Bird flu kills sea lions and thousands of pelicans in Peru's protected
areas
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[February 22, 2023]
(Reuters) - Bird flu has killed tens of thousands of birds,
mostly pelicans, and at least 716 sea lions in protected areas across
Peru, the authorities said, as the H5N1 strain spreads throughout the
region.
Peru recorded its first case of the virus in November in birds in the
north of the country. Since then it has killed 63,000 birds, according
to government data.
"We have also recorded since mid-January the unusual death of many sea
lions, so far we have about 716 dead sea lions in seven protected
natural areas of the coast," said Roberto Gutierrez, head of
surveillance of the National Service of Natural Protected Areas.
Since the beginning of 2021, bird flu has ravaged the world, killing
more than 200 million birds due to disease or mass culling, the World
Organization for Animal Health has said.
In South America, bird flu cases have been detected in Ecuador, Bolivia,
Chile, Paraguay and recently in Argentina and Uruguay. In Brazil, the
world's largest poultry exporter, there are still no confirmed cases.
In Chile, health authorities last week detected the first positive case
in marine mammal, a sea lion on a beach in the north of the country.
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![](../images/022223PIX/health72.jpg)
Dead pelicans lie on the shore of the
river Camana after Peruvian authorities recorded first cases of bird
flu in November 2022, in Camana, Peru, December 2, 2022.
REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Feb/22/images/ads/current/bennet_lda_010722.png) The population of sea lions numbered
about 110,000 in Peru in 2020, mainly in the coastal region of Ica
and the Paracas nature reserve, according to Oceana, an
international organization dedicated to protecting oceans.
In recent weeks, crews from Peru's National Forestry and Wildlife
Service, in protective plastic suits, gloves and masks, have
collected and buried hundreds of sea lions from several beaches
along Peru's central coast.
"What we remember initially started with pelicans last year is now
affecting these marine mammals," Javier Jara, a veterinarian with
the service, said.
(Reporting by Carlos Valdez Reuters Television and Marco Aquino;
Editing by Alison Williams)
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