By The Associated Press
Octopus hunting ban?
SEATTLE — The state Fish and Wildlife Department says it will consider banning octopus hunting near popular Seattle beaches and possibly other areas of Puget Sound where divers enjoy watching the animals.
The department said it will hold public meetings this winter on the proposed ban.
The move is a response to the outrage that erupted last week after a 19-year-old diver wrestled a giant Pacific octopus onto a popular West Seattle beach.
Owls attack
SEATTLE — Barred owls have been swooping down on people in Seattle-area parks.
A ranger at Bridle Trails State Park in Kirkland, Mary Welborn, said people have been clawed enough to draw blood in a handful of incidents.
King County has closed parts of the Soaring Eagle regional park in Sammamish because of similar attacks.
The state Fish and Wildlife Department told KING that the owls are young ones that are territorial about new nesting spots.
Rangers said the owls seem to target people wearing headphones and women wearing their hair in ponytails.
Injured swan
EVERETT — A Snohomish County wildlife center is treating an injured female trumpeter swan found wandering outside the pharmacy drive-thru at an Everett-area grocery store.
KOMO-TV reported that the swan has buckshot wounds from a shotgun blast.
Passers-by noticed the bleeding bird Thursday and called the Sarvey Wildlife Care Center.
Sarvey staffers retrieved the bird and found buckshot in its chest muscles.
