Botulism Kills Lake Erie Birds

H A M B U R G, N.Y., Dec. 6 -- An estimated 8,000 water birds, includingas many as 1,000 common loons, have now fallen victim to a puzzlingoutbreak of botulism along Lake Erie, state environmental officialssaid.

Crews from the state Department of Environmental Conservationcombed sections of a roughly 60-mile stretch of lake shore fromDunkirk north to Buffalo this week retrieving thousands of deadgrebes, common and red-breasted mergansers, loons, diving ducks,ring-billed gulls and herring gulls.

Two truckloads of carcasses arrived at the state’s wildlifepathology lab near Albany on Tuesday.

Birds Died Quickly

With only 250 nesting pairs of loons in all of New York, many ofthe dead loons are believed to have been migrating from Canada,according to state Wildlife Pathologist Ward Stone. The popularbirds are prized for their beauty and yodel-like call.

“It’s possible this one kill killed as many loons as there arein New York state,” Stone said.

Scientists do not yet know where the Type E avian botulism(Clostridium Botulism) killing the birds came from or how it isbeing transmitted.

One thing is certain: it is striking quickly.

“They must have quite a bit of toxic material, they’re notthin,” Stone said of the birds. “They’re getting hit hard by itfairly swiftly ... It could be a number of hours to several days.”

“There are a lot of questions,” he said as the trucks of deadbirds pulled in.

Many of the birds are scavengers and could have eaten fishkilled by the bacteria — but aside from some dead carp found inDunkirk Harbor, there is no evidence of a corresponding fishdie-off.

Also puzzling is that other birds, including the loons andmergansers, feed only on live fish — raising questions aboutwhether live fish may carry the deadly toxin.

Related to Salamander Die-Off

Scientists also are looking at whether the outbreak is relatedto a fairly large die-off of mud puppies — a type of salamander — along the Canadian shoreline of Lake Erie over the summer, or torecent outbreaks of botulism among loons and gulls in Ontario andelsewhere.