Unexplained animal aggression... and the CFZ?

So, we all know that last week, the latest expedition to Sumatra in search of the orang pendek returned. Soon after their return came news of an earthquake and flooding that hit Sumatra - and a city where they had been, according to Richard Freeman. Within the next few days, Adam Davies, who had been on the expedition, became ill. There's an interesting post on Cryptomundo about some things that've been going on in the last few days. And I have some personal experiences with this, which I'll post about after this story.

Perhaps you have noticed some clumping of certain news that seems to stir up non-human animals and people.

At the end of September, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit Sumatra killing hundreds, while the day before an 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Samoa, triggering a tsunami that flattened whole towns and killed hundreds of people. Tidal forces were showing themselves to be powerful leading into October.

If you have been watching the skies, you may have noticed the Harvest Moon in the North; 2009’s Full Moon occurred on the 4th, Sunday, worldwide, at 06:10 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Did you hear what else happened recently?

1. In the first incident since the fatal tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day 2007 (Full Moon was on December 24, 2007), a man got into the grizzly bear exhibit at the same zoo on September 26th. He was found “conscious but unresponsive” and taken into custody by paramedics.

2. Five raccoons “gang attacked” up on a woman on Saturday, October 3rd, and left her with serious injuries from bites. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said 74-year-old Gretchen Whitted in Lakeland, Florida, was suddenly attacked when she tried to shoo the animals away from her front door. “When she fell down, they enveloped her,” said Judd, who warned the public to be alert to the aggressive raccoons. “She’s literally bitten and scratched from face and the chest all the way down through the legs.”

3. Sunday afternoon, October 4th, a Mossy Head, Florida woman was airlifted to a hospital with injuries sustained from an emu’s claw while trying to corral the large flightless bird. The woman was injured while attempting to corral a group of emus for transport to an animal shelter.

4. Thirty-seven year old Kelly Ann Walz of Ross Township, Pennsylvania was killed by her pet bear. It happened her home Sunday night, October 4th. Officers say she was cleaning the bear’s cage when the three-hundred fifty pound bear mauled her. State officials say Walz threw a shovel full of dog food to one side of the cage to distract the bear while she cleaned the other side of the cage, but the bear still attacked. Others saw the attack and called for help, at which point a neighbor shot and killed the bear.

5. At 1:00 am, October 5th, a man suffered “significant” arm injuries after allegedly sneaking into the tiger enclosure of the Calgary Zoo, Alberta, Canada. The Siberian tiger, named Vitali, attacked one of the pair of 27-year-old men who scaled the zoo’s 2.4-meter-high fence near the west public gate early on Monday morning. Rosemarie Siever of Edmonton, was visiting the zoo with her husband, Charles Macdonald, the day after, and hearing about the attack, said not breaching safety enclosures is common sense. “He’s a moron, that’s all I have to say,” she said.

Humans seem to be out of whack too.

Or maybe it all is just a bunch of coincidences. Or not? Do you recall the recent wave of other cat attacks?

Like I’ve asked before during times like these, were any cryptid encounters recorded anywhere too?

I can't think of any real notable cryptozoology the last few days, other than a find of Bigfoot tracks in Oregon, but there've been a few UFO sightings recently. I myself saw this past Thursday night a series of three lights which I at first took to be an airplane tailing a helicopter, but both continued at steady rates of speed. I suppose it could have been one of the triangle UFOs often reported.

I've noticed the last few days that my dog (a beagle/basset mix) has been unusually aggressive. Nothing big, but she's been jumping at people and biting your legs and fingers more than normal. She's also been more restless than normal. Mindi and I had assumed it was because she's currently teething, but given this, maybe it's not. Also, my in-laws' dog has also been aggressive, which isn't normal for him. I don't know if it could have anything to do with it, but as I'm writing this, we have some really severe winds here.

More on the Tiger of Uniontown

The Pittsburgh Daily Courier ran an article on September 3, 2009 that went more in-depth about the sightings of a 'tiger' in Uniontown, Fayette County:

Call it a case of mistaken identity. Fayette County 911 received calls Tuesday evening of a tiger on the loose in the area of Carr and Rankin Air Shaft roads in North Union.

The "tiger" had not escaped from the Wild Animal Orphanage nor from Camelot Veterinary Clinic, both run by Dr. William Sheperd. All their big cats were accounted for. The cat was considerably smaller -- a domestic tabby.

No tiger was ever on the loose. No cougar was spotted, said authorities. Both the state Game Commission and Camelot Veterinary were swamped with calls about the animal.

A couple spotted the feline at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday and called 911 after 9 p.m.

Karen Osler, big-cat handler and wild-animal caretaker for the Wild Animal Orphanage, said she went to the house where a man and a woman had seen the animal, which they described to her as "bright orange."

"The woman told me at first it was a fox because it was so orange," Osler said. "She said it was maybe 2 feet long, 3 feet with its long tail. She said they'd seen it since June."

Osler did not identify the man or the woman.

Sheperd was on call to tranquilize the "tiger" and give it a home or release it, with permission of the Game Commission. Osler did not spot the cat Tuesday night, although a line of people armed with spotlights, rifles and pitch forks were gathering near the residence as she was leaving.

Osler received a second call from the pair Wednesday evening ,saying they had seen the same tiger again.

"I'm looking for this tiger," Osler said. "Dr. Sheperd is ready to come and tranq it. I look and about 100 yards away, it's an orange tabby cat walking in the field -- a short-haired, domestic tabby. I got 10 feet away from the cat, to show them a size comparison. The cat bolted about 20 feet away and stopped. It was 12 to 15 pounds -- an average tom cat."

Osler said cougars have been spotted in the area. She said she saw one near Camelot Veterinary five years ago, but they have tawny coats and avoid being spotted.

"I would rather be wrong than for it to be a displaced or misplaced exotic feline," she said, referring to the orange tabby.

Osler said she might return today with a humane trap and some food to remove the tom cat from the area.

"It's just amazing to me how the rumor has spread," she said. "People were locking up their pets and livestock, and a farmer in Lemont Furnace said three of his cows were attacked -- I would like to see those cows."

Osler said bear hunters sometimes misjudge distance and shoot what they think is a large black bear and end up shooting a cub that is closer than they thought. She also said she has encountered people who generalize and identify all feline species as "tigers."

"I don't doubt they believed what they saw was a tiger," she said.

"I'm hoping the community can calm down. It was a tabby cat. All our exotic cats are accounted for," Osler said.

'Tiger' in western Pennsylvania

ThePittsburghChannel.com reported on September 2, 2009 that a 'tiger' had been seen in Uniontown, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

Some residents in Fayette County swear they've seen a tiger on the loose.

State police said they're keeping an eye out for the beast after sightings came in from all across the city.

Dispatchers said people calling in about the alleged tiger swamped their switchboard on Tuesday night.

However, on Thursday, the Pennsylvania State Police said a large cat expert from the wildlife sanctuary in Grindestone viewed the reported tiger and determined it was a tabby house cat of normal size.