Cougar that attacked B.C. woman in her home is found & Killed

 

A starving cougar that walked into the home of a woman and attacked her while she sat in her living room is now dead.

“Sorry, I changed the title because I thought it read like the women had died! One has to wonder about the human animal conflict, is it getting out of hand…are humans building too close to where these predators live? Or are they blaming it on the coyotes as a red herring…Although I love nature, I certainly wouldn’t want to live that close. I think we don’t give wild animals the respect they deserve, after all some do live in what could be called…their local restaurant!”

TRAIL — A starving cougar that walked into the home of a woman and attacked her while she sat in her living room is now dead.

“The woman was in her house with a number of puppies when the cougar walked in through an open door and attacked her on the sofa,” Trail RCMP Sgt. Rob Hawton said of the weekend incident.

With the help of her dog, the woman fought the cougar off and chased it out of the house. She received a couple of minor injuries to her upper leg from the cougar’s claws.

The cougar was gone by the time police arrived. But the animal was tracked down and destroyed Monday.

Hawton said the cougar was gone before officers arrived and a subsequent search was not successful. B.C. Conservation officers were called in and the cougar was tracked down and destroyed Monday.

“This is an extremely rare occurrence and was driven by the animal’s desperation for food,” Hawton said.

The cougar is believed to have been too weak from starvation to hunt normally.

Earlier this month, the president of the Trail Wildlife Association, Terry Hanik, raised the alarm of a rise in predators in the region.

Hanik said cougars and wolves were pushing into the area, adding their numbers to the huge number of coyotes already plaguing the back country and eroding the deer population, forcing predators to look into more settled areas where deer have been thriving for years.

News Link: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Cougar+that+attacked+woman+home+dead/7157209/story.html#ixzz24yMxptSZ

“Though this won’t help the lady that was attacked, hopefully it can give some help as to what to do if one see’s one.”

Published on 24 Jul 2012 by brooksfahy

If a cougar sighting occurs in your community–or if you are a member of the media and need expert information and sound bites for your newscast from an expert on cougars– this press kit by Predator Defense is for you. It includes sound bites, b-roll and photographs of cougars. Feel free to download and use these media elements to alert your local media and/or round out your news story. All we ask is that you credit Predator Defense for the clips that you use.

For more information on cougars, please visit:

http://predatordefense.org/cougars.htm

Contact: Brooks Fahy – Executive Director of Predator Defense

You can download this video to your computer using free software from this website: http://kwizzu.com/

 

Hyena Pack Attacks Sleeping Family, Kills 2 Children, Injures Others

 

A pack of hyenas killed two children and injured six other members of a family in a savage mauling in the middle of the night in the town of Wajir, Kenya. The entire family was sleeping in a traditional home in a family compound, called a “manyatta,” near Dilmanyale village.

Ten-year-old boy, Musa Jelle, was badly injured and left with deep wounds and slashes on his body and face from the teeth and claws of the catlike hyenas. The boy was first admitted at Garissa District hospital but was airlifted to the capital city Nairobi on Thursday by the Kenya Wildlife Service for further treatment. “The boy’s condition has since deteriorated,” said the KWS.

The other five injured members of the family were admitted at Habaswein District Hospital, where they were treated soon after the attack and released. Burials for the deceased children were quickkly performed.

The Kenyan Wildlife Service is responsible for game parks and wildlife in Kenya and has pursued and killed the hyenas. It has also paid the family’s medical costs and donated 20,000 Kenyan shillings (£150) to them as ‘consolation.‘  The amount is equivalent to approximately $230 in American dollars.

Attacks by wild animals in the area have increased, with 18 people killed so far this year, according to the NY Daily News. The nocturnal hunters are coming into conflict with humans more frequently as the human population increases in Africa. In some places, especially where they have attacked livestock, hyenas are heavily hunted as pests.

The Kenya Wildlife Service said its rangers are working in the community near the recent attack to educate people about ways to prevent conflict with hyenas and other wild animals.

Hyenas are most commonly known as scavengers that eat the remains of dead animals left by other predators, but as this tragic incident demonstrates, they can also be bold and powerful hunters. According to the African Wildlife Foundation hyenas can weigh up to 190 pounds, and despite their reputation as “laughing” cowards that usually go after the easiest prey, and they can be very aggressive and dangerous.

The spotted hyena is believed to have diverged from the striped and brown hyena 10 million years ago. Ancestral spotted hyenas probably developed social behaviors in response to increased competition from rivals over carcasses, thus forcing them to operate in teams. Because of the structure of their teeth and jaws, they did not need to wait for their prey to die, and thus became pack hunters as well as scavengers

The following video demonstrates the strength and speed of hyenas as one pursues a cheetah to steal fresh prey and is joined by a pack.

VIDEO:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwD5qoRGSNc (German)

News Link:-http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/animal-rights/hyena-pack-attacks-sleeping-family-kills-2-children-injures-others

 

Dog, cat killed in separate fox attacks in Amherst

AMHERST — Last month, reports of rabid foxes attacking humans in western Massachusetts seemed almost commonplace after several back-to-back incidents within a short period of time. Now, pets are apparently in the crosshairs, with two killings reported in Amherst this month.

The most recent incident happened Saturday morning, when a toy poodle was killed by a fox in a residential North Amherst neighborhood, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Earlier this month, a cat was killed by a fox in Amherst, the Northampton newspaper reports.

Amherst Animal Welfare Officer Carol Hepburn urged residents to watch their small pets, particularly during the summer months when foxes actively hunt rabbits, rodents, squirrels and other small animals. “Protect your animals from wildlife. Always be aware when your animals are outside,” Hepburn told the Gazette.

While last month’s attacks on humans were the result of rabies, a deadly viral infection that can make animals aggressive toward people, the attacks on animals were likely the result of defensive actions on the part of the fox, an omnivore that will eat everything from bugs to birds to fruit and garbage.

MassWildlife spokeswoman Marion Larson told the Gazette that pet attacks are likely defensive in nature, meaning a fox was protecting its territory or a nearby den, rather than predatory attacks aimed at securing food sources.

News Link:-http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/dog_cat_killed_in_separate_fox.html