- Thousands of toads are exploding in central Denmark and
northern Germany. Environmental factors or an unknown disease may cause
the phenomenon
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- Biblical plague, extraterrestrial bacteria, or climate
changes? Thousands of toads are exploding across northern Germany and central
Denmark, baffled animal experts report.
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- Hundreds of toads have begun to explode near a lake in
the town of Låsby in Mid-Jutland. According to reports, the toads
climb on to land, swell to up to three times their normal size, and burst,
casting their innards up to one metre in the air. A similar phenomenon
has also been reported in the German city of Hamburg, where authorities
report that over 1000 toads are dead.
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- Experts are at a loss to explain what is causing the
toads' painful deaths, which primarily take place between two and three
a.m.
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- 'It's like a science fiction film,' said Werner Smolnik,
a representative for a Hamburg animal welfare organisation. 'You can see
the animals crawling around on the ground, then they swell up, and finally
they burst.'
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- Frank Jensen, curator of Denmark's Museum of Natural
History, said to Denmark's TV2 that the mysterious deaths likely had an
earthly explanation, namely toxins found in fertilisers or changes in the
ozone layer.
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- The Danish Meteorological Institute warned yesterday
of increased ozone radiation reaching Denmark. Amphibians such as toads
and frogs are known to be sensitive to slight environmental changes.
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- While German authorities surmise that the gruesome deaths
are caused by bacterial or viral infection, they were still confounded
by the incident.
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- 'I have never seen anything like this,' said veterinarian
Otto Holst.
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