Animal Behavior, Methane Poisoning, Dead or Alive and on the move (+ interactive map)

[Starr DiGiacomo]

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When Planet X entered the inner Solar System in late 2002 - early 2003, it was not just the Earth that reacted, as it did with an increase in earthquakes, volcanism and extreme weather, the animal life on Earth also started showing signs of the approaching monster.

The most noticeable symptoms were:

• Crazy Animal Behaviour:  Reports of bizarre behaviour including animal attacks from normally passive creatures and spiders spinning webs over whole fields.
• Confused Animals:  Whales and dolphins stranding themselves on beaches in droves or getting lost upstream in coastal rivers.
• Large fish and bird kills:  Flocks of birds falling dead from the sky and shoals of fish dying and floating to the surface of lakes, rivers and washing up along coastlines.

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Crazy Animal Behaviour

Reports of crazy animal behaviour have included sheep that charged a farmer’s wife off a cliff, deer attacking a car and rabbits biting pedestrians.  Spiders have spun webs over whole fields and caterpillar larvae have covered whole trees in silk.

As usual, the Zetas explain the true causes:

http://www.zetatalk.com/transfor/t154.htm (Jan 11th 2003)

Animal behavior also has been noted as almost crazed, where animals normally passive and seeking to avoid confrontation will attack with provocation, or fly in the wrong direction during migration. This is due to signals the animals or insects get from the core of the Earth, signals not known to man, but nonetheless there.  [……]  Spiders weaving webs to an extreme so that acres are covered under webs, get noted, but the base behavior is normal for a spider.  EOZT

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Confused Animals

Other erratic behaviour among animals included a seeming loss of direction with whales and dolphins swimming inland and stranding themselves on beaches.

Unreliable Compasses  (March 28^th, 2009)

The compass is unreliable for the past few years, and lately has gotten very extreme in its variance. Many animals and insects have a biological compass, recording during migrations where that compass laid, and when taking a return trip relying on the recording to guide them back. If the Earth's N Pole swings away from the press of Planet X, which is increasingly pointing its N Pole at the Earth, then these animals are not given correct clues and aim for land or up a river. Sad to say, this will only get worse as the last weeks and the pole shift loom on the horizon.   EOZT

Are due to the Magnetic Clash   (July 1^st, 2006)

The compass anomaly, swinging to the East, is indicative of the Earth adjusting to the approach of Planet X and the clash of their magnetic fields. The change is indicative of a clash in magnetic fields as Planet X comes ever closer to the Earth, their fields touching. It is the combined field that Earth must adjust to, and continue to adjust to, not the exact position of the N Pole of Planet X within these fields, and the Sun's magnetic field enters into the equation too. This dramatic change, noted by a conscientious tracker, checking dual compasses daily for years, indicates that the Earth is trying to align side-by-side with Planet X, bringing its magnetic N Pole to point toward the Sun, as Planet X is currently doing in the main. These adjustments are temporary, and change about, as magnets can make dramatic and swift changes in their alignment with each other. Put a number of small magnets on a glass, with iron ore dust, and move a large magnet about under them, and watch the jerking about they do. Are we saying the Earth's magnetic field is going to get more erratic in the future, dramatically so? There is no question that this will be one of the signs that will come, yet another not covered by the Global Warming excuse.   EOZT

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Large fish and bird kills

Hundreds, if not thousands, of these events have taken place with the frequency increasing year on year.  Poignant examples include the 20 tonnes of dead herring which washed ashore in Norway and 1200 pelicans found on a beach in Peru.

Earth Farts  (January 9^th, 2007)

We have explained, in great detail, that the stretch zone does not register great quakes when rock layers pull apart and sink, as this is a silent Earth change. Nancy has carefully documented breaking water and gas mains, derailing trains, dislocating bridge abutments, mining accidents, and outbreaks of factory explosions, showing that these have occurred in rashes on occasion, when the rock layers pulled apart. [……]  In September-October of 2005, a smell of rotten eggs was sensed from LA to Thunder Bay on Lake Superior to the New England states and throughout the South-Eastern US. We explained at that time that this was due to rock layers being pulled apart, releasing gas from moldering vegetation trapped during prior pole shifts, when rock layers were jerked about, trapping vegetation. We explained in March of 2002 that black water off the coast of Florida was caused by this phenomena. Do these fumes cause people to sicken, and birds to die? Mining operations of old had what they called the canary in a birdcage, to warn the miners of methane gas leaks. Birds are very sensitive to these fumes, and die, and this is indeed what happened in Austin, TX. Were it not for the explosions associated with gas leaks, it would be common knowledge that gas leaks sicken, as the body was not structured to breathe such air for long.   EOZT

 

Zetatalk Explanation  (January 8^th, 2011)

Dead fish and birds falling from the sky are being reported worldwide, suddenly. This is not a local affair, obviously. Dead birds have been reported in Sweden and N America, and dead fish in N America, Brazil, and New Zealand. Methane is known to cause bird dead, and as methane rises when released during Earth shifting, will float upward through the flocks of birds above. But can this be the cause of dead fish? If birds are more sensitive than humans to methane release, fish are likewise sensitive to changes in the water, as anyone with an aquarium will attest. Those schools of fish caught in rising methane bubbles during sifting of rock layers beneath them will inevitably be affected. Fish cannot, for instance, hold their breath until the emergency passes! Nor do birds have such a mechanism.   EOZT

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[Starr DiGiacomo]

An excellent compilation

http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/animal-deaths-birds-fish-end-time...

Mass Animal Deaths for 2017

If the information on this page causes you concern regarding the future, then see what must I do to be saved?

Below is a list of worldwide mass animal deaths for 2017, with pages also for mass die offs from the previous 6 years. There are animals dying all over the world today in huge numbers, due to the polluted state of the sea and air. Millions of Fish and massive numbers of various marine creatures are washing ashore dead. Birds are falling dead out of the sky, and millions of poultry and wildlife are dying from avian flu. The animals of the land are also dying in large numbers. Now although animals and fish have been dying all throughout history, we have not seen the massive consistant numbers that we are seeing today. Please remember! This is just one of the MANY signs of the last days. It's time to wake up!

In many of these events people from all walks of life are saying that they have "never seen anything like this before".

Some people say this is all a mystery. Some say these are all natural die offs. Some people say that Chemtrails is the cause. Some say this is caused by Fukushima. Some people say this is due to man's pollution. And others say this is God's judgment. Whatever the cause, we know one thing for certain, that this was prophesied to happen in the Bible.

Hosea 4:1-3 ...'Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.'

Revelation 11:18 ...'And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.'

Continues with the massive list of die-offs with links ..............................

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.thebigwobble.org/2017/05/noaa-fisheries-declaring-recent...

NOAA Fisheries declaring recent deaths of 41 humpback whales from Maine to North Carolina to be an unusual mortality event

The death rate of humpback whales has been unusually high off the east coast of the United States. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has officially declared it to be an unusual mortality event, or a UME.
According to CNN, a UME is “a stranding that is unexpected; involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population; and demands immediate response.
In total 41 hump back died last year.
NOAA said it doesn’t yet have a concrete reason why all of the animals have died.
The agency conducted necropsies on 20 whales, and 10 appeared to have been struck and killed by ships.
There are about 10,400 humpbacks in the Atlantic region, and federal authorities delisted the species from the U.S. Endangered Species Act in September (they still fall under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, however).
NOAA has issued three unusual mortality event investigations involving humpbacks before, in 2003, 2005 and 2006. In each instance, the agency was unable to determine the cause of death.

On the other side of the Atlantic large trawlers are being blamed for the alarming increase of dolphin deaths in the UK and Ireland: 5 fold increase since 2010.
A MARINE wildlife expert from Brixham has described the killing of dolphins in South West waters as a 'massacre' – with over 100 found dead in just eight weeks.
A total of 106 dolphins and porpoises have washed up on Cornwall's beaches and in the nets of fishing boats in just eight weeks, according to Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
The toll for the whole of last year was 205 while in the two previous years the numbers had been under 100.
Large trawlers are being blamed for the alarming increase – with French boats said to be the worst offenders as they work in pairs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH9VSZ75fFc

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.wideopenspaces.com/thousands-of-dead-fish-found-on-lake-...

Thousands of Dead Fish Found on Lake Michigan Shore

At least the seagulls were happy.

CBS Chicago reports that many Lake Michigan angler was welcomed with this troubling site. On the far south side thousands of perch have been found dead or dying on the lake’s surface. So many fish were dying that it nearly covered the 2,000 foot slip.

The good news is that the DNR is looking into the issue, although at the time of this writing, the cause is still unknown. However, it’s not the first time there has been a massive, initially mysteri.... In the past, causes have included the spread of a parasite as well as a large movement of fish to a shallow area, causing an oxygen deficit.

I imagine several ducks, seagulls, and other fish enjoyed the nice meal this provided. I would not worry about the birds catching whatever killed these fish. While it is not impossible, it would have to be a pretty potent toxin to pass into the birds.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.independent.com/news/2017/apr/25/scores-birds-sea-lions-...

Scores of Birds, Sea Lions Suffering Likely Domoic Acid Poisoning

Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network Inundated with 216 Sick Birds in April Alone

April 25 2017

The Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute is getting more than 100 calls a day reporting sick and dead sea lions on area beaches.

Since the beginning of April, Julia Parker has seen 216 sick pelagic birds come into the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network. There were only four in February, and three in March. Of those 216, mostly loons, grebes, and murres, only 65 survived long enough to be transferred to the International Bird Rescue center in San Pedro. Many more have been found dead on nearby beaches.

Pelagic birds live their lives on the ocean. “They only beach themselves if there’s something wrong: if there’s tar on them, or they’re emaciated and starving,” explained Parker, the network’s Director of Animal Affairs. A large number of the birds found in April displayed neurological symptoms, including confusion, lethargy, and decreased response to stimuli.

It’s not just birds. The Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute, or CIMWI, rehabilitates marine mammals found along the 153 miles of coastline edging Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Every year, they find a few sea lions with similar symptoms: confusion, seizures, head-weaving, and foaming at the mouth. Then, on April 21, “we started getting inundated with calls — 100 calls per day” reporting sea lions stranded on the beaches, said Sam Dover, a veterinarian who runs CIMWI with his wife, Ruth. In the last two weeks, they’ve also seen six beached dolphins, all dead or dying by the time help arrived.

Rescue agencies, research laboratories, and wildlife centers are still compiling data and performing necropsies, but there’s a likely culprit for many of the mortalities: domoic acid, a toxin produced by algae that bloom in the waters off the West Coast, called Pseudo-nitzschia. Dave Caron, a professor of Biological Sciences at USC, runs a laboratory that studies harmful algal blooms. His lab recently analyzed samples from 32 sick sea lions, all of which tested positive for domoic acid toxicity. He’s also had a positive test from a brown pelican brought to International Bird Rescue. Among sea lions, pregnant females are most likely to be affected, and many are prematurely giving birth in Southern California marine centers to pups too young to survive.

By Courtesy Photo

A red-throated loon in the care of the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network. Sick birds are placed on nets to avoid damaging their keels.

The problem isn’t isolated to the Santa Barbara area, although we appear to be currently seeing the worst of it. “The reports that I’m hearing are from Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, and Orange counties — nothing north of Point Conception,” said Lena Chang, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But Pseudo-nitzschia tends to work its way up the coast, as the weather changes and Southern California waters grow too warm for healthy blooms. It’s likely that animal populations further north could be affected in the coming weeks. Raphael Kudela, a professor of Ocean Sciences at UC Santa Cruz who studies the growth and distribution of phytoplankton, tests domoic acid levels in the Monterey Bay. The newest samples, reported Friday, had jumped up by a factor of ten from the previous week.

Pseudo-nitzschia doesn’t automatically produce domoic acid. Kudela explained that healthy blooms of the algae often aren’t toxic. Pseudo-nitzschia blooms best in water that is warm but high in the nutrients brought to the surface by upwelling — cold, deep water rising up to the surface. While researchers don’t understand all the factors involved, evidence suggests that if the blooms are stressed — by conditions like excess carbon dioxide, too much copper, or not enough iron — they will begin to produce toxins. Some researchers think that climate change-caused ocean warming and acidification could be contributing to the problem.

Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller The Birds was reportedly inspired by a story reported by the Santa Cruz Sentinel on August 18, 1961. Thousands of seabirds had swarmed coastline communities near the north end of Monterey Bay, crashing into buildings and falling onto the streets. (They appear not to have actually attacked people.) Fifty years later, a group of researchers, led by Sibel Bargu of Louisiana State University, analyzed archived zooplankton samples and diagnosed the birds with domoic acid toxicity.

In 2015, a massive domoic acid outbreak spread from San Pedro to Alaska, “the biggest toxic bloom and the highest concentration that has ever been documented,” Kudela said. The toxin contaminated fisheries and poisoned large numbers of marine animals, including seabirds, sea lions, and whales. Corinne Gibble, an environmental scientist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who runs the state’s Seabird Program, says that that this year’s outbreak, while significant, isn’t as bad as 2015’s infamous event.

Domoic acid toxin levels wax and wane: “There’s no typical year; it’s sporadic, episodic,” said Caron. His lab’s recent samples show seven to eight parts per billion in coastal waters. That’s certainly high, and consistent with a toxic event, but the highest concentrations, like those found in the 2015 algal bloom, tend to be between 25 and 50 parts per billion. Caron cautioned that domoic acid levels are hard to test accurately: “This stuff is patchy,” he explained. “We’re sampling a very small part of the coastal ocean, but there’s a big ocean out there.” For that reason, the high levels of marine-mammal illnesses are significant. “Marine mammals are a sentinel species that can indicate whether you’re having a tiny patch or a widespread bloom,” Caron says. “Somewhere out there, there’s quite a bit of toxin.”

There are repercussions for humans as well. A statement issued on April 13 from the California Department of Public Health warned people not to eat bivalve shellfish (like mussels, clams, and whole scallops) recreationally harvested in Santa Barbara County.

For the animals, a limited amount can be done. Much of the care that a wildlife center can provide is supportive — flushing toxins with subcutaneous fluid, providing food that a sick animal won’t necessarily eat. Rebecca Duerr, a veterinarian who is a research director at International Bird Rescue, also treats seabirds’ neurological symptoms with medication and says that the vast majority recover, but that of the 160 birds she estimates have entered nearby wildlife centers, only 60 lived long enough to be transferred to her facility. “I presume we are currently getting the less affected birds,” she says.

Dover thinks that being transported to an unfamiliar place can cause sea lions undue stress and threaten recovery. For an otherwise healthy sea lion with relatively low exposure to domoic acid, the best chance for survival is being allowed to recuperate in familiar surroundings, he explained. “We put a stake on the beach, tell people what’s going on, put a barrier around the animal,” and monitor it for the next few days, he said. A sicker animal will be taken to CIMWI, but “for a heavy dose, it’s pretty much a death sentence anyway,” Dover said. Domoic acid poisoning causes hippocampal atrophy, a permanent shrinking of the part of the brain that contains an animal’s “mental map” of the right places to go for food, breeding, and shelter.

“At this point, the best thing we can do is try to understand the conditions that lead to these blooms, so we can predict them and have a response ready,” said Caron. Kudela, with a team of scientists working out of UCSC, is doing just that. His lab has developed a “habitat model” that forecasts regions where high domoic acid levels will appear. The model is a boon for marine animal rehabilitators. “It’s helping them guide their decisions, adjust workforce numbers, and anticipate large numbers of animals coming to centers,” he said.

The model also offers the potential for intervention and management in the future. Point-source pollution is more straightforward. Kudula explained that nutrient-rich runoff from agriculture and septic systems helps some types of algal blooms to develop. “We want to reduce runoff anyway,” he explained, “but now it’s an obvious strategy.” His team has discussed more systematic kinds of intervention, like trying to manage water temperatures over time. But the simplest solution could be greater environmental awareness overall: “If we [as a culture] were serious about mitigating climate change, we’d probably reduce some of these events as well.”

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/bartow-county/thousands-of-fish-fou...

Thousands of fish found dead in park pond

Updated: Apr 23, 2017 - 11:40 PM

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. - The discovery of thousands of dead fish in a pond at a popular Bartow County park have dozens of families wondering what caused the massive kill.

The park's director, Greg Anderson, told Channel 2’s Chris Jose the culprits are ducks, geese and even the fish themselves.

Anderson said there's too much fecal matter in the water, killing all the fish.

“We've never seen this before. Ever. The whole eight years we've lived here. It's never looked like this,” park visitor Nicole Knott told Jose.

Visitors at Dellinger Park in Cartersville first noticed the problem Wednesday. Four days later, the dead fish have become the talk of the town.

“We're all in shock,” Knott said.

The fish kill has left people with plenty of questions.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://themysteryvault.com/climate-change-or-virus-responsible-for-...

Climate change or virus responsible for tens of thousands of dead fish at St Claire-Detroit River in Michigan

Experts can't agree as more fish die

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/04/23/67854/Aquatic-disa...

Published : 23 Apr 2017, 20:25:11

Aquatic disaster in Sunamganj haors

The sight of dead fish, other aquatic creatures and even ducks floating in their hundreds on wetland water in Sunamajanj is simply foreboding. Early media reports linking the mass death with ammonia produced from rotten paddy in the submerged area have already been dismissed, terming it misleading. This can happen in a small water body unconnected to any other water channel. But when flash floods have inundated large areas of Sunamganj, such a possibility is ruled out. This area experienced similar natural calamities before but on no occasion did fish, frogs, leeches and ducks embrace deaths, let alone on an epidemic scale.

A report carried in a contemporary has hinted at a possible link between the deaths of aquatic life forms in the water bodies there and the release of uranium in the river system across the border. Earlier the Ranikor River in the West Khasi Hills experienced a similar mass extermination of fish when its water marked a change in colour. The tribal people there suspect that the open-pit mining for uranium in their area was responsible for this. Hundreds of pits abandoned after drilling and extraction of uranium are suspected to be the source of contamination of the upstream Ranikor River. Flash floods may have carried the contaminated water into the water bodies on the Bangladesh side.

A radioactive element, uranium powers nuclear reactor and atomic bombs. Extreme caution is required for handling this heavy metal but in the case of mining in the Indian part of Khasi region, no such caution seems to have been taken after the drilling. The Khasi people have protested the indifference to safe mining practices there and demanded closure of the hundreds of pits left open. 

Now the cause of the death of fish in Ranikor River across the border and in the water bodies in Sunamganj is unlikely to be different. Had the fish in the water bodies of Bangladesh died before the Ranikor incident, it would be possible to conclude that there was no link between the two incidents. Since the Sunamganj disaster follows the Ranikor contamination and its consequences, there is little doubt about any connection between them.

There is no harm in looking for as precious an element as uranium which is used in nuclear reactor for production of power. But its unsafe use can prove disastrous. The Chernobyl nuclear plant accident and the Fukushima plant disaster have shown the world how apocalyptic the destructive power can be. Any naivety on the part of the mining company in the rugged Khasi pocket may have consequences of unimaginable proportion both for the inhabitants there and people living in the lower riparian Bangladesh region. 

A probe by an international expert team is warranted in this case. Release of as powerful and dangerous a material as uranium into the river and water system will have long-term adverse impact not only on aquatic lives but also on human health and their livelihoods for generations. 

If it is proved that uranium is not the killer agent, the focus should be on to finding out the real cause of death of fish, insects and birds in the haor water. Different government agencies either in India or Bangladesh have failed to respond promptly to collect the contaminated water for carrying out test in order to determine the agent responsible for the disaster. It is a grave matter and it should be treated with equal importance.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/04/18/dead-fish-mckinley-park-lagoon/

Hundreds Of Dead Fish Found Floating In McKinley Park Lagoon

April 18, 2017 6:12 PM

CHICAGO (CBS) — Hundreds, and probably thousands, of dead fish have been floating at the top of the lagoon in McKinley Park at 37th and Damen.

“Around the entire lagoon you can see there are dead fish and a lot of living fish that are up at the surface trying to breathe,” said Samantha Hertel, vice president of the McKinley Park Advisory Council, who just finished her master’s in aquatic ecology.

The lagoon was mostly drained last fall – after a severed human head was found there.

“They left plenty of water for the fish, but the algae population, the phytoplankton that produces oxygen – that went right down the drain with the water,” Hertel said.

And she saif the fish were all right during the winter, partially because their metabolic rate is lower.

But not now…

The fish getting hit the hardest are the bluegills, Hertel said, and the larger catfish.

“It’s unfortunate to see, but long term, they will be fine. They do restock the fish. So the population will be fine.”

But for now, a lot of fish are floating and crayfish are trying to crawl out for air.

Chicago Park District released a statement on the issue:

“In response to the hundreds of dead fish in the McKinley lagoon, a fish kill over winter is normal, as the lagoon freeze a percentage of the fish die, a normal event every spring. The issue is exacerbated at McKinley because of the low oxygen level in the water. The warm spring has made the fish more active than they would normally be at this time of the year, causing an increased demand on the oxygen in the water.

The low level of oxygen is due to a low water level as a result of draining the lagoon in the late fall to assist the Chicago Police Department. The Chicago Park District issued further water testing to confirm that there aren’t any chemical issues in the water and will continue to monitor the water closely through the spring season. In the short term we are turning the water on overnight to increase the water level, this will also help increase the oxygen level in the water.

Once the issue is resolved the lagoon will be stocked for fish.”

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.readingeagle.com/voices/article/birds-are-dropping-like-...

Reading Eagle: Bill Uhrich | A red-winged blackbird.

Birds are dropping like flies, but why?

Tuesday April 18, 2017 12:01 AM

Hannah Flannery

"It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a bird " Actually, it's not just one bird, but hundreds falling from the sky.

This has been happening across the country, with birds dropping like flies, and by the hundreds, in a single area. The New York Daily News reported that over 200 blackbirds fell in Cumberland County, N.J., in the fall, with no known cause. The Department of Environmental Protection ran numerous tests on the birds, and spokesperson Larry Hanja told the Daily News that the red-winged blackbirds bled internally and experienced trauma from the impact of hitting the ground, but why they fell to begin with remains undetermined. Tests of a local farm's wheat seeds only found chemicals completely harmless to the blackbirds.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.ticotimes.net/2017/04/11/dead-fish-costa-rica

Thousands of dead fish found in Caribbean rivers

Coast Guard officers and staff from the National System of Conservation Areas collected samples from the river and submitted them for lab analyses.

(Courtesy of FECON)

Residents of Costa Rica’s northern Caribbean reported a massive number of fish deaths on the Pacuare and other nearby rivers between Sunday and Monday.

Mauricio Álvarez, president of the Costa Rican Conservation Federation (FECON), told The Tico Times that his organization received reports that the dead creatures included various species of fish, including rainbow bass, sea bass, jurels and sardines, as well as crustaceans. Many of the dead fish appeared floating on the Goshen river.

Most of these fish are part of the diet of various species of birds. Therefore, environmentalists and local residents say they fear that the damage will expand to other animals.

Álvarez said he believes that incident could be linked to the use of agrochemicals at farms in the area. Matina and other northern Caribbean regions are home to extensive plantations of bananas, pineapples and rice, among others.

Coast Guard officers and staff of the National System of Conservation Areas collected water and fish samples from the river and sent them for laboratory analysis.

Environmental impunity?

There is no official confirmation that the fish died because of pollution from nearby farms, but Álvarez said this has happened several times in the past.

“Every single time it was for the same reason. It’s never been for any other reason than pollution from farms,” Álvarez said.

Contamination from chemicals comes from various sources, from substances applied to crops, to chemicals used to wash farms’ equipment.

“It has also happened when they don’t properly dispose of water used for washing the tanks in which they store the chemicals,” he explained.

The environmentalist leader said fishermen in the area have told FECON that actions from these farms have caused the death of animals in the region’s rivers many times since 2003. However, not a single company or farm owner has ever been convicted.

There were six legal claims for fish deaths by poisoning in 2004, some of them linked to the Standard Fruit Company, “but the case ended in a settlement agreement,” Álvarez said.

The transnational company at the time pledged to pay $8,000 annually for five years. The funds were to be used to repopulate the river.

More dead fish

A similar but larger incident occurred earlier this year in the Gulf of Nicoya, where thousands of dead sardines washed ashore near the coastal Pacific town of Manzanillo on Feb. 15.

Preliminary reports from the Environment Ministry at the time attributed the deaths to a spike in the water temperature and lack of oxygen.

A few days later, however, experts from the National University stated that the collected evidence did not support that hypothesis. Those scientists posited that the dead fish had been discarded by illegal fishing operations.