Authorities stated on Friday that preliminary tests show that the recent mass death of thousands of seabirds along Chile’s northern coast was not caused by avian flu.
According to the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) of Chile, approximately 3,500 Guanay cormorants—once referred to as the “billion dollar bird” because of their connection to the European fertilizer industry—have been discovered dead since May 26 near the coastal port of Coquimbo.
Workers wearing biohazard suits gathered hundreds of the black-and-white-colored dead cormorants along beaches near hotels and restaurants.
Beginning tests on the dead birds didn’t uncover the presence of avian influenza, which has wracked different parts of Chile, Jorge Mautz, territorial head of the help, told AFP.
The large number of seabird deaths surprised Coquimbo residents.
“Nobody has ever seen it before. “The mortality of these birds is impressive,” a 47-year-old fisherman named Edison Alfaro told AFP.
Mautz said “something is going on in the ocean” that is causing the demise of the birds that feed every day in Pacific waters.
The Guanay cormorant is a historical figure. In the 19th century, the species that was once abundant was a huge producer of guano on islands off the coast of Peru, where the birds nested. This made a lot of money for European merchants who traded guano for fertilizer.
In the latter half of the 19th century, guano became the primary source of income for Peru. Over the course of decades, millions of tons of guano were shipped to Europe.
The heavy extraction caused the cormorants’ breeding habitats to be destroyed, leading to a sharp decline in their population.
The Guanay cormorant is a threatened species today.
One of the worst global avian influenza outbreaks on record has resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of poultry, widespread wild bird extinction, and an increasing number of infections among mammals in several nations since the end of 2021.
Avian influenza has tormented the shoreline of Chile since December 2022, killing a great many penguins, pelicans, and ocean lions.
The remaining 10,000 Humboldt penguins, a vulnerable species, are thought to have perished in Chile. In addition, 9,000 sea lions have died, which is twice as many as were reported in the previous 14 years.
The 53-year-old patient, who is still in the hospital, was confirmed as the nation’s first human infection on March 29.
The H5N1 bird flu virus claimed the life of an 11-year-old girl in Cambodia in the middle of February, when she had a fever, cough, and sore throat.
