An outbreak of bird flu has killed more than 2,000 wild storks in a nature reserve in northern Israel. The parks service on Sunday (12/26) said the high death toll was very unusual at the time of the seasonal flu.
Ohad Hatsofe, an expert at the Israel Parks and Nature Authority, told AFP that in addition to the 2,000 birds that died, another 10,000 were believed to be infected.
Uri Naveh, a senior scientist at the authority, added that the virus hits Israel every year, but this year’s outbreak is much bigger than in previous years.
Naveh called the number of dead cranes “remarkable.”
Each year, about 100,000 have come to Israel since October, most of them stopping on the Hula Peninsula, a key point on the migration route for birds bound for Africa.
More than 40,000 cranes are estimated to still be in the area.
Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture reports that H5N1 bird flu has been detected in chicken populations in northern Israel.
The ministry has suspended the sale of eggs from affected farms.
H5N1 rarely infects humans, but there have been several outbreaks in the past.
According to the World Health Organization (World Health Organization/WHO), H5N1 has killed more than 450 people, mainly in Indonesia, Egypt and Vietnam, since 2003. [vm/ft]
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