Earthquake mystery
By DENNIS APRILL, Outdoors Columnist
On Saturday, April 20 at approximately 6:45 a.m., I was at a nearby pond checking my photo hunter camera setup. Ducks floated peacefully on the water; a beaver swam around in the distance. I returned home and once inside was greeted by the shaking and loud rumble of a 5.1 magnitude earthquake.
Its epicenter, I later learned, was not far away.
After the shaking stopped and just before checking for damage, I glanced out at the pond. The beaver was still swimming about, but the ducks had just taken off in flight. Inside, our cats had disappeared under the bed. But, immediately before the quake there was no warning, no indication from these animals or birds of what was to come.
In the past, I had read where animals could sense an earth tremor or quake before it happens. From my experience, it didn’t happen this time.
Maybe it was a shallow quake, different from the major inner-earth plate movements in California, or maybe the animals are just not experienced enough with earthquakes to sense them in advance, or maybe my particular animals were exceptions to the rule.
If anyone has answers, please let me know at the Outdoors Web site or via e-mail.