Animals strike back at biologists

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Last Wednesday in Alaska, a linkurl:moose charged and downed;http://www.axcessnews.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=13162 a helicopter carrying a wildlife biologist. Neither the pilot nor the biologist were hurt during the attack, but the helicopter suffered damage to its tail rotor, forcing it to land. Sadly, the animal was put down due to its injuries (it got caught in the helicopter's blades). Late last month, a curator of herpetology linkurl:was bitten;http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/state/16827909.htm by a 30 pound catfish while wading through a southeast Kansas river looking for aquatic salamanders. "Nobody's ever heard of that before," Curtis Schmidt told the Associated Press. Schmidt was wading through the water with another herpetology curator (both on their way to a wildlife meeting). The other scientist watched Schmidt hop towards shore, trying to free whatever was on his foot (he originally suspected a rock or log). The fish eventually freed itself, and Schmidt escaped with minor injuries, he told the AP. "It was hilarious and scary at the same time." I guess that sometimes when you study the bull, you get the horns.

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