IWannaKnow
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Well, in the interest of balanced reporting, I'm gonna post this dissenting opinion. Famed Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson says this is simply hysteria fueled by technology. Says these mass die-offs happen all the time, we just don't know about them. Hmmmmmm.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap...Ow-nug?docId=eb2eb78242fe4290a414e0644cda18a6
FACT CHECK: Mass bird, fish deaths occur regularly
(AP) 14 hours ago
and
Notice the article says North America, but mentions the crabs in Britian and the tilapia in Vietnam.....wonder if he was just trying to make a funny with the "fly under the radar"? Doesn't really make me feel better....
95 die-offs in eight months is about one every 2 and 1/2 days. That would be about right for what we are seeing. Guess they are saying "go back to sleep people, nothing to see here". Maybe they are right. Maybe not. IDK.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap...Ow-nug?docId=eb2eb78242fe4290a414e0644cda18a6
FACT CHECK: Mass bird, fish deaths occur regularly
(AP) 14 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) First, the blackbirds fell out of the sky on New Year's Eve in Arkansas. In recent days, wildlife have mysteriously died in big numbers: 2 million fish in the Chesapeake Bay, 150 tons of red tilapia in Vietnam, 40,000 crabs in Britain and other places across the world. Blogs connected the deadly dots, joking about the "aflockalypse" while others saw real signs of something sinister, either biblical or environmental.
The reality, say biologists, is that these mass die-offs happen all the time and usually are unrelated.
Federal records show they happen on average every other day somewhere in North America. Usually, we don't notice them and don't try to link them to each other.
"They generally fly under the radar," said ornithologist John Wiens, chief scientist at the California research institution PRBO Conservation Science.
and
In the past eight months, the USGS has logged 95 mass wildlife die-offs in North America and that's probably a dramatic undercount, White said. The list includes 900 some turkey vultures that seemed to drown and starve in the Florida Keys, 4,300 ducks killed by parasites in Minnesota, 1,500 salamanders done in by a virus in Idaho, 2,000 bats that died of rabies in Texas, and the still mysterious death of 2,750 sea birds in California.
On average, 163 such events are reported to the federal government each year, according to USGS records. And there have been much larger die-offs than the 3,000 blackbirds in Arkansas. Twice in the summer of 1996, more than 100,000 ducks died of botulism in Canada.
Notice the article says North America, but mentions the crabs in Britian and the tilapia in Vietnam.....wonder if he was just trying to make a funny with the "fly under the radar"? Doesn't really make me feel better....
95 die-offs in eight months is about one every 2 and 1/2 days. That would be about right for what we are seeing. Guess they are saying "go back to sleep people, nothing to see here". Maybe they are right. Maybe not. IDK.