Animals
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Frog

"The magnitude of the weeds is alarming": Mysterious seaweed dump chokes Sierra Leone's coastline

Freetown
Agence France-Presse
Mon, 04 Jul 2011 06:39 UTC
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© Unknown
Massive piles of seaweed have washed ashore along Sierra Leone's coastline, covering the white sand and raising fears for tourism and the fishing industry, officials said Monday.

"People should stay away until we determine through lab tests whether the weeds are toxic and harmful to human beings. We are now turning people away from the area," warned Momodu Bah of the country's Environmental Protection Agency.

About 15 miles (24 kilometres) of beach is affected.

Residents and hotel owners along the 4km-long Lumley Beach in the west of Freetown said they were startled by the appearance of the thick brown seaweed which started washing up early Sunday and by late Monday stretched across the beach, covering every inch of sand.
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Fish

U.S.: Ogeechee River Suffers Major Fish Kill: Death zone kills 80 percent of sunfish, 60 percent of bass


GON
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 08:08 UTC
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Imagine your favorite fishing lake suddenly losing 60 percent of its bass and 80 percent of its bream to a massive die-off and not knowing the cause. That's the situation facing Ogeechee River anglers.

Five weeks after one of the most devastating fish kills in Georgia history decimated the Ogeechee River, state officials aren't sure why it happened, but attention centers on a wastewater discharge pipe at King America Finishing. The textile plant near Sylvania has 175 employees and processes more than 50 million yards of fabric annually, applying finishes like fire retardant and water-resistant coatings.

The Ogeechee River death zone stretches for 70 miles and begins just below the wastewater discharge pipe.
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Bizarro Earth

Jellyfish shut down British nuclear reactor


Agence France-Presse
Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:22 UTC
jellyfish
© AFP/File, Antony DicksonA nuclear power station in eastern Scotland had to shut down its reactors after "high volumes" of jellyfish were found

London - A nuclear power station in eastern Scotland had to shut down its reactors after "high volumes" of jellyfish were found on its seawater filter screens, the operating company said Thursday.

"Both units at Torness power station were manually shut down on 28 June, due to the high volumes of jelly fish fouling the cooling water screens," said a statement from EDF Energy, which runs the power station near Dunbar.

It explained that the shutdown was purely a precautionary measure and insisted that "at no time was there a danger to the public", nor had there been any impact on the environment. The nuclear regulator had also been informed.
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Bizarro Earth

Dead Penguins Washing Ashore With Disturbing Regularity

Stephen Messenger
Treehugger
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
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© elisfanclub / cc
Last week, several dozen dead and dying Magellanic penguins were discovered on beaches throughout south Brazil, apparent victims of an oil spill. So far more than 140 penguins have been transfered to animal care facilities to be cleaned and rehabilitated, while an untold number more have already perished from contaminated waters. If this fact alone weren't cause enough for concern, what's more troubling is that it's hardly an isolated incident. For the last ten years, with disturbing regularity, penguins have been washing ashore starving or covered in oil. And while the origins of these annual mass deaths remain officially a mystery -- one biologists believes he knows the sinister truth behind them.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Hundreds of Fish Turn Up Dead in South Georgia


The Associated Press
Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:21 UTC
Drought
© 11Alive.com

Albany - Drought conditions are being blamed for the deaths of hundreds of fish at Radium Springs in south Georgia.

Authorities say the creek that normally connects Radium Springs to the Flint River is dry, and the water level is so low that fish don't have enough oxygen to survive.

WALB-TV reports that the natural spring is usually 24 feet deep. Authorities say levels have dropped at least four feet, and all the fish have been pushed into one small area.

Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Supervisor Rob Weller says hundreds of fish have died, including large mouth bass, blue gill and gar.

Radium Springs is one of 15 major springs around Albany. State officials say that without rain, more of them could see the same problems as Radium Springs.
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Attention

Queensland, Australia: Army of Rats "the Size of Possums" Invade Goodna

Anna Chisholm
The Courier-Mail
Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:34 UTC
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© The AdvertiserRats in the ranks: These unwelcome visitors are running amok in flood-ravaged suburbs around Brisbane.
Over-sized rats are taking up residence southwest of Brisbane at Goodna, as residents slowly move back into their flood-affected homes.

The Courier-Mail website was overwhelmed with comments from readers complaining of large rats creating havoc in homes from Caboolture and Narangba to the inner-city today.

Residents at Bellbowrie, Indooroopilly, Yeronga and Hendra also reported the number of rodents were on the increase.

Ipswich City Council plans to unleash a force of fox terriers and pest control council workers to stop the pests next week.

Goodna residents have complained rats "the size of possums" were nesting in their homes because of the cooler weather.

The situation is believed to be worse because many flood-affected homes are unoccupied.

Australian pest control service 1300 Pest Control CEO Paul Byres said the rats posed a real threat to homes in the area.
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Fish

U.S.: Odd visitors in local waters a deep mystery

Craig Welch
The Seattle Times
Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:01 UTC
ocean sunfish
© ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMESOcean Sunfish Found locally: 1997 off Cape Flattery; Natural habitat: Warm and temperate waters

There was the brown booby, the plunge-diving tropical seabird that inexplicably hopped aboard a crab boat this spring in Willapa Bay.

And fishermen have caught spear-snouted striped marlin off the Washington coast and a 6-foot leopard shark in Bellingham Bay. The shark, in particular, is hardly ever seen north of Coos Bay, Ore.

Even Bryde's whales, which normally range from Chile to northern Mexico, have washed up dead on southern Puget Sound beaches. Twice. Just since early 2010.
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Cow Skull

Hundreds of cattle die of mysterious disease in Dadu, Pakistan


Pakistan Press International
Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:28 UTC
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© Unknown
Hundreds of cattle including sheep, goats, cows, buffaloes and camels have died of mysterious diseases in a month in different villages of Kachho area lying between Khirthar mountain range in the west and the plains along the river Indus on the east side.

The villagers told PPI, that animals so far included 700 goats, 300 sheep, 40 cows, 25 buffaloes and 15 camels.

The villagers said that 200 goats, 95 sheep and 3 cows died in Pat Gul Muhammad area of Kachho while 160 goats, 5 cows, 3 buffaloes and 6 camels died in village Raju Dero, Sim and Torr within 20 days.

Similarly, over 175 goats, 7 cows, 3 buffaloes and 4 camels died in village Bari, Heero Khan and surrounding areas.
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Cow

UK: Cow with 'Unusual Intelligence' Opens Farm Gate with Tongue to Escape


The Daily Mail
Tue, 21 Jun 2011 20:20 UTC
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Udder genius: Daisy the cow expertly picks the lock of her pen gate in Co Armagh, Northern Ireland
A farmer has been forced to beef up the security in his cowshed after an unusually smart heifer found a way for her and her friends to escape.

Daisy the cow, from a farm in Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, has learned the trick to unbolting the gate to her pen with her tongue.

She deftly and accurately unfastens both bolts, allowing her and her bovine buddies access to the verdant fields outside for breakfast.

Farmer Tom Grant was left scratching his head after he found his cattle out munching grass in the morning, despite locking them up the night before.

He initially suspected cattle rustlers so, with the help of his brother, Vincent, Mr Brown set up a hidden camera to get to the bottom of the cattle conundrum.
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Bizarro Earth

Happy Feet? Emperor penguin found far from Antarctic home

Nick Perry
MSNBC / Associated Press
Tue, 21 Jun 2011 11:44 UTC
A young Emperor penguin took a rare wrong turn from the Antarctic and ended up stranded on a New Zealand beach - the first time in 44 years the aquatic bird has been sighted in the wild in the South Pacific country.
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© Richard Gill / APThis Emperor penguin got lost while hunting for food and ended up stranded on Peka Peka Beach in New Zealand on Monday.

Local resident Christine Wilton was taking her miniature Schnauzer dog Millie for a walk on Peka Peka Beach on the North Island's western coast when she discovered the bird Monday evening.

"It was out-of-this-world to see it ... like someone just dropped it from the sky," Wilton said. "It looked like Happy Feet - it was totally in the wrong place," Wilton said, referring to the 2006 animated musical featuring a young penguin who finds himself far from home.

Conservation experts say the penguin is about 10 months old and stands about 32 inches high. Colin Miskelly, a curator at Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand, said the bird was likely born during the last Antarctic winter. It may have been searching for squid and krill when it took a wrong turn.
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