Hundreds of elephants found dead in Botswana - BBC

Below is a link, currently on the front page of the BBC News website....

Apparently 100's of elephants in Botswana have suddenly, and mysteriously died. Alarmingly (scaremongering?) the article suggests it could be a precursor to a new pandemic, why/how they can jump to this conclusion i'm not sure!

Taken from the article:-

Either way, without knowing the source, it is impossible to rule out the possibility of a disease crossing into the human population - especially if the cause is in either the water sources or the soil. Dr McCann points to the Covid-19 pandemic, which is believed to have started in animals.
"Yes, it is a conservation disaster - but it also has the potential to be a public health crisis," he said.

Elephants dying - BBC

Meanwhile in the southern US, we now have a Bunny Ebola pandemic!

Seriously.... No Kidding

Apparently it's spreading like wildfire. They're trying but they can't seem to get vacines to the US fast enough.

A highly contagious rabbit virus has spread to seven Southwestern states since April.

One veterinarian nicknamed the disease "bunny Ebola" because it causes severe internal bleeding in rabbits, hares, and pikas.

Thousands of wild and domestic rabbits have died in the US during this outbreak, which experts say is not under control.

C'mon 2020... What else you got!

a reply to: StallionDuck

I know right, my first thought being a paranoid type that I am, is that this is an ecological sign, like mass whale beachings, bird deaths, etc, that the Earth is in big trouble. Mother nature has had enough kinda thing.

It's late here in the UK so I'll check back in tomorrow. Hopefully it hasn't spread worldwide by then.

originally posted by: StallionDuck
Meanwhile in the southern US, we now have a Bunny Ebola pandemic!

Seriously.... No Kidding

Apparently it's spreading like wildfire. They're trying but they can't seem to get vacines to the US fast enough.

A highly contagious rabbit virus has spread to seven Southwestern states since April.

One veterinarian nicknamed the disease "bunny Ebola" because it causes severe internal bleeding in rabbits, hares, and pikas.

Thousands of wild and domestic rabbits have died in the US during this outbreak, which experts say is not under control.

C'mon 2020... What else you got!

Thats more than likely just calicivirus ... its basically the rabbit version of Ebola, kinda, nothing to do with covid or anything like that and highly highly highly unlikely to ever jump to humans... here in NZ a bunch of farmers smuggled the virus into the country 20 years ago or so to control wild rabbits without the governments consent now its a problem for pet rabbits and rabbit farmers.

Basically Farmers are idiots...

As for the Elephants, who knows, but i doubt its linked to anything covid, thats more than likly an impossibility any way... just because something happens and its mysterious doesnt mean its linked to anything else thats happening at the same time nor that it will remain mysterious, and even if the covid issue happening now never happened those Elephants might and probably would have still died mysteriously and no one would have blinked an eye.

The artical mentions the Dr 'tentatively' rules out natural anthrax... which killed 100 elephants the year before... ie, he doesnt want to say its natural anthrax but it could be natural anthrax all the same (given the precedent), and anthrax is bad for humans too ie a health risk to not just elephants... so no this has nothing to do with covid, or new plagues etc etc.

originally posted by: BigfootNZ

As for the Elephants, who knows, but i doubt its linked to anything covid, thats more than likly an impossibility any way... just because something happens and its mysterious doesnt mean its linked to anything else thats happening at the same time nor that it will remain mysterious, and even if the covid issue happening now never happened those Elephants might and probably would have still died mysteriously and no one would have blinked an eye.

Cats and dogs and lions have caught it.
It's not beyond possibility

Maybe covid is just really bad for trunks.

a reply to: doorhandle

Me being a mad conspiracy theorist i hope it has nothing to do with threads about ariel spraying being pulled like mad at other places and midgets making videos ?





good find op

a reply to: BigfootNZ

Not sure the article was linking it to covid in anyway, rather using covid as a (flavour of the month) reference as to how such diseases (if it is a disease) can potentially pass over to humans.

They have no idea what is causing the deaths, but being a conspiracy forum I thought it made good 'doom porn' reading, something to get our imaginations running a bit, could be anything could be nothing.

Reading that bunny ebola article was funny and terrifying, if anything like that had covid like contagiousness and could pass to humans we'd be in trouble.

Night all. Door.

have the elephants been examined for bullet holes, that disease has been rampant in Africa for decades! if there are holes and missing tusks then no mystery. just offering an alternitive, not good either way

a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

Can you imagine the congestion you would have if you had a trunk? Allergy season would be a nightmare.

Since other mammals have caught Covid, I would think it is a real possibility. Imagine the length of the swab you would need to test an elephant!

originally posted by: Krahzeef_Ukhar

originally posted by: BigfootNZ

As for the Elephants, who knows, but i doubt its linked to anything covid, thats more than likly an impossibility any way... just because something happens and its mysterious doesnt mean its linked to anything else thats happening at the same time nor that it will remain mysterious, and even if the covid issue happening now never happened those Elephants might and probably would have still died mysteriously and no one would have blinked an eye.

Cats and dogs and lions have caught it.
It's not beyond possibility

Maybe covid is just really bad for trunks.

As i just added to my post...

The artical mentions the Dr 'tentatively' rules out natural anthrax... which killed 100 elephants the year before... ie, he doesnt want to say its natural anthrax but it could be natural anthrax all the same (given the precedent), and anthrax is bad for humans too ie a health risk to not just elephants... so no this has nothing to do with covid, or new plagues etc etc.

its more than likely natural anthrax poisoning again, they just cant say for sure until the tests are back.

Also sure felines have caught covid, a very very very small number that is, have caught covid (and there are alot of cats around in the world, and they tend to not follow hygiene practices like we do so the fact so few ie only a handful have caught it means alot), after all disease can jump hosts but its pretty damn rare and even if it does jump hosts it might not live to long or even be a problem for the new host. ie its just a small flash in the pan mutation.

a reply to: BigfootNZ
You're probably right.
I'll ease my panicking for now.

I'm definitely watching for elephant news now though.

a reply to: BigfootNZ
Anthrax isn't contagious.

Every one of those 100 elephants would have had to interact with it. Potentially they all walked past a carcass but that's pretty unlucky.

Let's face it.

This is just yet another case of elephant on elephant crime being hidden by the media.

originally posted by: doorhandle
Reading that bunny ebola article was funny and terrifying, if anything like that had covid like contagiousness and could pass to humans we'd be in trouble.

Night all. Door.

Well technically thats Ebola in humans too... thing is, Ebola is ebola and ebola is ebola because it does what ebolas does... thing is what ebola does makes ebola far less of a threat than most other disease. Terrible way to die, but little chance of it ever becoming a global pandemic, unless humanity goes full on tarded about it or it gets a serious mutation in its commutability (and given how quickly ebola kills and the places ebola tends to pop up in those mutations have little chance of get very far)

Ebola kills rapidly, is easy to avoid catching since its passed on mostly by fecal matter and blood and touching the corpse (with such matter on it)... which i might add is the primary reason it kills high numbers in the places it pops up from time to time in Africa due to local customs requiring you to clean the corpses of the dead for burial etc person dies, family prepares the body for burial they all get it, they die so on and so forth... village wiped out. but it never goes beyond that location simply due to how fast it kills, and if it does its easily contained with strick containment... and given it pops up only in isolated regions days of hard travel from other places usually every ones dead before help arrives which stops the spread.

For Rabbits though, being rabbits and large close proximity collonies... something like Ebola (their version, which may even have a longer life span) means similar to the isolated african village its a total wipe out of the colony.

originally posted by: Krahzeef_Ukhar
a reply to: BigfootNZ
Anthrax isn't contagious.

Anthrax is found in soil, and the spores can live up to 48 years... what do you think elephants stick there trunks into all the time...

All the elephants might have been using a communal watering hole or similar location that has a high level of anthrax in the soil, the problem is finding out where that is so humans can avoid the area... they could even spread spores to other watering holes.

a reply to: BigfootNZ
I'm basing all my knowledge on a conspiracy book about the anthrax attacks back in the day.

I thought it was a decaying corpse thing. If its in dirt I've got no argument.

Such sad news.

Also saw this article related to it:

Local witnesses say some elephants were seen walking around in circles, which is an indication of neurological impairment. “If you look at the carcasses, some of them have fallen straight on their face, indicating they died very quickly. Others are obviously dying more slowly, like the ones that are wandering around. So it’s very difficult to say what this toxin is,” said McCann.

Elephants of all ages and both sexes have been dying, local reports found. Several live elephants appeared weak and emaciated, suggesting more will die in the coming weeks. The true number of deaths is likely to be even higher because carcasses can be difficult to spot, say conservationists.

www.theguardian.com...

a reply to: BigfootNZ

Anthrax is found in soil, and the spores can live up to 48 years

Correct, there is an island 0.6 miles off the coast of Scotland called Gruinard Island where the British government tested the feasibility of a bioweapon attack using anthrax spores. The island was dangerous for all mammals after experiments with the anthrax bacterium in 1942, until it was decontaminated after 48 years quarantine.

This is really sad, such intelligent creatures

I wont begin to guess the cause.

www.thecut.com...

ohhhh the count is now up to 350 that is a lot of elephants since early may...all ages and both sexes and 70% clustered around water holes.... anthrax poisoning ruled out and sometimes poachers use cyanide but none of the scavengers that eat off the carcasses are sick or dying.

some are found face down dead like they suddenly collapsed....some are found wandering around emaciated. Samples have been sent out to be tested but is it slow with the covid restriction having an effect....they don't think this is covid.....but poison or pathogen most likely

we should keep an eye on this




a reply to: vonclod

originally posted by: research100
www.thecut.com...

ohhhh the count is now up to 350 that is a lot of elephants since early may...all ages and both sexes and 70% clustered around water holes.... anthrax poisoning ruled out and sometimes poachers use cyanide but none of the scavengers that eat off the carcasses are sick or dying.

some are found face down dead like they suddenly collapsed....some are found wandering around emaciated. Samples have been sent out to be tested but is it slow with the covid restriction having an effect....they don't think this is covid.....but poison or pathogen most likely

we should keep an eye on this




a reply to: vonclod

With that percentage around the water, it is probably something in the water. I would think either bacterial or viral would take longer to kill. You would not find them face down in the water like that, unless it drives them to go to the water hole to drink.

Maybe a chemical or some natural gases in the water?