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Health

Emmanuel the online emu star is at death’s door after avian flu strikes his Florida farm

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Emmanuel the emu – a bird who went viral on social media earlier this year after pecking his owner’s phone as she filmed videos about farming  – is fighting for his life amid a deadly outbreak of avian flu that has killed most of the birds on the farm.

Emmanuel’s caretaker, Taylor Blake, revealed his dire condition Saturday, just three months after the pair had flown to stardom on TikTok.

Blake, whose family owns Knuckle Bump Farms in South Florida, said the bird is experiencing nerve damage and cannot eat or drink on his own after contracting the disease, and blamed the outbreak on wild geese that invade the farm nightly.

Desperate to save her feathered friend, the farmer said she is hand-feeding him all his food, sleeping less than an hour a day, and providing him with nourishment through subcutaneous fluids administered every two hours around the clock. 

She further revealed that she had been in contact with Florida officials who reportedly told her told her that stagnant water puddles left behind by Hurricane Ian late last month also spurred the outbreak, and had ‘made the virus run rampant.’  

The sudden spread has seen the 29-year-old content creator’s stable of more than 50 birds almost completely wiped out in a matter of three days – leaving behind only the lovable Emmanuel and his stablemate Rico the swan.

The roughly 5-foot-8, 120-pound emu faces ‘a long road ahead’ to recovery, Blake said, but insists that the lovable animal – who has been left temporarily unable to walk because of his affliction – is a ‘fighter.’ 

Emmanuel the emu – a bird who went viral on social media earlier this year after pecking his owner’s phone as she filmed videos about farming – is fighting for his life amid a deadly outbreak of avian flu that has killed most of the birds on the farm

 Emmanuel’s caretaker, Taylor Blake ( at left), revealed his dire condition Saturday, just three months after the pair had flown to stardom on TikTok

‘We lost every single chicken and duck on our farm. We lost all of our geese. We lost our 2 female black swans. We lost both of our turkeys,’ Blake tweeted to her 874,000 followers on Sunday, roughly a week after the outbreak surfaced.

She revealed: ‘We lost 50+ birds in 3 days. I am still trying to wrap my head around it. 

‘We thought we were out of the woods when Emmanuel unexpectedly went down this past Wednesday.’

The post was accompanied by a heartbreaking photo of a lethargic Emmanuel, with the once lively animal lying down on the farm floor as Blake carefully cradles his head against hers.

‘I am running on about 4hrs of sleep in 4 days bc all that matters to me is saving him,’ the farmer added in another post that showed photos of her and family members working on the bird – who at the moment, Blake said, remains stable. 

‘Currently, he is stable. His neurological symptoms have subsided but he still won’t eat or drink on his own,’ she said, adding, ‘I am hand feeding him & giving him subcutaneous fluids every 2hrs around the clock.’

Blake shared a post Sunday of her comforting a lethargic Emmanuel, with the once lively animal lying down on the farm floor as Blake carefully cradles his head against hers

Blake, whose family owns Knuckle Bump Farms in South Florida, said the bird is experiencing nerve damage and cannot eat or drink on his own after contracting the disease, and blamed the outbreak on wild geese that invade the farm nightly

The sudden spread has seen the 29-year-old content creator’s stable of more than 50 birds almost completely wiped out in a matter of three days – leaving behind only the lovable Emmanuel and one other stablemate

The roughly 5-foot-8, 120-pound emu faces ‘a long road ahead’ to recovery, Blake said, but insists that the lovable animal – who has been left temporarily unable to walk because of his affliction – is a ‘fighter’

Another post showed the internet star appear slightly shaken over her companion’s condition, which quickly deteriorated following the deaths of her dozens of other emus, swans, and turkeys.

‘I am trying my best to remain hopeful, tap into my unwavering faith, and trust that God is in control,’ Blake wrote in a post accompanied by a picture of her sharing a heartfelt moment with the visibly sick bird. 

Remaining hopeful, however, Blake added: ‘I am also doing my best to remain thankful in the face of loss, for I have so much to be grateful for.’ 

Blake also shared a heartbreaking photo of her snuggling up against the exotic bird – which is endemic to Australia – on the floor of her family’s barn, kissing him as he loving gazes back at her.

‘I love you so much, Emmanuel,’ the caption for the Sunday post reads. 

Blake said, she has been tending to him around the clock since Wednesday, with the help of a vet who has sedated and stabilized him

Emmanuel has more than 2million fans online – achieved largely thanks to his impromptu attacks on his partner’s cellphone – and many have been wishing for words of encouragement as the bird fights the sickness, which has left him with nerve damage in his right leg

Emmanuel has more than 2 million fans on social media – achieved largely thanks to his impromptu attacks on his partner’s cellphone – and many have been wishing for words of encouragement as the bird continues to fight the sickness, which has left him with severe nerve damage in his right leg.

Blake, meanwhile, said she has been tending to him around the clock since Wednesday, with the help of a vet who has sedated and stabilized him. 

‘He went down in the middle of the night and we didn’t know until the next morning,’ Blake wrote of how Emmanuel came down with the contagious disease.

She revealed: ‘He spent hours lying on one side and it’s caused some damage.’

The Florida content creator went on to post more photos showing the farm’s efforts to nurse the ailing emu back to health.

The Florida content creator went on to to post more photos showing the farm’s efforts to nurse the ailing emu back to health

The images show the farmhands and animal workers tending to the bird, while helping him to stand with a homemade sling

Blake said she is ‘dedicated’ to ensuring that Emmanuel survives this malady, asserting that with the apparatus, the bird could ‘start physical therapy’

The images show the farmhands and animal workers tending to the bird while helping him to stand with a homemade sling.

Blake said she is ‘dedicated’ to ensuring that Emmanuel survives this malady, asserting that with the apparatus, the bird could ‘start physical therapy.’ 

‘I will do anything and go into any amount of debt to save his life,’ she wrote. 

The United States, meanwhile, is in the midst of a months-long avian influenza outbreak that experts have said is the worst worldwide since 2015, when a ‘highly pathogenic’ strain of the disease infected more than 49 million birds. 

At the time, the Department of Agriculture called it ‘the most costly animal health emergency’ in its history – with the latest outbreak currently affecting 47 million farmed birds, nearly the same as in the 2014-15 season. 

‘I will do anything and go into any amount of debt to save his life,’ Blake said of her feathered friend

Blake said she suspects the outbreak at the farm was spread by wild Egyptian geese, a type of aquatic bird known as waterfowl, who regularly infiltrate the family farm ‘under the cover of darkness.’

She is adamant they spread the disease among the domesticated birds there. 

‘The virus hit them extremely hard and very quickly,’ Blake wrote on Twitter of the extent of her family’s loss, which saw the lives of ‘every single’ chicken, duck, goose, swan, and turkey snuffed out. 

With that said, officials apparently told the farmer that water dispersed all over the state as a result of Hurricane Ian may have contributed to the spread. 

The virus – known scientifically as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) – has so far forced poultry farmers in 36 US states to kill flocks and close operations, threatening further disruptions with a resurgence of cases in September. 

If transmitted to humans, the virus has a fatality rate of 50 percent. 

The mischievous emu who rocketed to fame over the summer in a series of videos posted by Blake that show the bird hogging the camera and then fiercely pecking at the device until it falls to the ground, as Blake attempts to coach followers on farm life

‘Don’t do it Emmanuel, don’t do it!’ Blake warned the bird in the initial impromptu clip, which shows Emmanuel suddenly step into the frame while she attempts to educate the public about miniature cows

The hilarious clip has went viral, garnering millions of views and fans on @knucklebumpfarms TikTok

Emmanuel’s videos, meanwhile, have reached millions of people on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, with the bird for the past few months becoming an internet sensation.  

Blake and a puppet of Emmanuel were featured on ‘The Tonight Show’ in July, and both him and Blake regularly send out Cameo videos to fans to see their antics.

The farm has even begun to sell merchandise with the emu’s face on it. 

In the meantime, Blake has expressed gratitude that despite losing most of her flock, Emmanuel thankfully, calling the plucky bird her ‘best friend.’

‘I have so much gratitude in my heart that Emmanuel is still alive. That he is fighting,’ Blake wrote, writing, ‘my best friend is making a comeback. 

‘I am going to be ok, we are going to be ok!’

A virus that kills up to 50% of humans… but transmission is rare: Everything you need to know about bird flu 

What is bird flu?

Bird flu, or avian flu, is an infectious type of influenza that spreads among bird species but can, on rare occasions, jump to human beings.

It is an infectious disease of birds caused by a variant of the standard influenza A virus. 

Bird flu is unique in that it can be transmitted directly from birds to humans. 

There are 15 different strains of the virus. It is the H5N1 strain which is infecting humans and causing deaths. 

Humans can catch bird flu directly through close contact with live infected birds and those who work with infected chickens are most at risk. 

Like human influenza, there are many strains of bird flu:

The current outbreak in birds in the US is H5N1. 

Where has it been spotted in the US?

To date, H5N1 viruses have been found in U.S. commercial and backyard birds in 29 states and in wild birds in 36 states. There is only one documented human case of HPAI in the US.

How deadly is the virus?

Fatality rates for bird flu in humans have been estimated to be as high as 50 per cent. 

But because transmission to humans is so rare, around 500 bird flu deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization since 1997. 

Is it transmissible from birds to humans?

Cases of bird-to-human transmission are rare and usually do not spread on human-to-human.

Bird flu is spread by close contact with an infected bird or the body of one. 

This can include:

  • touching infected birds
  • touching droppings or bedding
  • killing or preparing infected poultry for cooking

Professor Ian Jones, a virologist at the University of Reading, said: ‘Transfer of avian flu to people is rare as it requires direct contact between an infected, usually dead, bird and the individual concerned. 

‘It is a risk for the handlers who are charged with the disposal of carcasses after an outbreak but the virus does not spread generally and poses little threat. 

‘It does not behave like the seasonal flu we are used to.

‘Despite the current heightened concern around viruses there is no risk to chicken meat or eggs and no need for public alarm.’

Recent outbreak

Roughly 38 million birds in domestic flocks have died in Bird Flue outbreaks since early February.

A USDA tally said 780,000 birds in commercial flocks died of HPAI or were culled so far in May, compared to 1.49 million birds in February, 20.96 million in March and 14.73 million in April.

But as summer looms on the horizon, United States Department of Agriculture data suggests the threat of the spread will fade as we welcome in warmer weather. 

The last detection of HPAI was during the 2014-15 epidemic, one of the worst animal disease outbreaks in US history. It caused some 43 million laying hens and pullets died along with 7.4 million turkeys. 

What are the symptoms? 

Symptoms of bird flue usually take three to five days to appear with the most common being:  

  • a very high temperature 
  • or feeling hot or shivery 
  • aching muscles 
  • headache 
  • a cough or shortness of breath 
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Health

Avian Flu Outbreak Detected at Alexandre Family Farm, Forcing Business to ‘Depopulate,’ Quarantine | Wild Rivers Outpost

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Jessica Cejnar Andrews /
Yesterday
@ 11:24 a.m.

Avian Flu Outbreak Detected at Alexandre Family Farm, Forcing Business to ‘Depopulate,’ Quarantine

An avian flu outbreak has forced Alexandre Family Farm to “depopulate” its entire flock and start over from scratch, Blake Alexandre said Friday.

The contagious disease was detected in a flock of 43,000 birds from an “independent table egg producer” in Del Norte County, the U.S. Centers for Disease control and Prevention’s H5N1 Bird Flu Detection map reported.

Alexandre confirmed Friday that the flock belonged to his family. The outbreak was detected about a week ago, he said, and they have finished culling their birds in compliance with government protocol. Alexandre Family Farm is unable to sell eggs for awhile — Alexandre didn’t know for out long. But, he said, they will get new birds and come back.

“It’s kind of hard to deny that that would be us, so yeah, it’s us,” Alexandre told the Wild Rivers Outpost. “It’s an extremely difficult time on the farm and we just kind of need to get through it quietly.”

In addition to the case in Del Norte County, new avian flu outbreaks have been detected in Stanislaus County and Monterey County, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. As of Oct. 4, outbreaks had been confirmed in domesticated flocks in Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Sacramento and Tuolumne.

Infected locations are quarantined and birds euthanized to curtail disease spread, according to the CDFA.

In Oregon, avian flu has been detected in Coos, Douglas, Lane, Deschutes, Linn and Tillamook counties, according to the CDC.

Del Norte County’s agricultural commissioner, Justin Riggs, said the state veterinarian’s office informed him about the local outbreak, but he didn’t know it was at Alexandre Family Farm. Riggs said his department staff will participate in an inspection if the CDFA or state veterinarian’s office asks it to, but he hasn’t received any “contact about any of that.”

“Our role typically on a day-to-day basis in that type of animal health issue is small,” Riggs said. “I had received a CDFA alert from the State Veterinarian’s Office that avian flu was detected in Del Norte. But typically if they wanted us to do something, I’d get a phone call from CDFA.”

Alexandre called the recent avian flu outbreaks a “bit of a pandemic,” saying it’s the worst year his family has ever seen. He said he has been working with state and federal veterinarians to try to find out how long his farm must quarantine and when they can begin replacing their birds.

Alexandre said he hasn’t received that information yet partly because those agencies are “overwhelmed with problems everywhere so they’re spread real thin.”

“I think it’s the worst year we’ve ever had and I think what should be stated is it’s carried by wildlife,” he said, adding that the wild flocks of geese that visit his pastures just left. “We’re very vulnerable to that because our birds are spread over a 300-acre pastured area.”

According to CDFA, avian flu has been detected in wild birds in 22 California counties, including Siskiyou.

Although Del Norte isn’t included among the 22 counties CDFA lists as having infected wild birds, backyard flock owners should be careful about sanitation, especially if they’re going to anywhere wild birds frequent or if visiting other domestic flocks, Riggs said.

These precautions are also important for those who own ducks, turkeys and other birds besides chickens, he said.

“If it were me, I wouldn’t wear my shoes or boots in areas where my flock is going to be that I’ve worn off property,” Riggs said. “What you’re aiming for is keeping your flock as separate as possible from everything else. You don’t want to encourage wild birds to come to your property if you have a flock. You definitely don’t feed them and if you have left over fruit in trees, consider culling that out.”

Avian flu is highly contagious and often fatal to birds and is spread through direct or indirect contact from infected birds, according to CDFA. Symptoms include trouble breathing; clear runny discharge from nose mouth and eyes; lethargy; decreased food and water intake; swelling around eyes, head, wattles or combs; discolored or bruised comb, wattles or legs; stumbling and falling; twisted neck or sudden death.

Riggs urged people to visit the CDFA website and read about animal health and biosecurity. They can also stay up to date on avian flu outbreaks in California, he said.

CDFA urges poultry owners whose birds have experienced sudden illness or death to call its sick bird hotline at (866) 922-2473.

Alexandre’s children started Alexandre Kids, their pasture-raised organic commercial egg business, about 18 years ago. Their products have appeared in stores statewide, most recently in Southern California.

The avian flu outbreak among his family’s farm is a blow, Alexandre said, but he and his son are working on bouncing back.

“I feel very fortunate we have a path to get back to production,” he said.

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Business

Jim Cramer Says He Bought a Farm With Bitcoin Profits—And Dares You to Bet Against Him

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CNBC’s Jim Cramer prodded his myriad online non-believers on Friday with a challenge: bet against him. He dares you. 

Cramer bragged to Crypto Twitter that he’s divested from Bitcoin and Ethereum and bought a farm and boat with the spoils. He then coaxed doubters of his crypto market analyses to go all in on their anti-Cramer positions.

Soon, those doubters may be able to do precisely that.

According to an SEC filing from earlier this week, Tuttle Capital Management has applied to launch two exchange-traded funds—the Inverse Cramer ETF (SJIM), and the Long Cramer ETF (LJIM)—that will put an investor’s funds towards the opposite of whatever the outspoken television personality advises on his CNBC program “Mad Money,” and via his Twitter account. 

“The Fund is an actively managed exchange traded fund that seeks to achieve its investment objective by engaging in transactions designed to perform the opposite of the return of the investments recommended by television personality Jim Cramer (“Cramer”),” the SEC filing reads. “Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s investments is invested in the inverse of securities mentioned by Cramer.”

The history of the relationship between Cramer and Crypto Twitter is long and storied. Once an ardent crypto bull who stated it was “almost irresponsible” not to buy Bitcoin, Cramer had a 180-degree change of heart once crypto markets crashed earlier this year. 

On Twitter, apparent patterns of Cramer’s financial advice backfiring perfectly led to the emergence of a parody account titled “Inverse Cramer ETF,” which would gloat whenever Cramer’s prognostications turned out to be precisely incorrect. 

As Cramer developed increasing skepticism of crypto assets in the aftermath of May’s crypto crash, the television host began accumulating an ironic following on Crypto Twitter, with users jokingly—or maybe not—positing that so long as Cramer continued to bash crypto, there was hope for the market. 

Cramer’s statement today may have been some form of acknowledgement of the lack of deference his financial advice is now generally granted online, and potentially, of his awareness of a prospective batch of publicly traded, anti-Cramer financial products. 

As one Twitter user posited though, what “Inception”-level event would transpire if Cramer ever turned bullish on the Inverse Cramer? 

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Science

7,500-year-old Spanish ‘Stonehenge’ discovered on future avocado farm

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Archaeologists have unearthed one of Europe’s largest Neolithic standing stone complexes near the city of Huelva in southwestern Spain, ahead of plans to grow avocados there.

The oldest upright stones — called “menhirs” in many parts of Europe, possibly from a Celtic word for “stone” — could be up to 7,500 years old, and the entire complex consists of thousands of individual stones spread out over 1,500 acres (600 hectares) of the sides and top of a small hill.

Some of the largest stones stand alone, but others were positioned to form tombs, mounds, stone circles, enclosures and linear rows. The diversity of the structures is part of the puzzle of the site.

“This pattern is not common in the Iberian Peninsula and is truly unique,” said José Antonio Linares, a geoarchaeologist at Huelva University and the lead author of a new study published in the June issue of Trabajos de Historia (opens in new tab).

Related: Back to the Stone Age: 17 key milestones in Paleolithic life

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The hilltop at La Torre-La Janera has now been revealed as one of the most complex Neolithic sites ever found in Europe. (Image credit: Linares-Catela et al., 2022, Trabajos de Prehistoria, CC-BY 4.0)

Image 1 of 2

The site, known as La Torre-La Janera, was discovered in 2018, but archaeologists only recently learned about the full extent of the Neolithic, or New Stone Age complex, Antonio Linares Catela told Live Science in an email.

It now seems that the functions of the Neolithic monuments were as varied as their construction. “Territorial, ritual, astronomical, funerary… the whole constituting a mega-site of the recent prehistory of southern Iberia,” he said. This was a “megalithic sanctuary of tribute, worship, and memory to the ancestors of long ago.”

Megalithic monuments

The landowner, a farmer, had wanted to establish an avocado plantation at the site, near the border of Portugal about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Huelva, Linares said.

But there were local rumors that menhirs had once stood on the hill, so it wasn’t a complete surprise when an initial archaeological survey in 2018 confirmed there were several standing stones there. A full study in 2020 and 2021 revealed the site’s importance, and the universities of Huelva and Alcalá are now funding an archaeological investigation until at least 2026, he said.

Neolithic people constructed the complex on a prominent hill not far from the mouth of the Guadiana River and the Atlantic Ocean, with good visibility over the surrounding territory.

Archaeologists think the site was in use for more than 3,000 years during the Neolithic period. The structures include standing stones, tombs and stone circles. (Image credit: Linares-Catela et al., 2022, Trabajos de Prehistoria, CC-BY 4.0)

So far, archaeologists have found more than 520 standing stones at the site, and some of the earliest may have been erected as long ago as the second half of the sixth millennium B.C., or about 7,500 years ago, while the latest Neolithic structures were built in the second millennium B.C., or between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago, he said.

Several of the standing stones created prominent roofed tombs known as “dolmens,” while others formed coffin-shaped structures known as “cists,” which the archaeologists expect were used to bury the remains of the dead.

But no human remains have yet been verified at the site. “We have not carried out extensive excavations of the tombs,” Linares said; and while such structures must have contained skeletal remains at some point, bones may not have been preserved in the acidic soil.

Neolithic peoples and megaliths

Standing stones and other Neolithic monuments — known as “megaliths,” from the ancient Greek words for “giant stone” — abound throughout Europe, from Sweden to the Mediterranean. Many megalithic sites have also been found in Spain, including in the region near La Torre-La Janera.

Some of the most famous, such as Stonehenge, are found in Britain, but even larger “megalithic” structures are found elsewhere — such as at Carnac in France’s Brittany region, where there are more than 10,000 menhirs aligned in rows.

Related: Why was Stonehenge built?

Archaeologists think the earliest standing stones were erected in the second half of the sixth millennium B.C. (Image credit: Linares-Catela et al., 2022, Trabajos de Prehistoria, CC-BY 4.0)

The precise dates of such megalithic structures can be hard to ascertain because rock itself cannot be reliably dated. But the indirect evidence of other materials buried at the same sites suggest that most of them date to the Neolithic period from about 6,500 years ago, according to Smithsonian magazine (opens in new tab) — which would make the oldest standing stones at La Torre-La Janera more ancient than most.

Archaeologists suspect that the practice of building megalithic monuments spread over Europe during the Neolithic with successive waves of settlers, perhaps from the Near East, who seem to have assimilated the indigenous hunter-gather peoples, according to a 2003 study in the journal Annual Review of Anthropology (opens in new tab). 

Many megaliths seem to be aligned with certain astronomical events, such as the midwinter sunrise, and it seems many of those at the La Torre-La Janera complex may be, too.

The roofed tombs, or dolmens, “are generally oriented to the solstices and equinoxes, but there are also solar orientations in the alignments [rows of stones] and the cromlechs [circles of stones],” project leader Primitiva Bueno Ramírez, a professor of prehistory at Alcalá University near Madrid and a co-author of the new research, told Live Science.

She stressed that only the surface of the La Torre-La Janera site had been investigated so far, and archaeologists expect to find much more there.

One clue that more stones are yet to be found is  the “magnificent preservation” of the structures, which may help the scientists recover information about the “occupations, chronologies, uses, and symbolism of these monuments,” she told Live Science in an email.

Originally published on Live Science.

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World

Zelenskiy warns of ‘ugly’ Russian attack before Ukraine Independence Day

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  • Russia could do something ‘particularly ugly’, Ukraine warns
  • Ukraine independence day also marks six months since Russia’s invasion
  • Fresh shelling near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
  • Daughter of Russian nationalist killed by car bomb

Aug 21 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged vigilance ahead of Wednesday’s celebrations of 31 years of Ukraine’s independence from Soviet rule, as shells rained down near Europe’s biggest nuclear plant and Russian forces struck in the south and east.

Ukrainians must not allow Moscow to “spread despondency and fear” ahead of the Aug. 24 events, which also mark six months since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Saturday.

“We must all be aware that this week Russia could try to do something particularly ugly, something particularly vicious,” Zelenskiy said.

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In Russia, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue who advocates Russia absorbing Ukraine was killed in a suspected car bomb attack outside Moscow on Saturday evening, Russian state investigators said on Sunday.

They said Darya Dugina, daughter of prominent ideologue Alexander Dugin, was killed after a suspected explosive device detonated on the Toyota Land Cruiser she was travelling in, and they were considering “all versions” when it came to working out who was responsible. read more

The nightly curfew in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, regularly hit by Russian shelling, will be extended for the entire day on Wednesday, regional Governor Oleh Synehub told residents on the Telegram messaging app.

As the war that has killed thousands and forced millions to flee heads for its half-year mark, Ukrainian military and local officials reported more Russian strikes overnight on targets in the east and south of the country.

Ukraine’s general staff said on Facebook early on Sunday that over the past 24 hours Russian forces had conducted several attempted assaults in Donbas. The eastern border region controlled in part by pro-Moscow separatists has been a prime target of Russia’s campaign in the past months.

In the south, Russian forces conducted a successful assault on a village of Blahodatne at the border between Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. The city of Mykolaiv was hit with multiple S-300 missiles early on Sunday, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram.

The area on the Black Sea coast has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the past weeks.

To the northeast, the city of Nikopol, which lies across the Dnipro river from Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s biggest nuclear plant, was shelled on five different occasions overnight, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko wrote on Telegram. He said 25 artillery shells hit the city, causing a fire at an industrial premises and cutting power to 3,000 residents.

NUCLEAR FEARS

The fighting near the Russian-controlled plant and Saturday’s missile strike at the southern Ukrainian town of Voznesensk, not far from the country’s second-largest nuclear plant, revived fears of a nuclear accident.

The attack on Voznesensk was “another act of Russian nuclear terrorism”, state-run Energoatom, which manages Ukraine’s four nuclear energy generators, said in a statement.

Russia did not immediately respond to the accusation. Reuters could not verify the situation in Voznesensk. There were no reports of damage to the power plant.

As Moscow and Ukraine continue to trade accusations of shelling around the Zaporizhzhia complex, the United Nations has called for a demilitarized zone around the plant and talks continued about a visit of its nuclear agency to the area.

Zelenskiy in his speech also referred obliquely to a recent series of explosions in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attacks, but analysts have said at least some have been made possible by new equipment used by its forces.

“You can literally feel Crimea in the air this year, that the occupation there is only temporary and that Ukraine is coming back,” Zelenskiy said.

In the latest incident, Crimea’s Russian-appointed governor, who is not recognised by the West, said a drone attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet was thwarted on Saturday morning.

“It was downed right over the fleet headquarters. It fell on the roof and burned up. The attack failed,” Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram.

Razvozhayev said the region’s anti-aircraft system had again been in operation and asked residents to stop filming and disseminating pictures of how it was working.

Ukrainian media reported explosions in nearby towns, among them the resorts of Yevpatoriya, Olenivka and Zaozyornoye.

Further west, five Kalibr missiles were fired from the Black Sea at the Odesa region overnight, according to the regional administration, citing the she southern military command. Two were shot down by Ukrainian air defences while three hit grain storage, but there were no casualties.

Odesa and other ports in the region have been at the centre of an U.N.-brokered deal to allow Ukrainian grain exports, blocked by the war, to reach world markets again. On Sunday, Turkey’s defence ministry reported four more food-laden ships left Ukrainian ports, bringing the total to 31.

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Reporting by Ron Popeski and Natalia Zinets; Writing by Clarence Fernandez and Tomasz Janowski; Editing by William Mallard and Nick Macfie

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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US

U.S. spares Western states from Colorado River water cuts – for now

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Aug 16 (Reuters) – The U.S. government spared seven Western states from mandatory Colorado River water cutbacks for now but warned on Tuesday that drastic conservation was needed to protect dwindling reservoirs from overuse and severe drought exacerbated by climate change.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in June had given the states 60 days, until mid-August, to negotiate their own reductions or possibly face mandatory cutbacks enforced by the federal government. Federal officials asked for a reduced usage of 2 million to 4 million acre-feet of water per year, an unprecedented reduction of 15% to 30% in the coming year.

But bureau and Department of Interior officials told a news conference they would give the states more time to reach a deal affecting the water supply of 40 million people.

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They instead fell back on previously negotiated cuts that for the second year in a row will impose reductions on Nevada, Arizona and the country of Mexico, which also receives a Colorado River allotment.

Deputy Interior Secretary Tommy Beaudreau said federal officials would continue working with the seven Colorado River states on reaching a deal: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

“That said, we stand firm in the need to protect the system,” Beaudreau said, adding he was encouraged by the talks so far and by new federal money for water management.

Even so, federal officials said more cuts were needed, both under terms already negotiated in the 100-year-old Colorado River compact and the 21st century reality of human-influenced climate change resulting in hotter temperatures and drier soils.

A 24-month forecast released on Tuesday showed falling levels of the two largest reservoirs on the river, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, will trigger the previously negotiated cuts.

An aerial view of Lake Powell is seen, where water levels have declined dramatically to lows not seen since it was filled in the 1960s as growing demand for water and climate change shrink the Colorado River and create challenges for business owners and recreation in Page, Arizona, U.S., April 20, 2022. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/Files

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will have supplies reduced for a second straight year: 21% for Arizona, 8% for Nevada and 7% for Mexico.

They are the first to be subject to cutbacks under the Colorado River compact. Last year, they got hit with 18%, 7% and 5% reductions, respectively, for the first time ever.

Negotiations over further reductions is creating tension among the states, especially as California, the largest user, has so far avoided cuts triggered by low reservoir levels.

Lake Mead and Lake Powell are barely above one-quarter of their capacity. If they fall much lower, they will be unable to generate hydroelectric power for millions in the West.

“It is unacceptable for Arizona to continue to carry a disproportionate burden of reductions for the benefit of others who have not contributed,” Ted Cooke, general manager of the Central Arizona Project, said in a statement.

John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said he had hoped for more urgency from the bureau on Tuesday.

“It is possible for us to make the larger necessary cuts, but I think it is going to take everyone at the table realizing that everyone needs to suffer a commensurate level of pain to get there,” Entsminger said.

The 23-year megadrought, the worst on record in at least 1,200 years, is testing the strength of the compact, which a century ago assumed the river could provide 20 million acre-feet of water each year. The river’s actual flow the past two decades has averaged 12.5 million acre-feet, leaving state water managers with more rights on paper than water that exists in the river.

“As we have emphasized since taking office, the circumstances we face will require swift action and increased water conservation in every state, from every sector,” said Tanya Trujillo, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for water and science.

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Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Caitlin Ochs; Editing by Donna Bryson and Josie Kao

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Germany and Poland search for cause of mass fish die-off in river Oder

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  • Tonnes of dead fish collected in river on Polish-German border
  • Authorities are working to establish cause
  • Polish authorities criticised for slow response
  • Polish PM says Oder “may take years” to return to normal state

BERLIN/WARSAW, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Polish and German authorities are working “flat-out” to establish the cause behind a mass fish die-off in the river Oder, German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said on Friday, warning of an environmental catastrophe.

Tonnes of dead fish have been found since late July in the river Oder, which runs through Germany and Poland. Both sides have said they believe a toxic substance is to blame but have yet to identify it.

“An environmental catastrophe is in the offing,” Lemke told the RND newspaper group. “All sides are working flat out to find the reasons for this mass die-out and minimise potential further damage.”

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Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the waterway would take years to return to normal.

“The scale of this pollution is very big. So big that the Oder may take years to return to a fairly normal state,” Morawiecki said in a regular podcast on Friday.

“It is likely that enormous amounts of chemical waste have been dumped into the river,” he said, adding those responsible would be held accountable.

A spokesperson for the German environment minister told a news conference on Friday that they were following the situation closely, and that it was not yet clear what had got into the water.

“We have an incomplete picture,” the spokesperson said. “We need clarity on what materials are in the water.”

“GIGANTIC” POLLUTION

Dead fish float on the surface of the Oder river, as water has been contaminated and is causing the mass extinction of fish in the river, in Kostrzyn upon Oder, Poland, August, 11, 2022. Cezary Aszkielowicz/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS

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Green activists and opposition politicians have criticised the Polish government for not responding quickly enough to the danger and failing to alert Poles to avoid bathing and angling in the river that has been contaminated since late July.

Germany has also grumbled over Poland’s response: Brandenburg environment minister Axel Vogel had earlier said “chains of communication between the Polish and German sides did not work in this case”.

The head of Poland’s national water management authority said the situation was serious and that by Thursday evening Poland had collected over 11 tonnes of dead fish.

“(It) is being investigated by the prosecutor’s office, the police and local environmental protection inspectorates,” Przemyslaw Daca, the head of Polish Waters, was quoted as saying by Polish Radio 24.

“The problem is enormous, the wave of pollution runs from Wroclaw to Szczecin. Those are hundreds of kilometres of river, the pollution is gigantic.”

An analysis of river water taken this week showed evidence of “synthetic chemical substances, very probably also with toxic effects for vertebrates,” the German state of Brandenburg’s environment ministry said on Thursday, adding that it remained unclear how the substance entered the water.

According to local German broadcaster rbb, the state laboratory found high levels of mercury in the water samples.

However, Wladyslaw Dajczak, the head of Poland’s Lubusz province, quoted by PAP news agency said that tests run on Aug. 10 and 11 showed mercury was found only in “trace amounts”, well within allowed levels.

He said a barrier would be set up on the Oder near the city of Kostrzyn to collect dead fish flowing down the river, with 150 Territorial Defence Forces soldiers delegated to help with the clean-up.

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Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Marek Strzelecki and Pawel Florkiewicz; Additional reporting by Thomas Escritt and Karol Badohal, Writing by Rachel More; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Mike Harrison, Toby Chopra and Raissa Kasolowsky

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Science

Prehistoric Fossil Fishing at the Farm – Jurassic Marine World Unearthed in a Farmer’s Field

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Jurassic fish called Pachycormus. Credit: Dean Lomax

An exceptional prehistoric site containing the remains of animals that lived in a tropical sea has been discovered in a farmer’s field in Gloucestershire, England.

Discovered beneath a field grazed by an ancient breed of English Longhorn cattle, the fossils are stunningly well preserved. Despite being approximately 183-million-year-old, the fossils look like they were frozen in time.

Contained within three-dimensionally preserved limestone concretions, the remains of fish, ancient marine reptiles, squids, rare insects and more have been revealed for the first time by a team of paleontologists. The fossils come from an inland rock layer that was last exposed in the UK more than 100 years ago. It represents a unique opportunity to collect fossils from a time when this part of the country was deep underwater.

The newly found site is at Court Farm, Kings Stanley near Stroud, Gloucestershire. It was discovered by Sally and Neville Hollingworth, avid fossil collectors. They recently uncovered the remains of mammoths in the nearby Cotswold Water Park, a discovery that was featured in the BBC One documentary “Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard” in 2021.

Sally and Neville explained: “These fossils come from the Early

Dr. Dean Lomax, a paleontologist and a Visiting Scientist at The University of Manchester, who recently led the excavation of the Rutland ichthyosaur that also dates to the Toarcian geological age, was part of the team and said: “The site is quite remarkable, with numerous beautifully preserved fossils of ancient animals that once lived in a Jurassic sea that covered this part of the UK during the Jurassic. Inland locations with fossils like this are rare in the UK. The fossils we have collected will surely form the basis of research projects for years to come.”

“The site is quite remarkable, with numerous beautifully preserved fossils of ancient animals that once lived in a Jurassic sea that covered this part of the UK during the Jurassic. Inland locations with fossils like this are rare in the UK. The fossils we have collected will surely form the basis of research projects for years to come.”

— Dr. Dean Lomax

Many of the specimens collected will be donated to the local Museum in the Park, Stroud, where they will form a significant part of the museum’s paleontology collections. One of the team members, Alexia Clark, who is the museum’s Documentation and Collections Officer said: “We’re excited to expand our knowledge of the geology of the Stroud District and we are looking forward to a time when we can share these amazing finds with our members and visitors. Being part of the excavation team has been a real privilege and I can’t wait to share details of that experience through our members’ newsletter.”

Among the best finds were several fossil fish with excellent details of their scales, fins, and even their eyeballs. One of the most impressive discoveries was a three-dimensionally preserved fish head, belonging to a type of Jurassic fish called Pachycormus. The fish looks as if it is ‘leaping off the rock’ that it was contained inside. A digital 3D model of this fossil has been created by Steven Dey of ThinkSee3D.

Field observations and preparation of the fauna found so far indicate that the Court Farm fossils were rapidly buried, as suggested by the absence of any encrusting animals or burrows in the sediment. The layered concretions around the skeletons formed relatively early before the sediments were compacted, as the original sediment layering is preserved. These concretions prevented further compaction and compression from the overlying sediments during burial and thus preserved the fossils in three-dimensional time capsules.

Neville added, “Using the latest fossil preparation and imaging techniques to understand this unique fauna in more detail will create a rich repository. Also, we will leave a permanent reference section after excavations have concluded. Given the location and enthusiasm from the landowner and local community to be involved it is hoped to plan and develop a local STEM enrichment program as there will be opportunities for community groups and local schools to be involved in the research, particularly from the Stroud area with a focus of targeting audiences in areas of low STEM capital.”

The landowner, Adam Knight, said: “I’m delighted that after the initial work that Sally and Nev did over three years ago we now have a full-scale dig on the farm involving a range of fossil experts from The Natural History Museum, The University of Manchester, University of Reading and The Open University. On Friday we were also joined by Emily Baldry (16) on a day’s work experience before she goes to University to study paleontology – it’s wonderful to see her enthusiasm for her chosen profession. It has been a real pleasure to host the dig and I’m excited to see the results of what has been found.”

The team of paleontologists is very grateful to the Geologists’ Association Curry Fund for financing the excavation phase. Going forward, the team will continue to analyze the specimens and publish their research with the fossils planned for display at Museum in the Park, Stroud, and at the Boho Bakery Café at Court Farm, Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire. 



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Science

Rocket Debris Fall On Sheep Farm In Australia, Loud Bang Heard By Locals: Report

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Picture shows parts of space junk were found at a sheep farm in Australia.

Days before pieces of what is believed to be a Chinese rocket fall on Earth, parts of space junk were found at a sheep farm in Australia. It is believed to be one of the pieces of a SpaceX rocket, according to a report from ABC South-East NSW.

On July 9, a bang was heard throughout the Snowy Mountains in southern New South Wales. People in Albury, Wagga Wagga, and Canberra could hear it for miles, the outlet said.

When a rocket is launched, pieces of the spacecraft frequently separate from the primary payload and fall back on Earth. When they come in contact with the planet’s atmosphere, the majority of these fragments burn up. The ocean, which makes up two thirds of the Earth’s surface, is where larger chunks that make it through the atmosphere are more likely to land. But sometimes they do manage to touch down the land.

There was much suspicion that it might have been brought on by the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. An astrophysicist told Newsweek that the debris is likely from the trunk section of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which was launched in November 2020.

The nearly three-metre high object was found by sheep farmer Mick Miners in a remote area of his field in Numbla Vale, south of Jindabyne, Australia.

“I didn’t know what to think, I had no idea what it was,” Mr Miners told ABC South-East.

He summoned fellow farmer Jock Wallace in the area, who had also uncovered some unexplained debris nearby.

“I didn’t hear the bang, but my daughters said it was very loud,” Mr Wallace said. “I think it’s a concern it’s just fallen out of the sky. If it landed on your house, it would make a hell of a mess.”

Mr Wallace claims that after getting in touch with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, he was instructed to get in touch with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – the American space agency.



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Science

‘Never seen anything like it’: Impeccably preserved Jurassic fish fossils found on UK farm

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A farm in England was the unlikely source of a Jurassic jackpot: a treasure trove of 183 million-year-old fossils. On the outskirts of Gloucestershire in the Cotswolds, beneath soil that is currently trampled under the hooves of grazing cattle, researchers recently uncovered the fossilized remains of fish, giant marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs, squids, insects and other ancient animals dating to the early part of the Jurassic period (201.3 million to 145 million years ago). 

Of the more than 180 fossils logged during the dig, one of the standout specimens was a three-dimensionally preserved fish head that belonged to Pachycormus, an extinct genus of ray-finned fishes. The fossil, which researchers found embedded in a hardened limestone nodule poking out of the clay, was exceptionally well preserved and contained soft tissues, including scales and an eye. The 3D nature of the pose of the specimen’s head and body was such that the researchers couldn’t compare it to any other previous find.  

“The closest analogue we could think of was Big Mouth Billy Bass,” said Neville Hollingworth, a field geologist with the University of Birmingham who discovered the site with his wife, Sally, a fossil preparator and the dig’s coordinator. “The eyeball and socket were well preserved. Usually, with fossils, they’re lying flat. But in this case, it was preserved in more than one dimension, and it looks like the fish is leaping out of the rock,” Hollingworth told Live Science.

A fish’s scales and eyes were some of the soft tissues preserved for more than 180 million years.  (Image credit: Dean Lomax)

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Sally Hollingworth added. “You could see the scales, skin, spine — even its eyeball is still there.”

The sight astounded the Hollingworths so much that they contacted ThinkSee3D, a company that creates digital 3D models of fossils, to create an (opens in new tab)interactive 3D image (opens in new tab) of the fish to help bring it to life and to allow researchers to study it more closely.

Related: Enormous graveyard of alien-like sea creatures discovered at ‘Jurassic Pompeii’ in central UK

Most of the fossils the Hollingworths and a team of scientists and specialists unearthed were located behind the farm’s cowshed. (The farm is home to a herd of English longhorn — a British breed of beef cattle with long, curved horns — many of which kept a close eye on the excavation.)

“It was a bit unnerving digging when you’re being watched by a herd of longhorn,” Sally Hollingworth told Live Science.

At one time, this region of the United Kingdom was completely submerged by a shallow, tropical sea, and the sediments there likely helped preserve the fossils; Neville Hollingworth described the Jurassic beds as slightly horizontal, with layers of soft clays under a shell of harder limestone beds.

“When the fish died, they sank to the bottom of the seabed,” said fossil marine reptile specialist Dean Lomax, a visiting scientist at the University of Manchester in the U.K. and a member of the excavation group. “As with other fossils, the minerals from the surrounding seabed continually replaced the original structure of the bones and teeth. In this case, the site shows that there was very little to no scavenging, so they must’ve been rapidly buried by the sediment. As soon as they hit the seabed, they were covered over and protected immediately.”

During the four-day dig earlier this month, the eight-person team used a digger to excavate 262 feet (80 meters) across the farm’s grassy banks, “pulling back layers to reveal a small slice of geological time,” Neville Hollingworth said. A number of diverse specimens dated to the Toarcian age (a stage of the Jurassic that occurred between 183 million and 174 million years ago) and included belemnites (extinct squid-like cephalopods), ammonites (extinct shelled cephalopods), bivalves and snails, in addition to fish and other marine animals.

“It’s important that we can compare these fossils with other Toarcian age fossil sites, not only in the U.K. but also across Europe and potentially sites in America,” Lomax said. He pointed to Strawberry Bank Lagerstätte, an early Jurassic site in southern England, as one such example.

The group plans to continue studying the specimens and is working toward publishing the findings. Meanwhile, a selection of the fossils will be placed on display at the Museum in the Park in Stroud.

Originally published on Live Science.

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