Gerson de Melo Machado ascended a 20-foot (6.1-meter) high wall to access the big cat's habitat at Parque Zoobotânico Arruda Câmara in João Pessoa, Paraíba, on Sunday, Nov. 30, as conveyed by local news sources like O Correio Brazilense, O Globo, and Folha de São Paulo.

The death of the 19-year-old Machado from the mauling was confirmed by the botanical zoo, home to hundreds of species, in a public news statement posted on Instagram, People Magazine noted.

Video: The video showing the lioness attack / Credit: Social media

The zoo stated: "Once the incident was confirmed, the park was immediately closed, following all safety protocols," and continued by mentioning: "The teams mobilized the competent authorities and provided the necessary support for the service and work of the experts."

Amid the ongoing investigation into the matter, the park stated it would remain closed, though it reassured visitors that it maintains "strict" safety standards, reports from People Magazine indicated.

The official news release finished by saying: "The Arruda Câmara Park is in solidarity with the family of the boy who passed away, deeply regrets the loss and wishes strength at this difficult time."

According to a statement from the City Hall of João Pessoa, cited by O Correio Brazilense, the zoo's security guards reportedly tried to prevent Machado from climbing into the lioness' enclosure, but he was too fast. The possibility that the actions were suicidal has yet to be discounted by the state's Civil Police forensics team.

Machado had previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had spent time in a number of institutions, according to O Correio Brazilense. He grew up in conditions of "extreme poverty" in a household with a history of mental health problems.

Verônica Oliveira, a child welfare counselor, recounted to the outlet that when he was a small child, he was the only one of his four siblings not adopted after being removed from their mother's custody.

He had numerous altercations with the authorities over the years, stemming from the time he started stealing as a youth. The report finished by stating that just last week, Machado had allegedly asked Oliveria for help securing work after being let out of prison.

Oliveria told O Correio Brazilense that "He was 19 years old, but when he spoke, I believe his cognitive ability was no more than that of a 5-year-old."

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Space weather forecasting presents unique difficulties because scientists must rely on observations from 93 million miles away rather than nearby measurements, with aurora chaser Melissa F. Kaelin calling it "an emerging science" where "humans still have a lot to learn about space weather," USA TODAY noted. Bill Murtagh, program coordinator at the Space Weather Prediction Center, told USA TODAY that "There are so many uncertainties, it makes it difficult to predict," acknowledging forecasters are "we are decades behind the forecast capabilities of our colleagues in meteorology."

Wednesday's most intense geomagnetic activity may peak during midday across North America, though if conditions persist past nightfall, aurora borealis could become visible from Alabama and Northern California northward, with northern tier states showing highest probability, AccuWeather reported. Coronal mass ejections change trajectory and strength during their Earth journey, and solar wind speed errors of just 1% to 2% translate into one to two hour arrival time differences, creating substantial forecast impacts, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center and CBS News.

Shawn Dahl, service coordinator at the Space Weather Prediction Center, told AccuWeather Nov 11 that the Veterans Day solar flare ranked among the most powerful of Solar Cycle 25, explaining "This was the 6th largest solar flare thus far in Solar Cycle 25 and perhaps among the top 39 solar flares recorded in the space age. It was less energetic than the October flare, but this time it is in a much more favorable position for a solar radiation storm (which we have in progress), and the associated CME is being evaluated at this time." Current solar activity represents the peak of the 11-year Solar Cycle 25, when eruptions reach maximum frequency.

Space weather warnings issued by the Met Office indicate "aurora displays will be visible across parts of the UK" Wednesday night Nov 12 into Thursday morning, with "Vibrant displays are set to be possible again" in northern Britain and possible sightings extending across England and Wales, though clouds may limit visibility. The Met Office issued both "extreme" and "severe" geomagnetic storm alerts, including a severe G5 storm notification from noon Wednesday through 11:59 pm Thursday Nov 13.

Red alert G5 conditions, the highest storm category, could enable aurora visibility throughout all of Britain, with Met Office aurora maps showing red-orange coverage across northern regions and green ovals indicating southern visibility prospects, the Met Office reported. Optimal viewing falls between 9 pm and 3 am Wednesday night, with forecasted peak activity around midnight.

The Met Office stated in its Wednesday forecast: "Two (Coronal mass ejections) CMEs arrived late on the 11 Nov with a further CME expected on the 12 Nov. These CMEs are associated with Strong class flares and increase in speed with each event. Aurora is expected across parts of northern UK and similar geomagnetic latitudes, with a chance of sighting further south across England and Wales. Cloud cover however will likely limit sightings, with the best of any breaks being towards southeast England (where the aurora is less likely) or perhaps the far north Scotland (aurora is more likely). Enhanced aurora may continue overnight Thursday, this is currently lower confidence though but more cloud breaks across parts of England and Wales and far North Scotland may lead to more sightings. Activity currently expected to then decline through the period, but it should be noted the area responsible for these CMEs is still present on the disc and this forecast may change." Clear skies prove essential for viewing since aurora displays occur hundreds of kilometers above cloud level, the Met Office added.

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Video obtained by the Telegraph captures the moment when paddling guides couldn't retreat quickly enough, allowing the charging animal to strike two boats and send occupants overboard within seconds.

The moment an elephant charged at tourists in Botswana Okavango Delta on Saturday.

American and British tourists escaped after a bull elephant overturned their canoes and briefly held a woman underwater. She escaped with help from her husband. Credit: CNP pic.twitter.com/RCqSuFeOX4

— Weather Monitor (@WeatherMonitors) September 29, 2025

The retreating elephant stepped on a struggling woman, holding her beneath the surface while searching with its trunk before returning to the herd unperturbed, footage shows, though she escaped unharmed despite what a former South African ranger called near-fatal timing, telling the Daily Mail: "She was incredibly lucky. Had the elephant held her down for a few more seconds, or gored her with its tusks, the outcome would likely have been fatal."

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Misty Combs and her office colleagues knew something was wrong when they observed a large raccoon pacing in a nearby parking lot one morning, a report from The Washington Post stated. After looking into a dumpster filled with rainwater and fermented peaches from a local distillery, they located two small raccoons.

They successfully used a shovel to lift one raccoon out of the dumpster, and it quickly ran away with the larger one, The Washington Post reported. The second small raccoon, however, was in critical condition: It was soaking wet, smelled of moonshine, and was barely breathing. The colleagues of Combs thought it was deceased.

Video: The heroic CPR efforts on the racoon / Social media

"Not on my watch," Combs, a nurse, recalled herself thinking, according to The Washington Post. "I'm going to try to do whatever I can do to save it." Combs, who is trained in CPR for humans but not animals, bent over the raccoon and started giving it animated stomach compressions while repeatedly yelling, "Come on, baby! Come on."

After one or two minutes, the raccoon began spitting up water, kicking its legs, and sticking its tongue out. Combs continued to pat its back until its breathing appeared normal. Since the Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Kentucky, first reported the story, Combs, 43, has become a local hero.

"I couldn't leave that baby in the dumpster knowing it was drowning, you know?" Combs told The Washington Post. "That's just a part of me: to save lives and to help wherever I can."

Employees at the Letcher County Health Department in Whitesburg sometimes notice an adult raccoon and two smaller raccoons under a nearby bridge. On Aug. 14, however, the adult raccoon was alone and seemed to be in distress near the dumpster.

The employees heard chittering sounds from inside the dumpster and saw the two animals. The neighboring Kentucky Mist Distillery had thrown large bags of fermented peaches inside. The distillery creates an infused peach moonshine that it advertises as "a golden blend of the freshest peaches grown in the southern region of Appalachia."

Combs noted that the first raccoon was on top of the peach bags, so it was easy to scoop out with the shovel. The other raccoon, though, was stuck further down in the rainwater.

Combs pulled the cold, unconscious mammal out by its tail. As a mother to Ford, 22, and Farrah, 19, Combs said her maternal instincts took over. She laid the raccoon on its back in the parking lot and started to compress its stomach with her bare hands.

Combs was careful about getting too close; she worried the raccoon–an animal that frequently carries rabies–might bite her if it awoke. Once it started spitting out water, someone off-camera said, "Oh, it's puking."

Then Combs turned the raccoon onto its right side and patted its back for about five minutes to help clear water from its lungs. Her colleagues wrapped it in a beige towel.

The coworkers of Combs called local animal control, which put the raccoon in a cage. Combs took the caged animal to a mechanical room in the back of her office building, where it remained until the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources arrived.

The colleagues and Combs named the raccoon Otis Campbell, based on the fictional character known as the "town drunk" in the 1960s television show "The Andy Griffith Show."

Colin Fultz, the owner of the Kentucky Mist Distillery, said he had "a scary few hours" after learning about the intoxicated raccoon but was relieved the mammal survived. He mentioned that he requested a lidded dumpster from the city so other animals do not jump in and drink from it.

After a veterinarian aided the raccoon's recovery, a wildlife official returned the animal to the parking lot the next morning. There, Combs took a photograph with the raccoon and opened its cage. "Don't bite me," she said before the raccoon ran by her, into the grass, and toward the base of the bridge.

Combs and her colleagues called out their goodbyes to Otis.

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The BBC confirmed the footage was genuine and showed the man emptying a can of Tusker, a popular local beer, into the elephant's trunk.

Outrage has erupted after a viral video showed a Spanish tourist pouring beer into the trunk of a tame elephant named Bupa at Ol Jogi Conservancy, Kenya.
Though the incident occurred last year, it surfaced online recently, triggering backlash from conservationists and citizens.… pic.twitter.com/Wb1GQzOmj7

— Liberty Wire (@LibertyWirein) September 1, 2025

He had captioned the post, "Just a tusker with a tusked friend," but intense criticism from Kenyans in the comments compelled the tourist to delete his video, the BBC reported, though the event has since raised broader concerns about wildlife safety.

The Ol Jogi Conservancy, a wildlife refuge in the central Kenyan county of Laikipia, expressed its alarm regarding the event. A statement from the conservancy cited by the BBC described the incident as, "It was unacceptable, dangerous and against our values."

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and other agencies are currently investigating the matter.

One staff member, using the pseudonym Frank, commented on the situation. The staffer told the BBC, "This should never have happened. We're a conservation group and we can't allow this to happen."

He also stated, "I was shocked by the behaviour of our unidentified guest. We don't even allow locals to go near the elephants."

The elephant given the beer has been identified by the KWS as Bupa, a friendly male, the BBC reported. The service added that the animal was rescued from a mass elephant cull in Zimbabwe in 1989.

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"It is possible to grow almost anything in the Negev," Moskowitz said. "Every year, about 100 million cubic meters of purified water are dumped into the sea instead of being diverted to the Negev. This is negligence. If we continue at this rate, we will become like Iran, a country suffering from ongoing drought with no solutions. Action must be taken now, not five years from now."

Moskowitz emphasized that the Negev is Israel's agricultural future, pointing to tens of thousands of unused acres, particularly in the Ramat Negev region, which could secure agricultural independence and ensure affordable food prices for consumers.

He criticized state policies over the past decade, arguing that government reliance on cheap imports had failed to reduce the cost of living. "The traders buy cheaply and sell at high prices, the state has no control, and the consumer ends up paying," he said. "After October 7, we all understood that food security cannot rely on imports. It must be based on local production."

The veteran agricultural leader insisted that food prices could be lowered significantly if the government expanded domestic production. "If we increase agricultural production in Israel, prices will fall. Today there are enormous brokerage gaps. The state must provide a safety net for farmers and consumers, just as Western countries do. That is the key to lowering prices, not imports and illusions."

Moskowitz concluded, "Israel has an opportunity to make the Negev the future of its agriculture. If we look after ourselves, we will secure food security for generations to come. If we continue to ignore the problem, we will find ourselves with empty shelves."

The Israel Agriculture Conference 2025 will take place September 2–4 at the Brown Hotel in Jerusalem. This year, the event will focus on the cost of living and the question of why life in Israel is so expensive, and how the country can ensure food security for its citizens.

The conference is being organized in cooperation with the Agriculture Ministry, the Regional Government Center, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), the Moshav Movement, the Kibbutz Movement, the KANAT Insurance Fund, and the Ramat Negev Regional Council.

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The enormous rodent was discovered by a pest control professional responding to infestation reports at a property in Normanby, according to local media. The massive rat, believed to be among the largest ever documented in Britain, had been living inside the residential property and resembled what experts describe as a "sewer rat," the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported. While the method of entry remains unknown, residents had previously spotted similar creatures in nearby alleyways, raising concerns about the scope of the infestation.

Photographs of the giant rodent shared on social media have alarmed local residents and triggered demands for comprehensive pest control measures across Redcar and Cleveland. The images show a creature roughly the size of a small dog, highlighting the severity of the vermin problem facing the community, The Mirror reported.

Councillors David Taylor and Stephen Martin, who represent the Eston ward, have characterized the situation as deteriorating and called for immediate intervention by Redcar and Cleveland Council. The officials are pushing for a complete vermin assessment and borough-wide treatment program that would encompass council-owned properties while engaging businesses, landlords and social housing providers, Teeside Live reported.

The councillors' demands come following recent incidents involving dangerous plants affecting local children, underscoring growing public health concerns in the area. The discovery has intensified existing frustrations over waste management practices that councillors say are contributing to the rodent explosion.

Good grief!
Massive rat found in Normanby, Redcar and Cleveland.
(Labour-run council.) pic.twitter.com/Mv9Du90IqT

— Euphrosene Labon aka Wise El (@euphrosene) August 3, 2025

Describing the captured rodent as "massive," local official David Taylor compared its size to "a small cat or dog," noting that pest control professionals had informed him that typical sewer rats can reach such dimensions. His assessment reflects growing concerns about the potential for larger infestations if current conditions persist.

Following patterns seen across numerous local authorities, Redcar and Cleveland Council has discontinued pest control services for private property owners, though it maintains a full-time officer dedicated to addressing issues on council-owned land. Additionally, social housing providers do not universally provide pest control services, offering them only at their discretion when available.

"They'll keep multiplying and unless there is a big cull in the area, people will keep experiencing this," Cllr Taylor warned. His statement reflects concerns that without immediate intervention, the community will face recurring encounters with oversized rodents.

A council representative responded to the concerns, stating that "the council has a dedicated pest control officer who manages pest issues on council-owned land. While we no longer provide a wider pest control service, we do offer advice to residents where possible." The spokesperson emphasized ongoing collaboration with Beyond Housing, Northumbrian Water and other partners to address complex issues and explore potential solutions, while directing residents to guidance and preventative measures available on the council's website for pest management support.

The enormous rodent, resembling a "sewer rat" and measuring nearly two feet long, has triggered warnings that Redcar and Cleveland's vermin problem is spiraling out of control as overflowing bins and poor waste management create ideal breeding conditions.

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The bear, identified as JJ4 or Gaia, has been moved to a high-security facility at the Alternative Wolf and Bear Park located in Germany's Black Forest region in the southwestern part of the country. DPA confirmed the transfer was completed successfully.

A team from the park accompanied Gaia as she arrived in Germany at 6:00 a.m. (0400 GMT), according to DPA. Her transport from Italy proceeded without complications, staff members confirmed. "She is receiving care, has consumed food and is displaying calm behavior," officials stated.

She first remained in the transport container she traveled in and will spend additional hours there before venturing out to examine the area designated for her residence, following veterinary recommendations, a park spokesperson told DPA.

Gaia received sedation prior to her departure from Italy to facilitate her placement into the transport container, but the group only began their journey after she had recovered consciousness, DPA reported.

During the morning hours, the park intended to attempt releasing the bear into a temporary enclosure within the facility grounds. Based on her emotional condition, the team planned to allow Gaia access to the larger high-security enclosure later during the day, according to DPA.

The bear struck and killed a jogger on a frequented mountain trail in the northern Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige during April 2023, DPA reported.

The animal was seized and transported to a containment facility near Trento city. Regional president Maurizio Fugatti issued orders for Gaia's execution, but judicial authorities halted the decree following petitions from animal rights advocates, according to DPA.

Gaia was scheduled for transfer to Germany during 2024, but construction of the €1 million ($1.1 million) enclosure, financed through charitable contributions, encountered substantial delays caused by heavy rainfall in the mountainous, forested landscape, DPA reported. The timing of her relocation from Italy remained confidential initially due to concerns about potential demonstrations, according to DPA.

Jurka, Gaia's mother, has resided at the animal sanctuary since 2010, DPA confirmed. Gaia will also receive a new name, since a wolf at the sanctuary shares the same designation. "We don't want to display her as a 'killer bear,'" the spokesperson explained to DPA.

The area where the bear will reside remains hidden from public view and features electric fencing, camera monitoring and anti-digging barriers to prevent her escape, DPA reported.

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In images reminiscent of the biblical plague of blood from the Exodus story, Florida's coasts experience a concerning natural phenomenon every year that turns the sea red: "red tide." Now, in a new study, researchers from the University of South Florida have identified for the first time nearly a dozen viruses connected to this mysterious phenomenon, according to a report in The Independent.

Finally, Karenia brevis has been identified as the cause of 'red tide' as researchers identified nearly a dozen viruses associated with red tides that are harmful and costly https://t.co/DTZoaASsS7 pic.twitter.com/TujfH9dW5R

— Samer سامر (@sam6) March 23, 2025

 The new research, published in the journal mSphere of the American Society for Microbiology, could help predict future "red tide" events and possibly even prevent some of their severe damages.

What is red tide – and why is it dangerous? Red tide is actually a massive bloom of Karenia brevis algae, a single-celled organism that produces neurotoxins. The algae bloom causes the death of fish, birds, and other marine creatures, and can cause respiratory problems in humans and even death.

The phenomenon is driven by environmental factors such as ocean currents, nutrients washed into the water, extreme weather events, and climate changes that lead to rising sea temperatures. The red tide occurs naturally in Florida almost every year, typically in late summer or early fall, and lasts between three and five months, according to data from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Service (FWC), which partnered in the research.

An aggressive toxic algal bloom called 'red tide' is killing ocean life in Florida, where there's now a state of emergency pic.twitter.com/idSykdABhI

— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) August 18, 2018

The economic damages of the phenomenon are estimated in the millions of dollars, and it affects large areas. Just last month, a strip of red water in Florida stretched for more than 199 miles, from the Tampa Bay area to Key West. The phenomenon is not unique to Florida, and around the same period, Argentina's coasts also turned red.

With climate change and continued warming, the red tide phenomenon raises concern, as according to researchers, rising temperatures are one of the factors encouraging the phenomenon.

During "red tide" events, researchers collected samples of Karenia brevis blooms to analyze them in the laboratory. They used a method that determines the DNA composition of the sample to find the viruses. "We know that viruses play an important role in the dynamics of harmful algae blooms, but we didn't know which viruses might be associated with Karenia brevis blooms," said Jean Lim, the lead researcher of the study from the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida. "Now that we've identified several viruses in the red tide bloom, we can work to determine which viruses might affect these events."

According to Lim, "There may be a connection between the abundance of viruses and the dynamics of the bloom. For example, an increase in the number of viruses found in a sample might indicate that a red tide bloom is about to begin, or that it is about to end."

The new findings could improve monitoring and prediction efforts for the phenomenon. Since viruses target specific organisms, they may provide an environmentally friendly way to manage the blooms. "There may be specific viruses that might only infect Karenia brevis," Lim added. "If we can identify and isolate these viruses, they could be used as a biological control agent."

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