A wildlife sanctuary near the southern Chilean city of Valdivia has yet to recover from pollution caused in 2004 by a pulp mill upstream of the wetland, according to a scientist who led a government-sponsored study of the problem. Eduardo Jaramillo, an aquatic ecologist who headed a study of the Carlos Anwandter Nature Sanctuary in 2005 for Conama, Chile’s lead environmental agency, reported on the wetland’s status last November to a visiting delegation of Ramsar Convention officials. The sanctuary, located on the Cruces River, has been on the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance since 1981. Jaramillo says the reserve’s population of black-necked swans (Cygnus melancoryphus) has shown virtually no signs of recovery since it collapsed in the months following the February... [Log in to read more]