September and October 2020 is proving to be terrifyingly destructive months for our wildlife. Millions of animals dead from starvation, the weather or simply culled: The catastrophic loss of wildlife since the 70s carries on unabated.

A graph from The Living Planet Index showing the catastrophic loss of wildlife since the 70s.

September and October 2020 is proving to be terrifyingly destructive months for our wildlife. Reports today of Pelican Point in Namibia is covered with more than 5000 dead baby seals, lack of fish is thought to be the reason for the deaths, a common theme reported here on The Big Wobble.

Yesterday up to 1.5 million minks are likely to be put down at dozens of mink farms in Denmark due to the spread of Covid-19 amongst the animals. Full story. It comes after millions more Mink have been slaughtered in Nederlands and Spain. Infections of mink have already been documented in other countries, including the US. In June, authorities in these countries gassed hundreds of thousands of animals, concerned that the mink could harbour the virus indefinitely, enabling infections to persist among farm animals—and potentially spread to humans. TBW

In a separate report yesterday, One of the youngest seas in the world is catching up with ecological consequences caused by the decade-long mismanagement of the fishery, pollution, and accelerating global warming. Will the Baltic Sea survive? In a recent picture by NASA, the Baltic Sea looks like a mystical nebula with the blue-green algae blooms between two Swedish islands of Oland and Gotland. The spirals and vortexes, of phytoplankton spreading for dozens and even hundreds of kilometres, look fascinating from space, but down on the Baltic shores, it is causing a growing concern for environmentalists, scientists, and local fishermen.

The "dead zones" are expanding, mainly due to extensive algae blooming, a process that deprives large parts of the sea of oxygen. Meanwhile, the cod population that stands at the centre of the food chain of the Baltic Sea is collapsing. TBW

New mass deaths of marine animals have been discovered off the coast of Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka peninsula where an unexplained event recently killed off up to 95% of seabed life, authorities said Monday. Scientists and witnesses reported seeing dead marine animals along the seabed south of the initial discovery last week, Kamchatka region governor Vladimir Solodov said on Instagram.

Neighbouring beaches, he said, were not affected. "The evidence shows that the scale of the occurrence is extremely large," Solodov said. He said that the deaths were "almost certainly linked to climate change and other polluting effects we as humankind cause to the Pacific Ocean." Local surfers and swimmers initially raised the alarm last month after experiencing eye pain and nausea from going in the water. They grabbed national attention with shocking images of dead sea urchins, crabs and octopuses washed up on the shore of Khalatyrsky beach on Avacha Bay. TBW

Also on Monday, French bird protection association La Ligue de Protection des Oiseaux (LPO) in the Lot in southwest France has launched a campaign to save swallows after hundreds have been found dead due to bad weather and lack of food. Residents in the Lot, in the Midi-Pyrénées, Occitanie, have reported that many swallows have been suffering in the cold and wet weather conditions, and have been dying from exhaustion after becoming drenched and freezing.

Ms Plaga Lemanski said: “As it was rather mild for the first three weeks of September, the swallows were not encouraged to migrate. Then, one day from the next, it started raining, temperatures fell by 15C, insects were rare so [the birds] struggled to find enough to eat, they get cold and lose energy which stops them flying.” The birds are then susceptible to hypothermia and starvation. TBW

In recent days The Big Wobble has been reporting the deaths of maybe millions of birds from a migratory shorebird colony failing to arrive in south-east Australia in time for the start of the breeding season for the second straight year. TBW

Or the APOCALYPTIC scenario which has unfolded in a secretive nuclear city in Russia where hundreds of dead birds suddenly plummeted from the sky and lay scattered on streets. The mysterious mass die-off of crows above a secretive nuclear Russian city has sent the internet into meltdown.TBW

Or the huge numbers of migratory birds which began dropping dead in the southwestern US. Normally, birds don't just die in plain sight. But the winged creatures are being found on bike paths and roads, hiking trails and driveways as if they plopped down from the sky. So what's going on?

Researchers are scrambling to explain why hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of birds, are suddenly being found dead across wide swaths of New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Arizona and Texas in recent weeks. TBW 

Or the 1,500 birds who for some reason flew into some of Philly’s tallest skyscrapers one-day last week. The slaughter shook bird-watchers to the core. The Philidelphia Enquirer

A new bird mystery is now evolving in along the Roman coast in Italy...

It has been happening for about 3 weeks now. On the Roman coast, there is a strange death of birds, from turtle doves to pigeons. In a period of a pandemic, nothing can be underestimated, much less mysterious animal deaths. "For some time we have been witnessing a truly strange phenomenon - says Mario Russo D’Auria, president of the Progetto Futuro association, a hunter with experience in breeding and cultivation in Fiumicino.

We find turtledoves with no more energy, dying. They do not have the strength to fly, they are unable to move away from humans when we approach the ground. It is not a natural behaviour for turtledoves, far from it. And shortly after we find them dead on the ground. Those that mice or other animals that frequent the drainage canals do not [eat] them ".

We are not talking about a single episode, nor about a limited number of victims, nor about a phenomenon that happened in a short time. "By now - explains Russo D’Auria - it has been happening for weeks. And I am available to the local health authorities if you ever want to investigate the situation ”. In support of the worried declarations of Mario Russo D’Auria, there are reports in the countryside between Ardea and Aprilia, a few kilometres south of Fiumicino.

The sudden death of pigeons involved the entire area, with findings quite distant from each other. What is happening? Is it a natural phenomenon or should we worry? Are they toxic substances scattered on the land and therefore poisoning or viruses? For now, the alarm has been raised, now it will be up to the authorities to clarify. TBW

Bird experts are concerned after a migratory shorebird colony failed to arrive in south-east Australia in time for the start of the breeding season for the second straight year. The short-tailed shearwater, or muttonbird, is one of Australia's most common and hardy birds.

Each year the birds clock up more than 32,000 kilometres, following the warm weather between the northern and southern hemispheres as they chase an "eternal summer".

Known for their endurance and accuracy, the birds usually arrive along Victoria's south-east coast to breed within 48 hours of September 22, however, for the first time ever they failed to show last year and it's happened again this year.

It is now two weeks since September the 22nd and there is so far no sign of the birds arriving. Last year a small proportion of the short-tailed shearwaters did arrive weeks later than they should and those that did turn up were emaciated and exhausted. TBW

Unsustainable, global fishing since the 50s.

Animal Die-Offs 2020

Front Page