Eagle killer identified

In 1994, at DeGray Lake in the state of Arkansas in the USA, 29 bald eagles were found dead from a mysterious disease. Over the next 25 years more and more eagles across the area were found suffering from what they called Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy, which causes “holes” in the brain and spinal cord, and erratic, strange behaviour. Researchers have been tirelessly hunting for clues as to the cause of the disease, and now they think they’ve cracked it. An invasive plant is triggered to produce a toxin, possibly by a pollutant, and that’s what poisons the eagles. Eva Higginbotham heard how it works from Timo Niedermeyer at Martin Luther University in Halle, Germany...