Millions upon millions of fish and sea creatures are dying around the world, but it's all very mysterious, as there does not appear to be much explanation for it, logical or otherwise.

When more than six tons of fish died recently in Marina del Ray, it made headlines all over the U.S., according to the blog The Mind Unleashed. But in truth, what happened off the coast of southern California has been replicated all around the globe. In fact, in 2014, as you will see below, mass fish deaths have become very commonplace.

Taken individually or even a few at a time, you would not get the impression that there was a problem. But taken collectively, it's apparent that something is happening. But why?

Has our environment suddenly and dramatically changed? Is there some sort of global weather or geothermal pattern to blame?

What follows is an incomplete list of just some of the most recent incidents of massive deaths of fish and sea life:

A Baltimore police officer is facing felony animal cruelty charges for slitting the throat of a restrained dog, and another has been suspended for helping. Officer Jeffrey Bolger also threatened to gut the dog, witnesses said.

"I'm going to [f--king] gut this thing," witnesses heard Bolger say as he got out of the police vehicle, according to the charging document.

The dog, a 7-year-old shar-pei named Nala, had escaped from owner Sarah Gossard's yard on Saturday through an open gate after Gossard had let her out. Nearby resident Sandy Fleischer found Nala and tried to check the dog's tags, but Nala nipped her, causing a superficial wound.

"The dog was more scared of not knowing where it was and being thirsty and disoriented. The dog bit me out of fear because I tried to touch it, which was my fault," Fleischer told told WBAL-TV. The dog was not aggressive, she added.

Fleischer then called police, and officers from the Southeastern District responded and corralled the dog in an empty lot. The officers captured Nala with a long dog-control pole.

Then Bolger pulled out a knife and slit Nala's throat as Officer Thomas Schmidt held her down.

But even before officers killed Nala, they were being cruel, Fleischer said.

"One police officer said, 'Let's get the noose on the dog,' and you could see the police officer twisting and hurting the dog, bringing it to the ground to the point where the dog's face is on the ground. You could hear the dog screaming and crying in pain," she said. "I did see one officer that had been extremely aggressive that did have his knee into her chest that was tightening the noose. It seemed (they were doing it) relentlessly and unnecessarily."

Police agreed the killing was unnecessary, as the dog was contained.

The results of postmortems on three of the almost 40 birds found dead along the Port Elizabeth coastline recently have proved inconclusive.

The mysterious deaths of the birds - Cape gannets, cormorants, African penguins and seagulls - was very worrying, experts said.

While signs of starvation were found in most of the birds, the results of the postmortems done at the SA Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre were inconclusive and they attributed the deaths to three possible factors - the weather, infections or man-made conditions.

Bird expert Albert Schultz said 11 African penguins and 23 Cape gannets were found around Beachview on Sunday, while some cormorants were found along the beachfront in Summerstrand.

The hailstorm that hit Maharashtra earlier this year killed more than 65,000 birds and mammals in various parts of the state, according to a special report prepared by the Bombay Natural History Society.

A total 26 species of birds and nine species of mammals were killed in Marathwada and Vidarbha during the period from March 1 to 10 and on May 1 and 2, BNHS stated in the report that was released on Tuesday.

Mass mortality was reported in 27 areas with high mortality in 14 areas, each covering about 25 sq km.

"A high number of deaths were reported for birds that prefer residing near human habitation. Some of these are mynas, owls, parakeets and kites," the report states.

The highest rate of mass mortality was observed at the roosting sites of birds such as rosy starling, the house sparrow and rose-ringed parakeet. Birds such as coucal, bulbul, drongo, quail, lark, egret and bee-eaters were found dead across the study area.

Dozens of seabirds have been found dead in a region of Snæfellsnes, and the cause eludes the experts.

Vísir reports that since last month, over 50 common eiders have been found dead near a nesting area in Fróðárrif, located on the Snæfellsnes peninsula in west Iceland. However, no apparent cause of death could be found. This prompted the West-Iceland Centre of Natural History (NSV) to conduct further investigations.

Menja von Schmalensee told attendees at an NSV meeting last Wednesday that, in the course of these investigations, an additional 70 dead birds were found in the area. These birds included kittiwakes, cormorants and more eiders. Even more inexplicably, many dead flounders were also found near the area, having washed up on the shores nearby.

Jón Einar Jónsson, the director of the Institute of Research Centres at the University of Iceland, visited the area with NSV employees. Although scavenging creatures had picked apart many of the dead birds, a few specimens were still intact, and newly dead. Some of these specimens have been sent to the US, to be examined by experts in bird diseases there.

Jón points out that the eider and the kittiwake have little in common with each other, apart from the fact that they both drink fresh water around this time of year. This could point to ponds in the area as being a possible source of the deadly culprit.

Thousands of dead fish washed up on Victoria's Ninety Mile Beach were probably killed by cold Antarctic water, according to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

Many beachgoers had reported the dead fish between Seaspray and Marlo in Gippsland, identifying mainly the leather jacket species and also trevally.

The EPA said it was investigating but test results did not indicate water pollution was the cause.

It said the fish were most likely killed by cold Antarctic waters moving up the east coast.

The fish prefer warmer waters.

Large numbers of dead fish have also washed up on Tasmania's east coast.

Rabat - One of Africa's oldest national parks is under attack "from all fronts," said its director on Friday after 68 elephants were slaughtered over the past two months by poachers wielding chain saws and grenades and shooting them from helicopters.

Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is under constant assault by renegade Congolese soldiers, gunmen from South Sudan and others. And this is just a slice of the carnage: international wildlife regulators say 20 000 elephants were killed just in Africa in 2013.

The Johannesburg-based African Parks group, which manages the park, said that since mid-May, the 5000km² Garamba National Park in Congo, which was established in 1938, has faced an onslaught from several bands of poachers who have already killed 4% of its elephant population.

"The situation is extremely serious," Garamba park manger Jean-Marc Froment said in the statement. "The park is under attack on all fronts." A 2012 census found just 2 000 elephants in Garamba Park, down from 20 000 in the 1960s.

One group is shooting the elephants with rifles from a helicopter and then taking off their tusks with a chain saw. They are removing the elephants' brains and genitals as well.

Conservationists say a thriving ivory market in Asia is helping fuel the worst poaching epidemic of African elephants in decades.

In some cases the attacks in Garamba seem to be indiscriminate, killing baby elephants that do not yet possess the valuable ivory tusks.

African Parks, which runs seven parks in six countries in cooperation with local authorities, said the poachers include renegade elements of the Congolese army, gunmen from South Sudan, and members of the Lord's Resistance Army, a militant rebel group whose fugitive leader Joseph Kony is an alleged war criminal.

In one skirmish with poachers, park guards had to try to protect themselves from hand grenades thrown by Southern Sudanese poachers, some wearing military uniforms.

Researchers try to determine cause of death

An adult humpback whale was found dead on the beach near Pajaro Dunes Thursday night, and researchers are trying to determine its cause of death.

The roughly 45-foot whale was spotted after dark near the waterline at Palm Beach, said Teri Sigler, the marine mammal stranding coordinator at Long Marine Laboratory in Santa Cruz.

"It's a rare strander," Sigler said Friday.

She said the whale appeared "moderately decomposed" and had an odor. It was not immediately clear how it died, and a necropsy was expected to be performed on the beach Friday.

Results could take a day or longer, in part because the tide has been washing the animal south and making it difficult for researchers to get to it. Friday afternoon, the whale drifted to the beach in front of the Pajaro Rivermouth, authorities said.

A pair of dog breeders in the Spanish province of Valladolid were shocked recently when two pups were born green.

"I couldn't believe it when I first saw them," Aida Vallelado Molina told The Local.

"I thought the puppies were dirty and tried to clean them, but the colour wouldn't come off," said Molina, who breeds hunting dogs with her father in the town of Laguna de Duero.

The animals, born on June 3rd, were smaller and weaker than the other pups in the litter. One of them, a female, died shortly after birth while the male pup is still alive, but very weak.

He is now beginning to lose his pigment.

Swarms of giant moths have descended on Malaysia, invading homes and even disrupting a national football match.

Thousands of the furry insects, with a wing span of up to 16cm (6in), interrupted a semi-finals match at the Darul Makmur Stadium last week.

Over 800 sightings were also reported in neighbouring Singapore last month, sparking intense online debate.

The Lyssa Zampa tropical moth, which is also known as the Laos brown butterfly, is native to South East Asia.

Biology lecturer N Sivasothi said that while the moth sightings appear to be "unprecedented", it is not a new phenomenon.

"The moths are actually present during other times of the year but in very small numbers, so they are usually not noticed by people," Mr Sivasothi said, adding that the creatures typically emerge between April and August every year.

Ecologist Anuj Jain said moths' use of light for navigation often causes them to head to built-up areas.

"Their tendency to emigrate in search of new uneaten host plants attracts these moths to light in urban city areas," he said.

Experts said that while people suffering from asthma may be sensitive to hairs on their wings, the nocturnal creatures do not pose any threat.