The recent death of approximately a dozen wild ducks at Library Park in Lakeport is nothing new. From all indications the ducks died of avian botulism, but it won”t be known for sure until the dead birds are tested.
Avian botulism is a common disease and occurs every year in the national wildlife refuges and the rice fields in the Sacramento Valley. There have been years when the mortality rate has run into the thousands.
The disease has been around for thousands of years and it”s not related to the dreaded human botulism. It is caused by birds feeding in stagnant water where they ingest the botulism spore.
A bird can carry the spore around in its digestive system for its entire life and it will have no effect. However, when the bird dies and it body starts to decompose, the botulism bacteria starts to grow. Flies are drawn to the carcass and lay their eggs, which turn into maggots. The maggots carry the bacteria, and as ducks and other birds feed on the maggots, they in turn become sick and die.
When large die-offs occur in the Sacramento Valley, the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) will force the healthy wild birds to leave the area by hazing them with air boats. They also pick up all the dead carcasses. The outbreak is normally reduced when the winter rains arrive and provide fresh water to the wetlands.
Not all the sick birds will die. If they can find fresh water, they will often flush out the bacteria. A sick bird also can be saved by forcing fresh water down its throat to purge its system.
According to DFG wildlife biologist Alan Buckmann, the dead ducks at Library Park were probably caused by several infected birds that arrived and died at the park. The birds decomposed and the other ducks fed on the maggots, which in turn killed them. With the prompt removal of the dead and sick birds by park employees, the outbreak was more than likely stopped.
However, on Sunday morning I observed four sick ducks and another dead one in the park. I even saw some youngsters trying to pick up a sick duck and others were swimming near the sick ducks. Dozens of park visitors passed by and could even have touched some of the sick or dead ducks during the weekend.
The dead and sick ducks along with the recent fish die-off shows just how unprepared local and state authorities are for a these types of emergencies.
The DFG is supposed respond to sick and injured fish and wildlife. However in this case there were no representatives of the DFG available. In fact, with the exception of park personnel and Sandie Elliott of Spirit Wild (a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation group), there were no biologists or public health personnel available.
In just about all cases of dead or dying wildlife, Elliott is normally called because her organization is the only group available. The DFG representatives did arrive on Monday and they took saliva samples from the dead birds (three days after the dead ducks were discovered in Library Park).
The test the DFG is doing is primarily for avian flu and the biologists sent the samples to the DFG”s laboratory in Sacramento. The results won”t be available for several days.
Given the worst case scenario, if the ducks had actually died from the feared avian flu H5N1, then there would be a panic to locate anyone who had come into contact with the dead birds and isolation of the area wouldn”t have occurred until several days after the birds had died.
It should be noted that H5N1 hasn”t yet been found in any birds in North America but experts says it”s only a matter of time before migrating birds such as waterfowl bring the disease to here. And that”s just another reason why any die-off of birds should be taken seriously.
It was a similar case with the recent fish die-off. There were no concrete answers given on what killed the fish. No dead fish were taken and sent to a lab. In other words, we really don”t know for sure what killed the fish. One reason is because there is DFG no wildlife or fishery biologist assigned to the county.
The answer is for the county to develop a protocol for handling emergencies such as the recent duck die-off. As it now stands now, if a person finds a bunch of dead ducks or any other dead wildlife, there is no one to call and report the incident.
In the duck incident at Library Park no warning was given to the public about not handling the dead birds unless precautions are taken — such as wearing latex gloves and protective clothing.
No one from the County Health Department, Vector Control or the County Public Works responded. Since the incident took place within the city limits of Lakeport, the park personnel did respond and removed most of the dead birds. But that was more than eight hours after the dead ducks were discovered.
