Over 1,000 penguins found dead in southern Chile

SANTIAGO. March 30. KAZINFORM The bodies of more than 1,000 Magellanic and Humboldt penguins have been washed ashore in a bay in southern Chile, national media said on Monday.

The daily La Tercera said the penguins were found dead at Caleta Queule, 800 km south of Santiago and more than 2,000 km north of Antarctica, on Saturday. The cause of the deaths is not yet known. Local officials said there are no signs that the penguins suffered poisoning. Several carcasses have been sent to a university in Valdivia, in southern Chile, for testing. Penguins usually migrate from Antarctica to Chile and Peru during the southern hemisphere winter, which begins around June; Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.