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SandBar 6:4, January, 2008 Coast to Coast State and federal officials have plans to eradicate the rats from Rat Island in Alaska. Introduced to the island in 1780 by a rat-infested ship, the rats feed on seabirds and their eggs and chicks and have annihilated the bird populations of the island. The state enacted regulations requiring ships to check for rats and eradicate them. The state is issuing brochures to mariners that will explain how to control rats on ships and prevent them from going ashore. Addi tionally, biologists will drop rat poison from helicopters onto the island. Ireland’s only salmon farm has been devastated by jelly fish. A huge pack of jelly fish – estimated to be 10 square miles and 35 feet deep – descended on the farm killing 100,000 salmon. Workers tried to save the fish, but their boats were unable to reach the pens in time. The jelly fish, Pelagia nocticula, usually do not travel so far north. The company hopes to receive emergency aid from the government. A Charleston man was rescued for the second time in three years when his boat was carried into a river by the tide. When he didn’t return home from a fishing trip, his wife called authorities. He spent the night shivering in his boat, while the Coast Guard and local authorities launched a search. After the rescue, he was treated for dehydration and exposure at a local hospital. In 2004, he was rescued after his boat was grounded and he became trapped in knee-deep mud trying to push the boat out. His wife now requires him to have a friend or a cell phone with him on his boating expeditions. In Kansas, a woman was frying fish on the stove when she briefly stepped out of the house to take out the trash. The family’s dog shut the door behind her. A grease fire erupted and fully engulfed the house. The dog made it out safely, but the fire caused over $50,000 in damages. In England, a canoeist disappeared and was presumed drowned in 2002. Recently, the man showed up in a local police station, claiming that he had suffered amnesia. After some questioning, the police found that the story was false. He had been hiding, with the help of his wife, at his residence since his disappearance. The man and his wife have been charged with fraud. Police believe their two sons, who did not live with the couple, had no knowledge of the hoax.
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SandBar 6:4, January, 2008

Coast to Coast

State and federal officials have plans to eradicate the rats from Rat Island in Alaska. Introduced to the island in 1780 by a rat-infested ship, the rats feed on seabirds and their eggs and chicks and have annihilated the bird populations of the island. The state enacted regulations requiring ships to check for rats and eradicate them. The state is issuing brochures to mariners that will explain how to control rats on ships and prevent them from going ashore. Addi tionally, biologists will drop rat poison from helicopters onto the island.

Ireland’s only salmon farm has been devastated by jelly fish. A huge pack of jelly fish – estimated to be 10 square miles and 35 feet deep – descended on the farm killing 100,000 salmon. Workers tried to save the fish, but their boats were unable to reach the pens in time. The jelly fish, Pelagia nocticula, usually do not travel so far north. The company hopes to receive emergency aid from the government.

A Charleston man was rescued for the second time in three years when his boat was carried into a river by the tide. When he didn’t return home from a fishing trip, his wife called authorities. He spent the night shivering in his boat, while the Coast Guard and local authorities launched a search. After the rescue, he was treated for dehydration and exposure at a local hospital. In 2004, he was rescued after his boat was grounded and he became trapped in knee-deep mud trying to push the boat out. His wife now requires him to have a friend or a cell phone with him on his boating expeditions.

In Kansas, a woman was frying fish on the stove when she briefly stepped out of the house to take out the trash. The family’s dog shut the door behind her. A grease fire erupted and fully engulfed the house. The dog made it out safely, but the fire caused over $50,000 in damages.

In England, a canoeist disappeared and was presumed drowned in 2002. Recently, the man showed up in a local police station, claiming that he had suffered amnesia. After some questioning, the police found that the story was false. He had been hiding, with the help of his wife, at his residence since his disappearance. The man and his wife have been charged with fraud. Police believe their two sons, who did not live with the couple, had no knowledge of the hoax.