Tag: botulism

Botulism and the Beach

  • The beach looks beautiful... until you stumble on dead birds and fish killed by Type E botulism. (Photo by Rebecca Williams)

A deadly toxin is spreading across
the Great Lakes, killing fish and birds.
Rebecca Williams reports scientists are
trying to put the puzzle together as quickly
as they can:

Transcript

A deadly toxin is spreading across
the Great Lakes, killing fish and birds.
Rebecca Williams reports scientists are
trying to put the puzzle together as quickly
as they can:

(sound of waves lapping the beach)

It’s one of those perfect beach days. Not too hot, not too crowded. Everything’s
just right.

Unless you don’t like rotting fish and dead birds full of maggots.

Hunter Brower is hanging out at this Lake Michigan beach. He says he’s seen a
lot of dead gulls here in recent years.

“It’s disgusting. We’re out here to enjoy our time and it’s just not right.”

The birds and fish are being killed by Type E botulism. Basically, it’s food
poisoning. For about a decade now, botulism has been killing huge numbers of
birds in the Great Lakes.

We’re talking about more than 75,000 birds – and scientists think that’s probably
a very conservative estimate. That’s because birds could be dying and not
reaching the shore. And it’s very hard to know how many fish are getting killed.
They’re harder to diagnose.

“It’s really one of nature’s most potent toxins.”

Mark Breederland is with Michigan SeaGrant. He says some studies show the
toxin can paralyze fish.

“They can actually lose their orientation and be bobbing up and down vertically
and that would be easy pickin’s if you’re a loon.”

Loons and other birds eat those poisoned fish, or, even grosser, they’ll eat the
maggots in dead birds on the beach, and get sick. The toxin can make birds lose
control of their neck muscles. Their heads fall in the water and they drown.

Beaches full of dead fish and birds aren’t great for tourism. But scientists are
more worried about what this means for endangered species – from the giant lake
sturgeon to the tiny piping plover.

Mark Breederland says they’re also worried about the thousands of migratory
birds that get killed on their way south in the fall.

“They’re just driving down their migratory highway, pulling over for a rest stop to
get something to eat, and that’s their last and final resting spot.”

So scientists are trying to pin down what’s going on.

There’s one main hypothesis. It involves some nasty little critters: invasive zebra
mussels and their cousins, the quaggas. They got into the lakes in the ballast
water of foreign ships.

Both mussels suck in lake water and filter it. They’ve made the lakes a lot clearer
than they used to be.

The clearer water means more sunlight can reach the lake bottom, and that
kick-starts algae growth. When the algae die, it sucks oxygen out of the water.
And, all of that is perfect for a bacterium that produces the botulism toxin to go forth
and multiply.

Okay, now, remember those pesky mussels? Scientists suspect they can take in
the toxin but they’re not affected by it. But fish that eat the mussels get sick.

One fish in particular loves to eat mussels. It’s the invasive round goby. And
there are lots and lots of gobies in the Lakes. That could mean lots of poisoned
snacks for bigger fish and birds.

Researchers have a bad feeling about all this, and they’re trying to confirm their
hunches.

(sound of boat engine starting up)

Brenda Moraska LaFrancois is headed out on Lake Michigan to investigate. She’s
part of a team that’s collecting samples from the lake bottom.

She says this is a tough mystery to unravel.

“These are really complicated systems and unfortunately they’re continuing to
change.”

As soon as scientists think they have a handle on what’s going on, some new
invader gets in and messes everything up again. So it’s really hard to know what
could be done to stop the outbreaks.

The experts say, if you go to the beach, it’s safe to swim. But you shouldn’t eat any
fish or waterfowl that seem sick.

Your local wildlife managers might tell you: don’t touch it, but get something to
bury the dead animal down in the sand, so other birds won’t feed on it and spread the
toxin.

For The Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.

Related Links

Botulism Spreads on Great Lakes

A disease that has killed tens of thousands of birds is spreading throughout the Great Lakes region. The latest die-off occurred along a Lake Michigan shoreline. Linda Stephan reports officials now estimate that nearly 2600 birds died from that outbreak alone:

Transcript

A disease that has killed tens of thousands of birds is spreading throughout the Great Lakes region. The latest die-off occurred along a Lake Michigan shoreline. Linda Stephan reports officials now estimate that nearly 2600 birds died from that outbreak alone:


Recent tests confirm that the birds died from Type E botulism poisoning. Type E botulism is passed up the food chain from the invasive zebra and quagga mussels.


Steve Yancho is the Chief of Natural Resources for the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. He says it’s a shame to see so many dead birds washed up on the beaches.


“You know the most disturbing of the bird species that we’re seeing are common loons. There’s not a lot of those in the state and we’re finding those mixed in with these others already at fairly alarming numbers.”


Yancho says the area has not seen this kind of die-off before, and officials don’t know when it might end.


It’s likely that thousands or tens of thousands of birds are dying and not being counted. That’s because wildlife officials can’t patrol all the shorelines throughout the Great Lakes.


For the Environment Report, I’m Linda Stephan.

Related Links

Ten Threats: Botulism Kills Beach Birds

  • Interns for Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania walk along a Lake Erie beach picking up dead birds. (Photo by Lester Graham)

Researchers are beginning to understand what’s killing thousands of
Great Lakes shorebirds. It might be part of a larger problem indirectly
caused by humans. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports:

Transcript

We’ve been bringing you reports from the series, ‘Ten Threats to the Great Lakes’ which is now looking at the threat to beaches. Our guide through the series is Lester Graham. He reports that scientists are beginning to understand what’s killing thousands of Great Lakes shorebirds. It might be part of a larger problem indirectly caused by humans.


Researchers are beginning to understand what’s killing thousands of
Great Lakes shorebirds. It might be part of a larger problem indirectly
caused by humans. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports:


Along parts of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and Lake Huron, large numbers
of dead birds and fish are washing up on shore. If they’re left there, the
disease that killed them can be passed on to other wildlife. That’s why
park officials such as Mike Mumau at Presque Isle State Park at Erie,
Pennsylvania ask their staff to watch out for the dead carcasses.


“Our interns do a great job. They’re the eyes of the staff that are out. So,
there’s probably three to four days a week that they’re out on the
beaches, checking to see if they have anything.”


Since 1998, untold numbers of fish and sometimes hundreds of dead
birds a year have washed up on just these eight miles of Lake Erie beach.


Eventually, researchers figured out the problem: type “E” botulism. It
slowly paralyzes the birds until the respiratory system shuts down. Most
of them don’t make it that long. They get so weak they can’t hold their
heads up out of the water and they drown.


(Sounds of walking and shovel)


Leslie Jones and her fellow interns are headed out to an area to pick up
some dead seagulls on the beach.


“When we’re out here doing migratory bird studies, we might see some
and then we pick them up as soon as possible. A lot of times, we get
radioed from different people like lifeguards and they have us come out
and pick them up so that the disease doesn’t spread throughout the rest of
the ecosystem.”


They find five dead birds rotting on the beach. They bury the maggots
because they could carry the botulism toxin and other birds might eat the
maggots. They shovel the bird carcass into a black plastic garbage bag.


“If they’re very fresh, this one, obviously not very fresh, but, if we get a
fresh one, we actually freeze them and they’re sent off to be tested
botulism, but, something like this we’ll just bag up until we can get them
incinerated to get rid of all the disease.”


The fresh carcasses are shipped to the National Wildlife Health Center in
Madison, Wisconsin.


There, Grace McLaughlin is among the researchers who are beginning to
put the puzzle together.

Here’s what they think is happening. The invasive species zebra mussels
and quagga mussels create huge mussel beds that begin a complicated
biological phenomenon. Organic matter collects there, and then decays. It
lowers the oxygen level in the immediate area of the mussel beds. Type
“E” botulism spores occur naturally, but when the oxygen level goes
down, they begin reproducing like crazy. The waste they produce is the
toxin.


“That toxin will accumulate in the organic matter as well as in the water
in the immediate vicinity of the mussel beds. As the mussels do their
filter feeding, they will accumulate the toxin in their tissue. They are not
susceptible to the toxin. However, when the fish start coming down
there and eating the mussels, they become intoxicated, lose their ability
to swim properly and become easy prey for the birds that come in.”


The fish that feeds on the mussels the most is another invasive species,
the round goby. Researchers made the connection when they noticed the
botulism started being a problem shortly after round gobies arrived in big
numbers.


The type “E” botulism toxin has killed tens-of-thousands of birds such as
cormorants, terns, loons, ducks, and seagulls.


Back at Presque Isle State Park, Mike Mumau says it’s terrible to see so
many birds die.


“We just do our best on our end to stop the botulism cycle. When we
can, provide samples, and also, keep it a positive recreational experience
for all our visitors. They don’t want to see birds decomposing and
rotting out on the beaches, so we’re pretty diligent with that.”


Researchers say that’s about the best that can be done. Since ocean-
going vessels brought zebra mussels, quagga mussels, and round gobies
to the Great Lakes, all three of the invasive species have flourished. It
will likely be a long time before we’ll ever begin to understand the full
extent of the damage to the native wildlife of the lakes.


For the GLRC, this is Lester Graham.

Related Links

Woman Gives Poisoned Birds Refuge

  • Not only are birds affected by Type E Botulism, but fish are also killed by it. (Photo by Lester Graham)

For several years now, a strain of botulism has been killing shorebirds along parts of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Lake Huron. Tens of thousands of birds have died on Lake Erie in the last several years. But there’s one place where some sick birds are taken to be nursed back to health. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports:

Transcript

For several years now, a strain of botulism has been killing shorebirds along parts of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Lake Huron. Tens of thousands of birds have died on Lake Erie in the last several years. But, there’s one place where some sick birds are taken to be nursed back to health. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


(Sound of an engine)


We’re crawling along sand dunes in a three-wheeled cart. Ray Bierbower is taking me to Gull Point. It’s an area on a spit of land called Presque Isle that juts out into Lake Erie at Erie, Pennsylvania. This area is part of a state park that gets four million visitors every year. But here, except for birds, it’s deserted.


“A lot of the shorebirds come through here, migrating, and they want to leave it alone. It’s shut off to the public. Basically, there’s just a select few that are allowed out in this area and we’re one of the groups that are allowed.”


We’re here to pick up some dead birds. A couple of years ago you might have found dozens of dead birds at a time. Today, only five seagulls. Well, parts of them: two heads and some rotting carcasses.


“We haven’t been out here for two weeks. So, this is not too bad considering before.”


If these birds are like hundreds of others tested, they died from botulism poisoning. Researchers are figuring out how the botulism got into the food chain. The theory is that massive beds of zebra mussels and quagga mussels – both invasive species brought into the Great Lakes in the ballast water of ocean going ships – are causing conditions that rob oxygen on the bottom of the Lakes.


That encourages botulism bacteria to flourish and give off toxins. The mussels aren’t hurt by them, but round gobies, another invasive species, eat the mussels. When they get sick, they become easy pickings for the birds. Then, the birds get sick.


Sometimes, Ray Bierbower and his fellow summer interns find a bird that’s sick, but not beyond saving. The state park doesn’t have the facilities to help the birds, so they take them to a wild bird rehabilitation center in town.


The center, called Wild Wings is looks like some of the other two story houses in this blue-collar neighborhood. But once you’re inside, there’s no doubt that you’re in the right place.


(Sound of birds)


A man is dropping off four tiny wrens from the nest. Their mother stopped coming to feed them and he figures a cat must have killed her.


Wild Wing’s director, Wendy Campbell, takes them in. She’s a whirlwind of activity as she flits from cage to cage. She makes sure birds have water. She gives some of them medicine. And now with the tiny wrens here she makes sure they don’t miss feeding time.


In the basement, chickens, crows, an owl, and some pigeons are separated by chicken wire walls. She checks on a couple of seagulls in one the pens. Campbell is helping them recover from botulism poisoning.


“What you do is provide them with supportive care. You want to keep the birds out of sunlight, because sunlight perpetuates botulism toxin. And by re-fluiding them, because they’re usually dehydrated. And a lot of times, too, we can use Phillips Milk of Magnesia because that binds with botulism toxin and draws it out of their system. And many of the birds recover.”


Campbell says after she’s sure they’re fully recovered, she’ll release these gulls back into the wild.


“There’s no danger of them spreading it, because I’ve asked the Wildlife Health Center to make sure that I could release these birds that have recovered from botulism that they weren’t now going to be carrying it. And he said absolutely not. It’s out of their system.”


Wendy Campbell is quick to add that it doesn’t mean that the gulls can’t contract the botulism toxin again. Campbell says if this were a natural phenomenom, she would let nature take its course. But it’s not; humans brought the zebra mussels and quagga mussels that are causing the problem in the Great Lakes.


“Over ninety percent of the time, it’s as a result of human activities. We don’t believe in interfering with nature. But when they get hurt because they get hit by a car or they get poisoned by lawn care chemicals, that’s not nature. And so, somebody has to help them, and that’s why I do this.”


Campbell says the authorities in her area are doing a good job of cleaning up the bird carcasses along the lake beaches. If they’re not picked up, flies lay eggs, maggots are infected by botulism, and other birds eat the maggots, causing the botulism problem to spread.


Campbell says of the one thousand birds brought into Wild Wings center each year, only a handful of them are sick from botulism. That’s because most of them die from it before they can be helped.


For the GLRC, this is Lester Graham.

Related Links

Type E Botulism Spreading

  • Type E Botulism is taking its toll on loons and other waterfowl in the Great Lakes region. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service)

A relatively new disease that kills birds and fish continues to spread in the Great Lakes basin. Scientists want to understand how Type E botulism is transmitted before it becomes an epidemic. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:

Transcript

A relatively new disease that kills birds and fish continues to spread in the Great Lakes basin. Scientists want to understand how Type E Botulism is transmitted before it becomes an epidemic. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:


Type E Botulism has killed thousands of loons, mergansers, and other birds on Lakes Ontario and Erie since 1998. So when biologist Tom Langen heard two dead seagulls on the St. Lawrence River had it, he investigated. He took a 350-mile boat ride along the length of the river. He collected all the dead birds and fish he could find for testing.


Langen says the toxin is related to invasive species like the round goby and zebra mussels and passed up the food chain.


“The link seems to be somehow associated between mussels, the fish which feed on the mussels, and then the birds and fish that feed on the round gobies or feed on the mussels.”


Langen says stopping the spread of Type E Botulism is also important for people. Humans can get the disease if they eat birds or fish that are contaminated.


For the GLRC, I’m David Sommerstein.

Related Links

Botulism Outbreak Threatens Wildlife

Workers are busy picking up dead birds along some Great Lakes shores to try to slow the spread of a toxin that’s killing wildlife. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Workers are busy picking up dead birds along some Great Lakes shores to try to slow the spread
of a toxin that’s killing wildlife. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


It’s estimated that millions of fish and tens of thousands of birds have died because of a Type-E
botulism outbreak. Ward Stone is the wildlife pathologist for the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation. He says he has crews patrolling the shores of Lakes Erie and
Ontario picking up the carcasses of seagulls, cormorants, and diving ducks who’ve eaten fish with
botulism.


“Because if an eagle comes in and then feeds on one of these carcasses containing this poison,
they in turn become poisoned. So, we think we are saving thousands of birds and mammals as
well like raccoons and skunks and coyotes and even dogs that would feed on carcasses on the
beach.”


Stone believes the botulism outbreak is due to an upset in nature caused by zebra mussels, quagga
mussels, and round goby fish. All three are invasive species believed to have been transported
from foreign ports to the Great Lakes in the ballast water of cargo ships.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.