Temple Community Puzzled Over Dead Fish Pond


It's a mystery that has people in Central Texas scratching their heads.

Hundreds of fish turning up dead in a Temple pond this weekend.

When lifelong Temple angler Eloy Machuca came to Miller Park today he saw something he didn't expect.

"I come down here to release some fish, usually little ones so kids can catch them, but I've never seen this many," Machua said.

What he saw were dead catfish hundreds of them.

"I would say 90 percent of them are dead."

The Indian River Lagoon on Florida's east coast has long been known as the most diverse ecosystem in North America.

Its 156 miles of water boast more than 600 species of fish and more than 300 kinds of birds.

The lagoon is not just an ecological treasure. To the towns along its edge - Titusville, Cocoa, Melbourne, Vero Beach and Stuart, among others - it accounts for hundreds of millions in revenue from angling, boating, bird-watching, tourism and other waterfront activities.

But these days the Indian River Lagoon has become known as a killing zone.

Algae blooms wiped out more than 47,000 acres of its sea grass beds, which one scientist compared to losing an entire rainforest in one fell swoop.

Then, beginning last summer, manatees began dying. As of last week, 111 manatees from Indian River Lagoon had died under mysterious circumstances. Soon pelicans and dolphins began showing up dead too - more than 300 pelicans and 46 dolphins so far.

Don Phillips and Larry Riat were both amazed and perplexed about a week ago when they fished at Milford Reservoir.

The amazing part included a massive run on channel catfish as they fished from a boat, using jig lures.

What alarmed and perplexed the 76-year-old retirees was the thousands of dead carp and other less desirable species in the water and on the shore.

"There were two dead carp about every foot. They were floating in the water about everywhere," said Riat, of Abilene.

The channel catfish were spawning, said Phillips, of Salina.

"We caught many, many of them and turned them back," he said. "They were good eatin' size."

The pair were after walleye and crappie. They caught a few crappie, but turned them back.

But what they wondered about most was the dead carp.

Why the dead carp?

Fisheries officials at the lake have been fielding reports about dead fish -- 99 percent of them carp -- for a couple of weeks, starting from the north end, said R.J. Harms, Milford operations manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The squirrels were found in campgrounds near Palomar Mountain

Editor's Note: County officials issued a correction to their news release on Thursday. The squirrels were found at Cedar Grove Campground and Doane Valley Campground.

Three squirrels with plague have been discovered at two campgrounds near Palomar Mountain.

San Diego County Department of Environmental Health officials urged hikers and campers to take simple precautions Wednesday to make sure they don't come into contact with squirrels or their fleas, which can spread plague, a disease caused by bacteria that can make people very sick and even kill them without quick treatment.

"It's not unusual for us to find plague in our area and there really are simple things people can do to protect themselves," said environmental health director Jack Miller. "The big thing is to avoid contact with squirrels and the fleas they carry. If you're camping, set your tents up away from squirrel burrows. If you're hiking, don't feed squirrels and don't let your kids play with them."

Thousands of fish have died in the past week at Cave Run Lake.

Biologists are still searching for the cause, which affected white bass, said Dave Baker, a spokesman with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

The "fish kill" was similar to one in the early 2000s.

Bob Durborow, aquaculture extension specialist at Kentucky State University, said the white bass he examined had bacterial infections, which contributed to their condition, but was likely not the primary cause of the fish kill.

"It may have been some kind of virus," Baker added, saying biologist won't know until test results come back.

"It seems to have run its course," Baker said, adding that state officials are not seeing any new fish dying. But last weekend and earlier this week, there were many dead fish scattered around the surface of the lake.

Baker said anglers this weekend should not eat any fish that "don't look right." He said look for sores or other blemishes. To which I added, avoid eating fish that don't smell right, either! Baker reminded people not to eat dead or dying fish.

Gerry Buynak, assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, said anglers first observed thousands of dead and struggling white bass in Cave Run Lake the weekend of June 8. No other species were affected.

The 8,270-acre lake is near Morehead.

To help maintain the fishery, biologists stocked 64,000 fingerling-sized white bass in Cave Run Lake on June 13.

The Ministry of Environment (MoE) has concluded its investigation into the deaths of thousands of small fish in a large detention pond in Willband Creek Park in Abbotsford, and the incident remains a mystery.

MoE spokesman David Karn said an emergency response officer tested the water temperature, pH levels, conductivity and dissolved oxygen, and determined none of those were connected to the deaths.

Contamination of the water was also ruled out.

"There was no obvious source of contamination and no physical sign that the fish were exposed to a chemical contaminant," Karn said.

The city's environmental team was also notified. Rhonda Livingstone, spokesperson for the City of Abbotsford, said the fish kill is being considered an "unfortunate mystery."

"City staff will be closely monitoring the ponds to see if any new issues crop up, but the hope is that we won't have any similar incidents and we can chalk this up to a one-time, unusual event," she said.

The dead fish were discovered on Sunday, May 12 by Abbotsford resident Gary Stewart while he was out for a walk.

Stewart immediately informed the ministry, which sent out an environmental emergency response officer that afternoon.

Volunteers with the Ravine Park Salmon Enhancement Society were also notified, and they determined that the fish were three-spined stickleback. No other fish appeared to have been impacted.

Doug Gosling, a member of the Stoney Creek Salmon Stalkers, which is affiliated with RPSES, said he is disappointed that the MoE is not investigating the incident further.

"Thousands of fish showing up on the shores of one of our local waterways seems to me to be important enough to garner a fairly significant investigation ... by doing nothing much more than a little snoop-around and shrugging our shoulders won't help in preventing another similar event."

He said the MoE should be pushed to provide answers.

"I think they need to know there are lots of people interested in this event and something needs to be done to prevent it happening again."

Willband Creek Park is located in east Abbotsford at Highway 11 and Bateman Road.

The cause of the death of numerous fish at the pond in East Park is a mystery.

The City of El Dorado has investigating the cause after received the report of dead fish Wednesday.

After inspecting the pond, they found a lot of big and little fish dead.

"The first thing we did was start adding new water," said Herb Llewellyn, city manager. "The solution to pollution is dilution. We have been cleaning up and adding water ever since."

They first suspected it was due to waste from the geese and ducks, which had taken all the dissolved oxygen out of the water, but when they checked, there was a lot of oxygen.

"We then started looking for other things," Llewellyn said.

They have been in contact with Randy Just, from the El Dorado State Park, and Craig Johnson, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism fisheries biologist for El Dorado, to try to determine the cause.

Kurt Bookout, public utilities director, said he had talked to Johnson and they both were stumped as to the cause.

"We've run all the tests we know to run in our lab and didn't find a cause," Bookout said.

He said they are continuing to flush fresh water through the pond.

Pesticides which have been linked with the decline in bees could also harm other wildlife such as butterflies, mice and partridges, it has emerged.

Seeds treated with the 'neonicotinoid' pesticides could kill birds or mice, a study in the Journal of Applied Ecology from the British Ecological Society has suggested.

Professor Dave Goulson, the author of the study, said: "Any pesticide that can persist for many years, build up in soil and leech into waterways is likely to have effects far beyond the pest insects it intends to target."

The European Union has banned using three of types of the pesticide on flowering crops, which are attractive to bees, for two years but they are still being used on other crops such as cereals.

Neonicotinoids are intended to affect insects by attacking their nervous systems, causing paralysis and eventually death, but less than 10 per cent of the active ingredient soaks in to plant seeds.

The rest, if used regularly, can accumulate in soil to concentration levels higher than those required to kill insects such as bees in soil, damaging soil health and killing non-target invertebrates underground.

The exhausted travelers were just about out of gas, so they pulled over to the only rest stop they could find in the fog.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources workers aboard the research vessel Coregonus wondered why so many migrating warblers were suddenly landing on their boat 16 miles off the Lake Michigan shore from Port Washington. The pooped birds didn't care where they landed, as long as it was dry.


To the warblers lost in the fog, the boat probably looked like a giant floating life preserver.

"Most of them were just dead-tired," DNR fisheries technician Tim Kroeff said Tuesday.

American redstart, magnolia and palm warblers were among the species landing on the boat, as well as at least one vesper sparrow.

"Some were so tired I could catch them with my hand and bring them into the cabin. Some of them would land and it was almost like they were in hypothermia, they were shivering," said Kroeff, a DNR fisheries technician for three decades.

Warblers migrating from tropical climates to Wisconsin to breed or pass through on their way to Canada visit stopover sites, which ornithologists have dubbed fire escapes, convenience stores and full-service hotels, depending on habitat and availability of food. On this day in late May, the Coregonus was a fire escape - a vital rescue stop the birds happened upon that likely saved their lives.

"It happens in the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico; there are amazing stories from people on ships," said Noel Cutright, founder of Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory in Ozaukee County. "They're always looking for some place to sit down."

Residents of a small California town wish a certain endangered species would make itself scarce.

Flocks of California condors have descended upon Bear Valley Springs. Residents, who are allowed to do little to chase them away, say the huge birds peck off roof shingles, damage air conditioners and leave porches coated in droppings. And although the majestic birds, with a wingspan of nine feet, are widely admired, the gated community of about 5,200 about 80 miles north of Los Angeles has seen enough of them.

"A lot of people used to think seeing a condor was amazing," local realtor Beth Hall told FoxNews.com. "After seeing the damage they have done, they have become less popular with people, myself included."

Unfortunately for the residents, the birds are protected by both federal and state law, leaving them almost powerless to take action. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 66 of the remaining 417 condors live in Southern California.

The condors caused significant damage on the outside of a rental property of Hall's, leaving her with big repair bills. The worst of it took place on her deck after one of the birds opened and spilled a can of white paint. Other condors tracked the paint all around on the deck, Hall said.

Hall also reported that the birds have covered the house in feces, nibbled at the wiring of the air conditioner and ripped off the screens of two sliding doors.