Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Hundreds of collared doves have died, and state officials say feeders play a role in spreading the disease.
By JON WILSON
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 13, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- A state wildlife agency wants residents to stop feeding birds to halt the spread of a disease they believe is killing doves in St. Petersburg neighborhoods.
"This is spread when the birds congregate," said Gary Morse, public information director for the Southwest region of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. "We'd like the public to discourage that by not feeding them. Take the food out of your feeders, dump out the water and wash them in a mild bleach solution. And skip the feeding until this outbreak passes."
Morse said scientists at the University of Florida have determined that the doves are dying from a disease called trichomoniasis. It is caused by a naturally occurring protozoan with the scientific name trichomonis gallinae.
"If we get an overpopulation of the birds, pretty much as there is in Pinellas County, their immune system can become stressed," Morse said. "That's when they can pick up trichomoniasis."
Since April, hundreds of Eurasian collared doves have died, officials say. Virtually all the reports have come from St. Petersburg, and there appears to be no outbreak of deaths elsewhere in the state, said Nancy Douglass, a conservation commission biologist stationed in Lakeland.
"We're anxious to know whether other species are involved," Douglass said. "We've had a few incidental reports (of other species dying). We want to encourage people to keep their eyes open."
At present, the conservation commission does not need more birds to test, Douglass said. But residents are encouraged to continue reporting deaths. The number to call is (863) 648-3203.
Or deaths can be reported to a Web site: http://www.wld.fwc.state.fl.us/bird/.
Kathy Durham, a Crescent Heights resident, said she has found at least two dozen dead doves since late April.
"It had been one a week, but over the last couple of weeks, it's been three or four (per week)," Durham said.
Morse said the disease is not harmful to humans, though he recommended gloves for anyone who handles one of the dead birds. Raptors, however, could be infected with the disease if they eat the doves, dead or alive.
Collared doves are similar to ring-necked turtledoves and are often mistaken for them. But collared doves are larger and considerably paler in color, said the Audubon Society's Rich Paul, manager of the Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries.
Collared doves are thought to have escaped from captivity in the Bahamas during the 1970s, Paul said. They were first seen in the Florida Keys in the early 1980s, and from there moved rapidly up the peninsula, taking advantage of feeders in urban and suburban areas, he said.
One of the problems associated with an introduced species, such as the collared dove, is that the species is especially vulnerable to local parasites or bacteria that might not affect native birds, Paul said.
Scientists originally thought they had ruled out trichomoniasis, avian pox and salmonella as possible causes of the dove deaths, but Morse said lab tests confirmed the presence of trichomoniasis in the birds collected in St. Petersburg.
Wildlife scientists have also been on the lookout for West Nile virus, which infected birds, humans and horses in the northeastern United States two years ago. But it is not believed to have reached Florida and to date is not considered a suspect in the dove deaths.