As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Tuesday, 5 January 2016

100 wild swans poisoned by 'killer duck-feeder'

THE mass killing of up to 100 wild swans was the work of a maniac who fed the birds poison-laced bread.

By STUART WINTER

PUBLISHED: 00:00, Wed, Dec 30, 2015 | UPDATED: 13:16, Wed, Dec 30, 2015

Up to 100 swans are believed to have been killed by lead-poisoning

An investigation into the way the beautiful water birds died gruesomely from lead poisoning is pointing the finger at a determined and cunning killer pretending to be a harmless duck-feeder.

Most of the birds rescued after being targeted along a stretch of the River Wear in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, never recovered from the high levels of lead in their bodies.

The fact that x-rays did not show any lumps of the toxic metal in the birds' digestive tract has led experts to fear that the killer had gone to extraordinary lengths to wipe out huge number of water birds.

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