Cloudy With a Chance of Cholera

Disease hit a flock of Snow Geese traveling home this weekend, with grim results.

A suspected bout of avian cholera struck more than 2,000 Snow Geese so quickly over the weekend that they likely died mid-flight. The geese remains were discovered with no tracks near them, suggesting they just 鈥減lopped in marsh mud,鈥 says Gregg Losinski of the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The mass die-off occurred as the flock crossed Idaho on their way home to Northern Alaska after spending the winter south.

Volunteers and employees spent the weekend scouring Idaho鈥檚 Mud Lake and Market Lake Wildlife Management Areas for carcasses. Once collected, the bodies were immediately burned to contain the disease鈥攊f they had been allowed to rot, maggots and flies could catch it and pass the disease to other birds through the food chain.

Losinski says his team succeeded in collecting more than 1,700 complete carcasses, but the other 300 or so incomplete ones had already been scavenged. Mammals who consumed the geese aren鈥檛 at risk for cholera, but some birds, including Bald Eagles, hawks, and ravens, may have eaten some of them, and they could catch avian cholera.

If the eagles contracted the disease, it would take a week or possibly two for symptoms to appear鈥攎uch slower than the mere hours it takes to manifest in snow geese. Because a snow-free marsh made the cleanup quick, Losinski isn鈥檛 too worried about local bird populations catching the disease.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife is still waiting on tests to confirm that avian cholera is the culprit. 鈥淯nfortunately, when it comes to wildlife its not like CSI on TV,鈥 Losinski says, adding that they should know for sure within the next week.

Avian cholera is not in the news as frequently as avian flu, but 鈥渋t's actually relatively common,鈥 says John Takekawa, director of bird conservation at the 约炮视频. Cholera kills off somewhere between 5 and 15 percent of the Snow Goose population every year.

What's rare is a mass mortality event like this one, where 2,000 birds died at once. 鈥淭hat's a little more unusual,鈥 Takekawa says.

The mass die-off may be a result of how well the snow goose population was doing鈥攎aybe too well. 鈥淎t the population level there might be a reason why this is occurring,鈥 Losinski says. 鈥淧eople need to realize that death is a part of life.鈥

When large-scale die-offs do occur in bird populations, weather or human interference is usually to blame. In the past 15 years, however, birds have been experiencing more mass mortality events, 约炮视频 previously reported, particularly thanks to a growing number of disease-related events.

In the case of the snow geese, the drought in California, where many flocks spend the winter, could be a contributing factor, Takekawa says. A variety of drought-caused problems鈥攆rom higher-than-usual temperatures to shifted water acidity鈥攎ake it more likely for disease to linger. But while the bacteria that causes avian cholera 鈥渟urvives pretty well in wetlands,鈥 according to Takekawa, it鈥檚 more likely in this case that it was passed bird-to-bird.

The outbreak appears to be confined to a single flock. 鈥淲hile we were out collecting these birds we saw other flocks of snow geese flying by that appeared to be fine,鈥 Losinski says. 鈥淭hese geese were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.鈥