Israel: Bird flu kills 2,000 cranes in less than a week

Israeli Nature and Parks Authority officials said Sunday that more than 2,000 wild cranes have died due to bird flu in a large nature reserve north of Israel.

“So far, 2,000 wild cranes have died and an estimated 10,000 have been infected,” Ohad Hotsoff, an aviation ecologist at the authority, told AFP. “It is now estimated that one-fifth of the crane population in Israel is infected with bird flu,” said Yuri Naveh, deputy director of the organization’s scientific division. There are cases identified every year in Israel, “but this year it’s very important,” he stressed, and the number of dead animals since Monday has been “extraordinary.”

Since October and as every year, more than 100,000 wild cranes have arrived in Israel and the majority stop in the Hula Valley north of the country and rest before taking off again in the air. Nearly 40,000 people have been in Israel, mostly in the valley since March before resuming their way to the breeding grounds. Another outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza has been found in chicken coops in farmland in northern Israel.

The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday said it would suspend egg marketing from these farms. He said steps were being taken to import eggs to cope with the shortage.

Although the risk of bird flu being transmitted to humans is very low, experts from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority warn that the H5N1-type virus is dangerous if transmitted to humans. “It is fatal to 36% to 50% of those infected,” said Ohad Hotsoff.