VILLAS – In late March, Lower Township resident Lisa Murphy, who was walking her dog on the beach along Delaware Bay, noticed an unusual number of dead birds. In all, she counted over 20 – mostly robins.
Thinking this was an unusual event and that there must be a reason for such a high number of robins to be found dead in one area, Murphy started making phone calls to see if local or state health officials or wildlife personnel might be interested in knowing what happened.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sent representatives to her home, March 30, where she had bagged some of the dead birds and put them in her freezer, per their instructions.
The USDA responded to the Herald, May 19, saying the birds tested negative for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), commonly called bird flu.
When asked if the USDA determined how the birds had died, USDA Public Affairs Specialist Tanya Espinosa said, “Our lab only tested for disease, specifically HPAI, and they didn’t have anything.”
She said the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife does testing for other things, but to her knowledge, the position for the tester, a vacant position, wasn’t filled, and the USDA has kept a few of the bird samples frozen in the event Fish and Wildlife would want to test the birds.
