Newfoundland's puffin rescue patrol paused as avian flu kills thousands of seabirds
2022. 8. 2. 05:29ㆍ■ 국제/CANADA
Newfoundland's puffin rescue patrol paused as avian flu kills thousands of seabirds (msn.com)
Newfoundland's puffin rescue patrol paused as avian flu kills thousands of seabirds
Saturday
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A celebrated annual initiative in Newfoundland to rescue lost baby puffins has been suspended after hundreds of dead seabirds have washed up along the island's shores.
© Provided by The Canadian PressNewfoundland's puffin rescue patrol paused as avian flu kills thousands of seabirds
The local Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society's puffin and petrel patrols in Witless Bay bring hundreds of eager volunteers from all over the province and the country to help scoop up the disoriented little birds from the town's roadways. But with the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu making its way through Newfoundland's wild seabird population, Suzanne Dooley, the organization's conservation director, said it was just too risky to run the program this year.
"It was a hard, sad decision for us to make," Dooley said in a recent interview. "We are not 100 per cent sure if these birds are carriers, or if they will be, but we can't put our people in jeopardy."
The H5N1 avian flu first appeared in Newfoundland in December, when it was confirmed at a farm in the St. John's area. Officials said at the time it was the first detection of the virus in Canada since 2015. It has since spread to several farms across the country, and now it has reached wild seabirds.
Beverly Dawe, the province's chief veterinary officer, said in a recent interview that preliminary tests this month indicate the flu is behind a "very significant mortality event" that killed thousands of seabirds along Newfoundland's Burin and Avalon Peninsulas. The disease killed murres, razorbills and even gannets -- graceful white diving birds with black-tipped wings and sharp, ghost-grey beaks.
Last week, dead kittiwake gulls washed up on the shores in Witless Bay, a seaside town of about 1,600 people about 35 kilometres south of St. John's. Dawe said samples from those birds have been taken to the lab, and results are expected next week. However, her team is proceeding on the assumption that avian flu is to blame, she said.
Related video: Seabirds dying of suspected avian flu off Newfoundland
Newfoundland's puffin rescue patrol paused as avian flu kills thousands of seabirds (msn.com)