Hundreds Of Dead Birds Wash Up On Martha's Vineyard

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MA — Tisbury Animal Control Officers on Martha's Vineyard have issued an "avian influenza warning" to the island after hundreds of dead birds have washed up on the island's beaches.

"I picked up 41 on Monday and 30 something over the weekend," Tisbury Animal Control Officer Kate Hoffman told Patch. "It's hard to tell how many to be exact, they've been washing up all over different beaches."

Originally documented as being cormorants, Hoffman said an expert told her he believes they could also be shearwaters. Edgartown Animal Control officers sent multiple birds to the USDA and to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife for testing last week and are waiting on the exact results on what is causing these birds to die.

While some experts fear the mass die-offs could be caused by a strain of avian flu, cormorants have been known to have die-offs unrelated to the bird flu.

"Cormorants have had mass die-offs themselves for other reasons so it could be just that," Hoffman told Patch.

Patch reached out to Edgartown's Board of Health and the USDA and will report back when we learn more.

Meanwhile, avian flu is "running rampant" among aquatic birds on the North Shore.

Swampscott police reported several calls from residents about injured or sick birds with animal control saying that there is a "significant increase in avian flu" among those birds in the areas of Marblehead, Lynn, Nahant, and Swampscott.

Avian influenza viruses do not normally infect humans. However, sporadic human infections with avian influenza viruses have occurred, most following direct or close contact with infected poultry.

If it is a strain of avian flu killing the birds on Martha's Vineyard, it's considered to be a low risk to people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Regardless, animal control officers on the island are urging beachgoers not to touch the birds. The issue warned residents to keep dogs away from the birds, leashing when possible, and to be careful going into the water, as the birds could be in seaweed.

Additional information on the Avian Flu can be found here.

If you come across any dead birds, notify animal control officers right away.