Scientists assert that Earth is going through a second ‘Silent Spring’ as a result of the dramatic decline in wild bird populations caused by the avian virus.
The phrase ‘Silent Spring’ is a reference to a book written by Rachel Carson in 1962 regarding chemicals, particularly DDT, which killed birds. The article says that DDT made egg shells so thin that adult birds would kill them during incubation and resulted in the deaths of thousands of birds.
A sizable number of birds perished last year as per reports. The estimates from the World Organization for Health reveals approximately 50,000 birds have died from the avian flu since October 2021, predominantly in Africa and Europe.
James Pearce-Higgins, a renowned scientist said, ‘The last time we experienced such large-scale and rapid losses of wild birds in the UK would be the impacts of DDT on birds of prey in the 1950s and 1960s associated with the Silent Spring narrative, or the widespread declines of farmland birds during the 1970s and 80s as a result of agricultural intensification.’
According to the European Food Safety Authority, there are some 3,5000 virus infections detected in 67 bird species across 37 countries in Europe.
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