Starlings found dead but this time there's no mystery: U.S. government admits poison

[EnglishLady]

Mail Jan 21

The bizarre trend of massed animal deaths around the world in January has been as baffling as it is disturbing.

It started on New Year's Eve as 4,000 birds crashed to earth over a one-mile area of Beebe, Arkansas, and was followed by tens of thousands of fish washing up on a river bank in nearby Ozark.
But rather than proving to be isolated incidents, they were the first in a long series of oddities that have seemingly defied explanation - or at least some of them have.

The latest occurrence saw around 200 starlings drop from the sky in Yankton, South Dakota but, with local authorities were baffled, the government stepped forward to claim responsibility.

It was initially believed that cold weather may have caused the deaths, but then Yankton police received a call from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), stating that its officials had poisoned the birds.

Some 5,000 of the birds had been terrorising a feedlot 10 miles away, defecating in the feed meal and posing a threat to the animals and farm workers

The USDA decided killing them would be the best action to take and laced bait with the poison DRC-1339.

Officials were surprised the birds made it so far before dying, but they have assured the townsfolk that the poisoned dead birds do not pose a risk to nearby animals or humans.
The Yankton mystery was solved quickly but many similar incidents remain unresolved.

Mass bird deaths, ranging in numbers from dozens to thousands, were reported in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, California, Italy and Sweden.

Mass fish death have been reported in Arkansas, Maryland, Chicago, New Zealand and Brazil.
The trend has also hit Britain with 40,000 devil crabs washing ashore along the Kent coast while hundreds of fish were found floating lifelessly in a Greater Manchester pond.
Both those British examples were attributed to extreme temperatures in a very cold winter, and some of the U.S. incidents have also been explained away.

The deaths of two hundred cows on a farm in Wisconsin has been attributed to pneumonia or a similar disease, while the deaths of thousands of turtle in the Italian town of Faenza was attributed to over-eating

 

[layoutshooter]

Re: Starlings found dead but this time there's no mystery: U.S. government admits poi

Starlings, along with English sparrows, are invasive species that have done serious damage to native birds. All carp in the U.S. are the same. Mute swans are destroying marshes and displacing or eliminating ducks from their traditional breeding/resting areas. We need much more of this poison.

 

[Ragman]

Re: Starlings found dead but this time there's no mystery: U.S. government admits poi

Starlings, along with English sparrows, are invasive species that have done serious damage to native birds. All carp in the U.S. are the same. Mute swans are destroying marshes and displacing or eliminating ducks from their traditional breeding/resting areas. We need much more of this poison.

Maybe it will work on the asian carp.

 

[layoutshooter]

Re: Starlings found dead but this time there's no mystery: U.S. government admits poi

Maybe it will work on the asian carp.

We got to get rid of ALL the carp. They are ALL very damaging.

 

[BillChaffey]

Re: Starlings found dead but this time there's no mystery: U.S. government admits poi

I don't understand how the Government can say the dead birds are no threat to animals. Skunks, opossums, raccoons, crows all are eaters of Carrion. It would seem to me the poison is in the dead carcass.

 

[layoutshooter]

Re: Starlings found dead but this time there's no mystery: U.S. government admits poi

I don't understand how the Government can say the dead birds are no threat to animals. Skunks, opossums, raccoons, crows all are eaters of Carrion. It would seem to me the poison is in the dead carcass.

Many poisons used in animal control break down very quickly and do not pose a threat to those animals that feed on the dead. I don't know all that much about this one, or any of them for that matter, but I know people who use these poisons as part of their job all the time. I have seen them work in the marsh where I hunt. You just don't find the "secondary dead" like you would expect.