BIRD BOTULISM OUTBREAK ENDS.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A March outbreak that claimed about 250 birds at the Salton Sea Salton Sea (sôl`tən), saline lake, 370 sq mi (958 sq km), northern part of the Imperial Valley, SE Calif.; 232 ft (71 m) below sea level. appears to be over, said wildlife experts who feared a repeat of an epidemic that killed 14,000 birds, including more than 10,000 pelicans, last summer. Avian botulism botulism (bŏch`əlĭz'əm), acute poisoning resulting from ingestion of food containing toxins produced by the bacillus Clostridium botulinum. caused the deaths in both incidents at the Salton Sea refuge, said Susan Saul, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. ``The refuge staff is staying alert. Anything like seeing two or three dead pelicans is enough for them to send out an air boat and see what is going on,'' Saul said. ``We don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. when or if another incident like last year's may happen again,'' she said. The March botulism outbreak claimed mostly eared grebes, although 16 white pelicans died as well. Between mid-August and mid-November last year, 9,667 white pelicans and 1,129 endangered brown pelicans died from the bacterial disease, which paralyzes birds' nervous systems. |
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