Cat-like animal sighting in Granville disputed

Cat-like animal sighting in Granville disputed

BRIAN MILLER • Advocate Reporter • July 22, 2010

GRANVILLE -- The latest unusual animal sighting in Granville was even more inconclusive than the last. The resident of the east side of the village who saw it said she thinks it was in the cat family. A state wildlife expert said it is more likely to be in the dog family. Rose Wingert, of Victoria Drive, reported seeing the animal in front of her home the morning of July 13. The animal ran away quickly, but Wingert said she was able to get a good look at it.

She said her first impression had been that it might be a coyote. But after checking photos of coyotes on the Internet, she decided the animal she saw wasn't one. "At first, I didn't think too much of it, but then I started wondering, 'What was it?'" she said. "It was a lean and long animal," she added in an e-mail. "It was not a mountain lion, but a rare type of cat."

Contacted about identifying the animal, Andrew J. Montoney, state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services in Reynoldsburg, said based on the description from Wingert, the animal is more likely to be in the dog family than the cat family. Montoney said there are no native "cat" species matching this description in Ohio. However, he said the description -- a body about 3 feet long, a long tail and short fur of mottled (browns, blacks and grays) color -- could match any of three common "dog-like" species native to Ohio: the coyote, red fox and gray fox.

It also could have been a non-native, exotic animal, Montoney said.

"There are periodic reports of people seeing non-native (exotic) animals all throughout Ohio," he wrote in an e-mail. "When verified, these exotic animals usually turn out to be someone's pet that escaped or was intentionally turned loose due to difficulty of raising a wild animal. But these verified incidents are rare and uncommon." Granville police received a report on the sighting the evening of July 13 but did not send out an officer. Granville Police Chief Jim Mason, who wasn't on duty at the time, said an officer mostly likely would have been sent if the report were timely.

In April 2008, another east-side resident, Char Donelan, reported seeing an unusual animal in her backyard on Longford Drive. The animal she described resembled the one Wingert reported. After viewing a video a neighbor took of the animal, Donelan said she thought it to be a coyote.

http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20100722/NEWS01/7220347/Cat-like-animal-sighting-in-Granville-disputed

-----

New species of fresh water fish found

Verenaisi Raicola
Thursday, July 22, 2010

TWO new scientific papers have been published highlighting the discovery of two new species of freshwater fishes unique to Fiji and only known from two river systems in Vanua Levu.

Wetlands International-Oceania staff Aaron Jenkins and Kinikoto Mailautoka made the new discoveries as part of surveys for the Ecosystem Based Management project.

This month, the scientific paper entitled "Hippichthys albomaculosus, a new species of freshwater pipefish (Pisces: Syngnathidae) from Fiji" was released in Aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology, co-authored by Mr Jenkins and Kinikoto Mailautoka.

This handsome pipefish was found in a small mangrove lined tributary near the mouth of the Dreketi River and is distinguished from other species by several characteristics including 10-11 white spots on the lower trunk region.

This species reaches around 9cm long and the males carry the eggs in a trunk pouch until they hatch.

This paper is significant as not only is it Fiji's newest endemic animal species, it is the first new freshwater pipefish (related to a seahorse) to be discovered in about the past 30 years.

Taxonomic description work was all done in-country, based out of the USP and, recognising the capacity being built in country, the second author is the first indigenous Fijian to have co-authored a new species of fish.

The second new species of fish was also first collected by the Wetlands International-Oceania team but described overseas by Dr. Helen Larson of the Northern Territory Museum.

As part of a large review paper last month in the international journal Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, the new freshwater goby, Redigobius lekutu has been described.

The species gains its name from the Lekutu river where it was first discovered although it is also now known from the Dreketi river system.

This species is significant as it also is only known from Vanua Levu and only generally in clean water in the upper catchment areas of these two rivers with high forest cover and nowhere else on earth.

It only reaches about 2.5 cm in length and is threatened by catchment disturbances such as logging, invasive species and gravel extraction in particular.

Mr Jenkins, a fish biologist who manages Wetlands International work in the region and also represents Oceania to the global IUCN/WI Freshwater Fish Specialist Group states, "These recent publications are timely to help remind us of the unique and fragile nature of Fijian freshwaters and aquatic biodiversity. Only over the last decade or so are we beginning to gain a clear picture of the global uniqueness of Fijian and other Pacific Island freshwater fish faunas."

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=152099

Corrie cat's ashes auctioned off

The ashes of a cat who starred in the titles of Coronation Street for a decade fetched more than £800 at auction - around five times their estimate.

Frisky was seen at the starting sequence of more than 1,000 episodes of the TV soap, crouching on the roof of Jack Duckworth's pigeon loft.

The beloved pet's ashes, sealed in a wooden casket with a brass plaque, were expected to fetch up to £150 when they went under the hammer. But furious bidding by Corrie fans saw the hammer price rocket to £700 - and with buyer's premium added the final price paid was £844. A spokeswoman for Dominic Winter Auctioneers in Gloucestershire said the remains were sold to a private bidder.

Frisky's owner John Rimington, who put his pet's remains up for auction in South Cerney, said previously: "Frisky was not only a much-loved family pet, but also captured the heart of the nation and made thousands of pounds for charities. We were very proud to be his owners and we are keen to keep his memory alive."

The tabby was hired in 1990 after beating 5,000 other cats to the prime-time role.
He raised money for charity through numerous personal appearances until his death in 2000 at the age of 14.

The lot also included a cremation certificate and postcards of Frisky with other stars of Weatherfield, and formed part of a wider auction of antiques and collectibles.
Chris Albury, of Dominic Winter Auctioneers, said previously: "Not only was Frisky one of the most recognised cats in the country for over a decade, but he also became synonymous with one of the nation's favourite soaps."

http://tv.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=154194371&ocid=today

Ron the border collie: the Rooney of the sheep dog transfer market

RIGHT: Ron the border collie was sold for £5,000 at auction. Photo: rossparry.co.uk

At 14 months, he has attracted a record transfer fee at an age when many footballers were unable to walk.

By John Bingham
Published: 7:30AM BST 22 Jul 2010

And when it comes to running rings round the opposition, Ron is very much the Wayne Rooney of the sheep dog world.

The tricoloured border collie was sold for £5,000 at an auction that set new ground for the value of sheep dogs, which have become increasingly difficult to come by because of a shortage of trainers.

A 26-month-old sheepdog named Rex fetched the same sum at the sale in Skipton, North Yorkshire, as farmers competed to snap up the best animals in scenes more akin to Sotheby’s or Christie’s.

Ron’s trainer, John Bell, said he knew the dog had star quality the moment he bought him as a six-month-old pup in Northumberland.

“Quite honestly he is just a special dog,” he said.

“He was going far better than the average and he is also, at 14 months, a year younger than the average.

“He has come on so quickly, he has the brains, style, power.” The sale at Skipton Auction Mart drew an audience of 1,000 and broke all records for sheepdog sales.

Potential buyers travelled from as far as the Shetland Islands and the west of Ireland in search of the elite of the sheepdog world, while others even put in bids by telephone.

Adopting the currency of the horse racing world, the two dogs went for 4,900 guineas (£5,145), breaking the record set at the same auction mart six years ago.

Ron was bought by a Scottish farmer and Rex by Nigel Watkins, a farmer from Llangadog, Carmarthenshire.

“There was silence,” said Mr Bell, 77, of Howden, East Yorks. “When dogs go up to £4,000 you can hear them go quiet.

“You get an atmosphere, you get 1,000 farmer types there are a lot of characters.”

Although exceptional, the prices were not unexpected.

With around 90 highly trained sheepdogs for sale, all went for several thousand pounds each.

As the number of specialist trainers available has declined, the market for Britain’s best sheepdogs has begun to resemble the Premier League transfer market.

So highly valued are they that some farmers have installed extra security to prevent them being stolen to order.

Mr Bell also earned more than £4,000 for Floss, a 15-month-old border collie bitch at the same sale.

“People who can’t manage dogs go and buy quad bikes at £7,000 or £8,000,” explained Mr Bell.

“A quad bike will depreciate by about £1,000 a year but a dog, if you multiply that by 10 years of work it is very very little to get a job done bringing in 3,000 sheep.”

In demonstrations on a hillside next to the auction mart, Ron impressed the crowd by carefully rounding up one sheep which seemed determined to break away from the flock.

“Its head was up the moment they let them out of the release pen, I could see straight away that there was going to be a problem,” said Mr Bell, a former horse trainer. “The way he handled it for his age was amazing.

“A lot of them are only just beginning to be trained at that age and he was tracking sheep in two fields.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/7903305/Ron-the-border-collie-the-Rooney-of-the-sheep-dog-transfer-market.html

Baby elephant attacks keeper

Published: 8:46AM BST 22 Jul 2010

A video of an elephant knocking down and then pinning his trainer in a corner at an Ohio zoo has been released.

The elephant then backs away before charging at the keeper, who has been in a hospital since the attack three weeks ago.

The video was released by the Toledo Zoo and shows the keeper stumbling out of the enclosure while the elephant stands back.

The zoo's director says she's not sure why the elephant turned on the keeper, whom the elephant had known since birth.

She says it looks as if he was startled and started play-fighting like elephants do in the wild.

The injured man and his family initially fought against the video's release but changed their minds to show that the animal wasn't mistreated.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/7903911/Baby-elephant-attacks-keeper.html