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Madrid boffins investigate La Laguna duck deaths
April 26, 2006? [unsure of date]
At the time of going to press analyses were still being carried out in Madrid to determine the cause of death of all the ducks that lived in the pond outside the cathedral of La Laguna. A team from the regional government?s animal health laboratory arrived in the cordoned-off plaza in white coveralls and masks to remove the birds. It wasn?t long before word got out about the ten deaths and rumours of avian flu were flying round the city, although official sources tried to calm the situation by stating that the most likely cause of death was poison.
At midday the regional ministry of agriculture put out a statement that the ducks bore signs of dog bites. That appeared to square with claims made by a local man that he had seen some Siberian huskies in the pond and had called the police. The councillor for La Laguna?s parks, Pl?cido Mejias, said he had been told by veterinary surgeons on the case that it was highly unlikely that all ten ducks could have been killed at a stroke by the dogs and the most probable scenario was they had jumped into the pond attracted by the squirming and splashing of the distressed and poisoned birds.
Reliable sources also said it was ?highly improbable? that the deaths were the result of avian flu given the ducks were known to have been healthy at 9 pm the previous evening, had not shown any signs of illness and were dead when checked at 7.30 am the following morning.
They said all the signs are that the birds were deliberately poisoned. One duckling appears to have survived for several hours, probably because it had eaten proportionately less of the poisoned substances than the adults.
The duck pond is well known and regarded as something of a symbol in La Laguna. Sr Mejias, visibly angered by the incident, said the dead ducks would be replaced, ?above all because of the happiness they give to children who love to see and feed them.? He lamented the change in society which has meant increased acts of cruelty and vandalism which in the past have resulted in oil and acid being poured into the ducks? pond, though never in deaths on the scale of this week?s.
April 26, 2006? [unsure of date]
At the time of going to press analyses were still being carried out in Madrid to determine the cause of death of all the ducks that lived in the pond outside the cathedral of La Laguna. A team from the regional government?s animal health laboratory arrived in the cordoned-off plaza in white coveralls and masks to remove the birds. It wasn?t long before word got out about the ten deaths and rumours of avian flu were flying round the city, although official sources tried to calm the situation by stating that the most likely cause of death was poison.
At midday the regional ministry of agriculture put out a statement that the ducks bore signs of dog bites. That appeared to square with claims made by a local man that he had seen some Siberian huskies in the pond and had called the police. The councillor for La Laguna?s parks, Pl?cido Mejias, said he had been told by veterinary surgeons on the case that it was highly unlikely that all ten ducks could have been killed at a stroke by the dogs and the most probable scenario was they had jumped into the pond attracted by the squirming and splashing of the distressed and poisoned birds.
Reliable sources also said it was ?highly improbable? that the deaths were the result of avian flu given the ducks were known to have been healthy at 9 pm the previous evening, had not shown any signs of illness and were dead when checked at 7.30 am the following morning.
They said all the signs are that the birds were deliberately poisoned. One duckling appears to have survived for several hours, probably because it had eaten proportionately less of the poisoned substances than the adults.
The duck pond is well known and regarded as something of a symbol in La Laguna. Sr Mejias, visibly angered by the incident, said the dead ducks would be replaced, ?above all because of the happiness they give to children who love to see and feed them.? He lamented the change in society which has meant increased acts of cruelty and vandalism which in the past have resulted in oil and acid being poured into the ducks? pond, though never in deaths on the scale of this week?s.
