River toxin may be link to dogs' deaths -- A toxin never before found in New Zealand
Ray Lopez Braindead Killfile the Pest
River toxin may be link to dogs' deaths
The Dominion Post | Monday, 14 May 2007
A toxin never before found in New Zealand is the prime suspect in the
deaths of at least five dogs in the Hutt River area.
A Greater Wellington regional council study has revealed the emergence of
the toxin after investigating a toxic algae in the region's rivers during
the spring and summer of 2005 and 2006.
Council environmental science team leader Juliet Milne said the toxic algae
found in rivers in the Wellington region in 2005 and 2006 was nothing new.
What was new was the discovery of a particular toxin in the algal mats.
The summer of 2005-2006 had been ideal for algae growth, with long dry
spells meaning fewer "freshes" came through the river system to clean
things out.
Wainuiomata had its longest dry spell in spring since records began in
1890.
"What we had in the Wellington region was a dense growth of mats on the
riverbed which, in the case of the Hutt River ... became exposed when river
levels dropped," Ms Milne said.