17,000 Migratory Birds Died at Rajasthan (India)

Migratory Birds Died In India

Nearly 17,000 migratory birds died so far at the country’s largest inland saltwater lake near Jaipur. Mass death of migratory birds is due to botulism, a serious and fatal illness & it affects the nerves, a forest official said on Monday.

Points To Consider

• The deaths were reported in Jaipur, Nagaur and Ajmer districts of Rajasthan.
• Jaipur collector Jagroop Singh Yadav informed that carcasses have been disposed of.
• Initially, it was suspected that the birds died due to avian flu but the report from a laboratory in Bhopal has ruled this out.

What is “Avian Botulism” & reason behind Migratory birds died in Sambhar Lake?

Avian botulism caused by Clostridium botulinum. It’s the reason for the mass mortality of around 5000 birds in the lake Sambhar in Rajasthan.

Unofficially 18000 bird has died in about 10 days.

How this bacterium occurred here appears to be a mystery.

One hypothesis is that because of the heavy rains in the catchment, the salinity of the lake water went down and with the unchecked pollution in the lake coastal area, causing high C.O.D. and probably the B.O.D. also, resulted in the proliferation of this bacteria in the algal food of the fishes.

Previous Incidents

On 10 November, thousands of Migratory birds found dead near the same sambhar lake. The birds, including Northern Shoveler, Ruddy Shelduck, Plovers, Avocets, were found dead in the 5-7 km area around Sambhar Lake. (READ FULL STORY HERE)

This was the second such incident in the state within a week. On 7 November, 37 demoiselle cranes were found dead in Jodhpur’s Khinchan area.

The deaths were reported in Jaipur, Nagaur and Ajmer districts of Rajasthan. Nearly 8,500 birds have died so far in Jaipur itself.

Initially, it was suspected that the birds died due to avian flu but the report from a laboratory in Bhopal has ruled this out.

On November 10, thousands of birds, including Northern Shoveler, Ruddy Shelduck, Plovers, Avocets, and few other migratory birds died in the 5-7 km area around Sambhar Lake.