Dead birds are being found in Warsaw, mainly crows, jackdaws and magpies. The city hall issued a communiqué on this matter, appealing not to touch them. The District Veterinary Inspectorate has already ruled out two viral diseases.
For several weeks, community activists have been raising the alarm on social media about dead or dying birds. This primarily affects corvids: crows, jackdaws, and magpies.
City Hall announcement
The capital city hall issued a statement on the matter, appealing to those who find dead birds to report it to the land manager and, if it is a city area, to the City Guard or the City Contact Centre 19115.
“For your own safety, do not pick up or touch the animal. We are currently waiting for the results of the material already collected and sent for further analysis. Initial tests do not indicate a clear cause for the poor health condition of the corvid birds,” the city hall informed.
It was also noted that the cause of health problems for birds may be a difficult breeding season, as well as viral or bacterial diseases (including poor sanitary conditions around bird feeding and watering places).
Bird Patrol sees it differently
The Noga w Łapę Foundation's Bird Patrol does not agree with this argument. “The difficult breeding season (heat) does not in any way explain such a large number of plagues of both adults and young birds. Moreover, the plague continues, and in August we no longer deal with chicks or fledglings, but with young, independent birds,” the Bird Patrol commented on social media. It emphasized that every year there are reports of poor sanitary conditions around bird feeding and watering places, but so far there has been no serious, wide-scale educational campaign in the city addressing this issue.
At the same time, it was noted that residents report problems with the arrival of the municipal police to both dead and live birds.
They have problems moving
The spokeswoman for the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds (OTOP), Monika Klimowicz-Kominowska, said that corvids – mainly crows and jackdaws – with neurological symptoms were observed about three weeks ago by a resident of Bielany, biology teacher Beata Niedomagała Binek. She was taking them to a bird sanctuary.
She was concerned when she started finding dead individuals as well. In response to her Facebook post, reports of sick or dead corvids in other districts of the capital began to appear.
Birds are found with neurological symptoms – they have trouble moving, fall over, are unable to fly up, and if they manage to do so, they fall down after a while, they also have rapid breathing. Some birds have severe internal bleeding.
Two viral diseases ruled out
Director of the National Veterinary Institute – National Research Institute in Puławy, Prof. Stanisław Winiarczyk, confirmed that the facility had been commissioned to perform toxicological tests of dead birds and for West Nile virus infection.
At present, the District Veterinary Inspectorate has ruled out two viral diseases, i.e. avian influenza and Newcastle disease.
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