A large crocodile that has been “stalking” campers at Cape York in Queensland’s far north has been caught.
The 4.1-metre crocodile was trapped by rangers at the Normanby River, north of Laura.
It had been listed as a “crocodile of concern” by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service following complaints from campers.
The reptile was caught in a floating trap and taken to a facility at Cardwell, south of Cairns.
It will be taken to a crocodile farm or zoo.
A stampede that killed 10 people at a temple in India may have been started by the rumor a snake was on the loose, police said Sunday.
Around 40,000 devotees had gathered late Saturday for an annual Hindu festival outside a temple in Banka district, in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, to witness the traditional sacrifice of goats.
“The stampede is thought to have been caused by rumors that a portion of the temple had collapsed or that a snake had entered the packed complex,” a state official, who did not wish to be named, said at the scene.
Another 15 people were injured in the stampede, senior police officer P.K. Thakur said. Four women were among those killed.
The state government offered compensation to relatives of those killed at the temple, where celebrations were marking Durga Puga, one of the major Hindu festivals.
In March, police in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh blamed lax safety for the deaths of 63 people — all of them women and children — in a stampede outside a Hindu temple.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Red Cross and American Heart Association today announced changes to guidelines for administering first aid. Among the revisions are updated recommendations for the treatment of snake bites, anaphylaxis (shock), jellyfish stings and severe bleeding. The First Aid Guidelines are being published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
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Volunteer experts from more than 30 national and international organizations joined the Red Cross and the American Heart Association in reviewing 38 separate first aid questions. Experts analyzed the science behind them and worked to reach consensus on the treatment recommendations. Last revised in 2005, these recommendations form the recognized scientific basis for most first aid training around the world.
“It is vital that the first aid community come to consensus and speak in a clear voice on these life and death issues,” said David Markenson, M.D., first aid science advisor to the American Red Cross. “We are proud to help set the standard for first aid training around the globe.”
“Prompt and effective first aid can save lives and prevent many medical situations from worsening, so it’s important that everyone learn about the changes the American Heart Association and American Red Cross have made to the first aid guidelines,” said Jeff Ferguson, M.D., American Heart Association volunteer co-chair of the first aid guidelines writing group.
In looking at the treatment of jellyfish stings, the revised guidelines reaffirm the recommendation to use vinegar to treat the sting. The vinegar neutralizes the venom and may prevent it from spreading. After the vinegar deactivates the venom, immersing the area in hot water for about 20 minutes is effective for reducing pain. The treatment for snake bites has been amended slightly to recommend applying a pressure immobilization bandage to any venomous snake bite, with pressure being applied around the entire length of the bitten extremity.
Under the revised guidelines for treating anaphylaxis, if symptoms persist after a few minutes of giving the patient an epinephrine injection from a prescribed auto-injector and medical help is delayed, the first aid provider can give a second epinephrine injection from a prescribed auto-injector. The guidelines also recommend that the general public not routinely use hemostatic agents (substances used to help stop bleeding) to control bleeding because of significant variability in effectiveness and the potential for adverse effects. Tourniquets and hemostatic agents should be considered alternatives for professional rescuers when direct pressure is not possible or fails to control bleeding.
The expert panel also reaffirmed some key first aid recommendations, including use of aspirin when helping someone experiencing persistent chest pain or discomfort associated with a cardiac emergency. Bystanders should call 9-1-1 and activate the emergency medical services (EMS) system for anyone with chest discomfort. While waiting for EMS personnel to arrive, the person being treated may be advised to chew two low dose baby aspirin or one adult (non-enteric-coated) aspirin, if they are not allergic to aspirin or have had a stroke or recent bleeding.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation’s blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at http://blog.redcross.org
About the American Heart Association:
The American Heart Association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary health organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our mission is to build healthier lives by preventing, treating and defeating these diseases – America’s No. 1 and No. 3 killers. We fund cutting-edge research, conduct lifesaving public and professional educational programs, and advocate to protect public health. To learn more or join us in helping all Americans, call 1-800-AHA-USA1 or visit americanheart.org.
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According to an article published in the New York Times, the population of yellow legged frogs in California have decreased dramatically for the last twenty years, at first from human activities. Now a more voracious threat has emerged, a disease called chytridiomycosis, which has decimated existing populations of the frog species. The Vredenburg Amphibian Research Group is trying to change all that, trying to come up with a cure or antidote for the chytridiomycosis. Amphibiaweb explains that chytridiomycosis is “… caused by an aquatic fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd),” and says the disease is relatively new. Chytridiomycosis has caused severe devastation to amphibian species around the world.
“… Bd may be responsible for the greatest disease-caused loss of biodiversity in recorded history. Over just the past 30 years, Bd has caused the catastrophic decline or extinction (in many cases within a single year) of at least 200 species of frogs, even in pristine, remote habitats.”
The disease does not kill every amphibian which becomes infected, but the death rate is very high, and the threat the disease causes to amphibians around the world have caused World Organisation for Animal Health to list the disease on its Wildlife Diseases List. The Vredenburg Amphibian Research Group is headed up by biologist Dr. Vance Vredenburg. Vredenburg told the New York Times that he began studying frogs in the 1990s because he saw the research as applicable to
“… solving some real-world problems, like the biodiversity crisis.” Saying he always liked catching frogs, Vredenburg said when he entered his field that scientists were isolated from the world, “… living and working in a bubble.” Pointing to the devastation caused by chytridiomycosis, Vredenburg said
” … Once your study animals start dying, believe me, you pay attention!”
Characterizing chytridiomycosis as “…the worst case in recorded history of a disease driving vertebrate species to extinction,” The work done by Vredenburg and his team has led to a “… stage structured disease model that may help predict spread of the pathogen in the wild.” The researchers are tracking the disease, and they are also seeking to discover how the disease spreads, a fact that still mystifies scientists around the world. The New York Times reported that Vredenburg is also experimenting with “inoculating” frogs with a bacterium that might help the frogs fight the chytridiomycosis infection. No one is certain how dosing frogs with bacteria helps to fight a fungal infection, but it is thought that colonies of bacteria living on the skin of the frogs helps to block fungal colonies from taking root, according to research on the topic published in 2008. And Vredenburg put the hypothesis to the test, catching and bathing yellow legged frogs in Dusy Basin. The frogs are put into a bath containing the bacteria Janthinobacterium lividum. J. Liv, as it is called for short, is commonly found on the skin of amphibians. After their bacterial baths, the frogs were released back into their environment. After conducting a follow-up in early September, Vredenburg found that all the frogs were infected with chytridiomycosis, but had survived the infection. Said New York Times reporter, Erica Rex,
“… Frogs inoculated earlier in the summer were surviving … all the frogs caught in early September were infected with chytrid. The inoculated animals had the lowest levels of infection.”
According to the Sacramento Zoo, frogs are an important species to humans, mainly because they take the role of “canary in the coal mine.” In other words,
“… the health of frogs is closely linked to the health of the environment. Frogs are extremely sensitive to water pollutants and acid rain. They can be seen as an early warning system of problems that may eventually affect the rest of us. “If chemicals in the water cause mutations and reproductive problems in frogs think what it could be doing to humans, “says Vicky Poole of the National Aquarium in Baltimore.””
Additionally, frogs eat insects, and also are important to medical research. Save the Frogs points out that frogs are also an important animal in the food chain. The San Diego Zoo is attempting to breed yellow legged frogs, which has seen one frog reach maturity. Should the program attain success, the bred-in-captivity frogs would be released to the wilds where the species used to live. Earlier this year, the California Fish and Game Department received a petition urging the Department list all populations of the yellow legged frog as endangered. An analysis conducted by Department employees supported the petition, with a recommendation to list the frogs as endangered. The recomendation was accepted, however, there is a year before the frogs can be listed as endangered, said a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity. The ICUN Red List had identified two populations of California’s yellow legged frogs as endangered in 2008.
Having trouble telling the difference between a Burmese python and a ball python? There’s an app for that.
The recently released IveGot1 app is a field guide to help identify some of the reptiles slithering around South Florida.
“I wouldn’t have believed years ago, when I started doing this, that the public would be engaged like this,” said Dan Thayer, director of Vegetation and Land Management and invasive species expert at the South Florida Water Management District. “This is an incredibly valuable tool.”
The app was created by researchers at the University of Georgia‘s Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health, working with a team of state and federal environmental agencies, including the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
For now, the app provides information on 15 reptiles in South Florida but the hope is more species will be added and for the list to be regularly updated.
The app is free and available to iPhone 4.0 users. By the end of the year, the app will be compatible with the iPhone 3.0 system, and there are plans to add apps for the Droid and Blackberry.
Besides photos, the app includes information about length, body characteristics, pattern, status (native/non-native/invasive), visual identification tips of the head and where the reptile has been seen in South Florida.
The African Nile monitor — a carnivorous lizard that can grow to 6 feet — is well established in Cape Coral, and sightings are becoming more frequent throughout Miami-Dade County. While some of the reptiles in the app are well established, like the monstrous Burmese python found throughout Everglades National Park, others, such as the green and yellow anaconda, have only been sighted a few times and could easily be misidentified without a field guide.
Non-native reptiles in Florida have become an epidemic. Most are released by pet owners who get bored with or cannot keep massive reptiles that once fit nicely in a tabletop terrarium. In the wild, the reptiles wreak havoc on the native animals they feast upon.
Researchers are quick to cite the case of the massive Nile perch, introduced into Lake Victoria in the 1950s, which caused the extinction or near extinction of several hundred species.
“An individual organism can cause a complete ecological collapse,” said Larry Perez, science communications officer at the Everglades National Park.
Today there are 195 non-native animals in Florida and hundreds more non-native plants.
The app, originally designed to help researchers in the field, will become even more valuable when the public can use it to report sightings from their phones. Because the phones are equipped with GPS and cameras, the exact location and a photo can be transmitted immediately to wildlife officials. That feature is not available now, but its designers hope to make it available by next summer. The hope then is that people who work outdoors will use it when they see unwanted reptiles.
“It’s about getting the lay person involved,” Perez said. “People who deliver mail, work in lawn maintenance or travel a route and see something dead on the road that doesn’t belong here.”
The few successful eradication programs came about because of early intervention and quick response. Just gathering data that show the spread of an invasive species “would be incredibly valuable,” Thayer said.
“This could be an extremely helpful thing people could do,” Thayer said. “Obviously we need more [human] eyes.”
A promising snake conservation and research centre Bangladesh is facing closure threats, thanks to the gratuitous intervention of some forest department officials.
Located in Rajshahi district, the snake conservation centre is the first of its kind in Bangladesh.
Crawling with hundreds of the reptiles, the centre draws big crowds everyday, including university and college teachers, students and researchers.
Rumon, the caretaker who is also a management student, claims he has made a breakthrough in captive breeding of cobras, which is a first ever successful experiment in Bangladesh. He is trying to breed other species of snakes as well.
“My aim is to establish a full-fledged snake rescue, rehabilitation, conservation and research centre there so that our generation can learn about snakes, their importance, significance and place in nature.”
Initially, Rumon started the centre as a hobby with 50 reptilian members and named it ‘Cobra Friends Club’. The centre gradually grew and he turned it into a non-profit
organisation.
He says he had no idea about the necessity of government permission for running a snake farm especially to save the reptiles from human cruelty. And he wants the government to take over the farm and develop it further.
The forest officials, who had no idea about the farm until they read about its popularity in a local newspaper, went over and seized 85 venomous snakes and slapped a case on Rumon under the wildlife preservation act
Rabiul Islam, range officer in the department of forestry in Rajshahi, who filed a case said: “The wildlife preservation act prohibits catching and molesting of any wild animals and by constructing a snake farm, Rumon has violated the Act.”
The seized snakes included 77 cobras, seven rat-snakes and one flying snake.
The officials also suspected cross-border trafficking in snakes since the area has no use for such a snake farm.
But an undeterred Rumon says his ultimate aim is to build a snake park as well as a research centre there because no other safari parks would want to rear snakes. And he would even give away his farm to the government if it is turned into proper snake farm.
Police officials, magistrates, teachers and government officials — those who have visited the farm — have only words of encouragement and promised him all help.
Rumon now houses his snake farm in a tin-shed where the 85 seized snakes were kept in several concrete nests buried into the floor.
In April, Rumon was able to hatch 455 baby cobras on his farm from 470 eggs that the snakes laid. He released most the baby cobras in jungles.
It costs him $285 a month to run the farm and the money comes from his other businesses.
The snakes were fed chickens, lizards and meat. Local children used to collect lizards for 10 taka apiece, the snake man says.
Rumon has donated a number of his snakes for
research.
Sarker Shams Bin Sharif, a student of Rajshahi University who visits the snake farm, said Rumon used to teach people of his locality and university and college students about the importance of snakes in nature and human lives.
“Even a special team trained by him helps snake-bitten people in district hospitals,” Sarker says.
A few years ago, in Paba sub-district alone, 10-12 people died every month of snake bites. Today, thanks to Rumon’s work in this area and the special team he has helped to build up in the district medical college, the number has come down to just one or two deaths.
“Snakes are your friends. A farmer has to thank snakes for his cultivation because without them the population of rats would have multiplied and destroyed his crops,” he says.
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