Even the cats don't like tourists

Presented without comment, except that visitors from other cat-hugging countries like the US should also take note:

Tourists warned after French woman and her dog are attacked by gang of six feral cats

A woman walking her dog in one of France's most attractive tourist areas was the victim of a 'nightmare' attack when a pack of six feral cats dragged her to the ground and mauled her severing an artery.

The 31-year-old victim, who was walking at the edge of a wood in Belfort, in the north-eastern region Franche-Comté, was left traumatised by the attack and suffered bites to her arms and legs along with a gashed artery.

Her dog was also badly hurt in the incident.

It is thought the attack may be related to the high summer temperatures perhaps making the cats more aggressive than usual.

Josette Galliot, the mother of the victim told l’Est Republicain newspaper she had been 'living a nightmare' since the attack on Sunday.

Ms Galliot said: "The cats jumped on my daughter and managed to knock her over. They bit her on the leg and on her arms. They even pierced an artery."

The victim was taken to a nearby hospital where she was treated for her injuries and given an injection for rabies. Her dog, a poodle, was treated at a nearby veterinary clinic.

In response to the incident local police said the attack was "very unusual" and was therefore "a cause of great concern".

He added: "Tourists from countries like Britain should certainly be wary – they should certainly not approach these cats, or try to feed them."

Instructive view of sharp cat parts by Flickr user van ort.

Have you packed your swimsuit - and your helmet?

A few weeks ago we saw that even a respectable mainstream newspaper like The Guardian was moved to warn of the danger of seagull attacks.

But it's these common everyday animals that it's most difficult to convince people of the dangers of, so I think all of the following stories are deserving of note:

Woman in hospital after gull attack:

The pensioner was enjoying a gentle stroll in the sunshine through the city’s Portland Square when the large gull swooped at her. It repeatedly pecked at her head and face, continuing to attack even after passers-by intervened to scare it off.

“I was so shocked by it,” said Miss Little. “The gull kept coming back at me again and again. The woman who helped me swung my handbag at it. It was a really big bird."

Gulls target cyclist:

"It started off actually with one," he said. "The next minute they all came from the docks on Hedon Road. My legs turned to jelly. They were all making the same noise. So in my panic I ran across Hedon Road and they followed me for about a mile down the road."

 As usual, "experts" are on the side of the attackers:

An ornithologist said the birds were a protected species defending their nests.

Woman tears Achilles tendon in seagull attack:

"This seagull swooped off the roof at me," Ms Goodrum said. "I put my hands up to wave it away. I turned around and he came from the other side - he was about two inches away from my face. I turned around again, panicked, ran and went straight on the floor. I couldn't feel my foot."

And finally the obligatory movie reference:

Gull attack was “like a scene out of a Hitchcock movie”:

Eastbourne mum Barbara Buza was with her friend their two young children when they saw a screaming woman with blood running down her face and on to the pavement. They were unsure what happened and went to help the distressed woman when a seagull swooped down and attacked another local resident.

Barbara said, “I have never seen anything like it. It was like a scene out of a Hitchcock movie. The lady had blood running from her head, down her chin and on to the pavement. I got out my tissues and used the whole pack trying to help her.”

So, when you're packing for the beach, don't forget your tissues... or even better, a helmet.


Photo of a gull attacking an eagle mid-air from the New Scientist, in case you're not already convinced these bird will stop at nothing.

Bad animal headlines

There are so many bad animals I can't keep up with giving them each the attention they deserve.

-Fox steals handbag

"Fortunately the cheeky little fox didn't manage to work out my Pin number and my bank accounts were not touched."

-Man knocked out of his kayak by seal and rescued by lifeboat

“It appeared that the man had been fishing from his kayak and had caught about 20 mackerel and had them in a net over the side. A seal bumped into the kayak capsizing it and grabbed the net and fish for its tea."

-Aggressive snake slithers down chimney and attacks police 

Officers used containment tactics and avoided repeated attempts by the animal to sink its fangs into them before eventually capturing the creature with the help of a bin, a takeaway pizza box and some gaffer tape. 

-3 injured by bear in Fukushima town
This one is mostly notable for the perfectly terrible computer-animated re-enactment video.

And finally, the source of today's photo:


Monkey is regular at Mumbai swimming pool

Every day for the past week, the primate has been showing up at the Kalidas Swimming Pool around 7 am — swimming without a worry for about an hour, much to the astonishment of regulars. For a couple of days, the facility's caretakers tried to scare the monkey away, but it would return for its hourly swim the next morning.

Video here.

Bad Animal News Briefs

Another animal vs. car: Stork lays siege to village with car attacks

“At least four vehicles in the areas have been attacked,” mayor Ulrich Kersten confirmed on Friday. The damage to more expensive cars has been estimated at €1,000 a time.

The bird has also been pecking at windows and glass doors, leaving some residents scared to leave their homes. “How do we protect ourselves?” local woman Johanna Preuß asked the Nord Kurier newspaper. She was woken up at 5am on Friday by the large white bird, beak pressed against her terrace door.

Another animal attack via toilet: Snake bites man’s ‘snake’ on the toilet

The man, a resident of central Israel, paid his parents a visit in the northern town of Nofit. While sitting on the john, he was rudely and painfully interrupted when a snake appeared and bit his penis. The victim “ran from the room in horror” and went to Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center for treatment, according to the report.

A blood test found that the snake was not venomous. The man was in good condition, but doctors decided to keep him under medical supervision.

This one caught the attention of the mainstream media, resulting in this piece at Slate: A Brief History of Toilet-Based Animal Attacks.

Finally, I recommend this video of a wild boar running through the streets of Prague. Make sure to stay till the close-up ending.

New frontiers in bad animal behavior

Whenever I think I've seen it all, some animal comes up with a new twist. Here are a couple of recent innovators:

-Squirrel eats car: When a Florida woman found a six inch hole in the body of her SUV - and then a second, larger hole - the police asked if she had any enemies. Later, as she took out the trash, she caught the culprit in the act: it was a squirrel. "I'm not happy to see my car like this but at least I didn't have any enemies, at least not people," she said. But is she really sure this better?

-Huge python breaks into Australian charity store

Police Sergeant Don Auld thought a thief had fallen through the ceiling and vomited on the floor when called to a Queensland charity store break-in.

But the slippery criminal turned out to be a 5.7 metre python who left the smelly memento for staff.

The snake had pooed in the St Vincent de Paul store in Ingham and left crockery, clothes and other goods smashed and scattered all over the floor.

"It was so big and had made such a mess, we thought someone had gone on a bit of rampage."

Animal Attack Roundup

A couple of people who got what was coming to them, and one totally innocent victim:

-Montreal teen mauled after trying to kiss captive lion in South Africa

Canadian volunteers in Africa, please take note: don’t try to kiss the lions.
A young Montreal woman is in a South African hospital after she was clawed and bitten by two lions on Monday at a wildlife rehabilitation centre.

Lauren Fagen, 18, says she was kissing the fur of a male lion named Duma when he reached through the bars and dragged her legs into his cage. The lion’s female mate also joined the attack, biting her feet.

Ms Fagen was volunteering to help care for the animals, and while the center's director correctly attributes the incident largely to her own stupidity, perhaps he needs to reconsider his volunteer-hiring practices, because she gave ample warning that she was an accident waiting to happen:

“She came here telling people that she wanted to hug an animal.”

-And here's one that's an accident waiting to happen again: A surfer in Sydney, Australia was hospitalized after being knocked off his board by a humpback whale. He lost conciousness (in the water!) and had to be rescued by fellow surfers, treated by paramedics and taken by ambulance to the hospital. And yet:

Despite his injuries, Dr Rajapakse said his encounter with the whale was a “very beautiful experience”.

-Finally, our one totally innocent victim: A man in England was attacked by a fox while he was on the toilet.

The startled 49-year-old leapt up from the bog with his trousers around his ankles before pursuing the creature around the living room in a farcical fox chase.

Mr Schofield, who lives in Ringstead Road, said: "I didn’t even have time to wipe myself. I just had to chase after it. It was so quick. The fox had pushed its nose through the door. I jumped off the toilet. In the meantime it had run into the front room and got the cat.

"It had the cat round the neck. She was in shock, bleeding from her face. It locked itself onto my arm but still had the cat as well. It was unbelievable - the strength in the little thing. There was blood everywhere. It was like a struggle for my life."

If you don't believe how serious it was, note this: He didn't even have time to stop and take a picture with his phone, and they had to make the photoshopped illustration above. 

A warning just in time for beach season

In my last post I linked to helpful advice about how to survive a bear attack. There was also a blog post last week at Smithsonian on how to survive a lion attack.

But as usual, people have been worrying about the wrong animals. Not many of us live where encountering bears or lions is routine. And not many think to be concerned about a much more common creature, the sea gull. Annoying, sure, but not dangerous, right? But think again, says this article from The Guardian on How to survive a seagull attack.

It's no joke, being attacked by a seagull. Pensioners have been hospitalised, blood gushing from cut heads. Others have been knocked to the ground, breaking bones. Small dogs have bled to death, children's lips been sliced open, and an elderly man died of a heart attack following a particularly vicious assault in his back garden. News that the Royal Mail has temporarily halted deliveries to an otherwise peaceful Cornish cul-de-sac because of the danger should come as no big surprise; it's happened before.

A diving herring gull is a missile: special attack talon on the heel, razor-sharp two-inch beak, 1.4-metre wingspan, more than a kilo of angry bird travelling at 65kph. No wonder there's blood.

In fact, not only can seagulls injure and kill people and small dogs, but they're apparently capable of killing much larger animals as well: scientists believe they're killing baby whales off the coast of Argentina,  dive-bombing them, slicing open their backs, and feasting on their blubber. The babies are easy targets because they have to surface more often to breathe.

Now that it's the season to head for the beach, many people who aren't used to dealing with these winged monsters are likely to be attacked. So heed this useful advice:

If you get too close, they will use a variety of tactics to try to drive you away.
First comes the "gag call" – a low, repeated warning call that essentially means: Go away. Next is the low pass, within a metre or two of the intruder's head. Then aerial operations commence. Phase one is bombardment: gulls target the perceived threat with droppings and vomit. Phase two is all-out attack – usually a low, raking strike to the back of the head with talons extended.

Once things get to this stage, obviously, there's not a lot you can do beyond duck and try shield your head. Best advice? Keep your eyes and ears open, and learn what the gulls are trying to tell you. Our ignorance of their warnings is their greatest weapon.

More useful advice from Flickr user oh simone.

Let's go ahead and make it Bad Animal Science Week

-How did I miss this? Photos of cute animals make people aggressive:

New research finds that seemingly strange aggressive responses to cuteness are actually the norm.
In fact, people not only verbalize these aggressive desires with phrases like, "I just want to squeeze something!" they also really do act them out. In the study... researchers found that people watching a slideshow of adorable pictures popped more bubbles on a sheet of bubble wrap than did people viewing funny or neutral pictures.

- We've noted before that the problem of invasive lionfish is so bad that scientists are suggesting we eat them, and even providing recipes.  Here's an interesting long article on how bad the problem is, starting with a dissection that reveals just how much native ocean wildlife these lionfish are eating: they're so obese that they've got liver damage:

Though lionfish can go weeks between meals, when they don’t have to, they won’t. Scientists have observed lionfish eating at a rate of one to two fish per minute, and their stomachs can expand 30 times their size to accommodate lots of food. To become obese, fish eat upward of 7.5 times their normal dietary intake, which means the abundant North Caroline lionfish could be eating as much as 7,000 pounds of prime North Carolina seafood per acre every year.

-Some actually useful bad animal science: What would you do if you were attacked by a bear? Have you been told that you should lie still and play dead? Apparently that's not good advice if the bear is actually trying to eat you:

Because in that circumstance, the bear just keeps on chewing.

Not exactly what you were hoping for, right? So you might want to read this article and this interview   and learn how to tell the difference between when to play dead and when to up and punch the bear like this guy did. 


Tasty, gluttonous lionfish safely in captivity by Flickr user ah zut.

Bad Animal Science News Briefs

- Komodo dragons don't have bad oral hygiene - it's that water buffalo are filthy, filthy animals: It was long claimed that the bite of the komodo dragon was particularly lethal because of the foul bacteria in their mouths. This supposedly allowed them to take down large prey that they couldn't kill outright, because it would later die of infections. Then it was discovered that actually, what they have in their mouths that's nasty is actual venom. And now, as explained here by Ed Yong, a scientist tested whether bacteria were also involved and came up with a different reason why those non-native water buffalo die of infections after a komodo bites them:

In their natural environment, they’d disappear into wide marshlands, but there’s nothing like that in Komodo. Instead, the buffalos seek refuge in rank water holes, stagnant and contaminated with their own faeces. In this microbial wonderland, their wounds soon become infected. “It’s the same as if you dumped a whole bunch of cow dung in your pool during the peak heat of summer, shaved your legs with a very old razor, and then went and stood in the water for a day,” says Fry. “You’d end up with some very tasty infections!”

 -More Friends Make Lemurs Better Thieves is the best headline for a story that's going around about social intelligence in lemurs, never mind the details.

-Finally, check out this fabulous post on a blog about corvids about crows pulling the tails of other animals, with many more photos like the one above.

Vacation linkarama

While I spoil the pugs by taking them to the beach, you can go and read this remarkable collection of links:

Crows are keeping residents of a Cambridgeshire street awake by loudly pecking at their cars.

Zebra helps hornbill escape from zoo  (while nearby the moose above visits a backyard)

Monkey is stopped for speeding, bites officer

Firefighters respond to fight between squirrel and snake

Recent developments in bad animal behavior

New frontiers in toilet rodents: Last time we saw people celebrating bad squirrels. The post before that we saw a rat in a toilet reach new heights by returning repeatedly for nine months. I can only presume that these stories combined to inspire this squirrel in a toilet in Winnepeg, which was promptly rewarded with the celebrity of its own Twitter account.

New frontiers in canines chasing vehicles: Dogs chasing cars are a long-standing tradition, but as far as I know the photo above is the first recorded case of a wolf chasing a motorcycle.

And finally, some things never change: Cats that roam the neighborhood stealing things and bringing them home are so common I can hardly be bothered to link them. (Oh fine, here's one; if you want a bunch more you should really read the book). Here's another, with the usual jokes from the humans affected:

“One day, Theo brought home a gardening glove and then the next day he brought home the other one, so we now have a pair. We have no idea where he got those from and as yet, no-one has claimed the glove puppet.

“We have been able to reunite some of the items with their owners and thankfully, most people who know Theo are very understanding and think it is funny.”

According to Mr Edwards, the feline fraudster has a particular penchant for feathers, rubber and tinsel. He added: “He is quite a menace, even when he’s at home. Last Christmas, he completely stripped the house of tinsel when we were out one day and left it in a heap on the kitchen floor.”

“He has become a bit of a neighbourhood celebrity for all the wrong reasons. We live in hope that one day he might bring back something useful.”

Don't encourage bad animals!

On this blog, we often bemoan people who are enablers of bad animals. But here we've got an appalling story of people who are actually honoring them with commemorative statues.  Sometimes, I just don't know what to say.

It is not unusual for a city or county to build statues to important people or events commemorating its past, but Hamilton County may be on the verge of a first.

They're constructing statues of squirrels. It might seem a little random, but the statues mark an event in Indiana history.

"Have you ever heard of the great squirrel stampede?" we asked on passerby, who responded with a definitive "no."

We asked other folks on the streets in Hamilton County if they were familiar with Indiana's Squirrel Stampede.

Dave Heighway knows all about it.

"There is one paragraph that talks about a great squirrel migration in 1822," he said.

As the Hamilton County historian, he's been educating all who would listen about the 1822 and 1845 stampedes where migratory squirrels destroyed cornfields as they trekked across Indiana.

"I read that. I thought that's crazy. I actually thought, that's nuts," he said.

He told the Hamilton County Leadership Academy and members secured a grant to start work on a mockup for a fiberglass squirrel. In fact, the group would like to see a half dozen of these in all eight Hamilton County communities.

So why not? Just the thing for the county that has everything. A statue remembering a squirrley part of its history.

Abby Kim from Noblesville expressed this sentiment.

"People usually build monuments of, someone famous or something famous. Not usually a squirrel," she said.

Livvie Southerland from Sheridan chimed in. "It would be random. I would get a picture taken with it."

Even county historian David Heighway admits it's a little squirrely.

"It's kind of strange. More like a zombie apocalypse. Everyone talks about now. It's a squirrel apocalypse," he joked.

The fiberglass statues are expected to cost anywhere from $500 to $1,000 each to produce.


 

New frontiers in bad animal behavior

Whenever I think I've seen it all, they manage to outdo themselves. Two very different stories of bad animals that we haven't seen before:

The headline from the excellent Nothing to do with Arbroath sums the first one up nicely:

Family perturbed by rat that makes nightly appearances in their toilet

 A family from Sutton in south London have been suffering from a large rat coming up their toilet when they go to the bathroom for nine months.

It's important to note that the mere fact of a rat in a toilet is not what's original here. This seems to be fairly commonplace, as you can see if you have a strong stomach from the results for this Flickr search. It's the persistence for nine months that makes this case remarkable. 

One has to wonder if the family, despite their protestations of horror, has played the usual bad animal enabling role in this: I find it highly suspicious that they've affectionately named the rat Roland.

(You can watch video at the original story, if you're braver than I am.)

That story is so unusual that it probably doesn't make you fear for your plumbing, but the next one should make you worry about your electronics:

New Ant Species Arrives With a Taste for Electronics, Scientists Say

A species of ant from South America is making its way across Texas and Florida:

The tiny insect is called "crazy" because the trail it leaves as it eats its way across the country is so erratic it appears the ants have tipped the bottle too many times..... It's so small -- less than an eighth of an inch long -- that millions can hide beneath a rock, or inside a computer or transformer.

According to researchers at Texas A&M, the chemicals that kill red ants aren't effective on crazy ants, so if you find an infestation in your home, call a pro.

Both reds and crazies and a few other species share a peculiar attraction to electrical wiring and components, and no one is sure why. The damages can be extreme. In one year alone, researchers documented $146.5 million in damages to electrical equipment just in Texas.

How they cause that damage also sounds like a really bad movie. One ant finds its way into a transformer and grazes against a hot wire. It gets electrocuted, and immediately "waves its abdomen in the air (called gaster flagging) to release its own brand of perfume, which lures many more ants to the scene.

If they touch their fallen comrade, or a hot switch, they too will be electrocuted, sending more pheromones into the air and calling even more ants to their location.

Read the rest of the premonitions of doom at the link if you dare.

Photo of Rat Fink Toilet Seat from Etsy.  Apparently this is actually a thing. Go ahead and do an image search if you don't believe me.

Bad Animal Headlines

Goats arrested for vandalising police car

Police have detained a herd of goats in the Indian city of Chennai after the force's brand new Toyota Innova police car was damaged by up to 12 errant beasts. Policeman Ganesh Babu, who was in charge of the car, is said to have caught the animals as they grazed near the city police station. The animals were allegedly standing on top of the vehicle, causing dents, scratching the paintwork and damaging the windscreen and wipers.

The officer was able to apprehend three of the suspects, who have now been remanded in custody at a nearby Society for the Protection of Animals centre. Police claimed the goats had a record of damaging vehicles belonging to local residents and shopkeepers, and had 'crossed the line' by damaging the brand new police car.

Bear caught opening truck door on video

"We saw him just open the door of the truck, just easy as anything.… He was obviously used to accessing vehicles."

Pig forces school lockdown

Owner Karen Turner said the family pet meant no harm and it was just a case of pigs being pigs.

The alarm was raised when Henry came across a group of kids carrying a basket full of school lunches. The startled students stopped in their tracks and dropped the sandwiches, which Henry took as an invitation to a free feed.

The situation lurched from odd to bizarre when the school was placed in lockdown for the next 30 minutes.

"The funny thing is the school was preparing to have a lockdown drill later in the day," Ms Turner said. "The school has a new principal and a new groundsman, who don't really know him (Henry). "They didn't know what to do so they just called the lockdown early."

North Arm State School will tomorrow host its annual Fun Fair, which will feature pig races.

Henry will not be racing.

Keep your distance

For everyone who thinks monkeys are cute, or has ever wished they could get up-close and personal with the animals at the zoo, I reproduce excerpts of this report from London, without comment.

WITH their cherubic little faces the acrobatic yellow and black squirrel monkeys jumping through the creepers at London Zoo look like they wouldn’t hurt a fly.

But a health and safety inspection has revealed those angelic looks may be a little deceiving with a file note reporting how visitors to the zoo in Regent’s Park have sustained monkey bites while watching them search for food.

Fifteen people were bitten by the squirrel monkeys over a 12-month period to November last year, more than one bite a month, according to the report released by Westminster Council to the West End Extra following a Freedom of Information request.

The monkeys “behavioural” problems led to a ban on pushchairs at their enclosure, it adds.

Their “revolutionary” enclosure was launched with the help of Mighty Boosh comedian Noel Fielding eight years ago and is one of the zoo’s most popular attractions. Visitors are able to walk through to get as close to the monkeys as possible.

But the council’s report, compiled on its behalf by vets from the City of London, said: “The squirrel monkeys in the walk-through enclosure are still undergoing additional negative enforcement due to some behavioural issues.

"These involve mainly grabbing of food from members of the public. There have been 15 bites over the past year, none serious, all reported to first aid.”

It added: “There is now a no pushchair policy in the enclosure as they were a major target for the monkeys looking for food.”

A spokeswoman for ZSL said: “Squirrel monkeys are naturally very curious and our family of cheeky Bolivian squirrel monkeys is no exception – which has occasionally led to a small nip on a visitor’s hand.

“To help avoid this, we have volunteers based in the walk-through exhibit who can remind people not to get too close to our monkeys and resist the temptation to give them a stroke.

“We’ve also used bitter apple on mobile phones as a deterrent, as our monkeys seem particularly taken with the latest technology.”

What NOT to do with a squirrel monkey, demonstrated by Flickr user Alice.