Almost 700 swans have been found dead at a nature reserve in Khazakstan, and the authorities are saying bird flu is to blame. “Between 21 December and 8 January, a total of 675 swan carcasses were discovered on Lake Karakol,” the Kazakh ecology ministry told Associated Free Press, according to a report by CBS News.

The nature reserve where the dead swans were found is based around Lake Karakol, near the shores of the Caspian Sea, and is home to a variety of rare and endangered species. Lake Karakol was artificially created during the Soviet era near the location of a nuclear power plant. It has been the subject of conservation efforts since then.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for Lake Karakol to be preserved back in 2022, describing it as a “unique reservoir.”

Activists have previously raised concerns about western Kazakhstan’s environmental problems, particularly air and water pollution. But now, they are sending in some “specialists” to determine if bird flu is responsible. It’s very likely that they will find the pathogen, especially if that’s what they are looking for.

“This particular avian flu outbreak is of global scope,” Douglas Clark, an associate environmental professor at the University of Saskatchewan, told CBS News. “It has affected many species of birds and mammals worldwide: that scope is unprecedented. Each of those interactions with a new host species creates novel conditions for the virus, and in 2020 we all learned what that can mean.”

This news comes not long after Alasksa reported that a polar bear has also died of avian influenza.

Bird Flu Infects and Kills A Polar Bear

Many mammals have been contracting the virus as it seems to be mutating to spread to other species outside of birds.

USDA Reports More Mammals Infected With Bird Flu

Research Funded By Fauci And Gates Could See Bird Flu Become The Next Deadly Pandemic

According to the “authorities,” the risk of this disease spreading to humans is still relatively low.