posted January 26, 2009 08:06 PM         

Ten-year-old Skylar Venus was Rollerblading in her Franklin Township neighborhood over the weekend when she noticed a dead bird lying on the road. Then she saw another one. And another. And another.

That was enough for Skylar. She turned around and went back home to report the unsettling coincidence to her mother, Tracy Venus said Sunda

The Venuses' neighbors in the southern part of the township in Somerset County were having similar experiences beginning Friday night. Franklin residents said they believe hundreds of dead birds fell onto lawns and roads.

Standing in her Park Lane driveway, beside a dead bird, Venus pointed Sunday afternoon to houses where black birds with yellow beaks also lay dead. One neighbor even told her he had seen birds falling straight from the sky, their wings still as they came down like rocks.

"We want to know if someone came in and sprayed," Tracy Venus said. "We want to make sure it's not poisonous to animals. We have dogs all over here."

But residents discovered birds were a lot easier to find than answers over the weekend.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was responsible for the bird deaths, a Franklin Township police officer who gave his name as Lt. Guglielmo said. He said further information would have to come from health officials.

Calls to the USDA and to the county and township health departments, as well as to Mayor Brian Levine and the township animal control office, were not immediately returned.

Sunday night, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services confirmed the dead birds were part of a USDA program to reduce the European starling population. Donna Leusner said the state health department was not part of the culling program but had been notified of plans to feed the birds a "controlled substance."

"The dead birds pose no hazard to people or pets because the substance has been metabolized inside the bird," Leusner read from a USDA advisory. Continuing to read, she said the culling was done because European starlings "congregate at feed lots and dairies in the winter, causing damage by consuming and contaminating seed and contributing to the spread of diseases."

Leusner could not say where the birds were poisoned or what was used to kill them. She did say the birds were expected to die six to 24 hours after eating the poison.

A frustrated and shaken Andrea Kepic said she first saw the birds at her Park Lane home, a few houses from the Venuses, Friday night. She said she left her home around 7:30 p.m. to see a play. As she stepped outside, she looked down and saw a dead bird about a foot away. She then looked up and saw a trail of dead birds leading to the street.

Kepic counted some 150 dead birds on her property.

"I was stunned by the sight. I said, 'Is this real? Am I hallucinating?' It was nauseating and upsetting," she said. "There were some stuck on the car, and I wasn't going to touch them, not even with gloves."

Black birds everywhere, Kepic said she immediately thought of Edgar Allan Poe's poem, "The Raven."

She called the police and was told she would have to clean up the birds herself. Kepic said police read from a prepared statement that recommended using a shovel, gloves and plastic bags to get rid of the birds.

"What would happen if 400 fell? Would I have to pick those up?" she asked.

Kepic plans to freeze one or two birds and take them to Rutgers University for an autopsy. With few details available from officials, Kepic said the experience has made her distrustful.

posted January 27, 2009 12:23 PM         

quote:

---

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was responsible for the bird deaths, a Franklin Township police officer who gave his name as Lt. Guglielmo said. He said further information would have to come from health officials.

Sunday night, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services confirmed the dead birds were part of a USDA program to reduce the European starling population. Donna Leusner said the state health department was not part of the culling program but had been notified of plans to feed the birds a "controlled substance."

---