by: Mike Suriani

Posted: Aug 20, 2024 / 05:34 PM CDT

Updated: Aug 21, 2024 / 12:54 PM CDT

SHARE https://wreg.com/news/friends-mourn-hunting-buddy-killed-in-car-accident/

OXFORD, Miss. — Friends are mourning the loss of a teenager killed in a motor vehicle accident over the weekend.

“It shows how short life is,” a friend said. “How quick something can happen – in an instant.”

Gray Cassidy, 19, died after his truck flipped and landed upside down in a pond off Lafayette County Road 103.

“Gray was an awesome person,” Forrest Rowe said. “He always had a smile on his face and he would do anything for anybody.”

Rowe was emotional while recalling his relationship wth Cassidy. A young man he described as a best friend and a hunting buddy.ORIGINAL STORY: Oxford teen killed in car accident on MS road

‘We didn’t start out very, very close but we ended up starting to hunt together more and more and more,” Rowe said. “He started becoming part of my family and I started becoming part of his.”

https://134c662ff1336f61d5971f1f1e718a66.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html

Like many, Rowe was concerned when Cassidy didn’t return home Sunday and he was in the process of going to help search for him.

“We were trying to figure out where he was,” Rowe said. “(We) asked around, asked people he may have been with just to see where he could be because it wasn’t like him to just not show back up at home.”

Rowe would soon learn Cassidy died when his truck flipped and landed upside down in a pond off Lafayette County Road 103.

“I was very distraught,” Rowe said. “I had to pull over and get out. I just broke down.”

https://134c662ff1336f61d5971f1f1e718a66.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.htmlBallet dancer in hospital after hit-and-run crash; family thanks woman who helped saved him

WREG was told that one of Gray Cassidy’s favorite things to do was come out to Sporting Life Kennels, where Rowe works and hang out with a red labrador named Murf.

“He really loved the way Murf looked and how pretty he was,” Rowe said. “So, that’s why he was so in love with him.”

Cassidy was part of a group of local hunters from Lafayette County who posted videos on a channel called “Sandycreek.tv.”

“You could count on Gray for anything,” Sam Sciortino said. “If you were broken down on the ride of the road in the middle of the night and you coud get a hold of him, he’d be there.”

According to the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office, the accident is still under investigation.

Funeral services are set for Thursday at Waller Funeral Home in Oxford.

A ‘Tom and Jerry’-like chase scenario may have help the pathogen spread from a nearby farm

Maeve Cullinan, Global Health Security Reporter20 August 2024 • 3:30pm

Related Topics

• Global Health Security, 
• Bird Flu, 
• Pandemics and epidemics, 
• North America

• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/indoor-house-cats-have-died-of-bird-flu-how-did-they-get-it/

6

Scientists are racing to understand how several house cats caught and died from bird flu in Colorado despite never having been outdoors.

The United States is battling an outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza that has now spread to nearly 200 dairy herds and at least 13 US farm workers have also contracted the virus since March, over half of which are in Colorado.

In recent years the virus has also infected a wide variety of smaller mammals including skunks, foxes, hedgehogs, sea lions, and even a polar bear. But it is the infection of at least six cats, including two who lived their whole lives inside, that has state officials worried as they try to piece together how the virus is spreading between species.

Cats suffer particularly badly from H5N1. In previous outbreaks, infected felines have suffered rabies-like symptoms including blindness, disorientation, paralysis, difficulty breathing, and bloody diarrhoea before dying. 

Although there is clearly a lot of virus circulating in Colorado, how indoor cats might have caught bird flu is unclear.

“It raises many questions about how the virus got inside the houses,” Dr Rick Bright, an influenza and immunologist expert, told The Telegraph. 

“Possibilities include that the cats could have been fed raw milk or food products that contain live virus. The virus could also be brought into the house by people who might be infected with the virus or have the virus on their clothes or shoes. 

“It is unclear how close these infected animals are to farms with active infections, or if the cats reside with farmworkers or contract workers brought in to help manage the outbreak,” Dr Bright explained.

Playing cat-and-mouse

Dr Scott Weese, an infectious disease veterinarian, said there are several theories on how the cats got infected, “none of which are great.” 

One theory is a Tom and Jerry-like scenario whereby indoor cats hunt mice around the house that might themselves have caught the infection from a nearby farm.

“Mice can be infected but I’d expect that to mainly be a risk in houses very close to poultry or dairy farms with active infections, since mice don’t move very far,” Dr Weese told The Telegraph.

“Birds can sometimes sneak into houses, and consumption of raw meat could definitely be an option since that’s been a reported transmission route in a few countries,” he added.

Last year, at least 12 cats died in Poland after a local outbreak erupted in the south of the country. The deaths were eventually traced back to the consumption of raw cat food that contained traces of live virus from infected chickens. 

Similarly in South Korea, almost 40 cats died in 2023 after eating cat food which contained infected duck. 

Aside from the two indoor cats, three of the six who died lived partly outdoors, and likely contracted the virus by hunting infected mice or small birds. The sixth cat lived on a farm and likely contracted the virus from drinking infected milk from a sick cow. 

“We need to make sure that we’re not missing other modes of transmission that we’re not aware of,” said Krutika Kuppalli, a spokesperson for the Infectious Disease Society of America and former WHO medical officer.

“We need to be asking questions like: did those houses only have cats? Were there other animals present that could have been exposed? Have any people living in those houses become infected?” she added.

“There needs to be a lot more surveillance and information sharing, because none of these questions are clear at all,” Dr Kuppalli said. 

Colorado health officials released a statement in which they urged vets to consider H5N1 when treating unwell felines, even if the cats don’t live on or near farms due to the high level of the virus circulating in Colorado.

What would you do if you found a cougar caught in a trap? You should call these guys, that’s what.

byMihai Andrei

 August 19, 2024

in News, Videos

Reading Time: 3 mins read

https://www.zmescience.com/other/videos/cougar-mountain-lion-trap-rescue-redone/

 Edited and reviewed by Tibi Puiu

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Cougars (or mountain lions) are some of the most elusive and powerful predators in North America. Despite their hunting prowess, these majestic creatures are also vulnerable to dangers posed by human activities. One of the most distressing scenarios is when a cougar becomes caught in a trap, often set for other animals. What would you do if you found a cougar caught in a trap? Don’t take on the task yourself, just call the professionals. Here’s how they handle it:

The trapped animal is in pain and furious, and no doubt a less experienced savior would have been torn to shreds despite good intentions. Cougars, also known as pumas and mountain lions are some of the biggest, heaviest, and most dangerous felines in the world. Yet with careful management, the animal can be safely released — safely both for its own sake and for the sake of its saviors.

Cougars caught in traps can suffer from severe injuries, stress, and even death if not quickly rescued. The powerful legs of a cougar can be broken or severely damaged in a leg-hold trap, while snares can cause suffocation or deep wounds. The longer the animal remains trapped, the greater the risk of permanent injury or death.

Research shows that traps are a bigger problem than you think. In one study, most studied cougars were killed by anthropogenic sources, and traps are a big part of that. Even those who managed to escape or were released from traps suffered wounds that reduced their chance of survival.

“Given anthropogenic sources of mortality accounted for 100% of recorded mortality of adult females, mortality from non-target trapping is likely additive to other sources of mortality in our study area. We recommend regulatory agencies consider the possibility of unintentional take and potential for reduced long-term survival of females where these large fields are sympatric with bobcats, and trapping of bobcats with foothold traps is a legal activity,” write the study authors, led by Alyson M. Andreasen from the University of Nevada Reno.

This is not the only spectacular mountain lion trap release. Using catch poles, Idaho Fish and Game officers released a mountain lion accidentally caught in a trap.

Another cougar trap rescue case happened in Utah. The trapper was hoping for something else in his trap. After a couple of failed attempts, he manages to get the noose over the lion’s head to control the furious animal and with great care, releases the trap and sets the animal free.