Monday, November 28, 2005
CNN: Dogs maul woman to death
"THORNDALE, Texas (AP) -- A pack of six dogs mauled a 76-year-old woman to death as she worked in her yard, authorities said.
Lillian Loraine Stiles was riding on a lawn mower in her front yard Saturday when she was confronted by the dogs, described as pit bull-rottweiler mixed breeds, said Milam County Sheriff Charlie West.
Investigators think Stiles was attacked when she got off the mower and headed into her house.
Stiles had severe bites over her entire body, and a man who tried to help her was bitten on one leg, authorities said.
The dogs were found at the home of Stiles' neighbor, Jose Hernandez.
The sheriff's department will send the findings of its investigation to the Milam County District Attorney's Office, which will decide if any criminal charges will be filed against Hernandez.
Thorndale is located about 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of College Station."
Damn.
Lillian Loraine Stiles was riding on a lawn mower in her front yard Saturday when she was confronted by the dogs, described as pit bull-rottweiler mixed breeds, said Milam County Sheriff Charlie West.
Investigators think Stiles was attacked when she got off the mower and headed into her house.
Stiles had severe bites over her entire body, and a man who tried to help her was bitten on one leg, authorities said.
The dogs were found at the home of Stiles' neighbor, Jose Hernandez.
The sheriff's department will send the findings of its investigation to the Milam County District Attorney's Office, which will decide if any criminal charges will be filed against Hernandez.
Thorndale is located about 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of College Station."
Damn.
CNN:20 yr old kills his family on thanksgiving
"MYAKKA CITY, Florida (AP) -- A 20-year-old man was arrested Sunday in the slayings of his parents, younger brother and elderly grandmother, whose bodies were found bludgeoned to death in the family home, authorities said.
Richard Edgar Henderson Jr. told detectives late Sunday that he had beaten his family to death with a pipe on Thanksgiving evening, Manatee County Sheriff Charlie Wells told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
He was being charged with four counts of murder and was jailed Sunday night without bond, authorities said. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
The bodies of his parents, Richard Henderson Sr., 48, and Jeaneane Henderson, 42, grandmother June Henderson, 82, and 11-year-old brother Jake were discovered in the home earlier Sunday, the sheriff's office said.
The medical examiner was examining the bodies and had not released an official cause of death.
Henderson was arrested shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday walking along a highway in Palmetto, the sheriff's office said in a news release. He had been seen at the family home earlier that morning and later abandoned a van in nearby Wauchula, officials said.
Myakka City is about 45 miles southeast of Tampa."
Awful. Just awful.
Richard Edgar Henderson Jr. told detectives late Sunday that he had beaten his family to death with a pipe on Thanksgiving evening, Manatee County Sheriff Charlie Wells told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
He was being charged with four counts of murder and was jailed Sunday night without bond, authorities said. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
The bodies of his parents, Richard Henderson Sr., 48, and Jeaneane Henderson, 42, grandmother June Henderson, 82, and 11-year-old brother Jake were discovered in the home earlier Sunday, the sheriff's office said.
The medical examiner was examining the bodies and had not released an official cause of death.
Henderson was arrested shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday walking along a highway in Palmetto, the sheriff's office said in a news release. He had been seen at the family home earlier that morning and later abandoned a van in nearby Wauchula, officials said.
Myakka City is about 45 miles southeast of Tampa."
Awful. Just awful.
Monday, November 21, 2005
BBC: Does spontaneous human combustion exist?
Giving new meaning to the term "hottie"
"A character in Charles Dickens' Bleak House burns to death without any apparent reason. Human spontaneous combustion is a belief which has been around for centuries but does it really exist?
Viewers following Andrew Davies's adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House on BBC One have just seen the dreadful moment when alcoholic Krook - played sinisterly by Johnny Vegas - finds his gin warming his stomach more than usual, and suddenly bursts into flames.
As his charred remains are found, Dickens lets the awful scene unfold: "Here is a small burnt patch of flooring; here is the tinder from a little bundle of burnt paper, but not so light as usual, seeming to be steeped in something; and here is - is it the cinder of a small charred and broken log of wood sprinkled with white ashes, or is it coal? Oh, horror, he IS here!"
Dickens is unequivocal in ascribing the death to spontaneous human combustion (SHC), the alleged burning of a person's body with no identifiable source of ignition. "It is the same death eternally - inborn, inbred, engendered in the corrupted humours of the vicious body itself, and that only - Spontaneous Combustion, and none other of all the deaths that can be died," he writes.
When the story was first published, Dickens was accused of legitimising superstitious nonsense and there was a minor uproar. But the author responded by saying he had researched the subject and knew of about 30 cases. "I have no need to observe that I do not wilfully or negligently mislead my readers and that before I wrote that description I took pains to investigate the subject," he wrote in the preface to the second edition.
It is thought part of his source was a collection of cases published in 1763, 90 years before Bleak House, by Frenchman Jonas Dupont
So is spontaneous human combustion something of fact or fiction?
Modern cases have usually come about when police and fire investigators have found burned corpses but no burned furniture. Bafflement at how a body can be reduced almost to ashes, which requires temperatures of about 3,000 degrees, without any of the rest of the room being affected has driven some of the theories.
One of the most notable cases was Mary Reeser who was found in her home in 1951, reduced to a pile of ashes save her shrunken skull and her left foot which was entirely intact. Damage to the flat in Florida was small, only soot on the ceiling and walls.
The police report claimed the 67-year-old widow's dressing gown had caught fire, perhaps due to a cigarette, although no flame source or accelerant was found.
Wick effect
In 1982, SHC was offered as a cause of death at the inquest into the death of Jean Saffin, 62. Relatives said they saw her burst into flames in her north London home but coroner Dr John Burton said there was "no such thing" as SHC and recorded an open verdict.
The human body is mostly water and its only properties which burn readily are fat tissue and methane gas, so the possibilities of SHC appear remote. But supporters of the theory have offered alcoholism, divine intervention, obesity and static electricity as explanations.
In 1998 the BBC programme QED investigated and used a dead pig to try and present a scientific explanation called the "wick effect".
The clothes are the wick and the fat surrounding a person is the fuel source which burns slowly, like a candle, for five to 10 hours.
This theory can account for the state of the remains but it does not explain the absence of any initial flame or accelerant, both of which were required for the experiment on the pig. To compound the mystery, many of the victims in the alleged cases did not try and escape and remained seated throughout.
But Home Office pathologist Professor Michael Green thought the SHC theory had been debunked.
"The way the body burns - the so-called wick effect - seems to me and to my colleagues to be the most scientifically credible hypothesis," he said.
Your comments:
Cell division would never create enough heat to act as a source of ignition. There would be nothing to ignite in the places cell division occurs in the body, even if there were enough heat. Even in energy producing reactions in the body during metabolism, for example, the use of enzymes break down processes into small steps to ensure energy is released progressively. Sorry to a throw a spanner into the works on your theory!
Richard Rue, Dublin
Surely the area around the burning corpse would be affected far more obviously if the temperature of the corpse reached 3000 degrees Celsius over such a long period of time. How does the "wick effect" account for this?
James Clark, Johannesburg, South Africa
To say the body is mostly water is misleading. 18.5 percent of human body weight is comprised of carbon, which is the backbone of organic molecules. 65 percent is Oxygen. That is quite a flammable combination given the right circumstances. It is what those circumstances are that is a mystery. Could it be a simple malfunction of the spleen, which controls homeostasis (the body's ability to regulate temperature)?
Ella Potter, Oxford, England
I remember once being told by a Chief Fireman that he was absolutely convinced that SHC was fact as he had seen evidence of it. However, the debate does detract in my view from Dickens's masterful description of Krook's death. What a pity that the television adaptation could not match the powerful dark description of the novel. The Master at his peak as far as I'm concerned.
Ray Waldie, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
It has not or rarely been possible to observe SHC in action but experiments have shown that water on it's own can be made to product a violent reaction, after all it's two components are hydrogen (explosive) and oxygen, the food for combustion. The difference between life and death in our own cells is the action inside the cell, the firing off of microscopic chemical and electrical reaction producing relatively masses of heat. It would only take a malfunction of this process where instead of controlled firing off there would be mass reactions throughout each of a mass of cells producing a noisy, bluish flame of immense heat. Enough heat to consume bones to white powder never mind the water in our body which by the way would only act as further fuel for the reaction. The extremities do not burn because by the time the incineration has reached them they have been starved of oxygen enough to make the reaction incomplete.
J L Bird, Rotherham
The wicking effect would be simple to test using a pig carcass, yet it does not seem to have been done. I suggest this is because it is utter nonsense. You cannot get enough heat from the fat in a human body to reduce it to ash. Nor does a normal fire behave in the way observed, with heat being felt by the subject but not objects a few feet away. The TV documentary claimed it worked, but they burned practically the whole room.
James Tyrell, Brighton
I think the wick effect is the most parsimonious explanation for this phenomenon. I believe the victims of SCH didn't try to escape because they were already dead before they set on fire, and the 'initial flame' is provided by a cigarette. I'm sure a review on the documented cases will reveal that many of the victims of SCH are both elderly, or in ill health, and smokers.
Paul Barrett, Leeds
When this topic pops up in the public domain, I often wonder if cell division in the human body might be responsible as a source of ignition. My theory runs like this if heat is created when cells divide, is it not possible that a freak occurrence of cells dividing simultaneously might create enough to burn ? Probably complete hokum but food for thought.
Rob Hegarty, Derby
I presume that residents of Wick will only sleep under fire blankets
Bruce Child, Stockport UK
I saw the QED documentary in 1998 and thought it made a very good case for the wick effect, and am utterly convinced that this explains all cases of SHC where a body (or lack of body) is discovered. It seems absurd to suggest that this phenomenon occurs without initial flame (cigarettes seem the most likely) and an accelerant could easily be provided by flammable clothing or spilled alcohol. People don't try and escape as they are already dead when they catch alight, because presumably they are already dead!
George Mark, Cardiff"
"A character in Charles Dickens' Bleak House burns to death without any apparent reason. Human spontaneous combustion is a belief which has been around for centuries but does it really exist?
Viewers following Andrew Davies's adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House on BBC One have just seen the dreadful moment when alcoholic Krook - played sinisterly by Johnny Vegas - finds his gin warming his stomach more than usual, and suddenly bursts into flames.
As his charred remains are found, Dickens lets the awful scene unfold: "Here is a small burnt patch of flooring; here is the tinder from a little bundle of burnt paper, but not so light as usual, seeming to be steeped in something; and here is - is it the cinder of a small charred and broken log of wood sprinkled with white ashes, or is it coal? Oh, horror, he IS here!"
Dickens is unequivocal in ascribing the death to spontaneous human combustion (SHC), the alleged burning of a person's body with no identifiable source of ignition. "It is the same death eternally - inborn, inbred, engendered in the corrupted humours of the vicious body itself, and that only - Spontaneous Combustion, and none other of all the deaths that can be died," he writes.
When the story was first published, Dickens was accused of legitimising superstitious nonsense and there was a minor uproar. But the author responded by saying he had researched the subject and knew of about 30 cases. "I have no need to observe that I do not wilfully or negligently mislead my readers and that before I wrote that description I took pains to investigate the subject," he wrote in the preface to the second edition.
It is thought part of his source was a collection of cases published in 1763, 90 years before Bleak House, by Frenchman Jonas Dupont
So is spontaneous human combustion something of fact or fiction?
Modern cases have usually come about when police and fire investigators have found burned corpses but no burned furniture. Bafflement at how a body can be reduced almost to ashes, which requires temperatures of about 3,000 degrees, without any of the rest of the room being affected has driven some of the theories.
One of the most notable cases was Mary Reeser who was found in her home in 1951, reduced to a pile of ashes save her shrunken skull and her left foot which was entirely intact. Damage to the flat in Florida was small, only soot on the ceiling and walls.
The police report claimed the 67-year-old widow's dressing gown had caught fire, perhaps due to a cigarette, although no flame source or accelerant was found.
Wick effect
In 1982, SHC was offered as a cause of death at the inquest into the death of Jean Saffin, 62. Relatives said they saw her burst into flames in her north London home but coroner Dr John Burton said there was "no such thing" as SHC and recorded an open verdict.
The human body is mostly water and its only properties which burn readily are fat tissue and methane gas, so the possibilities of SHC appear remote. But supporters of the theory have offered alcoholism, divine intervention, obesity and static electricity as explanations.
In 1998 the BBC programme QED investigated and used a dead pig to try and present a scientific explanation called the "wick effect".
The clothes are the wick and the fat surrounding a person is the fuel source which burns slowly, like a candle, for five to 10 hours.
This theory can account for the state of the remains but it does not explain the absence of any initial flame or accelerant, both of which were required for the experiment on the pig. To compound the mystery, many of the victims in the alleged cases did not try and escape and remained seated throughout.
But Home Office pathologist Professor Michael Green thought the SHC theory had been debunked.
"The way the body burns - the so-called wick effect - seems to me and to my colleagues to be the most scientifically credible hypothesis," he said.
Your comments:
Cell division would never create enough heat to act as a source of ignition. There would be nothing to ignite in the places cell division occurs in the body, even if there were enough heat. Even in energy producing reactions in the body during metabolism, for example, the use of enzymes break down processes into small steps to ensure energy is released progressively. Sorry to a throw a spanner into the works on your theory!
Richard Rue, Dublin
Surely the area around the burning corpse would be affected far more obviously if the temperature of the corpse reached 3000 degrees Celsius over such a long period of time. How does the "wick effect" account for this?
James Clark, Johannesburg, South Africa
To say the body is mostly water is misleading. 18.5 percent of human body weight is comprised of carbon, which is the backbone of organic molecules. 65 percent is Oxygen. That is quite a flammable combination given the right circumstances. It is what those circumstances are that is a mystery. Could it be a simple malfunction of the spleen, which controls homeostasis (the body's ability to regulate temperature)?
Ella Potter, Oxford, England
I remember once being told by a Chief Fireman that he was absolutely convinced that SHC was fact as he had seen evidence of it. However, the debate does detract in my view from Dickens's masterful description of Krook's death. What a pity that the television adaptation could not match the powerful dark description of the novel. The Master at his peak as far as I'm concerned.
Ray Waldie, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
It has not or rarely been possible to observe SHC in action but experiments have shown that water on it's own can be made to product a violent reaction, after all it's two components are hydrogen (explosive) and oxygen, the food for combustion. The difference between life and death in our own cells is the action inside the cell, the firing off of microscopic chemical and electrical reaction producing relatively masses of heat. It would only take a malfunction of this process where instead of controlled firing off there would be mass reactions throughout each of a mass of cells producing a noisy, bluish flame of immense heat. Enough heat to consume bones to white powder never mind the water in our body which by the way would only act as further fuel for the reaction. The extremities do not burn because by the time the incineration has reached them they have been starved of oxygen enough to make the reaction incomplete.
J L Bird, Rotherham
The wicking effect would be simple to test using a pig carcass, yet it does not seem to have been done. I suggest this is because it is utter nonsense. You cannot get enough heat from the fat in a human body to reduce it to ash. Nor does a normal fire behave in the way observed, with heat being felt by the subject but not objects a few feet away. The TV documentary claimed it worked, but they burned practically the whole room.
James Tyrell, Brighton
I think the wick effect is the most parsimonious explanation for this phenomenon. I believe the victims of SCH didn't try to escape because they were already dead before they set on fire, and the 'initial flame' is provided by a cigarette. I'm sure a review on the documented cases will reveal that many of the victims of SCH are both elderly, or in ill health, and smokers.
Paul Barrett, Leeds
When this topic pops up in the public domain, I often wonder if cell division in the human body might be responsible as a source of ignition. My theory runs like this if heat is created when cells divide, is it not possible that a freak occurrence of cells dividing simultaneously might create enough to burn ? Probably complete hokum but food for thought.
Rob Hegarty, Derby
I presume that residents of Wick will only sleep under fire blankets
Bruce Child, Stockport UK
I saw the QED documentary in 1998 and thought it made a very good case for the wick effect, and am utterly convinced that this explains all cases of SHC where a body (or lack of body) is discovered. It seems absurd to suggest that this phenomenon occurs without initial flame (cigarettes seem the most likely) and an accelerant could easily be provided by flammable clothing or spilled alcohol. People don't try and escape as they are already dead when they catch alight, because presumably they are already dead!
George Mark, Cardiff"
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
ABCNews: AZ couple held teen captive as sex slave
"By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
PHOENIX Nov 9, 2005 — A couple held a runaway teen captive in a hollow bed frame for weeks and forced her to have sex for money with people they found on the Internet, police said.
The 15-year-old girl managed to call family members for help while 18-year-old Matthew Gray and 19-year-old Janelle Butler were sleeping Monday night, authorities said. The two were arrested Tuesday.
The girl ran away from her El Mirage home in September and met the couple through a friend about three hours after she disappeared, police Sgt. Andy Hill said. They took her to a park, bound her and had her gang raped for hours, police said.
At a west Phoenix apartment, they imprisoned her in a dog kennel for about a week and threatened her with a gun, Hill said. They sold her for sex dozens of times on the Internet, he said, and forced her to hide in a hollowed-out bed frame covered with plywood.
"She was tortured. She had a gun pointed to her head. She was told that if she tried to escape or said anything she would be killed, her family would be killed," he said.
On Monday evening while Gray and Butler were sleeping, the girl called her family and told them she was being held. She knew the general area but couldn't say exactly what address or apartment she was in, Hill said.
Investigators said they had received tips about a runaway in the complex during the past several weeks, but could not find the girl. A neighbor, Lorraine Montoya, said the couple approached her and asked if she would hide the runaway weeks ago. She refused.
"When they told me she was a runaway, I called the cops right away," said Montoya.
Police repeatedly questioned Gray and Butler, until Butler broke down and told investigators she was in the bed frame, police said. The girl underwent a medical exam and was later released to her parents.
Gray was booked on hundreds of counts, including sexual assault, kidnapping and child prostitution. Butler was booked on kidnapping, child prostitution and other charges. Both were being held without bond."
The Associated Press
PHOENIX Nov 9, 2005 — A couple held a runaway teen captive in a hollow bed frame for weeks and forced her to have sex for money with people they found on the Internet, police said.
The 15-year-old girl managed to call family members for help while 18-year-old Matthew Gray and 19-year-old Janelle Butler were sleeping Monday night, authorities said. The two were arrested Tuesday.
The girl ran away from her El Mirage home in September and met the couple through a friend about three hours after she disappeared, police Sgt. Andy Hill said. They took her to a park, bound her and had her gang raped for hours, police said.
At a west Phoenix apartment, they imprisoned her in a dog kennel for about a week and threatened her with a gun, Hill said. They sold her for sex dozens of times on the Internet, he said, and forced her to hide in a hollowed-out bed frame covered with plywood.
"She was tortured. She had a gun pointed to her head. She was told that if she tried to escape or said anything she would be killed, her family would be killed," he said.
On Monday evening while Gray and Butler were sleeping, the girl called her family and told them she was being held. She knew the general area but couldn't say exactly what address or apartment she was in, Hill said.
Investigators said they had received tips about a runaway in the complex during the past several weeks, but could not find the girl. A neighbor, Lorraine Montoya, said the couple approached her and asked if she would hide the runaway weeks ago. She refused.
"When they told me she was a runaway, I called the cops right away," said Montoya.
Police repeatedly questioned Gray and Butler, until Butler broke down and told investigators she was in the bed frame, police said. The girl underwent a medical exam and was later released to her parents.
Gray was booked on hundreds of counts, including sexual assault, kidnapping and child prostitution. Butler was booked on kidnapping, child prostitution and other charges. Both were being held without bond."
ABCNews: Cheerleader denies having sex in bathroom
"By PAUL NOWELL Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. Nov 9, 2005 — An ex-Carolina Panthers cheerleader charged with giving police a false name during her arrest at a bar has denied accounts that she was having sex with another cheerleader in a restroom stall.
Renee Thomas, 20, also accused of hitting a bar patron, is charged with giving a false name and causing harm to another, a third-degree felony punishable by probation or a jail term of up to five years. The second cheerleader, Angela Keathley, 26, is charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
The two members of the Panthers TopCats were arrested early Sunday at a bar in Tampa, Fla., hours before Carolina played Tampa Bay. Some witnesses told police the two angered patrons waiting in a restroom line by having sex in a stall.
Another witness discounted the sex story, telling The Tampa Tribune that Thomas was drunk.
In a written statement, Thomas' attorney said his client wanted to apologize "to everyone affected by the incident."
"This was an unfortunate incident which has generated numerous rumors and inaccurate facts," attorney Peter Anderson wrote. "Miss Thomas denies all allegations of any sexual conduct." "
The Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. Nov 9, 2005 — An ex-Carolina Panthers cheerleader charged with giving police a false name during her arrest at a bar has denied accounts that she was having sex with another cheerleader in a restroom stall.
Renee Thomas, 20, also accused of hitting a bar patron, is charged with giving a false name and causing harm to another, a third-degree felony punishable by probation or a jail term of up to five years. The second cheerleader, Angela Keathley, 26, is charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
The two members of the Panthers TopCats were arrested early Sunday at a bar in Tampa, Fla., hours before Carolina played Tampa Bay. Some witnesses told police the two angered patrons waiting in a restroom line by having sex in a stall.
Another witness discounted the sex story, telling The Tampa Tribune that Thomas was drunk.
In a written statement, Thomas' attorney said his client wanted to apologize "to everyone affected by the incident."
"This was an unfortunate incident which has generated numerous rumors and inaccurate facts," attorney Peter Anderson wrote. "Miss Thomas denies all allegations of any sexual conduct." "
ABCNews: Doubts about toilet seat case
"DENVER Nov 8, 2005 — A man who sued Home Depot last month claiming a prank left him glued to a toilet seat made a similar allegation about another restroom more than a year ago, an official told a newspaper."
Hmmm.
Hmmm.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
CNN/AP: glued to the toilet
"DENVER, Colorado(AP)--Home Depot was sued by a shopper from a Kentucky store who claims he got stuck to a restroom toilet seat because a prankster had smeared it with glue.
Bob Dougherty, 57, accused employees of ignoring his cries for help for about 15 minutes because they thought he was kidding."
Bob Dougherty, 57, accused employees of ignoring his cries for help for about 15 minutes because they thought he was kidding."
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
ABCNews: The deer are attacking people
"Nov. 1, 2005 — A rash of attacks by male deer has prompted California wildlife officials to warn people to try and keep their distance from the wild animals.
The attacks, two against people and three against neighborhood pets, are most likely fluke incidents, officials say. However, the gorings could also be a sign that as residential areas expand, wild deer are becoming more accustomed to people and less fearful of them.
"What happens is these animals get more comfortable around people and people start to think of them like Bambi and often don't realize they can be dangerous," said Steve Martarano of the California Department of Fish and Game.
The male deer that attacked Ron Dudek, 73, on Sept. 25 as he was picking tomatoes in his garden was likely caught by surprise, says Martarano. The 6-foot-tall buck charged out of a patch of shrubbery and gored Dudek in the face before running off. Dudek was rushed to the hospital where he received 220 stitches for the wounds. Three weeks later he died from a pulmonary blood clot resulting from the encounter.
In another attack further north in the state, a couple in Covelo were attacked while watering a friend's vegetable garden. Martarano says the woman was gored in the arm after the animal had pinned the man to the ground with its antlers. When the woman tried to scare off the animal with a piece of plywood, she was gored in the arm. The man was shaken, but not hurt.
And in Orinda, male deer have attacked neighborhood dogs, killing one and seriously wounding another.
"We've never had any problems with our many local deer before," said Dee Pearce, whose 10-year-old dog Kermit, an afghan-golden mix, was killed by a buck that gored the dog in the head. "This seems to be an odd year around here."
Pearce says her dog did not bark before or during the encounter with the deer. And three hours after the deer gored her dog, it gored another dog, an elderly black Labrador retriever that lives across the street from Pearce. That dog survived. Later, the buck faced off with a third dog in the neighborhood, a Jack Russell terrier.
"I saw the buck put its head down like he was about to attack him," said Louis Pimentel, owner of the terrier, Willie. "So I put my camera down and took my dog inside."
Crowded and Dangerous?
Wildlife biologists say all of the attacks are unusual, but could also be a sign that deer populations are getting crowded and too accustomed to human neighbors and their pets.
"I've never heard of a deer seeking out and attacking dogs," said Todd Smith, editor-in-chief of Outdoor Life. "Most deer are deathly afraid of dogs and they're afraid of people."
Smith points out that male deer act unusually aggressive this time of year since the animals are entering what is known as the rut. This is when bucks are completely focused on breeding and wander for weeks looking for females, often not eating.
"They're fighting for dominance among the females, they're not eating a lot. They become increasingly aggressive," he said.
It could be that the rut season, combined with increasingly cramped territory could be behind the unusual attacks. Pearce says she has noticed more deer this year in her neighborhood, which she describes as a "woodsy suburb."
"This year the deer are thriving," she said. "We have at least four bucks in our immediate area as well as many doe and yearlings. There is lots of competition in a small area."
Deer herds throughout the United States have increased exponentially in recent decades, although around 1900, deer had been nearly wiped out. Restrictions on hunting and programs for trapping and relocating deer helped the population rebound beginning in the 1920s. Meanwhile, people have been building homes in areas that may have once been deer habitat.
"We have more white-tailed deer now than we have ever had in the history of the country," said Smith. "So it's not surprising we're having more encounters. When deer and people meet, stuff's going to happen." "
The attacks, two against people and three against neighborhood pets, are most likely fluke incidents, officials say. However, the gorings could also be a sign that as residential areas expand, wild deer are becoming more accustomed to people and less fearful of them.
"What happens is these animals get more comfortable around people and people start to think of them like Bambi and often don't realize they can be dangerous," said Steve Martarano of the California Department of Fish and Game.
The male deer that attacked Ron Dudek, 73, on Sept. 25 as he was picking tomatoes in his garden was likely caught by surprise, says Martarano. The 6-foot-tall buck charged out of a patch of shrubbery and gored Dudek in the face before running off. Dudek was rushed to the hospital where he received 220 stitches for the wounds. Three weeks later he died from a pulmonary blood clot resulting from the encounter.
In another attack further north in the state, a couple in Covelo were attacked while watering a friend's vegetable garden. Martarano says the woman was gored in the arm after the animal had pinned the man to the ground with its antlers. When the woman tried to scare off the animal with a piece of plywood, she was gored in the arm. The man was shaken, but not hurt.
And in Orinda, male deer have attacked neighborhood dogs, killing one and seriously wounding another.
"We've never had any problems with our many local deer before," said Dee Pearce, whose 10-year-old dog Kermit, an afghan-golden mix, was killed by a buck that gored the dog in the head. "This seems to be an odd year around here."
Pearce says her dog did not bark before or during the encounter with the deer. And three hours after the deer gored her dog, it gored another dog, an elderly black Labrador retriever that lives across the street from Pearce. That dog survived. Later, the buck faced off with a third dog in the neighborhood, a Jack Russell terrier.
"I saw the buck put its head down like he was about to attack him," said Louis Pimentel, owner of the terrier, Willie. "So I put my camera down and took my dog inside."
Crowded and Dangerous?
Wildlife biologists say all of the attacks are unusual, but could also be a sign that deer populations are getting crowded and too accustomed to human neighbors and their pets.
"I've never heard of a deer seeking out and attacking dogs," said Todd Smith, editor-in-chief of Outdoor Life. "Most deer are deathly afraid of dogs and they're afraid of people."
Smith points out that male deer act unusually aggressive this time of year since the animals are entering what is known as the rut. This is when bucks are completely focused on breeding and wander for weeks looking for females, often not eating.
"They're fighting for dominance among the females, they're not eating a lot. They become increasingly aggressive," he said.
It could be that the rut season, combined with increasingly cramped territory could be behind the unusual attacks. Pearce says she has noticed more deer this year in her neighborhood, which she describes as a "woodsy suburb."
"This year the deer are thriving," she said. "We have at least four bucks in our immediate area as well as many doe and yearlings. There is lots of competition in a small area."
Deer herds throughout the United States have increased exponentially in recent decades, although around 1900, deer had been nearly wiped out. Restrictions on hunting and programs for trapping and relocating deer helped the population rebound beginning in the 1920s. Meanwhile, people have been building homes in areas that may have once been deer habitat.
"We have more white-tailed deer now than we have ever had in the history of the country," said Smith. "So it's not surprising we're having more encounters. When deer and people meet, stuff's going to happen." "
ABCNews: Husband sets wife on fire
ABC News- Prince George District Court Judge Richard A. Palumbo dismissed an order of protection against Yvette Cade's Husband Roger Hargrave, despite Cade's request to extend the order of protection.
The judge denied the request, and Hargrave later went to her office doused her with gasoline and set her on fire.
Cade had told the judge that she wanted a divorce. The Judge said she had to go to divorce court and hire a lawyer for that.
The judge, through his lawyer said that he did not intend to dismiss the protection order stating that it was a clerical error.
The judge denied the request, and Hargrave later went to her office doused her with gasoline and set her on fire.
Cade had told the judge that she wanted a divorce. The Judge said she had to go to divorce court and hire a lawyer for that.
The judge, through his lawyer said that he did not intend to dismiss the protection order stating that it was a clerical error.
