Posts by Patrick Kinsella
Dead cubs and body parts discovered at popular Thai Tiger Temple, as Buddhist monks accused of cruelty
The frozen remains of 40 dead tiger cubs have been discovered by wildlife officials at a Buddhist Temple in Thailand, where a monk has also been detained and accused of smuggling animal parts. The gruesome finds came to light on Wednesday and Thursday, during the authorities’ on-going operation to remove and relocate all 137 living … Continued
Bee swarm chases grandmother for 28 hours
A grandmother in Wales got a shock last weekend, when she returned from a shopping trip to discover her car covered in thousands of bees, with several people attempting to remove the animals. Carol Howarth, 65, was even more amazed when the bees then chased her all the way home and staged a second mass … Continued
'If you go swimming at 10 o’clock at night, you’re going to get consumed'—woman killed by croc in Australia
A woman from New Zealand has been killed in a crocodile attack in Tropical North Queensland, Australia, after going for a late night moonlit paddle while celebrating the end of her friend’s cancer treatment. Witnesses heard 46-year-old photographer Cindy Waldron screaming ‘A croc’s got me, a croc’s got me!’ as she was dragged away by … Continued
Public fury over gorilla killed at Cincinnati Zoo
The fatal shooting of a gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo last week, after a young boy fell into its enclosure, has triggered a storm of controversy. The zoo has been loudly condemned by vocal local and online communities, angered at what they see as an over reaction, and hundreds of thousands of people from all around … Continued
Australia uses Soviet–style tactics to rip climate-change damage out of UN report
All mentions of Australia have been ripped out of a major UN report on climate change because of pressure from the Australian government, terrified about the potential impact such news might have on tourism, The Guardian has today revealed. The report, entitled World Heritage and Tourism in a Changing Climate, came out on Friday and … Continued
UN's first World Wildlife Crime Report concludes many species 'hanging on by a thread'
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has released its first ever study specifically addressing wildlife crime. The strongly worded report warns that wildlife crimes such as poaching and illegal trading constitute a massive global problem that not only threatens species diversity, but also presents real environmental dangers and undermines the rule of … Continued
Grizzlies and polar bears are crossbreeding because of climate change, creating a new hybrid species
Climate change is blamed for many things these days, but one of the weirder consequences of a warming Earth is an increased number of incidents when grizzlies get jiggy with polar bears. Yep. If you go down to the woods today you really won’t believe your eyes. Officially, the result of such mixed-species mating shenanigans … Continued
Meet the vampire of the world's waterways, found in a river or sea near you right now…
It has a mouth crammed full with concentric rings of hideous teeth, it latches onto prey animals and drinks their blood mercilessly (often draining them to death), and it’s living in a river, lake or sea near you. Meet the lamprey, one of Mother Nature’s nastier creations. The lamprey has been around, unpretty much unchanged, … Continued
How did this dog find its way home, across 240 miles of strange terrain?
Last month, an English sheepdog shocked its former owners by turning up on their doorstep in Ceredigion, Wales, after they had given him to another farm in Cockermouth, Cumbria, some 240 miles away. Amazingly, it seems as though, over a periods of two weeks, Pero (positively identified through his microchip) had negotiated the epic journey … Continued
You won't believable this incredible footage in the feeding ground of humpback whales
The sight of a humpback whale eating its dinner can be quite confronting teatime viewing. No one can accuse these animals of being fussy. With mighty mouths enormously agape, these leviathan marine mammals simply swim straight through great twisting spirals of small fish such as herring, gulping down their prey and squirting the brine out … Continued
Rhinos to be airlifted to Australia in a desperate bid to save the species
If one man’s mission is successful, Australia is set to see an influx of refugees whose lives are in grave peril in their African homeland. The group is escaping conditions that would be described as genocidal if they were human. But they’re not. They’re rhinos. And according to expat South African Ray Dearlove, they and … Continued
Dancing dung beetles memorise the sky and navigate using sun, moon and stars
Dung beetles take snapshots of the sky and use the mental images to navigate, a new scientific study has revealed. And, according to researchers in Sweden, not only do the little manure-munching insects have the capability of accurately scanning the position of the sun, the moon and patterns in the stars—they memorise the map while … Continued
Polar bear hunting, right or wrong? Conservation organisations in great white bear brawl
A furious debate has erupted between leading conservationists over the issue of polar bear hunting and the sale of the animals’ pelts. On the face of it, you would expect all conservation organisations to be opposed to trophy hunting of an animal listed as vulnerable on the IUCN’s Red List, which has a population in … Continued
As NASA announces 1284 new planets, join us on a journey through space & time
NASA’s announcement this week that astronomers using the Kepler Space Telescope have just discovered another 1,284 exoplanets (new worlds that exist beyond the realm of our own solar system) makes the short film Cosmic Journeys: Interstellar Flight even more fantastically mind-bending viewing, with its use of CGI, history and science-based fiction to explain how the … Continued
Over 20 per cent of the planet's plants are in peril, and without our greens we're dead meat…
In the first ever study of its kind, a report compiled by an 80-strong gang of green-fingered scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London has discovered that we share our planet with 391,000 species of plants, many of which humans are directly or indirectly dependent upon for survival. However, the researchers also … Continued
Leprosy outbreak hits Britain's endangered red squirrels
Britain’s native population of red squirrels, already under threat from the introduced American grey squirrel, are facing a new deadly danger in the form of leprosy. The disease was first identified in Scottish red squirrels two years ago, but it has since been identified on Brownsea Island in Dorset, and in animals on the Isle … Continued
Virtual brutality—The cruel online world of animal atrocities
From live-animal smugglers to rare body-part merchants, puppy farmers to underground hunters—there’s a wild worldwide web of nastiness going on behind your computer screen, but thanks to a new app, you can help do something about it. The modern magic of social media gives us connectivity to entire communities at the swipe of a screen … Continued
Transit of Mercury: Today!
The planet Mercury will perform a transit across the Sun today, in an event that will be visible right across most of the northern hemisphere, creating great excitement among those who spend their time staring into space. Between 11.12am and 6.41pm (GMT) on Monday May 9th, a small speck will crawl across the face of … Continued
Great Barrier Reef now 93% damaged by coral bleaching, and scientists are spitting fury
‘I have cried. I have broken down in front of cameras. This is the most devastating, gut-wrenching fuck up.’ Professor Justin Marshall from the University of Queensland is talking to The Guardian in unconventionally candid terms. The scientist is deeply upset. And he has good reason to be. A marine biologist, Marshall is an expert … Continued
Hatrick of Earth-like exoplanets discovered circling ultra-cool dwarf star
NASA has detected a trio of new planets in a ‘nearby’ solar system, and scientists say the previously unknown worlds share certain crucial similarities to Earth. The three exoplanets—planets outside of our own solar system—are in orbit around an an ultra-cool dwarf star just 40 light-years away (a mere hop, skip and a jump in … Continued
Alien-like ambush predator encountered on the flanks of an underwater mountain in the world's deepest ocean
Marine scientists using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to dive into and explore the deepest darkest reaches of the planet’s oceans have just had an encounter with a distinctly alien-esque species of jellyfish. The fantastic creature was spotted by researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as they combed the face of the … Continued
Jump in baby dolphin deaths due to Deepwater Horizon disaster, new study suggests
Over a thousand dead dolphins washed ashore along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico in the four years following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which discharged 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf, and a recently released report suggests pollution caused by the accident at the BP-operated plant is likely linked to … Continued
Dawn Chorus Day rocks the world
The first day of May is being celebrated around the world as International Dawn Chorus Day—a time when the early bird gets both the worm and the appreciation it deserves. The day has been marked in various different ways, but one of the most interesting concepts is 24 Hours of Dawn, an audio project being … Continued
Sleepless super slugs about to explode in Britain
An army of sleepless super slugs is about to mount an assault on British gardens, according to experts who say that the freakishly warm and wet winter the country has just experienced was insufficiently cold to trigger the gastropods’ urge to hibernate. Slugs remain active when temperatures stay above 5°C, happily chomping and romping their … Continued
Solo human adventurer spreads her wings and prepares to follow the Flight of the Swans
In highly unique expedition, an audacious adventurer is attempting a world first journey of discovery to draw attention to the desperate plight of a threatened species of swan—by flying the full route of the birds’ perilous migration path using only a paramotor—and her efforts have attracted the support of an enthusiastic flock of famous naturalists, … Continued
Globe goes green (as pollution makes it sicker)
As leaders from 170 countries (and Leonardo DiCaprio) attended a ceremonial signing of the landmark Paris Agreement at the United Nations HQ on Earth Day, new research revealed that nature has responded to manmade climate change in its own astonishing way, with trees and plants around the planet turning over a new leaf—millions of new … Continued
