Massive fish kill off of New South Wales coast

A massive fish kill that has been ongoing since early January has affected a wide cross section of estuarine and reef species, including mullet, flathead, luderick, whiting, catfish, angel sharks, and rock cod. Tourists and residents of Callala Bay, Hare Bay and Red Rock have reported thousands of dead and dying fish on beaches and shallow water.

More bird and fish deaths across U.S.

A healthy grackle in Georgia, 2009 (Quinn Dombrowski)

On Monday, 200 birds were found in downtown Yankton, South Dakota. The birds were congregating downtown in past weeks instead of migrating for winter. An animal control officer reported that a veterinarian had no initial explanation for the deaths, and that in her 10+ years of animal control she has never witnessed anything like this.

Last weekend, 300 grackle birds were found dead on the side of I-65 in Huntsville, Alabama. According to the UK Daily Mail, a witness to the incident said 'it looked like they were committing suicide'. Grackles have recently been found dead in hundreds in Arkansas, Louisiana and Kentucky.

The weekend before, CA highway patrol officers found 100 dead birds just off Highway 101 in Geyserville, CA, near Santa Rosa. The brown- and black-winged birds were intact and had not been shot.

Meanwhile thousands of dead gizzard shad fish have been spotted in Chicago harbors. The fish appear to be frozen to death.

שמות טו, ח: קפאו תהומות, בלב-ים

 and the depths froze in the heart of the sea (exodus 15:8)

Creation of Adam (zoom) / Michelangelo

When I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars that You have established,
What is man that You should remember him, and the son of man that You should be mindful of him?
Yet You have made him slightly less than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and majesty.
You give him dominion over the work of Your hands; You have placed everything beneath his feet.
Flocks and cattle, all of them, and also the beasts of the field;
The birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, he traverses the ways of the seas.
O Lord, our Master, how mighty is Your name in all the earth!
(Psalms 8:4-10)

Three critical Shabbatot

Fire on Mount Carmel, Dec. 2, taken from Kibbutz Harduf (Uri Barakat)

1. Friday, December 3, 2010 (25 Kislev): Israel enters Shabbat while the Fire on Mount Carmel continues to roar. The fire began Thursday, Dec. 2nd, on the eve of the first Night of Chanukah, 5771. It claimed 44 lives and burned 55,000 dunams. Many have drawn a connection between the 2010 Carmel fire and the biblical account Elijah the prophet bringing fire down on Mt. Carmel, especially since Elijah the prophet features prominently in accounts of the final redemption. Elijah's display of fire served as a demonstration of God's power in reaction to the people's tendency "waver between two sides."

2. Friday, December 31, 2010 (25 Tevet): Just before midnight US Central time, 500 Birds fall mysteriously from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas just before New Years' Eve. In Israel, this occurred during the morning prayer of Shabbat, Parashat Va'era, the portion of the Torah which recounts the Ten Plagues. In the next 24 hours, 100,000 fish were found dead in a river nearby in Arkansas, and thousands of birds fell from the sky in Bio Bio, Chile. Sudden, mass animal deaths ensued worldwide.

3. Friday, January 14, 2011, 1 p.m. US Central time (9/10 Shevat): 200 cows die in Wisconsin. As another blogger noted, this is the first incidence in which larger animals are affected by the animal deaths phenomenon. In Israel, this incident occurred during the evening meal of Shabbat, during which beef is traditionally eaten, Parashat B'Shalach.

Update: The Japan tsunami and the French attack on Libya also occurred on the Shabbatot, March 12th and March 19th.