Botulism Cleanup

News Archive 2002
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Research Brings About Change in Waterfowl Management (June 26, 2002)

Dan Evelsizer‘s research, that was funded by Delta Waterfowl in conjunction with other conservation organizations, proved that cleaning up birds infected with botulism (background on botulism) was not effective in stopping the spread of the disease. The North American Waterfowl Management Plan - PHJV (Prairie Habitat Joint Venture) endorses this position and will now halt the expensive cleanup of the birds.

Dan spent the summer of 1999 investigating the effects of clean up on the survival of birds at Whitewater Lake in Manitoba, and 2000 at other botulism sites, and his results were surprising. After the two years of field work monitoring survival of mallards on seven marshes, average survival rates of mallards was 37% on clean-up marshes in contrast to 42% on marshes where no clean-up occurred!

This is not to say that clean-up of dead and sick birds during botulism outbreaks is a thing of the past. Cleaning up a mess of dead birds is comforting to the public, and helps remove a disturbing eyesore from the prairie landscape. However, as a tool to help maintain duck numbers, botulism clean-up does not make the shortlist. Thanks to Dan Evelsizer's research, managers and conservationists can now focus their efforts and dollars on research and development of other methods to manage botulism outbreaks.

Botulism Victim Botulism is a naturally-occuring form of food poisoning caused by a toxin produced by a virus. Birds ingest the toxin by simply doing what they're supposed to do: eat to get fat for the fall migration. On the breeding grounds botulism is probably the second most important cause of natural mortality for ducks after predation.

The sight of dead and dying ducks prompted managers to attempt to "break" the cycle. The recipe appeared simple enough: when an botulism outbreak starts, get in there, and pick up dead birds, as well as sick birds, before they themselves infect other birds.

Although not a real pleasant job, it made total sense that cleaning up these marshes would slow or even stop the outbreak. This practice also removed dead birds from sight, a popular practice for the larger marshes that are used by hikers, birders, and boaters in late summer. Thus, botulism clean-up crews became the norm as a tool of botulism management.