Animals
S


Nuke

What is happening to Alaska? Is Fukushima responsible for the mass animal deaths?

Michael T. Snyder
The Truth
Tue, 10 Dec 2013 20:37 UTC
Dead Animals
© The Truth
Why are huge numbers of dead birds dropping dead and washing up along the coastlines of Alaska? It is being reported that many of the carcases of the dead birds are "broken open and bleeding". The photo of some of these dead birds at the top of this article was originally posted by Alaska native David Akeya on Facebook. You can find more photos of these dead birds right here. And of course it isn't just birds that are dying. As you will see below, something is causing mass death events among various populations of fish as well. In addition, it has been reported that large numbers of polar bears, seals and walruses in Alaska are being affected by hair loss and "oozing sores". So precisely what is causing all of this? Could Fukushima be responsible? Authorities are claiming that all of this is being caused by "disease" or "harsh weather", but are they actually telling us the truth? Evaluate the evidence that I have shared below and decide for yourself...

#1 Something is causing large numbers of dead birds to wash up on shores all over Alaska. The following is a report from Alaska Public Media about just one of these incidents...
Hundreds of dead birds washed up on the shores of St. Lawrence Island towards the end of November. And though the cause of the die off isn't yet known, the quick response demonstrates a mounting capacity for dealing with unexpected environmental events in the region.
Scientists do not know why this is happening. Some of them are blaming "harsh weather".

Comment: A key suspect was left off the list... the Pacific Ring of Fire is super-active these days.

Volcanic eruptions rage in Alaska: Geologist, "for some reason we can't explain, activity picked up"

Volcanic eruptions, rising CO2, boiling oceans, and why man-made global warming is not even wrong

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Heart - Black

Shocking: Snowy Owls are being shot dead at JFK Airport as a matter of policy

Pei-Sze Cheng
nbcnewyork.com
Tue, 10 Dec 2013 13:24 UTC

The agency that oversees New York's airports has added snowy owls to its no-fly list, shooting down at least two at Kennedy Airport and issuing an alert to kill any more that are spotted there, an airport source told NBC 4 New York. Marc Santia reports.

The agency that oversees New York's airports shot down at least two snowy owls at Kennedy Airport, but now promises an effort to trap and relocate them.

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey issued the shoot-to-kill order for the birds after one flew into a jet's engine while the plane was on a tarmac at Kennedy last week, an airport source told NBC 4 New York.

After media reports on the hunted owls Monday, the Port Authority said it would implement a program to trap and relocate the birds, which have been migrating to the region this year in unusually high numbers.

"The Port Authority's goal is to strike a balance in humanely controlling bird populations at and around the agency's airports to safeguard passengers on thousands of aircrafts each day," the agency said in a statement.

A total of five planes were hit by snowy owls at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports in recent weeks, the Port Authority told the Associated Press.
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Arrow Down

Birds that were once a common sight in Britain take flight, never to return

Cahal Milmo
The Independent, UK
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 13:10 UTC
Image
© AlamyThe yellow wagtail has disappeared entirely from Wales
The sharp decline in some of Britain's most common bird species is resulting for the first time in their disappearance from some parts of the United Kingdom, conservationists warn today.

An annual stocktake of bird populations by a coalition of nature groups shows that many of the country's 107 most familiar species, such as the starling and grey partridge, are suffering "plummeting" population changes compared with the 1990s.

But as well as losing numbers across the board, The State of the UK's Birds warns that species are vanishing from sections of the country where they once thrived as their geographical range shrinks with their population.

The unique British race of the yellow wagtail, which has a brighter yellow head compared to its European cousins, has declined by 45 per cent since 1995 but its range has also reduced by nearly a third and the species has vanished from large areas of England as well as the entirety of Wales.

The corn bunting, a dumpy farmland bird once abundant across the countryside, is now extinct in Ireland and the cuckoo has disappeared from large parts of South-east England and the Midlands.

Dr Mark Eaton, a conservation scientist with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said: "I think many of us have been shocked by how poorly some of our most familiar species are faring. Many of the birds we're referring to aren't rare and don't occur in remote locations.
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Bizarro Earth

11 dead whales discovered on remote island believed to be among the pod stranded last week

Jaleesa Baulkman
University Herald
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 14:00 UTC
Whales
© Wikimedia Commons
Eleven dead whales were discovered Sunday afternoon on a remote island in the Florida Keys, CBS News 12 reported.

The sea creatures that were discovered on Snipe Point, about six miles north of Sugarloaf Key, are likely from the pod of stranded whales "that had been the focus of an intense rescue effort" last week, Blair Mase, stranding coordinator for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, the main federal marine conservation agency, told reporters in a conference call.

NOAA said it's suspected that the whales came from a pod of 51 pilot whales that were stranded on the Gulf Coast of Florida's Everglades National Park.

"We think these are from the same group," Mase said. "We expected this would happen."
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Bug

Cold-loving Asian cockroach invades New York

Megan Gannon
LiveScience
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 09:47 UTC
Cockroaches
© Lyle Buss, Univ. of FloridaThis male (left) and female (right) of the cockroach species Periplaneta japonica were found on New York City's High Line in 2012.
A new species of cockroach that can withstand freezing temperatures has taken up residence in New York, scientists confirmed.

The resilient critter, Periplaneta japonica, had never been seen in the United States until an exterminator spotted some strange-looking roach carcasses last year on the High Line, a mile-long park built on an old elevated railway in Manhattan. Researchers confirmed the identity of the species, which is native to Asia and notable for its ability to thrive in cold climates, unlike the American cockroaches that populate New York and take shelter indoors when winter comes.

"About 20 years ago colleagues of ours in Japan reared nymphs of this species and measured their tolerance to being able to survive in snow," Rutgers insect biologist Jessica Ware said in a statement.

"As the species has invaded Korea and China, there has been some confirmation that it does very well in cold climates, so it is very conceivable that it could live outdoors during winter in New York. That is in addition to its being well suited to live indoors alongside the species that already are here."

Ware and colleagues say it will be difficult to trace the source of the species, but they suspect Periplaneta japonica arrived in New York in the soil of one of the plants along the High Line, which first opened in 2009 and is still partially under construction. Though the High Line's gardens have a focus on native plants, Ware noted that many nurseries in the United States have native plants alongside imported ones.
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Eagle

Obama administration will let some wind companies kill or injure eagles


The Guardian
Fri, 06 Dec 2013 14:09 UTC
Image
© Gary Cameron/ReutersA bald eagle returns to its nest after catching a fish
The Obama administration said on Friday it will allow some companies to kill or injure bald and golden eagles for up to 30 years without penalty, in an effort to spur development and investment in green energy while balancing its environmental consequences. The change, requested by the wind energy industry, will provide legal protection for the lifespan of wind farms and other projects for which companies obtain a permit and make efforts to avoid killing the birds.

An investigation by the Associated Press earlier this year documented the illegal killing of eagles around wind farms, the Obama administration's reluctance to prosecute such cases and its willingness to help keep the scope of the eagle deaths secret. The White House has championed wind power, a pollution-free energy intended to ease global warming, as a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's energy plan.

In other areas, such as the government's support for corn-based ethanol to reduce US dependence on gasoline, the White House has allowed the green industry to do not-so-green things. Another AP investigation recently showed that ethanol has proven far more damaging to the environment than politicians promised and much worse than the government admits today.
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Arrow Down

Cause of big seabird die-off in Western Alaska pinpointed

Alex Demarban
Alaska Dispach
Fri, 06 Dec 2013 11:31 UTC
Image
© USFWSCrested auklet is one species of seabird that was necropsied at the U.S. Geological Service National Wildlife Center in Madison, Wis.
Hundreds of seabirds that washed up dead on a Bering Sea island perished from avian cholera, a highly contagious and fast-killing waterfowl infection that had never been detected in Alaska before, according to state wildlife officials.

Strains of the bacterial disease generally do not pose a health risk for people, said Kimberlee Beckmen, a veterinarian at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. But residents of St. Lawrence Island, where the birds were found last month, should take care not to eat sick animals. People also should not handle the birds if they have cuts on their hands.

"It is always advisable to cook meat thoroughly and never eat sick birds or animals that may have died from a disease," she said in a statement. "Anyone touching a sick animal should wear gloves and wash hands with soap and water after handling animals or butchering meat."

Lethal bacteria

Residents of St. Lawrence Island who collected the carcasses and sent them off for study late last month suspected that recent Bering Sea storms killed the birds. Others feared it was seaborne nuclear radiation from the Fukushima meltdown in Japan.
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Arrow Down

Michigan police shoot dog 8 times after barking complaint


PoliceStateUSA
Fri, 06 Dec 2013 13:54 UTC
Lexie
© WXYZ.comBrittany Preston’s dog, Lexie.
Saint Clair Shores - When a man with dementia accidentally left a dog outside all night, neighbor's called police to silence the dog's barking. Police obliged by firing 8 rounds into the dog in its front yard.

Brittany Preston left her puppy, Lexie, in the care of her grandfather as she went to work an overnight shift.

Unfortunately her grandpa's mild dementia caused his memory to be impaired. During the evening he let the dog into the yard to go to the bathroom, and forgot to let the dog back in.

Hours went by. The dog waited by the door, barking for its owner's attention. Preston's grandfather failed to hear the barking or remember his mistake.

Neighbors, tiring of the noise, called the police. Sometime after 7:00 a.m., police arrived and surrounded the dog in the yard. Preston's grandfather was awake now, and opened the door to usher the dog back into the house. But the dog continued to bark at police instead of going inside.

Police asked if he was the owner of the dog. Fumbling the question, he said he was not. Of course, his granddaughter was, but he did not make this clear. Police made the assumption the dog didn't belong there.

Saint Clair Shores Police spent some time trying to lasso the dog with a dog stick, but were ultimately overcome by "fear for their lives," a common malady in police work.

According to the police report, police officers opened fire when the dog "charged" at them. Eight rounds were fired into Lexie.
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Arrow Down

Bacteria kills hundreds of loons In eastern Lake Ontario


wwnytv.com
Fri, 06 Dec 2013 13:42 UTC
Image
A dangerous bacteria has turned up again in Lake Ontario and it's blamed for the deaths of hundreds of birds.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation says Type E botulism is back in the eastern basin of Lake Ontario.

The DEC says 200 to 300 common loons have washed ashore along Jefferson and northern Oswego County shorelines.

The loon deaths were all attributable to type E botulism.

Long-tailed ducks, grebes and gulls have also been found.

The DEC says it hasn't seen this many loon die on Lake Ontario since 2006.

Type E botulism is caused by a bacterial toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum, a widespread bacterium in the sediments of the Great Lakes.

Certain environmental conditions cause this strain of Clostridium to produce a toxin that can spread through the food web of the lakes.

First documented in waterbirds from Lake Michigan in the 1960s, type E botulism was recorded irregularly for three decades in the lower Great Lakes.
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Question

Mystery bird deaths at Kamfers dam, South Africa

Norma Wildenboer
iol.co.za
Thu, 05 Dec 2013 12:44 UTC
Experts have warned that there could be a massive wipe-out of birdlife, as well as a serious threat to residents in Kimberley, as avian botulism is being suggested as the most likely cause of the deaths of more than a thousand water birds at Kamfers Dam.

A water analysis expert from the Free State, Doctor Jan Roos, together with the Provincial State Veterinarian, Doctor Mcdonald Gayakaya and Kamfers Dam farm owner, Herbert Booth, inspected the dam and found hundreds of dead or dying geese, ducks and flamingos scattered on the banks or in shallow water.
Image
© Danie Van der LithDoctor Jan Roos taking water samples from Kamfers Dam.

Roos was called in to collect water samples by Birdlife South Africa and the Save the Flamingo Association, and to do an analysis of the dam's water quality, while Gayakaya collected some of the dying birds to determine the cause of death.

The dying birds started appearing three weeks ago, according to Booth, who owns the farm on which the dam is situated.
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