Threatened species of Phoenicopteridae

In March 2000, for the third time in seven years, tens of thousands of flamingos who inhabit the soda lakes of Kenya's Great Rift valley are dying of a disease believed to be caused by industrial pollution. As many as 600 are dying per day and a conservative estimate puts the number of dead at 30,000, but the real figure could be twice as high. What scientists do know is that the deaths began in July 1999 and set alarm bells ringing for conservationists who remember the flamingo crises of 1993 and 1995 when 50,000 birds died.

Flamingos migrated to Lake Bogoria in 1998 when unseasonable rains disturbed the delicate ecosystem of their preferred habitat of the nearby Lake Nakuru national park. Also until recently, waste was dumped into lake Nakuru where scientists have found high levels of mercury, chromium, copper, lead and even arsenic. Traces have been found of metals in the tissue of the birds who have died at Bogoria which match the metals found in Nakuru, leading researchers to conclude that the birds carried the pollutants with them from Lake Nakuru and that some recent stress-catalyst has triggered the mass poisonings. There is a severe drought in the area and a shortage of fresh water on which the flamingos depend, which poses the hypothesis that the lack of fresh water is the stress catalyst that is causing the deaths, coupled with the heavy contamination of Lake Nakuru. Nakuru's industries recently signed an agreement to preserve Lake Nakuru's ecosystem, but years of toxic dumping in the area would take decades to correct. Although it can't be certain, there is a very strong feeling that pollution is the main cause of the deaths.

Nakuru's industries recently signed an agreement to preserve Lake Nakuru's ecosystem, but years of toxic dumping in the area would take decades to correct.

However a biologist at the university of Leicester, who is leading a survey of Lake Bogoria, believes that this scenario is unlikely. Without ruling out the chemical pollutants as the cause, a bacterium is much more likely and the fact that the disease keeps reappearing shows that the problem is chronic in terms of the long-term security of the species.