Hundreds of dead birds have washed up on the shore of Wasaga Beach Provincial Park.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), which manages the park, says botulism is the suspected cause of the die-off.

Seven samples have been sent to the University of Guelph for testing and the MNR is awaiting results.

Spokesperson Jolanta Kowalski said 320 dead waterfowl and nine dead fish washed up on shore in Wasaga Beach on Oct. 17 and smaller numbers of carcasses collected on previous days.

The dead birds are primarily white wing scoters and long tail ducks with some common golden eye and a few loons, grebes and mergansers. Kowalski could not say specifically what kind of dead fish washed on shore, only that they were not the threatened Lake Sturgeon.

In recent years botulism outbreaks have been more common in the Great Lakes, primarily impacting bird populations, although some species of bottom-dwelling fish, including Lake Sturgeon, have suffered localized die-offs.

Botulism is a serious neuromuscular illness caused by a toxin that is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.

The paralysis may result in water birds not being able to hold their heads up and as a result, often drown.

The threat to human health is minimal, although dead birds and fish should not be eaten.

Shoreline property owners are advised that they are responsible for the cleanup of dead fish and birds from their shorelines. They should wear protective gear such as gloves and the dead fish or birds can be buried on their property or put out for municipal garbage pick-up.

Carcasses removed from the beach should be placed in heavy plastic bags to avoid the potential spread of botulism-containing maggots and disposed in a landfill.

Pets should be kept away from any dead animals on the beach.

Zebra and quagga mussel beds may play a role in creating habitat for the bacterium that causes botulism. Bottom feeding fish can come into contract with the botulism and pass it up the food chain.

Type E botulism is a toxin produced by a naturally occurring bacterium that lives in lake bottom sediment as harmless spores.

“Little is known about the ecology of the bacterium,” says the MNR, “but under certain conditions – a rich nutrient source, such as a dead animal, a complete lack of oxygen and an optimum temperature – the bacterium begins producing the toxin and the toxin enters the aquatic food chain, affecting fish and birds that eat fish or molluscs (an invertebrate of a large phylum that includes snails, slugs and mussels).”