SOUTH CAROLINA: Forty-three monkeys escaped from a compound used for medical research in South Carolina but the nearby police chief said there is “almost no danger” to the public.
“They are not infected with any disease whatsoever. They are harmless and a little skittish,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said Thursday morning.
The Rhesus macaque primates escaped from the Alpha Genesis facility Wednesday when a new employee didn’t fully shut an enclosure, Alexander said.
The monkeys are females weighing about 7 pounds (3 kilograms) and are so young and small that they haven’t been used for testing, police said.
Alpha Genesis employees “currently have eyes on the primates and are working to entice them with food,” police said in a statement issued around noon Thursday.
The company usually handles escapes on site, but the monkeys got outside the compound about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from downtown Yemassee, Alexander said.
“The handlers know them well and usually can get them back with fruit or a little treat,” Alexander told The Associated Press by phone.
But rounding up these escapees is taking some more work. Alpha Genesis is taking the lead, setting up traps and using thermal imaging cameras to recapture the monkeys on the run, the chief said.
“There is almost no danger to the public,” Alexander said.
People living nearby need to shut their windows and doors so the monkeys can’t find a place to hide inside and if they see the primates, call 911 so company officials and police can capture them.
Alpha Genesis provides primates for research worldwide at its compound about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Savannah, Georgia, according to its website. The company did not respond to an email asking about Wednesday’s escape.
In 2018, federal officials fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 after dozens of primates escaped as well as for an incident that left a few others without water and other problems with how the monkeys were housed.
Officials said 26 primates escaped from the Yemassee facility in 2014 and an additional 19 got out in 2016.
The group Stop Animal Exploitation Now sent a letter to the US Department of Agriculture asking the agency to immediately send an inspector to the Alpha Genesis facility, conduct a thorough investigation and treat them as a repeated violator. The group was involved in the 2018 fine against the company.
“The clear carelessness which allowed these 40 monkeys to escape endangered not only the safety of the animals, but also put the residents of South Carolina at risk,” Michael Budkie, the executive director of the group, wrote in the Thursday morning letter.
43 monkeys escape from a South Carolina medical lab. Police say there is no serious danger
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43 monkeys escape from a South Carolina medical lab. Police say there is no serious danger
- The Rhesus macaque primates escaped from the Alpha Genesis facility Wednesday
- The monkeys are females weighing about 3 kilograms and are so young and small that they haven’t been used for testing, police said
A trophy hunter killed a lion in Zimbabwe that was part of a research project, sparking anger
- The latest lion, known as Blondie, was part of an Oxford University study and wore a research collar sponsored by Africa Geographic
- Africa Geographic CEO Simon Espley said Blondie’s killing made “a mockery of the ethics” trophy hunters claim to prescribe to
HARARE, Zimbabwe: The killing of a collared lion involved in a research project in Zimbabwe by a trophy hunter has been condemned by wildlife groups, echoing the infamous case of a lion called Cecil whose death at the hands of an American tourist in the same country a decade ago was met with international outrage.
The latest lion, known as Blondie, was part of an Oxford University study and wore a research collar sponsored by Africa Geographic, a safari company. Africa Geographic said Blondie was killed by a hunter in June close to the country’s flagship Hwange National Park after being lured out of a protected area and into a nearby hunting zone with the use of bait.
After Blondie’s killing became a new rallying cry for those opposed to hunting, a spokesperson for Zimbabwe’s National Parks told The Associated Press on Thursday that the hunt was legal and the hunter had the necessary permits. Zimbabwe allows up to 100 lions to be hunted a year. Trophy hunters, who are usually foreign tourists, pay tens of thousands of dollars to kill a lion and take the head or skin as a trophy.
Africa Geographic CEO Simon Espley said Blondie’s killing made “a mockery of the ethics” trophy hunters claim to prescribe to because he wore a clearly visible research collar and was a breeding male in his prime. Hunters say they only target aging, non-breeding lions.
“That Blondie’s prominent collar did not prevent him from being offered to a hunting client confirms the stark reality that no lion is safe from trophy hunting guns,” Espley said.
Hunting lions is fiercely divisive, even among conservationists. Some say if it is well managed it raises money that can be put back into conservation. Others want killing wildlife for sport to be banned outright.
Some countries in Africa like Kenya have commercial hunting bans, others like Zimbabwe and South Africa allow it. Botswana lifted a ban on hunting six years ago.
Tinashe Farawo, the spokesperson for the Zimbabwe parks agency, said money from hunting is crucial to support the southern African nation’s underfunded conservation efforts. He defended the hunt and said they often happen at night, meaning the collar on Blondie may not have been visible.
He said he had no information on Blondie being lured out of the park with bait — which is usually a dead animal — but there “is nothing unethical or illegal about that for anyone who knows how lions are hunted. This is how people hunt.”
“Our rangers were present. All paperwork was in order. Collars are for research purposes, but they don’t make the animal immune to hunting,” Farawo said. He declined to name the hunter.
Cecil’s killing in 2015 unleashed furious anger against Walter Palmer, a Minnesota dentist and trophy hunter who lured the lion out of the same national park in Zimbabwe and shot him with a bow before tracking him for hours and finally killing him. Cecil, whose head and skin were cut off and taken for trophies, was also involved in a research project by Oxford University.
Zimbabwe authorities initially said they would seek to extradite Palmer over the hunt, although that didn’t happen, while a hunting guide who helped him was arrested, only for charges to be dropped.
Zimbabwe’s national parks agency says the country makes about $20 million a year from trophy hunting, with a single hunter spending an average of $100,000 per hunt — which includes accommodation and hiring vehicles and local trackers.
Zimbabwe is home to approximately 1,500 wild lions, with around one-third of them living in the vast Hwange National Park. Across Africa, the wild lion population is estimated at around 20,000. However, their numbers are decreasing due to habitat loss and human conflict. Lions, one of Africa’s most iconic species, are currently listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
In Hiroshima, a schoolboy keeps memories of war alive with guided tours
- “I want them to know how bad is war and how good is peace. Instead of fighting, we should talk to each other about the good things of each other,” he said
HIROSHIMA: Since the age of seven, Japanese schoolboy Shun Sasaki has been offering free guided tours to foreign visitors of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park with a mission: ensuring that the horrors of nuclear war do not fade from memory with the passage of time.
Aged 12 now, Shun has conveyed that message to some 2,000 visitors, recounting in his imperfect but confident English the experiences of his great-grandmother, a ‘hibakusha’ who survived the atomic bomb.
“I want them to come to Hiroshima and know about what happened in Hiroshima on August 6,” Shun said in English, referring to the day the bomb was dropped in 1945.
“I want them to know how bad is war and how good is peace. Instead of fighting, we should talk to each other about the good things of each other,” he said.
About twice a month, Shun makes his way to the peace park wearing a yellow bib with the words “Please feel free to talk to me in English!” splashed across the back, hoping to educate tourists about his hometown.
His volunteer work has earned him the honor of being selected as one of two local children to speak at this year’s ceremony to commemorate 80 years since the A-bomb was dropped — its first use in war.
Shun is now the same age as when his great-grandmother Yuriko Sasaki was buried under rubble when her house, about 1.5 km (0.9 mile) from the hypocenter, collapsed from the force of the blast. She died of colorectal cancer aged 69 in 2002, having survived breast cancer decades earlier.
The uranium bomb instantly killed about 78,000 people and by the end of 1945 the number of dead, including from radiation exposure, reached about 140,000. The US dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9.
Canadian Chris Lowe said Shun’s guided tour provided a level of appreciation that went beyond reading plaques on museum walls.
“To hear that about his family... it surely wrapped it up, brought it home and made it much more personal. So it was outstanding for him to share that,” he said.
Shun said he plans to continue with the tours as long as he can.
“The most dangerous thing is to forget what happened a long time ago… so I think we should pass the story to the next generation, and then, never forget it, ever again.”
Thousands to pay respects as Ozzy Osbourne laid to rest in UK hometown
- Thousands are expected to line the streets of Ozzy Osbourne’s UK hometown of Birmingham on Wednesday to honor the heavy metal hell-raiser as he is laid to rest
BIRMINGHAM: Thousands are expected to line the streets of Ozzy Osbourne’s UK hometown of Birmingham on Wednesday to honor the heavy metal hell-raiser as he is laid to rest.
Osbourne, nicknamed the “Prince of Darkness” and who once bit a bat while on stage while performing with his Black Sabbath band, died on July 22 at the age of 76.
The heavy metal star, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, passed away just over a fortnight after playing a final gig before a sold-out crowd in Birmingham.
Birmingham city council said Osbourne’s funeral cortege would pass slowly through the city from 1:00 p.m. (1200 GMT) down Broad Street to Black Sabbath bridge, along a route planned with the rocker’s family.
The hearse and vehicles will be accompanied by a live brass band performance by local musicians from Bostin’ Brass.
Osbourne will then be laid to rest at a private funeral service.
“Ozzy was more than a music legend — he was a son of Birmingham,” Zafar Iqbal, the lord mayor of the central English city, said in a statement.
“It was important to the city that we support a fitting, dignified tribute ahead of a private family funeral.
“We know how much this moment will mean to his fans. We’re proud to host it here with his loving family in the place where it all began,” Iqbal added.
Thousands of fans have left heartfelt messages and floral tributes at the bridge in recent days, mourning the death of the musician who was instrumental in pioneering heavy metal, an offshoot of hard rock.
Black Sabbath enjoyed huge commercial success in the 1970s and 80s after forming in Birmingham in 1968.
Their eponymous 1970 debut album made the UK top 10 and paved the way for a string of hit records, including their most famous song “Paranoid.”
The group went on to sell more than 75 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Osbourne was added for a second time last year as a solo artist.
Osbourne gained notoriety for his outlandish stunts, many of them fueled by his lavish use of drugs and alcohol.
In 1989, he was arrested for drunkenly trying to strangle his wife Sharon, which he once mentioned in a 2007 interview.
His live performances at the height of his hedonism have gone down in rock folklore, particularly the 1982 gig in the US city of Des Moines when he bit a bat on stage.
Osbourne said he thought a fan had thrown a fake rubber bat onstage, and it was not until he took a bite that he realized it was real.
Life after cod: Latvia reinvents its coastal communities
- With the European Union steadily cutting allowable catches of Baltic cod, and moving toward a total ban to replenish stocks, towns and villages are diversifying into tourism and seafood processing
VENTSPILS: Fishers do not usually wish for a “perfect storm.” But Latvian boating communities are hoping for exactly that: a rare tempest that might, one day, revive waning stocks of Baltic cod.
Decreasing salinity in the Baltic Sea is robbing the saltwater fish of the conditions it needs to thrive.
And as its population shrinks, so do the fishing traditions that have long characterised villages along Latvia’s 494-kilometer (307-mile) coastline.
The result for the communities in this small EU nation is a drive to reinvent themselves, to survive.
With the European Union steadily cutting allowable catches of Baltic cod, and moving toward a total ban to replenish stocks, towns and villages are diversifying into tourism and seafood processing.
“We launched a new marina for yachting, offered services for sea travelers, and a French investor opened a brand new shipyard for yacht building,” Agris Stulbergs, harbormaster for the port in the village of Engure, explained to AFP.
Leisure boating has become a favored activity in this village, located just 50 kilometers from the capital Riga, and others.
Farther west, in the port city of Ventspils, Juris Petersons, a lifelong seaman, reminisced how Latvian fishers used to bring in lavish hauls of fish highly valued in kitchens from Russia to Britain.
“Back in the mid-80s the Latvian fishing fleet brought in 55,000 tons of Baltic cod, in addition to salmon, herring and many other saltwater fish,” he said.
Now “the environmental conditions have become so unfavorable to cod growth that Latvian fishermen are allowed to catch just 16 tons of cod a year,” he said.
“And even that amounts only to the accidental by-catch when we fish for herring,” said Petersons, an industrial fishing boat skipper until he sold off his trawlers last year.
The Baltic Sea is fed by a number of large freshwater rivers. It is connected with the North Sea only through the shallow Danish straits, preventing Atlantic saltwater from entering the Baltic basin.
In order to recover, the cod population would need a rare seastorm, with just the right windspeed at the correct angle to push masses of saltwater into the Baltic Sea.
That “happened at least twice during the previous century, but currently we’re waiting for that perfect storm for the third decade,” Petersons said.
Given the smaller yield, many in the industry have focused on quality over quantity.
“All the fish canning companies... have either gone out of business or turned their production lines into making more valuable export-grade products,” said Janis Megnis, chief of the Roja port administration.
Their high quality herring and anchovy products “can be found today from Walmart in the United States to stores in Australia and Japan,” he said.
Political changes have also affected the industry.
Historically Latvia’s fish processing industry mainly served markets in Russia and Belarus.
But with the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, followed by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the resulting Western sanctions, Latvian fishing companies have been forced to seek other markets.
The biggest importers today are Canada, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Denmark and the UK, according to the agriculture ministry.
New markets include Arab countries and South Africa.
Many families in Latvia’s coastal towns have also turned their former fisheries into guesthouses and vacation destinations or switched from selling raw fish to the more lucrative smoked, prepared and spiced varieties.
“My husband is a fifth-generation fisherman: he goes out to sea for fish, which we then smoke and turn into high-end products,” said Iveta Celkarte, who runs a fishing estate in Berzciems village.
“We also have a family cafe... serving our own seafood,” said Celkarte, who has also become a television and social media personality.
Celkarte offers three-hour tours about the history of traditional fishing, taking visitors on a stroll through dunes to the shore and finishing with a special meal.
“For me it is important to tell people about the traditions of our coast, the history of fishing and the life of previous generations working on the sea” she said.
Aivars Lembergs, a former mayor of Ventspils, said he began turning his city into a manufacturing hub and developing tourism has been key, and is paying off.
The city is seeing many tourists coming in from neighboring Lithuania.
“During summers you’ll sometimes see more Lithuanians on the streets of Ventspils than Latvians, as Lithuania has a very short Baltic coastline, and their tourists come here to enjoy the short Baltic summer,” said Lembergs, who was mayor between 1988 and 2021.
UK museum finds 4,000-year-old handprint on Egypt tomb
LONDON: British researchers have discovered a rare handprint on a 4,000-year-old Egyptian artifact, a Cambridge museum said.
The ancient handprint was found by museum conservators on the base of an Egyptian soul house — a clay offering tray in the shape of a building which may have been used in tombs for laying out food offerings or as a dwelling for souls.
The unique discovery was made after the piece, crafted between 2055-1650 BC, was examined by conservation staff in preparation for a new exhibition.
“I have never seen such a complete handprint on an Egyptian object before,” said Helen Strudwick, senior curator and Egyptologist at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
The handprint was left by the maker of the soul house, when they picked it up before drying and firing the clay.
“When you see something like this, you feel very close to the person who left their mark on an object,” Strudwick said, describing the finding to AFP as an “exciting moment.”
“You can see all the fingers, and also where the heel of the hand rested,” she said.
The rare artifact will be on display at the museum’s Made in Ancient Egypt exhibition which opens on October 3.
The exhibition will focus on the makers of Egyptian artifacts such as jewelry, ceramics and sculptures.
It is important to understand how the ancient objects were made “in order to look after them properly,” the curator said.
The museum in southeast England has been researching how the artifacts were created since 2014, but little is known about the potters that worked in Ancient Egypt.
Since pottery was seen as having a low value, Egyptian potters may have been accorded a lower social status than other craftspeople.
“We can’t really say anything about the identity of the person from the handprint. It is quite small — about the same size as my own hand,” said Strudwick.
“If this is a man’s handprint, it’s possible that — given the scale of it — he was a younger person, or it may be that a more junior person in the workshop was responsible for moving these objects out to dry,” she speculated.
Strudwick says the history of Egyptian craftspeople was often overlooked by researchers.
But with new research methods, “we are able to know more and more about how they worked, lived and how they wanted to be remembered for all time,” she said.
The exhibition will include a large loan of antiquities from the Louvre museum in France, the most significant of its kind to visit the UK in almost 20 years.
