January 11, 2007: Ewes die of asphyxiation, fright

Undertoad • Jan 11, 2007 12:25 pm
Image

An unhappy animal shot today. 24 horas en fotos at 20minutos.es has this dreadful one, translated by Bablefish:
Event in Huesca. The bodies without life of 300 ewes in a paridera of Loarre, where they died by asphyxia when crowding against one of the walls scared by the presence of tens of vultures.
Beestie • Jan 11, 2007 12:29 pm
Too bad that didn't happen near a country road in Tennessee.
glatt • Jan 11, 2007 12:50 pm
The vultures scared them to death, and then didn't eat them?
Elspode • Jan 11, 2007 2:57 pm
They aren't smelly and rotten enough yet.
lumberjim • Jan 11, 2007 3:18 pm
i don't believe it. sheepshit, i say.

how does an animal asphyxiate under an open sky? much less a hundred or so. you might as well say that they were smote by an angry god.
footfootfoot • Jan 11, 2007 3:24 pm
lumberjim;306497 wrote:
i don't believe it. sheepshit, i say.

how does an animal asphyxiate under an open sky? much less a hundred or so. you might as well say that they were smote by an angry god.


An angry god whose smiting arm was sheathed in tens of vultures! And you, a poet no less!
Pie • Jan 11, 2007 3:49 pm
People get crushed to death in a crowd. Sheep are (arguably) stupider than people. :right:
Wombat • Jan 11, 2007 5:20 pm
lumberjim;306497 wrote:
how does an animal asphyxiate under an open sky?

They climbed up on top of each other, possibly several layers deep. The ones at the bottom couldn't breathe because of the weight of the others on top crushing down on them.

96 people died the same way at the Hillsborough football disaster in 1989 at Sheffield, England.
Shawnee123 • Jan 11, 2007 5:39 pm
glatt;306449 wrote:
The vultures scared them to death, and then didn't eat them?


Maybe they had their fill...I see some bloody torn flesh on some of them.
Hoof Hearted • Jan 11, 2007 7:02 pm
I find it odd that they died in a nice, flat, layer...

I'd say either trampled, and the live animals moved away for the photo...or a low lying gas crept into the solid walled pen and asphyxiated them. I just can't get my mind around trampled. I'd expect them to be 'piled' more and not in a single layer.
hh
lumberjim • Jan 11, 2007 7:46 pm
Pie;306510 wrote:
People get crushed to death in a crowd. Sheep are (arguably) stupider than people. :right:


yeah, but a relatively small segment of the huge mass of people was crushed by the press. they didnt ALL die. somethings up here. who farted might be onto it. maybe the vultures could smell the gas, and knew they'd be dead soon, and that's why they arrived in the first place?
footfootfoot • Jan 11, 2007 7:53 pm
Looking at the "ring around the corral" (bad pun) I note the grime, which leads me to wondering if they all made it a habit to congregate and poop in the area. Thermal inversion, methane, and that's HH's creeping gas theory. And methane displacing O2 is asphyxiation if I'm not mistaken.

Plus the mighty arm of the lord smiting with the power of tens of vultures.

However you slice it, ewe wouldn't want to be there.
lumberjim • Jan 11, 2007 7:56 pm
maybe they got a particulary gassey batch of sheepchow [up]tm[/up] and the resultant flatulence was their undoing?
lumberjim • Jan 11, 2007 7:57 pm
how the fuck do you make that little TM ?!
DucksNuts • Jan 11, 2007 8:44 pm
lumberjim;306573 wrote:
yeah, but a relatively small segment of the huge mass of people was crushed by the press. they didnt ALL die. somethings up here. who farted might be onto it. maybe the vultures could smell the gas, and knew they'd be dead soon, and that's why they arrived in the first place?


bwuahahaha who farted?

™??
milkfish • Jan 11, 2007 9:31 pm
footfootfoot;306576 wrote:
Looking at the "ring around the corral" (bad pun) I note the grime, which leads me to wondering if they all made it a habit to congregate and poop in the area. Thermal inversion, methane, and that's HH's creeping gas theory. And methane displacing O2 is asphyxiation if I'm not mistaken.


Methane is lighter than air, so would not work for what you propose.
xoxoxoBruce • Jan 11, 2007 10:16 pm
paridera
1- adj. [Female] fertilizes of any species:
paridera cow.
2- f. Site in which it stops the cattle, specially the wool one.
3- Action and time to give birth the cattle.

Loarre is a villa of the province of Huesca, municipality pertaining to the region Hole of Huesca. It is located to the foot of the mountain range of his own name to 27 km to NOT of Huesca in the A-1206 highway between Bolea and Ayerbe

:confused:
WabUfvot5 • Jan 11, 2007 10:17 pm
They needn't all have suffocated. It says they died of asphyxiation and fright. It's possible the ones in back couldn't breath while the others died from fright. Perhaps their little hearts burst from pumping too fast.
Hoof Hearted • Jan 11, 2007 10:55 pm
Sheep ARE very stupid, however having raised lambs for 4-H and being around large groups of sheep pressing together...they cannot press together (while standing with all 4 feet on the ground) enough to prevent them from being able to breathe. Their wool is a very good buffer between each other, allowing air space and room to expand their lungs.
And while I concur about sheep stupidity...I cannot see that many dying of fright from some large birds. These animals are harried by humans, dogs and various other predators...I've never heard of them dropping dead from fright. Turkeys, on the other hand...

I wonder if someone forgot to WATER these animals and has concocted a story to save their ass.

Also, the ring around the wall is from the lanolin sheep produce getting rubbed on the surface and dust sticking. Check out doorways in barns and such where the animals' bodies rub as they go past...it is always dirty from the oils of their coat and dust.
footfootfoot • Jan 11, 2007 11:36 pm
milkfish;306608 wrote:
Methane is lighter than air, so would not work for what you propose.


I proposed a thermal inversion which I believe would prevent the methane from rising. But then I also believe a lot of other things too, so take it for what it's worth.
xoxoxoBruce • Jan 12, 2007 12:00 am
Hoof Hearted wrote:
... being around large groups of sheep pressing together...they cannot press together (while standing with all 4 feet on the ground) enough to prevent them from being able to breathe. Their wool is a very good buffer between each other, allowing air space and room to expand their lungs.
In the open, yes. But what about a large flock up against an immovable object? A very large flock to kill 300 ewes. :confused:
Hoof Hearted • Jan 12, 2007 12:56 am
The posted picture does not show 300 ewes, and I've seen sheep ranching, shearing, and butchering operations with wooden pens holding hundreds to thousands of sheep crowing each other so tightly the dogs had to walk on the backs of the sheep to get across the pen to do their work of cutting animals out for sorting.

I cannot dispute that the animals are dead, they certainly are, but it seems improbable to me that they died in the manner they are claimed to have...trampoling seems most likely...but again, I find it odd that they are in a single layer and not piled or overlapping.

My reasoning behind thinking sheep could not squeeze other sheep up against an immoveable wall is because of their short legs and lack of leverage and weight. Animals are going to stand. Some will lean, but most will keep their legs under them. It is instinctive. If you are off balance, you could fall and die. Period. All animals want to stand upright to survive. They do not want to be down, and especially upside-down is anathema to them.
I would expect that sheep at the outer edge of a herd WILL press away from whatever is stimulating them. The other sheep (away from the stimulation) are not going to react very much at all. As soon as they are out of sight of the stimulation (stupid sheep) out-of-sight-out-of-mind, they will just stand. Their wool will create the buffer needed to breathe. The few leaning sheep are not enough weight to crush other sheep up against a wall.

These ewes appear to have died where they stood. Asphyxiation from air displacement seems likely, as stated...but I feel poisoning from contaminated feed could also be a likely culprit and could cause them to die en mass in a single layer.
I'd like to know what a necropsy had to say about cause of death...
xoxoxoBruce • Jan 12, 2007 4:43 am
I agree the story and picture don't jib...not 300....not piled. Another tragic victim of Babelfish? ;)
SPUCK • Jan 12, 2007 7:33 am
The problem was one of them tried to light a fart and we got the "Moderator Island effect."
lumberjim • Jan 12, 2007 10:23 am
DucksNuts;306593 wrote:


™??

yeah, that. how?
yesman065 • Jan 12, 2007 11:38 am
Um, maybe the ones that didn't die were let out before the picture was taken - just a thought.
BigV • Jan 12, 2007 11:46 am
lumberjim;306580 wrote:
how the fuck do you make that little TM ?!

It looks grim, especially given our ban on embedded html. I reckon the best you could do is to make the size = 1, perhaps enclosed in parentheses... Don't know how to superscript it here. Good luck.

[size=1](TM)[/size]

or

([size=1]TM[/size])


You will note that there is no Character Entity or Numeric Entity for the character 'trademark' (TM). Unlike characters such as © or ® the TM is simply that, just a T and an M. You can display the trademark with either just TM, with emphasis with a bold face like TM, or in super script like TM (<sup>TM</sup>).
mbrutsch • Jan 12, 2007 11:47 am
lumberjim;306725 wrote:
yeah, that. how?




ampersand,pound sign,1,5,3,semicolon.
footfootfoot • Jan 12, 2007 1:00 pm
huh &#153;
BigV • Jan 12, 2007 1:36 pm
footfootfoot;306774 wrote:
huh ™

You can't use like that, footfootfoot, without GWB's permission. fyi.
Hoof Hearted • Jan 12, 2007 3:50 pm
yesman065;306746 wrote:
Um, maybe the ones that didn't die were let out before the picture was taken - just a thought.

Certainly, if there were survivors...
I don't know how this correlates to the discussion. 300 dead? Not (300) in that picture, and if they were dead, they wouldn't be alive to be let out. Do you mean if they were trampled? The live animals that walked all over the dead ones just walked away while their departed brethren were left behind for the photo op.
I'm not sure what you meant.
hh
Happy Monkey • Jan 12, 2007 4:08 pm
If they were crowding against one wall (away from the vultures), presumably (and ironically) the ones closest to the vultures would have been likely to survive.
Iggy • Jan 12, 2007 5:00 pm
They were probably trampled and after the "care givers" moved the live animals they spread out the dead so they could count them or something.
Hoof Hearted • Jan 12, 2007 8:23 pm
Iggy;306825 wrote:
They were probably trampled and after the "care givers" moved the live animals they spread out the dead so they could count them or something.

...that nicely explains the single layer...
lumberjim • Jan 12, 2007 8:28 pm
they cook more evenly that way, too
lumberjim • Jan 12, 2007 8:31 pm
mbrutsch;306749 wrote:


ampersand,pound sign,1,5,3,semicolon.

noshit!™

'owdyou learn that, eh?
footfootfoot • Jan 12, 2007 9:09 pm
BigV;306785 wrote:
You can't use like that, footfootfoot, without GWB's permission. fyi.

HA!&#153;
footfootfoot • Jan 12, 2007 9:14 pm
.
WabUfvot5 • Jan 12, 2007 9:19 pm
I've never heard of vultures attacking a person but the two I saw feasting on a possum didn't look like something I wanted to mess with. A whole flock of them could be intimidating.
Clodfobble • Jan 12, 2007 11:35 pm
lumberjim wrote:
noshit!&#8482;

'owdyou learn that, eh?


And if you don't like remembering the &#___; sequence, you can always just hold down ALT+0153 and it'll do the same thing.
footfootfoot • Jan 13, 2007 12:57 am
for some reason that takes me to the homepage
Shawnee123 • Jan 16, 2007 3:08 pm
&#8482;

Well by golly I never heard of that before!

Can't get the alt one to work, though.
yesman065 • Jan 16, 2007 4:20 pm
I'll just bookmark this page and copy(Ctr+C) and then paste (Ctr+V)it wherever I need :)


&#8482;
busterb • Jan 16, 2007 7:12 pm
ALT+0153. For this to work&#8482; use the number pad, with number lock off. &#8482;
lumberjim • Jan 16, 2007 7:48 pm
&#8250;&#353;&#732;&#339;§¨&#8482;&#382;&#376;&#8212; §¨Ç£
all kinds of wierd shit in those keys!
lumberjim • Jan 16, 2007 7:56 pm
alt+

0181 µ
0182 ¶
0183 ·
0185 ¹
0186 º
0187 »
0188 ¼
0189 ½
0190 ¾
0191 ¿
0197 Å
0198 Æ
0199 Ç
8881 &#9618;
8882 &#9619;
8884 &#9508;

who's got the map of this shit. i could make cool text art.
Happy Monkey • Jan 16, 2007 8:05 pm
It's Unicode. A semi-subset is the ASCII character set, which you can use by only using three digits with ALT.
monster • Jan 21, 2007 8:01 pm
&#9786;&#9787;&#9829;&#9830;&#9827;&#9824;•&#9688;&#9675;

hmmm.....


Ö ™½êçoÞ


oooh I like that one :Þ
wolf • Jan 21, 2007 8:28 pm
lumberjim;307801 wrote:

who's got the map of this shit. i could make cool text art.


That's what the Character Map under Windoze/Accessories/System is for.
yesman065 • Jan 21, 2007 8:48 pm
Just askin - How does a thread thats about dead sheep end up at "Windoze/Accessories/System." ?
xoxoxoBruce • Jan 21, 2007 11:26 pm
All good things come to those that wait. ;)
yesman065 • Jan 21, 2007 11:55 pm
lol thanks Bruce - I knew I could count on you!
glatt • Jan 25, 2007 1:53 pm
First it's ewes, now it's chickens.


Boy's screaming kills chickens
Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Hundreds of chickens have been found dead in eastern China - and a court has ruled that the cause of death was the screaming of a four-year-old boy who in turn had been scared by a barking dog.

According to a local newspaper, the bizarre sequence events began when the boy arrived at a village home in the eastern province of Jiangsu in the summer with his father who was delivering bottles of gas.

A villager was quoted as saying the little boy bent over the hen house window, screaming for a long time, after being scared by the dog.

"One neighbour told police that he had heard the boy's crying that afternoon and another villager confirmed the boy screaming by the hen house window," the newspaper said.

A court ruled the boy's screaming was "the only unexpected abnormal sound" and that the 443 chickens trampled each other to death in fear.

The boy's father was ordered to pay around £117 in compensation to the owner of the chickens.
Sundae • Jan 25, 2007 1:55 pm
Evil vulture child