Animals
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Bizarro Earth

US: Hundreds More Fish Found Dead In Arkansas River


Times Record Online
Tue, 01 Feb 2011 09:20 UTC
Little Rock - Nearly 500 fish were found dead in the Arkansas River near Ozark late last week, about a month after 83,000 fish were found dead or dying in same area, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission officials said Monday.

The latest find occurred Friday in the river near the Ozark Lock and Dam, said Chris Racey, assistant chief of fisheries with the commission.

More than 83,000 dead or dying fish were found in the same area on Dec. 29.
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Fish

Florida, US: Thousands of Sharks Spotted off Palm Beach


KTLA.com
Tue, 01 Feb 2011 13:18 UTC
A Florida pilot has captured an ominous sight in the waters off Palm Beach, thousands of sharks.


Steve Irwin works for "Island Marine Services" based in Fort Pierce.

He said he was flying about 100 yards off of Palm Beach, at 80 mph, when he spotted thousands of sharks, according to TV station WPTV.

Irwin recorded the migrating sharks on his iPhone.
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Fish

More dead fish found in Arkansas River


KATV
Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:04 UTC
Ozark, Arkansas - A state Game and Fish Commission official says more dead drum fish - but far fewer than the number reported in a previous fish kill - have been found in the Arkansas River near the lock and dam at Ozark, in the same area where thousands of dead fish were found a month earlier.

A news release Monday from the wildlife agency said a fish kill spotted Friday involved only about 500 fish, compared with 83,000 in a fish kill reported Dec. 29.

G&FC assistant fisheries chief Chris Racey said that, as with the previous fish kill, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will test sample fish. Testing on fish from the Dec. 29 kill did not determine a cause, but ruled out parasites, disease or toxic chemicals.
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X

Sudden death tree fungus killing off UK forests

Andy Simpson
Carrentals
Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:47 UTC
Image
© Unknown
A virulent infection first seen in the US is spreading like wildfire through Britain's woods and forests, causing million of trees to be cut down.

Phytophthora ramorum first surfaced in America and is known there as Sudden Oak death, responsible for a massive number of tree deaths amongst species of American oak. In 2002, a fungus was discovered on a viburnum plant is a Sussex garden and identified as Phytophthora ramorum. Since then, the plague has spread at an incredibly fast rate and is jumping species, with the English oak, around 100 other tree species and even rhododendrons falling prey to the pathogen.

Phytophthora ramorum affects tree bark, causing lesions which bleed black fluid, followed by blackening foliage and the death of the tree. According to the National Trust, this tree plague is far worse than Dutch Elm disease as the spores are now reproducing at an incredibly fast rate in one of England's commonest trees, the Japanese larch.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Hundreds of Dead Fish Found in North Fort Collins


9News, Colorado
Mon, 31 Jan 2011 08:40 UTC
Sucker Fish
© 9News, Colorado
Fort Collins - More than 250 dead fish were found on a 150-foot stretch of shoreline near an irrigation ditch just north of Willox Street Saturday.

The fish, which were mostly sucker fish with some brown trout, were discovered by Fort Collins resident Bob Jackson. Jackson immediately informed local authorities, who sent out representatives from the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"I walked the shoreline on the north side of Willox and took some samples that I turned into the health lab," Shane Craig, district wildlife manager and game warden for Fort Collins, said.

Craig says the fish most likely swam into the irrigation canals as the temperatures turned mild and became trapped in the canal after being released from the Horsetooth Reservoir.

When the water levels in the canal dropped, so presumably did the oxygen levels, Craig says.
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Fish

Freezing temperatures cause fish kill at Franklin Island

Eric Berger
Boonville Daily News
Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:27 UTC
fish,kill
© Sunny SchlapperSunny Schlapper found these dead fish inside Franklin Island Conservation Area. The Missouri Department of Conservation attributed the fish kill to a sudden drop in temperature in early January.

Boonville - A sudden drop in temperature earlier this month led to, a state official said, what appears to be around 1,000 fish dying in Franklin Island Conservation Area.

A mid-Missouri resident found the fish and took photos on Jan. 9. Because of the snow, the Boonville Daily News was unable to confirm the dead fish until last week.

Joe Jerek, spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Conservation, said the fish kill was "nothing astronomical." He said staff from that area found around 100 dead fish and attributed the deaths to the steep drop in temperatures.
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Fish

Massive Fish Kill, this time Dead Fish Wash up in Canada


God Discussion
Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:42 UTC
People in Nanaimo were shocked to discover thousands of dead herring washed up on their Vancouver island beach. The sight was a new experience for some.



Biologists have taken samples to determine what caused the mass deaths, which may be attributable to toxins or disease. Brenda Spence of Fisheries and Oceans Canada told CBC News that there are diseases that are endemic to herring which can cause mass die-offs.
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Fish

Fish develop red spot fungus after floods


The Sidney Morning Herald
Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:37 UTC
fish,dead,redspot,fungus
© AAP
Fish in Brisbane waterways are starting to develop a red spot fungus from flood contamination, while authorities are rushing to fix a treatment plant to stop a sewage leak.

The Oxley sewerage plant was flood damaged a fortnight ago.

Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) director general John Bradley said Oxley Creek's enterococci levels, which indicate sewage contamination, were "250 times higher" than normal.
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Binoculars

Europe's big freeze brings flocks of rare birds to Britain

Caroline Davies
The Observer
Sun, 30 Jan 2011 07:51 UTC
Image
© David Kilbey/AlamyGoldcrests, along with other small-bodied birds including wrens, long-tailed tits and coal tits, are feared to have fared badly in the harsh weather before Christmas.
The RSPB says people taking part in the world's biggest wildlife survey should look out for rare visitors in gardens and parks

The deep winter freeze across northern Europe and Russia has driven many exotic and unusual birds into Britain's back gardens on a weekend when more than half a million people are taking part in the world's biggest wildlife survey.

Amateur ornithologists are being told to "expect the unexpected" as they turn out for the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, including spectacular flocks of rarely seen waxwings that have been forced into towns and cities across the UK by a shortage of berries in their native Scandinavia and Russia.

Other unusual visitors to bird tables include fieldfare and redwing thrushes, winter migrants who prefer the countryside but are now seeking food and refuge in residential areas.

Comment: It's difficult to see what the RSPB is getting excited about, given that the organisation warned last week that populations of wild birds in the UK have registered an alarming 24% decline in recent decades.

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Wolf

UK: Mysterious Illness Affects Dogs

Rathi Manohar
Medindia
Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:56 UTC
Image
© Unknown
A seasonal canine illness seems to be affecting dogs in certain parts of England.

The disease which was first noted in the autumn of 2009, has affected 19 dogs in Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire in the past two years, and 12 died. More fell ill in 2010, which prompted the Animal Health Trust to carry out its research into this illness, the most common symptoms being sickness, diarrhoea and lethargy.
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