Dead Birds Found at Great Salt Lake

John Hollenhorst ReportingHundreds of dead birds have been found along the shore of the Great Salt Lake. The number may even be into the thousands. But don't panic, it's not bird flu. In fact, it's becoming a fairly routine annual affair.

The grebes apparently died about three months ago and didn't draw much notice until now. Experts say the die-off is caused by a disease that's now endemic to the Great Salt Lake, and no particular cause for alarm.

For about ten years now, dead grebes have been occasionally washing up on shore. There's a die-off about once a year, usually when the birds are under stress.

Frank Howe, Utah Div. of Wildlife Resources: "It seems to outbreak primarily in the winter, primarily when all the birds are congregated and competing for food."

The cause is believed to be Avian cholera, closely related to the disease in humans.

Frank Howe: "The strain of bacteria that affects birds is different than the strain that affects people. SO there's a very low risk of humans coming in contact with these birds and picking up this particular cholera."

The bird version of cholera did not exist in the US until the 1940's. Now the bacteria apparently live in the lake more or less permanently.

Frank Howe: "Probably came in with domestic fowl and then got spread to the wild populations."

The death toll this year is pretty small so far. Back in the late 90's there was a die-off that killed 75,000 grebes.

Frank Howe: "That's a lot of birds, but in terms of the population size, that's not something we're terribly concerned with at this point."

To put that 75,000 in perspective, one and half million grebes visit the lake each year. This year's die-off of a few hundred or a few thousand won't make a dent in the overall population.

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