SANTIAGO – The government has ruled out pollution as the cause of the deaths of some 1,200 penguins that washed up on two beaches in southern Chile.
“It’s pretty unlikely that this was due to a residue issue,” the National Fisheries Service’s regional director in Araucania province, Bernardo Pardo, told Radio Cooperativa.
The remains of some 1,200 penguins washed up over the weekend on two beaches in the southern part of the country.
The dead penguins were of the Magellanic (Spheniscus magellanicus) and Humboldt (Spheniscus humboldti) species, which live in extreme southern South America and migrate to northern Chile and beyond during the Southern Hemisphere winter.
Investigators are looking at several possible causes of death, including fishing nets, but the birds could also have died from “disease or possibly starvation,” Pardo said.
Penguin deaths are common, but “the strange thing is the number” of dead birds, the fisheries official said.
“Without a doubt, such a high mortality level is clearly an issue of concern, especially since these species are protected by law,” Pardo said.
Environmental officials are awaiting the results of tests being processed at the Austral and Catholic universities in Temuco, located 673 kilometers (about 420 miles) south of Santiago, that could help explain what killed the penguins. EFE
Story courtesy of the Latin American Herald Tribune @
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=330913&CategoryId=14094
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