Authorities probing mystery deaths of endangered chicks at nesting colony

28 June 2023, 4:33 pm

Edit

Authorities say they are probing the mysterious deaths in recent days of about 1,000 endangered seagull chicks in northern Israel, June 28, 2023 (Yosef Chiat/Atlit Gull Project)

Israeli authorities are probing the mysterious deaths in recent days of about 1,000 endangered tern chicks, the Society for the Protection of Nature and the Nature and Parks Authority say in a joint statement.

“About a thousand tern chicks have died in the last few days, from a cause that is not yet identified,” the statement says.

The chicks were in a nesting colony in the northern Atlit region, the only one of its kind in Israel.

Many of the chicks belong to the rare pygmy species.

“This sudden death means the elimination of the nesting season for the two species of tern, which are in danger of extinction in Israel,” the statement says.