Mystery as hundreds of birds fall from sky in Australia Thu Jan 11,
1:31 PM ET
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian authorities are investigating the mysterious deaths
of hundreds of birds that dropped from the sky over a small coastal town in a
period of a few weeks.
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Residents of Esperance in Western Australia found their suburban properties
littered with the bodies of honeyeaters, wattle birds and yellow-throated
miners, local media reported this week.
Michelle Crisp told the Australian newspaper she and her neighbour had
counted 80 dead birds in one day. "It was like a moonscape, just horrible," she
said.
"The loss of birds has been so noticeable people are saying 'We've just got
no birds in the garden at all', or 'We're getting no dawn chorus,'"
conservationist Graeme Hamilton told AFP Thursday.
Hamilton, chief executive of the country's main bird conservation group,
Birds Australia, said he had never heard of bird deaths on the scale seen in
Esperance.
"Certainly several hundred birds have been reported dead to the department of
the environment but it may be up to several thousand as not every dead bird
would have been reported."
He said the only possible explanations would be a sudden epidemic of disease
or a natural or manmade toxic substance.
"No other animal groups seem to be affected, we're not turning up dead cats
and dogs and marsupials," he said. "It's a mystery."
The states' department of food and agriculture has conducted autopsies on
several birds.
"It doesn't appear to be an infectious cause. Certainly, one thing that is
being considered is a toxin," said acting chief veterinary officer Fiona
Sunderman.
"The birds are dying around sprinklers, water tanks, bird baths. They're
seeking water and they're dying around those water points," said district
nature conservation co-ordinator Mike Fitzgerald.
Esperance, surrounded by lakes, offshore islands and national parks, was
renowned for its bird life.
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