Scientists concerned avian cholera spreading in Nunavut

Scientists are trying to find answers to why hundreds of common eider ducks have died nearCoral Harbour this summer.

'It's a gruesome place right now.' -Scientist Grant Gilchrist

In the last two months, researchers counted 1,500 dead birds in one breeding colony on Southampton Island, in the north-central Arctic, about 715 kilometres southwest of Iqaluit. The colony is the largest known in Nunavut, with more than 4,000 nesting birds.

"To have over 1,000 females die in a single summer over a matter of weeks is quite an outbreak," said Grant Gilchrist, a scientist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Ottawa.

"Just to give you a visual idea if you were to visit the small island, you would see hundreds and hundreds of dead carcasses of eiders being picked clean by 400 herring gulls, soit's a gruesome place right now."

Gilchrist says the disease started spreading about two years ago, but they are not sure of its origin or how widespread it is.

Last year, about 300 dead birds were found in the breeding areas around Hudson Strait and northern Hudson Bay.

He says they are enlisting the help of local people in Coral Harbour, Cape Dorset, Kimmirut and northern Quebec to keep track this summer.

"Certainly cholera as a disease, we consider rare in Nunavut so we are concerned that it is growing," said Gilchrist, "and that there are these outbreaks of it especially in northern Hudson Bay and in Hudson Strait.

"We are working to monitor this, so we are working with the communities to improve communication so that when outbreaks are detected, they can be reported quickly to us."

Gilchrist says they hope to get a better picture of what's going on by the end of the summer.

He says avian cholera is not passed on to humans and should not be mistaken for avian flu, but they're also recommending people don't eat the birds if they suspect they are diseased.

He says they will be doing a final count of the dead birds once those that are unaffectedmigrate south.