On a country road that the dwellers have nicknamed 'Flamingo Street' Stavros Kalpakis walks beside the tall plant of Agios Mamas, a small lagoon in northern Greek, becoming visible through binoculars.
The gray-head environmentalist wears his waterproof waders and boots and moves into knee-deep water. When he comes back moments later, he is having a lifeless pink flamingo on his hand -one of few seen in the area in recent weeks, killed by lead pellet poisoning.
Over 50 Flamingos Dead
So far, over 50 of the magnificent pink birds are discovered to have been dead in the small lagoon in northern Greek Halkidiki peninsula about 360 miles (580 kilometers) north of Athens, Kalpakis, head of the Action for Wildlife organization, AFP reported.
The group for medical attention recovered nearly a dozen flamingos but none could be saved.
Ellie Bridgeman, a 20-year-old volunteer working with the group for medical attention said "Flamingos feed on small pebbles to help them with digestion, and they are eating the gunpowder from bullets... it's giving the flamingos lead poisoning,"
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The Major Cause Of Death
Tests proves that lead poisoning was the major cause of death, which also scares humans, according to Sofia Prousali, one of the volunteer vets of the organization.
Prousali said a test for avian flu and the West Nile virus was done and the two tests came out negative.
Pellets were found in the stomachs of all the birds that had these symptoms, adding that there were possibly other dead birds soaked in the lush vegetation that has not been discovered.
Agios Mamas is one of Natura's 2000 wildlife diversity regions in Europe and is home to closely 60 different bird species. Even more crucially, flamingos were recorded living here last year, the very first time this has ever occurred in Greece.
Head of management authority for secured places in the large Gulf, Anna Panagiotou said "Before efforts flopped, as a result of human interference with flamingo territories. It would be truly disheartening if such a positive development was foiled by the urging of some of our fellow citizens in overlooking environmental regulations."
Using Lead Shot is Illegal
It has been illegal since 2013 in Greece to make use of lead shot in wetlands, and the European Union in November said it would place a ban on its use in all wetlands under its chemicals regulation framework.
But hunters in Greek still make use of pellets that contain lead, according to a wildlife group.
As disclosed by the European Commission, every single year 4,000 to 5,000 tonnes of lead are dropped into wetlands around the group from a lead gunshot. Playing their own part, the local Greek hunting association reported that the issue is being unfairly used with an aim to justify restrictions against them.
"We have strong leads that the case of the dead flamingos, despite its validity, is utilized for anti-hunting aims," the Macedonia hunting association and Thrace made known in a new statement.
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