The Mystery of Chile’s Dead Birds and Fish

Why are so many of Chile’s birds and fish dying? Scientists are trying to determine what may have caused the deaths of hundreds of penguins, millions of sardines and 2,000 baby flamingos in recent months. Some speculate that global warming may be to blame.

From the Miami Herald:

The events started to unfold in March, when the remains of about 1,200 penguins were found on a remote beach in southern Chile. Then came the sardines — tons of them — dead and washed up on a nearby stretch of coastline. The stench forced nearby schools to close, and the army was called in to shovel piles of rotting fish off the sand.

Farther north, thousands of rare Andean flamingos abandoned their nests on a salt lake in the Atacama Desert. The eggs failed to hatch and, over a period of three months, all 2,000 chicks died. The extent of the damage was discovered in April, during an inspection.

No one knows for sure what caused these three apparently unrelated ecological tragedies, although there are many theories. Global warming has been blamed, as have overfishing, pollution and bacterial disease. In the north, ecologists have accused mining companies of fatally altering the flamingos’ habitat by draining the area of subterranean water.

While some fishing authorities believe the sardines died due to a rise in water temperatures, local fishermen suspect that trawlermen hauled a huge quantity of sardines from the ocean, and then dumped the ones they couldn’t carry back to shore.

The flamingo deaths are even more disturbing, especially as the Andean is the rarest species of flamingo in the world. Some ecologists disagree with placing blame on mining companies, since the summer that just ended was unusually dry and hot, causing the lakes to shrink and become more saline.

It’s clear that Chile needs to take action to protect its rich diversity of wildlife, but there’s only so much the government can do if global warming is the cause. The entire world is responsible for turning this thing around.

Link [Miami Herald]

Photo credit: The Guardian

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