2,000 Pelicans Dying At Refuge From Botulism

A bacteria is suspected of causing a form of botulism that has left 2,000 pelicans dead or dying at the Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge.

Avian botulism typically occurs in ducks and geese later in the year, after most pelicans have migrated south.

But the bacteria struck early, while between 7,000 and 10,000 white and brown pelicans were nesting at Salton Sea, about 160 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

The pelicans come every year to the salt lake from nesting grounds in Mexico. They often are infected by the bacteria, but usually no more than 100 at a time have died.

About one-third of the infected pelicans are the endangered brown pelicans, said Clark Bloom, manager of the refuge.

“If you lose them, you’ve lost something big,” Bloom said. “It’s unusual for it to occur in pelicans.”

The bacteria is likely being spread by birds that eat the carcasses of birds that died from the bacteria, Bloom said.