Archive | December 3, 2016
100 dead birds found in a street, ‘a mystery’ in San Siro, Italy
Residents alarmed by the remains scattered on the asphalt. The hypothesis of the mid-air collision test in progress Cold less likely or poisoning, including the possibilities the clash with a great means. Residents alarmed by the remains scattered on the asphalt. The hypothesis of the mid-air collision test in progress Cold less likely or poisoning, including the possibilities the clash with a great means.
They found them all together. Dead. Stiff. All the same point of the road, on the road at number 95 of Via San Giusto, in San Siro, almost at the intersection with Via Domokos. They are just under a hundred. All of a single species: Common Starling. The die-off was reported to the brigade at around 13:30 yesterday. But the mystery remains about the causes. No one knows why all those birds are dead and why, and all together at that point. I will try to find out the investigations entrusted to two doctors of the Department of Veterinary ATS via Quarenghi. The first tests will be performed today at the Institute of zooprofilattico via Celoria. For the moment there are only hypotheses. Those who think the cold, some even to a mass poisoning people, probably correctly, supposes an in-flight collision. Or between two flocks of birds (starlings are wont move at great speed and in large numbers), or simply against a means of passage. Which would also explain the fact that the discovery is located in a well defined area. And especially on only one lane of Via San Giusto. But first things first.
Courtesy of milano.corriere.it
Thousands of dead starfish found washed up on a beach in Portsmouth, UK
The creatures were dislodged from the seabed in the rough waves and left strewn across the stone-covered sands as the tide went out.
Shocked walkers discovered the starfish on Southsea beach, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and tried to return any still alive to the water.
But a large number were already dead after being out of the water too long and some had even been thrown off the beach by the stormy conditions and onto the nearby promenade.
Peter Whitelock, who regularly combs the beach for valuable items, was shocked after finding the creatures when he arrived and says he has never seen anything like it
The 62-year-old, of Portsmouth, said: “There were thousands of them. I’ve never seen so many all in one place.
“It must have been the storm that brought them all in from the sea.”
And Rachel Hammerton, 39, of Southsea, who walks her dog on the beach, was also amazed by the number of starfish she found.
She said: “I don’t think anything like this has happened in previous years when we have had storms.
“When I got down to the beach there were loads of them just laying there.”
A number of local residents went to the beach with buckets to try and save the creatures after seeing they had been washed up in the storm.
Jennifer Harris, of Waterlooville, said she felt they were fighting a losing battle, with the water washing more and more up each time they rescued some.
She said: “The more I collected in a bucket and put back into the sea even more seemed to wash ashore again.
“It’s not often you spend an afternoon trying to save such beautiful creatures. The starfish have been washed up in their thousands.”
Hannah Butt, from the Blue Reef Aquarium in Southsea, revealed the starfish like to feed on other creatures in the shallow waters – which meant they had been caught up in the stormy weather.
She said: “It’s always sad to see large numbers of marine creatures stranded at the same time.
“Starfish feed on mussels and other molluscs and tend to live in relatively shallow water.
“Huge numbers of them can congregate on a single bed of mussels and – if conditions are right – will be dislodged by rough seas.
“Some types of starfish also move inshore to breed and this is another possible cause, although this tends to happen during the spring or early summer months.
“Other potential factors are they have been disturbed by dredging or affected by pollution, however the general consensus would seem to associate these types of strandings at this time of the year with strong onshore winds and stormy weather.”
Courtesy of express.co.uk
Thousands of dead fish found floating in the Malacca River in Malaysia
The sudden appearance of thousands of dead tilapia floating on the surface of the Malacca River near Taman Rumpun Bahagia in Bachang has left even the state Environment Department puzzled. Malacca Environment Department director Shafe’ee Yasin however, confirmed that the river was not threatened by industrial pollutants. “Initial investigations by DOE revealed that the river was not contaminated by industrial effluents as there were no factories nearby,” he said. “We have collected samples of the river water, but we have yet to finalise its results,” he said when contacted by New Straits Times here today. Shafe’ee said based on previous incidents of dead fish found in the Malacca River, the freshwater tilapia can be assumed to have been killed by a sudden influx of seawater to the opening of the barrage. “Freshwater fish living in the Malacca River may likely die as they are unable to tolerate the high salinity in the water after mixing with sea water. “Another possibility is the effects of sediments on the fishes, where they die from low oxygen,” he added. Shafe’ee said the department will not hesitate to take action against industrial operations found to be releasing industrial waste into the Malacca River. “We will check and take action if industrial sites are found to be releasing effluents including during odd hours,” he added. Checks by the New Straits Times found that the river had since been cleared of fish carcasses. Meanwhile, Bukit Katil MCA Youth chief Lee Chong Guan and Bukit Katil Gerakan secretary Nelson Goh Jin Juan, who visited the site, urged authorities to identify to cause of the high number of dead fish.
Courtesy of nst.com.my
283,000 Birds Killed Due To Contagious Bird Flu In Tehran, Iran
Iran reported two outbreaks of the highly contagious H5N8 bird flu virus at farms located in the Tehran region, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday, citing a report from the Iranian agriculture ministry.
The outbreaks killed some 5,600 birds out of a total of nearly 283,500 on the farms, the OIE said in a report posted on its website. All animals were killed or slaughtered.
“A post outbreak investigation to trace the source of infection is ongoing to detect the probable spread and circulation of this sub-type,” the ministry said in the report.
The H5N8 virus has never been found in humans but has infected wild birds and farms in several European countries as well as in Israel over the past weeks.
Courtesy of ndtv.com/world-news
5,000 water birds found dead along lake Michigan, USA
Since 2006, Lake Michigan has seen a steady stream of dead birds washing up on its beaches, and this fall has been exceptionally grim.
So far, researchers and volunteers have found around 5000 dead birds along the shore.
Two researchers are monitoring the coast where dead birds have been washing up: Dan Ray of the National Park Service and Jeanie Williams of the Inland Seas Education Association.
They’re walking along a beach in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The typically pristine coast is littered with about two dozen dead birds including scoters, loons, ducks, and more.
Researchers say the birds are dying because of a toxin called avian botulism, which can form on the lake bed under certain conditions.
Standing over a dead duck, Ray describes what he sees, and the procedure that follows.
“So we have a long-tailed duck, and we’re going to pick that up away from the shoreline, take it up into the foredune,” Ray says. “And then we dig a hole two feet deep, and bury it so that it’s away from park visitors and pets and no longer a threat to public health.”
Botulism forms when there’s a lack of oxygen in the water.
For that to happen, it takes a long chain reaction that begins with invasive Zebra and Quagga mussels filtering the water, which increases its clarity.
Williams of Inland Seas explains.
“The mussels are eating all this stuff, and then they produce waste like all living things do, and that waste has all kinds of nutrients in it … lots of nitrogen, lots of phosphorous,” Williams says. “And because there’s a lot of nutrients at the bottom of the lake, and a lot of sunlight, that means the algae can grow as much as it possibly can.”
The native algae thrives on those nutrients and the additional sunlight, growing prolifically over the summer months.
However, living algae poses no issue, and it’s not until it dies that it becomes a problem.
Harvey Bootsma is a professor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. He says the northern part of Lake Michigan is the perfect place for botulism to thrive.
“One thing that’s unique about the north end of the lake, especially in the Sleeping Bear region, is that the bottom of the lake, the lake topography, or what we call bathymetry is quite variable up there,” Bootsma says, “so you have a lot of these pockets in the bottom of the lake … little valleys that are formed all over the place.”
When the dead algae collects in these pockets and decomposes, it uses up the nearby oxygen, creating the ideal conditions for botulism.
Even as botulism begins to form, it’s down near these toxic valleys that many small fish continue to eat, consuming the poison as they feed.
Local and migratory birds that land on Lake Michigan, tired and famished from their journey, consume small fish like the invasive Round Goby.
Having eaten the infected fish, the birds become sick and die out on the lake due to paralyzing effects.
Local waterfowl populations could be threatened by the presence of botulism, especially since some of them are already endangered.
Bootsma says that both the Piping Plover and Common Loon populations in the Sleeping Bear Dunes area have been significantly affected.
Despite the negative effects that botulism is having on wildlife, Ray emphasized that so long as it isn’t ingested, it poses no threat to humans.
Courtesy of interlochenpublicradio.org
3 dolphins found dead in Merigomish, Nova Scotia, Canada
Marine rescue workers were scanning a small Nova Scotia harbour on Monday for a pod of wayward dolphins after three of the animals washed up dead on shore.
Andrew Reid of the Marine Animal Response Society was trying to determine if any of the roughly 15 dolphins that were seen last week in the Merigomish Harbour area were still there.
“We just want to find out if there are more animals in the harbour and if there are, get them out,” he said from the site.
The remains of two of the common male dolphins were discovered by a passerby last week, while a third was found on the shore of Big Island on Sunday.
The area is tricky for the animals to navigate because it has a narrow opening near Big Island, and is closed by a long sandbar at the other end.
“They’re just unable to find their way out and oftentimes, once they can’t get out they often strand (themselves),” he said. “This is a species that is typically found further offshore, but it’s possible they were following fish in.”
Reid said preliminary examinations indicate the animals had no obvious health problems aside from being somewhat thin, adding to the suspicion that they became caught in the bay as they chased fish in. Necropsies were done on the animals, which were spotted by a local resident.
If the pod is still in the harbour, Reid said they may use two or three boats to try to guide any remaining dolphins back out to open ocean.
The animals were first seen in the area last Wednesday. Reid said whales and dolphins have become trapped in the harbour before.
“It’s probably not out of the ordinary. It does happen occasionally,” he said.
In late September, seven Atlantic white-sided dolphins became similarly stranded in a shallow bay in Lameque, N.B., with one dying two days later. The remaining six were eventually coaxed back to open ocean.
Courtesy of brandonsun.com
Thousands of geese and chickens killed due to avian flu in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
The news agency dpa reports that around 8 800 geese on two poultry farms will be culled in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein because some of the animals are infected with the bird flu.
Dpa said on Sunday it was not clear yet whether the birds were infected with the H5N8 strain that has been detected in wilds bird across 10 German states since November 8.
Last week, 30 000 chickens were destroyed in Schleswig-Holstein after H5N8 was detected in their enclosure.
Several German states have already ordered farmers to keep their fowl indoors to prevent them picking up the virus, which can easily spread among birds but is not known to infect humans.
The virus has been detected in several European countries.
Courtesy of news24.com
Large die off of fish found washed up in Chiclayo, Peru
Fishermen and residents of the San Jose Cove in Chiclayo found a large number of dead fish on the beach. Lorna, mackerel, pompano, cachemas and other stranded fish were found.
The fishermen showed their concern and do not know the causes of the death of the fish that remained along a kilometer of the cove San Jose. They fear pollution in the cove.
The fishermen indicated that they will await the pronouncement of the Institute of the Sea of Peru (IMARPE) and that studies will be carried out to determine the causes of fish death.
Courtesy of rpp.pe/peru
212 cattle dead after drinking poisoned water in Argentina
A total of 212 cattle died during the last days in a field located near the northern town of Engineer Luiggi, after drinking water intoxicated by a herbicide. The animals were owned by the producer Sergio Franchetto, who estimated that losses hover around two million pesos.
Due to the fact, a judicial complaint was made and the Senasa intervened. The death of animals was caused by the rupture of a pump of a spraying machine that loaded water from the same tank that supplied to the waterers of the animals. Senasa personnel toured the area and samples were sent for analysis to Bahia Blanca and Santa Rosa.
In dialogue with LA ARENA, the affected producer indicated that a fumigator “charged water in a tank” and that “it was returned and contaminated the water”, something that would not have been noticed by the person who worked with the machinery.
The incident took place Saturday in a field located about 10 kilometers northwest of the town of Ingeniero Luiggi, which is owned by Franchetto’s father. Most of the rural property is rented for sowing and in one sector the affected livestock producer has one feet lot.
At that time, a ground sprayer that was fumigating in a seed lot, loading water from an Australian tank and breaking the pump, caused the herbicide named Paraquat to fall into the tank, which is the same one that supplies the Drinkers of the establishment “San Marcos”, property of the family Franchetto. This caused the animals to drink contaminated water and die intoxicated.
Courtesy of laarena.com.ar
62,000+ birds killed due to highly pathogenic bird flu outbreak, quarantine ramped up in South Korea
South Korea has confirmed the country’s first outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N6 bird flu virus and has ramped up quarantine measures in response, agriculture ministry officials said on Friday.
The outbreaks occurred at two poultry farms in the central and southern parts of the country after the ministry reported last week that the H5N6 strain of the virus had been found in the faeces of migratory birds.
Cases of human infection from the H5N6 virus have previously been reported in places including China and Hong Kong, with the virus killing six people in China since April 2014, according to data from the South Korean ministry.
The discoveries come as cases of the different H5N8 virus have been reported in several European countries including France.
South Korea’s ministry said just over 62,000 birds had been culled to prevent the spread of the virus and that it had a issued a “movement control order” within a radius of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) around the farms.
There are no indications the virus has spread more widely, a ministry official said.
South Korea’s last bird flu outbreak occurred in March, when the H5N8 strain was detected at a duck farm, leading to the slaughter of at least 11,000 birds.
Courtesy of reuters.com
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