UPDATE: ABQ Investigates Lorikeet Deaths

More than a third of the 80 lorikeets at the Rio Grande Zoo have died in the last two weeks, perhaps from contamination in the soil.

The city has closed the exhibit to the public, and veterinarians are trying to determine the cause of death. Some birds have tested positive for E. coli, a bacterium often associated with contaminated food or water.

But Rick Janser, director of the Albuquerque Biological Park, which includes the zoo, said the contamination appears to be inside the exhibit somewhere, possibly in the soil or somewhere else in the environment. The food supply appears to be fine, he said.

“We won’t know exactly where it came from until … we can ID this particular type of E. coli,” Janser said Friday in an interview.

Lorikeets are brightly colored parrots that come from Asia, Australia and elsewhere. Thirty-one at the zoo have died since May 4.

Most of the survivors are still in their exhibit receiving antibiotic treatments. The sickest birds, however, are in the zoo’s health clinic receiving extra fluids and intensive care.

Watch the video here.