CBC News
Friday, January 7, 2011
'Its not a biblical curse. It's not a death ray from an alien spaceship,' expert says
A farmer in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures has found about 80 dead pigeons on his farm 20 kilometres west of Quebec City.
Sylvain Turmel first noticed the dead birds in his field on Dec. 18.
"I found two dead birds in the morning, which is normal, birds sometimes die," he said.
"But when I came back one hour later, another 25 had fallen," said Turmel.
"In the time it took me to pick them up, five more fell to the ground!"
Turmel called police and the fire department. They couldn't provide him with any answers, but he said while they were there, more birds fell to their deaths.
He said wildlife officials with Quebec's Ministry of Natural Resources collected the birds for analysis but they are also stumped.
In the last two weeks, some 80 dead pigeons have been found dead on a farm in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, west of Quebec city. Farmer Sylvain Turmel picks up a dead pigeon Friday.
"All they can tell me is that it's not avian influenza, it's not the West Nile virus, and it's not poison," which is what officials suspected at first.
"It won't stop. I'm finding more [dead] birds every day."
Turmel said that after they fall the pigeons usually remain on the ground for one or two hours before dying.
Phenomenon not unusual: expert
David Bird, a wildlife biologist at McGill University in Montreal, said he's been receiving a lot of phone calls about the phenomenon.
In recent days thousands of birds have suddenly and inexplicably died in the United States and Sweden.
In one small town in Arkansas, more than 4,000 red-winged blackbirds dropped out of the sky on New Year's Eve, littering cars, homes and lawns.
A dead red-winged blackbird is seen in Beebe, Ark., on Jan. 1, 2011. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said more than 1,000 dead blackbirds fell from the sky in the town. (Warren Watkins/The Daily Citizen/Associated Press)
"First of all, it's not a biblical curse. It's not a death ray from an alien space ship," said Bird, noting the incidents have created a type of hysteria.
He said the phenomenon is much more common than people realize.
"There are many cases where birds get hit by hailstorms or get lost in the fog and they die of starvation and they just fall dead out of the sky."
Bird said each incident likely has its own unique cause, and there's no need for people to panic.
"I think this is a case where it's just coincidental … and people are trying to link them together."
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