Down To Earth brings you the top happenings in the world of global ecology
Scientist mauled by dingo in remote Australian area
An environmental scientist who had been helping fight forest fires in a remote Australian rainforest was attacked a wild dog while she was cooking dinner at her work station.
The woman received injuries on her thigh, hip and arms while trying to fight off the animal, which is believed to have been a dingo, the Australian wild dog, according to a media report.
The scientist was in her station in the Iron Range rainforest in the remote Cape York Peninsula in the state of Queensland. She later said she had seen the animal circling her quarters.
When she tried to shoo it away, it came into her kitchen and attacked her. Her cries were heard by a colleague in a neighbouring who came and shooed the dog away. The woman is now recovering in a Cairns hospital.
Boy bitten by jackal near Agra dies of rabies
A 12-year-old boy from Agra district died recently due to rabies after having been bitten by a jackal six months ago.
The boy, from the Arnota region in Pinahat block was bitten by the jackal, when he had gone to a nearby forest to attend nature’s call, according to a media report.
Family members have alleged that when they took him to health centres in the towns of Pinahat and Fatehabad, they were turned away by the hospital staff, who said anti-rabies vaccine was not available.
The boy’s family, being poor, took him to a quack who prescribed some home-made remedies. When the boy’s condition worsened last week, he was taken to a hospital in Agra city, where he was referred to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi. He died while being taken there. The hospitals named have denied any wrongdoing.
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