Wandering seal that relaxed on man's driveway visited car wash overnight

A gathering crowd applauded as a seal was herded into a cage after coming ashore for the second day in a row. The seal spent Monday morning wandering about the New Zealand suburb of Papakura, before emergency services guided it towards an estuary.

It was loaded onto a Department of Conservation (DOC) vehicle and taken away from its south Auckland sleeping spot on Tuesday afternoon. Auckland Zoo head vet James Chatterton described the seal as being "calm and gentle". The seal was found asleep in a car wash building in Papakura on Tuesday morning.

YouTube link.

Police came across the seal at a road intersection in the suburb at about 2am, Inspector Chris Money said. The seal then made its way into the car park of a nearby medical clinic. From there it entered the Uwash car wash building, where it fell fast asleep. It woke up at around midday, and waved a flipper at the crowd of about 50 people who were watching.
The increased activity prompted DOC staff to move people further away from the lost mammal. The large fur seal's city excursion ended when he was coaxed into a crate. He was then loaded into a vehicle and was driven to Karioitahi Beach, southwest of Auckland, where he was released by Department of Conservation and Auckland Zoo staff.

Hungry bear scaled power transmission tower to raid raven's nest

A group of bison hunters visiting Wood Buffalo National Park in north eastern Alberta, Canada, watched a bear climb a power transmission tower and raid a ravens' nest earlier this month. Linda Powell of Greensboro, North Carolina, shot the photos and video on May 10.

"We were in a clearcut, where there were actually power lines and towers and I had noticed earlier there were nests at the top of them. I was sitting there and glanced over and happened to see a black bear on its hind legs at the base of the tower and my first thought that went through my mind was: that bear's gonna climb the tower but I didn't really think that it would."
She says everyone in her party was so shocked at first, they didn't grab their cameras until the bear was near the top of the tower. "Over the next few minutes we watched him very skillfully climb the tower while the ravens were diving at him pecking at him, squawking, trying to do everything they could to discourage him, and he just climbed right to the top." Powell is the director of media relations for O.F. Mossburg and Sons, a U.S. company that makes firearms.

YouTube link.

She had brought two hunters with decades of experience to the area to field test some of the company's hunting guns. "None of us had ever seen anything like that in all of our years or our time out in the field hunting," she says. After raiding the nest for eggs, the bear struggled a little on the descent but made it down safely, she says. Later, the ravens just sat by the nest "almost like they were in mourning." Other than the great bear story, she says the group didn't have much luck hunting.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

Editor's Note: We will be lecturing at a seminar on Tuesday June 2nd, so we will be taking what other's have termed a 'Blogcation' for that day with no posts for the day but will return to our regular posting on Wednesday June 3rd.

It isn't hard to do ...!

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 203 countries around the world daily.   

    
Think Success  ... !

Today is - What You Think On Grows Day

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Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Chile - Colombia - Ecuador - Honduras - Mexico - Nicaragua - Puerto Rico Trinidad/Tobago - United States - Venezuela
Europe
Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Czech Republic - Denmark - England - France  Germany - Greece - Hungary - Iceland - Ireland - Italy - Latvia - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Russia  Scotland - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Ukraine - Wales
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Burma - India - Indonesia - Israel - Japan - Malaysia - Pakistan - Singapore - Sri Lanka - Thailand 
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Egypt - Morocco - Somalia - South Africa - Zambia
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Today in History

1433   Sigismund is crowned emperor of Rome.  
1678   The Godiva procession, commemorating Lady Godiva's legendary ride while naked, becomes part of the Coventry Fair.
1862   At the Battle of Fair Oaks, Union General George B. McClellan defeats Confederates outside of Richmond.  
1879   New York's Madison Square Garden opens its doors for the first time.  
1889   Johnstown, Pennsylvania is destroyed by a massive flood.  
1900   U.S. troops arrive in Peking to help put down the Boxer Rebellion.  
1902   The Boer War ends with the Treaty of Vereeniging.  
1909   The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) holds its first conference.  
1913   The 17th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for direct election of senators, is ratified.  
1915   A German zeppelin makes an air raid on London.  
1916   British and German fleets fight in the Battle of Jutland.  
1928   The first flight over the Pacific takes off from Oakland.  
1941   An armistice is arranged between the British and the Iraqis.  
1955   The Supreme Court orders that states must end racial segregation "with all deliberate speed."  
1962   Adolf Eichmann, the former SS commander, is hanged near Tel Aviv, Israel.  
1969   John Lennon and Yoko Ono record "Give Peace a Chance."
1974   Israel and Syria sign an agreement on the Golan Heights.  
1979   Zimbabwe proclaims its independence.  
1988   Ronald Reagan arrives in Moscow, the first American president to do so in 14 years.

Kelly Clarkson Wants Legal Weed And President Hillary Clinton

Country music, once thought to be dominated by jingoistic religio-wingnut 'christian' Republicans, is beginning to show itself as diverse, open-minded and in some...

Wingnuts Go Nuts

Backstabbers

German Sex Ed

Why Germany Teaches Sex Education to 5 Year Olds

Germany has made sex education part of the school curriculum. Parents support the plan ...

Arresting Kids

Here are the 10 most absurd reasons why small children have been arrested in America

From throwing Tootsie Rolls to burping, small children have been arrested for totally normal misbehavior.

Robber Gets Caught With Her Pants Down … Literally

The saying, “Caught with their pants down,” is supposed to be metaphorical. But for this robber, it wasn’t just an idiom. It was literally an aspect of her “brilliant scheme.”

Video Link

She also got caught with her mask up, which is probably more problematic.

Street Artist Makes Building into Set of Wind-up Teeth

The building used to be the Dolphinarium discotheque in Tel Aviv, Israel, until it was the site of a suicide bombing in 2001. Israeli street artist Dede saw something promising in the shell of the structure- a giant set of of choppers, or wind-up teeth. He says,

30m wide x 10m high piece, The abandoned Dolphinarium, Tel-Aviv, 2015

Without any doubt the biggest art challenge I have ever had. This piece was hard to achieve.
Stormy nights, high rollers from the ground, the all deal. But it had to be done, I had this vision for almost a year now.

This landmark is found in the middle of continuing ownership arguments, another real estate bite in Tel-Aviv's view.

Note the wind-up key at the right. It’s not as big as it should be for the building, but that’s fixed with a little forced perspective

Retro Photos

The Dark Side

Dark Side of Medieval Convent Life Revealed

Burials recovered at the site of a Medieval convent reveal a nun's life wasn't so idyllic.

Eerie, Mysterious Island Tales

The beach at North Seymour Island in the Galapagos

There is a spellbinding story that is part of the history of the Galapagos Islands. The settlers who braved the mostly uninhabited islands during the 1930s were a colorful mix of flamboyant, private and eccentric personalities. Friedrich Ritter, a German dentist, was first. He fled to the islands after beginning an affair with a patient of his. Incredibly, prior to Ritter and his paramour departing for the islands, they removed most of their teeth and had them replaced with one stainless steel false set they shared!
Heinz Wittmer was another early Galapagos settler. Then there was the showy, bombastic Baroness Eloise Wehrborn de Wagner-Bosquet. Not one but two lovers accompanied the Baroness, Rudolf Lorenz and Robert Philippson. She and her boy toys declared their intent to build the first hotel in the Galapagos. The Baroness, with her habit of traversing the tropical terrain in silk lingerie, brought worldwide attention to the islands. The international newspaper coverage incensed Ritter, who enjoyed the admiration he received for his public profile as a rugged settler. Wittmer, always the quiet, private one, lived without incident with his wife and sons as Ritter and the Baroness publicly feuded. If their fighting wasn't bad enough, the lovers of the Baroness began to feud as well. The Ritters accused the Baroness of stealing their mail and spreading false rumors about them.
This tropical soap opera continued unabated until March 1934, at which time the Baroness and her lover Philippson disappeared. The Wittmers claimed that friends of the Baroness had arrived and taken her with them to visit Tahiti, yet no sightings of a ship near the islands had been made on the day of the couple's disappearance. The Baroness also left behind essential personal effects, which was unlike her. The lovers never reached Tahiti and were never seen again.
Ritter and his girlfriend maintained that the other lover of the Baroness, Lorenz, had killed her and Philippson. Lorenz left the islands after their disappearance; he asked a fisherman to ferry him to the mainland. Yet both he and the fisherman were found dead of hunger and thirst several months later on Marchena Island. A short time afterward, Ritter died of food poisoning; some believed that his lover poisoned him after their relationship grew argumentative. She returned to Germany, leaving the Wittmers as the sole settlers left.
If you think this sounds like the basis of a movie, you're not alone. A 2014 documentary film was made about the settlers, the trailer of which is below. It's currently avaiable to stream on Netflix. While I haven't yet seen it, it seems to be generally well reviewed and I look forward to watching it.
But this isn't the only story of intrigue taking place on islands. Read nine more such stories here.  

YouTube Link

Ozone Treaty

World Already Reaping Benefits From Ozone Treaty

A treaty to protect the ozone layer has prevented a surge in skin cancer in Australia and Europe, a study published on Tuesday said.

Sea Salt

Why Is the Ocean Salty?

The ocean is salty, but most lakes and rivers are not.
Why is this? 

Wisconsin’s pine barrens disappear

Starved for fire, Wisconsin’s pine barrens disappear

A century spent treating wildfires as emergencies to be stamped out may have cost Central Wisconsin a natural setting that was common and thriving before the state was settled. Pine […]

Deciphering prehistoric climate changes

Deciphering clues to prehistoric climate changes locked in cave deposits

When the conversation turns to the weather and the climate, most people’s thoughts naturally drift upward toward the clouds, but Jessica Oster’s sink down into the subterranean world of stalactites […]

CIA Stops Sharing Climate Change Info

CIA Stops Sharing Climate Change Info With Scientists

The intelligence agency quietly has shut down a program that provided climate researchers with data from spy satellites and other sources.

Life's Ingredients

NASA's Europa Mission Will Look for Life's Ingredients

NASA on Tuesday selected nine science instruments it believes will best address the burning question about whether Jupiter’s ocean-bearing moon Europa has indications of life.

New Species

139 New Species Found in Greater Mekong: Photos

See some of the most unusual and noteworthy discoveries.

Early Mammoths

Mammoths Reached the California Channel Islands Much Earlier Than Previously Thought

Recently, U.S. Geological Survey researchers and partners working in California’s Channel Islands National Park discovered mammoth remains in uplifted marine deposits that date to about 80,000 years ago, confirming a […]

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

Editor's Note: We will be lecturing at a seminar on Tuesday June 2nd, so we will be taking what other's have termed a 'Blogcation' for that day with no posts for the day but will return to our regular posting on Wednesday June 3rd.

Don't even think about it ...!

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 203 countries around the world daily.   

    
Minty  ... !

Today is - Mint Julep Day

You want the unvarnished truth?

Don't forget to visit: The Truth Be Told

Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Chile - Colombia - Ecuador - Nicaragua - Puerto Rico - United States
Europe
Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Czech Republic - France - Germany - Greece
Iceland - Italy - Latvia - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Russia - Scotland - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden  Switzerland - Turkey - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Bahrain - China - India - Indonesia - Israel - Japan - Malaysia - Pakistan - Saudi Arabia - Sri Lanka  Thailand
Africa
Cameroon - Egypt - Morocco - South Africa - Zimbabwe
The Pacific
Australia

Don't forget to visit our sister blogs Here and Here.

Today in History

1416   Jerome of Prague is burned as a heretic by the Cult.  
1431   Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by the English.  
1527   The University of Marburg is founded in Germany.  
1539   Hernando de Soto lands in Florida with 600 soldiers in search of gold.  
1783   The first American daily newspaper, The Pennsylvania Evening Post, begins publishing in Philadelphia.  
1814   The First Treaty of Paris is declared, returning France to its 1792 borders.  
1848   William Young patents the ice cream freezer.  
1854   The Kansas-Nebraska Act repeals the Missouri Compromise.  
1859   The Piedmontese army crosses the Sesia River and defeats the Austrians at Palestro.  
1862   Union General Henry Halleck enters Corinth, Mississippi.  
1868   Memorial Day begins when two women place flowers on both Confederate and Union graves.  
1889   The brassiere is invented.  
1912   U.S. Marines are sent to Nicaragua to protect American interests.
1913   The First Balkan War ends.  
1921   The U.S. Navy transfers the Teapot Dome oil reserves to the Department of the Interior.  
1942   The Royal Air Force launches the first 1,000 plane raid over Germany.  
1971   NASA launches Mariner 9, the first satellite to orbit Mars

Tearful Scenes As Irish Woman Proposes To Girlfriend Moments After Landslide Vote For Marriage Equality

This is why the compassion of liberalism will always win out against the cruelty of conservatism.

Read more

Artist to have second road named in his honor after the first was spelt wrong

A second road is to be named in honor of a celebrated Suffolk painter after a typing error meant the first one was misspelled. Paul Earee, who died in 1968, is considered by some to be the finest Sudbury artist since Thomas Gainsborough.
The town and district councils agreed to name a road after him, however, it was misspelled as Paul Airey Mews. After residents refused to change their addresses, a new location was agreed.
The original road sign was installed in Paul Airey Mews, a development close to where Earee lived, in July last year. "It took until February for anyone to notice the mistake," Jodie Budd, customer services manager at Sudbury Town Council, said.
"It was a simple typing error in an email we sent to Babergh District Council," she added. The district council is responsible for registering new roads in its area. Gary Starling from the district council confirmed a location has now been identified and agreed by both councils and Earee's family.

Armless man denied disabled parking permit because he can walk

A Swedish man has had his disabled parking permit revoked despite lacking both arms and thus unable to pay for a ticket either via phone or at a meter.

Thomas Johansson's request to renew his disabled parking permit was rejected by Örebro municipality in central Sweden due to the fact that he can walk. Mr Johansson, who lost his arms in an accident in 1989, drives a specially designed car which allows him mobility despite his handicap.
The car is important to his family and now he's considering resigning from his job as a motivator for people with addictions. "I'm so disappointed in society. I have tried to help despite my injury," he says. Mr Johansson appealed the municipality's decision but the decision was backed up by both the county administrative board and the Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen).
Mr Johansson has argued that despite his ability to walk he has trouble carrying heavy items for long distances. A disabled parking permit affords the user free use of designated parking places in Swedish cities which are typically located close to stores and public transport links.

Six cyclists arrested after attacking PedalPubs with water pistols

They arrived armed and on bicycles, planning a “Mad Max”-style attack. Their target were PedalPubs in downtown Minneapolis. Their weapons of choice were water pistols (squirt guns) and water balloons. What they didn’t know was that there were off-duty police officers among the passengers.

Two of the people-powered, 16-seat vehicles were hit on Saturday in the late afternoon, said Lisa Stanplin, manager of Twin Cities PedalPubs. In the first attack, the cyclists rode to the front of the PedalPub and squirted the driver in the face. In the second, cyclists approached on both sides, squirted passengers with water pistols and hit one woman in the back of the head with a water balloon.
A potential third attack was thwarted when PedalPub passengers spotted the cyclists’ approach, jumped off and turned the tables on the cyclists. A video showing the aftermath of the third incident shows abandoned bikes littering the street and what appear to be several cyclists being pinned down on the pavement. One cyclist can be heard yelling, “I don’t even have a water bottle!” A woman can be heard telling the cyclists that it was “a PedalPub full of cops.”

YouTube link.

Indeed, Burnsville Police Chief Eric Gieseke confirmed on Sunday that six of his off-duty officers were on board. Minneapolis police arrested six people, who were booked into the Hennepin County jail and released on Saturday night after each posting $78 bail. The jail log lists fifth-degree assault and disorderly conduct, misdemeanors, as probable-cause charges. All have their first court appearances set for June 4.

Man died while 'fooling around' with bulletproof vest and gun

A man has been arrested in connection to a deadly shooting on Friday night on the American River Bike Trail in Fair Oaks, California. According to the victim's brother, the shooting resulted from the victim and his friends playing around with a bulletproof vest and a gun.

Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies said 21-year-old Elijah Lambert faces a murder charge in the death of 19-year-old Miguel Henry Martinez, who was identified by family members. Martinez's older brother, Tom Cline, said Martinez died in the most senseless way. At around 9:45pm, "Miguel was fooling around with his buddies. They were in possession of a gun and a bulletproof vest," Cline said.
Cline said friends encouraged his brother to put on the vest. The three friends with Martinez assured him that he would not be hurt, Cline said. According to the sheriff's department, Lambert fired the gun. "The kid had shot my brother. The bullet penetrated the top of his vest," said Cline. "My brother was hit. My brother said he couldn't breathe." According to Cline, one person ran for help. Two men carried Martinez up the bike path to meet deputies, but Martinez died.
"My brother did not deserve this death," Cline said. "I want everybody to know Miguel Henry Martinez was a good boy." Cline said he believes his brother might have survived the shooting if someone called for help sooner. He said he doesn't know where the bulletproof vest or gun came from. The sheriff's department would not comment. Lambert is expected to go before a judge on Wednesday to answer to homicide charges.

Horrifying Apple Dump In Washington State Creates Human Health Hazard

Millions and millions of rotting apples, dumped by the state’s agriculture industry, are now creating serious problems for Washington residents and business owners.

Read more

Donating Your Body

What Happens When You Donate Your Body to Science

Oh, the places you'll go!

Earth 2.0

Red Dwarf Stars Probably Not Friendly for Earth 2.0

The stellar runts of the galaxy probably aren't so great for nurturing Earth-like worlds, say scientists running new simulations of the formation of planets around a variety of stars. 

Mars' Mysterious Methane Spike

Did Rover Cause Mars' Mysterious Methane Spike?

A burp of methane on Mars would indicate that the planet might be more alive than previously thought. But where did it come from?

The Toll Of A Common Household Pest

The Dramatic Psychological Toll Of A Common Household Pest

Wayward seal coaxed back to estuary after relaxing on man's driveway

A seal on the loose in South Auckland, New Zealand, has been rescued by emergency services. The Papakura seal was herded down to the reserve near the estuary by police and firefighters before being monitored by Department of Conservation staff.

"Hopefully will just jump back in and swim home," an emergency services source said. When Danny Yong woke up on Monday morning and found his house surrounded by police and firefighters - he naturally panicked. "I thought I'd got myself into trouble somehow. Then my flatmates went outside and saw a seal in the driveway," he said.
Unbeknown to Mr Yong, the seal had settled into his driveway and was in no hurry to move. "It was very, very cool. We were trapped in the house for about three hours while police tried to move it," he said. "It was just relaxing, doing nothing in the driveway. It was lying down in front of my door."

YouTube link.

Emergency services staff made a makeshift enclosure out of plywood to stop the seal getting away from them, and eventually managed to coax the mammal to the estuary opposite Mr Yong's home. "It's the first time I've had a seal in my driveway," he said. "It was pretty interesting." Nearby residents had been advised to stay indoors until the seal had been caught.
There are additional videos, filmed by Mr Yong, here, here and here.

Town hopes that fake whale will fix their sea lion problem

A community in Oregon is bringing in some unusual help to fix their sea lion problem. They're hoping a fake killer whale from Bellingham, Washington, will do the trick.

"I don't have any idea in the world if it'll work or even should work. It's just kind of a fun, crazy thing to do," said Terry Buzzard, who runs Island Marine Cruises in Bellingham. He owns a life-size mock orca which he's used to promote his business during parades and other events.
Buzzard recently heard about the problems at the Port of Astoria, where hundreds of sea lions have taken over the docks, preventing boat owners from using their slips. He offered up his giant mock orca, which will head south to act as a scarecrow of sorts.

YouTube link.

"If it doesn't look like an orca whale and they call our bluff, then I guess they'll sit there and thumb their noses at us," said Buzzard. The Port of Astoria has tried using electrified mats to deter sea lions, but those didn't work all that well. They've considered putting up fences, but they're worried the animals will just knock them down.

Dino-Chicken

When Will We See a Dino-Chicken?

A top dino expert says we're '50 percent there' to reverting a chicken to a dinosaur.

Tiger Temple Maul

Controversial 'Tiger Temple' Tiger Mauls Abbot 'Accidentally'

The tigers at the 'Tiger Temple' roam freely around the monastery, where anyone can pay a fee to pet them. 

Eruptions and Pink Iguanas

Galapagos Volcano Eruption Raises Wildlife Concerns

A volcano in the Galapagos Islands erupted Monday, raising fears for the world's only colony of pink iguanas.

Mozambique's Elephants

Poachers Kill Half Mozambique's Elephants in 5 Yrs: Survey

Poaching elephants for their ivory, prized in Asia for trinkets, is rampant in Africa. 

How To Get a Cane Toad To Croak?

How To Get a Cane Toad To Croak? Freeze It

Australia's invasive cane toads are tough to kill, so researchers tried making toadsicles: it's humane and effective, they say. 

Animal Pictures