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A murder of crows?; Woman at centre of pigeon-feeding dispute suspects poisoned birdseed may have killed 16 birds near her home Sunday
Posted By Elaine Della-Mattia
Updated 8 mins ago
Sixteen crows that dropped dead in a west-end neighbourhood Sunday morning will be sent to Guelph, Ont., for post-mortem testing.
Oriana Fisher woke early Sunday morning to a "distressful cawing" that sounded like it was coming from her backyard on South Eden Street.
Her neighbour had been filling her bird feeders with the usual sunflower seeds and the two soon saw crows fall to the ground, flap around and then die.
"I got close to one and it was convulsing, its eyes flickering and wings violently shaking. The call was a call of distress, helplessness," Fisher said Monday.
Fisher said she and a neighbour spent more than an hour comforting the birds, then putting them in a box after they died.
"It was the most pathetic thing I ever witnessed," she said. "It was very, very distressful."
Fisher took a walk through the neighbourhood looking for other dead crows - which she found - the furthest about a block away in the St. Francis school yard.
She also stumbled upon some corn seed on the shoulder of the road, parallel to her property. She collected what was left of what she alleges was poisoned food.
Fisher said she did her best to inform area residents with house pets to watch their dogs and cats carefully to ensure they don't come in contact with any poisons.
Fisher was involved in a bird-feeding controversy just over a year ago that pitted neighbour against neighbour.
In November 2006, she was the first to be tried under the city's pigeon-feeding bylaw. She received a 12-month probation order to abide by bird feeder restrictions and use nothing but sunflower seeds in the feeders.
The bird lover had attempted to convince the courts she wasn't trying to attract pigeons to her backyard, just birds.
Fisher wouldn't comment as to whether she believes the crows were poisoned because of the former dispute or because she continues to feed the birds, following the court's conditions.
But she does vow to ensure that the incident is fully investigated.
"I will not allow this to go unnoticed," she said. "It's very important to me."
Ministry of Natural Resources conservation officer Tammy McKellar said the birds will be collected and sent to Guelph for testing, including examination of stomach contest and tests for poisons.
McKellar said the MNR will work with the city police on the case and offer its expertise in wildlife, but the police will assume the lead role in the investigation.
It's not known how long it will take to get final test results.
Ontario's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act states that a person shall not use poison to kill, injure or capture wildlife.
Wildlife is defined as any species or animal that is wild by nature and crows are considered wildlife, McKellar said.
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Could be something other than poison. Samonella has been found in NYS migrating birds...also West Nile strikes crows hard. I dont think it was wise of her to be handling the dying birds.
A murder of crows?; Woman at centre of pigeon-feeding dispute suspects poisoned birdseed may have killed 16 birds near her home Sunday
Posted By Elaine Della-Mattia
Updated 8 mins ago
Sixteen crows that dropped dead in a west-end neighbourhood Sunday morning will be sent to Guelph, Ont., for post-mortem testing.
Oriana Fisher woke early Sunday morning to a "distressful cawing" that sounded like it was coming from her backyard on South Eden Street.
Her neighbour had been filling her bird feeders with the usual sunflower seeds and the two soon saw crows fall to the ground, flap around and then die.
"I got close to one and it was convulsing, its eyes flickering and wings violently shaking. The call was a call of distress, helplessness," Fisher said Monday.
Fisher said she and a neighbour spent more than an hour comforting the birds, then putting them in a box after they died.
"It was the most pathetic thing I ever witnessed," she said. "It was very, very distressful."
Fisher took a walk through the neighbourhood looking for other dead crows - which she found - the furthest about a block away in the St. Francis school yard.
She also stumbled upon some corn seed on the shoulder of the road, parallel to her property. She collected what was left of what she alleges was poisoned food.
Fisher said she did her best to inform area residents with house pets to watch their dogs and cats carefully to ensure they don't come in contact with any poisons.
Fisher was involved in a bird-feeding controversy just over a year ago that pitted neighbour against neighbour.
In November 2006, she was the first to be tried under the city's pigeon-feeding bylaw. She received a 12-month probation order to abide by bird feeder restrictions and use nothing but sunflower seeds in the feeders.
The bird lover had attempted to convince the courts she wasn't trying to attract pigeons to her backyard, just birds.
Fisher wouldn't comment as to whether she believes the crows were poisoned because of the former dispute or because she continues to feed the birds, following the court's conditions.
But she does vow to ensure that the incident is fully investigated.
"I will not allow this to go unnoticed," she said. "It's very important to me."
Ministry of Natural Resources conservation officer Tammy McKellar said the birds will be collected and sent to Guelph for testing, including examination of stomach contest and tests for poisons.
McKellar said the MNR will work with the city police on the case and offer its expertise in wildlife, but the police will assume the lead role in the investigation.
It's not known how long it will take to get final test results.
Ontario's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act states that a person shall not use poison to kill, injure or capture wildlife.
Wildlife is defined as any species or animal that is wild by nature and crows are considered wildlife, McKellar said.
****
Could be something other than poison. Samonella has been found in NYS migrating birds...also West Nile strikes crows hard. I dont think it was wise of her to be handling the dying birds.