Avian cholera kills dozens of ducks

MEDFORD, Ore. – Dozens of ducks were found dead this past week in Upper Klamath Lake, after an outbreak of avian cholera, and more dead birds are expected over the next few weeks, as spring migration season tapers off, authorities said.

Technicians at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisc., confirmed the dead ducks contained the cholera bacteria that is highly contagious among waterfowl but not dangerous to people or pets, according to state and federal biologists.

The results match similar findings for an outbreak in lower Klamath Basin marshes, where an estimated 500 birds died from cholera in February and March, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The cholera sprouted toward the end of this year’s spring migration through the Klamath Basin, which served as a major staging ground for an estimated 1.5 million migratory birds this year, said Dave Mauser, wildlife biologist with the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex based in Tulelake, Calif.

“As outbreaks go here in the Klamath Basin, it’s not that huge,” Mauser said. “Back in the ‘70s, we’d lose tens of thousands of birds. It would hit so hard and so fast that birds would literally fall out of the sky.”