Mass Animal Deaths: April 2012

Mass Animal Deaths: April 2012 (Part II)

(April 12) A dead whale washed onto the rocks at Buffelsbaai in South Africa. Sea rescue tried for more than a hour to divert it onto the beach, but could not change it’s direction and this meant it came to rest on the rocks. (Source)

(April 12) The discovery of three dolphin carcasses at separate locations along the Dubai coastline in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks has raised red flags with environmental marine experts. (Source)

(April 11) Environmentalists in Oman are concerned by the recent deaths of two endangered Arabian Sea humpback whales. There are approximately only 100 of the whales in the Arabian Gulf. (Source)

(April 11) Conservation officials are trying to determine what killed an estimated 14,000 fish in a central Missouri creek. (Source)

(April 10) Things keep getting worse for North American bats. More than six million bats are dead, and millions more are expected to fall victim to a disease known as White-nose Syndrome, or WNS. Now there’s direct evidence the culprit was not native to North America. The fungal illness has not caused widespread deaths among European bats, unlike in the U.S. and Canada. The disease does not pose a threat to humans, but people can carry fungal spores. It’s unclear exactly how the fungus crossed the Atlantic, but one possibility is that it was accidentally introduced by tourists. First identified in the northeastern United States in 2006, WNS has wiped out an estimated 95% of Pennsylvania’s bat population and is quickly spreading across the country. It was most recently discovered in Missouri, Delaware and Alabama – it is an unprecedented wildlife disaster for North America.

Sources: PRWeb, MSNBC

(April 10) An 11-ton female whale shark, locally known as butanding, was found dead by fishermen in waters off Mauban, Quezon, 157 km southwest of Manila in the Philippines. It was 27-foot long and 7-foot wide. Whale sharks can grow up to 40 feet long. They feed only on planktons, acting as living filters to improve overall water quality in the seas. (Source)

(April 10) A whole heap of dead and dying fish and eels have been found the Darebin Creek in Victoria, Australia. Most were carp, known for their hardiness. (Source)

(April 10) More than 7,000 fish killed in Flat Branch creek in Columbia, Missouri, seem likely to have died from runoff from a recent fire, but exactly what in the water caused the die-off has not been determined. (Source)

(April 9) The body of the southern resident orca — an endangered species in the United States — was discovered on Long Beach in Washington state in February, just days after HMCS Ottawa conducted sonar training exercises in the waters off Victoria, B.C. (Source)

(April 9) Farmers in Vietnam’s central region are struggling with the mass mortalities of their lobster crops. Meanwhile, farmers in the Mekong Delta in the south are constantly fighting against heavy tiger and white-legged shrimp deaths. (Source)

(April 9) Thousands of dead fish were today found floating in a lake in Hasan Pur village in Ghaziabad, India. (Source) (April 5) Thousands of dead fish were found floating in Ganga river at Shukratal in India. (Source)

(April 8) Drought, cholera kill 10,000 birds at Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge in California, the nation’s first large marshland preserved for waterfowl habitat. (Source)

(April 7) Frustrated homeowners in Fort Worth’s Meadowbrook hills in Texas are wondering what’s killing hundreds of fish in their backyard pond. Neighbors started to notice the dead fish after Tuesday’s storms. (Source)

(April 7) Two giant Baleen’s humpback whale sharks washed up dead on the Mumbai and Thane beaches in separate incidents last week. This was preceded by a Bryde’s whale shark getting washed ashore at a beach in Ratnagiri, around 250 km south of Mumbai. In the past couple of months alone, over a dozen dead dolphins, usually seen frolicking in the calm blue-green Konkan coast waters, washed up on different virgin beaches in the region. Conservationists suspect chemical or oil poisoning. (Source)

(April 6) For several days, a rotten, fishy smell has been coming from the dried-up pond at La Estancia Circle in West El Paso, Texas, where cracked earth and remains of dead fish can be seen. The pond is usually filled with irrigation water, which has been reduced and delayed until this weekend because of a continuing severe drought this year. (Source)

(April 6) Thousands of dead fish were seen along the 130-metre long Parit Jawa, a fishing village, in Johor, Malaysia. (Source)

(April 6) Over the past 10 days, around 50 carcasses of endangered olive ridley and hawksbill turtles have washed ashore between Diveagar and Ratanagiri on the Konkan coast in Western India. (Source)

(April 5) More than 100 catfish were found dead in the Boyne River, south of Gladstone in Queensland, Australia. (Source)

(April 5) The Department of Conservation in New Zealand is carrying out tests to establish the reason for the recent stranding and subsequent death of two whales on Ripiro Beach near Dargaville. (Source)

(April 5) Villagers attempt to move a dead whale in Tone-Gwa township, Yangon, Myanmar. (Source)

(April 5) A 4.6 metre (15ft) long whale was found dead a beach in Liscannor, Ireland. The whale, thought to be a narwhal, is a species usually found in Arctic waters. (Source)

(April 4) Conservationists counted 615 dead dolphins along a 90-mile stretch of beaches in Peru, and the leading suspect is acoustic testing offshore by oil companies. Another possibility is that the dolphins suffered from a disease outbreak. Along just one stretch of coastline in Peru, more than 3,000 dead dolphins have washed ashore in just the last 3 months, and the disturbing trend may only be escalating. Numerous dolphins first started washing ashore in January, with the largest amount coming in early February. Thousands of dead anchovies were also seen. (Source)

Mass stranding of dolphins and whales in U.S., Peru, Ireland, and New Zealand

(April 4) Mystery surrounds the discovery of 20-30 of dead starfish washed up on Cumbrian Beach in the UK. (Source)

(April 3) The dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico are in the midst of a massive die-off. The reasons why remain a complicated and mysterious mix of oil, bacteria and the unknown. Normally an average of 74 dolphins are stranded on the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico each year, especially during the spring birthing season.But between February 2010 and April 1, 2012, 714 dolphins and other cetaceans have been reported as washed up on the coast from the Louisiana/Texas border through Franklin County, Fla., reported the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Ninety-five percent of the mammals were dead. (Source) A 300-pound dead dolphin washed onto Orange beach, Alabama on April 5. (Source)

(April 3) There is an alarming number of marine deaths off the Konkan coast in the past few days, with two whales and several turtles found beached in separate incidents. A 35-foot whale identified as a Baleen whale was found beached at Priyadarshini Park at Napean Sea Road on Saturday. A similar whale was found dead at Uran on Thursday. Both were found in a highly decomposed state. There were unconfirmed reports of a third whale being beached off the Raigad coast on Monday. Meanwhile, many turtle deaths were reported over the last few days from the Raigad coast with 11 turtles found dead on the Shrivardhan coast on Saturday. (Source)

(April 3) An unusually high number of sea turtle strandings along the Georgia coast is being blamed in part on unseasonably warm ocean water temperatures. In the first 12 weeks of this year, 25 dead sea turtles have been reported to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. A typical year sees fewer than 10 in the same period, said Mark Dodd a DNR biologist and sea turtle coordinator for the state. Three species of turtles are represented in the strandings: Kemp’s Ridley, loggerhead and green turtles. Each is endangered or threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. (Source)

(April 2) A 12-metre whale which travelled all the way from the Indian Ocean to Saudi Arabia in search for food was found dead on a breach in the United Arab Emirates. (Source)

(April 2) Veterinary specialists are waiting for a young minke that died in the Humber Estuary in Yorkshire, UK, to wash back up on the shore so they can carry out post-mortem tests. (Source)

(April 2) Large numbers of dead fish have been washing ashore on resorts and inhabited islands in the upper north of the Maldives in Noonu and Haa Atolls. The dead fish are overwhelmingly red-tooth trigger fish (odonus niger, locally known as vaalan rondu), but include several other species of reef fishes including Acanthurids (surgeon fish) and Serranids. The Marine Research Centre (MRC) is currently investigating the incident. (Source)

(April 2) A HUGE squid weighing 120 kilograms and about two metres long was found off Victoria in Australia, last week. It is believed to be a rare species to south-west waters. (Source)

(April 1) The stench of the rotting carcass hung loosely over the beach in Malabar Hill, India, where the 35-foot-long humpback was spotted floating last afternoon, with gashes on its body. Workers spent around 3 hours trying to clear the humpback’s carcass. This is the thrid within a week. Recently, two dead humpback whales were washed ashore, one on the Uran coast and another at the shoreline near Priyadarshini Park, Mumbai. (Source)

(April 1) Nearly 100,000 animals across Egypt have been infected by the foot-and-mouth virus, of which more than 9,000 have died. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned the outbreak could threaten the whole of North Africa and the Middle East. The disease affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cows, buffalo, sheep, goats, and pigs. In Egypt, dairy and beef cattle, as well as buffalo, have primarily been affected. While the disease is not a direct threat to humans, meat and milk from sick animals are unsafe for consumption, raising concerns about food shortages. The outbreak first appeared in Al Shawaye Al Malaq in early February and intensified in March. (Source)

Mass Animal Deaths: March 2012
Large whales washing ashore: Another sign of our dying oceans