Chile government workers remove hundreds of dead seabirds from beach

Chilean employees of the Agricultural and Livestock Service collect hundreds of dead seabirds from a beach, near the coastal port of Coquimbo. Early tests indicate that the recent mass death of 3,500 Guanay cormorants along Chile's northern coast were not caused by avian flu, authorities say.

Residents of Coquimbo voiced surprise at the mass seabird deaths. Avian flu has plagued the coast of Chile since December 2022, killing thousands of penguins, pelicans and sea lions. Chile estimates that around 10 percent of the 10,000 extant Humboldt penguins, a vulnerable species, have died.