30 May,2013

Four elephants have been killed after they became trapped on a railway line and were hit by a speeding train.

The elephants were part of a herd crossing the railroad tracks in eastern India when the express passenger train ploughed into them.

Two adult female elephants and one calf were killed at the scene while another died later from its injuries.

They were hit by the Mahananda Express Passenger train early today in Jalpaiguri district, nearly 400 miles east of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state.


The track, which connects Siliguri to Assam, was closed down for several hours after the collision, as other elephants were guarding the dead and injured animals.

Nearby villagers attempted to join in the rescue effort but could not save the two adult female elephants and one calf which died at the scene.

A crane was even needed to remove the carcass of one of the elephants.


Railway spokesman Jayant Sharma said the accident site was outside the state's elephant corridor and there was no warning from the forest department about the movement of the elephants.

Dozens of elephants have died in recent years in such accidents as trains run through national parks and forests. Activists have called for trains to lower their speeds through such areas.

India's wild elephant population was recently estimated at about 26,000.


Source : dailymail

The teenage son of a woman who has languished in jail for almost two decades in India for the want of £119 in bail money has finally secured his mother's release.

Kanhaiya Kumari, 19, was born in prison to Vijaya, 48, who was arrested in 1993 in relation to a case involving the murder of one of her neighbours in India's Aligarh district.

She was granted bail in 1994 but - abandoned by her husband - was unable to provide the 10,000 rupee surety required to secure her freedom. Now she has been reunited with her son, after he worked to earn the bail money and lobbied a High Court for his mother's release.

Mrs Kumari has denied any involvement in the historic murder case in the village of Mahrauni in Aligarh.

Arrested while five months pregnant, she gave birth to Kanhaiya while incarcerated, after which mother and son were sent to the Nari Niketan prison in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

Mrs Kumari was granted bail by a court in 1994, but her husband refused to post the 10,000 rupee bail money.

Kanhaiya was sent to a juvenile remand home in Lucknow at the age of 11, where he spent seven years before his release last year.

As soon as he was allowed to leave the home, Kanhaiya got a job in a factory and set about earning the bail money to free his mother.

He lobbied the Allahabad High Court for Mrs Kumari's release, and she was finally granted bail and reunited with her son outside the prison walls on May 5.

'Vijaya's story is amazing. Her son, born in jail, finally brought her out,' said Nari Niketan superintendent Shashi Srivastava.

Source : dailymail

The biggest ever Python snake found in Florida, measuring 18 feet and 8 inches long, has been captured and killed.

The 128lb giant female reptile broke the previous record by over a foot.

The Burmese Python, an invasive species to the Florida Everglades, was found and killed by Jason Leon in a rural area southeast of Miami.

He managed to snare the snake after seeing part of its body sticking out the undergrowth.

With the help of a friend he killed the snake with a knife. According to University of Florida scientists, the snake was not carrying eggs.



Florida Wildlife officials later told him it was the biggest ever recorded in the state. The previous longest was 17ft and seven inches.

'We were riding and I saw something poking out on the side of the road. At first I didn't know what it was,' said Veronica Larios, who accompanied Leon to the Everglades.

In a video recorded by another friend Blake Jordan Leon can be seen grabbing the snake by it's neck.

Larios hands Leon a knife and helps him move the snake's body as it tried to coil around her friend.

Leon said: 'For about 10 minutes, he was wrapping around my legs, around my arms. I was switching arms, and finally. We finally pulled him apart, stretched him out, and took a knife and cut his head.'

'I knew that it was a big snake and I've never seen it in the wild. I knew it didn't belong there. I knew they had to be removed so I grabbed it.'

The snake was later given to the University of Florida's Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center for a necropsy.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee, recently sanctioned a hunt to try and rid the Everglades of the pythons.

A total of 63 pythons were captured as 1,600 people took part in the month long hunt with the longest 14ft 3in.

The Pythons are killing other small animals in the one million acre Everglades.

They are also thought to be breeding an at alarming rate with the first reptiles released into the Everglades thought to have been pets that outgrew their containers.

Source : dailymail

A young cancer survivor has wowed friends, family and now the internet with a quirky talent she recently revealed in the hopes of winning a contest on the Ellen Degeneres Show.

Jen O'Shea, can rotate her right leg a full 180 degrees with no pain or effort at all so that her foot is facing the ceiling.

Ms O'Shea's amazing and bizarre flexibility is the result of an operation following the treatment of a rare form of bone cancer.

After being diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, she underwent a right internal hempipelvectomy in 2011 in which surgeons removed the entire right side of her pelvis without replacing it.


The brave patient has endured months of physiotherapy to learn how to walk again but only realised she could twist her leg last year and was shy about showing her friends.

Now, she confesses on her YouTube channel, she is showing everyone.

In a video posted on May 13th, Ms O'Shea explains: 'Only for you Ellen would I show everyone just how weird I really am.'


Responding to the more than 200,000 views so far, she added in her comments: 'It's been a lot of fun! Who doesn't love to make others laugh .... and freak them out a little at first.'

The video shows Ms O'Shea rotating her leg in front of different audiences - friends, relatives and total strangers - to see their responses.


Almost all people reel in shock at the sight of her leg contorting but Ms O'Shea is clearly enjoying every minute of it. The video is just one in a series of inspiring shorts showing her path to recovery following chemotherapy and surgery.

Chat show star Ellen Degeneres recently announced the winner of her funny hidden talent contest earlier this month.

Finalists included a girl who cuts apples open with her head, one who skips rope sitting down and a woman who holds coins in her neck.

The skip-rope candidate won the competition and picked up a generous prize of $10,000.

It is not clear whether the Ellen Show will be hosting the competition again and whether Ms O'Shea's application may have been too late.




Source : dailymail

SEE MORE AMAZING REACTIONS ON JEN"S YOUTUBE PAGE

Two months ago, Junior was shunned by her mother and was on the brink of death, weighing just 40lbs and starved of company or affection.

Now, the albino seal pup is thriving and enjoying drawing in the crowds at Mablethorpe Seal sanctuary in Linconshire.

The nine-month-old pup has blood-red eyes and a milky white coat. It is believed her looks are the reason she was abandoned by her mother and became an outcast.


She was discovered by sanctuary owner Dennis Drew near Sutton-on Sea beach in March.

Mr Drew said: 'Because they look so remarkably different, albinos do tend to get rejected, and can find it a real struggle to survive on their own.

'Junior was almost certainly abandoned by her mother because she was considered ugly.


'We decided to take her in. All we do is put her on a crate and then place her in the back of the van.

'We had to wrap her in a towel and be very careful because these seals can bite from time-to-time.

'I am just grateful we found her because she is so happy here playing with the other pups.'


Zoological Society of London marine conservationist Dr. Stephen Mowat said: 'Albino harbour seals are an extremely rare sight.

'It is likely this individual was abandoned by its mother as its fur colour differs from the usual grey spotted appearance of harbour seal pups, which also have black eyes.


'Due to their lack of pigmentation, albino seals may face additional challenges in the wild, such as vision problems and sensitivity to sunlight, making them more susceptible to predation.'

Just two months after arriving at the centre, Junior now weighs a healthy 80lbs and could be released back into the wild by the end of the year.


Dennis said: 'If it is possible, we always release them back into the wild where they can fend for themselves.

'Once this one's put a bit of weight on she will be fine out there.

'They do a travel about a bit, so I doubt she will stay here. It would be great to see her down the beach in future though.'

Source : dailymail

 A female helicopter pilot has been hailed as a hero after crash landing from 3,000ft into a busy city centre without causing any serious injuries in Hawaii.

Julia Link, 30, was piloting the light aircraft with her passenger Karl Hedburg, 71, on a photography trip when the engine suddenly cut out above the capital Honolulu.

The helicopter plummeted to the street, landing close to a large apartment complex and Hawaii's Pacific University at around 3.30pm, but miraculously no one was seriously injured.

'Everything seemed normal with the aircraft,' Miss Link told KITV.  'All of a sudden it got real quiet.  Engine quit.


'First, I thought it was a joke. I was like, "Oh my God!  This is for real!" Three-thousand feet is a lot of time to think about things. We practice this all the time.'

Keeping a cool head, Miss Link even managed to radio the Hawaii Fire Department to warn them over her imminent crash as the helicopter was falling from the sky.


After skidding along Fort Street in central Honolulu, the helicopter eventually hit a parked car and ended up perched in the centre of the road.

Mr Hedburg was treated for minor head injuries, but apart from that no one was seriously injured.

Pilot Julia Link said her training helped her keep a cool head to crash land the helicopter

'I prayed before we went up and I figured, the Lord will take us down,' said Mr Hedberg.  'We came in, we were skidding. I felt like we were at an amusement park.'

'I'm actually kind of disappointed I ruined a brand new aircraft!  The landing was nice, I have to say.  I'm glad everybody walked away alive,' added Miss Link.

Firefighters said only the pilot's skills avoided a potentially fatal disaster.

'It's a pretty miraculous situation that no one was badly hurt by this,' said Captain Terry Seelig, a spokesman for the Honolulu Fire Department. 'This is a pretty busy area.'

The helicopter was operated by Mauna Loa Helicopters but representatives of the company could not immediately be reached for comment.

Preliminary information indicates the Robinson R22 Beta had an engine failure, said Allen Kenitzer, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Source : dailymail

 An Indian woman has astounded the medial profession by giving birth to conjoined twins naturally.

Shalu Pawar managed to deliver the twins at home in Panvel, Raigad District, rather than seeking medical assistance at hospital.

The twins who are only a few days old are joined by the bottom half of their torso.

Shalu's husband Arun earns very little money as a driver and the couple could not afford to go to hospital.

Normally Siamese twins are delivered by caesarian and a specialist medical team are on stand-by to help care for them.

Famous: India's most famous twins are Saba and Farah Shakeel who are aged 17 - the pair won a Supreme Court battle in to receive funding for medical treatment last month

It is unknown why the embryo does not complete the process of separating into identical twins.

Records over the past 500 years have shown around 600 sets of conjoined twins survived infancy.

For reasons which are unknown females are more likely to conjoined.

Despite medical advancements, surgical separation is still very rare today.

Last month conjoined twins who are joined at the head won a Supreme Court battle in India to receive funding for medical treatment.

Saba and Farah Shakeel, 17, will receive monthly financial assistance and health monitoring from Bihar state in Eastern India.

The twins share blood vessels to the brain and only one has kidneys.

Source : dailmail

Travellers were left fearing for their lives after an airplane engine burst into flames thousands of feet above ground

Minutes after the flight took off from a Helsinki airport with 168 people on board, the engine exploded and caught fire.

The German-bound Airbus suffered a number of technical problems before streaks of flames emitted from the left engine, 15 minutes after leaving ground.

A blast rocked the Lufthansa Airbus A321-200 and eye witnesses reported hearing grinding noises before a number of bangs resonated through the fuselage.

The plane’s engine stalled and cut out while the blaze ripped through the aircraft, leaving it flying with just one engine.

Pilots battled to control the jet and immediately U-turned to Helsinki, making an emergency landing just 20 minutes after taking off at around 6pm on Saturday.

A spokesman for Helsinki-Vantaa airport said: ‘A Lufthansa flight had to make an emergency landing at Helsinki airport on Saturday evening due to a glitch in the plane’s engine.'

‘The Frankfurt-bound flight took off from Helsinki airport, but the pilot brought the aircraft back to Helsinki after about an hour later as a mechanical glitch was detected in its engine.

‘The pilot informed the airport control tower about the problems developed in the engine.’

The aircraft managed to land safely at Helsinki airport without suffering any injuries and the 162 passengers and six crew members were taken to a hotel.

A full investigation has now been launched by the airliner and Airbus to determine the exact cause of the accident.

The French-based firm, who produce the world’s largest plane the A380, are yet to confirm if they will be suspending further flights of the A321.


Source : dailymail

 When Henry Southall collected the keys to his new home he didn't expect to find an unexploded bomb from the Second World War in a kitchen cupboard.

The 24-year-old was giving his parents the guided tour of the house in Borth y Gest, near Porhmadog, in north west Wales, when he found the 16lb artillery shell which was packed with high explosives.

Mr Southall, the owner of Sea View Tea Rooms which is six doors away from his new property, said: 'I had only just got the keys to my house on Friday so thought I'd start some work on it.

'There was someone living in the address before the keys were handed to me. I'm not sure how long the device had been there, but I'm glad I found it when I did as I wouldn't have wanted it going off while I was in bed upstairs.'


The artillery shell and the detonator were taken down to Black Rock Sands and detonated.

'Everyone could hear it around Borth y Gest and Morfa Bychan,' said Mr Southall.  I've been told the explosion actually left a crater on the beach.'

Police officers in Porthmadog alerted the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team which carried out a controlled explosion.

Mr Southall added: 'I took a few photos before I went down to the station to show the officers so they could see what type of bomb it was.

'When the bomb disposal team got here they told me it was from the Second World War.'

A military spokesperson confirmed the two shells were found in the home, one an empty 18lb shell and the other was a 16lb shell still full of high explosives.

Detonated: A bomb disposal team carried out a controlled explosion after removing the bomb from Mr Southall's new home

Source : dailymail

 A temple in eastern China was the scene of a bizarre ding dong when a tourist was left trapped under a giant bronze bell after it came crashing to the floor.

Lin Wang was standing underneath the huge bell - used to summon Buddhist monks to prayer - when his friends began ringing it furiously at the temple in Linzi, Shandong province.

The screws securing the bell were wrenched loose and it fell to the floor, trapping Mr Lin and forcing firefighters to use a forklift truck to free him.
Firefighters worked for more than two hours trying to heave the enormous bell off the ground and free Mr Lin.


'This bell is very old and should have been treated with respect,' said a temple spokesman.

'Instead, it broke and the bell fell on top of the man like a trap. The bell is very heavy and he's lucky he wasn't crushed,' he added.

Firefighters set up a series of winches and pulleys before finally lifting it with a forklift truck.


Safety inspectors said that screws securing the bell's mounting bracket were wrenched out because of the frantic ringing.

But the unrepentant tourist said: 'It's a bell, it's supposed to be rung. They should have made sure it was safe.'

 They say some dog owners bear an uncanny resemblance to their pets.

Well that will most definitely be the case for whoever takes in this adorable poodle/ Shih Tzu cross who has an eerily human-like face.

The two-year-old, called Tonik, is looking for a new home after being rescued from a kill shelter in Kentucky, U.S.

 He was saved from being put down by the Homeward Bound Animal Welfare Group in Mishawaka, Indiana, which describes him as 'a very sweet boy who is trying to figure things out and enjoy people'.

The centre says he is great with other dogs and is not dangerous, but should not be placed with young children because he will become too overwhelmed.

It adds that he will 'need a home with lots of patience and good energy.' He has been micro-chipped, groomed and given a clean bill of health.

 His adoption donation is $250 and will need to be collected from the centre as they do not ship their animals.
Source : dailymail

 Indian villagers beat a leopard and hanged it from a tree after the beast savaged three people in the state of Assam.

These photos were taken yesterday in the village of Choriyakhola Bisiondoi in the Golokgunj area, which is rife with the ferocious animals.

The leopard entered the house of Haren Roy and attacked him and two other family members.

The villagers ran to Mr Roy's house as family members raised the alarm. The leopard escaped but was chased and later killed by the mob, according to the Business Standard of India.


Mr Roy, Gopal Roy and Jatan Roy were admitted to Dhubri Civil Hospital, where they are said to be in a critical condition. One man, believed to be Mr Roy, suffered serious facial injuries.

The villagers claimed that they had informed the forest department but its personnel took too long to get to the site and they had no other choice but to kill the leopard to prevent further attacks by the animal.

Assam has seen a rise in animal attacks on people over the past few years, and the people who once revered the animals have started to kill them out of anger and fear.

There are no official statistics on the death of leopards at the hands of human beings, but unofficial reports put the figure at around 70 between 2005 and 2011, according to The Indian Express.

The highest number of leopards killed was in 2008, with Aaranyak, a leading wildlife NGO putting the toll that year at 29. In 2011, seven leopards were killed in Dibrugarh alone.

In March at least eight people were injured when two leopards in Kamrup attacked them in a field. Villagers killed one and the other escaped.


'Leopards are indeed under severe threat across the state. Increasing conflict between people and wild animals, more particularly leopards, has become a major problem, especially with a section of the people violently retaliating, causing injury and even death to the animals,' said SP Singh, state chief conservator of forests (wildlife).

In 2012 the department mounted a media campaign to generate awareness against killing or causing harm to leopards.

The authorities have asked people to immediately inform the forest department when they see a wild animal outside a sanctuary or national park instead of trying to attack it.