Key takeaways:
- Residents are assuming about the die-off reason, with similar reports in Labrador.
- Hundreds of murres are dying on the frost and the coast of Hampden in western Newfoundland, and citizens and specialists are wondering why.
Dead seabirds are showing up by the hundreds on the ice and the coast close to the town of Hampden in western Newfoundland, leaving citizens and biologists confused and searching for a reason why.
Longtime local and murre hunter Gary Gale informed CBC News on Friday that he had never seen an occasion of this volume before. He said birds started to fly into the bay almost a week ago — and within a few days, they started to die.
“[It’s] unthinkable,” Gale said. “Some years ago, it was expected to see seabirds that would pick up the oil if you had an oil spill and die from picking up the oil, but I did make an inspection on some of the birds near to the coast, and I didn’t see any oil in the feathers.” Gale said citizens think the birds — which so far appear to be completely murres — are dying of hunger.
Read more: Dead seabirds are showing up by the hundreds on the ice and the coast
Sabina Wilhelm, a wildlife biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service, said the possibility is under probe but isn’t happening only near Hampden. Statements have also arrived from southern Labrador regarding a similar incident.
Federal wildlife enforcement officers were in Hampden on Thursday and collected some birds to send to St. John’s, where they will be examined for a cause of extinction, said Wilhelm, while regional conservation officers are doing the same in Labrador. On Friday, she noted that wildlife technicians also lead to Newfoundland’s northeast coast to gather dead birds from that area.
Wilhelm said it’s being feted as one significant event.
Source – cbc.ca
