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The LEO Network is a worldwide network of observers and experts that share their observations of environmental change.
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Observations

Bird flu outbreak in northern Israel ebbs; no humans harmed, officials say
An outbreak of avian flu that has killed vast numbers of domestic and wildfowl in recent weeks in northern Israel has likely reached its peak and began to abate over the past week, officials said Friday. In the Hula Lake Reserve, some 5,000 cranes died of the disease. The grim job of collecting crane carcasses from the lake by the ministry’s staff and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority was expected to end on Monday, the report said.
Hula Lake Reserve, Israel
Times of Israel

Are ills of the Arctic hitting California? Hundreds of migratory seabirds wash ashore
Over the last two years, more than 500 northern fulmars were found sick or dead along the Sonoma and Mendocino coasts. What is ailing these seabirds?
Point Arena, California, United States
Los Angeles Times

Turkey struck by ‘sea snot’ because of global heating
Increasing blanket of mucus-like substance in water threatens coral and fishing industry
Sea of Marmara
the Guardian

DOC warning after mass stranding deaths
A pod of about 45 false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins stranded on Sunday afternoon at Taylor’s Bay on Mahia Peninsula.The Department of Conservation is warning water-goers to be cautious near Mahia peninsula as the remains of stranded whales and dolphins may attract sharks.
Bahia Peninsula
Otago Daily Times Online News

Algae bloom chokes Achencoil river stretch
Eutrophication — excess nutrients in water — and environmental changes were identified as the cause of the harmful algal blooms in the fresh aquatic system of the Achencoil.
Pathanāmthitta, Kerala, India
The Hindu

Satellites track real-time damage of ocean blob menacing Hawaii
A blob menacing Hawaii is now visible from space. A massive heatwave in the Pacific Ocean is killing off coral. Satellites are capturing the destruction so that scientists can learn how to rebuild the reefs.
Hawai'i, United States
The Verge

Mass deaths of elephant seals recorded as bird flu sweeps across the Antarctic
The virus was first reported among brown skua on Bird Island, off South Georgia. Since then, researchers and observers have reported mass deaths of elephant seals, as well as increased deaths of fur seals, kelp gulls and brown skua at several other sites. Researchers warn of one of ‘largest ecological disasters of modern times’ if the highly contagious disease reaches penguin colonies.
South Georgia, Sandwich Islands
the Guardian

Thousands of seabirds found dead along east coast – with climate change blamed
Rising sea temperatures may mean prey swimming in deeper water out of reach of guillemots, razorbills, puffins and kittiwakes
Stromness, Scotland, United Kingdom
The Independent

Hundreds of apparently 'flash-frozen' turtles wash ashore in New England
Robert Prescott, of the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, believes a warming trend allowed the turtles to delay their migration south.
Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States
the Guardian

Hundreds of thousands of fish dead in NSW as bushfire ash washed into river
Ecologist fears the Macleay River may take decades to recover, with heavy rains likely to affect other waterways
Macleay River, New South Wales, Australia

Hundreds of Seals Are Dying on the New England Coast
Deaths of gray and harbor seals, in much greater numbers than usual, have been attributed to viruses related to distemper and the flu.
Isles of Shoals, United States
New York Times

Bird flu outbreak hits Barents Sea coast
Reports are coming in about hundreds of dead birds from Hammerfest in the west to Murmansk in the east. A zone with a radius of five kilometers is closed and guards are in place round-the-clock.
Vidyayevo, Murmansk, Russia
The Independent Barents Observer

‘A sad day’: two more B.C. mountain caribou herds now locally extinct
The Kootenay populations, a fixture on the landscape for thousands of years, succumbed to industrial disturbances and other human activity in their critical habitat.
Salmo, British Columbia, Canada
The Narwhal

Rare Glass Sponge Reef Smothered By Fish Farm Waste
Underwater camera captured ‘a wasteland, covered in brown sediment.’
Cecil Island Fish Farm, British Columbia, Canada
The Tyee

ADF&G dispatches rabid moose roaming through Teller
A moose that was killed in Teller last week had been infected with rabies, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game confirmed.
Teller, Alaska, United States
The Nome Nugget

First birds, now mammals: how H5N1 is killing thousands of sea lions in Peru
Avian flu has decimated the marine creatures on the country’s Pacific coastline and scientists fear it could be jumping from mammal to mammal
Peru

‘The salmon will come back again’: First Nations document devastating low returns on B.C.’s central coast
First Nations on B.C.’s central coast are sounding the alarm after once-abundant salmon runs see devastatingly low returns in 2021
Bella Bella, British Columbia, Canada
The Narwhal

Salmon rivers closed in face of high temperatures, low water
Salmon rivers like the Exploits River were closed to anglers around the province by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans earlier this week because of low water levels.
Botwood, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
The Telegram

One dead and six in hospital after anthrax outbreak
The sick are said to have been in contact with the carcass of a cow suspected to have been infected. It is the first time a human being is succumbing to anthrax in the area.
Itoki, Southwest, Cameroon
The Standard

Salmon fishing closes on large stretch of Columbia
The counts of fall Chinook at Bonneville Dam are 29 percent below preseason forecasts, and ongoing fisheries are approaching the allowable catch limits under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Columbia River, Washington, United States
The Columbian

Delhi air pollution surges to emergency levels
Air quality index at 12 times US government-recommended level and visibility low
Delhi, NCT, India

Sea Lice Plagues Return and Threat to Wild Salmon Increases
Major sea lice epidemics have erupted on Atlantic salmon fish farms on Vancouver Island’s west coast over the last three months, according to industry, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and independent reports.
Clayquot Sound, British Columbia, Canada
The Tyee

Poaching: Almost 90 elephants dead in biggest ever slaughter in Africa
Botswana's 2018 Wildlife Aerial Survey has revealed large-scale poaching of the country's elephants with conservationists saying so far, 87 carcasses have been found.
The South African

Two Banff National Park wolf packs likely decimated by trapping
‘There’s a really high likelihood that the pack is just gone altogether’
Banff National Park
The Narwhal

Scientists baffled by number of whale deaths on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland
Scientists are baffled by a wave of whale deaths - which saw more carcasses wash up on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland in the past month than in the previous decade.
Scotland & Ireland
The Scotsman

The Salish Sea’s orcas are late for their annual summer visit, the latest sign something is wrong
Researchers say their absence is a stark reminder that the orcas are slowly starving to death because there is not enough Chinook salmon to sustain them.
Salish Sea
The Star

Research has no answers for continued seabird die-off
St. Lawrence Island, home to two native villages in the region, is also the summer home of several migratory seabird species, including kittiwakes, auklets, murre and shearwaters. Over the last several years, though, the bird colonies on the island have been shrinking, and no one has been able to determine why.
Nome, Alaska, United States
The Nome Nugget

Record-warm Arctic summer did not bring joy to wildlife
Climate change is triggering behavior change among animals across the Arctic. In Northern Siberia wild reindeer this summer started migrating almost a month earlier than normal.
Khatanga, Krasnoyarskiy, Russia
The Independent Barents Observer

Oily substance found near Savoonga remains a mystery
About a month ago, residents of St. Lawrence Island found a patch of oily, white goo on the beach, along with some dead sea birds covered in the substance.
Savoonga, Alaska, United States
The Nome Nugget

Starvation death looms as huge amount of snow piles up over icy crust
Grazing conditions are very poor this winter in Norway as an unusual amount of snow forces the reindeer to dig really deep to find food.
Sápmi
The Independent Barents Observer

More dead ice seals found near Deering
This comes just days after other reports of about 60 dead ice seals found from Kotlik to Kotzebue and Kivalina to Point Hope.
Deering, Alaska, United States
The Arctic Sounder

From Iceland — 50 Geese Have Died Due To Unknown Circumstances
This weekend, 50 white-fronted geese were found dead in Hvalnes in Lón and in Suðurfjörður, Fréttablaðið reports. An announcement from...
Djúpivogur, East, Iceland
The Reykjavik Grapevine

Second year in row, big numbers of wild reindeer calves are found dead along banks of great river Khatanga
Poaching and climate change might be the reasons why more than 1,200 migrating animals did not make it across the wide Arctic waterway.
Khatanga river, Krasnoyarskiy, Russia

Dead seabirds wash up on regional shores
Starting last week, regional residents reported numerous dead seabirds washing up on regional beaches. Alaska Sea Grant Agent Gay Sheffield said there were carcasses of murres, puffins, shearwaters and a kittiwake starting on July 28; in Golovin, Solomon, Nome and a dead Little Diomede.
Nome, Alaska, United States

Sargassum is blamed for dead fish on Ambergris Caye
The thick accumulation of these sea plants on the coastline is apparently causing detrimental effects on certain fish species as residents have reported dead fish along the shores.
San Pedro Town, Belize, Belize
The San Pedro Sun

From Iceland — Beached Whale In Northwest Iceland Sparks Concern
A sperm whale beached itself in the northwest Iceland region of Skaga, the Northwest Iceland Nature Agency reports.
Skagaströnd, Northwest, Iceland
The Reykjavik Grapevine

Lack of food drives away southern resident killer whales
The southern resident killer whales who returned to their traditional summer feeding grounds in the Salish Sea on Tuesday and Wednesday after a long absence have apparently left again, and although most of the members of J-, K- and L-Pods appeared to be healthy, at least one may be close to starvation.
Salish Sea
Times Colonist

Gambell gets distemper outbreak under control
The community of Gambell fought a distemper outbreak among its dog population this spring and managed to squash the epidemic in its early onset. Distemper is a deadly disease that can afflict dogs and wildlife alike and also has been documented in the North Atlantic to jump from dogs to marine mammals like seals.
Gambell, Alaska, United States

﻿ ﻿Reports of dead seabirds raise concerns of another die-off
﻿The last few weeks have seen another alarming uptick in the number of dead, emaciated seabirds found washed  up on the shores in the Bering Sea.
Nome, Alaska, United States

Mass die-off of clams fouls Revere Beach
The Division of Marine Fisheries is analyzing the clams and expects to have preliminary results in the coming days that might point to a cause.
Revere, Massachusetts, United States
The Boston Globe

On Arctic island, a reindeer tragedy
In less than three years, the number of animals on the island of Kolguyev dropped from more than 12,000 to only 153.
Колгуевский сельсовет, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia

Are ills of the Arctic hitting California? Hundreds of migratory seabirds wash ashore
Over the last two years, more than 500 northern fulmars were found sick or dead along the Sonoma and Mendocino coasts. What is ailing these seabirds?
Bodega Bay, California, United States
Los Angeles Times

Stanley declared a temporary control zone as first case of avian flu confirmed
Stanley, Falkland Islands, establishes a temporary control zone following the confirmation of its first avian flu case.
Stanley, Falkland Islands
Falklands Radio • Broadcasting news and entertainment to the Falkland Islands

‘It’s pretty dire’: Vancouver Island salmon under threat from climate change-induced droughts
Since the initial June to July heatwave shocked the Pacific Northwest, Heim says the Tsolum River Restoration Society has observed significantly fewer fish in the river, especially in its lower portions. Many of the remaining coho, which survived the heat wave, are suffering from diseases and fin rot as a result of heat stress.
Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada

Nine cats killed by bird flu in Poland as global outbreak continues
Nine infected cats were found in Poznań, the tri-city metropolitan area, and Lublin, locations separated by hundreds of kilometers. All tested positvie for HPAI.
Poznań, Powiat Łukowski, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland
The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com

Shrinking Western Arctic Caribou Herd prompts discussion about future hunting restrictions
One of the largest caribou herds in Alaska is shrinking, prompting hunters and conservationists to consider recommending hunting restrictions.
Northwest Alaska, United States
The Arctic Sounder

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