Saved from a grizzly end: Mother bear rescues cub from attack by angry male

By Daily Mail Reporter


On the attack: The male grizzly, which photographer Jim Abernathy named Secretariat, turned on bear cub Spice while his mother was out fishing


This ferocious bear wanted to make a meal of these little cubs - until their mother declared war and sent him packing.

Shown in this amazing sequence of pictures, the giant male can be seen catching a helpless cub, wrestling him in the water and biting him to within an inch of his life.

But when the bully bear heard the mother's roar there was only one winner.


Wildlife photographer, Jim Abernethy, 52, from Florida, travelled to the Katmai National Park in Alaska to photograph the grizzly bear packs that roam freely on the shore.

Following the movements of one mother and her two cubs, Jim was able to get up close and personal with the family. Naming the cubs 'Sugar' and 'Spice' he spent a number of days documenting their playful behaviour. Each day the mother bear entrusted Jim with the care of her cubs while she joined the other adults to hunt for salmon in the nearby river.

Several days into his shoot Jim saw a huge shadow emerge from nearby trees.

'I thought to myself oh my gosh will you look at the size of that grizzly bear coming towards me,' said Jim. 'This bear was so big it looked like a horse, that's why I called it Secretariat, after the award winning American horse.

Mum to the rescue: The cubs' mother quickly returned to the scene when she realised what was going on, to confront the grizzly


'I looked to see what the baby bears were doing. 'Spice was standing on its hind legs in the path of this big bear walking towards it.

'The little bear knew the danger looked back over at its mother.' Female grizzly bears have a low reproduction rate and will not mate with males while they are looking after their cubs.

This may cause a newly migrated male bear to become potentially infanticidal towards cubs of the resident females and the late male bear.

Generally, females try to avoid these immigrant males, causing a reduction in the female's reproduction rate to approximately three to four cubs per mating season.

Get away! Secretariat tried to escape but Spice's enraged mother came after him in hot pursuit after the attempted attack


Unfortunately for the bear cubs the mother bear was over 150 yards away by the river She had just caught a fish and was not facing her children, totally unaware of the deadly peril they faced.

'Huge Secretariat walked towards us very slowly not noticing the two little cubs in his path,' said Jim.

'The two bear cubs got nervous and started walking away towards their mom. All of a sudden one of these little cubs just lost it. Spice went into a full gallop towards his mom. 'The second that happened the large grizzly bear ran like a horse to the little cub.

'He was gaining on it very quickly.' Cleverly the two cubs separated, Spice made a left hand turn and Sugar ran out towards where their mother was fishing. Secretariat chose to pursue Spice.

Safe again: Having seen off the attacker, the mother bear walked Spice and his sister Sugar to safety in nearby grasslands


'The little bear was running for its life,' Jim explained. 'At that point I thought Spice was going to die. 'I saw him bite the cub twice.

'Then I heard the sound of a mother bear that has just realised that one of its kids was about to die. She let out a blood curdling scream. That big male bear was twice her size. In that instant knew he had to drop that cub and run for it. He was scared to death.

Fortunately for the mother bear her cub was bloodstained but survived. Sugar came to comfort her badly shaken brother until their mother came and walked them to the safety of the nearby grasslands.

'This experience was completely different from anything I ever expected to see,' said Jim.


Source:dailymail

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Government gives up fight to stop caterpillars that can trigger severe asthma attacks from invading Britain

By David Derbyshire


-Oak processionary moth is concentrated in London and could affect 2012 Olympics if trees suffer infestation

Pest: Ministers say there is no longer any point trying to eradicate the oak processionary moth, a toxic caterpillar whose hairs can trigger asthma attacks


The Government has abandoned its battle to stop an invasive and potentially deadly caterpillar from setting up home in the UK, it emerged yesterday.

After a futile five-year struggle, ministers say there is no longer any point trying to eradicate the oak processionary moth, a toxic pest whose hairs can trigger severe asthma attacks.

Instead, it will try to restrict the alien invader to its stronghold in London and the south-east.


The U-turn has angered wildlife experts who say the insect will pose a major public health menace.

The pest, whose nests have already trebled in the worst-affected areas in the south-east in recent years, will spread even more rapidly, they say.

There are even fears that the caterpillar could affect the Olympics in 2012 if east London oak trees suffer an infestation.

The moth, which devastates oak trees by stripping their leaves, first appeared in London in 2006 and has been spotted as far afield as Reading and Sheffield.

Each of its caterpillar is covered with 62,000 hairs that can provoke asthma attacks, allergic reactions, painful skin and throat rashes, running eyes, breathing problems, vomiting, dizziness and fever.

Earlier this month Forestry Commission - the Government department responsible for protection of Britain's forests and woodlands - abandoned its policy of attempting to eradicate the pest.

It says it now aims to 'contain' the caterpillar in the core outbreak zone - the west London boroughs of Ealing, Brent, Hounslow, Richmond-upon-Thames and Hammersmith & Fulham.

The Commission will no longer issue statutory notices requiring owners to have the nests and caterpillars removed from their trees.

It will now be up to local authorities and tree owners to manage the moth’s impact.

Council tree managers met last week to discuss the crisis, including the threat to the Olympics.


The Forestry Commission will no longer issue statutory notices requiring owners to have the nests and caterpillars removed from their trees


Dave Lofthouse, chairman of the London Tree Officers Association, branded the Commission’s move as 'a recipe for failure'.

He said: 'I suspect that if the Forestry Commission had the funding, then they would not be doing this.

'If you retreat in the area you are patrolling, it can only lead to a more rapid spread.'

The moths arrived in Britain on a batch of oaks shipped in from Holland and quickly became established in the South East.

The pest is so serious in Holland and Belgium that giant vacuums are deployed to suck thousands of nests from trees and burn them at 600°C, using incinerators.

The number of nests in the west London boroughs has rocketed from 700 in 2007 to 2,100 last year.

Mark Townsend, of contractor Gristwood & Toms, which manages trees for councils nationwide, said: 'With the Forestry Commission taking a step back, what happens when we are faced with a Netherlands-style outbreak?

'Tree officers will be the ones who have to deal with it but they won’t have any more resources.

'Yet the early years are the crucial ones. It will now follow an exponential curve. I would be surprised if there aren’t more outbreaks festering.'

Tim Rumball, editor of Amateur Gardening magazine, said: 'The oak processionary moth has the potential to be the most dangerous garden and countryside pest of modern times.

'Unless it is eradicated quickly, children and pets will not be able to play safely outdoors wherever oak trees are present.

'With thousands of foreign visitors and many of the Olympic competitors staying in and around the London area throughout the period of the games, there is a real threat that many could be seriously injured by contact with oak processionary moth caterpillars while travelling to and from their hotels and lodgings to the venues.'

He added: 'If ever there was a catastrophe waiting to happen, this is it.'

In a statement, the Commission said that its decision 'follows scientific advice that it is no longer practicable to eradicate the species from the core outbreak zone'.

Roddie Burgess, head of the Commission's plant health service, said: 'We fully understand that local people and organisations will be very disappointed that we are no longer pursuing a policy of eradicating oak processionary moth from west London.

'However, Ministers have accepted scientists' advice that it is no longer practicable to try to eradicate it from the area and have asked us to move to a policy of containment and management.

'The wisest use of the available resources is to continue to work towards keeping it contained at the lowest practicable level within the current core outbreak area and to prevent it from spreading outwards to the rest of the country.'


Source:dailymail

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When boars attack: Terrified shoppers flee from crazed creature on rampage in shopping centre

By Ian Sparks


Rampage: The boar ran amok in a shopping arcade in the city of Nancy, France, before finally being brought down by a tranquiliser dart (red arrow in its flank)


A crazed wild boar wreaked havoc when it went on the rampage in a shopping centre in France.

The ten-stone 'hairy pig' with pointed tusks charged into a supermarket through a service entrance, smashing through product displays and sending shoppers fleeing in panic.

The animal then burst through a checkout, along a shopping arcade and into a hairdressing salon in Nancy, Lorraine.

As customers ran to safety, security men managed to trap the boar inside and lock the door.

Knocked out: The boar slumps on the floor after the sedative finally worked through its system


The beast then 'smashed everything in sight' in the salon at the commercial centre of Nancy on Tuesday, eye-witnesses revealed.

The shopping centre's security chief Gregory Gobin said: 'Once the boar realised it was cornered it went berserk.

'It tore sinks from the walls, ripped and trampled the furniture and sent hair products flying in all directions.

'The room was devastated and the entire damage caused by the animal will run into tens of thousands of euros.'

The boar was locked inside the salon for an hour before a vet was called who shot it with a tranquilliser dart.

A fire service spokesman at the scene added: 'It is likely this animal strayed into the supermarket from fields nearby where there is a population of boars. It will probably now be put down.'


Extreme measures: A security man readies a rifle loaded with a tranquiliser after being called to the shopping centre


Source:dailymail

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