sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
Avian flu decimates wildlife on South America’s Pacific coast
April 19, 2023
snip
In Chile, where the first infected wild bird was detected in December, the illness had claimed the lives of 1,535 sea lions and 730 Humboldt penguins by the end of last month.
Peruvian authorities estimate that at least 5,000 South American sea lions – representing 5 percent of the species – have succumbed to bird flu.
snip
“During the last few months in the epidemic registered in Central and South America, perhaps the most affected species as far as mortality levels are the pelicans and the seagulls,” he said.
In Ecuador, though more than 1.2 million birds have died or been slaughtered amid outbreaks at industrial-scale chicken farms, the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition told EFE that there is no evidence of the virus spreading to sea lions.
Paolo Amaya, a biologist at Cesar Vallejo University in Peru, said that bird flu is affecting mammals that have been weakened by a lack of food as a result of the heating of coastal waters by El Niño.
The situation is “unprecedented,” according to Hamilton-West, as there has been no previous instance of the spread to South America of a “highly pathogenic” avian flu virus of Eurasian origin.
more....
https://www.laprensalatina.com/avian-flu-decimates-wildlife-on-south-americas-pacific-coast/
April 19, 2023
snip
In Chile, where the first infected wild bird was detected in December, the illness had claimed the lives of 1,535 sea lions and 730 Humboldt penguins by the end of last month.
Peruvian authorities estimate that at least 5,000 South American sea lions – representing 5 percent of the species – have succumbed to bird flu.
snip
“During the last few months in the epidemic registered in Central and South America, perhaps the most affected species as far as mortality levels are the pelicans and the seagulls,” he said.
In Ecuador, though more than 1.2 million birds have died or been slaughtered amid outbreaks at industrial-scale chicken farms, the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition told EFE that there is no evidence of the virus spreading to sea lions.
Paolo Amaya, a biologist at Cesar Vallejo University in Peru, said that bird flu is affecting mammals that have been weakened by a lack of food as a result of the heating of coastal waters by El Niño.
The situation is “unprecedented,” according to Hamilton-West, as there has been no previous instance of the spread to South America of a “highly pathogenic” avian flu virus of Eurasian origin.
more....
https://www.laprensalatina.com/avian-flu-decimates-wildlife-on-south-americas-pacific-coast/