Marine mammals mysteriously dying in record numbers along West Coast
More sick and dying animals are washing up on the coast of California, with new reports indicating record numbers of young sea lions, seals, and other marine mammals being admitted to care shelters for rehabilitation. The Orange County Register reports that the only facility in the county licensed to care for marine mammals is now at capacity, and that other facilities all along the coastline are being similarly inundated.
The normally pudgy and active creatures are increasingly turning up emaciated and dehydrated, a mysterious phenomenon that the Sausalito-based Marine Mammal Center (MMC) has monitored across a 600-mile area of coastline that stretches from Mendocino to San Luis Obispo. After washing ashore, many of these sick marine mammals are too week to even get back in the water, let alone survive on their own.
“We thought it was going to be a nice calm year; in the last month it’s just spiked,” stated Melissa Sciacca, the director of development at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center (PMMC) in Laguna Beach. Hundreds of ailed sea lions turned up last year as well, but the early part of this year was mostly quiet, that is until recently. “The rescues just keep coming in at a steady pace.”
Sharp uptick in injured sea animals following Fukushima
According to reports, this is only the third time ever that the PMMC has been at capacity with sick animals, the first time having occurred in 2009 and the second time last year. Like in years past, the animals being rescued today exhibit the same strange symptoms, almost as if something attacked or infected their bodies, preventing them from developing normally.
“Once we get them nourished, they do fine out there,” added PMMC executive director Keith Matassa, as quoted by the OC Register. In his assessment, the sea lions’ mothers may not be producing enough milk, or they themselves may be getting exposed to toxins or some other damaging factor. “It’s all circling around food issues.”
Dr. Shawn Johnson, director of the MMC’s veterinary sciences department, seems to agree. He told SFGate.com that most of the sick marine mammals being admitted to the center appear to be starving to death, either from a dearth of available food or from an inability to capture and consume it. Either way, the animals are suffering and nobody seems to know why.
“The ones we are seeing are basically starving to death,” he told SFGate.com. “It’s definitely a mystery. We’re hoping it’s not the new norm.”
Sick, dying animals turning up all across Pacific Coast
Similar events are occurring elsewhere along the Pacific Coast, including in Alaska where dozens of sea lions, whales and other creatures recently turned up dead. Researchers there believe that radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster may be responsible, especially since many of the dead creatures are exhibiting signs of radiation poisoning, including unusual baldness and skin sores.
A 2011 symposium on Fukushima radiation and its effects on marine life essentially predicted these outcomes, having modeled how radiation accumulation on sea ice might harm sea lions, for instance. It explained how radiation exposure in these areas represents an ongoing immunotoxic threat to these innocent creatures, not to mention the damage it can inflict on the thyroid gland and skin.
“Marine transported Fukushima radionuclides… may represent a new stressor to the ecosystem,” reads a poster for the meeting.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.ocregister.com
http://www.sfgate.com
http://articles.coastlinepilot.com
http://enenews.com
[PDF] http://www.north-slope.org
http://science.naturalnews.com
Republished with permission from Natural News
Written by Jonathan Benson
WHAT is wrong with you people? Stop MONSANTO before it stops the world by killing all of us! I really don’t know how much clearer it could be! WAKE THE HELL UP!
"Marine mammals dying in record numbers along West Coast"
FTFY
What food there is is probably contaminated with plastic as well as radiation.
I live right on the N. CA coast – normally this time of year would see many whales migrating – this year seen only one. Not good – not right.
We know that from the early 1970's the Pacific Ocean has DEAD ZONES so this is not only due to the Fukishima …..I wish someone would report on the current state of the ocean dead zones!
hello and good day ! I think there may be a more complicated answer to what the cause may be to this problem. the Oregon Dead Zone and the adding of iron sulfate to the ocean. both will impact oxygen levels in ocean and then of course causing an upset in the web of life.
http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2013/aug/31/ocean-dead-zone-mystery-oregon/
http://www.nature.com/news/ocean-fertilization-project-off-canada-sparks-furore-1.11631
While this is very sad and inhuman, it is the legacy of nuclear power and it's idiot-logic generated by simpletons for simpletons to accept as "the best solution" for mankind's power needs. Mankind needs to rein in his absurd "power needs".
Using the power that powers the entire planet makes too much sense, right? No meters can be attached to the ultimate power source that's staring you in the eyes every day! So, it's better to sacrifice all this innocent wildlife because everyone wants to watch their mindless sports; mindless realty shows; and mindless mainstream news….great job, God really wants to chat with all of you that engage in these activities!
Well said,… Silence is compliance, our national news media has ties to the nuclear industry, hence the black out of whats really going on,…
No mystery here. The article points out "A 2011 symposium on Fukushima radiation and its effects on marine life essentially predicted these outcomes, having modeled how radiation accumulation on sea ice might harm sea lions, for instance." As the sea ice melts each spring, concentrations of radionuclides are being added back to the sea along with the constant stream being released from Fukushima each day. This pattern will continue…forever.
It was believed by most that Humanity would never be able to completely pollute the oceans, as they were too big. But with a large island of plastic, bigger than Texas, floating out there in the Pacific, the huge amount of garbage dumped onto the floor of the oceans every year, and Fukishima;s radiation death leaking into the Pacific for the next few thousand years, you really got to give it to Humanity for achieving what was once thought impossible. We have now almost completely destroyed the land, air, and now sea.
Go USA, go USA, …
Robert the Japanese shouldn't carry all the blame. General Electric leveled the land to sea level totally aware of the tsunami threat to save money. furthermore the mark 1 reactor the worst and most dangerous that GE made. GE knew the mark 1 was an accident waiting to happen but did not share this info with the Japanese. GE also owns all the major news networks and that's why its not being covered in mainstream media. if that doesn't boil your blood the fallout must have beat my response and your blood is already boiling and millions of others. one momemmeto Angel Mayans didn't predict these event but the bible did…it cant be stopped thats why governments around the world including the US are ignore it.
Gerald I have to agree its not all their fault. and yes we should all help fix the whole situation. and yes we do over fish we need some new management when it comes to the oceans. We all need to ban together to help fix this issue. and no surprise about ge and just think how many of the same reactors we have here in the state's :/
"these sick marine mammals are too week"
This is why it's important to proof read things and not use spell check. Simple spelling errors make an article look unprofessional.
I find it unusual that while the article says the first time this surge of dying mammals happened was in 2009, before fukushima, yet the article mentions how fukushima is being blamed for this event. Shouldn't people be questioning what could have caused the first event of dying mammals in 2009, 2 years before fukushima?
personally I do not believe that fukushima radiation is the main cause. I believe that the mammals are starving from lack of food. These sea mammals normally consume huge amounts of fish daily in order to survive. Humans have stripped the ocean of It's fish populations from decades of over fishing & what we have now is a polluted & deserted underwater wasteland, The ocean is dying & has been for quite some time. The radiation in the water is harmful, But not the only factor.
This is just one of the Mayan prediction…
I have to agree why in gods name let the Japanese kill our oceans. for god sakes force them to get this stopped. because it will soon poison the entire planets oceans. and then what. force a solution!
If I had to guess I would say that the radiation from Japan has finally made it around and its killing off the ocean life…. Japan's way of getting back for the A bomb….. slow death