By Frances Howe
Cockatoos are dropping out of the sky in Sydney after two mass poisoning events which wildlife rescuers believe were deliberate.
More than 20 birds have been found across the Sutherland Shire after they ate food products with a poisonous insecticide hidden inside.
One of the poisoned cockatoos found by WIRES.Credit: Evelyn Anderson-Ho
The sulphur-crested cockatoos were found sick or dead by members of the public in Gymea, Gymea Bay, Miranda and Grays Point.
Wildlife rescue service WIRES estimates 15 birds were found at sunset on September 16 and seven birds were found at the same time on September 30.
Seven cockatoo bodies were taken to Taronga Zoo for toxicology testing. Methomyl, an insecticide used on agricultural properties for crop management that is toxic to humans and animals, was found in each of them.
Methomyl is rarely used in home gardens, and the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is treating the poisoning as deliberate.
Evelyn Anderson-Ho, a volunteer from WIRES, has been involved in rescuing and rehabilitating some of the birds in an effort that has “virtually been a full-time job”.
At first, the cockatoos are able to function normally but when the toxin starts to make them feel sick, they begin to over-salivate and many of them drop from the sky mid-flight.
“You can hear them gargling,” she said. “They are drowning in their own fluids.”
The poisoned cockatoo found by Rebecca Blackman. The bird later died.Credit: Rebecca Blackman
Rebecca Blackman, 37, was walking her dog near her home in Gymea when she saw a cockatoo in someone’s backyard that just “didn’t look right”.
“He could barely stand up. He just looked like he was off his head on something.”
Blackman called WIRES who told her to take the bird to the nearby Southside Animal Hospital. While there, she saw another woman arrive with a cockatoo but when she opened the box, she discovered it had died.
Blackman discovered the next day that the cockatoo she rescued had also died.
“I’m such a big animal lover it just makes me so sad to think this would have been intentional,” Blackman said.
“It makes me so angry on such a deep level.”
Now the EPA – working in collaboration with WIRES, the Sutherland Shire Council, National Parks and Wildlife Service and Taronga Zoo – is asking for information to find those responsible for the poisoning.
“The killing of birds, whether through intentional or reckless misuse of pesticide, is a serious offence and we are working to find the source of the poison,” said Julian Thompson EPA’s director of operations.
The EPA is encouraging anyone with information to call their environment line on 151 555.
Due to the risk of methomyl for humans, members of the public should not handle the birds directly.
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