Fun day at the beach – Piranhas bite 100

Authorities in a state in Brazil’s northeast are scrambling to take the fright and the bite off the beach after piranhas sunk their teeth into about 100 beachgoers. The problem — rather fearsome given piranhas’ horror-movie teeth and ability to sink them into human flesh — has been the biggest at the main beach area in Piaui state; authorities said they need to act fast to reduce a piranha overpopulation situation. 100 bathers were treated at the hospital in Jose de Freitas not far from Terezina, Piaui’s capital, after being bitten on the heels or toes at the local beach. More

Angry bees swarmed a man in a wheelchair

Thousands of angry bees swarmed a man in a wheelchair, sending him and three others who came to his aid to the hospital in the Southern California city of Santa Ana. The attack also shut down a street and forced the evacuation of several businesses while beekeepers removed the hive, which was estimated to contain 60,000 bees. The trouble started at a storage yard when a man in a wheelchair apparently disturbed the hive, causing the bees to bombard him. “He was attacked and stung over 60 times and had fallen out of the wheelchair and was yelling for help.” The man’s cries attracted the attention of three bystanders who ran to his aid. More

78-year-old first grader starts school

A 78-year-old Bulgarian man started off the new school year like hundreds of children a fraction of his age in first grade. Apostol Stoyanov from the central village of Popovtsi never got a chance to attend school when he was a kid and decided to enroll in first grade this year, at the age of 78. The elderly man, who attended the start of classes in Gabrovo alongside another 430 first graders, told the agency that he was illiterate but had already started practicing to write letters. More

Jet-powered school bus reaches 320 mph

The creator of a jet-powered school bus with a 42,000-horsepower engine says he has reached a top speed of 320 mph during test runs in Nebraska. Paul Stender, a native of Big Bend, Wis., said he and his team created the jet-powered bus in Lincoln, Neb., by taking an F4 engine and building the school bus around it. Stender said he went with the school bus design to help interest children when he and his team talk about their work at schools. More

Are you worried about overpopulation?

Even though the planet’s population is passing 7 billion, it’s surprising how much elbow room we have. Seventy percent of the surface is water; most of the rest is mountain, desert, tundra or open farmland. By some estimates, we humans really use only about five percent of the land on this planet. Robert Kunzig of National Geographic pointed out this year that if you took all 7 billion of us and had us stand shoulder-to shoulder, we would all fit in an area the size of the city of Los Angeles.

Drought Causes Snakes To Be On The Move

As the Texas drought continues, snakes will be on the move in search of food before hibernation. If the snakes can not get enough food to build their fat stores, it will be hard for them to remain in hibernation throughout the winter months. Not only will the snakes be in search of food, they will also be attracted to areas where they will find water. “The drought has dried all of the grass that the rodents normally feed on,” said Central Texas snake expert, Jerry Cates. “It’s a chain effect, when there are less rodents for the snakes to eat, they will be ranging further and further out from their normal foraging areas.” More

Dog makes record book with world’s longest ears

Guinness World Records announced a Colorado coonhound will appear in the 2012 book after receiving the title of longest ears on a living dog. The record keeping organization said Harbor, an 8-year-old coonhound belonging to Jennifer Wert of Boulder, made it into the book with a left ear measuring 12.25 inches long and a right ear measuring 13.75 inches long. “When he was 9 months old, he was sitting in his crate and his ears were hanging down over his paws,” Wert said. More

Bat Bites Girl, 5, At Wal-Mart

A 5-year-old North Branch girl is recovering after an unusual run-in with a bat at a retail store. She’s barely able to move, all because of what happened on a trip to a Wal-Mart in Cambridge. “She’s very traumatized,” said Holly Townley, Zoe’s mother. “The bat flew down the pizza aisle, flew back at us, flew down and landed on her, attacking her and bit her leg.” Her left leg still has a mark from the bat bite. On her right leg, is a mark from the painful treatment that followed. She had a series of three shots for rabies. Although doctors don’t know for sure whether or not the bat had rabies, they consider it rabid because bats don’t bite. The attack itself was traumatizing, but the treatment’s side effects are causing even more problems. “She had a 103-degree temp, very achy, sore joints - almost as if she were a 90-year-old man,” said Holly. After three trips to the emergency room, Holly asked Wal-Mart to help to pay medical bills, but she said they refused. More

Former cowboy lassos dogs in canal

A farmworker who says he learned how to lasso 30 years ago while working on a cattle ranch in Mexico still knows his ropes. Jesus Villanueva was working when he heard a disturbance along the Roza irrigation canal. A woman and her husband were trying to save their two dogs being swept away in the current. The dogs couldn’t climb up the steep concrete sides of the canal. A Yakima sheriff’s deputy had a rope but was having no luck. It took Villanueva just one lasso for each dog to bring them ashore. Noya Deats had run nearly three miles along the canal, trying to save her dogs while calling her husband and the sheriff’s office for help. Despite signs warning folks to stay out of the canal, Deats said she has let her dogs, Fawn and Nia, off their leash before without any problems. But when they decided to take a swim they were swept away. More