One of our Killer Beaches for two years running, New Smyrna Beach, Florida just counted its 18th shark victim of the year. The 26-year-old surfer was bitten twice on the left leg while sitting on his board, but escaped with "only" a dozen or so gashes that needed stitches.
Earlier this week, a shark nibbled on a swimmer off the coast of New Smyrna, though he too escaped with minor injuries. Still, the beach town is on track to match its annual record of 22 incidents, set in 2001--or what locals call "The Year of the Shark."
The Montauk Monster is so over! An eight-year veteran of a sheriff's department in Texas says he recently spotted a chupacabra on the run in DeWitt County:
I've been patrolling these back roads for a long time, and I've never run across anything like this.
The deputy even had the sense to tape the mystery animal with his dash camera as it ran down a dirt path. It would be the second chupacabra in as many years for the county--though one captured in 2007 actually just turned out to be a coyote. At least it wasn't a viral marketing gimmick!
The incidence of jellyfish events this past week has dropped ever so slightly, heightening our paranoia that the jellies are amassing before a final virulent strike in the last weeks of summer.
While there were no out-and-out invasions this week, two smaller incidents deserve note: A fisherman died of cardiac arrest after being stung in Barangay Tiling, Philippines while out swimming with his brother. And on Hilbre Island off the coast of England near Liverpool, a 12-year-old and a 10-year-old girl were rushed to the hospital after incidental stings when one of them went into anaphylactic shock.
But! Just weeks after suffering more than 60 jellyfish stings, a Canadian long-distance swimmer is back in the water to swim the distance from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick today. The seriously brave lady, Jen Alexander, is completing the 22-hour swim to raise awareness for type 1 diabetes, which she has had for 20 years--she'll even test her blood sugar en route. Go, Jen, go! Before they strike again!
In Wawayanda, just south of Catskill Park, officials have ordered that any snakeheads must be shot or otherwise killed on sight to keep them from infesting the Hudson downstream. (Once the ferocious fish invade an ecosystem, it's next to impossible to clear 'em out.) The state Department of Environmental Conservation is using designer pesticides to poison the baddies in local waters while residents are poaching them with .22s from golf carts. Seriously.
While the killing may seem like swatting flies with a cruise missile, you don't mess around with these terrors. To wit:
Gale A. Norton, United States secretary of the interior when snakeheads were discovered in Maryland in 2002, called them "something from a bad horror movie" before ordering a federal ban. Since then the fish have spawned not one but two bad horror movies, "Snakehead Terror" and "Frankenfish."
Our fear of killer jellyfish has not abated since last week! The New York Times even got in on the trend with a Spanish scientist suggesting jellies are trying to send us the message "Look how badly you are treating me," making them sound like a M. Night Shyamalan menace.
After the jump, this week's updates on the insidious spread of what David Beard of the Boston Globecalled "the cockroach of the ocean."
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, a new marine threat has surfaced to rival sharks as the most dangerous to waterborne humans: Beaches around the world have seen an uptick in jellyfish attacks, with swarms of the gelatinous creatures swamping swimmers from Tampa to Thailand.
Stephen Colbert was right! Two campgrounds near Yellowstone National Park have been closed at the height of tourist season after a bear attacked a camper Thursday morning.
The bear, believed to be a grizzly, entered a tent at the Soda Butte campground at the park's northeastern end and bit and scratched a man. It is not known whether he was camping alone or how old he was, but it appeared his food was stored correctly (a common draw to hungry animals in and near the park).
The National Park Service said the bear returned to the scene of the crime later on Thursday, proving that bears are not actually that smart.
It's one thing to share a bar with a tiny crocodile but soon tourists visiting the northern Australian city of Darwin will be able to share a swimming pool with a crocodile too.
At the opening-soon Crocosaurus Cove theme park, there'll be seven crocodile enclosures with underwater viewing areas, and one with a swimming pool next to a viewing window so you'll be able to feel a bit like you're swimming with the crocs (like you'd want to?).
But scariest of all is the Cage of Death--a clear acrylic box that tourists can climb into and experience a huge crocodile snapping at you. We think this sounds a bit cruel for the poor croc, but perhaps they toss him a human every now and again to keep him happy. Hope it's not us!
