Pesticide kills birds, page 1

Pesticide kills birds

www.abc.net.au

Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation is investigating whether 160 birds found dead at a tip in Perth's southern suburbs were intentionally harmed.

Tests on birds found at the Henderson landfill site in the City of Cockburn over the last two days show there is a high level of a pesticide called fenthion in their stomachs.

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www.thewest.com.au

Another case of dead birds, fortunately the DEC were on top of it quickly in identifying the cause (Sorry no chemtrails here).

I hope they discover who dumped the poison and throw the book at them.

More on the story:

A landfill site in Henderson has been covered to prevent further bird deaths, the Department of Environment and Conservation says.

Tests on samples taken from some of the approximately 160 birds found dead around the landfill site in the City of Cockburn over the past two days had revealed high levels of the pesticide Fenthion in the birds’ stomach contents, the DEC said.

The department confirmed that the pesticide caused the deaths of the birds including ibis, silver gulls, ravens, pacific black ducks and a pelican that were found within a 1km radius of the tip.

DEC Pollution Response Unit environmental hazards manager Ken Raine said the results from tests carried out at the WA Chemistry Centre were discovered late last night.

“DEC wildlife officers and City of Cockburn staff have been out to the site this morning and found three more dead birds but no more sick birds, which indicates that the poisoning episode is finished,” Mr Raine said.

“Samples were taken from nearby waterways, air monitoring was conducted yesterday at the tip site and the tip has been covered to prevent possible further deaths.

www.abc.net.au
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[edit on 31/5/09 by Chadwickus]