UT, USA: Hundreds of dead blackbirds in Davis County follow unprecedented swarming behavior - dog got very ill after handling a bird

[Emily]

The article says large numbers of dead birds found in 2 locations in Davis County, UT, are not related to recent grebe deaths. I'm not sure, and perhaps the news media is not sure, whether poison pellets at one location were found when the dead birds were found, or were placed there later. USDA says they are not responsible for the bird deaths, but communications are overall unclear.

I wish we knew if the government had diagnosed a disease in the dead birds, and then placed the pellets in an effort to control disease spread.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...is-County.html
Hundreds of birds found dead in Davis County
Published: Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011 6:33 p.m. MS

[snip]
"We had been told by the state Division of Wildlife Resources that the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services Division had raided European starlings, but now DWR is retracting the statement," Allen said. "Nobody is taking responsibility."

ETA:

Here is an earlier article that reported that state wildlife officials told reporters that the birds had been poisoned on a nearby farm and would continue to fall for a few more days. But that is the statement that seems to have been retracted by the time the article above was written.
http://www.localnews8.com/news/30041253/detail.html

[Emily]

Re: UT, USA: Hundreds of dead blackbirds in Davis County follow unprecedented swarming behavior - government agencies response/involvement is unclear

Maybe the "thousands" number in the article below is incorrect.

http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-bi...,1930007.story

Officials unsure of cause of mass death of birds in Davis County
Brittany Green-Miner, Web Content Producer Fox 13

4:44 p.m. MST, December 22, 2011
CLEARFIELD, Utah?

Wildlife officials and Clearfield city officials are investigating the mysterious death of thousands of starlings in Davis County. State wildlife officials are warning residents to stay away from the dead birds...

[Emily]

Re: UT, USA: Hundreds of dead blackbirds in Davis County follow unprecedented swarming behavior - government agencies response/involvement is unclear

http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...T--Dead-Birds/
No government agency taking responsibility for poisoned starlings in northern Utah
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: December 21, 2011 - 4:50 pm
Last Updated: December 21, 2011 - 4:50 pm

[Emily]

Re: UT, USA: Hundreds of dead blackbirds in Davis County follow unprecedented swarming behavior - dog got ill after handling a bird

I missed this from the FOX13 article:

The Dunkley family believes a dead bird made their dog sick. They say they found their dog Chewy with a dead bird in its mouth. Their vet told them she couldn't tell what had caused his illness.

"Vomiting all over the place and just retching real bad," said LeRoy Dunkley. "I don't know who's poisoning the birds or for what reason but if that's why this little dog got sick. He was sick, bad."