A mysterious illness is killing native honeycreepers living in captivity on Maui.
The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, which operates Maui Bird Conservation Center in Makawao, released a statement Monday saying an investigation is underway.
The source of the outbreak at the sanctuary is not yet clear, but early tests have ruled out avian malaria and bird flu.
“All available resources have been directed toward identifying the cause and preventing further losses,” Emily Senninger with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said in the statement.
While the statement did not disclose how many birds have died, it noted that ʻakikiki seem particularly susceptible.
ʻAkikiki are endemic to Kauaʻi and are nearly extinct in the wild. Their population has declined precipitously in the last decade, mainly due to the spread of mosquito-borne avian malaria.
No ʻakikiki have been spotted on Kauaʻi in about a year, and it’s possible the native honeycreeper has vanished entirely from Kauaʻi’s forests.
Maui Bird Conservation Center is one of the few places that raises ʻakikiki in captivity. In recent years, state conservationists and their partners have relocated a handful of Kauaʻi’s remaining wild ʻakikiki to Maui Bird Conservation Center in an effort to preserve the critically endangered species.
“Each bird lost is an irreplaceable individual,” Senninger wrote.
