

 

They first swam across the river, and rumors soon began to circulate about a wild pack of rhesus macaques roaming free.

Meanwhile, some people claimed that they had been stars in a Tarzan movie (a rumor that continues to be spread). Others, that they were reproducing at a fast rate, and that there were now thousands and thousands of them in the area.

The truth was far less dramatic, but the reality is that, without natural predators, the rhesus macaques were here to stay, expanding in Central Florida, even reaching cities as far as the Gulf of Mexico.

And for years, the FWC has considered many solutions, including extermination, relocation, and population control, but nothing, so far, has proven effective.

Plans of complete extermination, for example, were thwarted in the ’90s by animal rights protesters, and attempts at sterilization have proved impractical.

More desperately, the state has even issued permits for catching and selling the monkeys, though this approach has also been criticized since most captured individuals end up in research facilities for life. (The FWC did not respond to a request for comment.)

While the thought of dying because a monkey gave you herpes is terrifying, the rhesus macaques might feel the same way about you. In fact, there are more recorded cases of humans infecting their pet monkeys with human herpes viruses than vice versa.

But as of now, the humans and monkeys remain in an uncomfortable stalemate. And while most human interactions with the monkeys continue to be benign, do yourself a favor and leave them alone if you see them out in the wild.

Macaques’ first instinct is not to attack a primate several times its size, but they will if they feel cornered or threatened. And, as Wellehan explains, herpes can only be transmitted by close contact where fluids are exchanged.

(Atlas Obscura - Nov 10, 2016)

Earlier:

• Florida: Herpes-positive monkeys reported in Florida