Botulism blamed for death of migratory birds in Iranian nature reserve
Iranian authorities have announced that thousands of migratory birds died in a nature reserve north of the country because of botulism.
A Tuesday statement by Iran Veterinary Organization (IVO) said that around 6,000 birds that died over the past weeks in Miankaleh, a peninsula on the coast of the Caspian Sea, had suffered from food poisoning.
“Based on an analysis of epidemiological findings and laboratory results obtained from the field studies, the cause of the fatalities that took place was botulism,” said Ali Asghar Makanali, a senior official of the IVO.
Makanali said local officials in Mazandaran province, where Miankaleh is located, had carried out extensive studies at the site of the deaths to find the real cause.
He said the IVO and Iran’s Environmental Protection Organization had started implementing a series of sanitary measures to contain the soaring rate of deaths among the birds and help stop the phenomenon.
Earlier, a special commission investigating the case had raised suspicions about the incidence of avian botulism in Minakaleh, saying its spread had been facilitated by the birds consuming infected maggots and also the rising water temperature in the region.
Around 250,000 pelicans and flamingos spend the winter months in Miankaleh wetlands, a site with a distinct ecosystem which has been designated by the United Nations as a biosphere reserve.
Bird watchers and environment activists have been alarmed by the abnormal rate of deaths among the migratory birds in the peninsula.
Authorities believe 2,000 more carcasses could be found in the next few days in Miankaleh, where restrictive measures have been introduced to prevent any further risk from the mass deaths to human health.
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