Hundreds of Birds Dead in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
(Broken Arrow, OK) – It was a bit of a mystery as hundreds of birds were found dead yesterday in the Oklahoma town of Broken Arrow.
Tulsa County and state experts say severe weather is to blame.
Officials speculate lightning and thunder scared the birds out of the trees, causing them to either fly or be blown back into trees and buildings.
Most of the birds were found near a local Walmart.
Experts are also speculating the birds were so soaked with rain, they died from hypothermia.
State wildlife experts say bird die-offs are common after severe weather.
They also say there is no threat of disease from the dead birds. – MyStateline.com
Hundreds of birds found dead in Broken Arrow, Ok
August 12, 2011 – Broken Arrow, OK – It was a bit of a mystery as hundreds of birds were found dead yesterday in the Oklahoma town of Broken Arrow. Tulsa County and state experts say severe weather is to blame. Officials speculate lightning and thunder scared the birds out of the trees, causing them to either fly or be blown back into trees and buildings. Most of the birds were found near a local Walmart. Experts are also speculating the birds were so soaked with rain, they died from hypothermia. State wildlife experts say bird die-offs are common after severe weather. They also say there is no threat of disease from the dead birds. –Mystateline.com
The death of one of nature's giants: 55ft-long fin whale dies after lying stranded on beach
By Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 8:28 AM on 10th August 2011
A giant rare whale has washed up on a beach at a British beauty spot.
The 55ft fin whale - the world's second largest animal and a globally-endangered species - washed ashore at Lynmouth, Devon.
Swansea Coastguard received a call around 8.30am today saying the animal had been marooned on the pebble beach at Lynmouth, close to the Cliff Railway.
A Lynmouth coastguard source said the animal had been dead for a day or two.
Lynmouth coastguards are currently in talks with Swansea coastguards about how best to remove the animal.
The fin whale is the second largest animal after the blue whale. It can grow to lengths of up to 85ft and weigh up to 80 tonnes.
Fin whales are most common in the southern hemisphere but smaller populations have been known to inhabit the North Atlantic.
Visitor Peter Osborne, from Wimborne in Dorset, discovered the whale when he arrived at the resort's seafront car park, under Holladay Hill, to do some early morning fishing.
He contacted the Lynmouth Coastguard Station but when staff arrived, the whale was found to be dead.
Among the first people on the scene were Andy Cleverdon, former Station Officer at Lynmouth Coastguard Station and Heidi Fargher-Harding, wife of the current station officer David Harding, are both medics with the British Divers Marine Life Rescue organisation.
Andy said: ‘I have looked at the records over the years and I am pretty sure that this is the first stranding of a whale for more than 20 years on the Lynmouth beaches and rocks.
‘It is difficult to tell whether the whale was still alive or already dead when it became stranded.
‘We were able to identify it through certain characteristics and the first thoughts were that it was a female, but it was fairly battered through the contact with the rocks.
‘It was a sad sight.~ Andy Cleverdon added that contact had been made with the National History Museum and there was a possibility of a post-mortem being carried out on the spot if a team had been able to reach the site before the morning tide.
There were some fears that the tide and the prevailing wind might carry the dead whale onto the section of beach close to Lynmouth's harbour and jetty.
A spokesman for British Marine Life Divers Rescue, which attended the fin whale stranding, said efforts would be made to find the cause of death.
He said: ‘High tide is around 5pm so it doesn't leave too much time for an investigation.
‘It will be down to the local council to dispose of the carcass.
‘It must be removed from or tethered to the beach as it could be a hazard to shipping it floats out to sea.
‘There's a sizeable population of fin whales that live off the coast of Pembrokeshire - it could have been a member of that group.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2024111/The-death-natures-giants-Huge-fin-whale-dies-lying-stranded-beach.html#ixzz1UxVz0WNo
Unknown poison kills Mackay Creek fish
Streamkeeper warns about use of storm drains
North Shore streamkeeper Ron Den Daas holds a few of the dozens of juvenile coho salmon and cutthroat trout that died July 8 in upper Mackay Creek. No obvious signs of pollutants leave the fish deaths a mystery.
Photograph by: Paul McGrath, North Shore News
Ron Den Daas, a member of the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation, discovered the fish when he took some kids down to the creek to show them the young salmon, only to happen upon the much more grisly scene. He described salmon gasping, unable to swim and floating to the top, with several still dying in front of him.
"It was horrible," he said. He walked up and down the banks with staff from Environment Canada, the provincial Ministry of Environment and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, counting in total about 100 dead fish. The die-off in a small ecosystem will have a huge impact, he said.
"Because Mackay Creek is a very impacted urban creek, the salmon population that lives in Mackay Creek is really struggling to survive," he said. "It will impact the return, who knows how much, but when it's already struggling this doesn't help, for sure."
Environment Canada is investigating the deaths and conducting tests on fish samples at their West Vancouver facility, but by the time Nick Russo, acting manager of environmental emergencies, reached the site, water tests came back within normal limits.
It's often difficult to pinpoint an exact source of what killed the fish, he said, because of how many different storm drains feed into creeks like Mackay.
"Whatever that material was that caused the fish kill could have come from anywhere," he said.
Poisoning via storm drains is not uncommon. In July 2010, an unknown amount of fire-retardant foam was flushed down a storm drain at North Vancouver District's No. 3 fire hall on Montroyal Boulevard and wound up in Mosquito Creek. The chemical, called Hi-Combat A, coated the surface of the creek in bubbles, but wasn't blamed for any fish deaths in the creek.
"Urban creaks are hit hard every year. It's not just Mackay Creek. I've worked extensively with the city of Burnaby over a couple of years to resolve issues on Byrne Creek, and it's just one of those ongoing things," said Rucco, adding it's a frustrating job at times to respond to these fish kills year after year.
If there's a moral to the story, he said, it's that people need to watch more carefully what they do with their household products. Even products that say "environmentally friendly" or "biodegradable" on them can be dangerous to fish in certain concentrations, as can prolonged exposure to the chlorine in tap water.
"Any sort of waste should be disposed into the sanitary line: your sink, your toilet, that sort of thing," he said.
It's a message Den Daas couldn't agree with more, adding people often think storm drains enter the sewer system when they actually dump into streams.
Still, he hopes to see Mackay Creek bounce back, describing it as an invaluable resource for the North Shore.
"I bring a lot of kids to the creek to do programming with local schools about salmon and protecting the creek, so for me it was a total disaster and a very troubling event."
tholloway@nsnews.com
(Aug 10) Dead fish wash up along a barrier in the Grand River below Fort Gibson Dam in Phoenix, Arizona. Fisheries biologists said the fish kill, which primarily affected the striped bass population, likely was caused by excessive heat. Striped bass reportedly are less tolerant to heat than other game fish found here.UPDATE: Dead Fish at Chipman’s Pond after algae bloom
Aug 9, 2011 posted by: Kelli Steele - WGMD NewsA large fish kill at Chipman’s Pond in Laurel sent DNREC officials to investigate. Stu Mickels (Mick-uls), Program Manager for Fisheries tells WGMD…
He says about 2000 fish died in the algae bloom, but with the weather the way it’s been over the past month – he’s expecting to see more fish kills occur unless there’s a change in the weather.
WGMD News has learned that there are indeed dead fish dotting the shore line and in the water at Chipman’s Pond in Laurel.
DNREC Program Manager Stu Michels has confirmed that crews are on the way to the Pond to assess the situation. He says probable causes for the fish dying include the recent hot, humid weather and lack of rain.
We should know more later today.
http://www.wgmd.com/?p=31621
(Aug 9) More than a ton of dead fish, mainly carp and mullet, were found floating in the River Segura on Monday, close to the mouth of the river at Guardamar in Spain. Conservationists are still unclear as to the cause of death but a spokesman said that it is likely to be one of two things, either as a result of the high temperatures in recent days which reduces the oxygen in the water and produces asphyxiation or due to the increasing use of agricultural pesticides in the region.
(Aug 9) Visitors to Taman Bandar Indera Mahkota lake in Kuantan, Malaysia, had a rude shock when they saw hundreds of dead black tilapia floating in the man-made feature. The rotting fish was emitting a stench and had turned the water murky.
Hundreds of dead fish flood Mid-South lake
By Nick Kenney
Memphis, Tennessee - (WMC-TV) - Visitors to Patriot Lake at Shelby Farms Park may be shocked by the sight of hundreds of dead fish in the water, though park officials say there is little cause for concern.
"We've had a lot of fish turn up dead," spokesperson Jen Andrews said Monday.
Recent visitors have noted over the past several days the large number of dead fish in the lake.
It's not the first time this summer that a large-scale fish kill has been reported. The same thing happened in June at Appling Lake in Bartlett.
Andrew said hot weather is the likely cause of this latest fish kill.
"The heat could have an affect on it," she said. "Any kind of environmental extreme is gonna affect oxygen levels in the water, and fish who are sensitive to that will be affected by it."
Most of the dead are Gizzard Shad. According to Andrews, the phenomena is a natural function of normal turnover - a way for the lake to manage its own waters.
Andrews said there is no bacteria, parasite or illness that is causing the fish to die, and there is no danger to the public or the environment.
"Our very hard-working rangers all unfortunately smell a little bit fishy right now," she said. "They've been wading in the water and cleaning it."
The park plans to expand and renovate Patriot Lake, which park official hope will minimize fish kills.
http://www.wmctv.com/story/15230482/hundreds-of-dead-fish-flood-mid-south-lake
MSD to clean-up dead fish in parts of River Des Peres
KMOV.com
Posted on August 8, 2011 at 4:04 PM
Updated Monday, Aug 8 at 6:37 PM
(KMOV) – The smell of dead fish lurks in the air near the River Des Peres in south St. Louis due to the hot and dry weather keeping the river waterless for the most part.
The St. Louis City Streets Department told News 4 the city cannot do anything to clear out the dead fish because that part of the River Des Peres is not owned by the city.
News 4 discovered it is the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District’s property and MSD will pick up the dead fish that are on nearby banks or easy to reach.
Most of the fish are Asian carp fish and the Missouri Department of Conservation is not worried about the amount of Asian carp fish that have died.
http://www.kmov.com/news/local/MSD-to-clean-up-dead-fish-in-parts-of-River-Des-Peres-127268558.html
Several Hundred Kiliograms of dead fish found in Lakes near Batumi, Georgia - 3rd Aug 2011
Massive quantities of dead fish have been resolved in Adjara, where several hundred kilograms of dead fish were found in lakes near Batumi during the last two days. The local authorities have begun studying this issue.
The cause was asphyxia, the decrease of oxygen concentration in the water due to intense heat, the Ministry of the Environment told media.
Damage caused by the dead fish has not been accounted for.
1 comment:
Has anybody else noticed that all of the non-viral mass-animal deaths reported where autopsy information has been released have something in common: oxygen deficiency?
This is regardless of whether the deaths are birds or fish.
I think the question we need to be seeking an answer for right now is: What is going on with our world right now that will cause pockets in the air and water to become oxygen deficient?
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