Agriculture officials are looking into the mysterious deaths of two black-faced spoonbills, a beloved migratory bird in Taiwan. One of the birds has been diagnosed with a sub strain of H5 bird flu. After the discovery of the second bird in the wetlands of southern Taiwan on Wednesday morning, the agriculture council set up a contingency center to prevent the disease from spreading further.
The concern comes amid a massive outbreak of bird flu, which has already infected several million chickens, ducks and geese in Taiwan.
The agriculture council said that the infected bird has been inspected by the Black-faced Spoonbill Conservation Association, which works to protect the endangered species. Experts said say it is the first wild bird to test positive for bird flu, but samples also confirm that the bird contained traces of a bacterium called C botulinum. Authorities have yet to confirm the cause of death.
The Animal Health Research Institute is conducting tests to see whether the black-faced spoonbill infection is an old or new strain of bird flu.
Taiwan is the world's largest winter habitat for black-faced spoonbills. There have been no cases of C botulinum-related death among black-faced spoonbills reported in Taiwan since 2002.