Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
15,000 Dead Birds Preserved by Utah’s Great Salt Lake Over Winter.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Mormons live; on average, 8 to 11 years longer than other Americans and recent statistics are showing Utah residents live an average of 2 years longer than other Americans. If you happen to be a bird or a fish in Utah…not so much. Things may be looking on the grim side for some of the fish and the fowl that find themselves in Utah lately.
As many as 15,000 dead birds are floating on the Great Salt Lake right now. Officials say these birds died last fall and are just now making their way to the shore. Apparently they’ve been bobbing up and down on the lake being perfectly preserved by all that salt.
Once they make it to shore they will decompose in a day or two…don’t get excited.
There have been multiple outbreaks of Avian choloera in Utah since 1994. In November 2004 an outbreak killed as many as 30,000 birds.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources says, “Large and rapid die-offs involving over 1,000 birds per day often occurs during cholera outbreaks.”
When contemplating another 5,000 dead fish bobbing ashore on the pond at Brigham City’s Pioneer Park Pond and 15,000 dead birds doing the same at the Great Salt Lake Utah isn’t looking too healthy.
Though they say at their website, Avian cholera isn’t a high risk disease for humans, that it is likely most species of birds and mammals are susceptible to differing degrees. Last time I checked I was a mammal. Not really…to be honest, I have never checked. Waterfowl are the most commonly affected by Avian cholera. However…”persons around carcasses should wear gloves, wash hands thoroughly, and work outdoors or in well-ventilated areas.”
Now I’m confused because the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources also says of the Avian cholera, “The bacterium is transmitted by direct bird-to-bird contact, ingestion of contaminated food or water, scavenging of carcasses, and aerosol form.” Most troubling to me is they say, “The bacterium can persist in the environment for weeks after an avian cholera outbreak.”
Leslie McFarlane, wildlife-disease coordinator at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is quoted as saying of the dead birds, “Now they are just washing in and they don’t pose any threat or anything.”
The department won’t be picking up the dead birds until later this spring. In the meantime if anyone sees sick or newly dead birds on the shore or sandbars, they should contact the DWR as a precaution. This begs the question; if the birds have been preserved how would anyone know if what they were seeing was a newly dead bird or one that’s been dead since last fall?
Mc Farlane doesn’t mention anything about not touching, wearing gloves or any other safety precautions. Apparently birds suffering from this disease are easily approachable as the birds are often drowsy and lethargic. Other signs of illness include swimming in circles, erratic flight and mucous discharge from the mouth. Yellow or bloodstained droppings as well as nasal discharge are other signs of the disease.
Labels: Avian cholera, Dead Birds, Great Salt Lake, Utah
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15,000 Dead Birds Preserved by Utah’s Great Salt Lake Over Winter.
