Category: Environment

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Milkweed Poisoning Killed the 31 Cedaredge, Colorado Cattle

Cedaredge is a farming and ranching community southeast of Grand Junction, Colorado.
Cedaredge is a farming and ranching community southeast of Grand Junction, Colorado.

March 12, 2004 Cedaredge, Colorado – Cedaredge, Colorado is west of Grand Junction in a Rocky Mountain region that has long been the home of farmers and ranchers. And one of those ranchers had 31 of his cattle die last weekend on Saturday, March 6, 2004, in only 12 hours. Vern Hillis estimates the one yearling bull and 30 mostly pregnant heifers were worth about $31,000. Veterinarians at first were not able to confirm what caused the cattle to stumble and fall down kicking and tossing their heads until their last breath. But today, a positive test was confirmed for a particular milkweed plant that grows in the region. It can kill cattle rapidly and violently.

Rancher Vern Hillis is 62-years-old and was born and raised on the ranch first settled by his grandfather. In the past half century of working the family’s 1400 acres, Mr. Hillis told me he has never encountered anything like the mass death of half his herd. I talked with him this week about what happened – prior to the Friday, March 12, lab confirmation that the culprit was milkweed.Click for report.

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300 Wyoming Elk Dead After Baffling Paralysis

Fifteen miles south of Rawlins, Wyoming, in a 50-square-mile area owned and managed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) 300 elk have been disabled by baffling paralysis and subsequently euthanized by the WGFD.
Fifteen miles south of Rawlins, Wyoming, in a 50-square-mile area owned and managed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) 300 elk have been disabled by baffling paralysis and subsequently euthanized by the WGFD.
Female elk unable to rise on her legs. Ten animals have been airlifted by helicopters to veterinarian pathologists trying to find an answer for the bizarre paralysis. So far, no answers, as the numbers of disabled elk keep rising. Image courtesy WGFD.
Female elk unable to rise on her legs. Ten animals have been airlifted by helicopters to veterinarian pathologists trying to find an answer for the bizarre paralysis. So far, no answers, as the numbers of disabled elk keep rising. Image courtesy WGFD.

March 9, 2004  Cheyenne, Wyoming – On February 8, 2004, Wyoming coyote hunters contacted the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in Rawlins to report their finding two live elk down on their chests, unable to rise. The location was about 15 miles southwest of Rawlins on land actually owned and managed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. A Rawlins field biologist went to investigate, found the two elk and subsequently, other field investigators found another 80 live, paralyzed elk. The number of debilitated animals has now risen to almost 300 today. Nine more, all alive, were found the weekend of March 6-7, 2004. Sadly, all found alive and paralyzed have been euthanized to put them out of their misery.This week I talked about the baffling phenomenon with Tom Reed, Publications Supervisor, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Cheyenne, Wyoming.Click for report.

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Abrupt Climate Change: Scenario from A Pentagon-Commissioned Report

Title page of futurist study commissioned by the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment, finalized in October 2003 and leaked via media on February 22, 2004.
Title page of futurist study commissioned by the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment, finalized in October 2003 and leaked via media on February 22, 2004.

February 27, 2004  New York City, New York – One year ago at the Office of Net Assessment in the Pentagon, its director – Andrew Marshall – read the 2002 National Academies of Sciences study entitled Abrupt Climate Changes: Inevitable Surprises. Scientists have been warning for years that uncontrolled build up of carbon dioxide around the Earth could heat up the planet so much that drought, flooding, high winds, more severe storms, food shortages and wars over water might result. However, global warming and potentially rapid climate change have been controversial and politically unacceptable to discuss in this current Bush Administration which has also rejected proposals to control carbon dioxide emissions.
Click for report.

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Unprecedented Outbreak of Avian Flu Has Killed Ten People in Asia

“The extent of this (avian flu) outbreak is unprecedented.”

-World Health Organization

South Korea dumps bags of potentially bird flu-infected chickens in Yangsan. Other countries also killing birds to stop the spread of avian flu are China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Laos and Taiwan. Photo © 2004 by AP.
South Korea dumps bags of potentially bird flu-infected chickens in Yangsan. Other countries also killing birds to stop the spread of avian flu are China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Laos and Taiwan. Photo © 2004 by AP.


January 29, 2004  London, England – The World Health Organization’s Director of the Influenza Collaborating Centre, Alan Hay, said this week, “The extent of this (avian flu) outbreak is unprecedented.” It is also virulent and jumping from birds to humans. The big medical fear is: What happens if the avian virus begins jumping from human to human? How fast and far could it spread? The worry is warranted. SARS in 2003 was also a virus that jumped from animals to humans and began spreading and killing rapidly.

Click for report.

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FDA Outlaws Cattle Blood in Livestock Feed

The deadly prion disease known as "Mad Cow" in cattle attacks brains and spinal nerves. Affected tissues, if eaten in livestock feed, supplements or even cooked meals, can apparently transfer the distorted and destructive proteins from animal to animal or into humans.
The deadly prion disease known as “Mad Cow” in cattle attacks brains and spinal nerves. Affected tissues, if eaten in livestock feed, supplements or even cooked meals, can apparently transfer the distorted and destructive proteins from animal to animal or into humans.

January 27, 2004 Washington, D. C. – In its first act to change American laws since bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or “mad cow” disease, was found on December 23, 2003, in a Washington state Holstein cow, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that no more mammalian blood, blood products or chicken waste can be added to livestock feed. Further, no meat scraps from large restaurants can be recycled into cattle feed. Factories that make food for livestock and food for other animals that use cow ingredients will have to have separate production lines to guard against accidental contamination from the deadly prion proteins.

Click for report.

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Update on Horton, Michigan Ice Circle

Ice circle discovered on December 28, 2003, by local resident Vaughn Hobe at Mud Lake in Horton, Michigan, about fifteen miles south of Jackson. Photograph © 2004 by Todd Lemire, Michigan MUFON.
Ice circle discovered on December 28, 2003, by local resident Vaughn Hobe at Mud Lake in Horton, Michigan, about fifteen miles south of Jackson. Photograph © 2004 by Todd Lemire, Michigan MUFON.
Horton, Michigan, in Liberty Township is about fifteen miles south of Jackson where the odd Mud Lake ice circle was discovered December 28, 2003, by Horton resident, Vaughn Hobe.
Horton, Michigan, in Liberty Township is about fifteen miles south of Jackson where the odd Mud Lake ice circle was discovered December 28, 2003, by Horton resident, Vaughn Hobe.

January 16, 2004  Horton, Michigan – On January 3, 2004, Earthfiles.com reported about an “incredibly brilliant white light” that local resident, Vaughn Hobe, saw hovering over the hill above Mud Lake about a thousand feet from his house in Horton. When a large, nearly perfect circle was discovered in Mud Lake ice on December 28, 2003, many wondered if there was a link between the bright light and the ice circle. Some of the local residents say the cove end of the lake where the ice circle emerged has been called the “Devil’s Hollow” because people have seen so many strange lights there. In fact, over the past few years, near the same hill above Mud Lake, Vaughn Hobe has repeatedly seen large, orange glowing spheres at least 25-feet in diameter hovering in the sky. He says the orange is the color of a ripe pumpkin and that he has only seen one sphere at a time, never in groups. The closest approach was once about 200 feet away. The orange spheres have been stationary and then move off, seeming to dip down toward the hill beyond his house where he saw the bright, white bar of light on December 18, 2003.

Click for report.

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High Strangeness in the Napoleon, Michigan Sky

Napoleon, Michigan, is fifteen miles east of Horton where the bright light was seen on December 18, 2003, prior to the discovery of an ice circle at Mud Lake on December 28, 2003. Several Napoleon residents have seen highly strange aerial craft in January 2004.
Napoleon, Michigan, is fifteen miles east of Horton where the bright light was seen on December 18, 2003, prior to the discovery of an ice circle at Mud Lake on December 28, 2003. Several Napoleon residents have seen highly strange aerial craft in January 2004.

January 16, 2004  Napoleon, Michigan – Since the middle of December, residents of Horton and Napoleon, Michigan, west of Ann Arbor, have seen some very strange lights and objects in the sky. Another mystery was a large, nearly perfectly round ice circle discovered on December 28th at Mud Lake near Horton. The ice circle was probably created by Nature. But the sky objects are highly strange, returning to the same places, and changing shape in front of at least half a dozen people. One of the shapes included hawk-like wings.Click for report.

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Updated: SARS and Bird Flu Back in Asia

SARS – Health officials in the southern province of Guangdong, China, are reporting a SARS patient, a 32-year-old TV producer who has a coronavirus similar to viruses found in civet cats that are eaten by the Chinese. In addition, two other suspected SARS cases are being investigated, bringing China’s current SARS total to three. Consequently, the Guangdong Health Bureau announced that 10,000 civet cats in the Guangdong markets would be killed to reduce the chance that SARS will spread again in the human population as it did in the 2002-2003 epidemic that killed about 800 people worldwide.Click for report.

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Mysterious Ice Circle in Michigan

Mysterious ice circle discovered on December 28, 2003, by Vaughn Hobe at Mud Lake in Horton, Michigan, about fifteen miles south of Jackson. Investigators Jeffrey Wilson and Ted Robertson investigated on January 1, 2004. Photograph © 2004 by Todd Lemire, Michigan MUFON.
Mysterious ice circle discovered on December 28, 2003, by Vaughn Hobe at Mud Lake in Horton, Michigan, about fifteen miles south of Jackson. Investigators Jeffrey Wilson and Ted Robertson investigated on January 1, 2004. Photograph © 2004 by Todd Lemire, Michigan MUFON.
Horton, Michigan, in Liberty Township is about fifteen miles south of Jackson where the odd Mud Lake ice circle was discovered December 28, 2003, by Horton Resident, Vaughn Hobe.
Horton, Michigan, in Liberty Township is about fifteen miles south of Jackson where the odd Mud Lake ice circle was discovered December 28, 2003, by Horton Resident, Vaughn Hobe.

January 3, 2004  Horton, Michigan – Vaughn Hobe was getting ready for bed and shutting off lights in his Horton, Michigan, home around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 18. As he walked through his dining room and looked out the back windows, he could see “the most incredibly brilliant light.”

Click for report.

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Colorado Doctor Suspects Fujian Flu Has Hit Elderly Hard

December 16, 2003  Denver, Colorado – Greg Gahm, M. D., is an internist geriatrician at Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver, Colorado. After graduating from the University of Colorado Medical School in 1982, he did a fellowship in Health Administration at Harvard University in 1986 and a sabbatical in clinical preventative medicine at Stanford University in 1991. Recently, Dr. Gahm has been caring for seventy-five elderly patients and two, who tested positive for Influenza A, died. That’s 3% of his patients. Dr. Gahm points out that if the 80 some nursing homes in Colorado each had 75 patients, that’s about 6000 sick people in nursing homes. Three percent of those is 180 likely deaths from influenza A. But influenza deaths in the elderly are not required to be reported. It’s pediatric deaths which must be reported. Currently in Colorado, there are eleven confirmed pediatric deaths with two more suspected. Dr. Gahm thinks it is important to understand how many elderly deaths are under-reported which emphasizes why it is as important for those over sixty with weaker immune systems to get vaccinated each flu season as it is for young children whose immune systems are not developed.Click for report.

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