Wobbly Bald Eagles Dying From Brain Disease

A U G U S T A, Ga., Dec. 1 -- Seven more bald eagles have been found deadat Thurmond Lake this week, bringing to eight the number of eaglesbelieved to have been killed in Georgia this year by a mysteriousmalady first diagnosed five years ago.

The eagles, found in Lincoln County, may have died of AvianVacuolar Myelinopathy, said Vic VanSant, a Georgia Department ofNatural Resources biologist.

AVM first was diagnosed in eagles at DeGray Lake, Ark., in 1995,where 58 birds have died. Scientists have since been unable todetermine the origins of the condition.

Erratic Behavior Before Death

“None of these eagles have been confirmed as having AVM, butit’s suspected, obviously, because all the symptoms are there,”VanSant said.

The symptoms — wobbly, erratic behavior and an inability to fly— are caused by microscopic lesions that destroy the brain. Ducksand geese also have been found with AVM, which is always fatal.

Thurmond Lake was the first location outside of Arkansas whereAVM was identified. Two eagles died at the 70,000-acre lake in1998, and a third — found at Savannah River Site — also wasdiagnosed with AVM.

The seven eagles found this week — and one found in ColumbiaCounty before Thanksgiving — will be analyzed by the University ofGeorgia’s Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study Center.

The Athens-based facility is working with the National WildlifeHealth Center in Madison, Wis., the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serviceand other agencies and universities to determine the causes of AVM.

Scientists from the National Wildlife Health Center were to beat Thurmond Lake today, along with researchers from the Corps ofEngineers’ Waterworks Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Miss., todiscuss the eagle deaths.

One theory is that coots, aquatic birds, ingest materialassociated with an algae bloom that may produce toxic agents fatalto bald eagles, which often dine on coots.

Tests of coots along the Savannah River have confirmed thepresence of the condition, and at least one Canada goose also wasconfirmed to have died from AVM.