By Hannah Barry
22
January 2019 — 3:42pm
Thousands
of birds have been found dead at one of Western Australia's most important
inland wetlands.
A
Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development veterinarian arrived at
Lake Gregory in the East Kimberley earlier this month to take sample, and found
a number of wild birds in "poor conditions with low body weights".
On a
department inspection, it was found several thousand birds had died at the
wetland, but the cause of death remains a mystery.
Lake
Gregory is a permanent freshwater lake located between the Great Sandy Desert
and the Tanami Desert and was previously described by the department as the
most important inland wetland in Australia.
Its
ecosystem helps support about 650,000 waterbirds and is a major breeding
ground for up to 80 species and a major migration stopover area for shorebirds.
It
supports more than 1 per cent of the world population of pink-eared ducks; the
same species believed to have been found dead. A number of black swans also
died.
A
department investigation excluded bird flu and Newcastle disease as a cause of
death, but later identified the presence of blue-green algae close to the lake.
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