animals

$230,000 For One Guard Dog: Why The Rich Are Afraid

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– $230,000 For a Guard Dog: Why the Wealthy Are Afraid Of Violence From Below (AlterNet, July 29, 2011):

As inequality in the US grows, the ultra-rich are pouring their spare cash not just into private jets, but into private security. Think there’s a connection?


Photo Credit: Fubar843 via Flickr

“Violence in the streets, aimed at the wealthy. That’s what I worry about.”

That was what an unidentified billionaire told Robert Frank of the Wall Street Journal a while back. Rich people are scared of global unrest, Frank reported, citing a survey by Insite Security and IBOPE Zogby International of people with liquid assets of $1 million or more (translation: folks who have or can get their hands on $1 million in cash fairly easily) that says 94 percent of the wealthy are concerned about “global unrest” around the world.

He noted:

Of course, Insite has an interest in getting the paranoid rich to beef up their security. Still, the numbers are backed up by other trends seen throughout the world of wealth today: the rich keeping a lower profile, hiring $230,000 guard dogs, and arming their yachts, planes and cars with military-style security features.

John Johnson, the owner of the $230,000 dog featured in the New York Times, is a former debt collector. (You can’t make this stuff up.) He sold his debt collection company three years ago, but still has not just one, but six highly—and expensively—trained “executive protection dogs.” Harrison K-9 services, the trainers behind Johnson’s pricey protection dogs, used to train dogs for elite military units like the Navy Seal team that raided Osama bin Laden’s compound. The article doesn’t say exactly how many dogs Harrison K-9 has provided for the world’s rich and famous, but it does feature a quote from their head trainer saying she’s trained “a thousand” dogs.

In addition to security systems, dogs and armed yachts, the security-conscious oligarch can hire a private spy company—Jellyfish, a spinoff of the notorious private security company Blackwater. Or what about their own personal drone? “Smaller, private versions of the infamous Predator” may be coming to well-heeled private citizens near you, according to the UK’s Daily Mail. So far the private drones appear to only be for spying, but former Navy fighter pilot Missy Cummings told the Daily Mail, “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist from MIT to tell you if we can do it for a soldier in the field, we can do it for anybody.”

Read more$230,000 For One Guard Dog: Why The Rich Are Afraid

Return Our Dogs, TEPCO Demands After Man Saves 2 Dogs At Fukushima Nuclear Plant

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– Return our dogs, TEPCO demands (The Australian, June 28, 2011):

A MAN who snatched two dogs to safety from the grounds of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has revealed the plant’s disgraced operator TEPCO later rang him to assert ownership over them.

The Australian yesterday revealed the story of animal rescue “guerilla” Hiroshi Hoshi’s mission to the plant to grab two Japanese Shiba dogs spotted wandering around on a webcam trained on the facility.

Yesterday, Mr Hoshi said one of the plant’s managers, who called himself Mr Igarashi, made a “ghoulish and bizarre” phone call to him soon after he rescued the dogs, suggesting they had become company property.

“He sounded that those dogs actually belong to TEPCO, because they were found at privately owned area of the plant,” Mr Hoshi told The Australian.

“We will never give them away — we are the guardians of those two dogs.”

The dogs, thought to be sisters, were first seen at the plant earlier this month, three months after the nuclear accident, and were found to have absorbed significant amounts of radiation.

Nevertheless, they have been given a clean bill of health and were given to a couple in Yokohama.

Read moreReturn Our Dogs, TEPCO Demands After Man Saves 2 Dogs At Fukushima Nuclear Plant

Fukushima: Livestock Left To Die In Dead Zone

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The Yomiuri Shimbun

FUKUSHIMA–More than 600,000 domesticated animals have been left behind within the 20-kilometer evacuation zone around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant since local livestock farmers evacuated more than a month ago.

As of Tuesday, about 30,000 pigs, about 600,000 chickens and about 3,000 cattle were still in the evacuation zone, the Fukushima prefectural government said. Many of them are believed to have starved to death.

As for the livestock that are still alive, farmers want them put down instead of letting them die from starvation. But administrative offices have said they cannot deal with the matter until radioactivity leaking from the plant is brought under control.

Read moreFukushima: Livestock Left To Die In Dead Zone

Cloned Animals – Consumers Shall Have No Choice

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Press Release

Christoph Then

Testbiotech

EU Commissioner for Trade: Products from offspring of cloned animals already on the market

Munich, Bruxelles, 3 March 2011. A non-public EU Commission paper confirms that food from offsprings of cloned animals are already on the European market. The animals get into the market via the import of breeding material from the US. The EU Trade Commission argues that in future too these products should not be regulated, labelled or controlled for unexpected risks, because so far no systems have been established for registering the animals in exporting countries such as the US. If the EU Commission succeeds, consumers within the EU will not get any information about these products like milk and meat, despite a high level of consumer rejection of cloning of animals for food production.

“Products that are widely rejected on ethical concerns are to be disposed of via consumers. The EU Commissioner De Gucht is giving in without a fight to industrial agriculture lobbyists. This is astonishing since only very few companies are making profits from this highly controversial technology,” says Christoph Then at Testbiotech in Germany.

Read moreCloned Animals – Consumers Shall Have No Choice

Bald Eagles Fall Out of The Sky in Canada

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(NaturalNews) Bald eagles in the Comox Valley of British Columbia, Can., are having a difficult time finding food these days. A recent report in The Province explains that the birds are literally starving and falling from the sky, adding to the string of strange animal events that has occurred in numerous places around the world in the past few months (http://www.naturalnews.com/031041_a…).

“This is the most we have ever had,” said Maj Birch, manager of the Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society, concerning the excessive number of starving and dying eagles the group has seen in recent days. “Many of them are downed before they are brought in. They are on the ground and they’re too weak to fly away. Some of them are actually falling out of the sky.”

Read moreBald Eagles Fall Out of The Sky in Canada

Gulf Coast: More Dead Baby Dolphins Wash Ashore

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IMMS Photo Rebecca Winstead and Megan Broadway with the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport respond to the beaching of a dolphin calf. More baby dolphins were found over the weekend and today.

GULFPORT — The phenomenon of new born or stillborn baby dolphins washing ashore from the Gulf or the Mississippi Sound continued through the weekend and today.

The total in Mississippi and Alabama alone is 36 calves and eight adults or young adults, as of mid-day today.

Read moreGulf Coast: More Dead Baby Dolphins Wash Ashore

Canada: Dead Herring Wash Ashore On Second Beach In Cedar

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Another beach in Cedar has been found covered with hundreds of dead herring that washed ashore.

The fish were found Monday near the beach house in Cedar-By-The-Sea, a short distance from the beach north of Boat Harbour where Will Meeks found a large number of dead herring on Friday.

Brenda Spence, a spokeswoman for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, speculated early Monday — before the latest discovery — that sea lions eating through nets used in the food and bait herring fishery in the Georgia Strait was the likely cause of the first incident.

Read moreCanada: Dead Herring Wash Ashore On Second Beach In Cedar

US Government Commits Avian Holocaust With Mass Poisoning of Millions of Birds

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See also:

– USDA Responsible For Mass Poisoning of Millions of Birds

– Bye Bye Blackbird: USDA acknowledges a hand in one mass bird death

“USDA has actively murdered at least 100 million animals in America over the last four decades”



USDA “unintentionally” euthanized also one Bald Eagle

(NaturalNews) The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is engaged in what can only be called an avian holocaust through its Bye Bye Blackbird program that has poisoned tens of millions of birds over the last decade. The USDA even reports the number of birds it has poisoned to death in a PDF document posted on the USDA website.

Anticipating the USDA possibly removing that document, we have posted a copy on NaturalNews servers at:
http://www.naturalnews.com/files/US…

The original source URL of this file was:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_…

This document shows that, just in 2009, the following bird populations were poisoned and killed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, using taxpayer dollars:

(Listed as “Intentional” and “Killed / Euthanized”)

Brown-headed cowbirds: 1,046,109
European Starlings: 1,259,714
Red-winged blackbirds: 965,889
Canadian geese: 24,519
Grackles: 93,210
Pigeons: 96,297

…plus tens of thousands of crows, doves, ducks, falcons, finches, gulls, hawks, herons, owls, ravens, sparrows, swallows, swans, turkeys, vultures and woodpeckers, among other animals.

The chart even shows that the USDA “unintentionally” euthanized one Bald Eagle.

Also murdered in 2009 by the USDA are victims of other species:

27,000 beavers, 1700 bobcats, 81,000 coyotes, 2,000 gray foxes, 336 mountain lions, 1900 woodchucks, 130 porcupines, 12,000 raccoons, 20,000 squirrels, 30,000 wild pigs, 478 wolves.

Read moreUS Government Commits Avian Holocaust With Mass Poisoning of Millions of Birds

Vietnam: At least 10,000 Cows And Buffalo Have Died

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In the latest of a string of mass animal deaths, 10,000 cows and buffalo have died in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development confirmed the news this week that more than 10,000 cows and buffalos died nationwide due to harsh weather conditions.

Cattle have been dying throughout Vietnam, which has had a particularly intense winter. The northern mountainous province of Cao Bang was hardest hit with 2,260 dead cattle, per Thanh Nien News. Some have said the number of total dead cattle may be as high as 13,000.

Read moreVietnam: At least 10,000 Cows And Buffalo Have Died

New Zealand: Hundreds Of Little Penguins Die And Other Seabirds Wash Up Dead On Beaches

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Little penguins are dying in their hundreds, leading conservationists to fear they are starving as a result of the La Nina weather system.

Other seabirds are washing up dead on beaches, raising concerns that species could become extinct if climate change causes extreme weather events to become more frequent.

At Wellington Zoo, two starving little blue penguin chicks have been brought in this week. One died on Wednesday and the other, found at Lyall Bay, was hanging on to life yesterday.

The zoo’s veterinary science manager, Lisa Argilla, said petrels were also starving around Wellington’s south coast, and five shags had been brought in this month. “They’re unable to find enough food. We’ve had a lot of starvations and a lot of mortalities.”

At Banks Peninsula, hundreds of little white-flippered penguin chicks have died of starvation, according to Shireen Helps, who has been caring for the colony on her property for about 25 years.

Read moreNew Zealand: Hundreds Of Little Penguins Die And Other Seabirds Wash Up Dead On Beaches

Beijing Reports Mass Bird Deaths

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A massive wild bird kill is reported from a Beijing suburb.

Dozens of dead blackbirds, mallards and magpies have been found along the banks of the Xiaojing River, according to the Huang’jiu Ribao newspaper.

A staff member of a centre for hygiene and epidemiological control does not rule out that the birds have died of starvation and unfavourable weather conditions.

Read moreBeijing Reports Mass Bird Deaths

US, Jacksonville Coast: Hundreds of Pelicans Injured or Killed

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Founder of sanctuary treating the birds blames chemicals in the water.


Hundreds of Eastern brown pelicans, some with missing wings and frostbite, have been injured or killed in the St. Johns River the past couple of weeks in the Mayport area.

The exact reason is unknown but the cold weather could have caused hypothermia when the birds landed in the water. The pelicans have been losing a protective coating they have on their body to shield their feathers from becoming saturated by water.

Cindy Mosling, co-founder of the Bird Emergency Aid and Kare Sanctuary on Big Talbot Island, thinks chemicals in the water could be the culprit.

Read moreUS, Jacksonville Coast: Hundreds of Pelicans Injured or Killed

More Than 200 Dead Starlings Found in Downtown Yankton

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Hey, they just forgot to migrate!


More than 200 starlings were found dead in downtown Yankton Monday. Officials attribute the cause of the deaths to the fact that the birds had not migrated from the area.

It is estimated that more than 200 dead starlings were found in downtown Yankton Monday. However, it is not believed the deaths pose a threat to humans.

Yankton Animal Control Officer Lisa Brasel estimated that she collected 200 starlings Monday, and employees of the city Parks and Recreation Department were also on the scene picking up deceased birds. The total number of corpses gathered up by city employees has not yet been compiled.

“I talked to one of the local vets, and they said there is nothing wrong (with the birds),” said Brasel, who took specimens to a veterinary office. “They just didn’t migrate and are dying. (The next question of a scientist should have been: Is there something wrong with the earth’s magnetic field or why else should birds ‘forget’ to migrate?) I was going to call the South Dakota Department of Health to see what they have to say about it, but they are closed today (because of Martin Luther King Day).”

The birds were found around trees on the north side of Riverside Park, as well as on the north side of Second Street between Capitol and Pine streets.

Read moreMore Than 200 Dead Starlings Found in Downtown Yankton

Canada: Hundreds of Dead Seals Have Been Washing Ashore In Labrador

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A young seal on a beach near the southern Labrador community of L’Anse au Clair in early January. (Courtesy: Derrick Letto)

People on the north coast of Labrador say scores of dead seals have been washing ashore since early December.

A conservation officer with the area’s Inuit government estimated late last week that hundreds of adult and young seals have died in the area between Hopedale and Makkovik this winter.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is testing the carcasses, but Nunatsiavut conservation officer Ian Winters said many people in the area believe DFO hasn’t acted quickly enough.

“I think they should have been up here earlier, if you’re asking me. A lot of people said the same thing. So, maybe it’s not on top of their agenda,” he said.

Read moreCanada: Hundreds of Dead Seals Have Been Washing Ashore In Labrador

Vietnam: 4400 Buffalos And Cows Die From Cold Spell

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VietNamNet Bridge – In several days, the number of dead cattle in northern Vietnam has rocketed. By January 12, nearly 4400 buffaloes and cows were dead, up by nearly 2000 heads over January 11.

According to the Animal Husbandry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Son La province suffered the highest loss, with 1300 heads, followed by Lao Cai with over 800 heads.

The department chief Hoang Kim Giao took a field trip to some northern mountain districts on January 13. Giao said that though northern provinces have timely implemented measures to protect cattle from the chill, the number of dead cattle still keeps rising. He said if the cold weather continues, the damage will be huge.

Harsh weather also causes the break-out of foot-and-mouth disease. In Ha Giang province, more than 200 buffalos and cows have been infected and dozens are dead.

Cold spell also threatens thousands of hectares of winter-spring rice crop in northern Vietnam. Farmers have to cover rice fields with plastic sheets. Some provinces have asked farmers to stop seeding rice.

A cold spell has hit northern Vietnam since early January 2011 and it is forecast to last until January 21. Its damage is only behind the historical chill in 2008, which last for 38 days, killing up to 52,000 cattle heads, 150,000 hectares of rice, totaling VND400 billion (over $20 million) of losses.

Read moreVietnam: 4400 Buffalos And Cows Die From Cold Spell

And Now: 200 Dead Cows Found in Wisconsin Field

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TOWN OF STOCKTON, Wis. — An investigation is under way after 200 dead cows were found in a field in the Town of Stockton.

The Portage County sheriff’s office says the owner of the cattle has been working with a local veterinarian and it’s believed (Believe = They don’t know. the animals died from the IBR/BVD virus. The virus can cause respiratory and reproductive problems.

WSAW reports samples from the dead cows have been sent to Madison for testing.

Authorities say there is no threat to humans or other animals. (How do they know? Faith?)

Associated Press
6:30 p.m. CST, January 14, 2011

Source: The Chicago Tribune

– And Now: Romanian Scientists Solve Bird Death Mystery: They ‘Drank’ Themselves To Death

– Recent Worldwide Mass Animal Deaths (Google Maps)

– Thousands of Fish Wash Up in Chicago and Hundreds of Birds Perish in California

– US: Hundreds of Dead Blackbirds Found Along I-65 In Athens

– 1,000 Turtle Doves Falling Dead in Italy

– More Animal Death Mysteries Around The World

– Quebec bird deaths stump wildlife officials

– US: Mysterious Death of 2 Million Fish in Chesapeake Bay

– Hundreds of Dead Snapper Fish Wash Up On New Zealand Beach

– Thousands of Birds Fall Dead Out of the Sky in SOUTH AMERICA

– US: Hundreds More Blackbirds Fall From The Sky – This Time in Louisiana

– US: Up to 5,000 Blackbirds Fall Dead Out of The Sky, Autopsies Find No Poison

– US: Up to 100,000 Fish Found Dead Along Arkansas River

And Now: Romanian Scientists Solve Bird Death Mystery: They ‘Drank’ Themselves To Death

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Related information:

– Recent Worldwide Mass Animal Deaths (Google Maps)

– Thousands of Fish Wash Up in Chicago and Hundreds of Birds Perish in California

– US: Hundreds of Dead Blackbirds Found Along I-65 In Athens

– 1,000 Turtle Doves Falling Dead in Italy

– More Animal Death Mysteries Around The World

– Quebec bird deaths stump wildlife officials

– US: Mysterious Death of 2 Million Fish in Chesapeake Bay

– Hundreds of Dead Snapper Fish Wash Up On New Zealand Beach

– Thousands of Birds Fall Dead Out of the Sky in SOUTH AMERICA

– US: Hundreds More Blackbirds Fall From The Sky – This Time in Louisiana

– US: Up to 5,000 Blackbirds Fall Dead Out of The Sky, Autopsies Find No Poison

– US: Up to 100,000 Fish Found Dead Along Arkansas River

Authorities in Romania say dozens of starlings died of alcohol poisoning, not avian flu as feared.

Romeu Lazar, the executive director of the veterinary health department in the Black Sea port of Constanta said on Wednesday a post-mortem revealed the birds ate grape residue that had fermented and their bodies could not handle the alcohol.

He says they did not have avian flu, which hit the area several years ago.

– Flying drunk proves fatal for bird flock (Reuters)

Constanta residents found dozens of dead birds on the outskirts of the city last week. The reports come as other, larger bird deaths were reported in the United States and elsewhere.

Scientists say mass deaths of wildlife happen regularly, and are usually unrelated and unreported. (SURE!!!)

Read moreAnd Now: Romanian Scientists Solve Bird Death Mystery: They ‘Drank’ Themselves To Death

Virus Kills Millions of Crickets

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Paralysis virus has disrupted supplies to pet shops across North America


PORT ALLEN, La. — A virus has killed millions of crickets raised to feed pet reptiles and those kept in zoos.

The cricket paralysis virus has disrupted supplies to pet shops across North America as a handful of operators have seen millions of their insects killed.

Some operations have gone bankrupt and others have closed indefinitely until they can rid their facilities of the virus.

Cricket farms started in the 1940s as a source of fish bait, but the bulk of sales now are to pet supply companies, reptile owners and zoos, although people also eat some.

Read moreVirus Kills Millions of Crickets

Thousands of Fish Wash Up in Chicago and Hundreds of Birds Perish in California

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Related articles:

– Thousands of herring-type fish dead along Chicago lakefront (Reuters)


Another mass death: Thousands of gizzard shad fish have washed up on banks of Chicago’s harbours

Thousands of gizzard shad fish have been washed up on Chicago’s harbours while more than 100 dead birds have been found clustered on a California highway.

The two instances appear to be a continuation of the strange mass animal deaths that have struck in the past fortnight – in America and elsewhere.

However Lake Michigan Program biologist Dan Makauskas said that gizzard shad are not a very tough variety of fish and are more sensitive to drops in oxygen levels than most fish.

Mr Makauskas suggested that the young fish may not have built up enough reserves to withstand the early onslaught of extreme cold that hit the area.

Canada geese and mallard ducks have eaten many of the dead fish.

Meanwhile, California wildlife officials are attempting to work out what caused the death of more than 100 birds found clustered together just off Highway 101.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports that California Highway Patrol officers found the dead birds near the roadway on Saturday and called in the state Department of Fish and Game to investigate.

The officers who found the birds described them as small with brown and black feathers.

They were intact and had not been shot.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:44 AM on 12th January 2011

Full article: Daily Mail

1,000 Turtle Doves Falling Dead in Italy

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Overeating and indigestion? Hmmmh.

See also:

– More Animal Death Mysteries Around The World

– Quebec bird deaths stump wildlife officials

– US: Mysterious Death of 2 Million Fish in Chesapeake Bay

– Hundreds of Dead Snapper Fish Wash Up On New Zealand Beach

– Thousands of Birds Fall Dead Out of the Sky in SOUTH AMERICA

– US: Hundreds More Blackbirds Fall From The Sky – This Time in Louisiana

– US: Up to 5,000 Blackbirds Fall Dead Out of The Sky, Autopsies Find No Poison

– US: Up to 100,000 Fish Found Dead Along Arkansas River

Overeating and indigestion blamed for 1,000 turtle doves falling dead in Italy with strange blue stain on their beaks


Mystery solved: Rodolfo Ridolfi, from a zoological institute in Faenza, said indigestion was responsible for the recent deaths of 1,000 turtle doves

Thousands of dead turtle doves that rained down on roofs and cars in an Italian town were victims of their on greed, an expert claimed today.

Residents in Faenza described the birds falling to the ground like ‘little Christmas balls’ with strange blue stains on their beaks.

Last night it emerged that 40 turtle doves had also been found dead at San Cesario near Modena, 60 miles from Faenza, and tests were also being carried out on their bodies.
he birds have been found by residents in the village for the last three days and they alerted authorities after hearing reports of the incident at Faenza.

Gianni Sereni, who found 12 birds in his garden, said: ‘At first I didn’t think anything of it but then I saw the reports on the news about what had happened elsewhere so I called the local veterinary service.’

Initial tests on up to 1,000 of the doves from Faezna indicated that the blue stain could have been caused by poisoning or hypoxia.

Read more1,000 Turtle Doves Falling Dead in Italy

More Animal Death Mysteries Around The World

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– Quebec bird deaths stump wildlife officials (Toronto Sun):

MONTREAL — More than 80 pigeons have keeled over and died at a farm near Quebec City for unknown reasons, the latest in a string of mysterious animal deaths around the world.

Environmental officials in the province say there’s no connection to a similar case in Arkansas, but Sylvain Turmel is wondering why he’s been picking up dead pigeons for more than two weeks on his farm in Saint-Augustine-de-Desmaures.

The first dead bird was found on Dec. 18. He’s since found more bodies on his roof and inside the barn.

“I was stunned,” he said.

“I went to see my tenant to ask whether he’d been feeding them poison. He ended helping me pick up 25 corpses. In the time it took us to collect them, five more had fallen. Authorities thought it might be gas. But that’s not possible.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said tests are currently being performed at the animal pathology lab in the provincial capital.

“The cause right now isn’t known,” said Nicolas Begin. “It’s not related to what happened in the U.S. (But) we don’t see this sort of thing every day and we’re treating this as a serious matter.”

See also:

– US: Mysterious Death of 2 Million Fish in Chesapeake Bay

– Hundreds of Dead Snapper Fish Wash Up On New Zealand Beach

– Thousands of Birds Fall Dead Out of the Sky in SOUTH AMERICA

– US: Hundreds More Blackbirds Fall From The Sky – This Time in Louisiana

– US: Up to 5,000 Blackbirds Fall Dead Out of The Sky, Autopsies Find No Poison

– US: Up to 100,000 Fish Found Dead Along Arkansas River

(Click on image to enlarge.)

  • Thousands of fish found floating in Florida after cold snap

  • 200 birds found dead on highway bridge in Texas
  • 50 dead jackdaws found on city street in Sweden
  • 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish wash up dead on Brazilian coast

  • Hundreds of fish dead in New Zealand

  • And in Britain, 40,000 devil crabs join list of casualties

More and more animals are being found dead as the mysterious spate of mass bird and fish deaths has turned into a global phenomenon.

The latest two separate incidents saw thousands of fish found floating in a creek in Florida and 200 birds found dead on a highway bridge in Texas.

Experts were yesterday carrying out tests on around 50 jackdaws found dead in a street in Falkoping, Sweden, that appear to have suffered the same fate as thousands of their cousins who fell from the sky in separate incidents in the U.S.

Swedish experts have said the shock of fireworks being let off near the city, in the south-east of the country, and difficulty finding food may have led to the deaths of the jackdaws.

Many of the birds are believed to have died from stress or as a result of being run over by vehicles while disoriented.

And scientists have also been left baffled by at least 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish washing up dead along the Brazil coastline near Paranaguá.

There were more fish deaths reported today in New Zealand, while in England, the carcasses of 40,000 devil crabs are strewn across a beach in Kent.

Hundreds of dead starlings and robins were found scattered in backyards in the Kentucky town of Gilbertsville while an estimated two million dead fish have washed ashore in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

They are the latest in a spate of incidents which are being blamed on New Year fireworks, thunderstorms, cold weather, parasites and even poisoning.

The internet has been abuzz with conspiracy theories about secret government experiments being behind the deaths, or it being a sign of a looming Armageddon at the end of the Mayan calendar next year.

The mass deaths include:

  • 450 red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, grackles and starlings found littering a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  • 3,000 blackbirds on roofs and roads in the small town of Beebe, Arkansas
  • Thousands of ‘devil crabs’ washed up along the Kent coast near Thanet
  • Thousands of drum fish washed along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River
  • Tens of thousands of small fish in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
  • Thousands of dead fish found floating in warm Florida creek
  • Hundreds of snapper fish found dead in New Zealand
  • Scores of American Coots found dead on Texas highway bridge

Tests are being carried out on the dead animals, but results are not expected for several weeks.

Thousands of Brazilian fishermen are struggling to make ends meet after the sale of seafood was temporarily suspended when masses of fish were discovered dead in Paranaguá, Antonina and Guaraqueçaba Pontal do Paraná.

Experts have speculated that cold weather or chemical leaks could be behind the deaths.

Read moreMore Animal Death Mysteries Around The World