Elephant robs a market; Cow runs amok at the auction

@nbcnews

An #elephant caused chaos in a grocery store in #Thailand when it walked in and began to help itself to snacks.

♬ original sound - nbcnews

@bufferlandandcattle Sale barn days are never boring but I have not experienced this in all of my years! Stay tuned for more clips…it was a long video! #salebarn #cows #arkansas #decaturlivestock #fyp #foryourpage #viral #viralvideo ♬ Originalton - 🎵SOUL & RNB DANILO_87🎵

@bufferlandandcattle The destruction continues! She really messed the ceiling tiles up! #salebarn #cows #arkansas #decaturlivestock #fyp #foryourpage #viral #viralvideo #livestock #auction #livestockauction ♬ Upbeat Energetic & Fun Pop Rock - Aleksei Guz

A disturbing walk through croc-infested waters as the water rises

@aliihegz_91 Walking through croc infested waters #crocodile #NT #DARWIN #greenscreenvideo ♬ Down Under (feat. Colin Hay) - Luude

Also, this:

@stephanieee_.27 That moment you have a close encounter with BEARS! 😩 PS..I had no control of how slow it was going. I was not able to speed it up! #gatlinburg #bears #anakeesta #2025 #fypシ ♬ original sound - Annie

Young man runs from belligerent ostrich

@lisa_baseballmom_09

♬ Oh No - Kreepa

@lisa_baseballmom_09 Replying to @Stacy Sexton ♬ Showin' Off - Danger Twins

(The comments don't really provide any useful context, other than I get the impression the person fleeing works there)

"Purple Boy" was a whale that destroyed ships for over 50 years near sixth century Constantinople

Wikipedia:

The whale was given the name Porphyrios by Byzantine sailors; the name is sometimes alternatively rendered as Porphyrius, Porphyrion, Porphyry or Porphyrio and its origin is not clear. Common hypotheses on the name include it being derived from the contemporary charioteer Porphyrius or from the mythological giant Porphyrion, who waged war against the gods of Greek mythology. Anthony Kaldellis suggested in 2010 that the name of the whale alluded to the imperial purple and was "a sign of the respect in which the whale was held". This idea was also supported by Sian Lewis and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones in 2018, who believed the name alluded to the color of royalty and was a sign of great awe for the whale.

In 1996, James Allan Stewart Evans suggested that the name was a reference to the color of the whale's skin. Porphyra meant a deep purple color in Greek and Porphyrios might have had dark-wine colored skin. This was further supported by John K. Papadopoulos and Deborah Ruscillo in 2002, who believed the name simply meant "purple". Daniel Ogden in 2008 also supported the idea that Porphyrios evoked the color of the whale, believing that the name was best interpreted as "purple boy"

One Iditarod musher punched a moose, and another shot it dead

Anchorage Daily News:

the first musher to arrive at the checkpoint ... reported that he’d also had an encounter with a moose, one that was very much alive.

“I had to punch a moose in the nose out there. Oh my gosh,”

[two hours later, another musher encountered it]

the moose “became entangled with the dogs and the musher on the trail” before [the musher] dispatched the animal in self-defense.

...

Under the Iditarod’s Rule 34, if a musher kills an edible big game animal in defense of life and property, “the musher must gut the animal and report the incident to a race official at the next checkpoint. Following teams must help gut the animal when possible. No teams may pass until the animal has been gutted and the musher killing the animal has proceeded.”

AP:

In 1985, the late Susan Butcher was leading the race when she used her axe and a parka to fend off a moose, but it killed two of her dogs and injured 13 others. Another musher came along and killed the moose.

Bear attacks in Japan are at a record high

Posted for the flyer. (Climate change pressuring bears to wander closer to towns combined with rural towns being increasingle abandoned as people move to the cities.)

Cassowary invades a picnic

@news.com.au *Screams in Australian* 😳 #cassowary #australianwildlife #fnq #australia #iykyk 🎥: @JessTheGreatEmpress ♬ Me and My Pet - Eitan Epstein Music

A look at the "underground network of wildlife enthusiasts who are returning species back into the landscape without asking permission"

Lengthy article on rewilding in various countries:

Rewilding has become a popular activity among Britain’s landed elite.

...

[An environmentalist] jokingly described an emerging black market for wildlife trade unfolding in the gentlemen’s clubs of Mayfair. “You’ve literally got conversations happening over the lunch tables of White’s where one landowner is passing beavers to another,” he said. “You know: ‘I’ve got beavers on my farm in Perthshire, old buddy old pal. I could bring a few to you in Herefordshire.’”

...

He procured almost all the beavers from ... a wildlife manager based in Bavaria known as “the Pablo Escobar of beavers.”

...

 In Tayside, Scotland, where beavers were illegally introduced around 2006, farmers shot the animals on sight. There was no law to stop the farmers from doing so because, although the beavers were endangered, they also weren’t officially there. 

...

It’s not just beavers: There are boar bombers, a “butterfly brigade” that breeds and releases rare species of butterfly and a clandestine group returning the pine marten — one of Britain’s rarest mammals — to British forests. 

Related:

🇭🇰🐗

Video of the boar attacks at Fotan MTR on Friday have appeared online.

The boar took the escalator!!! https://t.co/swzQ23iYmR pic.twitter.com/gv1qoxU3ir

— Aaron Busch (@tripperhead) July 28, 2023

The Dallas Zoo thinks a clouded leopard is loose on the property

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dallas Zoo (@dallaszoo)

*Found later today, leopard reportedly unharmed, damage to enclosure seems like intentional sabotage.

Coincidentally, this popped up in my feed today:

@qinhan111 #leopard #wildanimals #fyp ♬ suono originale - Ella Alborova

*Previously: Five African lions escaped their enclosure at Sydney's Taronga Zoo while the zoo was hosting a "Roar and Snore" overnight stay program for visitors

Coyote attacked a toddler in broad daylight in Los Angeles (her dad rescued her before serious injury was inflicted)

MORE: https://t.co/mgpYYGDLjB

— Irene Cruz (@ABC7Irene) December 3, 2022

(From a few weeks ago, mountain lion snatches a dog from a dog walker.)

Mountain lion attack on a leashed dog caught on film in the Hollywood Hills; "‘Dangerously out-of-control cow’ tramples elderly man in Wales"

The owner received "a bizarre text from the dogwalker that said, 'The mountain lion attacked and took away your dog.'" (The embedded vido shows the start of the attack, the dog is being walked on a short leash.)

"The cow then went on the rail track in the area, and trains had to be put on stop to mitigate the danger to them."

"Indian police have shot dead a tiger dubbed the 'Man-eater of Champaran' that killed at least nine people"

"a major operation involving 200 people including trackers on elephants"

Meanwhile in Los Angeles:

Just a regular Saturday night in #LosFeliz…. You get home and P-22 is hanging out at your house. @GPMountainLion ⁦@SantaMonicaMtns⁩ #P22 pic.twitter.com/QvPTUo5zvY

— Cylin Busby (@CylinBusby) October 9, 2022

Dog wants its medicine; Seal attacks kayaker with octopus; Tiny owl loves attention

my dog has ear medicine she needs and the other one also thinks he needs it too.. nobody has the heart to tell him it’s pretend.. pic.twitter.com/Vshe7dhl3b

— chloe copley (@chloecopley_05) September 12, 2018

A seal slaps a man in the face with an octopus. The best headline you'll see today. pic.twitter.com/6C2nST9Wix

— Matt Colville (@mattcolville) September 26, 2018

This extinct elephant bird that lived on the island of Madagascar may have weighed as much as 1,700 pounds https://t.co/hZ5nzmlDAe

— NYT Science (@NYTScience) September 26, 2018

this owl losing its mind over head scritches is officially the cutest thing on the internet today 🦉😊 pic.twitter.com/kvZxrm2Ie7

— Ian Laking (@IHLaking) September 24, 2018

Link roundup

1. "Tom Brady Haunted By Destroyed Cell Phone Ringing Beneath Floorboards"

2. "Bob Ross once painted only in gray for a colorblind fan … and it was incredible."

3. "The Poster for 'Spectre' Is Fake, Right? It Has To Be."

4. TWS:

“Courage is a muscle. You develop courage by exercising it. Sitting on the fence is not practice for standing up.” Imagine what it takes to live your whole professional and personal life as a “justice-in waiting.” These SCOTUS-wannabes spend their careers seeking the approval of others, in the hopes that one day they will be nominated because of their friendships across the political spectrum. Then, unimpeded by anything controversial in their records, they can sail through a confirmation hearing. These are the exact sort of people who will be cowed by the Beltway social pressures and the New York Times editorial page. Such willfully “stealth candidates” should be disqualified from consideration for the Supreme Court—the position in Washington most vulnerable to these influences.

5. "Russian town besieged by hungry bears"

There is good reason for the caution: a dashcam recently captured footage of a bear jumping out from beneath a balcony to attack a man in Luchegorsk as he was walking his dog near the entrance to his apartment building. Another man

The Seahawks mascot landed on a fan's head today.

A whole lot of stories about menacing geese.

"Leopard on the loose in Indian city sparks terror as it runs wild in a hospital, cinema and apartment block"

"A shocked man watches a leopard leap past him in Meerut"

Family menaced by giraffes (and their giant tongues)

A mom tries to protect her son from some inquisitive giraffes. Via.

Video of a gator attacking a fisherman

"Gator Attack in Cassleberry, FL. While bass fishing in kayak." (Hilarious adult language.) Via.

Video of a lion trying to eat a kid at the zoo

"At the zoo in Portland, Oregon the usually lazy lioness, Kya, tries desperately to eat my son through the glass. Jack is coincidentally dressed like a baby zebra in his black and white striped hoodie. He is brave though and calls her "kitty kitty". That's my boy." Via.