Driver dies in crash with wild boar on M4

Man killed as Seat Ibiza strikes wild boar on motorway between Chippenham and Swindon in Wiltshire before being hit by articulated lorry

By Agency

11:31AM GMT 06 Jan 2015

A driver was killed when his car hit a wild boar on a motorway before being struck by a lorry.

Emergency services were called to the scene on the M4, between Chippenham and Swindon in Wiltshire.

The 47-year-old man's black Seat Ibiza had struck a wild boar in lane two of the motorway at 6.40pm on Monday.

His vehicle was then hit by a white Renault articulated lorry, Wiltshire Police said.

The man, from Royal Wootton Bassett, was pronounced dead at the scene. His family has been informed.

The driver of the Renault lorry received treatment at the scene for minor shoulder injuries.

Wiltshire Police closed the road for eight hours while the Collision Investigation Unit attended the scene.

Sergeant Steven Love said: "This is a truly tragic incident and my thoughts are with the family and friends of the victim. It is quite rare for a wild boar to be on the carriageway of the motorway.

"It is more common for the police to receive calls involving horses or deer but each is equally dangerous to motorists.

"This was a particularly large wild animal and would have caused considerable damage to any vehicle."

Continued ...

Elephant killed former UCSD dean

A former UC San Diego dean on vacation in Tanzania died Friday after being trampled by an elephant, according to a family member and news reports Wednesday.

“He had an accidental encounter with an elephant,” said Skyli McAfee, who identified herself as Dr. Thomas McAfee’s sister and was notified of the accident.

McAfee, 58, had resigned his position as dean of clinical affairs at the university and was to assume a new job Tuesday as chief executive of the Keck Medicine of USC Medical Foundation in Los Angeles.

Skyli McAfee declined to provide additional details about the accident, but several news reports stated that it occurred at Tanzania’s 1,096-square-mile Tarangire National Park which is home to herds of “up to 300 elephants,” according to the nature preserve’s website.

The Citizen, a newspaper and website in Dar es Salam, Tanzania, reported that McAfee and two unidentified companions were “viewing game on foot when they stumbled upon a herd of about 50 elephants.”

Continued

Dolphin Bites 8-Year-Old Girl at Sea World

Feeding the dolphins at Sea World was a dream come true for 8-year-old Jillian Thomas, until one of the marine mammals bit into her arm, nearly dragging her into the water.

Jillian's mother took video of her daughter, who says dolphins are her favorite animal, feeding them at the theme park's Dolphin Cove.

Jillian was in the middle of her second visit of the day to the friendly looking animals when she made a crucial mistake, lifting a small plate of dolphin food in the air out of excitement, something the park warns people not to do.

The dolphin, eager for the food, chomped down on Jillian's arm instead, nearly dragging her into the water.

The 8-year-old walked away from the encounter with a set of teeth marks the size of dimes.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/video-dolphin-bites-8-old-girl-sea-world-171256376--abc-news-topstories.html

FOLLOW UP STORY:

Girl Bit by Dolphin Felt Bad for the Mammal

The little girl who got bit by a dolphin at Sea World said today that it "really, really hurt."

But instead of being upset, 8-year-old Jillian Thomas said she prayed for the dolphin.

"There was this little carton that you put the fish in and I fed them and then I pulled it and raised it up and when the dolphin saw it, it leaped at me and bit me and ate the carton," Jillian said. "It really, really hurt."

She suffered three puncture wounds to her hand, about the size of a dime, before the dolphin released her.

The girl, however, was more worried about the dolphin.

More:
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/girl-bit-dolphin-felt-bad-fish-163958436--abc-news-topstories.html

Girl Falls Into Deadly Snake Pit - And Survives

A Californian teenager has survived falling into a rattlesnake pit where she was bitten six times.

Vera Oliphant, 16, inadvertently fell into the nest, in a rural area just outside San Diego, while searching for reception to phone her mother.

One adult and six baby rattlers bit her and their venom immediately took hold of her body.

She managed to make it to her uncle's house nearby and he immediately drove her to hospital.

Speaking for the first time since the incident, she told ABC News she felt lucky to be alive.

"I was feeling numb and paralysed. I had black vision and I saw bubbles," she said.

"It felt like needles were stabbing me... it burned so hard and it felt like a bomb just exploded in me. It's really hard to describe."

Vera went into anaphylactic shock twice and lost consciousness four times during the ordeal.

She says the fast reactions of her uncle and staff at the Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa saved her life.

Doctors there administered 24 does of anti-venom and kept her in intensive care for four days.

David Oliphant, the teenager's father and also an occupational nurse, told ABC News: "I am used to dealing with patients, but when it’s your own daughter it's different."

Vera is planning to return to school next week. She said the next time she has reception problems she will learn from this mistake.

"Be careful where you step," she advises. "If you don't need to, just wait until you are somewhere that you can call people."


http://uk.news.yahoo.com/girl-falls-deadly-snake-pit-survives-131443551.html

Pictured: Boy, 2, mauled to death at zoo after falling into African wild dog pit

• Maddox Derkosh fell over railing about 12pm on Sunday at Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium
• Dogs developed 'pack mentality' and could not be stopped by zookeepers who fired darts at them
• Police officer opened fire and killed one dog that would not stop mauling boy
• Both parents are currently being medicated to deal with shock 

This is the tragic two-year-old boy who was mauled to death by a pack of ravenous African wild dogs after he fell off a zoo railing his mother put him on to get a better view of the animals on Sunday.


Maddox Derkosh had 'no chance' of surviving after falling 11 feet into the dog pit at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium while his horrified parents Jason and Elizabeth Derkosh looked on helpless.


Desperate rescue attempts by zookeepers and armed police officers could not deter the 11 aggressive beasts as they savagely attacked the two-year-old, from Pleasant Hills, on Sunday morning.


A medical examiner concluded today that the toddler was killed by the animals, not by the fall.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2227757/Pittsburgh-zoo-death-Maddox-Derkosh-mauled-death-African-wild-dogs-mother-dangles-railings.html#ixzz2BY9L7XdC

FISH FINGER: Man's lost digit turns up in trout

YOU know when you go wakeboarding and you have an accident and your fingers fall off?

Turns out fish like to eat them.

A fisherman in the US state of Idaho recovered a bizarre find when he reeled in a trout from Priest Lake, CBS reports.

The fingers within were identified as belonging to Washington wakeboarder Haans Galassi after a simple fingerprint test.

Mr Galassi lost four fingers during a wakeboarding accident at the lake two months prior to the trout being caught.

There’s a pun to be made about Haans missing his fingers, but we’re not going there.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/the-other-side/fish-finger-mans-lost-digit-turns-up-in-trout/story-e6frfhk6-1226481800554

Flying bear kills two Canadians in freak accident

Wed Jun 8, 11:11 am ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Two Canadians died instantly in a freak accident when a car hit a 440-pound (200-kg) black bear and sent the animal flying straight through the windshield of an oncoming vehicle, local media said Wednesday.

The bear's body hit the 25-year-old driver and a 40-year-old man sitting behind her and then shot out of the back window. The bear also died.

The accident happened Monday night in a rural area about 25 miles north of the federal capital Ottawa.

"We don't see (this) often, even if we live in the country. Lots of deer, but collisions with a bear and two people died? That's really rare," local police spokesman Martin Fournel told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Collisions between vehicles and animals are common in Canada, which has a healthy population of large wild animals such as moose and deer.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Peter Galloway)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110608/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_bear

Malaysian politician floored by stinky fruit

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7889068/Malaysian-politician-floored-by-stinky-fruit.html
Malaysian politician floored by stinky fruit
A Malaysian politician has been hospitalised after gorging himself on durian, a south east Asian fruit that is widely-banned in public places because of its pungent smell.
By Malcolm Moore in Kuala Lumpur
Published: 7:00AM BST 14 Jul 2010

Durian, which is revered as the "king of fruits" in south east Asia, has a particularly rich and creamy flesh that is high in fat and sugar.

The 19th-century British naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, described it as similar to "a rich custard highly flavoured with almonds, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream cheese, onion sauce, sherry wine and other incongruous dishes".

More recently, Anthony Burgess, the novelist, said eating durian was "like eating raspberry blancmange in the lavatory". The odour of the durian is so strong that the fruit is forbidden on public transport, aeroplanes and in hotels.

Ahmad Lai Bujang, a 61-year-old member of the Malaysian parliament for the Sibuti region was rushed to hospital complaining of breathlessness and dizziness after a durian and mutton banquet last week.

"Ahmad loosened his tie and we noticed that he stopped laughing with us and his eyes rolled back. The other people at the dinner immediately started to rub his forehead and ask if he was all right," said Datuk Idris Haron, another politician present.

Mr Ahmad has since been discharged from Kuala Lumpur hospital. "I ate too many durians that day. There were four different varieties and all were very tasty. The doctors warned me against it in the future, so I will stay away from the fruit for a month," he said.

"People eating durian experience a bloated feeling which lasts for hours because of the high calorific content," said Dr Lee Boon Chye, a cardiologist.

Joyriding bear leaves teen grizzly

A bear got into a teenager's car, honked the horn and then sent it rolling 125 feet into a thicket, a Colorado family has said.

Ben Story, 17, said he and his family were asleep in their home south of Denver when the bear managed to open the unlocked door of his 2008 Toyota Corolla and climbed inside.

A peanut butter sandwich left on the back seat is probably what attracted the bear, Ben said.

It is not unusual for bears to open unlocked doors to cars and houses in search of food, Tyler Baskfield, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife said.

"It happens all the time," he said. "They're very smart."

Once inside, the bear must have knocked the automatic transmission shift into neutral, sending the car rolling backwards down the inclined driveway and into the thicket, Ben said.

The door apparently slammed shut when the car jolted to a stop, he said, trapping the bear inside.

Neighbours had called emergency police dispatchers, and deputies freed the bear by opening the door with a rope from a distance. The bear then ran into the woods.

But Ben says he will need a new car because the bear trashed the inside trying to get out.
http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=154205669&ocid=today

Dogs aren't always man's best friend.

A Florida man was run over by his own truck after his bulldog put the car into gear.

Christopher Bishop, 43, of Ridge Manor, was checking his Ford F-150 for oil leaks on Sunday evening. He put the running car into neutral and left the driver’s door ajar.

While under the truck, curious dog Tassey hopped up into the driver’s seat and put the vehicle in gear. The truck rolled over the left side of Bishop’s body, according to police.

Bishop managed to wriggle out from underneath and call for help.

He was eventually taken to the hospital for injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/06/24/2010-06-24_driving_dog_runs_over_his_owner_christopher_bishop_in_ridge_manor_florida.html

Pigs close motorway after crash

Agence France-Presse 12/31/2009 9:36 AM

LONDON – A busy motorway was closed for hours on Wednesday after an accident involving a lorry carrying a herd of pigs, posing a risk to motorists, police said.

Some 12 pigs ran around on the carriageway of the M11 motorway north of London following the early-morning crash, involving a truck carrying a load of 82 animals.

The other pigs, each weighing some 20 stones (125 kilos), were trapped in the wreckage, said a spokesman, adding that some of the escaped animals subsequently began grazing on a motorway embankment.

"The southbound carriageway has been closed at Junction 8 and the road is likely to remain shut for around six hours while recovery work and repairs to the central reservation continues," said an Essex Police spokesman.

"The northbound carriageway has also been closed and could remain shut for about two hours because of fears that the pigs could cross from the southbound lane and be a danger to road users."

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/classified-odd/12/31/09/pigs-close-motorway-after-crash

Man dressed in animal skin shot dead during hunt

A Greek man dressed in animal hide was mistakenly shot dead while out hunting wild boar for a Christmas dinner.

By Paul Anast in Athens
Published: 4:57PM GMT 20 Dec 2009

Police said members of a shooting party made up of families opened fire when Christos Constantinou, 49, moved through the undergrowth.

They are thought to have been confused by the fact the victim was disguised in dark goat skins, which are used to camouflage and to mislead their prey.

The groups had fanned out in pairs of two to track down an animal for the traditional festive dinner when the accident happened.

Police in the northern Greek town of Nemea, Chalkidiki, said Mr Constantinou was pronounced dead upon arrival at hospital.

Two unidentified men, aged 25 and 28, were detained and were being questioned.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/6850972/Man-dressed-in-animal-skin-shot-dead-during-hunt.html

(Submitted by Kyle Moffat)

Hungry dog starts chip pan fire

11 November 2009

A hungry dog is being blamed turning on the heat under a chip pan which set fire to his owner's kitchen - causing £6,000 damage.

Paul Gregson believes his pet retriever Alfie was looking for food when he jumped up and nudged a switch on the family's range oven, reports the Daily Post.

Mr Gregson, 42, of Llanfairfechan, Gwynedd, said: "We're calling him Alfie the arsonist now."

Fortunately Mr Gregson, his wife and their sons Charlie, 10, and Patrick, seven, - and Alfie - all escaped from their burning home unhurt.

He said: "The dog sleeps in a basket in the kitchen. He went on top of the cooker looking for something to eat. He kicked a switch and there happened to be a chip fryer on top, which went up."

Three-year-old Alfie is a liver-coloured, flat-coated retriever who Mr Gregson described as "very lively, bouncy and smelly".

"The breed is a cross between a pointer and a red setter. They are slow to mature - if they mature at all. He exists to eat. He's a walking stomach," he said.

The Gregsons were awoken by smoke detectors at midnight.

Mr Gregson said: "At first we were disorientated. We thought 'What the hell's that noise?' My wife then rang for the fire brigade and we went downstairs and got everyone out the door.

"The fire brigade were incredible. They got here in less than five minutes."

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/dog_starts_chip_pan_fire

Pig causes plane to crash on take-off in Zimbabwe

9 November 2009

A plane has crashed on take-off in Zimbabwe after colliding with wild pigs.

The crisis-hit country’s transport ministry confirmed one of the national airline's planes collided with a group of warthogs on the runway at Harare International Airport.

The plane's undercarriage collapsed on impact, causing the Chinese-made MA60 aircraft to veer into a ditch.

Transport Minister Nicholas Goche said in a statement that the Air Zimbabwe plane was heading from Harare to Bulawayo when the crash occurred last Tuesday. All 34 people on board were evacuated safely.

However, a letter published in the Zimbabwe Standard newspaper revealed that the incident had been more serious than government officials had admitted.

Passenger Fambai Ngirande said that it was “by God’s grace” no one had died, and complained that the airline had “no disaster response strategy”.

He added that secret police were quick to arrive on the scene, arresting two passengers for taking photographs of the embarrassing incident.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-world/2009/11/09/pig-causes-plane-to-crash-on-take-off-in-zimbabwe-115875-21808507/

SNAKES CAUSED CAR CRASH

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_odd_snakes_in_a_car

Driver tells Conn. police snakes led to SUV crash HARTFORD, Conn. – Police say a driver blamed a car crash in Hartford, Conn., on two pet baby snakes that he said escaped from his pants pockets as he was driving.

Hartford police Sgt. Christene Mertes says Angel Rolon, of New Britain, claimed he lost control of his SUV on Monday when the snakes slithered near the gas and brake pedals and he and a passenger tried to catch them. The SUV veered into some parked cars and overturned.Mertes says animal control officers never found the snakes and police have been unable to confirm his story.

Rolon was treated at a hospital for unknown injuries. Police say they gave him a summons for reckless driving and other charges.There is no public telephone listing for Rolon and it was unclear if he has a lawyer.

All creatures great and small

A chihuahua has made an amazing recovery in Australia after being stepped on by her best mate - a 900kg Clydesdale horse.

Little Berry was happily playing with her friend Leroy when the giant horse accidentally trod on her head.

Owner Abbey Newton, of Geelong, near Melbourne, said: "Leroy stepped back, right on her head. There was just this little tiny bit of her nose sticking out. I thought she was dead.

"There was this horrible high-pitched screaming noise. It was terrible".

Berry was rushed to the vet who offered to put the little dog down but Abbey decided to take her home to die.

Anxiously she checked on Berry every hour throughout the night and, to her astonishment, in the morning she seemed to have made a complete recovery.

"In the morning she just got up and ate the other dog's breakfast," added Mrs Newton. "She's had nine lives and it's cost me every time."





http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3384248.html?menu=news.quirkies.animaltales

WHALE COLLIDES WITH ZEBRA

A pensioner died after a "collision" with a zebra while on holiday in Africa, a coroner has said.

Eileen Whale, 77, of Ipswich, was in Kenya with husband Charles late last year when the incident occurred and died in hospital in Ipswich in February, said coroner Peter Dean.

An inquest was due to take place on Wednesday to examine the circumstances around Mrs Whale's death but Dr Dean adjourned the hearing to a date to be fixed, saying further inquiries needed to take place.

He said the hearing was adjourned following discussions with Mrs Whale's relatives.

Dr Dean said the cause of death given when Mrs Whale's inquest was opened earlier this year was pancreatitis.

It is understood that doctors will try to establish any links between injuries caused as a result of the zebra collision and her death.

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/uk_national_news/4443120.OAP_dies_after_collision_with_zebra/