When Hope Dies?

Published on January 9, 2007 By Phoenixboi In Current Events

Today it has been revealed how something quite catastrophic has happened in the town of Esperance in Western Australia. It has really shocked me that something like this has happened. It is a really sad event which has played on my mind all day.

I did a little research into the town of Esperance and it's history and found that the town derives it's name from the ship which first landed there in 1792, L'Esperance which sought shelter from a storm. The name Esperance has been closely translated by the University of Western Australia as meaning : " Hope with confidence and faith in the future". Now here is the article which was published today on the News.com.au website. Link

Thousands of birds fall from sky over town
By Amanda O'Brien
January 10, 2007 01:00am

THOUSANDS of birds have fallen from the skies over Esperance and no one knows why.

Is it an illness, toxins or a natural phenomenon? A string of autopsies in Perth have shed no light on the mystery.

All the residents of flood-devastated Esperance know is that their "dawn chorus" of singing birds is missing.

The main casualties are wattle birds, yellow-throated miners, new holland honeyeaters and singing honeyeaters, although some dead crows, hawks and pigeons have also been found.

Wildlife officers are baffled by the "catastrophic" event, which the Department of Environment and Conservation said began well before last week's freak storm.

On Monday, Esperance, 725km southeast of Perth, was declared a natural disaster zone.

District nature conservation co-ordinator Mike Fitzgerald said the first reports of birds dropping dead in people's yards came in three weeks ago. More than 500 deaths had since been notified. But the calls stopped suddenly last week, reportedly because no birds were left.

"It's very substantial. We estimate several thousand birds are dead, although we don't have a clear number because of the large areas of bushland," Mr Fitzgerald said.

Birds Australia, the nation's main bird conservation group, said it had not heard of a similar occurrence. "Not on that scale, and all at the same time, and also the fact that it's several different species," chief executive Graeme Hamilton said. "You'd have to call that a most unusual event and one that we'd all have to be concerned about."

He expected birds would return to the area once the problem - natural or man-made phenomenon - was fixed but said it was vital the cause was identified.

The Department of Agriculture and Food, which conducted the autopsies, has almost ruled out an infectious process.

Acting chief veterinary officer Fiona Sunderman said toxins were the most likely cause but the deaths could be due to anything from toxic algae to chemicals and pesticides.

Dr Sunderman said there were no leads yet on which of potentially hundreds of toxins might be responsible. Some birds were seen convulsing as they died.

Michelle Crisp was one of the first to contact the DEC after finding dozens of dead birds on her property one morning.

She told The Australian she normally had hundreds of birds in her yard, but that she and a neighbour counted 80 dead birds in one day.

"It went to the point where we had nothing, not a bird," she said.

"It was like a moonscape, just horrible. But the frightening thing for us, we didn't find any more birds after that. We literally didn't have any birds left to die."

Now remembering the meaning of the name of the town, how does this reflect on the times we are now facing? Something to think about JU.

Comments (Page 2)

Phoenixboi

on Jan 12, 2007

And they are in huge flocks. But maybe I am just noticing them more since its warm this winter and I am outside more?

so in some parts there is more and others they are just dropping dead out of the sky..

Gideon MacLeish

on Jan 13, 2007

I confess, I went on a bird hunting expedition with Ted Nugent and Dick Cheney. Now, Dick Cheney didn't get any birds, but he DID manage to bag 7 other members of our expedition...but Nuge and I did take 'em out in numbers close to what you're describing!

SanChonino

on Jan 14, 2007

There is something strange afoot.

It's the Muslims! It's always the Muslims! Everything wrong with the world is their fault!

dynamaso

on Jan 14, 2007

First of all, g'day Phoenix. Hope you had a great Christmas and New Year. Good to see you...

I have a feeling this is not the harbinger some think it might be. While it is really sad (I love birdlife and have seen everything from Wattle birds, New Holland Honeyeaters, Red-tipped Bulbuls, Lorikeets and Crimson Rosellas in my backyard) the death of masses of birds is not as uncommon as we might think. Do a google search on 'bird deaths' and see how much material there is to read.

So far it seems as though authorities have ruled out an infectious disease but are not ruling out either natural or man-made toxins.

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