All of our albatrosses are missing

An albatross race backed by celebrities is in disarray, with all its competitors apparently dead.

The Ladbrokes.com 2005 Big Bird Race was using a satellite to track 17 rare Tasmanian shy albatrosses as they migrated 6,000 miles over the Southern Ocean from Tasmania to Durban.

Sir David Attenborough and stars such as Olivia Newton-John, Johnny Vegas, Frankie Dettori and Michael Parkinson, each adopted a bird to raise money for wildlife charities.

But only a month into the race, there is no trace of the albatrosses. Race organiser Tim Nevard said: "We have checked the satellite transmitters and have one plausible explanation for the early loss of signals: birds are dying in unprecedented numbers."

Experts believe the deaths may be due to an extreme lack of food in the Southern Ocean this year.

"We know little penguins are having a catastrophic breeding season in Tasmania and Victoria, and gannets in Tasmania have barely fledged any chicks," said Mr Nevard. "The only cause that immediately suggests itself is very poor fishing this year."

He said that next month a team would be sent to Albatross Island, the starting point of the race off the coast of Tasmania, to see how many young birds failed to set off.