Free Republic

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dropped a legal appeal Thursday to reinstate a rule that would have allowed the killing of bald eagles by wind and solar power companies.

An Africanized breed of honeybees, sometimes known as “killer bees” because of its swarming, aggressive and deadly nature when its colony is threatened, has found its way to the Bay Area for the first time, researchers say. The bees were found in a Lafayette subdivision called Reliez Valley, near the southeast side of Briones Regional Park, by UC San Diego researchers who have been tracking the bees’ movement throughout the state. Until now, the bees had been detected only as far north as Mariposa County in California’s more inland Central Valley, but are likely attracted by the Bay Area’s warming...

DOVER TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WWJ/AP) — Police say a golfer from Ohio has died after being stung at least 20 times by bees as he searched for a ball in woods in northern Michigan. Michigan State Police Sgt. Mark Tamlyn says Darryl Dever of Powell was pronounced dead Wednesday after having trouble breathing. Tamlyn told WWJ Newsradio 950 that Dever and a friend — a doctor — were golfing together at Treetops Resort’s north course when Dever went into the woods to retrieve a ball.

The Black Rock Desert, Nevada, site for this year's Burning Man has been inundated with biting bugs, it emerged this week. Several photos uploaded to Twitter this week showed swarms of bugs, both on the ground and in the air. User @khloestarr shared one such photograph, writing: 'Bugs on the playa this year. Not normal. Shouldn't a dust storm knock them out? Like Burningman [sic] wasn't gross enough.' On Tuesday, a blog post on the page for Voices of Burning Man reported on the insects' presence.

South Florida is full of exotic animal invaders who have found a home in our hot, humid climate. Iguanas, pythons, tegu lizards and now giant African land snails can all be found here. The snails showed up in Miami in 2011, and have now spread as far north as Davie. Despite their slow speed, these snails spread quickly because they can lay as many as 300 eggs per month, they have no natural predators here, and they eat just about everything that grows in this environment. "That includes everything we grow as food," said Mark Fagan of the Florida Department...

Times Square is usually buzzing with activity, but Tuesday, a different kind of buzz drew a lot of attention. A swarm of bees decided to visit, and take over a parked bicycle near 7th Avenue and 56th Street. The NYPD called in their beekeeper, who then rounded up the flying insects by vacuuming them. Officials say there are no reports of anyone being stung in the area. They believe the bees migrated because their hive was too full

A massive swarm of grasshoppers and beetles is making its way toward Oklahoma. Park rangers from Copper Breaks State Park in Quanah, Texas say the mob is so huge that its movement is being picked up on radar. They are reportedly headed northeast towards Oklahoma. We don’t know if they will reach us, but they are making impressive time. The National Weather Service says it is not unusual for the bugs to travel like this during the summer, but it is pretty incredible to watch it on radar. “It doesn’t take a whole lot of bugs to cause that on...

A town near Barcelona has announced that it is putting its pigeons on contraceptives in order to reduce the growing population of feathered fiends. The Catalan town of Badia del Vallès announced the plan via a statement on the town hall website. "Every morning, three automatic dispensers will scatter the required dosage to the pigeon population," said the statement. Each pigeon will be fed 10 grams of Ovistop, a product made of corn seeds covered in Nicarbazin, which acts as a contraceptive for the birds. The first dispenser was installed on Monday July 13th near the town's Civil Guard headquarters,...

The ants take turns walking on one another to stay out of the water and survive. They eventually build dense circles like the one Nathan captured on his phone. "I was floored when I saw them," said Nathan's dad, Dwayne. "I had never seen anything like that."

WASHINGTON -- U.S. National Park Service officials fed up with goose droppings on the National Mall in Washington are calling for backup -- the four-legged enforcers known as the Geese Police. Parks officials announced Thursday the Geese Police -- who are not actual police but rather a group of border collies trained to ward off trespassing water fowl -- will be patrolling the National Mall to keep the geese from befouling National Mall landmarks including the Lincoln Memorial. The officials said just one goose can leave behind 2-3 pounds of feces in a single day and the unwanted excrement can...

An audit by the New York City comptroller’s office shows the number of pest complaints including rat problems jumped by more than 2,000. The report says citizen calls about pests to the city’s 311 hotline plus online reports went from 22,300 in fiscal year 2012 to 24,586 the next year. …

Spiders have claimed ownership of one home in Missouri and turned it into a real-life house of horrors. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that in 2007, Brian and Susan Trost bought a 2,400-square-foot ranch home in Weldon Spring. The home, built in 1988, has golf course views and was purchased for $450,000. Shortly after taking ownership of the home, the Trosts began to see the spiders. Everywhere. In civil trial testimony, Susan claims to have seen live spiders on light fixtures, window blinds, air registers, behind loose wallpaper in the kitchen and in the basement’s bar area. Spider skeletons fell...

John Birkett, of Longwood Services Pest Control, said removing the 3ft (91cm) nest from a bed in Winchester (UK) was his most unusual job in 45 years. He said it would have been "extremely dangerous" if the homeowner had tried to remove it herself. "I just stood back in amazement," Mr Birkett said. The nest was discovered by a woman at her house in St Cross, in an unused spare room, where a small window had been left open. Mr Birkett believes it may have taken about three months to build.

Cutter's ain't bad, but not cheap either...  and that Off stuff is kinda nasty- try this homemade one instead: __________________________________________ Combine in a 16 oz bottle: 15 drops lavender oil 3-4 Tbsp of vanilla extract 1/4 Cup lemon juice. Fill bottle with water, shake, and you're good to go- __________________________________________ h/t Kirby

It's Memorial Day weekend, which means the time for barbecues and nights outside has begun. But, unfortunately, it's also the time that mosquitoes see as open season to dine on humans.If you can't spend a summer night outside without slapping your ankles — and you still end up with dozens of mosquito bites — then it might be true that the flying pests really do love you.And those lucky people who say they don't get bitten? They exist too.But it's not because one person's blood tastes better to the small hovering bloodsuckers — or at least, not just that. In...

Motel guest says bedbugs put him in hospital. HAMPTON, Va. - A bedbug infestation at a Peninsula motel is so bad, it put a man in the hospital. Health department officials told WAVY.com it isn't a new problem. The Hampton Manor Motel sign claims to be host to the distinguished traveler, but they also appear to be host to bedbugs -- and not just one or two. "You don't see them, but you feel them," said Hampton resident Robert Malcolm. "You lay in bed and you might feel something. You wake up and there are about five or six on...

U.S. helicopters descended upon Guam on Sunday with cargo meant to kill, although this $8 million mission was unlike most others — 2,000 mice on cardboard parachutes were released into the forest surrounding Andersen Air Force Base as bait for brown tree snakes. In the 1950s, it was thought that the snakes inadvertently made their way to the South Pacific island through cargo shipments. Today, the snakes cover the island and are responsible for millions of dollars worth of damage to electrical equipment at Andersen Air Force Base, CNBC reported. In 2005, the reptiles caused failures at 80 electrical substations,...

Hong Kong (CNN) -- At least 19 people have been stung to death by hornets -- which may include the world's largest hornet species Vespa mandarinia -- in China's central Shaanxi province in the last three months, according to the city government of Ankang, the apparent epicenter of a recent spate of fatalities and injuries. A total of 583 people in the area have been stung by hornets since July 1, say city officials. Seventy victims are still recovering in hospitals.

As in cockroaches. But vermin is nothing new in a building that is 213 years old--and roaches aren't the worst of it...

A Rhode Island man has filed a federal lawsuit against Pope Francis and others, claiming the frequent bell-ringing of the Catholic church across the street has disrupted his life so much, it helped precipitate the demise of his marriage. John Devaney, 64, of Narragansett, R.I., lives directly across from the picturesque St. Thomas More Catholic Church. “The bells have been going off 700 times a week, very loud volume, and it’s been going on for too long,” he told the Providence Journal in a videotaped interview. “I’m not getting any response back from the people that control the bell-ringing.” “First...