Category Archives: Environment

Three Puppies And Parents Wolf and Cloud Saved From Italian Avalanche Hotel

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WOLF AND CLOUD GREETED TOURISTS AT THE HOTEL. THEY’RE SAFE.

WOLF AND CLOUD’S PUPS. THEY’RE SAFE TOO.

The well-known tourist hotel in Rigopiano, Italy was buried under an avalanche last week. CNN reported 29 dead and 11 rescued. That story also mentions the pups but not their parents.

This is my good news post for the weekend. Enjoy and share.

ilgioraleitalian.it via Google translate

The three Abruzzese shepherd puppies, children of Cloud and Wolf, were saved: the forestry group of the police has in fact found them among the rubble Rigopiano Hotel, the hotel in an avalanche last Wednesday. The father and mother of the wolf cubs and cloud, mascot, had risen to the headlines to be able on their own to save themselves and to reach the town of Faringdon, near there. The cubs, born on 4 December, were saved by rescuers after they shot down a wall. They seem in good condition, but to say for sure it will be better to wait for the response of the veterinarian.

Also this time the news covering the animals were able to survive this terrible tragedy warms hearts and makes us understand that even in the smallest things and keep hiding the most precious and most significant feats. Moving the action of the rescuers who once again prove heroes risking their own lives to save the dogs, heedless and contemptuous of the threat constantly hanging over them, showing that if the Italian relief efforts sometimes guilty of disorganization, the human factor is always at the highest levels. The sad story of Farindola confirms that when they are in the game of life, no matter what species or what age, our rescuers put our heart, never surrender, even against the most desperate situations.

The people of the web welcomes with joy and gladness saving three cubs. <>. On the Facebook home page had been recently published photos of the puppies before the immense tragedy of the last days.

Before the puppies were found, their mum and dad were found after the dogs had dug out through 12 feet of snow:

ilgiornaleitlaino via Google translate

If there was a chance to save some of the people trapped in the hotel Rigopiano probably merit is too. We’re talking about Wolf and Cloud, the two Abruzzi shepherds were born and raised at the Hotel Rigopiano and known by all tourists who have visited the facility. Dogs are able to reach the town, where the inhabitants were immediately welcomed and fed. But before that they dug four meters of snow, until you break through. From there they then reached the rescuers, signaling a strategic point for commissioning except people.

The photos he immortalized the event was posted on Facebook by Martina Rossi, a girl who worked recently as a bartender at Rigopiano and therefore knew the two dogs. Wolf and Cloud had just had some puppies, whose pictures had been posted recently on the Facebook home page Rigopiano, among many cheerful and carefree images. The dogs, affectionate and good with everyone, they were welcomed in a special way, as if you could see in them the hope of all those who were buried under the snow and still have not been recovered. Wolf and cloud are extraordinary, for them there is a great life force, a character that inspires confidence in everyone he meets them. This is their gift from birth, and their company is certainly auspicious sign. Perhaps it is not much, but hopes are now brighter than ever.

“I do not know how, but they managed to get to my district, a fraction of Farindola (Villa Cupoli) safe and sound – writes Martina Rossi -. This certainly can not fill the emptiness and destruction that crosses a country still hopeful knee, waiting only for positive news, me personally. But these two beautiful cagnoloni, revising them, certainly managed to get me back to your heart beat, at least for a few seconds, bringing hope ”

The translation mangled the thoughts, but we get it. The dogs coming out alive gave hope that all the humans would be safe too. Sadly, that did not happen. But we can give thanks for God sparing the lives of this beautiful canine family.

‘Polite’ Moose Makes Itself at Home After Falling Into Family’s Basement

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I know cops. They love a challenge, but one that’s not hazardous.

When called to a house at 2 A.M. in the morning to escort a moose out of the basement, the cops were in seventh heaven. This was going to be fun and easy.

Yahoo

An Idaho family was startled awake in the middle of the night when a moose suddenly found itself stuck in their basement.

Julie Emerick, 50, of Hailey, told InsideEdition.com that she was suddenly woken up by the sound of her dog furiously barking at about 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

“I opened up the blinds, and right outside the window was this huge moose’s head,” Emerick said. “Literally 2 feet from my face with just the glass between us.”

Moments later, she watched the moose slip, and fall into their 4-foot-deep window well.

“The moose is in terrible distress because she didn’t quite fit into this window well,” she explained. “She’s thrashing and crying and hitting the side of the house.”

She immediately woke her husband and dialed 911.

By the time she went back downstairs to check on the moose, it was no longer stuck in the window. In fact, the animal had somehow fallen into her 17-year-old son’s bedroom in the home’s basement, and made itself comfortable.

Luckily, her son was out for the night, Emerick said.

“Moose can be very aggressive,” she said. “They will trample you [but] you’ve never met a more polite moose ever. She was so docile.”

She added: “But the TV happened to be in my son’s bedroom at the time. I’m like, ‘Oh, great, the flat screen’s in there with a hoof through it.”

Within 30 minutes, more than 10 responders from the Hailey Police Department, Blaine County Sheriff’s Department and Idaho Department of Fish and Game arrived on the scene.

“The moose was definitely scared, it’s never been in a home,” Lt. Steve England told InsideEdition.com.

He said the team first tried to shoo the creature out by leading it up the stairs and out the front door, but she didn’t quite take the hint. The moose also began charging at officers whenever they got too close.

“We realized we couldn’t get it out on our own, so we called the tranquilizer out of Twin Falls,” England said.

When the moose was finally sedated at about 5:30 a.m., eight members of the rescue team loaded the animal onto a tarp and were able to lift the moose up the stairs and out of the home within 20 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Emerick watched as the moose ran away.

Although the animal somehow didn’t leave any damage to the property, Emerick said “there was moose poop everywhere.

“It looked like Milk Duds had comploded all over my house,” she joked.

She stayed home the following day to clean up the mess, even recruiting a friend to help her clean the carpets.

“My son did not have a very clean room [so] it’s actually cleaner now than it was before it happened,” she said.

Youtube Live Stream: The Northern Lights Tonight in Norway

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Our ancient European ancestors would have looked up at the night sky in wonder.

Looks like this live stream will be up for a while. The youtube information box explains the Aurora Borealis.

Started streaming on Jan 21, 2017
LIVE Stream 24/7 The Northern Lights Aurora in Full HD from Northern Norway

Please Subscribe to our channel for some more amazing 24/7 LIVE videos : https://goo.gl/y563CC

The Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis:
The bright dancing lights of the aurora in the night skies are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter our atmosphere.

The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres in the area of the arctic circles. They are known as ‘Aurora borealis’ in the north and ‘Aurora australis’ in the south hemisphere.

Auroral displays appear in many colours -but pale green and pink are the most common colors seen. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been also reported.

The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays lighting up the sky with an amazing glow.

Spread the word and let others enjoy as well:

Here’s a short video of the Northern Lights.

Mother Whale Lifts Baby to See Humans on Boat (Video)

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A very stupid woman tourist screaming in delight spoils the enjoyment of seeing a whale and her baby up close.

Published on Mar 27, 2012

Mother Whale and Calf with people on whale watching trip. Very cool to see the Momma raising her Baby to show it the funny looking humans! Like a revers Zoo, were the people out to see the Whales, or was the Momma Whale teaching her baby about humans? The big momma Whale held her baby on her back to raise it high enough for the humans to pet it, and for it to get a good look at the humans.

The last I checked, Iceland, Japan, and Norway were still hunting whales. At the risk of sounding like a liberal, “Save the whales.”

Have A Laugh Video: This is Sparta

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Have a laugh by watching a compilation of short, funny clips on a variety of subjects. They’re all pretty good, but I like the animal clips best.

Earthquake! Did Saint’s Blood That Failed to Liquefy Portend Disaster for Italy?

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A massive earthquake has struck Italy, setting off an avalanche that has buried a ski hotel and left many dead.

More on that story, but first, we must note that on December 20, 2016, a story appeared about the blood of an Italian saint predicting disaster.

Cruxnow.com

The blood of St. Januarius, Patron of Naples and former bishop and martyr of the city, failed to liquefy, an occurrence some believe to portend misfortune. “We must not think of disasters and calamities. We are men of faith and we must pray,” said the Abbot of the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro.

NAPLES, Italy – Prayer was the response to a rare failure of a saint’s blood to liquefy in Naples, an occurrence some believe to portend misfortune.

“We must not think of disasters and calamities. We are men of faith and we must pray,” said Monsignor Vincenzo De Gregorio, the Abbot of the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro, ANSA reports.

The blood belongs to St. Januarius, Patron of Naples and former bishop and martyr of the city.

Known in Italian as San Gennaro, his bones and a reliquary of his blood are preserved in Naples’ cathedral. He is believed to have been martyred during the infamous persecution of Christians during the rule of the Roman emperor Diocletian, who retired in 305.

The reputed miracle is locally known and accepted, though has not been the subject of official Church recognition.

The liquefaction is believed to happen at least three times a year: the Saturday before the first Sunday of May, September 19, which is the saint’s feast day, and December 16, the anniversary of the 1631 eruption of the Mount Vesuvius volcano.

During the miracle, the dried, red-colored mass confined to one side of the reliquary becomes blood that covers the entire glass. In local lore, the failure of the blood to liquefy signals war, famine, disease or other disaster.

The blood did indeed liquefy on September 19, 2016.

Historically, the vial has sometimes changed upon the visit of a pope.

On March 21, 2015, Pope Francis met with priests, religious and seminarians at the cathedral and gave a blessing with the relic.

Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Naples then received the vial back from the pope and noted that the blood was still solid on one side of the vial.

The cardinal remarked: “It seems that St. Januarius loves the Pope, because the blood is already half liquefied.”

Pope Francis quipped in response: “you can see that the saint only loves us a little. We have to convert more.”

The last time blood liquefied in the presence of a pope was in 1848 when Pius IX visited. The phenomenon didn’t happen when St. John Paul II visited the city in October 1979, or when Benedict XVI visited in October 2007.
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The biggest immediate fallout from the Italian quake has been to focus worldwide attention on the ski hotel pictured at the top of this post.

The Local Italy

Summary:

– An avalanche hit a hotel in Abruzzo in the early hours of Thursday morning

– Several deaths are feared, according to Italian media reports citing rescue services

Fire service: No sign of survivors, 13:14: Confirming what La Repubblica daily reported a few minutes ago, Italy’s fire service has said its rescue dog units are at the scene, but that there has been no sign of life from any of the missing people. Firefighters arrived by helicopter earlier this morning, but the roads have only just been cleared of snow allowing further units to join them.

Rescue dog units and firefighters have also arrived by road, at the moment no signs from the missing people.

Guests were ready to leave when avalanche hit, 13:05: The hotel guests were reportedly waiting in the entrance hall to leave, but had been unable to due to a delay in the snowplough which was supposed to clear the roads.

“They had packed their bags, all the guests wanted to go,” Quintino Marcello, who ran the hotel’s restaurant, told La Repubblica. “They had been told that the snowplough would arrive at 3pm, but it was then pushed back to 7pm.”

Rescue efforts are underway, with spades, dogs and video equipment all being used, and the underground sauna is being searched.

The violence of the avalanche – which moved the entire hotel by ten metres – is making things difficult. Journalists on the scene say that trees, mattresses and other items from the hotel are all mixed in with the snow.

25 still unaccounted for, 12:12: 25 people, including several children, remain unaccounted for as rescue work continues.

r/K Selection Theory: The Rabbits vs. The Wolves

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white wolf

As you read this little excerpt from a much longer piece, you might think about who the r people are and who the K people are. I have faith that it will be clear to you.

Excerpt from ROK

A while back, I came across a thought-provoking article about r/K selection theory. The basic idea is that r-selected species are adapted for environments with unlimited resources, while K-selected species are adapted for competition. The typical examples of these are rabbits and wolves. As the article explains:

Rabbits (r-Strategy)

They’re herbivores with near unlimited resources (never a shortage for grass).. The virtually unlimited resources are a primary reason why rabbits are not territorial. This is also part of the reason why they opt for breeding often; unlimited resources means they’re not going to starve.

They have no defense against predators other than running. They do not have any loyalty towards their group. It makes no sense for a rabbit to rush to the aid of another rabbit being attacked. Then you’d just have two dead rabbits. Because they can be killed so easy, it makes sense to reach maturity as quickly as possible so they can begin birthing children.

Hierarchies are pointless in rabbit society. Rabbits lives are rather simple; eat grass and run away from danger. There’s no need to invest heavily in their offspring. As such, there’s no need to prove who’s the superior (alpha) and the best candidate for passing on their genes.

Wolves (K-Strategy)

They’re carnivores that must hunt to survive. Hunting requires more intelligence and training than grazing on grass. Due to the increased difficulty of hunting compared to grazing, more time is invested in training the offspring to survive.

Because prey is limited, wolves must viciously protect their territory from intruders. While it might seem heartless, if another pack is allowed into their territory the supply of prey will be exhausted and both packs will starve to death.

Wolves are monogamous/pair-bond. Because raising the offspring is so important for the continuation of the species, the wolves will pair for life in order to raise their young. As such, they will choose the best mate they can find to further improve their chances of birthing strong, healthy cubs. This process of choosing leads to hierarchies with an alpha male leading the pack. Wolves also wait longer before reproducing and generally have less offspring. If they reproduced early and often, there would be too many wolves for the ecosystem resulting in the consumption all the prey and starvation.

Wolves are more complex. This is true for carnivores in general. Because carnivores typically live in groups, they must have more sophisticated ways to communicate. The same is true for their domesticated brethren. Look at a dog and you can easily identify if he is scared, happy, angry, or bored by his body language and barks. Can you tell the same moods on a rabbit?

This isn’t a completely binary distinction. For example, some herbivores (such as bovines) will flock in packs and defend themselves. Lions are more K-selected than domestic cats.

ROK took the quotes from The Gentlemen’s Club 2016. Both pieces elaborate on r/K selection theory. Both are worth a read. There’s a lot more on this topic easily accessible on the Internet. Critics call it “scientific racism,” but it’s really not racism at all since the r/K selection theory describes the real world.

I found this infographic to help you understand the significance of the r/K selection theory.

This video offers a quiz to help you decide if you’re an r or a K.