Jellyfish Invasion Raises Dog Safety Concerns

Observation by Michelle Kubalack, with help by Jackie Schaeffer:

As we all know after the flooding, jellyfish has been washed into town. A community member had to put her dog down yesterday because it ate a jellyfish and got really sick. Today they discovered that their other dog ate a jellyfish too and is suffering. Please keep an eye on your dogs so that they don't get into jellyfish.

LEO Says:

We reached out to a veterinarian in Fairbanks for some advice and insight. See below for Laurie's recommendation. Plus, local community member Brittany Sweeney offered very interesting insight with where the jellyfish were located compared to previous storms. If you are concerned about jelly fish in your dog yard, you can wear heavy gloves to prevent stings, pick them up and dispose of them in the trash or back into the sea.

Here are a few signs to look out for with dogs and jelly fish: Intense pain and redness at the sting site, swelling and inflammation, nausea and vomiting, difficulty breathing, erratic behavior or lethargy.

Consult by Laurie Meythaler-Mullins

The biggest thing with jellyfish is they can sting even a few hours after they die. A dog may try eating them and get stung in the mouth. This may cause the dog to excessively salivate or vomit. If this happens you can try rinsing the dog's mouth out with water. Hopefully they will learn quickly to stay away from.

Consult by Brittany Sweeney, USFWS (Community of Kotzebue)

What I thought was noteworthy was that the jellyfish were washed up on the lagoon side of town - not the "front street" side facing Kotzebue Sound. This tells me that marine waters and marine fauna were pushed way in around the back of town, and the jellyfish left behind when the waters quickly receded. The lagoon is normally brackish, with a pretty wide variation in salinity - but we don't normally see jellyfish on the beach on that side of town, even after other storm/wind events.