Lab Results: No Human Involvement In Pelican Deaths

Lab Results: No Human Involvement In Pelican Deaths

sandhills.news14.com

Preliminary lab results of dead pelicans found at North Topsail Beach are back from a lab at the University of Georgia.

Scientists there say there's no evidence to support the birds died by a violent death by humans. They say the birds showed no signs of gunshot wounds or other abuse.

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www2.wnct.com

I found this searching today. I was not even aware there were hundreds of Pelicans found dead in North Carolina.

Could this be related to the dead birds found in three other states? If not, is this possibly the dispersants that were used in The Gulf Oil Disaster?

The toxicology report is due soon, all other causes have been ruled out.

NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH, N.C. - Majestic birds, with horrific injuries, though what?s causing them to die is now up for debate

www2.wnct.com...

sandhills.news14.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

A federal agency is investigating the killings of dozens of pelicans along the North Carolina coast.

Stacy Shelton, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says the agency began its investigation last year, after a similar but smaller rash of pelican deaths.

Since November, volunteers and investigators have found about 150 deliberately killed birds, mostly in North Topsail Beach. The recent deaths have prompted the agency to renew its investigation.

www.witn.com...

Well this is strange also there are conflicting reports.

This article says that the Pelicans show no signs of violence. However, on other article states the Feds are investigating now, and that the Pelicans showed signs of physical harm.???

A task force meeting is being planned between local, state and federal officials to address the large number of pelican deaths in the area.

And despite the injuries to the dead birds appearing to be intentional, preliminary results of pelican autopsies detected no evidence of malicious injuries, according to experts.

Sara Schweitzer, a biologist with North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, collected bodies of dead pelicans and sent them to the University of Georgia for diagnostic work to try to confirm how the birds died.

“There was no evidence of a knife cut, no evidence found of a sharp object cutting through tissue, no evidence of a sharp object cutting the neck,” she said. “There were no bone fragments, which would indicate someone hitting the birds, and if there had been handling of the birds there would be tissue bruising and hemorrhaging, which would show up on the (autopsy). So it doesn’t appear the birds were injured maliciously.”

Dead and injured pelicans began washing up on North Topsail Beach in early November. However, since the birds arrived at the University of Georgia so close to the holidays, complete toxicology and pathology results are not in yet, Schweitzer said.

reply to post by burntheships


Well , perhaps those one hundred and fifty deliberately killed birds are only a percentage of the total dead?? That however bodes extremely badly for the total number of birds which have died of other causes. Im sure if the majority were killed in a deliberate manner, then that would be a story that would run and run till some fruitcake got the book thrown at them.
Ecosystemic issues in the area are at a high point in public perception at the moment, and likely as not will remain so for years to come , baring in mind the Gulf issue in general. It would be interesting to see what the percentage increase of Pelican death was from last year to this. I hope you will keep posting updates as you recieve them !

reply to post by TrueBrit


Yes, interest at the moment is heightened from the other Dead Birds story and Dead Fish. Very
interesting that The Feds are actually meeting about this, but no one is reporting on it.