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Cambodia records 1st death from H5N1 bird flu so far this year
Cambodia records 1st death from H5N1 bird flu so far this year
Source: Xinhua| 2024-02-09 21:43:16|Editor: huaxia
https://english.news.cn/asiapacific/20240209/13d2027a556d4a7496f76f99a5a4b4b7/c.html
PHNOM PENH, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) — A nine-year-old boy from northeastern Cambodia’s Kratie province had died of H5N1 avian influenza, the first death from the virus in the country so far this year, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Friday.
“Laboratory results from the National Institute of Public Health showed on Thursday that the boy was positive for H5N1 bird flu,” the ministry said.
The boy was pronounced dead on Thursday, although the medical team had provided him intensive care, the ministry said, adding that the victim had the symptoms of fever, rapid breathing, cough and coma.
“According to queries, five chicken and three ducks had died at the boy’s house, and the dead poultry were cooked for food,” the ministry said.
A team of health experts was looking into the source of the infection and examining any suspected cases or people who have been in contact with the victim in order to prevent an outbreak in the community, the ministry added.
Tamiflu, an antiviral drug to prevent bird flu from spreading, was also given out to people who had direct contact with the boy, the ministry said.
H5N1 influenza is a flu that normally spreads between sick poultry, but it can sometimes spread from poultry to humans, and its symptoms include fever, cough, running nose and severe respiratory illness.
The ministry said bird flu still poses threat to people’s health, especially children, calling on people not to eat ill or dead poultry.
A total of 65 cases of human infection with H5N1 influenza have been recorded since 2003, including 42 deaths in the Southeast Asian country, according to the ministry. ■
Belgium bans hunting trophy imports, activists want Europe to follow
Man who brought Alaskan Kodiak bears to Florida facing numerous charges
https://www.al.com/news/2024/02/man-who-brought-alaskan-kodiak-bears-to-florida-facing-numerous-charges-cubs-safe-at-zoo.html?fbclid=IwAR0o1DoGd4v5uY62f5M8J35b_-GKOltnssV6Pp6JTD_nR4pQmnL2XfIQiv0
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While two Kodiak bear cubs who were found wandering a Florida highway in December are now safe inside the Panama City Zoo, the same cannot be said for the man who brought the cubs to the Florida Panhandle.
Shae Allen Hensley of Baker, Fla., is facing nearly a dozen charges from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission (FWC), according to WEAR in Pensacola.
Among the charges: unlawfully importing the two Kodiak bears without obtaining a permit; failing to report the cubs’ escape; and obtaining the animals without the proper enclosure.
He was also issued warnings for having improper enclosures for other animals, including foxes, skunks and raccoons.
The two Kodiak cubs were found wandering along Old River Road in the unincorporated community of Baker in the early morning hours of Dec. 5, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigation led to what the sheriff’s office described as an “inadequate” enclosure belonging to a “self-proclaimed bear trainer,” later identified as Hensley.
According to an incident report obtained by the outlet, Hensley claimed he had the necessary permits when he obtained the two Kodiaks in February of last year. But the FWC said his license was expired and he didn’t submit an application to import the bears until a month later. That application still hasn’t been approved.
The facility in which he housed the bears was never inspected, as required by law. The report says the enclosure in which the bears were kept was nothing more than chain link fence with a wire-mesh roof.
Hensley said the bear cubs escaped because he forgot to secure the gate, according to the report.
Additionally, Hensley claims he was training the bears for Larry Wallach, a New York resident known in the exotic animal trade and the subject of a national Humane Society investigation which revealed mistreatment of animals in his care. Wallach has denied the allegations.
The FWC noted Wallach also does not have a valid license to import or own bears in Florida. WEAR also reported Hensley’s property is listed for sale.
The two Kodiak cubs, meanwhile, are residing at ZooWorld in Panama City Beach. It wasn’t immediately known if that will become the cubs’ permanent home.
World surpasses key warming threshold across an entire year for the first time
PUBLISHED THU, FEB 8 20244:47 AM ESTUPDATED THU, FEB 8 20246:21 AM EST
Sam Meredith@WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/SAMUELMEREDITH@SMEREDITH19
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KEY POINTS
- Scientists on Thursday said the world surpassed a key warming threshold across an entire year for the first time on record.
- The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said the global mean temperature for the 12-month period through to January was 1.52 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.
- “Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures increasing,” Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S, said in a statement.
A firefighter stands on boulders covered with pink fire retardant while monitoring the Gavilan Fire, which has already burned more than 250 acres in Perris, Riverside County, California, on July 15, 2023.
David Swanson | Afp | Getty Images
Scientists on Thursday said the world surpassed a key warming threshold across an entire year for the first time on record, calling to slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said the global mean temperature for the 12-month period through to January was 1.52 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average, and 0.64 degrees above the 1991-2020 average.
The findings do not represent a break of the landmark Paris Agreement, which aims to “limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels” over the long term.
But the EU’s climate monitor said the data reinforces the need to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid the worst of what the climate crisis has in store.
C3S also confirmed that the first month of 2024 was the warmest January on record, with an average surface temperature of 13.14 degrees Celsius — some 0.7 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average and 0.12 degrees Celsius higher than the previous warmest January, logged in 2020.
Each of the seven months prior to January also broke heat records for their respective time of the year.
Scientists recently confirmed 2023 as the hottest year on record.
“2024 starts with another record-breaking month — not only is it the warmest January on record but we have also just experienced a 12-month period of more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial reference period,” Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S, said in a statement.
“Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures increasing.”
‘A rapidly shrinking window’
The data comes after repeated warnings that the world remains “massively off track” to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold is recognized as a crucial long-term target because so-called tipping points become more likely beyond this level. If passed, tipping points can lead to dramatic shifts or potentially irreversible changes to some of Earth’s largest systems.
Matt Patterson, a postdoctoral research assistant in atmospheric physics at the University of Oxford, described the findings of C3S as a “significant milestone,” but cautioned that they do not mean the Paris Agreement has failed.
“A single year above the 1.5C threshold is not enough to breach the Paris climate agreement as the agreement concerns temperatures averaged over 20 to 30 years,” Patterson said.
“However, exceeding 1.5C in one year underlines the rapidly shrinking window of time humanity has to make deep emissions cuts and avoid dangerous climate change.”
A farmstead is seen in a valley with little snow near Prags, Italy, on February 6, 2024.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
The U.N. notes that the world has already warmed by around 1.1 degrees Celsius, fueling a series of extreme weather events around the world.
Brian Hoskins, chair of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, said the C3S findings were a “stark warning of the urgency for the action that is required to limit climate change at anything like the Paris targets.”
Exposing the Big Game 