Re: oh yeah, and I just saw a bird fall out of the sky, deader than a hammer
Actually, I did see a red-tail hawk dying in a national park last week. I tried to save it. But now it's deader than a hammer. It seems that many raptors are dying from the West Nile Virus.
Did we not sell the West Nile Virus to Saddam?
West Nile virus takes toll on birds
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Every morning Jill Anderson puts out a handful of peanuts for the birds in her backyard in River Forest, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
"The crows usually are there and get the first dibs on the peanuts," she said.
In early August, the crows disappeared. Then Anderson noticed the blue jays started looking sick, followed by house finches and goldfinches, chickadees, and most recently she found a dead mourning dove, all apparently victims of the West Nile virus.
"I loved the crow family that lived in my yard," Anderson said. "I think they're dead."
The virus, blamed for dozens of human deaths and more than 1,500 cases of illness, is also taking a toll on avian wildlife in a wide section of the country from Minnesota south to the Gulf of Mexico and from Nebraska east to Ohio, experts say.
A September survey by the National Audubon Society's Chicago region found that crows, which are normally noisy and visible birds, are almost completely absent from parts of the Chicago area. Audubon monitors also reported unusual numbers of dead or ill birds of many species.
"For people who really love nature, this is really upsetting to them to see this," said Judy Pollock, the Audubon's bird conservation projects manager.
Birds serve as the host for the West Nile virus, which is spread by mosquitoes to other birds, as well as to humans, horses, squirrels and even canines. The virus, which causes encephalitis, a potentially fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, cannot be spread from person to person or from birds to humans.
A DEADLY DISEASE
Illinois has emerged as the epicenter so far this year for West Nile infections among humans with 424 cases reported as of Wednesday, 22 of them fatal, according to state officials. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the disease has been seen in most of the continental United States with 1,641 cases of human infection and 80 deaths.
West Nile, which was spotted on the East Coast three years ago, has taken an even bigger toll on birds, with more than 100 species known to be susceptible to the disease.
The virus, which was initially seen mostly in crows and blue jays, has spread to birds of prey or raptors, including hawks, owls and eagles.
An eagle raised in captivity for 12 years at the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay, Wisconsin, succumbed to the virus about 3 weeks ago.
"It's hard to lose a bird that you've had so long," said Mike Reed, the sanctuary's curator.
Dr. Pat Redig, director of The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota, said the center got its first West Nile virus case on August 23 in a great horned owl. Since then another 40 or so raptors, mostly great horned owls and red-tailed hawks, have come into the center with the disease. Most of the birds died or were euthanized, according to Redig.
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