Mystery in Esperance WA

[bsrlee]

The 'Birds falling dead out of the sky' phenomena in Sydney in the 80's(?) was traced to a particular rat poison that causes the respiratory muscles to stop working. They never found out where it was being put out, the opinion was that it was on top of a building in the CBD as only pigeons were being affected & most of the other ferals prefer to feed at ground level.

[Shedhand]

I wonder if this could be the reason.
Excerpt from a report by the International Bird Rescue Research Centre
When conditions are right, the marine phytoplankton, Pseudo-nitzschia australis, blooms and the tiny algae overgrow, creating what is known as a “bloom” or “red tide”. The algae produce domoic acid. Research into the plankton is so recent that it’s still not known what causes the algae growth or why the cells produce different levels of domoic acid at different times, but the effect is clear. As the toxin bioaccululates up the food chain, fish become contaminated with the poison, and then the birds and marine mammals who feed on them.
The first reported outbreak of domoic acid poisoning occurred in 1987 when 3 people died from eating shellfish from Prince Edward Island Canada. In 1991, dead and dying seabirds, including pelicans, began washing up along the beaches off Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay, CA. The birds had been eating anchovy contaminated with domoic acid. In May and June of 1998, 400 California sea lions died. The cause, domoic acid.
By May 2002, thousands of birds and mammals, including dolphins, sea lions, seabirds, and endangered brown pelicans would have died of domoic acid poisoning. The media reported birds falling from the sky and convulsing, and it was true. The toxin enters the bloodstream, then the brain, causing convulsions, coma, vomiting, seizures and finally, mercifully, death. Wildlife centers were overwhelmed with dead and dying animals and desperately tried to save them.

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