LINUM: In a spot outside Berlin that’s usually a paradise for birdwatchers, volunteers have recovered nearly 2,000 dead cranes in recent days as bird flu has hit the migrating birds hard.
Linum, a small village about an hour’s travel from the German capital, is known in summer for its many nesting storks. In the fall and spring, it’s a popular resting spot for thousands of cranes as they migrate between the Baltic and Nordic regions and southern Europe. But this month, many of the birds’ journeys have ended in the ponds and fields that surround it, as well as at other spots in Germany.
Bird flu has flared up early and quickly in the country this year. Since early September, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, Germany’s national animal health authority, has recorded 30 outbreaks at poultry farms as well as cases among wild birds in various parts of the country, and more than 500,000 chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys so far have been slaughtered as a precaution.
Over the past week the majestic gray-and-white cranes, unusually, have been at the center of attention. It’s not clear where they were infected. Norbert Schneeweiss, an expert with Brandenburg state’s environment office, said that such a severe impact from bird flu hasn’t previously been seen in cranes on this migration route, though there was an outbreak among cranes in Hungary two years ago.
This week, volunteers in full-body protective overalls waded through the water and reeds outside Linum and stuffed the limp, floating bodies of the large birds into sacks.
A sick bird stood listlessly by a path nearby, failing to fly away as people approached. Others have been seen staggering and then collapsing. Still-healthy birds flew overhead and pecked for food in the fields.
By Monday evening, volunteers had picked up 1,875 dead cranes and expected the total to top 2,000 in the coming days.
“There’s not a lot more we can do here other than gather up the birds,” Schneeweiss said. He added that experts have made an effort to make the area less attractive for migrating birds, for example by limiting the water flow to reduce the size of the resting area — but noted that “resting places are rare in Central Europe.”
In earlier years, “we were glad of every crane — it was a natural spectacle every evening when thousands of cranes fly in; a lot of visitors came,” he said. Now, however, the usual guided tours for bird fans have been canceled.
Schneeweiss said the situation appears to be under control locally for now, with the number of dead cranes slowing and no other wild birds yet showing symptoms.
Collecting the birds is hard and depressing work. “We try to convince ourselves that we’re doing something good for conservation and that it’s important,” volunteer Lara Weinmann said. “But of course, it does affect you.”
Bird flu infections in humans are relatively rare. But as it hits other species, including some mammals, scientists fear the virus could evolve to spread more easily among people.
Bird flu hits migrating cranes hard in Germany as the virus flares up
https://arab.news/b9wqc
Bird flu hits migrating cranes hard in Germany as the virus flares up
- Since early September, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, Germany’s national animal health authority, has recorded 30 outbreaks at poultry farms as well as cases among wild birds in various parts of the country
- More than 500,000 chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys so far have been slaughtered as a precaution
Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’
- “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference
MUNICH: A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.
Kallas alluded to criticism in the US national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.
Kallas rejected what she called “European-bashing.”
“We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all this, which is actually bringing also prosperity for people. So that’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations.”
In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”
“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.
Kallas said Rubio’s speech sent an important message that America and Europe are and will remain intertwined.
“It is also clear that we don’t see eye to eye on all the issues and this will remain the case as well, but I think we can work from there,” she said.
