10,000 flamingo chicks hold on to life in Lake Salt

KONYA

Around 10,000 flamingos have reunited with nature thanks to the measures taken to prevent flamingo deaths due to drought in Lake Salt in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum has announced.

“Thankfully, the steps we took yielded results as 10,000 flamingo chicks hatched from their eggs, grew up healthily and some even migrated. Some stayed with us,” Kurum said on social media.

A significant part of the flamingos scattered to nearby wetlands in Mamasin Dam and Kulu and Tersakan lakes within the Special Environmental Protection Zone, the ministry stated.

“Flamingos that are collectively fed continue to present a visual feast with their red colors, as befits the name of the “red crane,” while flying over the region in groups,” the ministry added.

In August, as the water was receding in Lake Salt and Konya Basin, the ministry initiated a project to eliminate the factors that threaten the existence of flamingos, Hacı Abdullah Uçan announced, the head of the General Directorate for Protection of Natural Assets.

Accordingly, tankers started to bring water to Lake Salt to prevent flamingo deaths while the ministry highlighted the importance of the critical period in the next 15 days.

In Lake Salt, the ministry first supplied water to the area so that the incubation zone would not suffer from lack of water until the flamingo puppies reached the age of flying puberty.

Then, lifeline support was provided to flamingos by laying 4 kilometers of pipes for a permanent solution.

The project was supported by the Konya Metropolitan Municipality and the surrounding district municipalities and implemented under the guidance of some experts.

Lake Salt, the second-largest lake in Türkiye and one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world, has long been a hatching ground for flamingos. However, the drought due to lack of rainfall and excessive use of underground water has led the lake waters to sap, making finding food a challenge for flocks of flamingos.