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Attention

26th Dolphin found stranded along South Carolina's coast this year

Matt Mcnab
The State
Tue, 18 Mar 2014 11:14 UTC
Image
© (Hilton Head) Island Packet
Dolphin in Broad Creek
A dying bottlenose dolphin washed ashore Monday morning on a southern Hilton Head Island beach, the 26th dolphin stranded along South Carolina's coast this year, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration marine biologist.

The dolphin was found alive on the beach between Sea Pines and Marriott's Grande Ocean Resort at about 8 a.m., but it died before marine biologists could reach it, said marine mammal stranding program scientist Wayne McFee.

McFee said no cause of death has been determined, but a necropsy would be performed Tuesday in Charleston.

A likely cause is the morbillivirus strain that has ravaged dolphin populations along the East Coast. McFee said 95 percent of the dolphins tested for the virus have tested positive.
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Info

Suspected avian botulism killing thousands of water birds in Waikato, New Zealand

Harry Pearl
stuff.co.nz
Thu, 20 Mar 2014 10:54 UTC
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A suspected outbreak of avian botulism is killing thousands of birds in Waikato.

The disease, which causes paralysis in birds, has been recorded in Matamata-Piako District, Waipa District and Waikato District this summer.

There have also unconfirmed reports of bird deaths in the Hauraki District.

About 3000 birds are estimated to have died from the disease in the Waikato region, Fish & Game gamebird manager David Klee said. Along with game ducks, the bacteria was killing black swans, grey teals and the New Zealand dabchick, among others, he said. "It's pretty indiscriminate, anything that sits on those ponds, seems to be affected." Although blood samples had not been taken, Mr Klee said the bird deaths all showed "clinical symptoms" of botulism.

Affected birds were showing signs of paralysis, they were flightless and, in the critical stage, had "lolling" and "drooping" heads.

Most outbreaks were occurring at municipal wastewater treatment plants - and in particular older, less used, oxidation ponds.
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Attention

60 Dolphins wash up dead on Lambayeque Beaches, Peru


americatv.com.pe
Tue, 18 Mar 2014 10:11 UTC
Image
© AFP
Mystery...A scientist inspects the remains of a dolphin washed ashore in Lambayeque, Peru. About 400 dolphins were found dead in a wide extension of beaches during the month of January.
Artisanal fishermen found 60 dead dolphins between the ports of Puerto Eten and Pimentel in Lambayeque, most of them decomposing so strong odors emanating.

The leader of the fishermen, inique Francisco, said that is everyday and find some dead dolphins stranded on the beaches and saw the mouth of the drains would be the cause of marine pollution affecting marine life.

In the place were also some dead sea turtles, plus some runners dying birds. The fishermen expressed their complaint because the authorities do not raise the corpses of animals for burial

Comment: Possibly related to this earthquake reported closeby 3 days earlier? An under the ocean outgassing event maybe?

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Bizarro Earth

Raging wildfire in Himalayas torches hundreds of acres in Nepal


The Himalayan Times
Thu, 20 Mar 2014 10:36 UTC
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Authorities in Khotang are yet to tame a wildfire that has been raging in Kalika Bhagawati Community Forest in Dumre, Dharapani, for the past three days, much to the chagrin of people living near the forest.

According to locals, the wildfire had begun from Dumre Dharapani-5 and 7-based jungle on Monday afternoon. It had spread to wards 6, 8 and 9 of the forest area by Wednesday.

The community forest is spread over 409 hectares and according to inspector Ramesh Dev of Khotang district police office.

Virtually the entire forest has been engulfed by the fire, putting nearby settlements like Magargaun of Dumre Dharapani and others at risk.

Though the locals and the police are attempting to stop the fire from spreading, their attempts have failed so far, said a local.

"Locals and a team led by Dumre Dharapani's Assistant Sub-inspector Dhanlal Shrestha have been trying to control the fire for the past three days but to no avail," said local Ganesh Ghimire.
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Attention

Dead dwarf sperm whale found at Pine Knoll Shores, North Carolina

Ellen Bacca
wcti12.com
Mon, 17 Mar 2014 09:39 UTC
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A whale that washed up onshore in Pine Knoll Shores has been identified as a Dwarf Sperm Whale. This is the smallest species of whale in the world and rarely spotted at sea.

Scientist Keith Rittmaster of the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort says most everything scientists know about the Dwarf Sperm Whale has been found out by studying ones that have washed ashore, like the one from this past weekend.

Rittmaster says it is hard to even determine how many Dwarf Sperms there are in the world, since they are hard to spot and definitively identify at sea. Dwarf Sperm Whales look very similar to Pygmy Sperm Whales, which are more common.
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Radar

Mystery plume on New Mexico radar near 1945 nuclear bomb test site


Daily Mail
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 01:39 UTC
A mystery 'storm cloud' caught on weather radar after erupting off a U.S. military missile testing ground in New Mexico has left weather experts baffled.

Conspiracy theorists have speculated that the plume-like cloud, which seems to appear out of nowhere, could have been kicked up by the explosion from an unreported weapons test.

Deepening the mystery, U.S. National Weather Service offices in Albuquerque and El Paso have confirmed the reading, but say they have no idea where it could have come from.
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Stock Up

Expect sky high food prices ahead due to California mega drought

Daniel Jennings
Newswatch
Tue, 18 Mar 2014 23:46 UTC
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California is in the midst of what experts are calling a "mega-drought" which could lead to sky high grocery prices and even food shortages this year, experts say.

The farms that supply much of the nation's produce are literally running out of water.

Maps indicate that the areas of California hardest hit by the mega-drought are those that grow a large percentage of America's food. Those regions include Monterey County, which produced nearly half of the lettuce and broccoli grown in the United States in 2012.

It's not just vegetables that will be affected; nuts and fruits will be hit just as hard or harder.

"There will be thousands of acres of fruit and nut trees that will die this year because of lack of water," David Sunding, a professor of natural resources at the University of California at Berkley, told the San Jose Mercury News. "The reduction in yield will drive up prices."
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Ice Cube

Death toll of waterbirds on frozen Lake Erie likely to number tens of thousands

Carl Bachtel
wkyc.com
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 14:14 UTC
Image
© WKYC
Red breasted mergansers and coot on Lake Erie.

The Great Lakes are the winter home to millions of sea birds and waterfowl that need open water to survive. The frigid weather of the past few months left 92 percent of the lakes covered in ice, and that left diver ducks out in the cold.

Jen Brumfield, a naturalist for the Cleveland Metroparks explains, "With the freeze-over, all of these birds are piling into very, very small, open-water outlets where they become stressed. There is limited food for them there, so they starve and die."

The death toll on Lake Erie could run in the tens of thousands.

As the frozen lake thaws, carcasses of the deceased ducks are washing up along the shore by the hundreds. The waterfowl are mostly diver ducks, like greater and lesser scaup, redheads, canvasbacks, and red-breasted mergansers.
      Read More...
Ice Cube

10 Fold increase in the number of dying water birds rescued in Toronto due to extreme cold


Toronto Metro
Mon, 17 Mar 2014 10:23 UTC
Image
© Torstar News Service
Calls about dead birds to Toronto Animal Services went up 66 per cent between Jan. 1 and Mar. 12, compared to the same period last year.
Toronto's ducks and geese are among the hardest-hit victims of this year's brutal winter weather.

Calls about dead birds - found stuck in the ice or floating lifeless in the water - shot up 66 per cent between Jan. 1 and Mar. 12 compared to the same period last year, according to Toronto Animal Services.

Meanwhile, the city's only wildlife rescue charity has been overwhelmed with dozens of fragile, injured and dying birds, making this the worst winter it has seen in 21 years of operation.

"They're weak and they're starving," said Nathalie Karvonen, executive director of the Toronto Wildlife Centre. "Some of the birds are having traumatic injuries as well because they're in a weakened state."

The centre has rescued about 10 times as many water birds as it does during a normal winter, more than 130 since December. Admissions of wildlife are up 50 per cent overall, said Karvonen.

Many water birds spend the winter on Georgian Bay, which has frozen solid for the first time in 20 years. The mass migration led to an intense food competition this year, as thousands of fish-eating birds compete for a few small pools of water.
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Arrow Down

Large sinkhole growing on Alexandrine Street, Detroit


myfoxdetroit.com
Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:37 UTC
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Those who pass by a growing sinkhole on Alexandrine Street in Detroit are becoming concerned about the condition and safety of the street.

Chris Estham lives nearby and says, at first, he thought the hole was a pothole, but then noticed it was about six feet deep and 20 feet wide when he got a closer look.

The sinkhole is also becoming hazardous for nearby businesses. The parking lot of Slows To Go, a popular restaurant, is right next to the sinkhole, and Ladder 20 uses the alley to back up its trucks into their garage.

Estham says he called the city weeks ago about the problem but has not seen any action, and since then the problem has worsened.

FOX 2 has learned the abandoned manhole was not backfilled, and the cavity beneath it create the sinkhole.
      Read More...
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