By J. D. Heyes, contributing writer to Natural News
Officials on the Pacific Coast are puzzled by the deaths of hundreds of small, white-bellied seabirds since October.
The birds, called Cassin’s auklets, are mostly gray in color and have blue feet. Media reports say they have been steadily washing ashore all along the Pacific Coast, from Northern California to the coast of the state of Washington, and that, naturally, is concerning wildlife and other experts because thus far they have yet to determine an exact cause for the massive deaths.
“To be this lengthy and geographically widespread, I think is kind of unprecedented,” Phillip Johnson, the executive director of the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition, told the Pierce Pioneer, in its online edition. “It’s an interesting and somewhat mysterious event.”
At the time of publication, the Pierce Pioneer (PP) noted that the University of Washington’s Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COSST) had gathered as many as 1,200 birds that have washed ashore over the past few months.
COSST volunteer Diane Bilderback commented that she had not found any dead auklets until the beginning of this past fall, pointing to a very recent phenomenon.
Wasting Away - but Why?
Other residents along the Pacific Coast have also said they have encountered scores of dead auklets in recent months, including Ken and Cathy Denton.
“We’ve seen a lot of common murres, but those are common,” Ken Denton told the PP. “This is the most we’ve seen of something else.”
Julie Parrish, the COSST executive director, said the large number of deaths, which appear to be continuing to rise, is definitely a cause for concern. She told the PP that the bulk of the birds appear to have starved to death, which she said could be caused by an unusually prolific mating season.
