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Seabird death toll rises in mystery oil spill


The Independent
Sun, 03 Feb 2013 15:06 UTC
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© Press AssociationThe pollution spill may affect thousands of seabirds
Investigators were today still trying to identify the source of a pollution spill that may yet kill thousands of seabirds along a stretch of the South Coast from West Sussex to Cornwall.

Hundreds of birds were washed ashore over the weekend covered with a sticky, oily substance. Experts say a change in the wind direction yesterday blew many birds out to sea and it is feared they will die of cold and exhaustion.
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Question

Dead fish a mystery

Tiffany Grange
Border Mail
Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:24 UTC
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© Photo: TIFFANY GRANGEThousands of dead fish line the banks of Lake Burrinjuck, with no proper explanation.
Thousands of fish have mysteriously washed up dead on the shores of Burrinjuck Dam in south-east NSW.

Liz Richardson from Good Hope Tourist Resort said the amount of dead fish was "unbelievable".

"Every type of fish," she said. "Lots of baby fish, lots of small cod."

Around eight kilometres of shoreline, downstream of Taemas Bridge and past Good Hope, was littered with fish carcasses.

The Department of Primary Industries said the cause of the fish kill was unclear.
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Bizarro Earth

Giant squid creates buzz in Kaikoura, New Zealand

Emma Dangerfield
Stuff.co.nz
Sat, 02 Feb 2013 20:55 UTC
Giant Squid
© Emma Dangerfield/Fairfax NZUnusual Find: Christchurch couple Jack and Sharon Osikai found the giant squid floating in the water in South Bay, Kaikoura.
A giant squid found floating at sea has created a huge amount of interest in Kaikoura this morning.

The squid, measuring about 8 metres in length, was found floating off the coast near Shark's Tooth point in South Bay about 8am by Jack and Sharon Osikai who were returning from a fishing trip.

The Christchurch couple, who have been holidaying in Kaikoura for about 20 years, said they had never seen anything like it.
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Bug

Vermin plague expected to follow floods in Australia

Ben Pike
Daily Telegraph, Australia
Sat, 02 Feb 2013 02:41 UTC
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© Nikki Short, The Australian The Clarence River at Grafton at its 8.1m peak this week.
Crippling bushfires followed by an epic flood have punished large swaths of Australia in recent weeks.

Now plagues of disease-infested vermin and insects are threatening a cruel end to a disastrous summer.

Authorities have warned of an explosion in disease, infections and bites because of the perfect storm of high rainfall, fauna dislocation and sewage overflow.

Mosquitoes, rodents, spiders and snakes are the main offenders, while black flies are poised to create a spike in bacterial skin infections and allergic reactions.

NSW Health public health physician Professor David Durrheim said the risks increased as flood waters receded: "On the coast the rain event coincided with high tide and that generally increases the water levels into salt marshes and that's where the salt marsh mosquito breeds."
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Attention

U.S. wildlife officials propose endangered status for wolverines


Guardian
Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:50 UTC
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© Photograph: Audrey Magoun/APThe 'mountain devil', in its natural habitat
Only 250 to 300 wolverines roam the US, but the species' habitats are threatened by climate change

The tenacious wolverine, a snow-loving carnivore sometimes called the "mountain devil," is being added to the list of species threatened by climate change, a dubious distinction that puts it in the ranks of the polar bear and several other animals that could see their habitats shrink drastically due to warming temperatures.

US wildlife officials on Friday will propose Endangered Species Act protections for the wolverine in the contiguous 48 states, a step denied under the Bush administration.

The Associated Press obtained details of the government's long-awaited ruling on the rare, elusive animal in advance of the announcement.
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Bizarro Earth

Mystery deepens as increasing numbers of stricken birds wash up on Dorset coast

John Fahey, Ryan Hooper
The Independent, UK
Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:48 UTC
Stricken Bird
© The Independent, UK
Increasing numbers of stricken birds are washing up on the south coast after being covered in a mysterious substance.

Wildlife experts are no closer to discovering the cause of the environmental damage, which has seen more than 100 seabirds taken into care at the RSPCA West Hatch wildlife centre in Taunton, Somerset, since yesterday.

Most of the birds, guillemots, were found at Chesil Beach, near Portland in Dorset. One bird was found alive as far as Worthing in west Sussex, and is now being cared for at a veterinary surgery. Another, found in the Isle of Wight, is now at a local animal rescue centre.

Around 200 miles of the English coastline is being investigated. The Environment Agency has taken samples of the water for testing.

RSPCA deputy chief inspector John Pollock, who has been leading the rescue mission in Dorset, said: "We just do not know what this substance is.

"It is white, odourless and globular, like a silicone sealer. The best way I can think to describe it is 'sticky Vaseline'.

"The numbers of the birds coming in have been growing and sadly there were quite a few dead birds this morning."
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Magnify

Seabirds wash up on English coast covered in sticky substance

Steven Morris
Guardian
Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:39 UTC
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© Photograph: RSPCA/PARSPCA staff have been working to clean up surviving seabirds at West Hatch animal centre in Devon
Conservationists mount rescue operation after birds found on beaches coated in waxy oil

Conservationists are becoming increasingly alarmed by the number of seabirds being washed on to the south coast of England covered in a sticky, waxy substance.

Around 200 birds have been found alive, but by Friday morning 20 dead birds had also been discovered and the RSPB was receiving many reports of distressed birds being spotted out at sea.

Scientists from the Environment Agency and Maritime Coastguard Agency have taken samples to establish what the substance is, which will help efforts to clean the surviving birds. One theory being examined is that it could be palm oil.

Most of the birds affected are guillemots, which spend most of their life out at sea and are more vulnerable to oil spills. But there are growing concerns that rarer birds may also have been affected.
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Evil Rays

Dead robins found in Northeast Portland

Lynne Terry
The Oregonian
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 08:45 UTC
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© Lynne Terry/The OregonianA few berry-studded bushes sit near the intersection of Northeast Russell and Rodney, where more than 30 dead robins have been found in recent days. The question is: Did they die of berry binge drinking?
The dead robins are back.

More than 30 carcasses have been found on the ground in Northeast Portland in the past week. Wildlife experts don't know for sure what killed them but one possible cause is a berry binge -- just like in February 2008.

That month, the carcasses of more than 50 American robins were found around Mount Tabor in Southeast Portland. When scientists opened them up, they found their bellies full of holly berries.

"They had gorged themselves on fermenting berries," said Bob Sallinger, conservation director at the Audubon Society of Portland.

The robins had died of alcohol poisoning.
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Arrow Down

Coral reefs going through 'extremely alarming' decline in the Caribbean


Raw Story
Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:02 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo
Coral reefs in the Caribbean are producing less than half of the key ingredient that makes their calcium skeleton compared to pre-industrial times, scientists said on Tuesday, describing the findings as "extremely alarming."

The amount of new calcium carbonate being added by coral reefs is at least half, and in some places 70 percent lower, than it was thousands of years ago.

Biologists have long sounded the alarm for reef-building corals, on which nearly half a billion people depend for their livelihood from fishing and tourism.

Previous research has estimated that coral cover is declining by as much as two percent per year in parts of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. In the Caribbean, cover has shrunk by around 80 percent on average since the mid-1970s.
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Red Flag

Tigers under threat from disappearing mangrove forest

John Vidal
Guardian
Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:51 UTC
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© Photograph: Piyal Adhikary/EPAA tiger roams within the Sunderban, some 140 km south of Calcutta.
Report shows vast forest, shared by India and Bangladesh, is being rapidly destroyed by environmental change

A vast mangrove forest shared by India and Bangladesh that is home to possibly 500 Bengal tigers is being rapidly destroyed by erosion, rising sea levels and storm surges, according to a major study by researchers at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and others.

The Sundarbans forest took the brunt of super cyclone Sidr in 2007, but new satellite studies show that 71% of the forested coastline is retreating by as much as 200 metres a year. If erosion continues at this pace, already threatened tiger populations living in the forests will be put further at risk.
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