B.C. pet owner warns of blue-green algae dangers following dog's death
Kristin Awde's 15-year-old daughter and their young dog were playing in the yard on a sunny June day while Awde cleaned the windows on their summer home at Nicola Lake.
Their dog, an English springer spaniel named Romie, wandered down to the lake — not unusual for the pup, who'd been in the lake the day before. But when he emerged, his belly and mouth were covered in green slime.
"He looked disoriented and unwell and started vomiting," Awde told CBC's Radio West.
She and her daughter tried to clean Romie off, but when he lost consciousness, they got in the car and raced him to the vet for emergency care.
Romie died on the veterinarian's examination table, about 45 minutes after he'd entered the water, Awde said.
Now, she is warning others of the dangers algae pose for both pets and humans, and is working with her community to ensure there is some sort of oversight of the lake to make sure people know when it's unsafe to swim.
B.C. Parks and the Upper Nicola Band have issued warnings about the algae bloom in Nicola Lake, discouraging swimming and drinking lake water.
Interior Health Medical Health Officer Dr. Andy Delli Pizzi said in an email to CBC News that a sign is posted at the campgrounds and day use area at Monck Provincial Parks due to the history and risk associated with toxic algae blooms.
The Upper Nicola Band said in a July 1 Facebook post it is monitoring the lake.
"The water is sick and needs some time to heal," the band said. "Please continue to say prayers for the water as we continue to collect data to narrow in on mitigation measures to help the water."
The appearance of blooms of blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, can vary, and in some cases, they aren't even blue-green in colour.
Signs of blooms include a musty or earthy odour coming from the water and dead wildlife near the shores.
Blue-green algae multiplies quickly in warmer months and produces toxins that are poisonous to people and animals, according to Interior Health.
The health authority said boiling water does not remove the toxins, so if you get your water from a source contaminated with blue-green algae, it's best to find an alternate drinking source.
Symptoms from blue-green algae include headaches, nausea, fever, sore throat, dizziness, stomach cramping, vomiting, muscle aches, mouth ulcers and rashes.
Anyone who becomes unwell after contact with water that may be contaminated with blue-green algae is advised to seek immediate medical or veterinary advice.
Accountability
Awde said the Nicola Lake community gathered together Monday to discuss the algae bloom and how to prevent further illness and death.
She said the hope was that a detection system could be in place, and in the event a toxic bloom was discovered, some sort of mass communication could be shared with the community.
"A Facebook post can only go so far," Awde said.
She said they'd like to know someone is responsible for preventing and managing algae blooms.
"Right now, that seems to be not being managed properly by any government agency," Awde said. "We're at a bit of a loss to try to figure out how we can lobby for something like this to get into place."
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Canada Standard
an hour ago
- Canada Standard
Alcohol sales changed subtly after Canada legalized cannabis
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But there were no obvious effects from 2018's cannabis legalization. We also compared monthly sales during the 12 months before legalization versus the 12 after. This included national average sales by liquor retailers and beer producers. In both cases, sales trends showed no significant changes in October 2018. However, this research on Canada-wide sales was mainly designed to detect large changes. To find subtler ones, I focused on the province of Nova Scotia. When Canada legalized cannabis, most provinces banned liquor stores from selling it to avoid tempting alcohol drinkers into trying cannabis. Nova Scotia did the opposite. Its government-owned liquor corporation became the main cannabis retailer. After legalization in October 2018, most provincial liquor stores kept selling only alcohol, but some began selling cannabis as well. This unique situation prompted me to study the province's sales. I focused on the 17 months before and 17 months after legalization. The corporation's total alcohol sales initially fell in October 2018, then slowly regrew. As a result, monthly sales after legalization averaged about $500,000 below their earlier levels. More interestingly, the changes differed between the cannabis-selling stores and the alcohol-only ones. At the alcohol-only stores, sales immediately fell. They averaged $800,000 below previous levels. But at cannabis-sellers, alcohol sales began growing. Total monthly sales from October 2018 to February 2020 averaged $300,000 above earlier levels. The divergence in sales was larger for beers than for spirits or wines. Interestingly, alcohol-only stores located near cannabis-selling stores had changes similar to those located farther away, suggesting that cannabis-seller proximity didn't matter. My data can't say why the sales split occurred, but I can speculate. Consider the immediate sales drop at alcohol-only stores - this could suggest some consumers switched from alcohol to cannabis right after legalization. Meanwhile, the lack of a drop at cannabis sellers might mean some consumers simply changed where they shopped. Instead of visiting their local alcohol-only retailer, they went to cannabis sellers to shop for alcohol and cannabis together. The cannabis sellers' ongoing growth might reflect people increasingly buying cannabis from licensed stores instead of illegal dealers. They went to those stores to buy weed, but picked up some extra booze while they were there. My research so far has focused on the initial post-legalization period, from October 2018 to February 2020. I plan to study later periods next, when cannabis retailing was more widespread and perhaps more influential. That will be more challenging, however, because COVID-19 arrived in March 2020. The pandemic disrupted sales of alcohol, though not of cannabis. It will be tricky to separate cannabis effects from pandemic ones, or from Canadian consumers' evolving drinking habits in general. My guess is that cannabis legalization had little short-term impact on existing drinkers overall. Most Canadians didn't suddenly consume cannabis with their cabernet or replace vodka with vapes. Instead, we might see gradual long-term shifts. Young Canadians now reach legal age in a context where cannabis and alcohol are both allowed. Some folks who previously would have started drinking alcohol might now choose cannabis instead, or in addition. For now, alcohol drinking is still three times more common than cannabis use. Whether that continues, only time will tell.
