About 2,000 snow geese migrating from Mexico to their Alaskan nesting grounds were found dead in Idaho, the state’s Department of Fish and Game announced Monday. Although testing is still in progress, officials believe that the deaths are consistent with avian cholera.
The suddenness with which the birds died is part of the reason that experts suspect avian cholera, which kills acute sufferers in as little as six hours. ‘‘Basically, they just fell out of the sky,’’ Fish and Game spokesman Gregg Losinski told Reuters.
To prevent any other wildlife from picking up the disease, officials have collected and burned the carcasses, all found in the Mud Lake and Market Lake Wildlife Management Areas in the southeast region of the state.
‘‘The important thing is to quickly collect as many of the carcasses as possible, to prevent other birds from feeding on the infected birds,’’ Upper Snake regional supervisor Steve Schmidt said in a statement. The carcasses were collected over the weekend.
Although local wildlife populations are potentially at risk from avian cholera, humans are at a low risk of picking up an infection from the bacteria that causes the disease, officials said.