Utah: Thousands of dead birds at Great Salt Lake; no tie to bird flu

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2008/04/04/news/breaking/doc47f68063b8494369099634.txt

Thousands of dead birds at Great Salt Lake; no tie to bird flu

By DAN BISCHOFF
Associated Press writer Friday, April 04, 2008
[oas:casperstartribune.net/news/breaking:Middle1]



SALT LAKE CITY -- Thousands of dead birds are washing up on the Great Salt Lake shore.

"We've received a lot of calls -- everybody's worried about avian influenza," said Leslie McFarlane, wildlife-disease coordinator at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

But the dead birds are free of bird flu.

Avian cholera killed more than 15,000 birds on the lake last fall, most of them eared grebes, a duck-like bird. The common bacteria can quickly spread through a bird population, McFarlane said.

The salt water preserved the birds, even though they've been dead for months.

"People are worried that it's a new die-off and it's not," McFarlane said. "We're really careful of monitoring our bird deaths."

The bacteria do not affect other people or animals, and the birds have been dead long enough that they no longer are carriers.

The DWR was aware of the deaths last fall.

"They died clear out in the middle of the lake and there was no way to access them to pick them up," McFarlane said. "Now they are just washing in and they don't pose any threat or anything."

The DWR won't be picking up the birds this spring, either. They could be anywhere on the lake, and there's not enough people to search for them, McFarlane said.

When temperatures rise and the birds hit the shoreline, they'll decompose in a day or two.

"People won't have to be stepping over them when they visit the lake," McFarlane said.

There are hundreds of thousands of birds that migrate through the area, she said, and the 15,000 or so deaths won't hurt the overall population.

If someone sees sick or newly dead birds on the shore or sandbars, they should contact the DWR as a precaution, McFarlane said.

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: Utah: Thousands of dead birds at Great Salt Lake; no tie to bird flu

Source: http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2008/04/04/news/breaking/doc47f68063b8494369099634.txt

Thousands of dead birds at Great Salt Lake; no tie to bird flu

The DWR won't be picking up the birds this spring, either.

They could be anywhere on the lake, and there's not enough people to search for them, McFarlane said.

When temperatures rise and the birds hit the shoreline, they'll decompose in a day or two.

If the carcasses aren't collected, how can veterinarians extract samples to test for flu or other diseases? IoH

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Utah: Thousands of dead birds at Great Salt Lake; no tie to bird flu

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080405170910.htm

Dead Birds Float Ashore At Great Salt Lake

ScienceDaily (Apr. 5, 2008) ? Don't be surprised if you see of hundreds of dead birds along the southeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake during the next few weeks.

More than 15,000 birds died on the lake last fall. Most of the birds were eared grebes.

Testing done at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin has confirmed that the birds died of avian cholera. Avian cholera is a disease that sweeps through grebes and other birds on the lake almost every year.

"Avian cholera is caused by a common bacteria that's found all across the country," says Leslie McFarlane, wildlife disease coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources. "When the conditions are right, avian cholera takes off. It can spread through a bird population quickly."

Even though the birds died last fall, the salt water in the lake has preserved their carcasses. "The birds you see along the shore of the Great Salt Lake may look like they died recently, but they've actually been dead for several months," McFarlane says.

McFarlane says the bacteria that causes avian cholera does not affect people or other mammals, including dogs. And because the birds have been dead for so long, their carcasses don't pose a threat to other birds. "The birds have been dead long enough that their carcasses no longer carry the bacteria," she says.

Once the carcasses wash onto the beach, they should decompose quickly. "We won't be picking the birds up," McFarlane says. "Die-offs like this are part of nature, and we'll let nature take its course as far as taking care of the birds that died."

Adapted from materials provided by Utah Division Of Wildlife Resources.