Endangered black-faced spoonbills struck down by the deadly botulism epidemic that has decimated Taiwan's wintering spoonbill population have been saved by emergency medicine flown in from the US, Tainan County Government officials said yesterday.
The death toll among spoonbills wintering in southern Tainan County stands at 71 out of a total population of about 700.
Each year, a large number of spoonbills leave their breeding sites in the Korean Peninsula and winter at Chiku Lagoon near the estuary of Tsengwen River.
The visiting birds started showing signs of illness on Dec. 9 and initial studies show that the dead and sick birds were infected with C. botulinum toxin.
The death toll rose when a cold front passed through Taiwan on Dec. 21 and conservationists found dead and dying birds scattered around the lagoon.
On Jan. 3 another cold front edged fatalities higher still, with rescuers finding another eight sick spoonbills
As of yesterday, three of the eight spoonbills had died.
Experts at the Tainan County Livestock Disease Control Center, used the anti-C. botulinum serum imported from the US to successfully treat the surviving birds.
"We are very excited about the effectiveness of the serum," Hsieh Yao-ching (謝耀清), director of the center, said yesterday.
Hsieh said that four of the sick spoonbills were able to stand.
Officials of the center told the Taipei Times yesterday that the birds would be safe if they could survive through today.
Officials said that 10 other sick spoonbills treated earlier at the center were much improved and had been temporarily placed in an outdoor birdcage.
Tainan County Government is set to turn out-of-season fish farms near Chiku Lagoon into large shelters for recuperating birds, officials said.
In a bid to control the epidemic, the local authority purchased 80 bottles of US-imported serum in late December.
However, officials said that they are still worried about the lack of serum because the 72 bottles they have left might not be enough to stave off another wave of infections.
According to the Council of Agriculture, a domestically-produced serum made by national research institutes will remain unavailable for the next six months at least.
The local authority is trying to purchase serum from other countries.
Taiwan is a favorite haunt of international bird watchers as it is one of the few places in the world where spoonbills can be observed from close range.
RSS