Deer Will You Pick Up Some Milk On Your Way Home?

Small deer was found wandering in the local grocery store;

Garner, N.C. — A deer found itself in the frozen food aisle of a Garner grocery store Tuesday.

The manager of the Lowes Foods, at 1845 Aversboro Road, said the animal exited the store safely. She did not know how the deer got in the store.

WRAL

This is the same store I shop in so who knows maybe next week they’ll have a photo of Moose in the Ice Cream aisle.

Herd of Pigs Take Over North Carolina School’s Playground

 

Fox 8

What is probably a sign of what is to come a small herd of pigs has taken a likening to a Guilford County School’s playground. Stokesdale Elementary school has had to cancel outside recess at the school until animal control can rid the playground of pigs. It is unclear if these are pigs that have escaped from someone or if they are feral pigs.
Feral pig populations across North Carolina and really the southern United States is exploding and growing virtual unchecked. Pigs are very prolific and will multiply quickly as well as very adaptable and hard to eradicate once they become established. Many hunters will look on the pig as a blessing because of the added hunting opportunities it provides however once established many of these hunters and landowners will see the pigs as a curse as they destroy the land and many native species. Hogs should be viewed as an invasive species and dealt with as such.

Unusual Creature Washes Up On Nags Head

Saturday a rare False Killer Whale stranded itself on South Nags Head beach in what is believed to be only the second occurrence to ever happen in North Carolina. The false killer whale is a rare whale species found in more tropical waters then those found off the coast of North Carolina.
Karen Clark with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission told the Virginia Pilot

The 14-foot female false killer whale stranded on a South Nags Head beach Saturday. It was only the second time the species has been reported to be stranded in the state, Clark said. The animal, normally found in tropical waters, appeared thin and may have been ailing, she said.
Its remains were sent to the Smithsonian Institution, she said, because there are few samples of the species.

Rough seas off the coast is believed to be partially responsible for the recent beachings that included a number of turtles as well as the false killer whale and a 30 foot humpback whale discovered Tuesday.

More Info On False Killer Whales

Seaworld

NOAA

You Might Not Otter Be Swimming Here

Brigitte France an Austrian on vacation in Wisconsin had a rather unusual wildlife encounter the other day. It seems that Brigitte was out for her customary morning swim when a trio of otters seemed to take exception to her morning swim.

“For 14 years, I swim in that lake,” Brigitte France said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “I like to swim long distances. I swim close to shore so I could get out if something happens.”
When she heard the hissing last Wednesday morning, she turned in the water and saw an otter poking its head out of the water.
“I thought it was really cool,” she said. “I’d never seen an otter before. Then, all of a sudden, there were three of them.”
The otters dived and popped up farther out in the lake. France resumed swimming.
“All of a sudden, one of the otters popped up just a couple meters from me, next to me,” said France, an elementary school teacher. “That made me feel uncomfortable. I decided to get out of the water. I swam right to the bank, about 3 or 4 meters away from me.”
The trouble began just as she approached the lake shore.
“I had my hands on the ground,” she said, “and there they were — one on the right leg and one on the left leg.”
The otters bit her eight or nine times, she said.
“I shook my legs, and they went away,” France said.
She says she remained calm as the otters bit her and that the bites “never really hurt much.”
She believes the otters were adults.

Duluth News Tribune

While I’m sure at the time this was no laughing matter the unusualness of this story along with the mental images of someone getting chased by a group of otters is somewhat amusing. The story does not make it sound like Wisconsin authorities plan to do anything about these otter ruffians but Mrs. France is undergoing the multiple rabies shot regiment. On the bright side she otter have some great stories to share with family and friends when she returns home to Austria next week.

Panther Seen In Angier?

There have been a few reports of a black cat like animal, believed to be a panther, seen outside of the town of Angier NC. The latest sighting happened over the 4th of July when two individuals observed the animal feeding one night on a road killed deer.

We had just left a July Fourth celebration and were driving along when, all of a sudden, she asked me if I saw it,” Mr. Liles said. “She said she saw a black panther snarling and growling as we drove past.”

The couple turned the car around, turned on the high beams and sure enough, they say, the black panther was “feasting on a dead deer,” Mr. Liles said.

He said it was “a large animal with a black, silky coat – a ferocious-looking animal with brilliant lime green eyes with a noticeably long, black tail.”

Mr. Liles said the large cat was nearly 3 feet tall and would estimate the animal weighed between 60 to 100 pounds.

“I was shocked when, as we passed, I could see him snarling,” Ms. Woods said. “He showed all of his teeth. I actually looked the panther directly into his eyes.”

A large blood stain now sits along the eastbound lane of Benson Road near Ben Gardner’s home. Remnants of deer fur is all that is left.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission officer for that area does not dispute the possibility that a panther is living in the area.

According to he does not discount the appearance of a panther. He said, however, he had never seen one.

“I am not disputing their account, it is just that I have never personally seen a panther in these parts,” Mr. Ellington said. “We do get one to two reports of either a mountain lion, an Eastern cougar or black panther sightings in the area, though.”

Mr. Ellington said it is possible someone had legally or illegally acquired an exotic panther, kept him in captivity and either released him to the wild or it may have escaped.

During the past four to five years, Wildlife officers have reported three panthers were found shot near a dumpster in Edenton in Chowan County. The panthers have cat tattoos in their ears, indicating they were exotic animals and had, at some point, been in captivity.

Mr. Ellington said with the Black River backing up to a swamp, conditions could be conducive for carnivores, which tend to eat beavers, otters, muskrats and mink in a desolate area.

The Daily Record

Hopefully someone with a camera will capture some images of this critter in the near future. A black animal feeding on a dead deer could also be a black bear or a coyote, both more likely to be seen then a panther or a cougar. However the witness descriptions better fit the panther and the possibility one was released or escaped is a possibility. Will continue to follow this story especially seeing where it is within fairly close proximity to my house.

Zoo Visitor Killed After He Ate All Of The Animals On Display

A mountain lion cleaned out all the exhibits in a petting zoo in Arizona before a hunter was called in to kill the cat.

In 40 years on the Agua Linda Farm, Loew said this was first large cat he had seen when it appeared in the donkey pen about a month ago.
But soon, his animals started to turn up mauled or dead. First there were four sheep. Then, on June 15, an awful sight: 16 pygmy and nubian goats — all the mammals in the farm’s petting zoo — were killed. Only the geese were spared.
Loew and his wife, Laurel, who run the all-natural, community-supported farm, faced a tough choice: Try to kill the wild cat or put their animals and possibly their farm’s visitors — including many children — at some risk.
“We were really conflicted,” Stewart Loew said.
But when they thought about it, there was no choice. They had a garlic and onion festival coming up the next weekend at the farm, and people would be walking in the dark through areas where the mountain lion was making regular kills.
They called a family acquaintance who is a mountain lion hunter and got a “depredation permit” from Arizona Game and Fish — a permit to kill an animal that has been eating people’s livestock.

Hunting is an important management tool in controlling wildlife and it is good to see it was used in this sad situation. A small petting zoo was a tempting hunting ground for this cat and killing it was necessary before it took a human life. What lead to the cat hanging out at the farm?

several factors can cause mountain lions to start encroaching on human lands.
Among them: A younger mountain lion could have chased the older cat out of its home territory. That’s the theory an Arizona Game and Fish warden endorsed when looking into the case, Loew said.
Or the mountain lion could have been injured and found easy access to food and water at the farm, which is near the Santa Cruz River. Or long-term drought may have slowly made the cat’s territory unhabitable.
Many human factors could have contributed to the lion’s settling in at the farm, too. Urbanization, even in semi-rural areas like the river valley of Santa Cruz County, drives some animals out of their habitat. It may also lead to the animals more easily growing used to humans.

What will be the impact on this family business? Will some regulars boycott the farm because of this? I sure hope not I hope that the farm continues and is successful.

Whatever the cause, the petting-zoo slaughter shook up the Loews, who have a 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl.
“My poor kids. These are their pets that they’ve raised, and they had to help bury them,” Laurel Loew said.
They didn’t want to kill the mountain lion, and now they’re worried about restocking the little petting zoo before October, when kids arrive for pumpkin picking. They’re also worried about a backlash from their environmentally conscious customers.
“For us, this story has no winners,” Stewart Loew said.

Arizona Daily Star
I like to think I’m an “environmentally conscious customer” and I love to provide organic free range meat for my family so hunting is a natural holistic way to provide that. If I lived in Arizona I’d stop by this farm and buy something.

Make Sure That Road Kill is Dead Before You Try To Move It

A motorist is undergoing treatment for exposure to rabies after an encounter with a raccoon this past Saturday in Alamance County. The Greensboro Record reports the unidentified man was bitten after he stopped to remove the injured coon from the roadway shortly after he had struck it.

On Saturday, a raccoon was hit by a motor vehicle on N.C. 119 North near Stagecoach Road in Mebane. The motorist stopped to remove what he thought was a dead raccoon from the roadway.
But the raccoon was still alive, and it bit the motorist through a pair of work gloves. The motorist managed to catch the raccoon, which died before Animal Control could claim it…..
…..This is the second confirmed case of rabies in Alamance County this year.
The Alamance County Health Department suggests that people should not approach or touch wild animals.

I would further suggest that you confirm a critter is dead before you grab on to it.

North Carolina Wildlife Officer Used Deadly Force On Opening Day Of Turkey Season

Mark Minton North Carolina Wildlife Officer used deadly force after a confrontation with a turkey hunter on opening morning in Wilkes County. 77 Year Old Clyde Coffey was hunting on his own land off of Cane Creek Road when the confrontation took place.

MCGRADY, N.C. – A 77-year-old hunter described as a “teddy bear of man” was shot and killed on his property early Saturday morning by a veteran Wildlife Resources officer, a state game warden and family members of the victim said.

Family members identified the man as Clyde Coffey and his daughter said he often came to his house on Cane Creek Church Rd. to hunt on the hill behind his property. Neighbors remembered Coffey as a “teddy bear of a man” who would never hurt anybody.

Wildlife Resources officers told FOX8 News officer Mark Minton shot a hunter around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, which was the first day of turkey season.

Fox 8

It is unclear what exactly happened and we may not know officially until the SBI wraps up their investigation. I’ve heard that Mr. Coffey was hunting from a treestand which is highly unusual for turkey hunting. Mr. Coffey may have also had a hearing problem that could have contributed to a breakdown in communication between him and Officer Minton. Was he violating a game law when Officer Minton made contact? A lot of questions that I’m sure will have answered at some point. I believe this is the first officer involved shooting in over 20 years for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Enforcement Division which is pretty remarkable when you think that many of their encounters involved armed individuals. We’ll Update when more Info is Available.

Low Life’s Kill American Hero’s Therapy Dog

Marcus Luttrell Navy Seal and American Hero recovering from wounds he got while defending this country is now dealing with the senseless execution of his therapy dog Dasy. Chesson has a story about having the opportunity to hear this man speak. I’ve read his book Lone Survivor and I can’t imagine the hell this young man and the rest of his team went through for us. In case you are unfamiliar with the story here is a brief video that explains.

Now this man is at home in Texas and you would think far from the horrors he had to live through while fighting for us and some punks show up in the middle of the night and kill his therapy dog.

On Thursday I believe it was, Wednesday or Thursday about 1:00 a.m., Marcus is a guy who doesn’t sleep anymore at night. He sleeps during the daytime. And about 1:00 he happened to be awake and he heard a gunshot. He lives on a ranch with his mother in Texas. He grabs his gun and he goes outside. There he sees, I believe it was four. It may be three but I believe it was four young men 18 to 24 years old, all of them, where they had just shot his dog. Marcus’ dog is named Dasy. Each letter represents D A S Y represents one of the fallen members of his team. It was given to him in recovery to help him through the recovery process. This dog means everything to Marcus. Marcus had his gun and he took it out and he put it right between the eyes of one of the guys. He was standing away from them, pointed right between the eyes. Now, here’s a SEAL team member who is wildly, he’s just, he is having trouble, man. He is still recovering from his injuries. He had just gotten out of surgery. He’s standing there with a gun between the guy’s eyes. He doesn’t fire. All four and he’s just saying, “You killed my dog.” They executed his dog. “You killed my dog. Why would you do that?” They run. They get into his car. Marcus gets into his truck, chases them over four counties, finally runs them into a ditch. He calls the Rangers. The Texas Rangers arrive and these guys, when the Texas Rangers are taking these guys away, Marcus has held them there by a gun. As the Rangers are taking these guys away, they’re threatening Marcus’ life and saying, “When we get out, we’re coming for you next. First it was your dog. It’s going to be you next. You don’t know who you’re messin’ with.” That’s when Marcus kind of snapped just a little bit and said to the Ranger, “Excuse me, ranger, do you know who I am?” He said, “Yes, sir, Mr. Luttrell, I do.” He said, “You might want to explain to these punks because I could have killed them 600 different ways and if I wanted to kill you guys after what you would have done what you just did to my dog, I would have pulled you down into my basement and I would have tortured you for days and you wouldn’t have died until you begged me for death. So before you start saying you’re going to come after me, you better learn who you’ve just whose dog you just killed.”

I saw his interview on Fox News… Glenn Beck’s Show and I couldn’t believe that some punks would pull a stunt like this. Hopefully Texas will make an example of these punks.

NC State Gets a Real Wolf Pack

The Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University and the surrounding community are overwhelmed with the burgeoning deer herd that basically grows unchecked in the natural habitat within a very urban environment of Raleigh North Carolina. A plan to allow bow hunting to help control this growing problem has been met with much opposition over the past few years so a new plan has been devised. This past year a student wrote up a proposal to use a small semi free roaming pack of wolves to help control the deer population. Under this project wolves will be fitted with a GPS equipped collar and a shocking device that will discourage them from leaving the campus.
Petsafe a company that makes the Invisible Fence for homeowners to keep their pets in the yard is underwriting much of the funding for this project.

In our continuing effort to improve our product the next generation of Invisible Fence will utilize GPS and eliminate the need for underground wiring. We see this as a good test of our new system as well as way to open up new marketing avenues for our products

Today with the collaboration of North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the North Carolina State University three wolves were released with these special collars in a remote area near the new golf course that is under construction on Centennial Campus. For the first few months of this project wildlife biology students and NCWRC staff will provide round the clock surveillance and intervene should a problem arise. Wolves will hunt mostly at night and they also naturally fear man so conflicts are not expected.

In an exclusive interview with outspoken wolf critic Tom Remington he told me;

Boulderdash these are lethal weapons that have been turned loose on the citizens of Raleigh. There are a number of documented cases of wolves attacking humans and besides this is really just a publicity stunt. Next we’ll see President Obama forcing Chevy out of NASCAR

I asked Gabe Karnes noted wildlife researcher and graduate of NC State for his reaction

I’ve heard of Tom Remington and he is the “Henny Penny” of the wolf debate, to him the sky is always falling. This is a proud day here at NC State I was part of the research Team that laid out much of the groundwork to bring this project together. I was surprised at first ,but after I thought about it not, when our surveys showed a very positive response from the general public to use wolves to control the problem. NC State is synonymous with the wolf pack so having a small one here on the Centennial Campus seems very fitting.

Will continue to follow this story as it develops. Other stories I’m working on the Vatican is sending a delegation of priests to help the city of Durham rid themselves of the devil problems they are having. As well as the town of Buies Creek has announced a new “Green Public Transportation System” that utilizes camels.

Poor Economy Leads To DOT Striping of Road Kill in Louisiana

Louisiana DOT earlier this month painted right over the dead carcass of a recently killed raccoon while remarking the highway. While it is unknown when the coon met it’s demise Louisiana DOT is certain of when the body was painted and budget cuts at DOT are to blame for this incident.

DOTD officials have confirmed, after nearly two weeks, that it was one of their crews that striped over the dead raccoon on La. 1 in the St. Charles community near Thibodaux.
“Obviously, it’s embarrassing for us,” Mark Lambert, spokesman for the DOTD said. “It’s unfortunate.”
The raccoon, which met its demise at an unknown earlier date, received its postmortem striping about 3 p.m. March 5 when a DOTD road crew was painting yellow striping along La. 1.
The procedure used to involve three vehicles. The lead vehicle would help anticipate traffic, as well as help remove dead animals or other debris from the road. The second vehicle lays stripes down the middle of the road, while the trailing vehicle cautions oncoming traffic.
However, in an effort to maximize efficiency, the Transportation Department got rid of the lead vehicle, leaving the responsibility of removing road kill to the striping vehicle.
The striping vehicle has to drive at a certain speed without stopping unless there is a safety issue because it is calibrated to stripe the roads at certain points. That means, even if the crew sees an animal in the middle of the road, workers are supposed to stripe over it with the intention of going back and removing it later.
That didn’t happen in the case of the striped raccoon.

Houma Today

I guess in the overall scheme of things striping road kill is a cost cut we may all have to learn to live with. I guess if you can spread the road kill out evenly you can make a passing zone.

Where In the World Is Matt Lauer?

At home recovering from a weekend bicycle accident with a deer on Long Island New York.

the TODAY host was laid up with an injured shoulder after a mishap while bicycling on Long Island. “He was riding his bike over the weekend and he had a run-in with a deer,” co-host Meredith Vieira explained.

Vieira added that although Lauer’s shoulder was hurt, his sense of humor was intact: He joked in an email that he thought “the deer was hired by the competition.”

“I’d hire the deer — but just to graze him,” Vieira quipped to Weekend TODAY anchor Lester Holt, who filled in for Lauer.
There was no immediate word on when Lauer would return to TODAY’s anchor desk.
Vieira said that the deer apparently leapt in front of Lauer, who slammed on his brakes to avoid a collision. The sudden stop threw him off the bike and onto his shoulder.

MSNBC

With soaring deer populations across much of the US mishaps like this will become more common. While it may sound somewhat comical, because this involved a bicycle, animal collisions injury and kill a number of people each year across the nation. Statistics for motor vehicle collisions and animals show a significant rise over the past few years.

State Farm, the nation’s largest auto insurer, estimates that there were more than 1.2 million claims for damage in crashes with animals during the last half of 2007 and the first half of 2008. The company says animal strike claims have increased 14.9 percent over the past 5 years.
Most vehicle-animal collisions aren’t severe enough to injure people, but data from the federal government show that crash deaths are increasing. In 1993, 101 people died in crashes involving animals. By 2000, the number was 150, and in 2007 it was 223.
The states with the largest number of total deaths are Texas with 227 deaths during 1993-2007, Wisconsin with 123, and Pennsylvania with 112 (see attached table of state-by-state deaths in crashes with animals).

Insurance Institute For Highway Safety

State by State Data

Hunting remains the cheapest and the best alternative for controlling out of control animal populations. Many areas have had success in utilizing bow hunters in urban areas to help control deer populations and reduce the risk to people that live and travel in the area.

Hopefully Matt will fully recover and return to the Today Show soon as well as to his hobby of bike riding.

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