Finches spreading parasite
through backyard feeders
Some of the Island's finches are
dying of starvation right beside backyard feeders filled with the food they
crave. The birds' throats are being blocked by a parasite called
trichomoniasis.
'They're trying to swallow, they
can't swallow.'- Maria Forzan, wildlife pathologist
"You get a lot of
inflammation, a lot of swelling, you get these nodules, they're like white
nodules," explained wildlife pathologist Maria Forzan of the Atlantic
Veterinary College.
"They are so big they
block the way of the food, they block the esophagus of the bird stops
being able to swallow."
Forzan has completed 14
necropsies on finches from the Island this year, more than she usually
does. The birds have been collected by wildlife officers in both eastern
and western P.E.I.
Parasite spread through bird
feeders
The dead birds are found mostly
around backyard feeders, where they're trying to get to food.
However, those feeders are also
the reason the parasite is spread to other finches.
"They're trying to swallow,
they can't swallow, they bring it back up and with that goes the parasite — so
the thrichomoniasis that causes the disease," said Forzan.
"The other birds end up
taking that regurgitated food and getting infected."
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