Mystery deaths: 25+ birds found dead at Gladys Moncrieff Park in Bundall
Concerns for dogs and small children are mounting after more than 25 birds at a popular Gold Coast park were found dead.
Concerns for dogs and small children are mounting after more than 25 birds at a popular Gold Coast park were found dead.
Wildcare and Currumbin Wildlife Hospital rescuer Amy Wregg said she received multiple calls since Tuesday to reports of dead ibis, currawongs, noisy miners, magpies, and crested pigeons at Gladys Moncrieff Park in Bundall – right next to Sorrento Shops.
“It’s not just one species that’s getting impacted,” she said.
“In the last 24 hours I’ve got over 20 birds dead from there.”
On Thursday afternoon Ms Wregg confirmed another five birds had been found dead.
She said whatever was killing the birds – which is currently under investigation with the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation and the RSPCA – was hitting them fast.
“We were there doing a check on Wednesday in between rounds to make sure there was no more,” she said.
“All the birds flew normally and within 10 minutes of doing a lap around the park, there were two down falling over dying.”
The environmental leader said the birds were dying at a rate so fast, they were unable to present to a wildlife hospital in time for testing.
“The problem we’ve had is trying to get them to the hospital alive so that they can do proper testing to try and bring them around,” she said.
“So once the birds who were still alive arrived at hospital, they were having seizures once they were admitted and they passed away straight after.”
Ms Wregg said she’d been forced to euthanase birds on the spot with birds suffering in respiratory distress, agonal breathing and seizure.
“I can only speculate that someone is baiting them with food,” she said.
“I’ve cleaned up a heap of bread that was thrown in the park today, whether that was malicious or whether that’s just general people feeding the birds.
“It just seems definitely targeted on a particular park and there’s a lot of residents that are concerned now because they’re walking dogs through that park and kids – there’s a children’s playground there as well.”
A Department of Primary Industries (DPI) spokesperson said samples had been submitted to the Biosecurity Sciences Laboratory for testing.“If you see any sick or dying birds DPI would like to remind the public to not make direct or indirect contact with sick or dead wildlife or their immediate environment,” they said.
“Observe from a distance and keep children and pets away.”
DPI are urging the public to call the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888 if they spot any unusual signs of sickness or death in wildlife.
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Originally published as Mystery deaths: 25+ birds found dead at Gladys Moncrieff Park in Bundall
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