A disturbing avian mystery is unfolding in a Northern California town where residents have reported birds “exploding.”
Residents of a neighborhood in the Bay Area community of Richmond, northeast of San Francisco, claim they have found multiple dead birds in their yards on their street. Security cameras even recorded one fowl’s fatality, showing it falling to its death from a power line after a loud pop was captured in the footage.
The mystery deepened on Monday when investigators released the results of necropsies performed on two of the dead birds, suggesting foul play.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wildlife Health Lab confirmed to ABC News it had received two dead birds — a mourning dove and a European starling — and that injuries were consistent with trauma from a pellet gun, BB gun or a slingshot — not electrocution from power lines. However, the department noted that “the exact cause of the trauma to all of these birds could not be determined.”
Richmond resident Maximillian Bolling said he witnessed several birds succumb to a horrible death after perching on power lines.
“So when they land and it happens, they just quickly explode and it’s really violent,” Bolling told ABC San Francisco station KGO-TV.
Bolling said he and his neighbors counted at least 13 birds that have met a baffling demise.
As the casualties have mounted, locals have speculated on everything from the birds being electrocuted by power lines to a phantom serial bird killer being on the loose.
Another resident, self-described “animal lover” Sharon Anderson, told KGO-TV that seeing the birds drop dead has been heartbreaking.
“It was just horrifying,” she said.
The wildlife mystery began several months ago when the first birds turned up dead, according to residents.
The California State Department of Fish and Wildlife has launched an investigation, a spokesperson for the agency told ABC News on Monday.
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Some residents have alleged that power lines in the area that belong to the Pacific Gas & Electric Company have something to do with the deaths and have pleaded with the utility company to do something to rectify the problem.
But PG&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian told ABC News on Monday that an investigation has uncovered no evidence that its power lines are the culprit.
“We appreciate the concern of our customers in Richmond about the recent series of bird deaths,” PG&E said in an additional statement to ABC News.
PG&E said it sent crews to examine a power pole in the Richmond neighborhood that residents have cited as the possible root of the lethal problem. The company said the power pole in question is compliant with avian safe guidance established by the Avian Powerline Interaction Committee.
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The utility company said it asked the Department of Fish & Wildlife to evaluate two of the bird corpses.
Bolling said he and his neighbors just want to deaths to stop.
“It’s very traumatic, super traumatic to see this,” Bolling said.
Mystery of ‘exploding birds’ deepens in California city as necropsies suggest foul play originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
