Crow Deaths Investigation Continues

The mystery of what is killing Caroadia's crows continues to deepen with the release of two reports based on examination of the dead birds.

A report from The College of Australian Raven and Crow Scientists details the results of extensive veterinary testing of birds recovered from Cavroadia. Chief Investigating Scientist Dr Robert Rook told a press conference yesterday that researchers had recovered a strange new protein-like substance from lesions in the brains of afflicted crows.

"Superficially, these lesions resemble those we see in the brains of people afflicted with variant Creutzfeld Jacob disease (vCJD)," said Rook. "However, that condition is caused by a prion - an altered form of the sufferer's own proteins. The polypeptide recovered from the crow lesions is far too small to be a protein, and it is unlike any fragment of crow protein we have yet identified.

"This would suggest that the peptide is coming from some other source."

The CARCS report comes hot on the heels of another finding reported in Crows Australia Weekly.

In the CAW article, microbiologist Dr Jaqueline Daw reports the recovered of a bacterium from the body fluid of crows bought to her laboratory from Cavroadia. While the exact identity of the micro-organism remains a mystery, Dr Daw's team has identified an unusual DNA sequence from it.

The DNA sequence has been sent to a specialist team of investigators to try and tease apart the mystery of what is killing out crows.