Millions of pink flamingoes - a top tourist attraction at Kenya's Lake Nakuru National Park - are threatened with extinction if pollution of the lake continues unchecked. Latest tests suggest that the lake and its wildlife will die unless immediate action is taken to curb pollution.

First indications that the lake was threatened by the twentieth century pollution menace came when dead pelicans were discovered in various parts of the lake.

Insecticides and chemical fertilisers contaminate rivers flowing into the lake. In addition, sewage is pumped into the lake from the town of Nakuru.

Initial tests by Nakuru Wildlife Sanctuary Director John Hopcraft suggest a well-established pollution cycle. Fish feeding on contaminated plankton build up increasing concentrations of poison, which finally kill the wildlife feeding on the fish.

Now National Park officials are calling for a top-level analysis of the poisons killing the lake's pelicans, so that the source can be located and further pollution prevented.