Dead Ducks in Idaho - Unknown Cause

[mr_bones4]

IDAHO FISH AND GAME
MAGIC VALLEY REGION NEWS RELEASE
Jerome, ID

Date:December 13, 2006Contact:Kelton Hatch
(208) 324-4359


over 1,000 ducks found dead near oakley




BURLEY - Idaho Department of Fish and Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Homeland Security, Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Agriculture, and South-Central District Health are trying to determine the cause of death for over 1,000 mallard ducks along Land Creek Springs, a stream located about 15 miles southeast of Burley near the town of Oakley, Idaho.
The first ducks were found dead Friday, December 8th by a hunter. Idaho Fish and Game was notified and conservation officers found 10 dead ducks near the spring and along the stream's edge. Officers returned to the area on December 10 to find more than 500 dead ducks. The number has currently grown to more than a 1,000 mallards as of Tuesday afternoon and mortality is still being observed.
"All responsible agencies are doing everything in their power to ascertain the cause of mortality," said David Parrish, Magic Valley Fish and Game Regional Supervisor. "Tissue and water samples have been collected by local, state and federal investigators and we are currently running tests."
Although symptoms are not consistent with Avian Influenza, samples were taken and sent to US Fish and Wildlife Service laboratory in Wisconsin for testing. Department of Agriculture and Department of Environmental Quality have taken intestinal tract and water samples that were sent to University of Idaho and Washington State University laboratories to screen for organophosphate and zinc phosphide compounds.
"Preliminary diagnosis is a bacterial infection is the likely cause of mortality," Parrish said. "State veterinarians in Boise have found the lung tissue of the ducks to be full of white and yellowish bacterial abscesses. They also found hemorrhaging around the heart. At this point in time, however we are not ruling out any potential cause."
"Signs have been posted in the general vicinity warning hunters not to consume waterfowl in the area until the cause of death has been determined," Parrish said. "Idaho Fish and Game staff has begun carcass collection and disposal. We will continue to monitor the area for any additional mortality. We would appreciate the public reporting concentrations of dead waterfowl to any of the above listed agencies." For more information, call Idaho Department of Fish and Game at 324-4359.

[Washington Hunter]

They found the cause:

Sunday, December 17, 2006 - 12:00 AM
Scientist: Fungal infection likely killed Idaho ducks

By Jesse Harlan Alderman
The Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — A fungal infection likely killed 2,500 mallard ducks in a mysterious cluster along a tiny southeastern Idaho creek, a federal wildlife biologist said.
The chances are "extremely high" that aspergillosis, which can create a fungal toxin on moldy grains and rotting corn, caused the mass die-off, Paul Slota, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., told The Associated Press on Friday.
Aspergillosis will not spread from bird to bird. All the dead mallards probably ate from the same tainted food source, Slota said.
"We've seen that before with birds that feed heavily on grains," he said.
The Wildlife Health Center has screened tissue swabs from the dead ducks, and each sample showed fungal plaque typical of aspergillosis and tested negative for avian influenza, Slota said.