Experts baffled by cause of bird deaths

[caption id="attachment_36708" align="alignright" width="300"] VERY WORRYING: Bird expert Albert Schultz, left, and Dr David Stuart examine a dead bird at the SA Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre. Picture: BRIAN WITBOOI[/caption]

THE results ofpostmortems on three of the almost 40 birds found dead along the Port Elizabeth coastline recently have proved inconclusive.

The mysterious deaths of the birds – Cape gannets, cormorants, African penguins and seagulls – was very worrying, experts said.

While signs of starvation were found in most of the birds, the results of the postmortems done at the SA Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre were inconclusive and they attributed the deaths to three possible factors – the weather, infections or man-made conditions.

Bird expert Albert Schultz said 11 African penguins and 23 Cape gannets were found around Beachview on Sunday, while some cormorants were found along the beachfront in Summerstrand. - Thulani Gqirana