Botulism outbreak kills 80,000 waterfowl and counting in Klamath Basin, volunteers aim to support populations with ‘bird hospitals
Another devastating botulism outbreak has claimed the lives of an estimated 80,000 waterfowl throughout the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges Complex. That number will continue to climb until cooler weather and rain return to the region in late October. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) confirmed the total last week, a sum that surpasses the historic and devastating die-off event of 2020. … The 2024 water season marked the first time in four years that water was available to be allocated to the Tulelake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges. … The restored wetlands gathered hundreds of thousands of waterfowl as they journeyed along the Pacific Flyway migration path. By May, USFWS estimated more than 100,000 birds were on the wetlands, a number which nearly tripled in the months that followed. But flows were shut off not long before a severe heat wave struck the area, robbing the wetlands and migratory birds of the cool waters needed to survive and reproduce.
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