WILDLIFE NEWS OF THE DAY - 082509

We lead off wildlife news today with a study from a New South Wales university that shows that kangaroos account for an astounding 60% of the auto accidents with animals in Australia, resulting in 2,100 collisions and 13 human deaths! A deer that bounded onto the road in front of a pack of motorcyclists left one biker dead and several injured in Colorado; while residents of an Upstate New York community will have the opportunity to comment on deer culling after a reversal by the City Council that had previously barred public comment. A report on chronic wasting disease within Florida's white-tailed deer population has been compiled; and a graduate student conducting a deer tracking project in South Dakota comments on the aims of the project in the next item. A dispute between hunters and birdwatchers over the fate of an injured night heron played out on the Mediterranean island of Malta; but a pair of skunks brought to a rescue center in the UK produced not one, but two albino offspring. Some shepherds in Germany are relying on Pyrenean mountain dogs to protect their sheep from wolves. Farmworkers in Oregon were startled when a cougar suddenly appeared as they were gathering hay earlier this month; but in regards to cougars in Ontario, Canada, a paraphrased quote from Mark Twain is probably appropriate: "rumors of their extinction have been greatly exaggerated!" Rural dwellers in Texas are reminded of some of the dangers that wildlife pose to the unwary, such as rabies; while New Jersey officials confirmed that a raccoon which picked a fight with a dog was indeed rabid. It appears that polar bears, like the Arctic ice mass they inhabit, are also shrinking; but the limitations of relocating bears is highlighted in the next article. We often hear about the damage bear-auto collisions produce, but they're nothing compared to the damage bears do if they get inside a car, as the next article for Colorado demonstrates! Authorities in Florida have charged a couple with the death of a woman's daughter when she was asphyxiated by a pet python. And finally, some clever beluga whales which found themselves stranded on a mud flat in Alaska dug themselves a mud hole in order to survive until the tide returned!

Kangaroos a deadly Aussie road menace: study

Amarillo man dead in Colorado deer accident

It's OK to fawn over deer in Cayuga Heights again

No evidence of chronic wasting disease found in Florida white-tailed deer

Tracking the collared deer

Hunters hang on to injured heron

Skunk gives birth to rare albino skunks at Cumbrian rescue centre

Dogs recruited to protect German sheep from wolves

Hay harvesters encounter cougar

'Shadows' with teeth and claws

Rabies concerns and rural living

Rabid raccoon found in Absecon

'Stress' is shrinking polar bears

Bear sow killed in Basalt

Bear wrecks car in East Vail

Couple charged in python strangling

Stranded belugas in Alaska swim free