Tearful woman reveals how ‘silent killer’ claimed her dog’s life while he was swimming in Lake Tahoe

A beloved family dog ​​was killed after ingesting toxic blue-green algae blooms at a “popular dog beach” along Lake Tahoe, according to a tearful TikTok account.

“I cried for a whole day,” the pet owner began, captioning her video “Don’t swim in Lake Tahoe this weekend,” ahead of the four-day vacation.

“I wanted to share this because I hope it saves someone’s life or someone’s dog’s life,” she said. “I’m really concerned that there’s more neurotoxin in Lake Tahoe.”

This tragic death is just one example of many around the world attributed to these deadly toxins, produced by cyanobacteria and microalgae across the Americas, according to reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Across 16 U.S. states, a total of 117 human illnesses and at least 2,715 deaths of domestic animals, livestock and wildlife were recorded in 2021 alone, according to the CDC.

Experts warn that these blooms reach their peak and maximum mortality in August, with 90% of the often invisible and toxic algae forming in lakes and other fresh waters.

“The water was extremely clear,” the pet owner warned. “It was beautiful. The lake was beautiful. There was no reason to think that this could happen.”

“There were tons of other animals and people in the water swimming around,” said TikTok user Anaïs, who goes by the username anaisfelt on the platform.

“Within an hour, she was very sick,” Anaïs said of her family dog, Cora, “and within three hours, she was dead.”

“We rushed her to a hospital in Nevada and found out she had ingested blue-green algae,” she said, visibly distressed, wiping away tears.

“It paralyzes your whole body and there is no cure,” she said.

The CDC’s technical term for these cases is “harmful algal bloom (HAB) events,” which the center’s recent report attributes to rising water temperatures due to global warming, but also to a phenomenon known as “nutrient pollution.”

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a massive influx of materials such as human waste and agricultural fertilizers has been flowing into freshwater and coastal ecosystems as populations increase along coasts.

Unique local conditions can lead to a high degree of variation in the chemical composition of potential toxins produced by these blue-green algae blooms, the informal name for these cyanobacteria.

“Complex mixtures of cyanotoxins further complicate the risk assessment process for these lakes,” as a team of academic and government scientists explained in a 2020 paper in the journal Toxicon, “given the uncertainty surrounding the toxicology of the mixtures.”

But regardless, these researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of California, Santa Cruz, the EPA and elsewhere, stressed the “need for future monitoring efforts to help minimize exposure to humans and domestic animals.”

In the meantime, veterinary experts advise dog owners to only let their pets swim in “clean, flowing waters — streams, rivers or the ocean.”

Veterinarians and state agencies, such as the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, further advise keeping dogs away from algae mats, scum or discoloration, which can be detected because they resemble “pea soup, spilled paint or water that has a green or blue-green tint.”

Be sure to bring fresh, clean drinking water from home for your pet and yourself, this will also help reduce the risks from cyanotoxins found in algal blooms.

As Anaïs had warned her supporters on Independence Day, “the neurotoxin can also impact humans. It can impact anyone: cats, humans… and there was no sign of it.”

“I don’t know if this is true, but the vet who was helping us told us that they don’t do water tests to prevent this from happening,” the grieving pet owner said.

“They just wait for the dogs to die and that’s how they know to warn people.”

In fact, according to California’s water boards, even the commonly posted warning signs, known as “planktonic HAB advisories,” are voluntary at Lake Tahoe.

“Warning signs regarding planktonic HABs are voluntarily posted once laboratory results confirm the presence of HABs in the water,” the advice states, “or if visual indicators (e.g., discoloration, scum, soupy or painty appearance) are observed.”

“A warning sign regarding the presence of planktonic algae may also be displayed in response to a report of human or animal illness potentially related to the presence of planktonic algae, and during an investigation,” they said.

But such reactive official policies, while helpful in preventing further death and illness, are little comfort to those whose loved ones and pets serve metaphorically as canaries in the coal mine.

“Our lives will never be the same,” Anaïs told her followers on TikTok. “She was the heart and soul of our family.”