In the state of Ohio, approximately 200 dead geese have turned up along the shores of Lake Erie last month, stumping wildlife officials in a year already plagued with bizarre wildlife deaths.  Other geese in the area are so sick that they cannot hold up their heads, fly, or control their motor functions.  State wildlife investigators are puzzled and for now, are awaiting results on tests that a national wildlife laboratory in Wisconsin has been doing on some of the dead birds. “They will fall out of the sky and have trouble staying upright,” said Dave Sherman, a biologist at the Crane Creek Wildlife Research Station the Ohio Department of Natural Resources operates in Ottawa County. Two or three weeks before the dead geese were found, symptoms were first noticed with mallards.

Now, it has spread and is affecting mostly geese.  Wildlife officers are transporting many sick birds to wildlife rehabilitation facilities.  Wildlife officials report getting at least a dozen calls a day about the dying birds. “They’re throwing their heads back. They’re losing all balance and literally almost all back-somersault and have a seizure,” according to Laura Zitzelberger, operations director at Nature’s Nursery. At least eight or nine of about a dozen geese that were brought to Nature’s Nursery either died or had to be euthanized.

Two ducks and one of the geese that exhibited symptoms appear to have recovered. Another goose is struggling, she said.  At Back to the Wild animal rescue, 18 of 23 geese dropped off for treatment have died, nearly all within the past three days, said Sarah Langdon, Back to the Wild supervisor.  Of the remaining five, three are “acting like normal geese again” and may be released soon, she said. Officials continue to wait on test results to determine what is harming the birds.

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In California, millions of dead fish were found floating in the Redondo Beach marina in mid March.    Marine biologists have been puzzled about the cause of death of the anchovies, sardines and mackerel.

Public works crews had already removed 35 tons of fish after just a day of cleaning up, mostly by skimming the ocean surface. They expect at least that amount has collected on the bottom of the inner harbor in a 2-foot-thick layer.  The workers were trying to work fast.  As the fish start to decompose, oxygen-eating bacteria could cause levels to dip a second time and kill anything else living in the harbor. The decay also could boost nutrients in the harbor, leading to an algae bloom that could also deplete oxygen to critically low levels.  “The issue now is cleanup because we have tons and tons of dead fish rotting and purifying, which obviously creates hazardous material,”  Redondo Beach police Sgt. Phil Keenan told Reuters.

Environmental officials have been trying to determine the cause of the latest animal die-off  in a year, so far, that has been filled with mysterious animal deaths.  Redondo Beach City Manager Bill Workman said that city officials and marine experts are investigating to determine if there is any environmental issue involved.   Tests are now being performed on the water as officials begin removing the dead fish, which city officials estimated to be in the millions.  “There are no visible signs of any toxins that might have caused [the die-off] and our early assessment is that this was oxygen depletion,” Workman said. “This is similar to what we experienced five years ago but that was distinctly a red tide event but there’s no discoloration of the water, no associated foaming in the waves,” Workman said. “There are no oil slicks or leaking of substances into the water.”

2011 began with thousands of birds falling out of the sky in Arkansas.  There has been large bird deaths reported in Italy, Sweden, Louisiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and California.   Marine life has also been affected.  Hundreds of thousands of fish were found dead in the Arkansas River, not far from the first bird deaths.  Fish were found dead in Florida, New Zealand, and Illinois.   An estimated 40,000 crabs washed ashore in England during January.  Two million fish were found dead in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.  In Brazil, millions of dead fish washed up on the beach.

Experts report that the alarming animal deaths are not related.  But, they still have not found a definitive cause for most of the animal deaths.

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