Pelicans Are Falling Out of the Sky (and Other Mysterious Mass Animal Deaths)
This is a healthy pelican – quite beautiful. Unfortunately, very sick pelicans are falling out of the sky these days. It’s one of many recent alarming indicators from our fellow creatures that things are seriously wrong.
Hundreds of sick pelicans have fallen to the ground from Mexico to Oregon, smashing into cars, boats and beaches, and experts are baffled. Authorities have ruled out domoic acid poisoning, which has affected wildlife before. It’s nothing short of a mystery. Surviving pelicans have been found in yards and on roads, disoriented and weak. So far, experts think the cause could be anything from unknown poison contamination to exposure to the toxic run-off from the recent Southern California fires to malnutrition due to evaporating fish stocks.
Though the exact cause is a mystery, it’s almost certainly due to human impact. And, it’s only the most recent case in a slew of disturbing mass animal deaths around the world.
In the last two years, California’s crops were affected by a mysterious disappearance of bee hives. Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, the worker bees simply fly away and never return. Since October 2006, over 35% of the honey bee population in the United States has vanished. In some states, as many as 90% of bees have disappeared. Scientists don’t know what causes CCD, but theories range from stress due to travel (bees are trucked across thousands of miles, in some cases, to pollinate), or pesticide exposure. A case for local, organic food?
Dolphins off the beaches of Cornwall, thought to be stressed by Royal Navy operations, apparently committed a mass suicide last summer. 26 dolphins consumed and inhaled debris and mud. Though dolphins have been found dead en masse before, this is the most baffling incident. The only other possibility, experts say, is that the dolphins may have been scared by a whale. Scared enough to willingly fill their lungs and bellies with mud?
Cases of seals and sea birds washing ashore have been common in recent years. For example, over 1000 Shearwater sea birds were found dead in the Bahamas and parts of Florida in 2007. The cause wasn’t bird flu, as experts had suspected when shearwaters turned up dead in 2005. There is still no explanation, but every year sees an increase in sea bird deaths, with toxicity the most common culprit.
Also last year, at least 40 endangered gharials in the Chambal river in India died of cirrhosis of the liver, due to apparent poisoning (a flood in 2007 is thought to have increased metal levels in the river). What was particularly odd about the incident was that only wild gharials, of breeding age, died – the captive bred animals were fine.
And here’s a case for organic textiles in addition to food: in 2006, a controversy erupted over the plight of sheep and goats who became ill and died after eating genetically modified cotton. People working with the animals said they simply became “dull and lifeless and died”. They were found dead with swollen stomachs, mouth lesions and black stools. Bacterial and viral infections were ruled out; and no sheep grazing on non-modified cotton died. In 2007 the same thing happened, also in India, to cattle.
Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of sea turtles were found floating dead or washed ashore in El Salvador in 2006. At first thought to be caused by fishing activities, experts quickly ruled this out and the case remains a mystery.
Image: sir mervs
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14 Comments
January 10th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
The temperature change caused by global warming has made a great impact on many creatures that live on this planet. Animals are force to change diet and locations so they are able to survive. This changes affect other animal that feed on this other creatures, making them sick and disoriented.
Personal thought from a marine biologist.
January 10th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
maybe the animals are trying to signal us something, that they are in danger?
January 10th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
The signal is, that WE are in danger, the ecosystem is collapsing, but we’re clearly too stupid to understand that we’re facing a mass extinction and that the last species to go, will be Homo sapiens sapiens.
Insects are the true rulers of this planet, bees are just one example, the most important one because without them we won’t be able to artificially pollinate a sufficient area for food production, and we’ll be facing a global famine of unprecedented proportions.
January 10th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Maybe they really are just sick. Haven’t humans suffered through epidemics?
January 10th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
I am the sickness that plagues your planet…
I am the sickness that you fear…
I am the sickness that takes your loved ones…
I am the sickness that is with you everyday…
I am the sickness inside you right now…
I am you…
I am the sickness.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:08 am
Unfortunately, the very sad news is we are witnessing the collapse of the ecosystem. This news is one of the most distressing topics to discuss with friends so please be aware that people may have intensely adverse reactions to this news. It may bring up feelings of helplessness and despair or people may true to give solutions or explanations that are unfounded. One thing you can do to help yourself and other people who will become increasingly disturbed by the news is study compassionate or non violent communication… http://www.cnvc.org
My friend is a professor who has followed the mass extinction for years and is completing a movie on it… people need as much support around this… the same as victims of 911 needed tremendous support… please, please, please… the time to be real and help heal is now! peace and blessings to all
January 15th, 2009 at 1:25 am
One last thing… to share news of this magnitude comes with a big responsibility, in my opinion. I have a real need for people to be able to hear about this situation and to know that how they feel about it matters… our feelings are a guide post to what we might be needing and they also help us to wake up to what matters about how we live and connect with others. The needs people have about mass extinction really matter to me… because in that, perhaps we will find new information to serve the whole. I guess what I am saying is I have a need for quality connection with others, to be sensitive to others needs about mass extinction and to have shared hope, shared awakening, shared understanding, shared encouragement towards engaging with this situation.
January 15th, 2009 at 4:06 am
Have you thought of el-magnetic frequencies, mobile technology. Our very own electrical systems affected, orientation included.
Check with prof Olle Johanssen, karolinska Institute on such.
January 21st, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Could it be that our cherished chemtrails are causing these things to happen. Don’t forget that many people are also getting sick. Just asking . That’s all!!!!!
February 19th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
this is scary
trichomes’s last blog post..Honey Oil
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