(ETH) – Wildlife experts say high numbers of birds in the Washington, D.C., area are turning up blind, often dead or dying, but they don’t know what’s causing it. The Washington Post reports that the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, Virginia, released a public service announcement alerting residents about the problem.
“Eye issues were reported in what otherwise looked like healthy juvenile birds, causing blindness and the birds to land and stay on the ground,” the announcement says. “Animal Control is now seeing additional species of birds affected. Other agencies and localities across the region and state are reporting similar issues at this time.”
Most reports have involved common grackles (Quiscalus quiscula) and blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata). “The volume of reports and clinical signs are not suggestive of something that we have seen routinely in this area, so we may be dealing with an emerging or novel issue,” Megan Kirchgessner, of the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, told the Post. DC resident Alexandra Dimsdale found a young grackle stumbling around outside her home on Saturday.
After taking it to City Wildlife, a rehabilitation center in the northwest part of the capital, a member of staff told her there was nothing they could do. She learned that the bird probably had some kind of neurological illness, causing it to go blind.
“We can’t do anything for it, but we can put it out of its misery,“ was the staffer’s verdict according to Ms. Dimsdale. The worker also told her that they had seen other birds with similar afflictions. An unusual number of blind birds have been found dead or dying in the area around Washington DC recently. Wildlife experts don’t know what’s behind it. READ MORE
