Biological Hazard – Unexplained Mass Die-off: Kazakhstan Saiga Antelope
Biological/Eco-System Hazard – Mass Die-off (Land Mammals)
Map of Kazakhstan. Source: Nations Online Project.
Asia – Kazakhstan | Nationwide
Location: 48°01’10.4″N 66°55’25.3″E
Bio-hazard Level: 4/4 – Extreme
Deaths: 150,00+
Affected: unknown
NBC News, Sep 3, 2015 (emphasis added): Now, the researchers have found clues as to how more than half of the [Kazakhstan saiga antelope] herd, counted at 257,000 as of 2014, died so rapidly. Bacteria clearly played a role in the saigas’ demise. But exactly how these normally harmless microbes could take such a toll is still a mystery, [Steffen Zuther, with the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative] said. “The extent of this die-off, and the speed it had, by spreading throughout the whole calving herd and killing all the animals, this has not been observed for any other species,” Zuther said. “It’s really unheard of.”… Tissue samples revealed that toxins, produced by Pasteurella and possibly Clostridia bacteria, caused extensive bleeding in most of the animals’ organs. But Pasteurella is found normally [and] usually doesn’t cause harm unless the animals have weakened immune systems.
Live Science, Sep 2, 2015: [In] four days, the entire herd — about 60,000 saigas — had died off. Workers struggled to keep up with the mass dying, quickly burying the animals that died in heaps. Scientists were completely baffled… necropsies revealed that bacterial toxins from a few species of pathogen had caused bleeding in all of the animals’ internal organs… [Pasteurella] rarely causes harm unless their immune system has already been weakened by something else. And genetic analysis suggested this was a garden-variety pathogenic form of the microbe, which has never caused such a rapid, stunning and complete crash in a population before. All told, more than 150,000 saiga have died [which] may be an underestimate, as that number only counts saiga who have been buried…
New York Times, May 29, 2015: The numbers and images that describe a mass dying of the critically endangered saiga… in the Betpak-dala region of Kazakhstan are stunning. Hastily bulldozed pits brim with corpses… The enormous new saiga die-off is particularly devastating… there had been previous die-offs… in 1955, 1956, 1958, 1967, 1969, 1974, 1981 and 1988.
Richard Kock, Royal Veterinary College: “It’s very dramatic and traumatic, with 100-percent mortality…. I know of no example in history with this level of mortality.”
BBC, Jun 1, 2015: An unknown environmental trigger is thought to have caused two types of normally benign bacteria found in the antelopes’ gut to turn deadly… “Over two days (in the herd I was studying) 80% of the calving population died,” [Zuther] told the BBC. The whole herd then died within two weeks… Two different bacteria, pasteurelosis and clostridia, have been found in every dead animal studied. These bacteria are naturally found in the animals… so something must have reduced the immunity of the animals… “There’s no infectious disease that can work like this,” said Prof Kock… 
losing 100% percent of some populations within two weeks “doesn’t make any sense” from a biological or evolutionary perspective, Prof Kock said… all individuals affected by the sudden die-off are from the largest remaining Betpak-dala population…
U.S. National Research Council, 2001: Radionuclide Contamination at Kazakhstan’s Semipalatinsk Test Site — 498 nuclear tests were conducted [and] vented underground detonations occurred through 1989… some Kazakh scientists opine that residual radioactivity is responsible for ongoing health impacts… Pathologies in cohorts born after the atmospheric tests appeared to be significantly higher… [Prof. Saim Balmukhanov, the prominent director of the Institute of Oncology] made a particular case that various pathways of exposure to plutonium particles from the soil may be a causative agent… There is little doubt that people living in the STS region suffer from a range of adverse health effects, including high rates of infectious and noninfectious diseases, cancer, and hematological disorders… The STS is located in the plains of the dry Eurasian steppe… Steppe fauna includes… the migratory saiga antelope… [I]nformation exists suggesting that plants at the test site can hyperaccumlate radionuclides… During meetings with ecologists from Kazakhstan State National University a claim was made that in the past, there were 100 species of higher plants at the STS, now there are fewer than 40. Many animal species have disappeared…
Full BBC broadcast here (starts at 17:45 in)
Published: September 8th, 2015 at 6:30 pm ET
By ENENews
Biological Hazard in Kazakhstan
Saturday, 05 September, 2015 at 04:36 UTC
An increasingly rare species of antelope called the saiga may be roaming its last days in the wild. Native to the grassy steppes of Kazakhstan and nearby regions, populations of the critically endangered species have suffered one catastrophic die-off after the next over the past 15 years. About 60,000 of the creatures died in four days alone in May 2015, Tia Ghose of Live Science reports. Conservationist and ecologist Steffen Zuther told Ghose that the speed, spread, and severity of the yet-unexplained killings “has not been observed for any other species,” Zuther said. “It’s really unheard of.” However, the recent deaths are only one event in the species’ alarming, recent, and mysterious decline. Keep scrolling to learn more about the majestic animals — and what might be causing their imminent extinction.
Friday, 04 September, 2015 at 03:36 (03:36 AM) UTC.
When 60,000 critically endangered saiga antelope dropped dead in central Kazakhstan in June, it had to have been a major bummer for the veterinarians who had just arrived to study the herd. Those wildlife vets have since become detectives, trying to unravel an Agatha Christie-worthy puzzle. Now they think they have a culprit, but it’s a baffling one. According to a new report by Live Science, harmless gut bacteria seem to have done the saiga in. As the dieoff ran its course over several apocalyptic days, field workers were on the ground taking environmental samples and conducting necropsies. An extensive analysis has since revealed that toxins produced by Pasteurella and possibly Clostridia bacteria caused extensive bleeding in the animals’ organs. Pasteurella is a typical gut bacteria found in saigas and other ruminants, and it shouldn’t cause harm unless the animals have weakened immune systems. Some strains of Clostridia do cause disease, but genetic analyses have only turned up the harmless, garden variety bugs. Clearly, something else seems to have happened for normally benign bacteria to wreak so much havoc. One possibility, according to wildlife vet and lead investigator Steffen Zuther, is that an exceptionally cold, hard winter, followed by a very wet spring caused the bacteria to become widespread in the environment. Perhaps herd immunity was also weakened this year, by an environmental cause not yet determined. It’s worth noting that many animal populations fluctuate in regular “boom and bust” cycles. For instance, the population density of Canadian snowshoe hares will rise and fall up to 25 fold over the course of 8 to 11 years. A report published in 2009 in the Journal of Animal Ecology found stress – whether from predation, disease, or food scarcity – to be the underlying cause. It’s possible that saiga have also evolved to weather cyclical dieoffs. As Live Science notes, there have been several population crashes in recent decades, including a famous 1988 event that claimed 400,000 saiga lives. At the time, researchers attributed the dieoff to Pasteurellosis – a disease caused by Pasteurella bacteria – and performed no further investigations. But whether this is natural or not, there’s reason to be worried. As of 2014 there were only 257,000 saiga remaining on Earth. Since June of 2015, that number has dropped by half (during the demise of the 60,000-strong herd, smaller population crashes were occurring elsewhere in Kazakhstan.) It isn’t clear that the species can take many more hits.
See Also
Biological Hazard in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, 17 December, 2014 at 04:37 (04:37 AM) UTC.
A mysterious sleeping illness has fallen on the residents of a remote Kazakhstan village which caused suffers to sleep for days at a time. For the past four years, residents in the village of Kalachi have been afflicted by the disorder, which also causes dizziness, nausea, hallucinations and memory loss. So far more than 100 of the town’s 600 residents have experienced the illness, the Russian Times reports. “I’m weak, my legs feel heavy, as if I’m wearing a hundred pairs of boots, and my head is spinning,” one sufferer said. Other patients claim they behave “like they’re drunk” and that it’s difficult to call for help as “your tongue gets twisted”. In a recent case, an ambulance worker told the news agency that 20 people fainted and slept for several days: “At least 60 at once in the winter … we laid them in rows”. Doctors claim the illness is caused by excessive fluid on the brain, but many locals believe toxic wind emanating from a nearby uranium mine – which has since been shut down – may be behind the mystery. However, former mine workers have not experienced the disorder. A test of the village’s water, soil and vegetation supply has not identified anything unusual or abnormal.
Source: RSOE EDIS
Head Space 