Newcastle Disease is being suspected for hundreds of bird deaths around Jackfish Lake and elsewhere over the past month.
Tests were being done last week by the Canadian Co-operative Wildlife Health Centre at the University of Saskatchewan on numerous cormorants and gulls that had been found dead in the past month alongside the highways, ditches and marshes in the Jackfish Lake area. The Ministry of Environment reported the findings in a press release issued last Friday.
Approximately 1,000 dead cormorants and gulls had been found dead both at Jackfish Lake and in the Meadow Lake Provincial Park area. According to environment officials the carcasses of the birds all had lesions consistent with Newcastle Disease.
The disease is caused by the Newcastle Disease Virus, which exists in a variety of strains and occasionally causes death in colony-nesting birds, specifically the double-crested cormorants, pelicans and gulls. Additional testing is now under way to confirm the existence of the virus.
Provincial wildlife disease specialist Yeen Ten Hwang said that while it is not yet confirmed the birds have the virus, all indications so far point to Newcastle Disease as the culprit. The department is therefore putting out the alert now because "there has been a lot of public inquiry already," she said, and they want the public to know they are aware of the problem.
Many members of the public visiting the Meadow Lake Provincial Park have noticed the situation with dead birds there. "A lot of people have been picking them up," she said.
According to the ministry, Newcastle Disease occurs naturally in wild cormorants throughout their range in North America, with occasional short-lived outbreaks killing limited numbers of colony-nesting species.
Birds afflicted with the Newcastle Disease virus show signs of partial paralysis of the wings and legs, with afflicted birds unable to fly or dive, with some limping and falling over. Sick birds are often weak and fall over when walking on land, and they are unable to avoid approaching humans. "That's why people have been capturing these sick birds," Hwang said.
Hwang said the strain afflicting the wild birds is the "North American strain or non-virulent strain." She also said there is an exotic strain that occurs in Asia and Africa that is more of a concern because it is more virulent and "causes huge die-offs in poultry." However, Hwang said this current strain occurring naturally in the wild birds does not pose a threat to poultry.
The disease is also normally not a significant health risk to people, though in some rare cases people who come in contact with many infected birds have come down with conjunctivitis, which involves mild eye irritation and possible flu-like symptoms for up to seven days. For that reason, the environment ministry urges people not to come in contact directly with the sick birds as a precaution.
Disease had been suspected as a possible cause of the hundreds of gull and cormorant deaths following the discovery of dead bird carcasses along the sides of the road on the Metinota highway in late July and early August. About a hundred remains of dead immature gulls had been found on the sides of the road, and a few dead gulls were picked up from Lehman Creek at Cochin.
Those investigating the situation ruled out the possibility that a predator was responsible when a sickly cormorant was discovered in the Ducks Unlimited marsh area in south Jackfish Lake Aug. 4. As well, two more sickly birds were discovered that day still alive - a strong indication that a disease was involved.
Officials also wondered whether a disease was involved at all and if the birds could have starved to death, but it appears now that Newcastle Disease is involved.
The environment ministry is advising all people who come in contact with sick or dead cormorants or gulls to not attempt to pick them up. Instead, people are urged to immediately report them to the ministry of environment.
Anyone who has handled a sick or dead bird should also wash their hands and clothes immediately and disinfect any shoes and equipment with a five-percent bleach solution. Hwang said the goal is to prevent the disease from spreading to other parts of the province.
