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Here’s what’s worth reading today, Monday, October 7, 2019:
Aggressive moose shot at middle-school race in Anchorage park: A bull moose was shot to death by an Anchorage police officer Tuesday evening at Kincaid Park during a middle school cross-country race with hundreds of kids participating, including the cop’s daughter. Jared McKay, a 16-year Anchorage Police Department veteran who works as a school resource officer at Goldenview Middle School, was standing between the moose and the trail where kids were running. The moose charged as a pack of runners ran past the animal on the Lekisch Trail, not far from the tunnel in the park’s stadium area. The moose had been lying near, but not on, the trail. It was one of four or five moose that adults had been keeping an eye on during the cross-country race, which featured about 400 seventh- and eighth-graders from six middle schools. “He was just laying there, watching things, when a blur of runners, a pack of five to eight girls, came through in a group and kinda got him going,” said Andy Duenow, a parent who witnessed the charge and the shooting. “He jumped up and charged toward the trail, and the officer was very professional; he pulled off three quick shots.”
Python hunting team captures its largest snake ever. There was another milestone, too. September was a record-breaking month for python hunters. First, two members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Python Action Team captured an 18-foot, 4-inch-long female Burmese python at Big Cypress National Preserve Sept. 22. The snake, weighing 98 pounds, 10 ounces, is the largest ever captured at the preserve in Southwest Florida. And it’s the second-largest captured in Florida. Then two days later, another team member captured the 900th snake for the team, which includes hunters who get paid for humanely killing pythons. The Python Action Team is one of several programs created by the FWC and other state agencies including the South Florida Water Management District in recent years to remove the non-native species that is destroying the Everglades ecosystem.
Man dead, another stabbed at private pay fishing lake in south Louisville: The Louisville Metro Police Department is investigating after a person was killed at a private pay fishing lake in south Louisville on Sunday. Police responded to reports of a stabbing and a pedestrian struck at Harry’s Paylake shortly after 6 a.m. Investigators said a man came out of the woods and stabbed a 20-year-old man. Police said the assailant, who was in his 40s, was then hit by a vehicle driven by a family member of the stabbing victim, who was coming to his aid. Police said the man who was hit by the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene. The stabbing victim reportedly suffered a non-life-threatening wound.
Alaska man recovering after bear mauling thwarted by his dad: An Alaska man who was mauled by a bear before his father came to his rescue was being treated at Juneau hospital for deep bite wounds on his arm and leg, the father said Friday. Casey Bradford, 21, was in good spirits but in a lot of pain a day after the brown bear attack near the Chilkat River, according to his father, 55-year-old Scott Bradford of Haines. “I saw this brown thing chasing him,” Bradford said. “My first thought was that it was a moose.” Bradford said he ran toward the bear and fired a shot over its head after it tackled his son. The spooked bear ran off as Bradford took better aim and fired again. He doesn’t know if he struck the animal. The attack occurred Thursday evening while the father and son were about 30 yards apart as they scouted a moose during a hunting outing. The light was fading when Casey Bradford suddenly started yelling and running toward his father.
Baton Rouge fire captain dies in apparent drowning; he was ‘full of life and loved helping others’ The Baton Rouge Fire Department was mourning the death of a fire captain who died in an apparent drowning near the Gulf Coast this weekend. Capt. Bryan Bozeman, 45, slipped and fell into canal water Saturday night while cleaning fish at a popular fishing and recreation area near Cocodrie, roughly 30 miles south of Houma along the coast, according to the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office. His family helped pull him out of the water and others attempted to revive him, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office said. Emergency crews brought Bozeman to a local hospital where he later died.
Minnesota is asked to ban lead in ammunition, fishing tackle: With mounting evidence of damage to loons, eagles and other wildlife, environmental groups are asking the state to try again to outlaw or limit the use of lead in fishing gear, birdshot and rifle bullets. Their petition, filed last month with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, would require hunters to use steel, copper or other nontoxic ammunition during all hunting seasons throughout the state. It also asks the DNR to ban lead jigs and fishing tackle from lakes that have nesting loons. Lead jigs and sinkers can poison loons when the birds scoop them up on lake bottoms while they are searching for pebbles to help them digest their food. Eagles can be poisoned when they eat “gut piles” left by hunters who shoot deer with lead shot and then dress them in the wild.
Nevada fighting to keep ‘zombie deer’ from entering state: Zombie deer may sound like something in a bad B-movie, but wildlife regulators say they’re real and officials are working to keep them out of Nevada. The term relates to animals that have contracted chronic wasting disease, a highly contagious and terminal disorder that causes symptoms such as lack of fear of humans, lethargy and emaciation. It can destroy deer and elk populations. Officials are testing dead animals and monitoring migratory elk and deer at the state line with Utah for signs of the sickness, Peregrine Wolff, a Nevada Department of Wildlife veterinarian, said. Nevada legislators also passed a law earlier this year to keep parts of certain carcasses out of the state in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease.
Brothers caught poaching swans in Upper Peninsula wilderness: Two brothers are in hot water with the DNR after they killed a pair of trumpeter swans, waterfowl that are federally protected and illegal to hunt. The brothers were not identified but they are in their late 20s and are from Houghton. They killed the birds on Sept. 28, according to the DNR. The brothers were issued tickets for poaching and possession of lead shot while waterfowl hunting. Taking illegal waterfowl is a misdemeanor offense and may be punishable with up to 90 days in jail and/or up to $500 for reimbursement, in addition to other court costs.
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