Archive | October 13, 2015
Thousands of cattle dead due to boat accident in Brazil
Thousands of cattle owned by beef producer Minerva SA are thought to have died when a boat leaving a port in northern Brazil overturned, the company and Williams Shipping Agents said on Tuesday.
Minerva said in a securities filing that a ship transporting its cattle had tipped over after departing from the Vila do Conde port in Barcarena. There were no human victims, it said.
Local news site G1 showed images of some cattle escaping from the side of the ship and swimming at the water’s surface while most remained trapped.
Williams Shipping Agents said the ship was carrying 5,000 cows, though a Minerva representative could not confirm the number.
Minerva said in the filing that once the cattle left the dock they became the responsibility of the shipping firm, which it did not name.
Courtesy of cattlenetwork.com
1,000 deer are dead due to bluetongue disease outbreak in Idaho, USA
Based on continuing reports of dead deer, Idaho Fish and Game officials estimate up to 1,000 whitetails have died in the state from an outbreak of bluetongue, a virus transmitted by gnats that is similar to Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, also known as EHD.
It is difficult to get the exact number of diseased or dead animals, but the outbreak is not expected to significantly reduce whitetail populations, or affect hunting season that opens Oct. 10.
Bluetongue is transmitted the same way as EHD and is a similar disease. Neither poses a threat to humans. Gnats transport the virus from animal to animal. Outbreaks become more severe during hot, dry summers when animals congregate around water sources with muddy shorelines that are prime breeding ground for gnats.
The disease has hit whitetail herds in the Grangeville, Whitebird, Harpster, Juliaetta, Kendrick, Troy, Deary and nearby areas this summer.
The Clearwater area had a large-scale outbreak of EHD in 2003, and Fish and Game officials estimated up to 10,000 whitetails died. There were smaller local EHD outbreaks in the last five years.
Bluetongue is less common than EHD, but it’s found in livestock throughout the Great Basin, although rarely fatal to livestock, according to Mark Drew, Fish and Game’s state wildlife veterinarian. Drew noted that deer that have survived past EHD outbreaks build immunity to the disease and pass that immunity to their offspring, but exposure to EHD does not make them immune to bluetongue.
This year’s outbreak is not expected to be anywhere near 2003 in terms of deer die-offs, and neither bluetongue nor EHD has long-term, significant population impacts on white-tailed deer. Idaho’s whitetail populations are high, and hunters will find deer, but the outbreak could affect local herds.
Hunters are advised that they should not harvest obviously sick deer. The virus cannot infect humans, so even in areas where EHD or bluetongue is present, consumption of meat from animals that are not obviously sick poses no significant health risks to humans.
The outbreak typically winds down when the first hard frost kills the gnat population. Some areas in North Idaho have already had frost, and it typically hits most of northern and central Idaho by mid-October, depending on elevation.
Dr. Bill Barton, state veterinarian for Idaho Department of Agriculture, said they are monitoring the outbreak, but have not seen any significant outbreaks in sheep, which is the most likely livestock to be affected. He said less than 10 sheep have tested positive for exposure to bluetongue and shown symptoms, and the disease is not likely to affect cattle or horses.
The bluetongue outbreak is not limited to Idaho. Deer with bluetongue are also confirmed in Eastern Washington and Northeast Oregon this fall.
Courtesy of idahostatejournal.com
Thousands of dead fish found in a creek in Oklahoma, USA
The Oklahoma Wildlife Department is investigating after thousands of fish were found dead in a Delaware County creek. Biologists said waste water is likely to blame.
Sager Creek is a four-and-a-half-mile stream that is part of the Illinois River Watershed. It was in the water that Oklahoma fisheries biologists said they found at least 10,000 dead fish.
The slow-flowing water on Sager Creek makes it a swimming hole anyone would want to try, according to resident Shandra Stewart.
“It’s absolutely beautiful,” she said. “The water’s clear, you can see to the bottom. You can see the fish swimming around you.”
Shandra and her sister, Kimberly Strother, live along the creek; but the last time they took their families for a swim, something was off.
Kimberly said, “There was, like, a lot of dead fish down there, and I was like, ‘no I don’t want to swim here, let’s go to the other swimming hole.’ So we went right down here.”
A landowner reported the problem to The Oklahoma Wildlife Department last week.
Fisheries biologist Curtis Tackett said when he and his team arrived, they knew there was a problem by the smell alone.
“It was an odor of partially treated sewage. It really kind of took your breath away, so we knew we needed to get in the stream to take a better look and then we noticed that it was a very significant kill,” Tackett said.
Fisheries biologist, Curtis Tackett, said he and his team took water samples, then collected and sorted the fish. They were all small – madtoms, minnows, sunfish and smallmouth bass, to name a few – but still vital to the environment.
“A lot of people don’t know about the diversity of fish and wildlife that are in stream systems, but they’re very important. They’re important to the whole ecosystem,” he said.
Tackett said the kill was pollution-related, and that it appears partially treated sewage had been dumped in the water. He said that caused dissolved oxygen levels to drop and kill the fish.
“It’s gonna probably kill the entire reach of the stream,” Tackett said. “It’d be different if you were on a larger reservoir and you saw a few hundred dead fish, that’s just a small drop in the bucket, but in this small creek to see thousands of fish…it was pretty large.”
Since the case is under investigation, he can’t say where the sewage came from, but said it was from a larger source.
Tackett said, “Because of the amount of pollution that’s coming from the system, we can tell that it’s coming from a larger operation than just an individual or a private citizen.”
Water from Sager Creek flows into Flint Creek, which runs into the Illinois River; though, Tackett said, as of now, those two waterways are not showing signs of deadly pollution.
“The issue seems to be diluted enough as it goes downstream that it’s not impacting any larger tributaries,” Tackett said. “The water quality’s perfect, the fish are alive, everything’s fine there.”
The state couldn’t say just yet what kind of punishment the responsible party faces, but said it will pursue some sort of restitution.
Tackett said Oklahoma’s Department of Environmental Quality will test the water samples. And because the creek starts in Siloam Springs, he said Arkansas wildlife and environmental agencies are also looking into the kill.
As for sisters, Stewart and Strother, one says she and her children will be staying out of the creek for a while. The other says possible pollution won’t stop her.
“Water’s water and I love water. I’m not gonna jump in a sewage pond, but I love the creeks, I love the water, love to be in it,” Strother said.
Courtesy of newson6.com
9,500 birds killed due to outbreak of avian flu in Yunlin and Changhua, Taiwan
Four more highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks have been reported in Taiwan, killing several different poultry species.
Two duck farms, one farm of breeding geese, and one farm of sentinel chickens were affected.
There were 515 cases, and 455 bird deaths across the four outbreaks. 9067 birds were also destroyed to prevent the disease spreading.
The outbreaks were of the H5N2 serotype, and took place in the Yunlin and Changhua counties.
Courtesy of thepoultrysite.com
MEGA DIP SPIKES ON THE WEAK MAGNETOSPHERE @ APPROX 21:00, 21:15 HRS UTC
**VERY URGENT**
MEGA DIP SPIKES ON THE WEAK MAGNETOSPHERE @ APPROX 21:00, 21:15 HRS UTC. FURTHER EARTHQUAKES, VOLCANO ACTIVITY & ADVERSE WEATHER PATTERNS WILL BE GREATLY INFLUENCED BY THE COSMIC RAYS STRIKING THE EARTH’S CORE
***BE ALERT***
Massive Landslide kills At Least 17 In Hpa-saung Township, Myanmar
Photo: Lkw Lkw/Facebook
Torrential rain caused a landslide on Sunday in a village in Hpa-saung Township, Kayah State, killing 17, according to a news report from the Myanmar News Agency on 12 October. Others are feared dead.
Among the confirmed dead are 10 men and seven women.
About 60 houses were destroyed by the landslide, which happened at about 2pm in a hilly area between Mawchi Taung Paw village and Lokhalo village.
Courtesy of mizzima.com
MAGNITUDE 4.9 TAIWAN
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=464409
Subject To Change
Depth: 53 km
Distances: 132 km SE of Taichung, Taiwan / pop: 1,040,725 / local time: 19:49:04.4 2015-10-13
58 km S of Hualian, Taiwan / pop: 350,468 / local time: 19:49:04.4 2015-10-13
MEGA DIP SPIKES ON THE WEAK MAGNETOSPHERE @ APPROX 09:30, 15:30, 17:00, 17:15, 17:30 HRS UTC
**VERY URGENT**
MEGA DIP SPIKES ON THE WEAK MAGNETOSPHERE @ APPROX 09:30, 15:30, 17:00, 17:15, 17:30 HRS UTC. FURTHER EARTHQUAKES, VOLCANO ACTIVITY & ADVERSE WEATHER PATTERNS WILL BE GREATLY INFLUENCED BY THE COSMIC RAYS STRIKING THE EARTH’S CORE
***BE ALERT***
MAGNITUDE 5.0 TURKMENISTAN
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=464281
Subject To Change
Depth: 10 km
Distances: 123 km NW of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan / pop: 727,700 / local time: 02:37:31.7 2015-10-13
29 km W of Bäherden, Turkmenistan / pop: 22,991 / local time: 02:37:31.7 2015-10-13
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