Translation by Sott editorsThere are certainly many hundreds, probably thousands, of collared dove who are dying at this moment in Faenza. They are in heaps in the flower beds, crushed by machinery in the streets, horribly hung from trees like Christmas balls. And many, many more, as told by the well-informed, are found in industrial-fenced zones.
The WWF has collected more of these birds, not all already dead. A dozen, in fact, have been sent to the Center of Recovery 'Il Pettirosso' in Modena, where those arriving are still alive but died shortly after. Overall, a mystery. Inside the beak, in some animals,
the staining was of a strange blue.
What could have caused it? Both the doves collected by the Forestry and those sent by the WWF to the Center of Modena, have been delivered to the 'Istituto Zooprofilattico' of Emilia Romagna and Lombardy. Nobody, however, likes to deliver an opinion on this issue and for the analysis may take a week. Is it possible that the Collared doves... have been dying of stomachache? So someone would have argued (see
article,
GeaPress). In general, blue is a sign of hypoxia, caused for example by suffocation. The bluish tint, however, is also typical of potassium cyanide, a deadly poison used, for example, from poachers. Cyanide, however, also causes hypoxia, .... maybe a dove with an upset stomach would die suffocated. Another poison appears bluish in some types of rat poison grains. However, believing that the doves have died choking could be a faulty guess. And why only them? On the site there are only doves, but the pigeons in other places are likely to eat the same seed mesh that certain industries stack up around Faenza? So why they do not die from choking too?
Comment: To see the staggering number of 'die-offs' around the world depicted on the world map (with links to the news stories) click here