deaths

spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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Two charged in Winnipeg after alleged torture, killing of cats posted to dark web
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published Oct 12, 2024 • 1 minute read

WINNIPEG — A man and a woman in Winnipeg face numerous animal cruelty charges in a case where police allege cats were tortured and videos and photos of the incidents were posted to the internet.


Const. Stephen Spencer says the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian Animal Welfare contacted police in August about images of animals being tortured and killed that were posted on the dark web.

Spencer says approximately 10 cats were believed to be involved, some of which were acquired from social media sales platforms, and investigators believe the video and photos were created and posted in Winnipeg.

A search warrant was executed in the city’s Lord Roberts neighbourhood, and a 55-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man were arrested.

Spencer says the pair were known to police, but he did not have information on how they knew each other.

Both of the accused remain in custody.

“Investigators told me that this is the worst case that they’ve dealt with — a very horrible case involving animal cruelty,” Spencer told a news conference on Friday.

“I can say anecdotally when individuals are believed to be involved in heinous crimes against helpless animals, it often leads to escalating violent behaviour towards humans, so we take that very seriously.”

Investigators are still working on a motive in the case, Spencer said. He said someone viewed the disturbing content online and then contacted the province.

Police in Winnipeg have also been investigating cases of cats being found dead in the Point Douglas area, but Spencer said investigators do not believe the cases are related at this time.
 

spaminator

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Fragrance goes viral with claims it smells like embalming fluid
Tom Ford's Lost Cherry is flying off the shelves

Author of the article:Eddie Chau
Published Oct 18, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read


Would you pay money to smell like death?


That’s what some social media users think the purchasers of Tom Ford’s Lost Cherry fragrance are doing.

Some TikTok users are claiming the scent smells like embalming fluid. This as cherry was named winter’s hottest smell.

And Lost Cherry is flying off the shelves.

Taking to the video platform, 21-year-old Anna Ryb, a senior at Stamford University, said she tried the Tom Ford perfume and “fell in love with it” but it was sold out. Ryb said she ended up buying the perfume — which cost $100 for a travel-sized bottle — in Hong Kong.

A week later, a mortician left a comment on her video, saying it “smelled exactly like EMBALMING FLUID.”

In the now-viral video, which has received at least 109,000 likes, Ryb captioned it: “Still heart broken and smelling like embalming fluid.”


Many viewers agreed Lost Cherry smelled like the deathly liquid used by morticians.

“Tbf (to be fair) when working with cadavers I was always like, ‘Who here is wearing Lost Cherry?’ and then this happened,” one stated.

“Everyone asks why I won’t wear cherry — you won’t catch me until I’m dead smelling like cherries,” another said.

Chemicals such as formaldehyde and methanol are used in embalming fluid, which delays decomposition in dead bodies.

Tom Ford Beauty’s website notes Lost Cherry is a “warm and spicy full-bodied” perfume that combines the aromas of “bitter almond, Turkish rose, jasmine and cherry liqueur.”

Instagram user Ohuprettythings, a makeup artist who has beautified dead bodies, said on the platform that embalmed bodies “have a sickly sweet smell to them.”

“If you smell the synthetic notes of Lost Cherry, it can be quite sickly sweet if you’re ignoring all the other layers,” she wrote, per Daily Mail. “Now do I think Lost Cherry truly smells like a dead body? No, but like I said … I see how she drew the parallels.”
 

nallapati

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Fragrance goes viral with claims it smells like embalming fluid
Tom Ford's Lost Cherry is flying off the shelves

Author of the article:Eddie Chau
Published Oct 18, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read


Would you pay money to smell like death?


That’s what some social media users think the purchasers of Tom Ford’s Lost Cherry fragrance are doing.

Some TikTok users are claiming the scent smells like embalming fluid. This as cherry was named winter’s hottest smell.

And Lost Cherry is flying off the shelves.

Taking to the video platform, 21-year-old Anna Ryb, a senior at Stamford University, said she tried the Tom Ford perfume and “fell in love with it” but it was sold out. Ryb said she ended up buying the perfume — which cost $100 for a travel-sized bottle — in Hong Kong.

A week later, a mortician left a comment on her video, saying it “smelled exactly like EMBALMING FLUID.”

In the now-viral video, which has received at least 109,000 likes, Ryb captioned it: “Still heart broken and smelling like embalming fluid.”


Many viewers agreed Lost Cherry smelled like the deathly liquid used by morticians.

“Tbf (to be fair) when working with cadavers I was always like, ‘Who here is wearing Lost Cherry?’ and then this happened,” one stated.

“Everyone asks why I won’t wear cherry — you won’t catch me until I’m dead smelling like cherries,” another said.

Chemicals such as formaldehyde and methanol are used in embalming fluid, which delays decomposition in dead bodies.

Tom Ford Beauty’s website notes Lost Cherry is a “warm and spicy full-bodied” perfume that combines the aromas of “bitter almond, Turkish rose, jasmine and cherry liqueur.”

Instagram user Ohuprettythings, a makeup artist who has beautified dead bodies, said on the platform that embalmed bodies “have a sickly sweet smell to them.”

“If you smell the synthetic notes of Lost Cherry, it can be quite sickly sweet if you’re ignoring all the other layers,” she wrote, per Daily Mail. “Now do I think Lost Cherry truly smells like a dead body? No, but like I said … I see how she drew the parallels.”
That's a weird comparison! I get that scents can bring up different memories, but calling Lost Cherry embalming fluid is a stretch. Some people love it, and it’s definitely a popular choice right now.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
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Med students discover three penises on dead man's body
Author of the article:Eddie Chau
Published Oct 20, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read

Medical students discovered three penises on a dead man's body.

Even in death, one man was well-endowed three times over.


Medical students from the University of Birmingham Medical School had discovered a rare instance where a man had three penises while examining a body that had been donated for scientific research.

According to the Journal of Medical Case Reports, the discovery was made after the dissection of the body of a 78-year-old man.

The dead man had a rare condition called triphallia, a genetic anomaly where males are born with three distinct penile shafts. The only other reported case of triphallia was linked to a baby born in Iraq in 2020.

The medical journal noted one in 6 million babies are born with diphallia in which they have two penile shafts. With only 100 cases recorded in the last 400 years, triphallia is even rarer.


The recent discovery marked the first time the condition was found in an adult, leading the medical students to suspect the prevalence of men with three penises “may be greater than expected.”

In the case of the 78-year-old man, it’s believed he wasn’t aware of his genitalia abnormality.

During the dissection, researchers found two smaller penises within the man’s scrotum, of which one was connected to the same urethra as the main penis.

“Without dissection, this anatomical variation would have remained undiscovered, suggesting the prevalence of polyphallia may be greater than expected,” researchers said in the report. “Despite normal appearance of external genitalia on examination, the dissection of a 78-year-old white male revealed a remarkable anatomical variation: two small supernumerary penises.”

The third penis — the smallest one found in the scrotal sac — was missing a urethra.

Such abnormalities may create a risk of infection or sexual or fertility dysfunction, said researchers.
 

spaminator

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More than 40 dogs killed in fire at rescue group’s kennels in New York
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Oct 25, 2024 • 1 minute read

This picture made available by Canton Fire Department FaceBook, shows a building on fire in Canton, N.Y., Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. More than 40 dogs were killed Thursday when a fire swept through a rescue organization's shelter in northern New York, authorities said.
This picture made available by Canton Fire Department FaceBook, shows a building on fire in Canton, N.Y., Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. More than 40 dogs were killed Thursday when a fire swept through a rescue organization's shelter in northern New York, authorities said. Photo by HANDOUT /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CANTON, N.Y. — More than 40 dogs were killed Thursday when a fire swept through a rescue organization’s kennels in northern New York, authorities said.


The fire at the No Dogs Left Behind building at the Maple Ridge Kennels in Canton was reported at about 1 a.m. by a person who saw the flames while passing by the property, fire officials said. Flames overran the structure and killed the animals before firefighters could save them, the Canton Fire Department said in a Facebook post.

No Dogs Left Behind said its members were heartbroken.

“Each dog was a member of our family,” the group said in a social media post. “Tragically, they are victims once again. We have no words to express our grief.”

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear and was under investigation by St. Lawrence County officials. No firefighters or other people were injured, authorities said.

The house-like building included kennels inside with a play area outside. No Dogs Left Behind has video on its website showing dogs also running around grassy fields with paths on the large property.
1729994245423.png
 

spaminator

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The man who took in orphaned Peanut the squirrel says it’s ‘surreal’ officials euthanized his pet
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Nov 01, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who took in an orphaned squirrel and made it a social media star vowed Saturday that New York state’s decision to seize and euthanize the animal “won’t go unheard.”


“We will make a stance on how this government and New York state utilizes their resources,” Mark Longo said in a phone interview.

He declined to specify his possible next steps but said officials would hear from him soon about what happened to Peanut the squirrel and Fred, a rescued raccoon that was also confiscated and put down.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation took the animals Wednesday from Longo’s home and animal sanctuary in rural Pine City, near the Pennsylvania border. The agency said it had gotten complaints that wildlife was being kept illegally and potentially unsafely.

State law requires people to get a license if they wish to own a wild animal. Longo has said he was working to get Peanut — also known as P’Nut or PNUT — certified as an educational animal.


The DEC and the Chemung County Health Department said Friday that the squirrel and raccoon were euthanized so they could be tested for rabies after Peanut bit someone involved in the investigation.

Longo said Saturday that he didn’t see Peanut bite anyone during what he described as an hourslong, heavy-handed search. The authorities haven’t spoken with him since they left the property, he said.

“Honestly, this still kind of feels surreal, that the state that I live in actually targeted me and took two of the most beloved animals on this planet away, didn’t even quarantine them. They took them from my house and just killed them,” he said.

A request for comment was sent to the DEC on Saturday.



Longo said he started caring for Peanut after the animal’s mother was hit by a car in New York City seven years ago. Tens of thousands of users of Instagram, TikTok and other social media platforms glimpsed the animal sporting tiny hats, doing tricks and nibbling on waffles clutched in his little paws.

Longo said Fred the raccoon was dropped off on his doorstep a few months ago. After helping the animal recover from injuries, Longo said, he and his wife were planning to release the creature into the woods.
 
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spaminator

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Girl wins $300K settlement over seizure and slaughter of pet goat
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Kyle Melnick
Published Nov 06, 2024 • 4 minute read

By the time Jessica Long learned where her 9-year-old daughter’s beloved pet goat was, it was too late to save him.


Sheriff’s deputies had seized the goat, named Cedar, in 2022 while he was staying at a Northern California farm. They delivered him to Shasta County fair officials, who claimed that the county owned the goat, court documents say.

Cedar was later slaughtered, according to the documents, and the family sued county officials.

Now, Shasta County and its sheriff’s office will pay $300,000 to Long’s family as part of a settlement agreement. The deal, approved by a U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California judge Friday, is “the first step of the Long family moving forward,” said Vanessa Shakib, the family’s attorney.

“We can’t get justice here because Cedar can never come home,” Shakib, co-founder of the nonprofit Advancing Law for Animals, which specializes in animal law, told The Washington Post. “But what’s important is that we make sure that this never happens again to another family and that government officials understand that animals are not property. They are family members.”


Christopher Pisano, an attorney representing Shasta County and its sheriff’s office, said Cedar’s theft was reported to law enforcement before two deputies retrieved him.

“They did nothing other than enforce the law,” said Pisano, who added that his clients agreed to a settlement because they didn’t want to go to trial. He said he didn’t know who contacted law enforcement or what happened after the seizure.

Long bought a white-and-brown Boer goat for her daughter, identified as E.L. in court documents, in April 2022. The girl named him Cedar, and she fed and walked him for nearly three months “as a family pet,” according to the Longs’ 2022 complaint.

In June 2022, Long and her daughter exhibited Cedar for potential buyers at the Shasta District Fair’s junior livestock auction in Anderson, California, according to the lawsuit. On the auction’s final day, the girl decided that she could not bear to lose Cedar. But fair representatives said withdrawing was prohibited, the lawsuit alleges.


Cedar, who was about 7 months old, was auctioned off for $902. Fearing the goat would be slaughtered for his meat, Long’s daughter cried and refused to leave the animal to fair officials, the lawsuit says.

Long took her daughter and Cedar home, telling fair representatives that she would pay for any financial losses her decision caused, according to the lawsuit. Worried her Shasta County neighbors would be upset, Long took Cedar to a farm in Sonoma County, California, more than 200 miles away, where she thought Cedar would be safe, according to the lawsuit.

Later that June, a livestock manager at the fair called Long and demanded she return Cedar, according to the lawsuit. The next day, Long sent a letter to the fair that said that three of her daughter’s grandparents had died within the past year and that she “couldn’t bear the thought” of her also losing Cedar, the lawsuit says.


Melanie Silva, chief executive of the district fair, told Long in response that “making an exception for you will only teach [our] youth that they do not have to abide by the rules that are set up for all participants,” according to an email provided to The Post by Long’s attorneys.

The next month, a sheriff’s detective applied for a warrant to search a Napa County farm that had posted a plea on Instagram to spare Cedar’s life, after his boss asked him to investigate, according to court documents. A magistrate approved the warrant, the lawsuit says.

Two sheriff’s deputies drove to the farm, about 150 miles south, but Cedar wasn’t there, the lawsuit says. They continued on to another farm, in Petaluma, California, and found Cedar, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit accused the deputies of not having a warrant to search the property, but Pisano told The Post that they didn’t need one because an employee at the farm handed over Cedar.


Long and her family were out of town at the time, and when she texted the Petaluma farm’s owner later that month, she learned that Cedar had been confiscated, according to court documents.

Cedar was slaughtered near the end of July 2022, court documents allege. Long filed a lawsuit against sheriff’s office employees the next month, alleging that they violated her and her daughter’s right to due process and their right against unreasonable search and seizure.

In March 2023, Long added more defendants, including Shasta County and the Shasta District Fair & Event Center, which Long said retrieved Cedar after sheriff’s deputies seized him.

Long’s case against the Shasta District Fair & Event Center is ongoing. The California attorney general’s office, which is representing the fair, referred interview requests to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which oversees the fair. The state agency did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Shakib said she and Long’s family still have questions about Cedar’s final days, such as who asked law enforcement to seize him, who killed him and where his remains are.

“This was a terrifying and devastating event that weighs on the family even now,” she said.
 

spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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Girl wins $300K settlement over seizure and slaughter of pet goat
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Kyle Melnick
Published Nov 06, 2024 • 4 minute read

By the time Jessica Long learned where her 9-year-old daughter’s beloved pet goat was, it was too late to save him.


Sheriff’s deputies had seized the goat, named Cedar, in 2022 while he was staying at a Northern California farm. They delivered him to Shasta County fair officials, who claimed that the county owned the goat, court documents say.

Cedar was later slaughtered, according to the documents, and the family sued county officials.

Now, Shasta County and its sheriff’s office will pay $300,000 to Long’s family as part of a settlement agreement. The deal, approved by a U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California judge Friday, is “the first step of the Long family moving forward,” said Vanessa Shakib, the family’s attorney.

“We can’t get justice here because Cedar can never come home,” Shakib, co-founder of the nonprofit Advancing Law for Animals, which specializes in animal law, told The Washington Post. “But what’s important is that we make sure that this never happens again to another family and that government officials understand that animals are not property. They are family members.”


Christopher Pisano, an attorney representing Shasta County and its sheriff’s office, said Cedar’s theft was reported to law enforcement before two deputies retrieved him.

“They did nothing other than enforce the law,” said Pisano, who added that his clients agreed to a settlement because they didn’t want to go to trial. He said he didn’t know who contacted law enforcement or what happened after the seizure.

Long bought a white-and-brown Boer goat for her daughter, identified as E.L. in court documents, in April 2022. The girl named him Cedar, and she fed and walked him for nearly three months “as a family pet,” according to the Longs’ 2022 complaint.

In June 2022, Long and her daughter exhibited Cedar for potential buyers at the Shasta District Fair’s junior livestock auction in Anderson, California, according to the lawsuit. On the auction’s final day, the girl decided that she could not bear to lose Cedar. But fair representatives said withdrawing was prohibited, the lawsuit alleges.


Cedar, who was about 7 months old, was auctioned off for $902. Fearing the goat would be slaughtered for his meat, Long’s daughter cried and refused to leave the animal to fair officials, the lawsuit says.

Long took her daughter and Cedar home, telling fair representatives that she would pay for any financial losses her decision caused, according to the lawsuit. Worried her Shasta County neighbors would be upset, Long took Cedar to a farm in Sonoma County, California, more than 200 miles away, where she thought Cedar would be safe, according to the lawsuit.

Later that June, a livestock manager at the fair called Long and demanded she return Cedar, according to the lawsuit. The next day, Long sent a letter to the fair that said that three of her daughter’s grandparents had died within the past year and that she “couldn’t bear the thought” of her also losing Cedar, the lawsuit says.


Melanie Silva, chief executive of the district fair, told Long in response that “making an exception for you will only teach [our] youth that they do not have to abide by the rules that are set up for all participants,” according to an email provided to The Post by Long’s attorneys.

The next month, a sheriff’s detective applied for a warrant to search a Napa County farm that had posted a plea on Instagram to spare Cedar’s life, after his boss asked him to investigate, according to court documents. A magistrate approved the warrant, the lawsuit says.

Two sheriff’s deputies drove to the farm, about 150 miles south, but Cedar wasn’t there, the lawsuit says. They continued on to another farm, in Petaluma, California, and found Cedar, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit accused the deputies of not having a warrant to search the property, but Pisano told The Post that they didn’t need one because an employee at the farm handed over Cedar.


Long and her family were out of town at the time, and when she texted the Petaluma farm’s owner later that month, she learned that Cedar had been confiscated, according to court documents.

Cedar was slaughtered near the end of July 2022, court documents allege. Long filed a lawsuit against sheriff’s office employees the next month, alleging that they violated her and her daughter’s right to due process and their right against unreasonable search and seizure.

In March 2023, Long added more defendants, including Shasta County and the Shasta District Fair & Event Center, which Long said retrieved Cedar after sheriff’s deputies seized him.

Long’s case against the Shasta District Fair & Event Center is ongoing. The California attorney general’s office, which is representing the fair, referred interview requests to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which oversees the fair. The state agency did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Shakib said she and Long’s family still have questions about Cedar’s final days, such as who asked law enforcement to seize him, who killed him and where his remains are.

“This was a terrifying and devastating event that weighs on the family even now,” she said.
still not enough to go to eras. ;)
 
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B.C. egg farm kills entire flock of 45,000 after avian flu outbreak
Fifteen flocks, mostly in Abbotsford and Chilliwack, have been infected with the avian flu virus since mid-October.

Author of the article:Cheryl Chan
Published Nov 07, 2024 • Last updated 7 hours ago • 4 minute read

Mark Siemens of Siemens Farms said his entire flock of about 45,000 birds was put down after his Abbotsford farm tested positive for avian influenza on Nov. 1.
Mark Siemens of Siemens Farms said his entire flock of about 45,000 birds was put down after his Abbotsford farm tested positive for avian influenza on Nov. 1.
An Abbotsford poultry farm has lost its entire flock of about 45,000 hens and chicks to an outbreak of avian influenza that has ravaged 15 B.C. farms in the last three weeks.


Siemens Farms, a third-generation family operation, was one of three Fraser Valley farms that were infected the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain on Nov. 1.

All the birds on the free-range egg farm were ordered killed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

“It’s devastating,” said owner Mark Siemens. “It’s hard on the whole family. You’re with these birds every day and doing your best to take care of them. Seeing them all wiped out in such a short window of time was quite shocking and disheartening.”

Fifteen flocks, mostly in Abbotsford and Chilliwack, have been infected with the virus since mid-October, with the most recent case detected at another Abbotsford farm Thursday. After a confirmed infection, federal officials normally quarantine the farm and kill the birds to precent the spread.


The virus has been infecting farms across Canada since 2022, primarily spread by migratory wild birds during the fall and spring and putting Siemens and other farmers on high alert.

“We’ve managed to weather those storms in previous years, so it was quite upsetting to find out we had gotten hit this year,” he said. “We have so many protocols and safety measures in place to try to prevent this from happening, yet here we are.”

Last Friday, Siemens noticed some birds seemed to be irritated. He also found a couple of dead birds in the barn. He was about to call the veterinarian when he saw a notice that a nearby farm had just tested positive for bird flu.

He reported the incident to the CFIA. Within hours, federal inspectors arrived to test the birds and by the afternoon, Siemens’ worst fears were confirmed.


Learning the birds had to be put down was tough but it was a necessary measure, said Siemens.

“By the evening, most birds in the barn had very low energy. They weren’t eating or drinking much,” he said. “Seeing the level of how unwell they were, it was really hard to watch.”

About 30,000 free-range egg laying hens and 15,000 chicks that would have become egg-laying hens were put down.

In total, more than 11 million birds have been infected across Canada since the current cycle began in 2022, more than six million of them in B.C.

Since 2004, when the province experienced its first significant bird flu outbreak that led to the culling of 16 million birds in the Fraser Valley, chicken farmers have stepped up biosecurity.

Measures such as requiring people to change clothes and footwear, and showering, before entering barns have been in place for years. Since September, birds have been required to shelter indoors to prevent the spread while wild birds head south for the winrer.


In mid-October, B.C.’s poultry industry raised its biosecurity level to red, the highest level, after seeing cases in Washington state. With the heightened alert, farms have been disinfecting vehicles entering farms and restricting access to barns and the birds.

“Our measures are doing a phenomenal job of really preventing spread from one farm to another,” said Siemens. “But during these heavy periods of migration, we’re still seeing it getting into barns.”

The farm has started working through the compensation process with the CFIA, which should help them get by for the year, but Siemens expects it’ll take a year or two before the farm is back on normal footing.

Under Canada’s supply-management system, the price of eggs and poultry won’t be affected by the rash of outbreaks, said Siemens. If B.C.’s supply is threatened, farmers from the interior or Alberta would send their eggs here to make up for any shortages.


He said the best way to support B.C. farmers at this time is to continue to support Canadian-produced food.

“Even though my eggs are no longer on the shelf, my neighbours are here to help and by going out and buying their eggs, you’re indirectly helping me and my family get through this challenging time.”

chchan@postmedia.com
 

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B.C. egg farm kills entire flock of 45,000 after avian flu outbreak
Fifteen flocks, mostly in Abbotsford and Chilliwack, have been infected with the avian flu virus since mid-October.

Author of the article:Cheryl Chan
Published Nov 07, 2024 • Last updated 7 hours ago • 4 minute read

Mark Siemens of Siemens Farms said his entire flock of about 45,000 birds was put down after his Abbotsford farm tested positive for avian influenza on Nov. 1.
Mark Siemens of Siemens Farms said his entire flock of about 45,000 birds was put down after his Abbotsford farm tested positive for avian influenza on Nov. 1.
An Abbotsford poultry farm has lost its entire flock of about 45,000 hens and chicks to an outbreak of avian influenza that has ravaged 15 B.C. farms in the last three weeks.


Siemens Farms, a third-generation family operation, was one of three Fraser Valley farms that were infected the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain on Nov. 1.

All the birds on the free-range egg farm were ordered killed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

“It’s devastating,” said owner Mark Siemens. “It’s hard on the whole family. You’re with these birds every day and doing your best to take care of them. Seeing them all wiped out in such a short window of time was quite shocking and disheartening.”

Fifteen flocks, mostly in Abbotsford and Chilliwack, have been infected with the virus since mid-October, with the most recent case detected at another Abbotsford farm Thursday. After a confirmed infection, federal officials normally quarantine the farm and kill the birds to precent the spread.


The virus has been infecting farms across Canada since 2022, primarily spread by migratory wild birds during the fall and spring and putting Siemens and other farmers on high alert.

“We’ve managed to weather those storms in previous years, so it was quite upsetting to find out we had gotten hit this year,” he said. “We have so many protocols and safety measures in place to try to prevent this from happening, yet here we are.”

Last Friday, Siemens noticed some birds seemed to be irritated. He also found a couple of dead birds in the barn. He was about to call the veterinarian when he saw a notice that a nearby farm had just tested positive for bird flu.

He reported the incident to the CFIA. Within hours, federal inspectors arrived to test the birds and by the afternoon, Siemens’ worst fears were confirmed.


Learning the birds had to be put down was tough but it was a necessary measure, said Siemens.

“By the evening, most birds in the barn had very low energy. They weren’t eating or drinking much,” he said. “Seeing the level of how unwell they were, it was really hard to watch.”

About 30,000 free-range egg laying hens and 15,000 chicks that would have become egg-laying hens were put down.

In total, more than 11 million birds have been infected across Canada since the current cycle began in 2022, more than six million of them in B.C.

Since 2004, when the province experienced its first significant bird flu outbreak that led to the culling of 16 million birds in the Fraser Valley, chicken farmers have stepped up biosecurity.

Measures such as requiring people to change clothes and footwear, and showering, before entering barns have been in place for years. Since September, birds have been required to shelter indoors to prevent the spread while wild birds head south for the winrer.


In mid-October, B.C.’s poultry industry raised its biosecurity level to red, the highest level, after seeing cases in Washington state. With the heightened alert, farms have been disinfecting vehicles entering farms and restricting access to barns and the birds.

“Our measures are doing a phenomenal job of really preventing spread from one farm to another,” said Siemens. “But during these heavy periods of migration, we’re still seeing it getting into barns.”

The farm has started working through the compensation process with the CFIA, which should help them get by for the year, but Siemens expects it’ll take a year or two before the farm is back on normal footing.

Under Canada’s supply-management system, the price of eggs and poultry won’t be affected by the rash of outbreaks, said Siemens. If B.C.’s supply is threatened, farmers from the interior or Alberta would send their eggs here to make up for any shortages.


He said the best way to support B.C. farmers at this time is to continue to support Canadian-produced food.

“Even though my eggs are no longer on the shelf, my neighbours are here to help and by going out and buying their eggs, you’re indirectly helping me and my family get through this challenging time.”

chchan@postmedia.com
what the flock?! ;)
 

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Man charged in crash that killed sisters trying to rescue turtle
Author of the article:Ellwood Shreve • Chatham Daily News
Published Nov 12, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read

A man is charged with two counts of careless driving causing death in a crash that killed two sisters who were trying to rescue a turtle.


A 24-year-old man from Raleigh Township was charged last week in the May 18 crash, Chatham-Kent police said in a release Tuesday.

The man, whose identity wasn’t released, is scheduled to appear in provincial offences court Dec. 17.

The two sisters, Teresa Suliga of Blenheim and Elizabeth Seremak of Cambridge, were known for their love of animals.

The sisters aged 66 and 68 were struck and killed by a vehicle while walking along Charing Cross Road near Horton Line, police said.

The rural community is about 10 minutes south of Chatham.

Suliga’s neighbour, Shelley Webster, has said when she heard her close friend was trying to rescue a turtle when she died, “I thought, ‘That’s just like Teresa.’ ”

If Suliga saw any “animal in distress, she was there right away, quick,” Webster said.


Suliga and her dog Kaya often would go for walks and Suliga loved to see the deer, rabbits and even coyotes, Webster said.

“Teresa’s greatest love was her family and taking care of animals,” Suliga’s obituary said.

Webster said Seremak often visited her sister in Blenheim.

“They were like best friends . . . the two of them were like two peas on a pod,” Webster said. “They were very close.”

Suliga also loved to experience new things, travel and garden, her obituary said.

“Elizabeth was known for her generous heart and helping spirit,” Seremak’s obituary said. “She loved to spend time with her family and especially her treasured grandchildren.”

eshreve@postmedia.com
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Massachusetts animal control officer kills pet dog mistaken for a coyote
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Patrick Whittle
Published Nov 22, 2024 • Last updated 4 days ago • 3 minute read
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This image provided by pet owner Kirk Rumford shows his dog Odin, a husky, which was accidentally shot and killed by an animal control officer on Tuesday Nov. 19, 2024, in Northbridge, Mass.
This image provided by pet owner Kirk Rumford shows his dog Odin, a husky, which was accidentally shot and killed by an animal control officer on Tuesday Nov. 19, 2024, in Northbridge, Mass. Photo by Kirk Rumford via AP
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An animal control officer shot and killed a pet dog in a Massachusetts town after mistaking it for a coyote in an incident that has the animal’s owner fuming, but that local police are describing as a sad mix-up.


The shooting happened on Tuesday after police received a call of a report of a coyote in a residential backyard, said Timothy Labrie, chief of police in Northbridge, Massachusetts. The animal control officer went into the woods to look for the coyote and found what they thought was the animal in a threatening position and shot it, he said.

The officer then further examined the animal and saw that it had a flea collar and was a pet dog and not a coyote, Labrie said. Authorities then located the dog’s owner, he said.

The dog’s owner, Kirk Rumford of Northbridge, said the dog was a husky named Odin that was less than a year old. Rumford said he felt non-lethal methods could have been used, and that his dog doesn’t resemble a coyote.


“My dog would have been the most gorgeous coyote ever, on steroids,” Rumford said. “It’s huge compared to that. Look at pictures of what a coyote looks like in Massachusetts and my dog. My dog was beautiful. He looked like a wolf if anything, and there are no wolves in Massachusetts.”

Rumford said he has received an outpouring of support from the community, and he hopes his story will help prevent further encounters between dogs and authorities. He described Odin as “a knucklehead” and a “loveable klutz” who had a loving disposition and loved to play with other dogs.

Labrie said it was reasonable for the animal control officer to mistake the dog for a coyote, and the officer will not be disciplined. Dog owners can prevent these kind of mix-ups by keeping their dogs secure, Labrie said.


“We do have leash laws. At the end of the day if you can keep your fenced-in areas secure, keep an eye on your dog, do whatever methods that you can use to keep your dog in your yard,” Labrie said. “And also if your dog tends to wander in the woods, I would definitely have identifying markers on them.”

The shooting happened as communities around Massachusetts and elsewhere in the country have seen an uptick in interactions between people and coyotes. One town, Nahant, moved to become the first in the state to contract with the federal government to kill coyotes after residents said the animals killed pets and posed a dangerous nuisance.

Some scientists have said coyotes in the Eastern states have begun displaying increasingly wolflike traits as they have carved out a position near the top of the food chain. They are also hard to control.


Remington Moll, an assistant professor of natural resources at University of New Hampshire, led a study published in Ecography this month that said it is possible hunting coyotes doesn’t decrease their abundance, and can actually play a role in increasing it.

“Intensive coyote removal can obviously reduce populations in the short-term, but removal can also result in younger coyote populations with higher reproduction and immigration rates,” Moll said in a statement.

Northbridge, a town of about 16,000 people about 43 miles west of Boston, has had its share of interactions between people and coyotes, Labrie said. The animal control officer who shot the dog was a veteran officer who has had many encounters with coyotes over the years, Labrie said.

“We’ve definitely seen a little bit of an uptick in coyote calls,” Labrie said. “What’s causing it, I don’t know.”
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Searchers don’t expect to find woman in Pennsylvania sinkhole alive, police say
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Gene Puskar and Mark Scolforo
Published Dec 04, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read

Rescue workers search through the night in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024.
UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The search for a woman who is believed to have fallen into a sinkhole in western Pennsylvania has become a recovery effort after two treacherous days of digging through mud and rock produced no signs of life, authorities said Wednesday.


Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson Trooper Steve Limani said during a news conference that authorities no longer believe they will find 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard alive, but that work to find her remains continues.

“We’ve had no signs of any form of life or anything” to make rescuers think they should “continue to try and push and rush and push the envelope, to be aggressive with the potential of risking harm to other people,” Limani said. He noted that oxygen levels below ground were insufficient.

Emergency crews and others have been trying to locate Pollard for two days. Her relatives reported her missing early Tuesday and her vehicle with her unharmed 5-year-old granddaughter inside was found about two hours later, near what is thought to be a freshly opened sinkhole above a long closed, crumbling mine.


“We feel like we failed,” Limani said of the decision to change the status of the effort from a rescue to a recovery. “It’s tough.”

Limani praised the crews who went into the abandoned mine to help remove material in the search for Pollard in the village of Marguerite, about 65 kilometres east of Pittsburgh.

“They would come out of there head to toe covered in mud, exhausted. And while they were getting pulled up, the next group’s getting dropped in. And there was one after the next after the next,” Limani said.

Authorities had said earlier that the roof of the mine had collapsed in several places and was not stable.

“We did get, you know, where we wanted, where we thought that she was at. We’ve been to that spot,” Pleasant Unity Fire Chief John Bacha, the incident’s operations officer, said earlier Wednesday. “What happened at that point, I don’t know, maybe the slurry of mud pushed her one direction. There were several different seams of that mine, shafts that all came together where this happened at.”


Searchers were using electronic devices and cameras as surface digging continued with the use of heavy equipment, Bacha said. In the coming days, they plan to greatly widen the surface hole, with winter weather forecast in the region.

Sinkholes occur in the area because of subsidence from coal mining activity. Rescuers had been using water to break down and remove clay and dirt from the mine, which has been closed since the 1950s.

Crews had lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole, but it detected nothing. Another camera lowered into the hole showed what could be a shoe about 30 feet (9 metres) below the surface, Limani said Tuesday. Searchers also deployed drones and thermal imaging equipment to no avail.


Pollard’s family called police at about 1 a.m. Tuesday to say she had not been seen since going out at about 5 p.m. Monday to search for Pepper, her cat. The temperature dropped well below freezing that night.

Limani said the searchers met with her family before announcing the shift from rescue to recovery. “I think they get it,” Limani said.

Pollard’s son, Axel Hayes, described her as a happy woman who liked going out to have fun. She and her husband adopted Hayes and his twin brother when they were infants. She used to work at Walmart but recently was not employed.

Hayes called Pollard “a great person overall, a great mother” who “never really did anybody wrong.”

He said at one point Pollard had about 10 cats.

“Every cat that she’s ever come in contact with, she has a close bond with them,” Hayes said.


Police said they found Pollard’s car parked behind Monday’s Union Restaurant in Marguerite, about 20 feet (6 metres) from the sinkhole. Hunters and restaurant workers in the area said they had not noticed the manhole-size opening in the hours before Pollard disappeared, leading rescuers to speculate that the sinkhole was new.

Pollard lived in a small neighbourhood across the street from where her car and granddaughter were found by state police. It’s unclear what happened to the cat.

— Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos in Unity Township, Kathy McCormack in New Hampshire and Sarah Brumfield in Maryland contributed to this report.
 
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Crews recover body of woman from Pennsylvania sinkhole
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Mark Scolforo
Published Dec 06, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read

The remains of a woman who fell into a sinkhole were recovered Friday, four days after she went missing while searching for her cat, a state police spokesperson said.


Trooper Steve Limani said the body of 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard was sent to the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office for an autopsy after rescuers used machinery to bring her to the surface.

Limani told reporters Pollard was found at about 11 a.m. approximately 30 feet (9 meters) underground, some 12 feet (4 meters) from the opening of the sinkhole. Limani said Pollard apparently fell onto a cone-shaped pile of debris created by the crumbling mine, then rolled or otherwise moved toward the southwest to where her body was recovered.

The autopsy may help determine whether Pollard was killed by the fall, Limani said.

The announcement came in the fourth day of the search for Pollard, who had last been seen Monday evening, looking for the cat near a restaurant half a mile (0.8 kilometers) from her home in the village of Marguerite.


Axel Hayes, Pollard’s son, said a state trooper told him and other family members that her body had been found.

“I was hoping for the best, I really was,” Hayes said in a phone interview. “I was hoping she was still alive, maybe in a coma or something. I wasn’t expecting all of this.”

Mike O’Barto, who chairs the Unity Township Board of Supervisors, said the tragedy was deeply felt among his friends and neighbors.

“Unity Township is a tight-knit community. We are made of several coal mining towns. And of course, Marguerite’s one of them,” O’Barto said. “And when people suffer, we all suffer. The people of Unity Township are sad today.”

Pollard’s family reported her missing around 1 a.m. Tuesday as the temperature in the area dropped below freezing.


The search focused on a sinkhole that began as a manhole-sized gap and may have only recently opened above where coal was mined until about 70 years ago. Hunters and restaurant workers who were in the area in the hours before Pollard’s disappearance told police they hadn’t noticed the sinkhole.

Police said they found Pollard’s car parked about 20 feet (6 meters) from the sinkhole with her 5-year-old granddaughter inside. The cat, Pepper, has not reappeared, Hayes said.

The effort to find Pollard — which a fire official said lasted about 80 hours — included lowering a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole, although it detected nothing. Crews removed a massive amount of soil and rock to try to reach the area where they believed she fell into the chasm about 30 feet (9 meters) deep.

Pollard grew up in Jeanette, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Unity Township, where she lived for much of her adult life. She previously worked at Walmart and was married for more than 40 years.
 
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