MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Dead penguins found on Uruguayan beaches
Uruguayan authorities ruled out bird flu but still cautioned the population not to handle the dead animals because the health alert remains in force Uruguayan researchers have reported the finding of some 300 dead Magellanic penguins on local beaches, the NGO SOS Rescate Fauna Marina confirmed. The birds were said to be extremely thin and might have died due to cold weather on their annual migration from Argentine Patagonia to southern Brazil in search of food and warmer weather.
“Every year, during the migrations, there are some dead or sick animals, mainly the younger ones, but the numbers we saw this time put us on alert,” Rescate Fauna Marina said. The animals only approach the coast if they get sick, the NGO also explained.
Rescate Fauna Marina head Richard Tesore told Montevideo's El Observador that most of the penguins found on beaches from Solymar to Aguas Dulces were very skinny, most likely due to the scarcity of food as a consequence of overfishing in the South Atlantic, in addition to climate change affecting sea currents. Several specimens were also poisoned by plastic elements in the sea.
“They are very skinny animals, without food in the stomach or a layer of fat. To make such a long journey, it is essential to ingest many calories and have a large layer of fat on the body, which acts as a thermal insulator and protects the animals from low temperatures. The animals died of hypothermia caused by lack of food. This happened due to the overexploitation of fisheries,” said the NGO.
Uruguay's Ministry of Environment conducted several studies on the dead animals and ruled out bird flu, but nevertheless urged the population not to touch or remove the animals from the beach since the health alert for avian influenza is still in force.
Top Comments
Disclaimer & comment rules-
Read all commentsHow many more of animals have to die before humans take responsibility for our actions & the impact we continue to have on this once pristine planet?
Jul 20th, 2023 - 04:08 pm 0I'm American & totally owning our role in this tragedy.
HOW do we go from making flat statements about what has happened....dead penguins/over-fishing, climate change to the next part of the problem; the most important part which is HOW are we going to fix it?
For sure there isn't just one answer to the problem, there are, no doubt, multiple things that can work together to make a change in the course of damage being done to the environment.
Clearly, this cannot be left in the hands of governments & oil companies. That's where we are sitting right now...to the very edge of too late.
We have to fix this ourselves.
Smart, caring, inventive people working together to do what needs to be done. We are, undoubtedly, at that APOLLO13 moment where everything we have & everything we know needs to get tossed into a room & let the magic happen with the power of open minds, open hearts & generous gifts of talent & time.
You you guys are already out there doing this...sign me up.
I cannot stand the thought of more people reading articles like this one, shaking their heads & thinking, “that's so sad”... & then moving on.
I have faith in the local people & indigenous people who know their countries, their waters, their people & their challenges.
Surely that's where we start?
And we must start.
I believe in us....all of us...locals, non-locals but mostly I believe in the young people & the power, responsibility & vision they have for their lives & their world.
We must help them in all ways possible...large & small.
We owe it to them.
Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!