Post mortem on dead WA birds completed

[Joanne98]

Post mortem on dead WA birds completed
The World Today - Friday, 2 February , 2007 12:43:00
Reporter: David Weber
ELEANOR HALL: In Western Australia, the mystery surrounding the deaths of thousands of native birds could remain just that.

Around 4,000 birds were found dead near the south coast town of Esperance in December and January.

The Department of Environment has just completed its post-mortem examinations and has ruled out viruses or bacteria as the cause of death.

Now wildlife officials are planning to kill 15 healthy birds, to see if that can throw any light on what caused so many birds to suddenly drop from the sky.

In Perth, David Weber reports.

DAVID WEBER: The death toll includes wattle birds, honeyeaters, silvereyes, pigeons, seagulls and yellow-throated miners.

About 500 were found in one group, others were scattered around Esperance in the final weeks of last year.
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2007/s1839333.htm

[al bupp]

1. The Proverbial Canaries in the Coalmine? /nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Near the south-coast town --

Possibly a methane plume coming up from the ocean floor, because of warming? Would something like that be revealed in the autopsy?

[Joanne98]

3. They said they're still looking at metals..

[vireo]

4. Another bird death mystery--Bald Eagles (WI)

The Department of Natural Resources continues to track a mystery illness that afflicts some of the state's bald eagle population. A census conducted earlier this year around the Lower Wisconsin River found just under 500 bald eagles in the area for the winter months. However, those numbers are renewing concerns about a mystery illness that leads to apparent neurological impairment in eagles.

DNR toxicologist Sean Strom says the illness was first observed in the mid-1990s, when several bald eagles collected by the DNR were found to have lesions on their liver. The illness also appears to be unique to Wisconsin. Despite nearly a decade of trying to track it, Strom says officials have been unable to determine what's causing it.

http://www.wrn.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=7A5B9E65-D33C-1E5B-DC7045D5C9A5E2CB

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Could it be Mad Cow Disease?

That would be a mind-blower!

--p!