West Nile Virus has claimed the lives of two endangered birds in a captive breeding program on the Bruce Peninsula.
Elaine Williams is the Executive Director of Wildlife Preservation Canada and says two young Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes succumbed to West Nile at their release site near Dyers Bay.
She says this particular species of bird seems to be more susceptible to West Nile than other birds and as a result of a die off at the Toronto Zoo when West Nile first hit, they moved their captive breeding program indoors.
Williams says this year they moved 11 breeding pairs up to Dyers Bay and they produced over 60 young.
She says they vaccinated the parents against West Nile in the hopes they would pass some immunity on to their young.
Williams says it appears that the majority of the young birds may have some protection against west nile, but its obvious these two did not.
She says while the loss of the two endangered birds is regrettable, it will not have that much of an impact on their breeding and release program.
Williams says what happened to these two young birds is just a normal occurrence that happens in the wild.
