Death comes to Gwynedd Budgerigar Society Open Show

Death comes to Gwynedd Budgerigar Society Open Show

www.theaustralian.com .au

ANIMAL experts are baffled as to why 38 budgerigars suddenly dropped dead at a show in northern Wales at the weekend.

Hundreds of birds were being prepared to line up in front of judges at the annual Gwynedd Budgerigar Society Open Show until one collapsed.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is really freaky. The first thing I thought of was poisoning from some jilted budgie shower. But then you get to the end of the story...

Checks on two casualties later revealed they had died from congestion and haemorrhaging of the lungs.

Small birds are especially vulnerable because of their tiny, sensitive respiratory systems.

Sound like this new Ukraine flu much?

www.theaustralian.com .au
(visit the link for the full news article)

Interesting story. I used to keep budgies and they just don't drop dead for no reason, especially not show birds which are in peak condition.

Something has caused this, it's a mystery what.

S&F because its worth watching

That's creepy.

This did happen indoors, and I'm inclined to expect a leak myself. I hope we're looking at a canary effect here, and not a new mutation.

I feel sorry for the handlers who lost their birds, truly a sad event.

Theres a thread about the show here Budgies Show

The owners of the birds are still baffled by it all

Certainly scary news that.
I would like to stay optimistic so lets just hope that this is contained/isolated.And i will be keepiing an eye on my pets.
Thanks for reporting this.

Actually having read through the entire thread I mentioned above it seems the most likely cause could be carbon monoxide from a faulty gas appliance.

Will keep an eye on developments though

reply to post by bigyin


Haemorrhaging of the lungs ?

Can a gas leak , Teflon or other "simple" poisons cause such haemorrhaging ?

There's one thing that jumps to mind - back from when I worked in construction a while back. H2S. Hydrogen Sulfide. It's colorless and smells like rotten eggs. We were told if we ever saw bird fall out of the sky near us to drop what we were doing and run and not to jump into ditches for safety.

Ingestion of H2S or any of the components on this materials safety data sheet might explain the lung hemorraging, according to this PDF:

Ingestion: Causes excitation, loss of consciousness, convulsion, cyanosis, congestion and capillary hemorrhaging of the lung and internal organs.

www.elpaso.com...

[edit on 16-11-2009 by sos37]

reply to post by bigyin


If it does turn out to be a faulty gas appliance, then it is quite lucky the birds DID drop dead!

Their more delicate respiratory system alerted the people gathered at the show, to a potentially fatal buildup of lethal CO in the enclosure.

People may have been dropping, if not for the birds.

According to the people there there was no gas leak. The Gas company sent engineers and they said there was no gas leak.

Cooking smells or toxic fumes I doubt, because people keep budgies and other small birds at home all the time where cooking goes on and the birds dont keel over.

That leaves carbon monoxide poisening. For that to happen there would need to be a gas appliance with an open flame which wasn't flued properly, such as a faulty gas fire. I don't think you can get carbon monoxide from a gas cooker, they are not supposed to be flued. Only gas fires have flues which sometimes get blocked up.

So will have to wait and see if this venue had a gas fire.

To me it seems an unlikely scenario. I mean either there was carbon monoxide build up and all the birds would suffocate. Why just one section.

Bird Flu?...sorry someone had to say it lol.

thhhuffferin thhhuckatash.

Did anyone check on the whereabouts of Sylvester?


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[edit on Mon Nov 16 2009 by DontTreadOnMe]

It seems carbon monoxide is in the clear from the heaters unless their detectors were faulty; however I learnt that nonstick cookware when it is burnt can kill some birds in moments. Perhaps an appliance overloaded but didn't set off the CO sensors?

Seems like flu is out since the birds recovered in fresh air.

Originally posted by Shere Khaan


This is really freaky. The first thing I thought of was poisoning from some jilted budgie shower. But then you get to the end of the story...

Checks on two casualties later revealed they had died from congestion and haemorrhaging of the lungs.

Small birds are especially vulnerable because of their tiny, sensitive respiratory systems.

Sound like this new Ukraine flu much?

www.theaustralian.com .au
(visit the link for the full news article)

My thoughts also, I don't suppose they will autopsy the birds would they, to find the cause of their deaths and see whether their lungs were black like charcoal (as per the Ukraine flu thread on this site). Or another thought which crossed my 'conspiracy' mind, was whether any chemtrails/contrails were spotted over the area where the show was taking place. The other thing possibly I was thinking was a gas emission/leak.

Its too weird!! I feel for the owners.

Interesting.

I have a relative who lives on the Ukraine / Hungary border who kept three pigs. Last week all three suddenly turned blue, struggling to breathe and were dead within a few hours.

No autopsy was done by the vet, when he finally turned up a few days later and all he could say from the symptoms was that it was something that infected their lungs.

This is getting stranger and stranger.

Originally posted by sos37
. We were told if we ever saw bird fall out of the sky near us to drop what we were doing and run and not to jump into ditches for safety.

Maybe it's not just HS. Maybe they have been practicing germ warfare on them to spread disease into the population.

"Hundreds of Dead Birds Drop from Sky in New Jersey (jan. 2009)


www.poconorecord.com.../20090126/NEWS/90126006/-1/rss01

Delete.

[edit on 17-11-2009 by Retseh]

reply to post by Shere Khaan


I'll make a prediction.

Teflon or some similar non-stick coating surface.

These shows are notorious for hotplates and impromptu meals. When these non-stick pans burn, they produce a toxic smoke that takes a minuscule amount to kill birds nearly instantly.

That is my bet.

EDIT:

Btw, the amount of chemical fumes required to kill the birds would not have been necessarily detectable to most of the people there.

[edit on 17-11-2009 by loam]

F*ck! if the this is that Ukrain flu and the birds can get it then this means it can spread really really fast and wide.