KARACHI: Dozens of wild peacocks have died suddenly in Pakistan, prompting experts to fear an outbreak of the highly contagious Newcastle disease.
Officials on Monday confirmed the deaths of at least 60 peacocks in Thar desert, part of southern Sindh province, over the last week. Local media reports say more than 100 of the exotic birds have died.
The wildlife ministry said tests were being done to diagnose the cause of death, but said the wild peacocks had been weakened by starvation, deforestation and a lack of safe drinking water blamed on delays to the annual monsoon rains.
“Wild peacocks have become susceptible to bacterial and fungal attack, which further suppressed the immunity of the birds that paved the room for viral attack,” said a ministry official.
Experts are alarmed by the number of deaths, suspecting they may have been afflicted with Newcastle disease, known locally as ranikhet.
“We are vaccinating wild peacocks protectively for suspected viral disease, as in 2003 when a few peacocks died from the same symptoms that later proved to be ranikhet,” said Lajpat Sharma, an official in the provincial wildlife ministry.
Tahir Qureshi of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) also told AFP that he suspected ranikhet was to blame.
Newcastle disease is a worldwide problem among birds and sporadic outbreaks can occur frequently. Affected birds suffer from loss of appetite, coughing, sneezing, diarrhoea, and in severe outbreaks a high proportion die.
The wildlife ministry said it was supplying fresh water to peacocks in affected areas.
Sharma said there are at least 30,000 wild peacocks in the Thar desert, but Qureshi said the numbers were declining, because of poaching and lack of effective conservation.
Very sad,Peacocks are really beautiful . :(
They are dying due to the environmental condition , high temperature,load shedding and no water in the desert.
Very sad,Peacocks are really beautiful . :(
They are dying due to the environmental condition , high temperature,load shedding and no water in the desert.
load-shedding affects peacocks also? they can make pankha with their feathers...tension kiuN li itni k mar gaye? :(
sad indeed! yeah, environmental factors must have played a dominant role! :(
It is very much sad that dozens of peacocks died as it could be possible due to an animal disease outbreak or it could be possible through the environmental changes in our country.
While growing up I remember watching the spectacle of large flocks of Siberian migratory birds flying high in the skies just before winter months and then again seeing them returning after winters. Their numbers have now declined significantly as well due to climate change.
In Karachi. Those birds would fly hundreds of miles, day and night to reach their final destination mainly Haleji lake and Keenjhar lake in Sindh.
More info: Migratory Waterfowls
Yes cuz I dont think migratory birds take stopovers. The birds I remember as eagles (You are right), used to stop and stop for hours. We had large trees outside out house and our roof top was larger too where i used to spend time so I watched them hovering over for hours.
Migratory birds take stopovers at different ranges depending on the specie. I heard some of the birds would take a stopover somewhere in Afghanistan. The greatest mystery for me was their ability to navigate the route and pass that information to next generation. It seems there is a general consensus now that it involves both innate and learned abilities. They come fitted with a natural compass to sense Earth’s magnetic field in order to stay on track.