Posted on 01/10/2007 10:56:23 AM PST by Fawn
The mysterious catastrophe has taken place over a period of three weeks in Esperance, about 450 miles southeast of Perth. The area was declared a disaster zone by government officials.
So far, authorities are clueless as to the cause. Autopsies on the birds have shed no light.
The main casualties, according to Australian news sources, are wattle birds, yellow-throated miners, new holland honeyeaters and singing honeyeaters. Some dead crows, hawks and pigeons have also been found.
Some birds were seen convulsing when they died.
Wildlife officers are baffled by what they characterize as a "catastrophic" event. It does not appear to be weather-related.
District nature conservation coordinator Mike Fitzgerald said: "It's very substantial. We estimate several thousand birds are dead, although we don't have a clear number because of the large areas of bushland."
Birds Australia, the nation's main bird conservation group, said it had not heard of a similar occurrence. "Not on that scale, and all at the same time, and also the fact that it's several different species," chief executive Graeme Hamilton said. "You'd have to call that a most unusual event and one that we'd all have to be concerned about."
Just yesterday, some 60 birds fell out of the sky in Austin, Texas, without explanation.
The incident prompted street closings for several hours.
Officials said they had tested the air for dangerous substances but found nothing, and they declared the area safe.
The dead birds – grackles, sparrows and pigeons – were being checked for avian flu, but officials said they saw no symptoms of the illness and believed it more likely they had been poisoned, possibly deliberately, or affected by near-freezing weather.
Didn't this happen in Austin a couple of days ago?
Paging Charles Fort ...
Does anyboy know: have they actually found thousands of dead birds, or this a "Lancet-style" extrapolation from sixty corpses?
Why does George Bush hate birds?
Testing the air after the fact? Seems to me that would be pointless, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
He only hates blackbirds, really.
Yes...I believe it was in Texas....
Like Saddam Husseins dogs that he gassed.
bird flu ping?
Sounds like Avitrol.
I hear he never liked Dodo birds either. Look what happened to them.
Hunches?
Sure did. I posted the original thread
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1764007/posts
You sure about that?
Is Austin on the same latitude as Esperance?
LOL~
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