Daredevil dies in rope swing stunt popularized by YouTube

Warnings at trailhead of "severe injury or death" don't deter daredevils in Utah. Two people have died recently in the Moab area in rope swing accidents.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A 22-year-old Utah man was killed trying to swing through the opening of a 110-foot-tall sandstone arch in a stunt made so popular on YouTube that state authorities recently banned the daredevil activity by commercial outfitters.

Kyle Lee Stocking, of West Jordan, left too much slack in the rope he was using, and it sent him crashing into the sandstone base of Corona Arch near Moab, Grand County sheriff's officials said. He died Sunday afternoon.

Viral videos have bolstered the activity, which involves swinging wildly from ropes through arch and canyon openings. One video titled "World's Largest Rope Swing" has racked up more than 17 million views on YouTube since it was posted in February.

"Pendulum" swinging is a relatively new form of recreation in Utah's canyon lands, which see plenty of injuries and deaths from rock climbing and BASE jumping, which involves leaping from a fixed object with a parachute. On March 13, another man, Zachery Taylor, was killed rappelling at Tear Drop Arch in Utah's Monument Valley.

It's part of the recreational "craziness" sweeping the Moab area, where the annual Jeep Safari week got started Saturday, another potentially dangerous activity that involves rock crawling in modified vehicles, said John Weisheit, of Living Rivers, a local environmental group.

"People aren't accepting nature for what it is. They have to put an element of excitement into it," said Weisheit, a longtime rafting guide. "People see it on YouTube and then say, 'That looks like fun.'"

Stocking was with a group of five friends authorities didn't identify. His family in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan couldn't be reached Monday.

It wasn't immediately clear how Stocking or his friends miscalculated the distance for a wild swing through Corona Arch. Sheriff's Lt. Kim Neal said Stocking left too much rope loose when he clipped into his waist harness.

"A lot of people are doing it around here," said Sean Hazell at Moab outfitter Western Spirit Cycling, who was planning to make his own jump from the top of Corona Arch. "I'm definitely going to think twice about it now."

Corona Arch is on Utah state trust lands but is set to be turned over to a federal land-management agency as part of a larger trade of state and federal lands. Because of the accident, the Bureau of Land Management is "taking a closer look at appropriate ways to balance and manage these activities on public lands," BLM spokeswoman Megan Crandall said Monday.

The Utah Trust Lands Administration tried to curb Corona Arch's growing appeal by banning commercial jumping effective Jan. 1. But the agency said it can't prevent private parties from using its lands. The agency posted a trailhead warning about the potential for "severe injury or death even if your equipment works."

Stocking's rope and harness didn't fail. His mistake was miscalculating the length of slack rope for the swing, Neal said.

"These people involved in extreme outdoor sports, I admire their courage, but I'm not going to do it," Neal said.

Via: USA Today

Woman Killed by Lion During Sex

Woman killed by lion during sex

Beast ... lion struck while couple made love

A FRISKY woman was mauled to death by a lion as she had sex with her boyfriend in the African bush.

Sharai Mawera was enjoying a passionate moment with her lover when the Big Cat struck.

Sharai’s partner, who has not been identified, ran off naked in a bid to raise the alarm.

But local reports say tragic market worker Sharai was killed at the scene in Kariba, northern Zimbabwe.

A friend told My Zimbabwe: “Unfortunately the woman was mauled to death by the lion, but her boyfriend managed to escape naked.”

The pal said Sharai and her fisherman boyfriend would meet at their favourite beauty spot in the wild.

He said: “The two were romping when the incident occurred. The lion came from behind and roared.

“The guy managed to escape before stopping at a distance where he witnessed his companion being attacked.

Police officers and armed rangers rushed to the scene where they discovered Sharai’s mauled remains.

The source said: “Cops and officers attended the scene and fired a single shot before getting to the spot.

“The woman had already been killed. She had bloody bruises all over her body. Her neck and tummy had been mauled.”

Rangers launched a hunt for the lion following the tragedy, amid concern the same animal may have killed a local man who disappeared at the weekend.

The remains of the victim were found on the outskirts of the town, which lies near the Zambezi river.

Police believe the man, who has not been named, was eaten by a lion as he walked home from a nightclub.

Experts believe the fact Sharai was mauled rather than eaten suggests the same beast was responsible for both attacks – but was not overly hungry

Via: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4827584/Woman-killed-by-lion-as-she-made-love-to-her-boyfriend.html
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Volunteer Intern Mauled By Lion At Santuary

An African lion mauled a volunteer intern at an exotic cat haven in California's Central Valley today.

Fresno County Emergency Medical Services received a call around 12:30 p.m. today reporting that a lion had attacked the worker at Project Survival's Cat Haven, according to the Fresno Bee. But it was clear that the worker wouldn't survive the attack even before paramedics were able to make it to the scene. HisHer name and hometown have not been released.

Cat Haven is located about 45 miles west of Fresno, and it's the home to some of the rarest tigers, leopards, lions, jaguars and cheetahs in the world. It was started in 1998 with an eye toward helping to promote conservation of wild cats' habitats. The exotic wildlife park is just west of Kings Canyon National Park, and it sits on about 93 acres of land. The animals are housed in cages on hillsides and 10,000 visitors a year come to visit them.

Lt. Tony Spada of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed the workers' death and told the Bee that the facility has several safety measures in place to prevent this sort of death. Spada said, "This facility has a very good history. In this case, someone just got too close."

Law enforcement sources shot the lion when they arrived at the scene, according to a local Fox affiliate KMPH. A necropsy will be conducted on the lion.

The "worker" killed was actually a volunteer intern at the sanctuary. Dale Anderson, the executive director of Cat Haven, told NBC: "A female volunteer intern entered the lion's enclosure, where she was attacked and fatally injured. The lion was shot and killed per our safety protocols." Another employee was there at the scene.

When paramedics arrived, her body was still inside the cage.

Via: Gothamist.com

Man Lost in Florida Sinkhole That Swallowed His Room

SEFFNER, Fla. (AP) — The effort to find the body of a Florida man who was swallowed by a sinkhole under his home was called off Saturday while crews tried to learn how far the underground cavity reached and whether more homes were at risk.

Jeremy Bush/Jeremy Bush, via Associated Press

Jeff Bush

Mike Merrill, the Hillsborough County administrator, said that rescuers were ending the effort to find the body of the man, Jeff Bush, 37, and that they planned to bring in heavy equipment on Sunday to begin demolishing the four-bedroom home. “At this point it’s really not possible to recover the body,” Mr. Merrill said, later adding “we’re dealing with a very unusual sinkhole.”

Mr. Bush was in his bedroom on Thursday night in Seffner, 15 miles east of Tampa, when the earth opened and took him and everything else in his room. Five other people were in the house but escaped unharmed. Mr. Bush’s brother Jeremy jumped into the hole to try to help, but he had to be rescued by a sheriff’s deputy.

Testing determined that the house next door to the Bushes also was compromised by the sinkhole, according to Ronnie Rivera, a spokesman for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.

Experts say thousands of sinkholes erupt yearly in Florida because of the state’s unique geography, though deaths rarely occur.

“There’s hardly a place in Florida that’s immune to sinkholes,” said Sandy Nettles, who owns a geology consulting company in the Tampa area. “There’s no way of ever predicting where a sinkhole is going to occur.”

Most sinkholes are small, like one found Saturday morning in Largo, about 35 miles from Seffner. The Largo sinkhole, about 10 feet long and several feet wide, is in a mall parking lot. Such discoveries are common throughout the year in Florida. A sinkhole near Orlandogrew to 400 feet across in 1981 and swallowed five cars, most of two businesses, a three-bedroom house and the deep end of an Olympic-size swimming pool.

The state is prone because it sits on limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water, with a layer of clay on top. The clay is thicker in some locations, making them even more prone to sinkholes.

Jonathan Arthur, the state geologist, said other states sit atop limestone in a similar way, but Florida has additional factors — extreme weather, development, aquifer pumping and construction — that can cause sinkholes.

The sinkhole here caused the concrete floor of Mr. Bush’s home to cave in around 11 p.m. Thursday as everyone in the house was turning in. It gave way with a crash that sounded like a car hitting the house and brought Mr. Bush’s brother running.

Jeremy Bush said he jumped into the hole but could not see his brother before the ground crumbled around him. A sheriff’s deputy pulled him to safety.

“The floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down, but I didn’t care — I wanted to save my brother,” Jeremy Bush said through tears on Friday in a neighbor’s yard. “But I just couldn’t do nothing.”

Via: The New York Times