Mass bird deaths at a popular Gauteng lake

Graphic content warning: Images may upset sensitive readers.

Barely a week after Roodepoort Record reported on the rapidly receding water levels at Florida Lake in Gauteng, it has emerged that birds on the small bird island located just off the western shore were dying en masse.

The stench of death and decomposition was heavy in the air when Roodepoort Record visited. The island is littered with bird carcasses, abandoned eggs and nests – some occupied by chicks, but many empty.

For geese, it is nesting season. All over the island geese sit on their nests filled with eggs. Some are already dead, while others are not well.

A closer inspection revealed that Royal Ibis seemed to have been the first to succumb as these carcasses are the most decomposed. Other carcasses belong to geese, cattle egrets, and great blue herons.

During Roodepoort Record’s visit, a very ill blacksmith lapwing flapped around helplessly. It was so weak that it was relatively easy to catch. It was later handed over to Cora Bailey, the owner of Community Led Animal Welfare, in the hope that it could be saved.

The rapidly receding water level has made the island accessible on foot, with a stretch of dry land connecting it to the shore.

It has also revealed the extent of pollution, with empty bottles and cans, and every other kind of imaginable rubbish littering the now dry stretch of lakebed. The island itself was also littered with bottles and other assorted trash and the reedbed next to the island shows signs of a recent fire.

Inspecting the site, Bailey expressed her disgust at the conditions.

“It is impossible to say what the birds are dying of, but it is clear that this has been going on for a while as some of the carcasses show signs of advanced decomposition.

“The falling water level may have something to do with it, but it could also be a disease.”

Bailey and her team removed some of the freshest carcasses and sent them to a vet to try and determine the causes of their deaths.

Dirk Engelbrecht from environmental conservation organisation Wild Serve says it is important to identify a cause of death as quickly as possible.

“The rainy season is upon us. And when it rains, whatever germs and organisms that have killed these birds, as well as other organisms that result from the decomposition of the carcasses, not to mention the carcasses themselves, are likely to wash into the lake.

“The resulting contamination of the lake water is more than likely to cause an even bigger crisis.”

A clean-up operation at the lake, organised by local angler Quinton Scott and supported by the Florida South Residents Association, The KCCC Foundation, Claw and Wild Serve, revealed more than 70 carcasses, which were removed from the island and sent for incineration.

Roodepoort Record has directed enquiries to Johannesburg City Parks and zoos and will publish their comment once received.