Animals
S


Attention

Multitude of dead animals wash up on local beaches in Florida


actionnewsjax.com
Mon, 14 Apr 2014 07:18 UTC
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Dead marine life wash ashore along our local beaches.

There's something fishy going on in our local waters. No pun intended. According to The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: six dolphins, a shark, a humpback whale and multiple manatees/sea turtles have washed up in the last two weeks.

"We know the dolphins are related," marine biologist Nadia Gordon said. "As far as the shark and see turtles, I can't answer that."

The morbillivirus is believed to be the cause of the dolphin deaths. The disease has claimed the lives of 80 in Northeast Florida since July 2013. On a bigger scale, 1200 dolphins have been found dead from New York to Florida since July- up from the average 180 a year.

Biologists still have work to do, but they're hoping they get a lead soon.

"We're hoping it will die off soon and we won't have to worry about it anymore," Gordon said.
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Snowflake Cold

Snowy Owls dying and having trouble migrating north due to prolonged cold weather

Ellisha Rader Mannering
webpronews.com
Mon, 14 Apr 2014 14:08 UTC
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It is time for many bird species to begin their spring migrations and Snowy Owls are among the many species that migrate. Although most birds migrate without any trouble it seems that more and more snowy owls are being found dead along their migration paths. While most ornithologists believe the recently reported Snowy Owls deaths are not related and only accidents, many are still studying the dead birds to be sure.

When a Snowy Owl wearing a GPS tracking device was found dead near Martha's Vineyard, many people became concerned and wanted to know why this bird and so many others were dying. Tufts University veterinary center and Norman Smith, who is an expert on Snowy Owls, decided to find out what caused the bird's death. They named the bird Sandy Neck.

The team examined the bird and released a report with their findings. The report said,

"The necropsy at Tufts showed no trauma except for a minor deep bruise in her left pectoral, no food in the proventriculus (stomach) or gizzard, and no signs of disease or unusual parasites. As Gus (Ben David) noted, she was in otherwise excellent condition - great muscle mass and fat deposits. Nor was there any water in the respiratory system. Mark Pokras (a veterinarian and professor at Tufts) said if he had to guess, she got swamped, swam to shore and went down from hypothermia - but also couldn't rule out drowning."
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Attention

Urgent hunt for Black Bear that mauled woman in garage

Liz Fields
abcnews.go.com
Sun, 13 Apr 2014 05:13 UTC
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© Getty ImagesBlack bears attack a Florida woman

The hunt is on today for a black bear who mauled a woman at her home in an upscale central Florida neighborhood, leaving her with injuries to her face, legs and torso and requiring her to get 40 stitches to the head.

Terri Frana of Lake Mary, Fla., went to her garage Saturday evening to grab bicycles for her children to ride down to their neighbor's house when the attack happened, according to her husband, Frank Frana.

As soon as the children left, Frana, 45, saw two bears in the driveway. She walked to the patio area where there were five bears eating trash that they had pulled out of the garage, her husband said.

"The bear got up on [its] hind legs and started to maul her, opened its jaws and put her head in the mouth and dragged her towards the woods," Frank Frana said. "Somehow she was able to pull herself out."

"The bears were various sizes so we think it's probably cubs of different maturity and perhaps a mama bear," the Seminole County Sheriff's Office told ABC News.
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Bizarro Earth

Northern Europe hit by most bee deaths - EU study


BBC News
Mon, 07 Apr 2014 13:37 UTC
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There is much concern about the widespread collapse of bee colonies
A new study covering 17 EU countries says that far more honeybees are dying in the UK and other parts of northern Europe than in Mediterranean countries.

The European Commission says it is Europe's most comprehensive study so far of bee colony deaths.

Winter mortality was especially high for bees in Belgium (33.6%) and the UK (29%) in 2012-13. But in spring-summer 2013 France was highest with 13.6%.

Bumblebees and other wild bees were not studied, nor were pesticide impacts.
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Attention

Dead juvenile pilot whale found on Searsport beach, Maine

Abigail Curtis
Bangor Daily News
Fri, 11 Apr 2014 12:41 UTC
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© Wayne HamiltonVolunteer firefighters worked to move a dead juvenile pilot whale Friday morning. The whale, which weighed about 500 pounds and did not show signs of propeller damage, will be studied by researchers at Allied Whale in Bar Harbor.
Several Searsport volunteer firefighters responded to a plea Friday morning for a lift assist down at the town dock.

What they didn't know was that they'd be lifting a whale - a 500-pound dead pilot whale, to be precise.

"[They had] not a clue," Officer Mike Larrivee of the Searsport Police Department said. "They all showed up and said 'oh boy, what are we doing here?'"

The dead whale, believed to be a female, had been found Thursday at the beach at the end of Lobster Lane, just east of Moose Point State Park. A man walking his dogs found the animal and called to report it. Larrivee then got in touch with Allied Whale, the marine mammal research arm of the College of the Atlantic, which helps Searsport with seals or other marine mammals. But this was something different, he said.
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Attention

Albany beachgoers warned after Humpback whale carcass attracts sharks, Australia

Jacob Kagi
abc.net.au
Sat, 12 Apr 2014 12:24 UTC
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© ABC: Stan ShawThe carcass of a one-year-old humpback whale is removed from Middleton Beach.
Authorities have warned beachgoers in Albany, on Western Australia's south coast, to exercise caution after sharks were attracted to the area by a whale carcass.

Middleton Beach was closed after the five-metre carcass, suspected to be a one-year-old humpback whale, was discovered this morning.

Heavy machinery was brought in to remove the dead whale from the popular swimming area.

Authorities believe it came ashore overnight whilst still alive, but died a few hours later.

Deon Utber from the Department of Parks and Wildlife said tissue samples from the whale would be taken for analysis.

"It was probably a calf returning from last season, it was obviously very malnourished," he said.

"A pod of humpback whales was seen out here this morning so this whale was probably from that pod.

"When this species becomes sick, they do come into the shore to die.

"The animal is taken off the beach, we take some samples and some measurements and it's then disposed of."
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Attention

Best of the Web: Signs of change: Extreme weather, seismic activity, and meteor fireballs in March and early April 2014

HawkkeyDavis
Youtube
Thu, 10 Apr 2014 14:35 UTC
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Comment: More rain in California in one day than it got in the past year, a record cold winter in the U.S., a "1 in 100 years" flooding event in New Zealand, a meteor explosion that shook homes in New Mexico, giant hailstones in places that don't usually get any hail, record earthquakes in California, the Andaman Islands and all along the Ring of Fire, two meteor fireballs lighting up the East coast of Canada and northern U.S. states in the space of 24 hours, landslides and flash-flooding putting out wildfires in Western U.S. states, and the "worst flooding in living memory" on the Solomon Islands (at the same time as a strong earthquake)...

The following video compilation is a sample of just some of the planetary upheaval recorded in the last month.

Visit HawkkeyDavis's Youtube channel to check out the rest of his awesome work chronicling the 'signs of the times'.



The world has been overwhelmed with disasters in recent weeks. A series of fireballs and earthquakes has rocked and shaken this planet to its core. Meanwhile, the "one-in-100-year events" continue to strike...

Even though it looks like it sometimes, this series does not mean the world is ending! These are documentaries of series of extreme weather events that are leading to bigger earth changes. If you are following the series, then you are seeing the signs.

For those who can't view YT videos:

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Bug

Swarm of Africanized bees kill man in Eagle Pass, Texas

David Ibanez
ksat.com
Thu, 10 Apr 2014 15:10 UTC
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A swarm of Africanized bees attacked and killed an Eagle Pass man Wednesday.

According to the Eagle Pass Daily News, Enrique Galindo, 41, was discovered unconscious outside a home. Galindo was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Law enforcement authorities believe Galindo may have been stung hundreds of times.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Africanized honey bees, known colloquially as "killer bees," can be highly defensive around their nests and swarm more frequently than other honey bees.

Sonny Krout of Abolish Pest & Wildlife Control in San Antonio said the spring and summer is when bees will attack people.

"A lot of times, people are out mowing their lawn, they didn't know there was a colony or even on a neighbor's property," Krout said. "They just come swarming at them and all of the sudden, they attacked out of nowhere. It happens quite a bit."
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Attention

Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin death toll tops over 1,200 between July 2013 and April 2014 - nearly seven times the normal rate

Todd B. Bates
blogs.app.com
Thu, 10 Apr 2014 12:27 UTC
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© University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, New Bolton CenterDead bottlenose dolphins at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, New Bolton Center
The bottlenose dolphin die-off in the mid-Atlantic isn't over, a stranding expert told me this afternoon.

"It's still ongoing," said Blair Mase, NOAA Southeast region marine mammal stranding coordinator, who is based in Miami.

The migratory stock of dolphins is starting to move north and "we still have dolphins stranding at above-average rates" in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia, she said.

In the Florida area, the strandings are "slowing down a little bit, which is good," she said.

According to NOAA Fisheries, the toll of dead bottlenose dolphins from New York to Florida has risen to 1,204 from July 1 to April 6.

That's preliminary data. And the death toll is 62 percent higher than during the last major die-off in 1987-88 and 6.7 times higher than the 2007 to 2012 norm for July 1 to April 6, according to calculations.
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Fish

Recently filmed giant oarfish washes up dead on Mexican beach

Paul Cockerton
Daily Mirror
Thu, 10 Apr 2014 13:03 UTC
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Rare: The giant Oarfish
The elusive 15ft oarfish was spotted swimming in shallow waters in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico

A giant underwater creature which inspired stories of sea monsters has been filmed by a tourist - but sadly came to a fishy end.

The elusive 15ft oarfish was spotted swimming in shallow waters in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.

Tour guides from Un-Cruise Adventures, who organised the expedition, were thrilled to get up close to the mysterious creature.

However, after briefly delighting onlookers with its appearance, the oarfish beached itself on nearby Isla San Francisco and died.

Lia Stamatiou, expedition leader for Un-Cruise Adventures said: "I learned about the oarfish as one of those fish you study but never see.

"Seeing it swim up to us on the beach I was completely stunned.

Comment: See also: Rare footage shows two live oarfish swimming near the shore

Giant deepwater oarfish washing up on California shores: Harbingers of death!

Second rare oarfish washes up in Southern California

18-foot oarfish caught by Catalina marine science instructor in California

Something amiss deep down? Bizarre-looking oarfish washes ashore on Cabo San Lucas beach

Appearance of "Earthquake fish" spook Japanese

Rare "King of Herrings" Found off Swedish Coast

England: Monster of deep washes up on beach

Read More...