Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
PUERTO AYORA, Ecuador (AFP) – Ecuador created a massive new marine reserve Friday north of its Galapagos islands, forming a Pacific corridor up to Costa Rica’s Cocos Island National Park to preserve species of migratory fauna, such as sharks. President Guillermo Lasso, on board a scientific vessel from the Galapagos National Park (PNG) anchored in the bay of Puerto Ayora off Santa Cruz Island, signed the decree creating the new reserve called “Hermandad” (Brotherhood). To […]
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) — Czech vets are due to cull 80,000 hens at a farm where over 100,000 animals have died of bird flu since late last week, the state veterinary office said Tuesday. The farm in Libotenice, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Prague, had a total of 188,000 hens before Christmas. “The culling of hens from halls affected by bird flu is under way,” State Veterinary Administration spokesman Petr Majer told […]
by Sophie DEVILLER and Pitcha DANGPRASITH Agence France-Presse PHUKET, Thailand (AFP) – After laying eggs on a deserted Thai beach, a green sea turtle dives back into the turquoise-coloured waters of the Andaman Sea — a welcome sight for biologists who say the absence of tourists spurred the marine animal’s return. The turtle’s nesting was spotted in November by scientists. In about two months, the 100 eggs will hatch and babies will slide towards the […]
by Neil SANDS Agence France-Presse WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) – A two-tonne rubber whale can take on a life of its own in the frigid shallows of a windswept New Zealand beach, particularly when a bedraggled group of would-be rescuers is trying to wrestle it into a harness. “Keep the blowhole clear… you’re too close to the tail, one swipe can do a serious injury to yourself and the whale,” an instructor yells as the […]
by Haeril HALIM LUMAJANG, Indonesia (AFP) — As rescuers comb the ash-covered landscape looking for people after Indonesia’s Mount Semeru erupted earlier this month, volunteers are searching for even more vulnerable survivors: cats, cows and other animals. The disaster killed 48 people, according to the latest toll, and rescuers are still seeking bodies in the mud and rubble. As deadly ash destroyed villages in East Java’s Lumajang district, at least 767 cows also died, while […]
MIAMI, Florida (AFP) – Florida’s manatees — which are increasingly facing starvation, largely as a result of pollution — are going to be fed directly by wildlife officials, in what they called an “unprecedented” step to prevent further die-off. The pilot program will start with Indian River Lagoon, on the Sunshine State’s east coast southeast of Orlando, federal and state authorities announced Wednesday. Many manatees migrate to this area in winter, to bask in the […]
MOSCOW, Russsia (AFP) – Russia has dismantled a notorious facility dubbed the “whale jail” that kept dozens of the mammals in cramped conditions, causing an international outcry. Almost 100 whales were kept in the secretive facility in Srednyaya Bay near the far eastern town of Nakhodka in 2018, before being released after an intense campaign by animal rights and environmentalist groups in 2019. The animals were captured to perform in aquariums. The environmental prosecutor’s office […]
by Pierre-Henry DESHAYES Agence France-Presse OSLO, Norway (AFP) – A polar bear chases a reindeer into the water, drags it ashore and devours it, in a striking scene caught on film for the first time. With sea ice melting, the king of the Arctic may be changing its diet. The dramatic spectacle played out in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago on August 21, 2020 — in summer, the sea ice retreats and takes with it the seals […]
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP) – A critically endangered Sumatran baby elephant has died after losing half of its trunk in a poacher’s trap, Indonesian conservation officials said. The one-year-old calf succumbed to a severe infection, two days after it was found by villagers in Aceh Jaya and despite subsequent efforts to save its life by amputating the rest of its injured trunk. “We couldn’t save it because the injury was severe and infected,” Agus Arianto, head […]
Several gorillas at Zoo Atlanta in the southern US state of Georgia have tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, the zoo said. The western lowland gorillas were tested after keepers saw them coughing and other symptoms, it said. Initial tests indicated they were positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 and the zoo said in a statement Friday it was awaiting the results of confirmatory tests from the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka’s main elephant orphanage recorded a rare twin birth Tuesday as a 25-year-old named Surangi delivered healthy male calves. They are the first elephant twins born in captivity in Sri Lanka since 1941, according to elephant expert Jayantha Jayewardene. “Both the calves and the mother are doing fine,” Renuka Bandaranaike, head of the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, told AFP. “The babies are relatively small, but they are healthy.” She said […]
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AFP) — El Salvador said it would ban all imports of pork products Sunday, as cases of the highly contagious African swine fever in the Dominican Republic sparked fears of a wider regional outbreak. A highly contagious viral disease that affects domestic and wild pigs, African Swine Fever (ASF) is present in parts of Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa. A major outbreak in China in 2018 led to the culling of […]
