“On Sunday we received the first reports of sick and paralyzed birds in the area,” says Jarco Havermans. According to the animal caretaker and curator of Ecomare, it is currently mainly ducks that are victims of presumably botulism. That is a disease caused by a bacterium and often occurs in fish and water birds.
“There are more animal species there, but now it is mainly ducks with the disease,” the animal caretaker emphasizes. According to him, the animals are now in the moulting and therefore cannot fly. “The Horsmeertjes is then a neat place to sit now as a duck. Through the food, among other things, the ducks get the bacterium into the water.”
Botulism causes muscle relaxation in water birds and can lead to massive death. Employees of Ecomare and volunteers have found around forty dead water birds since Sunday. Five animals are currently being treated in the reception of Ecomare.
Daily control to prevent worse
The find of Dead and Sick Ducks on Texel is not new. Last summer there are already Found large numbers of dead and sick ducks At the Horsmeers. In less than three weeks, Ecomare arrived when around three hundred ducks, explains Havermans. A large part of it, about two hundred ducks, did not survive the disease.
To prevent a large outbreak such as last year, sick and dead ducks are now being removed from the area as quickly as possible. “We now check with the Horsmeertjes every day,” says animal caretaker Havermans. “Hopefully we can prevent it from getting out of hand again.”