Madagascar bird declared extinct
By IANSSaturday, June 19, 2010
LONDON - The Alaotra Grebe, a diving bird native to Madagascar, has been officially classified as extinct by an international bird conservation organisation.
BirdLife International has said in a report that the species, once found on Lake Alaotra, the largest lake in Madagascar, declined rapidly due to carnivorous fish being introduced to the lake and the use of nylon gill nets by local fishermen.
“No hope now remains for this species. It is another example of how human actions can have unforeseen consequences,” Leon Bennun, BirdLife International’s director of science, policy and information was quoted as saying by the CNN.
BirdLife International’s report is the latest update to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species for birds and highlights additional cases of threats on bird life.
The status of Zapata Rail, a blue-brown bird native to Cuba, was upgraded to “critically endangered”, while in Asia and Australia, pollution in coastal wetlands has led to the falling populations of wading birds like the Great Knot and the Far Eastern Curlew.
However, there also has been a positive impact of conservation projects on the survival of certain species.
The Azores Bullfinch has been downgraded from “critically endangered” to “endangered”, while the numbers of Yellow-eared Parrot have been rising in Colombia.
