More than 100 volunteer firemen, conservationists and local residents of Tainan County were busy picking up bodies of dead fish and animals at Chiku Lagoon yesterday, hoping to prevent the spread of botulism that has killed 62 rare black-faced spoonbills so far.
It is estimated that the global population of the black-faced spoonbill does not exceed 1,000.
Deaths of the endangered birds, which winter at wetlands near the estuary of Tsengwen River from October to April, began on Dec. 9. As of Dec. 15, 53 black-faced spoonbills had died of botulism.
The death toll then did not climb until Dec. 21, when conservationists observed abnormal behavior among some black-faced spoonbills hunting for food at their main habitat, less than 1km from the location of the first wave of fatalities. Some 13 birds were found to be sick.
Hsieh Yao-ching (謝耀清), director of the Tainan County Livestock Disease Control Center, told the Taipei Times yesterday that nine of the 13 sick spoonbills had died.
"We've confirmed that the nine died of the infection of C. botulinum toxin because symptoms are the same as those that died earlier," Hsieh said.
Hsieh said that veterinarians were carefully monitoring the four remaining spoonbills, which might recover if they can survive through today.
Local authorities have asked for help from the Council of Agriculture because the lack of anti-C. botulinum serum resulted in a delay in rescuing sick spoonbills.
Yesterday morning, Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) visited the Chiku Lagoon to see if the situation was deteriorating.
More than 100 volunteer firemen, conservationists, and local residents yesterday waded through the chilly water of the lagoon to collect bodies of dead fish and animals.
The sanitation exercise was carried out over a 2,000-hectare area covering the main habitats of the endangered bird.
Su said that the local government needed assistance from not only the central government but also from international conservation circles.
Since Dec. 9, local government officials have carried out an investigation to identify factors causing botulism. So far, however, no conclusions have been reached.
Charles Cheng (程建中), president of the Wild Bird Federation of Taiwan, told the Taipei Times yesterday that Taiwan needed better management practices for the protection of bird habitats in Chiku.
"We suspect that management at nearby fish farms could have affected the ecological system of the lagoon," Cheng said.
Chen said that monitoring the water quality of the lagoon was important because experts could forecast the onset of crises by analyzing the data collected.
In addition, Cheng called for the pooling of all information pertaining to the deaths of the endangered birds.
"Scientists might be able to see a complete picture by studying the shared information," Cheng said.
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