Tag: wildlife

Ohio Duck Rescue Expert Says Springfield Bird Disappearances Far Exceeding Previous Levels, Believes Rumors “To Be True”

Ohio duck rescuer Lisa Montgomery has been witnessing an uptick in missing ducks and geese in the Springfield area recently, according to an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail.

Montgomery has been rehoming wild geese in the state for a decade, and she’s specifically noticed birds in the city have disappeared at an alarming rate.

After Donald Trump said Haitian “migrants” in the Ohio city are eating dogs and cats, the media went wild claiming he’s spreading racist misinformation.

However, testimonies from locals allege they saw firsthand the illegal aliens were collecting cats, and it is known that animals are often used in Haitian voodoo rituals.

The Ohio bird rescuer said she’s noticed an “unusual” number of water birds going missing in the region, and has “serious concerns” they’re being “murdered for food.”

This year, Montgomery witnessed the geese and ducks disappearing by numbers that “far exceeded” past summers.

“I have over the years had many people reach out from the Springfield area. Recently with concerns of ducks and geese being murdered for food,” she said. “I do have serious concerns over the issue and believe it to be true.”

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YES – Haitian Migrants Are Eating Pets

Donald Trump claimed during the tilted debate that Haitian migrants are resorting to eating human pets. The moderators and Kamala Harris had a chuckle, and NBC, ABC, and the other parrots in the media taunted Trump with headlines that stated the former president was lying once again.

There are countless reports from residents in Springfield, Ohio, and elsewhere that state their pets have gone missing. “These Haitians are running into trash cans. They’re running into buildings. They’re flipping cars in the middle of the street, and I don’t know how like, y’all can be comfortable with this,” a resident named Anthony Harris complained to city officials last month. “They’re in the park, grabbing up ducks by the neck and cutting their heads off and eating them.” There are 911 phone calls from concerned residents stating that Haitian migrants are taking ducks and geese from ponds and eating them.

Springfield was once a small American town with a population of 58,000 as of 2020. Then, over 20,000 migrants arrived, failed to assimilate into American culture, and are completely reliant on US taxpayers. “How many people can they be expected to take? What are the limits to the federal government’s power? Could the federal government simply funnel into Ohio all the millions of migrants flooding in under the current administration’s watch?” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost finally questioned.

Yost accurately noted that the sheer number of migrants arriving in such a short amount of time is utterly unsustainable. Their behavior only worsens matters as his office stated that migrants are “causing car crashes, stealing property – including livestock, squatting in homes and killing wildlife for food.”

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The New York Times: Latest Descent into Madness

The New York Times really outdid itself this past weekend. On Sunday, the it published an Op Ed titled, “A Bat Flew Into My Bedroom and Reminded Me of All We Take for Granted.” I took the bait — I found the strange mix of triviality and hyperbole irresistible. 

The article starts out innocently enough. A mom in North Carolina, Belle Boggs, didn’t like the oppressive summer heat and the evening news so she went to bed early. But things quickly went off the rails. 

While she slept, her husband (who was working late) left a screen door open and a bat flew into the house. A light sleeper, she noticed the bat, told her husband to capture it (so that they could turn it in to the authorities!) but the bat flew away. 

That should be the end of the story, right?

Nope, Belle Boggs was just getting started. She lets us know that this incident was part of a heroic journey. “What happened over the next few days restored my faith in the systems in our country that keep us safe.” What!? 

I’ll let her explain: 

To decide what to do next, we consulted every resource. 

Richard, my husband, read the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website. 

I called our health care after-hours line and spoke to a nurse who also consulted the C.D.C. 

We called our county’s animal control center, and an officer was at our house within 10 minutes. He searched the house and garage for bats, found none and put in a report to our county’s public health department.

Lady, THE BAT DID NOT TOUCH YOU AND FLEW AWAY. 

But Belle’s undiagnosed hypochondria was now in full bloom. So on Sunday morning Belle and her husband drove to the emergency room at the University of North Carolina Hospital; got two rabies shots, one in each arm; and “paid $600 E.R. copays with heftier hospital bills to come.”

Wait, she got rabies shots because she saw a bat that flew away!? That makes no sense. 

But it gets worse because she uses this harrowing tale — a bat flew into her house and then out again — to launch into a political critique!

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Chimpanzees Are Capable of Speech, According to New Analysis of Decades-Old Footage

In 1962, many American moviegoers were treated to an unusual display during screenings of the popular Universal Newsreels that aired before feature presentations. That year, a segment entitled “Now Hear This! Italians Unveil Talking Chimp” was shown, introducing audiences to Renata, a chimpanzee who had reportedly been trained to say “mama” by her handler.

“As explained by her foster mother, this is one of the most extraordinary chimps in the world,” announcer Ed Herlihy’s famous voice could be heard saying in the decades-old footage. “You don’t have to know Italian to understand Renata’s accent when she gets her cue.”

Then, as Renata’s handler taps her on the chin, the chimpanzee is shown saying the word “mama” several times.

The footage, likely viewed as little more than a novelty at the time, represented something potentially extraordinary: evidence of a non-human primate displaying the ability to speak, albeit crudely. Despite Renata’s unique talent, the footage was largely forgotten, and prevailing wisdom continued to insist that humans were the only primates with the required neural circuitry capable of speech.

However, Renata was not the only known example of a chimpanzee who displayed a limited ability to learn and speak human words. Decades later, in a video uploaded to YouTube on August 17, 2007, a chimpanzee named Johnny was also shown saying “mama,” seemingly in response to requests from his owner, after which he was awarded a treat.

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NATO’s Nuclear Bases Have Poisoned Water and Fish

Nuclear armed air bases at Kleine Brogel in Belgium, Büchel in Germany, Aviano and Ghedi in Italy, and Volkel in the Netherlands have poisoned the environment with PFAS.

Massive fires were intentionally lit in large fire pits at these bases and extinguished with cancer-causing fire-fighting foams during routine training exercises dating back 40 years or longer.  Afterward, the foam residue was typically allowed to run off or drain into the soil. The “forever chemicals” pollute the soil, sewers, sediment, surface water, groundwater, and the air. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) bases regularly tested sprinkler systems in hangars to create a carcinogenic foam layer to coat the expensive aircraft. The sprinkler systems often malfunctioned. The foams were sent to sewers or deposited in groundwater or surface water.

The PFAS-laden foams work miraculously well in putting out super-hot petroleum-based fires, but remarkable technologies may escape our control and imperil humanity.

Two astonishing inventions in 1938 are like Daedalus’ fastening of wings to wax: the splitting of the uranium atom by German scientists and the discovery of per – and poly fluoroalkyl substances, (PFAS) by Dupont chemists in New Jersey.  It’s not a stretch. Both nuclear weaponry and PFAS chemicals are existential threats to humanity. Their development and use are inextricably linked.

Wherever nuclear weapons are found, huge quantities of PFAS foams are ready to be used to snuff out a fire that may cause unimaginable destruction.

Like Pandora’s nightmare, once PFAS is let loose we can’t get it back in the box. We can’t get rid of it. We can’t bury it. We can’t incinerate it. We don’t know what to do with it. Notions of ”cleaning up” PFAS from these practices are largely misguided, propagandistic ploys promulgated by the U.S. military.

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OVERPOPULATION? After a 19-Year-Old Woman Was Attacked and Killed in Romania, Lawmakers Approve Killing Almost 500 Bears

The fatal brown bear attack against a 19-year-old female tourist hiker sent shocks across the Romanian societies, prompting the head of government to recall lawmakers from their recess in order to vote legislation tackling the ‘overpopulation’ of bears in the country.

And the Parliamentarians apparently came back with a vengeance, approving measures that many may feel are extreme.

CBS reported:

“Romania’s parliament on Monday approved the culling of almost 500 bears this year in a bid to control the protected species’ ‘overpopulation’ after a deadly attack on a 19-year-old hiker sparked nationwide outcry.”

The bear reportedly attacked the young woman on the trail, dragged her into the vegetation and dropped her into a chasm, coming down after her.

After reportedly trying to attack the rescuers, the bear was shot and killed.

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PCR Testing for Bird Flu ‘Will Only Serve to Raise False Case Count’ Critics Say

Dr. Deborah Birx, the Trump administration’s coronavirus response coordinator, told CNN’s Kasie Hunt the U.S. is making the “same mistakes” with bird flu that it made with COVID-19, which she said spread because there wasn’t enough testing for asymptomatic infection.

Birx is now calling for every cow to be tested for bird flu weekly and for regular pooled tests for dairy workers. She also said it’s likely that undetected cases are circulating in humans.

“We have the technology,” Birx said. “The great thing about America is we’re incredibly innovative and we have the ability to have these breakthroughs.”

The technology Birx referenced is polymerase chain reaction or PCR testing — the same diagnostic tool that came under fire during the COVID-19 pandemic for producing inaccurate results, including false positives.

Speaking out on X (formerly Twitter), critics like Simon Goddek, Ph.D., pushed back, accusing Birx of “deliberately using the same strategy to fabricate another fake health emergency.”

On Wednesday, the day after Birx’s interview, JAMA published its own article advocating for more widespread bird flu testing.

“No animal or public health expert thinks that we are doing enough surveillance,” Keith Poulsen, DVM, Ph.D., director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told JAMA.

Andrew Pekosz, Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told JAMA that more testing should be conducted to find asymptomatic and mild infections. Workers at infected farms should be tested twice weekly, he said, and cows should be tested once a week.

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Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz wants Congress to OK killing rare whale

Of all the movies ever made in Florida — “Body Heat,” “Cocoon,” and “Spring Breakers,” to name a few — the one with the oddest concept was “The Truman Show.”

Jim Carrey plays a man with a sunny disposition who has no idea that secret cameras are recording every moment of his life for the entertainment of millions.

“Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night,” he’d cheerfully tell his neighbors, not realizing they were actors.

This movie was filmed in a seaside Florida town named Seaside. The town is real, not a movie set. I know someone who grew up in the house that Carrey’s character occupied in the movie, and so do you. His name is Matt Gaetz, and he’s the pompadoured U.S. congressman representing a chunk of the Panhandle.

Lately, though, Gaetz, R-Venmo, seems to be copying a much dourer fictional character. He’s been styling himself after Captain Ahab from “Moby Dick.”

He’s set a course to take out a whale. Or several.

Not a white whale, of course. No, he wants to harm the rarest whale on earth.

The Rice’s whale is the only one that lives entirely in the Gulf of Mexico. The species, discovered only recently, is definitely endangered. Scientists estimate that there are fewer than 100 of them — maybe as few as 51.

And Gaetz wants Congress to OK the military bombing the heck out of them.

Even though the military doesn’t want to do that.

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Badger culls to continue in England despite lack of scientific evidence

Badger cull licences have been issued by the government despite its own scientific adviser saying there is “no justification” for doing so.

Leaked documents seen by the Guardian show the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs this month issued 17 new licences to continue culling badgers, overruling Dr Peter Brotherton, the director of science at Natural England, the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England.

Badgers are culled to the point of local extinction because they spread bovine tuberculosis (bTB) to cattle, and the disease can wipe out entire herds. Last year, figures released by Defra revealed more than 210,000 badgers had been killed since the cull began in 2013. However, scientific reports have shown that killing badgers is not the most effective way to end the disease.

Brotherton told Defra that while in previous years a cull could be justified, “based on the evidence, I can find no justification for authorising further supplementary badger culls in 2024 for the purpose of preventing the spread of disease and recommend against doing so”.

Defra officials said that in response they were pushing ahead with the cull because farmers who were most affected by bTB would lose confidence in the government if it was ended abruptly.

Sally Randall, Defra’s director general for biosecurity, food and trade, said in a letter to Natural England: “Those most affected by the disease must have confidence in both the process and the trajectory. Changes need to be carefully timed and communicated, whilst balancing a range of potentially opposing views. Any abrupt changes to policy would seriously undermine our ability to engage constructively with the industry on future disease control interventions.”

Brotherton said the badger population was likely to remain low for at least seven years, during which time vaccinations could be deployed to stop the spread of the disease.

He told Defra: “The balance of evidence has shifted. In my opinion it is now clear that badger vaccination can provide an effective alternative to [culls].”

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Proof the Beast of Cumbria exists?: Scientists find big cat DNA on savaged sheep in the Lake District

There have long been rumours that big cats roam the British countryside.

Blurred photographs, large inexplicable tracks and dramatic eye-witness accounts routinely add to the mystery of their existence.

But now scientists say they have found definitive proof a leopard prowls the Lake District – after they matched DNA found on a dead sheep to a non-native large feline.

Professor Robin Allaby analysed a sample taken from the sheep’s carcass and discovered ‘Panthera genus’ DNA – meaning it had to have come from a lion, leopard, tiger, jaguar or snow leopard.

He said a leopard was the most likely on British soil and that the exciting finding was the first scientific proof that large, non-native cats roam the UK.

Biologist Prof Allaby, who said he had always been ‘open-minded’ about the existence of big cats in Britain, told BBC Wildlife magazine that the results of his test had left him in no doubt there was one stalking the Cumbria countryside.

‘It makes me a convert,’ he said. ‘On the balance of probabilities, I think this is a genuine hit.’

The remains of the sheep were discovered by Cumbrian resident Sharon Larkin-Snowden in an undisclosed upland location in October.

She disturbed whatever had been feeding on the carcass and the animal ran towards a stone wall before disappearing.

‘I saw something black, running, and I assumed at first it was a sheepdog,’ she said. ‘Then I did a double take and realised it was a black cat. It ran towards a stone wall, stopped and then jumped the wall. It was big – the size of a German shepherd dog.’

Ms Larkin-Snowden took a swab of the carcass and sent it to Rick Minter, the host of the Big Cat Conversations podcast, who passed it on to Prof Allaby.

He analysed the sample at his laboratory at the University of Warwick and discovered both fox and Panthera DNA. He said the findings suggested the sheep had been eaten by both a fox and a big cat, such as a leopard.

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