Flamingos fall prey to drought in Iran

September 6, 2000
Web posted at: 1:40 PM EDT (1740 GMT)

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- The likely toll from drought in Iran grew to include thousands of baby flamingos after a weeklong rescue effort failed, newspapers reported on Wednesday.

Some 5,000 flamingo chicks were left stranded earlier this summer when Bakhtegan Lake in southern Iran dried up earlier this summer. Three thousand had already died but a group of mostly young volunteers tried to rescue the remainder by crossing the dried-up lake bed on foot.

But they had to call off their operations and leave the chicks to die because of the swampiness of the area in which the birds had taken refuge, the daily Hayat-e No said.

A United Nations report said last month that the drought, the worst in 30 years, was becoming critical.

According to the report, 2.8 million tons of Iran's wheat crops and 280,000 tons of barley have been destroyed and an estimated 800,000 head of livestock have died of malnutrition and thirst.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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