Methane the link between mass animal die-offs?

Methane Gas Theory

METHANE - ANIMAL AND FISH MYSTERY SOLVED - BUT WHY ISN'T THE MEDIA COVERING THIS? 

Earth Energy,

Since 2011 something inexplicable has been happening to our planet. On January 5, 2011 5,000 blackbirds in Beebe, Arkansas fell dead out of the sky. The explanation was firecrackers. Tests were conducted on the birds and it was discovered that something had dissolved their insides, yet the media was told firecrackers frightened the birds to death. When have you seen a bird die from a firecracker noise? Frightening reports continued to pour in of millions of fish found dead on shores around the globe. As of 2013, the reports are still coming in. On January 17, 2013 South Carolina reported in two separate incidents that thousands of fish washed up on shores dead. And I'm sure you've heard about the mysterious noises and booms reported worldwide in the past two years. No doubt we are being warned of an event coming our way.  
These are just a few of the reports from 2011 before the 9.0 earthquake in Japan. 

1. 100,000 fish in Arkansas

A tugboat operator discovered hundreds of thousands of dead drum fish blanketing the Arkansas River on Dec. 30. While authorities say fish kills occur every year, it's odd that only one species was affected in this one. "If it was from a pollutant, it would have affected all of the fish, not just drum fish," said Keith Stephens of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Officials suspect disease is to blame.

2. 100 tons of fish in Brazil

Brazilian news site Parana-Online reported that up to 100 tons of dead fish have washed ashore in the coastal towns of South America since Dec. 30, panicking the fishing community and leaving wildlife experts puzzled. The region's coordinator of Civil Defense, suggesting that an environmental imbalance or leaked chemicals might be the culprit, has discouraged Brazilians from ingesting the fish.

3. Millions of fish in Maryland

Cold water may also be the cause of death for an estimated 2 million fish in Chesapeake Bay. The fish, which normally migrate to warmer waters this time of year, began washing ashore last week. The Maryland Department of the Environment has admitted it's puzzled.

4. 500 birds in Louisiana

Hundreds of blackbird carcasses littered a quarter-mile stretch of road in Labarra, La., on Jan. 3 after they inexplicably fell from the sky.Authorities speculate that the birds may have hit power lines or buildings. State Wildlife Veterinarian Jim LaCour is not feeling apocalyptic, noting that there have been 16 similar mass blackbird deaths in the past 30 years: "It's not terribly unusual." (Watch a local report about the dead birds)
5. "A carpet" of snapper fish in New Zealand

Beachgoers at Little Bay and Waikawau Bay in New Zealand found "a carpet" of dead snapper floating in the water on Jan. 4, many of which were missing their eyes. The New Zealand Department of Conservation speculates that the fish starved because of bad weather conditions.

6. Hundreds of starlings and robins in Kentucky 

A woman in Gilbertsville, Ky., reportedly woke to find dozens of dead birds in her yard on Jan. 4. "I've never seen anything like it," the woman said. "It's really creepy." A spokesman for the local Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed that hundreds of birds, including grackles, starlings, and robins, had been found "scattered around" the town. The birds did not appear to have been poisoned or diseased, and show no signs of trauma.

7. 40,000 crabs in England

Thousands of velvet swimming crabs washed up dead on the shores of Kent in Britain on Jan. 5. Experts think cold weather might be to blame, as this has been the region's coldest December in more than 100 years. "It just goes to show that all animals are affected by freezing conditions — not just us humans," noted local resident Nicholas Branson in The Daily Mail.

8. Jackdaws in Sweden

Roughly 50 birds were found dead on a residential street in the Swedish town of Falkoeping on Jan. 5. The dead jackdaws showed no visible injuries, prompting veterinary officials to speculate about poisoning or disease. The BBC reports there were no loud fireworks or storms in the area that could have startled the birds.

 THE REASON FOR THE MYSTERIOUS ANIMAL AND FISH DEATHS WORLDWIDE   

Methane is nontoxic on its own but can become lethal when it combines with another gas. Methane causes asphyxiation by displacing oxygen. It may produce symptoms of dizziness and headache, but these often go unnoticed until the brain signals the body to gasp for air. This happens too late, and the individual collapses. Because of the lack of oxygen, the result is usually death.

After noting the deaths, I believe natural methane gas is the cause for these animal deaths. Our planet is going through a massive changes and I believe we are being warned of a huge event, possibly a shift of the planet's poles.


Methane causes asphyxiation - exactly what happened to the California fish today - and also liquefication, the same thing that happened to some of those birds, but it isn't deadly until it mixes with other gases. Here is an article that explains in detail the animal deaths related to methane release:


If you figure in the vast number of newly reported earthquakes in "diverse places", volcano's, fissures (cracks) in the earth's crust, sinkholes, and even seepage of methane and sulfur dioxide from pockets along the sea floor....add to that reported magnetic disturbances, increase in solar flare activity (Coronal Mass Ejections), something is going to happen--Earth is a bit unstable and is telling us something if we listen.


As The Real Agenda informed readers, it has been reported by (Kvenvolden and Rogers, 2005; Solomon, Susan et al., 2010; Blake and Rowland, 1988: Bousquet, P. et al.,2006; Chandler, David 2008) that the presence of methane gas in the atmosphere increased continuously, tripling over the past 300 years.  Researcher Andrea Silverthorne asked NASA’s David Rind about the existence and consequences of water vapor – an oxidant of methane gas- in the atmosphere.  Rind had written an article on his concerns about water vapour’s rise in our atmosphere back in 1998.  During an e-mail exchange with Mr. Rind, Silverthorne posed the question on whether the BP oil spill had increased gas emissions, but Rind refused to answer on anything that could relate the oil spill to the release of gases into the air.

Keith Kvenvolden, a former USGS, retired employee, wrote a paper in 2004 about the gigantic amounts of methane coming from the ocean floor in places where Petroleum was extracted.  Published on the Marine and Petroleum Geology Journal, Kvenvolden points to observations of “the ‘world’s most spectacular marine hydrocarbon seeps off Coal Oil Point, California”.  The paper also details methane seepage out of mud volcanoes in areas where petroleum reserves are located.  These are formed by mud, water and methane gas.

According to an investigation conducted by researcher Andrea Silverthorne, “Methane gas oxidizes in the atmosphere first to a transitory toxic substance call methanol and then moves to formaldehyde and water vapor. Both are very dangerous gases, because formaldehyde is toxic, and water vapor traps heat.” Silverthorne cites a report published in Science Daily, about methane levels increasing by 27 million tons in 2007 (European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).

Further research on the existence and influence of methane in the atmosphere, conducted by Kelly Chance and Thomas P. Kurosu, of the Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, revealed that “formaldehyde levels in the atmosphere were consistent with ground levels, and that they were highest in the summer in hotter areas”. Formaldehyde is one of the heaviest gases out there, and it is the product of methane oxidation at high levels.  “Methane gas is lighter and is usually located in areas where it turns cooler. Once the oxidation is complete, the gas falls to earth because it is so much heavier,” writes Silverthorne.

Researchers Chance and Kurosu attribute increasing formaldehyde levels to methane oxidation, although they think such increase is due to the presence of isoprene exhaled by trees, as it too oxidizes to formaldehyde.

In 2000, scientists in Greenland who measured air/gas exchange for formaldehyde and hydrogen peroxide, discovered that formaldehyde remained at rest during the night hours and began oxidizing during the day, as soon as the sun appeared at dawn.  In 2003 and 2004, scientists returned to Greenland to look at earlier spring and mid-summer levels.  They found out that the warmer it got the higher the release of formaldehyde was into the air.

But high concentrations of formaldehyde do not limit themselves to air.  In 2006, scientists working in Turkey, who had studied formaldehyde levels in water, reported they found formaldehyde in liquid deposits as well as snow. “Wet deposit may be a significant source of HCHO to aquatic systems since concentrations in rainwater are expected to be higher than in surface waters”.  Their revelations noted that formaldehyde goes from water to the air and back. After it returns to the water, it forms methane diol (formalin), the toxic preservative used in laboratories. Their report went further to say that wind decreased deposition rates while humidity increased them. Scientists suggested further study of HCHO degradation in water.

So how would formaldehyde affect a bird, frog, fish or goose? According to researcher Andrea Silverthorne: “Even in low levels formaldehyde causes immune reactions. As levels go higher it can cause hypothermia, asphyxiation, and ultimately acidosis, which literally eats you from the inside out.”  This description matches what scientists have been describing in almost all cases where birds, geese, bats and other small animals have died mysteriously.  She goes on to say that: “formaldehyde ingested through water is the worst form of poisoning. Bats drink water in dark caves.  Frogs probably also drink water in their natural environment and so do birds.  Fish would probably be the first and most affected creatures in an environment poisoned with formaldehyde, because they live every second of their lives inside the water.

Wouldn’t animals and fish have the ability to smell the formaldehyde and run for their lives?  According to a study done by the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) for the United Nations, formaldehyde does not smell until it reaches 3ppm. Studies made in Brazil -one of the location affected by mass fish death- revealed that concentrations as low as 1.25 ppm, well below the countries legal limit, caused breath impairment.  Other studies completed earlier than the one in Brazil, determined that formaldehyde in water reduces oxygen levels. (Morgan, Kevin T. 1984).  Apparently, methane seeps in ocean water -as described by Kvenvolden – oxidizing too.

So, we have the plausible origin and presence of optimum concentrations. Don’t we need somehow that dangerous levels existed everywhere to cause mass deaths such as the ones we’ve witnessed?  Gases travel easily across the planet through wind patterns. High local concentrations or moving columns of formaldehyde around the planet would be effective to cause mass animal deaths.  According to the report by the International Programme on Chemical Safety:

Formaldehyde is naturally formed in the troposphere during the oxidation of hydrocarbons. These react with OH radicals and ozone to form formaldehyde and/or other aldehydes as intermediates in a series of reactions that ultimately lead to the formation of carbon monoxide and dioxide, hydrogen, and water (Zimmermann et al., 1978; Calvert, 1980).

Of the hydrocarbons found in the troposphere, methane occurs in the highest concentration (1.18 mg/m in the northern hemisphere. Thus, it provides the single most important source of formaldehyde (Lowe et al., 1981).

To this statement we can add Silverthorne’s information that methane has a 9 year shelf life, so the current mass death of animals could go for as long as 9 years.

“The BP gas spill, combined with already high levels -it was probably worse in Arkansas because you have methane seeps going on there from the seismic activity- making it worse.  Methane does go south through the water even though it takes a very long time to mix south through the air, and methane migrates back and forth to the poles every summer, so it will, in our hemisphere, move north,  most likely over the Midwest and India, although the great excess is changing wind current patterns.“

In her research paper published on The Real Agenda, Andrea Silverthorne also presents the case of the bee mass disappearance that became relevant for the main stream media only months ago.  She writes: “bees are succumbing to parasites and virus where before they were not, and bees are susceptible to acidosis; they go through it safely in the larva stage. That is why there are no bee bodies to find, in all probability. They may have been literally dissolved with acid, from acidosis created by high formaldehyde levels.“

Are world governments conducting studies to test formaldehyde levels in soil, snow, fog, frost, dew, rivers, lakes, ponds, streams . . . and seas — both at night and during the day?  Are scientists focusing on the existence of toxic formaldehyde in the air, given that it can cause animal and certainly human poisoning in such minute concentrations?  Is formaldehyde gas in the air, water and snow the explanation no one has looked into for the mass death of birds, fish, bats and frogs? (Most media attribute it to fireworks, storms and space clouds.  None of which explains the destruction of internal organs and tissues.  Formaldehyde poisoning does.).

Here are some of Ms. Silverthorne’s important assertions:

Formaldehyde, like water, seeks its own level, rising higher and higher until it floods the lungs of all living breathing life, maintaining a level of .29 ppm, so we never smell it, but die from chronic exposure. Extinction by formaldehyde gas would explain why small animals die first as a group and then larger ones die— as a group. Is this why our children, who hang out closer to the floor, play outside and sit on the snow and ground more, are experiencing dramatically increasing immune and allergen disorders?

But more important than any question we can raise is the fact none of us animals can escape a gas that circulates in the air, descends to the ground at night and goes right back up during the day.  We need to breathe in order to live.  When will humans time come to die as a group?


I believe, we all need to be prepared for an event or events coming this year. Have extra food, water and emergency supplies on hand. You may have to put everything you need in a backpack and leave on foot. Trust your intuition, trust the animals, and trust earth to warn you. Stay safe.  Betsey