Chile redoubles efforts against death of marine fauna due to bird flu

On the white sands of Isla Damas, in the north of Chiliwhere tourists used to enjoy observing its rich faunatoday you only see sanitary brigades dressed in suits of biosecurity in search of dead animals.

Fear of bird flu forced the closure of the Humboldt Penguin National Reservein the Coquimbo region, where Damas Island is located and which is home to 56% of the reproductive pairs of this endemic species of Chile and Peru.

As a result of the current bird flu crisis, 10% of the population of this penguin in Chile has died this year, according to the National Fisheries Service (Sernapesca).

“The Humboldt penguin is in a vulnerable conservation category and probably after this it will be in another category, much more at risk,” alert Gerardo Cerda, regional manager of conservation and biodiversity of Sernapesca.

For six months, teams from the Agricultural Livestock Service (SAG), the National Forestry Corporation (Conaf) and Sernapesca redouble their efforts to prevent the spread of this disease in the reserve where there are also sea lions, small petrels and guanay cormorants.

Patrols go around this island collecting corpses to prevent the spread of the disease.

The death two weeks ago of thousands of cormorants on the Coquimbo coast mobilized several environmental brigades to quickly collect their remains.

Although bird flu was ruled out as responsible, it is not yet known what caused the death of more than 3,500 specimens.

“Causes (of death) are still being sought, if it is the current of The boy, climate change or toxins in the sea”said Jorge Mautz, regional director of the SAG.

unprecedented crisis

In total, in Chile the H5N1 virus has affected fifty species, including pelicans, chungungos and seagulls. A 53-year-old man was infected and was admitted to a hospital in serious condition.

More than 1,300 Humboldt penguins and 8,000 other marine species, mostly sea lions, have died from bird flu.

Since December, the SAG found more than 38,000 wild birds dead.

“The 1,300 (noted cases) are probably less than the real figure” of dead penguins, said Gerardo Cerda, from Sernapesca in Coquimbo, and explained that “There are sectors with cliffs, where the specimens can strand and not be seen.”

After one last patrol, officials returned with 25 carcasses of Red-headed Jocks, Gulls, and Cormorants, but no penguins.

“It has been distressing to see how these birds begin to die or look sick (…) We have never had this crisis,” recounted Pablo Arrospide, administrator of the reserve.

Mortality of sea lions

On the shore of Damas Island, the body of a sea lion decomposes under a rock, making it difficult to remove the corpse.

Chile is home to 40% of the world population of this species, with about 200,000 specimens.

In 13 of the 16 regions of the country, dead wolves were detected, a mammal that had not been previously affected by this disease.

So far this year, the number of dead wolves is almost double the accumulated number from different causes in the last 14 years.

On a beach in the city of La Serena, also in the Coquimbo region, a baby sea lion approaches the coast. Sernapesca personnel try to catch it, but the animal manages to flee. A sign of good omen, according to the officials who days before sacrificed a specimen that was paralyzed on the seashore.

Vaccines

Some countries, including China, Egypt and Vietnam, have organized vaccination campaigns against bird flu, that the World Health Organization (WHO) believes is a good measure to reduce the number of cases and reduce the risk to humans.

But its use is still primarily aimed at poultry and would carry certain risks.

When there is no good vaccination strategy, it can “induce the virus to evolve and generate differences that escape from the vaccines”, warns Christopher Hamilton-West, a specialist in veterinary epidemiology at the University of Chile.

The vaccines, which are not being used in Chile, do not cure infected animals and only slow down the spread of the virus, adds the expert.

Although there is no evidence that this disease is transmitted between humans, “Yes it has affected other mammals, it is one step away from mutating and affecting people” directly, warns Muriel Ramírez, an epidemiologist at the Universidad Católica del Norte.

Fountain. AFP