Whales stranded near King Island, north-west Tasmania

Whale stranding on New Year island, off coast of King Island, off north-west Tasmania coast, on November 3, 2012.

Deceased dolphins after stranding at King Island, Tasmania, November 4, 2012. About 100 whales and dolphins lay beached for up to two nights in one of Tasmania's largest strandings since 2009.

www.abc.net.au

Man-Eating Leopard Devours 15 So Far

A rogue leopard believed to have killed – and eaten – up to 15 villagers, including 10 small children over the past year is being hunted by Nepalese wildlife officials.
The severed head of the latest victim, a 4-year-old boy, was found on Saturday in a forested area nearly 400 miles west of the capital, Kathmandu.  The Kathmandu Post reported the boy was playing in the courtyard of his house when the leopard struck, killing the boy then dragging the body into the forest.
Police say at least one leopard with a taste for human flesh is on the loose, but that there could be others.
Last week, Nepalese officials offered a bounty of 25,000 rupees (approximately $280) for anyone who could bring in the animal dead or alive.  The bounty amounts to several months wages for an average Nepali villager.  Of the 15 victims so far, two-thirds are children from remote villages.  So far, there is no indication that any adult males have been attacked.

abcnews.go.com

40 whales die in mass stranding on Indian island

In this handout photograph released by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Department of Environment and Forestry on October 25, 2012, over 40 short-finned pilot whales lie on the beach in a mass stranding on the west coast of the remote Indian Andaman islands in the Bay of Bengal on October 25, 2012. PHOTO: AFP

NEW DELHI: About 40 whales died in a mass stranding on the west coast of India’s remote North Andaman island in the Bay of Bengal, wildlife officials said on Thursday.
“The short-finned pilot whales were found by fishermen who alerted us and investigations show it was a case of mass stranding,” said Ajai Saxena, a wildlife official in Port Blair, capital of the islands.
Saxena said no previous mass stranding had been reported in the Andamans, but that it was a natural phenomenon that occurs when whales get disoriented and are unable to swim back into deep water.
Stranding is also thought to occur when a pod follows a sick or an injured whale into the shallows, experts say.
Emergency teams and local volunteers headed to the beach near Elizabeth Bay on the North Andaman island where the whales were stranded, but they were unable to help.
“The mammals are so heavy, it is impossible to move them back to the waters,” Saxena told AFP.
A post-mortem has been conducted on one of adults, which weighed two tonnes.
The Andaman and Nicobar islands are Indian territory, though they are at least 600 miles (1,000 kilometres) from the mainland and are closer to the coast of Myanmar.

tribune.com.pk