Metropolis Desk-
The AH5N1 virus that causes bird flu was ‘excluded from the presence’ by Mexico’s agricultural and environment ministries, who also ruled that the birds had starved to death.
Experts in Mexico have stated that a warming of the Pacific Ocean’s waters is “most probably” to blame for the extensive bird deaths along the coast, which follow similar occurrences in Chile and Peru.
The AH5N1 bird flu virus was “excluded from the presence” by Mexico’s agricultural and environment ministries, who also ruled that the birds had starved to death. The warming of the Pacific Ocean waters brought on by the effects of the El Nino climate phenomenon, they added in a joint statement, is the “most likely cause” of this epidemic outbreak.
The ministries contend that as the Pacific’s surface warms, fish are diving deeper and are therefore less accessible to birds for hunting.
According to last week’s announcement by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the El Nino weather phenomenon, which is typically linked to an increase in global temperatures, typically happens every two to seven years.
The die-offs in Mexico have mostly affected the fragile Buller’s Shearwater, which breeds on islands and lives offshore, as well as seagulls and pelicans.
The same statement noted that research is ongoing and that these wild birds typically perish offshore and are brought ashore by ocean currents.
Source – First Post