The Animal Thread (cuteness, bravery, animal justice, and the fantastique)

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

[Agent Purple The Illustrated Man Find all posts View Profile Close Agent Purple]

The kitchen where I work, one of the cooks wrote that on one of the prepared foods. It was just over the plastic wrap, which was taken off when another cook started getting things ready for dinner service, but I had just a second to notice it.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

Man details double grizzly attack on Facebook

A Montana man mauled by a grizzly bear, twice, took to Facebook before he even received medical treatment to share a warning with fellow residents and visitors to the area; carry bear spray and “be safe out there.”

Todd Orr, 50, of Bozeman, knew he was lucky to be alive. He set out for an early morning hike in familiar terrain on Saturday and dutifully shouted out every so often to give any lurking bears a chance to clear off, but it didn’t work.

A mother grizzly bear with a couple cubs saw him and charged from about 80 feet away, reports CBS affiliate KTVQ. Orr said in a detailed recount on Facebook that he fired bear spray in the animal’s face as it charged, but that failed to stop the double attack that was about to unfold.

“I went to my face in the dirt and wrapped my arms around the back of my neck for protection. She was on top of me biting my arms, shoulders and backpack,” wrote Orr in a long message posted after the intial, blood-drenched video. “The force of each bite was like a sledge hammer with teeth. She would stop for a few seconds and then bite again. Over and over. After a couple minutes, but what seemed an eternity, she disappeared.”

He was badly chewed up, but he was able to get up and start walking and jogging the roughly three miles back to his truck. Ten minutes later, his nemesis was back. . .

[Agent Purple The Illustrated Man Find all posts View Profile Close Agent Purple]

Migratory songbirds threatened by climate shift

[Agent Purple The Illustrated Man Find all posts View Profile Close Agent Purple]

"That one goth friend..."

[Agent Purple The Illustrated Man Find all posts View Profile Close Agent Purple]

"Getting that beach body ready"

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

Big Game Hunter Crushed to Death by Collapsing Elephant

Theunis Botha led his first guided hunting safari through South Africa’s grasslands in 1989. A college student at the time, he used the money he received to help put himself through school.

Over the following 28 years, Botha expanded his college side-gig into a full-fledged business, setting up private hunting ranches in Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa and elsewhere, and drawing clients from around the world. He won a reputation as a sought-after specialist in leopard and lion hunting, and pioneered a new method of using hounds to track big game, according to his hunting company’s website.

On Friday, after countless treks into the African wilderness, the 51-year-old embarked on his final hunt.

Botha was leading a group of hunters in western Zimbabwe on Friday afternoon when they stumbled upon a breeding herd of elephants in Hwange National Park, the Telegraph reported.

Startled, three elephant cows charged the group. Botha opened fire, according to News24, but a fourth elephant rammed him from the side, lifting him with her trunk. One of his fellow hunters then fired a shot. The elephant collapsed on top of Botha, killing him, News24 reported.

Botha’s body was taken to Hwange Colliery Hospital. His wife, Carike Botha, is expected to go to Zimbabwe on Monday to identify his body and bring his remains to South Africa for burial, according to News24. In addition to his wife, Botha is survived by five children . . . [cont.]

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

I'd feel better about the poetic justice of that story if the guy didn't leave five kids fatherless.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

I'd feel better about the poetic justice of that story if the guy didn't leave five kids fatherless.

To be clear, I'm not personally making a comment on hunting try to make a joke of this. Just passing on info about animal-related news. This dude was pretty controversial.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Yeah, I wasn't trying to read into your motivations. Sorry.

I just thought the story kind of screamed "poetic justice" until I read the part about him leaving 5 kids behind.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

Yeah, I wasn't trying to read into your motivations. Sorry.

I just thought the story kind of screamed "poetic justice" until I read the part about him leaving 5 kids behind.

No, I agree. That's actually why I cut off after that part. I was thinking if I just did the first couple sentences it would naturally lead to that kind of view.

[Agent Purple The Illustrated Man Find all posts View Profile Close Agent Purple]

Big huge gift is big huge.

[Agent Purple The Illustrated Man Find all posts View Profile Close Agent Purple]

"Ready for battle"

[Agent Purple The Illustrated Man Find all posts View Profile Close Agent Purple]

Time for some very disturbing news (and yes, this directly affects you) ---

A third of the nation's honeybee colonies died last year.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

What's really alarming is that a 33% decline is actually an IMPROVEMENT over previous years.

I'm curious if they have statistics for wild bees. The headline sounds like it includes all colonies in the country, but the details make it clear that their statistics are only for colonies kept by beekeepers. I wonder if wild bees are faring better or worse than those kept by humans.

EDIT: A quick search seems to indicate that wild bees are actually doing WORSE than domestic honeybees. That doesn't sound good...