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In 35 years of helping injured wildlife recover, Michele Phillips has never had a weekend like the one just gone.
She was called to Springvale South shopping centre on Saturday night after dead pigeons were discovered in the car park.
Some of the dead corellas and pigeons collected by wildlife volunteers in Springvale South at the weekend. The RSPCA and the Conservation Regulator are investigating the incident.Credit: Michele Phillips
Then she went down again on Sunday morning.
“Birds were literally dropping from the sky in front of cars, getting run over,” she said.
“There were bodies everywhere. One house over the road, I think we got at least 50 bodies. We walked the street and all the parks and picked up bodies, and it was just horrendous.
“They just kept dropping”.
Some of the corellas that died.Credit: Michele Phillips
Phillips said more than 200 dead birds were sent to Healesville Sanctuary on Monday for an autopsy, while eight others are at the sanctuary recovering. She is confident they were poisoned.
“If a bird bleeds from the eyes and the nose and the cloaca, it’s a poisoning.”
Dead birds collected by wildlife volunteers.
The Conservation Regulator and the RSPCA are investigating the incident, which involved pigeons and corellas.
The regulator confirmed it is investigating why a large number of corellas died, having been notified on Sunday.
It also confirmed it had not issued any permits for corella control in Springvale South.
Corellas are a protected native species under the Wildlife Act (1975), and hunting and killing them can result in serious penalties, including jail.
The RSPCA’s investigation is focused on the deaths of the non-native pigeons.
Phillips said she had collected a further 40 dead pigeons on Monday morning, taking the total bird death toll to more than 300.
“You get 10 or 20 birds poisoned, but never on a scale like this,” she said. “Everyone was traumatised. There is a school over the road and [we] couldn’t get access to the school, but a friend of mine jumped the fence and took a lot [of dead birds] from the schoolground.”
Angela Masterson had to drive her three children past the scene on Monday morning. She said it was difficult trying to explain to them what had happened.
“We saw [the birds] lined up,” she said. “My son had gone on Sunday with my sister-in-law to the hairdresser at the shopping centre, and she had to shield their eyes because of all the birds lined up.”
The local council has been contacted for comment. Police said they were not investigating.
People who see sick or dead wild birds can report them to the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action on 136 186 or through an online form.
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