Deaths of Crows Worrying

Health authorities are investigating the deaths of a large number of Torresian Crows on the grounds of Cavendish Road State High School.

For the last week, crows have been found dead or dying in the early morning in all areas of the school. To date, a total of 24 crows have died. All the crows which have been found appear to have died overnight.

School Janitor Kevin Peters has been hard pressed to clean up the birds before students arrived.

"On the first couple of days it was just one or two," said Peters. "We just threw them in the bins. However, yesterday morning there was 10 and then a dozen this morning. It was then we thought we should probably alert the authorities."

Cavroadia Health has released another Health Alert - the second in a month warning Cavroadians to stay away from sick or dying animals. The first alert was released after students found a rat bleeding from the eyes on the grounds of Cavendish Road State High School.

While authorities believe there is not need to panic, the Health Alert advises caution when dealing with the birds.

"For the time being, whatever is affecting the crows seems to be limited to the Cavroadia region," said spokesperson Ebony Corven. "No other crow deaths have been reported in other parts of Brisbane.

"We're not sure at this time whether the cause of death is an infectious disease or not - the fact that it hasn't spread very far seems to suggest it isn't," Ms Corven added. "However, even if it was, these sorts of diseases tend to be fairly host specific. The chances of it being able to jump the species barrier to humans are vanishingly small.

"Until we do find out what is killing the crows, we want the public to stay away from the birds. Avoid contact with them or their droppings. Any dead birds should be carefully placed in a plastic bag using gloves or a shovel, and hands should be washed immediately after."

Ms Corven said that any link between reports of strange behaviour in Cavroadian Crows and the current deaths is purely circumstantial at the moment, but will be investigated thoroughly.

Cavroadians are advised to contact Cavroadia Health to pick up any dead crows they find.