Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080415/NEWS/804150341/1001
Keizer lake's dead geese raise alarm
Wildlife officials hope federal lab finds explanation
ALAN GUSTAFSON
Statesman Journal
April 15, 2008
Large numbers of Canada cackling geese keep dying at Staats Lake in Keizer.
It's a mysterious trend that alarms some people who live near the private lake and hate to see the waterfowl sanctuary become a graveyard.
"We feel kind of like it's the canary in the coal mine," Keizer resident Debbie Lowery said. "It's a sign to me that something in our ecosystem is not quite right."
About 60 dead geese were recovered at the lake from Friday through Monday, said Brad Bales, the migratory game bird coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Laboratory testing of goose carcasses will be done at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. Results from the federal lab should be known within 10 days, Bales said Monday.
Newspaper reports indicate that large die-offs of geese previously occurred at Staats Lake in 2007, 2005, 2001 and 2000.
Bales said the lake itself doesn't appear to be the culprit. Previous investigations linked bird fatalities to aspergillosios, a fungal infection of the lungs, and to pesticide contamination, he said.
"In the past, it has not been anything directly related to Staats Lake," he said. "It's just that it's a heavy goose-roosting area. They may be sick when they get there and that's just where they seem to perish."
Investigators who looked into the earlier cases stopped short of determining where the geese may have ingested lethal amounts of pesticide, Bales said.
"We never really tracked down the exact source, so we don't know where the contamination might have occurred," he said.
Canada cackling geese nest in western Alaska and venture into the Willamette Valley during the winter season. They fly and roost in large flocks, often comprising several thousands of birds.
Lise Payne said she was stunned to come across dozens of dead geese Friday morning as she took her customary walk around the 60-acre lake.
"There were almost 40 birds dead," she said. "I mean, they were just lying side by side."
Payne, who moved with her husband to Keizer from Hawaii in October, said she long will remember the sight of the dead geese, and she's intensely curious about what killed them.
"It's heartbreaking," she said. "I'm still upset. Oregon is supposed to be such a green state."
Lowery, who has lived near Staats Lake for five years, said it's hard to fathom why the prime bird-watching setting has become a recurring place for geese to die.
"Maybe it's a cemetery lake, I don't know," she said. "Why they all flock to our lake to die is kind of weird."
The Keizer case could take on more significance if large numbers of geese turn up dead at other roosting places in the Willamette Valley, Bales said.
"There are a lot of things out there that birds can die of," he said. "We're just concerned about how widespread it is. If this is happening on a big scale, affecting a lot of areas, hopefully we'll be getting that information and be able to kind of pinpoint it a little better."
agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6709
Keizer lake's dead geese raise alarm
Wildlife officials hope federal lab finds explanation
ALAN GUSTAFSON
Statesman Journal
April 15, 2008
Large numbers of Canada cackling geese keep dying at Staats Lake in Keizer.
It's a mysterious trend that alarms some people who live near the private lake and hate to see the waterfowl sanctuary become a graveyard.
"We feel kind of like it's the canary in the coal mine," Keizer resident Debbie Lowery said. "It's a sign to me that something in our ecosystem is not quite right."
About 60 dead geese were recovered at the lake from Friday through Monday, said Brad Bales, the migratory game bird coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Laboratory testing of goose carcasses will be done at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. Results from the federal lab should be known within 10 days, Bales said Monday.
Newspaper reports indicate that large die-offs of geese previously occurred at Staats Lake in 2007, 2005, 2001 and 2000.
Bales said the lake itself doesn't appear to be the culprit. Previous investigations linked bird fatalities to aspergillosios, a fungal infection of the lungs, and to pesticide contamination, he said.
"In the past, it has not been anything directly related to Staats Lake," he said. "It's just that it's a heavy goose-roosting area. They may be sick when they get there and that's just where they seem to perish."
Investigators who looked into the earlier cases stopped short of determining where the geese may have ingested lethal amounts of pesticide, Bales said.
"We never really tracked down the exact source, so we don't know where the contamination might have occurred," he said.
Canada cackling geese nest in western Alaska and venture into the Willamette Valley during the winter season. They fly and roost in large flocks, often comprising several thousands of birds.
Lise Payne said she was stunned to come across dozens of dead geese Friday morning as she took her customary walk around the 60-acre lake.
"There were almost 40 birds dead," she said. "I mean, they were just lying side by side."
Payne, who moved with her husband to Keizer from Hawaii in October, said she long will remember the sight of the dead geese, and she's intensely curious about what killed them.
"It's heartbreaking," she said. "I'm still upset. Oregon is supposed to be such a green state."
Lowery, who has lived near Staats Lake for five years, said it's hard to fathom why the prime bird-watching setting has become a recurring place for geese to die.
"Maybe it's a cemetery lake, I don't know," she said. "Why they all flock to our lake to die is kind of weird."
The Keizer case could take on more significance if large numbers of geese turn up dead at other roosting places in the Willamette Valley, Bales said.
"There are a lot of things out there that birds can die of," he said. "We're just concerned about how widespread it is. If this is happening on a big scale, affecting a lot of areas, hopefully we'll be getting that information and be able to kind of pinpoint it a little better."
agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6709
