Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Animals in the News: Whale Rescued then Thanking Humans, Dogs Protecting, Bears Swimming, Leopards Attacking

Leopards' habitat problems? attack story HERE -- Paco the chihuahua: very funny and cool HERE.  Polar bears swims 426 miles nonstop? HERE 

Amazing whale rescue story, found whale pics HERE.  excerpt:
 "Three whale watchers ...found themselves in the throes of an hour-long struggle to free a humpback whale from a tangled mass of fishing nets. The dramatic scene, captured on film, happened off the coast of California.
Michael Fishbach ...said: “As I swam alongside the animal our eyes met.
There were no words we could share but I wanted to let the whale know that we were there to help.
It took some effort to stay focused given the great emotion of the moment.
The sight of this large and beautiful creature trapped and so close to death was almost overwhelming.”
‘I must admit I was a bit scared because I knew the whale was frightened and fatigued but could still kill me with one panicked movement.’

... the whale was so entangled its body was weighed down by about 15 feet but with elbow grease, the trio eventually untangled one of the fins. Apparently, the whale then sensed its fin had been freed and swam away, pulling the boat with it! Soon after it returned and the men were able to work on cutting away the remaining nets until the whale was completely free.
What came next was a sweet reward I‘m sure even the whale watchers weren’t expecting:

For the next hour they watched the whale breach around 40 times and then dive down waving its tail above the water.
Michael said: ‘We all believed it was a least a show of pure joy, if not thanks. ..."
snopes on whale rescue HERE


paco!

more bears HERE

more Leopards HERE

when animals attack: HERE

Sad excerpt re: the Leopard:
...The cat died within hours, ...the people are recovering from their injuries, mostly swipes from the cat's claws.The Times of India reported on its website that villagers needed to be made more aware of how to deal with animals that strayed out of forests. It said that, in this case, villagers had not paved a way for the leopard to return to the forest. "We found that its four paws were injured as it had climbed on to a wall with glass shards. Afraid and desperate to return to the forest, it was attacking the bystanders," a forester told the paper.
"If we had insisted on providing a safe passage to animals, public wrath would have fallen upon us. In such circumstances, people are in no mood to listen to us."
The website reported that leopard lynching in the tea belt of India was common.



respect animal
quotes HERE

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