Dying animals washed up on US beaches

Scores of dead or dying marine mammals and birds are being washed up on California’s famous sun-kissed beaches as a deadly toxin blooms in the coastal waters.

Over the past few months, around 70 dolphins have turned up dead on beaches along the Californian coast while several hundred sea lions and seabirds, including endangered brown pelicans, have become sick or died.

Experts at the state’s International Bird Rescue Research Centre believe the cause is a naturally occurring toxin which affects the nervous system.

The toxin, domoic acid, is produced by the plankton species pseudo-nitzschia and moves up the food chain from plankton to sardines, anchovies, crabs and other shellfish that, in turn, become food for birds and marine mammals.

The centre’s director Jay Holcomb says workers have received scores of calls from concerned members of the public in recent months.

Volunteers manage to save some 50% of the birds once they pick them up but he fears for the future of the brown pelicans.

He said: ‘‘We’ve never really seen birds in this state before. They are getting this toxin from the fish they feed on.

‘‘We’ve had around 250 birds, mostly pelicans, die and the problem is that if the adult birds die their chicks will also end up dead because there is no-one to feed them.

‘‘That’s why we are so concerned because the population could go down.’’

He added: ‘‘There have also been seals and dolphins dying and we get calls from people saying they have seen birds acting weird, walking around like they are drunk or just falling out of the sky and landing on cars, on beaches.’’

Meanwhile the Marine Mammal Care Centre in San Pedro, California, has treated about 170 sea lions in recent months.

‘‘They come in exhibiting seizures. Some are comatose. They’re disoriented, lethargic,’’ said director Jackie Jaakola.

‘‘It’s pretty overwhelming,’’ she said. ‘‘This is also one of the saddest things we’ve seen. This is really hard.’’

Some researchers believe domoic acid poisoning caused a 1961 incident that partly inspired the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds.

Seabirds that may have eaten tainted anchovies descended on villages in the Santa Cruz area nipping people, staggering around, smashing windows and smacking into cars and houses.

No human illnesses have been reported in California but state health officials advise against eating locally sport-harvested shellfish, crabs, sardines and anchovies.

Commercially harvested seafood is considered safe because it is inspected.

Humans eating tainted seafood can get amnesic shellfish poisoning, which can cause twitching, nausea, permanent short-term memory loss and even death.