Peculiar geese deaths baffle wildlife officials in Wisconsin

February 18, 2011 – MADISON, WS – Several dozen Canada geese along western Lake Erie’s shoreline have recently died or are presumed dead while others have become so sick they cannot hold up their heads, fly, or maintain control of their motor functions. State wildlife investigators are stumped, awaiting word on tests that a national wildlife laboratory in Wisconsin has been doing on some of the dead birds. “They will fall out of the sky and have trouble staying upright,” said Dave Sherman, a biologist at the Crane Creek Wildlife Research Station the Ohio Department of Natural Resources operates in Ottawa County. Symptoms began manifesting themselves first with mallards about two or three weeks ago. “Now, it’s mostly geese we’re seeing,” he said. The bulk of the problem appears to be in the Oregon area, Mr. Sherman said, in the vicinity of open water near FirstEnergy Corp.’s coal-fired Bay Shore power plant, where birds typically congregate this time of year. He said he has been getting about a dozen calls a day from area residents reporting new sightings or seeking answers about birds they’ve seen. “They’re throwing their heads back. They’re losing all balance and literally almost all back-somersault and have a seizure,” according to Laura Zitzelberger, operations director at Nature’s Nursery. At least eight or nine of about a dozen geese that were brought to Nature’s Nursery either died or had to be euthanized. –Toledo Blade