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

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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 28th, 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 1st, 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 9th, 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 8th, 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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Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on July 31, 2019 at 12:24am

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/795096/birds-falling-f...

Birds mysteriously falling from sky in UK city are Biblical sign of 'end of days'

BIRDS falling from the sky in a British city are feared to be a Biblical sign of the end times

Published 30th July 2019


Pigeons have been found lying dead in their droves around the centre of Wells, in Somerset.

Many of the dead birds were found scattered on rooftops, in fountains and around the historical Cathedral Green.

It has sparked fears of a widespread epidemic.

And birds falling from the sky is seen by some as a sign of the end times as foretold in the Bible

Birds were also pecked to pieces and half-eaten by other animals and birds including seagulls.

Former Mayor of Wells, Celia Wride, suspected something strange was happening in the city after members of the public reported sightings of dead pigeons on pavements and roads.

Mrs Wride said: "For the last few weeks, dead pigeons are appearing everywhere.

"One lady found three dead in her garden and my daughter and I saw one late one evening just lying on the pavement near our house.

"They have no apparent injuries and are intact.

"Several ladies told of an incident where one poor bird fell out of the sky and landed on a lady carrying a cup of coffee."


Mrs Wride went on to rule out foul play but speculated the reason behind the deaths could be due to a parasitic disease.

"According to my local informant who is also the current Beat Manager, PC Dan Williams, we have discovered what may be the cause - 'canker'.

"The RSPB say that the disease is easily passed within the pigeon population as they are such sociable creatures."

Canker is caused by a tiny organism called a protozoan. It is a disease that is easily transmitted from bird to bird.


Comment by Juan F Martinez on July 29, 2019 at 9:18pm

Methane Bubbling From Sea Floor Off Outer Banks  7-29-2019

Deep-sea explorers investigating a spot 39 miles off North Carolina’s Outer Banks found a gigantic field of methane bubbling out of the seafloor.
The bubbles of methane, seeping “continuously and others turning off and on over periods of less than a minute,” were discovered off Bodie Island, at a depth of about 1,300 feet.
In some spots, the bubble plumes are plentiful enough to resemble florescent lace curtains in the glow of a camera deployed by NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research.

Adding to the spectacle: The bubbles rise amid “dense” beds of mussels that are seen in a video stretching as far as the camera lens could penetrate.

The bubbles are methane gas, seeping constantly from the ocean floor off Bodie Island, at a depth of about 1,300 feet, according to a report by the NOAA-backed team.

Evidence of a “seep field” off the island was first detected on sonar in 2012, but the expedition this month marked the first time visual proof was established that the seeps remains active and plentiful, officials said.

“These methane seeps had never before been visited … and scientists were excited to watch as (a camera) made new discoveries during its progress up the ridge,” noted a report by marine and geology experts.

Among the surprises was an abundance of sea life in the extreme environment, including spider crabs, quill worms, sea stars, anemones and several fish species, the report said.

https://jasperandsardine.wordpress.com/2019/07/29/methane-bubbling-...

Comment by Derrick Johnson on July 28, 2019 at 7:25am

Footage shows grasshoppers swarming around the Las Vegas strip as the insects invade the city due to unseasonably wet weather

  • Large swarms of grasshoppers have descended on Las Vegas in recent days 
  • The insects are travelling north to Central Nevada due to changing weather patterns and an unseasonably wet first six months of the year in the state  
  • Footage shows pallid-winged grasshoppers flying around the Las Vegas strip
  • An expert claimed they do not pose a risk and will soon migrate northwards 

Las Vegas saw almost double its usual amount rainfall in the first six months of the year from January to June, which could explain the grasshoppers' migration northwards

Grasshoppers are seen flying around a car park

Footage shows swarms of grasshoppers flying around the Las Vegas strip as people shield their heads and look on bewilderment.  

A large amount of adult pallid-winged grasshoppers have descended on Las Vegas and wet weather is to blame for the invasion.

Footage shows the insects flying around outside a business on the Las Vegas strip, right across from the famous Mirage Hotel and Casino late on Thursday night.  

The footage was uploaded by a user called @365inVegas and shows people shielding their heads from the creatures as they walk along. 

Residents have noticed the insects in the city and in other parts of Nevada, but experts claimed that people should not be alarmed by their presence. 

Jeff Knight, state entomologist with the Nevada Department of Agriculture, told CNNthat the adult pallid-winged grasshoppers are traveling north to central Nevada and are a common desert species. 

He said: 'It appears through history that when we have a wet winter or spring, these things build up often down below Laughlin and even into Arizona.

'We'll have flights about this time of the year, migrations, and they'll move northward.'

He explained that the large presence of grasshoppers could be caused by the wetter-than-average winter and spring. 

Las Vegas saw almost double its usual amount rainfall in the first six months of the year from January to June. Knight explained that the grasshoppers do not pose a threat as they do not carry infection or bite. 

They are also unlikely to cause damage to anyone's property as they are not likely to stay for very long and will probably migrate further into the desert. 

He claimed that the the insects are usually attracted to ultraviolet light and suggested that people can install devices to avoid the insects on their property. 

'They don't carry any diseases. They don't bite. They're not even one of the species that we consider a problem. They probably won't cause much damage in the yard.'  

The most recent similar migration happened in 2012 or 2013. He explained: 'We have records clear from the 60s of it happening, and I have seen it, at least four or five times in my 30-plus years.  

'There are some special weather conditions that trigger the migration.'

Mass amount of grasshoppers seen swarming around a light in NV

Lyft driver Jessica Palmore captured video of the insects at night flying above the iconic Luxor Hotel & Casino on Thursday and posted it on her Facebook page

They could be seen by the sharp light emitted from the hotel with its stand-out pyramid shape. 

'I know they are harmless, but they make me super itchy seeing them,' she revealed.

In the video she is heard saying: 'Oh no, something is not right with the world, I can not even take this. 

'Oh my god, it goes up so far, they're all bugs.' Grasshoppers can both jump and fly and they can reach a speed of eight miles per hour when in the air. 

They are medium to large insects, while an adult can grow up to seven centimeters depending on the length.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7292961/Footage-shows-gras...

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on July 23, 2019 at 7:18pm

EMF causing worldwide animal sickness and death

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-49045742/mystery-surrounds...

Tuesday, 23 July 2019A mystery! Animal deaths on France's farms, coincides with electromagnetic fields killing musher dogs in Alaska and causing cattle to flee in panic in Holland

A mystery surrounds animal deaths on France's farms, strangely coincides with electromagnetic fields killing musher dogs in Alaska and causing cattle to flee in panic in Holland.

Farmers in France are claiming that electromagnetic fields created by wind farms and other electrical installations are leading to low productivity and high rates of mortality.
But scientists who’ve looked into it have failed to detect any chain of cause and effect.
The BBC went to western France to investigate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-5VfBsY5RI

http://www.thebigwobble.org/2019/07/a-mystery-animal-deaths-on-fran...

In 2018 The Big Wobble received a similar story from a very concerned Bill Laughing-Bear from Alaska, however, Bill believed he had discovered the true problem: Bill Laughing Bear reported,
EMF is the electrical intensity or "pressure" developed by a source of electrical energy such as a battery or generator.
A device that converts other forms of energy into electrical energy (a "transducer") provides an EMF at its output.
Bill as regular readers of The Big Wobble knows, works with professional dog mushing teams in Alaska, discovered, 13 of his dogs died of different kinds of cancers over a short period of time.


Bill writes...
"These dogs were not of the same breed or family lines."
When he and a colleague started looking at the overall picture, they realized their own cognitive function had begun a downward spiral around the same time the dogs started to become ill which coincided when analogue meters were replaced with smart meters to deliver electricity to our homes.

He goes on...
"All the dogs that died of cancer were in close proximity to my smart meter."
"It dawned on me that something was wrong and I started studying EMF pollution on a “hunch.”
"Not only did I invest in the reference materials where I obtained the facts written above, but I also bought professional grade meters to start monitoring things myself."
"Doing this, I started having people feeding me information and asking me to come to test their home and work environments to see if any of the four distinct types of EMF (Electro-Magnetic Field) were affecting their environments."

A prime example: "One of the men who contacted me in Anchorage, Alaska, lived in a quadplex."
"The four smart meters for all four units were on the outside of his bedroom wall which was six inches thick."
"On that wall, there was a padded box built for his dog to sleep in and above that a padded box for his cat to sleep in."
"The first full day the meters were switched on, his pets started acting odd."
"He did not feel well himself."
"The second day both pets were extremely sick as well as he himself was."
"The third day, both pets died."
"He had to abandon his bedroom." You can find Bill's research here

In 2018, The Big Wobble reported a similar phenomenon happening to cattle in Holland: Translated from Dutch

Farmers in North Groningen are puzzled. 
They regularly see acute and severe panic attacks among their dairy cattle.
The cows then run through the stable, in a panic and mortal fear.
The Oudman family from Stitswerd are now looking for publicity. "We would like to know what is going on," says Hilma Oudman.

RTV Noord has already been there and now there are teams from BNR and NPO3, says Hilma.

Particular phenomenon
It is, therefore, a special phenomenon: complete couples of cows that panic from one moment to the next and run through the stable panicking and jumping on top of each other and falling down.
This has happened at least three times since October, according to the farmer's wife.

Demonic
It's not just the Oudmans.
Their neighbour, Piet van der Berg, has witnessed similar behaviour with his cattle and my brother-in-law Henk Oudman who owns a farm a few kilometres away.
"She has heard a similar story from a cattle farmer from Grijpskerk, a small town close by which is close to natural gas storage."

Earthquake area
The cattle farmers involved are in the middle of the Groningen earthquake area (Fracking). And animals are often sensitive to soil vibrations. Yet it can not be down to that, according to Hilma Oudman: "Our cows are used to earthquakes. We have had earthquakes and the cattle did not react to the shaking.

Sweating of fear
Moreover, that does not explain why the panic attacks have only occurred since October. "It is as if the cows can smell something," says Hilma.
"You can see that a couple reacts at the same time, they put their heads in the air, and then the panic hits.
They are terrified, they are really sweating with fear.
They may be running for a quarter of an hour, but the whole day they will still suffer.
They remain very anxious and alert. "

Cows are herd animals, and the fear of one cow can easily spread to the rest. But that explanation is not logical either since anxiety attacks occur at several dairy farms at the same time.

Pacifier crushing
The first time it happened was on an evening in October last year.
Most cows were already in the barn, but they still had free access to the pasture.
"They all ran out in a panic all at once, and they did not dare to go inside all night", says Hilma.
Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on July 21, 2019 at 5:07am

http://www.thebigwobble.org/2019/07/mass-die-off-of-pilot-whales-wa...

Saturday, 20 July 2019

Mass die-off of pilot whales wash up along western Iceland Thursday with experts claiming they died after becoming disorientated
David Schwarzhans, the pilot of the sightseeing helicopter, took images of the whales
Dozens of dead beached whales have been spotted by sightseers during a helicopter flight over western Iceland.
The dead pilot whales were photographed during the trip on Thursday over a beach at Longufjorur. It's unclear how the mammals became beached.
The region where they were spotted is secluded, inaccessible by car and has very few visitors.
Police in the nearby town of Stykkisholmur has been made aware of the discovery, local media say. The images were taken by helicopter pilot David Schwarzhans.
He told the BBC: "We were flying northbound over the beach and then we saw them.
We were circling over it not sure if it was whales, seals or dolphins.
We landed and counted about 60 but there must have been more because there were fins sticking out of the sand.
"It was tragic and when we stood downwind it was smelly.
It wasn't something nice to see and quite shocking since there were so many".
Edda Elisabet Magnusdottir, a marine biologist and whale expert, told Iceland Monitor that when such mammals enter shallow waters "most of them have a tendency to become disorientated".
She added that pilot whales usually swim in tight groups, which is why so many of them become stranded at once.
In November 2018, about 145 pilot whales were found beached on an island in New Zealand.
Half of the whales had died by the time they were discovered, while the remaining were put down as it would have been too difficult to save them.
Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on July 17, 2019 at 2:22am

https://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/flock-of-over-50-n...

Flock of over 50 native birds die after falling from sky bleeding from eyes

July 15, 20198:18am

A large flock of native birds has died after a mysterious illness caused them to fall from the sky, bleeding from their eyes and beaks.

Dozens of native corella birds have died overnight after they fell from the sky in an Adelaide outer suburb.

Bleeding from their eyes and beaks, more than 50 gravely ill birds began falling from the sky at a soccer oval in One Tree Hill, a suburb on the outskirts of Adelaide, about 2.30pm yesterday.

Volunteers from Casper’s Bird Rescue, founded by Sarah King, desperately tried to help the long-billed corellas, running to the oval and calling out for extra help on Facebook.

Ms King originally received a tip the birds had been shot, but vets working on the birds suspect they may have been poisoned.

Children at a nearby school who were attending vacation care saw a number of the sick and dying birds bleeding from their eyes and beaks, according to Yahoo.

According to Ms King, 11 volunteers arrived on the site yesterday at 2.30pm and stayed until 11pm collecting the 58 injured birds that were suffering and in great pain.

The volunteers took the birds to two different vets. Of the birds collected, 57 have now died, with “one possible survivor”, Ms Hill told news.com.au.

A conclusive necropsy has not yet been performed to detect poisons, news.com.au understands.

Ms King said she would be returning to the area with other volunteers tonight to check for more birds.

Another volunteer in the local corella welfare Facebook group said the birds were suffering and vets were forced to euthanise most of the ailing flock.

“All (birds) at Para Hills have passed as far as I am aware,” one woman wrote. “The kindest thing to do for the ones we collected was to euthanise, otherwise it’s a slow painful death.”

Corella birds are considered “unmanageable” by the Alexandrina Council, who recently proposed a new plan to kill the birds by poisoning, according to the ABC.

The Alexandrina Council is a local government area that includes the Fleurieu peninsula and Kangaroo Island.

The council wrote to SA Environment Minister David Speirs, saying nonlethal methods to control the birds had failed, and the council should be allowed to use poisonous gas.

Yesterday in SA, a parliamentary inquiry was told the koalas, corellas, and other native animals were reaching unmanageable levels across the state and needed to be culled, poisoned and euthanised, according to Adelaide Now.

“Unless we act to manage the problem by culling abundant animals, there will not be a lot of other biodiversity in the state,” the Natural Resources Committee told the inquiry.

The recommendations come despite the inquiry hearing “a genuine reluctance to communicate with the public about culling,” had been reported, “as some community stakeholders find the concept … an abhorrent approach”.

The Natural Resources Committee said their recommendations to Mr Speirs was to cull “abundant” species like koalas on Kangaroo Island.

They inquiry also heard that the kangaroo population on should be halved by killing, and many corella populations need to be removed from current habitats.

The inquiry also addressed the culling of long-nosed fur seals, according to Adelaide Now, with interested parties urging the government to consider culling native species.

Long-billed corellas are a native Australian bird and a type of cockatoo. They are a light pink bird with a blue marking around their eyes. They are known to dig on ovals for roots and other food.

They are considered a pest in the agricultural industry, as they can tear up crops and destroy powerlines.

Comment by SongStar101 on July 12, 2019 at 8:01pm

A deadly fungus is killing millions of bats in the U.S. Now it’s in California

https://www.latimes.com/style/pets/la-me-white-nose-fungus-kills-ca...

A mysterious fungus that has killed millions of bats in the eastern United States and left caves littered with their tiny carcasses has arrived in Northern California and appears poised to spread throughout the state, according to officials.

Government biologists confirmed Friday that a number of bats found near Lassen Volcanic National Park had tested positive for the germ that causes white-nose syndrome — a relatively new disease that leaves a trademark smudge of white on the infected animal's muzzle.

The illness, which is caused by a cold-loving fungus, appeared suddenly in the Northeast just over a decade ago and has moved steadily west. The fungus has devastated North American bat species in some regions and pushed the natural pest controllers toward extinction.

According to California biologists, the fungus was detected in four bats found roosting within houses and a bank building in the town of Chester, about 15 miles southeast of the park. The first case was detected a year ago, and the others much more recently, officials said.

"We all thought we were going to have more time before it got this far west," said Winifred Frick, a UC Santa Cruz biologist and chief scientist with Bat Conservation International. "We should all be very concerned about this heartbreaking discovery."

Since it was first discovered in New York 12 years ago, the fungus has swept across 38 states, and killed legions of bats. A majority of the dead were little brown bats — one of the most common mammals in North America — but scientists say that most of the 45 species of bats in the U.S. and Canada may be susceptible to the disease. (The fungus is not known to cause illness in humans, according to officials.)

The discovery in Northern California was a setback for state and federal efforts to slow the spread of the fungus. Those initiatives have included restricting human access to caves where tens of thousands of bats spend their winters in hibernation, as well as continuing attempts to develop a vaccine.

"There is no silver bullet when it comes to a cure," Frick said.

Unlike other areas of the country, where bats gather in large numbers, California bats tend to congregate in much smaller groups beneath freeway overpasses, on rocky hillsides, in attics and within the fronds of swaying palm trees.

Although it is possible that warmer West Coast temperatures and smaller groupings of bats could slow the pathogen's transmission, there is no reason to believe it won't eventually make its way to Southern California, said Jeremy Coleman, national white-nose syndrome coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A cluster of little brown bats hibernate in New Mammoth Cave near LaFollette, Tenn.

A cluster of little brown bats hibernate in New Mammoth Cave near LaFollette, Tenn. (Amy Smotherman Burgess / AP)


Scott Crocoll holds a dead Indiana bat in an abandoned mine in Rosendale, N.Y. White nose syndrome is killing more bats over a larger area.

Scott Crocoll holds a dead Indiana bat in an abandoned mine in Rosendale, N.Y. White nose syndrome is killing more bats over a larger area. (Mike Groll / AP)


"We know the losses of bats in the West will be less conspicuous than in the Northeast, where thousands of dead bats are spilling out of cold, dark caves and across the countryside," Coleman said. "Beyond that, however, there are a lot of critical unknowns. For instance, we don't know exactly where bats in California hang out, or how the disease will ultimately manifest in the state's warmer climate."

Scott Osborn, statewide coordinator of small mammal conservation for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said his agency was filing formal requests for additional funding, staffing and monitoring programs to deal with the pathogen.

"We're hoping that its impacts in California won't be as lightning fast and drastic as they have been in other parts of the nation," Osborn said.

The fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, Pseudogymnoascus destrucans, or Pd for short, is named partly for the destruction it has wrought on the nation's bat population. The fungus digests the skin and wings of hibernating bats, and is believed to have originated in Europe, where bats there evolved a resistance to it.

Once the fungus made its way to North America however, bats had little time to develop an immunity before they were killed in large numbers.

The disease was first documented in a cave near Albany, N.Y., and then began to spread westward along migratory flyways. Initially, the fungus was identified as Geomyces destructans, but was later determined to belong to another genus.

"We knew this was inevitable, but we are dismayed by the speed," Coleman said of Pd's spread. "I wish it was science fiction and not reality."

Scientists are scrambling to find a solution to the epidemic, because bats fill a vital ecological role that also benefits humans.

At night, they feast on mosquitoes — some of which transmit West Nile virus — and they also devour agricultural pests that damage cotton and corn crops. Recent studies estimate that the value of pest control provided by bats each year is at least $3.7 billion nationwide. They also pollinate the agave plant, which is used to make tequila, as well as the saguaro, the state cactus of Arizona.

During that portion of the year when there are no insects to eat, bats must hibernate to survive — and this has allowed the deadly fungus to flourish. During hibernation, a bat's body temperature drops to the ideal range for fungi to grow, while the bat's immune system becomes suppressed. Infected bats will wake far more often than they should during hibernation and deplete their life-sustaining fat supply.

Because of the size of bat colonies and the many ways in which they interact — reproduction, hibernation, swarming, mother and pup activities — it would take only one infected bat to start a local epidemic.

The fungus can persist in cave environments for decades even in the absence of bats. It is usually transmitted through direct contact, but spores can cling to clothing, footwear and caving gear and in this manner, humans can unwittingly transport the spores to new locations.

Scientists have considered using fungicides to fight the disease, but studies have shown they could kill other microbes in caves, perhaps setting off a chain of unintended consequences. Another option — placing heaters in caves — would disrupt bat hibernation, those studies found.

Another plan that was ultimately dismissed as being too impractical was using decommissioned military bunkers as artificial hibernation chambers for wintering bat populations. Temperature-controlled bunkers — which could be decontaminated in the summer — would have enabled biologists to monitor behavior and administer possible treatments for the disease.

A more recent idea that holds promise would be to spray a jelly-like vaccine onto the skin of hibernating bats. The naturally fastidious groomers would consume the medicine as they licked each other's faces and ears. Officials said it will take several years, however, to develop a viable vaccine.

Ironically, white-nose syndrome's arrival in California comes at a time when local naturalists are taking increasing notice of the chocolate-brown, mouse-sized insectivores.

Armed with electronic bat detection devices, Miguel Ordeñana, a mammal expert at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, recently confirmed at least five species of bats in the greater Los Angeles area. He has spotted them "flying over every neighborhood in the region — from South Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley to El Segundo and downtown," he said.

The most common bat in the Los Angeles area is the Mexican free-tail bat, which gets its name from a quarter-inch-long tail that extends beyond the edge of its tail membrane. The bat has a wingspan of 8 to 10 inches, flies high and fast, and eats moths and other insects.

"Judging from the results of my surveys, local bats are doing better than we thought," Ordeñana said.

But the discovery of the fungus has suddenly added a sense of foreboding to summer evening "Bats and Brews on the River" strolls along a stretch of the Los Angeles River north of downtown. The public events sponsored by the nonprofit Friends of the Los Angeles River aim to introduce participants to the rhythms of bat life in the vicinity of their own backyards.

"Our goal is to excite and inspire people about the remarkable creatures that share the air space over our urban ecosystem every night," said Michael Atkins, a spokesman for FoLAR. "The sadness would be to have to say 10 years from now, bats used to be everywhere."

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on June 14, 2019 at 8:18pm

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/14/like-a-horror-film-va...

'Like a horror film': vast swarms of flies plague Russian villages

Local residents in Urals describe sweeping bucketfuls of dead flies from their homes

Villages in Russia’s Urals region have been invaded by vast swarms of flies that have sparked health concerns and fears for local harvests.

“You can’t hang out your washing to dry or open your windows, let alone go outside,” a woman in Lazorevy told state television, which aired images of thick clouds of flies crawling and buzzing through the village.

Another local was shown sweeping up piles of dead and dying flies from the floor of his home. “Every day or two there’s enough to fill a bucket, half a bucket,” he said. Residents described scenes as “like something from a horror film”.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on June 14, 2019 at 5:33pm

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Sea-Turtles-Dying-at-Record-Rate-...

Sea Turtles Dying at Record Rate in Texas, Advocacy Group Says

June 13 2019

A record number of sea turtles are stranded along the Texas coastline at the height of sea turtle nesting season, a marine wildlife advocacy group says.

A total of 159 stranded sea turtles were recorded in April — the highest number of strandings in one month since monitoring began in 1980, according to Turtle Island Restoration Network. Strandings have continued at a rapid pace, with 186 turtles stranded through May 21. Most of the turtles were dead when they were discovered.

Among the dead were 68 Kemp's ridley sea turtles, the Texas state sea turtle and the world's most endangered sea turtle, the group said.

A stranded sea turtle is one found alive on land, or in the water that is dead, injured or exhibits any indication of ill health or abnormal behavior. According to Turtle Island Restoration Network, it is often difficult to determine why a turtle become stranded. In some cases, turtles have interacted with fishing vessels and are found with gill net wrapped around their flippers.

"We know turtles are drowning in illegal longline and gillnet fishing operations along the United States-Mexico border in southern Texas," Turtle Island Restoration Network Gulf Program Director Joanie Steinhaus said. "We need government agencies on both sides of the border to make this a priority. The reasons for stranding may be different in other areas like along the upper Texas coast, but the numbers are still alarming."

According to Turtle Island Restoration Network, shrimp trawling is one of the primary threats to sea turtle survival in the United States, including the Gulf of Mexico. Every year, the shrimp trawl fishery captures and kills thousands of sea turtles, including the critically endangered Kemp's ridley. Migration of the Kemp's ridleys in the shallow waters of the Gulf Coast coincides each year with shrimp fishing.

"Better law enforcement by both state and federal agencies is only part of the answer," Steinhaus said. "Another simple step that would save thousands of ridleys would be closing shrimping in state waters during the nesting season."

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on June 13, 2019 at 12:54am

https://www.breakingbelizenews.com/2019/06/12/fish-drown-in-sittee-...

Fish “drown” in Sittee River: DOE explains

Posted: Wednesday, June 12, 2019. 3:53 pm CST.

Today, the Department of the Environment (DOE) explained that the fish discovered floating dead in the Sittee River died from a lack of oxygen.

The DOE contacted Breaking Belize News (BBN) explaining that several samples of the water in the area were collected and tested, along with one of the dead fish found in the area. Based on the analysis, the DOE concluded that the water’s oxygen content was very low, and is suspected to be the cause for the phenomenon.

The DOE added that fertilizer in the water was one of the suspected causes for the low oxygen content; however, that suspicion was ruled out as the water’s nitrate levels did not indicate the presence of fertilizers.

The department believes that it was a combination of backed up biodegradable material in the water due to high tide and high water temperatures that gave rise to an increase in bacteria that depleted the oxygen in the water.

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