With another avian botulism outbreak on the Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge, Bird Ally X is again responding to the crisis. BAX botulism co-manager, January Bill, reports that current daily admissions are low, averaging about ten birds, but that number can easily increase as the response ramps up and water levels and temperatures change. 60,000 waterbirds died on the Refuge during the avian botulism outbreak of 2020 while 140,000 died during 2024’s outbreak.
read more about Avian Botulism and past BAX responses here and here
The Lower Klamath and Tule Lake refuges, straddling the California – Oregon border north of Shasta are a critical stop for migratory birds on the Pacific flyway and even more critical nursery for hundreds of thousands of nesting waterbirds including many species of grebes, dabbling ducks and other waterfowl, wading birds such as Black-necked stilts, and various members of the Rail families. Teresa Wicks of the Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Portland Audubon) reports that this has been a good year for babies on the refuge complex with over 10,000 Stilt and Avocet chicks this year, and over 100,000 ducklings.
Over the course of four previous botulism responses over that last 8 years Bird Ally X has developed excellent care protocols for birds suffering from the effects of this neurotoxin. A major challenge this response faces is the lack of funding to support the team of staff and interns caring for the suffering birds.
Excellent care protocols obviously require excellent care providers. Excellent care providers require support. And that’s where you come in! Your donations to this effort will go directly to the food, medicine, water, and time that avian botulism victims require. Your support will help provide the best possible chance for recovery that these birds deserve.
Avian botulism is a human-caused problem, driven by how water is managed, especially in the arid West. Prioritizing agriculture in one of the driest regions in the nation and diverting water from critical rivers and wetlands hurts fish, hurts wildlife, and hurts the people who need both. There is not room for debate on providing care for a disaster that was caused by people. Water could’ve been released to the refuge and this disastrous outbreak would have been averted. That human act must be met by another human act, to provide restoration and rehabilitation to what and who we have harmed. Also, it’s not late to advocate for the release of adequate water to the Refuge!
Want to call for more water? Here’s some advice and talking points from Bird Alliance of Oregon to use when phoning your representative!
Every response has its naysayers, – those who question the ‘value’ of rescuing and treating wild animals who are the victims of human industrial mayhem, – oil spills, desertification, cars, cats, windows, whatever. It’s a morally indefensible position, and also an inaccurate position. Every response to human disasters has those who question the costs attributed to care, who wonder how much this or that life is worth in cold, hard cash. It is tedious to contend with such cynical dishonesty. True value is intrinsic and each of us knows this although some pretend that they don’t. Intrinsic value is what gives life value. Intrinsic value is why murder is murder and not mere killing. What is the ‘value’ of honesty when lying pays so much better? What is the ‘value’ of health when graves are so much cheaper? What is the ‘value’ of responsibility, of love, of trust, of the delirious call of a loon in the late Summer evening? What is the ‘value’ of the Wild. When someone talks like that, they mean only one thing: “I’m willing to harm anything for money.” We pay for this deceit in very practical terms every day in every place across the human world – the loss of biodiversity, and the losses this causes our commonwealth, our commons, which we share with the waterbirds of the West, is incalculable, although we are trying to calculate it.
So we do what’s right. It’s a simple calculation. Rescue who and what can be rescued. Save all we can save from senseless destruction. Restore what we’ve harmed. Otherwise, we destroy more than this Teal or that Grebe, although that’s already too high a price, we also destroy our relationship to reality, to the Wild, to our very being here on Earth.
Of course, if you’re a supporter of Bird Ally X, and our projects, you most likely already feel this way about the world and our responsibilities to it. And that’s why we count on you to help us do what’s right, right now.
Your support is critical. Please help. Click on the link and choose botulism response. Time is of the essence.
