Bird flu detected in pigs for first time as confirmed human cases double in two weeks
Reply
101-Year-Old Bowhunter Bags a Buck
Summerville man turns himself after shooting couple while deer hunting. A judge has set a high dollar bond.
- By Caitlin Bell and Alan Hovorka cabell@postandcourier.com, ahovorka@postandcourier.com
- Oct 31, 2024 Updated Oct 31, 2024
SUMMERVILLE — A hunter who fired a 20-gauge shotgun at a couple on a walking trail told a magistrate Oct. 31 he knew he wasn’t supposed to be hunting near the path.
Kristofer Kelle McDonald, 20, of Summerville, turned himself into the Dorchester Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 30 after he killed a woman and wounded her husband as they were walking their dog at night.
Police said McDonald mistook the couple for a deer when he fired his shotgun at them. Lori Wind, a 54-year-old Summerville resident, died at the scene.
Today’s Top Headlines
Story continues below
- Why is International Paper closing its Georgetown mill? Here’s what the CEO said.
- ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ hat sparks cursing, shoving, alleged punch at South Carolina polling place
- As employees struggle with losing mill jobs, what’s next for Georgetown?
- Pilot error caused missing F-35 jet and ejection over North Charleston, investigation finds
- FBI searches home of Myrtle Beach pastor JP Miller. Attorney doesn’t know why.
- A King Street bar manager survived ‘an unspeakable episode’ of assault at work, lawsuit alleges
- A pecan festival was a big bet for this small SC town. After 20 years, has it paid off?
- Upper King Street Mexican restaurant to close at the end of the year. Here’s why.
- Prime Steakhouse’s founder has stepped away from ownership of popular Aiken restaurant
- Summerville brothers plead guilty in conspiracy. Feds seize $35 million in counterfeit Viagra
The sheriff’s office charged him with involuntary manslaughter and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, according to arrest warrants.
The S.C. Department of Natural Resources has charged him with night hunting and two counts of negligent use of a firearm resulting in death and great bodily harm.
Dorchester County Magistrate Judge Tara Frost set a $400,000 cash surety bond for McDonald on Oct. 31.
McDonald appeared by video before Frost. He told the judge he didn’t think he was a bad person and said the shooting was an accident.
“I knew I wasn’t supposed be out there,” McDonald said from jail.
McDonald does not have an attorney. Frost reminded him against incriminating himself.
First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe’s office will decide whether to prosecute.
About 10 of his family members packed into a small Dorchester County bond courtroom as Frost decided whether to release him from custody. McDonald lives with his family. His father said his son is not a flight risk and would work 12-hour shifts at his company once released.
His father told Frost he would remove all other firearms from their home.
In a news conference before the bond hearing, Dorchester County Chief Deputy Sam Richardson declined to say whether McDonald owned the shotgun, if he had a hunting permit or any hunter safety training.
Richardson said McDonald and his family are cooperating with the investigation.
Richardson said he didn’t know if McDonald or the victims were using a flashlight or any other kind of illumination or low-light vision equipment. He said police do not think there was any residual daylight from sunset and that the walking trail does not have cameras.
He declined to say about how far away McDonald was when he shot at the couple.
“There is no excuse for being reckless with a firearm,” he said.
1 killed, 1 arrested after shooting at Georgetown County store
- From Staff Reports
At about 8:15 p.m. Oct. 29, Wind and her husband were walking their dog along the Sawmill Branch Trail when about three or four shots came at them from a wooded area, according to an arrest warrant.
Police found Wind lying dead next to the unlighted paved walking trail. Wind’s husband was taken to a hospital. The chief deputy did not know his condition. Richardson said the 911 call came in soon after the shooting.
Richardson said police were made aware that hunters were sometimes reported near the walking trail. He said the sheriff’s office is working with Summerville Police Chief Doug Wright to step up patrols of the area. He said it’s one of the few green spaces in the area that does not allow visitors at night. Generally, Summerville parks are open until 10 p.m., he said.
Hunting licenses are required for everyone age 16 and older in South Carolina, according to S.C. Code of Laws and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.
People born after June 30, 1979, must complete a hunter education course before obtaining a license, said DNR spokesperson Stephen Fastenau.
“Ultimately, it is a hunter’s responsibility to clearly identify (the) target and what lies beyond it, along with adhering to other essential safety rules,” Fastenau told The Post and Courier.
Always pointing a firearm in a safe direction is one key principle covered in mandatory hunter education, he said.
For people enjoying recreational trails near hunting areas, Fastenau said wearing an orange safety vest or hat and carrying a flashlight in low-light conditions or at night can aid in visibility.
Richardson said state law prohibits hunting deer within 300 yards of residential structures.
Summerville High School alums remember lifelong friend found murdered in Texas
- By Caitlin Bell cabell@postandcourier.com
There have been 10 hunting-related deaths in South Carolina between Jan. 1, 2020 and present, according to Fastenau.
This incident is the second fatality tied to hunting in 2024. On Jan. 21, 2024, a 13-year-old boy died while squirrel hunting on private property in Orangeburg County when the boy’s friend shot and killed him.
In Nov. 2023, 6-year-old Avery Davis was shot and killed by a stray shotgun pellet in Orangeburg, according to previous reports in The Post and Courier.
The boy had been hunting with his father in an elevated tree stand with another 6-year-old when a teenager on the ground shot too high. The stray buckshot struck Davis in the side of the head. He died at an area hospital.
In April 2023, a turkey hunter was killed in Laurens County, according to previous reports in by The Post and Courier.
On Dec. 26, 2022, a 17-year-old was killed in Kershaw County.
On New Year’s Day 2020, a father and daughter, mistaken for deer, were shot and killed by other hunters in Walterboro, according to previous reporting by The Post and Courier.
Hunter kills charging grizzly near Montana-Idaho state line
Ask Indiana commission to not allow bobcat trapping
‘Gut wrenching’: Sea lion with mouth sealed by netting rescued at Race Rocks
The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society, which sent rescuers to the ecological preserve off Metchosin on Oct. 22, described the situation as “gut wrenching.”
Darron Kloster, video by Alanna Kelly2 days ago2 days ago
- https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/letters/2024/10/31/letters-dave-hall-bobcat-trapping-harris-vs-trump-iu-student-media/75944233007/
PauseUnmute
Loaded: 100.00%
Remaining Time -0:42Picture-in-PictureFullscreen
An adult male sea lion with gill netting so deeply embedded around its mouth and neck that it was starving was rescued on Race Rocks this month.
The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society, which sent rescuers to the ecological preserve off Metchosin on Oct. 22, described the situation as “gut wrenching.”
“Even for seasoned rescuers, seeing the extent of this animal’s suffering was distressing,” said Lindsaye Akhurst, senior manager of the society.
She said the net was tight and embedded deep into the sea lion’s neck, and his mouth was completely wrapped shut.
“The sea lion hadn’t been able to eat for what could have been weeks or even months,” Akhurst said. “We knew we had to act fast. … This was one of the most heartbreaking but rewarding rescues I’ve been a part of.”
The distressed sea lion had been reported two days earlier by the ecoguardian at Race Rocks Ecological Preserve. Rescuers co-ordinated a response with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, B.C. Parks, and Pearson College, which posts the guardians at the Race Rocks lighthouse.
Dr. Martin Haulena, head veterinarian of Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue, sedated the sea lion with a dart, and the animal plunged into the ocean. A drone operated by federal fisheries personnel tracked the sea lion’s movements, helping the team approach safely once the animal was fully sedated.
It took 75 minutes for the the team to carefully remove the netting from around the animal’s neck, face and mouth. The netting was embedded so deeply that surgical scissors were required to cut away the entanglement.
After it was removed, the sea lion was given antibiotics, pain management and the sedative was reversed. The animal was observed swimming away and later hauled out onto a nearby rock, showing signs of recovery.
Haulena stressed the importance of preventing similar incidents.
“Rescues like this highlight the ongoing problem of marine debris,” he said. “While we’re grateful this sea lion is recovering, we need to focus on stopping these entanglements from happening in the first place.”
Race Rocks Ecological Preserve, located about 1.5 kilometres from shore and 14 km from Victoria, has been managed by Pearson College in Metchosin since 1997. The school maintains classrooms and residences there for ecoguardians who keep watch over several buildings and the Canadian Coast Guard’s automated lighthouse.
The group of small islands is sometimes called the Galapagos of the North because of its unique high tidal current that attracts marine mammals, sea birds, fish, algae and sea grass.
It’s a major haul out area for California and northern sea lions and a birthing rookery for harbour seals — and the most northerly birthing colony on the Pacific coast of North America for the northern elephant seal.
In its daily census, last updated on Sunday, a guardian counted 282 Steller sea lions, 425 California sea lions, 36 harbour seals and seven orcas, along with “too many” humpback whales to count.
Bird flu hits 2nd Tulare County poultry farm, 145 California dairies; 16 people infected
Visalia Times-Delta
0:17
1:34
A second commercial broiler poultry farm west of Springville in Tulare County was confirmed to have an outbreak of bird flu on Oct. 24.
This outbreak affects an estimated 6,000 birds. On Oct. 16, a neighboring poultry farm with a flock of 786,600 birds, was also confirmed to have the disease.
H5N1 avian influenza, better known as bird flu, has been confirmed in 145 dairies in California in the past 30 days, according to the USDA Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on Oct. 29. That number does not include the dairies affected by the disease in the first four weeks of the outbreak.
As a comparison, the rest of the U.S. has a total of two confirmed bird flu cases in livestock herds, both in Idaho.
There are now 16 human cases of bird flu in California, according to the Oct. 28 update from the California Department of Public Health.
The Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency reported that 11 of those cases were in Tulare County. Cases have also been reported in Kings and Kern counties.
Men sentenced for hunting deer with a dog
Man mauled to death by bear during hunting trip, troopers say
Deer hunter mauled to death by bear in Alaska, troopers say
Updated on: October 31, 2024 / 2:50 PM EDT / CBS News
An overdue hunter was found dead after he was mauled by a bear in Alaska, authorities said.
Tad Fujioka, 50, of Sitka, Alaska, was reported overdue from a deer hunting trip on Tuesday evening, the Alaska State Troopers said in a dispatch Wednesday. State wildlife troopers and the U.S. Coast Guard launched multiple search teams to look for Fujioka on Wednesday morning in a remote wooded area.
At about 11:30 am, Fujioka’s remains were found and an “investigation revealed he was the likely victim of a fatal bear mauling,” troopers said.
Brown bears had apparently mauled Fujioka and consumed a deer he had killed, the Associated Press reported. A Coast Guard helicopter spotted three bears near the dead deer and alerted search crews, troopers spokesperson Tim DeSpain said in an email to The AP.
Officials said that Fujioka’s body was recovered and his next of kin have been notified.
00:00
02:00
Read More
Alaska is home to black bears and polar bears but brown bears — which include grizzlies — are the most common in the state.
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, brown bears and grizzly bears are both common names for the same species, Ursus arctos, but the main difference is their geographic location. Brown bears typically live along the southern coast of the state while grizzlies can be found in the northern and interior parts of the state.
Sitka is located on Baranof Island in southeastern Alaska, about 90 miles southwest of Juneau.
In August, authorities said a hunter was seriously injured in Alaska after being mauled by a brown bear and shot during an effort to fend it off.
Exposing the Big Game 