Botulism blamed in Ellis Lake duck deaths

The bodies tend to collect in just a few places along the perimeter of Ellis Lake, some floating upside down, others on their sides.

At least 30 dead ducks have been spotted there in the last couple of weeks. Several more ducks have been described as seriously ill. An outbreak of avian botulism is believed responsible.

"I found a flapper yesterday," said Dale Whitmore, a state Department of Fish and Game biologist, about a sick bird he spotted Monday morning.

Avian botulism, "paralyzes their necks. They can't hold their heads up and they drown," he said.

Whitmore found and removed about a dozen dead birds the day after a Fourth of July celebration that featured motor boat and cardboard boat races.

Maintenance workers picked up about six dead ducks on June 25.

On Tuesday, 13 duck bodies bobbed among cans, bottles, cups and chip bags, mostly at the north end of the lake, and just south of 14th Street.

Taylor Wisherd, 17, of Marysville, was showing her boyfriend from Sacramento around the lake shortly after the boat races on Sunday.

"He said, 'Oh look — a dead duck,'" Wisherd said. "Then we saw another and another and another. They were everywhere. I counted 25 before we left."

Marysville City Services Director Dave Lamon said the lake water had been treated last week to try and limit algae growth.

But a lack of fresh water combined with heat and an over-population of birds have made for a particularly gruesome summer.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, decaying organic matter is where maggots, which carry the virus without becoming sick themselves, thrive, and eventually sicken ducks and some other birds that feed on them.

Overly dense vegetation can reduce oxygen levels and kill aquatic animal life, thus drawing flies and perpetuating this cycle.

"We've got an inherent problem at Ellis Lake," Lamon said. "They (waterfowl) come in during the regular migration. People feed them and so they stay."

The lake is fed primarily by run off from storm drains and is not all that clean to begin with, Lamon said.

Add too many ducks, and they help to create a health hazard for themselves.

"Their poop doesn't have much place else to go except the lake," he said.

Budget cutbacks in recent years have minimized the amount of clean water the city pumps in, and the frequency with which it is pumped.

Even in late summer when the city adds the most water, the lake simply becomes diluted, Lamon said.

It would take roughly 30 days of constant pumping to change the existing water, he said.

In past years, when too many ducks and geese have shown up, Lamon said, they have been trapped after or just before the spring and early summer nesting seasons. Fish and game agents relocate them, usually to local rivers.

Botulism claims some ducks every few years, he said. But the current outbreak seems to be especially deadly.

Jose Marquez, 16, was surprised to see several dead ducks while exercising his dog on the path around Ellis Lake Tuesday.

Marquez said he lives nearby and visits the lake frequently with his parents. They are accustomed to seeing an occasional dead animal there.

"But, heck yeah, this is more than usual," he said.

According to Whitmore, the disease is simply, "nature's way of handling overpopulation (of ducks)."

Curbing the further spread of botulism, he said, will require that dead ducks be removed right away so they don't attract flies, and create the maggots that other ducks eat.

After seeing so many dead and dying animals on Sunday, Wisherd said, her boyfriend didn't want to ever see the lake again. The two of them, she said, felt shocked and sad for the ducks.

"Ellis Lake is supposed to be their little sanctuary," she said.