Mass Animal Deaths: February 2013

(Feb 28) Palestinian fisherman have been left mystified after hundreds of bloodied Mobula Ray fish were found washed up on a Gaza beach. Around 220 of the fish appeared on the Gaza City beach yesterday, the Times of Israel has reported. It is thought to be the first time in five years that fishermen are catching the ray fish in waters off Gaza. The fish, which are from the same family as Manta rays can reach a width of up to 17ft. (Source)

(Feb 28) Unseasonable early heat and freshwater parasites that thrive in hotter water temperatures are devastating fish farms throughout Myanmar. (Source)

(Feb 28) Thousands of dead fish are now washing up along the shorelines of Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie. But an expert says there is no cause for alarm. The fish are gizzard shad and the late winter “die offs” are fairly common. The fish can’t tolerate the cold, and die under the ice. As the ice melts, they wash up along the shoreline. (Source)

(Feb 28) Red tide has killed nearly 100 manatees in Florida so far this year. That’s three times as many as all of last year. It’s also suspected of causing some turtle deaths. (Source)

(Feb 28) Mexican authorities say they’ve slaughtered more than a million chickens infected with bird flu. Investigators detected the virus in 18 farms in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, Mexico’s Agriculture Ministry said this week. Chickens there were infected with the H7N3 virus, which Mexican authorities said does not pose a threat to humans. (Source)

(Feb 24) Thousands of Ducks die suddenly in Situbondo, Indonesia. (Source)

(Feb 15) Thousands of Ducks killed due to Bird Flu in Berlin, Germany. (Source)

(Feb 11) Hundreds of Birds dead from Bird Flu in Jhapa, Nepal. (Source) (Feb 10) Thousands of Chickens killed due to Avian Flu in Kathmandu, Nepal. (Source)

(Feb 8) TESTS have confirmed that botulism caused the death of more than 200 wild ducks on two ponds in Nowra, Australia. (Source)

(Feb 7) 144,968 Birds were destroyed due to Avian Flu in Bangladesh. (Source)

(Feb 27) Thousands of dead fish are littering some of the most beautiful beaches in Florida. For weeks we’ve seen the effects of red tide, but this is one of the worst we’ve seen in some time. Fish kills are numbering in the thousands and an offshore bloom scientists say is 120 miles long. Witnesses say fish kills are ranging in type and size. (Source)

(Feb 26) Twenty killer whales died and 25 others were rescued after becoming stranded along the Strait of Magellan by an unusually low tide, Chile’s National Fishing Service said Tuesday. (Source)

(Feb 26) Tests are being carried out to determine what caused the deaths of more than 40 adult yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand. (Source)

(Feb 26) Efforts to save the critically endangered shore plover from extinction in New Zealand have suffered a major setback: nearly 60 of the birds have died due to unknown causes, reducing the world population of the species to just 200. (Source)

(Feb 24) Thousands of dead fish were found Sunday floating in the Cuyahoga River in Ohio and lining the river banks between Heritage Park and Merwin Avenue in the Flats. Red bruise-like marks appeared on some of the fish, which varied in size. (Source)

(Feb 23) Experts are trying to work out why nearly 100 dead animals and birds have washed up on a Peruvian coastline. The bodies of 18 sea turtles, 22 sea lions, eight dolphins, 16 angular roughsharks and 22 marine birds were found along 77 miles of the Lambayeque coastline. (Source)

(Feb 22) Dozens of crabs, along with hundreds of muscles and a few small fish, washed up on Bridlington north beach in the U.K. (Source)

(Feb 19) Why Are Dead Dolphins Washing Up On Italy’s Coasts? The remains of at least 42 dolphins had been recovered by mid-February. The locations where the dolphins have been found span more than half the western coastline, from Tuscany to Calabria, as well as the island of Sicily, which would indicate that the problem is not caused by humans (e.g. an oil spill or other pollutant). More likely, the dolphins are victims of a problem in the sea that may have caused an infection in the species. (Source)

(Feb 19) A SIGNIGICANT freshwater fish kill 15km west of Albany in Western Australia has been attributed to a large bloom of blue-green algae affecting the waterway. (Source)

(Feb 15) It’s a disturbing and frightening sight. Thousands of fish, most of them dead, trapped in a small, shallow part of the lake at Angrignon park in Quebec, Canada. (Source)

(Feb 14) Falklands Conservation confirmed the stranding of long-finned pilot whales including the death of 22 adults on the east coast of East Falkland at Pleasand Roads, half way between Stanley and Mare Harbour. (Source)

(Feb 13) The power of the weekend blizzard’s pounding waves washed thousands of shellfish on to Massachusetts beaches. (Source)

(Feb 12) A broken pipe sent thousands of gallons of drinking water cascading into San Mateo Creek in California over the weekend, killing scores, possibly thousands, of fish from chlorine poisoning. (Source)

(Feb 6) Thousands of fish in Tempe Town Lake in Arizona perished during the recent cold snap. (Source)

(Feb 6) ‘Immeasurable’ number of dead fish in 40km stretch of Fitzroy River in Queensland, Australia after flood water receded. (Source)

(Feb 5) Researchers in Iceland are blaming low oxygen levels in a shallow fjord for the deaths of tens of thousands of tons of herring. Masses of dead herring have been found in Kolgrafafjordur fjord for the second time this winter, raising concerns about Iceland’s fishery. An even larger number of fish died in December. (Source)

(Feb 10) Nearly 100 carcasses of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles were washed ashore under mysterious circumstances, baffling scientists and locals, at the coast of Appikonda beach in Andhra Pradesh state in India. (Source) The Olive Ridley turtles, which are listed as an endangered species, land up in thousands on Indian shores between the months of November and March. A sudden increase in the number of deaths of Olive Ridley turtles along the 134-km stretch of the Chennai coast from Napier Bridge up to Marakkanam in India has shocked conservationists. (Source)

(Feb 8) The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group says the stranding of high numbers of common dolphins and other species, which has become apparent over the past two weeks here, is “very unusual”. (Source)

(Feb 4) Floods cause thousands of fish in Ululah Lagoon in Queensland, Australia, to die. (Source)

(Feb 3) Massive Honeybee Die Off in Montecito, California – approximately 750,000 bees lost their lives, all within a 1.5-mile radius. (Source) Is this a sign of things to come? (Source)

(Feb 1) Thousands of fish – every type of fish – have mysteriously washed up on the shores of Burrinjuck Dam, north-west of Canberra in Australia. (Source)