gtk-2.2.2: gdk pixbuf loaders do not work

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Just installed gtk-2.2.2 and trying to build an application against it.
It fails trying to run gdk-pixbuf-csource.

I looked into it and indeed gdk-pixbuf-csource is not functional.
Whatever I give it to convert, it says:

# strace -o zzz gdk-pixbuf-csource 2400_MHz_antenna1.JPG
failed to load "2400_MHz_antenna1.JPG": Couldn't recognize the image file format for file '2400_MHz_antenna1.JPG'

The interesting thing is that it does not even try to load any .so
in order to convert that image file. It reads first 4k, reads 
/etc/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders and bails out. On any image.
This is the strace tail:

...
open("2400_MHz_antenna1.JPG", O_RDONLY) = 4
fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=66047, ...}) = 0
old_mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x40013000
read(4, "\377\330\377\340\0\20JFIF\0\1\2\1\0\310\0\310\0\0\377\355"..., 4096) = 4096
brk(0x804f000)                          = 0x804f000
open("/etc/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 5
fstat64(5, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=150, ...}) = 0
read(5, "# GdkPixbuf Image Loader Modules"..., 1024) = 150
brk(0x8050000)                          = 0x8050000
read(5, "", 1024)                       = 0
close(5)                                = 0
close(4)                                = 0
munmap(0x40013000, 4096)                = 0
write(2, "failed to load \"2400_MHz_antenna"..., 114) = 114
_exit(1)                                = ?

My /etc/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders:
===================================
# GdkPixbuf Image Loader Modules file
# Automatically generated file, do not edit
#
# LoaderDir = /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders
#

Why it doesn't even try to load anything from /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders???

BTW, gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders is happy:
# GdkPixbuf Image Loader Modules file
# Automatically generated file, do not edit
#
# LoaderDir = /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders
#
"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-wbmp.so"
"wbmp" 0 "gtk20" "The WBMP image format"
"image/vnd.wap.wbmp" ""
"wbmp" ""
" " "z" 1

"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-jpeg.so"
"jpeg" 1 "gtk20" "The JPEG image format"
"image/jpeg" ""
"jpeg" "jpe" "jpg" ""
"\377\330" "" 100

"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-ani.so"
"ani" 0 "gtk20" "The ANI image format"
"application/x-navi-animation" ""
"ani" ""
"RIFF    ACON" "    xxxx    " 100

"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-bmp.so"
"bmp" 0 "gtk20" "The BMP image format"
"image/bmp" "image/x-bmp" "image/x-MS-bmp" ""
"bmp" ""
"BM" "" 100

"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-gif.so"
"gif" 0 "gtk20" "The GIF image format"
"image/gif" ""
"gif" ""
"GIF8" "" 100

"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-ico.so"
"ico" 0 "gtk20" "The ICO image format"
"image/x-icon" ""
"ico" "cur" ""
"  \001   " "zz znz" 100
"  \002   " "zz znz" 100

"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-png.so"
"png" 1 "gtk20" "The PNG image format"
"image/png" ""
"png" ""
"\211PNG\r\n\032\n" "" 100

"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-pnm.so"
"pnm" 0 "gtk20" "The PNM/PBM/PGM/PPM image format family"
"image/x-portable-anymap" "image/x-portable-bitmap" "image/x-portable-graymap" "image/x-portable-pixmap" ""
"pnm" "pbm" "pgm" "ppm" ""
"P1" "" 100
"P2" "" 100
"P3" "" 100
"P4" "" 100
"P5" "" 100
"P6" "" 100

"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-ras.so"
"ras" 0 "gtk20" "The Sun raster image format"
"image/x-cmu-raster" "image/x-sun-raster" ""
"ras" ""
"Y\246j\225" "" 100

"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-tga.so"
"tga" 0 "gtk20" "The Targa image format"
"image/x-tga" ""
"tga" "targa" ""
" \001\001" "x  " 100
" \001\t" "x  " 100
"  \002" "xz " 99
"  \003" "xz " 100
"  \n" "xz " 100
"  \013" "xz " 100

"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-xbm.so"
"xbm" 0 "gtk20" "The XBM image format"
"image/x-xbitmap" ""
"xbm" ""
"#define " "" 100
"/*" "" 50

"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-tiff.so"
"tiff" 0 "gtk20" "The TIFF image format"
"image/tiff" ""
"tiff" "tif" ""
"MM *" "  z " 100
"II* " "   z" 100

"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.2.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-xpm.so"
"xpm" 0 "gtk20" "The XPM image format"
"image/x-xpixmap" ""
"xpm" ""
"/* XPM */" "" 100
--
vda