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Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Yahoo
B.C. brush fire sparked by bird dropping fish on power lines, firefighters say
Firefighters in B.C.'s Interior believe they have identified the cause of a small brush fire and power outage — an osprey and a fish. Ashcroft Fire Rescue said it was sent to a fire burning south of the town, which is about 67 kilometres west of Kamloops, B.C., just before noon Wednesday. The fire was extinguished in short order with the help of local ranchers and B.C. Hydro employees, according to Josh White, fire chief with Ashcroft Fire Rescue. They then looked into what caused the blaze. "We get out there and right at the base of the pole, we find this charred fish," White said. "And we're just wondering, how did this get here?" It was determined the fish had been dropped by an osprey, "and when it had fallen from the sky, it had hit a couple of the lines, and that's what created the embers landing in the grasses and taking off from there." Firefighters say the fire occurred about three kilometres west of the closest river. "We do suspect by the size of the fish and the heat of the day probably caused the rather tired bird to drop its catch," the fire department wrote in a social media post. The post said without explanation that firefighters verified that the "prime suspect sustained no injuries in the incident." The fire department said the incident briefly knocked out power to the town. It also said firefighters and ranchers used about 4,800 gallons of water to put out the blaze.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Yahoo
Inside the secret plan to relocate a wayward B.C. grizzly bear
As people continue to mourn the loss of a wayward grizzly on an island off the B.C. coast, many are left wondering why the bear wasn't relocated to avoid what some say was its certain fate. In fact, despite the province's repeated claims that the bear had already been moved twice and thus wasn't a good candidate for relocation, a secret plan to transport him to a remote location was in place. "We had a very well thought-out plan and everybody on standby," said Erik Blaney, the shíshálh Nation's acting manager of lands and resources. "He would have been living his best life up there." That plan was laid to rest when conservation officers investigated a report that the grizzly had been shot and wounded, and then discovered its carcass earlier this week. Some local residents were shocked to find out about the relocation plan, given conservation officers' previous claims it would be impossible. Others think the bear could still be alive if they had been given information about the plan. But Blaney says social media and the misinformation that often comes with it made that impossible. Blaney, a legislator with the Tla'amin Nation, says the plan that he had hatched nearly three weeks ago was eventually approved by the province, with some minor changes. Details were kept under wraps and only shared with a handful of people. Some Texada Island residents — many of whom had asked for weeks for the bear to be relocated — are wondering why they weren't made aware of it. "It's unfortunate that the community wasn't [informed]," said Texada Island resident Daniel Cammiade. "[If we had] I think that it's quite possible that the bear would still be alive." Calls for relocation The five-year-old male grizzly was first spotted on Texada Island on May 25. Texada residents say the island is a predator-free community, and many were worried about the bear's presence. While some called for peaceful coexistence with the bear, many others wanted it relocated for its safety and their own. "It seems like things were left in the community's hands — a community that was not used to dealing with bears," Cammiade said. The B.C. Conservation Officer Service repeatedly told CBC News the bear wasn't a good candidate for relocation because it had already been relocated twice, but also said there was no "kill order" for the animal. Solution hatched By the end of June, Blaney's plan had been hatched. Working with the shíshálh, Homalco and Tla'amin nations, he wanted to trap the bear and move it to Bute Inlet, on Homalco territory, where it could live with other coastal grizzlies and be far enough away that it couldn't swim back. "I've worked up there for many years now and it's a pretty hard trek to get into town," Blaney told CBC News. "And there's plentiful salmon runs where we were going to drop them off and a really good pink salmon run expected this year." But the province didn't sign off on that plan. Blaney said the province told him that what they were asking was outside current policy — and that to capture and move the bear without a permit could lead to charges under the Wildlife Act. Change of plans Without informing the public, the province changed its mind. Speaking with CBC's On the Island guest host Kathryn Marlow Wednesday morning, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Randene Neill confirmed that the plan was approved almost two weeks ago. "We had a meeting with the local nation there, the Homalco Nation, in partnership with the shíshálh Nation as well, who came up with a really robust, clear plan about how they wanted to translocate it in partnership with the Grizzly Bear Foundation," said Neill, who is also the MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast. "After talking to all of our specialists and our team, we agreed to try this translocation." Blaney says the nations worked with provincial officials to remind them that the shíshálh and Tla'amin nations are self-governing, and the province had an obligation to work with them to manage their wildlife resources. "They can't just do the old paternalistic land and resource management around us or without us. Those decisions actually need to be made by the self-governing nations," he said. Kept a secret The exact plan was kept secret, Blaney says, in order not to compromise any of the details. Blaney didn't want people hindering relocation efforts by posting about the trap's location on social media. Texada Island residents had created a Facebook group to post information about the bear, including its location. He says getting the right trap to Texada Island had already been delayed because of a claim on social media that the bear had been shot last week. That led officers to reroute the trap to Pemberton to relocate a bear in that area, Blaney says, and it took days to move the animal and get the trap back to Texada. Blaney says the trap was ready to go Tuesday morning, the day conservation officers announced the bear had been shot. Later that morning, the grizzly was found dead. "We had six staff ready for deployment and the plan in place, helicopter on standby," he said. It was too late. The bear's death is still under investigation.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Yahoo
Roman-era mosaic panel stolen during Second World War returns to Pompeii
A mosaic panel on travertine slabs, depicting an erotic theme from the Roman era, was returned to the archaeological park of Pompeii on Tuesday, after being stolen by a Nazi German captain during the Second World War. The artwork was repatriated from Germany through diplomatic channels, arranged by the Italian Consulate in Stuttgart, Germany, after having been returned from the heirs of the last owner, a deceased German citizen. The owner had received the mosaic as a gift from a Wehrmacht captain, assigned to the military supply chain in Italy during the war. The mosaic — dating between mid- to last century BC and the first century — is considered a work of 'extraordinary cultural interest', experts said. Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and co-author of an essay dedicated to the returned work, said: 'It is the moment when the theme of domestic love becomes an artistic subject. 'While the Hellenistic period, from the fourth to the first century BC, exulted the passion of mythological and heroic figures, now we see a new theme.' The heirs of the mosaic's last owner in Germany contacted the Carabinieri unit in Rome that is dedicated to protecting cultural heritage, which was in charge of the investigation, asking for information on how to return the mosaic to the Italian state. Authorities carried out the necessary checks to establish its authenticity and provenance, and then worked to repatriate the mosaic in September 2023. The collaboration with the Archaeological Park of Pompeii was also key, as it made it possible to trace it near the Mount Vesuvius volcano, despite the scarcity of data on the original context of its discovery, the Carabinieri said. The panel was then assigned to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, where, suitably catalogued, it will be protected and available for educational and research purposes. 'Today's return is like healing an open wound,' Mr Zuchtriegel said, adding that the mosaic allows to reconstruct the story of that period, the first century AD, before Pompeii was destroyed by the Vesuvius eruption in AD 79. The park's director also highlighted how the return by the heirs of its owner signals an important change in 'mentality', as 'the sense of possession (of stolen art) becomes a heavy burden'. 'We see that often in the many letters we receive from people who may have stolen just a stone, to bring home a piece of Pompeii,' Mr Zuchtriegel said. He recalled the so-called 'Pompeii curse,' which, according to a popular superstition, hits whoever steals artefacts in Pompeii. The world-renowned legend suggests that those who steal finds from the ancient city of Pompeii will experience bad luck or misfortune. That has been fuelled over the years by several tourists who return stolen items, claiming they brought them bad luck and caused tragic events.
