Environment

An 800lb (360kg) alligator, suspected of feasting on cattle, was killed by a farmer in Florida. The 15-Foot reptile was one of the biggest, professional hunter Lee Lightsey, had come across on his alligator farm in 18 years. He needed a tractor to pull the huge creature from a cattle pond on his land. The BBC reports: Mr Lightsey and hunting guide Blake Godwin discovered the alligator in cattle ponds while supervising a guided hunt on Saturday. When the creature surfaced about 20ft (6m) away from them, they shot it.

Turkey has slammed claims by NASA that a region in the country is experiencing its worst drought in 900 years.  Forestry and Waterworks Minister Veysel Eroglu criticised NASA’s technology as being “inadequate” and, addressing parliament, asked “Who does NASA think it is?” Middleeasteye.net reports: A report released by the US government’s space agency last month found that a drought affecting the eastern Mediterranean since 1998 is “likely the worst… of the past nine centuries”.

Ah, organic wine. Those of us who are against GMOs take comfort in knowing that our wine is, at the very least, organic. Or is it? Now, some devastating research has revealed that Monsanto’s tentacles have made their way into ‘organic wine’ in California.  According to TheInertia.com: Recent tests show that this is the case with Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller. This herbicide is produced by Monsanto, and it is used by farmers as a heavy-duty herbicide. Samples of wine from 10 different vineyards indicate the presence of Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, in every sample.

Over 2o people were injured and one person hospitalized after a swarm of 20,000 killer bees attacks a mosque in Phoenix, Arizona on Friday afternoon.  The unusual attack happened at the Muslim Community Mosque leading to roads being shutdown around the area as fire crews sprayed the building with foam to disperse the swarm of bees. Dailymail.co.uk reports: The bees had formed a nest under the eaves of the mosque. One mosque worker there told Azfamily.com that a man had already been booked for Saturday to remove the nest but the bees attacked earlier than expected.

Tigers held in captivity in China are being held in abhorrent conditions so that they can produce “tiger wine” – an aphrodisiac for Chinese men.  According to GeoBeats News: Captive tigers in China are being kept in appalling conditions in order to produce the aphrodisiac known as “tiger wine” for Chinese men, according to animal rights activists. It’s technically illegal in the country to breed the big cats in captivity, however, an exception allows tiger farms to do so if they are professedly in place to deter poaching, reports RT.