March 14, 2015 - JAPAN
- In yet another major leak at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power
plant, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) reported that 750 tons
of contaminated rainwater have escaped the plant.
The water overflowed from mounds where storage tanks for radioactive water are located, The Japan Times quoted TEPCO as saying.
Rainwater within that perimeter had up to 8,300 becquerels per liter of beta particle-emitting radioactive substances, such as strontium-90.
The leak has likely made its way to the ground, according to the officials, but they do not anticipate the contaminated water spreading further into the sea. The spilled rainwater was discovered in two separate places between the artificial mounds and the ground.
Initially, the leak was believed to be 400 tons. It was later revised upwards.
TEPCO has been having difficulties dealing with plant decommissioning and has been forced to postpone deadlines and deal with alarming incidents.
Earlier this week, the UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) said Japan had made significant progress, but there is still a radioactive threat, and a “very complex” scenario at Fukushima.
Over a month ago, TEPCO said it would have to miss the toxic water cleanup deadline, suspending it until the end of May and revising earlier promises to be done by March. - RT.
Sierra Leone authorities reported a worrying spike in infections over the past week in four districts [AP]
March 14, 2015 - WEST AFRICA - The
tally of Ebola-related deaths has passed the grim milestone of 10,000,
mostly in West Africa, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.
The
UN health agency said on Thursday that Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone
alone had reported 10,004 confirmed, probable and suspected deaths
from the virus since the beginning of the biggest-ever Ebola outbreak in
March 2014.
There have also been eight deaths in Nigeria, six in Mali and one in the United States.
A
massive international effort to stamp out the deadly disease has
slowed the rate of infections, especially in Liberia. But the virus
appears stubbornly entrenched in parts of Guinea and Sierra Leone.
WHO's
statement came after authorities in Sierra Leone reported a worrying
spike in infections over the past week in four districts.
Alfred
Palo Conteh, the head of the National Ebola Response Centre, said that
new Ebola hotspots have emerged in recent days in Cabala Town and
Magazine Cut in the east of the capital, Freetown, where a number of
confirmed cases have been recorded. The other hotspot is in the west of
Freetown.
Palo Conteh added that the increase in infections of the
contagious disease was caused by a lack of public caution in "densely
populated" areas. - Al Jazeera.
March 14, 2015 - EARTH - The
following list constitutes the latest reports of high tides, heavy
rainfall, flash floods, widespread flooding, sea level rise and
catastrophic storms.
Ohio River set to rise to highest level in decades
Weather
services issued multiple alerts Saturday for Cincinnati and several
other Midwest cities Saturday as the Ohio River rose toward its highest
level in nearly two decades. Rains could push the river just a few feet
short of the levels seen in the 1997 flood that marked one the river's
most severe on record. Local communities have evacuated residents from
high-risk areas.
The Ohio River Forecast Center predicts the river could crest at 58 feet -- six feet above minimum flood levels -- by Sunday, according to local reports.
The river reached 64 feet in 1997, marking one of the most serious
floods the area had seen in decades. The 1997 flood resulted in power
cuts for thousands of Ohioans and an estimated $180 million in damage,
the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
This
weekend's water rise would affect communities in Ohio, as well as towns
in Kentucky and Indiana. Public roads and businesses in Cincinnati and
other affected cities nearby closed Saturday as a result of the
warnings.
The National Weather Service issued
additional flood warnings for smaller waterways in Ohio, including the
Scioto, Sandusky, Cuyahoga and Muskingum rivers, and urged residents not
to drive vehicles through flooded areas.
WATCH: Ohio River flooding.
Local news outlets and area observers posted photos of some of the flooding that has already been reported near the Ohio River:
Kimberly @Predec2
@beJULEd8 Panoramic shot of Ohio River flooding. 25 miles east of Cinti.
The
National Weather Service also kept a flood warning in effect for some
areas near the Mississippi River Saturday, including Memphis, Tennessee,
and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Flooding in those areas is
expected to be minor, according to the warnings, but local weather
reports predicted the river could continue rising during the next week.
Flood watches also remained in place for the weekend for some northeast
states, including western New York and Pennsylvania, lasting until
Saturday evening. - International Business Times.
Storm and flooding kills 62 in Lobito, Angola
Torrential
rains have killed 62 people, more than half of them children, in the
Angolan town of Lobito, official news agency Angop said on Thursday,
citing firefighters.
The Bairro Novo neighbourhood of
Lobito, located on the Atlantic coast about 500 kilometres south of the
capital Luanda, was worst affected by the downpours on the night from
Wednesday to Thursday, with the water up to three metres deep in places, the agency added.
Thirty-five of the 62 dead were children, it said.
WATCH: Deadly Angola floods.
President Jose Eduardo dos Santos asked the provincial government to
help the families affected by the tragedy, while offering his
condolences to the relatives of the dead, a presidency statement said.
Violent storms come to Angola every spring, causing landslides and
floods that hit the country's poor neighbourhoods the hardest.
One person was already killed in a storm on Tuesday that also destroyed
137 houses and left more than 400 families homeless in Luanda, the local
government said. - IOL.
Heavy rainfall kills 14 and damages crops in North India
Widespread
rains battered large swathes of North India on Sunday bringing mercury
down by several notches, even as it claimed 14 lives and damaged crops
in several regions.
Twelve
people were killed in Rajasthan due to rain, lightning and hailstorms,
which also destroyed Rabi crops in the state, while two were killed in
Uttarakhand in rockslide triggered by heavy rain.
Cold conditions returned to Delhi after the showers as the day
temperature plummeted to 19.6 degree Celsius, nine degrees below normal.
According to the Meteorological department, the city received 3.6 mm
rains till 5.30pm this evening. The minimum temperature was 16.6
degrees, two notches above normal, while maximum was registered at 19.6
degree. On Saturday, the maximum was recorded at 27.3 degrees.
In Rajasthan, besides those dead, scores of cattle perished while several people were also injured in thunderstorms in the last 24 hours,officials said on Sunday. Six
people were killed in Bundi district, two each in Rajsamand and
Sawaimadhopur districts and one each in Bikaner and Ajmer districts,
police said.
Incessant rains, hailstorm and winter's revival
have not only affected normal life but also caused damage to standing
Rabi crops in entire Rajasthan, a MeT official said.
Meanwhile, higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh received a fresh spell of
snow while rain lashed mid and lower hills. Avalanche threat loomed
large over high-altitude tribal areas above 2,500 feet as melting of
snow and glacier movement could accelerate in next few days.
Rohtang and Kunzam Pass, Pin Parvati valley and Chitkul and other
high-altitude tribal areas received 10 cm to 20 cm of snow while Keylong
and Kalpa recorded 3 cm and 2 cm of snow.High-altitude tribal areas reeled under biting cold wave conditions with minimum temperatures ranging between minus 12 and minus 18 degrees.
Keylong and Kalpa in Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur districts recorded a
low of minus 5.9 degree and minus 2 degree, followed by Chamba 1.0
degree. Tourist resorts Dalhousie, Manali and Shimla recorded 2.6
degree, 4.4 degree and 5.3 degree respectively. - The Tribune.
March 14, 2015 - EARTH - The following stories constitutes some of the latest incidents of Earth changes across the globe.
Unusual ice heave on Otter Tail County lakes, Minnesota
Ice damage on Otter Tail Lake mostly has been
concentrated on the south shore of the lake, according to Dave Sethre,
President of the Otter Tail County Coalition of Lake Associations
Ice is a normal part of winter along Minnesota's lakes. However, this year, some property owners on Otter Tail County lakes are dealing with more ice, and damage, than usual.
Dave Sethre, president of the Otter Tail County Coalition of Lake Associations, called the ice on one of the biggest lakes -- Otter Tail -- "pretty radical" this year.
"This is turning out to be the winter of the ice heave on many of our
larger Otter Tail County lakes," Sethre wrote in a March newsletter. "Estimates are that expansion has been 150 to 200 percent at some locations."
According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, ice heaves
and ridges are caused by caused by the pushing action of a lake's ice
sheet against the shore.
"This is especially true in years that
the ice sheet lacks an insulating snow cover," the department added.
When lake ice cracks for whatever reason, water rises into the cracks
and freezes, gradually expanding the sheet.
Fluctuating
temperatures can worsen this problem by causing additional expansion,
the DNR said, which exerts a tremendous thrust against the shore.
Alternate warming and cooling of the ice sheet leads to additional
pushing action, causing the ice to creep shoreward and scrape, gouge,
and push soil and rock into mounds (called "ice ridges").
Sethre said he has seen the most damage on Otter Tail Lake on the southern shore.
Ice along the shore of Otter Tail Lake has been pushing up against the
shoreline again this year. This picture, taken by the public lake access
along State Highway 78 and across from the Pelican Bay Pier, shows a
group of trees as no match for the heaped-up ice.
"I
don't think it's because of high water," Sethre responded, when asked
if he thought the summer's precipitation made for more problems this
winter.
Instead, he said, the water level actually seems to be lower, based on outflow near the lake's weir.
"At times in the past, major ice breakers with mid-lake pushups have
occurred to relieve the impact to shoreline areas," Sethre said.
"Unfortunately, we have not seen this in recent years... with ice
thickness about 24 inches now; there will be little hope for any stress
relief to occur with a mid-lake ice breaker from here on to the end of
the winter."
Ross Hagemeister, a professional fishing guide who
is often on Otter Tail Lake, said he thinks the lake's shallow
shoreline also contributes to the problem, acting as a sort of an ice
ramp.
Hagemeister also agreed that the ice heave seems to be more dramatic in some areas this year. While
it isn't out of the ordinary to find heaves on the lake, he said, where
about 10 feet of push-up might be average, it appears closer to 20 feet
this year.
"The ice just needs somewhere to go," Hagemeister said,as the ice grows during warmer spells.
"But, I'm not a hydrologist," Hagemeister said. "It's just observation." - DL Online.
A week before Spring: Nova Scotia blizzard forecast with 40 cm of snow
Environment Canada warns of snow squalls for some areas of Maritimes Friday morning
Just a week away from the official start of spring, the Maritimes are bracing for another winter storm.
CBC meteorologist Peter Coade says two weather systems — one from the
northwest and another warm and moist disturbance out of the Gulf of
Mexico — are forecast to collide and become one, just south of Nova
Scotia on Sunday.
The
system is expected to produce snow. Coade expects "all forms of
traffic" to be affected on Sunday, including flights, roads and ferries.
"Although it is still early to come up with a solid snowfall amount
forecast, I think it safe to say that blizzard conditions can be
expected with the strong east-to-northeast wind blowing around some 10
to 20 centimetres — possibly as high as 30 to 40 centimetres — of fresh
snow," said Coade.
Snow will develop in areas of southwestern
Nova Scotia and southwestern New Brunswick late Saturday afternoon or
evening and spread north and east Sunday to reach northern New Brunswick
and Cape Breton before noon, said Coade.
Environment Canada
warns of snow squalls for Nova Scotia's Antigonish and Guysborough
counties, as well as P.E.I.'s Kings and Queens counties Friday morning.
"Snow squalls cause weather conditions to vary considerably, changes
from clear skies to heavy snow within just a few kilometres are common.
Be prepared to adjust your driving with changing road conditions,"
Environment Canada says.
"Snow Squall Warnings are issued when bands of snow form that produce intense accumulating snow or near zero visibilities."
As a result of snow squalls, all classes at public schools in Antigonish County were closed Friday.
The national weather service has all of the Maritimes under a special
weather statement for Sunday, advising the public to monitor weather
forecasts ahead of the storm.
Coade expects "all forms of traffic" to be affected on Sunday, including flights, roads and ferries.
While the weather may be wintry, the official start of spring occurs at 7:45 p.m. on March 20. - CBC.
'Baikal seriously ill': World's deepest lake suffers alien algae, record water-level drop
The
shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia, the world's largest body of fresh
water and popular tourist destination, are covered with rotting algae
dangerous to its unique ecosystem.
Baikal is getting increasingly contaminated by spirogyra, which could pose a threat to the purity of its waters.
Spirogyra is not native to Baikal's ecosystem. It thrives on biological
waste which, according to ecologists, is provided in abundance by the
sewage facilities of the local holiday centers, as well as private
boats.
Now, most of Baikal's shores are covered in rotting spirogyra. Only the western shore remains clean.
"It has never been detected previously in such a mass abundance.
Spirogyra is completely occupying more than 50 percent of the coastal
area of Lake Baikal," says Oleg Timoshkin from the Limnological
Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The institute researches
the flora and fauna of Siberian lakes.
"Last
year, there was more than 1,500 tonnes of rotting algae. Unfortunately,
I can definitely say that Baikal is ill. Seriously ill."
WATCH: Algae on the bottom of Lake Baikal. Caption at 01:32 says 'This is what the same part of the lake bottom looked like several years ago".
Baikal's unequaled purity is in part due to an endemic sponge, lubomirskia baicalensis,
which feeds by filtering water. The spirogyra, while harmless by
itself, infects the sponge, thus threatening the lake's pristine state.
But
the alien algae aren't the only threat Baikalis facing at the moment.
Its water level is at a record low - 5cm below the critical level of 456
meters, according to a source in the local emergency services who spoke
to RIA Novosti. The level hit critical just three weeks ago.
This has led to the Republic of Buryatia, whose territory includes
Baikal's eastern shore, declaring a state of ecologic emergency. The
officials have also asked the local population to start saving water.
They say the draining could cause irreversible damage to the lake's
unique ecosystem and leave almost 30,000 locals without water. Some
local ecologists blame energy companies for over-using Baikal's water
reserves.
"At the beginning of the season, in April- May,
hydroelectric power plants flushed increased amounts of water, while
they should have been saving water in the lake," said Endon Garmaev from
the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as cited by
Rosbalt news agency. "The flush continued throughout the summer. Energy
from hydroelectric plants is the cheapest, and [nearby city] Irkutsk
power companies are after a bigger profit."
However, experts
from Irkutsk Region, on Baikal's western shore, say there's nothing to
worry about, and the dropping water levels are a natural result of
ecological cycles, following an unusually dry summer.
"Throughout the existence of the Irkutsk hydroelectric power plant,
despite several emergency cases, nothing happened to the lake's
biosystem", claims Mikhail Grachev, director of the Limnological
Institute, as cited by lenta.ru.
Baikal is the world's oldest
freshwater lake, about 25 million years old. It holds one-fifth of the
entire planet's freshwater reserves. The importance of its protection
has been stressed by UNESCO, which declared it a World Heritage site in
1996. - RT.
Hawaii blizzard continues, snow removers and observatories evacuated
Rapidly accumulating snow drifts reported
The blizzard warning continues for the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, as snow is piling up high.
The National Weather Service says the warning is in effect for Hawaii
Island's higher elevations - anything above 11,000 feet - until 6 p.m.
Thursday. Forecasters expect an additional 2 to 4 inches of snow to
fall. Temperatures are in the mid-20s, but its the wind that is extreme, gusting up to 85 miles per hour.
Those who work on the summit - including snow removal crews - had to
abandon their posts. This message was issued by the Maunakea Rangers
early Thursday morning.
Just before noon on Thursday, the blizzard allowed summit webcams to glimpse the observatories partially buried in snow.
Waimea caught a glimpse of the snow on Mauna Kea, although the summit remains obscured by the blizzard.
Waimea caught a glimpse of the snow on Mauna Kea, although the summit remains obscured by the blizzard.
The
road to the summit of Maunakea is CLOSED to the public due to
continuing blizzard-like, white-out conditions on the summit. Due to
rapidly accumulating snow drifts, extremely strong winds and near white
out conditions yesterday, the snow removal crew and all observatory
personnel abandoned the entire summit area. Weather permitting, our snow
removal crew will again begin attempting to clear the large amounts of
snow from summit roads early this morning, however, it will likely take
them at least the entire day to complete this task. - Maunakea Rangers
at 3:55 a.m.
It is likely that the summit road will remain closed all day today.
Down below Mauna Kea, summit views were shrouded in clouds all day.
Some folks were able to glimpse the snow on the areas just below the
summit as it peeked out from beneath the blizzard. Lynn Beittel of Visionary Video took these shots from Waimea this morning. - Big Island Video News.
U.S. Geological Survey reports earthquake in western North Carolina
The U.S. Geological Survey has reported an earthquake that shook part of Swain County late Friday night.
The U.S.G.S. tracked the earthquake to Cherokee and said it happened at 11:51 p.m.
According to the U.S.G.S. website, this was a 2.8 magnitude earthquake. - WYFF4.
Turkish ski resort of Uludağ hit with heavy snowstorm
Uludağ Mountain
Ongoing
snowfall reached about 2 meters on Saturday on Uludağ Mountain, in what
has been a suprise with spring right around the corner.
The
2,543-meter mountain, located in Turkey's western province of Bursa,
has witnessed one of its best seasons in the year with the occupacy rate
in hotels going at 100 percent.
The snowfall also hit the 2014
Uludağ Economic Summit featuring prominent members of the Turkish
business world as well as Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan. - BGN News.
Thousands evacuated due to raging forest fire near Valparaiso, Chile
A
serious forest fire spread quickly on Chile's coast Friday and
threatened to reach the nearby port cities of Valparaiso and Vina del
Mar.
Officials said the fire began at an illegal garbage dump
in the afternoon and flames were spread quickly by high winds, leading
authorities to declare a state of catastrophe in the area. Deputy
Interior Secretary Mahmud Aleuy said that about 4,500 people in six
neighborhoods had been evacuated as flames advanced nearby and that an
additional 10,000 might need to be moved.
WATCH: Forest fire in Chile.
The interior ministry said a 67-year-old woman died of
cardio-respiratory causes, and firefighters reported at least 10 people
injured.
Chile's Emergency Office estimated that about 300 hectares (about 740 acres) had been affected by late Friday.
Chile suffered its worst urban fire in the same general area, in April
2014, when a raging blaze that started as a forest fire leaped from
hilltop to hilltop in Valparaiso, killing 15 people, injuring more than
500 and destroying more than 2,900 homes.
The city, which was
declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2003, is known for colorful
neighborhoods hugging hills so steep that people use stairs rather than
streets. About 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of the capital,
Santiago, it has a vibrant port and is home to Chile's national
legislature. - Yahoo.
March 14, 2015 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and the appearance of rare creatures.
A
bear attacked a woman in northern Karelia's Juuka, when she came upon
the animal that had woken from its winter sleep. The bear was tracked
down 10 kilometres from the spot, and shot.
The woman was
walking in the woods on Thursday morning, when she stumbled across the
bear's den. The woken beast attacked the woman, lashing out at her with
his paw and biting her in the elbow and buttock. The bear then
disappeared into the woods.
The woman called emergency services
herself, and was picked up in the forest about an hour later. According
to the police, the woman was not injured seriously. She walked to the
ambulance herself.
Appealing to police law, the authorities ordered the bear to be put down.
Tracked down and shot
The bear was finally tracked down some 10 kilometres from the attack
location, in Ahmovaara near Kolinportti on Friday morning.
According to authorities leading the hunt, the bear was followed for a
couple of kilometres before a dog was unleashed. The dog quickly found
the bear, who tried to escape across Kajaanintie, a major road in the
region, but was shot dead on the other side. The male bear weighed over
200 kilograms.
Bear attacks on humans are extremely rare in
Finland. The animals usually run away if possible. A bear may attack if
frightened by a surprise visit to its den. Another dangerous situation
is where a human comes between a bear mother and its cubs. - YLE.
200 reindeer killed by avalanche in Trollheimen, Norway
Reindeer killed by avalanche
An
animal tragedy in the Oppdals part of Trollheimen, specifically in the
area south of Storhornet, was discovered Wednesday afternoon.
Two local residents, Day Jørund Vik and John Bjorndal, wanted to see the
extent of the landslide and took a trip inland to the area the same
day.
We had heard about it being exceptional and wondered how
big it was. We discovered that the animals had been taken and notified
the reindeer owner, says Vik Adresseavisen.
The animal tragedy was also featured by a number of other media including local newspapers Opdalingen, Up and NRK Sor-Trondelag.
In the spring
The landslide proved to be about one mile wide and nearly as long. It
is estimated that there was about 120,000 cubic meters of snow.
Between 30,000 and 40,000 tons had swept over all or most of the
reindeer herd of a few hundred animals that winter in the area.
Three to four days later four animals, still alive, were unearthed from
the snow by herder Gustav Kant and crews that had been called in.
Three of the animals were so severely injured that they had to be
euthanized. The fourth, a doe, was in such good shape that she ran away
and disappeared into the mountains.
The reindeer owner and his
aides have so far unearthed 35-40 dead animals from the snowpack which
had a depth of between two and nine yards.
The dead animals lay
partly on the surface and partly buried in the snow. The rest are
probably buried well down in the snow and many of them will not be found
until the snow melts in the spring. - TK. [Translated]
Wolves attack dogs in Pacific Rim Park, Canada
Parks Canada is warning people to keep their dogs
on a leash while walking in Pacific Rim National Park near Ucluelet,
B.C. because of attacks by wolves.
Two dogs are injured and another is missing after a series of wolf attacks near Ucluelet, B.C.
On
Tuesday morning, a pair of wolves attacked two dogs being walked off
leash on Wickaninnish Beach. While the larger dog escaped, the smaller
one — a Jack Russell Terrier — was taken by the pair.
Todd Windle, a human-wildlife conflict expert with Parks Canada, saysthe dogs' owner was only 200 metres away when the attack happened.
"She saw both wolves come up and they started attacking her larger dog first," says Windle.
The second, smaller dog then came in to defend the larger one. The
wolves left the bigger one alone and made off with the smaller one
instead.
Three days earlier, a chocolate lab was attacked by two wolves in a driveway of a home near Ucluelet, but a neighbour scared off the pair.
Windle says dogs must be leashed when in the park including its
beaches. He says off-leash dogs are at a greater risk of being attacked
by wolves and cougars.
"Although there's several incidents
every single year in this region, we are not aware of any single
incidents where dogs have been attacked where they're on leash," says
Windle.
Wolves and cougars frequent different areas of the park including the beaches.
If people come into contact with a wolf, Windle suggests making noise and keeping as far away from it as possible. - CBC.
What
would you do if your refrigerator and kitchen cupboards were locked and
you didn't have a key? The grocery stores were all boarded up, and it's
the dead of winter so your garden has long stopped being productive.
Oh, and you can't drive anywhere because of a natural instinct telling
you to stay put.
That is what the last six weeks have been like for many birds, especially waterfowl. And it's been a deadly scenario.
I heard the other day that upwards of 70 ducks and geese were found
dead at the Norwalk Wastewater Treatment Plant, most likely because of
malnutrition. I also received a call from a Westport resident who had
five dead Canada geese in her yard one morning. The number swelled to
eight as the week went on. Mute Swans have been stranded on frozen
water, too, although some of those birds have been saved.
"It's
been the most severe winter we've had in 30 years," said Min Huang, a
waterfowl specialist with Connecticut Department of Energy and
Environmental Protection (DEEP). "We've seen a lot of mortality over the
last three weeks up and down the coast, mostly geese and puddle ducks."
Waterfowl, including geese, can find food in the water or on land under
normal circumstances. The sources of food on land have been covered
since the late January snow storm. A few additional snow storms and a
few ice storms for good measure have all but sealed up that food source
for more than five weeks. Only in the last day or two has some snow
melted to show grass along the edges of yards and fields.
Throw
in sustained subfreezing temperatures that froze all the water in
sight, including Long Island Sound, and you have a very deadly winter
for ducks and geese.
"We don't usually get a sustained freeze that lasts all of February and into March," Huang said.
Huang confirmed that DEEP personnel did visit the wastewater treatment
plant in Norwalk this week. He didn't get a number of dead waterfowl,
but he did say that most of the dead birds were geese and puddle ducks.
"I haven't received any reports yet, but I'm 95 percent confident that (those deaths) are just malnutrition," Huang said.
Puddle ducks, such as Mallards and American Black Ducks, dabble, or tip
up, to feed in the water. That method, obviously, is rendered useless
when the water is frozen.
Diving ducks, such as Hooded
Mergansers, were able to find small pools of water kept unfrozen by
bubblers at boat docks. They were able to dive for small fish and other
morsels within those pools.
Huang said the DEEP will not know the real impact on duck and geese populations until they do their surveys in the spring.
Milan Bull, senior director of science and conservation at Connecticut
Audubon, said the timing of the deep and sustained freeze did not work
in the waterfowl's favor.
He said geese and duck eat
voraciously in the fall to store up fat reserves for the winter. In
winter, they eat what they can find to sustain themselves.
"If
this freeze happened in December or January, they'd be fine because of
their fat reserves," Bull said. "The later it gets in winter, the harder
it is."
Bull confirmed what Huang said about the bird mortality being a problem in the entire state.
"Up and down the coast there are a lot of dead waterfowl," he said.
So why not just fly south to find open water and food? Huang said by
December ducks have found their wintering grounds and they aren't likely
to move on until the end of winter.
"Once we're into December,
they aren't going anywhere," he said. "The ducks feel it's not worth it
to use the energy it takes to migrate.This year, frozen water has been a problem from Virginia to Maine."
In other words, ducks and geese gamble that local waters will not
remain frozen for long and that offers better odds survival than trying
to use what fat stores they have left to fly hundreds of miles south to
find open water.
In most winters that gamble pays off. This winter, it was a bad bet for many geese and ducks. - The Hour.
1,450 sea lions have washed up on California beaches this year
By the time Wendy Leeds reached him, the sea lion pup had little hope of surviving.
Like more than 1,450 other sea lions that have washed up on California
beaches this year, in what animal experts call a growing crisis for the
animal, this 8-month-old pup was starving, stranded and hundreds of miles from a
mother who still needed to nurse him and teach him to hunt and feed. Ribs jutted from his velveteen coat.
The pup had lain on the beach for hours, becoming the target of an
aggressive dog before managing to wriggle onto the deck of a
million-dollar oceanfront home, where the owner shielded him with an
umbrella and called animal control. In came Ms. Leeds, an animal-care
expert at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, which like other California
rescue centers is being inundated with calls about lost, emaciated sea
lions.
"It's getting crazy," she said.
Experts suspect that unusually warm waters are driving fish and other
food away from the coastal islands where sea lions breed and wean their
young. As the mothers spend time away from the islands hunting for food,
hundreds of starving pups are swimming away from home and flopping ashore from San Diego to San Francisco.
Many of the pups are leaving the Channel Islands, an eight-island chain
off the Southern California coast, in a desperate search for food. But
they are too young to travel far, dive deep or truly hunt on their own,
scientists said.
WATCH: California sea lions pups in crisis.
This
year, animal rescuers are reporting five times more sea lion rescues
than normal — 1,100 last month alone. The pups are turning up under
fishing piers and in backyards, along inlets and on rocky cliffs. One
was found curled up in a flower pot.
Last week,
SeaWorld San Diego said it would shut its live sea lion and otter show
for two weeks so it could spare six of its animal specialists for the
rescue-and-recovery effort.
"There are so many calls, we just
can't respond to them all," Justin Viezbicke, who oversees stranding
issues in California for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, said on a conference call with reporters. "The reality
is, we just can't get to these animals."
As the injured animals
proliferate, their encounters with humans are growing. Some people
offer misguided help such as dousing the pups with water or trying to
drag them back into the ocean. Others take selfies with the stranded
animals, pet them or let their children pretend to ride them, rescuers
said.
As Ms. Leeds approached the quaking sea lion on
Capistrano Beach, she frowned at a pile of tuna near his muzzle. "Has
someone been trying to feed him?" she asked.
Many are sick with
pneumonia, their throaty barks muted to rasping coughs. Parasites have
swarmed their digestive systems. Some are so tired that they cannot
scamper away when rescuers approach them with nets and towels and heft
them into large pet carriers.
"They come ashore because if they
didn't, they would drown," said Shawn Johnson, the director of
veterinary science at Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. "They're just bones and skin. They're really on the brink of death."
This year is the third in five years that scientists have seen such large numbers of strandings. - New York Times.
Woman dies and 2 injured after whale crashes into tourist boat off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
A
Canadian woman died from injuries sustained when a grey whale crashed
into a tourist boat as it returned from a short excursion out of the
resort city of Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.
Two other passengers
were injured in the accident, which took place close to the beach around
11am on Wednesday, according to a statement released by tour company
Cabo Adventures.
"The captain had to make a movement to avoid a
whale that surfaced just in front of the boat," the statement said.
"The whale hit one side of the boat, leaving two people injured and
another passenger hurt who, unfortunately, later died in hospital."
Port director Vicente Martínez said the woman was 45 years old. Some
reports said she was 10 years younger. The collision happened on the
Pacific coast side of the Baja California Peninsula. One reported version said the whale jumped out of the water and landed on the boat filled with 24 people, including the crew.
The confusingly worded statement from the tour company appeared to
suggest that the victim fell into the water during the collision. Once
she was pulled back into the boat, it said, she immediately received
mouth to mouth resuscitation from another tourist who happened to be a
qualified nurse before naval rescue paramedics arrived and took her to
the hospital.
Two other injured tourists were also taken to
hospital - one was later released and the other's life was not in
danger, the statement said.
Cabo San Lucas promotes whale
watching among its major attractions, promising tourists safe and
awe-inspiring encounters with the huge docile mammals that every winter
migrate thousands of miles from Arctic waters to warm shallow lagoons
off the Mexican coast where they breed.
The fatality happened
on the same day that Mexican authorities announced a particularly high
number of grey whales had gathered in the area during this year's
season, which runs from mid-December to the end of April.
The
National Commission for Natural Protected Areas said its census
indicated a 10% increase on last season, making it one of the highest
migrations registered during the last two decades. - The Guardian.
Family dog mauls 2-year-old boy in Kauai, Hawaii
Pitbull terrier
A two-year-old boy is in serious condition after being attacked by a family dog Tuesday on Kauai.
Officers responded to Wena Street in Puhi at about 11 a.m. on a dangerous dog complaint.
The boy was bitten by a pitbull on the face, neck and back.
He was transported to Wilcox Memorial Hospital in serious condition,
then medevaced to Queen's Medical Center on Oahu. Kauai Humane Society
Executive Director Penny Cistaro confirmed the dog was euthanized. - Kiki Radio.
Wolf seen prowling the streets of Kolham, Netherlands
A bizarre video has emerged in the Netherlands of a lone wolf stalking a city suburb as it hunted for its next meal.
The huge grey wolf was filmed running along a residential street in the
northern city of Kolham, which is normally packed with children and
family pets.
The 22 second video shows the wolf strutting along
the road for around 30 metres, stopping from time to time to look into
gardens before continuing on its way.
Although running at a brisk pace, witnesses say that it did not seem dangerous and was possibly looking for a new home.
WATCH: Terrifying footage of wolf prowling the city streets.
However,
wolves have not been seen in the country for more than 150 years .
Local experts believe the wolf had travelled to the city from Germany -
up to 190 miles away.
Oguz Acioz, 35, captured the footage while driving to work before calling the police.
The salesman said: "The last wolf was seen here about 150 years ago.
"I was about a metre behind it. I could see the mouth and the teeth and
I knew it wasn't a dog so I started filming straight away.
"I was so surprised. You never see one of these on a street. It's not a normal sight.
"Luckily, there was nobody on the street as everyone had gone to work.
Normally there are lots of children around and chickens in back gardens.
"I looked at it in the eyes. It seemed hungry.
"I wasn't scared. I wanted to see him. I thought he might need help.
"It was seen crossing the border [with Germany] on Friday. There is a picture of it and it is the same wolf.
"People think it might have been looking for a new home or mate. It ran a long way.
"Yesterday, they captured it and took it back to Germany." - Daily Mirror.
Biocide! 2.9 million whales slaughtered in 100 years
Whales slaughtered.
The first estimate of the number of whales killed during the 2oth century is set to be published in the next edition of Marine Fisheries Review. Researchers hunted through the records and found that between 1900 and 1999 a total of 2.9 million whales were killed.
The scale of modern industrial whaling that took hold in the early and
mid 1900's is astonishing. The researchers, Robert C. Rocha, Jr.,
Phillip J. Clapham, and Yulia Ivashchenko, found
that between 1900 and 1962 the number of sperm whales killed equalled
the total estimated to have been killed over the previous 200 years.
But the height of the whaling industry was only just beginning. In the
following 10 years between 1962 and 1972 the industry managed to repeat
the scale of killing.
The
researchers estimated that between 1712 and 1899 whaler in small
sailing boats managed to kill 300,000 sperm whales. Modern techniques
and improved shipping meant whalers killed 300,000 sperm whales between
1900 and 1962. Then the big factory ships were launched and in just 10
years another 300,000 sperm whales were caught.
By the time the
International Whaling Commission had effectively banned whaling in 1982
they estimate that at least 2,870,291 had been killed since the start
of the century.
Up to 1963 it was estimated
that whalers were taking upwards of 10,000 fin whales each year before
numbers began to fall. Sei whales where then targeted at rates exceeding
10,000 per year. Baleen whales were a major species for the whalers
until population levels dropped to levels which led to annual catches
falling below 10,000 per year in 1969.
Following declining
catches of preferred species (fin and sei) in the northern hemisphere
during the 1970's the whalers turned their harpoon sights on Bryde's and
humpback whales.
Minke whales in the northern hemisphere were
targeted by whalers as the northern blue whale population declined. From
the 1940 through to the 1980s about 3000 minke whales in the northern
hemisphere were killed. Minke whales escaped targeting for a couple of
decades because of the prevalence of more profitable species. But by
1964 the minke whales of the southern hemisphere were also being
targeted as other whale species declined.
The
speed and scale of the whaling during those 85 years was such that many
species almost disappeared and have still not recovered - and are
unlikely to reach their former populations. The paper points to theSouthern Blue whale which now numbers just 1% of prewhaling populations.
The researchers were also able to take advantage of the more open
scientific relationships in the former USSR compared to the times of the
whaling industry. They were able to uncover new figures from the
Russian whaling fleet which partly explains the failure of the North
Pacific right whales. Despite a hunting ban being put in place on the
species in 1935 the USSR continued to hunt the whales and failed to
report the killings to the IWC. Total global catch for all whales
recorded in Russia appears to be 534.204 but 178,118 of them were not
reported to the IWC monitoring group.
While the USSR were not
the only country to be actively killing whales that had been put on IWC
ban lists - many countries including the UK were actively ignoring
international agreements on various species - they were the most
prolific poachers.
After the blue whale hunt ban was bought
established in 1966 98% of ban breeches were by soviet whalers. 96% of
humpbacks killed after that species were protected by hunting was again
by soviet whalers. Despite a ban on hunting of northern grey whales
during the 1930's the US government still issued permits for over 300
whales after 1947 for 'scientific' reasons. The
worst year for whales in the northern hemisphere was 1966 when 33,473
whales were killed. In the southern hemisphere the worst year was 1960
with 62,169 killed.
The scientists concluded
the paper with a quote from John Gulland regarding fisheries: whaling
management in the 20th century was an interminable debate about the
status of stocks until all doubt was removed. And so were most of the whales.
Paper reference:
