BALTIMORE, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The recent heat wave and heavy rainfall in Maryland are reportedly being blamed for creating a toxic mix that is killing some ducks and geese.
Water temperatures in the 90s and the runoff is said to have combined to create a mix of toxins that killed 60 of the 200 mallard ducks living along Havre de Grace's waterfront promenade, the Baltimore Sun reported Wednesday.
State wildlife officials believe the animals were victims of a naturally occurring botulism.
"It may not be that. You're never sure," Larry Hindman, waterfowl project manager for the Maryland Department of Natural resources, told the newspaper. "But these incidents happen every year around the state, mostly in the Western Shore counties that border the (Chesapeake) Bay.
Biologists said of the six types of botulism, Type C is most likely responsible for the deaths and the risk to humans is negligible.
Type C botulism was first reported in California and Utah in 1910, when millions of birds died. The most recent major outbreak, during 1997, killed 1.5 million birds in Utah and Canada, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
