NY Officials Issue Warning about Consuming Waterfowl from Lake Ontario

October 24, 2006

Botulism is suspected in the deaths of dozens of waterfowl on Lake Ontario.

The corpses of dozens of birds are washing up on the shores of Lake Ontario, potentially the victims of the same bacteria that killed hundreds of birds over the summer near the Thousand Islands upstate.
The water birds, such as loons, gulls and grebes, were first discovered Saturday between Wayne County’s Sodus Bay and Deer Creek Marsh in Oswego County. The deaths are thought to be due to type E botulism, said state Department of Environmental Conservation spokeswoman Maureen Wren, but the DEC’s Wildlife Pathology Unit is inspecting and testing the birds.
The toxin produced by the botulism bacterium is harmful if eaten by humans. And the state is advising people not to harvest birds or fish that appear sick “or are acting abnormally.” Cooking will not necessarily destroy the botulism toxin, according to the DEC.

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle