(OPINION) ETH – Everywhere you look, things are getting weird, and I don’t mean that in a good way. Throughout all of our ups and downs over the decades, one thing that our society could always count on for a certain degree of consistency was nature.
But now nature is going haywire at the same time that the very fabric of our society seems to be unraveling all around us. In this article, I am going to share with you a number of items that have been brought to my attention over the past month. On their own, each one of these items is “unusual”, but the fact that so many really strange things are all happening simultaneously is definitely a cause for alarm.
In this article, I am not even going to bring in stories from the rest of the globe. For example, right now a horrific plague of mice is causing massive problems in Australia. Perhaps I will talk about this in a future article, but in this one, I am just going to focus on this country. The following are 5 bizarre new plagues that have made headlines in the United States within the last 30 days…
#1 A Plague Of Rattlesnakes
The endless megadrought in our western states is having a lot of unexpected consequences, and this includes a plague of rattlesnakes. According to the Daily Mail, rattlesnakes have been moving into urban areas in California in large numbers because of the exceedingly dry conditions…
Much of the US west is currently undergoing a record heatwave and its worst drought in at least 20 years, with temperatures soaring into the triple digits this weekend, and wildlife experts are saying the extreme weather is creating the perfect conditions for increased interactions between humans and animals. Rattlesnakes, in particular, have been seen moving into urban areas in larger numbers, and are being found on porches, yards, nearby pools and under children’s play equipment. Len Ramirez catches rattlesnakes for a living, and he says that they are being found “everywhere” at this point…
Len Ramirez stalked through the dried landscape, scanning the ground ahead searching for movement. Called out to an estate in Napa Valley, the owner of Ramirez Rattlesnake Removal company was finishing up his last job of another busy day wrangling, removing and relocating snakes from homes across northern California. He’d found three in just this yard, including one nestled roughly 1,000 yards from the pool.
Rattlesnakes are everywhere these days, he says – on front porches, in potted plants, and under children’s play equipment. “I am busier than I have ever been. Complaints are coming in from all over the state.” According to Ramirez, there have been jobs that have required him to remove “more than 60 snakes at a time”. Unfortunately, this plague is likely to continue to get worse as long as the megadrought persists.
#2 A Plague Of Grasshoppers
The megadrought in our western states has also created a plague of grasshoppers. It turns out that the little critters absolutely love the hot, dry conditions, and they have been multiplying like crazy. Federal officials are extremely concerned, and they are gearing up for “their largest grasshopper-killing campaign since the 1980s”…
A punishing drought in the U.S. West is drying up waterways, sparking wildfires and leaving farmers scrambling for water. Next up: a plague of voracious grasshoppers. Federal agriculture officials are launching what could become their largest grasshopper-killing campaign since the 1980s amid an outbreak of the drought-loving insects that cattle ranchers fear will strip bare public and private rangelands.
#3 Birds Dropping Dead In Very Large Numbers
As I discussed last week, birds are suddenly dropping dead in very large numbers in multiple U.S. states. In Indiana, unusual bird deaths have now been reported in fifteen different counties, and authorities have absolutely no idea why this is happening… The Department of Natural Resources warns that songbirds have now died in fifteen counties across Indiana and more across the region.
“I’ve never seen them exhibit the gooey eyes and crustiness in addition to the neurological symptoms,” Allisyn Gillet, DNR ornithologist said. Gillet says she’s getting reports of nearly a dozen songbirds a week. in the last month, she says they’ve had at least 100 reports and no one knows exactly what’s causing it. In addition to Indiana, large numbers of birds are also dropping dead in Washington D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Ohio. FULL REPORT
