Rare Antelope Deaths Linked to Spacecraft
1,000 die in Kazakhstan over two weeks
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Scientists are blaming spacecraft for the deaths of nearly 1,000 rare saiga antelope over the past two weeks in Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan Ministry of Agriculture has attributed the deaths to a strain of bacteria that affects the animal’s lungs. But some ecologists are linking the deaths to a Russian space capsule that landed in the northern part of the country in April. Others are blaming the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in central Kazakhstan. “It could be from chemical elements left from space rockets that fly over this place,” said ecologist Musagali Duambekov, leader of the For a Green Planet political movement. Last year, Kazakh officials attributed the death of 12,000 of the critically endangered antelope to the same strain of bacteria.
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