RE: Bird Botulism?

["Boyer, Peter" <BoyerP@windsor.ijc.org>]

Interestingly, by 2001, it was fully understood to be a major threat by the
equine veterinarians in the basin, and by all responsible horse owners.
However equine mortality last summer demonstrated the high cost of
ignorance, not the lack of science or knowledge. Most horses that receive
annual vaccinations, particularly those who commute throughout the region
for competition, were vaccinated by June 2001, thereby avoiding a larger
catastrophe of an open totally unprotected population. Cheers, p.

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard L Whitman [mailto:richard_whitman@usgs.gov] 
Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2003 11:17 AM
To: Rob Sulski
Cc: beachnet@great-lakes.net
Subject: Re: Bird Botulism?



Would you have suspected West Nile during the summer of 2000?  Further, it
was less than a dozen birds at a single beach so it could have been anything
I guess.






 

                      "Rob Sulski"

                      <Rob.Sulski@epa.s        To:
<beachnet@great-lakes.net>,                       
                      tate.il.us>               <richard_whitman@usgs.gov>

                                               cc:

                      01/23/2003 09:27         Subject:  Re: Bird Botulism?

                      AM

 

 





Without clinical evidence, it's very difficult to determine what killed or
caused the behavior in the gulls.

Over the last few years in the Midwest we have seen thousands of wild and
captive birds, including a few of my own, suffering and dying from West Nile
Virus.  Half grown feathers get pinched off at the blood mark during
molting, many birds stumbel around on the ground like drunken sailors before
they die, and some birds recover, but with partial or full blindness in one
or both eyes.

Rob Sulski

>>> "Richard L Whitman" <richard_whitman@usgs.gov> 01/22/03 12:42PM
>>>
I have a question?

A few summers ago we started noticing gulls dying in particularlly high
number in August at a beach we were studying.  These birds at first seemed
'drunk' at first, then began losing coordination and equilibrium. They would
then lose the ability to walk and would soon died thereafter. That was the
same time old masses of anaerobic Cladophora was accumulating on the beach.
Lately, I've been wondering if these bird might have picked up some botulism
from the algal mats.  As anybody else noticed this phenomenon? Can you
remember if it was coincidental with these anaerobic
mats or during this season?   Would you be on the look out this summer
for
it, especially if you have big mats of Cladophora?  Let me know what you
think.


Richard Whitman



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