A gorilla has died at a zoo after accidentally hanging himself with a climbing rope.
Five-year-old Tatu was found dead with the rope around his neck in a sleeping room, according to officials at Prague Zoo.
Another gorilla appeared to be trying to help the stricken animal when staff arrived at the scene.
Spokesman Michal Stastny said all attempts to revive the animal failed. There were no cameras in the room and it was not clear exactly what happened.
But it is believed Tatu unbraided one of the dozens of ropes the gorillas use in their pavilion for climbing and put a strand around his neck before tragically hanging himself.
Mammals curator Pavel Brandl said: 'It was an accident.'
The ropes are checked daily, he added.
He revealed that another gorilla, Kamba, was by Tatu's side and was apparently trying to help the animal - but 'it's hard to say what exactly she was doing.'
Director Miroslav Bobek said the death was the most tragic event at the zoo since flooding in 2002 killed more than 100 animals.
The zoo still has six gorillas, and they are among the most popular animals there.
Tens of thousands of people watched Tatu's birth online on May 30, 2007.
Prague Zoo was opened in the Czech Republic in 1931 with the goal to 'advance the study of zoology, protect wildlife, and educate the public' in the district of Troja in the north of the city.
It stands on 111 acres and houses about 4,400 animals that represent 670 species from all around the world.
In 2007, Forbes Traveler Magazine listed Prague ZOO among the world's best zoos.
A large mulga snake has met an untimely death after getting its head stuck in an empty beer can.
The outback find has prompted a conservation group to highlight one of the lesser-considered effects of littering.
The dead snake was found near Borefield Road in the outback Roxby Downs region of South Australia with its head still inside the empty can.
Hannah Spronk from the group Arid Recovery said the reptile chose the wrong place to seek shelter.
She said littering was on the rise as the outback tourist season got underway and people needed to consider the harm it could cause for animals and the environment.
“People think the outback’s big and vast and it is, but there is actually quite a few people that travel through it and you think that maybe your one little bit of rubbish that you throw out the window isn’t going to have an impact, but clearly it does,” she said.
Five police officers were taken to hospital today after being mauled by a dog during a raid.
The constables were attacked by a "pit bull-type" animal as they attempted to arrest a suspect in east London, Scotland Yard said.
A dog unit and firearms officer were called before the dog was "contained and subsequently shot dead", the force added.
Four of the officers were described as being in a serious but stable condition. The most badly hurt officer could be facing skin grafts to repair wounds to his arms and legs.
Officers confirmed the swoop was part of Operation Big Wing, a major Scotland Yard purge on offences ranging from robbery and burglary to domestic violence.
The man, who is in his 20s and is thought to own the dog, was arrested for grievous bodily harm and kidnapping, a spokeswoman said.
Dog bite incidents in the UK have risen 79% in London and 43% nationally in recent years, according to figures obtained by the Kennel Club.
A 400-pound adult male gorilla escaped his cage a New York zoo today, biting a female zookeeper before being tranquilised and captured in what a SWAT team leader called, 'the scariest thing I've ever done'.
Zoo officials said Koga, a 24-year-old silverback gorilla at Buffalo Zoo, Buffalo, took advantage of an unlocked door in his living quarters on Monday morning and slipped into the space behind it, which is used by zoo personnel but closed to the public.
A keeper who has cared for Koga since he arrived in 2007 was bitten on her hand and calf, in what officials said was an act of excitement rather than aggression.
'He was probably just as surprised coming face to face with her as she was with him,' Buffalo Zoo President Donna Fernandes said.
The keeper, whose name was not released, reportedly took refuge inside the habitat of Koga's mate and the primate couple's newborn child.
The keeper had a good relationship with the mother who, like Koga, is a West Lowland gorilla, native to West Africa and the Congo River Basin.
Meanwhile, police sent in the SWAT team to secure the area while a veterinarian used a handheld blow pipe to sedate Koga through a porthole.
Visitors to the zoo were moved indoors and stayed there throughout the 45-minute ordeal, and the zoo's first escape, Fernandes said.
Sad animal news today. Yoda, a Chinese crested-Chihuahua mix and the reigning winner of the World's Ugliest Dog crown, has passed away. She was 15.
Yoda earned the prestigious award in June 2011 at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in California. For her dogged (BOO!) pursuit of the honor, Yoda won $1,000!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or something
In an email to the Hanford Sentinel, Yoda's owner Terry Schumacher writes, "Say a prayer today 4 my YODA... She passed away last night in her sleep."
"I will miss her funny little ways! But comforted knowing she will be joining my Mom and Dad, who loved her so much! Her memories will live on forever!!!"
It was supposed to be one of those feel-good segments on a local television newscast: A rescued dog. A grateful owner. The hero firefighter who pulled the dog from the ice. But that's not how it turned out.
The dog, an Argentine mastiff named Gladiator Maximus, attacked Kyle Dyer, anchorwoman at NBC's KUSA Denver affiliate, during a live, in-studio segment on Wednesday that was meant to celebrate the dog's rescue from an icy lake the day before.
Dyer was shown petting the mastiff during the segment, then kneeling on the floor to get closer, when the 85-pound pooch bit her in the face. Paramedics and animal control were called to the studio. Dyer was rushed to a Denver hospital where she had reconstructive surgery overnight. The 3-year-old dog was taken to a Denver animal shelter where it is being "quarantined."
Video of the attack, as you might imagine, has gone viral, but KUSA has been issuing take-down notices, trying to get the clip off the Internet. (The "Today" show won't even show it.)
Patti Dennis, KUSA vice president of news, said Dyer's surgery was successful, and that Dyer is expected back to work in a few weeks. "The surgeon was pleased with the outcome," Dennis said. "Kyle says she wants everyone to know she is OK and is concerned about the viewers who were watching the incident live on TV."
"Several people interacted with the dog [prior to the segment] and everything seemed fine," Dennis said. "Then at the last moment, the dog had behavior that nobody predicted or understood. Clearly we learned something."
Dyer is known for a weekly segment--"Kyle's Kritters"--that showcases animals from the Denver Zoo.
Michael Robinson, Max's owner, has been cited by Denver Animal Control for a "leash-law"" violation ("because the owner did not have control of the dog at all times"), for allowing a dog to bite and for not having the dog properly vaccinated.
But animal experts say it was Dyer who was really at fault.
"The dog was trying to tell her, 'I am going to bite you,'" Colleen Safford, a prominent New York-based dog trainer, told Yahoo News. "Dogs 'talk' to us with their body with each and every interaction. This dog was repeatedly 'telling' the anchor that she was making him uncomfortable and if she didn't stop, he would bite."
"Basically, she did everything wrong," Ron Berman, a canine behavior specialist, told NBC. "She went up to a dog she didn't know--who didn't know her--and she either tried to kiss him or hug him or put her face too close to his face. He felt threatened and bit her."
Max is expected to be released to Robinson after a 10-day evaluation. Robinson is due in court April 4.
"The dog bite accident that happened today was unfortunate and certainly not expected based on what we knew about the dog and his owner," Dennis said in a separate statement. "Our goal was to unite the owner with the rescuer for a nice segment. We are all thinking of Kyle and her recovery. We love Kyle and what she and her family do for this community. We also love animals and will continue to do all we can to use 9NEWS to improve animal welfare in Colorado."
Dennis said the station is now reviewing its guidelines concerning animals in the studio.
There was pandemonium inside a court room at the Ejigbo Magistrate Court in Lagos, as lawyers, litigants and spectators scampered for safety on Thursday when an investigating police officer, IPO, tendered a live Python as an exhibit.
Funny enough, the prosecutor, Oladejo Balogun refused to accept the snake as exhibit. He hurriedly made an oral application asking the court to order the IPO to return the Python to their custody for safety reasons. He complained that he had no place to keep it and also does not know the type of food it eats.
The policeman in turn disclosed that they were tired of keeping the snake since the arrest of the suspects last Saturday and asked the court to accept and keep it as an exhibit.
The police had brought two suspected fraudsters, Kayode Oseni, 42 and Jamiu Adeyemi, 37 along with the snake as the exhibit which they allegedly planted in a house of a complainant, Alhaji Jelili Kuku to defraud him.
It was gathered that the defendants had gone to Alhaji Kuku’s house at 14, Foursquare Street, Ikotun, Lagos and planted the snake and pretended to conducting deliverance prayers for him.
They blamed all his woes on the demon inside his house. After their arrest, they allegedly confessed to the police that they took the action to defraud the Alhaji.
They had hoped to bring the snake from where they hid it in his house while they pretended to be praying for him in order to extort money from him.
They had earlier allegedly extorted N40,000 from him to buy a ram for sacrifice, which they claimed would save his life.
However, they were unlucky as they didn't know that Alhaji Kuku saw them while they were planting the snake. He immediately invited the police who arrested them.
The defendants were docked on a two-count charge of fraud and stealing contrary to and punishable under sections 419 and 390 of the Criminal Code Cap 17 Vol. 2 Laws of Lagos State, 2003.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges. The presiding magistrate, Mrs. M. B. Folami granted them bail in the sum of N500,000 each with two sureties each in like sum.
She adjourned the matter till March 14, 2012, for further hearing and ordered the police to return the snake to their exhibit room till the next adjourned date.
On 22 January, 2011, in a government a owned veterinary clinic at Fakon Idi Veterinary Clinic, a sheep gave birth to a monstrous being.
When it was discovered that it was difficult for the sheep to deliver, that was point when the need for the surgeons to carry out the operation. On delivering, the surgeons were amazed by sight of the monster baby that looked half-human.
Garba Aminu, a commercial motorcycle rider, averred: “This is an abomination in our land. To see a sheep give birth to a half human being is a mystery and that shows how terrible some people are. It is unimaginable that some people will be having intercourse with animals.”
Another onlooker, who simply gave his name as Danladi, wondered how such a development could happen in a morally upright state like Sokoto where the Islamic faith is so deep.
New Zealand—A mass-stranding of whales on a New Zealand beach has left 36 of the creatures dead and threatens 40 more.
Department of Conservation area manager John Mason said 99 pilot whales stranded themselves Monday on Farewell Spit on the South Island. By Tuesday, 36 whales had died and another 40 remained stranded and were still in danger.
Mason said conservation staff and volunteers had successfully refloated 17 whales, which had swum out to deeper water. Another six whales remained unaccounted for.
The 40 beached whales were briefly swimming in shallow water early Tuesday afternoon but became stranded again by the evening as the tide went out. Mason said volunteers would try to keep the whales cool and wet until dark. He said after that, all they could hope for was that the whales would swim away on the next high tide during the night.
Pilot whales grow to about 20 feet (6 meters), and large strandings are common during the New Zealand summer. Experts describe Farewell Spit as a whale trap due to the way its shallow waters seem to confuse whales and diminish their ability to navigate.
A father helplessly watched on as his 10-year-old daughter was snatched and killed by a crocodile in Indonesia.
The pair and the youngster's brother had been hunting for turtles in the East Nusatenggara province when the girl, Juraida, was dragged in to the water by a giant saltwater crocodile.
Speaking to the Jakarta Post Indonesian official Viktor Mado Waton said 'Juraida was seized when she was in about half a metre of water at the river’s mouth.''Her father and brother could only watch helplessly.'
A rescue team was later deployed to the scene only to discover a dress and a hair ribbon on the sand, near the sight of the incident.Her body has yet to be found.
Local residents had already told officials they had seen several crocodiles sun-bathing at the river mouth a few days before the incident.
And last month a boy was killed by a crocodile in the same river whilst villagers have also reported a loss of livestock.
The salt water crocodile is the largest of all living reptiles and is more commonly found in Australia, the eastern coast of India and parts of Southeast Asia.
Although, on average, there are just two fatal attacks reported per year in recent years there have been attacks close to the latest incident in Borneo, Sumatra and Myanmar
A monkey thought to have been extinct for years has been "rediscovered" in the dense jungles of Indonesia.
The large, grey species, called the Miller's grizzled langur was found in an area far from its previously recorded home range.
The monkey has distinctive markings with its black face framed by a fluffy, Dracula-esque white collar.
Scientists found the animal by setting up camera traps in the Wehea Forest on the eastern tip of Borneo in June.
They were hoping to capture clouded leopards, orangutans and other wildlife known to congregate at mineral salt licks.
But the footage that came back took them all by surprise when it showed monkeys they had never seen before.
With virtually no photographs of the grizzled langurs in existence, it was a challenge to confirm their suspicions at first, said Brent Loken, a PhD student at Simon Fraser University in Canada, and one of the lead researchers.
"We were all pretty ecstatic, the fact that, wow, this monkey still lives, and also that it's in Wehea," said Mr Loken.
The monkey, which has hooded eyes and a pinkish nose and lips, once roamed the northeastern part of Borneo, as well as the islands of Sumatra and Java.
Forests where the monkeys once lived have been destroyed by fires, human encroachment and conversion of land for agriculture and mining and an extensive field survey in 2005 turned up empty.
The next step will be returning to the 90,000 acre (38,000 hectare) forest to try to find out how many grizzly langurs there are, according to the team of local and international scientists, who have published their findings in the American Journal of Primatology.
They appear in more than 4,000 pictures captured over a two-month period, said Mr Loken, but it is possible one or two families kept returning.
"We are trying to find out all we can," he said. "But it really feels like a race against time."
Tommasino, an Italian cat who was rescued as a stray by a wealthy Italian woman Maria Assunta, has become the third richest animal in the world inheriting over $15 million after his wealthy owner died and left him the entire family fortune.
Maria Assunta died last month aged 94 years old and according to lawyers entrusted with her estate, left the fortune in property to Tommasino.
Ms Assunta had a large property portfolio with homes and villas across the country, as well as several bulging bank accounts and share portfolios but no living relatives.
Lawyers Anna Orecchioni and Giacinto Canzona who are representing her say that she left the fortune to Tommasino in a will she wrote and deposited with them in their office in Rome in October 2009.
Mrs Orecchioni explained that under Italian law Tommassino is not entitled to inherit the money directly and the will also asked for the money to be given to a ‘worthy animal association, if one could be found.’
Tommasino will be joining other millionaire animals such as Gunther a German Shepherd thought to be the world’s richest animal after inheriting $141 million from his wealthy heiress owner – Karlotta Liebenstien. Another member of this exclusive club is the cat “Blackie” who was left $14million by British recluse ben Rea.
A senior Tory councillor is facing calls to be sacked after suggesting his party 'may as well legalise marriage with animals' because Prime Minister David Cameron supports gay marriage.
Conservative Party officials immediately took action against James Malliff, a cabinet member of Tory-controlled Wycombe District Council, Buckinghamshire, after he tweeted the remark to a former Tory MP.
Mr Malliff, who is in charge of big society and localism at the council, was immediately suspended by bosses for the ill-advised and 'completely unacceptable' Twitter post.
The London Evening Standard reported that Mr Malliff tweeted to former Conservative MP Paul Goodman, who had asked whether legalising gay marriage could lead to multiple Sharia marriages being made lawful.
Mr Malliff said: 'There is no doubt the PM is wrong on this issue. We may as well legalise marriage with animals, crude I concede but no apology.'
