[meteorite-list] ANIMALS KILLED IN CARANCAS?

[Sterling K. Webb]

Hi, List,

    Since there seems to be some debate about whether
the Carancas impact killed any animals, I am passing
along from Carl Esparza, who went to Carancas with
Bob Haag (and who can't seem to post to the List), a
statement from one of the Aquila-Condor organization
workers who went to Carancas on September 21-22,
Andalusia Apaza.

    I have done and neatened up a machine-translation of
the Spanish, which to be found below. It describes the
actual fall of the meteorite by those who witnessed it. It
covers much of the same ground as the previous statement
I posted a translation of. This statement is essentially a
clarification, made in late October.

    The statement addresses the question of animal deaths
directly. The gist is that there was the death of a sheep on
the property of the land owner and the death of a llama by
falling debris on a neighbor's land.

    "Both animals were cut open and their galls were examined
to see if the meat was good or bad.  In both cases, the meat
was good." It appears that the sheep was killed by the impact
shock wave (ruptured internal organ) and the llama by flying
debris.

    I am also including, at the bottom of this post, the text of
the Spanish original document. If you find any real clunkers
in this translation, let me know or post a correction. This is a
long language path, from Aymara, which is then translated to
Spanish, then the Spanish  is translated to English by an online
program, and puzzled out from there, so pretty much anything
is possible.


Sterling K. Webb
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The Narative of Andalusia
Of a Trip to Carancas, September 21-22, 2007,
the travelers being Joel Torrez, Víctor Castro
and Andalusia Apaza.

    We came in the afternoon to the Community Carancas
Hito 41. We stayed at the house of José, son of Valentina
Pari Sarmiento, who lives with his daughter, both very
kind persons.

    They have told us of the events that they saw in the sky:
a fire falling down that penetrated the ground, and in a few
seconds more, there was a very strong explosion, deafening,
so much so that all of them were scared. The noise was so
strong that it lasted half an hour, and the ground shook just
as in an [earth]quake in. The sky was filled with a very blue
dust; it was dust, and not particles [literally seeds or grains].

    The sky was filled with this dust, so that one might neither
breathe nor see anything. At that time, they thought that it was
the Chileans with a bomb attack, or that a plane had crashed to
Earth. So strong was their fright that the Señora Valentina
remained  in one place and would not move for anything,
right there out on the pampa, but later [soon] they moved
to the shelter of the house.

    Senora Semiana told us of her ewe [female sheep] who was
pregnant: after the explosion, that is, on the following day, she
found the ewe dead. She cut open the sheep, and its gallbladder
had burst. The meat seemed normal, and had no burnt odor.
They were told by their neighbor of one of his llamas which had
been killed by the flame of the explosion in the ground, which
had cast boiling mud on the head of the animal, and the animal
fell down dead.


Spanish Original:
Relato de Andalucia
Viaje a Carancas 21-22 de Septiembre
Viaje Joel Torrez, Víctor Castro y Andalucía Apaza

Llegamos un en la tarde a la Comunidad Carancas Hito 41
Nos hospedamos en casa del José  hijo de  Valentina Pari
Sarmiento que vive con su hija, muy amable las personas.

Ellos nos ha contado lo sucedido,  vieron en el cielo un fuego
cayendo que perforó la tierra y unos segundos más hubo
una explosión muy fuerte ensordecedor, que todos se
asustaron, el ruido fue tan fuerte que duró media hora igual
que el temblor en la tierra, de tan azul que estaba el cielo ya
estaba cubierto de polvo no se podría respirar ni ver nada,
en el momento  pensaron que eran los chilenos con un ataque
de bomba, o que un avión se precipitó al suelo, tanto fuerte
fue el susto que la señora Valentina se quedo estática y no
se movió para nada allá en la pampa y poco después se fue
corriendo a refugiar a su casa.

La señora Semiana nos cuenta de su oveja hembra que estaba
preñada,  después de la explosión al día siguiente la encontró
muerta, y corto la oveja, su calculo biliar había reventado y
no tenía olor a quemado solo carne normal, contó que la vecina
su llama se murió por la explosión la tierra con barro hirviendo
le dio en la cabeza y cayó muerta, después de que la cortarán
la carne no tenía olor a quemado si no carne normal.
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