Re: Please read, many birds dead at rehab, food to blame?
I was just about to post the update, since the word is out now about the second rescue. The original post said the foods being fed in common are the ZuPreem and the Higgins.
The more I think about it ... it just can't be a chronic toxicity, because all the birds succumb at the same time. Same for some kind of disease .. it takes some time for diseases to spread. Even with something terribly virulent, what are the chances of all the birds in a room expiring within a half hour of each other?
And yes, space heaters and teflon and environmental toxins ...except the lungs look good, if it were PTFE toxicosis the vet would have called it. Also inhaled poisons usually at least affect the lungs to some degree, and these birds most obviously had GI problems.
I side with poison, ingested by mouth. Not in the water, but in the food, most likely one of the two foods both rescues fed in common. It's possible the problem happened during production - in which case you'd think the problem would be more wide spread. Can't rule it out - lots of people around the country are reporting mysterious sudden deaths, so it could be people just don't know about the other case and assume theirs is an isolated event. Could be an excess of some vitamin or mineral stuff, or could be contaminated seeds - millet treated with rat poison, something like that has happened before.
Or it could be something that happened at the distribution center - maybe the warehouse got treated for an infestation? But ... doesn't it seem that if something had got sprayed onto the containers, there would be some evidence, some stain or discoloration or odor? Both places still had the original bags and surely would have noticed something like that. Suppose an evil person deliberately poisoned the food? Aren't these sealed bags, you would notice if it was already opened? Maybe they used a syringe and injected something through the paper, something toxic, tasteless, and odorless. Parrots are such picky eaters and might have rejected food with an unfamiliar taste. Maybe poison with sugar in it.
It's hard to imagine someone actually doing that. Who hates parrots that much? The first rescue - some commenters mentioned an individual behaving badly, maybe with mental problems, angry because they weren't allowed to adopt a parrot. How would that person get to the food at both places?
Vita-seed is a mix of actual foodstuffs. Say one thing, like a dried fruit or veggie, is the culprit. Something sprayed, a poisonous mushroom or fungus, or something that shouldn't have been in there. Since parrots are picky, I could imagine some being OK on that food because they don't like or don't eat the poisoned bits.
I know, there is nothing that can be done, this is all speculation, we should have test results back next week. But it's interesting. What if it had happened at my house, would I have recognized a problem? Is there a pattern, some warning sign, to watch for?
Whatever it is I don't know how they are coping. I remember how awful, terrible, catastrophic it was when Oliver died, and it was that way for a long time. How do they make it through the day, losing eleven birds nearly all at once? I wish there were something concrete to do, someway to help, and there isn't, not now.
I sincerely hope that the OP from the rescue got the word out soon enough that this will be the last deaths from what is increasingly sounding like a food-related issue.
