Australians whose homes have been inundated with floodwater in the state of Queensland are now facing the threat of deadly snakes as the reptiles move into dry buildings to avoid the rising waters.

Extra snakebite antivenom, including brown snake antivenom, has been airlifted into the city of Rockhampton, one of the worst-hit parts of the state.

Health officials have warned residents to be on the look out for dangerous snakes, spiders and even crocodiles that have been forced out of their natural habitats and onto higher ground by the natural disaster.

Barry Moessinger, who lives in a low-lying part of Rockhampton, said he had spotted about 15 snakes each day over the past week.

"There's heaps of them," he told the Australian newspaper.

"We had a plague of mice, a lot of frogs, so we knew the snakes would come."

The mysterious death of more than 30 heads of cattle in Velur and Mudhur panchayats in Arakkonam taluk in the last week has sparked panic among farmers in the locality. Though an anthrax attack rumoured to have caused the death of the animals in the two panchayats, officials attached to the department of animal husbandry have denied this.

Milch animals, including goats and cows, in Velur, Velurpettai, Mudhur and its hamlets have been dying in quick succession over the last 10-15 days. The total deaths livestock due to the mysterious disease has crossed 30, according to the villagers. Claiming that 24 cows and 11 goats had died in Velur and Mudhur panchayats in the last one-and-a-half weeks, they said 16 cows had died in Veeranarayanapuram village recently.

The animals had stopped consuming fodder and their stomachs had started to bloat two days before the death. They did not move and were found frothing at the mouth just hours before the death, said the villagers. The sudden death of the animals has left farmers, who depend on them for their livelihood, worried. With the cause of death still remaining a mystery, the farmers are clueless on how to protect their animals.

Large numbers of penguins and other seabirds are dying of starvation on New Zealand beaches because of a La Nina climate pattern affecting the nation this year, the government said.

Dead birds have started washing up on the nation's North Island after calmer seas made it harder for them to find food, Department of Conservation vet Kate McInnes said in a statement. There could be thousands of deaths over the summer due to the weather event, the statement said.

The bird deaths are the latest natural shocks in New Zealand to be blamed on environmental factors. Scientists said that a bacterial disease that started spreading through kiwifruit orchards in November was likely awakened by weather conditions. Earlier this month, the government said that Pacific oysters in the North Island were being killed by a herpes virus triggered by warmer sea temperatures.

Could it be related to 7.0 in Argentina?

Situation Update No. 2


Arkansas game officials hope testing scheduled to begin Monday will solve the mystery of why up to 5,000 birds fell from the sky just before midnight New Year's Eve. The birds -- most of which were dead -- were red-winged blackbirds and starlings, and they were found within a one-mile area of Beebe, about 40 miles northeast of Little Rock, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said. Birds fell over about a one-mile area, the commission said in a statement. As of Saturday, between 4,000 and 5,000 birds had been found dead, said Keith Stephens with the commission. "Shortly after I arrived, there were still birds falling from the sky," said commission wildlife officer Robby King in the statement. He said he collected about 65 dead birds. The commission said it flew over the area to gauge the scope of the event, and no birds were found outside of the initial one-mile area. Karen Rowe, an ornithologist for the commission, said the incident is not that unusual and is often caused by a lightning strike or high-altitude hail. A strong storm system moved through the state earlier in the day Friday.

"It's important to understand that a sick bird can't fly. So whatever happened to these birds happened very quickly," Rowe told CNN Radio on Sunday. "Something must have caused these birds to flush out of the trees at night, where they're normally just roosting and staying in the treetops ... and then something got them out of the air and caused their death and then they fell to earth," Rowe added. Officials also speculated that fireworks shot by New Year's revelers in the area might have caused severe stress in the birds. Rowe said Sunday there was evidence that large fireworks may have played a role. "Initial examinations of a few of the dead birds showed trauma. Whether or not this trauma was from the force of hitting the ground when they fell or from something that contacted them in the air, we don't know," Rowe said. The dead birds will be sent for testing to labs at the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission and the National Wildlife Health Center in Wisconsin. The necropsies will begin Monday, Stephens said, and the findings should be available sometime this week. The city of Beebe has hired U.S. Environmental Services to begin the cleanup and dispose of the dead birds, the commission said. The firm's workers will go door-to-door and pick up birds still in yards and on rooftops.

Environmental service workers finished picking up the carcasses on Sunday of about 2,000 red-winged blackbirds that fell dead from the sky in a central Arkansas town.

Mike Robertson, the mayor in Beebe, told The Associated Press the last dead bird was removed about 11 a.m. Sunday in the town about 40 miles northeast of Little Rock. He said 12 to 15 workers, hired by the city to do the cleanup, wore environmental-protection suits for the task.

The birds had fallen Friday night over a 1-mile area of Beebe, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area. The workers from U.S. Environmental Services started the cleanup Saturday.

Robertson said the workers wore the suits as a matter of routine and not out of fear that the birds might be contaminated. He said speculation on the cause is not focusing on disease or poisoning.

Several hundred thousand red-winged blackbirds have used a wooded area in the town as a roost for the past several years, he said. Robertson and other officials went to the roost area over the weekend and found no dead birds on the ground.

Roseville -- The Arkansas Department of Health is advising people fishing near the Roseville Community Boat Ramp on the Arkansas River not to eat any of the dead fish that are floating in the water in that area.

The Department of Health said several thousands of drum fish have been killed and are lining the bank of the Arkansas River near the Roseville community.

The fish line a stretch of the bank about a mile long.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality are investigating the situation in an effort to determine the cause.

Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality investigator Travis Harmon said inspectors have considered a toxic dump and low oxygen levels but have nearly ruled out both.

Sarasota - Dolphins are beautiful creatures, but mysterious, and perhaps no mystery is greater than why each year a small number of dolphins beach themselves, usually fatally.

Now a Mote Marine scientist thinks he has found at least part of the answer: Deaf dolphins.

Randy Wells, who helped author a study about dolphin strandings, said most dolphins that beach themselves have at least partial hearing loss.

The answer isn't as surprising as it seems, Wells said.

"These animals live in an environment where they can't see very far, just because it's water and it's often times murky. "So sound is a crucial player in their lives."

So crucial, Wells says, that a dolphin with hearing problems will find it almost impossible to find food, to stay with other dolphins in their pod and to keep their sense of direction.

Wells, David Mann with the University of South Florida and 14 other researchers studied numerous cases of dolphin strandings. To test their hearing, they used the same basic hearing tests doctors use on infants.

The result?

Arizona Game and Fish officials are a few steps closer to unraveling the mystery behind the death of 69 bats under an east-side bridge even as more are found dead.

Another dozen bats were found dead Tuesday and Wednesday under a bridge on East Speedway where the road crosses the Pantano Wash.

Rabies has been eliminated as a cause of death after three bats found under the bridge Monday morning tested negative for the disease, said Mark Hart, a spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Test results came back Wednesday morning.

It could be a week or more before the department receives the results of testing for white-nose syndrome, but officials say it is unlikely Tucson bats acquired the fungal infection. First documented in upstate New York in 2006, the syndrome has killed millions of bats in the East and has spread as far west as Oklahoma.

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Authorities near the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic are investigating the mysterious death of scores of fish in a lake.

Environmental officials are testing samples, while the government tries to allay fears that it is linked to a deadly cholera epidemic.

Michel Chancy, the Haitian Agriculture Minister, said: "At this time we cannot connect this problem with cholera. Cholera affects people, not fish. The fish don't have anything to do with cholera. Something else caused this problem. It could be something toxic, a disease."