Pigeon Droppings

 

Bihar State – Credit Wikipedia

 

# 6696

 

 

Last winter India was plagued with numerous stories of wild bird die offs that were largely blamed on the avian flu virus (see Media Report: H5N1 Killing Crows In Jharkhand).

 

By mid-December the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bhopal, confirmed that the H5N1 virus was behind at least some of these deaths. (see EpiSouth eweb_195_15_12__11.pdf).

 

Over the next few months, more reports came in, involving thousands of dead birds (see The Kolkata Crow Mystery & H5N1: A Murder Of Crows) that spread across several northern states.

 

While it is fair to say that the H5N1 virus was widely suspected, it is not clear how many were actually confirmed by laboratory testing.

 

On February  6th,2012 official notification was made to the OIE of H5N1 virus detections in crows from four states; Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa, and Bihar.

 

By the end of spring, reports of fresh H5N1 outbreaks in poultry - and wild bird die offs - came to a close in India, and the subject of bird flu dropped off the front pages.  With the return of fall weather, however, the bird flu virus is back in the news (see Bangalore, India: H5N1 in Turkeys).

 

And today we’ve  a report – once again from Bihar – of a fresh bird die-off, although this time the victims are not crows, but pigeons.

 

At this point, no testing has been done, so the cause of this die off is not known.  H5N1 is a possibility, but by no means is it the only one.

 

Pigeons are generally regarded as being far less susceptible to the H5N1 virus than many other bird species (see Role of Terrestrial Wild Birds in Ecology of Influenza A Virus (H5N1), but they are not completely immune.

 

Earlier this year (see WHO Updates H5N1 In Egypt & Indonesia), two human H5N1 deaths in Indonesia were linked to direct contact with pigeons. Other pigeon-related cases from the past include:

 

•  In February of 2006, a 14 year-old pigeon handler in Iraq reportedly died from H5N1
• The April 2006 CDC's EID Journal Avian Influenza H5N1 in Naturally Infected Domestic Cats, describes a domestic cat that died after eating an infected pigeon. 
• In May of 2006, a 39 year-old man died after reportedly cleaning pigeon feces from blocked roof gutters at his home.

 

 

Any mass bird die off in an area where the H5N1 virus is endemic is worthy of investigation, but there are many other diseases that can kill pigeons. The Paramyxovirus (PMV) which has recently caused such a stir among pigeon fanciers in Australia and Newcastle virus are just two.

 

And pigeons (along with other terrestrial birds) may be affected by environmental factors, such as pesticides, and contaminated feed.

 

With all of these caveats, here is the report from the Times of India, which includes the somewhat unusual speculation from a veterinarian that faulty `mobile phone towers’ may be responsible for these deaths.

 

 

Over 500 pigeons drop dead in Bihar village

IANS | Nov 5, 2012, 05.41PM IST

PATNA: More than five hundred pigeons suddenly dropped dead at a village in Bihar's Bhagalpur district over the last four days, causing residents, some of them pigeon-keepers, to fear that something was amiss.

District officials are still to visit the site and conduct an inquiry.

Over 500 pigeons died mysteriously in Bath village near Sultanganj in Bhagalpur, about 250 km from the state capital.

(Continue . . . )

 

 

The history in India has been that officials are often slow to investigate reports of bird deaths, in poultry, and in the wild. Often, by the time an investigation is launched, the birds have been incinerated or are too decomposed, to examine.

 

So we’ll have to wait to see what, if any, answers are forthcoming on this event.

USGS: Bird Deaths & Wildlife Die-Offs

 

 

# 5219

 

 

Last week the Internet, and the mainstream media, were suddenly preoccupied with stories of large bird die-offs in Arkansas and Louisiana, along with similar reports in Italy and Sweden.  

Suddenly, we had a new conspiracy in town.  The coming `Aflockalypse’.

 

Adding fuel to the firestorm, thousands of dead crabs washed up on the shores of Britain, and millions of fish were found floating belly up in the Chesapeake Bay and in New Zealand.

 

To some, these events seemed mysterious and somehow connected. Wild conspiracy theories, ranging from UFO death rays to government sponsored `chemtrails’  and the always handy HARRP project were proposed by various websites.

 

 

Wildlife experts were quick to caution that animal die-offs like the ones reported happen frequently, although they often go unnoticed.   

 

Causes can range from extreme weather changes, viral and bacterial infections, and starvation to toxins in the environment (including intentional poisoning). 

 

(Note: Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu has yet to appear in North America, so – for now, anyway - it remains an extremely low probability event here. In some parts of the world, however, it must be considered as a possible cause of a bird die-off.)

 

Sometimes, as in the case of the New Year’s Eve bird deaths in Beebe, Arkansas – man’s activities may be to blame, as is suspected of that night’s fireworks display.

 

Although perhaps not as entertaining as some of the wild theories floating around the Internet, the USGS has a far more sensible perspective on these wildlife die-offs, which they offered in a press release last night.

 

This is just an excerpt.  Follow the link to read the whole thing.

 

 

Wildlife Die-Offs are Relatively Common, Recent Bird Deaths Caused by Impact Trauma

Released: 1/10/2011 4:51:01 PM

Contact Information:
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Office of Communication
119 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
Marisa Lubeck
Phone: 303-202-4765

 

Large wildlife die-off events are fairly common, though they should never be ignored, according to the U.S. Geological Survey scientists whose preliminary tests showed that the bird deaths in Arkansas on New Year’s Eve and those in Louisiana were caused by impact trauma.

 

Preliminary findings from the USGS National Wildlife Health Center's Arkansas bird analyses suggest that the birds died from impact trauma, and these findings are consistent with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's statement. The State concluded that such trauma was probably a result of the birds being startled by loud noises on the night of Dec. 31, arousing them and causing them to fly into objects such as houses or trees. Scientists at the USGS NWHC performed necropsies—the animal version of an autopsy—on the birds and found internal hemorrhaging, while the pesticide tests they conducted were negative. Results from further laboratory tests are expected to be completed in 2-3 weeks.

 

"Although wildlife die-offs always pose a concern, they are not all that unusual," said Jonathan Sleeman, director of the USGS NWHC in Madison, Wis., which is completing its analyses of the Arkansas and Louisiana birds. "It's important to study and understand what happened in order to determine if we can prevent mortality events from happening again."

 

In 2010, the USGS NWHC documented eight die-off events of 1,000 or more birds. The causes: starvation, avian cholera, Newcastle disease and parasites, according to Sleeman. Such records show that, while the causes of death may vary, events like the red-winged blackbird die-off in Beebe, Ark., and the smaller one near Baton Rouge, La., are more common than people may realize.

(Continue . . .)

 

Admittedly, running this `official’ explanation instead of embracing one of the more popular (albeit, looney) conspiracy scenarios, probably won’t draw many new visitors to this blog.

But somehow, I think I can live with that.