Authorities said that nearly 2,000 penguins were found on the eastern coasts of Uruguay within ten days, and the cause of this still unexplained massacre does not appear to be bird flu.
Worms and Giant Prawns: Lively Life in the Deep Sea
These Magellanic penguins, most of them young, died in the Atlantic Ocean before the currents brought them back to the coasts of the provinces of Canelones, Maldonado and Rocha (south and southeast), Carmen Lizaguin, Wildlife Officer at Uruguay’s Ministry of the Environment, told AFP.
sequel after announcement
according to her opinion, “90% of the young samples that arrive without fat stores and on an empty stomach”. She added that the tests conducted to determine the presence of bird flu were negative.
A similar massacre in Brazil in 2022
This species of penguin, which lives in southern Argentina, migrates north in search of warmer waters during the southern winter, and can reach the coasts of the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo (southeast).
“It is normal for a certain percentage to die, but not this number.”Carmen Lyzaguin said, noting that a similar massacre took place last year in Brazil, again for an unknown reason.
Hector Caimaris, director of the protected Rocha Lagoon, confirmed to AFP that he had counted more than 500 dead penguins within ten kilometers of shore. Conservationists blame the death of the Magellanic penguins on poaching and illegal hunting.
sequel after announcement
The disappearance of marine animals is the other major extinction threat
“Since the 1990s and 2000s, we have started to see animals that lack food.”Regrettably, AFP Richard Tesseur, of the NGO SOS Marine Animal Rescue, confirms “excessive exploitation” marine resources.
He said the hurricane that appeared in the Atlantic Ocean and hit southeast Brazil in mid-July probably led to the death of the most vulnerable people due to bad weather conditions.
In addition to the penguins, Richard Tesur says he has found dead petrels, albatrosses, seagulls, sea turtles and sea lions on the beaches of Maldonado, east of Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.
