Rucus Sunday
Veteran Member
Just don't forget that people are prone to report only unusual behavior. There are probably a hell of a lot more people whose animals aren't acting strange.
I would think that if animals were any kind of reliable earthquake predictor, we'd have earthquake prediction labs with a couple hundred animals with behavior under constant analysis. I'm actually kind of surprised I've never heard of anyone trying that.
Agreed. Too many variables to be reliable. Still, I've heard too much anecdotal info to dismiss it altogether. Several years ago, just after the Nisqually quake here in W. Washington, a caller to a local news talk radio show recounted that 1 day prior to the quake he was on a stroll in the woods near his home in Olympia and saw 3 or 4 (can't remember exact number) deer near the trail acting very strange, like in a state of confusion. I remember him saying he'd never seen deer when on that trail before. One deer walked across the path about 10 feet in front of him like he wasn't even there and just kept walking off into the woods. Never forgot hearing that call. There were several other callers who reported similar very strange animal behavior in the days before the quake.