Speaker: Rare birds in 1080 protest died from blunt-force trauma

Henry Cooke19:33, Sep 13 2018

Speaker Trevor Mallard has laid a complaint with the police over several dead birds used in a protest that were "almost certainly" bludgeoned to death.

The rare native birds placed on Parliament's steps during an anti-1080 protest were "almost certainly" bludgeoned to death, the Speaker says.

He has referred the matter to police.

The birds were definitely killed by blunt force trauma, and Massey University is now performing post-mortems on them to ascertain exactly whether or not they were bludgeoned.

About a dozen birds were placed on Parliament's steps, including five native birds who have protected status, meaning it is illegal to kill or possess them.

"The expert advice is that the birds were almost certainly bludgeoned to death," Speaker Trevor Mallard said.

The native birds were two kereru, two weka, and a Red-Billed gull.

The protest also involved throwing likely-fake 1080 pellets through the grates of the main doors into Parliament.

Video evidence would be provided to police or the courts of the incident but not to the public.

Mallard said he believed strongly in the right to protest but "they've got to stay within the bounds of the law."

"As a protected species under the Wildlife Act 1953 it is an offence to kill any absolutely or partially protected wildlife. It is also an offence to buy, sell or otherwise dispose of, or have in his or her possession any absolutely protected or partially protected wildlife. Individual persons are liable for an imprisonment term not exceeding 2 years or a fine not exceeding $100,000, or both."

He found it "particularly regrettable" that children were involved in the protest.

Anti-1080 protesters marched on Parliament in their hundreds on Saturday calling for an end to the use of the pesticide.

It was part of a nationwide series of protests attended by thousands.

Some of the protesters at Parliament wore skull and crossbones capes, chemical hazard suits and masks while others dressed in black with white crosses to symbolise the loss of the wildlife they say was killed by the poison.

A small number have camped out on Parliament's front lawn since then, writing messages in chalk on the border of Parliament's grounds.

It is not clear which group organised the placing of the birds, but comments online denied the birds were "bludgeoned", suggesting some were roadkill and some were picked up from a 1080 drop zone.

Continued  

Mystery over death of 35 birds at park aviary

16:45

Tuesday 29 December 2015

Mystery surrounds the death of 35 birds who were found dead in their aviary in a Peterborough park over the Christmas weekend.

About half of the zebra finches which are kept in the aviary at Central Park in Peterborough died over the long bank holiday weekend.

Kieron King, Peterborough’s Principle Operations Manager for Amey said the finches in the aviary, which has three bird houses, are fed every day of the year. He said:“Each aviary houses a different bird species which includes parakeets, budgies and zebra finches but all birds can fly from one aviary to another.

“Following the bank holiday 35 finches have been found dead.

“The RSPCA and a vet attended and inspected the aviaries and birds. A vet is assessing the remaining birds and will carry out a post mortem on one of the dead birds to determine the cause of deaths.”

Read more:

DHEC wants SC residents to collect dead birds

BY NATHANIEL CARY

The Greenville NewsApril 16, 2014 

Birds that could be infected with West Nile virus

SC-DHEC

GREENVILLE, SC — If you see a dead bird, South Carolina’s health department wants you to pick it up, with gloves on of course.

The state wants citizens to collect birds that recently died to help the Department of Health and Environmental Control monitor the spread of West Nile virus in South Carolina this year.

The virus begins to show up in mid-March and normally lasts through November, DHEC says.

If you spot a dead blue jay, crow, house sparrow or house finch, you should put on gloves or use double layers of plastic bags to pick it up and take it to local collection stations, said Chris Evans, an entomologist with DHEC’s Bureau of Laboratories.

West Nile is carried through the bird population, but mosquitoes that feast on birds can spread the virus to humans, Evans said.

Continued

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/16/3389960/dhec-wants-sc-residents-to-collect.html?sp=/99/205/&ihp=1#storylink=cpy

Hundreds of dead birds on display to raise awareness about bird-building collisions

By Heather Loney Global News

TORONTO – The bodies of over 1,700 birds are on display in Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) on Monday.

More than 90 species of birds, including federally protected species at risk, are included in the display. All of the birds exhibited in the ROM’s Rotunda died while trying to navigate Toronto’s skies last year.

Every year millions of migrating birds are killed from crashing into buildings in North America, according to non-profit organization Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) Canada.

Continued

What’s killing birds and cats in our parks?

Dubai: Scores of birds and cats have died of suspected poisoning in various parks in Dubai, XPRESS has learnt.

Nina Stone, who teaches Brazilian martial arts Capoeira at Safa Park, said she has found 40 to 50 dead birds everyday over the past fortnight.

“It’s a horrifying sight. There are mynahs, crows, pigeons and hud huds either lying dead in the grass or in their final death throes. At least three cats, all neutered, have also died from suspected poisoning and many others have fallen sick.

“I took six of them to the vet and sheltered three others in my house, but there are still a few left near the nursery area. I hope I can rescue them as well before something happens,” she said.

Raining dead birds

At the Umm Suqeim Park the scenes are no less disturbing. “It’s almost like raining dead birds here. They are falling out of the skies and trees. The other day I saw a worker scoop away a bagful of dead mynahs and crows,” said a British woman visiting the park. Similar incidents have been reported from Al Barsha Park.

Read on

BrightSource Keeping Burned Bird Photos Secret

ReWire has reported a number of times on the controversy over possible threats to wildlife from solar power tower facilities that concentrate huge amounts of sunlight on a central boiler.

Now there's a new wrinkle: Solar power tower developer BrightSource Energy tested the effects of their concentrated solar on a number of dead birds as part of their studies of the proposed Hidden Hills solar facility in Inyo County, and the company has since refused to release the photos to the public because they're too inflammatory.

The story saw daylight yesterday in a report by David Danelski at the Riverside Press-Enterprise. Danelski, who'd dug through audio recordings of California Energy Commission (CEC) hearings on the Hidden Hills project near Tecopa, noted that CEC officials recessed a public hearing on February 11 so that they could view photos of singed chickens, quail, and pigeons that had been hung near the power tower at a BrightSource facility in Israel.

The birds, which had been euthanized before the test, were exposed to varying levels of concentrated solar power to simulate the effects on live birds flying through the area of "solar flux" near an operating power tower. BrightSource reported that only the highest levels of flux tested resulted in heat damage to feathers. Written descriptions of the damage were provided to CEC staff and intervenors in the Hidden Hills case, but according to Danelski BrightSource balked when the CEC asked to view photographic documentation of the bird carcasses after exposure to the solar flux.

Continued:  http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/solar/concentrating-solar/brightsource-keeping-singed-bird-photos-secret.html

Young birds can get 'drunk' on fermented berries

But unsteadiness on the feet, a tendency to fall over, and losing the ability to steer is considerably more of a problem when life is normally spent in trees or in the air.

The authors from the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) reveal how they were called to a primary school in Cumbria last summer after the bodies of 12 young blackbirds were found.

A further blackbird was discovered alive, but obviously "unwell." And two more dead birds were subsequently found.

Foul play was suspected, especially as some of the birds had clearly been injured. The police were called.

Post mortem exams were carried out on the dead birds, who were otherwise in good physical condition. Tests to rule out lethal infections, such as avian flu, came back negative. But berries were found in all the birds' guts.

A few blackbirds had been spotted on rowan trees, beneath which berries similar to those found inside the dead birds covered the ground. Many of these berries looked as if they had been partially eaten.

Rowan berries are not normally considered poisonous to wild birds, but the berries found inside the birds smelled as if they were fermenting.

Three tissue samples from the dead birds were sent for toxicological analysis, one of which revealed high levels of pure alcohol (ethanol). Staff at the wildlife rescue centre to which the live bird was sent also reported that it had been unsteady on its feet and appeared "drunk."

The bird had had to place its wings on the ground to steady itself, and had leant against the walls of its enclosure to keep upright, they said. After two days the bird fully recovered and was released back into the wild.

The authors can't explain why only one of the samples revealed the presence of ethanol, but suspect that all the dead birds had become intoxicated on fermented berries, and that some of the injuries they had sustained were the result of mid-air collisions.

Continued:  http://www.sciencecodex.com/young_birds_can_get_drunk_on_fermented_berries-101400

Bird Die-Off Hits Region

It looks like another bad year for avian botulism in northern Lake Michigan. In the last week or so, hundreds of dead loons have washed ashore from Sleeping Bear Dunes north to the Upper Peninsula.

Conditions Right
Warm water temperatures and low lake levels are associated with outbreaks of avian botulism. And there have been both of those conditions this year.

“This is looking to be a very intense year,” says Dan Myers at Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council. He tracks reports of dead birds in Emmet County.

One volunteer who walks a beach near Harbor Springs found 40 red neck grebes and 33 loons washed ashore in one day.

Tec Cummings says the sight was disturbing.  “It’s heartbreaking to find them, that many birds, because I’m only walking three or four miles of shore,” Cummings says.

Continued:  http://ipr.interlochen.org/ipr-news-features/episode/bird-die-hits-region/2012-10-19