Pesticide blamed for mass bird deaths

INVESTIGATION:Taitung agricultural researchers said someone might have illegally used insufficiently diluted carbofuran — some types of which were banned on Jan. 1

By Jonathan Chin  /  Staff writer, with CNA

A powerful pesticide is to blame for the death of an estimated 1,200 birds in Beinan Township (卑南), the Taitung County Animal Disease Control Center said on Wednesday.

The mass bird mortality, which occurred on Jan. 5 and 6, was first reported on Facebook by an organic farmer, who said that others in the area might be poisoning the birds.

The report sparked concern among local and national conservation groups, including the Taitung Wild Bird Society and the Taiwan Association for Falconry Culture and Raptor Conservation.

An examination found that rice in the stomachs of the birds contained high residual levels of carbofuran, one of the most toxic pesticides available on the market, which was ruled to be the cause of death, the center said in a statement.

A subtype of carbamate pesticides, carbofuran is most commonly used to control insects at newly planted rice or vegetable fields, the center said.

Officials did not rule out the possibility of intentional poisoning and the Seventh Special Police Corps was advised to investigate the incident, Taitung Department of Agriculture Director Hsu Jui-kui (許瑞貴) said.

Continued

Here's What Killed 13 Bald Eagles ... and Their Raccoon Dinner

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | June 22, 2018 09:23am ET

Wildlife experts have partially solved a murder mystery regarding the deaths of 13 bald eagles, but they still don't know who did it.

The 13 eagles — including some so young, they hadn't yet grown their iconic white head feathers — were poisoned with a deadly pesticide known as carbofuran, according to a six-month investigation first reported by Maryland radio station WNAV.

Carbofuran is highly toxic — just one granule of it can kill a small bird, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned the use of liquid carbofuran in food crops in 2009, but many people still likely have aging containers of the pesticide in their sheds, Karyn Bischoff, a toxicologist at Cornell University's Animal Health Diagnostic Center, told The Washington Post. [Photos: Bald Eagles of the Mighty Mississippi]

The 13 dead bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) were first discovered by a man looking for deer antlers on Maryland's eastern shore in February 2016. After finding four of the dead birds, the man called the Maryland Natural Resources Police, who later found nine more when they came out to investigate the site in Federalsburg, The Washington Post reported.

The bald eagle is a federally protected bird, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spent the following six months investigating the birds' deaths, interviewing more than a dozen landowners and property managers near the scene of the crime. But "there was no smoking gun," John LaCorte, a special agent with the Fish and Wildlife Service, told The Washington Post. "It's very frustrating."

Carbofuran once killed up to 2 million birds each year, according to the EPA. The pellet form of the pesticide, which looks like grain seeds, was banned in the mid-1990s, when bald eagles were still on the endangered species list.

Read on  

13 rare birds killed by poison

Thirteen oriental white storks died from pesticide poisoning in North China’s Tianjin on Tuesday, but another 13 poisoned white storks have recovered well, an expert involved in the rescue said.

“The official laboratory report will be released by the municipal government in a week, butbased on what we found during the rescue, it’s probably the pesticide containingorganophosphates, which can attack the nervous system, that killed the 13 white storks,” saidRong Wancheng, director of the Agricultural Service Center in Dagang, Tianjin, whichcooperated with a local breeding center to treat the injured birds.

Oriental white storks are listed as rare birds under first-grade State protection in China. Thereare only 2,500 of the species in the world, according to research by Bird Life International, aconservation group headquartered in Cambridge, UK.

The birds rest in Tianjin and Hebei province during their long flight south for the winter. InTianjin, the Beidagang Natural Reserve is the major habitat for them.

The poisoned birds were discovered by a wildlife photographer on Sunday, who raised thealarm that the birds were unwell.

“Two of them are in a serious condition but are not critical. All of them may continue theirmigration after their recovery,” Rong said.

Other birds, including wild ducks, have also been killed. The bodies of the rare white storks willbe given to the local natural museum. Many volunteers and officials from the government havebeen working in the reserve to save more poisoned birds.

Rong said there was a tradition of hunting before the 1980s in the area, and these white storkscan be eaten in the hours after being poisoned.

The local police bureau started investigating the matter on Sunday.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-11/13/content_15924827.htm