Domoic acid not to blame

Whatever has been killing dozens of pelicans and cormorants along the Newport Beach and Huntington Beach coast the last couple of weeks, it isn’t domoic acid poisoning, experts concluded Wednesday.

Reports began flooding staff at Huntington Beach’s Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center early last week with accounts of more pelicans than usual being found either dead or dying in the water and on the sand.

By the end of the week, the mysterious disease, which has struck seabirds all along the state coastline, had stretched into Newport Beach as well, with more than a dozen pelicans and cormorants found along the city’s coast.

Immediately, experts at the care center began taking blood and tissue samples and sending them to state universities for testing.

Wednesday, results from blood tests submitted over the weekend to USC’s Caron Lab, which focuses on marine environmental biology, determined that domoic acid poisoning, which comes from toxic algae blooms in the ocean, was not responsible for the deaths.

Eleven birds from Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach and Newport Beach were sent to USC’s laboratory.

Of those, only one from Newport Beach tested positive for domoic acid poisoning, and at an extremely low level at that, said wildlife care center Director Debbie McGuire.

In all, 24 test results from birds as far north as Port Hueneme returned only four positive for domoic acid poisoning, all at low levels, McGuire said.

Experts remain stumped on what is killing the birds.

Experts now turn to tests expected to come back later in the week from the California Health and Food Safety laboratory at UC Davis.

Rehabilitating birds costs between $500 and $1,000 and testing is another $300 or so per bird, care center officials said.

The center is quickly running out of funds to pay for saving and testing all this recent wave of victims, McGuire said.

Anyone interested in donating to help can call the center at (714) 374-5587. The center also accepts donations of old sheets, towels and cases of Pedialyte.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.