An unusually large number of seabirds have been found dead or exhausted on the Swedish west coast this winter.
– I feel very sorry for the birds, says Per Engelbrekt, director of operations at the aid organization Animals Hope.
That seabirds cannot survive the winter can of course be seen as the course of nature. But according to both ornithologists and the State Veterinary Institute, SVA, this year there have been unusually many reports from the west coast of dead birds on the beaches.
These are primarily herring piglets, but also other seabird species. Some are also found exhausted, but alive and the aid organization Animals Hope, which runs the Bird Center in Kungälv, is almost full in its so-called emergency room.
– It’s easy between 30 and 40 calls in just one week, says Per Engelbrekt, director of operations at the aid organization Animals Hope.
The birds must suffer
– So far we can handle it, but if it gets worse it will be difficult. I feel very sorry for the birds because they are the ones who have to suffer and take the brunt of everything, says Per Engelbrekt.
To rule out bird flu or other contagion, SVA will now analyze dead birds from both Halland and Bohuslän. But the main theory of the cause is therefore starvation in the harsh weather.
Competition for food
And basically an increasingly tougher competition for food – from humans. According to Per Engelbrekt, large fishing vessels seize the small fish seabirds need, in what he calls “predatory fishing”.
– They go out with giant equipment these days. And they basically vacuum the oceans of everything that contains nutrition. All animals in the sea that depend on finding fish will be affected, he says.
Now he hopes that the worst storms have passed.
– My biggest hope is that Ingunn was the last storm. Now it must be calm for a while so that the seabirds have a chance to survive out in the sea, says Per Engelbrekt.