Pet rooster kills elderly Australian woman
Canberra: An elderly woman in Australia was killed by her pet rooster while she was collecting eggs from a chicken coop, media reports said on Monday. The woman, whose name and age were not released, died after the aggressive rooster tpunctured a vein with its beak and the bleeding could not be stopped, Xinhua news agency. Roger Byard, a forensics expert from the Adelaide University, studied the case and used it to warn Australians about the dangers posed by their pets. “Most importantly, I’m trying to get elderly people have varicose veins treated with a simple operation because they are especially vulnerable to being broken,” Byard told News Corp Australia. In another case, anothe elderly Australian woman died overseas when a cat scratched her leg. “It is not just to animal attack, because we have done studies that show people have just been around their homes and bled to death by knocking their leg and the vein on something.” Byard has studied various cases of Australians being killed by animals. “Many of the examples we have found of animals causing death are a warning for elderly people,” he said. “For example, cats are a very common tripping hazard for the elderly around the house that they may never think of. Cats like to rub against ankles and legs, as well as sit behind people and commonly lead to tripping injuries in the elderly,” he added. (IANS)
Berlin zoo panda gives birth
Berlin: The Berlin zoo announced on Monday that its panda Meng Meng had given birth to two cubs, the first to be born in captivity in Germany. Andreas Knieriem, the director of Zoo Tierpark Berlin, said both mother and the cubs were faring well, reports Efe news. “Although they are the first cubs for our young female panda, she’s looking after them in an exemplary fashion. In the beginning, the cubs have to drink for more or less two or three hours a day and warmth and being close to their mother is important so the little ones don’t get cold,” he said in a statement. Meng Meng, six, gave birth to her cubs on Sunday evening after 147 days in gestation. The process was filmed by staff at the zoo. “There are currently 1,864 wild adult pandas in their natural habitat, which means each and every one of these cubs significantly helps towards the survival of the species,” Knieriem said. The Berlin zoo is working closely with the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding to support Meng Meng in her new life as a mother, given that twins were not common among pandas. It may be mentioned that Beijing lends the animals to zoos around the world to boost conservation efforts. (IANS)
Japan starts dolphin hunt
Tokyo: Japan has started its controversial annual dolphin hunt in the coastal town of Taiji, a media report said on Monday. The hunt sees the animals driven into a cove where some are slaughtered for their meat with knives in shallow waters, the BBC report said. Other dolphins are sold to aquariums and marine parks. This year’s Taiji hunt kicked off on Sunday. Environmentalists have said that the practice is cruel because the dolphins can take up to 30 minutes to die by suffocation or drowning. But the fisherman from Taiji say the community’s livelihood is dependent on the trade. The dolphin hunting season is expected to last for about six months. The Taiji hunt has been carried out for decades and gained global attention when it was the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove in 2009. (IANS)