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Jun 16, 2009 04:50 PM | 9
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Venom has now joined violence on Iraq’s danger list.
As the country’s waterways run dry, snakes are moving into human territory, The Independent reported yesterday. Poisonous reptiles—including the saw-scaled viper, desert horned viper and desert cobra—are attacking humans and livestock in southern Iraq at an unprecedented rate.
Snakes that thrived in moist marshes in the country are now fleeing their parched habitats for nearby towns. Six people have been killed and 13 poisoned, along with the losses of countless cows. "I will leave the region if this continues," Jabbar Salleh, a farmer in the southern province of Nasiriyah, told the AFP earlier this month.
Iraqi officials accuse Turkey of blocking water from crossing the border with a series of dams built over the last 30 years. The flow of both the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers has slowed substantially—the Euphrates carrying about a quarter of what it did less than a decade ago.
Iraq’s water reserves at the beginning of May were 11 billion cubic meters (385 billion cubic feet). Just three years ago, reserves held 40 billion cubic meters of water. Less rain, coupled with more water diversions for irrigation, is also to blame for increased water pollution and a decrease in agricultural production.
Iraq is pleading with its upstream neighbors—Turkey, Syria and Iran—to let more water flow southward. As The Independent put it, “the result of Iraq being starved of water may be one of the world's greatest natural disasters, akin to the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest.”
Photo by eROMAZe via iStockPhoto.
Tags:
euphrates,
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iraq,
turkey,
snakes,
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9 Comments
Add Comment'Poisonous' reptiles? Surely these are 'Venomous' reptiles. . .
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthe result of Iraq being starved of water may be one of the world's greatest natural disasters, akin to the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf upstream neighborsTurkey, Syria and Iranare hindering the water flow southward then It's hardly a 'natural' disaster now is it?
Another milestone to add to corporate America's war achievement. Pentagonians can pu this in their resume. After all they are acheiving their nobel objective (death) without using bombs and bullets.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEx-president BUSH and ex-vice president CHANEY are very evil people. When you have evil of that magnitude ravaging a country, you should always expect remanents. It is very sad for the victims of these two evil people and the good laws should send their remanents back to them and bring them before a war crimes tribunal.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe marshes were initially drained by Saddam Hussien in the early to mid 1990's after the first gulf war to punish the "marsh arabs" in S. Iraq. He constructed a concrete lined canal of some length to keep water from the marshes. Since Saddam has been out of power, the Iraqis have begun to take measures to restore the marshes. It remains to be seen if that will be successful. Former President Bush & Vice-President Cheney, corporate America & the military had nothing to do with it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks for this blog. Pretty ironic considering Iraq has the worlds second highest reserves of oil, at 200+ billion barrels of high-grade crude. If that resource begins to diminish, we might just see the world take notice - or then again, less notice. Which could be a good thing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFighting for my country was the best honor thing i could ever do, with or without the snakes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFighting for my country was a huge honor, with or without the snakes!!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is not good to know that snakes are now entering the residential areas and 6 people have already been killed by venomous <a href="http://www.venomoussnakes.net/snakebites.htm">snakes bites</a>. I hope that the authorities will find a way to get rid of these snakes as soon as possible from the residential areas.
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