My perfectionist troll will be happy to see that I took special care in the typing of my title. No embarrassing Freudian faux pas for me this week.
So, let’s delve right in and find out what the animals have been up to since we last checked in on them.
Champion surfer Mathieu Schiller was attacked and killed by an aggressive tiger shark just off the shore of the French island of la Reunion. I had to do a quick Google search on this place because I still haven’t had time to take that geography class. It’s located in the Indian Ocean just east of Madagascar. Good to know – I plan to avoid this area like the plague. Contrary to what the local shark experts says, there seems to be an upswing in attacks in this area of late. A coincidence? I think not. In my opinion, this was not a case of mistaken identity – a shark looking for a tasty seal and mistook the wetsuit clad surfer for prey – but a sanctioned hit. The shark struck suddenly in an attack that lasted nearly 30 seconds and then swiftly fled the scene, the body of the surfer was never recovered. Yea, this has shark mob written all over it. You can read the story for yourself [here].
Last week a 12-year-old girl in Forest Falls, California scared off a bear that had made its way into her kitchen. This is not the first time this particular bear has made an appearance at the girl’s home, nor even the first time he’s tried to get into the kitchen. In the weeks prior, the girl’s father scared it away as it tried to climb in through a screened door. This bear is obviously looking for something, though I suspect, whoever tasked him with this assignment did not take into consideration his lack of subtlety – or immense stupidity. Perhaps they will send a grizzly next time. On a side note, I surely hope the condition of the kitchen as shown in the [this video] is as a result of the bear. If not, perhaps the bear was simply trying to tidy up. Good grief. How do people live like that? ***Thank you very much to my brother, Rob, for sending this one to me.***
An 80-year-old Ohio man is recovering from a lengthy attack by a 6ft tall male kangaroo. It appears this man did not adhere to the rules of Kangaroo Fight Club.
In Idaho, a bow hunter was seriously injured when he and his companion startled a grizzly bear while stalking elk. The man’s hunting buddy doused the bear with “bear pepper spray” and managed to scare it away, likely saving his friend’s life. Okay. So you mean to tell me these dumbasses experienced hunters trekked out very close to Yellowstone National Park, in an area known to have a substantial bear population, armed only with a bow and arrow and pepper spray? Seriously? Maybe I should send them a link to my Man vs. Beast blogs. They seem to be in desperate need of a refresher course in the dangers of venturing into bear country without proper preparation. You can read about this latest attack [here].
I would like to bring you an update on one of the items I included in last week’s Man vs. Beast entry. It was reported that two men in Montana shot and wounded a grizzly bear, who in turn fled. When the men tracked it down, the bear attacked, killing one man before being killed by the other. As it turns out, the man who died was not killed by the bear at all. He was shot and killed by his friend. Police do not believe this to be anything other than an accident – though, I think I saw this play out differently on an episode of Bones once. You can read the updated story [here].
A man in Roselle, Illinois, died after he was discovered unconscious outside his home this week. The medical examiner has determined that his death was caused by multiple – and when I say multiple, I mean hundreds – of bee stings. This is not the first time this has happened in Roselle. In 2003, a man died after disturbing a hive of yellow jackets while mowing his lawn. No word yet on the species of bees guilty of this attack or if it is connected to the recent attacks on the West Coast and in the Southwest. Could be that we have a rogue colony of bees on a killing spree. I will keep you posted. You can read about this story [here].
Of Bears and Boating 