105 birds found dead in streets of quiet Victorian town: 'HORRIFIC'
WARNING - CONFRONTING IMAGES: More than a hundred corellas have been found dead at a Victorian Murray River border town, with authorities working to determine if it was a mass poisoning.
All were found to be bleeding internally, indicating they may have consumed an anticoagulant rodent control bait, or a corrosive substance.
The long-beaked corellas, a protected species, were found on Wednesday in the town of Barmah, in close proximity to grain farms and a national park.
Images taken across a two-square-kilometre area, and shared by Bohollow Wildlife Shelter’s Kirsty Ramadan show the ground stained with blood.
Several other birds were discovered disorientated and suffering from severe dehydration, trying desperately to rehydrate themselves by drinking from puddles.
“They were so disorientated that they either just died in the puddles, or in rivers or creeks,” Ms Ramadan said.
“Others just fell from the sky, it’s just horrific.
“I saw one flying over the Murray while I was searching, and the poor thing fell from a great height as it was crossing the river and was dead when it hit the water.”
Victoria's Conservation Regulator confirmed it is investigating the corella deaths and working to determine a cause.
They have linked previous bird deaths to the consumption of poisoned grain but also illness, including Psittacine beak and feather disease.
Convictions in relation to intentional poisoning of native birds in Australia are rare.
Birds dying standing up after suspected mass poisoning
Parrots including cockatoos, galahs and corellas are found poisoned each year in regional towns across Australia. Yahoo News Australia is not alleging the deaths are linked in any way.
The most recent mass bird death incident was first noticed on Saturday, as reports came through from members of the public concerned about dead galahs found at a park in nearby Numurkah.
Four days later, Ms Ramadan was called to Barmah to investigate what a member of public thought was just five more dead birds.
She quickly realised there was many more and something was “seriously wrong”.
Corellas were lying dead across the surrounding streets and bushland, and retrieving the bodies took hours.
It was difficult to tell the living from the dead.
“A lot of them on the ground died standing up,” Ms Ramadan said.
“You don't realise that they're dead. They’re just standing up with their head bowed.
Sole surviving corella dies overnight in care
Working to investigate the cause, some of the dead were cut open, only to find severe haemorrhaging in their intestines.
Other than showing signs of poisoning, they were “perfectly healthy” and of good weight and size, indicating the toxicity occurred 24 to 48 hours before.
“All their crops are empty. So basically, it's making them feel that unwell they're not eating but they're just drinking,” she said.
“They were full of water to the point where they nearly aspirate themselves, because they just want to excessively drink because they're haemorrhaging.”
Only one bird survived long enough to make it back to Ms Ramadan’s sanctuary.
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Anyone with information about this incident or cases of wildlife crime is urged to contact Crime Stoppers Victoria on 1800 333 000.
The Conservation Regulator takes all matters of wildlife crime seriously.
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