Madagascan grebe extinct, while urban foxes bite back in UK

The Mayor of London has called for a focus on pest control after a reported fox attack in the London borough of Hackney left twin nine-month girls hospitalized.

According to urban wildlife expert John Bryant, such attacks are extremely rare, and a recent poll by the University of Bristol found 65.7% households in favour of urban foxes, which number around 33,000 in the UK (as compared to 225,000 adult rurual foxes).

No such luck for the Alaotra Grebe, recently reported extinct by conservation experts. The birds – which made their homes on Lake Alaotra in Madagascar – are believed to be victims of a combination of poaching, the introduction of carnivorous fish and other invasive species, and the use of monofilament nylon gill-nets for fishing.