Mystery of brutal chicken slaughter shocks Straddie
Biosecurity officers are investigating the mysterious deaths of 25 chickens on North Stradbroke Island after fears they may have been poisoned, exposing wildlife to harm. WARNING: GRAPHIC
Redlands Coast
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Mystery surrounds the brutal deaths of 25 chickens on North Stradbroke Island after concerns the animals might have taken poison bait.
Queensland biosecurity officers were investigating after chicken carcasses were found strewn along the high tide mark and a road into Flinders Beach over the weekend.
Wildlife officers collected a rooster, three pullets and 21 red, black and white adult laying chickens from along Flinders Rd, Flinders Beach access track and bush above the high tide mark on Saturday and Sunday.
One of the birds was sent to Queensland Parks and Wildlife for testing.
The others were disposed of in island industrial bins, emptied at Redland City Council tips where the bodies would be buried deep at landfill sites.
Wildlife Rescue Minjerribah head officer Pauly DeBono said the chickens had been bludgeoned to death, with brutal fractures to their heads and backbones and legs.
His organisation was concerned the animals might have taken baits laced with poison before being thrown from a moving car into the bush off Flinders Rd in an effort to kill other animals.
Mr DeBono said the “extremely concerning” incident followed three mass baiting episodes on the island since 2021 and concerns about bird flu after an outbreak in Victoria this month.
He and two others spent more than eight hours surveying the beach and bush areas to ensure all the dead birds were collected.
Officers returned to the beach access area before dawn on Sunday with spotlights to make sure no wildlife was harmed.
“I was scared they might be laced with poison and we wanted to get them off the ground due to the raptors, goannas and other wildlife that could feed off the carcasses,” Mr DeBono said.
“The birds had fractured heads, broken backs and a few had broken legs – so it was brutal.
“They basically have been thrown out of a car by the looks of it because of where we found them off the road on the edge of the bush.
“Since 2021 we have had three cases of poisonings in that area just outside the township of Amity.
“We do not know what type of animals they were trying to bait, but the world’s your oyster if you start using dead chooks as bait because all types of animals will be attracted to that.
“The protection and safety of our wildlife, especially on the island, is paramount.”
Minjerribah wildlife volunteers said they were hopeful an autopsy would reveal any poison used or how the birds died.
Previous instances of poisonings at Flinders used laced bread thrown into the bush to target crows, curlews and bush thick-knees.
Unfortunately, other animals including bandicoots, goannas, magpies and even flies succumbed to the poison and were killed during those poisoning episodes.
“In 2022, we sent crow carcasses to the mainland to be tested, with the RSPCA doing the autopsy on the dead animals, but the results came back negative to all known poisons,” Mr DeBono said.
“We could not understand those results but at that time we did not have any of the baits, which witnesses said were pieces of bread.
“This time we have the chicken carcasses, which could be the suspected bait.
“I am not saying they definitely have been baited, which is why we have sent the carcass for autopsy testing.”
Mr DeBono said four whistling kites had been spotted feeding on the dead chickens and an osprey dropped one of the carcasses at the foot of a tree trunk.
Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, which includes Biosecurity Queensland, said it was checking reports with the Department of Environment and Science.
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