Mountain birds dying from little-known disease (not bird flu)

[Guest guest]

Mountain birds dying from little-known disease

 

Little-known incurable disease being spread through feeders; Illness is not

the Asian bird flu

 

by Laurie A. Kelly

 

Mountain residents have been puzzled in recent weeks by the sight of a large

number of dead birds that appear to literally “fall out of the sky,” with no

apparent signs of trauma on their bodies. After some investigation by wildlife

experts, the culprit appears to be a little-known bird disease called canker.

 

Audrey Beck and her husband Gordon, of Crestline, are avid caretakers of local

wildlife. She said they began noticing an increase in dead birds around and near

their deck, where they maintain several bird feeders.

 

“My husband walks the lake every day, and he would find piles of feathers from

the dead birds.” Beck said.

 

Beck said she finally called the U.S. Department of Forestry but became

frustrated when no one would return her calls.

 

Local veterinarians, when consulted, had nothing to offer. Jennifer Pennel

from the San Bernardino County Department of Animal Control said “Nothing

unusual concerning wildlife deaths has occurred recently.”

 

It was Diane Dragotto Williams, executive director of Wildhaven Ranch in Cedar

Glen, who was finally able to offer answers to the puzzling deaths of local

birds.

“Whenever there is a concentrated population of wildlife, disease soon

follows.” Williams said.

 

Trichomoniasis, more commonly known as “pigeon canker,” affects approximately

80 percent of the pigeon population, Williams said. Canker is microscopic and

can lie dormant in adult birds until some moment of stress triggers the

outbreak. Once triggered, however, death becomes imminent.

 

The birds will develop yellow, cheese-like lesions in their throats and will

exhibit signs of “panting,” with their mouths open. They may be lethargic and

slow to fly away as healthy birds would do when startled. Eventually, the birds

will either starve to death or asphyxiate because of the swollen lesions in

their esophagus.

 

Williams said there is a large breakout of canker in the San Bernardino

Mountains. Since the disease can not be cured and is highly transferable, it is

almost impossible to control.

 

Well-meaning residents are unknowingly helping to keep the disease in motion,

Williams said. The higher the concentration of infected birds at a feeding

station, the greater the chance that the disease can be transferred, she said.

Since canker is transferred through the mouth and feces, ill birds can pass the

disease to other birds through contact with the seeds in a common bird feeder,

since the sick birds cannot swallow and spit the germ-infested seeds back into

the feeder.

 

The young of infected birds also contract the disease. As a method of feeding

their young, birds regurgitate fat-laden cells that have been sloughed off the

inner lining of their throat and into the oral cavities of their babies,

transferring the disease. Wildlife specialists are asking the community for help

in controlling the canker outbreak. Residents are being reminded to refrain from

feeding local wild birds.

 

There are a few things residents can do to help if there has been a high

number of dead birds found near their bird feeders. Wildlife experts at

Wildhaven Ranch recommend that the food source be removed for at least a month

and that feeding areas be thoroughly disinfected.

 

This disease could affect carrion bird populations eventually, as they could

become infected through eating the carcasses of diseased birds, Williams said.

Canker, and diseases similar to it, could eventually throw off the ecological

balance of the mountains. Seedeaters are the first to be affected, and will

transfer the disease to those animals that consider small birds to be prey. It

is unknown at this time whether the disease can cross species to such animals as

coyotes and raccoons, or how far up the food chain it might eventually move.

 

For more information about the local wildlife and their diseases, Wildhaven

Ranch invites mountain residents to call or visit. Reservations for tours can be

made by calling 909-337-7389, or by visiting their website at www.wildhaven.org

..

http://www.alpenhornnews.com/modules.php?name=News & file=article & sid=454

 

 

" Respect means listening until everyone has been heard and understood, only

then is there a possibility of " Balance and Harmony " the goal of Indian

Spirituality. " Dave Chief, Grandfather of Red Dog