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Thousands of birds found dead in Greek nature reserve

ATHENS : Thousands of migratory birds in the Greek
nature reserve of Lake Koronia have died in recent
months in what birds specialists are calling "an
ecological catastrophe," several sources said on
Thursday.

Hundreds of dead gulls, tern and ducks - at least
15 species in all - were discovered just in the last
few days, the sources said.

Autopsies and tests of water samples from the lake
are underway, but experts do not yet know what is
responsible for the sudden wave of avian fatalities,
described by Xenofon Kappas, spokesman of the Greek
ornithological society, as "a major ecological
catastrophe."

"For the moment, we are in the process of
counting the number of dead birds," Kappas told AFP.

The Greek news agency ANA put the Lake Korina
avian death toll at 3,000, but experts said that more
than 10,000 dead birds have been found on the lake in
recent months.

The Mayor of Salonika, 520 kilometres north of
Athens, adopted "emergency measures" to deal with the
crisis, reported ANA, and water samples have been sent
to Salonika University for testing.

Fishing has also been banned, though no dead fish
have been found.

Lake Korinia is one of 27 parks in Greece that are
part of the Natura 2000, a European Union-sponsored
network of bird sanctuaries and threatened habitats.

The Lake is also one of 10 Greek ecological sites
protected by the Ramsar treaty, and international
convention on wetland ecosystems adopted in the
mid-1970. - AFP


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Devorah A. N. Bennu, PhD
Independent Scholar
birdologist [at] yahoo [dot] com
public blog: http://girlscientist.blogspot.com



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