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AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho – Wildlife officials believe the reason why dozens of pigeons were found lying dead on a downtown city block in American Falls is due to malnutrition.
On Oct. 25, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game officer arrived in American Falls to respond to reports of dead and dying birds in the streets and collected samples to take for testing. Since then, city employees picked up a little over 50 dead pigeons in total.
On Friday, Fish and Game released the results of the testing done by the Wildlife Health and Forensic Laboratory, which found the birds negative for pigeon paramyxovirus and avian influenza, two common diseases that could cause a die-off in pigeons, explained spokeswoman Jennifer Jackson. The department's death investigation supports the conclusion the pigeons died from emaciation.
"We aren't surprised at all," said Mayor Rebekah Sorenson. "We're relieved there aren't diseases associated with the situation, but the results are as expected."
The majority of the deceased pigeons were found in the vicinity of a long-vacant building at 575 Fort Hall Avenue. While the building has been abandoned by humans for many years, according to city officials, between 200 and 300 pigeons had made it their home after its roof collapsed.
Towards the beginning of October, the police department received a call complaining about the birds. An officer visited the property, and then informed the property manager of the problem.
Sorenson said sometime between then and the end of the month, a private restoration company covered the open roof, which trapped the pigeons inside rather than shooing them out beforehand.
Dozens of dead pigeons found near building in downtown American Falls
City residents were shocked to see pigeons stumbling out into the road, unable to fly and then falling over dead over the last weekend.EastIdahoNews.com has not been able to find out which company covered the roof, but Sorenson said that another restoration company had taken over the property.
Sorenson explained upon hearing about the trapped pigeons, a city employee opened the side door of the building "to give the dying birds a chance." After that, city residents were shocked to see pigeons stumbling around, unable to fly and wandering out into roads to get hit by oncoming traffic.
Amy Larsen, owner of Magnolia's Salon, which shares an alleyway with the abandoned building, described finding birds that were so unresponsive that they wouldn't even react to people when they got within a foot of them.
By the time the Fish and Game officer responded to the scene, he estimated that there were "over 200 birds that were dead or having difficulty walking and flying," according to a news release from Fish and Game.
While city employees only picked up around 50 dead birds, this doesn't account for pigeons picked up by residents.
Sorenson assumes that property owners who found dead birds on their property disposed of them on their own, but she also pointed out that many of the birds likely recovered.
"There have been a lot of healthy pigeons or recovered pigeons that have sat on top of that building for a couple of weeks, or on nearby buildings," Sorenson said.
The top of the abandoned building was lined with pigeons when EastIdahoNews.com visited the area on Oct. 28. Sorenson said the number of pigeons perched on buildings in the area has been declining over this month.
The forensic laboratory tested the pigeon samples for these two common diseases because they were most likely to cause a die-off.
"It's really hard to test for everything that could possibly kill an animal … in this case, you're having to try to test for what we felt were the most common issues that could have killed these pigeons," Jackson said. "Based on their body condition, the fact that they had lost so much muscle and fat, that's likely what led to their death."
In the weeks after this incident, the city hasn't seen any significant amount of people getting sick after being in the vicinity or coming into contact with the pigeons, Sorenson said.
Sorenson was happy to hear Fish and Game's test results come out, easing any worries of infection.
"This whole situation was so easily avoidable," Sorenson remarked. "If people can just use wisdom and common sense, a lot of problems … can all be avoided."
