New Year’s Eve fireworks blamed for mass starling deaths
Hundreds of birds died after many people set off fireworks in Rome on New Year’s Eve, animal rights groups said Friday, calling it a “massacre.”
Footage of streets near Rome’s main train station showed dozens and dozens of birds - mostly starlings - scattered lifeless on the ground.
The cause of the deaths was not clear, but the International Organization for the Protection of Animals said it appeared related to a particularly loud display of firecrackers and fireworks in the area where many birds roost.
“It can be that they died from fear. They can fly up together and knock against each other, or hit windows or electric power lines. Let’s not forget they can also die of heart attacks,” said Loredana Diglio, a spokeswoman for the organisation.
roma via cavour, effetto dei botti di fine anno, centinaia di uccelli morti.
— mymelody (@lustvbi) January 1, 2021
certo che fate schifo. pic.twitter.com/vyPlxPsPLy
Fireworks displays each year cause distress and injury to both wild and domestic animals, she noted. And the unusual concentration of bird deaths came despite a ban by the city of Rome on personal fireworks displays, which was widely ignored, and a 10 p.m. curfew due to virus restrictions.
The Italian branch of OIPA has called for a ban on selling firecrackers and fireworks for personal use, citing the threat to animals.
Can Fireworks really be blamed for causing the death of birds?
As reported in a Forbes article in 2017, in winter in the northern hemisphere many wild birds (like the starlings in Rome) roost in huge flocks at night (hundreds of the tiny birds settle in one tree), unlike in summer where birds would be nesting in pairs or small family groups. Forbes said: “We’ve recently learned that when a fireworks display occurs near a wild bird roost, the birds simultaneously explode into the night skies in utter panic (more here), which can lead to huge numbers of deaths, usually because these birds either smash their skulls or break their necks as the result of flying into trees, fences, billboards, houses and other solid objects that they cannot see in the gloom and ensuing chaos.”
One well-documented case was in 2010 when over 5,000 red-winged blackbirds died in Beebe, Arkansas (in the USA), after a fireworks display. In the Netherlands, researchers have monitored the movements of wild birds on New Year’s Eve. Radar data shows that “tens of thousands of birds explode into flight promptly at midnight when public fireworks shows begin”, says Forbes.
4 January 2020
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