ABC: Yorkshire Dales large cat pawprint photographed

Lancashire Telegraph:

The hunt for a large wild cat thought to be prowling the Yorkshire Dales has been bolstered following a discovery by an East Lancashire walker.

Ongoing speculation that a fearsome feline, possibly a cougar or puma, is stalking the picturesque landscape has been strengthened after pictures of a creature’s tracks were taken..

More on this story

ATTACKS: Richard F and a Croc Attack story

A fisherman is recovering from serious injuries after he was attacked by a saltwater crocodile off the coast of nothern Australia.

The 45-year-old was diving for trepang (sea cucumber) off the Cobourg Peninsula, east of Darwin, when the crocodile struck.

The man had been working from a Tasmanian Seafoods boat with a group of divers in Knocker Bay, near the entrance to Port Essington, about 112miles northeast of Darwin. He struggled with the saltwater crocodile, which police said was believed to be 6ft 5ins to 9ft 8ins long, and managed to escape.

It bit him on the head, neck, shoulders and arms, reported the Northern Territory News.
Saltwater crocodiles are considered extremely dangerous, and although rare, most attacks by adult 'salties' are fatal given the animals' strength and size. Senior District Ranger Peter Fitzgerald said the man's diving companions rescued him and took him to the Black Point ranger station.

"Another person on the boat ... dragged him out of the water," he said. "He'd got bitten a few times by the croc. He's just been in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The man was flown by helicopter to Royal Darwin Hospital. He is in a stable condition and doctors say he won't need significant surgery. Tasmanian Seafoods Darwin manager Brett Almond visited him and said he was recovering. "He's going all right," he said.

Mr Almond said the victim was an experienced diver who had requested anonymity.

In 2005 another diver was killed by a crocodile while in the water at nearby Trepang Bay. Aquarium owner Russell Butel, 55, was taken by a 14ft 7ins beast while diving for clown fish.

The saltwater crocodile can reach over 28 feet in length and has a bite over ten time more powerful than a great white shark.

ENDANGERED: Lonesome George egg tally

Last of the Pinta Tortoises fails to produce fertile eggs

March 2010. The incubation period for the eggs from the first nest found this year in Lonesome George's corral is over, producing sad results for the scientific world. Earlier this year, Female #107, a giant tortoise who shares a corral with Lonesome George, laid five eggs. Following the 120-day incubation period, all of these eggs were shown to be infertile, with no indication of embryo formation.

The five eggs were placed in incubators at the Captive Breeding Center of the Galapagos National Park Service at 29.5o C, which is the ideal temperature to develop female offspring. Lonesome George, the last known Pinta tortoise (Geochelone abingdoni), is cared for by Park rangers in a corral at the Captive Breeding Center, along with two female tortoises brought from Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island.

The six eggs from the second nest found this year are still undergoing the incubation period. However, periodic monitoring has detected that they are becoming lighter, which is probably an indication that they are also infertile. Nevertheless, it will be necessary to wait for the completion of the entire 120-day incubation period for definitive results.

LINDSAY SELBY: Lake Willoughby monster

Lake Willoughby is a lake in Vermont, USA. It is a glacial lake over 300 feet (95 metres) deep. Fish stocks include rainbow trout, salmon (mainly stocked), burbot, yellow perch, lake chub, common shiner, and a so-called round whitefish, which is a native species of Vermont. The lake is known to fishermen for producing some of the largest trout in the area. It is also said to be home to a monster called Wila or Willy. Stories of the creature go back some years.

In August 14, 1868, the story of a "lake monster" appeared in the Caledonian newspaper. 'It is reported that the great water snake at Willoughby Lake was killed Wednesday of last week by Stephen Edmonds of Newport, VT., a lad of twelve years. Rushing boldly upon the monster he severed its body with a sickle. On actual measurement the two pieces were found to be 23 feet in length.'

Perhaps it was a giant eel?

According to local folklore, there is an underground passageway between Lake Willoughby and Crystal Lake . One local story goes that many years ago a team of horses crashed through the winter ice on Lake Willoughby only to be found months later in Crystal Lake.

In the 1950s a team of divers looking for the body of a man presumed drowned after his boat capsized claimed to see a huge hole in the bottom of the lake and saw eels 8 feet long.

On September 9, 1986, Audrey Besse of Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, saw an unknown creature in Willoughby Lake. The sighting was filed with the International Dracontology Society of Lake Memphremagog . Her sighting is as follows.

While sitting on the "point" near the Wheeler's Camps beach more than 15 years ago, Audrey, Ann Hauk (her mother), and a friend saw a long, dark creature with two or three humps, in the middle of the lake, swimming toward the south end. Mrs Besse went for her binoculars and camera but the creature had submerged before she could use them.

So, does a family of large eels live in the lake?

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More can be found in these books:

The Vermont Monster Guide by Joseph A. Citro; artwork by Stephen R. Bissette; published in 2009 by the University Press of New England in Lebanon, New Hampshire;

Willoughby Lake Legends and Legacies, Harriet F. Fisher. Academy Books, Rutland, Vermont. 1988.

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

On this day in 1965 cosmonaut Alexey Leonov became the first man to perform a space walk.

And now, the news:

Snout on the town
In a flap over wildlife threat
Labour U-turn on dog laws
Steer clear from dolphins
Australian Study Shows Climate On The Rise< Horse displays his true colors

What kind of cheese can you use to hide a horse?

Mascarpone

(one of Tim Vine’s best jokes, that)