Hyenas Attack Starving Women in Drought-Plagued Somaliland

Somaliland facing wide-spread famine

The worst drought in living memory is killing humans and animals alike across the East African region.

Charity workers report cases of women collapsing from hunger and being attacked by starving hyenas. [Welcome to Planet Earth!]

“They fell down, malnourished, and we understand they were then set on by the animals,” said a charity representative.

Scores of goats, kettle, and even drought-resistant camels have already died in the drought-plagued Somaliland. More images…

“Malnourished mothers are unable to breastfeed their babies, and farmers are feeding cardboard boxes to their animals because there is no grass left for grazing,” said the report.

“I spoke to families who had 500 or more animals three months ago, and now are left with 20 or fewer,” said a British politician.

“For people who rely on their animals for meat, milk and trade, it’s the equivalent of losing your entire life savings.”

Drought conditions that previously hit every seven to 10 years are now an annual occurrence, she said.

A Relief spokeswoman said there was a “terrible sense of deja vu” after a drought killed more than 250,000 people in southern Somalia in 2011.

[Republic of Somaliland (pop: 4.5m) is a self-declared state internationally recognized as an autonomous region of the Federal Republic of Somalia (pop:11.5m).]

Read more…

Related Links

• 300,000 Children in Somalia Suffering from Malnutrition May 1, 2016

Dozens of Pilot Whales Die on Stewart Island, NZ

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Stranded pilot whales die on Stewart Island

A pod of 29 pilot whales was discovered on Tuesday, more than half of them still alive, by two hikers, Asti Kyd and her partner Peter Mullins, said a report.

When DOC staff arrived on Thursday, eight of the whales were still alive, but they had to be euthanized, “to prevent them from prolonged suffering,” the Island ranger was quoted as saying.

DOC ranger Phred Dobbins counts the dead whales partially buried in sand at Doughboy Bay on Stewart Island. Photo: Department of Conservation/link via Stuff NZ

Many hundreds of pilot whales have died on or near Stewart Island since the late 1990s.

Stewart Island, New Zealand’s third-largest island, lies 30km south of the South Island, across the Foveaux Strait, and has a permanent population of about 400.

Bolivia Declares Second Largest Lake ‘Disaster Area’

Mass Deaths of Fish, Waterfowl in Bolivian Lake, River

Agricultural authorities in Bolivia have declared Poopo Lake in Oruro department a disaster area after the death of thousands of fish and waterfowl.

More than 10 kilometers of dead fish and birds were found on the banks of Lake Poopó (Oruro department) earlier this month. The deaths occurred either as a result suffocation, caused by the high volumes of mud washed into the water after recent torrential rains in the region, or by an abnormal rise in the temperature, said reports.

“That event will affect more than 780 thousand fishing families with low production in the coming years, as the fish were on procreation age,” said a report.

Lake Poopó is the second largest in the Andean country, after Titicaca.

In another disaster, thousands of dead fish were found in the Rio Grande, a major river in the department of Santa Cruz, eastern Bolivia, less than two weeks ago, said the report.