[Mike]

Dead Birds No Threat To People

http://www.localnewscomesfirst.com/content/view/818/2/

Wildlife biologists are continuing to track the outbreak of a
disease that’s killing hundreds of waterfowl in the Klamath
Basin.

A concerned citizen alerted the scientists to the higher than usual
numbers of dead Grebes and ducks. Fish and wildlife specialist
immediately responded to the call.

Grace McLaughlin, of the National Wildlife Health Center says that
she has recorded several hundred dead birds along the south shore of
Upper Klamath Lake this week.

‘We’ve had a number of these birds submitted to our center, we’ve
done complete necropsy work-ups, as well as lab tests on them. and
we have confirmed the diagnosis of avian cholera, which is a
bacterial disease that is not normally at risk to humans at all –
really not any human risk here’ she says.

McLaughlin’s report will be placed in a database at the National
Wildlife Health Center in Wisconsin to help identify long-term
trends.

The number of dead birds recorded so far is relatively small compared
to some previous events in the Klamath Basin.