Peru Bird Deaths: Peruvian Government Warns Against Beaches After Mysterious Pelican Deaths

LIMA, Peru -- Peru's Health Ministry is urging people to stay away from Pacific beaches from Lima northward after recent large-scale deaths of pelicans and dolphins.

Neither the Health Ministry nor Peru's oceanographic institute has determined the cause of the deaths, and there is no indication the deaths of the birds and the mammals are related.

And Saturday's warning did not indicate why it might be dangerous to visit beaches. Peru's agricultural safety service ruled out Friday that the pelicans could have died of avian flu, which could be contagious to humans.

Since February, some 877 dolphins and, more recently, at least 1,200 pelicans have been found dead on Peruvian beaches for unexplained reasons.

Local fishermen and restaurant owners said Saturday's warning hasn't had much effect on their businesses.

It's the low season for Peruvian beach-goers, in any case.

A check of Lima's beaches found no dead animals on the shore but sanitation crews were cleaning up an unusually large amount of garbage and debris including plastic bags and bottles and pieces of wood.

Comments

[KsAPigButt]

12:35 PM on 05/08/2012

If it's happening next door in Ecuador, it's 99.9% certain it's happening in Peru. And the nonhuman animals, avians, and marine life can be harmed from miles away.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/robert-f-kennedy-jr-confirmed-chevrons-ecuador-pollution-in-powerful-essay-says-amazon-defense-coalition-2012-05-07

[smp276dp]

02:53 PM on 05/07/2012

It could be with all the earth quake actitivy lately. Sulfur seeped into the water an killed these animals. Peru is a hot spot of earth quakes. We will ever get the answer?

[radtech420]

02:23 PM on 05/07/2012

this worries me because of the radioactive nature of the nuclear accident in japan.also there is probably debris from the tsunama at the same time reaching the shores because they already had huge ships off the coast of canada from japan, victims of the tragedy.

[Evelyn Khelama]

02:01 PM on 05/07/2012

Humans are destroying the Earth. If Nature doesn't intervene, the planet will die. A mass extinction is coming. They have in the past. They will again. Earth has a reset button. She will soon be forced to use it. Humans never learn. We are too arrogant and conceited. We think this is our planet but in reality we came from it and we are dependent on it for our survival. We offer it nothing, but without it we cannot live. We haven't learned the lessons of the past therefore it is about to be repeated with one difference: these are the final exams for humans. We have failed the test. This time we may very well be graduated out of existence.

[DERRUFO4U]

02:37 PM on 05/07/2012

this is just repeated sloganeering cliches from the far Left and the Gaia cults..Try thinking this out a bit more..People can harm environments true...but do not jump to conclusions every time a bird is dead some where that its due to people.

[Parkite]

07:50 PM on 05/07/2012

It's not just one dead bird and one dead bird there! How many species have gone extinct? How many are on the verge? The world won't end in my lifetime or yours, but life on earth will not be the same for our grandchildren or great grand children unless we change our ways starting NOW.

[Wilson Orshal]

09:35 PM on 05/07/2012

The fact is, we don't know the facts yet. We need to know the facts before drawing a conclusion. There are a lot of ideas and theories but no one is suggesting anything definate YET.
Fact: there are undersea volcanic vents that emit hydrogen sulfide which could poison the water
Possibility: Virus mutation, but one that would affect Birds and Mamals is a big IF.
Red tide: algae extremely toxic, but no reports of this condition as yet.
Toxic waste dumped offshore.
I don't know how actually serious these events are but it does seem strange that two different species, aquatic and avion, have a mass die off in the same proximity.

[Activation]

01:57 PM on 05/07/2012

It, unfortunately, will be a more frequent occurrence as the web of life starts to fall apart at a faster and faster pace...

[launius]

01:17 PM on 05/07/2012

it's Obama's fault

[Duke T Draz]

01:03 PM on 05/07/2012

HARP. HARP. HARP. HARP.

[wailintim32]

12:46 PM on 05/07/2012

We should put some Government agency on this to investigate. That would be resources well spent.

[JMD400]

01:46 PM on 05/07/2012

The GSA could arrange for their hotels and meals, hookers etc.

[Parkite]

07:51 PM on 05/07/2012

GSA for hotels & entertainment. Secret Service for hookers. Keep the agencies straight.

[jackdaniel58]

12:42 PM on 05/07/2012

Coca leaves.

[Roman238]

12:24 PM on 05/07/2012

Cause and effect: One hundred plus years of oil, gas & other pollutants in our air, water & land. Seventy-five years of nuclear testing & nuclear power, along with the dumping of toxic wastes. Sixty years of plastics in everything we touch, eat, drink and breathe. Fast food, full of salt, fat, and preservatives. A hundred years of processed food containing additives that we cannot even pronounce. Pharmaceuticals...a pill for everything, a cure for nothing. Cancers, diabetes, autism and other diseases in epidemic proportion. Are we naive enough to believe that all these things which are killing us are not also killing the wildlife on this planet? So sad.

[KsAPigButt]

12:08 PM on 05/07/2012

Oil, gas, and fracking just keep on giving. Probably dumping the toxic waste water in the Gulf, as they probably are in the Gulf of Mexico.

[papachuck5]

01:52 PM on 05/07/2012

Peru isn't on the Gulf of Mexico. It's on the Pacific Ocean. Try again!

[Mark Clemons]

12:00 PM on 05/07/2012

don't worry humans arn't to blame, we do a good job with our enviroment and our government for that matter

[billselfconcord]

01:55 PM on 05/07/2012

You`re just kidding right??

[smp276dp]

02:50 PM on 05/07/2012

That is called sarcasm

[Rexter]

11:37 AM on 05/07/2012

It is most probably evolution at work with a viral mutation. It could be a one time event or the beginning of a new and deadly strain about to spread. Stay away from ocean mammals and birds!

[NOT 1 PROMISE KEPT]

06:47 AM on 05/08/2012

wow, really? And where in your first sentence can you base any evidence to support? I don't mean the evidence to support that it was truly an unbelievable ignorant statement, that holds no science fact to support it. I mean evidence to support it as fact or even semi close? Like this is a fact, in science world to, Evolution in regards to the whole theory, clearly lacks the evidence and ironically contradicts itself in a big bold way. If it were to be that humans evolved, The whole Darwin theory is based off thousands of years between species, but that missing link, even if it were here today, big problem is...

[Rexter]

08:25 AM on 05/08/2012

Purely speculation on my part as is your notion of there being something beside evolution at work regarding the origin of man. As far as my ignorance goes, I believe Darwin had it right and that you should consider some newer reference material.

[alphaome4]

11:21 AM on 05/07/2012

They were eating bird poop on Easter Island.

[Eric Jeffrey]

11:20 AM on 05/07/2012

I will have to find out more from the birders that I know in Peru, but it sounds offhand like an offshore outbreak of a poisonous red algae. That would explain why dolphins and pelicans would be particularly affected. If this is occurring anywhere near the beach, closing them for the time being obviously makes sense.