Published Date: 1999-01-20 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian cholera, waterfowl - USA (California)
Archive Number: 19990120.0089

AVIAN CHOLERA, WATERFOWL - USA (CALIFORNIA)
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See Also

Wildlife mortality report - USA 960316
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 14:30:18 -0500
From: George A. Robertson <grobertson@erols.com>

Thousands of ducks and other water birds in the Yolo Basin Wildlife Area
near Sacramento, California, are recent victims to a major outbreak of
avian cholera, wildlife officials said. More than 7,000 waterfowl have
been killed by avian cholera, a bacterial ailment, in the wildlife refuge
west of Sacramento, and thousands more have died in outbreaks elsewhere in
the state since late December, said experts from the state Department of
Fish and Game.
The disease, caused by bacteria in contaminated soil, food and water, kills
birds every year in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, but the current
outbreak is one of the worst in memory. "It's really pretty devastating,"
said David Feliz, who manages the Yolo Basin refuge for the department.
Coots and ruddy ducks have been the most commonly affected but other
species, including egrets and snow geese, also have been stricken.
Birds have died in large numbers at Lake Earl in Del Norte County in the
northwest part of the state, and in the Salton Sea on the Mexico border,
wildlife specialists said. "Each year we experience some degree of
mortality from cholera, but I would say this is one of the more widespread
outbreaks we have had," said Greg Mensik, supervisory wildlife biologist
for the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge complex, which is based in
Willows, about 70 miles north of Sacramento.
The epidemic may have peaked, though workers are still plucking dead birds
daily from refuges throughout the area and burning their corpses to slow
the spread of the disease. "We're picking up about 10 birds a day now,
compared to a couple hundred a day at one point," said Mike Conner, a
wildlife specialist in the city of Davis. Conner said the Davis wetlands
had lost some 3,500 birds.
Cold weather that froze ponds last month and caused birds to bunch together
in limited spaces of open water at migratory stop-offs like the Yolo Basin
refuge may have caused the outbreaks. Carriers of the avian cholera
bacteria shed the bacteria when under stress, spreading it into the air,
soil and water through microscopic nasal droplets, Mensik said. Densely
packed birds then inhale the droplets, exposing them to the bacteria. The
disease strikes quickly and can kill a bird within hours, Mensik said.
Avian cholera was first reported in the United States among migratory birds
in 1944, and is not typically transmitted to humans or other mammals,
Mensik said.
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