Hector Caymaris, director of the Laguna de Rocha protected area, told AFP that he counted more than 500 dead penguins along six miles (10 kilometers) of Atlantic coast.
Environmental advocates attribute the increase in Magellanic penguin deaths to overfishing and illegal fishing.
“From the 1990s and 2000s we began to see animals with a lack of food. The resource is overexploited,” Richard Tesore, of the NGO SOS Marine Wildlife Rescue, told AFP.
A subtropical cyclone in the Atlantic, which hit southeastern Brazil in mid-July, probably caused the weakest animals to die from the inclement weather, he added.
In addition to penguins, Tesore said he has recently found dead petrels, albatrosses, seagulls, sea turtles and sea lions on the beaches of Maldonado, a department east of the capital Montevideo.
Source- Hindustan Times.